#and refers to her party as “comrades”

[athenov]

rusudan.

[cherryandsugar]

Blame

Pairing: Astarion x f!Reader/Tav

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

WC: 2,313

Warnings: set in Act 3 (minor spoilers), reader is referred to as Tav exactly twice, reader is smaller than Karlach, POV changes, major character injury, blood, mentions of death, angst with a happy ending :)

Summary: A grievous injury leaves Tav incapacitated, and as the party struggles to heal her, Astarion blames himself for her pain.

~~~

Blood, smoke, and ash coat your throat as your breath heaves. The battle around you rages on, your companions facing off against the Banite chemists of Felogyr’s Fireworks. A stray firebolt had ignited the nearby smokepowder, setting off a chain reaction that shook the building and singed the very air. The blast hadn’t taken you down, nor had it eliminated all your foes.

The clashing of Lae’zel’s blades and Karlach’s war cry fills your ears. Hidden somewhere in the rubble, Astarion picks off enemies one by one with well timed sneak attacks. And you? You stand in the center of it all, ducking and dodging as two of the heavily armored Banites take turns swinging their weapons at you.

You retaliate as best as you can, but your strikes seem to bounce off their armor harmlessly. They advance on you, forcing you to back away, further from your friends. One, wielding a mace, raises his weapon to strike and catches your arm. The crushing weight of his blow has you scrambling backwards, taking your eyes off your foes for a brief moment to check behind you.

In that split second, an arrow flies over your head and burrows itself into the throat of the man who struck you. He chokes on his own blood for a moment, before crumbling to the ground. Dead.

As you face your remaining foe, you adjust your grip on your short sword to favor your injured arm and make a mental note to thank Astarion for having your back when this is over. 

No longer on the defensive, you swing your sword upward, aiming for the Banite’s neck. He deflects with his longsword, before swiping down at your abdomen. His blade brushes against your leather armor before he reels back to swing again. Before he can bring his arms down, he freezes, wobbling on unsteady feet before joining his comrade on the floor, Karlach’s battle ax sticking out of his back. 

She rushes over from where she’d thrown her weapon, the battle seemingly over, to pry it from the corpse before she stops in front of you.

“You alright, soldier?” her brows crease as she asks.

You gasp, still catching your breath as adrenaline courses through you, “Yeah. Thanks,” you respond with a grateful smile.

“You sure? That doesn’t look—“ she’s cut off as Astarion rushes over from behind you.

“Darling, where are you hurt?” his voice is rushed. He grabs your shoulders and turns you to face him, crimson eyes scanning your face for any sign of pain.

You smile at his concern, always looking out for you, “I’m fine, love. Are you alright?” you ask as you raise your hand to cup his cheek, your breath calming as the rush of battle fades. But Astarion does not look calm. His eyebrows are furrowed and his mouth is set in a grim frown as his eyes continue their search.

He ignores your question.

“Don’t be ridiculous, darling, I can smell it,” he casts his eyes downward, continuing his search. His eyes widen as they take you in, any color in his pale face drains. You follow his line of sight. You see it before you feel it. Blood.

At once, the adrenaline high you’d been riding vanishes. The leather of your armor, just over your abdomen has been shredded, blood oozes from beneath it, soaking your underclothes and dripping out onto the floor. You can only imagine what your flesh looks like beneath the mess. Your head spins and your vision blurs before the pain rushes to greet you, the force of it knocking your knees out from under you.

As you collapse, your three companions jump into action. Astarion, with wide eyes and frantic movements grabs you by the arms and gently lowers you to the floor, settling your head on his lap as he kneels beside you. Karlach digs through the pack, searching for anything that might help you as Lae’zel rushes to stabilize your wound. 

You writhe in agony as she applies a cruel pressure to your stomach, gasping for air as Astarion reaches to hold your hand. You squeeze as the pain shoots through you, burning and searing hotter than any fire. His face hovers over yours, a blurry mess of white and red before you squeeze your eyes shut against the pain.

