#alternatively: she has the touching power but Even Harder

[ohbo-ohno]

All the talk of Johnny with a tug of war rope has got me thinking about those videos of people playing tug with smaller dogs and just fully lifting them off the ground.

Smaller/shorter reader gets absolutely fed up with Johnny trying to get them to play and kinda snaps. Fine, you want me to play with this toy so bad? My toy now. No you cannot have it back. No actually you cannot touch it, period, I don't care how much you snarl at me. (Johnny isn't angry at all, but if pretending to be mad gets reader to play longer, then call him Oscar-nominated actor John MacTavish.) Ghost comes home to see Johnny and reader both white-knuckling the tug rope and reader's feet are a full foot off the ground.

Alternately, Ghost tries to take a toy away from Johnny but Johnny is being a real brat about it so Ghost just yoinks him up and shakes him until he loses his hold.

~@slashhinginghasher

im SO obsessed with this oh my FUCKING god like. oh man. wowowowowowowowowowowow

i love the way you describe reader here - just finally giving in and playing along with johnny and immediately being just the brattiest little thing you've ever seen in your life. oh my god. she's horrible. johnny doesn't even care as long as you play with him though <3

i really love the idea of johnny overacting all of his reactions because it works you up more. like, you're trying to get on his nerves and he loves it but you'll stop playing if you know he loves it, so he just totally plays up his "anger" and acts comically pissed off. he has the time of his life, and you get to think you're actually starting to get to him. win-win

i think johnny and simon both love to manhandle you but in different ways. simon likes to emphasize his size so he's constantly grabbing you, covering your body with his, stuff like that. but johnny really gets off on how much power he has over you and how you're basically a toy for him if he wants you to be, so he's always pushing and prodding you, doing whatever he wants.

so johnny would absolutely yank you straight off the ground. he'll tug you around a few times, spin in a big circle maybe, and when he sees how determined you are to not give up the toy now that you've decided it's yours, he just lifts straight up. goddamn muscular man, hours and hours of working out just so he can hold you in the air by one arm

and he is just delighted when you hold on!!! almost forgets to stop acting angry about it so you don't let go. he ends up doing this weird mix of pretending to be pissed off while also mocking you and having fun. he'll totally swing his arm back and forth a little just to watch you sway, laughs when you curl your legs up beneath you

ghost walks in, takes one look at johnny's feral expression and your frustration as you dangle in the air, and just sighs. the things he has to deal with. he lets the two of you keep playing as long as neither of you get too worked up though <3

also ohhhhh my god so obsessed with ghost manhandling johnny, you have no idea

picturing johnny being a needy little brat, begging and begging and begging endlessly for ghost to play with him even though he's clearly busy. finally ghost grabs the other end of the rope and tugs so hard that johnny nearly goes flying, left tumbling ass over tea kettle as ghost lets go and just watches him fall

johnny's got a good hold of the rope in his teeth so ghost just yanks up, holds johnny's head at a very uncomfortable angle and shakes him off :/ scoffs and rolls his eyes at the growls vibrating through the rope, jerks it in the air even harder until he finally falls on his ass

[boots-with-the-fur-club]

The lore continues!!

Prev, Next

@phoebepheebsphibs

@littlemissartemisia

@daboyau

@foxolotlfreak

Karai and Mikey follow close behind April as she leads them to where she believes Leo is.

Mikey starts feeling nauseous at the fact that it’s so close to where he went missing.

“He’s been right here the whole time…..maybe if we had looked harder….I should have talked to my Gram-Gram! I wasted time!”

“You can open portals to your world? Why haven’t you done that already?” Karai questions.

Mikey looks down at the light coloring cracked across his arms. He knows fully well why he couldn’t do that specifically. He also knows that this Karai doesn’t realize he doesn’t mean that.

“It….it could kill me. Again.”

Karai’s brows furrow heavily.

“Excuse me?”

Mikey glances away awkwardly.

“L-Let’s just ignore that, for now. I’ll get the door open.”

“Just be careful, that hand could be anywhere.” April warns.

Mikey nods, summoning his chains as a precaution. He takes several steps towards the door April assures is the right one.

That’s when everyone notices the hand skittering across the floor nearby.

Mikey’s chain shoots out immediately and wraps tightly around it. He brings it over, allowing it to dangle in the air like meat on a hook. His eyes widen he sees that it’s holding something other than spores.

“That’s……Leo’s. You took his fidget toy. It….it was in his fanny pack. You’re the one who took the mushrooms. You made Leo think it was his fault.”

Karai senses the change in the air.

“Mikey! As much as you want your revenge, you must keep yourself from giving it what it wants.”

Mikey tightens his chains even further around the hand, eyes beginning to fill with orange light.

“What it wants? What about what we want? W-We could have had a fun time meeting other people, we could have finally relaxed for a little while! But we had to keep the spores alive and with us! Then this thing stole them and my brother! I-It’s not fair! What did we ever do to deserve this!?” He starts tearing up.

“You don’t deserve this! It’s not your fault, it’s that thing’s!” April insists.

Mikey’s chains start pulling on different parts of the hand.

“Then I’ll make sure it can never hurt us ever again!”

Although Karai and April are both all for this, something seems wrong. The hand always has too many tricks up its nonexistent sleeve.

That’s when April hears a click and release noise.

“Mikey! It’s a trap!”

Mikey snaps his attention to her and Karai before shoving them away with more chains. The two of them only have time to yell before spores explode in front of the door.

The distance and chains protect them, but Mikey is caught right in the majority of the blast.

He nearly coughs up a lung from how much he breathes in. Despite how bad this is he knows he needs to get to Leo. Keeping the chains around the hand, he tries to make his way to the door.

When his hands touch something solid he musters up all his strength and smashes his way through. This causes the spores that were trapped in the room to come out as well.

Mikey powers through anyways.

“Leo! Leo! Can you hear me!? I’m here!”

He soon finally sees a figure in the middle of all the thick particles in the air and rushes forward. Leo is there, laying on the ground.

He is not breathing.

Mikey takes his own deep breath.

“Y-You are alive, th-this is just th-the fear spores. I-I’ll get you out now, o-okay?” He doesn’t wait for an answer before picking up his brother.

He carefully makes his way back outside and to where Karai and April should be. Mikey knows they’re probably safe, but doubt creeps up into his mind when he sees them both sprawled out on the floor.

More tears come to his eyes.

“J-Just remember this isn’t real. Y-You’re seeing things. I-It’ll pass. G-Gram-Gram? April? Can you tell me everyone is okay?”

No answer.

Mikey can’t help but stare hard at the alternative Gram-Gram. She was just as nice and gentle and full of wisdom as his Gram-Gram. It stung a little bit that she couldn’t be alive in his universe too.

“P-Please just tell me that you’re okay. Th-That Leo isn’t…..that we saved Leo….”

Still no answer.

The body in front of him is tearing him apart inside. Karai is dead, not fully gone, but dead. Their lack of training killed her. They brought her out from the Twilight Realm and killed her. They released Shredder and killed her.

Did he….get this one killed too?

He shakes his head violently.

No! Stop being stupid already! You know this is fake! You can’t trust anything right now! Fight it!

“Leonardo has made his sacrifice like Hamato before him.”

Mikey shakily, slowly turns his head to the side.

Gram-Gram.

His Gram-Gram.

“No. She wouldn’t say that.” Mikey chokes out.

“I’m sorry, Michelangelo. He’s with us now. The other Karai and April are most likely with their world’s Hamato ancestors as well.”

“Stop it. Stop using her voice!”

“I wish I could tell you it isn’t true. I wish it had ended differently-“

Mikey punches her, breathing heavily.

He’s feeling the worst sense of déjà vu. He was losing it when he first got spored too. Back then he was scared and that made him force his family to confront everything.

He needs to calm down or else everything is going to fall apart again.

This isn’t him! He’s Dr. Positive! He cheers other people up and stops them from fighting!

Just breathe, breathe and move on.

“Mi….key….”

He quickly looks down.

“Leo! You are alive! Ohmigosh, I was so worried!”

“Too….late….”

“Wh-What?”

“R-Run…”

“No no no no, it’s not too late! I can help! I’ll fix you! Just like Donnie always does!”

Mikey holds Leo close and attempts to use his ninpo on him.

It’s not working.

At all.

“I-It….got Raph and Donnie too….s-save yourself, Mikey.”

Mikey stills.

“You’re lying. This isn’t real. G-Gram-Gram and April are going to snap me out of this.“

“I-It’s up to you, dad and April now. B-Be the coolest ninja you can be, Mikey.”

“Stop. Stop it. You….you freaky, creepy, dumb hand! You stupid spores! I’m not scared! I handled this! So stop already!”

Leo’s hand drops to his side and his eyes glaze over.

“I-I said….stop….” Mikey starts trembling.

Last time he was getting this way, he was just afraid of his brothers leaving.

Them dying is a whole other issue.

You can’t bring back someone from dying fully.

He doesn’t want to have to summon them.

They won’t be able to do all the things they said they’d do after they were fully healed up.

After this competition.

They lost, didn’t they?

So why are they even still here!?

Still suffering like this!?

If something brought them here then it should be responsible for fixing this! For bringing them home!

It’s not fair it’s not fair it’s not fair it’s not fair it’s not fair…..

