#actually vulpine

[thecouncilofcreatures]

Ace is hyperfixating on foxes and fox nonhumans again. It wants to make a server for those who identify as a fox or fox-adjacent (therian, alterhuman, otherkin, ect). [worldly, supernatural, ect]

Disclaimers

It would be open to and run by physical nonhumans, so do not join if you are anti-physical nonhuman or believe only spiritual/psychological nonhumans are valid.

It will be run by a plural system, one who does not engage in syscourse, and open to systems of any origin, so do not join if you are anti-certain origins.

It is vulpine-oriented, but poly-identifying nonhumans are welcome as well.

It will be primarily SFW, but it is preferred you are 18+.

It will not be a role-playing server, but rather a community-oriented server. There will be no "pack hierarchies", or the like.

It will likely take a while to establish, as we haven't yet truly started, but if you wish to join, it's recommended you save this message, as we will edit/reblog it as necessary.

[onedragonaday]

2/15/24 Vulpins from Vulpin Adventure

bonus!! all my vulpins i love them so much

[echthr0s]

been tryna ignore it but I am so goddamn annoyed at "human" as the default adjective for every kind/lovely/awe-inspiring/whatever thing y'all like about people/characters/concepts/whatever. frex, posts with the framework of "I love it when characters do the thing, it's just so beautiful and human" like give me a break

and i tried to ignore it bc this is very much a me-as-nonhuman problem as opposed to there being something actually wrong with that descriptor but that's a poor reason to ignore being aggravated, tbh. like yeah it's a me problem but 1) it's not just a me problem bc other nonhumans complain about it all the time and 2) it's literally fine for me to care about something that other people don't lmao

it's just so anthropocentric in such a casual way, a casual and unexamined equation of [goodness or sociability or intelligence or complexity of mind or complexity of emotion or capacity of compassion] with being human. that doesn't even make any sense but it's so ingrained in speech (in English, anyway) that if I tried to explain my frustration to anyone that wasn't also nonhuman, or alterhuman, or aware of this in some other way, they'd be like "lmao you're kidding right. you're making up something to be mad at" yeah well I Am Not

just tired of reading posts and bein like "yeah!! that's so good, I love when that happens" and then gettin to the "it's so ~human~" part and goin "well fuck me then" and scrolling on instead of happily reblogging. sure I could just reblog it anyway but now I don't fkn want to :)

[grow-bettah]

may I present....

BOY!!!!

[vomitfox]

Pinned post :3

Hello I'm fox welcome to my blog.

I am a 21yr old foxkittything from the UK

I live with my owner wolf and our cat I love them both more than anything in the universe

I struggle w several mental and physical health issues and disabilities I cannot work because of these and require a carer (wolf) to help me with even basic things

I wanted to make a blog where I can be fox brained and yap my thoughts into the void. I'm not doing good and maybe this will be a distraction for me :)

Idrk what the theme of this blog will be but will be posting abt things I do and like ect ect

Basic dni criteria homophobes, racists, terfs ect fuck off

Would prefer 16+ to follow it will not be an nsfw page but I'll post abt alc, weed and occasionally lewd stuff. I have a separate nsfw blog if people are interested they can DM :)

[whatudottu]

So the anthropologist nerd/loser in me wondered what kind of folklore and mythology various alien cultures in the Ben 10 universe might have (creation myths, folk heroes, ways of explaining natural phenomena that aren’t science-based, etc.) and caused me to come up with possibly the dumbest idea for a Ben 10 OC yet: an alien bard who travels across the galaxy not just to perform but also to collect stories and ballads of great events and heroes from different planets to add to their collection and form new ballads based off of them.

One of their original stories tells the tale of an alien from a far-off planet who attempted to take control of the space-time continuum and was cursed by the gods of his planet for his hubris by being scattered across time and space and sent back to the beginning of the universe, forced to live through its entire history in an endless cycle all while never being able to experience the sweet release of death, only for him to learn how to bend time and space to his will and ascend to godhood himself, leading to an epic battle between him and the gods who had cursed him in the first place. Though they are required by the man who served as the inspiration behind the story to put a disclaimer at the beginning that the story is merely a dramatization and doesn't 100% line up with what actually happened before they can tell it.

Oh totally! With the advent of space travel, especially among the species that have had such for a LONG while, there would most certainly be folktales and mythology abound for newer space travelers to pick up. Like, even with a significant scientific understanding of the happenings of the universe, older facts translate into newer fiction as stories develop by word of mouth (or the equivalent depending on species physiology) by the more bardic types of intergalactic individuals.

Of course, you'd probably have the more librarian types who not only record all these tales but also all the fact that it was inspired by through vigorous fact checking. Me making Sugilite a mutant with a more unique planetary psychometry (accessing the 'memories' of the entire planet) lends to me also making him this librarian of Petropian history, and considering the state of Petropia (aka not revived) he can't particularly afford to spin a few myths of his own. Instead Sugilite would totally have some bardic stories ABOUT him and his 'Library of Alexandria' mutant power, especially with Mor'Otesi being as barren of cystalsapiens as it is.

[homunculus-argument]

Despite of knowing that it's the lense depth thing causing it, I'm nonetheless still annoyed by the discrepancy between how I look in the mirror and how I look in photographs. I actually genuinely like the way I look in the mirror. If I could alter any of my features at will, I'd just keep the ones I have but make them more so. Longer nose, higher cheekbones, a distinctly more vulpine face.

But every time I try to take a picture of myself, it's just "what's up you box-shaped bulldog-faced fuck. you look like your mom."

[dee-the-red-witch]

Somehow, they feel more like dreams of foxes or cave paintings of them than anything close to actual real vulpines. Masks to wear while dancing around the fire, keeping the dark at bay. Regardless, this has this set of prototypes done with and available privately.

