#also I did look all over the course site trying to find where to watch the documentary

[23sanguinity]

It’s kinda messed up when reading quizzes are just like “who’s this guy” and there are fifteen named characters and in order to succeed you cannot be me because I cannot remember names (I’m neurodivergent. That’s why.) and it’s like huh maybe if I where neurotypical I could pass this easier and I missed the other three questions because the professor didn’t include the afterword in the syllabus (she put it somewhere else) and what am I supposed to do? Check every place she writes to make sure I do everything? How am I supposed to remember names when I try my absolute hardest but I just can’t.

I’m gonna try to ask my profesor to include some context in future but idk I might have to wait until I get my accommodations. It’s frustrating because I’m expected to do so much more to keep up with everyone else like it’s my fault.

[kittenintheden]

You Can Read Me Anything Part 2

*ELMO ON FIRE GIF* so that took longer than anticipated but you know. HERE YOU GO. (thank you for all the wonderful comments on Part 1)!

***

Druidic Tav grew up in a nomadic clan that recorded their history through spoken word and song rather than written text. As such, she's illiterate, and one charming-ish vampire offers to help her with reading lessons and a whole lot more. Out of the goodness of his heart, of course.

Then one night, she unwittingly brings him smut for their lesson.

Rating: E Word Count: 5100 words Content: illiterate Tav, Astarion being a shit, but also being cute, innocent Tav, suggestive dialogue, blood drinking, biting kink, first time oral, cunnilingus, fellatio, PIV sex, Astarion playing himself

AO3 Link

Astarion cradles her head, palm gently pressed to her cheek as she leans into it. She sighs and it tickles his ear, sending a dissipating wave of gooseflesh down the length of his back.

“Are you done yet?” Tav asks, voice breathy.

He hums and detaches from her neck, admiring the clean pair of fang marks he left there. His tongue swipes his bottom lip so he doesn’t waste a single drop of her blood. He releases her and takes a step back.

“You…” he says with a lazy smile as he reaches out with a finger to boop her nose. “... are so delicious.”

“Ha, ha,” she says with an affectionate eyeroll. She spreads her hand over the bite mark and calls on her connection to nature, using it to knit the flesh back together and restore her blood supply. “Glad to help.”

“I’ll bet you are,” he drawls at her with a wink. “Thank you for the appetizer. I’d best go find myself a full meal now.”

As he starts to saunter off deeper into the woods, Tav clicks her fingers and lightly bonks herself on the head. “Oh, almost forgot.” After him, she calls the Elvish phrase Shadowheart taught her.

For the first time since she met him at the site of the nautilus crash, she watches Astarion trip over his own feet.

He catches himself quickly, spine unusually straight as he puts his hands on his waist and takes a few more steps like he’d meant to do that the whole time. When he turns around to look at her, her smile fades when she notices his wide-eyed expression. The tips of his ears have gone very pink.

“Wha-” His voice cracks and he clears his throat and tries again, tone painfully casual. “What did you say?”

Tav grimaces. “Shit, did I get the middle part wrong? It was tricky when Shadowheart had me practice.”

Astarion leans forward a bit and gives a shaky laugh. “Ah. Right. I must’ve misunderstood. What were you trying to say?”

“She told me it meant, ‘I’m pleased to have provided you a good meal,’” Tav says, reaching up to pull some of her hair over her shoulder and fiddle with it.

“I see,” he says as he comes closer, his eyes searching her face. “Could you say it again? So I can correct your enunciation.”

“Oh, okay.” Tav gives a soft cough into her hand and repeats the phrase.

Astarion is close enough now that she sees his pupils dilate the tiniest bit. The flush at the tips of his ears spreads down the edges. Do they always do that after he feeds? They must.

He reaches delicate fingers up to cup her chin and draw her jaw down, parting her lips. His eyes are trained on her mouth and that makes her feel all too warm.

“Loosen your tongue,” he says softly. “Once more.”

She tries one more time and watches his eyelids flutter, inches from her own.

“There we go,” he whispers.

His gaze shifts to her neck again and he leans down toward it. She nearly stops him, but then she feels the draw of his tongue over the spot where he bit. He punctuates it with a soft, barely-perceptible press of his lips. A kiss, she might think, if she were a silly little girl. Which she certainly is not.

Then he’s standing straight again, releasing her face and putting space between them.

“Missed a smudge. Can’t let it go to waste.” His eyes rove over her face. “It’s so very precious.”

Then he walks off and she’s left standing there, cheeks hot and chest uncomfortably tight. Tav continues to run her fingers nervously through her hair as she turns and walks back toward their camp.

Astarion counts out fifty paces before he ducks behind a tree and leans his back heavily against it, letting out a shivery breath. He puts his cool fingers to his ears and tries to rub the heat out of them.

“Stop it,” he whispers to himself. “Stop it, stop it.”

---

Near the crumbling wreckage of a stone alter, Shadowheart kneels in prayer seeking guidance and direction from her Lady. The darkness, the loss, the silence… they are vast and answerless. She opens her eyes and takes a deep breath in and out. Clenches her right hand, glancing at the ever-present wound there.

If only she could remember… anything useful. No matter. For now, it’s whatever path will take her back to Baldur’s Gate.

She gathers her components and packs them away, standing to walk back down the path toward camp. There’s a trio of crumbling walls that clearly used to be some sort of holy building and she walks along one, trailing her fingers over the soft moss overgrowth.

Then she turns round the corner of the broken temple to find a bristling, broody vampire leaned up against the wall with his arms folded, glaring at her with a tic in his jaw. He raises an accusatory finger.

"You," he says, the word hard on his tongue. "Are an arsehole."

She gives him a smug smile and arches her brow. "You're a bigger arsehole."

He refolds his arm and narrows his eyes at her. “Really think you’re clever, don’t you.”

The cleric shrugs and cuts off to the side to walk back to the path. “The goal was to make you lose your cool. Seems like it worked.”

Silently and suddenly he’s walking at her side, lip curling in disdain. “Congratulations to you, you managed to annoy me. Don’t do it again.”

“Oh, he’s testy tonight,” she says, putting a hand to her cheek in a mockery of shock. “Maybe you’d feel less the fool if you hadn’t been teaching her to talk dirty.”

“We can’t all be ice queens, dear,” he sneers. “Some of us are queens with needs.”

Shadowheart rolls her eyes and her entire head along with it. “You should be thanking me, then. I gave you your opening.”

Astarion stops and she keeps on walking.

“To what?” he says.

“To have your ‘needs’ met,” she calls over her shoulder. “I’m not the one who was teaching her to invite me betwixt her thighs. Have a frustrating night.”

Astarion makes an affronted noise after her, pouts a moment, and then calls back, “Your bangs are wretched, by the way.”

She throws a rude gesture up at him and continues onward.

---

He plots and flirts for three days straight before he decides to make his move. Tav’s guard is down, her shy little moments are increasing in frequency, and he can literally hear her heartbeat quicken when he’s near. If that’s not all signs pointing to yes, he doesn’t know what is.

All he has to do is, you know. Make the move. Which he’ll do. Soon.

Because she still makes the most sense. The others all adore her, listen to her. She’s the perfect choice of protector should his vampirism prove a problem to anyone. She’ll say yes. Of course she’ll say yes.

… of course she’ll say yes. No one denies him. It doesn’t happen.

… it rarely happens. Not as if he’d care if it did, this time.

Astarion rocks his weight onto his back leg, flicking his gaze up to see Tav kneeling near the campfire and giving the dog a generous belly rub. Before she stops, he goes back to his extremely casual reading. Standing posed outside his tent. Holding a book with the title facing out. Very normal.

After what feels like an hour, his ears pick up approaching footsteps and he skims the page he’s on, waiting.

“Is that a new one?” Tav asks timidly.

He closes the book and looks up to meet her. His close-lipped smile feels almost natural. Almost.

“There you are,” he says, dropping his register a fraction. “I was just thinking about you.”

Not a lie, actually.

She tucks her hair behind one ear. “Oh? Do I owe you something?”

He laughs and sets his book aside. “Only a bit of your time. I do enjoy it so very much.”

Tav quirks her mouth up on one side. “Yeah? You’re pretty okay, too.”

“Better than okay, I should hope.” He closely examines his thumbnail. “I’m… growing to enjoy the whole package, honestly.”

She doesn’t immediately respond and he chances a look up at her.

“Deer in the magicked light” is what one might call the expression on her face. She blinks rapidly and gives her head a small shake before she looks to the side, color rising prettily in her cheeks.

“Is that so?” she says, giving a tight laugh.

His smile starts to go a little toothy and he dials it back. “I’ve been thinking an awful lot about our last reading lessons,” he lilts at her, peering up through his lashes. “And our language lessons. I’ve been pondering over what other sorts of lessons I could offer.”

Tav’s cheeks go pink to red.

He leans in to speak softly, making her lean in closer to be able to hear him. “I like you,” he says. “And I think you like me, too. So?”

“So, what?” she blurts, immediately grimacing at her own outburst.

A giggle bubbles up out of him before he can stop it and he puts a hand up in front of his mouth to hide his smile. When he regains control, he lowers his hand. “So, I thought you might like to indulge in certain curiosities with me.”

I want to go down on you.

Astarion blinks the thought away as soon as it appears in his head, briefly letting his smile slip before he snatches it back.

Tav is blushing furiously, but she leans in closer to him nonetheless to whisper, “Like what, exactly?”

Elvish, rising like the language of his dreams: I want to drink of your fountain.

He gives his head a light shake, playing it off with a mirthful huff as he says lowly, “Like sex, sweet thing. Whatever kind you might be… interested in.”

Tav nods rapidly and hums, slowly leaning back and standing at her full height again, not quite meeting his eye. “I was pretty sure that’s what you meant, but you know. Better safe than sorry? Is that a thing people say?”

Astarion reaches out to gently guide her chin toward him until she’s looking at him. “Think about it. If you’re amicable, you’ll find me later at the clearing where you last offered me a bite after the others are asleep.” He chucks her under the chin. “I’ll be waiting.”

She nods once more, expression unchanged. “Yeah. Yep. Okay. I’m going to… see you later. Maybe.” Then she turns on her heel and walks away.

“See you later,” he says. “Lover.”

When she disappears into the dark, he blows out a breath, subtly shaking his hands out. That was a yes.

Right?

“Of course it was,” he snipes at his own brain.

---

Hours later, Astarion paces the moonlit clearing, fiddling with the cuffed sleeve of his shirt. The others must be asleep by now. He pulls at the sleeve. It feels too tight.

Should he take the shirt off? He should just take the shirt off.

He does.

Astarion glances around the clearing once more, noting the blanket he spread on the ground nearby. Not a bed, but you know. He’s okay with that, actually.

He clenches and unclenches his fists, rolling his hands at the wrists. Cracking his neck. Rolling out his shoulders. He takes a deep breath and forces himself to be still. Controlled. Practiced. This is an act he’s performed thousands of times. This is no different.

It’s not.

She’s going to come out of those bushes any moment and-

The bushes he’s looking at actually rustle and he jumps, whispering “oh, shit” before he can stop himself. He manages to put a smile back on his face just as the leaves part and a small doe takes two hops into the clearing and freezes when it spots him.

Astarion doesn’t move. He doesn’t even breathe. The doe relaxes very slightly, flicking an ear.

It’s one of the little black-tailed deer native to the area. He’s made a meal of more than one of them in recent days. Her coat is smooth and healthy, her eyes brown and clear.

The doe blinks at him and takes a step closer.

He gives a relieved chuckle and says, “There you are, Tav.”

“Oh, you heard me? Damn,” says a voice from behind him.

“Ah-” he yells. He tries to cut off the sound, but it’s too late. The doe spooks and bounds off into the underbrush once again.

“Apologies,” he says, regaining his composure and rolling his eyes to the stars above. “She was such a pretty little thing that I assumed it was you.” He starts to turn. “But I’m glad you made it. I was starting to worry you’d gotten lost and…” He finally sets eyes on her and loses his smile immediately. “... and you’re already naked.”

Tav stands before him without a stitch on, her long hair hanging over her rounded breasts and everything from the waist down on full display. He spots her clothing and staff in a neat stack nearby. Her whole body is flushed.

Astarion swallows. He’s seen untold numbers of people in states of full undress. This is routine. She caught him off-guard, is all.

“I… was I not supposed to be?” Tav says, hands going up to run nervously through her draping hair. “Sorry, I thought… you said sex? And then I saw that you had your shirt off, so…”

He holds up a hand and ticks up his brows. “No, no, it’s fine. It’s fine! I like it.” He finds the mask, the posture, like muscle memory. Slips back into the person in control. “You’re just full of surprises, beautiful.”

Tav rewards him with a bashful smile, continuing to comb her hands through her hair.