Not fair.

Not fair!

“NOT FAIR!” He screams.

His lungs further get agitated by everything in the air, causing his cough to return viciously. It gets so bad that he has to place Leo on the ground and cover his mouth with his hands.

When he moves them away, there’s glowing, orange ninpo on them.

It’s not normal, though.

It feels like sludge.

Is…..is he dying?

The spores can do that?

They….they really killed everyone….?

Mikey starts chuckling.

Mikey starts laughing.

Mikey laughs too hard.

He stands up.

If this is how he’s going to go, then he’s going to take everything with him.

The hand watches once again from afar.

This too, is increasingly entertaining.

Watching Karai and April see the entire made it the real cherry on top.

The turtles that came from the same universe as the spores thought the worst case scenario was seeing and living through their fears.

They were so wrong.

What is truly, truly the most terrifying is knowing that enough fear can turn you into something you’re not.

Two down, two to go.

[ossifer]

Kiriona's Teeth, Naberius' Body, and Lyctoral Masking

He undid her scarf, and Nona looked away. Beneath the scarf a huge wound in the throat made the neck yawn wide open. When she peeked back, wishing she had her braids to screen everything, she saw that Palamedes had unbuttoned the shirt partway and there was another big wound in the chest—a big purple bloodless puncture wound, with white teeth peeking out coyly from within.

Kiriona's chest wound appears as a purple and bloodless wound, with teeth. A lot of people think that teeth is just a poetic way of referring to her ribs being visible, but I propose an alternate explanation: the devils, and Hell.

As we see on the Ninth, when they inspect the corpse of one of the possessed:

The eyelids hung slack, and there were rows of dark purple pinpricks above and below them—like something fine and sharp had come through.

The possessed bear purple pinpricks through which the teeth emerge, purple and bloodless wounds.

Naberius' and Gideon's Bodies

Naberius' body in Gideon the Ninth:

Naberius Tern lay awkwardly sprawled on the ground. His expression was that of a man who had suffered the surprise of his life. There was something too white about his eyeballs, but otherwise he looked perfectly real, perfectly alive, perfectly coiffed.

Gideon's body in As Yet Unsent:

The corpse has still failed to rot. The princess says they are leaving it outside in significantly fluctuating temperatures, under observation, and it still fails to rot.

The corpse is still as it ever was. I asked Hect if the scavengers had got at it. She said that animals refused to touch it even when encouraged.

I wonder if they will stop the experiments now. The corpse of the Ninth House cavalier is as pristine as when Camilla Hect convinced them to take it on board.

Both fail to rot. Both bodies appear obviously dead on inspection, yet uncannily pristine. Perfectly coifed, pristine as when first taken on board, remarkably so.

Lyctoral Masking

Ianthe was a black hole to you, a null, an empty, overradiant space, unreadable; but close physical proximity could echolocate that darkness.

Black hole, overradiant, darkness. Dark, light, dark.

“Harrowhark,” he said, “You are a Lyctor. You generate too much light, or too much darkness, for me to look at you and make out any strong detail [...]

Too much light, or too much darkness.

Lyctoral masking means the body is, at once, too light and yet too dark for detail to be made out necromantically, at least from a distance. John says that even he cannot make out strong detail as a result of it. Where else does John say that his power falls short? Hell.

“It is the mouth to Hell [...] Anyone who has entered a stoma has never returned. It is a portal to the place I cannot touch—somewhere I don’t fully comprehend, where my power and my authority are utterly meaningless.”

When else do we see light and darkness associated with necromancy?

Soul Siphoning

The torchlights gave an asthmatic gurk and dimmed as though their batteries were being sucked dry, and when Gideon looked at her hands through bleary eyes they were deepening grey [...] The world grew heavy and black around the edges, and Gideon felt cold all the way to her marrow.

Then Gideon saw the colour begin draining from Colum the Eighth as though he were covered with cheap dye: leaching as shadow leached hue in the nighttime, more horrible and more obvious in the unforgiving light of the electric torches and underfloor lamps. As he faded, the pale Silas incandesced. He glowed with an irradiated shimmer, iridescent white, and the air began to taste of lightning.

“When Master Octakiseron siphons his cavalier, he sends the soul elsewhere and then exploits the space it leaves behind. The power that rushes in to fill that space will keep refilling, for as long as either of them can survive [...]”

“Brother Colum has fought harder and in colder climes,” said Silas calmly. “He has come back to me through stranger ghosts. He has never once let his body become corrupted, and he never shall.”

Soul siphoning, as we can see, relies on sending the soul somewhere else and exploiting the power that rushes to fill in the space it leaves. This place is almost explicitly said to be Hell. As Augustine says to Mercy, founder of the Eighth: “You never did take the stoma seriously, which is why your whole damned House sucks at it like a grotesque teat—”

And, as you can see from the above excerpts, siphoning dims the lights and brings a chill to the room. Where else do we see gloom descend and the temperature drop?

With an awful crack, his head turned one hundred and eighty degrees to look impassively at the room behind him. One of the lightbulbs screamed, exploded, died in a shower of sparks. The air was very cold. Gideon’s breath came as frosty white frills in the sudden darkness, and the remaining lights struggled to pierce the gloom. Colum licked his lips with a grey tongue.

Siphoning taps into the power of Hell. And, as Ianthe says, she suspects the Eighth's contribution to the Lyctoral megatheorem was getting the power flowing.

“And then for the last step you hook up the cables and get the power flowing. You’ll find that one a walk in the park, Eighth, I suspect it was your House’s contribution.”

Conclusions

Soul siphoning relies on displacing the cavalier's soul, to draw power from the resulting space.

The displacement of soul siphoning derives power from Hell, the realm beyond the Stoma, where the devils originate from.

After their deaths, that allow their respective necromancers to ascend to Lyctorhood, Naberius and Gideon's bodies appear to be preserved.

Devils grow teeth from purple, bloodless wounds. The wound on Gideon's body appears purple, bloodless, and has seemingly grown teeth.

Ianthe theorised that the Eighth's contribution to the megatheorem was getting the power flowing, granting them access to the lyctoral well of thanergy.

Lyctoral masking is said by John to be due to the Lyctor generating too much light or darkness, obscuring details from even him. Soul siphoning generates light and darkness. Soul siphoning derives power from the place beyond the Stoma, which John defines as being a place where his power is meaningless.

The Stoma are in the River, where dead souls go after death, and an essential component of imperfect lyctorhood is the death of the cavalier.

[islib]

I've slept, I've eaten, I've touched grass. My thoughts are a little more ordered. Let's do this:

On Railroading, Roleplay, the Social Contract and the QSMP

aka I Need To Get This Off My Chest Even Though I Want All Of Us To Move On As Quickly As Possible

So. Let's establish the narrative events as a baseline.

Since the first Purgatory event, Quesadilla Island has been plagued by visits of "Eye Workers/Eye Soldiers" - at first investigative, more recently aggressive ones.

(Side note - it appears that most characters have forgotten about this, but this is an ongoing war. As seen in Philza's [20.12.2023 - Hardcore Boi & QSMP - Xmas Event & a New threat?]:

Idk about you, this looks like a declaration of war to me. They don't care about retrieving Luffy at this point, they're just being destructive.)

This has lead to character actions. We have seen the rise of new safe rooms, fight metas, inventory prep. There's been serious parent-child talks about what to do when a fight breaks out. The characters have reacted to the threat accordingly - as a threat.

The fights have been getting harder. From the start, the Eye's minions were framed as dangerous, and perceived as such, but as time went on, they began to return with outrageously strong weapons, potion effects and health amounts that were essentially unbeatable, and unreasonable fight stamina. Still, thanks to the characters' preparations and the characters' relationships, no one lost a permanent life.

Yesterday (morning crew streams of 11.1.2023), Empanada lost a life.

The fight broke out in the Favela. The Eye Soldiers were using enchanted sticks, enchanted axes, potions, explosives and lassos. (In contrast to previous fights, which were generally only conducted with melee weapons.)

As soon as the players notice the attackers, they shout at the Eggs to get out of there. At first, the Eggs seem to ignore the shouts, wanting to help their parents. Understandable, if frustrating - both Empanada and Ramon have been on a "I need to protect everyone" kick lately, so it makes some sense.

It stops making sense very soon, though. Both the Eggs get downed multiple times, while their parents scream and plead with them to leave. Empanada gets lassoed by the workers, making her escape next to impossible - but we have proof that she got away at some point: you can see her teleporting away at 0:29:43-45 of Fit's stream and later we see her signs in Ramon's room at the bunker:

(slightly meta, forgive, it's still narratively relevant to have the proof)

The fight moves from the Favela to Spawn, Em returns to it, and dies (when she does, btw, there's no time between her getting downed and her dying. a fraction of a second at most.). The fight dies down with some curious events irrelevant to this post, scene ends.

Now that we've established narrative context, here's for a touch of the meta-narrative stuff.

The attacks haven't been ramping up linearly - they started very strong, and then alternated in strength with repeated attacks on a single day wildly varying in power levels. This attack was clearly the strongest yet - Fit's VOD shows some attacks doing minimum of 3 hearts of damage through a decent slime/diamond+high prot armor set.

