#also me when i think the best thing ive ever written is a wound sex fic. BRUH.😭😭 cant show this to anyone i know ever

[nyxi-pixie]

rereading my kousano fic god i really ate it up. the metaphors THE METAPHORS. THEYRE IN LAYERS. ughhh

[hazzabeeforlou]

Fine Line Masterpost:

A breakdown, musically and lyrically 

In Fine Line, ‘raw honesty’ doesn’t really mean delving into the details of who Harry Styles is sleeping with, but rather it’s a glimpse into the world of a 25-year-old who is both deeply in love and who fucks up a lot; he’s given to sugary supplications, is plagued by jealousy, pouts at consequences, and struggles with understanding an inner self that keeps prodding him towards exploration of his identity.  

The album is constructed to be consumed by various factions of the fandom. There’s no getting away from the surface dedication of HS2 as an ode to a blonde supermodel with a delicious French accent whose new boyfriend’s father owns a gallery, a girl who has golden hair and blue eyes. I won’t be arguing that away, because it’s intentional, it’s meant to be the surface layer. 

The mantle is not the crust, though. Taken individually, each song can be seen as speaking to the queer experience in varied and complex ways, and I’ve seen some truly beautiful explorations of this angle. Especially with TPWK and FL, the anthemic solidarity with queer experience is astounding and gorgeous. I think it’s no accident that this broad take holds true as we zoom in and look at the complex details; Harry has written songs that speak both to this meaning and also hold incredibly personal and intimate significance between him and a partner (in this post we’ll call them Subject). 

I will be focusing on the album as a cohesive narrative in the context of it’s chronological, linear progression. Fine Line details an incredibly personal struggle; it’s a love letter, an at times embarrassing, self-loathing reflection on a love gone wrong, a love struggling, an emerging self, and a hope redeemed. 

Please feel free to ask questions if any of the technical stuff is confusing, but please also remember that these are my opinions, coupled with my analysis as a professional musician (meaning, hopefully I’m remembering those torturous years of theory dictation correctly!) 

Side A 

All four songs share an off-kilter-ness, a restless, unsettled, frantic feeling, as if Harry is balancing, undecided between throwing himself at the feet of the one he loves or pulling away. This is no illusion; the tonic base is missing from each song save WS (but even here the tonic is sabotaged in our ear, as we’ll discuss). We’re on a journey to side B; we start with a hope that sweet memories and lust can salvage love, and we end with Harry going his own way.

Golden: There are only two chords in this song, DM and CM7, the V and IV7 of the implied tonic, G Major. We never get to tonic though. We never touch that home base. The songs “da da da’s” give it a happier, peppier illusion than the text reveals. 

Harry is already broken, already reflecting and hopeless as the song begins. His intended listener, Subject - the sun, the golden one - waits for him in the sky, and is all he’s ever known. Subject has always browned his skin just right, but now, Harry reflects, perhaps has been too bright for him. (Is some aspect of Harry buried in the brilliance of Subject’s light?) This golden Subject is scared, though, scared Harry is so open. Harry doesn’t want to be alone, but he also needs to peel back edges of himself previously unexplored. Stepping into and away from light is a major theme for Harry, and this opening song sets that precedent. Subject is scared because “hearts get broken,” but Harry’s heart is already broken, so perhaps this refers not to interpersonal heartbreak, but situational. Harry recognizes he’s “out of his head...” BUT, he counters, “Loving you’s the antidote!” He naively gushes out poetry while Subject remains unconvinced. We establish an impasse. 

Watermelon Sugar: The Dm - Cm - Am6 - GM chord progression is an odd one; my best guess is that the song is in D minor, so the progression is: 

i, VII, v, IV

 That’s not typical in a minor key. Usually the leading tone note (in this case a C) is raised (so C#) making the five chord Major (V) not minor (v) and the seven chord diminished (viio) not Major (VII). also the Major IV ignores the B flat in the key signature of D minor and instead uses B natural. So all this to say that the tonic base STILL doesn’t feel like a tonic home, because the normalcy around the key signature is erased. Everything still feels unsettled, unresolved. 

Much has been made of the oral sex interpretation, so, ya. This is a song about remembering the best of times, a prayer to Subject, a plea for summertime and bellies and strawberries, and a feeling Harry is desperate to get back. 

Adore You: The three chords in this song, Cm - BbM - AbM, imply an E flat Major key, so vi, V, IV, respectively. The tonic, Eb (I), is (once again) never used, and instead vi, V, IV circle without ever coming to rest. 

Subject, “Honey,” creates a rainbow paradise. This is another love letter to Subject, let me adore you, I’ll walk through fire for you, you don’t have to say anything just listen to me, you don’t have to say you love me too, just please, please... you’ve been on my mind. Let me adore you like it’s the only thing I’ll ever do. By this wording, Harry admits that adoring Subject is not the only thing he ever does, yet he wishes Subject to remember, or imagine, this false reality. 

Lights Up: We’re in C Major here, with the chords Am - GM - FM, creating the same exact chord progression as Adore You, vi, V, IV. We (yet again!) never reach the tonic of C Major. It’s a constant tease of resolution, but there’s no solid home base. We’re suspended in limbo. 

Subject is “sorry, btw.” What does that mean, Harry asks? Sorry we’re here in this place, that this is happing? This song is Harry’s declaration: he’s not staying, he’s not coming back down. It would be sweet if things stayed the same, but no, I’m stepping into the light. “All the lights couldn’t put out the dark”... even all the golden sun of Subject couldn’t heal the void in Harry’s soul?  Harry asks subject, do you know who you are? implying that he’s determined to answer this for himself. I’m reminded of the crab in Moana, singing “Shiny.” There’s a certain bravado here, a reckless glittery happiness, a flaunting, an exuberance in discovery. 

Side B 

Tonics are all over the place. Harry is certainly certain about heartbreak. No ambiguity here. 

Cherry: GM - Em - CM, or  I, vi, IV. We’re in G Major and we know it. Repetitive “cou-cos’s” pepper the track like hanging fruit (let’s imagine from cherry trees). 

The song is a simple one, simple in its jealousy. Harry has let Subject go, and now Subject is at their best... and Harry hates it. He doesn't want his former pet term of endearment used on another, even though he has no claim on Subject’s actions anymore. Harry keeps finding bits of Subject in how he dresses. They’re not talking lately, and Harry perhaps is most upset that this separation isn’t going how he planned... Subject is at their best without him. 

The gallery line is inserted as a bridge, a unique line of music rather separate from the rest, an intentional narrative. But what’s most fascinating is the end of the song. The previous repetitive chord progression changes. Now we have 

GM - AM7 (an added C#) - Am7 (4/2 inversion) - GM

or I, II7, ii7, I

The “cou-cou” lands during the AM7 (the II7) and it lands EXACTLY on the note of B, extending the 7th chord to a ninth chord, before, on its second syllable, dropping to the A and holding there (a kind of suspension) while the chord progression resolves to the Am7 (ii7), making the A a chord tone. This is deliberate. Unless the whole piece was harmonically built around Camille’s random use of a B to A in a voicemail (also randomly in the perfect key for Harry’s voice) this was purposely recorded for aesthetic effect. I for one really love it, I could listen to breathy french girls mutter about beaches endlessly...

Falling: A straightforward progression. In the key of E Major,

 EM - C#m - BM - AM or I, vi, V, IV

With Falling, the only ballade on the album,��we see Harry shift from jealousy to self destructive behavior. I don’t believe the ‘wandering hands’ line is about cheating (he and Subject were already apart) but rather, Harry seeking to wound Subject by turning to others. Communication is back open, because Subject says they care, they miss him too, but now Harry’s gone and fucked it all up. What have I become? What if Subject never needs me again? I can’t unpack the baggage they left. I just want Subject AROUND! Harry isn’t even begging for a romantic connection, he’s simply begging for Subject’s presence. He was so sure he could discover himself in LU, and now he keeps asking, what am I now? Who has he become on his own? He’s falling, and there’s no one to catch him. 

To Be So Lonely: This song waffles between two keys, just as Harry waffles between defending himself to Subject and finally, finally admitting (in just one small line) that he is, in fact, sorry. The song seems to start out in C Major, with CM and Am chords (I, iv) but then at the chorus the Am chord elides from a iv to a i, revealing the key is really A minor. The chorus goes on to be:

Am - GM - Em - FM 

or i, VII (lowered leading tone in minor), v (lowered leading tone in minor), VI

A fluttering mandolin mimics a fluttering heartbeat, and a folk music lilt gives the song a certain feel of heartbreak. 

Harry asks for Subject to not blame the drunk caller, likely himself. Harry was away. He missed Subject. He was just a little boy when he fell, and presumably Subject caught him that time. Subject is trying to be friends, they mean well, perhaps have taken pity on him, but Harry cannot stand to be called baby now, not when that name doesn’t mean what it used to, not when it’s a hollow word. Harry’s ‘home’ is suddenly a lonely place, but Subject has his reasons for how he’s acted, presumably good ones, and finally Harry gives his mea culpa, “this is it, so I’m sorry.” 

Interestingly, only after admitting that he’s made mistakes too, that he’s not perfect, that he shares the blame, does Harry confront and open himself to the realization contained in the next song, the heart of the album and the crux of what Harry’s been dancing around up until this point. 

She: In E minor, both verse and chorus use the same progression:

Em - DM - CM - Am - (Bm, a quick lead-in to) - Em 

 or i, II, VI, iv, v (no raised leading tone), i 

This Bowie-esc sounding song is the first to have characters. In addition to the Subject (perennially addressed as ‘You’) there is The Man and She. I would argue The Man and She are both Harry, a duality. The man drops his kids off at school, the man is thinking of You, like all of us do (everyone thinks of their SO perhaps). The Man goes through mundane daily tasks, but is he faking it? Does he really know what to do? He’s playing pretend, so pretend. 

Now Harry introduces She. (When speaking of She, Harry sings in a high falsetto.) She lives in daydreams, she is the first one he sees, and Harry doesn’t know who She is. A Woman just in his head, who sleeps in his (a jump up to the falsetto for just this one word in the verse) bed while he plays pretend. Much has been said about the gender/fluidity discovery in this song, and by better than me. It’s clear what Harry is saying, it’s clear what he’s going through and wrestling with. He’s thinking of Subject, but also haunted by She, in his head, in his mind’s eye, in his daydreams. She is a part of Harry, and Harry wants to know who She is. 

Side C

Uncomplicated tonics! All Major! A shift into happiness perhaps? 

Sunflower: F Major. BbM - FM - CM, or IV, I, V.  The bridge is fancy:

iii, IV, V, vi, I, V vi, V (vi?) V 

Some trippie hippie song from the 60s! Two lines of thought are apparent from the get go; Harry says he wants to get to know Subject, but then says “before I got to know you.” It’s as if this is a new beginning, like he and Subject are starting over. Much is made of the ‘seed’ thing, a metaphor for new life and rebirth, “plant new seeds in the melody.” Harry is trying hard not to talk to Subject, to not seem eager, not act a fool. He was just tongue tied, then he’s still tongue tied, implying he’s done this whole dance before. He implores Subject to hold their sweet memories: domestic times, kitchens, kids. In Golden, Subject was the sun. Now Subject is a sunflower, hung up high in the gallery, out of the shade, in the light a sunflower needs to thrive, into the light, step into the light. Little gasps from Harry interject throughout; is he surfacing from water (LU music video?), is he breathing between kisses, is he suddenly gifted new life like Gandalf atop Isengard? The end of the piece devolves into calls of unbridled, nonsensical joy, like birds song, like mating calls amongst brilliant plumage. 

Canyon Moon: D Major. DM - GM - AM - DM (I, IV, V, I)

 Bridge DM - (Em transit?) - AM - DM (I, (ii), V, I) 

Chorus DM - AM - DM - GM (I, V6, I6, IV) 

Perhaps the most straightforward tonic bound song of the album. Harry is missing Subject, but it’s a happy nostalgia now, a hopeful one, a “two weeks and I’ll be home.” Home is no longer a lonely place, like in TBSL. The world is happy waiting (there’s no rush? No need to have everything figured out?). “Doors yellow, broken, blue.” You can’t bribe the door on the way to the sky a sky where Harry’s Golden sun awaits him, and now the sky door is broken, busted through, that blue door to a blue sky that never looked so blue. 

We get another glimpse of She here; Subject remains You, Harry remains Harry, but there’s also a She who plays old hippies’ love songs and pretends to know the words; perhaps this is another Camille reference for narrative purposes, but I lean more towards this being another reference to She as Harry, exploring odd new music he’s never heard, trying not to be so pretentious about it but failing. (He’s such an Aquarius.) Most charmingly of all, the single whistler becomes two by the end of the song. 

Treat People With Kindness: F Major. This is the most interesting piece in terms of text painting. 

We start with CM6 - FM, then FM6/4 - BbM, then back to CM6 - FM, then we hold on the Am chord, and then repeat the whole thing. So analyzed in F Major this would be V6, I, I6/4, IV, V6, I, iii. 

But. By using the I6 to IV, Harry plays with the idea of a V of IV, where you take the IV chord of the key and pretend it has its own dominant (V) and use the V of IV not as the I chord normally is used, but as a Leading Tone chord to IV. 

ALL THAT TO SAY. He’s illustrating the lyrics. During “Maybe we can find a place” the chords are playing with dual resolutions. Where is the actual tonic? Is it F Major or B Flat Major? It’s ambiguous! We don’t know! We haven’t found our place yet! 

But then! The bridge. “And if we’re here long enough” and look where we land, on a CM chord, then BbM, then FM, a solid V, IV, I progression. And THEN (bless this boy) on the word belong we get the same A minor chord (the iii) but we get a 7th added to the chord, a G, and Harry holds this G in the melody (plant new seeds in the melody), a note that VERY MUCH DOES NOT BELONG because in no universe does a iii chord in Major have a 7th added! And Harry not only ADDS but draws attention to this note, this note that doesn’t belong!!! Then this iii7 chord resolves to C Major (V), making the G note a chord tone, making it BELONG, making it fit perfectly. 

GOD. Weep with me. 

This is Over the Rainbow. This is Hair, this is Age of Aquarius. Somewhere there’s a place we can belong and feel good and people will celebrate and rejoice in us, someday a new age will dawn. 

Harry is plunging into the deep end, dreaming, caught up in his good feelings and his euphoria in being “given second chances.” He’s tentative about admitting reckless hope to Subject; instead he says, “Maybe we can find a place to feel good?” Harry says he doesn’t need all the answers. He said in LU “do you know who you are” then in Falling “What am I now?” then in She “I don't know who she is” and now he’s at peace. He feels good in his skin, and he will keep on dancing. 