Astarion huffs a laugh. He can’t help himself. He approaches her with slow, intentional steps. “I had a whole catalog of poetic nothings to whisper in your ear, but looks like I needn’t bother, which is fine by me.” He stops in front of her, smiling his charmer’s smile. “So long as you still want to be tasted.”

He’s starting to notice it’s a good sign when the apples of her cheeks turn red. She nods. “I’d like to try the tongue thing, yes, please.”

“Good,” he purrs, reaching for her hips.

He pulls her in for a sweet, well-executed stage kiss. Most people needed about that much before they got to what they were really with him for. He pulls back and gives her a tight-lipped smile.

Tav looks into his eyes, her lips parted. She’s not moving, and oh gods, he’s going to have to lead completely, isn’t he? Ah well. Such is life.

But then she tucks her chin, her gaze going heated. The pupils of her eyes flicker, changing shape ever so slightly, and Astarion hardly has time to drop his pretender’s smile and ask before she surges forward and kisses him back, throwing her arms around his neck.

Astarion gives a surprised “mmmn!” as he stumbles slightly under her vigor, but he corrects quickly, wrapping his arms around her ribcage and lifting her against his body. Her tongue runs along his mouth and she’s nipping, nipping, and-

There’s a sharp sting on his bottom lip and he releases her right as she pulls back from him, hands to her mouth and eyes wide as saucers. He reaches up to touch his lip and when he looks at his fingers, they show a smeared drop of blood. He blinks down at it, astounded.

He feels a snap deep inside him as the monster in him, the hunter, stirs at the sight and scent of blood.

“I’m so sorry,” Tav says, dropping her hands. “It’s a druid thing, we can get a little wild, I’m really sorry, I won’t do it again.”

Astarion licks at the cut on his lip and stares at her face, his breath heavy and his shoulders ever so slightly hunched. He can see the smallest bit of his blood at the corner of her mouth.

“Do it again,” he says with a voice like gravel as he scoops her bodily up and goes to his knees so he can set her on the ground.

He lays his body on top of hers and she gasps as his mouth covers hers, exploring and hungry. It doesn’t take long for her to return it in kind, arms wrapped around his shoulders and tangled in his hair. He can’t even bring himself to care when she’s making it look like.

Murkily, his brain reminds him why he’s actually here.

Astarion forces himself away from her mouth and she whines at him, a sound far more animalistic than humanoid, but he doesn’t stop trailing his lips down her body until he gets to her hips. He rolls himself up onto his knees and runs his palms up the tops of her legs from knee to thigh, coaxing them open so he can position himself between.

He looks at her face to find her gaze far less “startled doe” and far more “she-wolf in heat.” Her tongue darts out, licking her lip before she says, “People really like to do this?” Then, “You like to do this?”

Astarion positively grins, his pointed teeth showing through.

"Yes. Though it’s a pity this is your first experience," he says through his feral smile. "Because no one will ever best what I'm about to do to you."

“O-okay,” she stammers, clutching her fists close to her sides.

He purrs deep in his throat and puts his mouth to the inside of her knee, the tip of his tongue tracing a sensual line down her thigh, toward her center. He holds her eye the entire time and delights when her leg twitches.

When he nears the crease of her hip, he gives her a sharp nip and she growls at him, bucking her hips. He runs his tongue up along the crease until he reaches her hipbone, to which he gives a firm suck. As she attempts to roll her hips toward him, he spreads a palm over her hips and applies pressure to hold her down.

“Shall we check to see how you’ve kept your garden?” he says, looking at her from under his brows as he speaks.

In response, Tav giggles and slaps a hand over her mouth. Then nods.

She drops her hand to the ground and shakes her head, murmuring, “It can’t be that different, I’m sure it’s just like…” She shudders in a breath. “... just like…”

Astarion parts his lips and huffs out his breath against the slick skin at her core, already shining with want and anticipation. The sensation is a warming one.

Tav continues muttering to herself. “Books are full of all kinds of nonsense, I’m sure it’s-”

He flicks his tongue right over her clit.

“Ah,” she yelps, trying to buck her hips again. He doesn’t let her.

But he does flick again.

“Wha-” she says, thighs jerking on either side of Astarion’s head. “Why is-”

Astarion presses the flat of his tongue firmly at her entrance and draws it slowly all the way to the hood, teasing with the tip before he curls his tongue in slightly and dips back down to better open her inner labia.

“Holy hells,” Tav groans out, her chest arching up and the hands clawing the ground at either side of her growing actual claws.

He gives her another lap before pulling back to smolder at her. “And here I’ve only just started,” he says, voice silky.

“Holy hells,” Tav shouts to the sky this time.

Astarion huffs a laugh against her and goes back down, playing her with highly practiced skill. Full, long licks paired alongside firm draws over the swelling pearl at her center. She continues to buck ever now and again, but mostly she’s gone near boneless above him, head lolling lazily to either side and fingers weakly gripping the grass on either side of her.

When her breathing begins to stutter and he feels the flutter of her getting close, he finally moves his hand from her belly back down until he can get the angle right. He places the tips of his two middle fingers at her entrance so he doesn’t surprise her and glances up to see her eyes flutter open. She stares down at him from between the mounds of her breasts, pupils blown wide.

She licks her bottom lip.

She nods.

Astarion slides his fingers inside her and begins to pump in time with the movements of his mouth. Tav goes wild, both literally and figuratively. The pupils of the eyes watching him go slitted like a cat’s, gradually dilating back as her teeth go sharp and a random patterning of fur shivers down the length of her body before turning back to skin.

He takes that as a good sign and curls his fingers inside of her until he finds what he’s looking for.

Tav bark-mewl-roar-calls into the air above the clearing, her hips grinding into his mouth and hand now that she can move them again.

“Why does that…” she gasps. “Feel… so… good?” The last word comes out a growl.

He’d answer, but his mouth is preoccupied and he dare not let it leave its task.

With his free hand, he pushes her thigh up and guides it higher until she can wrap her leg round his shoulders and he can go deeper. He feels the swell of her under his tongue, going harder beneath his touch, and he begins to trace circles around it as he continues to pump his fingers into her.

Tav’s entire body rolls, trying to get closer, to get more, to get-

She howls as the tension finally snaps. Literally howls, from the very bottom of her chest.

Astarion slows but doesn’t stop, continuing to fuck her through it as he feels her release in the palm of his hand. He’s gentle, taking a touch of pity on her as he gives her a few more soft licks before he leaves her, drawing his fingers from her at the same time. They’re a mess, as is his face. He sits back on his knees and looks her over with lidded eyes, a self-satisfied half-grin on his face. Then he reaches into his pocket to produce a soft cloth to clean up.

He’s not much of a planner, but he plans enough for things like this.

Tav lolls on the ground, her body fully returned back to humanoid form. All except her pupils, which continue to occasionally flicker across the animal kingdom.

“Oh, that was good,” Astarion says, brows raised and grin on his face as he wipes his hand down. “Even for me, that was good. You’re welcome.”

She throws one arm out to her side, then the other, and slowly pushes herself up onto her elbows, trying to focus on him. “Why doesn’t… everybody do that? Oh my gods.” She flops back onto the ground.

Oh, she’s very good for his pride. He gives a pleased wiggle.

“You tell me,” he says. “Or call upon your old lovers and ask.”

Tav weakly waves her hand through the air. “They were bad. I’ve realized. Just now. They were bad at sex.”

“Poor thing,” Astarion croons. “All better now.”

“Yeah.” She rolls onto her side and sits up. Shakes out her head. And starts to crawl toward him.

He instinctively leans back as she comes closer, breasts swaying as she moves. “What are you doing?” he says.

She blinks at him. “I’m going to do it back.”

He blinks at her. “What?”

Tav draws her knees closer and matches his kneeling posture. “I’m going to put my mouth on you back.” She waits a beat. “If you want me to.”

“Uh,” Astarion breathes before he shakes himself and gets his wits back about him. “I would like that very much,” he says. He tries to purr it, but slightly lower in pitch is the best he can do.

It’s been years since he’s been with anyone who even bothered to ask. Probably decades.

Tav beams at him, a bright smile that’s so sunshiny it nearly betrays what they’ve just done. She rolls up onto her knees and pulls him by the wrists to do the same so she can reach the laces that hold his trousers on. His arousal pulses near her hands.

Astarion blinks. He’s… more into this than he usually is.

He blinks again.

He’s very into it, actually.

His fingers go to join hers and together they make quick work of his pants and underthings. Gently, she guides him back to kneeling again as she curls forward. Without thinking too much about it, he reaches out so he can hold her hair up out of her face. She’s at eye level with his cock, inspecting it with the eye of someone all too familiar with all the things nature has to offer and completely unashamed for it.

Astarion swallows back the wanting sound that tries to claw its way out of him.

“Have you done this before?” he asks softly.

Tav peers up at him from her position below and bends her legs at the knees, kicking her feet slowly through the air. She shakes her head “no” and something frozen inside him melts. Best ignore that. That’s a future-him problem.

“You are adorable,” he breathes. He finds he means it in the affectionate way rather than the condescending one, which is alarming. That’s another future-him problem.

Astarion clears his throat. “Same general practice applies here, really,” he says lightly.

Tav licks her lips and reaches out to touch him. Her fingers on him give him a little jolt to the solar plexus and he curls toward her on instinct before he catches himself.

“Tell me if there’s something I could do better,” she says, simply.

Then she licks along the underside of his cock and puffs her breath out across it, much in the same way he did to her.

He curls in toward her again and tightens the hand in her hair.

She puts her mouth over the head of him and he’s enveloped in warmth and oh, yes, he remembers this. This feels good. This feels very good.

Tav doesn’t get down very far before she backs up again. When she pulls off, he reaches a hand down to cup her jaw and draw it down, parting her lips.

“Loosen your tongue,” he whispers. “Once more.”

She does. She descends on him again, relaxing her jaw and loosening her tongue, taking him down deeper and deeper with each pass. Astarion means to watch and guide her, he does, but instead his head lolls back, eyes falling closed, and he smiles. A real smile.

It feels so bloody good. It feels good and he doesn’t have to… he can just be…

Tav hums a little with him mostly inside her mouth and he gasps from it, blinking back to the surface.

Oh, that’s too good.

He lets her go a few seconds more before he tightens the fingers in her hair once more to still her and gently guide her back. His chest heaves as her mouth leaves him, a string of saliva connecting them, and Astarion shudders forward.

“What’s wrong?” Tav asks, her eyes wide and concerned.

She can’t look at him like that. That’s not fair.

He lifts her beneath her arms and pulls her up toward him, her face to his, and kisses her again. She happily responds, catching his lower lip between hers and nipping once more.

Astarion groans.

Hands on her face, he breaks their kiss and tries to collect his scattered thoughts. It’s all hazed over with want. There was a reason for this, they were supposed to… he was supposed to…

“Why don’t we…” He loses the thought and swallows. Tries again. “Let’s find our mutual…”

Words, words, words, where are his words?

Astarion hisses through his teeth. “Oh, just… sex. Let’s have sex.”

“Oh,” Tav breathes, lips swollen and cheeks ruddy. “Okay.”

Whatever he had planned, which was not much, goes completely sideways as she simply climbs up onto his lap, reaches between them, and holds him steady so she can sink down onto him.

He’s so wholly unprepared for the suddenness and initiative of it that his eyes nearly roll back in his head before his mind catches up and he grips her hip with his hand, guiding her as he rolls up to meet her, his hips rhythmic, until their hips meet and he bottoms out.

Tav throws her arms around his shoulders and immediately begins to rock against him, her eyes closed and her joyous grin on her face. Astarion is doing his absolute best not to completely lose himself in her heat, her closeness, her scent.

Her pulse, oh, gods.

Astarion rocks himself up into her with steady rolls of his hips, tilting in to press his open lips to her neck with a moan.

“You can,” she gasps as she rides him. “You can bite, if you want.”

He’s not sure if the words he makes are language, but he does know he’s biting her and her blood washes over his tongue and he drinks lazily, sipping as he fucks into her at the same time. His mind is so unbelievably, blissfully bare of anything except how good, how hot, how much, how full, how winding winding winding-

Astarion pulls off her neck with a gasp almost on the edge of his orgasm. Automatically, he reaches between them and uses all the wiles of a skilled lockpick to send her spiraling over her ledge a second time before he furrows his brow, slams his eyes shut, and yells out as he climaxes, his spend spilling where he’s still buried deep.

“Oh, fuck,” he blurts before he can stop himself, nearly collapsing onto his side with Tav along for the ride. He slips out of her on the way down and immediately feels the mess they’ve just made.

Another future-him problem.

Tav casts a very half-hearted create water spell that at least rinses them off. She drapes herself over his chest, dopey smile plastered on her face. “You win,” she says. “I see what all the fuss is about now.”

