#a bit lacklusted to say the least but you get the idea

[domibomz]

OG sad but also scary tomb lady is playing with her bones again She's royally pissed off

[ghost-in-the-hall]

Fall For Me (Poly! Sleep Token x Fem! Reader) - Part I

Well, it happened... After trying to evade the hype for so long they finally got me 😂😂 This story has had me in a chokehold (haha, get it?) since I started toying around with the idea of it. Hopefully you guys enjoy it, let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list for future chapters and/or Sleep Token one shots!

WARNINGS: None

Part II

My Masterlist! ~ AO3 Link!

Credit to @spookyghostjelly for beta reading, ily bb 💗💗💗

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You sat with your feet propped up on the counter, one of the magazines you had yet to sell spread open on your lap. "Be fashion forward this fall." You read out loud to the empty store in a mocking tone as your eyes grazed over the pictures of chunky sweaters, jeans, and boring, brown leather boots. The bell over the door jingled as a customer entered the store, your eyes darted up, expecting one of your regulars. You were met with the sight of someone in a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over their head. 'Great,' you thought to yourself, 'just when I thought I was going to have an easy evening.' You watched the man carefully, waiting to see what exactly he was going to stick in his pockets. Now, you normally turn a blind eye to shoplifters up to a certain extent, everyone deserves to have something to eat. But, being an independently owned store you could only take so much of a loss on your inventory. To your surprise, the man didn't pick up a single item. He took his time looking over the contents of each shelf, his hands never leaving his sweatshirt pocket. "Can I help you find anything, sir?" His head turned slightly in your direction, but not enough for you to see his face.

"What time do you close?" You were caught off guard by his British accent, it was an uncommon occurrence to get outsiders in your small backwoods town.

"Eight o'clock." He nods his thanks and hurriedly exits your store, almost bumping into one of your regulars on the way out.

"Everything alright?" He asks as the strange visitor leaves your store.

"Do you know him?" You ask quietly, as if he would somehow be able to overhear you despite having rounded the corner of the building already.

"Yeah, he's one of those… those cultists that set up shop in the woods." He explains. You were a bit shocked at the realization. You had been seeing headlines in the local newspaper for months as curiosity rose around the small group of men that had built a few Cabins on the very edge of town. Reporters didn't dare venture into their camp for an interview, but that didn't stop them from snapping a few pictures from the safety of the treeline. Four cabins sat at each corner of a small clearing, a large fire pit dominated the center. From what you could make out they seemed to have some sort of root cellar and a lackluster garden, which would explain why you hadn't seen any of them in person until this afternoon. "You be careful, (Y/N). Freaks like that might just try to sacrifice you to some goat demon they worship." He warns. You can't help but roll your eyes at the outlandish statement.

"Mark, those boys haven't done a single thing to bother anyone since they got here. They've been out there for months, if they were going to take someone they would've done it by now." You argue.

He chuckles, "Trust me darlin', I hope you're right. But until then me and a lot of other folks around here plan on keeping a close eye on them. You'd do best to stay away from them."

"You think I can't take care of myself?" You challenge, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Now, Miss (Y/N), you and I both know you'd beat my ass to next Sunday if that's what I was implying." The two of you shared a laugh. "I just don't want something bad to happen, that's all. These strange men show up out of nowhere one day and no one knows where they came from, hell none of us have ever seen their faces. They all wear these black masks, least that's what the reports are saying. You can never be too cautious."

"I'll take my chances." You smile politely in an attempt to get him off his soap box. "Now, I take it you're here for your pack of Marlboros."

"Yes ma'am, and an extra one for Donnie if you don't mind." He responds with a nod as he fumbles for his wallet in his back pocket.

"You got it boss." The rest of your evening was spent rather uneventfully, save for the fact that you would practically jump out of your chair every time the door opened. You glanced up at the clock, there was about twenty minutes left until you closed. "Maybe he decided to not come back." You shrug. Moments later an old, beat up pick up truck rumbled into the parking lot. You watched as the driver got out, his head dipped low to hide his face in the hood of his black sweatshirt. He pushes through the door, the jingle of the bell the only sound to cut through the tense silence. "Welcome back." You tried to sound friendly despite your unease. He nods at you in response, not saying a single word as he makes his way quickly and directly to everything he needs. He approaches the counter, unloading his arm load of supplies before taking a step back. "You got a name to go with those big, broad shoulders of yours?" You ask in a bit of a teasing tone, trying to do what you could to lighten the mood. He remained silent, despite the fact you couldn't see his face you couldn't escape the feeling of his piercing gaze. You opened a bag, carefully organizing his contents inside. "$18.75, sir." He slaps a twenty dollar bill on the counter, not even waiting for his change as he grabs his bag and flits out the door. You watched as he drove off, not sure exactly what you were supposed to make of that interaction. You had a similar occurrence every day for almost a week. He would come in, grab an armful of groceries, put down his money, and he left. You would try and greet him whenever he would come in your store, it was always met with a curt nod.

"Vessel." You froze as he finally spoke up. You looked up, your eyes met with 6 slits on an odd looking mask. "You can call me Vessel." You couldn't think of how to respond at first. He had barely acknowledged your existence before tonight, what had changed?

"Vessel… (Y/N)." You stick out your hand to shake his. "It's nice to finally meet you." You smile as his hands clap into yours.

"You're different from the other people we've run into from town." He remarks.

"The reporters?"

"Some of them, a few others we just happened to cross paths with." You could feel him studying you. "You don't seem scared."

"Vessel, you've been coming in here for over a week now. If you were going to try and hurt me you would've done it by now." You notice the corner of his mouth quirk up in a smile.

"I guess you have a point." He chuckles. You finish scanning his items and give him his total. He places the money down on the counter and picks up his bag.

"How come you never take your change?" You ask as he's almost out the door.

"I know you run this place by yourself, think of it as me tipping a small business." He flashes a brief, brilliant smile at you. You try to hide your shy smile by fixing up your register. "Oh, and (Y/N)?" You glance back up at him. "It's nice to finally meet you too."

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Tag List: @herripinkle @mustluvecho @jumpcauseimfroggy (If you would like to be tagged for Sleep Token stuff let me know!)

[five-bi-five-mind]

obviously no rush or anything but i have a future jj x fem!reader fic in mind for you…..

basically reader having lunch with emily at jj’s and r’s apartment, and they both start talking about their sex lives.

r says how much fun jj was when they first met and moved in together, which leads emily to ask “what about now?”

r gets all flustered and explains that jj kind of got vanilla and a little boring. also saying she had to fake a couple orgasms….

jj comes home and overhears, so she takes r to the bedroom and RAILS her over and over again

just an idea:)

Stuck In a Rut

Fandom: Criminal Minds

Pairing: Jennifer Jareau x fem!Reader

Word count: 6.4k+

Genre: Smut

Summary: Since moving in with JJ, things have kind of slowed down. It’s not that you’re not still in love, you’re head over heels for her. It’s that one certain aspect has gotten a bit… dull. What you really want is for JJ to stop being so soft with you at least for once, but how do you tell her that?

Warnings: degradation kink; name calling; over stimulation; strap-on (r receiving); biting; top!JJ, bottom!r; praise kink; dumbification; let me know if I forgot things

A/N: so this is a little different than the request. I didn’t get all the details because I just kind of ran with it but uhhhh hope you enjoy 🫣 and yaaaay 1k celebration!

To say things had gotten a little stale… seemed harsh, but it was the truth. You and JJ had moved in together about six months ago after a year of dating and then there was just a change, a lull. It wasn’t that you two weren’t in love, you both very much were. It wasn’t that you weren’t happy to be her girlfriend or she wasn’t happy to be yours, she showed you off any chance she got and you did the same. It wasn’t that you two weren’t compatible to live together either. Things felt comfortable and safe, more so than they ever had before. Everything seemed perfect, but there was just one thing that got, well, a little boring. And that was your sex life. 

You honestly couldn’t understand what happened. When you two didn’t live together things were still pretty exciting and any time you were with JJ in that way, it took your breath away. The shift happened about two months into living together. The first month, you two still had that excitement. JJ had insisted on fucking you on pretty much any and every surface possible. She said it would make the place “feel like home” and you happily went along with it. But then the second month came and things slowed down and kept slowing and slowing and slowing… until suddenly all that heat and excitement of JJ having you in a way that you wouldn’t want anyone else to just got a little lackluster. 

The worst part was, it wasn’t like your sex life actually stopped per se, it was just that it got, quite frankly, dull. JJ suddenly shifted from being an exciting lover who would leave you breathless after every encounter, to a soft and slow one. Not to say you didn’t enjoy that sometimes. Just not all the time. 

What you wondered was what even caused this shift in her? Was it all the domesticity that you two found yourself surrounded in now that you lived together? Part of you thought that was it. JJ had definitely gotten softer herself as your relationship with her progressed and you loved that about her. She was so guarded at first, but she really dropped those walls down the more you two fell in love. You just wished that maybe that softness didn’t have to be present all the time. 

Just thinking about that made you feel terrible too. JJ was truly the perfect partner in all other aspects and you genuinely were so happy. But you were also just a little bit on edge. You never thought you were someone who would get a little snappy just from having a dull sex life, but here you were. You could tell the shift in yourself, even if you tried so hard to hide it. It was just that after a handful of nights with JJ ended more than a little disappointing on your part, there was only so much frustration you could deny in yourself. What’s worse and made you feel quite a bit guilty was that you had to fake things. There was no way in hell you were going to tell JJ that she wasn’t doing it for you. You could see the conversation now and the hurt look she’d get. It was the worry that telling her she wasn’t getting you there would be interpreted as she wasn’t enough for you that kept you silent about your whole little predicament. Lucky for you, JJ didn’t seem to see through any of it and continued on to be the obliviously happy girlfriend you knew her to.

Unfortunately for you, while your girlfriend didn’t notice, her best friend somehow did. 

Emily was no stranger to you, even if she was originally JJ’s friend. One of the best parts about dating JJ was that, not only did the two of you click with each other, but you also clicked with each other’s friends. So, as you got to know JJ and fall in love with her, you simultaneously fell in love with JJ’s friend group as well and quickly got comfortable with the people she surrounded herself with. One such friend that you felt particularly safe and comfortable with was Emily. So when she showed up at the apartment you and JJ shared when JJ was out running errands for the day, it was no problem for you to invite Emily in anyways and spend some quality time with her.

In fact, Emily expected you to be there. She came bearing lunch for the three of you, wanting to just chat if you and JJ were free. You told her JJ was out, but she still gladly stayed and chatted with you. And you were honestly grateful for the company, despite how wound up you were from your current predicament with your girlfriend. 

The two of you spent all of your time that afternoon just chatting about your lives. While you might be more on edge than you usually are, you weren’t about to turn done some quality time with good company. There was a large chunk of your days spent alone since JJ’s job was so demanding. While you appreciated that JJ was out doing errands alone, because you didn’t feel like you had the patience for Saturday afternoon crowds, you still were always excited for any kind of company you could get. So, to have Emily over and bringing her positivity into your space was a refreshing surprise. 

When lunch was finished and the rest was packed up for when JJ returned you mentioned that you had a bit of random chores around the house to do that you had intended to get done before JJ got home. To your surprise, Emily eagerly offered to help and that’s how you found yourself standing next to her and folding laundry in your bedroom. 

The conversation kept up just as it did when you two were enjoying lunch, but somehow the topic jumped dramatically and you weren’t entirely sure when the shift even happened. You didn’t think of yourself as a particularly open person when it came to the topic of your romantic life, especially when the person you were discussing it with was your partner’s best friend, but here you were.

Emily’s question about it really caught you off guard. It was innocent enough; a simple “so how are things with you two?” that you answered with what you thought was an enthusiastic response. Except, Emily followed your answer with a very telling “but…” and, suddenly you looked at her like you were caught red handed.