Most personally, I think the sudden somber turn of the line “If our friends all pass away” is in reference to grief. He’s speaking to Subject, but also to himself. It will be okay, okay, okay. Harry can’t control his life, he doesn’t have everything figured out, but he’s come to accept that. 

Side D

Fine Line: D Major. We come full circle, returning to the use of only three chords like at the start of the album. This time, though, Harry resolves to tonic in a repetitive pattern used for both the verses and chorus: 

Bm, GM7, DM6/4, or vi, IV7, I

FL is the summation of the album, the thesis statement, the conclusion of the journey. Harry has endured tests of patience, and accepted that there are things he’ll never know. He’s trying to shake off trepidation (of plunging in the deep end? Of hoping?). He says “My hand’s at risk, I fold.” The poker analogy is an interesting one; Subject (presumably) has gotten past Harry’s poker face, has sussed out his fronts and acts and strategies, and Harry is left bare and exposed, vulnerable before them. He’s been brought to this point, but willingly he folds. He laments that “spreading you open is the only way of knowing you.” We should open up before it’s all too much. Harry is done fighting. He’s also done sleeping in the dirt. For the first time he’s not sugar-coating his words, avoiding their problems via sex and pretense and flowery language. He’s matured enough to admit, “Man, I hate you sometimes.”

Again we have the reappearance of She. Harry says to Subject, “We’ll get the drinks in, so I’ll get to thinking of her.” This She is something between them, within them now, another facet of his and Subject’s relationship. Harry is going to spend time thinking of Her. She, I believe, is a part of him. 

A fine line is a balancing act, a tightrope, a suspension between extremes. But Harry calls out into the echo of the music, “We’ll be alright.” A declaration, a hope, a promise. Brass, strings, and a building crescendo, a cacophony of movie-credit-worthy emotion, sweeps us towards closure. Ethereal voices fade out, moving from dominant to tonic, but then a solitary piano plinks on a V chord, twice, hanging in the air, a question, an invitation, a hope. 

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi! I'm craving a long (+20k) johnlock fic that's set after or during season 3. Any recs? Thank you for all your hard work!!! Much love. ❤

Hey Nonny!

Ahh, okay so this is where I would normally direct you to one of my MANY S3/Post-S3 fic lists, but because I’m desperate for people to love me and because a lot of my Lovelies enjoy long lists, I’m going to go through all my other lists, and separate them, and then add any new ones that I have for you :)

With this list, I’m going to PRESUME you don’t want S4-is-canon fics, so I’m not going to add any of those ones because I have a LOT of lists for S4 fics, which I have linked below if you’re interested in them

As always, if any of y’all have your own to add, please do! And PLEASE PLEASE check out all the other fics on the other lists, because the under 20K fics are all amazing too!!!

LONG S3/POST-S3 FICS (20K+w) (APR. 2020)

See also:

The Empty Hearse-Related Fics

Any Where The Punch Doesn’t Happen?

TSo3-Related Fics

Post John’s Wedding Fics 

Gay Bar Scene 

Talk After John’s Wedding 

Stag Night

HLV Fics 

Post-S3 Fics 

TFP Is Canon 

Post S4 / S4 Fix Its 

Post S4 / S4 Fix Its Pt. 2 

Post S4 / S4 Fix Its Pt. 3 

S4 Rewrites 

S3 / TAB / S4 [FIX IT] Fics (March 2019)

Post S4 and Mental Health

At the Heart of it All by SilentAuror (E, 19,823 w., 1 Ch. || Virgin Sherlock, Post S3, POV John, Domestics, First Time, Kissing, Romance) – John has been back at Baker Street for four months now and thinks it’s about time they had the Talk to see whether or not they could be more than friends. Sherlock has a lot of uncertainty about this concept for multiple reasons. Unabashed romance.

Love Is by SilentAuror (E, 21,508 w., 1 Ch. || Angst, UST / URT, Post HLV, Romance) – At Mrs Hudson’s urging, Sherlock finally decides to tell John how he feels about him. Part 1 of Love Is

Sonatina in G Minor by SilentAuror (E, 22,574 w., 1 Ch. || Case Fic, POV Sherlock, Angst, UST, Sherlock’s Violin, Post-S3, Romance) – John has come back to Baker Street, but Sherlock doesn’t understand the strange tension between them, even after he begins teaching John to play the violin at John’s request.

Maintaining A Personal Life by Gingerhermit (E, 24,284 w., 6 Ch. || Alternating POV’s, Bisexuality, BAMF!John, Jealous Sherlock, Romance / Drama, Sort-of Case Fic, Peril & Angst, Love Confessions, Toplock, Soft Idiots in Love, Post S3) – Sherlock and John discover some interesting revelations about each other’s sexuality, which lead them both to question the assumptions they’ve made about one another for years. In the midst of their mutual discoveries, a dangerous psychopath looms on the side-lines who threatens to destroy their new beginning.

State of Flux by Atiki (E, 24,655 w., 4 Ch. || S3 Fix It, Sherlock POV, Slow Burn, First Kiss/Time, Friends to Lovers, Frottage, Cuddles and Snuggles, Awkwardness, Insecure/Virgin Sherlock, Romance, Humour, Masturbation, Love Declarations, Bottomlock, Brief Suicidal Ideations) – John’s marriage is over and he is finally back home (i.e. at Baker Street, where he belongs). Sherlock is awfully insecure and John is awfully hesitant, and they’re both awkward idiots, of course, but they figure it out. Many First Times happen.

Vena Cava by SilentAuror (E, 27,452 w., 1 Ch. || HLV Fix-It, Romance, H/C, Angst, Infidelity) – Sherlock has been shot in the chest; John has been shot in the heart. Though everything is broken, they do their best to heal the wounds that Mary left on them both.

To be Loved by You by TwisterMelody (M, 28,775 w., 1 Ch. || S3 Fix It Fic / Post HLV, Angst, H/C, Friends to Lovers, Infidelity, Character Death, Background Mystrade, Pining, First Time, Romance) – Too many times they had confessed themselves in the darkness, leaving it there, never to speak of it again.  But this is different.  This love deserves the light of day.

The Wisteria Tree by SilentAuror (E, 29,773 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S3, Emotional Love Making, Amnesia/Memory Loss, Sherlock Loves John So Much, Sherlock POV, Romance, Angst with Happy Ending, First Times, Hurt/Comfort, Est. Rel., Retirement) – Sherlock wakes up from a month-long coma only to discover that he has no memory of the previous six years to his own shock as well as John’s…

Shallow Grave by SilentAuror (E, 31,672 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Angst, HLV Fix It, Infidelity, Pining Sherlock, First Person POV Sherlock) – Starts as Sherlock’s plane is taking off at the end of His Last Vow. When he finds out that Moriarty is alive and that he’s being recalled from his mission, Sherlock decides that he should have told John how he felt before he left. So he walks off the plane and kisses him.

A Study In Auto-Signatures, Sniper Dolphins, and Sex Holidays by cwb (E, 32,689 w., 8 Ch. || Case Fic, Post S3, Evil Mary, Dev. Rel., Beach Holidays, Confused Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Honeymoon, Epistolary, Bottomlock, First Kiss / Time, Fluff, Secret Agents, BAMF!John) – John and Mary go on their sex holiday, and Sherlock is grumpy and pining about it. Part 1 of HOT DOLPHIN SEX

Pater Noster by SilentAuror (E, 34,256 w., 2 Ch. || Case Fic, HLV/S3 Fix It Fic, Family Trauma, Sherlock POV, Villain Mary) – During the autumn that John is staying at Baker Street again after Sherlock was shot, he ruminates over the similarity between Sherlock’s shot and the one that killed his father when he was fifteen. Cold case meets series 3 fix-it. Part I takes place entirely within His Last Vow, Part II takes place starting at the end of HLV and continues after.

carrying up his morning tea by darcylindbergh (E, 34,504 w., 5 Ch. || Post S3, Minor Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Wakes/Funerals, Estranged John, Pining Sherlock, Depression/Insecurity, Slow Burn, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Chronic Pain/Injury, Reconciliation, Awkwardness, Loneliness, Scars, Angst With Happy Ending) – His fingers tremble as he dials and he can’t force them steady. Familiar number, even though he hasn’t used it in two years. He isn’t even sure he should be calling it now, but she’d asked. She’d made him promise.

Inexplicable by emmagrant01 (E, 34,664 w., 6 Ch. || Body Swap, TSo3, Magical Realism / Artifacts, Infidelity, Angst) – So what was in that matchbox, anyway? John and Sherlock find out, the hard way.

The Yellow Poppies by SilentAuror (E, 34,952 w., 1 Ch. || H/C, Nightmares, HLV Fix-It, PTSD, Trauma, POV Sherlock, Doctor John) – Sherlock is threatened and assaulted in the hospital immediately after having been shot in the heart, first by Mary, then by Magnussen. As he recovers at Baker Street with John and plans the attack on Appledore with Mycroft, he fights to work through the trauma caused by these two visits. Set during His Last Vow.

The Unfinished Letters by SilentAuror (E, 37,391 w., 1 Ch. || Post S3 / S3 / HLV Fix it, Angst with Happy Ending, Romance, Infidelity, Depression, Case Fic, POV Third Person Sherlock, Love Confessions, Pining Sherlock, Letters) – A fire at Baker Street leads John to read something he was never intended to see: a notebook of half-written, unfinished letters Sherlock wrote during his time away…

Act IV by SilentAuror (E, 39,707 w., 1 Ch. || First Person POV Sherlock, HLV Fix-It, Infidelity, Angst, Drama) – After Sherlock is shot, John moves back into Baker Street. They spend the autumn together as John tries to make sense of his life and make some important decisions about both Mary and Sherlock. Canon-compliant, excerpts from His Last Vow.

Bloody But Unbowed by BeautifulFiction (E, 43,211 w., 8 Ch. || Abduction, John Whump, Mild Torture, Background Case Fic, Friends to Lovers, Post-TRF / S3 Rewrite, Hurt/Comfort) – When a familiar argument threatens to destroy the last remnants of John and Sherlock’s failing friendship, both men are left questioning their worth to one another. Before either of them has the chance to make amends, circumstance intervenes. John is left at the mercy of his abductors, and this time, he’s not sure Sherlock will bother coming to his rescue.

Inscrutable to the Last by DiscordantWords (M, 48,842 w., 6 Ch. || Post-TRF, Alternate S3, John’s Blog/S3 is a Story By John, Divorce, Marital Difficulties, John is a Mess, Emotional Reunion, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Grief / Mourning, Pining John, First Kiss, Adorably Clueless Sherlock, Nostalgia, Love Confessions, Eventual Happy Ending) – He wasn’t Sherlock, he couldn’t work miracles. All he’d ever been able to do was write about them.

Points by lifeonmars (E, 53,791 w., 42 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || HLV Rewrite / Canon Divergence, Married Life, Pregnancy / Baby Watson, Drinking to Cope, Boxing / Fisticuffs, Clueless John, Angst, Minor Medical Drama, Tattoos, Christmas, First Kiss/Time, Eventual Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Doctor John, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Burn, Case Fic, Drugging, Blow/Hand Job, Emotional Love Making, Parenthood, Passage of Time) – What if His Last Vow never happened? This fic picks up a few months after John and Mary’s wedding, in an alternate universe where Magnussen doesn’t exist, but Mary is still pregnant. Life continues – just in a different direction. And slowly, Sherlock and John find their way to each other.

Albion and the Woodsman by Glenmore (NR [E], 54,437 w., 50 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post S3, Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst, Family, Drug Use, Depression, Sherlock POV, Light Humour, Reconnecting, Declarations of Love) – Sherlock and John are devastated after Mary Morstan makes her final moves. Sherlock relapses at the crack house, John walks around the world … and a lot happens in between. Parentlock, in the good way.

Wars We Fought, Things We’re Not by blueink3 (M, 55,204 w., 10 Ch. || Post S3 / Post TAB, Parentlock, Fluff & Angst, Kidnapping, Whump, Post-TAB, UST/URT, 3G, Mild Peril, Slow Burn, Couple for a Case, Protective Mycroft, Infant Death Pre-Story, Friends to Lovers) –  Five months after John’s world has fallen apart, Mycroft sends the consulting detective and his doctor on a case that neither is prepared for.

Scars by SilentAuror (E, 60,494 w., 5 Ch. || Rape / Non-Con / Abuse, Gaslighting, Manipulation, Dub Con Elements, Homophobia, Angst With Happy Ending, Mary is Not Nice) – S3 rewrite, showing Mary’s manipulation of John as he realizes his love for Sherlock. Mary is not having it.

The Moonlight and the Frost by CaitlinFairchild (E, 77,289 w., 10 Ch. || Case Fic, Post-HLV, Self Harm, Virgin Sherlock, First Time, Oral/Anal/Rimming, Romance, Angst, Mary is Not Nice) – John has to somehow rebuild his life in the wake of Mary’s betrayal and Sherlock’s deceptions.

Not Broken, Just Bent by Schmiezi (E, 87,585 w., 43 Ch. || Pining, Love Confessions, Rape/Sexual Assault, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Villain!Mary, Suicidal Ideations, Main Character Death, Sherlock First Person POV, Parentlock, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Love Making, Possessiveness, Depression, PTSD, Kidnapping, Virgin Sherlock, Eventual Happy Ending) – “For a second, I allow myself to remember teaching John how to waltz. There is a special room in my mind palace for it. A big one, with a proper parquet dance floor. For a second, I go there. I remember holding him, closer than the World Dance Council asks for, excusing it with the fact that we are training for a wedding, not for a competition. For a second, I feel his hand on mine again, smell his sweat, hear the song we used. For a second, I allow myself to love him deeply. For a second, only a second, that love reflects on my face.” Fix-it for S3, starting at the end of TSoT. Evil Mary.

The Summer Boy by khorazir (T, 94,706 w., 6 Ch. || Post S3/Post TAB/Alternate S4, Friends to Lovers, Flashbacks, Sussex, Bullying, 1980′s Kid Sherlock, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Inexperienced Sherlock, Grief/Mourning, Pining Sherlock, Background Case Fic) – About half a year after the fateful events at Appledore, Sherlock and John embark on a private case in Sussex. For Sherlock, it’s a journey into his past, bringing up memories both happy and sad that he has locked away for almost thirty years. For John, it means coming to terms with the present – and a potential future with Sherlock. Part 1 of the The Summer Boy series

The Burning Heart by May_Shepard (M, 119,150 w., 21 Ch. || Canon Divergence, Post-TRF, John’s Sexuality, S3 Rewrite, Pining, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV John Watson, John’s Gay) – When Sherlock dies, John Watson feels like his life is over too. He’s completely shut down, until Mark Morstan, a new nurse at John’s medical clinic, catches his attention, and helps him uncover the long buried truth of his attraction to men. Although he’s certain he’ll never get over Sherlock, John plans to move on, and build a new life with Mark, unaware that Sherlock is not quite as dead as he appears, and that Mark is hiding secrets of his own.