“I bet you do,” he says breathily.

He’s grateful she’s not looking at his face as he struggles to hide the worry pulling at his expression. It’s future-him time, and future-him is having a moment.

He just had the best sex he can remember having in… that he can remember. With someone who will still be alive in the morning. And he likes her.

Oh, hells.

He likes her.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hi! Could you tell us more about the hoopoe sighting, specifically from the human / social side? Are these bird watchers or regular folk? How did the word spread around? Are people coming in from further (definition pending) away or are these walking distance neighbours? Etc etc etc

Basically, this situation sounds fascinating but I feel like I'm missing as to how this is happening and what social rules have emerged. It doesn't look like there's press coverage or wildlife protection or the threat of a wild animal killing you like with the [sea lion? Seal? That one pinniped] incident. So, how is this all playing out?

ALSO, I'm writing a story in which a non-native bird arrives one day and that manages to bring together some of the neighbours, so this event is personally fascinating to me. Thank you so so much for your reporting.

Sure! So, first off for context, a hoopoe sighting in the UK is not unheard of, but super super rare. It's something that happens like... once every few years, maybe? But normally on the south east coast of England, it is super super super rare to get one in Wales.

Now, whenever you get rare sightings like this, it's mostly bird watchers who care, and who spread the news. Last year a golden oriole turned up in a scrap of woodland on the Gower - much like the hoopoe, just passing through - and within hours of someone spotting it and putting it on a bird forum, the twitchers descended, lol. As luck would have it I was leading a field trip in that woodland on that day, so I got to see about two dozen people turn up, singly or in small groups, over the course of about four or five hours, all armed with proper cameras and also good binoculars. I never saw it in the end, which was a shame, but I know where it was, because I saw the birders gather in a small, hushed crowd at one end as we were getting back on the bus.

In the case of this hoopoe, things are a bit more relaxed. Unlike that golden oriole, it was first spotted earlier this week, and has hung out every day along the beach at roughly the same spot. You can see how unbothered it is by humans, too, look:

So close! Look how close it came in the photos! And the path it's on is a cycle path; bikes going past merely made it raise its crest momentarily and then carry on feeding. This means it's been a more relaxed affair, because if you want to see it, it's bizarrely easy to find. The first two days had slightly bigger crowds, but by now the QUICKLY GO AND SEE BEFORE IT LEAVES fervour has gone.

With that said, it's still mostly birders and other environmentalists going to see it. I don't think local news has even covered it, funnily enough. A quick search for 'Swansea hoopoe' gets me bird watching websites, birding soc med groups, a YouTube video, and a news article from last year when a hoopoe turned up in an Aberystwyth garden, of all places. The Evening Post really should have mentioned it for local interest, actually, but nothing. Although, of course, that's probably helped keep crowds down.

But environmentalists are definitely sharing the news with each other lol, so there's that (especially on the local scene). WE are all very excited. Of the little crowd of about 10 people there today, most had proper cameras. Several were discussing RSPB sites. Many had English accents, which suggests they travelled in to see it (although of course that's not definite). So, it's mostly a specialist crowd, interspersed with locals who stop to see what everyone is staring at.

The difference with the walrus, though, is I think partly the level of exoticism (most people don't know what a hoopoe is, but have seen birds; by contrast, they do know what a walrus is, and most haven't even seen a seal), and partly impact. Wally was exciting regardless, but he also kept squatting on slipways and capsizing boats, leading to funny photos of lifeboat volunteers trying to shoo him away with a broom.

And even funnier photos of him sinking the boats of rich toffs as they watched helplessly on and underwent the five stages of grief.

And, actually, he came visiting in lockdown, when people couldn't travel far and couldn't gather indoors, but you could go to Tenby and stand on a cliff, and I do think that played a part. But, as I say, most non environmentalists just don't know the hoopoe is even there to get excited.

Anyway, I hope that is at all useful! Good luck with your story.

[sirwow]

More AvA/AvM thoughts and a longer rambling under the cut to get my thoughts out

Admittedly this is all going to come out of the blue but that is my fault for saying nothing about a year old hyperfixation till now. Anywho!

The color gang coming from the online world where all the other sticks live has been in my head since we saw the outside world. Yes they’re way more vibrant then most there but purple and their parents are also a very vibrant trio. So I have my thoughts on the four. Obviously don’t have any parents around (wasn’t my fault for once shocker /lh) and are most definitely not related really. So it gives me the thought of the 4 always being friends since they were small and fighting/playing is just what they usually did with no parents figures other then a care taker.

But then how’d they get on the stick fight site? Well considering it was not until AvA 4 when we saw them they most definitely saw other famous stick fights that wanted to make them be part of it. Hell in AvYT we see at the end they all just wanted to watch epic stick fights. So yeah thought I’d they basically ganged together to make their own site to show off their epic fights together while also living in said site together. Worked well.

Then a certain someone broke down the wall one day and they were like damn this is kinda neat. Kept the site of course it is their literal home but after more and more or AvM they considered the PC, TSC and Alan more as their home and so started staying there more. The little Minecraft houses, finding interests outside of just fighting, and living out their fantasies with the power of minecraft.

They’re still all identical looking for a long time though. I think the accessories I draw them with were drawn by TSC as gifts but not until after AvM 30. They’ve learned so much more at that point about themselves I could imagine being identical as each other and just being “them sticks that fight” still gets a bit old. Course’ they can take off the accessories when they feel so but kept them in the back pocket. TSC hasn’t felt any feeling to change their looks so he hasn’t.

Well then anywho it’s very late and though I have more AvA thoughts I need to contain them for when it’s not 3 in the morning ! So instead some smaller stuff Iv noticed while obsessively observing episodes and shorts (mostly Blue because I heart blue)

Blue unlike the rest of the color gang is very… plain. And I don’t mean this in a negative sense. It’s more a lesser degree of creativity from him on most accounts. He’s not very creative in his solutions most the time and has very straightforward solutions to issues that in his mind are straightforward. Break an axe? Make a new one. Gotta go fast? Drugs Potions that make you faster. Yeah there’s cooking but he never really does anything creative with it outside of adding nether warts like the lil freak /pos he is. Follows a written recipe and taught lesson.

It’s a quiet aspect of him I only really noticed a few days ago. Not that this is a negative aspect again but something that makes him stand out more!

Now then uhh smaller random stuff I just always like. Lush Caves ep, Red realizing oh god he can’t win this fight Vs TSC and started running from them instead. Always makes me boowomp a little thinking about it since Red is kinda the younger usual happy go lucky prankster. TSC I know you’re also young and stressed but continuing to get his ass was NOT the way man,,

Last thought, King just trying to avenge his son only to come out of the situation with like 6 new adoptive kids is very funny to me. They say vengeance is a life well lived so I guess he got vengeance 6 times over. Ok gn (ecplodes)

[chaifootsteps]

re: convos about hazbin hotel's rating and kids being in the fandom.

i looked into what Amazon's Hazbin Hotel is rated and the confusing matter of the 16+ to 18+ rating. basically it's not uncommon for the (imo, broken) rating system to tag darker episodes with a higher rating than others, the intent is to let you know what the current episode will get into, but the fault is that it risks initially giving the impression the series is for a younger audience than it is.

& it *seems* the UI for the series page on Amazon defaults to the highest rated episode--bc it *was* 16+ before all episodes released, then bumped up to 18+ once episode 4 was there.

here's the rating on episode 4, which if it's the same as every other Prime episode i've watched, would've been briefly in the upper left corner in small text before fading away, easy to miss and lacks what would be more fitting verbage (i.e. sexual violence.)

and, here is what Hazbin Hotel's *official* certified ratings are, according to IMDb:

in relation to a shocking amount of kids being in the fandom, i tried to look into whether or not the Hazbin Hotel Pilot episode and/or Addict were age-restricted. y'know, bc everyone keeps saying it's an "adult show for adults." (which it is but ykwim.)

and it seems like there weren't/aren't. i checked in a logged-out browser if i'd get any sort of "this video is age restricted" or "sign-in to confirm age" YouTube filters. i didn't. i also tried playing them in Discord (bc usually if a YouTube video is age-restricted it'll stop you and make you view it on YouTube where it can confirm your age) both the pilot and Addict played without a problem.

(if someone else tries and finds they *did* hit an age-restriction block feel free to let us know.)

in addition, it seems a few redditors were discussing this very thing back when it came out, so they were either mistaken or it never had an actual age-restriction on it.

and the pilot's warning isn't even at the top or in caps or anything, it's a very casual "be warned this is aimed at older audiences hehe there are bad words and innuendos" line in the middle. not even "for" older audiences. "aimed" at them.

and as we know Addict has a proper warning at the start of the video that is as follows:

but, again, i was able to access Addict easily in a logged-out YouTube window which seems to indicate it had no age-restrictions on it.

i checked YouTube Kids itself and the good news is neither the pilot nor Addict show up in the search. the bad news is YouTube's content moderating is still lax enough that any dumbass can try and content-farm kids with whatever is recently popular, so a small handful of Hazbin-related videos like piano tutorials and silly crafts of the characters can be uploaded and labeled as "for kids" by those people. bc it's "just an innocent piano tutorial!" "just an innocent craft!"

but of course most of the "kids" we see in the fandom getting yelled at are generally 13-16 and up, just including the above for full context.

all-in-all i'm not trying to say that not age-restricting the pilot or Addict is some predatory action taken by viv, but to me it was/is a very poor ignorant or oblivious decision.

yes kids will always seek out content that isn't for them, but imo that's *why* the bear minimum is age-restricting and making it *clear* it's not for kids. it's for your own protection too.

if you put all the barriers up and kids still jump over them people can easily see it wasn't your fault. same goes for when construction sites or dangerous hills have warnings so they're not at fault if someone ignores the warnings and gets hurt.

but if those construction sites, hills, or videos made "for adults" don't have those warnings loud and clear, you're gonna get faulted, and you're gonna get kids running around even *more* confident that they belong there bc they were barely warned that they don't.

Thank you for laying it all out like this. This illustrates exactly what the problem is.

[ghostchems]

cirice - vampire!terzo x female!reader

you are searching for inspiration at the site of a local urban legend but something beckons to you

notes: 3.5k word count, mdni! 18+! there be smut here. also wanted to make this kinda spooky kinda mysterious hehe. ao3 link.

You scribble down a few thoughts in your notebook before looking back up at the mansion in front of you. Your feet dangle as you kick them while you think, trying to go get some inspiration from your environment.

The Crowley Manor stands darkly in silence as the sun sets behind it. Not much was known about the house, other than it had stood for over a hundred years. There were plenty of rumors, ranging from satanic cult activities to being a haunted boarding house to being the site of a murder-suicide of a wealthy local family. None had ever been verified, with the history of the manor remaining a mystery that seemed to plague your small town.

The historical society had taken up the task of renovating the outside of the manor, in the hopes that they would be able to uncover some of its history. The project had been quickly abandoned once construction workers had started to refuse to come into work after a few disappearances on the job. 

All of this had concerned you, of course, but it had also inspired you. You found yourself daydreaming about what took place in the manor often. You would jot down ideas almost constantly, until you found yourself here.

You had a generic story idea outlined already but actually being here, feet dangling off the stone fence where you sat, made your imagination run wild. A chill runs down your spine as you realize some time has passed. It was now completely dark, the sun having set long ago. You furrow your brow as you check your phone. You had been staring at the house for hours.

You shiver again as you start to pack your notebook and pens back into your bag. You offer the manor one last look, thinking in the back of your mind that you would be back to gain some inspiration again. The gravel crunches beneath your sneakers as you walk down the driveway to your car. 

I feel your presence amongst us. You cannot hide in the darkness.

You spin around and find yourself looking back at the empty mansion. You swear you could see some kind of light coming from one of the stained glass windows. An overwhelming feeling of being watched washes over you but still, your gaze lingers a bit longer. 

Can you hear the rumble? Can you hear the rumble that's calling?

You could hear it this time, clear yet faint, in the back of your mind. You take another step towards the house without thinking. The voice sounds warm, almost sweet, beckoning for you to come closer. You find yourself walking up the front porch of the mansion, the gargoyles seemingly more inviting than when you had photographed them just moments ago. The front door creaks open by itself and a rush of warmth overtakes you.

I know your soul is not tainted. 

The voice is louder now and you can hear the soft tickle of a piano playing. You push the door open and step inside, becoming swallowed up by the foyer. The floorboards creak beneath your feet as you carefully make your way into the room. You thought that the historical society had only worked on the exterior… but the interior looked immaculate. There are a few candle sconces that are lit, offering a soft glow as your eyes adjust. The wallpaper is completely black with an intricate gold line design that shines in the darkness.

“Even though you've been told so.”