“It’s okay,” Emily smiled at you as she delicately folded a random towel. “Whatever you say stays between the two of us. I can just tell that you’ve been a little on edge lately.”

How could she tell? You thought you were hiding it so well! If she noticed, does that mean JJ noticed? But then, JJ was the type to actually say something if she could see that something felt wrong and she hadn’t said anything to you at all yet. So, hopefully Emily was the only one to see through your “everything is perfect” kind of act. 

“It’s not that we’re not good,” you began, refusing to make eye contact with Emily. “It’s just that… Well… I’m not unhappy.”

“Of course not,” Emily reassured.

“And JJ is a loving partner who treats me well.”

“As JJ should,” Emily nods along. 

“But… there’s just something about living together that’s changed us.”

Emily stilled her hands and turned to look at you thoughtfully. Her smile was still there, soft and reassuring, but she had this little glint in her eye that told you she could see almost exactly what you were getting at. It was as if she just already knew.

“Sometimes, when people move in together they can get a little comfortable,” Emily explained. “That comfortable feeling can go a little too far with some couples. Some might say that their partners tend to forget the romantic aspect to their new life together.”

“It- It’s not that,” you shook your head hard. It wasn’t that JJ wasn’t romantic with you anymore. She would often come home with flowers or still surprise you with beautiful dates in very thoughtfully picked locations. During those times you’d still feel the romance and the love. If you were being honest, in all aspects of your relationship with JJ minus your little bedroom problem, you both were very much still in a little love bubble. A lot of couples lose their honeymoon phase around this time in your relationship, but you could proudly say that that rushing, gushy feeling you got when you were near JJ was still very much alive and well. But again, it was alive and well in every aspect, but one. And that one aspect was really starting to drag you down. “We’re comfortable, but it makes me happy. She’s still just as romantic as when we first met.”

“Mhm, so if it’s not that… And you’ve been on edge….” Emily nodded to herself. You eyed her nervously, wondering if the look she was currently wearing was one you might see if you saw her on the job. “Oh, it’s the sex!” 

Your eyes practically fell out of your head as she blurted out her epiphany. 

“Emily!” 

“It is, isn’t it?” Emily leaned towards you with a satisfied smirk. “Oh, it’s okay, we can talk about these things.” She waved her hand dismissively as she spoke. “Sometimes, it happens. Things get a little old. Have you tried telling JJ what you want?”

“Well…”

“That’s a no,” Emily answered for you. “You know JJ is crazy about you, right? If you told her you wanted to try something new, she would listen.”

“I- I mean, maybe.” You rubbed sheepishly at your arm, the laundry forgotten as  soon as Emily started to toe into this territory with you. “Jennifer, she can be… What’s the right word… prideful? That’s not quite it, but still, she’d take it very personally.”

“Well, she has to know you’re not enjoying yourself.”

You didn’t say anything at that, giving her just a tight lipped smile. Emily eyed you for a moment, scrutinizing why you seemed to look so guilty all of a sudden until realization filled her features.

“You’re faking it!” Emily pointed at you, flinging a hand towel across the room in the process. 

“Emily!” You gasped, your face turning different shades of red.

“What?” Emily shrugged. “We’re friends! Friends talk about these things!”

“Yes, but JJ is your friend first!”

“Okay…?” Emily’s eyebrow was arched as she stared at you, as if you weren’t making any sort of sense. She couldn’t deny that she was JJ’s friend first. There’s some loyalty there; some stuff you didn’t discuss with your partner’s best friend when it was about your partner herself. “I’m your friend too. Whatever is shared between us, stays between us.”

Emily’s eyes were earnest, but still you were way too hesitant to just spill your guts completely. Except, she kept staring at you expectantly, waiting for you to confirm her accusation. 

“So,” Emily started up again when you took too long to respond. “If you’re faking it, then JJ has no idea you’re in this little rut, does she?”

You bit your lip and shook your head sheepishly in response. “It’s– Well, it’s only been a few times,” you offered as if that made it sound any better. “That I, you know, faked it, I mean.”

“I see…” Emily trailed off, thinking to herself. “So, if you’re going to go about this, you need to do it gently.”

“And what is it exactly that I’m doing?”

“Telling JJ what you want.” She said that as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Obviously, if you’ve been stuck in this dilemma long enough for Emily to notice, it wasn’t all that simple. 

“Emily,” you warned. “It’s not that easy.”

“Why?” Emily’s question was genuine, not accusatory, and it had you thinking about why exactly it was so hard for you. You did have a very real fear that you’d embarrass and hurt JJ’s pride if you brought up this little problem, but was that all that it was? 

“I’m not sure,” you sighed. “It just is.”

“Because you’re nervous?” Emily’s question finally connected the dots. It wasn’t just that you were worried about hurting JJ by revealing that you’d been bored with your sex life, it was that you were also too shy to ask for more. “You shouldn’t be. This problem won’t be fixed until you tell her what you want, you know.” 

“It’s- Emily, it’s kind of hard for me to just come out and say all of that to her!” Look at the horrible job you were doing right now just talking about it vaguely with Emily. Your face was so flushed you could imagine that you looked a bit like a tomato at this point. Emily didn’t seem phased by any of this, but your palms were sweating and your stomach was churning and you felt so shy and embarrassed. This wasn’t something you were used to talking about with anyone, let alone a friend of your partner’s. “What would I even say to her?”

“What you’re telling me,” Emily suggested. “Whatever it is that you want, I’m sure when you get it out in the open, JJ will at least consider it. She wants to make you happy and if you’re not happy, eventually she’ll figure it out and she won’t be happy either.”

“You’re right,” you nodded in agreement. “I know you’re right. It’s just hard to find the right words.”

“Well, without much detail, what do you want?”

“Just more…” you were struggling to find the right words. “Fire? Passion? I’m not really sure. It just feels like some of the passion is gone. She’s so gentle that it’s boring. I know it’s her way of showing me that she loves and cherishes me, but I want more. I want something new, something with that… that rushing feeling we used to get.” 

Emily nodded in understanding of everything you were saying. She gave you some more encouraging words on trying to bring it up with JJ, but soon the conversation went back to normal things and wondering what was taking JJ so long. Neither of you heard the front door open fifteen minutes earlier and the soft footsteps that lead to where you and Emily shared your heart-to-heart. 

It wasn’t until you heard some clanging in the kitchen that you realized JJ was home. Luckily for you, by the time you were aware that she was home your conversation with Emily had turned back to normal things. A small part of you was worried JJ was home much earlier than you realized and could possibly have heard everything, but you shook that fear off, knowing JJ would announce her presence as soon as she arrived like she usually did.

But, for whatever reason, this time JJ didn’t. This time, unbeknownst to you, she heard it all and neither you nor Emily realized it. 

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Emily spent a few more hours with the two of you now that JJ was home too. Everything was pleasant and JJ seemed to be happy to see her friend on her day off, but there was something you couldn’t quite place. JJ was just slightly more quiet than usual. 

With you and JJ, the two of you were so in sync that you knew immediately whenever she was upset or in a bad mood. Tonight, that wasn’t what it was. It was as if she was captivated by her own thoughts. Not upset, not sad or angry, just pondering. But whatever thought she was so engrossed in, you didn’t know. 

Emily left before dinner and that quiet pondering continued throughout the evening. It was odd behavior for JJ, but honestly the silence between the two of you as you ate wasn’t all that negative. You were also busy mulling things over in your mind. The idea of approaching JJ with a few requests to try some new things was worrying you, but you knew it needed to be said. 

When dinner was over and you were cleaning up, you were even more lost in your own little world. The conversation you had with Emily from that afternoon was still going through your head. How were you going to talk to JJ about this without hurting her pride? Was that even possible at this point? If you were going to be totally honest about what you wanted then you’d have to tell her how long you’ve been faking things with her and that would surely not sit well with her. 

Part of you was also nervous to bring anything up and have it all blow up in the end. Would JJ even be willing to change things up with you or would it stay the same? If it stays the same, then what then? If the spark in the bedroom is going out, what does that mean for the spark in your relationship overall? There were just too many questions running through your mind.

The constant thought process of how to break the news to JJ and start the conversation was consuming all of your attention. Your hands and feet were on autopilot as you continued to clean up the kitchen. So, when JJ slowly snuck up to you with your back turned away from the kitchen entrance, you were totally unaware of her presence. That is until she was suddenly directly behind you, pushing the front of your body right up against the counter. 

“JJ, what the hell?!” Her sudden move had forced you to drop everything in your hands. Lucky for you, it was just some plastic tupperware and nothing sharp or breakable.

“Shhh,” JJ whispered in your ear. “Spread your legs.” JJ’s hands were on your waist as soon as she had you pinned. You were honestly so confused by this sudden turn of events that you didn’t register what JJ was asking of you. 

That must have been very apparent to JJ, because after a moment of you standing utterly still, she did it for you. Her legs went in between yours, kicking both your legs open until you were bracing even tighter onto the counter to keep yourself standing. JJ’s body pressed even harder into yours from behind and you suddenly realized you felt something very curious pressing into you from behind. 

“JJ, what are you-” You stopped when your mind finally connected what you were feeling as JJ started to grind her hips into your ass. You knew exactly what was going on now. 

JJ had you figured out. You weren’t sure how or when, but you knew that she knew. 

“Stop asking questions,” JJ bent forward to whisper in your ear. “And do what you’re told.”

“I-I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” you stammered as JJ kept pressing herself into the back of your body. “JJ, this is–”

“New?” She cut you off. “You wanted something new, didn’t you? That’s what I’m about to give you.”

Your body stiffened as JJ spoke. So, she did know. That little fear in the back of your head that told you JJ was home a lot earlier than you realized was right. The question was, how much did she hear? Did she know about you faking a few times or just that you wanted to change things up in the bedroom. God, you hoped she didn’t hear the part about you faking it…

“You didn’t answer me,” JJ’s voice came from behind you. “Am I wrong? You want a change, right?”

“I– Well, no you’re not wrong, but–” JJ’s lips pressing right at the pulse point of your neck before sinking her teeth down into the flesh there is what cut you off, even if you were already struggling to form a sentence. Your hands went to grip the counter at the burst of pleasurable pain that she just caused while you were mid-sentence.

“I’m going to give you something new, princess,” she practically purred against your skin. “I’m going to give you exactly what you want. You’re going to cum for me over and over again like a good girl, until I feel like you’ve had enough. And you definitely won’t need to fake them.” The low tone JJ’s voice took with her last words had you both shocked that she did in fact here and shiver at how almost threatening she sounded.

While you were preoccupied with this shift in her, JJ was already busy getting to work with her plan. You felt her hands reach around to your pants, giving them a hard yank before letting them fall in a puddle on the floor. You were already breathing harder than you probably should, your head twisting and turning to try and look back behind you at what JJ was up to. 

This new change in her had startled you and a large part of you was incredibly ashamed that she had heard you spill your guts to Emily. It should’ve been you directly telling her that you wanted something new, but unfortunately she heard everything she wasn’t meant to. Even so, there was another part of you that was absolutely way too excited for what was to come.

As for JJ, when she heard the little conversation between you and Emily, she did feel a little guilty that she was listening to something she wasn’t meant to. However, she wasn’t upset with any of what she heard, she was glad she did listen in even. Because, it wasn’t just you that felt like there needed to be a change. While JJ was definitely unaware of the past instances when you faked your orgasms, and that did sting a bit, she spent the rest of the evening plotting out a way to fix this. See, she had wanted to change things up for a while; let loose a little. She also was worried about ever being too rough with you, but sometimes she got into these moods where all she wanted to do was ruin you. When those moods came, she suppressed it and overcorrected. She knew now that she overcorrected way too much, but tonight it was time to lean into that mood. 