The Adventure of the Silver Scars by tangledblue (NR [M], 142,458 w., 41 Ch. || S3 Fix-It, Post-HLV/ Post-TAB / Canon Compliant, Case Fic, No Baby, Angst, Humour, UST, Slow Burn, Angry John, Reconciliation, Not Nice Mary / Leaving Mary, Dependent Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Caretaker John, Fist Fights, It’s An Experiment, Virgin Sherlock, Dancing, Drugging, John Whump, Pet Names, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Scars) – It’s been thirteen months since Mary shot Sherlock and John finds he’s still pissed off about it. Sherlock had thought everything was settled: John and Mary, domestic bliss. But when John turns up at Baker Street with suitcases, the world’s only consulting detective might not be prepared for the consequences. A new case. Some old scores to settle. Certain danger. Concertos, waltzes, and whisky.

[fmdtaeyongarchive]

↬ my reality is a cruel fall without you.

date: august 2020.

location: ash’s living room / ash’s therapist’s office / ash’s apartment studio.

word count: 1,822 words, excluding lyrics.

summary: -

triggers: n/a.

notes: creative claims verification.

i.

ash has been through this exact writing process three times prior and he’s picked up some tricks. defining the seasons in the context of love had become easier for him as he finished their respective songs one by one.

winter had been the cold of the world driving two people together.

spring had been the honeymoon phase.

summer had been the oppressive weight of a long-term relationship taking its toll.

now, it’s time for him to write fall.

ii.

it’s been a year.

ash can’t remember anything in his life ever feeling quite as heavy as that promise ring had the night he’d slipped it off the chain around his neck and passed it out of his grasp for the last time, a mere six months after he’d put it on his finger and thought he’d had everything figured out.

“i love you so much, but we both know this isn’t working.” 

(i love you, but not in the way i thought i’d been looking for my whole life any more.)

if he’d looked at himself from the outside, he would have felt silly for feeling his entire core splitting in half as the silver ring clattered onto the table, his resolve too weak to thrust it directly into the other man’s hand, but there’d always been the unspoken understanding that the ring was more than a silly promise.

a public declaration of forever in a relationship as an active idol is, by most accounts, socially impossible. making that forever official in the form of government documents as a same-sex couple in south korea is, by all accounts, legally impossible.

forever had been a big thought to a barely twenty-three year-old, and it’d only grown more massive the longer it hung over ash’s head blissfully unacknowledged for the sake of his own happiness, for the sake of the idea of finally getting his own happy ending. he’d get there one day. then, it wouldn’t feel so all-encompassing, so terrifying, but months had passed and he’d felt like he was only getting farther away from that one day.

it hadn’t gone unnoticed to ash that, without fail, he’d been the one to deflect from the topic of forever when talk between them became too real. with time, it started to weigh him down. one day, he looked up and found he wasn’t on that cloud high above everything anymore.

he was in a different world and he couldn’t see a way he’d ever be able to climb back up to be on even ground.

so, it had ended at ash’s hand.

ash had once heard a person needs half the time they were in a relationship to get over it, so looking at the calendar and seeing august come around once again, that hill should officially be behind him now.

so why does he still think about it with sorrow at times like these?

how are you? how are you doing without me?

he has no intentions of writing a song about him for his fall single at first. he only wants to distract himself on the anniversary of the last ending he’d faced. the last one he’d ever face if he’d learned anything worthwhile.

but when does he ever learn?

his piano is an old friend at times like these. if the wood had any consciousness within it beyond what he projects into it in his most desperate times of need, it would surely judge him for how he goes back to it like clockwork in his times of emotional distress, but the rest of the world will judge him less for it than it will for turning to the bottles in his kitchen or the exes in his phone.

there’s a pattern to it now. sit down, straighten his back (the weight of the world on his shoulders is no excuse for poor playing posture), rest his phone on the bench next to him with an application recording every note he plays, and lay a blank notebook of music staves next to it in case he decides to be formal about anything workable that comes out of his idling.

nothing noteworthy comes to him at first, but the more he plays, the more fresh ideas begin swirling in a twister in his mind against his initial intentions of merely distracting himself. he messes around with chords, keys, arpeggios. he’s been forcing it a lot lately, and it hasn’t turned out in his favor. letting it slowly seep its way out of his pores might be the better course of action now instead.

his mind is frantic but the music is slow and inspiration piles up inside of him until he decides to sit and think through a chord progression, then a top line melody, then he fleshes it out. the first step in the process is never perfect, but he isn’t stumped with where to go with it yet, and that’s a good sign. more and more, he’s felt defeated with his songwriting after idea after idea gets rejected by the only people whose opinions really matter if he ever wants his songs to make it out in the world. he could think a song is the best piece he’s ever crafted, but if it doesn’t appease the bc entertainment gods, it will never see the light of day.

he tries not to think about that while he works on this song. that’s the roadblock he’s run into too many times before trying to pluck out something he can be proud of on the strings of a guitar or on the black and white keys of a piano.

the end product is something jazzy but moody, laden with his unspoken emotions but in a way that lends itself to simplicity, but he ponders for days the right way to put words to it.

he can feel what he wants the lyrics to say. it’s when he attempts to put them into words with a rhyme scheme and an appropriate meter that he struggles. ash has become a master at packaging his emotions into a pretty song with structure and a story, but this time, it’s evading him. the feeling is emptiness, but it’s also missing something he doesn’t really want back. it’s wanting something he can’t have now and wanting to tear himself apart for wanting it. it’s looking down the dark path to his future and seeing only less and less light as it stretches out in front of him. it’s fear of the inevitable pitch black darkness at the very end of the path and how quickly it’s approaching.

iii.

it’s after his second therapy session with his new therapist that something occurs to ash that stays with him beyond the time he’d paid for.

it’s not something he brings up during the session itself, or says out loud to anyone. ash doesn’t talk about his romantic life in detail with any therapist he’s ever had, even though he’s well-aware refusing to bring it up is ignoring a festering wound that needs attention if it’s ever going to heal. he’s heard too many horror stories about professionals that were supposed to know better discovering the money for the gossip being better than adherence to the oath of confidentiality they’d made for him to find comfort in disclosing the intricacies of his private life.

there’s a part of him he’s still holding back, but he only finds comfort in not opening up completely even to the person he’s paying to allow him to do just that without too much outward judgment.

opening himself fully or not, the lyrics to the song come easier to him after that. putting what he’s feeling into words is no easy task, but he’s made progress on it already. possibilities don’t come flooding out like a broken dam, but they do trickle down through his brain steadily enough for him not to lose hope. the slow drops only come when he pries them out, but they come nonetheless.

iv.

the mood of the song evolves in a way ash hadn’t anticipated at first. it becomes sadder in tone, more wistful. that had been a given from the moment the lyrics began to flesh out, but playing around in cubase ends with him deciding the song works its best as a simple piano composition, stripped bare like his emotions.

the piano remains prominent even as he adds more percussion and the main instrumental piano track gets jazzed up more than the initial draft recording had been. in a world where his music reflects solely his gut instinct, the song would be even more bare bones than it becomes. he imagines he would have taken a direction similar to “the unknown guest” on his last album, purposefully under-produced and made to sound like something that isn’t radio friendly, but it’s still simple enough to sound stripped-down to an untrained ear. the more he works on the song, the more he understands he does want it to be played on the radio. then, maybe, he’ll be able to tell himself the right person had heard it and convince himself of the closure he needs.

there’s a feeling in his chest as he listens to the final draft version, with layers of his vocals put down and a thoroughness that only comes with a song that has found its final form, that feels a little like he’s at the top of a mountain. he can’t put a name to it other than thinness of air. it’s not disappointment or regret, and as much as he decides he does really like how it turned out, it isn’t pride either.

the song is different than he would have thought it would be when he began it — after all, at some point visions of his ex-boyfriend had begun to mix with visions of the current flame he held — but different in a way that he hopes does service to the song instead of taking away from it.

at first, it’d been about his past relationship, a love that had been suffocated by his own choice.

now?

in a way, the song is about that relationship, but, in ways, it’s about the one that had come before that. and the one before that. and then, at the end, it becomes about the next one. the one he’s not supposed to have, but the one he’s confessed to yearning for in secret in the lyrics.

i want to fall in love.

unlike so many other songs he’s written, he’s not really begging for love to return to him or cursing himself for wanting such a thing. it’s about something else.

then it hits him: it’s not any of his relationships, long passed or current or future, that he’s holding on to. it’s a lament pried out of him by the lover he’s taken up in the time since, one entirely separate, but also entirely connected that creeps in the corner of every room he enters: loneliness.

[imaginethisbts]

it takes two to make a thing go right (dogboy hybrid au) pt. 1

Rated: M

Warning: Dom themes, possessive behavior, knotting, excessive oral sex, rough sex. 

Summary: What’s better than one dogboy lover? Two dogboy lovers. But when Tae and Jungkook seem unusually clingy, it can only mean one thing. That time of the month has snuck up on you and your dogboy lovers do not want to share. 

Note: jungkook is mean to taehyung in this cuz hes the dom alpha and taehyung tests his dominance too much =( but the smut is filthy and nasty lmfaoo. also i apologize in advance if the writing is a little weird and random in some spots. ive written on this story while being terribly exhausted, and then while being drunk, sad and mad. lol what im trying to say is i wrote parts of this story in numerous states of mind! oh and yes theres gonna be a second part to this so plz dont ask ill get it out asap. enjoy my loves!

Words: 8.4k

Since the dishes in the sink had gotten dangerously high from neglect, you thought you'd finally set up shop in the kitchen and try to tackle the giant mess. With your laptop sitting up on the bar in front of you playing Bob’s Burgers on Hulu and your big glass of lemonade set to the side, you were totally prepared to spend some time here at the sink.

The reason for there being so many dirty dishes was because living with two male hybrids was like living with two bottomless pits when it came to food. They ate so much, and did not understand the concept of reusing dishes under any circumstances. Every time they ate, it was a new dish being used, no matter how many times you tried to explain to them that their glasses could at least be used more than once.

They were utterly clueless.

Glancing over the top of your lap top into the living room, you saw Jungkook and Taehyung sitting on the edge of the couch, controllers clutched in their hands as they stared intently at the screen in front of them. You huffed a sigh of relief at them finally seeming to be content, returning your attention back to the task at hand.

The past couple of days they had been unbelievably clingy, begging for your attention constantly and not allowing you to get anything productive done at home. Finally after having enough of their constant pestering, you broke down this morning and went to the store to buy them a new videogame for the PS4.

And so far, that had done the trick at distracting them so you could get some work done, but you could only hope it would last.

After you filled the dishwasher up, you started the cleaning cycle on it and continued hand cleaning the left over dishes you couldn't fit into the machine. That was, until you suddenly heard an argument break out in the living room, their voices getting louder as one accused the other of cheating and the other heatedly denying.

You leaned your head back and closed your eyes, taking a deep breath to try and keep your sanity from slipping away. Should have known the peace wouldn't last long.  

Most of the time you tried to let them work out their problems alone without interfering, since they were grown adults after all, but sometimes that just wasn't the best idea.

Like now, when you heard Jungkook's deep growl reverberate through the air.

You knew from past experiences that that sound was bad news, so you quickly turned the faucet off and grabbed your dish towel, making your way into the living room to break up the fight as you wiped your hands off.

The sight that awaited you was nothing if not expected, but it never failed to surprise you at the same time.

"Get off!" Taehyung shouted and squirmed, currently being pushed head first into the couch by Jungkook, who was positioned on top of Taehyung, growling and snapping at the other's neck in warning.

Taehyung snarled in defense, squirming and trying to get Jungkook off of him, but the other hybrid was just so much stronger, making the feat almost impossible. It wasn't until Jungkook bucked his hips into Taehyung, in their strange way of showing dominance, that Taehyung finally collapsed to the couch and bared his throat, whining in submission.

Jungkook huffed, bending down to nose at Taehyung's neck and then nip at it, causing the smaller hybrid to whimper. "You cheated. Admit it."

"But I didn't," Taehyung whined desperately and Jungkook's deep growl sounded again, and that's when you realized you had just been standing there watching and that now was a good time to make yourself known.

"Stop it. Jungkook, get off of him now." You jumped into action, grabbing  Jungkook's upper arm and trying to pull him off of Taehyung, but Jungkook snapped his head towards you and growled in warning. It only lasted for a moment however, because when he realized it was you, he whined lowly in his throat, licking your hand as an apology and climbing off of Taehyung to sit back on the couch.

Taehyung scrambled to sit up once Jungkook was off of him. His ears were flat amidst his hair and he curled slightly into himself, looking at you with sad, literal puppy dog eyes.

God, you wanted to cuddle him so badly right now, but you knew you had to whip things back into shape real quick.

You placed your hands angrily on your hips and huffed in irritation, glaring down at both of them. "Are you serious guys? Can you really not play nicely with each other?"

They both looked guilty now with their flat ears and lowered heads. You once asked them what their least favorite thing in the world was, and their answer was whenever you scolded them.

Hybrid worlds were not very wide and mostly always revolved around their master, lover, or caregiver.

"Since you two don't know how to play nicely, I guess I'll have to sit here and supervise you like children." You told them rather annoyed, planting yourself right in the middle of them on the couch. Immediately, the two of them flocked to you like a magnet. Jungkook went for your neck, nosing at a spot before licking it, scenting you so you smelt like him. Taehyung hugged your arm and rubbed his cheek into your hair, his own way of scenting you.

The video game was suddenly forgotten and they weren't at each other's throats for the time being. This wasn't exactly the solution you were going for, but hey, it was a solution nonetheless.

Life with two hybrids was.... interesting, to say the very least.

And there were somethings you felt like you would never quite get used to.

For example, you don't think you could ever get used to the way Jungkook and Taehyung had to assert dominance over one another. Which, by the way, was by mounting the other one (fully clothed, of course) and giving a few thrusts into the other's behind while growling deeply and biting (not hard) into the other's neck.

Like what Jungkook just did to Taehyung over the video game debacle.

Jungkook was the worst one, and definitely the most dominate between him and Taehyung. He was never afraid to display that dominance either, like when they were playing together, arguing over something, and most importantly, when it came to you.