[atopvisenyashill]

DRAGONS!!!!!

vhagar the hoary old bitch - loved how aemond didn’t even look roughed up at the ending there, he’s simply too insulated by dragon to be touched. i love the little vhagar nap!!!!! love the focus on how old and slow she is, the holes in her wings, the long old lady neck. i love LOVED the way everyone stopped to turn in horror as vhagar started moving and shaking the earth with each step. the sheer fuck off SIZE of her even compared to meleys! the focus on the damage her body is doing as it falls and crashes into her own soldiers, throwing criston himself the ARCHITECT of the whole plan onto his ass. no one wins in a fight with a dragon!!

sunfyre the golden - i can’t believe we only get these two very brief scenes with sunfyre the golden being intact and whole and the most beautiful dragon, it’s not fair we deserved to see aegon treating sunfyre like a lapdog the way jon would treat ghost his prehistoric dinosaur wolf like a fucjing chihuahua. i give a lot of leeway for cutting dragons out of scenes bc i know they’re expensive as all hell but i think sunfyre is one of the dragons they should have splurged on, this is one of the final dragon bonds we ever see in house targaryen!!! i do LOVE the design on sunfyre, the more vulpine look to him, the way he moves almost as goofy as aegon does? fun, what a stunner. i may be willing to forgive the lack of sunfyre if we get a scene where aegon is screaming in pain and snot-sobbing (bc he knows they’re going to have to leave sunfyre behind without aegon to fly him) as they drag his body away from sunfyre next ep though.

meleys the red queen - honestly couldn’t have asked for a better depiction for meleys & rhaenys at rook’s rest. even beyond how often we’ve gotten to see meleys very cool crown design & bright red coloring, and rhaenys’ armor, the actual scene is great. rhaenys seeing vhagar and realizing that’s IT it’s OVER she’s not leaving here alive, seeing she can either die over the seas being chomped in half by vhagar, her body & meleys showing up on the shoreline for weeks to haunt her family, or she can turn around and make aemond WORK for her death. making sure she takes as many as she can out with her! surviving the first tussle, sharing a last look with her dragon and feeling LOVE they’re doing this TOGETHER, watching the moment meleys dies, and rhaenys going calmly into her death by fall. i loved the focus on rhaenys letting go but not fighting as she falls. i think one of the most interesting parts of the dance is how the people in dragon battle die - whether they jump or stay on the whole way down. rhaenys lets herself stay attached to meleys but isn’t trying to survive the fall either; she simply accepts her death coming moments after her beloved dragon dies.

[vraisetzen]

Hello! May I request a short fic or hcs, not directly connected to your long fic, on obsessive/possesive, yandere stalker!au Kokushibo and female reader whose naturally charming & tends to flirt and tease anyone around her to no end😭 (can be both sfw and nsfw, since I don’t think Koku would appreciate his dearest giving away her attention to anyone but him~)

I tried to send a similar request before but it didn’t let me for some reason ;(

𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌 — 𝑨 𝒀𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆!𝑲𝒐𝒌𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒃𝒐 𝒙 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒕

Author's Note: Thank you for the lovely ask! I actually received two requests for Yandere!Kokushibo; this is my first time writing a yandere fic, and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it!

Tags: NSFW, 18+, Smut, Stalking, Obsession, Mentions of death and violence, Yandere!Kokushibo, No use of (Y/N).

Summary: The light in your eyes was both fire and ice to him.

No one could fault a man for being too good at his metier, and as a bodyguard to one of Japan's most prominent politicians, Kokushibo had spent years honing his craft — disposing unwanted rivals, eliminating bothersome targets, ensuring the safety of his charges.

His hands grazed along the small of your back, playing you as a harp while you sang his name in pleasure. You, pinned to the floor as Kokushibo plunged into your depths, relishing every pulsating heat that enveloped his length — you must know, by now, how he worshipped at the altar of your body, your very existence the only thing he ever desired.

"M-more, please," you wailed, looking back and regaling him with the sight of your parted lips and flushed cheeks. "I need more-"

And there it was: the glittering stars in your eyes, just like the very first time you caught Kokushibo's attention — a supernova in a sea of lesser constellations that seared forever into his memory.

The only problem was that the light of the stars graced everything in its vicinity without prejudice.

The curl of your lips that you gave easily to your colleagues as you asked them about their weekend; the radiating heat of your body when you sat next to them and leaned in every so slightly; the tendril of your hair around your finger as you listened to a neighbour's complaints with a soft pout; the perfume on your skin that lingered for hours in a room after you made your leave, capturing the attention of those caught in its haze.

He could not stand the fleeting moments when you cast your eyes on another; the biting, Siberian frost that sawed into his bones, casting a mantle over the lava that burnt and ripped away in his guts as he saw you flounce from friend to colleague to acquaintance, speaking to them with a tenderness that should never be heard by anyone by himself.

Fire and ice — the twin spears that plunged through his faculties of reason and instinct, tearing him apart at the seams even as he betrayed nothing on his steely surface.

Kokushibo was nothing if not methodical, and he needed no grand gestures, no dramatic declarations of affection: an orchestrated encounter at a cafe when you stumbled into him and spilt coffee all over his shirt, a rehearsed rendezvous at the laundromat where he had the perfect amount of spare change while you scraped along the bottom of your purse.

The draping of a cloak of chivalry around your shoulders, pulling the wool over your eyes in one fell sweep of his hand — the back of which noted every detail of routine — as you traipsed gaily over the daisies outside the lion's lair.

After all, to be blind meant devoting oneself utterly to the hand that guided it through the dark, and now that he had lent you an inch, you were more than willing to present him with a mile:

Your breathless moans as he pinched your pert nipples, your essence that lavished over his cock. You were resplendent as the beads of sweat that rolled down your shoulder caught the glare of the lamp, the curve of your back vulpine and graceful as you raised your hip to meet his thrusts.

Would you be blind too, to your diminishing satellite of admirers? Kokushibo cautioned you as much about their hidden intentions: Don't give your number away so easily; don't wear that dress; call me when you get home — he knew worst of the men who would mistake your smiles for affection, your teases for flirtations, and your touches an invitation in his line of work, and he need only to defer to his experise.

As a consummate professional, only he could protect you from these dangers that lie in wait. He could stopper it before they took you away from him, and you would never notice they were there.

The crimson that soaked Kokushibo's hands and crusted his nails, the same hands that now dug into the dimples on the side of your hips as he thrusted further inside your sex;

A flick of his wrist on your clit — the same rhythm as when he snapped the spine of the konbini cashier who you dared share your smile after you made your payment;

The tug of your hair around his fingers — reminiscent of the fibre wire that coiled around the neck of a older salaryman to whom you had been kind enough to offer your seat on the train;

The give of your thighs as he spread your legs further apart — a mirror of his hands on the back of a waiter who smiled as you complemented the tiramisu, his eyes lingering on your glossed, pillowy lips;

Would the wetness between your legs should be enough to wash off these stains?