So, as JJ continued to put her plan into motion, she was getting a little ahead of herself with how much anticipation she had. When she heard the conversation, it was like a door had opened to so many new possibilities of what she could try with you. Once she settled on what to do first, she waited until you least expected for her to pounce.

Now here you were with JJ’s body keeping you trapped between her own and the kitchen counter, half naked from the waist down. “Stay there,” JJ ordered before taking a small step back. Surprisingly, you did as you were told without having to question it anymore. JJ admired you for a second; loving the way you looked bent over the counter, bare ass sticking out for her. She gave it a smack and you jumped, but didn’t complain. 

From behind you, you could hear JJ slowly pull the zipper to her jeans down. You knew exactly what was coming next and you bit your lip in anticipation. It was almost embarrassing how wet you were, just from a little bit of roughness from JJ. But then again, she was never rough with you like this. It was this exact behavior that you wanted so badly to see from her. 

JJ stepped back up to you, her hands reaching between the two of you to cup your ass. You let out the smallest gasp when she squeezed, already more excited than you’d been in weeks. From behind you, you could hear JJ let out a small, smug chuckle in response before sliding two of her fingers through your folds. This time, the gasp wasn’t as quiet. 

She ran her fingers through you a couple times, gathering your wetness onto them and causing you to shift and squirm even more. You wanted more of her touch, but as quickly as she started, she pulled her fingers away.

With her fingers coated in you, she reached down to her little surprise she had waiting for you. Little was a bit of an understatement, she thought as she ran your wetness over the dildo she had attached between her legs. It was going to be an interesting sight to see you take it. You two had used toys before, but not like this. Not something that, JJ knew for a fact, was bigger than anything you’ve taken. She was excited to see how good you could be for her. In the past she treated you so carefully, but tonight she was determined to fuck you to the brink of breaking. 

“Do me a favor,” JJ leaned her body against yours from behind. You felt what you already knew was a quite large strap on, poking between your thighs. “Be a good girl tonight and take what I give you.” 

You nodded your head fervently, biting your lip harder when one of JJ’s hands moved around your body to slip under your shirt and paw at your chest. JJ took a moment, kissing on the back of your neck and running one hand over the top of your body, while the other squeezed at your thighs. She loved the way you were already wriggling in anticipation for what she had in store and just wanted to savor this moment before she really dug in. 

Your chest was heaving already and your head was bent down as you made cute little sounds JJ loved to hear. Your hands were splayed on the counter, trying to keep yourself upright while JJ practically groped your entire body. The way you were already struggling to keep it together had JJ just that much more excited to see you utterly fall apart. So she got started.

One hand left your body while the other moved down to steady your hips. The hand that wasn’t on you, moved between her own legs. She wrapped her hand around the toy, running over it once more to make sure it still felt lubricated enough from your own wetness. Once she deemed it ready, she lined up. 

You held your breath, trying your best to brace yourself on the counter as you felt JJ’s faux cock start to line up with your entrance. This thing was big, you didn’t need to see it to know it wasn’t something you were used to. There was still an exciting anticipation coursing through your veins, but you also anxiously hoped that JJ would go a little easy on you. Just for a few minutes, at least. 

JJ’s hips started to push forward and you immediately felt the tip of the toy begin to stretch your walls. Your eyes squeezed tight as she slowly pushed her cock all the way inside of you until she had bottomed out. 

Your head dipped even lower, your mouth hanging open again as you tried to adjust to this new feeling. It was painful, you couldn’t deny that. Your pussy was stretched more than you’ve ever felt. But still, you needed JJ to move her hips, to do something. You tried your best to push your hips back into JJ to meet hers more closely, if that was even possible. She immediately got the hint.

Pulling out slowly and almost completely, JJ paused. “You’re not going to fake these,” JJ’s voice was practically a growl. “Got it?” And with that she slammed the toy back into you with such strength that the guttural moan you let out shocked the both of you. 

JJ’s hands were back on your hips now as she pulled out and mirrored that exact same action. You were trying as best as you could to keep some sort of restraint as she fucked you from behind, but it was a losing game when the pleasurable burn of her stretching you out had your head swimming. Meanwhile, JJ was setting a steady pace. Not too fast, but with each pump of her cock inside you, she put a little more strength into it.

“God, you’re so fucking tight,” JJ groaned as she kept moving. You felt her nails dig into your bare hips as she went. It was like she was trying to restrain herself, to keep her own pace consistent, when you thought that, potentially, she wanted to go faster, maybe even be a little rougher.

And that was exactly it, but JJ needed you to ease into this at least a little bit first. She was testing the waters with you, seeing how much she could push it. While she wasn’t necessarily being gentle, she was still trying to have some sense of control. Only, that was slipping so fast with the sounds you were making and the way she could just hear how wet you were. 

It was sounds like these that she hadn’t heard in a while and didn’t realize she missed so much. So when her pace increased and you couldn’t help but to whine and cry out her name as she fucked you, her control slipped even further. 

She could tell you were close too. The way she had your pussy stretched out mixed with how rough she was being had you approaching that edge finally. This time, it would all be completely real and as your legs began to tremble, JJ increased her pace and encouraged you to cum.

When you finally did, she slowed for a second. The both of you needed to catch your breath; you from the powerful orgasm and her so that she could prepare for what was to come. The pathetic little moan you let out when you did cum had broken something loose in JJ’s brain, something that she had really tried to hold back with you, but now she wasn’t going to. So she’d let you catch your breath, take a moment to appreciate the way you looked right now, and then continue.

JJ’s hands rubbed at your back for a second. “That’s my girl,” she cooed, leaning back to get a better look at you. She was still inside you, but you were slumped a little further onto the counter, cum dripping down your thighs as you came down from your high. “We’re not done though.” 

And with that she set a new pace that had you scrambling for purchase on the counter again. The way she was fucking you, it was like she was trying to fuck up into you until you were completely sprawled out on the counter. Your body had gotten used to the stretch, but your pussy definitely wasn’t used to this kind of brutal treatment. Your legs were shaking harder than they were when she made you cum the first time and you were seriously questioning your balance at this point.

It didn’t seem to bother JJ though, if she was aware of it that is. All she was focused on was the satisfying slap of her skin against your ass as she fucked you so hard you swore you saw stars. 

“J- fuck— JJ I don’t think…” you couldn’t get the words out no matter how hard you were trying. The relentless way JJ kept pounding her cock into you was making it impossible for you to do just about anything other than moan. “I don’t think I can keep standing.” 

You felt JJ’s hands flex, as her grip on you grew tighter. She didn’t stop, despite your warning, she didn’t even slow down. Her hips kept pumping into you from behind, each time pushing you painfully harder into the counter. Your head was hunched down, your hands were struggling to grip at anything on the counter. Pretty soon you’d be slipping until you were face down on the countertop if JJ kept this up. 

“I don’t fucking care,” JJ growled. With those words, it was like she knew exactly what your worry was and she made it happen. Without warning, one hand that was on your waist moved to the top of your head, pushing your head down til your cheek was pressed against the cold countertop. This new position forced you to jut your ass out even more, giving JJ an even better angle to fuck her cock into you deeper. 

Her hand remained on the top of your head, fingers tangling in your hair. Tears pricked in your eyes at the brutal way she was fucking your pussy. Your body was practically quaking underneath her and you could feel another orgasm coming in strong. 

As rough as she was being, you were enjoying every minute of it. JJ was practically manhandling you, using you as nothing more than her toy to fuck, but you didn’t even mind. It’s what you wanted all along and you didn’t even know it. 

JJ pulled your hair to jerk your head up. As she did, her hips still flush with your ass as she pushed her cock into you, she lent forward on top of you. “You love this, don’t you?” JJ taunted as your walls tightened around her cock. “Letting me fuck you right here on the counter like a little whore. You fucking love it.” 

You had never heard her talk this way and your eyes squeezed shut as your next orgasm started to rip throughout your body. 

“Say it.” JJ tugged on your hair. “Say you love it.” 

“I- I-“ you couldn’t form words when you were falling over the edge on JJ’s cock again. “I love… god- I fucking love it. Fuck, JJ just keep— keep fucking me.” 

JJ let out a triumphant chuckle before releasing your hair and wrapping her hand back around your waist. With her hold on you, she moved your own body onto her cock while she kept pumping it into you. The continued abuse of your pussy, mixed with the sheer strength of JJ’s movements had you coming a third time before you even knew it. You hadn’t even come down from your second orgasm before she had you moaning and screaming her name into a third one. 

What definitely shocked you was the way JJ kept going even after that. It was like there was no end to the strength and stamina she possessed. She didn’t slow, not even after she had pushed you to a third orgasm without a pause. No, she was determined for a fourth.

Your whole body felt like it was on fire, you were suddenly too aware of your nerve-endings and as she kept fucking you, the harsh way she was treating your pussy as she pumped her cock into you with abandon was starting to hurt. Yet, it all still felt incredible. The pain of your body being pushed to the brink mixed with the pleasure she was giving you was better than the last three orgasms she coaxed out of you combined. 

“God, why didn’t I do this sooner?” JJ grunted as she kept up her pace. “I was hoping you’d be able to take it if I let go a little, but this… You’re just taking me so fucking good.”

You couldn’t even speak at this point, all you could do was let out a gurgled hum of some sort of agreement as JJ’s grip tightened that much more on you so she could keep up with what she was doing. At this point, you were fairly certain that there were marks where her nails were digging into you, but that little bit of pain added to it that much more. Tears were definitely staining your cheeks from the sheer intensity of it all too. You were sure, if you looked at yourself in the mirror, you’d be shocked by what you saw. 

The fact that you could cum again so quickly and for the fourth time in such a short period was shocking you, but when you came again for her, you came with a silent cry as your body shuddered around her cock. 

This time, you couldn’t keep yourself upright, fully slumping onto the counter. JJ finally slowed down, her hands coming up to keep you upright and prevent you from landing on your ass.

After a moment of being still, but remaining inside you, she finally pulled out and your body shook for a second at the loss. You still hadn’t caught your breath, but JJ was patient, running her hand over your back and cooing at you as you gulped down much needed air. 

When your chest stopped heaving and your body trembled a little bit less, JJ turned you in her arms. Still, she had a tight hold on you to prevent you from slumping all the way down and onto the kitchen floor and you were appreciative of the support. 

“Hi,” JJ murmured as her arms squeezed you into her chest. 

“H-hi,” you panted, burying your head into the crook of her neck. 

“Was that too much?” JJ’s voice was soft and hesitant. You still weren’t quite recovered enough to form coherent sentences so you just shook your head as best you could while still pressed into JJ. 

“Good,” she mumbled before pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “Was that… more like what you wanted?”

You willed yourself to look up at her this time, knowing this required a proper response. “Yes, but JJ I’m sorry. I should’ve told you first.”

“It’s okay, my love,” JJ smiled down at you. “I understand. I’m sorry things got a little… monotonous. I’ve wanted to try something a little new with you for a while, I just didn’t want to hurt you.”

“It’s not your fault.” You leaned up to kiss JJ’s lips softly this time. “But I’m not as fragile as you think. You won’t break me, so… can we do this again?”

“Oh, definitely,” JJ gave you a cheeky grin. “In about ten minutes actually.”

“What?!” Your eyes went comically wide as JJ started to practically push you towards the bedroom. 

“There’s more I want to try.” 

You gulped, but willingly let her lead you to the bedroom. That night you both learned the limits your body could go to and over the next few weeks you were introduced to more experiences you hadn’t even realized you were into until JJ presented them to you. It was like a whole new side to your relationship had opened up and it definitely fixed the rut. 