You never understood why one of them had to be above the other, but then again, there was a lot of things you didn't understand, giving the fact that they were half dogs.

Taehyung has tried to assert dominace over Jungkook in the past, but each and every time has led to a huge fight that you had to get into the middle of and break up. One of the times, Jungkook was so out of his mind with anger, he accidentally bit your arm hard enough to draw blood when you had thrown it out in a haste to get him away from Taehyung.

He had felt so bad, that the next few days after the incident, he wouldn't leave your side, whining in regret and licking your wound diligently. His saliva, being part dog, had helped the bite mark heal more quickly, and for that, you were grateful.

After a while of living together, harmony eventually fell between the three of you and Taehyung accepted his role as the submissive hybrid. Although every great once in awhile, he'd still try to challenge Jungkook, but it was mostly out of playfulness and Jungkook was always quick to put him back into his place.

Life was difficult living with two hyrbids, even more so with them being your lovers.

Sharing as a concept between the two never went over well, they were possessive by nature to begin with, so it was especially hard for them when they had to share you. Their bitch. You were still getting used to being called that, one half of you still finding it on the demeaning side, but the other half of you finding it strangely arousing.

Right now was a good example of their terrible sharing skills.

Jungkook tried to pull you towards him, snarling at Taehyung and the other just whined, pulling you back.

You felt like a rag-doll between them sometimes.

"Stop it, you guys. You're gonna tear me in two." You rolled your eyes, making to get up and return to the kitchen, but they both let out deep growls at your attempt. Back when you first met them, any growl that came out of their mouth frightened you and you stopped doing whatever it was that elicited that response from them in fear of what would happened. But now, you knew better, and knew that they were literally all bark and no bite. It was all about intimidation for them, and unfortunately, the trick just didn't work on you anymore. "Oh, you don't want to let me go? Okay then, you two are perfectly welcomed to go finish the dirty dishes that are mostly from you anyways."

Of course, their deep intimidating growls quickly turned into high pitched whines as they pawed at your arms.

"Baby," Taehyung whimpered when you continued to try and get up.

You ignored their whining and pleading and freed yourself before standing up from the couch, rolling your eyes once again when they got up after you and followed close behind you back into the kitchen. Like two desperately determined magnets.

A grin snuck across your face, but you willed it away before they saw it and realized you weren't upset with them after all. Sure, they really got on your nerves sometimes, but you couldn't help but to find their excessive affection endearing. After all, it came so naturally to them so it was always completely sincere. You were their entire world, and quite honestly, they were yours.

But you hated when they fought with each other, and despite them being your lovers, you were going to treat this problem like you would with any other bad habit of your... pet dog, for lack of better wording. And punish them by taking away something they enjoyed.

Which was you.

So you continued to ignore them as you returned to the sink, twisting on the faucet and picking up a dish to start scrubbing it clean. It was almost impossible to concentrate when they were nuzzling at your neck, their tongues poking out here and there on your skin, licking fervently and demanding your attention.

Being clingy was a normal thing for them, but this amount was unusual, they were practically frantic. It almost had you wondering if their behavior meant something was arriving.

At the mere thought of it, a shot of anticipation and arousal flew through your body and suddenly you were hyper aware of their big, strong hands tugging on your waist and hips. However, you controlled your hormones, knowing full well that if you let yourself get too worked up they would sense it and really be demanding your attention then. In more ways than one.

Taehyung whined, and you felt him rock his hips into you, knowing that he was trying to get your attention by enticing you.

The action didn't go unnoticed by the other however and Jungkook instantly turned his attention to Taehyung, a deep growl crawling up his throat and he abandoned you in favor of backing the other hybrid up against the counter, teeth bared and ears back in anger.

You huffed in annoyance at the fact another fight was about to break out, so you turned the faucet off once again in order to take care of things. "Stop, stop, stop," you demanded tiredly to Jungkook, but he didn't even acknowledge your words and continued to press into Taehyung's space.

"My bitch." Jungkook spat down at Taehyung, and you were surprised when Taehyung snarled back, challenging Jungkook.

"No," he shoved Jungkook back off of him. "She's fucking not."

Surprise colored your features at how Taehyung was not submitting and you suddenly became anxious, worried what was going to happen now. Nothing good ever came after Taehyung's refusal to submit, because Jungkook hated when his dominance was threatened.

"Guys, look at me," you tried, but they were too busy sizing each other up. "Guys!" You bit your lip, thinking hard on what to do, on how to nip this in the bud before it worsened considerably.

And then an idea popped into your head.

"I-I'll go lay down with you and rub your ears if you please just stop fighting!"

That was one of their grandest weaknesses. Ear rubs.

You almost laughed when you saw Taehyung's tail wag at the prospect of an ear rub despite how he was squared up with Jungkook. Even Jungkook's ears twitched after hearing that, and then they both glanced at you, tails lowering as they started wagging in guilt.

Ear rubs were clearly way more important than a dumb fight.

Reaching out your hands, you smiled softly.  "Come on my loves," you knew they loved it when you spoke sweetly to them. It always made them happy. So after that, they eagerly took ahold of your hands and let you lead them out of the kitchen, down the hall and into your shared bedroom.

At least you knocked out most of the dirty dishes. The rest would have to wait a little bit longer, and maybe you'd make Taehyung and Jungkook take care of them.

Once you got into the room, you didn't even have a chance to get on the bed yourself, because Taehyung was nudging you down onto it from behind with a huff. A squeak slipped passed your lips as you caught yourself on your hands in fear of falling face first into the mattress. Heartbeat increasing slightly from the unexpected push.

You huffed out a surprised laugh, looking over your shoulder to lightly scold Taehyung, but the amused look on your face quickly fell when you saw the way Taehyung and Jungkook were looking at you. They stood behind you, eyes dark as they stared down at you like two predators stalking their prey, licking their lips hungrily.

Belatedly, you realized your new position was quite the compromising one. Your face was down and ass was poked out into the air, a delicious and satisfying sight to the two hybrids who kept licking their lips. Jungkook even went as far as to lick his teeth. Their eyes were boring into your ass and when you looked down slightly, you saw the rapidly growing tent in their pants as their obvious arousal began to show.

You gulped in a mixture of anticipation and desire, trying to keep your hormones under control in fear of them literally pouncing on you. "T-Taehyung," you tried to scold with a shaky voice and then turn over to sit on your butt, but you quickly stopped moving at the sound of the deep growl that resounded from Jungkook.

Another gulp, out of slight fear this time.

"Jungkook, baby," you called sweetly in an attempt for him to lightened up on some of his intensity, and then you tried to turn over again, but he only let out another growl.

"Stay." He demanded, moving closer in behind you, but not without Taehyung growling in disagreement.

"Jungkook," Taehyung suddenly whined. "I got her like that, not you, so I get her first."

Jungkook seemed like he couldn't care less about Taehyung's misfortune in the slightest, only giving a snarl in response as he manhandled you to where you kneeling on the bed as well, making it to where you were now on all fours.

If the sight of you before was delicious to them, this one now was absolutely mouthwatering.

Not really knowing why since it seemed to be a lost cause now, you still tried to control your hormones. If you went full on unabashedly aroused, the reaction it elicited from the two hybrids was overwhelming and intense, so you tried to keep it as lowkey as possible while you prepared yourself for what was to come.

It was almost humorous how quickly things turned. It went from giving them innocent ear rubs, to giving them something far less innocent.

Your control on your arousal was slipping, especially when you felt the bed dip behind you as Jungkook climbed onto it. Biting your lip, you looked over your shoulder again and just about lost it at the sight of Jungkook. His teeth were bared slightly from a snarl and it was like he couldn't take his eyes off of your ass. Displayed so perfectly for him to take as he pleased.

It was a total lost cause when you felt a gush of wetness leak out of you onto your panties. There was no holding your hormones back now. And you knew it was now clouding the air when the two hybrids suddenly took a deep breath. Taehyung began to whine frantically, tail wagging as he paced behind Jungkook, wanting so badly to get to you, but knowing he couldn't because of the other hybrid.

Jungkook chose to mount you then, positioning himself to where he was over you and the large and prominent bulge in his pants was now pressed right up against your ass.

You let out a shaky breath, stomach twisting in a burning ball of arousal.

Taehyung tried to slowly get onto the end of the bed, but Jungkook turned on him and growled, making him back away with a whine.

You would scold Jungkook in times like this, and tell him to share you with Taehyung, but Jungkook's possessiveness in this setting was admittedly a guilty pleasure of yours. It made you feel so wanted and desired on such a filthy level - plus, Jungkook always shared in the end. After he got off inside of you, he'd let Taehyung have his turn, so you didn't feel too bad.

But one thing that was even better than letting Jungkook just have at you, was making Jungkook work for it. He always got so riled up, that when he finally got you, he was fucking ruthless. Which you loved.

So when you felt him tugging your tight lounge shorts down, you quickly flipped yourself over to where you were sitting on your butt, a breathless laugh tumbling out.

Jungkook huffed in irritation, immediately going for your hips to just flip you back over, but you moved back away from him until you were up at the pillows. The grin on your face couldn't be helped, this was too much fun. He stared at you for a moment, frowning, before he made to move towards you.

"Nah-ah-ah," you waved a finger at him, lifting your foot up to press against his chest, halting him from coming closer. "You haven't been a very good boy today Kookie, so why should I let you have me?"

Jungkook bent down and licked at your ankle with a whine, looking at you with his puppy dog eyes. "Please," he pleaded, lowering his hand to grab at his aching cock through his pants. His hips jumped from the friction of his own hand.

"Please isn't an answer, Kookie," you were tempted to tease him by letting Taehyung come get you, but you knew that wasn't a smart idea. Things could turn seriously violent then.

Speaking of Taehyung, he carefully and slowly tried to get onto the bed again and Jungkook was too distracted by trying to get you to surrender to notice his movements. So by the time Taehyung was up onto the bed and moving closer to you, it was too late for Jungkook to get him off of the bed.

Now, you had two eager hybrids in front of you, that were very much aroused and with very little patience.

You smirked, deciding to turn this little game up a notch or two. With your left hand, you slowly smoothed it down your stomach until you got to the waistband of your shorts. Taehyung and Jungkook were completely still, watching your hand intently with their ears perked up.

You bit your lip to try and contain the grin threatening to spread across your face but it was a futile attempt. When your fingers slipped passed your waistband, you caught sight of their tails begin to wag in anticipation and impatience. You dipped two of your fingers between your folds and then slowly slipped your hand back out with a pop of your waistband. Lifting your fingers into the air, Taehyung and Jungkook followed the movement closely, their tongue coming out to lick their lips.

It was Taehyung who first tried to lean in to steal a lick, but you simply pulled your hand back and with your other one you placed it against his chest to halt his movements.

"No." You firmly said, and Taehyung sat back with a whimper, rubbing his head against Jungkook's shoulder, in which the other hybrid just turned his head and licked Taehyung's cheek quickly in acknowledgment.

"I want you," Taehyung whined, licking his lips again when you brushed the two wet fingers against each other.

You sighed, stomach twisting in a sharp pang of arousal at how utterly desperate they were to have you.

"You want me?" You cooed at them, and they suddenly became frantic, tails wagging and their heads nodding in agreement. "If you get me, what will you do with me?"

"Breed you." Jungkook said immediately with a growl, puffing his chest out slightly and your foot slid off of him, making your leg fall back down onto the mattress. He stayed put though, despite the lack of barrier now.

You almost moaned at his answer, becoming even wetter and thinking of how amazing it'll feel to eventually have Jungkook's thick cock inside of you - pinning you to the bed as he pounds you senselessly.

Some might say this was down right cruel, but you parted your legs, again gaining their undivded attention as they waited for what was next, and then smoothed your hand down onto your clothed center, patting it lightly.

"You wanna fill me up, Kookie?"

A shiver of excitement shot up your spine at the growl your words elicted from Jungkook deep within his chest. He tried to move to get in between your legs, but you quickly shut them before he had the chance, giving him a smirk and another wave of your finger.

"Did I tell you you could come touch me?" You asked him, but he just puffed a breath out of his nose in utter annoyance. Clearly growing tired of your little games.

But that's exactly what you wanted.

You were so caught up in Jungkook however, you failed to notice Taehyung who had moved in enough to gingerly stick his tongue out and lick at your two fingers that were still damp with your arousal. Honestly, you didn't have the heart to shoo him away, so you allowed him to frantically lick your fingers clean. His ears were laid back in fear of you scolding him, but you just stared at his skillfull tongue, at the way it curled around your fingers and lapped deliciously.

Suddenly an idea popped into your head and you pulled your hand away, much to Taehyung's disappointent, but you didn't care because you were about to give him something so much better.

They watched you curiously, wondering what you were doing, but when they saw you lift your hips off of the bed to start tugging your lounge shorts down, they immediately started whining in anticipation. You dropped your hips, telling them to behave and be patient as you slowly slid the shorts down your legs, taking your time and teasing them as much as you could.

After you slipped your feet out of them, you made sure to keep your legs pressed together for the time being.

"Mm," you bit your lip, gazing up at them with hooded eyes. "Do my babies want a little treat?" You gave them a little preview by spreading your legs slightly, just enough for them to catch a glimpse of your deliciousness in-between and then closing them again.

They about fucking lost it.

You couldn't even try to keep them out, because Jungkook was promptly forcing your legs apart with his impressive strength and making room for himself between them. Taehyung grabbed your leg, pulling it up and outwards so he could have room too, but Jungkook had different thoughts on that.

He growled deeply at Taehyung to back away from what was his, but the other hybrid just lowered his ears to make himself look non-threatening and Jungkook decided to just not worry about it anymore. Everyone here knew whose bitch you were and who would be breeding you first.

Your legs were spread wide, exposing your glistening swollen center that looked absolutely irresitable to the two hybrids.

Yet something was holding them back, like they were so strung-out they couldn't even get themselves to actually taste you. So you ran two fingers through your wetness again and then lifted your hand into the air for them. They almost bumped heads in their haste to lick your fingers, both of them whimpering at the amazing taste.

You became even wetter when they started licking into each others mouths in an attempt to find more, having cleaned your fingers completely of the sweetness.

God, it was erotic and unbelievably hot. You were truly blessed to have two hybrids as lovers.

"You want more babies?" You cooed at them, patting the source of it all to get their attention.

Unrestrained now that he had a taste, Jungkook was the first to dive in, burying his face into your pussy and going to town with his tongue. They weren't the only ones having been strung-out, so after finally getting stimulation down there and rough stimulation at that, your stomach twisted in a vicious knot, heat blazing through your core.