“Hey, hey. Focus on me, right here love,” he tries desperately to keep your attention as he brushes your hair away from your eyes. As if he can sense you nodding off, he looks up, “Karlach, we need a potion, a spell— something.”

She shuffles around behind him, practically dumping all of your supplies out before shouting, “We only have one, we need to get her back to camp.” She sounds panicked, passing Astarion the lone potion of healing.

He curses under his breath, turning back to you. You blink slowly, mumbling deliriously through your pain, “Sorry… Star, love you,” He shushes you as he lifts your head to pour the potion down your throat, tender in his panic. You swallow greedily, looking back up to him, focusing on his eyes. Those deep scarlet eyes which usually hold so much love are now filled with fear.

“Pretty,” you sigh, before darkness creeps along the edge of your vision and finally engulfs you.

…

Astarion is stunned for a moment.

“Tav?” he whispers, nudging your shoulder. When you don’t respond he turns around, shouting this time, “Karlach!”

“On it, Fangs,” she resolves, abandoning the pile of loot she’d scattered in her mad search for a healing potion. She kneels next to your immobile form, gently lifting you from under your knees and back, carefully positioning your head to rest on her shoulder. 

Lae’zel backs away from your body, releasing the pressure she kept on your wound with a hiss, “Tsk’va! We must hurry, she’s lost too much blood.”

Astarion stares blankly at the puddle you’ve left behind– far too big for the amount of time you spent laying there as Karlach makes toward the stairs, disappearing around the corner.  The only thing running through his mind is you. Your gasps of pain, your slowing heartbeat, the light in your eyes. 

Before he can dive too deep into despair, Lae’zel is shaking him by the shoulders, “Snap out of it! You’re useless here, we must follow Karlach and get her back safely. Come!” she orders as she stands to leave. Her command awakens something within him, something accustomed to following orders. He stands, and dashes to catch up with Karlach and Lae’zel, both of whom had already made their way out to the city streets. 

Karlach was jogging as quickly as she could without jostling you too much, and Lae’zel took a defensive position close behind her, ready to strike should someone dare to intercept them as they made their way to the Elfsong. He follows close behind, tears gathering in his eyes and blood rushing in his ears, and he realizes it’s your blood pumping through him.

He’d fed on you last night, and now you’d been hurt. Maybe if he had been able to control himself, if he wasn’t such a horrific, bloodsucking monster, you would have fought better, moved faster… This was his fault.

The only person he’d ever loved, on death’s door because of him. He didn’t notice when the tears began to fall, but once they started there was no stopping them. Lae’zel glanced over at him as the group passed the Baldur’s Mouth and cursed, “Chk! Astarion, run ahead. Tell Shadowheart to get ready. Now!”

Another command. He rushed ahead, almost instinctively, to obey, running as fast as his legs would carry him. When he finally climbed the stairs and burst through the doors he made a beeline for Shadowheart’s bunk. She was reading when he barged in on her. She glanced up, dropping the book when she took in his appearance: blood splattered on his hands and face, eyes wild, and panting from his sprint.

“Tav. Hurt,” he gasped, “No more potions.”

A steely expression overtook her features and she gave a curt nod, understanding what was needed. She led the way back to their common area as Lae’zel slammed the doors open, making way for Karlach to bring you in.

His breath hitched. You looked so fragile, so small in Karlach’s arms. The shaky rise and fall of your chest was his only comfort as he listened for your heartbeat. Slow, but still beating.

Karlach and Shadowheart kneel down, right there in the doorway to get to work, unwilling to waste precious moments moving you to a bed. The others gather nearby, worry marring their faces as they look on. As Shadowheart begins her healing incantations Gale places a gentle hand on Astarion’s shoulder.

“Come on, my friend. Staring won’t help her now. Why don’t you get cleaned up so you can care for her properly when she wakes?”

Astarion knows he is trying to distract him, trying to remove him from the situation should something go wrong, but he can’t find the energy to resist. He nods his head absentmindedly and allows Gale to lead him away.

…

It’s dark when you wake, and it takes a moment for you to assess your surroundings. Your head pounds, a splitting headache causing you to groan, the sound catching on your dry throat. Before you can sit up, a hand tightens its already-present grip on your own. You look to your side and see the disheveled form of your love.