The use of lassos is new - potentially a narrative show of how the Eye Soldiers are learning Player tactics? It's the main reason for why Em's death was mechanically possible.

There's been narrative in the past arcs of the server where egg death was the point of a fight encounter. It has always been possible to prevent the death in those scenarios.

There have been narrative fights that were unwinnable in the server past.

Ramon wasn't supposed to be on - his admin is sick (or otherwise indisposed and using sickness as a narrative reason for not playing) and had left a message that he wouldn't be on, only to later join anyway, likely due to the event needing Eggs to be present.

As far as I'm aware, this is the first time a player has hard-pulled themselves out of RP. (more on this in a bit)

All on the same page? Let's get to my criticism.

In roleplay, players and game facilitators enter a social contract. Very often it's an implicit one, just "don't be an idiot" and stuff, but sometimes it's more hard coded: what are the rules, what are the expectations, what are the lines we don't cross.

Now, as an audience of the QSMP, we don't know what the details of this contract are - only the players and the admins do. We can implicitly understand that parts of it contain expectations of activity on both player and admin sides, expectations of medium (i.e. Minecraft), expectations of who's participating, etc.

We've rarely seen anyone employ any sort of safety tools, although I expect at least some of the creators have some amongst themselves (think safewords mostly). The extreme safety tool that all of the streamers have access to is logging off, but I don't think we've seen that mid-encounter, ever.

Fit employed a softer safety tool yesterday, when he decided to stick with Ramon in the bunker. At 0:33:30, Fit notices footsteps outside the reinforced door. We don't get to figure out who it is, but he says: "Oh I hear you! If you're an admin, I'm fucking done. [...] We are not fucking moving." Now, some of you will argue this is in character - I disagree. It's semi-in character, simply thanks to the word "admin". Fit keeps some semblance of his roleplay, for any number of reasons, but addresses the admin, taking himself out of roleplay in order to declare he didn't wish to continue in the encounter.

The fact that he partially stays in character makes it easier for both him and the audience to rejoin the character later.

What's really important here is that the admin - whoever it was (I think at that point it may have been Em - backs off. Fit declares he's not playing, and the admin hears that and leaves. Even if it was Em, and whatever was going to happen wasn't going to be in the same tome as the fight encounter, they backed off. That is very good.

Now to the more narrative points.

These Eye Soldier attacks have been clear in their motives: hurt everyone on Quesadilla. Narratively, the characters responded appropriately, by gearing up and protecting the fragile Eggs.

How did the server lore respond? Well, it didn't.

The attacks continue on some invisible timeline, getting superpowered out of nowhere when the players preparations pay off, and the Eggs, despite their general agreements and character motivations, keep running head first into danger.

The only reason I'm not trying to push into a riot over Em's death is the lassos, because those make it mechanically difficult for her to stay away.

In conclusion, the main issue I have with yesterday is the consequences. If the only way to protect your child is to literally pull yourself out of the encounter - because clearly the narrative implication of yesterday is not only will the Eye Soldiers keep going until an Egg is dead, but also that Eggs will be coming back to fight unless they're actually restrained - then who's going to be playing in this arc? Why would anyone, when temporary victory only means more Soldiers with more power, and Eggs that are less likely to leave the fight?

If there was a clear narrative indication that these attacks can be stopped - a clue towards Luffy, or a conversation with the Federation on defences, or a clear sense of what can protect someone against the Eyes - I would be fine with what happened yesterday.

But there isn't. Nothing that's been done has had ANY effect on the events.

I've seen people going "well we've seen this coming" and to them I say: how does that make anything better? That just means there's been time to notice that the narrative line ignored player agency!

I've seen people going "well the players don't take anything seriously until an Egg dies" and to them I say: Morning Crew went out to look for Luffy literally yesterday, trying to move the story along. People have been building safe rooms and preparing fight supplies and player metas so they could defend themselves and their families, they've been taking this very seriously.

I've seen people going "even interactive stories have scripted beats" and to them I say: not at the expense of player agency, not in something as freeform as QSMP. This is not a Telltale game.

I don't think my criticisms are unreasonable - all I want is for the narrative to be actually interactive. To even a little bit allow for players to play, rather than act out someone's unwritten script.

That's what movies are for.

[fallevs]

No one asked, but I thought, why not?

If Glee kids listened to Italian music

(+ links to the songs if you are interested in listening to them and judging whether I got the genre right; some lyrics too)

Rachel: Mina

Considered the greatest performer in the history of Italian pop music, Mina is definitely the ultimate diva! That is why Rachel loves her. And maybe, just like Mina, it could also happen to her to retire from the stage but forty years later continue to make hits from the walls of her home!

Her favorite song is Se Telefonando.

(If looking into your eyes, I knew how to say "enough!", I would look at you. But I can't explain that our love, barely born, is already finished.)

Finn: Ligabue

Ligabue does a genre that Finn really appreciated, given his penchant for alternative rock music, but what he appreciated most was the words of his songs. Ligabue talks about love, of course, but mostly about life, youth and those tastes and smells that we sometimes forget because we take them for granted.

In fact, his favorite song was Certe Notti. He listened to it on repeat in the period after high school, when he still had to figure out who he was and what to do.

(Some nights the car is hot and where it takes you it decides. Some nights the road doesn't matter and what matters is to hear it go. Some nights the radio playing Neil Young seems to have figured out who you are. Some nights resemble a vice that you don't want to stop, never stop.)

Blaine: Annalisa

Blaine thinks that Annalisa's best phase is up to 2022 when, for marketing reasons, she started making more commercial music. However, Annalisa has a wonderful and powerful voice (many call her the New Mina) and her old songs, the early hits, are true poems. But that of course doesn't mean that Blaine doesn't love to dance to the notes of her more jaunty songs!

His favorite is definitely Questo bellissimo gioco which Blaine listened to assiduously during the breakup. When he (and Kurt) believed there was still room for hope and the opportunity to start over, accompanied by the sunshine and the opportunity to make mistakes. A solution had to be created between them, but they see their relationship as a beautiful game that they continue to play (4x14, for example)

(Love burns the crumpled afternoons, the two of us hugging each other. Trying to find a point of balance between what to say and what to do. And this sweet sickness of ours that keeps me behind your vigil. Too busy courting some of your mental space without knowing if really what you give, can really be enough for me.)

Kurt: Marco Mengoni

Marco is one of those artists who, with his voice, his poems, his music, makes you vibrate in another dimension– makes you feel pure love! His are quite intimate songs that touch chords that, as we know, Kurt tends to keep hidden within himself.

At a specific time in his life, he listened to Venere e Marte on repeat. And you can understand why.

(I can make a thousand promises to you, or swallow them like pills. And swallow these words without even tasting them. This world alone is not much, yes, but neither is it in two. But with you it's a little less dark. Even when the sky is covered with clouds, and you were waiting for the rain to stop but you stayed all day long, I hoped it would rain harder. Because it's good to have you around again.)

Tina: Subsonica

Tina is shy, quiet and awkward. Hers is a mask she wears to avoid getting hurt and others hurting her, but she manages to find herself in music. She loves Subsonica because they are not only a band to listen to but also to watch and discover. Intense and charged, just like her.

Her favorite song of the moment is Universo. It is about a perpetual conflict with herself and the world, told through a succession of metaphorical images such as forests, oceans. The vibes that Tina loves and in which she sees herself a lot.

(Who knows if ever, if sooner or later, among the swarming of people; if you will meet the peace that life has always denied you. If it will end the war in you, the cold friction with the world; if you understand that my universe today is you.)

Artie: Fabri Fibra

The progenitor of Italian rap, Fabri Fibra represents freedom of expression and imagination. Hated even a little by many, he elevated an audience that existed only under the radar. He unhinged the hierarchies of the music industry, dispensed rawness and irony, often coupling them, in doing so he silenced bigots and censors. That's why Artie loves him, because he is someone who is not afraid to speak his mind. Which Artie sometimes fails to do.

In fact he loves Non crollo, because life is hard, but he doesn't give up.

(And this is the reason why I don't give up. Even if I'm with shattered nerves, stoned to the core, I don't collapse. They are squeezing me by the neck. They are strangling me preventing me from taking off.)

Santana: Loredana Berté

Even today, Loredana Bertè, at 73 years old, is considered a queen of music. Since her early days, she has been able to make her mark in the entertainment world. A true rock diva, feminist and nonconformist. Like Santana, Loredana Bertè never minded the rules. That's why she loves her.

Her favorite song is, of course, the iconic Non sono una signora. Her motto, basically.

(I am not a lady; one with all stars in life. I am not a lady but one for whom the war never ended. I am not a lady; one with just few marks in life.)

Quinn: Elisa

Elisa is one of the most melodic, delicate and at the same time powerful Italian voices. That's why Quinn loves listening to her and sees herself a lot in her lyrics. Elisa's voice is an expression of the soul, and her compositions reveal its fragility and strength.

Eppure Sentire is her song. Words imbued with a poetic sensibility and tell a story of inner strength and perseverance.

(One step away from possible, one step away from you. Afraid to decide, afraid of me. Of everything I don't know. Of everything I don't have. Yet feel, in dreams at the bottom of a cry, in days of silence, there is a sense of you.)