"Oh God, Kookie," you moaned in a high pitch, thighs trembling from the ruthless stimulation of his frantic tongue. You tangled your hand in his hair, stuck between wanting to move away from the sharp pleasure or move even closer in search for a delicious release in the future.

Taehyung carefully moved in, trying to find a good angle for his head and he ended up just pressing in beside Jungkook and licking whatever part of skin he could reach, which happened to be crease where your leg met your pelvis. Jungkook was quite frankly hogging the good stuff.

A possessive growl ripped from Jungkook's chest at Taehyung's proximity, but he was way too enthralled in the taste of you to press the matter any further. He moved down a bit and shoved his tongue into your entrance, licking deeply, as far as he could go and your eyes almost rolled back into your head at the sheer pleasure. Especially because after he did that, Taehyung took advantage of the space and angled his head to where he was lapping at your clit.

You've had previous lovers. Quite a few before the two hybrids came along. But none of them could even compare to Taehyung and Jungkook in bed. Looking down, and seeing both of their heads between your legs and knowing that they wanted to be there, made you throw your head back and moan as you shifted your hips in pleasure. Some of your old lovers wouldn't even eat you out (they didn't last very long), and the others that did only did it out of obligation.

But Jungkook and Taehyung genuinely loved eating you out, the taste of you utterly addictive to them.

A rush of heat headed south when you watched Taehyung begin humping Junkook's leg in search of friction, a whine escaping his throat.

Jungkook, seeing it as Taehyung trying to assert dominance over him, reluctantly pulled his mouth away from you in order to bare his teeth and growl at the other hybrid. Taehyung completely ignored him, taking this opportunity to really dive into you now that Jungkook had pulled back a bit and he continued to rock his hips into the other, enjoying the friction it was granting.

"Jungkook," you moaned out when you saw him make a move to probably tackle Taehyung, but you caught his attention just in time. "No." You tried to sound firm when he looked up at you, but your voice wavered from the extreme pleasure Taehyung was currently giving you.

The black haired hybrid chose to ignore you, turning his attention back to Taehyung with a dangerous growl.

"Jungkook!" You snapped at him this time, desperately trying to keep your wits when Taehyung threatened to completely sweep you away in utter bliss. His tongue was currently lapping at your entrance while his nose rubbed unintentionally against your clit. It all felt so fucking amazing and you wanted to lose yourself to it, but you couldn't let Jungkook attack him.

Jungkook looked up at you again, huffing in irritation, but you held his gaze steadily.

"Come up here," you told him, and he glanced at Taehyung for a moment before looking back at you with a whine. "Come on, Jungkook."

So he stole one last lick on your inner thigh before he moved up your body, licking across your nipple on his way up. You gripped his jaw then, pulling his head up to yours and smashing your mouths together.

For a moment, you actually kissed, mouths moving together like well-oiled engine. But it didn't take long until Jungkook was shoving his tongue passed your lips and licking frantically at the wet cavern. You moaned into his mouth at the taste of yourself on his tongue and then shifted your hips when Taehyung began pressing forward in order to lick as deeply as possible into your entrance.

Jungkook was half-way hovering over you now, resting his weight on his hip and in the perfect position for you to reach down into his pants and take his impossibly hard cock into your hand. Immediately, before you could even move your hand, he was bucking his hips into the tight grip in search of relief.

Taehyung had also moved to where his hips were straddling your leg slightly so he could start rubbing his clothed cock against you.

Now, they were both rocking their hips into you for relief and the motions were driving you abolustely insane. They made you feel so dirty and used and suddenly, you wanted to flip yourself over and let them have at you. Let them pound your ass until you were turned into a crying, screaming mess.

"'Wanna breed you," Jungkook murmured into your mouth gruffly, trying so hard to fuck into your hand roughly for some satisfaction, but there was no way he was going to get any in this position. He needed to be inside of you, with your tight wet heat suctioned around him.

"Yeah?" You moaned in between his incessant licks and kisses. "Wanna breed me, baby? Wanna fill me up and knot me?"

The filthy questions earned you a growl from Jungkook and he nipped at your bottom lip sharply, making you wince slightly as your eyebrows knitted together.

"Turn over. Want that ass in the air for me." He pulled away, giving you room to obey. "Gonna fuck my bitch so good. Fill her up with my pups." He was almost talking to himself at this point, so ready to fuck you as he quickly removed his pants and jerked his shirt over his head.

The only problem though was Taehyung, who was still languidly licking at you and rubbing himself against your leg. In his own little world. But when you made the move to turn over, he immediately caught on to what you were doing and sat back in excitement. His tail wagging as he rushed to remove his clothing.

Getting onto your knees and resting your weight on your forearms was an easy enough task. But it's the chaos that followed the action, where it all turned difficult.

Taehyung tried to move in behind you out of instinct, but a vicious growl tore from Jungkook's chest and he jumped to intercept the other's movement. With his brute strength, Jungkook wrestled and pinned Taehyung to the bed by his shoulders, growling and snapping in warning less than an inch away from his neck.

"My bitch, do you understand me? Stay the fuck away from her." Jungkook snarled, and even being human you could almost feel the domineering, intimidating pheromones that were echoing off of his body, so you could only imagine how affected Taehyung was by them. If you weren't in the bedroom with your ass in the air, you would stand up for Tae, but you knew better than to get into the middle of what was going on. When it came to breeding, Jungkook's word was law. He got first go.

Taehyung was positively terrified, ears flattened into his hair and eyes squeezed shut with his neck bared in submission. He whined in fear. "You don't touch until I say you can touch. And that won't be until after I pump her full and knot her up, so know your fucking place." And just to drive his point home and really get Taehyung to listen, Jungkook opened his mouth and rested his canines on the thin skin of Taehyung's neck. A dangerous warning. And then he removed them, snarling once more as he backed up off of the other hybrid and turned his attention back to what mattered.

You.

Jungkook sniffed at the air and then let out a satisfied huff when he smelt your arousal, the tantalizing aroma going straight to his cock and making it throb as he moved into position behind you.

You shuddered in anticipation when you felt the weight and heat of his body behind you and it was no surprise when you felt his strong  hands grip your hips and begin jostling your body into his desired position. When he was done there was a deep arch in your back and your ass was poised perfectly in the air for him and it delighted you knowing how badly the sight probably drove him insane.

Seeing you completely offering yourself up to him, like his good little bitch. Your stomach twisted fiercely when he growled in approval at the sight of you and began lining his cock up with your entrance. Before he pushed in, he looked over his shoulder back at Taehyung and snarled, not even liking the other hybrid to be so close, but he was too desperate to be inside of you to care much about it.

As he pushed in, you bit your lip and held your breath, hand clutching the sheets in front of you in order to keep yourself grounded. The intense stretch of his girth stung, but it was expected and you knew it wouldn't last long. As soon as he would start thrusting, your body would adjust and open up perfectly for him, accepting his thickness eagerly.

"Fuck," you squeaked out breathlessly when he bottomed out with a thump and you listened to him breathe heavily through his nose behind you, most likely taking in this moment and gathering himself before he began plowing into you.

Jungkook draped himself over you, nuzzling through your hair in order to find your ear. For a moment he just breathed into it, making your heart beat frantically in your chest out of anticipation on what he was going to do next, and then he poked his tongue out to lave over it before tugging the lobe between his teeth with a growl.

"So wet and tight, my bitch feels so good," and he emphasized the last word with a deliberate roll of his hips that ended with a firm smack into your ass. The feeling was absolutely delicious.

And before you knew it, his hips began moving in a consistent motion. Quick little thrusts that you knew would only build in intensity over time. But right now, they were small and almost soft, yet had enough speed to have your ass jiggling every time his hips met it.

You could hear Taehyung behind you whining and moving around on the bed aimlessly, not knowing what to do with himself and the unbearable urge to fuck. You wanted to feel bad for him, but the steady, perfectly consistent rhythm of Jungkook's thrusts wouldn't allow you. You were already so fucking gone. The way Jungkook was fucking you right now could get you to cum without you even thinking about having to touch your clit. That's how good it was.

Jungkook reached underneath you and slipped one of his hands up your stomach all the way up to your breast, squeezing it and then tweaking the nipple with his fingers. "Perfect tits, baby. Can't wait to see 'em all full and leaking of milk for our pups." He growled dangerously then, his thrusts intensifying, shifting to the next level effortlessly.

"Yes, Kookie," you moaned out loudly, clenching around his cock from the filthy words shamelessly tumbling out of his mouth.

Honestly, you were pretty sure it wasn't possible for you to get pregnant by them, which was why you never worried about condoms or birth control. It's not like you were positively for certain, but you just figured since you were technically different species, you wouldn't be biologically compatible like that. But you had to admit, one of your deepest, darkest filthiest fantasies was quitting your job and just staying with your ass in the air all day everyday for them to take turns breeding you over and over again. Being their personal little pup-maker, like they'd probably love for you to be.

But that was a fantasy, and you tried to keep the sex with them under control because they were pretty much always horny and would be perfectly happy just spending their whole day fucking you. The instinct to reproduce was strong within them and always present, making it hard for them to see you in an innocent light sometimes. Like when you'd bend over to pick something up or tie your shoe, they'd see it as an opportunity to mount you from behind. Or when you'd be their little spoon while cuddling, they would be hyper-aware of their crotch pressed up against your ass and then get aroused and try to have sex.

Don't get you wrong though, you were a young healthy woman with a strong sex drive of your own that had no problems indulging two handsome hybrid's insatiable obsession. But sometimes, you had to be rational and refuse them or else you'd never get anything done throughout the day.

This time of the month however, when your ovulation cycle began to run its course, you knew that you had to surrender yourself to their incessant desire, at least until after it wasn't so strong to them. Because one time during one of your ovulation cycles you had a bad cold and did not feel like having sex at all, so you rejected all of their advances and quickly found out that it was physically painful for them when they could feel such a strong urge and pull towards you but couldn't do anything about it. It was so unbearable in fact that you ordered and expressed shipped from the internet a pheromone mask, a spray that you spritzed all over your body and masked the strong scent that you were sending out to Jungkook and Taehyung. It helped eased the sexual urge for them, but they were still clingy and didn't leave your side throughout the whole cycle.

You still had that spray, and kept it for emergencies, but you chose to deal with your cycle naturally most of the time and let them fuck you like they wanted. It was easier to just let it happen, rather than make sure you put the spray on again every hour to keep it effective. Plus, you really had no issues about dealing with it naturally when you could. And it was a Friday, so you had the next two days off and were free to spend them right here in this very bed if need be.

Your train of thought suddenly rerouted back to the present when Jungkook sat back onto his heels and gripped your hips in his strong hold, before pounding into you harder than before. Driving his hips into you with the sole purpose to get himself off and fill you up to the brim with his seed and knot.

You gasped, mouth hanging open in a silent scream and you gripped the covers beneath you, pulling up on them before pressing your forehead into the mattress. You were so wrecked beyond basic thought, that you didn't even notice Taehyung was now beside you. Glancing over at him, you saw him staring intently at where you and Jungkook were connected, the wet and sloppy sight of Jungkook's cock pistoning in and out of you and the obvious stretch you were having to endure in order to accommodate him. Taehyung's hand was wrapped around his cock, so tightly that his knuckles were white and he whined, frowning.

"T-Tae," you tried to speak, but Jungkook was fucking you so roughly your whole body was jostling with his thrusts and making it hard to even get a word out.

Taehyung's ears twitched at the sound of his name, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from the sight they were glued on.

You wanted to jerk him off, taking pity on him, but when you began reaching back for his cock, Jungkook growled in disapproval and suddenly draped himself back over your body. One hand holding his weight up on the bed and the other going to rest on your stomach.

He pressed his hand into your lower stomach and growled lowly in your ear. The pressure was tantalizing, emphasing the feel of his cock rubbing against your walls from within.

"My pups are gonna be in here. Mine, you're my bitch." He decided to remind you once again and the sharpest stab of arousal made your stomach clench from the reminder, and it was also that moment when you felt the familiar sting down at your entrance. The tell tale sensation of his knot beginning to form.

It was that added stretch whenever he would shove his knot passed your entrance and then pull it back out. It would catch on your entrance the more it grew but he would just thrust especially hard to fit it in and then yank his hips back to pop it back out and repeat the process.

This was the part where it was clear you were not made to take a hybrid's cock, even though whenever you'd voice that realization, Jungkook and Taehyung were quick to assure you that whenever you got pregnant with their pups they would be able to fit through your vagina so technically their knot should be no problem for you to handle.

Needless to say, even if that was true, it was definitely easier said than done.

"Jungkook!" You cried out, feeling that familiar urge to tap out as you buried your face in the covers. But despite the pain, your stomach still swirled warmly in the direction of a release and oddly enough, the arousal and pain blended into something delicious and overwhelming.

And then, Jungkook gave the hardest thrust yet and popped his knot into your entrance, the action causing you to gasp sharply. But you knew this time, it was in you to stay. Because Jungkook didn't try to yank his hips back like before, instead he grind into you with a purpose, hips flushed with your ass.

The swirling warmth in the pit of your stomach began to intensify at how full you felt, and not to mention you could feel the way his knot rubbed snugly against your walls and hitting every sugary spot you could imagine.

No human man could ever make you feel this way.

And just the thought of that, coupled with the incredible feeling of being filled to the brim, was enough to send you spiraling into the most sweetest high. The feeling of heaven flushing throughout your limbs and caressing your stomach and lower back, making your toes curl and mouth pop open as you welcomed it with fervor.

The sensation of your walls clenching and clenching and your thighs quivering in an attempt to keep yourself up was what finally coaxed Jungkook into coming. Releasing his thick seed deep within you as his chest rumbled with a deep content growl, his face nuzzling into your temple and hips continuing to move in small little grind to milk himself dry inside of you.

There was so much cum, he was still releasing into you and it always amazed you how completely stuffed you were afterwards. Filled up completely by Jungkook, every inch inside of you.

"Fuck," you whimpered, letting out a shaky breath and the small little noise made Jungkook wrap both arms around your middle in an attempt to comfort you as he lapped at your face, but you were now supporting both of your weight and you let out a helpless noise at the pressure on your upper body. "Jungkook, please you're squishing me,"

And he gave you one last lick before placing his hands back onto the bed and picking his weight up off of you.

You looked back over your shoulder at him, wondering what he looked like after such an intense fuck since you basically never had sex facing each other. You always had to be on your hands and knees, in the proper breeding position, Taehyung and Jungkook proclaimed.