“Star?” you croak, “What happened?” He swallows thickly, before taking a deep breath and moving his seat closer to your bedside. 

“You almost died,” his voice breaks on the final word, you can hear the tears in his voice, but you wait for him to continue, “Bastard nearly split you open, it took everything Shadowheart had to keep you alive.” And you faintly feel what remains of the wound that nearly ended you. It’s a dull ache, nowhere near as debilitating as before.

Your breath catches, “Gods,” you whisper, “The others? Are they alright?”

He quells your rising panic before it can take root, “They’re fine, love. Don’t worry about them, worry about yourself for once. How do you feel?”

‘My head hurts…” you whisper. He lets go of your hand for a moment, turning in the dark to retrieve something. When he faces you again, his hand cradles the back of your neck as the other raises a glass of water to your lips.

“Drink darling, this will help.”

The water soothes your sore throat as it passes your lips. When you finish, Astarion sets the glass on your bedside table and takes your hand back into his own, “Shadowheart will be back in the morning once she’s recovered, and Gale is brewing more healing potions than we’ll ever need. This will never happen again.” His hand squeezes your own with his promise.

You nod at his declaration, as if the sheer power of his will could prevent you from falling wounded.

“How long have I been asleep?” you venture.

“Just a few hours,” he whispers, reaching to brush his hand over your forehead. Whether it was to clear any hair from your eyes or simply to touch you as much as possible– you couldn’t tell. 

“Will you lay with me?” 

“Darling, I thought you’d never ask,” he breathed, as if he was trying to cover his relief with that familiar self-assured persona, but couldn’t quite mask it. Carefully, he helped you shift over on the bed to make room for him. He crawled under the covers to join you, guiding you to rest your head on his chest. His arm wrapped firmly, yet gently, around your waist. You grasped at his shirt to ground yourself in the moment. You are here, you are safe.

His other hand came up to cover your own on his chest, thumb rubbing the back of your hand softly, and you sighed into him as you shuffled ever closer. His cool temperature soothed your lingering aches as your body heat sunk into him.

“I’m sorry I worried you,” you whispered into the dark. His hold around you tightened for but a moment at your admission.

“Don’t you dare apologize,” he hushed back, “I’m the one who should be sorry.”

“What do you mean?”

He took a deep breath, “I should have given you more cover fire, you were outnumbered. I shouldn’t have fed from you the night before a battle. I should have had a bloody potion to save you… It’s my fault you got hurt,” he confessed.

“Oh, my love,” you breathed, “It’s not your fault. It could never be your fault. It was just bad luck, please don’t do this to yourself,” you clutched his shirt as his breath hitched beneath you.

“Astarion listen to me,” your voice was stern, yet soft, “No one had healing supplies, it was not your responsibility alone. And I feed you because I love you and can’t stand the thought of you going hungry. It’s my decision, my choice, and my fault. Don’t you dare blame yourself for today.”

You felt him nod above you, silently agreeing with your conviction. He took a moment to compose himself, the day’s events overwhelming him at your insistent tone.

“I love you too,” he whispered, leaning down to plant a kiss on the crown of your head. You sighed in relief, melting into his embrace. “Now get some sleep darling, you’re much too assertive for the day you’ve had.”

You huff a soft laugh, glad to see a sliver of his charm shine through. But he’s right, your outburst did little to stave off the ache in your bones. You settle against Astarion, content to sleep in his hold, knowing that whatever the next day brings he will be right there beside you.

---

Author's Notes: So I've never actually published a fic before. I've been reblogging/lurking from this page for like two years. I've been writing since I was young, but I never finish anything. Who knows, maybe I'll keep going. Let me know what you thought (critique greatly appreciated) and if you made it this far thank you so much I hope you enjoyed!!! :)

[creamhoodie]

˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖ AfterParty ˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

synopsis: Nagi had never really had much interest in women until he saw you at an afterparty...can he overcome his nerves and make a good impression?