Mercedes: Mia Martini

Loredana Berté's sister, Mia Martini is considered by many the Italian Whitney Houston. A scratchy, rough and powerful voice, that is why she is Mercedes' favorite. Unfortunately, however, Mia is a misunderstood artist. She will be removed from the spotlight because of the nastiness and jealousy of the entertainment world; the suffering will be such that she will lose her life at only 47 years old. Yet her voice has never been forgotten.

Her song is Libera. You can understand why.

(Free to speak, free to search, free to do and undo, free to be just myself. Free to understand, free to feel, free to realize an end and to be wrong. I know well what I want and what I don't want. I have my pride, what does that have to do with you? A woman used to walking alone.)

Brittany: Lorella Cuccarini

Brittany is Lorella's fan more because of her dancing career than her singing one, but that doesn't mean she doesn't love her songs! At 58 years old, she is still considered one of the most beautiful and talented small screen dancers. The best showgirl of the 1980s. May Brittany aspire to be like her?

However, her favorite song to dance to is undoubtedly La notte vola. They also resemble each other, don't they?

Puck: Vasco Rossi

Besides being the undisputed idol of many and Italian rocker par excellence, he is considered the worthy rival of Ligabue. 70 years and almost 50 years into his career, Vasco's music has accompanied generations with his rock lyrics as well as lyrics about love and life.

That is why, although Puck does not admit it, his favorite lately is Canzone. It reminds him of someone who is no longer there. Someone he never told how important he was to him. His best friend.

(And when I meet you one day, maybe in the street, maybe right under your house. Look at the chance, though! Look at the splendid fate! Cruel and splendid. And meanwhile the days go by and memories fade and habits change. It was splendid.)

[akane-no-mai]

SPOCKLAAN WEEK Day Six — Alternative Universe

Slowly, the wizard started to circle her with well-measured steps. With each step, he let the end of the wooden staff hit against the ground, each thump echoing with the pounding of her racing heartbeat. She turned her head to keep him in her eyesight as he came up close right in front of her, dangerously inappropriately close, the distance between them having melted away like the last remains of winter's frost on the first day of spring.

“And your singing. No sound more enchanting has ever reached my ears and filled my heart with delight. Would you sing for me again?” He sounded wistful, almost sincere in his request, but maybe she was merely imagining the emotions filling his words, breathing beneath the surface, and it was all just part of his ploy to pull her under his dark spell.

She's heard the tales about him - the dark wizard with the face of an angel whose heart was made of stone, ruled by cold logic. Who desired nothing but the powerful knowledge of magic and didn't even care about the fate of his own brother. Surely, such a callous man would not be touched by her singing, and yet she felt something stirring inside her, a spark of attraction that was getting harder to resist with the way he looked at her. — a chance encounter in the forest.

[theleslistuff]

Day 1 of OCs/Alternative version

Danny - Tears and blood au

-The smallest in height, the middle boy since he's the older twin for seconds away

Details;

-In the design his main difference between him and canon Danny are the scars crossing his eye, (made by his brother under the influence of Aragon's amulet)

-He's not as close to his parents since Jack and Maddie seems to have drifted apart from both twins, but he likes to pretend it's not the case

-Likes to avoid conflict at all cost, cannot stand for himself, let's out suppressed fury in battle, is more brutal than Danny, likes to finish the battle as fast as he can.

-Phantom is serious and aggressive, doesn't like to talk, ghost are learning this the hard way.

-Ghost half gradually looking more ghost-like (growing fangs, pointy ears, pitch black skin)

-Corrupted era gives back human-like appearance

This au is an hybrid one;

No one knows/What if/ Twin au/Disabled au/Things go wrong au/eldritch Danny/evil/antihero Danny

Danny's accident happened like the regular accident but instead of gaining complex powers gradually, Danny's most powerful ones come first (duplication, shape shift, ghostly wail) making him harder to adapt to them, his body is going through a fast ghost puberty but he likes to pretend he's okay, negating his constant pains, a chilling cold inside of him, the growing fangs in ghost half and human half.

The cold is making his temperature drop below a corpse's one, he doesn't mind it but now he hates to be touched by anyone, when they say something about the temperature... It remains him he's not human anymore...

His only save heaven where he feels human is when he talks or is close to his twin Andy, having him diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia he dismisses when he gets the chance to confront him about his new nature, he doesn't like to admit it's harmful for both of them.

Relationships;

Sam: He's in love with her and wants to impress her, doing as she tells him to prove his bravery, he thinks she's cool but deep down knows she's not such a nice person, he feels she likes him as Phantom more.

Tucker: Best friend since his childhood, loves to hang out with him and feels he is the only one who accepts him both human and ghost half as they have each other's back (he doesn't know how jealous he's of him)

Jazz: An absent older sister, he's kinda afraid of annoying her, he knows something changed inside of her when Andy broke her favorite plush, he misses her old caring self.

Andy: His little brother (by seconds away) he used to see him as an equal until his dad told them Andy was sick, since then, he has tried to protect him at all cost, (even that being the main reason he started to hang out with Sam) but when he got his powers he started to feel he could harm him..., and after the incident making his scar, he feels Andy is capable of harming him, he feels he sees him as a monster and now he's trying too hard to make him see him as a human and nothing else even if he has to lie and use his condition to justify what is inevitable to see... (He wishes he could see things his way... Turning him into an halfa if it was possible)

Jack: He knows the favorite child is Jazz, he doesn't put much though on it.

Maddie: Mama's boy, he loved hanging out with her and it was noticed by everyone she loved it too, since she even taught him the basics of martial arts, it became more obvious when certain incident happened with Andy, they became closer, even though about revealing his ghost half to her, until the first time she tried to shoot him as Phantom..., he's afraid of her now...

Wes: Annoying, fun to mess with, he's the only human he let his wrath out on since everyone else doesn't seems to mind and he hates him for trying to reveal his secret to Andy.

The A listers;

Dash: Wants to punch him in the face but Sam doesn't approve.

Paulina: Pretty girl he doesn't wants to do anything with since he got rejected for the school dance.

Kwan: Doesn't mind having him around, he doesn't actively mess with anyone.

Star: Paulina's pet, he doesn't mind her

More info about this au:

I got a comic in development in webtoon canvas;

Or you can see it here in my Tumblr;

Tag; Tears and blood au

Master post; *coming soon*

[dreamy-demons]

Beg to Serve

Pairing: Mirror!Lorca x Reader (could be read as an alternate universe Burnham also?)

Content: Oral (m receiving), boot worship, exhibitionism, name calling, praise, major power imbalance, thus kinda dubcon, hint of stockholm syndrome?

Word count: ~500 words

Lorca gazes down at the woman lounging at the foot of his throne, head on his lap. His queen. His greatest acquisition. He had travelled across universes to find her and it had been worth everything. Lorca loved the version of her from his own universe, but she had been too difficult. No matter how he tried to tame her she would resist him. But this one? This one was perfect. She was so malleable and had become just as infatuated with him as he was with her.

She nuzzles at his thigh, begging to please him. His knees fall open and she positions herself between them. Her eyes never leave his as she strokes her hands up his leather-clad thighs lovingly. The guards lining the walls know to avert their eyes. They wouldn't dare stare, and the thought of their fear only made him grow harder.

She works deftly to free his cock and Lorca brings a hand to her hair in anticipation.

“Go ahead darling, you know how I like it.”

His queen lays a kiss on his head, before wrapping her lips around it. The velvety warmth of her mouth has him drawing in a sharp breath. Her tongue explores him at a leisurely pace and he grips the arm of his throne to stop himself from shoving her head down and taking her throat hard.

“That's a good girl.” He hisses. His grip is white-knuckled now, and he slides her off his cock with a slick pop.

“Look at you, you're perfect.” He traces her cheek with his thumb. “I can't hold myself back, I need to fuck your throat. Squeeze my arm if it gets too much, okay?” She nods and licks her lips as Lorca brings her back onto his cock. His pace is brutal as he grunts above her. A smirk graces his lips when he sees his queen still trying to reach down between her legs despite how hard he fucks her throat.

“Ah ah, no touching yet.” She whines but her hand falls away nonetheless. “When you're finished I want to see you make yourself cum on my boot like the desperate whore that you are.”

Neither of them can stop the eager moans that escape their lips, picturing his matte black boots turned shiny by her slick. The way she would rut against him, clutching his thigh as he reminds her that this is what she was made for. Perhaps he would even let the guards watch her this time. Let the whole empire watch, lest they forget who she belongs to.

As the feeling of impending release hits him, he jerks her head down hard and groans as he pulses deep into her throat. Panting, he collapses back against his throne, watching as she hungrily swallows all of his seed.

When he comes down from his high he looks down to find her already grinding against that boot.

Good girl.

[queeenpersephone]

Feeling very ironwidow starved, feel free to ignore but would you write a drabble on maybe Tony and Nat waking up to each other in the morning? Domestic, Fluff, I will take anything 😩🤞🏻

dude i feel you i've been in my feels about them today too! okay, super short, but have a small extended/alternate scene from endgame the morning of the day natasha figures out there were 3 stones in nyc in 2012.

-

Tony wakes with the irritating feeling of a textbook digging into his spleen.