"Kokushibo," you whimpered, in the moment he brushed against that spot inside you, making you squirm beneath his tight embrace. Your mouth dropped in a circle as he teased your clit once more, sending sparks of thrill dancing across your tense, quivering frame.

How perfectly he fitted inside you, the contours of your body moulding seamlessly against his hands — as if the gods themselves sculpted you for him to hold and possess.

Kokushibo slipped an arm across your front, tossing you to lie flat against the carpet. Red, crescent marks dotted across your collarbone, with others blooming into scarlet flowers where he had sunk his teeth into your softness — the sweet ambrosia of your arousal when drank from your sex, the tenderness your skin as it broke beneath his canines.

Come morning, when those blossoms have withered into violet bruises, you will never know another's man touch on you; Kokushibo will make sure of it himself. He would hide you away from the harshness of this world, and savour every inch of your body with his hands and mouth — as the French did with the caged ortolan, draping their heads with linen to shield their decadence from the judgment of God.

Why would you need to be anywhere else? Or seek the arms of another? He alone was perfect for you, as you were perfect from him.

Your ankles crossed behind his neck, unspoken bliss wild in your dark irises. The cadence of your moans soared as your nails clung to the broad sweep of his back, the pistol of your loins gaining an impatient edge.

"Don't stop," you cajoled, a whimper caught in a hiccup as Kokushibo felt you tense beneath him, your thighs trapping his face in a serpentine coil. The slick heat of your sex enveloped his cock tightly while you reached your climax to shuddering gasps, biting the back of your hand to hide your unrestrained moans.

And there it was once more: the sparkle in your eyes, brighter than before while you rode out your high. The heat of your gaze, together with clenching of your walls was enough for him to spill, too, in a mess of groans buried into your hair. You shivered at the dousing of his cum in your depths, your pleasures mired in a dripping, obscene mess that seeped from your entrance.

Behind closed lids, Kokushibo could behold the afterimages of your torched gaze, and he would do whatever it takes to keep them there, until it became a part of the inferno that raged unabated inside him, stoked by every single distraction you referred your attentions: friends, family, strangers — as he opened his eyes to look down at you, before kissing you.

He would have it — your heart, body, and soul — until nothing remained for anyone else, not even yourself.

"All mine," he whispered against your lips.

For my longer writings, visit my AO3 here.

[suicide-with-dazai]

' Waiting for me ' ~ Diluc x reader

context: diluc gets home from working at the tavern all day to find you awake waiting for him <3

tags: ☆ fluff , heavy nsfw , diluc x fem!reader , soft!diluc , cvm eating , fem terms , cute aftercare & soft encouragement ☆

! inspired by Vulpine Voice Diluc audio on yt !

- quick & easy read -

starts under the cut , enjoy . (MINORS RESPECTFULLY DNI) <3

eventually , he reaches his house , hoping to find you sound asleep in his bed .

the air is still and silent as diluc walks home . the streets of mondstadt deserted since nightfall . the sound of his footsteps echo as he takes a shortcut through an alleyway .

he unlocks the door as quiet as possible , and kicks his shoes off . walking into the bedroom he notices youre sat up in his bed , still awake .

" darling , what are you still doing up ? " he rushes over to you and holds your jaw as he kisses you " is everything okay ? "

you put your arms around him and kiss him back , deeply and passionately . the room goes silent for a moment while you kiss , " y-yeah i was just worried "

" worried about what , sweetheart ? " diluc breaks away from the kiss and walks over to the dresser and takes off his work clothes . he takes a tshirt and some underwear out of his dresser and begins getting ready to slide into bed with you .

" i dunno.. i was .. just scared- it got late and i- "

when diluc finishes getting dressed , he walks over to you and puts his finger over your mouth , " shhh~ its alright "

at this , you get all flustered at this sudden affection and stop worrying about him .

" took a lot longer to close the tavern tonight , couple things i had to take care of . dont worry your pretty little head , honey , im okay "

he gets into bed next to you and gestures for you to lie on top of him , to which you gladly obey .

now , he senses that youre more relaxed . you put your head on his chest as he starts stroking your hair .

" you do anything interesting today , my love ? " diluc inquires , cuddling you lovingly .

" not really , did my commissions then that was about it ... visited Wagner a few times to see how my new polearm is coming along . "

" oh ? and hows that going ? "

" its looking pretty good ! its gonna be finished in around 3 days or so ... "

diluc loves hearing about your day , and you love hearing about his too .

" how was your day , love ? " you look up at him and kiss his neck as you ask .

" eh , just the usual . pretty boring actually " he sighs .

you stay silent for a moment then you sit up on him , straddling his body .

" is that so , huh ? " you bite your lip and run your hands along his toned abs .

" is my darling feeling needy , hm ? " he puts his hands on your hips , " i think thats just what i need right now~ "

he speaks in a low and sexy tone , almost purring out his words , in such a seductive manner . his voice never fails to turn you on . the vibrations of his low tone linger in your core for a moment as you surpress a moan .

you smirk and began grinding your clothed cunt on him , feeling his dick get hard inside his boxers .

" ill make you feel good~ promise~ "

diluc lets out a stifled moan as you grind on him , giving him that friction that he needs .

you take your shirt off , revealing your bare tits . diluc reaches his arms up to fondle them , and play with your nipples . you moan at the lewd touches from your needy boyfriend .

you start to grind faster , both of you begging for friction , feeling so riled up in the needy situation you were both in .

" oh my love , my beautiful girl , take your panties off for me~ thats it . niiiice and slow~ " you slide your panties down slowly and teasingly and you look half lidded into his desperate eyes , " fuckk- thats a good girl~ "

you feel his dick getting harder underneath you , so you tug at his waistband . you look into his eyes for consent , to which he nods . you first take off his shirt then get to work on his boxers .

" mhh~ thats it , love . thaats it~ "

when you slide his boxers off , youre met with his pretty dick , so hard and dripping already for you .

he breathes heavily in anticipation as you position yourself over his dick , your cunt already being wet enough for it to slide in .

" slowly , yeah ? " he whines as he tries to keep his composure .