The sight nearly made you orgasm all over again. Sweat soaked his hairline and was dripping down the sides of his face, coupled with hooded eyes and parted lips as he breathed heavily from the previous exertion. There was a slight furrow between his eyebrows, making him look like the sexiest thing you've ever witnessed. And as if the whole thing couldn't get better, he tilted his head back slightly and sniffed at the air, hips twitching afterwards.

"Smells good. Just like it always does when my bitch gets bred."

You moaned, feeling fucking aroused all over again because of Jungkook and his damn filthy, blatant words.

When you propped yourself up back onto your elbows, your sore knees were brought to your attention and you were just about to ask Jungkook if he could arrange you two on your sides like usual but thats when you suddenly felt something.

Something little and faint down at your entrance, that was there and gone within a quick second.

Jungkook suddenly went tense above you and then you felt it again. This time, you realized it was wet and warm, prodding and swiping around the area tentatively.

"Taehyung," you suddenly said with a shaky exhale. Not asking for his attention, but just voicing your realization that the odd sensation was him.

He was positioned behind you and Jungkook, head angled between your legs in order to lap around your sensitive center. He always did this after Jungkook knotted you, enjoying the new juices that your climaxes provided while also offering his numbing/healing saliva. Aiding with any soreness you felt, but it was mainly for Jungkook. Whenever you couldn't feel Taehyung's tongue, you knew he had veered off to the base of Jungkook's cock and was licking at the little part of his knot that could be seen from inside of your vagina. Their knots were always sensitive and sore afterwards so they would help each other out and lick them to ease the dull ache since they couldn't reach their own.

Jungkook released a deep breath, his body seeming to relax along with it. He crowded you forwards and then dropped his weight down onto his hip on the mattress, moving the two of you so you would be on your sides.

Taehyung whined at the loss, trying to follow the irresistible taste and Jungkook just rolled his eyes tiredly when he got you both situated and then he slipped his hand under your inner thigh so he could heft your leg into the air that way for Taehyung. The eldest hybrid re-positioned himself and dove back in, licking at you both once more eagerly.

You were so exhausted all of the sudden, Jungkook always did a number on you when you fucked. It was go big or go home for him all the time when it came to sex, which you had no complaints about whatsoever. But golly, it sure tired you out.

Practically numb to Taehyung's tongue at this point, you just rested your head on the pillow and gazed tiredly down at him working, enjoying the feeling of both of your lovers so close to you.

And before you knew it, your eyes were slipping closed and the last thing you remembered before dozing off was Jungkook growling softly and easing your leg down, telling Taehyung to let you rest.

You awoke to the sun shining straight into your eyes and you moaned, turning your head away from the light. But the innocent morning sunlight was definitely not what roused you from sleep, and quite frankly, not what made you moan either.

Opening one eye and peeking down, you saw a mop of brown hair between your legs, fluffy ears perked up.

"Taehyung," you whispered, biting your lip and frowning at the over-sensitivity of his tongue lapping at your clit.

Realizing you were awake, he looked up at you and his tail began to wag in excitement. He pulled himself up, whining and your eyes fell to the large bulge in his pajama pants.

His hips stuttered, seeking out friction.

"Please, before Jungkook wakes up," he pleaded desperately, giving you the literal puppy dog eyes as the cherry on top.

You yawned, stretching your muscles and wondering how the hell you allowed those eyes to have such a strong effect on you as you rolled over onto your knees. You kept your head on the pillow, hugging it and closing your eyes, feeling Taehyung moving around behind you.

Good morning world, you thought humorously as you arched your back and poked your ass into the air.

[penbeatssword]

Review, from Book to Film: The Mountain Between Us

[**Serious spoilers ahead**]

So, last week I read Charles Martin’s The Mountain Between Us and on Saturday went with my mum to see the film. We both agreed afterwards that the credits should’ve said “loosely based on the novel” as the similarities were akin to a preliminary rough sketch that captures the general details and goes on to fudge the rest.

They changed a lot, both in terms of stripping away layers from the original story and adding things to create something new and awkward. This goes beyond the inherent need to cut down on content when adapting a book into a film. Here’s some of the changes:

The Names

So many names were changed, which I half understand because this is clearly not the same story as Charles Martin wrote so why pretend they’re the same characters, and half confuses me because why bother? Ashley Knox became Alex Martin, Ben Payne became Ben Bass (even though I only recall hearing his surname mentioned once near the end of the film), Grover the pilot became Walter, Rachel (Ben’s wife) became Sarah, Vince (Ashley’s fiancé) became Mark, and the dog named Tank – whose name they couldn’t remember so they called him Napoleon – was stripped of a name entirely (not to mention transformed from a Jack Russel to a Labrador).

The Occupations

Ashley Knox is a writer and Ben Payne is an orthopaedic surgeon, whereas Alex Martin is a journalist photographer and Ben Bass is a neurosurgeon. See Heart/Mind below for the significance on Ben’s occupational shift. Alex’s career alteration seems to be so the characters can use her camera to see further, so she can send photos of Ben to him near the end of the film and for the inclusion of a story I wasn’t sure what to make of where Alex explains befriending a young female guerrilla fighter and lending her lipstick, and later seeing the girl die and taking her photograph.

The Set-up

The book gives Ben and Ashley some time in the airport at the start to get to know each other and establish the characters and their motivations to get out of Salt Lake that night. It makes it believable that when Ben sees a charter plane and organises a flight, he thinks of Ashley who needs to get home for her wedding and is stuck in Salt Lake waiting to get to a hotel, and offers her a ride. The film gives us a glimpse of a busy airport, a frustrated Alex overhearing Ben talking about a surgery he has booked for the following morning, and approaching this stranger and proposing a charter flight. It’s rushed and feels contrived, and worst of all shifts the blame for the ill-fated flight to Alex.

Walter the pilot is given a miniscule amount of screen time, explaining that he met the love of his life a long time ago but she was already married so he’s alone. He suffers a stroke while flying and his passengers try to stabilise the plane as they crash. Grover the pilot, however, is a happily married man who explains that he is more in love with his wife now than when they married, who has been recently having chest pain which Ben makes him promise to have checked out as soon as possible. He experiences a heart attack while flying and somehow manages to crash land the plane as safely as possible (“off-screen” so to speak, the crash isn’t written), saving the lives of his passengers. Walter’s death is unfortunate but impersonal, and his burial by Ben is brisk to say the least. Grover’s burial, however, is treated with reverence by Ben as he finds a suitable place overlooking the mountain landscape, and gathers Grover’s possessions to later return to Grover’s wife.

The Expertise

Ben Payne loves hiking, and is a skilled outdoorsman. His supplies and skills are what keep himself and Ashley alive, including a Jetboil stove, sleeping bags, his use of Grover’s crossbow and Ben’s handcrafted bow drill. For some reason, in the film Alex has a large pack containing some camping gear with no explanation provided (we can assume this is somehow linked to her work), but neither Ben nor Alex talk particularly about any camping or survival skills. The only food they “hunt” is the cougar Alex and the nameless dog kill in self-defence, so most of the time the topic of food is just ignored. While Ben’s improvised snowshoes (followed later by finding real snowshoes) help them immensely in the book, they somehow make it across the landscape fine without them and with Alex hobbling in the film, and show Ben try briefly and fail to make snowshoes. The survival of Alex and Ben in the film is pure luck.

Ben is stripped not only of his camping and practical abilities, but as a neurosurgeon instead of an orthopaedic surgeon his medical skills are diminished as well. For the majority of the film, his medical care consists of pressing ice against one of Alex’s wounds once, wrapping and splinting her leg and primarily dabbing her face with a cloth. He does give the dog stitches, but does not for Alex or himself. The only glimmer of his original ingenuity and medical skill is when he constructs an improvised IV to save Alex after she falls through ice, and it feels weirdly out of place after the rest of the film works so hard to show that Ben isn’t much of a practical person and is kind of doing everything begrudgingly.

Importantly, his role of carer is removed almost entirely, helping Alex pull down her pants once to urinate and then disposing of the urine, and having Alex lean on him during their trek across the snowy landscape. This is because her injuries are reduced to superficial scratches and a break in her lower leg instead of femur. She operates on crutches, able to walk independently of Ben, and only for a brief time near the end of their journey is she dragged on a sled. This is a huge difference to the book. Ashley is entirely dependent on Ben’s care, which he carries the guilt for as he was the one who chartered the flight and encouraged her to come along.

Rachel and the Recorder

Very late in the book (later than necessary in my opinion), Ben reveals to Ashley that his wife Rachel passed away years ago. While pregnant with twins, Ben and Rachel are told that due to a medical complication she is likely to die if she attempts to carry the babies to term. On the slight chance that she and her children will survive, Rachel chooses not to have surgery. Ben doesn’t agree with her decision, they argue, and soon after Rachel and the twins die. Ben is revealed to have constructed a “house” (mausoleum) for her and their children.

Rachel is embedded throughout the book – Ben can’t go a single chapter without thinking of her, sometimes talking to Ashley about her, and regularly talking to Rachel and reminiscing on their shared past via voice recordings on a recorder she gave him. The recorder is a centrepiece of the book. Ben is continually making new, lengthy recordings which are also used as gateways into Ben’s past for the reader.

The film ditches all of this completely. The recorder is just a device for Alex to invade Ben’s privacy, listening to a message his wife Sarah left him to find out more about Ben. When Ben catches her, we hear the full message and Ben reveals that Sarah died of a brain tumour, and (as a neurosurgeon and her primary doctor) he couldn’t save her. Sarah is barely ever mentioned before or after this, and this avoidance of the subject with Alex, and Ben’s inability to save her, plays directly into the film’s focus: the dichotomy of heart versus mind.

Heart/Mind

Instead of taking the characters from the pages of Charles Martin’s book and putting them on the screen, the filmmakers created two new characters – or perhaps vacant shells is more accurate – and used them to illustrate a poorly executed display of Heart versus Mind. It goes like this:

One character represents Heart. They are emotional, impulsive, and often female (Alex). They follow their gut.

One character represents Mind. They are logical, rational and distant, and often male (Ben). They repress their emotions.

The film is really heavy-handed on this one. Ben is literally a neurosurgeon. He makes a stilted comment near the start about playing Candy Crush to occupy his amygdala just to make it clear to the audience that he’s intelligent, sees things scientifically and maybe doesn’t relate to other people very well. As always, the filmmakers are on the side of Heart, showing that even though Alex’s impulsive decision to take the charter flight and invite Ben along went badly, her gut instincts are right and Ben should be more emotional like her. Case in point: Alex insists on leaving the crash site as the best chance of survival, while Ben insists that in the event of a crash you should stay there to be found. Alex is later proven right when the plane’s beacon is shown to be destroyed. (See also the above Expertise: in the book, Ben explains to Ashley that they will need to leave as he knows that the usual advice is to stay at a crash site, but realises that the beacon wouldn’t have survived the speed of their crash).

Essentially this dichotomy also sets up Ben and Alex for the typical Hollywood romance formula of the couple stranded together who initially dislike each other, eventually bonding through their shared struggle. Cue unwanted sex scene interspersed with random shots of the two of them walking through the snowy wilderness together. This is followed by the two of them agreeing that he should leave Alex there and continue on his own to get help, and him literally turning around and going back insisting to bring her too as some sign that he’s come to care for her and is maybe shifting away from pure Mind towards Heart.

For those who haven’t read the book, Ben and Ashley get along quite well from the very beginning, their shared humour helps keep both of their spirits up and he repeatedly refuses to leave Ashley. Their bond is realistic, underpinned by genuine friendship and compassion. Additionally, a few times Ben’s impulsive decisions are shown to end badly, such as near the end of their journey when he attempts to take a shortcut down the mountain resulting in re-breaking Ashley’s leg and nearly suffocating himself.

The Ending

Oh man the ending. The filmmakers could’ve/should’ve cut out three-quarters of the ending and used that time back at the start for a better paced set-up. Instead, the audience is subjected to a lengthy period after the main characters have been rescued, showing the difficulties of readjusting to their old lives and struggling to communicate with each other. We get to watch Alex being uncomfortable around her fiancé, and Ben being sad about Alex seemingly returning to her old life (and fiancé) with no acknowledgement of their sexy times in the mountains. After Ben finally contacts Alex after ignoring her calls, they have an awkward lunch (well, they sit in a restaurant and don’t eat) where they ultimately walk away before both executing a dramatic turn-around, running back to each other and embracing – cut to black. That was a lot of build-up for not very much, but then this whole film is guilty of making changes to ramp up the drama and conflict at the expense of substance.

 Bonus: here are some other things I didn’t mention:

Ben is no longer from Jacksonville, he’s from London (to fit in Idris Elba, I assume)

All backstories surgically removed

Most of the details of the journey completely changed, including the addition of going around a river and Ashley falling through ice into the lake

Jump-scare in the form of Ben stepping into a bear trap

No pilot’s wife means Ben just keeps the nameless dog

The huge shift from Ben being the focal character and lens through which we see the entire story, to Alex being the main character

Offshoot of that, Alex is given more agency than Ashley in the book, but as a result she ends up less likeable (more argumentative, less friendly, more nosy, less reasonable)

 TL;DR: The film characters are caricatures, their survival is a fluke and I need someone who hasn’t read the book to tell me if the film is at all worthwhile on its own.

[ciathyzareposts]

Infocom Marathon: Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986) – Part One

Written by Joe Pranevich

Sex sells, but few things market a product better than controversy. Throughout much of the 20th century, it was an adage that a book or a play “Banned in Boston” was guaranteed to sell well elsewhere. Oscar Wilde once said that, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” Barbara Streisand discovered that the fastest way to get a lot of people interested in taking photos of her house was telling them that they could not. So it was in that spirit that Steve Meretzky penned A Mind Forever Voyaging as a controversy-magnet, guaranteed to get the conservative pundits wagging their tongues about his leftist pollution of young minds. The controversy never materialized and that game flopped. Unperturbed, he pushed for yet another game that could “go viral”, but this time he aimed to incite the ire of the pundits (and the libido of the players) by embracing sex. Could an assault on decency succeed where AMFV failed?

Whether it was the sex, the return to traditional puzzle-based gameplay, or something else, Leather Goddesses of Phobos garnered enough attention that it became Infocom’s final true “hit”. TBD reviewed the game in 2017 and so I will look at this game through a different lens. Instead of a sequential playthrough and review, I am going to focus on the game’s puzzles. This game is rightly credited as having some of Meretzky’s most clever mind-benders, but does he put them together in a satisfying way? I will also place LGoP in the context of Infocom’s broader story as we progress towards the end of 1986.