You see a flickering light from down the hall and your breath catches in your throat. Did somebody live here? It had been abandoned for ages and you hadn’t heard about it being purchased from the historical society. You creep down the hall slowly, while a little voice in the back of your mind tells you to leave. Something wasn’t right here.

“Can you hear the rumble? Can you hear the rumble that's calling?”

The singing is getting louder now, more confident. You begin to feel like whoever is singing knows that you’re here… and maybe they are serenading you? The piano tune carries down the hall, beckoning you closer. 

You peak inside the doorway, eyes falling to the roaring fireplace first before trailing to the grand piano the music was coming from. A breath catches in your throat as your gaze meets the being playing the piano.

He continues to play as if he hadn’t noticed you, the dark and rich tones filling the air. The first thing you notice is the dramatic paint that decorated his face. The light from the fire highlights the white paint, while the black blends in with the darkness behind him. A few loose strands of his jet black hair shake as his head bobs along with the melody. The music starts to grow louder and louder, roaring through the room. 

His eyes dart up to meet yours and it nearly takes your breath away. There is an intensity to them that you’ve never seen or felt before, the mismatched gaze seemingly staring deep inside of you. His white eye appears to be glowing while his green one was softer but icey. You feel you can’t look away from them, even if you wanted to (but you don’t want to). His eyes are so captivating that you almost feel comforted by them.

He starts to sing now, his eyes never leaving yours.

“I can feel the thunder that's breaking in your heart, I can see through the scars inside you.

I can feel the thunder that's breaking in your heart, I can see through the scars inside you.”

His playing starts to slow, finishing out the song on a more soft, gentle note. You feel warmth bloom in your chest and a blush rises to your cheeks as you finally dart your eyes away from his. 

“I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t know anyone lived here – I just heard the music and wandered in.” You feel a deep sense of embarrassment as you keep your eyes on the floor. “I’ll go now.”

“Are you here alone, tesorino?” His accented voice is silky smooth, his eyes scanning you up and down. 

“Yes.” Your voice comes out only slightly louder than a whisper. 

He chuckles darkly as he pushes himself to his feet from the piano bench, smoothing his hair back into place with a gloved hand. He looks like a man from another time judging by his outfit; his black frock coat looking immaculate, paired with a white button down, black slacks and spats over his shoes. 

“Why would you come to this… wretched place alone?” He sounds amused, creeping even closer to you with a small smirk.

You start to get goosebumps as he approaches you and you start to get the feeling that you’re in some kind of danger. His gaze seems so strong, though, you have a hard time steering your eyes away from him. You feel paralyzed almost, like your feet are stuck to the floorboards. 

“O-oh, um… I was just writing. This seemed like a good place to get some ideas for a spooky story.” You sound embarrassed as soon as the words leave your lips, a faint blush rising to your cheeks. “But, I definitely have to get going, so sorry to intrude.” You finally find your footing and take a step backwards out of the door frame.

“No, no, stay.” His voice sounds so powerful to you, immediately stopping you in your tracks. He reaches a hand out to you, his eyes softening as his smile grows. “Did you like my song, little lamb? I’ve been working on it for a long time.” He is absolutely oozing charm, making it nearly impossible to resist him.

Still, you are able to hesitate for a moment before you place your hand in his. Even though he is wearing gloves, you can feel the chill of his skin which sends shivers through your body. “Y-yes I did. I heard it from outside… it made me want to come in and check things out.” 

“Mmm. Bene.” He purrs as he brings your hand to his lips, kissing it softly without taking his eyes off of yours. You start to feel a bit hazy, the coldness that had once spread through your body fading into the most comforting warmth you have ever felt. He smiles even wider, his fangs practically shining in the light from the fireplace. “Cozy in here, is it not?”

Words have completely failed you. All you can do is nod at the man, sucking in a deep breath as your eyes start to grow heavy. He tugs you in close to him by your hand, settling his hand on your waist while the other lightly caresses your cheek. Your hand falls to his chest and your eyes widen in shock by the sudden movement.

His touch feels like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. It scares you how much you crave it; how much you want him to keep touching you and to never stop. Your heart feels like it’s beating out of your chest despite the overwhelming feeling of comfort that has fallen over you.

“You know… I typically take great pride in tearing intruders limb from limb.” One of his fingers drifts down your check, settling on your chin to tilt your head up. “But, typical intruders tend to be the type to come here on a dare or for some kind of attention.” He tilts his head, his duochrome eyes wandering your face. “You’re not typical, are you, little lamb?”

Before you’re able to respond, his lips meet yours, gripping your chin even tighter. His lips feel so soft and are cold to the touch. It’s a short, gentle kiss before moving to kiss your cheek, then right below your ear.

“Perhaps, I will show you some mercy, then.” His breath is hot on your ear before his mouth moves lower to your neck. You brace yourself against the wall as your heart starts to thud in your chest. Conflicting feelings run through your mind, fear and attraction mixing in a way you have never experienced before.

He peppers a few wet, open mouthed kisses on your neck then settles on one spot. You feel his tongue against your skin as he growls deeply against you, pinning you against the wall. A whimper bubbles up in your throat as you feel his sharp fangs press into your skin and your hands instinctively reach out to grab hold of his jacket. 

He chuckles against you and sinks his fangs in even further, as deep as they will go. Your body lurches, burning pain shooting through you as you cry out sharply. You curl your fingers into his jacket, nails digging into it in an attempt to hold yourself steady.

Blood pools from the wound and you can feel his tongue hungrily lap at it between gasps and moans. You feel yourself start to become weak, the pain starting to fade as you begin to feel a warm sensation wafting through you. Part of you also feels a bit sad for the man; he seems so unbelievably hungry, like he hasn’t eaten in ages.

His thumb creeps up from your chin to your lips, lightly brushing over them. You part them only slightly and it slips in, pressing down on your tongue. You surprise yourself by moaning deeply at the touch, your eyes fluttering shut. He removes his fangs and drags his tongue up your neck, moving his hand to grip the back of your head.

“You are truly delectable, teserino.” He hisses into your ear.

Your mouth is still parted as he leans back to look at you, his eyes shining brightly. His hair that had looked so carefully styled has now fallen into his face. Blood is smeared across his lips, chin and cheeks. You can feel how much he wants you, how much he needs you buzzing through him. 

He doesn’t waste another second, his mouth crashing against yours as he firmly grabs you by the hip. You can taste your own blood on his tongue as he kisses you hungrily, tugging harshly at your hair. A low growl rumbles up from his chest, rolling his hips against yours. You can’t resist him anymore, softly sighing as you allow yourself to get lost in his touch.

You squeak as he nips your button lip, feeling just how sharp his fangs are. He tugs on it as he breaks from the kiss, releasing his grip on your hair. His predatory expression has softened as he gazes at you, his eyes burning into yours.

“Come, agnellino.” 

He extends a gloved hand to you. This feels like your last chance to turn back, to book it to your car and slam on the gas. But… the way he is looking at you like you are the only thing that matters in the entire world…

You take his hand and he squeezes it gently before leading you back into the room. The fire is roaring now, crackling loudly as he lowers himself on to the rug in front of it, pulling you into his lap in the process. His hands are immediately roaming your body, pinching and massaging, drawing soft, sharp moans from you. 

You press your back against his chest as his head falls to your neck, his lips brushing against it. Panic twists in your stomach, bracing yourself for the eventual bite when you notice his hand rubbing the inside of your thigh. 

“Do not be afraid.” 

His breath is hot on your ear as his fingers inches closer to where you desperately want him to touch. You whine, surprising yourself, bucking your hips to meet his touch. He chuckles darkly into your ear as he gently palms your clit through your pants, a sharp breath escaping your lips.

“So very needy, little lamb.” He is taunting you, his fingers slipping into your pants and inching down your underwear. “It’s okay… I’m needy, too.” His teeth scrape against your neck as he presses a finger to your clit.

A shameless moan escapes your lip as you snake your hand behind you to run through his hair. He sucks at the base of your neck, hard enough to leave a mark but not enough to draw blood. One of his fingers slips easily inside of your wet cunt, eliciting a low groan from you.

“How long has it been since someone touched you like this, agnellino?” He purrs, another finger sliding in with ease. You try to answer but as soon as your mouth opens he curls his fingers inside you and the words catch in your throat. He starts to work his fingers in and out of you, curling them sharply to get you to make that sweet sound again while his other hand massages your breast through your shirt.

You have been reduced to a mewling puddle in his lap, your back arched against his chest as you pull lightly at his hair. For being a monster and all, you are surprised with how gentle he is with you. His mouth hangs open against your neck, feeling his fangs but he doesn’t bite you, seemingly more interested in pleasing you.

“Be a good little lamb and cum for me.” He whispers husky into your neck, slipping a third finger inside of you and curls into that spot again. You body spasms and you cry out, digging your nails into his scalp as you cum.

Your left gasping, catching your breath as he presses wet, open mouthed kisses up your neck to your ear.

“Good girl.”

He bends you over, pulling your pants and underwear off as he does, causing you to squeak. You get yourself settled, then lean your ass back to press into his crotch, feeling his hard cock brush against it. He groans and ruts against you needily. You glance over your shoulder, your eyes meeting his as his mouth twists into a smirk. He undoes his pants, his hard cock springing free.

“You like what you see, eh?” He presses the tip of it against your wet cunt and you can’t help but moan deeply. His hands roam your ass, pinching it before giving it a hefty thwack with the palm of his hand. “Lean back onto my cock, tesorino.”

You do as you’re told, shuddering as you stretch around him. A low growl rumbles in through his chest, bottoming out with a hiss. His hand snakes to grab you by your hair, yanking it back. You moan, eyes squeezing shut as he holds you there, his cock buried deep and your hair pulled tight.

“You follow directions so well, agnellino.” He snaps his hips viciously and you gasp sharply, feeling his cock twitch inside you. “I must warn you, I won’t be as… gentlemanly this time. Is that okey dokey, cara?” 

“Ye-” You hardly get the word out before he starts to roll his hips into you hard, yanking your hair again. His thrusts are unrelenting, the sound of slapping skin filling the room as you try your best to grip onto the rug to keep yourself from being fucked across the floor.

He lets go of your hair, snarling wildly as he shoves your head to the floor, angling your hips even higher to snap into you at a deeper angle. You are a complete mess, not recognizing the shameless sounds that are pouring from your lips. You can feel yourself close to coming undone again, digging your nails into the rug.

“M-merda, you feel so good.” He growls, his thrusts growing more frantic as his hands grip your hips. “C-cum again for me, agnellino. Cum on my cock.” He slips one hand beneath you, his thumb finding your clit and giving it a rough swipe. This is all it takes to tip you over the edge, your body trembling as he continues to roughly pound into you.

His body jerks, burying himself inside of you as he moans deeply. You can feel his cock throbbing as he cums, emptying himself. He holds you there for a moment, both of you catching your breath as you come down from your highs.

You find yourself getting comfortable against the rub, feeling soft against your cheek before he quickly flips you over. He pins you down by the shoulders, straddling you as he gets right in your face. His lips are pulled into a tight smile, his eyes shining down at you.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten how delicious you are, little lamb.” He says with a snarl before sinking his teeth into your neck. You are feeling too hazy, too overcome with sensations to fight back. Your visions start to blur, slowly drifting away into the night.

**

Your eyes open slowly as they adjust to the darkness. You find yourself under a blanket with your head in the vampire’s lap. He is absent-mindedly stroking your hair with one hand while the other is holding your notebook open, reading glasses perched on his nose.

“H-hey, that’s mine…” You lift your head weakly, shifting in his lap. He looks down at you in amusement and moves the notebook out of your reach. He is now gently caressing your cheek with his thumb as his eyes shine down on you.

“Little lamb, you are so very sleepy.” His voice sounds so smooth, so soft, like it’s singing you back to sleep. 

Your eyes grow heavy again as you gaze up at him, resting your head back into his lap. You realize that his hands are bare, the coldness of them coupled with the heat coming from the fireplace is the perfect combination of coziness. He continues to coo more sleepy encouragements until you drift back into slumber. 

**

The next time you wake up, you’re outside, seated on the front porch of the manor with your head leaning against one of the posts. You are clutching your notebook as you slowly wake up incredibly confused. 

Climbing to your feet, you look inside one of the front windows. The foyer is completely trashed, broken glass and wood scattered throughout. You take a step back, letting out a small sigh.

“It was a dream.”

You don’t know whether you are disappointed or relieved that what happened had all been in your head. The air is cold on your cheeks as your gravel crunches beneath your feet. Before reaching your car, you turn to take one last look at the manor. It stands silently, cold and dark. 

Empty.

You thumb the pages in your notebook as you turn back to your car before your finger catches on something. You flip open to the page and your blood runs cold. Written in immaculate cursive on the page is:

A candle casting a faint glow

You and I see eye to eye

Can you hear the thunder?