His eyes blink open slowly, not a little surprised that he even fell asleep. He's always been a light sleeper, even in a king bed with six-hundred thread count sheets, but his brain has been overactive the past few days as they've attempted to make a plan to time travel. Or maybe he's just gone soft, used to hanging with Morgan in the cabin on alternating weeks with frequent visits from his fiance.

Speaking of his fiance...

With a groan, he shifts from his side to his back, tilting his head until he sees Natasha's stomach, gently rising with each inhale and exhale. They're laying head to foot, necessitated by the stacks of books and hardware and assorted snacks. Beyond her, he sees Bruce on the floor, snoring loudly. Wow. Really surprising he was able to sleep.

He props himself up on his elbow, always soothed by the familiar sight of Natasha's sleeping face. But when he gets high enough to look at her closed eyes, he realizes that they're open.

"Honey?" He tries. She merely blinks; he knows that she knows that he's awake. "Nat, our relationship's at least thirty years from your hearing going," he teases, trying to hide his underlying worry.

She sighs, turning her bright green eyes on him. They curve awkwardly toward each other, almost in a lopsided huddle. "Are we doing the right thing?" She murmurs, her voice laden with doubt that she will never show the others. "What if the consequences are worse than the world we're living in? What if we lose Morgan?"

Despite Tony's own corresponding fears, his heart warms at her personal acknowledgement of Morgan. His little girl loves her so much; the divorce could have been catastrophic, but Pepper and he are in a good place, and now Morgan has three parents. He never planned for his daughter to be able to escape handcuffs, trunks, and pilot a helicopter, but he can't deny that it eases his mind every time Natasha teaches Morgan another life skill when Pepper's and his first instinct had been to shield her from the world. Pepper even frequently takes part in lessons after Natasha had stressed the world's instability.

He snaps back to attention when Natasha tucks her messy hair behind her ear. He studies her watery eyes and deep, dark circles and well-bitten lips. She looks exhausted. He bets he looks the same.

"I remember when Barton came to stay with us," he says instead of answering. Natasha doesn't seem to mind. She just watches him, hanging on his every word like they'll damn or absolve her. He truly believes that if he told her they had to leave now, she would go. It's terrifying, the power they have over each other. "He said that when you talked after Loki escaped, all those years ago, he didn't think you sounded like you."

Natasha mouth twitches into a smile, reminiscing. "He told me I wasn't a soldier," she remembers. "That we weren't the kind of people to wade into a war."

"But then, with hindsight, he changed his mind," Tony replies. "And you were right to wade into that war. It was hard, harder than anything, and though you know I'd be the first to fight with our teammates about goals and ethics, you were still right to fight." He takes a deep breath. "You were right then, and you are right now."

Natasha isn't crying or carrying on, but he can tell from the struck look in her eyes that what he's said has touched something deep inside her. "I love you," she says, the emotion and history between them clear in every word.

"You mean everything to me," he says, low and earnest. Shockingly, he feels no desire to reach around the space between them, to hold her kiss her. Instead, they just look at each other across their curled bodies, keeping the bubble of air between them just for them. The sun rises in the window behind Tony's back. He feels the heat on his skin, but he's truly kept warm by the light in Natasha's eyes.

They lay there until Bruce wakes up with a hiccuped snore. They lay there until they're ready to take on any threat that comes their way, even if that threat is time itself.

[cloudlessly-light]

Chills on a summer day 2/3

A/N: Sooo, guess who got a little carried away and turned this two parter into a three parter? Me, I'm the perv with no self control. The last part of this will be posted on Thursday, then I'll be on vacation for a couple of weeks.

Summary: Emily takes a summer job as a secretary at a law firm thinking that it will be a good way to keep her mother of her back. What she doesn’t realize though is her boss, prosecutor Aaron Hotchner, is not only a pain in the ass but also a man able to make her lose all sense of control. Word Count: 2,6k Rating: Explicit Warnings: Smut, in public, sex toys, oral sex, dirty talk, orgasm delay/denial, orgasm control, alternative universe, age difference (everyone is of age), power dynamics

Part II

 It started that morning in his office, but it’s nowhere near the end. He kisses her behind that closed door, ignores the way they hear people outside the room as he makes her come on his desk, fingers buried inside of her and her moans muffled by his lips on hers. It becomes strikingly clear that with him, she had no control and she had no issues with that.

He comes to her apartment that night, fucks her until she’s sure she’ll collapse from the intensity of it, he whispers filthy words against her ear as she pleads for more, holds her close and kisses her between feeding her the food he had brought over, then fucks her again for good measure and Emily is sure that she’ll be forever ruined for anybody else.

 *

 Emily comes into the office with his marks covering her pale skin and she feels the excitement of it, knows that when his eyes scan her body he’s mapping out where to leave kisses next.

“I need you to fax this over to Strauss.” He hands her the papers in her hand and she takes them.

“Right away, Mr. Hotchner.” She smirks at him, can see that he’s having a hard time not to look at her exposed neckline. When she stands she’s too close to him, her body almost touching his and she shivers from the thrill of hiding in plain sight.

“On a second thought, I need some things from the file room.”

It’s a horrible excuse, they both know it and neither care as they walk across the office, Aaron keeping distance from her and she sways her hips a little more than she usually would. It’s almost lunchtime so the office was pretty empty and he took advantage, sneaking into the small room behind her when no one was looking.

She tugs on his tie the second the door closes and he presses her up against a wall as he kisses her. His hand skim over her body, knows that they didn’t have time for this but found that once they had started this thing it seemed impossible to keep away from her.

“Stay late tonight.” He mumbles in between heated kisses. His hand moves under her skirt, feels the soft skin of her thigh and she sighs into his mouth.

“Yes.” Her body felt like it was on fire from him, denying him anything seemed unthinkable. “You can fuck me against that huge window of yours.” She feels him press her harder against the wall at her words, a low growl leaving him as he licks over her racing pulse.

“Dirty girl.” He mutters and she nods, her grip on his tie only tightening to pull him back to kiss her. He has to force himself away from her not long after, knowing that anybody could walk in there at any second. His breathing is uneven, arousal stirring inside of him and he gives himself a moment before backing away from her.

“I’ll wait a minute or so.” She says before he even has time to mention it, her words accompanied with a smile and he nods.

“Don’t forget to fax the papers, that wasn’t an excuse.” He winks and then leaves her, intent to finish up as much work as possible.

 *

 “Mine.” He mutters only a couple of weeks later as he pushes his hand under her skirt as she stands by his desk, the word so casual that she barely hears it over the sound of her own low moan of pleasure as he squeezes one of her ass cheeks. “Where is the deposition from the Jareau case?”

She knows what he’s doing, knows that he knows exactly where on his desk the papers are but she still leans over the heavy wood and his fingers dip inside of her underwear, fingers rough on her clit before pushing one inside of her. It’s not enough, he knows that it’s not, his actions designed only to drive her a little crazy, not to give her any relief.

“H-here.” She mumbles, mind hazy with arousal. His hand moves away from her to take the paper, fingers wet from her and she blushes when he casually licks her off his hand. “Would that be all, sir?”

“For now.” He smirks at the way she visibly trembles as she walks on weak legs towards his door. “Oh and Emily?” When she stops at the first sound of his voice wants to groan at the obedience. “Bring me lunch today.”

“What do you want?” She flushes harder as he looks at her up and down, tongue quickly swiping his bottom lip.

“You.”

 It’s strange, how she so easily submits to him, something she had never willingly given a man before but with him it’s like second nature. He tells her one night that it’s part of his attraction towards her, that someone so in control, with such strength and prominence, would gave in to him like she did. But she finds that she trusts him, even after so little time, she trusts him.

 *

 She walks into his office in the afternoon ready to head home. He had been in court all day, had been stressed and bordering on rude when he came back. She knew that days like these were frustrating, when the system failed despite his best efforts and she knew that he would need some kind of release.

He’s on the phone, sitting at his desk when she walks in and he waves her closer without stopping the conversation on the phone. She had become an expert on him, the slight curve of his lip making it clear exactly what he was thinking and she closed the door softly. He’s taken off his suit jacket, hung it up on the back of his chair and rolled his sleeves up, showing off her forearms and Emily can’t believe how gorgeous he looks.

“Excuse me for a second.” He tells whoever is on the phone and urges Emily to sit on his desk in front of him. His hand covers the phone as he rolls his chair back from his desk to watch her as she leans back on one hand. “I’m bored, give me something to entertain myself with?” When she nods and easily spreads her legs his hand moves to her knee, his touch warm as he draws lazy patterns along her skin. “I’m back.” He says into the phone but keeps his eyes on Emily as she unbuttons the shirt she had tucked into her pencil skirt.

She reveals the red bra to his hungry eyes, his eyes fastening on the little bow in the middle of her chest. She leans back on her hands again, spreads her legs further apart as the fabric of her skirt pulls up and he can see a hint of the matching red silk panties. She smirks as he holds back a groan, his hand on her thigh tightening slightly before pushing her skirt up enough to bunch the fabric over her hips.

Emily loves the way he’s as affected by her as she is by him, his jaw clenching and eyes intense as he follows her hand that she’s slowly dragging over her chest, down between her legs. She lets her fingers hover over her center, holds back a gasp at the heat she feels even through the fabric and when he nods she moves her fingers into her underwear.