My original plan had been for this to come out as a single post, but it turns out that I have more to say about his puzzles than I thought. Rather than cut it down, I’ve decided to split the work into two. Today, we’ll cover the introduction and collect the first four key items. Next week, we’ll conclude with the final puzzles and some thoughts on how the game comes together as a whole.

Another in-joke that got out of hand?

Leather Goddesses of Phobos began as an office in-joke that got out of hand. As early as 1982, Steve Meretzky, still only a game tester rather than designer, scrawled the name onto a whiteboard with a list of upcoming titles before a press event. It was erased quickly, but it became a bit of a catch phrase around the office and would be mentioned whenever a hypothetical game was needed. This repeated meme wound its way into an official Infocom product in 1984 with the re-release of Starcross. As previously discussed, the shift to standard packaging as part of the “corporatization” of Infocom led to changes in all of the earlier titles’ game documentation. The earliest titles, such as Zork and Starcross, received expanded backstories although even later games saw changes. For Starcross, this backstory included a set of the player character’s diary entries that highlighted his boredom before his date with destiny. Tucked away in one such entry is the first public mention of the Leather Goddesses:

M.C.S. STARCROSS 03-28-2186 

Underway less than four weeks and I’m about to go crazy! First, the entertainment tapes were mislabelled. It’s all highbrow stuff like operas and lectures. Leather Goddesses of Phobos was really something about the history of the Terran Union. What a rip-off! I suppose I can always talk to the computer. I can’t stand those tapes. I’ll save them for later in the voyage when I’m really desperate. I’ll play games with the computer to keep amused that way.

Although this furthers my suspicion that Meretzky was the uncredited author of some of these new materials, it wasn’t long before Brian Moriarty got into the swing of things as well. The pleasure arcade in Wishbringer featured a Leather Goddesses of Phobos arcade game. While we never got more than that title tease, the idea spread around the office enough that when Meretzky– just off of his failure of A Mind Forever Voyaging— suggested making the game “for real” that it may have felt fait accompli. Their soon-to-be corporate overlords didn’t object and before long Infocom had its official twenty-first adventure game!

Infocom struggled to find consistent sales from the earliest days.

The mass protests never manifested, but Meretzky still managed to garner a few complaints and a computer store or two that refused to sell the title. Still others were unhappy that a game sold based on sexual content wasn’t pornographic enough. Whether or not the controversy helped, Leather Goddesses sold more than 50,000 copies in the first year and ended its run at 130,000 units total, making it Infocom’s sixth most popular title ever. Not bad for a game released so late in the company’s history! This success guaranteed that it would receive a spinoff, the Infocomic Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen in 1988, plus a proper sequel in 1992. Sierra would even parody the title in Space Quest IV.

Activision may have eventually become a bit squeamish about the title. Inexplicably, they did not include it in either of the two Lost Treasures of Infocom sets from 1991 and 1992. Purchasers of the second set could order the game via a special coupon, but at $9.95 (roughly $19 today), that was no small sum for a six-year old text adventure. It was also not included in any of the 1995 compilation box sets, but would finally be included in the Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom (1996). That box set was also the first to include non-Infocom games released alongside Infocom ones, but that will be a conversation for another day. It was not until 2012 when Leather Goddesses was finally included in an official Lost Treasures set, the much-loved but now dead release for iOS. I am still angry at Activision for refusing to update that app for 64-bit devices.

Also note the first appearance of the “Infocomix” branding!

Much like their other titles, Leather Goddesses included “feelies” including a Lane Mastodon comic, a scratch-and-sniff pad, and even a map of one of the game’s dungeons. As usual for this period, the comic is required reading as it includes copy protection solutions for several of the game’s puzzles. The comic was drawn by Richard Howell, known for stints at both Marvel and DC as well as helming his own independent comics company. He may be best known for his work on Vision & Scarlet Witch, a series that serves as one of the inspirations for the upcoming WandaVision TV show. The comic was converted to 3-D by Ray Zone, a pioneer in commercializing red-blue 3-D art and who produced many such works during the 80s and 90s. Howell also produced illustrations for the hint book.

The manual tries to place the game in the Zork universe, at least in a tongue-in-cheek way. There are references to Zorkmids and even Dimwit Flathead. While the two previous games that mentioned the Leather Goddesses (Starcross and Wishbringer) were “Zork universe” games, I just cannot buy the technology in this game making sense in the sci-fi worlds of Starcross or Planetfall. I’m going to hold my personal head-canon that Leather Goddesses is popular fiction in the Zork universe and you can all snicker at me that I would even think about this enough to care. There is also a mail-away coupon in the manual for self-help books like you would find advertised in old comics. The address on the coupon is in Somerville, Massachusetts (the next town over from Infocom’s offices near Boston), but the street name doesn’t appear to exist. I’m at a loss to explain what they were doing here as they should either have gone with a very fictional address (so that it was obviously fake) or a real one (so that they could sell some unexpected “feelies”); an address that looks mostly real but doesn’t lead anywhere is very strange. It is also possible that Somerville renamed that street in the last three decades.

Downtown Upper Sandusky, circa 2009.

Our game begins– after a warning that the software we are about to play should not be played by the prudish– outside of Joe’s Bar in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. If you are a child, as I am, of that part of the midwest then your mind immediately went to just how awesome a place Sandusky, Ohio always seemed. On the shores of Lake Erie, Sandusky is the home of Cedar Point, one of the oldest and greatest amusement parks in the United States. Pittsburghers know that Kennywood is even better, but Cedar Point was still a pretty cool place. However, Meretsky fooled us: the game takes place in Upper Sandusky, a town along the Sandusky River a bit more than an hour south and completely devoid of amusement parks.

The primary purpose of the bar is to give us a chance to customize our Leather Goddesses experience. After a night of drinking, we have to relieve ourselves and to do so we have to select whether we are going into the Ladies’ room or the Men’s room. Inside we find a stool which we’d better grab and then do our business. That will set our gender for the remainder of the game. I’ve played through as both male and female, but other than swapping the genders of our comrade-in-arms (either Trent or Tiffany, always the same gender as you) and a few other (ahem) partners along the way, it doesn’t change much. A few turns later, the Leather Goddesses abduct us and lock us in a cell on their spaceship.

Escaping the cell is simplistic as the Goddesses simply left the door unlocked. They also left behind a surprising number of adventure game provisions (including a painting of a cat, flashlight, blanket, metal tray, and piece of chocolate). From there, we can explore their ship, easily rescue a ditsy-but-genius new friend from the cell across the hall, and teleport ourselves towards adventure. A couple of  seconds after rescuing her/him, Tiffany/Trent will have an eureka moment and work out a plan to build a device that can defeat the Leather Goddesses and save the Earth, but we’ll need to find eight surprisingly mundane objects to complete the task. These consist of: a common household blender, six-feet of rubber hose, a pair of cotton balls, an eighty-two degree angle, a headlight from a 1933 Ford, a white mouse, a photo of Douglas Fairbanks, and a copy of the Cleveland phone book. Why these items? We have to play the game to find out.

The primary thrust of the game will be to explore Mars and Venus, as well as a bit of Earth and other locations, as we track down the key items. The design of the planets are heavily influenced by the work of astronomer Percival Lowell who, in the 19th century, popularized the idea that Mars may have been an arid landscape cross-crossed by canals. This was then used and reused, perhaps most famously by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his John Carpenter series of books. This game’s depiction of nations on Mars in a state of decay may also have been inspired by Burroughs. Most of this exploration is done by locating and using “black circles” which are scattered literally everywhere; entering one will take you to some other location, usually with no immediate way back. In this way, the game keeps up tension and you are forced into situations where the only way out is to progress forward until you can locate the next circle. Gradually, we develop a network of such portals that allow us to explore at will. Once on Mars, we will eventually discover a royal barge that can be used on the still-intact canals to float downstream. Passing by each canal dock only once (until an alternate method of transportation is discovered near the end of the game), we again feel the tension of needing to do everything and explore everything carefully because there is no way back once we leave. While I may not love the setting, we have to give Meretzky credit for building a not-quite-open world in a new and interesting way and unlocking new areas to explore incrementally. It’s well done. Let’s dig into the puzzles.

Second game in a row with a killer Venus Flytrap!

Puzzle #1 – Venus Fly Trap One of the two black circles that we can discover on the Leather Goddesses’ ship leads to a jungle on Venus and our first real puzzle. It also happens to be one of my least favorite, an example both of how clever Meretzky can be and also how he can overdo it. I suspect that playtesters had difficulty with this one because they added a second solution that is at least more straight-forward than the first.

Immediately after we arrive, a Venus flytrap approaches. It blocks a path to the west, so you know going west must be important. As it chases us east, we quickly reach a fork in the road where the path circles around a pit in the ground. My immediate thought is that we are supposed to get the pit between us and the flytrap, perhaps lure it to the other side then sidle around so that we can go west without it catching us. That idea was completely wrong. If we hide in the pit, the plant will go away, but she comes back when we emerge. How are we to get past her?

At the beginning of the game, we found a piece of paper with a grid of letters on it in Tiffany’s cell. She claimed to not know what it was and that she wrote it in her sleep. Converted to a spreadsheet for easy editing, the grid looks like this:

  My first guess was that it was a code, especially as a code is mentioned in the Lane Mastodon comic. Unfortunately, that is a dead end. My break came when I noticed the word “HEADLIGHT” in the second row from the bottom. When we first discovered the paper, Tiffany had not yet had her “eureka!” moment, but by now we know that a headlight (from a 1933 Ford) is one of the key items that we have to find. Searching carefully, we realize that this matrix is a word search puzzle and some variant on the names of each of the eight objects can be found inside. If we find and remove them all, a secret message is revealed:

The message reads: “HISSING FRIGHTENS FLY TRAPS”. I follow its instructions to hiss at the flytrap chasing us and it is destroyed, allowing me to reach the western edge of the jungle. There, we find a can of “untangling cream” and a circle leading to the hold of a mysterious spaceship. More on those later. If we had not worked out the word search, we could eventually discover a wooden trellis and a bag of leaves. By combining those over the put, we create a flytrap trap that has the same effect.

I wish I loved this puzzle because the idea of a word search isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t make any sense in context. Tiffany wrote it before she designed the anti-Leather Goddesses weapon and it’s strange that she would have embedded a solution to a completely unrelated puzzle inside. Tiffany’s subconscious may be clever, but this feels a bit too clever. If there had been a hint somewhere– perhaps Tiffany remarking about a dream that she had while we were running away from the flytrap– it would have worked better for me. As it is, I solved it on my own but it wasn’t as easy as it looks.

Science!

Puzzle #2 – Weird Science

The second major puzzle on Venus is easier but requires trial and error as we navigate a tricky scripted event. We stumble on a mad scientist’s lab in the jungle and are led inside and forced to participate in one of his experiments. We are taken down to the basement where we discover a cage with two gorillas inside (one male and one female), next to a slab covered in strange equipment. We also immediately notice that the cage contains a six-foot length of rubber hose, the first of our key items. We are quickly strapped to the slab and the scientist presses a button. We immediately discover ourselves in the cage, in a gorilla’s body, with an amorous gorilla of the opposite sex nearby.

While the scientist watches carefully, we are given the choice whether or not we want to “frolic” with our gorilla counterpart. Is it bestiality to have sex with a gorilla while you are a gorilla? I have no idea. Regardless of how we choose, the scientist notes our response with excitement and leaves us in the cage.

Escaping is the most difficult part. We do not have the strength to bend the bars, but the game implies that we almost do. How can we get a little more strength? The answer relies on us figuring out the properties of one of the items we found earlier: the chocolate bar delivered with our food way back when we arrived in the Leather Goddesses’ cell. If we had eaten it at any point, we would have received a bit of a “buzz” thanks to the sugar. If we eat it right now, the added sugar and energy it provides is enough to allow our gorilla-self to bend the bars. Unfortunately, the bar is being held by our human-self so that means that we need to quickly put it in the cage during a brief window (1-2 turns) after we are brought downstairs but before we are strapped to the table. Once we are free, we can push the red button to return to our own body, but we should not do so until we (as a gorilla) take the hose out of the cage and untie our human-self. Otherwise, we just wasted time and the game is unwinnable.

This is a fun “on rails” puzzle to solve, but it’s all trial and error and passing items into the cage during that brief window. I worked it out but honestly thought that gorillas (like many other animals) were unable to eat chocolate. Once we get the timing down and do everything we need to do, it’s a fun sequence.

Before we leave Venus, we’ll need to finish exploring the jungle. There’s a coin hidden in an old phone booth, a “Tee Remover” that can be bought off of a traveling salesman, as well as a black circle that gets us back to the main ship. Experienced players may have more difficulty with the traveling salesman than it would appear since he will only accept the flashlight as trade; I was very reluctant to trade my only light source in fear that there would be other dark areas to explore and so only did this when I was stuck elsewhere.

Poor King Midas!

Puzzle #3 – King Mitre Mars is the largest explorable area of the game, although we will have to navigate some puzzles to get to much of it. The area that we are dropped into initially consists of several ruined castles and deserts, surrounded on three sides by a martian canal system. There’s a canal boat north of King Mitre’s castle– more on him in a moment– but the canal is a one-way trip and can land us in an unwinnable state. The first puzzle we find is perhaps the most famous puzzle of the game: King Mitre.

When we arrive in Mitre’s throne room, we get a long infodump where we learn that the Earth legend of King Midas who turned all that he touched into gold is just a corrupted form of the story of King Mitre who turned everything he touched into forty-five degree angles. The game itself admits that this makes no sense, but we go with it for the sake of the puzzle. Much like in the legend, the now depressed king has turned nearly everything, including his daughter, into a forty-five degree angle. He needs some help. What are we to do?

The answer lies in the odd machine that we bought off the salesman on Venus, the “Tee Remover”:

‘It’s a TEE remover,’ he explains. You ponder what it removes — tea stains, hall T-intersections — even TV star Mr. T crosses your mind, until you recall that it’s only 1936.

The “Tee Remover” is a small device with a door and a button. You place something inside, shut the door, push the button, and it will have all of it’s “T’s” removed. It’s quite clever. Later on, we’ll be able to turn a rabbit into a rabbi and many other fun jokes, but for now the key thing is to realize that the “untangling cream” that we discovered in the Venusian jungle can quickly become “unangling cream” when we remove its t’s. If we apply that to King Mitre’s daughter, she reverts to normal. The king becomes so overjoyed that he provides us with an eighty-two degree angle in reward. How he did this when he can only create 45-degree angles is left as an exercise for the reader. We take it and continue on our quest.

As you leave, you hear behind you the sound like a forty-five degree angle landing on a pile of forty-five degree angles. “Oh shit! Not again!”, you hear Mitre moan.