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[tokiwarcube]

Uhh almost christmas so.. baking cookies/gingerbreads with Dethband and CHARLES, which make best cookie and which fucked up the cooke and which burned the kitchen

Cute!!! Anyone who follows me elsewhere knows I'm infamous for failing to get holiday posts out on-time, so I'm rather happy about getting something done ahead of time for once. Enjoy! <3

Charles Foster Offdensen

Charles is very attentive to even the smallest of details. You have to be, in his position — even disregarding the whole prophecy thing, his life is full of little things to micromanage and keep track of. Which is really what baking is, right? Perfect measurements, exact timing, sequential orders… which means he should be a natural at it, right?

Well, you’d be wrong.

He doesn’t burn down the kitchen mind you, but his baking adventures are… lackluster. You think the dough senses his lack of passion for the craft, because every time you manage to drag him into the kitchen to bake with you the results are just… average. Not that it’s a boring process, by any means — you still have your fun together! Chatting, dancing around him to grab an ingredient or two, swaying together before the timer goes off, sneaking a kiss here and there… It’s a fun winter project, even if the fruits of your labor are more run of the mill.

Nathan Explosion

Baking is not brutal, and truth be told, it kind of irks him that he’s so good at it. As a kid, he’d sit on the counter while his mom baked various treats for the neighborhood at Christmas time, and he supposes some of that must have sunk into his developing brain. He’s not gonna get in the kitchen unprompted, but if you want to bake with him, he won’t say no.

He’s not big on the actual decorating part… at least, not at first. Once you introduce the idea of making your creations a bit more metal, he gets really into it. The glasses are on, and he’s got a quarter of a million toothpicks out to help perfect his lines and sprinkles.

You’re snacking on decapitated gingerbread men and disembowled reindeer for weeks.

Pickles the Drummer

Pickles doesn’t bake, he gets baked.

Seriously, don’t let him near the kitchen. Ever. Best case scenario, you get a charred husk out of the oven. Worst case scenario… Well, it’s a good thing Charles didn’t spare any expenses for the sprinkler system. You don’t know how he does it, really — one minute things are fine, and then suddenly there’s just a mountain of flames erupting from 5 different ovens. You didn’t even think you had more than one on, but that doesn’t really matter when, again, there’s fire.

You’ll have fun decorating together — his gingerbread men are very charming, in a fucked-up kind of way — but that’s about the limit of his baking prowess. You can absolutely make a day of it — he’s a delight when icing your creations — but again, do not let him near the oven.

Skwisgaar Skwigelf

He’s such a perfectionist that you think he’d be great at baking but… he has a bit of a careless streak, and this is one of those moments where that really shines through. He’s a decent enough cook, but he can’t bake for shit. It frustrates him a bit, actually. His creations always turn out a little bit off — not enough for them to be inedible, but definitely not up to his standards. Do not let him lead on the actual chemistry side of baking, he will crash out.

That’s not to say he doesn’t want to bake with you, not by any means! It’s just better to (subtly) give him some instructions, or better yet, stick him with mixing, or decorating. His ego will thank you, even if he doesn’t.

The most likely to turn your baking adventures into scene out of a Hallmark movie — he’s a quiet lover of fun romance, and is prone to pulling you into a dance when the mood strikes. And we all know he’s been saving up his one-liners for today.

Toki Wartooth

Oh, this is his favorite time of year! Everything about it is just magical to him — he never really got to have the whole movie-magic Christmas growing up, so believe me when I say he takes every opportunity to bring those dreams to life. Toki’s a little too scatterbrained to actually bake solo — raw excitement and a little bit of undiagnosed ADHD draws him in too many directions at once, to where recipes fly into the back of his mind and get forgotten. He is, however, a wonderful assistant. And he’s an even better decorator!

They aren’t the picture-perfect Pinterest treats with immaculate iced lines and sprinkled sugar, but they’re perfect to the two of you. There’s a very palpable passion and love that radiates from them, and that’s what makes them so magic. And it was even easier than you thought to find diabetic-friendly recipes — insulin-resistance be damned, he will be indulging in some Christmas cheer.

And yes, he does make a little gingerbread family of you and the rest of the band. He almost immediately breaks gingerbread-Skwisgaar’s head clean off to have as a snack. And yes, he does leave his gingerbread body in the pile when it comes to leaving cookies out for the boys. Is it a threat? Is it just Toki being Toki? The world may never know.

Do be warned, he is a menace when it comes to stealing batter. And if you’re not careful, you’re liable to get attacked with some icing when you’re not looking. Stay on your guard.

William Murderface

A lot of people assume he’s a shit baker — and he doesn’t really dispute that. He’s got a bit of a complex about it, and feels like it doesn’t fit his image. But in reality, he’s damn good at it. He doesn’t measure anything, and has never once pulled up a recipe, and yet… His creations are up there with the best of ‘em. He’ll deny his proficiency to anyone else, but he actually takes a lot of pride in it.

Don’t question him when he’s in the kitchen — he’s gonna suggest the most off-the-wall concoction, and it’s going to sound horrific, but when you actually try it? Divine. His decorating skills leave a bit to be desired, but who cares about presentation when the sweets are this damn good?

You make a good duo in the kitchen — he’ll do the chemistry, you’ll do the art. Do keep an eye on his hands though — he’s going to be covered in flour and batter and God knows what else, and he refuses to deal with that alone (despite banning you from actually cooking.) Wear a shirt you don’t care about, if you don’t want big white handprints on your Sunday’s best.

[datapacks]

Would you say the Pale Garden still seems lackluster following the updates after it was announced at Live?

Yes & no, honestly. My feelings are a lot more complicated, to say the least. It feels now like the Pale Garden biome is kinda... complete? But only by the standards mojang themselves has set.

It feels like mojang is falling into their age-old trap of insisting that Every Single Feature needs to be wholly and entirely unique, where its just like... it would be genuinely easy for them to add 2, 4, 8, 16 new flowers to the pale garden. Now, mind you, I don't think it needs that many! but the last time we got just a normal-ass flower was 2018. Since then, we've gotten... 4, arguably 5. Two of these flowers were from the sniffer- the only things that the sniffer does. Then we have the pink petals, which I'll get to. The last of these are from the pale garden.

With the Pink Petals, it kinda highlights this entire thing. They just... added a new biome with 1 tree, 1 flower, called it good. That's the standard. Technically, they went above and beyond here by adding a new mob and a new moss type.

While I love the amount of uniqueness in the creaking not having a drop, instead having its "drop" be obtained by breaking the blocks around the heart, in the pale eyeblossom opening & closing, it's just like... it feels a bit unnecessary at this scale, yeah? like. If the entire biome is just "yeah theres a wood, a moss, a flower, and oranger bricks" and that's the entire plan, then it feels like... a lot of work for just that. like, go with me on a mind journey for a second:

Mojang announces Minecraft 1.28.46, the Squibeldy Squop Bop Drop. In this update, they're adding the Squibeldy Squop Bop Biome, which has massive implications for the lore with the inclusion of the Squob Mob. They're also adding a new wood type and new tree type. And a flower. You can kill the Squob Mob to get Squibeldy Squop Bop Blocks, which have brick variants. And get this: to get any of this working, we spent 8 months programming new mechanics for the mob so that it'll Call your Real Life House and Call You a Nerd.

Like, the pale garden is cool! The vibes of it have inspired me really heavily to do some cool things! but ultimately it's like... why are we adding this at all? Where's the focus? It kinda feels like they just chose "oh hey Jim had a cool idea for a new thing completely unrelated to anything else, lets add it". With nothing in it, it feels lackluster. With too much in it, it feels out of place. Ultimately the issue is that it's just like... why this?

I'm not a huge "we need an end update RIGHT NOW" person, but consider that it has been 8 years. Consider that it may not be until 2030 that we ever have even an idea of what the deep dark portal does. Consider that, for anything that feels incomplete with this completely random thing they're adding, you will sit with that feeling for a decade.

[transfemzedaph]

idea that definitely hasnt been living in my brain:

joel totally, 100%, does NOT have a massive crush on zedaph. zedaph, who he's heard a lot of things about but, but nothing could've prepared him for how blummin' cute he is, for goodness sake-- what. what? don't look at him like that. it's nothing. shut up.

(hope u like this even if u dont write smth for it DJBDJD)

i fucking loved this ask so much <3. i transed joel & zeds genders. bc im me. also the end is meh & i dont know what grians base looks like and i do not care

-

Of course Joel had heard about Zedaph, how could they not have. There was the rest of ZITS in the life series, Skizz specifically when he found out the both of them were joining, and of course Grians run down of all of the hermits. The basic gist of it was she's weird in a cool way and makes creative and useless but fun machines, which honestly, Joel thought sounded really awesome. Redstone was fine and all but they did tend to think most redstoners were way too serious about the whole thing.

So when Joel was invited over to be the first person to test Zeds newest thing, they were excited!

What none of any of his friends had told them, was how flippin cute she was. And yeah maybe Joel ended up stumbling over their words more than usual whilst hanging out, and yeah maybe they were a little bit distracted from the game? activity? workout? whatever it was, Joel was a bit distracted because they kept watching Zed.

Joel rushes their goodbyes and runs off back home, laying face down on the floor of their newly built home, void they should have put some furniture in already.

Grian wanders over and lets out a little snort at the sight of Joel, who just groans and rolls over, propping themself up a bit,

"This is all your fault."

Grian just stares.

Joel locks eyes with him face scrunching, "You didn't tell me she was cute."

Grian, promptly bursts out laughing.

"Gri, no, this isn't funny. This is serious. And she's gonna think I'm an idiot now and it's all your fault!"

Grian's still laughing.

Joel sits then self up and crosses their arms indignantly, "Are you done?"

Grian's giggling a bit when he replies, "You've got it so bad! For a blonde! Again! You have a type sooo bad."

Joel kicks their leg out towards Grian, grumbling slightly, "Yeah well, you're blonde but you're ugly and I hate you. So there."

Grian sits himself down next to Joel, bumping their shoulder with his own as he does.

"Honestly I bet Zed loved hanging out with you. Don't worry yeah? And at least next time you can compose yourself before you hang out."

Joel leans their head on Grians shoulder.

"Yeah." They sigh, picking at their fingernails, before mumbling "Think 'm just overthinking it cause of being new 'n all that. Just dont wanna make anyone hate me."

Grian scoffs, "No one is going to hate you, and you know Skizz, and probably Tango and Impulse as well, have all talked to Zed about you? Why do you think she invited you to hang out?"

Joel hums.

"To me it seems like she was also trying to impress you too, showing off what she made?"

Joel blushes, halfheartedly giving Grian a little shove, "Shut up."

-

It's a couple of days later when Joel barges into Grians house, "I have an excuse to go visit Zed!"

Grian sighs, "And you had to come and tell me about this? Right now?"

Joel takes in the scene, Mumbo, standing next to a coffee machine, his moustache looking very lackluster, Grian almost curled up on his stool, hands clasped around a mug.

Joel winces, "Uh, what time is it?"

"Too early for this nonsense, shoo." Grian lazily waves one hand in Joels general direction to usher them away.

Joel grumbles to themself as they walk away, "Whatever, Grian doesn't get to know my really cool and awesome plan of going over and saying that we need to beat Impulse and Tangos high score without being a bit cheaty like they were. Which is the best plan ever."

[geminixevans-stan]

Changed Places

Pairing: CEO! Thor x Female Reader

Words: 1680

Summary: When the choice to try something new guides reader to the gym she has no idea what future awaits here...

Warnings: 18+ Minors DNI, explicit language, mentions of oral (f), hints of poly

A/N: *gasp* A Thor fic?! Yes I know, very different for me but I'm challenging myself! I hope you all enjoy it and want more Like, comment, & reblog! ♥

I do not consent to my work being copied, plagiarized, or translated in any way >:P

Tiny droplets of the crying sky showered the windshield as you made it through the busy LA streets. Your eyes dart left, right, even peering through the rearview mirror before placing your eyes back on the road in front of you. No matter the amount of rain, all the drivers seemed to have acted as if it were their first time on the road. The slightest swerve from any car made goosebumps prickle your skin. 