warnings: 3,413 words, nagi x female reader, angst, inexperienced Nagi, smut (minors DNI), characters aged up ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Who’s that girl?” Nagi asked as he Reo and several of his former blue lock members stood around at the after party for one of their games. Parties like these were a thing of the regular since they had gone pro. Reo’s purple eyes followed Nagi’s pointing finger directly to… you where you were surrounded by a group of your friends.

“I’m not sure. She must not be a famous one. I don't recognize her face. You like her man?” Reo asked with eagerness. 

Unlike his other blue lock comrades Nagi didn’t get on with girls much and hadn’t expressed interest in them, though there were many girls who had thrown themselves at him it had gone over his head. He just wasn’t interested and didn’t see the point. 

“She’s very pretty,” he whispered more to himself than in response to Reo’s question. Now their group started to pay more attention to what was going on.

“Did Nagi just express interest in a woman for once?” Isagi asked in shared shock with Kunigami and Chigiri. 

“You better hurry before he loses interest, Reo,” Bachira teased in reference to how Reo was always trying to hook Nagi up with girls. The two did everything together and when Reo had girlfriends he had wanted Nagi to go on double dates with him. It never ended well though since the poor girls he set him up with would just go home crying that the world famous Nagi didn’t even consider them worthy of showing up. 

“Right,” Reo acknowledged Bachira before turning his attention back to Nagi, “man if you like her go up and talk to her.” At last Nagi’s blank expression registered into confusion. 

“Talk to her?” In many ways he was inexperienced, this was one of them. He didn’t even remember the last time he held a conversation with a woman that wasn’t a reporter. 

“Yes, talk to her,” Reo said, pushing Nagi forward towards you despite his protests. The rest of the boys stayed back hollering encouragement and laughing. 

“Reo, stop you know I’ve never talked to a girl like that before,” he continued to protest. For the first time in his life he felt nerves, and they weren’t the type he’d get before a game. His skin felt white hot and all he knew was that he was scared of looking like a fool in front of you. 

“Don’t worry I’ll talk her up for you first. Watch what I do,” Reo yelled back over the all too loud dubstep music. After what felt like a lifetime but was in reality a matter of a few seconds the duo landed in front of you taking you and your friend group by surprise. 

“Hello ladies,” Reo greeted the group but it was clear his attention was on you. 

“Hi,” you replied nervously. What the duo didn’t know was that moments before they had plopped in front of you, your group and yourself had been blushing over which of the players you found attractive. Your choice: Nagi. 

He was looking at you now with a blank but intense expression as he loomed tall over Reo.

“What’s your name?” Reo asked you. 

“Y/N,” you replied ignoring the jeers from your friends, you knew you were going to kill them for this later. 

“Listen Y/N, Nagi here just got a sweet new ride and he hasn’t had any passengers yet. Do you think you’d be willing to go for a spin?” 

“Um sure. If that’s okay of course,” you replied eager at the prospect but not missing how Nagi elbowed Reo. 

“Excuse us a moment,” Reo told you before quickly turning around to exchange harsh whispers with Nagi. 

“Yes that’s okay,” Nagi finally addressed you when they turned back around, his voice hoarse. 

“Well since that’s settled, I will see you Nagi, I have some business to attend to myself,” Reo said before saunterring off leaving you in awkward silence with the white haired striker. You felt his eyes etch into your face and you were glad the venue of the afterparty was dark lit only by club lights or he’d be able to notice your flushing face.

“My car is outside,” Nagi said, motioning towards the door and walking off. You followed him but practically stumbled as your friends all too eagerly pushed you forward. Nagi was very tall and imposing and you tried not to lose him as he disappeared towards the exit of the club. You turned one last time to see your friends joined back by Nagi’s Bluelock friends laughing and staring after the two of you, Reo’s arm was already around one of your friend’s shoulders. 

“You can hold on to me if you’d like, the paps will loom but it will be quick. I already told the valet to bring my car up front,” Nagi told you. He was blushing himself so much he felt it would color his white hair red as well but to his relief you didn’t seem to notice. 