“No, that is not what was agreed on.” Aaron says and she’s once again amazed by the way he’s able to control his tone of voice, even as he rubs over his pants where his cock is tenting them.

Emily barely listens after that, her fingers rubbing in slow circles over her clit as she watches the way he watches her. She wanted him, knew that the moment he’d hang up the phone he’d be on her but she didn’t want to wait.

“Hang up.” She whispers quietly enough that the person on the other end wouldn’t hear her and she sits up straight. She uses his momentary surprise to her advantage, pulls his tie hard enough for him to lean down and licks a slow, broad stripe up his throat until she’s able to tug his earlobe between her teeth. “Hang up and fuck me, Mr. Hotchner.”

Aaron just barely holds back his growl, his hand tight on her waist as he tries to keep her planted. It doesn’t work, Emily smirks against his neck and then proceeds to unbuckle his belt and unbutton his pants, using the fact that he only has one hand free for her benefit.

“You said you wanted something to entertain you.” She wraps her hand around his shaft and pumps him, spreading his precum into his skin. She grins when she sees him swallowing, his teeth clenching and she knows that he’s giving in. Her wrist twists and he does groan that time, low and dark and she’s sure that whoever he was talking to heard it.

“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to call you back.” Aaron barely hears the lawyer on the other end respond, hangs up the phone and tosses it on the desk. “You’re in so much trouble Emily.” His lips on hers are rough, teeth tugging on her bottom lip and tongue soothing the bite before she even has time to really feel the sting of it. “Bend over the fucking desk.”

She does, feels his fingers trail along her spine and up her neck until he grabs hold of her hair. When he pulls she expects it and bends with his pull with a gasp.

“Aaron.” She grinds back into his hips, feels his heated skin against hers and his other hand moves around her body, finding her clit.

“I don’t appreciate being disrupted while I work.” His fingers are rough, almost too harsh against the sensitive nub but she only moans.

“I seem to recall you wanting a distraction, I was about to go home.” She argues but the breathlessness in her voice packs little punch and they both know it.

“I was more than happy to watch you, pretty girl, but you had just had to be a desperate little thing.” He lets go of her hair and she falls against the desk, a few papers falling to the floor in the process. The slap on her ass cheek is loud and surprising and when she moans he does it again, slapping her ass until she’s squirming and skin is flaming red.

“Who would have thought that the embassy princess would like this.” He snickers and she flushes in response, her voice caught in her throat. “Look how you’re staining your cute little panties. Maybe you should stop using them, there really isn’t a point when you can’t keep yourself from ruining every single pair you own.” He keeps her underwear pushed to the side and slips the tip of him through her folds, a moan escaping him at the wet heat of her.

Emily bites her own hand to keep the loud moan down when he finally pushes inside of her slowly. He presses forward until his hips are flush against her still stinging ass, his size making her hiss slightly as she fidgets in place.

“Jesus, fuck please.” She whimpers, tries to move but the sharp edge of the desk keeps her still.

“Ask for what you want, like a good girl.” He feels her clench around him, sees her body straining at the somewhat painful fill of him. His eyes flitter towards the office door at the sound of voices, but they’re gone as quickly as they came and then Emily is whimpering underneath him.

“Fuck me.”

“That’s not asking, is it?” He presses forward and her body lurches into the table with a sound in between pleasure and pain, his other hand back to keep pressure against her clit. “Ask for what you want, nicely.”

“Please, please Mr. Hotchner fuck me.” She plays into the part that she knows he secretly loves and is rewarded by him pulling back, only to snap his hips back against her.

“That wasn’t so hard was it?” He sneers and she shakes her head, no words leaving her panted lips.

Emily can’t do anything but grip the edges of his desk as he sets a brutal pace behind her. She knew he was taking out the frustrations of his day, used her body to get himself off and she hadn’t ever imagined liking being handled like this as much as she did.

She was no novice when it came to sex, but the weeks with him had taught her more about pleasures and wants than she had ever thought. He seemed to know her body from the start, and the things he didn’t know he was quick to learn, pushing her further and further into ecstasy until she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to come back down to earth. His rough fingers circled her clit faster, and she could feel her muscles tensing as he muttered words of praise behind her.

“Come with me, I want to feel it.” She panted and turned her head enough to look back at him. He was sweating, teeth bared as he slammed harder against her.

“You’re going to drip with me all the way home.” He grunted and she clenched at the thought, at knowing that she’d feel him all night.

She comes with a broken cry, his hand just barely able to cover her mouth before the sounds leave her as he leans over her bent body. She hears his own sounds of pleasure buried against the back of her neck, his mouth hot and clammy on her skin as his hips jerk against her. She moans when he steps back and he slips out of her, immediately missing the way he feels. He pulls her up with him and then sits her back on his desk. His hands are gentle as he carefully buttons her shirt back up and then pulls her skirt down over her hips, thoroughly checking her over in case he had missed anything.

She smiles at him, watches as he goes from hard to soft, something she only gets glances off and he kisses her forehead.

“Thank you.” He whispers with a  smile against her skin and she pulls back to look at him, hand gentle as she strokes over his cheek.

“Looked like you needed it.” She pulls him down for a kiss, this one softer than earlier and she knows that they’re tethering a line of something more than just a causal summer fling.

“Do you have plans for the weekend?” He asks once they pull apart and he fixes his pants and straightens his shirt.

“Mother is visiting.” She huffs, already a tension in her shoulders at the thought. “But she leaves on Sunday evening.”

“Want me to come over, take your mind off it?” He pulls her closer, his large hands on her waist while her falls to his chest. “I’ve been thinking about that headboard of yours…” His eyebrows raise at her smirk. “Haven’t tried tying you to it and having my way with you yet.”

“You don’t think you’re having your way with me, Mr. Hotchner?” Her smirk turns into a full blown smile at the way he grunts low in his throat.

“I think you still have a few lessons to learn, pretty girl.”

[rollofleaf]

9 Ship Songs

Tagged by @dujour13 Thanks for the tag! I've never actually done one of these before and it was harder than I thought. This is all for Hilde and Arueshalae, and here's the link to the playlist. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7LCOi4ox8QqSatqK7cvWP3?si=3b532b38867c40eb

For extra flavor, I like to imagine Hilde has actually written and sung most of these about/to Arue.

There She Goes - Sixpence None the Richer

This has the vibes of both of them at the other when they realize how hopelessly in love they are, I can see Hilde actually singing this with Arue in mind.

There she goes There she goes again She calls my name Holds my brain No one else could heal my pain And I just can't contain This feeling that remains

Stay With Me - Miki Matsubara

Specific vibes of Arueshalae when she's struggling her hardest to hold herself back and not hurt Hilde, desperately yearning while knowing she can't have her.

Stay with me... In the dead of night I’m banging on your door I’m begging you, without you I’m done for Now the winter arrived, like the tears in our eyes, Stay with me... While your voice remains an echo of the past I'm holding on to moments that won’t last I will never forget, I will never regret our love

When the Sun Loves the Moon - Reinaeiry

I think this sums up everything about their love pretty well, especially before redemption.

When the sun loves the moon, Even the ocean feels her pull Oh, and the stars align every night To spell out their love in tiny bright lights Oh, when the sun loves the moon Never touching but never far

Black is the Color - Cara Dillon

I can see Hilde humming and singing this to herself thinking about Arue...

Black is the color of my true love's hair Her lips are like a rose so fair She's got the sweetest face and gentlest hands I love the ground whereon she stands I love my love and well she knows I love the ground whereon she goes And how I wish the day would come Where she and I could be as one

Orpheus – Sarah Bareilles

Arueshalae begging Hilde to give up her demonic powers vibes.

Don't stop Trying to find me here amidst the chaos Though I know it's blinding There's a way out Say out loud We will not give up on love now No fear Don't you turn like Orpheus Just stay here Hold me in the dark and when the day appears We'll say We did not give up on love today

Where We Belong – Xenoblade Chronicles 3

For whatever reason this got stuck in my head specifically for the more bittersweet moments like Arueshalae burning her dreams.

I see you peacefully, you’re in your dreams, Everything seems calm and free, I know, If we want this warmth to last, forever again, let’s go back to that day. I see you smiling there, so peacefully, And cheerfully talking at me These happy days must carry on So once again, let's go back to the start This goodbye is not the end, I know, until we meet again, Our feelings will remain the same Together as one, till we find ourselves again…

Dancing in the Moonlight - Olivia Klug

A little more cheerful, this sounds like something Hilde would sing for Arueshalae on a quiet night outside, maybe dance with her a little to.

Everybody was dancing in the moonlight Dancing in the moonlight Everybody's feeling warm and bright It's such a fine and natural sight Everybody's dancing in the moonlight Everybody here is out of sight

You Are the Moon - The Hush Sound

Hilde desperately trying to get Arueshalae to love herself and see the same beauty Hilde sees in her.

You don't see what you possess A beauty calm and clear It floods the sky and blurs the darkness like a chandelier All the light that you possess is skewed by lakes and seas The shattered surface, so imperfect, is all that you believe I will bring a mirror, so silver, so exact So precise and so pristine, a perfect pane of glass I will set the mirror up to face the blackened sky You will see your beauty every moment that you rise

Must be Dreaming - Bien

I can see both of them singing this at alternate times when they're really lovestruck.