" ill go nice and slow~ " you put his throbbing tip at your entrance and slowly sink onto his dick .

you moan loudly as his length stretches you out , he strokes your thighs to reassure you, " no rush , sweetheart. youre doing so good~ "

when youve fully adjusted , you begin moving up and down slowly . at this , diluc groans as your soaking cunt slides up and down his length .

" f-fuck- mhh- " he whines at this immense pleasure hes feeling , " ah~ keep going love~ "

you start to move a little bit faster now , your cunt and his base slapping together makes such lewd noises , you cant help but moan .

" ah- let me get on top of you " he whines .

he lifts you off of his dick and places you underneath him . hes quick to slide back inside of you .

he starts fucking you faster , as his breathing becomes more and more irregular ,

" a- ah- keep going diluc~ " you squirm under him as he fucks your pretty cunt faster , pushing you both closer to the edge .

" oh love- im close- "

he continues fucking you closer and closer as he too approached his orgasm .

" fuck- y/n- im gonna cum- "

he fucks you until you cum , and lets you ride out your orgam , your chest rising and falling as you scream his name ,

at this , diluc quickly pulls out and cums on your tits , he lets out a low groan and tries to calm himself down .

" such a good girl arent you~ " he sighs in pleasure as he looks at your tits covered in his thick cum .

he leans down to kiss you , while playing with your tits which were dripping with cum , " mmhh~ " you whimper into his mouth as you feel his fingers slip over your nipples so easily with the extra lubrication .

he breathes heavily as he swipes across your chest with his finger , collecting some of his cum and puts it inside your mouth . you willingly suck his finger clean and swallow his cum .

diluc hums out in pleasure as you suck his finger , biting his lip . you sit up and kiss him , making him taste his own cum . this lewd action causes him to roll his eyes back and kiss you harder .

" oh , darling , this is just what i needed~ " diluc continues kissing you and swirling his tongue around in your mouth , " lets get you cleaned up , sweetheart "

he was still breathing heavily when he walked to the bathroom to start the shower .

dilucs aftercare is always so soft and sweet and it makes you weak to know he cares so much~

" we can shower together if youd like ? " diluc stands leaning on the doorframe , the light of the bathroom behind him highlighting his toned figure beautifully .

" mm~ yeah " diluc walks over to you and picks you up in his arms , you lean into his touch and kiss his collarbone . he carries you over to the bathroom , where he puts you down . your legs feel unsteady and weak after diluc had fucked you .

" you okay ? " diluc holds your waist to steady you and stop you from falling . you nod and he helps you get into the shower .

he first gets under the shower , letting it drip down his body . then , he offers you his hand , and you get under the hot water with him . you almost moan as you see all the cum on your body getting washed away .

you decide to pick up the loofah and some soap and begin washing dilucs pretty body .

" mm, thank you love " he smiles as you start washing his body . you stand on your tiptoes to kiss him and he hugs you lovingly .

once you were both all washed up , he wraps a towel around you and dries you off . then you return the favour by drying him .

you always find it so cute how sleepy diluc gets after sex , makes you wanna just hug him so tightly and drift off to sleep with him .

diluc picks you back up and put you in bed next to him , the silky sheets covering your bare body as you cuddle up to him . you stroke his hair as he begins to fall asleep , his head snuggled in your neck .

[foxgirlinfohazard]

having my face permanently replaced with a smooth, featureless vulpine mask would actually fix me. im not even slightly joking

[allwormdiet]

Gestation 1.5

I wonder if Taylor's night is gonna get any better

This is actually a really good passage for the building tension. Lung's not gonna kill our protagonist in the fifth chapter of the novel but she doesn't know that. She can see her options narrowing down and her chances getting slimmer, she doesn't know there's like, a million plus words more to her story. This could be it, and this really sells it.

Okay actually I'm gonna circle back to something I totally missed in 1.4, which is the mild comedy in Taylor hacking multiple EpiPens in her kit as a teenager with, I'm gonna guess a modest allowance? You can tell this was written by someone who hasn't had to put up with US healthcare, that's minimum like $600 bucks of medicine, and frankly I don't think it's going to be any cheaper when the predominant pharmaceutical company is run by a Nazi.

Sweet of her dad, and also I cannot imagine facing down a hitter like Lung with nothing but a can of pepper spray, Jesus Christ that's stressful. This never comes up in the retellings, Taylor has cast-iron balls to pull this stunt.

Kudos on this, it's such a cool descriptor, and again: huge props to Taylor for staring this down and not running like hell.

Side note, either Lung's eyes are a magnet for violence or else Taylor is compelled to target the eyes. Maybe both. See if it keeps happening with either of them I guess.

Something something Jurassic Park reference, also do we need the reminder that he has an accent

YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH IT'S THE CAVALRY BABY

Listen I know I'm a little spoiled here and the bias is showing but I already love these kids, look at em! They decided to swing at Lung for the sake of the girl who'd already pried him off their backs, they didn't need to save her but they did. I can't wait for them all to break my heart one way or another, it's gonna rule.

Grue is real as fuck for his costume, it's so cool.

Also I desperately want to know what the conversation was like for the Undersiders to decide "yeah fuck it let's put up our dukes against the head of the ABB." Who voted in favor of that?

The "but yeah" really sells the underlying youth of the character, btw. Gonna go out on a limb and guess there's a lot of kids who feel like they need to hold themselves like adults (and then don't really know how) in this story.

Squad squad squad squad

Quick and dirty introduction to the team, good enough start as anything, also lmao at Taylor just standing there with jelly legs trying to process this and completely unable to make words happen. Poor girl

"Certainly least" my ass, kid's got style.

Can Tattletale actually stop herself from talking? Not like in a power sense I mean in a needing to be smart way. I assume she can but it's not out of the question that she just cannot put a lid on it. I've known people like that.

Also an effortless display of trust and teamwork. Tattletale says boogie and Bitch is on it immediately.

So the fox parallels just start immediately, okay. Everyone always compares her to a fox, or makes her fursona a fox, or describes a vulpine grin, and I figured that was drawing on the text but I didn't think it came up literally in the first chapter she appears.

There's a couple different emotions I feel at this last paragraph. Per usual I feel bad for Taylor because this truly just has not been her night, she gets like half a W against fucking Lung but gets scared half to death, saved by villains, and then mistaken for a villain as well. Awful way to start a career.