“Okay,” you whispered. As you both walked out, you held on to his sleeve gently walking behind him and you were grateful for his large lean figure guarding you from the bright luminous flashes of professional cameras. It was a cacophony of sound and color as you heard shouts in several languages as they all vied for Nagi’s attention. 

His gray color eyes only saw you however as he held open the passenger door of his sports car for you. You slipped in and he went around to get in the driver’s seat. When he did you noticed he glanced over at you craning his head to see that you had put on your seat belt before taking off. 

Now away from the paps and lights you had more time to admire the car, it was sleek and luxurious and it had been gray and glossy on the outside. It was clearly a foreign model not yet on the market, but not on the market meant for average folk. Nagi as a world class athlete got all the perks. 

Silence again loomed between the two of you and Nagi felt his throat closing as he tried to focus on driving. He had elbowed Reo back at the afterparty for suggesting this situation. Yes he loved driving and his car was new but he felt himself drowning in anxiety from the way you kept looking at him with your sparkling eyes. He also wasn’t blind to how your dress clung to your flesh and hugged you in all the right places. 

“You have a nice car,” you finally broke the silence. His inner dilemma unbeknownst to you, you were beginning to question whether this had all been Reo’s idea and Nagi didn’t have the slightest interest in being here with you.

“Thank you. It was a gift for an advertisement I did. It isn’t out yet but it will air soon,” He stammered. He felt like he was driving on autopilot. The tension was thick between the two of you and he, also unaware of your thoughts, felt that it was due to his awkwardness and you not taking to him. After all, a woman like you definitely had been propositioned before. Your next words hit him like a blow.

“You can take me back to the party if you want.”

“Why would I wanna do that?” He asked. His knuckles on the steering wheel turned white.

“Reo probably wanted to speak with one of my friends and wanted you to do the same with me, but I understand how it is, being the friend that has to be tolerated because of a double date situation. You don’t have to pretend, you can take me back,” you said. Your hair hand sunken forward and covered your face as you held back tears. This whole time he hadn’t spoken a word to you and it seemed that he struggled to even look at you. Like you had said you were never the friend who was chosen who was given attention, tonight was probably no different after all it had been Reo that had done all the talking. 

Nagi on the other hand was shocked, understanding the situation. His awkwardness and being in his head was causing you to think this was something it wasn’t.

“I don’t want to take you back to the party. I want you here with me,” he said. Despite your best efforts to hold tears back, your water ducts were connected to your nasal passage and a sniffle let loose. 

“Hey are you crying?” Nagi asked, looking over at you. He took an upcoming exit off the highway and when he could, pulled into a secluded parking lot behind a closed warehouse. A car like this sticks out easily so you didn’t question his behavior. 

On the other hand, Nagi was mentally cursing himself, his first time alone with a girl he was interested in and he already had made her cry! Reo would never let him live this down. 

His hand outstretched to stroke your hair back from your face just in time to catch a tear fall. He continued to curse himself.

“I don’t want you to cry,” he spoke softly. 

At this point you were embarrassed. Crying in front of a professional athlete like this because he wasn’t interested in you? Of course he wouldn’t be interested, he had the whole world of women at his feet. 

“No no it’s my fault I’m being stupid and sensitive. I understand that you don’t aren’t interested in me-”

“But I am interested in you!” He surprised both you and himself by shouting. Well there was no holding back now he thought to himself before continuing, “I’m not very good at this sort of thing. I’ve never really had time for women even casually. I noticed you and would have been too scared to talk to you if it wasn’t for Reo.” 

Your head was spinning.. Nagi.. interested in you? 

“Well, I guess that makes two of us then. I’m not too good at this either,” you said lightly laughing. 

Nagi was in awe of your laugh and smile. 

Reo got him this far but he couldn’t do things Reo’s way because he wasn’t Reo. What the two of you had in common was that you were each trying to go about this in the way your friend and Reo would. The truth was you and Nagi were both shy and awkward. 

It was then he decided to do things his way. 

“I want to be alone with you and get to know you. Would you be comfortable coming back to my  place?”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You found yourself in his Tokyo penthouse he kept for when he traveled back to Japan. Just fitting for him it was monochrome gray themed, simple yet luxurious. 