You hated driving in the rain. Hated it so much that you tried to avoid it as much as possible, or have Neil take you where you needed to go — which he declined almost all the time. If it didn’t have anything to do with him, he didn’t see the need for him to chauffeur you around. 

“You’re a big girl. You don’t need me…” he would say lazily as he trudged back upstairs to converse with strangers he owed not a second to. As the years of your marriage crept by, the concern he had for you grew less and less. 

Which is why you decided to try this new venture all by yourself. Going to the gym wasn’t new to you but you thought that if you lost a few pounds of the marriage weight and toned up, that maybe, just maybe, Neil would take a first and a second look at you. But it seemed he was more interested in his job, games, and occasional women than you. 

It hurt in the beginning, being put second. But each hurtful moment just made your skin thicker and your feelings nonexistent. An exit out of your marriage was weighing heavily on you and, shamefully, you could admit that you had thought about darting towards that exit more than once. 

You thought about your failing marriage and all that would come if you decided to choose yourself just this once. How your family would feel and what they would think of you for ending a marriage that might have worked out. 

But when it came down to it… you were unhappy. The only thing that made you even crack a smile was the success at your job, and being one of the top performers there. With each promotion, your heart soared. Only for it to be broken the minute that you would tell Neil. 

He had a way of making your accomplishments an insult to his lackluster career and would even choose to sulk than congratulating you. One thing about you — stagnation was out of the question. You were either going to end this marriage as it was or try your hardest to bring the spark back. Even if Neil wasn’t the least bit interested in putting in the effort. 

Here you stand outside of the gym, clutching the nylon strap over your shoulder as you take a deep breath and pull open the door. The cool air of the industrial air conditioning system hits you in the face like a strong breeze. It felt welcoming and the air lingered with a faint citrus smell. 

You were met with the front desk, the top of it decked in marble, and the gold lettering in front of it beamed like no other. A woman flipped through the New Asgard Monthly Magazine behind it,  peeking over the current issue as you approached. She calmly placed it down and motioned for you to come closer. 

She had a warm smile that could go either way but you were determined to get this introduction over with so that you could start your new journey. With another deep breath taken, you stroll to the front desk, unzipping your duffel bag to present your wallet, in case you needed to present any identification. 

The woman studied you for a moment, giving you a once over before she began to speak, “Welcome to Valhalla Fitness, I am Eleni. Do you have a membership?” she smiled softly, giving you time to speak as she leaned further forward in her seat. 

You cleared your throat, adjusting the strap over your shoulder again, “N-no. I don’t. It’s one of the reasons why I’m here. I’d like to get one today if that’s possible,” it was if you were a little kid asking permission to sit at the lunch table with the cool kids. Every fiber of your being vibrated with heightened nerves as you stood. 

You couldn’t put your finger on it. But it seemed as if Eleni could see right through you or knew a secret about you that you didn’t even know. Either way, your anxiety finally settled when Eleni made a sound of glee, clapping her hands together before beginning to type on the screen in front of her. 

— 

The tall figure rose from his seat, stretching his legs as he lazily made his way toward the open  window. It showcased his newest investment, Valhalla Fitness. He scanned the crowd of gym goers, his eyes darting between the patrons putting in ample work, and those who were only there to look like they were exercising.

His schedule was the same seven days a week; not that he minded in the slightest bit. Being one of Earth’s mightiest defender for a decade, earned him a well-needed retirement. One that he had no problem taking as he searched for new ventures to dive into.  

He inspected the spacious gym once again, an unfamiliar sight stopping him in his tracks as he squinted down at the front desk. Deciding he had to have a closer look, he took his tablet in one hand and opened up the app for the security cameras. He selected the one behind the reception desk, aimed directly at the woman smiling gratefully at Eleni.

His curiosity got the best of him as he zoomed in, taking in the every dip and curve of your body that in his opinion didn't need working on. Just like Eleni, his eyes stayed on you in a less innocent way than hers, paying attention to the spread of you lips as you smiled or the way you shifted ever so slightly as you listened to Eleni. His tongue slid over the plump of his bottom lip, watching as you mouthed of information, causing Eleni to type in every word.  

How he wished he could hear how you sounded. 

“You’re staring, Thor. You never stare,” a sultry voice rang out behind him, but it did not not deter him from keeping his eyes on you. 

“I stare. When things or people are worthy of catching my eye. You should know that dear wife.”

A chuckle falls from her lips as a throaty moan escapes it a second later, “Yes, I know that look all too well. I used to be the cause of it,” she purrs, returning her attention back to the man feasting between her legs.

The sight of was nothing new for Thor. They had been married for centuries, bound together by arrangement rather than love. But from outside, people would never know or even hear anything more than the Mighty Thor and Valkyrie being madly in love with each other. 

In Thor’s experience, people  married for centuries developed certain tastes– and they weren't always for each other, as many would hope. A man or woman feasting on Thor’s wife was just another day for him. He had granted her wishes  long ago as, Valkyrie did the same. 

Though they never shared their bed with others — hotels were a very different story. 

Thor’s eyes remained trained on the camera, noting every smile or laugh.. Even the small tick in your eyebrow when it looked like you were asking a question. You were art and he wanted to get a closer look at his new visitor. 

He was all about making everyone at the fitness center feel welcome; and for you, he’d give you more than one tour if you asked him for it. Thor watched as Eleni passed over the welcome packet over to you, watching you punch in your new code as you walked past. 

Thor straightened his back, turning the tablet off and fixing his shirt. He strolled over to the door, craning his neck as he called up the stairs, “I’ll go greet our new customer. I’m sure you’ll be here for a while. Clean up after you’re done with the poor man. He’s been savoring your nectar for hours.”

“Hm, the nectar of an Asgardian is always addicting, my love. Maybe you’ll have some later?” Valkyrie croons over at him. 

“Don’t count on it, my dear. I’m sure you’ll be drunk with Asgardian mead by the time I’m done.” 

“You know me so well… Almost as if we were-”

The door opened and shut before she could even finish her sentence. 

Thor trudged down the stairs with purpose in every step. The closer he got to you, the more his loins warmed with fire. He had to hear you, your scent already caressing his nose like smell of a newly made weapon. 

He saw the uncertainty in your eyes as you were trying to decide which machine to use, biting at your lip furiously. It never dawned on you that someone was edging closer. The moment his voice filtered into your ears, you looked up, stopping your search on which device you would try first..

He extended his hand towards you as your name formed on his tongue. The softness of your hand compared to the callous surface of his only but made him want you more. To him you felt like nothing that belonged on this Earth. With you in his close proximity, the light vanilla scent caressed his nose as he easily towered over you. 

“Welcome to Valhalla Fitness. I am Thor, one of the owners of this fine establishment. I see you’ve gotten the welcome packet from Eleni. I would love to give you a proper tour of our facility, if you would like.”

The deep velvet coming from his mouth was all you needed to shake his hand and accept his tour invitation… 

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 6/25/2024

i played a game that is not genshin impact!

listening

paige kennedy's lingerie model. the line "cause i'm a little rat boy in the body of a lingerie model" startled a laugh out of me. off the discover weekly playlist.

-

reading

thank you philip.

Johnny Guitar by Roy Chanslor, on interlibrary loan bc i was hoping reading the book would kickstart my long-planned fic based on the movie. surprise! wildly different book i read in one sitting! the locations, most of the characters (except most of them are much younger) and who's on what sides are essentially the same, but everything else is different!

there are five whole women in this thing, which is a staggering number for a western. i don't know that i have a clear idea of what this book is trying to say about Women in general or specific. i've just been kind of rolling it around in my head for a while. once i figure out what i want to say about this book everyone better watch out

-

watching

borrowed my best friend's husband and their disney plus account to watch a lot of star wars. we certainly had a lot of thoughts about the show Ahsoka but none of them were particularly complimentary. it's dave filoni playing the fucking hits. would you like some wolves and some owls and people having bad feelings and recreating the training session on the millennium falcon from ANH? would you like some fairly lackluster lightsaber battles? would you like the least interesting concept of a waiting room/purgatory/underworld you've ever seen? this is a show where we meet Anakin again and TRAVEL TO A DIFFERENT FUCKING GALAXY, the BIRTHPLACE of some WITCHES. can we be a little bit excited about new things please??? please?????? we are so very bogged down in cutting back and forth, bc god forbid everyone be in the same place at the same time, that we get only the tiniest glimpses of fun new places. show me the places. stop giving me medium shots of people yapping. easily three quarters of this show is filmed from the waist up or closer. what fucking gives. if i really really wanted to scratch the itch of a worrisome legacy and lost love and slightly weird student/teacher dynamics i would go read a contemporary literary novel. show me the interesting parts of star wars and not just the fanservicey callback parts please thanks

we did have a lot of fun with The Acolyte, which genuinely does feel like a breath of fresh air. most of the dialogue is extremely bad, which is sort of par for the course for a star war, but the gleeful jumping with both feet into some real melodramatic weekly serial/space opera tropes!!! much more interested in playing with a heightened narrative/playing with narrative at all, unlike ahsoka which is more focused on filling in a little blank spot!!! witches here also!!! the GOOD TWIN and the EVIL TWIN, several inventive assassinations, the CLEARING of one's NAME, a cursed planet, some fights that feel like they're playing with samurai movies and westerns in a fun new way instead of reminding me of a better thing i could be watching. thank you im eating this with a spoon. many people are very mad about it bc the protagonist is black and perhaps not perfectly straight. the public says this star wars is bad, bc of woke and bc of cliffhangers. i think this one is fun actually so far!!!

-

playing

Freshly Frosted (2022, Quantum Astrophysics Guild). free on Epic rn and quite honestly this should be a self-care/old people brain plasticity phone game. why it is NOT on mobile is beyond me. why it is on SWITCH is also beyond me.

it did make me miss a novelty doughnut and coffee mini local chain in the five college area that has long since gone under. one of my therapists used to have an office above one of their stores and i used to go to a class at smith on wednesdays, go to therapy, and then jog for the half hour bus back to umass, reward doughnut in hand.

it opens with a soft-voiced woman telling you about how she likes to decompress by laying in a field and imagining a donut factory in the sky. she gives encouraging little tips and "hey! be nice to yourself!" throughout the game, but mostly at the beginnings of levels and introducing new mechanics. there are, perhaps, overly plentiful achievements.

there are a dozen dozen levels and i played through the first three dozen, or the first three boxes (normie don't draw over your line, multi track drifting, merging paths). i once had a level correct and then hit undo out of indecision and the tutorial lady told me "“You had it, click the undo button in the top right to undo”. which i don't believe i've ever seen in a game.

i stopped at the third box bc there’s a universal order to ingredients (always frosting then sprinkles then whipped cream then etc) but it does not ever tutorialize that it will only put the next ingredient on if the previous ones are fulfilled. like this was the level i figured this out on.

on further levels in this box i was not thinking super hard about what the actual order was and i couldn't really tell you how i solved a particular level except for making sure every possible path existed. maybe this gets super wild in later levels idk but three dozen levels was enough of a novelty for me. if i may be a little mean to a perfectly fine game, it feels like a coding bootcamp project in the way it steps through its logic and introduces new mechanics.

-

making

cross stitch update. i don't believe this will be done by my brother's birthday

[vanmarkus]

This has been on my mind (obviously with everything that's been happening) and I'm curious if I'm alone in it. Do you sometimes think maybe they missed the window with buddie? That it should have happened in season 4 and maybe now they're trying to tell us it's too late? They keep digging the hole deeper for eddie, with shannon being the "the love of his life" he'll never get over and I just wonder if it'll ever make sense again in a way that's not a "consolation" because that would be unfair

so much to unpack here and I doubt you'll like my answer but I'm behind on asks anyway so why the hell not.

so here's the thing.