I must be dreaming, dreaming It's too good to be true, too good to be true I must be dreaming, dreaming 'Cause all I see is you, all I see is you I must be dreaming, dreaming It's too good to be true, too good to be true I must be dreaming, dreaming 'Cause all I see is you, all I see is you

Tagging @tenmillionbees , @turbulentpumpkin43 , and @cassynite

[missizzy]

A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate Log, 83 1/2 Hours In: Enter Moonrise

Masterpost

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

Throughout most of these posts, I haven't identified the various streamers I've watched play this game, and honestly, I haven't even always remembered who they were. This week, however, I must give a shout-out to @cypheroftyr, as when I reached the fight in front of the Shadowfell portal, I rather shamelessly stole her tactic of planting Shadowheart in front of it with Spirit Guardians up. (Man, that spell is useful. That wasn't even the only fight this week where it was the MVP spell.) Very grateful for that one.

Since we'd just gotten his old lute out of the hospital, the week started with us waking Art Cullagh, followed by Halsin leading us out to the portal for said fight. I had in fact watched two streamers do this fight, and the second one really struggle with it, so I was prepared for the hard one. I had forgotten, however, that these streamers tend to play on harder levels than Explorer.

I was reminded of that when the fight started with only five turns to go, instead of the ten they'd played through. I was able to have both Sara and Lae'zel hastened for more of it than not. I think there might've been fewer shadow creatures coming towards the shadow portal, too, though there were still quite a few. Indeed, the final turn, nobody even did much, because there was nothing left for them to hit. Only one shadow was there, declining to manifest, and when it did, it did so right next to Shadowheart...

After Halsin came out with Thaniel and headed back to camp with him, I decided to spent another day exploring the Shadow-Cursed lands, and possibly try the Githanki fight again with Lae'zel now in the party. But ultimately we didn't run into them that day. Instead we first managed keep Rolan from getting killed. Then we found the tollhouse, accidentally went up to the second floor when I misclicked, and started the fight with the tollbot, but when it dealt Sara a hundred damage and brought her down before we even got a turn in, I pretty much noped out of that one. On the reload, we went straight through the tollhouse without interacting with anything, and then stumbled into the waypoint for Moonrise Towers.

As an alternative for going in yet, we wandered into the Waning Moon next door. Which proved another fight, since while she could chug the stuff Thisobald Thorm gave her and just make the saving throw, Sara Tully definitely was not set up to make either of the charisma checks to avoid him attacking us anyway. Though at one point I thought that was yet another fight we'd have to reload on, especially when he proved immune to most of the damage either Sara or Lae'zel could deal him. But we survived, and I learned the value of unclumping the party during fights in the process.

I headed back to camp after that, with the hope that finding that waypoint might trigger Gale's invitation for our first romantic interlude together. Sadly, that currently has yet to happen, and I'm not sure at all when it will. Instead, that evening had bringing Halsin into the party and leveling him up (a surprisingly quick process, especially with my lag now reduced!), and the scene with Withers and Arabella. I had heard about her pestering him her first evening at camp, but I found myself deeply moved by the surprising and touching scene of him mentoring her in her new powers. Sara was not happy to send her away from camp in the middle of the Shadow-Cursed lands, but she ultimately accepted it.

The next day, we went to find Oliver. And for the third time in four days, Sara was very blunt with a Tiefling child, and said kid got mad at her as a result. He vamoosed, and I wandered around the surrounding area for a while, Gale with See Invisibility up, before finding the portal to follow him through. After we took down his shadow family (other fight where those Spirit Guardians proved so useful), she wisely let Halsin do the talking.

After seeing him off, I initially took us wandering again, and this time we did get ambushed by the Githyanki again. And once again the fight went badly, and I ended up reloading out of it. At that point I looked at our XP, decided we were too far away from level eight to quite go grinding for it yet, and after one last look at the map and quests, decided it was time to go into Moonrise Towers. Although I then had to go back to camp and swap Halsin out for Astarion, since of course he couldn't pose as a true soul.

This morning, after a last trip to camp from the entrance foyer just to see if officially entering the tower triggered Gale's invitation, we first went in and met Ketheric Thorm, then explored the tower's ground floor, before finding the stairs to the prison level, and exploring much of that, too, including the docks. There have been more horrors to behold, and having it confirmed the cultists are planning to invade Baldur's Gate might get Sara to listen to the guardian that much more. We talked to enough people on the ground floor especially for the cultists to be painfully humanized, only for them to then do things like kill the gnoll they were mind controlling, and then blithely say he wasn't the first.

But the thing that shocked Sara the most might have actually not been any of that. Instead, that might have been when Astarion refused to bite Araj Oblodra in return for her strength potion. She would've assumed that was win-win for him, especially after all his talk about using the tadpoles to take power. His calling her blood rank perhaps provided a bit of an explanation, but she might still be rather confused about it for a while.

Of course, she still only knows the very basics of his history. I don’t think she entirely comprehends how important it was, when she first indignantly told Oblodra he wasn't her or anyone else's property, then assured him the decision to refuse was his. Were she to think about his expression or gratitude, she might wonder what he even feels the need to be grateful for, but she definitely does not have the mental space for that at the moment.

I left off with us having just found Cal and Lia, and having failed in the deception check with the guard to let us speak to them. Thanks to the U.S. Open starting tomorrow, I'm actually not sure how much I'll play this week, but that might give me time to think of the next move. It's tempting to just attack, but if we're going to turn the entire tower against us, perhaps we should really make sure we're ready for that.

[linelpisffxiv]

Hokay, so... If I do the thing (Though I'll probably pop a poll again cuz only 4 real responses, though it still gives a majority pangender sexiest) I'll have guidelines

Can I propoganda?

Yep. But keep it propaganda, not antipaganda

That's not how the word works.

I don't care. We both know what I mean. Tell us why to vote for who you want, not why we shouldn't vote for who you don't want moving on.

But what if it was a counterpick?

Look up why fans like the character and use those.

Can I Counterpick?

Sure. I do it all the time when I'm neutral on one character but don't want the other moving on in polls.

Why aren't the twins/Lalas in the sexy poll?

The twins are 16. I know there's some debate and they could be over 18 by now, but until the powers that be say they are over it, we're not touching it. Yes, it says 16 is Sharlayan Adulthood, but there's still laws in the real world about this. If it helps, I HC the twins as 18/19-ish by the end of the quest "Endwalker." But again, until we're shown a growth spurt and they're explicitly said to be over 18, I'm not touching it.

As for Lalas, my reasoning comes from my FC leads when they did art. We all know they're adults. Many have facial hair, and many talk about sex/are implied to be sexually desirable, but if some friend sees you reblog a poll where one of the images is of Tataru and the header says "Sexiest Final Fantasy XIV character" would your non-XIV mutuals understand "Oh, this is a dwarf race"? Or would they wonder why there's a toddler in a poll like that?

(Kan-e-Senna is removed for the same reasons as Lalafell. Yes, she's in her 20s, but she canonically stopped aging in her teens and uses makeup and shapewear to look more mature than she does naturally. She may be the oldest-looking of her race, but I still feel uncomfortable with putting her in, even if she's more borderline than the others)

It turns out X character is under 18!

If this is after the poll concluded, I did my best to try and find out how old these characters are, and if they're using an adult body, unless I had some reasons to doubt, I let them in.

It turns out X Non-Lalafell character you refused is over 18

Again, if they're using a child body, I chose caution.

So-and-so is brigading against X character

Honestly, I don't care. Even if it's my favs, I don't care. I tried to give my favs rougher first rounds for this reason. Even if they're putting it in the tags on the poll itself, I don't care. I suggested otherwise, but I don't control it. And while I'm also not fond of Brigading, especially in the thread of the poll itself, nothing I can do. We all know this is really a tournament of most popular/has the most popular fans/Is a really lucky guy who keeps ending up being used as a counterpick.

What is a counterpick? You keep using this word

When you're not so much picking the person cuz you like them, but because you hate/disagree with the other option. Like when you said Die Hard is your favorite Christmas movie 10 years ago. You aren't saying it's your favorite cuz you actually like it (you may or may not) or think it's a Christmas Movie. You're picking it cuz it takes place on Christmas and you hate traditional Christmas movies. (These days, the statement isn't exactly as provocative as it was. We all get it. But it's the best generic example I have.)

Or in this case, if... say... the fight is Vauthry against G'raha and you hate G'raha because he's a nasty little fanboy who should have stayed dead in 5.3 or even 5.0 or 2.5 and is a homewrecker, you pick Vauthry. Not cuz he's hot. You just want to make it one vote harder for G'raha to win.

Just remember to put Heimlich and Sqiudward memes in your propaganda post and I'll be laughing with you. Vauthry didn't need any submissions cuz I knew you'd all flock to those.

Alternately, your blorbo is Gaius. He's safely winning his poll against Erichthonios so you're not too worried, but the next round he's up against the winner of Vauthry vs Hien, which is pretty tight (Within oh, about 15%, which is less than you expected Vauthry to trail). You know that if Gaius goes up against Hien, he's probably going to lose handily, so you vote for, and post propaganda for Vauthry with all those Squidward and Heimlich memes, because despite the fact that his Innocence form is hot, you know it'll be easier to win against him than Hien.