His living room area had a large flat screen television with multiple game consoles connected to it, an electric fireplace, and a coal colored leather couch. 

“Here,” he came back from the kitchen with a glass of water for you. He had offered you a drink but it had been months since he had last been in Japan and as a result he had forgotten how unstocked the place was. It truly did look like a model penthouse available for viewing. 

“Thank you,” you said, taking a sip to humor him.

On the ride over here he had made more conversation with you and you were growing fond of his gentle and boyish awkwardness. It was sweet now that you understood his reasoning for being how he was. He had been a loner before meeting Reo, he was fond of online gaming and still gamed competitively under a pseudonym, and his favorite animals were koalas and pandas. 

“Would you like to see my trophy room?” he asked. 

You indulged him and followed him up the stairs to an open area where all his accolades and medals were displayed in secure glass containers. Mounted on the wall was a photo of him and his friends from Bluelock. 

“This is amazing. Why keep them here though if you’re not always in Japan?” You asked. 

“Japan is still home, and I find them to be more safe here,” he replied.  He was standing close next to you and you could feel the physical heat from his body. You looked up at him and met his gray eyes that were fixated on your lips. 

Those plush lips, he thought to himself. 

“I want to kiss you,” he blurted before adding, “I’m sorry if that’s too direct.” 

You gravitate towards each other like magnets. 

“Nagi,” you whispered as his large hands cupped your face, “kiss me.” It was all the permission he needed and his lips were on yours. He kissed gently and sweetly, savoring your taste but it was like gasoline had been doused on the two of you and it soon became more intense. Your mouth opened under his and he slipped his tongue in. He was aware of the tenting in his pants and you were too as you felt the bulging cloth press into you. 

You had him completely under your spell and possessed him, your soft lips and skin were too alluring. A different side of him had been unleashed thanks to you and it was that side that had him panting between kisses, “bedroom, bedroom now.” 

He picked you up with ease racing down the hall with you in his arms as you continued to kiss. Kicking the bedroom door opened, he plopped you down on his bed of silken sheets. 

His mind was racing, obviously he knew what to do I mean he had watched adult videos and masturbated but his experience in actuality was limited. The most he had done was made out with a girl Reo had set him up with, and that was because it was a formality and expected of him. The kisses he gave you now were hungry, passionate and fierce. 

“I want you, please can I?” he asked breathlessly. You eagerly moved his hands to cup your breasts as an answer while you continued to kiss. Though you haven't much experience yourself, you had a long term boyfriend before and had gone all the way with him and in this moment you were so grateful for that experience that guided you with what to do with Nagi. Your hands went to undo his pants and you felt him freeze. Had you made a mistake?

“I’ve never done this before,” he stammered. He hadn’t planned on telling you that part but so far blurting things out had worked well with you. This was no different. 

“I have. It’s okay, I’ll help you if you want,” you coaxed him. The heat in between your legs was begging that he wouldn’t back out and luckily he didn’t. It was like your words had relaxed him and lifted a weight off his shoulders. 

“I want all of you, I need to see you,” he begged. Wanting to make him comfortable, your hands left his buckle to instead undress yourself. His gray eyes took you all in, devouring you as you saw white hot flames in his eyes. His hands joined in now tugging at your underwear as you undid your bra, both of which were discarded quickly to the floor. His hands caressed your breasts, his fingers lightly grazing the nipples. 

He was next, the two of you quickly undid his tuxedo get up and his long muscles torso was revealed as well as his big gaping member. To Nagi, this was surreal, it was a rush and it was brilliant, this magnetic attraction he had to you was all consuming. 

“I need to feel you,” he whispered, his face pained with desire. You wanted to do good on your promise to help him and so you guided him to lay on the bed and then crawled on top of him. 

“Is this okay?” You asked, 

“It’s more than okay,” he replied, understanding what you were gonna do. You spread yourself on top of him sighing in pure bliss as his cock slid into you. For Nagi it was otherworldly the warmness and depth of your vagina blanketed his bare cock and felt like a warm hug, it was pure heaven better than anything he had ever felt. 