On the other hand, Taylor, honey, you're terrifying and used a bunch of venomous and painful insects in order to break up a gang meeting, you're in all blacks and grays with big ol yellow eyes, your entire aesthetic screams villain, this is at least partly your own fault.

On the third hand, knowing full well how important the Undersiders are gonna be, and how feared Taylor is gonna be as a future villain, it's not hard to look at this like. Well what's so bad about them being villains, and what's so bad about being mistaken for one. Obviously it's a matter of morality and perspective and stuff like that, Taylor seems to only now be dipping her toes into moral flexibility, but the gift/curse of future knowledge means there's something, I dunno, a little sweet about this encounter.

Current Thoughts

Tired. Dragging my hands down my face rn. Last one for tonight.

This was a cool sequence. Rough introduction to the Docks and ABB aside, the fight between Lung and Taylor was super cool, a great feeling of the momentum shifting between the two as Taylor's bugs stop being able to keep up with the fire, the desperate play with the pepper spray, and being just. Fully backed into a corner until she's saved by the cavalry. If this is how the fight scenes keep going for this series then I think I'm in for a fun ride.

Also yaaaaaaaaay the team has been introduced, I can't wait to find out how much of the perception of them I've gotten through fanworks and my own half-baked osmosis is going to contrast with their canon personalities. Grue being all serious and Tattletale being a smirking know-it-all literally described as fox-like feel like solid indicators, if nothing else.

Next chapters tomorrow. It's Armsmaster right after, right? See what he's like.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #3 – Monstress Volume One: Awakening by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

Monstress is one of about three comics I’ve ever considered myself an unequivocal fan of. I, alas, lost track of things during a hiatus a while back, and got to the point where I barely remembered where I was or what was happening. So, as a palate cleanser between longer books, I’m making it a project for the first chunk of the year to reread this from the start until I’m caught up again.

This is a very high concept series – a matriarchal dieselpunk fantasy world vaguely inspired by 1920s/30s East Asia with a strong art deco aesthetic. The world is divided between the Arcanic Courts – kingdoms ruled by the animalistic ‘Ancients’ and populated by the Arcanic descendants of their half-human children – and the Federation – a human nation-state dominated by witch-nuns who derive their influence from being able to render down the corpses of said Arcanics into magically potent ‘lilium’. Also there are insubstantial projections/ghosts of titanic tentacle-ey monsters that wander across the landscape sometimes. And a genocidal war ended in a stalemate a decade ago after a city was destroyed by something that no one on either side understands. Oh an in addition to the anthromorphic animal Ancients there’s also just normal cats, except they’re sapient and capable of speech and also necromancy. The book really throws you into things and a decent chunk of the first volume is just introducing and establishing the rules of the world.

The actual plot follows Maika Halfwold, an Arcanic who can pass for human except for the giant occult tattoo on her chest. The story follows her abandoning her girlfriend and voluntarily getting herself enslaved and brought to the mansion/mad science laboratory of a powerful witch-nun so she can break out, fight her way through it, and interrogate her at gunpoint for information about the giant gaps in her memory of when as a child her mother worked with the witch on an archaeological dig. Things escalate from there due to a shard of an enchanted mask and an eldritch abomination that had been slumbering with Maika’s body who is awoken by it. The balance of the volume is spent with her, an incredibly untrustworthy cat, and a vulpine arcanic child who she more or less accidentally rescued from slavery as they try to escape the manhunt after them.

So there’s a lot here, and I really do love almost all of it. Most obviously, the art is just gorgeous – I mean, I’m an easy sell on dieselpunk/fantasy 20s stuff, but genre trappings aside the detail and use of colour is just incredible, and even the less detailed panels do an amazing job capturing expressions and emotion. Basically every aspect of character and environmental design is just very deliberate as well – aesthetics reflect character, and scenes are full of little background details that help sell and fill in the world. But fundamentally just very pretty, an aesthetic pleasure to behold.

Of course, one of the things a whole page of artistic flourishing is devoted to is a flashback of Maika – a starving enslaved orphan during the war – eating the stomach of another child who’d died before her to keep herself going. This is a book that just about exults in brutality and brokenness – ‘there is more hunger in the world than love’ is basically the tagline of the entire volume. This is a world on the verge of a genocidal total war, rife with slavery and human sacrifice, and it pulls absolutely no punches about depicting that (so, so many dead children). With, like, one-three exceptions everyone is flawed and compromised and betrays something they care about when their backs are against the wall. You really and truly can’t trust anyone.

You can see this clearly with Maika herself. She’s just, genuinely an incredibly unpleasant person to be around. Responds to feeling unsure or anxious by lashing out, all but incapable of showing affection in any legible way, too wrapped up in her own mountains of bullshit to even notice what anyone around her has going on until it’s shoved right in her face, paranoid and suspicious and more comfortable with violence than uncertainty, has 100% gotten people killed multiple times due to lack of ability to get over her own (mountains, abyssal, soul-crushing) trauma – really the list just goes on. In her defence basically everyone is actually out to get her (sadly the paranoia and suspicion do not in any way actually make her more difficult to deceive or betray). Anyway, I obviously love her, and the supporting cast is very nearly as good.

Just, generally this is not a series where suffering is ennobling – fear and shame and trauma and a desperate need to cling onto what power or privilege you can drive people as much or more as sympathy for or solidarity with others going through the same things they have. The fact that the Federation is run by a bunch of genocidal religious fanatics doesn’t mean the Ancients ruling the Arcanic Courts are good, or even necessarily that they care about the lives of their subjects beyond their own power and pleasure. It could easily tip over the edge into monochrome nihilism, but it actually manages to toe the line very well.

Though like, despite everything I just said, it does do the oddly common modern genre fic thing where there’s brutal unsparing depictions of colonial plunder and oppression but also everyone’s an intersectional feminist. Not as much as some, but the race-war is between humans and arcanics with no one seeming to care on whit about intraspecies ethnicity or race, and the setting is matriarchal in the modern implicit glass ceiling way a modern American corporation is patriarchal, not the way a midcentury warlord state or fascist empire is patriarchal (not that this means there aren’t graphic threats of rape or depictions of what’s clearly sex slavery just that being the one holding the lash isn’t really gendered).

So yeah, overall happy to report that the first volume of this still absolutely and entirely holds up – and considered as a work on its own the first volume really coheres far better than I’d realized when I was first reading this in one mad rush. Very much looking forward to continuing on to volume 2.