How can you hear the thunder that's breaking?

Now there is nothing between us

From now our merge is eternal

Can't you see that you're lost?

Can't you see that you're lost without me?

-iii

You turn around once again, eyes falling to the manor. For a brief moment, you think about going back inside.

[spooky-stille]

Hello you lot, it’s been a little while, how are you all doing?

I’m writing this, distracting myself from last minute packing for Glastonbury which is coming at me quick this weekend. I’m massively disorganised at the best of times so it’s absolute chaos round here. Piles of stuff all over the place. Gambling on no rain which feels like a bit of a risk, but hey. Glastonbury for me is like summer’s answer to Christmas, so I’m well excited. Some of our most surreal and favourite gigs ever have been there, but I’ve also been coming as a punter with my mates for years and years. And while I know the idea of living in a busy, noisy field to watch music for 5 days straight is a lot of people’s idea of hell, I can’t bloody wait (even if I’ve got that anticipation-sick-stomach feeling you get before a big night). There’s so much great music on the lineup this year, but that magical parallel universe of a festival site is vast and sprawling, so feel free to imagine me and my mates - running around like headless chickens, trying to be in 6 places at once - from now til Monday. Actually don’t do that, no one needs that image.

 

 

The main reason I’m writing this is because I’ve made some new music and am in the process of getting it all ready for you to hear. I wanted to find a way to be directly in touch about all of that, about what’s been happening with us, what’s to come, and as a way to share a bunch of recommendations and things that I think are interesting (and hope you will too).

So, this is a hello to anyone who’s new here, and of course hi again to anyone who’s been around for a while. Cheers for reading this (I’m impressed if you’ve made it this far). I’m properly excited for what’s up next (more on that later) and in the meantime I’ll do my best to make these mails worth your time.

When me and the guys and our whole touring team finished our tours at the end of last year it felt like the right time for us all to take a proper break. Obviously we’re insanely lucky to get to play music and to travel all over the world with it, but we hadn’t really, properly stopped at all since we started out more than 10 years ago. Touring’s been this dominant line that’s cut right through and across most of our adult lives. While it can be an amazing whirlwind and is of course a huge privilege, it can also be completely all consuming, and, like loads of things in life, it’s not without its challenges. So, for that and for many different reasons, this year felt like the right time to not book any gigs at all and see what life looked like. It’s genuinely the first time since Bastille started that there’s been nothing scheduled. Mad.

We’ve all been off doing different things and getting on with life, while getting used to being in one place for a while. For me - in what’ll come as no surprise to anyone who knows me - I’ve not really been that great at sitting still or taking a break. I’ve been busy working on some fun things… so why would I want to not be doing that?!

 

Being home and being around has been genuinely brilliant, I’m really loving it. Part of that has been because for the first time in ages I’ve had the time to work on music and songwriting at home on my laptop, very much like how I did back when I was making the songs that became Bad Blood. This year so far has been such a fun and creatively satisfying time and I’ve felt well lucky having the space to chase a bunch of ideas and see where they lead and what they become. It probably sounds (and is) pretty self indulgent, but it’s been great.

Amongst all of that stuff (and general life stuff) I’ve used the time to travel a bunch, to take in as many films/books/gigs/shows/art as possible, I spent some time out at sea on the Greenpeace boat in the Bermuda Triangle (?!?!?), ran a half marathon for Warchild with some mates (thanks so much to anyone who sponsored - you’re brilliant), Tour-Managed my friends band FOURS on their UK tour with To Kill A King, and have been working away on a whole load of different projects with some brilliant people. I’ve also been learning the guitar… something I’ve always wanted to do but never seemed able to properly focus on.

 

 

And the reason I’ve learned guitar has to do with that new music I mentioned. There’ll be loads more news to come on that in the very near future (I’m excited to talk about the process and ideas behind it all… come on guys it’s my weird brain here so nothing’s ever as simple as it could be). I’ve tried to approach the whole process of recording and beyond in a totally different way, and I’m beyond excited to share it all with you.

For now… I’ve got to get back to packing or I’ll find myself on Sunday with no clean pants. I’m  here in my room with my head in my phone, sat amongst these piles and I haven’t even found a bag for any of it yet, so I better get on with it.

And to anyone here that’s also heading to Glastonbury this weekend, I hope you’re all packed and ready, and maybe I’ll bump into you there somewhere? (Oh s**t, also don’t forget to come to Pilton Palais on Sunday to join me and the editor of Empire Magazine having a chat about Nosferatu and horror films!)

Speak soon.

Dan x

[quandaryqueen]

Since requests are open again, could you perhaps do some headcannons for Yandere! Young Justice Riddler?

White knuckle jerk

Yandere Young Justice Edward Nygma X Reader

Yandere? YJ Eddie? Oh my god my loves 😍💕 oh lordy labacamoo, I love you for requesting this. I am so sorry it took too long, I just really needed the time to think about how I can do this request justice and I really hope I did

Also, I'd love to try something new for the Reader's role. You'll see.

CW: Yandere Content, Toxic Relationship Dynamic

💚 Yanderes are a different kind of breed, aren't they? Just the absolute worse, to think they are entitled to a person just because the object of obsession looked their way once and now the Yandere won't stop until they're satisfied on how they have their darling in their grasp.

There are myriad classifications of Yandere. There's the sadistic, protective, delusional, laid-back, vouyeristic, etc etc.

Then there's Edward Nygma, the Riddler, the pathetic one. The one who tries to hold over control over his darling in a way that's degradingly cute of him to try and cuff you to the bed, only to apologize, kneeling, crying, clinging, pleading for you to forgive him, as he kisses your feet for forgiveness.

💚 You were caught as object of obsession, the hot topic among circles of villainy, you've made a name for yourself, an instant terror struck upon the masses and a threat to be snuffed out... All he ever wanted.

And so he set out to watch you for his pure fascination. How does one person in which a calibre like yours operates?

Well for one, he kept a record of your agenda and had managed to track footage of you through various security cameras from wherever you go. It was difficult at first but it's certainly a tell of his determination. From the direction of your headquarters, the bank you recently robbed, a construction site you rigged with explosives as bait for the heroes, your life as a civilian as well, wherein he'd observe you go on about your alter ego where you managed to hide your identity very well. It's simply laughable how you aren't cuffed by the police yet with this amount of footage.

Seeing you go from the cold, masked monster to a warm face that smiles back during encounters was jarring, but fascinating to him. And he can't even tell which one was an act and which was genuine.

💚 Now, the tricky part was making himself known... Wait... Isn't he already known? He has to be, he's been trying to establish himself as one of the greatest threats of Gotham, of course he'd be known! You'd know who he is! Who doesn't?

Anyways... He has pinpointed your latest agenda, striking up a deal with a little known rogue who has yet to make a name for themself. It would be easy to acquire access of their contacts, plus he thinks his reputation would be a great addition to be considered when he plans to make himself known to them as an ally and as a result, get to meet you.

💚 A crush? No. Fascination is the correct word. He isn't above admitting he looks up to you, that he admires your way of doing things and would like to emulate that.

💚 When the time came, he establish himself as an ally of the team, he finally met you.

"V/N, I presume? Your reputation precedes you,"

"Ah, I forgot. Y/N, this is the Riddler." Edward glances at the third person, who is apparently on a first name basis with you. And not to mention, how they sound more at ease around you.

"Riddler... I've heard of him. The one with the question marks," You merely looked over your friend with disinterest as if he weren't there. "And what other help can he offer our cost? Other than being utilised for a... Questionable bait." You paused, trying to find a word less offensive.

"I can assure you-- I'm quite effective in wide ranges of cyber-related needs, strategies, techs--"

"I suppose we can make use of you. Now, if you were to excuse us for a moment, I'd like to talk to Gaslight alone."

Edward practically shrank under your intensive gaze, before wordlessly excusing himself.

💚 One would think he'd be turned off after your display of decorum (lack thereof), he was not. For one, this treatment wasn't particularly new for him and second, he expected this. He has been watching you after all. What's more, he was compelled. How it will all feel worth it once he has done the unthinkable, the impossible. Little ol' him.

He was on the team. That, he can tick off the checklist. Now all to do was to get along with you or Gaslight, the rogue who has agreed to work with him. You seem to get along with them very well and perhaps through a mutual friend, he can develop a bond with you.

It was no easy task, he was prepared from the mount Everest of a research, you would be the most difficult person to conquer in any way. There was nothing you find more repulsive, like submitting under someone. Let alone someone like him. But he felt in control.

He knows what to do, what to expect.

💚 Everything about you wasn't easy. You are irritable to anyone you don't like, save for a few people you tolerate. You also pick up one of the myriads of masks and use it for your own benefit, building a beguiling reputation for being a soft-hearted, thoughtful angel to some, not so much when they turned around.

He was aware of just how you are when you're at your worst, striking unprovoked and ruining someone's life for your benefit without much an ounce of regret and how you can do that to anyone, including those who you seem to have deceived that you have bond. By the looks of it, you might do the same thing to him. But he doesn't care. If that makes him more to you, then take whatever you want from him.

💚 Stupidly persistent, determined, willing to take damage if it means pleasing you. Everything he takes from you, from the verbal hits to the bruises and welts, he was going to take it. Somehow, someway, he is going to have you under his control soon, pull the rag from under your feet...

And in his delusions, he sees himself as this soon to be dominant, in-control, ever so merciful Yandere who will be your everything. In his head, that's his conclusion. In reality, he couldn't hurt you, he couldn't bear the thought of making you cry, let alone lose all the things you want... But if he had to do that, then so be it. It would have been for a better cause, he justifies.

💚 It just so happens your second-in-command, best friend, Gaslight, first name Gayle and last name Ilaw happened to have failed to escape an exploding building from one of your missions... But don't worry, Edward was there for you, he will be your new best friend... Or more, if you'd like.

"What did you not understand about what I said?" You utter coldly, sparing no glances at the hindrance that is Edward. "Don't make me repeat myself."

"I am so sorry for your loss," Edward approaches your slumped figure standing by the balcony. He felt as though he was in your good graces to be excluded from the goons you've yelled at to leave after receiving the news of Gaslight's death.

Gaslight... Long time friend, someone you considered as family. Second-in-command, confidante... An important piece of you Edward had to yank out in hopes of filling her role. It was a massive gap to fill, but you should know by now, he would do anything.

"If you need someone to talk to, I am always a call away."

Edward could not help but to smile as he exit.

The normal you would have barked at him... This development was just what Edward needed, to see the cracks form and soon enough he'd be there to pick up the pieces for you. It will only be just a matter of time until he reduce you into nothing but broken shards of what used to be you, needing to be made whole again with him by your side.

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

You’ll need the context of Victor’s Springtime Revival Date for the phone calls as they contain crucial references. So, make sure to read the event story and date first! ♡

⌚ This post contains detailed spoilers for content yet to be released on the global server! ⌚

•─────⋅◍♡◍⋅─────•

[Note]: The first call takes place during the 12 days separation period, and the second call happens after the date~ ♡

–

【1st Call】

Victor: It’s hardly been half an hour into the beginning of work time, and a certain someone already has the time to slack off?

MC: Victor, how did you find the time to call?

Victor: It’s break time for me now. In just ten minutes of not looking at my phone, over twenty messages have popped up.

Victor: When I clicked to see, it was either a bunch of emojis or a link to a short clip. You even changed your profile picture and sign on Moments within this time.

Victor: You said you were gonna go to the set to supervise, are these the things you planned on doing?

MC: Of course not. Actually, it’s because I’ve been stuck in traffic for an hour. I haven’t gotten to the set yet.

MC: From what it seems, I’m only five kilometers away. But the cars at the front are not moving at all. It seems there’s been a bump between two vehicles or something.

MC: If it weren’t for the equipment in the trunk, I would have gotten out of the car and walked on foot.

Victor: Dummy. Five kilometers is not a short distance, don’t be silly.

MC: I won’t. I was just saying. I’m fine, I was just a little bored, that’s all.

MC: But hearing your voice now, my fretful mind has already gotten a lot better! Are you still busy, though? I’m not holding you up, am I?

Victor: No. There are still fifteen minutes left before the next session starts, so I can keep you company for a while.

Victor: I’ve watched the video you sent me. When I get back, we can take pictures of Pudding in that similar model.

Victor: About the three pajamas, the duckling set is suitable for wearing at home, and the rabbit ear set is thicker in comparison, so it’s more suitable for going out to pick up the deliveries.

Victor: Also, the travel blog article is too long. So, I’ll read it after the meeting and tell you about it afterward.

MC: Victor, I’m so moved… you actually read every single message I sent carefully.

MC: Although you’ve always been like this, at this moment when I’m stuck in traffic, it has a special meaning for me!