I am so SO happy that they didn't do buddie in season 4. a rushed season affected by covid with literally one episode lead-up? if we lean into the idea that the shooting/will arc was supposed to be that, that is.

(but mind you that has never been said or confirmed, they floated a bi Buck storyline that got shut down, at which stage we don't even know, could possibly have been before even having a script written for it and way before they even came up with the shooting arc itself.)

but if we lean into that then I would've found it lackluster, personally. I know not everyone holds the same opinions and that's totally fine.

but having two characters who have previously only ever dated and talked about women* suddenly kiss and start dating, without coming out, self-realisation, any other preamble aside from "you almost died/I almost died" which isn't exactly a new predicament for either of these characters...

(*in Buck's case the bi crumbs were huge and I always felt that it could've been a pretty natural progression if they just let us know that actually, Buck was out this whole time it just didn't come up on screen lmao but in all seriousness from a general audience standpoint? having both of them suddenly be together? even though, we had a lot of subtext, I just doubt it would've worked as well as it could work now.)

I mean sure, it might've been just the start and then they could've done a bit more background work for it in season 5, but even if Fox didn't shut it down (again, just a simple bi Buck storyline, not even two main characters on the show suddenly being in a queer relationship or leading up to it at the very least) the risk of not getting renewed for season 5 would've been higher than ever, so for them to leave it hanging at the end of the season would've been unlikely imo.

just to reiterate before moving on: all of the above is based on speculation and what ifs.

and about buddie in this current climate, well... I talked about this extensively so just to keep it short; though I'm more than content if not, I still believe that buddie will become canon eventually.

and ngl I find it kinda frustrating how little faith some of you have in the writing of the show when this season proved more than anything that they are finally back on focusing on the characters and actually have ideas about where to take them instead of having every single one of them running around in circles.

sure, some of the storylines are more than bonkers, but this is 911 and that trend started in season 1, so if you don't like that, then maybe this isn't the show for you. because this season with all the insanity and heartbreak was and is so far, quintessential 911.

both Buck and Eddie are well established, complex characters and they deserve to be taken on a narrative journey separately and together if buddie should happen. yeah, clearly neither character is in a place right now, but what's the rush?

we have at least one more full season ahead of us, that could be more than enough time to take them there.

and I know that anytime I say this there are at least ten people in the notes saying that we had 6 years of lead-up, so it wouldn't be rushed, but I can't help but disagree.

Eddie still has no idea how to be in a relationship and actually be in it. yeah, sure, he and Buck have been playing house for years, but the fact that neither of them seem to recognise that is a big issue on its own. and Buck, for the first time since Abby, is in a good place romantically. like the ship or not, it's canon that he's more content and happy than ever and everyone around him thinks so too.

now, we don't know how long this relationship will last and if/when it'll end and why. but if Buck got the chance to discover this part of himself without trauma and significant pain, with the people around him being supportive and patient, then I don't want Eddie thrown in there with a halfhearted realisation-to-kiss-or-confession within one episode either.

I have trust that if buddie is about to happen, it'll be handled well and in no way, shape or form would it be a consolation prize — especially because Tim is no longer bending over for the bullying of the fans and just goes by his own rules and only gives as much as he wants to. as he should.

honestly, this whole "gimme and gimme now" attitude is so stupid. and frankly, the notion that a popular queer ship would actually have a real chance to go canon has just relatively recently became a thing and now so many people almost feel entitled to it, which then spoils their experience with what's actually going on as a whole.

if your enjoyment of the show is solely dependent on a ship becoming canon? then maybe watch something else, because you're just setting yourself up for heartache, one way or another.

[alpaca-clouds]

The Church in Castlevania

Okay, folks, I need to get this out of my system. Because this is always such a bad faith argument and... yeah, I just need to get that out there.

Now, I think most of us can agree that a lot of the game fans, who hate on the series, are just... looking for reasons to hate on it. Because in this time and age it is apparenting not just okay for people to say: "This wasn't for me" and move on. No, folks need to make up reasons why actually the thing they don't like is the worst thing ever.

In terms of Castlevania that comes with people idealizing the games (and quick reminder: I like most of the games, but... their storytelling is still very lackluster) and of course making up issues with that.

And one of the made-up hate reasons they found is how the church and religion are depicted.

They will claim: "Religion is a force of good and such an important part of the games and the Netflix series made religion a bad thing!"

And I am sorry. This is bullshit. Especially as someone who has been raised Catholic - aka the flavor of Christianity that Castlevania features.

Let me explain.

How the Games depict Catholicism

Now, I am no longer Catholic. Because of all the bullshit the Catholic church did to kids, and also their stand towards queer people. But I can tell you: If I still was Catholic, I would probably be offended at the games.

Look, this is how religious characters like priests and nuns look in the games.

And, I am sorry, this is all bad.

Now, let me start with Tera, because she is probably the least offensive in there. Because her dress per se is alright. That is what a habit of a nun would look like. Most probably St. Thomas or Ursuline. But... there is one glaring issue: She is not wearing a head scarf. And that is an important part of being a nun. Like, really. nuns are usually allowed to drop the rest of their habbit. If you live somewhere with an abby (or go to a school where nuns are the teachers like me) you might see nuns running around in normal clothing... But never without their headscarf. The hair has to be covered. It is kinda part of the point.

Next up would be Vincent. And that dress is just like... Okay, I am gonna give them some points for giving him the right hair style that would made him Capucian. But the rest of his design? What is even going on there? That is not Catholic, that is just some fantasy priest design. It absolutely makes no sense. Even less so under the entire "well, technically he should be a monk" idea. The design is bad. Really bad.

And then we have the nameless Priest of Moonlight Rhapsody. Who... looks like you crossed a Capucian monk with a freaking druid?! Like... What?!

Not to mention, of course, that while Sypha in the games is not technically a nun (though she hides as one) she hides as one and also is said to have a close tie to religion, being a woman of faith and all of that.

Now, the CV3 design is not even that offensive.

Like, sure, the blue is a bit weird, but... You know what? Hair is covered. The clothing is very conceiling. Yeah. It is not ideal from a Catholic point of view. So, that is okay.

But then we have the Castlevania Judgement design.

And... Do I really have to explain why this design is offensive on so many levels?

Like, you cannot just put a female character in this super sexy outfit, put so many fucking crosses on it and then go like: "Yay, religious character!"

Ironically the character who has the best religious design in the games is fucking Zead.

Outsie of that, let us look how religion gets depicted within the text... Well, no, let's not do that, because it isn't. Religion is not there in the text. At all. Because it is just a purely aesthetic thing that happens within the games. Charakters have religious affiliations, you will regularly find a chapelle in Dracula's castle with all the pretty stained glass and all that. But... It is not really there.

I think Alucard is a very good example of this. In Japanese artwork he gets depicted with a rosary or cruzifix from time to time. Like on the cover of Symphony of the Night.

But there is nothing religious about how he acts. There is no prayers. Nothing in terms of how he speaks. Really nothing. It is nothing but an aesthetic.

And... that is basically the whole thing going on with the games.

The thing folks miss, when it comes to the depiction of Christianity in the games, is that the games are first and foremost Japanese games made by Japanese games for a Japanese market. And in Japan only 1.5% of all people are Christian. And to Japanese people, Christianity is a very exotic. It is about as exotic as Shintoism is to European and American people. So, the Christianity within the games is very much that. It is basically the same like an American game in which some characters run around with Kitsune masks, or where you run through a shrine with nice torii in front.

Is it offensive in a horrible way? No. Or not that much, and be it just because Christians over here love to feel offended, but actually rarely are because they are the majority. It isn't that bad. But is it a good depiction? No, definitely not.

How Religion gets portrayed in the Castlevania series

So, let me talk about how the series - both the one from 2017 and now Nocturne portray Christianity and how this is related to their historical contexts. Now, let me first get one thing out of the way. The bishop and the Catholic church.

Yes, the bishop is clearly wearing the vestments of a Catholic bishop. Stylized, yes, but this is clearly Catholic vestments. And I have no heard several people claim that this is ahistoric because of Romania in general being mostly Eastern Orthodox.

But here is the big issue with that is, that... Yeah, Eastern Orthodoxy started to spread in Wallachia about a hundred years early. And it was from all we can say (look, there is little of written information that survived on the exact distribution). And I will not do it to you and myself to go deeper into the entire chasm between the Orthodox and the Catholic church.

Something that just needs to be said: The late 15th and the early 16th century in this area was a lot of religious turmoil. Which also had to do with the one historical detail that is not quite adressed in the show: Wallachia was just at the border to the Ottoman Empire, who tried to conquer Europe from there. (Again, the entire historical Vlad Tepes was so closely tied to that story. He got killed by the Ottomans in 1476.)

But that is also the aspect the show rightly brings in in one regard.

See, generally speaking one of the reasons that we got the Spanish Inquisition (which, again, was not about witches!) and the witch hunts just after the middle ages ended, so in the late 15th century was the conflict within the Church. There were suddenly several Christian religions and they were in conflict with each other and with that came a lot more push for the Churches to have power. The witch hunts were a way for them to clear up their power.

And yeah, that was a horrible thing they did. But... it is historically accurate. In fact, I would find it kinda offensive to look at the church of this time and show them as these nice people. Because that is kinda fucking with the pain and trauma of all those killed in the name of the church.

Now, Sala and his men are clearly Eastern Orthodox. While the clothing is not an exact match, the stuff they wear and also how they wear their hair and what not... That is Eastern Orthodox design.

Admittedly, the Priory is a but... bland for that. The Priory looks almost like Protestant. But than again it is a priory in a little town, so I guess it is somewhat understandable that it is not quite as fancy as Orthodox churches would be.

When it comes to the depiction of them... Well, I mean, they are not crazy because of their religion, they are crazy because somehow the night creature has brainwashed them.

That is honestly all I have to say.

And yeah, of course I should mention that we have of course Isaac there, who is a very religious character and who, in the very end, also gets depicted in a more positive light.

Now, compared to the original show Nocturne put in a TON MORE research when it comes to the depiction of the religious folks. Because while I do not consider the depiction in the original show as wrong, there is also not a ton of nuance and neither is there a lot of... details in there.

And compared to that we have now Nocturne and they just get the Knights Hospitaller so right. As well as their role within the revolution and all that. And... you know what? I am just gonna leave this blog here, where I went more into all of that.

But yeah, the entire thing is, that... in the games, Christianity is just an aesthetic. There is no substance to it. It is just to make the setting and the characters more exotic from a Japanese perspective. Meanwhile the show, which is mainly producted for a western audience, is more aware of the historical context it is set in and what role the Church took in it.

[demonvampire180writes]

Gonna sad post/vent my woes/ pity party for one for just a second because I can't sleep and my brain is v loud. Under the read-more is just me being sad about my writing skill, or lack of, and using BT as my jumping point/example.

I've noticed that, with BuckTommy at least, the stories that get the most attention are ones rated GA, or rated E. Stories that are rated T or M seem to get a lot fewer hits.

But it also feels like it's just my stories that are getting passed over, and I dunno. I don't really know what the scale of RSD is, but I know that I suffer pretty badly from it. My self esteem relies so much on outsiders and outer praise. While I enjoy the process of writing, and I like what I write, if I don't feel like it gets enough attention, my motivation drops. Inevitably I begin to question my writing skills.

I know that I have great grammar, and I've always been a great speller, but with auto-check on both those things it hardly even matters in this day and age. I hardly have to think about stringing sentences together that make sense because that squiggly blue line will be there to tell me that there might be a better way of saying it.

Take for example my very first 911 fic that I ever wrote. I posted it not long after BT's hospital kiss. It was a 7.06 coda and boy oh boy did the kudo's start rolling in! I felt so proud that people were loving it. I'd never gotten that much attention on anything that quickly. But I started doing the math of kudo's to bookmark to hits ratios and came to the crushing reality that less than 13% of hits left kudos (obviously knowing that some of the hits were people coming back to read it again) and the bookmark rate was abysmal. I don't even want to consider the number of comments I receive.