You placed his hands on your hip as you began to ride him and bounce on his cock. The tempo was nice and slow to get him used to it but the lewd sound of skin on skin and your breathy moans combined made him grip you tighter moving you up and down even faster. His eyes took it all in, your naked body and perky breasts bouncing up and down on him sending him over the edge. He felt himself cum quicker than what he hand wanted right inside of you. Your bodies were both slick with sweat. 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t last longer I,” his apologies were interrupted by your lips on his. 

“It’s normal,” you replied, still breathless between kissing. 

“I wanna go again,” he pouted, “I wanna try everything with you.” You cupped his face with your hands, your palms feeling the heat from his cheeks and the moist beads of sweat that had transpired from your tryst. 

“That’s okay you can keep it inside until you’re ready again,” you suggested. He was quick to take you up on that offer the depths and warmness of your folds engulfing him. Between that, your eyes gazing at him, and most especially your hands going down his stomach to feel his chiseled abs, it wasn’t long until he found himself hardening again. He was grateful for you having cock warmed him and he was eager to make do on his words. 

Since he was more assured, this time he wanted to set the pace and dominate you. With reluctance, he slid out from you and with surprising grace for his large stature he positioned you so you’d be knelt on the bed on all fours while he was behind you. You felt the tender mushroom tip of his length against your ass as he lined you up to him. 

“I always wanted to try this,” he whispered more to himself than to you. He had an amazing view of your pussy from here and your meaty lips. Gently, he eased his way into your vagina from the back, a gasp escaping your lips when he did. He began to pump slowly but then faster still not being able to resist, you had taken to moaning almost sobbing his name as he hit every sensitive ounce of flesh in your walls. 

He wasn’t silent as well, his moans and heavy breathing were loud, needy, and desperate. Never in his wildest dreams had you imagined something could sound so good, could feel so good. You turned to look back at him, his eyes were closed and his thick white hair was plastered to his forehead from the sweat. His gray eyes opened and when they met yours he gave you a sinister smile. He pushed deeper into you with a force that would have made you let out a moan had his lips not have caught yours in a tongue filled kiss. All the while he gave you fast paced thrusts as he kissed you causing your head to spin. 

He had evolved from earlier in the night, he was bolder and dirtier filled from the high of you. His hand reached around forward to rub the front of your vagina, finding your clit he began to massage it as he continued to thrust into you and kiss you. Faster, faster, and faster, he went that you were forced to break from the kiss for air. 

You felt so close, he could feel it now with how your walls were coming down on him. You held his eye contact as his pumps reached their peak, his own eyes rolling back in pleasure. It felt so good and he knew he couldn’t go without you from now on. The way you had repeatedly moaned his name evoked more emotion from him than any crowd in the stands ever had. As he released into you and you on him, you each found your breath. He placed gentle kisses down your back. 

“Stay with me tonight, and every night after,” he whispered into your skin.

[autumnslance]

In reference to this post I reblogged earlier, but don't want to muck up UC's activity:

#i think it's more important to see that redemption is in the eye of the beholder #not everybody (characters or real people) will accept the same type or amount of repentance for the same sins #some people might not care at all if the person who wronged them feels sorry; only if they materially repaid their crimes #others can feel the opposite #and either way that's their prerogative #you can disagree with the characters or the fans or the writers about who “deserves” OR has “achieved” redemption and that's okay #because it's ultimately a complex philosophical issue #like i agree with OP!!! but there's media literacy in accepting that not everyone will

I'm going to disagree with many of these tags, especially it being "in the eye of the beholder" and would argue it's more media literate to recognize when a character has a workable redemption arc even if one disagrees they "should" get one. It took me a long time to learn this cuz of how we're usually taught redemption = forgiveness in Western (especially very Christianized, and especially if explicitly raised Christian) culture:

It doesn't rely on anyone but the person seeking redemption.

Yeah, it's the wronged party's prerogative to never forgive, to think the perpetrator's atonement (and/or punishment) is not enough and never will be. Anyone (characters and actual people) who sympathize, and who are on their side, can agree it's not ever enough and that character/person's sins are unforgivable.