Victor: …dummy. The desire to share comes from an emotional attachment, so of course, I won’t miss it.

MC: Hehe, I know~ To hear you say that like this, it feels like being stuck in traffic for an hour won’t be so bad.

MC: …ah! The car is moving.

Victor: Why do you sound so reluctant?

MC: Of course I do. I was clearly hoping that the car would start moving at once, but now I want to be stuck in traffic for five more minutes.

MC: Like this, I can talk to you a little longer. After all, you have meetings these days…

Victor: There’s no need to be depressed. The break schedule for this conference is reasonable, and there won’t be any lack of phone calls.

Victor: Alright, let’s get to work. The weather has been dry lately, so remember to drink plenty of water.

Victor: I’m hanging up now.

–

–

【2nd Call】

Victor: I got your email. There were about 1 GB of images, and it took me quite a while to go through them.

Victor: So you’ve been giggling all morning today looking at these pictures?

MC: Yup. I happened to stumble upon this website in the morning, where you can composite images using special techniques.

MC: Users can upload images and combine them with the resources from the public library to create special effects.

MC: So, I uploaded our photos to try it out.

Victor: The quality of most of the images is pretty good. Seems like the technology of this site is quite mature.

Victor: However, a certain someone better explain the “Cat Victor” folder to me.

MC: Hahaha, that’s the set I’ve combined with utmost care!

MC: Although Rembrandt-style and Picasso-style Victor each have their own artistic beauty, I still like the little kitty the best!

Victor: In your eyes, do I resemble these pictures?

MC: Yes! Look at the whiskers; it brings the feeling of a little bit of grandeur and reserve, a little bit of aloofness, and a little bit of insouciance…

MC: Don’t they resemble the cat Victor during the Evol abnormality?

–

[Tidbits]: MC is referring to their Interflowing Date~ 

–

Victor: I think you’ve been looking at electronic screens too much lately, and we need to have you see an ophthalmologist.

MC: Humph. If you don’t like it, I will enjoy these results all by myself from now on and won’t share them with you.

Victor: It’s okay. I don’t dislike it.

Victor: LFG invested in a pilot project a few years ago, and it had a similar image-processing technology.

Victor: The results of that project, however, are mainly used for historical research and medical guidance.

MC: I didn’t know that you’d already set foot even in this domain long ago…

Victor: I’m simply in charge of the investment decisions, not the specific operations.

Victor: Anyway, compared to those pretty pictures, I like this “old age” folder more.

Victor: The photos have a strong sense of realism and farsightedness.

MC: I like them too!

MC: Even though the generated “grandpa” Victor has wrinkles all over his face, he is still as handsome and prideful as ever~

Victor: Likewise. Even though a certain someone in the photos is old, she is still very cute.

MC: When I was looking at these photos, I was reminded of our nostalgic trip a few days ago.

MC: In the future, when we become old and gray, we will composite a few “back to youth” pictures!

Victor: There’s no need for that.

Victor: Every photo taken with you will be stored and backed up securely, so we won’t lose them.

Victor: If you want to “experience youth,” how about setting aside some time this weekend to go out with me and feel the spring?

───

[mollybecameanengineer]

Internet Porn

Summary: An incident with an internet browser history leads to a (hopefully non-judgmental) awkward conversation. Set in 2013 in a universe where Mulder and Scully raised William.

@today-in-fic

Read on AO3 or continue below.

“Shit,” Scully murmured, looking down at the iPad. Her finger had slipped and closed the wrong tab. On a laptop she knew that ctrl-shift-t would reopen it, but on an iPad? She hit the three dots in the upper right and looked around in the menu. There was a history option — that would work. It was, after all, the last thing she’d been looking at. 

So, without thinking, she opened the history on the iPad that Mulder primarily used. 

Porn. 

Lots and lots of porn filled the list of previously viewed sites.

“Holy crap…” she muttered as she scrolled through the list. 

Scully, of course, knew of Mulder’s porn habit — they’d been scattered around their office and his apartment in the early days. The two of them had even watched some after they’d started sleeping together. But she hadn’t seen any porn around in years. It hadn't occurred to her that he had transitioned to online content. 

As she continued to scroll through the list she was kind of impressed that, at nearly 52, he had this much stamina. They had sex a couple times a week, and based on the timestamps on this list, he was taking care of himself on a daily (or maybe more than daily) basis.

Morbid curiosity getting the better of her, she started reading the names of the sites. Lots of bondage, spanking, ass play… which she found surprising. Back in the day his porn had been, honestly, pretty vanilla. He had a few girl on girl tapes, but mostly it was variations on inviting the pizza man in. But this. This was not at all vanilla. This was a lot of BDSM. She and Mulder had only done the most tame of these types of things. She didn’t like to be held down or restrained (she had a lot of trauma around that, which she knew she should probably go to therapy for…). They did take turns ‘torturing’ each other with short term orgasm denial, but Scully hardly thought that was racy. And she did like it if he really pounded her sometimes, but who didn’t? 

The more she looked at it, the more she realized how strange this all was. The Google search terms were things like: ‘big black cocks’ and ‘big boobs titty fucking’. Neither of the searches made her uncomfortable, per se, but they did confuse her. Mulder had never mentioned an interest in men. (They’d once had a conversation about a girl she’d been with in college, and he didn’t mention being attracted to men. But he was also really focused on her telling him about this, so maybe he’d been distracted.) He’d also never mentioned really liking boobs (more than the average man). Maybe he was trying to save her feelings about not being well endowed in that area. Though she was pretty sure she could push them together enough for titty fucking if that’s what he wanted. 

“Whoa, whatcha looking at there?”

Scully jumped. Mulder was leaning over her shoulder, reading the list. “What am I looking at?” she said, turning to face him. “What have you been looking at?”

Mulder took the iPad, scrolling through the list. “This wasn’t me.” Scully gave him a look. “What?” He handed her back the tablet. “First off, I know you don’t care, so why would I lie? Second, I know how to use incognito mode.” 

“Well, it wasn’t me, and if it wasn't you…” she trailed off, realizing who it was. She squeaked and dropped the iPad. 

Will.

Mulder must have realized at the same time, as he was now scrubbing his face with his hands and moaning. “Well, he is twelve…”

“Exactly! He’s only twelve!” She picked back up the iPad and looked at the list with new eyes. 

“Oh, come on, I know I was playing five on one by that age. Weren’t you giving yourself a hand by then?”

Scully sighed. “Yes, I was masturbating by age twelve.” Most of her memories revolved around trying to find a private spot in a house with six people and one bathroom. “I know it’s healthy for him to be… exploring himself, but this? I didn’t know what any of this was at twelve”

Mulder took back the iPad and started scrolling. “Wow. Things are really different these days. I only had the Sears catalog to work with until I was fifteen.”

“What happened at fifteen?”

“I got a Playboy.”

“How?”

“I bought it.”

Scully furrowed her brow. “I ask again: how? They don’t sell them to kids.”

“There was a store that… you know, this isn’t about me and the shit I did to jerk off.” Mulder continued scrolling. “You know what? I’m just disappointed.”

“In what? What he’s looking at?”

Mulder raised his eyes. “Oh, no, that he left this much evidence behind. I mean, how could a child of ours leave tracks like this? Especially when incognito mode exists.”

“Should I be worried about what you’re doing in incognito mode?”

Mulder laughed. “Oh, I only use it to buy you gifts, just like it suggests — woah.”

Scully maneuvered to look over his shoulder. “What?”

“To be honest, this is probably more than I wanted to know about my son’s tastes,” he said, pointing to the title of one site.

“What’s ‘pegging’?” Scully asked, though based on Mulder’s reaction, she probably didn’t want to know.

“It’s uh, when a woman wears a dildo and fucks a guy in the ass.”

Scully put her head in her hands. Mulder was right, this was too much information. She grabbed the iPad back and deleted the history before she could overthink it. “We are invading his privacy by looking at this, however,” she took a breath, “you have to talk to him.”

“Me?! Why me?! And about what? We can’t stop him from looking at porn, all we can do is make him feel bad about it.”

“First off, you because you’re also a guy and I can guarantee he doesn’t want to talk with me more than he doesn’t want to talk to you. Second, I’m not concerned about the porn in and of itself, it’s that he needs to know that porn and reality are two separate things, and with all this BDSM content, you need to have a conversation about consent. And third, you’re the porn expert, not me.”

“Don’t think I don’t know about your ‘romance novels’, woman,” Mulder said, making use of air quotes. Scully shot him a look, and he acquiesced with a sigh. “Ok, fine.”

“Oh, and make sure he knows we love him and support him if he’s bi or gay.”

“Scully, he knows.” Mulder came around the couch and sat next to her. “We’ve been telling him that and using gender neutral language his whole life.”

“I know,” she sighed. “But it can’t hurt to tell him again, right?”

***

Mulder took a deep breath as he stood in front of his son’s door. He really didn’t want to have this talk. He’d thought this part of parenting was over two years ago when Scully had given Will a very clinical description of the birds and the bees. Mulder’s only role in the whole conversation was to affirm that he was available for any questions Will might have. And since there had never been any questions, Mulder thought he was home free. 

Taking another breath to fortify himself, Mulder knocked on Will’s door. 

“Come in,” Will responded, and Mulder entered. 

Will was sitting on his bed, listening to some crazy music Mulder couldn’t identify, and reading a comic book. “Hey, could we talk for a few minutes?” Mulder asked, shutting the door behind him

Will looked at him, suspicious. As he should be, Mulder mulled. This was very much not a normal interaction.

“Did I do something?”

Mulder sat on the office chair that was at the desk, next to the bed. He didn’t know how to respond, thinking both yes and no were wrong answers. Rather than pausing too long at this juncture, Mulder plowed ahead, hoping to get in and out of the conversation as quickly as possible. “Your mom and I found your internet history on the iPad.”

Will looked confused at first, then all the blood drained from his face. Mulder continued, quickly, “We don’t want you to feel bad or ashamed about any of it, but we need to discuss a couple things.” 

Mulder had pulled a childhood psychology book from university out to take a look at what it has to say about these types of conversations. It emphasized that the child should be comfortable and engaged in the conversation as much as possible. 

Will was sitting there looking panicked. 

Mulder cleared his throat. “First off, we thought it would be easier for you to talk to me than your mom about porn. However, if talking with her would make you more comfortable, that’s ok.”

Part of Mulder wanted Will to prefer Scully, just so he wouldn’t have to have this uncomfortable conversation (and risk fucking it up). But he also knew he’d be upset if his son did prefer Scully. 

“Not having this conversation would make me the most comfortable,” Will replied.

Mulder chuckled. “Nice try, but not an option.”

“You’re fine,” Will sighed, and hid his face in his hands. 

A ringing endorsement if Mulder ever heard one. “So,” Mulder cleared his throat, “we saw that you were looking at a lot of BDSM content—”

“You guys know what that is?” Will interrupted, an eye peaking between his fingers.

“Uh, yeah. This stuff isn’t new.”

Will returned to hiding his head in his hands. Mulder continued on. “There is nothing wrong with liking it, everyone has their kinks.”

“Even you guys?” Will’s hands were slowly leaving his face. 

“Well sure,” Mulder replied. When Will didn’t say anything, Mulder continued on. “I mean, for example, I like it when a woman is, you know… bossy.” 

Mulder wasn’t sure what to expect from his confession of enjoying being dominated, but laughter wasn’t it. Will was laughing so hard that he was gasping for air. “Hey,” Mulder interjected, “It isn’t nice to laugh when someone reveals something personal.”

“Sorry,” Will said, wiping his eyes. “It’s just that, of course you do. You're with Mom.”

Mulder didn’t know how to reply to that. He decided a reset was probably best. “What I’m trying to say is that everyone has their thing. And your thing is fine. But it inherently comes with issues of consent—”

“Like safe words?”

“Way before safe words,” Mulder replied. “It’s just that BDSM porn can look like forcing someone is ok, or hurting them is ok, and I want to make sure you understand consent.”

“Dad, I know rape is bad.”

Well, I should fucking hope so, Mulder thought. Aloud, he said, “I know, but when you’re with a partner,” many years from now, God willing, “you need to get a yes from them before proceeding.  And they need a yes from you. Just not saying no isn’t good enough. You need to be in communication about everything that is happening, and make sure you’re both ok with it.” On a roll, Mulder continued, “And porn is absolutely nothing like real sex. I don’t think I’ve ever had a sexual encounter that looked anything like porn. None of the women I’ve been with—”

“Wait, you’ve slept with someone other than Mom?” Will again interrupted.

“Will, we didn’t get together until the year 2000. I wasn’t a 38 year old virgin.”

“How old were you then, the first time?”