But that didn't stop me and I started working on the next thing, and the next, and the next. It didn't take me long to realize that my stories really weren't getting much attention and I couldn't figure out why. My rated G stories definitely garner the most attention, and one of my rated E stories has done somewhat well, but the length of time it's been posted vs the amount of meaningful interactions it has, and not just clicks, seems pitiful. And now I've started to doubt myself.

Is my writing really that bad? Am I just as mid of a writer as I am a singer and martial artist and really, anything I try my hand at? Like in most cases, the story gets a fair few hits when it's first posted, but within a weeks time, I'm lucky to get one or two kudos on it. When I sort by number of kudos, the top stories will have hundreds, if not closer to a thousand, while I'm lucky to see over a hundred. (On my non angst stories. I know the 8.06 canon compliant stories aren't popular.) Don't even ask me about how few comments my works get.

Then I compare it to the date posted and my heart sinks. Sure, these folks have probably built up a following - especially those of you who write almost exclusively for one fandom - but they had to have started somewhere. I can't even get readers to follow me from one platform to another. Not only that but I don't even get enough eyes on me for people to be curious about me outside of the stories I post. (Which honestly I get, I don't pay all that much attention to posts about sending asks about personal life stuff.)

So, depending on how readers are filtering the stories, and how they're having them listed, my stories get buried in the deepest recesses of the archive. They never seem to hit that critical point of being in the top five pages of the big filters: bookmarks, kudos, and hits.

Why am I having the pity party of one? Because I wrote the first chapter of a story that I was really excited about, the initial thought post got quite a bit of attention, and I assumed people were interested. But the response has been... lackluster. Maybe I'm just posting when all of my fellow BT's are in dreamland coming up with their own story ideas, or maybe I overestimate the level of interest and people "heart" the post just to be nice. Even on Ao3 the response has been relatively low and I feel like this is a somewhat new fix-it fic idea. I haven't really seen people throwing the idea around. (You know, besides "crash that whatever!")

I love this idea, but I'm questioning if it's even worth writing at my skill level. I personally think it's such a cool idea, but if I can't execute it well then there's no point. Someone else with much more skill than me should take it from my hands before I soil it.

[multifunctionalnitroglycerin]

Heaven is not entirely on the wrong – a hazbin hotel theory #2 – Exterminations

Something that is often overlooked or sugarcoated a bit in Hazbin amidst all the goofy songs and trust exercises, is that Hell is terrible. There I said it. Hell is a blood terrible place to be. It’s a place of eternal torment, and a prison, a container if you will, for the most terrible of people that have walked on earth. (Let’s not forget that fan favorite Alastor was a psychotic serial killer when he was alive, and still is a master puppeteer, a manipulative, powerful owner of countless souls that is undoubtedly cruel.)

            Murder. Manipulation. Abuse. R*pe. They all exist in abundance down there. And for the average sinner down in the pride ring, things are tough. After being exposed to all that and worse even – as we glimpse with Angel, and Husk – your average sinner is left severely traumatized, if not also physically hurt (regenerative abilities, so idk). To put it simply, hell is a hellish place. And even our beloved princess of Optimism in all her naivete sees it and wants to help. Thus, the plan for rehabilitation and getting a postmortem chance at redemption. (Though how many of them can be redeemed? And does it count if they only do it in fear of punishment? What about metanoia? Is it sincere? What if someone breaks through that shouldn’t have?)

            Hell is overpopulated and here comes heaven with its plan of annual exterminations to keep the population on the down low. And Adam who does it purely for his own entertainment. And Sera who internally struggles with having given the okay for them. (We’ll get to her in a bit, though).

            Here comes the controversial part. If Hell is such a terrible place to be, and no one wants to be there, isn’t killing sinners a way of freeing them from their torment? (It sounds bad I know, and I don’t intend to turn this to an assisted – suicide / euthanasia debate). And if they are “worthy” see rehabilitated, aka have regretted what they’ve done, aka can be redeemed their souls are cleansed and free to ascend to heaven.      

We are not talking about exterminators, we are talking abt exorcists. And if you are familiar with at least horror movies – not necessarily history or religion – you know that exorcists vanquish restless or misguided souls and release them. It’s not a form of punishment, but historically an attempt to help the soul rest in peace. So, if the name choice is deliberate and we are talking exorcists and not exterminators, aka soul cleanses instead of forever death, things might not be as bad.

Keep in mind that I am saying this from an outsider’s perspective and the show is portrayed from the sinner’s perspective. Or at least the denizens of hell. The very traumatized denizens of hell that amongst all their other torment have to be worried abt being killed like cattle once a year. And they have no idea what happens once you die by angelic spear. So that births fear and paranoia Not to mention that Adam and Lute’s sadism and the general bloodthirsty tendencies of the exorcists don’t help the case.

The narrative perspective is meant to make us empathize with the sinners and the denizens of hell, not heaven not the angels, and certainly not Adam or Sera. In the shows narrative they are supposed to represent the corrupt order and oppressive powers we are supposed to resent, whether that is objectively the case, is an entirely different discussion.  So the perspective, and the narrative tools used express that particular POV, and the plot and characterization is meant to support that. Consequently, the questions abt narrator reliability arise, and what I have said above seems lackluster and completely opposite to what the show tells us.

Another point I wanted to bring up is that the way Charlie pitches the idea of the hotel, and a chance at redemption has a bit of a… big hole in it. Anyone can improve at any time yes. I agree. But people that are in hell, have already had the chance to improve for so long as they were alive. It is an arduous process, a mountain to climb yes, but if one truly desires to redeem themselves for what they have done, and become a better person they would have tried before. Perhaps tried and failed, but tried, nonetheless. Which sets those people up perfectly to be residents of the hotel.  But how many of them are there? How many ended up in hell? How many of those in hell actually want to redeem themselves, regret, change their ways and ask for forgiveness? So, the postmortem redemption is kinda fishy. And there is another reason for it as well. If you want to redeem yourself, just for the shake of avoiding punishment, and eternal suffering, is it really redemption? Do you really want to become a better person?  Or just avoid the consequences of your decisions in life?

And as we see none of the people in hell, apart from Vaggie, believe in Charlie’s plan. Most even ridicule her for it. Including Angel who just wants free food and a place to crash at night. And who while having showin signs of improvement, still is in hell. Would just sticking to Adam’s rules, make him go up in heaven? Would that balance out all that he has done in life? Hell, does Sir Pentious’ sacrifice balance out all he did in life? And earns him a place in heaven?

Alright though, Sir Pentious is a mostly harmless goofball. What about people Like Vox and Alastor, Valentine, Velvette, the overlords? Hell is populated and in part ruled by the worst that humanity has to offer. And what happens if one of them manages to break the system, manipulate Charlie, fool her and take advantage of her, and end up in heaven? What will that spell for all the innocent souls up there?

Could infiltration be the key to a new Hellish uprising? And war between heaven and hell? Would corruption sheep into all their hearts? Idk what would happen but it would spell disaster for all the innocent souls in heaven that remain ignorant of all that mess.

And lastly a big elephant in the room I’d like t o address. Is Pentious really the first denizen of hell to be redeemed? He gets blasted by holy light and ends up in heaven, because he dies in an act of self-sacrifice. Have there not been any sinners before him that just tried to get by in hell? That ended up there for a stupid reason, or sth that they didn’t quite have a choice about, and then tried to make the most of their life in that mess, regretting what they have done? And if so, if they were killed in exterminations, why would they not ascend to heaven instead of being cast away to oblivion? Like Sir Pentious?

What if there were souls that were worthy of heaven, and with their release – however violent – from the plane of hell they had the chance to ascend? If it is possible now, wouldn’t it have been possible before? Why would Pentious be the only one? Or the first one for that matter?  

 In all the history of hell, I m supposed to believe that the only time a soul was regretful and changed and could have been redeemed was Pentious, with that one act of self-sacrifice? No woman that might have killed her abuser, and regretted taking a life but never regretted gaining her freedom, no man stranded in a desert or struck by a great famine with nothing to eat, hunt or scavenge but the bodies of his dead comrades? People that genuinely were faced with an impossible choice and ended up in hell for making it.

In a way I feel that if redemption is possible now, it was also possible before. It just flew under the radar, because probably no one ended up face to face with Sera after their ascend. Otherwise, she would have known it’s possible. And perhaps taken other measures.

And yes my ridiculous last argument leads me to the third installment of this huge mess

#3 – SERA

[scrapyardboyfriends]

I don't really see the similarities between Robert and John that a lot of Robert fans do but I'm really confused about the comments saying that they are repeating the Robron storyline. They can't do that because Robert and John's circumstances are completely different. What do people think is going to be the same? We really don't know much yet.

i suppose right now it's mostly based on vibes and knowing these people are not capable of an original thought in any way. I mean just by virtue of going out of their way to make Aaron's next potential love interest a long lost brother of Robert is too far. I mean...what is the reason. You can have a long lost Sugden, but he doesn't need to be romantically connected to Aaron. You can have Aaron date a struggling closed off army vet without him having to be related to his ex husband. There's just no need for it.

It honestly just amuses me that it feels like they're trying so hard and yet both of Aaron's post Robert on screen love interests are just the absolute worst ideas possible.

I mean you have Ben, the guy who he apparently bullied horribly in school for being gay cause...trauma who decided ah hell, I'll just date the man cause he's "changed" even though I will continually make comments about his temper that are absolutely fair and absolutely reasons you should not be dating him.

And now we have a long lost brother of his ex husband who seems to be getting what we thought would be Robert's post prison ptsd story but with army ptsd.

I mean if they'd just stuck him with Ethan after they slept together and Ethan tried to reach out to him, it would have probably been boring and mediocre but it wouldn't be this embarrassing.

It's like they actually have to put in more effort to be this bad than if they just stuck him with a random and let it be lackluster.

But back to the Robert similarities/the repeating Robron's story thing. I think it also comes from what we know about the upcoming story plus bits of filming knowledge. We know John's car is breaking down. We know Danny was filming out on the road. It's not hard to put two and two together and think they might have Aaron come across John and his breakdown. Hence the drawing earlier. And there's just no way that's coincidental that they would potentially be repeating the lay by scene. They're doing it on purpose. They want people to be reminded of Robron. I just have no idea why because we're obviously going to find it inferior. And not just because we're robron fans but because it's all incredibly random and forced with no build up.

I mean I just went back and watched their first kiss scene again. At least Robert and Aaron had known each other for a couple weeks, had been involved in a story. They were clearly kind of into each other. We saw Robert actively make the decision to fake the breakdown and get Aaron out there. I just feel like all of these character actions had actual basis for happening. They were making active choices.

Now it's just going to be silly and manufactured within an inch of its life.

I just have to look at it as a comedy...cause honestly it is.