[quillpokebiology]

Anything on Fennekin? My friend has one and I'd like to learn more about them.

Fennekin Facts

(Artwork by @rileykitty )

-The scientific name for Fennekin is "Vulpes flamma" which translates to "Fire fox"

-Fenniken are vulpines, and their closest relatives are Ninetales and Thievul

-Fennikens large ears and ear fur helps them regulate their body temperature, as well as protecting them from the harsh heat of the Sun in desert climates. Their ears feel very hot when touched

-Fenniken have fluffy paw pads as to not burn their feet when they're walking on hot sand. Even the ones that live in forests or fields have these fluffy paw pads

-They're extremely vocal, and, without exaggerating anything, their cries can sound like suffering, dying birds

-Fenniken's diet consists of berries, twigs, and small rodents. Twigs are actually good for them to eat because it can fuel their flame pouches and make their fire stronger

-Fenniken live in extensive burrows underground, and they'll sometimes share it with other pokemon like Dugtrio

-Their habitat is savanahs, deserts, and temperate forests

-Despite Fennekin having barely any psychic abilities, Ancient Kalosians still didn't like them because they evolved into Braixen and Delhpox. They weren't exempt from the overhunting of wild Braixen and Delphox

-Fennekin are crepescular, meaning they get up at around the evening and stay up through the night. This helps them avoid the heat from the sun

-Fennekin are very hyper and playful, and they need a lot of space and objects to play with and climb around on

-Both male and female fennekin raise young together, with the male becoming more aggressive after the female lays her eggs to protect her. Because other foxmon exhibit similar behavior, Fennekin prefer to mate with other Fenneken or Foxmon, with them favoring Vulpix because they both share a fire typing

-In Kalos, Fennekin's main predators are Talonflame, Pidgeot, Pyroar, and sometimes, Lucario if food is scarce

-When they're close to evolving, Fennekin might start trying to walk on their back feet (it's jarring to see)

-Like a lot of starters, the modern fennekin that most people are familiar with originated in around 1920s Kalos, and was a mix of a showbreed and a wild breed. The breed now has its own name, and has just become the standard fennekin

If you're curious, here are Braixen and Delphox facts!

[dystopicjumpsuit]

Stars Beyond Number - Chapter 22

The Desire

Rating: M - Minors DNI

Pairings: Echo x Riyo Chuchi; Gregor x OFC Cerra Kilian

Wordcount: 3.3k

Warnings and tags: negative self-talk; Gregor having none of it; SMUT; it's finally happening; oral sex; fingering; body worship; PIV sex; I literally screamed and cried and threw my hands in the air when I typed the last line; I love them so much I can't even

Suggested Listening (strongly recommended, actually; I couldn't believe how perfectly this song fit the chapter when I heard it the first time):

Summary: 😏

A/N: This story shares continuity with Martyrs and Kings, "Double, Double Boil and Trouble" (part 2 here) and "Do It Again," but all the fics can be read as stand-alones.

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Between the desire and the spasm

… falls the Shadow

—T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”

“Are you all right?” Gregor asked, his soft eyes trained on Cerra’s.

She nodded. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“Karking it up like I do everything,” she said.

His eyebrows snapped together. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you deserve better,” she said. “You should be with someone who—”

“I know what I want,” he interrupted before she could talk herself out of it. “It’s you.”

Her breath stilled. “It is?”

“Since the moment I met you.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked.

 He giggled quietly. “Are you serious?”

“No need to be rude,” she said, affronted.

“I’m not trying to be,” he replied. “It’s just the truth. You weren’t ready to move on, and you didn’t need someone pressuring you. You needed a friend, and if you decide that you’re never ready for more than that, then I’ll still be the luckiest man in the karking galaxy to be the one who’s there for you.”

Her eyes burned. She dropped her forehead to rest against his neck, and he wrapped his arms gently around her back, rubbing comforting circles between her shoulder blades.

“I don’t deserve you,” she whispered.

“True,” Gregor agreed cordially, pulling a reluctant chuckle from her as she smacked his shoulder. “Sorry, were you done floggin’ yourself, or did I interrupt? I could come back later…”

“Gods, you’re the worst,” she laughed.

“You can keep going if you want. Or…” he paused and kissed her shoulder softly. “We could…” He kissed her again, closer to her neck. “Try something else.” 

He licked along her skin until he reached the base of her throat. She tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck as she inhaled deeply.

“Gregor,” she sighed.

“Mmm,” he rumbled, working his way down her sternum. 

His bare hand slipped up her waist and beneath her bra to cup her breast. She took in a soft, deep breath as she arched her body into his touch. The rough fabric of his glove scraped lightly across her tender skin as he slid his other hand under the band of her bra. He pulled his mouth away from her long enough to tug the garment over her head, and then his lips closed around her nipple as his tongue swirled over her.

“You taste amazing,” he whispered against her skin.

He dropped his hands to her hips to dip beneath the compression suit and coax it down her legs. She shifted in the seat to ease its progress, and Gregor took shameless advantage of her momentary helplessness to drag her to the edge of the seat and spread her thighs wide over his broad pauldrons as his mouth worked its way down her body, kissing, licking, biting, sucking. 

He reached her pelvis at last, slowing his progress as he inched lower with aching deliberateness until at last his tongue dipped into her. Her reaction was electric. She convulsed with a cry, her body hypersensitive from years of denying her physical needs. Her thighs tightened around him as she practically levitated off the seat.  He gripped her hips and pressed her back down, his strong fingers digging into her flesh. He swirled his tongue around her clit and into her cunt.

“Fuck!” she sobbed as her fists tightened in his hair. “Fuck, fuck, Gre—”

He groaned against her and murmured something indecipherable. His hand brushed over her knee, then drifted leisurely up the inside of her thigh, taking his time despite her desperation. By the time he finally reached his target and eased two fingers into her, she was shaking and writhing beneath him, and that delicious stretch was all it took to push her beyond the limits of her control. 

In her deprived, overwrought state, her body took over and hurled her into an unexpected orgasm that shattered her vision and wrenched a broken scream from her throat. His thick, agile fingers dragged inside her, working to prolong her climax as he gazed up at her with an expression of utter bliss and adoration in his eyes.