This conversation was not going at all as Mulder imagined. Although at this moment, Mulder was rather glad he hadn't been super young when he lost his virginity. “I was 19.”

“You waited until college?”

If Mulder were honest, it was much less about waiting and much more about a lack of opportunity. But he said to Will, “Yes, I waited until college.”

“Did Mom?”

Mulder wondered if the summer before college counted. Well, it wasn’t still high school. “She did.”

When Will didn’t ask another question, Mulder continued, “The point is that porn can present a view of sex that isn’t realistic, just like a movie or TV show isn’t like real life. Everyone needs something different to,” Mulder made a vague hand gesture, “enjoy themselves, so you need to talk with your partner about what they like and try to please them as best you can.”

“Ok, Dad,” Will replied. “Get consent and porn isn't real. Are we done now?”

Mulder ticked through the list of things he was supposed to hit on. “Just about. Remember that you can come to me or your mom about anything. And I mean anything. For example, I’d rather help you get condoms than become a grandfather before we’re all ready for that.” 

Will made a face, but Mulder hoped his son was taking him seriously. He stood and clasped his son on the shoulder before heading for the door. Just as he was about to leave, he remembered, “Oh, wait. First, as you’re, you know, exploring all this, know that your mom and I don’t have the expectation that you’re straight. We will love and support you regardless of your orientation.”

“I know.” Will replied. “You guys have been saying this since I was like five.”

“Well, a lot of people our age were rejected by their families because of it, and we want you to know that will never happen to you.” 

“I know.”

“Good. And second,” Mulder said, as he turned back to the door, “learn how to use incognito mode.”

(Author's note: I don't know where this story came from or if this the best way to have this conversation, but it all felt real to me.)

[pantswarrior]

Hii,

I read Fighting Gravity on ao3 earlier this year and I wanted to tell you I loved it! I'm one of those peripheral members of fandoms who haven't read or watched any of the canon stuff, but are too obsessed with the fanworks to stop. It makes me wonder about stories like yours - is some point in the larger canon where something similar happens, or do you just come up with the idea for an unhoused Spock on your own?

I'm sending my ask to thank your for your story, but I also wanted to ask if you were alright with people printing and binding personal copies (ie. not for profit) of the fic for themselves.

I've been hand binding sketchbooks on and off for a little while, and I saw a tiktok of someone's self-bound versions of their favourite fics and thought that trying my hand at fic binding would be a fun project for this summer.

I just wanted to ask bc I heard some authors aren't okay with personal prints, so just let me know please; I'll always love the story regardless.

Aw, thank you so much! I'm sorry it took so long for me to reply - my laptop completely died several months back and the only one I could get online with is 11 years old, freezes up upon trying to load Tumblr, and is physically falling apart. -_- So I have been away from Tumblr all this time and did not see this until I got a new laptop tonight and could load the site again, I apologize! First of all - I consider it a great honor when anyone thinks enough of my fanstuff to want to do ANYTHING with it. =) I mean, I'm just out here being a nerd, writing fic about characters that are not mine. I can hardly be possessive about them. ;) So while I suppose it's rather late for a summer project, if for some reason the inclination strikes you in the future, feel free! It sounds like a beautiful project and I'm honestly flattered that you would think my story worthy. =) As for the inspiration behind that particular story... there is a rather silly story behind it. (tl;dr, possibly...) My partner-at-the-time and I were both really into the new Star Trek movie when it came out in 2009 - and this was not long after both of us were fixated on Ace Attorney fandom, which had recently had a new game released. Before the game was released, there was some character art showing an existing character looking scruffy, and the Ace Attorney fandom decided he must have fallen on hard times. There were multiple fanfics written about the guy he's usually shipped with finding him unhoused and taking him in and helping him get back on his feet. It became sort of a fandom injoke, "Miles adopts a homeless Phoenix". Not long after the first reboot Star Trek movie came out, the ONTD Star Trek community over at LiveJournal (good times!) dug up some screen test pics of Zachary Quinto wearing the Spock ears... but with a scruffy unshaven look and longer hair. So I showed them to my partner, who reacted with six little words:

"So... Jim adopts a homeless Vulcan?" I laughed because that was ridiculous and impossible given how some things work in the Star Trek canon. ...And then I started thinking about it, and how maybe it wasn't impossible, how someone *could* possibly wind up in such a situation in the Star Trek universe, and stopped laughing. ...And then spent the next several months of my life having this offhand joking comment turn into yet another exploration of one of my favorite themes: predestination vs. free will. OOPS. My partner, of course, was laughing their head off incredulously the whole time as I sent them drafts of the next chapter to read over and repeatedly reminded them that this was ALL THEIR FAULT. ;) So that is the...origin story... of that fic. Apologies for the length of this (and again, the lateness of the reply) - though to be honest it's so absurd it's fun to share it again. :D

[smolsammichowo]

I think my feelings on people arguing over if AEW or WWE is better is that one scene from the mickey mouse cartoon where Minnie Mouse finds a hat that is just the same hat she's wearing on her head & the group with her is like "oh I dont know maybe you should try it on..." & stuff ,

meanwhile Donald Duck, is like "ITS THE SAME HAT." over & over.

I'm Donald. except instead of hats, its pro wrestling. Its the SAME stuff. Its different companies & different styles of showing off stuff & different people but ITS PRO WRESTLING. ITS THE SAME OVER THE TOP VIOLENT SPORTS THEATER.

And I may say "Oh I perfer this stuff in AEW" or "I like this person in WWE" or "My favorite pro wrestler of all time is in AEW" or "Oh my gosh that match in wwe was the coolest ever!" but I just like them both in the end because they're both pro wrestling. Its more pro wrestling for me to enjoy. Same with other companies like NJPW, Impact/TNA (so happy more cool stuff is coming soon for them!) , Dragon Gate, ROH, and so much more !

I'm not saying "Oh! You dont like that company? Well you're bad!" You're fine to not like it, I'm just refering to the people who are like "Oh this guy who is super big star is signed with this comapny now! This company is trash now! Its gonna fail & die out! Haha!" & people who always focus on view counts and say "LOOK! This airing got a lot of people more watching than this show! They are failing!"

I wouldn't say that's failing. I would say all of that is pro wrestling is doing wonderful !

In the end for me, I just love pro wrestling & I'm just happy that I'm a pro wrestling fan in this age as there is so much content to watch (though a bit TOO much because I cant keep up with the fun madness AAAAA ) And I just find it silly that some people instead of enjoying it are just wishing the downfall of stuff! I

Also one more thing Im happier that tumblr has longer posts than twitter so i could talk about this!

Anyway heres a rant down below because here's a reason why I havent talked about pro wrestling a lot on twitter

I only mentioned on twitter that I dont talk about it much anymore given on twitter the fanbase there is a nightmare and people are scary (seriously compared to ANY fanbase Ive ever been in , sports fanbases especially pro wrestling where people REAAALLLY dont understand the "entertainment" part a lot of the time can be nuts. Especailly a shame given sometimes I really do want to talk about pro wrestling given its one of my all time favorite things & then I got people who just call me things just because my favorite wrestler either hasn't done much, isnt a champion, or isnt in their "favorite company"

Like bruh . If it makes you that miserable to just randomly comment on someones post talking about their favorite person like that why ya a fan . I used to be a huge fan of overwatch , still love the characters (after all i have two characters, one being one of my main online personas ) & such but I dropped the game because it made me miserable & that wasnt good for my mental health which then effect my physical. same with tiktok. I had 55k+ followers on there, that was my biggest following count on any social media site, but I dropped that shit because I was getting physically in pain from headaches from stress & being upset from that place & deleted that app & my account that had that many on there.

Aannnndd this just is exactly why I dont tallk about pro wrestling as much as I used to anymore. That above me happens. I just go off like I did lol . I apologize for that. But yea, I do still wanna do fanart for wrestlers in the future of course! After all they are a huge reason why I got back into art in a really fucked up time when I was younger in the first place .

[lifetimeshipper]

The Wolf-Con and the Cadet

I had been debating on if I should upload this story onto here, I had decided not to do it at first because it's a long series and has some stuff I wasn't sure if Tumblr would allow being put up on here. But I was recently thinking it over and thought why not, I'll go ahead and put it up on here.

This is an RP I was doing with a friend. Metalsound is her OC, she wanted to use her in the RP so we did, she's described in the story. This was my first story so there might be some mistakes, but I'm hoping I fixed all the mistakes by now. This story is already up on Wattpad but I wanted to put it up on other sites, there are also sequels and side stories I'll be putting up as well. Enjoy!

----------

Genre: Romance

Pairings: Steeljaw x Strongarm / slight Thunderhoof x Oc

----------

Chapter 1

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

 Steeljaw is walking around in the forest with a Predacon he had made an acquaintance with, a femme named Metalsound. Metalsound is half Wolf-Con, half-lion Predacon, her form is a wolf with wings and a lion mane around her neck. 

Metalsound stretched her shoulders as she walked alongside the Decepticon, humming an Earth tune, her tail swaying to the melody. She had been watching his and the Autobot's skirmish from the safety of the forest near the scrapyard. She couldn't help but feel curious, and a tad bit jealous, about what the wolf-like Decepticon had said to the cadet before he had left.

"Want to explain the 'I'm starting to like you, Cadet'?" She asked using his very own words.

"Huh? Oh, you heard that?" Steeljaw says as he looks up at her not all there.

"Of course, I have excellent hearing just like you," she replied. "You seem distracted. Thinking of a certain cadet are we?" She teased, but on the inside, she was practically seething. Why is he so into her? She has to calm herself down and remind herself that Steeljaw is like a brother to her and nothing more.

Steeljaw sighs, "Can't get her off my processor. The way she handled herself against me, beating me in the fight, outsmarting me, and proving me wrong about her abilities. She really impressed me, and now I can't stop thinking about her."

"Aww, someone's got a crush," the Predacon sang with a smirk.

Steeljaw growled, "I don't have a crush. I just can't get her out of my processor."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. What made you want to lead the other Decepticons?"

"I believe I can help my fellow 'Con brothers to be free from the Autobot hands and help them live a better life."

"So, what are you going to do now that Scorponok is out of the way? You plan on taking out Glowstrike too?"

"Of course. If anyone's gonna take over this planet it's gonna be me. I'll get rid of her and take her army of 'Cons for my own and add them to my current ones. And it would be nice to not have to see her ugly faceplate ever again," Steeljaw sneers as he makes the last remark.

"Do you have to take over? Why not help them find a way off this planet and look for a planet that isn't already inhabited?" She asked trying to stay on his good side.

"Yes, I want a world to rule and call my own where Decepticons can live free from Autobot's rule, and nothing will change my mind or persuade me otherwise," Steeljaw says as they look out over the water leading to their destination.

Metalsound sighed, "Ok, let's get this swim over with," she replied as she slowly tracked through the water. Once they reach the ship they both walk into it, Metalsound shakes the water from her fur as she looks around at the other Decepticons. "I hope the others got here alright. I'm sure Thunderhoof's anxious," she mused as she followed the wolf-like bot.

"I'm sure they did."

"You're not worried about any of them trying to overthrow you?"

"Not one bit."

"Either you have a huge amount of confidence or you're that arrogant," she replied as they entered the bridge where Glowstrike and Saberhorn were.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Metalsound rolled her optics as Glowstrike made her little speech. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to let out the one that looked like a Tree Frog, he kept looking around, mumbling to himself about a "Durodus" whatever that was. Her thoughts were interrupted as the femme said that they were dismissed.

Stretching her arms over her helm she left the bridge behind the mechs, she noticed that Clampdown kept looking at her which was starting to annoy her. She knows the crab-like 'Con has been crushing on her ever since they met and started working together in the last pack, but she would never go for a mech like him when there was a mech like Steeljaw around. Steeljaw notices her annoyance and lets out a small laugh, "Something bugging you?"

Metalsound kicked the small mech, hearing him crashing into the wall before replying, "Nope, as long as the other mechs keep their servos to themselves, we'll be good." She then glanced out a nearby window, "Want to go outside? I think there's supposed to be a full moon out tonight."

"Sure."

They go up on top and exit the ship, then they go walking into the woods. Metalsound could tell something was on Steeljaw's processor. Once they were outside, Metalsound transformed back to her beast form, quickly spotting a small clearing she sat down, looking at the night sky. She risked a small glance over to the mech with her. Steeljaw was sitting there looking up at the stars.

"Do you do this often?" She asked as she looked back to the sky.

"Do what?" He asked still looking at the sky.

"Come out here to be alone with your thoughts. I do it all the time."

"No, not really."

Metalsound huffed as if she was chuckling, "You seem distracted though."

He looks at her, "Really? Well, I'm not distracted."

"You are when you can't get the cadet off your processor."

He vents out a frustrated sigh, "Why can't I forget about her!?"