[serfuzzypushover]

I would love to hear you explain cronkri quadrant deal in full detail

oh god youll regret this...

lets start off wwith kankri. cronus wwas someone she wouldnt b particularly interested in at the vvery start of the game imo. that is until she noticed a change in his behavvior/beliefs. she wwas the first to notice that cronus gradually lost an interest in ✨magic✨ and seemed awwkwardly trying to find anything to latch onto afterwwards. kankri wwould probably do this wwith the others too, seer of blood an wwhatnot, but cronus in particular made her feel a sort of pity she couldn explain. she probably doesn realize it but i think she wwould devvelop at least a crush lol. i dont think kankri wwould approach him about it, just observvin from afar and treating him like normal. after their deaths, she wwould try her shot at actually befriending him tho! cause hey theyr dead. they havve nothin else to do. thats howw she wwould excuse it at least

noww cronus. boy do i havve a lot to say about cronus. identity issues all around, that guy has no idea wwho he is and he wwill take on any persona that he thinks wwill make ppl like him. unfortunately rn that means: toxic masculinity, honestly really bad lackluster and obvvious manipulation tactics, objectification ect ect. take that and mix it wwith growwin up in a society thats expecting you to belittle evveryone beloww you in a caste system and yikes 😬! he wwas more than likely livving a great life on beforus. lonely but great. too great in fact. look he reads like a kid wwho really romanticizes oppression wwhen he himself has nevver dealt wwith it. taking on the role of a poor wwizard boy wwho wwas belittled and neglected but is actually the chosen one and then he wwins the day and evveryone lovves him or wwhatevver... im team he read a troll vversion of harry potter and just really wwanted to be him lol. turns out tho only aranea is at most only a tiny bit interested in his nerdy make-believve... i see him getting really attached to others wwho showw him evven the slightest hint of attention and that included aranea and maybe mituna wwhen he wwas a kid. not that either of them WWERE his actual friends, but cronus wwould havve seen them that wway. anywway back to kankri, this is a cronkri analysis lmao—he probably nevver paid attention to her during the game. shes a mutant. wwhatevver. not wworth his time. but then after they die, kankri starts to talk to him like friends and like usual he gets attached. cronus, recently havvin had his "human awwakin", is in a wway, subconsciously jealous of kankri. she has the correct blood color, she is a land dwweller and theres so many little things about her that makes her the closest a troll could be to a human. i dont think he realizes it, but somethin in him is tellin him to not fuck this one up. wwhat hes feeling probably isnt flushed, pale or evven romantic in a sense, but thats probably the only wway he could think to describe it. "ah see, this must be howv humans feel lowve!" says the aromantic, confidently.

so yeah basically cronus has stupid baka human emotions and thats wwhy his life is crumbling ofc... if they wwere to start dating in either red quadrant it wwould probably b a disaster. looking fine from the outside and evven havving some moments wwhere it is okay, but i dont think they could wwork long term as romantic. cronus' feelings are based on objectification n are probably bordering on fetishistic and kankri 100% has a sort of "i can fix him" mentality... i see them lasting 2 months. they are my otp and i lovve them and i wwill continue to draww them kissing ❤️

[localguy2]

We know Dragons Rising is gonna be split into two parts, and I think it's safe to assume that part 1 is mainly gonna focus on World building and introducing Arin and Sora properly into the team, alongside Lloyd and Kai and Nya of course.

And I think it's also safe to assume that Zane, Jay and Cole (and probably Wu and PIXAL) are gonna show up in part 2 or at the very end of part 1.

So that got me thinking, did Quest For the Lost Powers have a hand in this?

Canon wise of course it did, 4 OG ninja get their powers back and all hooray ig

But did it influence the decision of the producers and writers? Mainly in the decion of not including Jay and Cole and Zane (and Wu and Pix) in part 1?

Heck, you could potentially as far as back as crystalized and ask if it also affected that decision?

Because like think about it:

Quest For the Lost Powers gave Zane, Cole, and Jay all small but satisfying stories, Zane Jay especially benefited from this considering how lack luster they were in the wildbrain era compared to Nya, Cole, and Lloyd (Kai is also extremely lackluster but I'm touching on that in a bit)

Nya had an awesome arc in Seabound, Cole had an absolutely fantastic story in MotM, and Lloyd had multiple small but great arcs across the all the wildbrain seasons, well until crystalized at least...

You see, crystalized sorta... Damaged Lloyd's and Nya's arcs, Cole was spared thankfully.

Lloyd's apprehension to accept his father's change and his anger towards his father, while great ideas, were done poorly at best, not to mention the ending where he forgives Harumi (which might I add absolutely Anhiliated his character)

And Nya's status was reduced to a slightly worse Samurai-X that kept being thrown around by all villians and mocked, especially with how they say she's nothing without her powers.

And worse yet the show sorta reinforces this by having her defeat the mechanic using her powers, and calling for backup from marlopia via her powers as well.

So yeah, Crystalized really damaged these 2.

Now, where does Kai fall into this?

Well... Unfortunately for Kai, he's been lackluster since... Season 7? Somewhere around there.

His arc in Season 11 was honestly just sorta sad with how small it was, what we got was great but it also left a lot to be desired.

And his character was only made worse when they made his entire arc within the book another retelling of his S11 arc, this time featuring Skylor.

It didn't help either that the arc itself wasn't great like the S11 one, and it only served to make his character less intertsing.

So you've got 3 characters now, 2 heavily damaged by Crystalized and 1 becoming even less intertsing.

But if you look at the other side, you've also got 3 characters, 2 of them benefiting massively from the book, setting then up for potentially great stories in the future, and 1 of them already being good enough from the start.

And as a writer, you want to improve those 3 previous characters so they're on par with the other 3.

But that suddenly become more difficult when the thing plaguing your show is the lack of change in the status quo, and certain demands having to be met, as orders from the higher ups.

What I'm trying to say is, you have to change stuff up, while also fixing up older messes, and while also working on meeting certain goals set by a higher authority, Lego in this case.

So where do the ninja fall into this?

Personally (only my opinion) I think that the reason the producers and writers behind ninjago chose to not include Jay and Cole and Zane and Wu and PIXAL in part 1 of Dragons Rising, is to give Kai and Nya and Lloyd emergency character development, to try and at the very least fix some of old problems and issues left by Crystalized, in what limited run time you have.

Because aside from fixing up old characters, you also have to set up new ones, and also explain this new world and it's many inhabitants and many areas, and you have to do all of that while also making Lego's set ideas work with the show, or basically make a fancy advertisement for their products work within the universe of the show.

So it's a lot to do.

Technically, you can do all of this while also making Zane and Cole and Jay stick with the team, but it's only gonna make things harder for you and your fellow writers.

And those characters are already great enough, they've got the development they need just for now at least, so it's better to just remove them from the picture for a while, until you've got a stable work frame at least, than you can introduce them later again.

As long as you give a logical in universe explanation as to why they're weren't there in the first place, while also shedding light on what they were doing before being reintroduced.

Kai, Lloyd and Nya need this character development because of how Crystalized and QFTLP left them, otherwise people are gonna be upset with how they're progressing.

But Jay, Cole and Zane?

Not really, QFTLP (and MotM for Cole) has already done wonders for them, they can wait for now in favour of saving other characters from bad writing fates.

Ultimately, do I think this is all exactly what happened?

No, absolutely not.

But in my eyes, to a certain extant in some areas, it serves as a logical explanation as to why the writers and producers of the show made the decision they made.

And you know what?

Even if all of this is wrong, even if all of this is just random rambling and bad theorising, I'm still happy with the decions they've made.

It's a nice change of pace.

Could have it been communicated better?probably.

It didn't help either that in the trailers none of the characters state what happens to Jay, Cole and Zane, or even Wu and PIXAL.

But that was most definitely an intentional move, and you can't really be mad at it in that case, plus this is the first time the team has been this open of us, so let's cut them and Lego some slack.

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers LOST EDEN ー Carla Heaven [03]

ー The scene starts in Carla’s room

Carla: ...

*Flip* 

Yui: ( ...Carla-san’s completely immersed in reading his book. It’s as if he doesn’t even have eye for his surroundings. )

*Flip*

Carla: ...

Yui: ( I’d expect no less from him. But won’t he tire himself out from keeping such a strong focus? I’m a little worried... )

Carla: ーー Is the book I gave you dull, perhaps?

Yui: Eh?

Carla: You have been stuck on the same page for a while now.

Yui: Ahーー...!

( Because I found myself watching him... )

( Or rather, I’m surprised he paid attention to me as well despite being so concentrated on his own book as well. )

( Very impressive... )

Carla: What’s the matter? Are you hesitant to admit to me that the book I gave you is boring to you? 

Yui: N-No! That’s not true! I simply spaced out a little...

*Thud* 

Carla: ーー I suppose it is fine. Perhaps we should take a short break. ...Will you set us some tea?

Yui: Yes! I’ll prepare some at once!

ー Yui runs off

Carla: Phew...

*TIMESKIP*

*Pshhhh*

*Cling* 

Yui: Here you go. I’m not sure if I did a good job though...

Carla: Well then, let me be the judge of thatーー 

Yui: H-How is it...?

Carla: ...I believe you will need to study up on the art of brewing tea a bit more. 

Yui: Eh?

Carla: The fragrance has disappeared which completely ruins the taste. This is not worthy of being served to someone. 

Yui: I-I’m so sorry...!

Carla: ...However, seems like you did put plenty of love into it at least. Not bad. 

Yui: No way! No need to force yourself to praise me. 

Carla: It is the truth. ーー Come on. Confirm it by tasting it yourself. 

*Cling* 

Yui: Eh? That’s the tea cup you just drank from, isn’t it? 

Carla: It is, but is that an issue? 

Yui: I-I have my own, so I will drink from there! So no need to offer it to me...

( It’d be...an indirect kiss after allーー )

Carla: Heh...What are you getting all flustered for? Your cheeks are turning red.

Yui: I-I’m not flustered! Well then, I’ll confirm the flavor myselーー Hot...!

Carla: ...Who tries to down piping hot tea in one go? Of course you’d burn yourself. 

Yui: R-Rwight... (1)

Carla: Does it hurt? Where? Stick out your tongue. I’ll take a look.

Yui: O-Owkayーー

Carla: ーー Hm. It’s a little hard to tell from afar. Sit down on my lap.

Yui: Eh...? That’sーー

Carla: Hurry up. I am not the most patient man.

Yui: O-Okay...

*Rustle rustle*

Carla: Come on. Stick out your tongue at me one more time.

Yui: Y-Ywes...

Carla: Hmーー...

Yui: ( Oh no...His face is so close, it’s making me nervous... )

Carla: I see. It has turned fairly red. It must hurt quite a bit. 

ーー I shall heal you by licking it. Nnーー...

Yui: Nnーー...!

Carla: Fufuーー Hah...Nnhーー...

Yui: Nnhーー!

Carla: What’s the matter? Seems like you are experiencing more pleasure than pain?

Yui: T-That’s...Because youーー

Carla: Are you trying to put the blame on me? I see. Perhaps I licked you the wrong way.

Let me do this thenーー Nnーー...

Yui: O-Owーー ...!

( He bit down on my tongueーー )

Carla: Nn...It hurts...? I thought...you preferred the pain, noーー? ...Heh...

Yui: Nnーー...

( I don’t...Or at least that’s what I’d like to ay but...Because he’s sucking from my tongue... )

Carla: Heh...I have no idea what you’re trying to say. Come on, if you have anything to share, speak up.

Yui: Hahーー...

Carla: Yes, I know...You want me to bite and suck from you even more, don’t you? Nnーー

Yui: ( B-But I don’t...! Aah, my tongue feels so hot...The inside of my head is going blank... )

Carla: Nn...Hahーー... Phewーー...

Yui: Haah...Haah...

Carla: ーー Heh, your breathing is ragged? What is the matter?

Yui: I don’t...enjoy the pain...

Carla: I see. So you are asking for pleasure instead?

Yui: That wasn’t my intention...

Carla: So it is pain you want after all? Take a pick. I shall give you whatever you prefer.

Yui: ( ...Asking for pleasure would be way too embarrassing, I can’t say itーー )

Carla: Your flushed cheeks don’t give me an answer? If you can’t make up your mind, I will decide for you and give you pain.

Yui: P-Pleasure...please.

Carla: Heh, you are bright red. I suppose your ashamed expression makes up for the lackluster taste of the tea from earlier.

However, please try and make it taste better next time. Do you understand?

Yui: Yes...I will try my best...

Carla: A fine answer. In that case, I shall give you the pleasure you desireーー Heh...

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes

(1) Yui speaks in broken Japanese here because she burnt her tongue, hence why she has issue pronouncing the words correctly.