He gentled his movements as she came down from her high. He kissed the soft skin of her abdomen, and she tugged ineffectually at his cuirass, trying vainly to pull him closer to her. He lifted her naked body off the chair and settled her on his lap. In his full armor, he wasn’t a particularly comfortable seat, but she snuggled her face against his neck through the soft black fabric of his undersuit as she shuddered and trembled in his embrace. 

They sprawled on the floor of the cockpit, bathed in the gentle, warm glow of the nebula. Gregor cradled her in his arms, circling his thumbs slowly across her bare skin as he rested his cheek against her head. He stroked his fingers lightly over her short, velvety hair.

“Your hair is so soft,” he whispered. “I’ve never seen it this long.”

“Didn’t exactly have a way to keep it shaved while I was rotting in the Venator brig,” she replied with a low laugh.

“I like it,” he replied, pressing his lips against her head, and then again behind her ear, and a third time, along the side of her neck.

”Yeah?”

”Mm-hmm,” he hummed, his voice vibrating gently on her sensitive skin. 

“Should I grow it back out?”

”Not unless you want to.” His warm breath sent a shiver through her as he whispered next to her ear. “You’re hot as fuck either way.”

She sighed happily and trailed her fingertips up his arm, looking for the small gaps between the plastoid where she could feel his body heat through the undersuit.

“You are wearing way too much armor,” she murmured.

He chuckled. “Have to admit the codpiece is feeling a little tight.”

She huffed quietly and unclipped his vambraces, tugging them off his forearms and setting them aside. She interlaced her fingers with his and slowly pulled off his remaining glove, allowing it to drop to the floor. Next, she fumbled with his rerebraces and grumbled under her breath.

“Why is this so karking hard to take off?” she asked as irritably as she could, considering that her brain was still flooded with a blissful post-orgasmic haze.

“Because the point is for it to stay on,” he said. 

She arched an impatient brow at him, and he shot her a smug grin.

“A little help?” she asked.

He brushed his fingers beneath her jaw and tilted her face up so he could kiss her, then leaned back and began to pull off his upper body armor, stacking it one piece at a time as he did. As he worked, Cerra began to trace her fingers across the bare skin of his neck and the base of his skull. His eyes flicked to hers, and he smirked, continuing his task. Undaunted, she leaned close and licked the shell of his ear softly. He shivered, and she heard his breath catch, but his concentration didn’t break. 

Once he was stripped down to his waist, though, he had his revenge. He wrapped his arms around her and flipped them over so she was lying on her back with his body between her thighs. The durasteel floor was hard and cold against her skin, and she was briefly, ridiculously relieved that she’d had the cleaning droid work over the freighter the day before she left for Daiyu. Gregor covered her body with kisses as he fumbled with his belt. 

She wrapped her legs around his waist with a soft giggle, and he nipped at her skin in retaliation, rocking his codpiece against her. Her breath caught, and she moaned at the pressure.

“Kriff, don’t make those noises,” he rasped. “I can barely fit in this codpiece as it is.”

“Bragging?” she teased.

“Stating a fact,” he replied, grazing his lips lightly over her bruised shoulder. “You taste like bacta.”

“I thought you said I tasted amazing,” she said.

“You do,” he replied. “But this part of you also tastes like bacta.”

She heard a clatter of duraplast, and Gregor grunted in relief, having successfully freed himself from the codpiece while he distracted her.

“Maybe you should kiss me somewhere else, then,” she suggested, cupping her hand under his chin to bring his face toward hers. “Hey, soldier. My lips are up here.”

He gazed at her mouth. “I don't want to hurt you again.”

Her heart lurched.

“Please,” she whispered. 

He swallowed. Raising his hand to her cheek, he caressed her with utmost tenderness, barely touching his thumb to her lower lip. He glanced uncertainly up at her eyes, and he leaned down slowly, pausing close to her face, but not quite making contact.

“Cerra…”

“I trust you,” she breathed.

The touch of his lips was so soft it was almost imperceptible. Her eyes fluttered closed as her lips parted, as though she could block out every distraction and only drift in the sensation of his kiss. She teased his lips with the tip of her tongue, encouraging him to kiss her more deeply, and he complied with incredible care, taking his cues from her, but pulling away far sooner than she would have preferred. Perhaps it was for the best; her judgment was not to be trusted when she wanted him to consume her.

He nuzzled her cheek gently. “Your lips taste like bacta, too. Worth it, though.”

She laughed quietly as he sat up. She smoothed her hands up his torso, slipping her fingertips into the magseal of his undersuit and easing it open. The suit gave way to reveal the broad expanse of his chest, and he shrugged out of the top of the suit. From her vantage point on the floor, Cerra stared up at him, admiring the way the soft golden light glazed his warm, smooth skin and reflected in his amber eyes. His chest rose and fell quickly, and she longed to touch him.

She traced her fingertips up his abdomen, then flattened her palms against him. Gods, it had been so long since she’d felt someone else’s skin against her own. She glided over his pectorals and up to his shoulders, then back down again to ease the undersuit further down his hips until his cock sprang free, fully erect. Closing her hand around him, she squeezed gently, and a glossy bead of precum appeared at the tip. She licked her lips at the sight and started to lean toward him.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said, pressing her back down to the floor.

She looked up at him, startled. “You don’t like—”

“Not until you’re healed,” he said firmly.

“Not even a taste?” she asked, giving him the softest tooka eyes she could muster.

“Absolutely not,” he replied. “Those big eyes don’t fool me. I know you, Cerra. You won’t stop until you get what you want, and we are not playing that game right now.”

“You’re no fun,” she pouted.

“Oh, I can think of plenty of other ways we can have fun,” he grinned.

“Do any of them start with moving to a bunk?” she asked. “This floor is ridiculously hard.”

“It’s not the only thing,” he laughed.

He stood, then pulled her to her feet. She seized the opportunity to wrap her fingers around his cock again, dragging her hand over it slowly. She brushed her thumb over the tip, and then raised it to her mouth, flicking her tongue out to taste the clear fluid as mischief danced in her eyes.

“Fuck,” Gregor groaned. “You are testing my limits.”

“Oh, no, anything but that,” she whispered.

“I should’ve known you’d be a brat,” he giggled, scooping her up and tossing her over his shoulder as she shrieked with delighted laughter. 