"I can't really answer that, you'll just have to figure it out yourself."

"I think I want to see her again."

"Whoa now. Are you sure you want to risk getting caught by the Autobots just to see her? You need to really think about this."

Steeljaw thinks for a moment, "Yes, I really want to see her, I need to see her! You have to help me!"

Metalsound sighed, "What do you want me to do? This feels like Romeo and Juliet," she replied with a smirk.

"Romeo and Juliet?" He asked in confusion.

"It's a famous human story, these two families are at war with each other, actually they just hate each other but that's not the full point. Their youngest kids see each other at one of the family's parties, and they fall in love, love at first sight if you will." The femme explained as she tried to remember all of the details, "They try to get together and they succeed." Metalsound didn't want to say anything about the full ending, it most likely would have done more harm than good.

"I see, sounds interesting."

"So, what exactly was it that you wanted me to do again? Not to mention Scorpion and Firefly are going to be keeping a close optic on us. How about trying to sneak in to see her?"

"No, I don't want to come off as a stalker. I know, the next time we get into a fight with them you can distract them while I talk to her."

"Alright, sounds like a plan."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Chapter

[purplesurveys]

1739

Who in your family has been married the longest? (and how long?) As far as I know, my paternal grandparents – they'll be hitting 54 years next year. My maternal grandparents also remained married for I think around 52 years, but my grandpa passed away in 2015.

Do you have any Eastern European ancestry? I very much doubt that.

Where is your car parked right now? Our carport.

When did you last travel alone? Where were you going? I've never traveled alone, but my last trip without my family was in June when I went to Bangkok with friends. I'm still in awe we got to pull that off, and all for a concert.

Do you take your shoes off when you come inside? Of course. My Asian ancestors and I would find it horrifying otherwise.

What’s your favorite movie series? Twilight is probably the only movie series I've seen from start to finish – and I will do it over and over again until my dying breath haha.

How are you feeling today? A little stressed on one side, but I'm also actively trying to calm myself down given it's the weekend and I deserve at least two days to relax and take some weight off my shoulders hahaha.

Look to the right - what’s the first thing you see? Just a couch pillow. And the wall.

^^ What does that thing remind you of? How my ex broke the springs on one part of this couch like, 3 days into my parents buying said couch.

What was the first color you ever dyed your hair? Ash brown.

What is something that’s considered a luxury, but you wouldn’t want to live without? A phone.

Do you want to move anytime soon? Uh not really, I'm not in a rush.

Did you have coffee this morning? Of course. I'm also on my second coffee today, currently.

How good/bad was the quality of education you received in high school? I'd say it was pretty excellent – it's some of the teachers that were the problem. Some of them liked to take things so personally (blatantly disliking students for no reason, like wtf?) it felt so ridiculous to be there and watch it just happen. I was super annoyed with it from the onset that just to amuse and distract myself I'd also just subtly let them know back that I didn't like them and what they were doing. I'm sure I hit a few nerves during my time there but it wasn't like they could do anything because I did well in my classes and held a few leadership positions lol.

What was the most interesting year of your life, and why? 2021 was very fascinating. I went from planning a Recklessly Permanent Deed to finding BTS, turning my life around, meeting new friends, and realizing what happiness feels like.

What was the first social media site you ever used? I don't think it counts as social media but it was a local forum marketed for tween/teen girls.

Do you have any exes you really regret dating? I wouldn't say the regret fully points to the ex per se, but more so on the time wasted. I invested so much (ultimately) unnecessary effort and energy when I could've been doing other things. What brand of laundry detergent do you use? We use Tide.

Are you prone to mood swings? Mostly during work.

Have you ever lied on a resume? Or even in a job interview? I have mostly been honest. I'm incapable of living on a lie.

Of all your friends & family, who has the most nicely-decorated home? My mom's younger brother's family. As icy as our relationship has gotten, they do objectively have a nice house hahaha.

What was the last thing you bought, other than food? A new vape pen.

Do you smoke? Or vape? Just vape. I wouldn't turn down a cigarette, but I'd also never buy a pack for myself.

What are you dreading right now? Becoming a director, uugggGhhhhghggGGHGHGHHHH.

What brought about the end of the worst relationship you’ve been in? It was just an ugly buildup of six years' worth of differences and incompatibilities.

Where was the last place you spent the night other than your own home? Our Airbnb in Nasugbu.

Do you have any step- or half-siblings? Nope.

Have you ever been catcalled? Duh.

How old were you when you started scheduling your own doctors appointments? 22 or 23, I think?

Have you ever driven across an international border? Yup, when we went from Singapore to Malaysia.

When was the last time you spoke to a neighbor? 3-4 months ago when we needed help to jumpstart my car.

Is your best friend male or female? Female.

When was the last time you washed your bed sheets? Around a month ago.

What do people always seem to think is weird about you? I dunno. You'd have to ask them because I've never been told anything about this to my face lol.

Ever notice how high schools in movies/tv shows are portrayed way differently than in real life? Yeah, but I get it. You have to dramatize things like that to make them more interesting to watch because life is pretty boring for the most part.

Do you ever braid your hair? No.

What food sounds the most appetizing right now? I'm full, thanks.

[josjournal]

A Dead Body (Full Moon Ficlet #518 - Serial)

Written @fullmoonficlet

Derek studied the numbers, frowning. He’d known when he’d taken over as the manager for the campus radio station that it had been struggling, but he hadn’t realized how much. It helped that many of the DJs were students who worked for practical credit, but they still had bills to pay, including his paycheck. Sighing, Derek knew they needed to come up with something good, or they would lose their few advertisers.

A knock on the door brought Derek’s head up. He frowned when he spotted Stiles Stilinski, who worked the midnight shift and was one of their few paid DJs. “Isn’t it a little bit early for you?” Derek asked.

“I was hoping to catch you,” he said, twisting his fingers together in front of him.

“Are you quitting?” Derek asked, raising his eyebrows, unsure if he wanted that. Stiles could be annoying, but he did have a following and a standing advertiser thanks to his step-brother owning the pub next to campus.

“Do you need me to?” Stiles asked, gesturing to the papers in front of Derek. “You’ve been staring at that spreadsheet with your eyebrows drawn together for the past twenty minutes.

“You’ve been watching me for twenty minutes?” Derek asked, unbelieving.

Stiles’ eyes widened, and he shifted from foot to foot. “I mean…it’s just a figure of speech.”

Derek smirked and looked back down at the paper. “Was there a reason you decided to darken my doorstep?”

“I had an idea,” Stiles said. “Something to possibly fill another slot without costing too much and a way to bring in additional revenue for the station.”

Derek raised his eyebrows, but Stiles kept talking before he could ask any of the dozen questions that immediately came to mind. “Have you heard of Bridgewater?”

Derek thought it sounded familiar, but he wasn’t sure if it was a place, a movie, a book, or something else. Hell, after hearing Stiles joking around with his friend Jackson, he wouldn’t be surprised to find out it was some kind of crazy sex position. Derek reached up to touch his ears, hoping they weren’t as hot as they felt. Finally, he shook his head when Stiles started to look concerned.

“It’s a podcast-”

“Stiles, we’re a radio station. How would having a podcast-”

“Let me finish,” Stiles interrupted and immediately froze and apologized. Derek smirked again and gestured for Stiles to continue before crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair to listen.

“Wow…okay.” Stiles seemed surprised by Derek’s willingness to listen, and Derek had to wonder what kind of stories went around the station about him. “So, Bridgewater is a serial podcast along the lines of the old radio programs. It’s got an ongoing mystery. Only one season is up, but the next one is coming soon, and it’s gonna be so cool, even if they are replacing Nathan Fillion. At least it’s with Alan Tudyk, who rocks. The woman who does the role of Anne Becker is just amazing.”

Derek raised his eyebrows when Stiles stopped talking. “And?” He made a mental note to check out the podcast; he was a big Alan Tudyk fan. 

“And, I think we should do one. On the station.”

“How is that going to help us? Outside of the regular advertisers, if they are even interested in such a venture,” Derek commented, his mind trying to figure out what Stiles was planning.

“Well, we run it with regular advertisers on the station, but then we also put it up on sites that offer podcasts, opening us up to more advertiser revenue. It can be quite lucrative.” He rubbed a hand through his hair, face hopeful.

Derek leaned forward, folding his hands on the desk. “And, where would we get a script? A cast? The production team? All of those things cost money.”

“Well, I’m minoring in creative writing and taking a script writing course. My final is to write a script, but I also hoped to produce it for extra credit. I’ve got a friend, Isaac, in the drama department, and he could get some of his friends. My roommate, Danny, is a whiz at technical stuff and can use the experience for practical credit in one of his courses. They’d all be willing to work for free.” 

Derek had to admit that Stiles seemed to have thought of everything, and without it costing anything extra, perhaps it would be worth a shot. “Alright, so tell me about this script.”

Six months later, Derek sat at his desk smiling down at the financial reports. Stiles’ idea for the serial podcast had been an unexpected hit and brought in enough money that Derek had been able to throw the cast and crew a party. Stiles had been so pleased he’d thrown his arms around Derek and planted a wet kiss on his cheek before gasping and disappearing into the crowd.

Derek heard a noise and looked up to see Stiles standing in the doorway. He had a strong sense of deja vu as he gestured for Stiles to enter the office and sit down. Stiles dropped into the chair across from the desk, his legs immediately going over the arm and his head hanging back over the other. 

“So, is there a reason you’re here?” Derek asked when the silence had dragged on long enough he’d thought Stiles might have fallen asleep. “Did you come up with another serial idea? A second season?”

“Nah, I think we wrapped up the last one pretty well. Nowhere to go with that story,” Stiles said.

“But?

Stiles turned his head, smirking. “I have an idea for another one, but we might have to pay people this time.”

“We might be able to swing some compensation,” Derek said. “So, what’s the idea?”

Stiles let out a whoop and sat up, rubbing his hands together. “So, these two kids go into the woods, looking for a dead body.”

Cross-posted to AO3

[joyfultunes]

Reading adventures! Just the Ticket by Lynn Lamb

Okay, so, I have a lot of thoughts about this book. I loved the premise. The book follows Hannah Lennon and her aunt Justice after they unexpectedly win the lottery. Hannah is definitely autistic coded. I really can't tell if the author is painting that as a negative or not. (not my autistic brain being unable to pick up subtext, lol)

Hannah moves from her small town in Montana out to California to try living in a mansion for a month to see if she likes it enough to buy. How, exactly, did the realtors know she had come into money recently and might be looking for a house? Was she looking on sites? The book doesn't tell us.

Out in California, she meets Brady, the chauffeur, and they hit it off right away. They are very cute together. It's a tad insta-lovey but not too bad.

They soon learn that Harrison Spencer, her uncle, is causing trouble back in Montana, looking for them. His millionaire business is failing and he has somehow learned that they won the lottery recently. He feels entitled to part of it for some reason. Her aunt Justice comes out to stay with Hannah far away from Spencer. He burns down their home (why?) so they know he is ticked off and might come after them. They hire a bodyguard and warn the staff. Meanwhile, Emma, one of the housemaids, tells Brady to get close to Hannah to try to convince her she needs this house. She, meanwhile, has been keeping secret the way she fell into her millions. Because, of course, we also need miscommunication in the mix.

Brady and Hannah get together and it's all cute, but then she overhears the houseworkers talking about her and Brady and how they have asked him to befriend Hannah. Why discuss this IN the house where she could easily overhear? She does not confront him, but she is confused and a bit standoffish after that. They attend a party of one of Brady's childhood friends and meet Claudia, who is Brady's ex. She is clearly jealous and bitter over being dumped, even however many years ago. She finds Hannah alone later (how convenient) and info dumps for an entire chapter on how much of a spoiled rich brat Brady was back then. Hannah gets upset and leaves hurriedly.

Once she reaches the mansion again, she sees a man in black watching her. She hurries to the house, but he follows and attacks her. She kicks him and he goes down. She rushes to the house, but he gets up fairly quickly and chases her all the way to the panic room in the bedroom, where she calls the police and they come rescue her. It's an exciting chapter. I was really concerned for her. It turns out to be one of Harrison Spencer's men, coming after her (to do what, exactly?) Next thing we know, Spencer is being arrested (for what??) and they are safe again.

The last chapter is just Hannah settling into her new home. We aren't told if it's the one she was originally sent out to see or if it's the second one she fell in love with. She and Brady are taking college classes and are together again and she is happy.

I don't know. I liked this book, but I was very confused in places and annoyed in others. The misunderstanding was so unnecessary and the info dumping chapter really had no place in the story. Some pluses: I liked that the main character shares my name. That's fun. And I appreciated her autistic coded traits, as an autistic gal myself. I liked the premise, and the plot line was interesting. Good book, with a few irritating tropes.