The joy in this puzzle comes from working out what the “Tee Remover” does and how we can apply it to the situation. Depending on whether the player went to Mars or Venus first, it’s possible that this puzzle could have remained a mystery for a while. Unfortunately, this is the only case where the Tee Remover comes in useful; while there are other t’s to remove for added humor (“rabbit” into “rabbi” is my favorite), there are no more where we need it to solve a puzzle. Overall, this deserves its reputation of being the most “fun” puzzle in the game, but it still doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Elsewhere on Mars, we can discover a marsmouse on “Hickory-Dickory Dock”. As a mouse is one of the key items, we try to pick it up and fail. Despite the name suggesting that this puzzle would have something to do with a clock, the actual solution is trivial: show the mouse the picture of a cat and it will become stunned enough to pick up. It’s a bit of a letdown really, but that is two key objects in just a few minutes!

Pittsburgers call Cleveland “The Mistake on the Lake”

Puzzle #4 – Cleveland Rocks!

In a desert east of Mitre’s castle, we discover a fountain and a black circle that has been drained of color. If we use the black stain that we discovered on Venus, we can re-power the circle and are transported to the mythical land of… Cleveland!

Cleveland is, literally, a joke. After the sprawling expanses of Venus and Mars, we suddenly find ourselves cramped in a tiny suburban area that is somehow cut off from the rest of the world. Meretzky pokes fun at this, but the minimalism of this area feels jarring compared to the dynamic environments elsewhere. I’m sure that was deliberate:

You suddenly find yourself longing for the slime pits of Venus or the sandstorms of Mars. This particular section of Cleveland has exits to the northeast and south.

We can explore two backyards and enter one tiny house. The yards have a bag of leaves and a wooden trellis that we can take, both of which could be used in the alternate Venus Flytrap solution. As it is, the sack is only useful for me as a way to ease the inventory limit.

Inside the house, we find a bedroom with a window open to a neighboring street. Just outside is a 1933 Ford with an intact headlight– one of our key items! If this had been a real location, it would be simple to just go around to the public street where the Ford is parked and pick up the headlight. Instead, we can only get there by climbing out a second-story window. How can we do that? Searching the room, we discover a sheet on the nearby bed. We can tie it to the bedpost, but it’s not long enough to reach the window. We cannot move the bed or tie the sheet to anything closer. The solution is to make the sheet longer by ripping it into strips and then tying them together to create a makeshift rope, then tie the assembled rope to the bed. We are too heavy for the rope, but Tiffany will agree to go down instead. Doing so seems like a mistake:

Tiffany climbs down the rope and unscrews the headlight. Suddenly, a truck barrels down the road and hits Tiffany, carrying her out of sight. Moments later, you hear an explosion. As the smoke drifts past the window, your eyes fill with tears. You hang your head in sorrow for a moment to honor your brave, loyal companion who gave her life that humanity might be safe from the terrible scourge of the Leather Goddesses of Phobos.

Of course, she is revealed to have survived the blast a turn or two later after a misadventure with miners on Pluto or something similarly nonsensical. I could not solve this puzzle on my own and had to take a hint. I worked out that I could tie things to the bed and I was trying to use the sheet as a rope, but I never thought to rip the sheet into strips and assemble them that way. I suspect that I have not watched enough jailbreak movies. Tiffany also usually ignores you when you ask for help, but she leaps to it this time.

My biggest issue with this puzzle is how unnecessary it seems. We’re in Cleveland. The car is parked on a public street. It breaks my sense of immersion in the game to have such a clearly constructed puzzle only make sense within the realm of a game. Had Meretzky had duplicated the exact same puzzle in a motel on Ganymede, I am certain I would have enjoyed it more. Either way, we have picked up our fourth key item. Only four more to go!

But… we’ll just have to wait until next week for our shocking conclusion.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/infocom-marathon-leather-goddesses-of-phobos-1986-part-one/

[ciathyzareposts]

The Black Gate Bonus: The Books of Britannia

One of many in-game books that make in-jokes and build lore.

         I’d have to look through my notes to see what game first offered full-text books–not as plot devices but just as random background flavor and world-building. It might have been Ultima VI. But even if they appeared in earlier games, Ultima VII is the first game to treat them this extensively, with at least a couple of dozen different titles found on desks, nightstands, and bookcases throughout the homes and workplaces of the Britannian people. The castle alone had more than 15 different books.

     Ultima VII admittedly doesn’t do as well with its books as many later titles. Many of them are goofy, or simply analogues of real-world titles, and not the world-building tomes that we find in, say, The Elder Scrolls series, the Infinity Engine games, or The Witcher series. Still, they’re fun and deserve some additional attention and analysis.

I thought I’d use this entry to organize that analysis, adding new books as I find them. I’m excluding some “plot” books that don’t have much text (like Morfin’s register of venom sales). I’ll add notes to future entries when this one has been updated. The books I’ve found so far are:   The Apothecary’s Desk Reference by Fetoau. A book that accurately describes which potions have which effects. Very useful.

The Art of the Field Dressing by Creston, with a forward by Lady Leigh. It has some advice about cutting cloth into strips to bandage wounds, something that actually works in the game. While Lady Leigh is later found in the game, I don’t believe Creston is.

The Bioparaphysics of the Healing Arts by Lady Leigh. The bible for in-game healers. I believe Lady Leigh will be found later in Serpent’s Hold.

The Book of the Fellowship by Batlin of Britain. The first page of the game manual–the one time it makes sense for a real-life book to appear in the game.

Chicken Raising by Daheness Gon. A relatively useless instruction manual for raising chickens and producing eggs. The anatomical advice seems accurate, but I’m not sure how it helps in-game. Found on the shelf of a farmhouse, which makes sense.

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming. The real-life 1964 book by the author better known for creating James Bond. Lead Ultima VII writer Raymond Benson later went on to become the official James Bond writer from 1997-2002.            

With a couple of syllabic substitutions, this could easily have been a James Bond title.

          Collected Plays by Raymundo. An anthology of plays by the guy who runs the theater in Britain. Play titles include Three on a Codpiece, The Trials of the Avatar, The Plagiarist, Clue, and Thumbs Down. “Raymundo” is the in-game avatar of lead writer Raymond Benson, and at least three of these plays are real plays written by Benson. Clue is a 1977 musical based on the board game–a full 8 years before the Tim Curry film. The Plagiarist and Thumbs Down are more obscure; I’m not sure when or if they were ever staged, but they were published as short stories by Amazon Shorts in 2006. Three on a Codpiece is described in-game as a performance art piece in which audience members “tear an undergarment into tiny pieces, after which they are placed in funeral urns and mixed with wheat paste . . . then the audience may glue the pieces anywhere on [the actor’s] body that they wish.” One Ultima site suggests this might be a reference to Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece (1965).

A Complete Guide to Britannian Minerals, Precious, and Semi-Precious Stones by B. Ledbetter. The book discusses some of Britannia’s natural resources, including veins of gold and lead. It is notable for a paragraph on blackrock, a “recently discovered” substance with little practical use, rumored to have a “profound effect” on magic. This will of course become a major part of the game’s plot. I don’t believe Ledbetter appears in-game. I thought it would be funny if it was the guy who runs the jewelry shop in Britain, but his name is Sean.

The Day It Didn’t Work by R. Allen G. A collection of essays about “overseeing a group of well-meaning misfits in a mechanical environment.” An obvious joke about Richard Allen Garriott and the staff at ORIGIN.                Everything an Avatar Should Know about Sex. This book is blank after the title page. Ho-ho-ho. Or maybe it’s not a joke and it’s foreshadowing the upcoming unicorn encounter.

            The Honorable Hound inn register. The guest list for this Trinsic inn has four recent names: Walter of Britain, Jaffe of Yew, Jaana, and Atans of Serpent’s Hold. Jaana is of course the Avatar’s companion going back to Ultima IV. I don’t believe the others are ever seen or heard from in the series.

How to Conquer the World in Three Easy Steps by Maximillian the Amazingly Mean. The ravings of a “megalomaniac cleric.” He plans to acquire VAS CORP (“Mass Kill”), which he thinks will make everyone fear him, and that not even Lord British himself is immune. I’m pretty sure that Lord British survives a VAS CORP (which is a real spell). Lord British doesn’t even die from VAS CORP IN BET MANI (“Armageddon”). Also, there are no “clerics” in this setting. As an aside, I wonder if employees of Vascorp Network Solutions know that to a portion of the public, their name means “Mass Death.”

Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure by Bill Peet. A real 1969 children’s book by a real author. It tells in rhyme how the proud lion Hubert had his mane scorched in a series of escalating misadventures. We learned about its presence in Britannia in Ultima VI, where Lord British spent every night reading it to Sherry the Mouse. I don’t know which idea is worse: that the adolescent Lord British was carrying the book while hiking through the English countryside, or that he later went back for it.              

It’s good that Lord British has priorities.

            Jesse’s Book of Performance Art by Jesse. A “controversial and eccentric Britannian actor” who has published a book of “scripts” for performance artists and argues that performance art is basically the same thing as acting. Jesse is an NPC in Britain who jokes about playing the Avatar and having only three lines: NAME, JOB, and BYE.

Key to the Black Gate. A cluebook to the game, found within the game (but without any of the actual text). Probably meant as a subtle in-game advertisement. Can you imagine needing a cluebook to solve this game?             

A crummy commercial?!

             Lord British: The Biography of Britannia’s Longtime Ruler by K. Bannos. The biography frankly acknowledges that Lord British is from another world. I wasn’t sure that was public knowledge until now. He entered Britannia through a moongate and became one of the rulers of the eight kingdoms of Sosaria. The people proclaimed them the king after he successfully dealt with Mondain, Minax, and Exodus. The book recounts his role in Ultima IV and Ultima V but ends just as the gargoyles become a threat in Ultima VI. Unfortunately, the text also re-affirms the idea that the Avatar is the same hero as the one who defeated Mondain, Minax, and Exodus–the dumbest retcon ORIGIN ever introduced.,           

Part of Lord British’s bio. A party of Fuzzies defeated Exodus and nobody can convince me otherwise.

              Mempto Rays: A Qualitative Study in Metaparaphilosophical Radiation by Mempto. Some rantings about Britannia always being bombarded by radiation “lethal to all non-living matter.” Probably meant as a send-up of pseudo-science in the modern world.

No One Leaves by R. Allen G. This sequel to The Day It Didn’t Work is a humorously-phrased paragraph about missed deadlines and forced overtime.

No Way to Jump by Desmonth. A treatise on tropes found in adventure stories. This is probably another in-joke about game development. After all, Ultima VII, for all its realism, does not allow the Avatar to jump. The issue continues into the present day and is found on TV Tropes as “The Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence.” Note that Ultima VIII does feature jumping and jumping puzzles.

On Acting by Laurence Olivier. Philosophical notes on acting “written by a noted thespian of a distant land.” The text notes that it was apparently “one of the many brought to Britannia by Lord British.” Why was the kid hiking with half a library on his back? Anyway, Sir Laurence did in fact publish a book of this title in 1986.

Play Directing: Analysis, Communication, and Style by Francis Hodge. A “respected textbook” written by “an eminent professor emeritus from a university in a distant land.” It is in fact a real-world book, published in 1971 by a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Probably someone that Raymond Benson or someone on the staff at ORIGIN (which was based in Austin) knew. Hodge passed away in 2008.

The Salty Dog inn register. This inn and tavern in Paws lists seven recent visitors: Addom of Yew, The Avatar, Jalal of Britain, Tim of Yew, Blorn of Vesper, Sir Dupre, and Penelope of Cove. Addom is a traveling merchant who later shows up in Moonglow and plays a role in that city’s plot. To my knowledge, Jalal and Penelope never appear in the game, although I think Jalal appears in another register. Tim of Yew is also an unknown (there was a bard named Tim in Ultima V but he’d be long-dead). Blorn is an anti-Gargish racist who we later find in Vesper. The idea that Dupre recently visited a tavern is entirely within his character. The most disturbing entry is that someone is wandering around passing himself off as “The Avatar.”

Thou Art What Thee Eats by Fordras. A nutritional analysis that pre-dates the Atkins crazy by suggesting meats and vegetables ahead of carbohydrates. The author recommends certain foods in order, and I think it roughly corresponds with how filling those foods are in-game. 

The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon. This is a real book by a real author, originally published in 1984. As best I can tell, it’s a real book about English grammar and syntax, but all the examples are vampire-themed and there are vampire illustrations. If there’s something deeper going on, someone’s going to have to tell me. I suppose if it actually gets people to read a book on grammar, there are no bad ideas.             

Go figure.

           Tren I, II, III, IV . . . XVII. An autobiography by “the obtuse mage” which “reveals Tren’s life in all of his incarnations as he continually strove to possess more powerful beings.” As far as I know, we never meet a mage called Tren, nor do we ever see an application of magic that involves possession of beings. 

Up Is Out by Goodefellow. A treatise on gravity and mass, including “falling apples.” It’s a clear analogue to Isaac Newton, but I otherwise don’t know if the title and author are a reference to anything. If Goodefellow is an actual Britannian trying to research physics, his life is going to be rough.

Vargaz’s Stories of Legend. This anonymous book is subtitled Reasons Why One Should Never Build Doors Facing North or West. The book has two stories, one about a plague of locusts foretold by Father Antos (Ultima II and IV) which destroyed houses with north-facing doors. The other tale suggests that monsters fleeing sunlight are more likely to flee east and thus invade houses with west-facing doors.

The Wayfarer’s Inn register. This tavern in Britain lists five recent guests: John-Paul of Serpent’s Hold, Horffe of Serpent’s Hold, Featherbank of Moonglow, Tarvis of Buccaneer’s Den, and Shamino. I later found Shamino shacking up with an actress, so he probably only had to stay for one night. I don’t believe Tarvis or Featherbank appear in the game, but John-Paul is in fact the ruler of Serpent’s Hold and Horffe is his Gargish captain of the guard.

What a Fool Believes by P. Nolan. The book only has a brief paragraph, describing it as “the story of a bard, a blonde, and a bottle . . . a classic tale of the war between the sexes.” There’s a song of this name, of course, recorded by the Doobie Brothers and Aretha Franklin among others, but it doesn’t mention a blonde or a bottle and has no association with anyone named “Nolan” (although, in a weird twist, the R&B artist Nolan Porter did cover the song, but not until 2011). 

The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum. The real book from the real world, except that in the real world, the author is L. Frank Baum. It is given a quick summary in-game. I assume it’s in Lord British’s castle because I stole it for him as part of an Ultima VI side-quest.

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