He carried her down the corridor to the crew quarters and selected one at random, depositing Cerra on the bed carefully. She sat up to watch him with open admiration as he removed his remaining armor and undersuit.

Holy kriff, he was built. She’d spent months trying not to look at him too closely, trying to avoid the inevitable reminders of Fives. As he stripped, though, she finally let herself take a good look. He did resemble Fives—that was inescapable—but there were differences as well. The scars were different; the tattoos were different. Gregor was older than her husband had ever had a chance to be, and she could see it in his body. Between that and the commando’s genetically enhanced muscle density, he was broader and bigger than Fives, and she was quietly relieved. She wasn’t sure she would have been able to sort through her confusion if his body had been truly identical to Fives.

“Enjoying the view?” he teased, and she raked her gaze slowly up his body until she met his eyes.

“Very much,” she said, her voice low and husky.

He crawled onto the bed, caging her between his arms and legs. She reached up to stroke the side of his neck as he kissed her, and she could feel the pulse of his racing heartbeat beneath her fingertips. He pressed her back slowly until she lay on the bed. She slid her hands up his thighs as he straddled her hips, shifting beneath him to try to press herself closer to his body, but he held himself back from her.

She made an indignant little noise of protest and tried to pull him down, but he didn’t budge. He just kept kissing her with utmost gentleness when she wanted him to ruin her. She could feel his cock brushing against her abdomen, rock-hard, hot, and already slick with need. 

She knew he wanted her just as badly as she wanted him. Reaching between their bodies, she wrapped her hands around his cock and stroked him languidly. He broke away from her mouth with a groan and rested his forehead against hers, eyes squeezed tightly shut.

“Fuck, I’m trying to be careful, but you’re not making it easy,” he rasped.

“I can take it, Gregor,” she whispered. “You don’t have to be careful.”

He pushed himself back, sinking down so his thighs rested on top of her hips, trapping her in place. He stared down at her, shaking his head slightly. He trailed his fingertips over her cheek.

“Kriff, you’re so beautiful,” he said. “All the times I imagined this, I never once thought it might actually happen.”

“You imagined it?” she asked.

He giggled. “All the time. That day that we went to the market, I almost came in the shower just from hearing the sounds you were making. Didn’t even have to touch myself.”

Her eyes widened. “You were so quiet! I thought you were mad at me.”

“I had the water as cold as it would go, and I was reciting all the components of a DC-17m in my head.”

She pondered for a moment. “Is that why you were so relaxed when you came out? Because you—”

“Took care of things,” he said with a shrug. “What else was I supposed to do? Walk around the garage with a raging hard on?”

She laughed and captured his wrist, pressing her lips into his palm, then kissing a trail up his forearm. “Maybe I would have gotten a clue sooner if you had.”

He smiled, but his eyes were troubled. “All the times I imagined it, I never thought it would be like this.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He barely touched his hand to her injured shoulder, and she flinched involuntarily. 

“See?” he asked. “I can’t just… take you—as much as I want to. I’ve got to be careful with you. I’m still working out the best strategy.”

Her heart lurched. Of course. Even now, he was watching her back: protecting her, even from himself.

“It doesn’t have to be that complicated,” she whispered. “We can just… start. And if it feels good, we can keep going, and if it hurts, we can try something else.”

He moved his fingertips lower, skimming over her breasts and circling her nipples. “Is this all right? Does it feel good?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “So good.”

He made a pleased little hum and shifted, moving to sit behind her on the bed and drawing her back against his chest. He continued to play with her breasts as she leaned against him, feeling the rigid length of his cock press against her back. He kissed the side of her head, and then the shell of her ear, working his mouth slowly down her neck and onto her shoulder. Her eyes drifted closed, and she sighed softly. 

Encouraged by her reaction, his hand stole down her body and in between her thighs, his fingers brushing over her clit with feather-light pressure, again and again, before slipping into her. She was beyond ready, and he met no resistance as he sank into her slick warmth. She heard his breath stutter harshly.

“Holy kriff,” he groaned. “You are so wet, my gods.”

He worked her open gently, and she couldn’t hold back her tiny, breathless sounds of pleasure.

“Kark, you drive me wild when you make those noises,” he whispered, grinding his cock against her lower back. 

She squirmed against him, desperate to feel more. “Please, please—”

“What is it, love?”

“I need more,” she said. “I need you.”

He pressed his lips against her neck, just below her ear. “You can have me, then.”

He withdrew his fingers from her body and guided her around until she sat in his lap, facing him as he aligned his cock with her cunt and sank gradually into her. She tilted her hips to accommodate him, breathing hard, as he stretched her in ways she hadn’t felt in years. Lovely, strong, warm hands massaged across her back and shoulders, pulling her close to him as he gazed up into her eyes.

“Is this what you wanted?” he asked.

She nodded, unable to speak. He kissed her again, so gently, so carefully, as he began to move. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding tightly as their bodies worked in perfect synchrony, their hips rolling together, their breath coalescing. He dropped his head to rest on her sternum, and she leaned her cheek against his hair as she slid her hands up the back of his head.

He shifted their angle slightly, his hands descending to grip her hips as he began to drive into her harder and faster, thrusting against a place deep inside her in a way that rapidly stoked the tension in her body until she felt as though every muscle and nerve had wound itself into an impossibly tight knot at the base of her spine. 

He reached between their bodies and pressed his fingers against her clit, working in tiny, frantic circles, until all her muscles seized, arching her back and clamping her legs around his waist as she shattered. She barely heard his hoarse grunt as he thrust into her one last time, burying himself as deeply as she could take him, emptying into her as she sobbed with pleasure. 

He whimpered quietly as his lips found hers, his tongue sweeping into her mouth as she rode out the last few moments, drawing out the pleasure until her muscles gave out and she collapsed against him. He held her close to him and leaned them back until they were lying on the bed. Her head rested against his chest, and she listened as the pounding of his heart began to slow and the deep, gasping breaths of his lungs gradually returned to normal.

Exhaustion pulled at her. Her entire body felt boneless and relaxed—safe for the first time in weeks. Gregor toyed aimlessly with the short hair at the nape of her neck, and her eyes drifted closed as she sank into oblivion. As she crossed the threshold into unconsciousness, she wasn’t sure whether she heard or imagined his quiet whisper.

”I love you, too.”

---

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