Will you be sharing Propaganda?

If I find stuff for both sides early enough, sure. Or if there's funny posts of the two kissing.

Do you want your Blorbos to win?

Fuck no. I want them out as fast as possible and I deliberately messed with the polls some to make the first two rounds tougher for them to advance. I'm sorry to those who I gave tougher polls to as well for those two rounds, but if my faves won, it's the will of the people.

What about your BEC? You want him to win or lose?

Eh, lose if I'm being honest, but I left his bracket alone for the first two rounds. If he wins, it's the will of the people.

[oceanremnants]

<BVQT> They were simply hallucinations. I doubt they had any real meaning. Waking dreams of a sort. Even the recurring ones.

<BVQT> It appears that you, our mechanical cousins, still require rest even without sleep..

<BVQT> You've mentioned your power draining quite frequently, so I must ask, are you alright? I assume it's normal to overuse power when you've grown numb to living, but it is still a bit concerning to me.

<BVQT> The way of living you described is not healthy. I hope it works for long enough to find a better alternative.

<BVQT> Ah yes, I forgot to actually describe dreams... They are obviously different for everyone, but most of us share a few things: they are simply thoughts but more vivid, and usually harder to control. I believe they exist to keep the brain occupied as it sleeps, and also to explain away certain sensations the body feels in this state. Most touches, small sensations of pain, and...others... are retained in the dream as you are feeling it physically, and the dream seeks to make sense of what you felt without waking you up. Most larger spikes of pain will cause the body to wake up, as larger pain always means "danger" to your mind.

<BVQT> Dreams themselves vary extremely in subject and seriousness. I recall Feathers relating to me that he had a horrible convoluted nightmare for no reason one day, and the very next he had a dream where he found himself in one of the festivals the ancients had thrown to welcome the coming of spring. Goldy has told me she's never actually had a nightmare, the worst dream she had was one where she got caught in a light drizzle with.... ...nevermind!

<BVQT> Dreams can also contain people you know closely, or even strangers you just met. Your brain searches for a character in its story and gives you one. They generally do not act like how they usually are... Also, I recall Winter vaguely mentioned that he only has people appear in his dreams once or twice, then never again. He stated he is usually the subject of his own dreams... And now I remember Upsilon stating he never has anyone at all in his dreams, perhaps a species of something but never a specific individual. How odd!

<BVQT> ...I realize I have mentioned my brothers twice now but I have hardly talked about my own experience. My dreams are fairly boring, I think. I doubt they would interest anyone.

-- comms channel request sent --

{4TO} Hello there! This is Four Tempered Offshoots, you can call me Offshoot though. I've been introducing myself a bit, you might have seen my broadcast

{4TO} I saw that you were designed to disconnect from your can! Fascinating! I didn't know any of us were designed from the beginning like that

{4TO} I also have free movment within my facility and even outside for a distance, but me and my group had to figure it out ourselves. We came up with a system to wirelessly connect to our cans, aided through overseers transmitting signal to help extend range. It can be quite power intensive though to maintain outside of my facility, I'd love to compare notes to see if I could make any improvements! I've been working on the side on a more efficient energy conversion system in order to-

{4TO} let me back up, sorry about that, I'm Offshoot, nice to meet ya!

-- message sent by [ @4-tempered-offshoots ]--

<BVQT> Hello cousin. The way you work is very similar to ours. I find that fascinating in its own way.

<BVQT> I do not think I have seen you yet. I blame this on my sleep cycle. Welcome to the group regardless. It is always nice to have a new member here.

<BVQT> If you wish, I may get my sister so the two of us can talk to you more about these proposed upgrades. She is busy with communication with someone else, so it may take a bit.

<BVQT> It is an honor to meet you, Offshoot.

[weepylucifer]

Yeah, i wasn’t gonna kill Rachel, sweet commenter, but can you imagine how fuckin balls to the wall insane the fic would’ve gotten if i had? Like, Julian’s daughter fuckin Died in this house and by god she is Pissed. i can appreciate that for just the chaos of it

like especially imagine if Rachel died, manifested as a ghost, but she doesn’t have the Touching Power. So now she has to ask Julian every time she wants an object moved. Like “Daddy, can you please pick this thing up for me?” HOW humiliating would that be for her

[lariskapargitay]

Headcanons/Deleted Scenes for Waiting To Get Rid of a Miracle

Dolores & César were originally gonna move to New York for a (non soccer) job he was taking bc I’m American and I know my country better than England … but I also know my countries history better as well…. And I thought about it for a second… and a Black girl intentionally moving to the US in 1950 (where her marriage wouldn’t even be legal in most states and Pepa & Felix sure as shit wouldn’t ever come visit for the same reasons) is not a good idea. So yeah, that’s why they went to London so he could play soccer instead.

The bath scene between Pepa and Diego was gonna be a lot different. She originally was going to close her eyes, imagine Félix and get it over with when he wanted sex, starting to cry midway through and he just doesn’t care or notice. And that would have been the sexual assault moment instead of the drunken more typical sexual assault scene.

Diego was gonna be inappropriate with Dolores. Like not explicit or obvious or obnoxious, but JUST enough that Dolores is uncomfortable and he’s just talking to her and touching her and just treating her in no way like how a step father shouldn’t do to their step daughter, but then that would have been a ‘fuck that, don’t care, get tf out’ moment for Pepa. Her kids being scared or upset bc of what’s happening to her is one thing but one of her kids being hurt and someone being inappropriate with her daughter directly? 1000% nogo.

Félix was gonna take Pepa to the ballet when Diego bails on her after he has to go to work. He also got a ticket, she was going to just go by herself, they meet up. It would have been sweet and genuine and sweet and led to the scene of Félix and Pepa when she takes the trash out.

Bruno was originally going to somehow but not really but somewhat know that Pepa wasn’t part of that world. But me and my beta both decided that it would be better if he was just like ‘oh you’re from an alternate universe where everyone has magic powers and wanna get back there? Cool.’

Pepa was originally gonna go with Diego after the big fight but I thought y’all deserved one chapter of just good things

Pepa originally wasn’t going to have any physical marks or scars left over from Diego’s abuse in the ‘real world’. But I liked the idea of her being bruised and then not disappearing a LOT and Félix having even more proof that SOMETHING happened to her.

Félix wasn’t originally gonna die, but I had to have SOMETHING big enough to trigger her going ‘I’m sorry, Pedro, I can’t do this’. Bc that’s what she essentially did, trade Pedro’s life for her old one. Then for a bit it was going to be Camilo who died but Félix dying didn’t necessarily hit harder, but all the aftermath would have been a lot different bc, obviously , she wouldn’t have been able to reunite with Camilo the way she would have with Félix and I liked the husband/wife aspect more than the mother/son

Up until basicslly I posted it, she was supposed to immediately go back after she slept at the River. For the LONGEST time, up until the chapter was posted, Pedro was going to meet her at the river and talk to her there. But I couldn’t figure out how to get him there without it sounding convoluted so that’s why they had their final talk in the bedroom where he basically gives her ‘permission’ to kill him off and why the River didn’t work, she had to have that final talk with Pedro.

Pedro would have known SOMETHING was going to happen at the river with Pepa, bc you can’t go to the place of your death and you’re a few minutes away from not existing anymore and not feel SOMETHING. But either way he’s perfectly 100% okay with it, bc he knows somehow, this is going to make his family okay again, this is going to protect his child, and that was all he wanted

Ricarda married a super sweet amazing fantastic guy in the Encanto who helps her heal from Diego’s abuse. She and her son son are happy and Tomas is Antonio’s bestie.

Ceśar eventually gets together with a leggy dance studio owning milf, Aurora gets a hot young soccer stud and they move to England together (although Aurora would be lying if she didn’t think that man with the strange red headed wife was fucking HOT, and he was on her mind for a while).

Sofía was made co-owner of the new salon that Dona Lopez opens, which became one of the best in Bogata. They name it ‘Pepa’s’ after the mysterious benefactor who gave them the start up

Diego never married again. People literally flinch and can’t stand to look at his scars that he doesn’t even really take care of so they grow even fouler and pus riddled for a while from the infection. He still has nightmares about the red headed woman who the police never found. He cannot forget what he did to her. Several miserable years of being alone later he gets super drunk one night, stumbles out of the bar where he’s just known as the old angry drunk with no friends and no job, gets hit by a bus and dies.

Pepa still has nightmares too. Sometimes she’ll wake up in the dark thinking he’s standing over her, and she’ll start crying and shaking. Or she’ll imagine she’s holding Felix’s dead body in her arms. Félix holds her tight until she’s okay again, before he, without a word, goes and turns on the shower for her, occasionally getting in with her not for sexitiems, but just to hold her and let her know she’s safe, that their world is real, that Diego can’t ever touch her again. Félix knows not to kiss or touch her face on those days. She never tells anyone else what happened to her and her family respects her enough not to ask. She’s terrified that Diego will somehow find the Encanto, even knowing it would be nearly impossible. One day, as if by magic, there’s a newspaper clipping that appears one day out of the blue. It’s a small little article about a drunken man who wondered in front of a car and died coming out of the bar along with a mugshot of a heavily scarred disheveled Diego

She rolls her eyes at something Félix says that night and doesn’t feel fear for the first time in years.