And that still doesn't matter to their redemption.

We have an example of a workable redemption arc that not all accept in Final Fantasy XIV with Fordola's situation, through the Endwalker healer role quests. She was raised a collaborator of Ala Mhigo's imperial occupiers, and thought the best way to help her people was to soldier for the empire, becoming their Butcher.

In the Stormblood patches, Raganfrid says he will never forgive her; he thanks her for the aid she gave in the throne room that day, but that's all. And even in the EW healer role quests, their interactions are complicated. He still can't forgive the collaborators, even as he works to reintegrate them into Ala Mhigan society. He recognizes many thought they had no choice. He can't, won't, forget the pain of losing his own loved ones to them. This is stated multiple times.

And others, like M'rahz, Sarisha, and M'naago also struggle, also say they won't forgive...but reluctantly agree they can understand how for the sake of their families, the collaborators felt pushed against a wall, and what lengths have they themselves gone to for their own families? M'naago even scolds Fordola: she doesn't get to give up, she has to keep working--or she dies as exactly what everyone said she was.

Fordola starts out as the one punished for her sins. Through the story, she makes her choices to change and fight and work for her people as a free woman. There are still those who despise the Butcher, and always will. Redemption comes from Fordola's actions, Fordola's choices. Who forgives her and who doesn't can't change that she has changed, and continues to do so.

And in the interest of fairness, for the opposite of Fordola, we have Laurentius. In A Realm Reborn, he collaborated with the empire, selling out his nation. He came out of his punishment wanting a new chance, so joined the Crystal Braves...and immediately fell under Ilberd's sway. While others remained loyal and stuck to their morals (and paid for it with imprisonment or even death), Laurentius went along with all of Ilberd's plans. And in the end, the player gets an opinion in the punishment he and his comrade face, but it's clear from talking to Raubahn there isn't much hope. Laurentius had his chances, but he didn't make any effort to actually change--so faced the consequences.

For Reference for the Healer Role Quests: Garland Tools Healer quest text starting with "Far From Free", and my own saved text in Gdocs (raw, not very organized compared to my later saved/updated docs).

(Nero's the war criminal who...didn't even get a slap on the wrist, he just waltzed into a leadership meeting 15 mins late with Starbucks and has been helping us save the world since. Gaius is the war criminal that went through traumas, saw his privileged preconceptions torn apart, and is starting down that road in the wake of Werlyt to clean up his mistakes and not let his children's sacrifices be in vain. None of these characters "need" punishment to decide to change; some of it simply happens as part of their stories, but they make their own choices and actions toward atonement.)

(Also redemption is usually an ongoing process, which is why "Death Equals Redemption", like how Yotusyu's situation is framed, is so dicey and often unsatisfying; are they actually changed, or they just getting out of putting in that effort to? Nothing indicated Yotsuyu actually cared to change, as sympathetic as she was in the end! But she has her redemptive moment for her fans, and the people who hate/won't forgive her also "win"--the trope is a "have your cake and eat it too" writing cop-out IMO at this point.)

[snugg-bugg]

I love the Vengeance saga sm….

so here are my thoughts

NOT SORRY FOR LOVING YOU:

This was SO pretty. Wangui has such a beautiful voice and she added so much depth to the character. But i still HATE Calypso. They could never make me like you Calypso. I liked How Jorge really made her seem like she just never learned how it was wrong to expect love in return regardless of circumstance. Especially the part “Was cast away when I was young

Alone for a hundred years

I had no friends but the sky and sun

So when you washed ashore

I thought for sure that you were my dream come true”

It really did a good job at showing she never learned because she never got a chance to learn these things.

DANGEROUS:

HECK YES HERMES!!! He was so so iconic and I loved how we was just partying while Ody was fighting for his life. My favorite part was defined the Wing Bag. Especially the winions. The melodies just seemed so much darker and serious then the playful tone of Keep Your Friends Close. I also loved the Athena reference at the end. I honestly hope Odysseus doesn’t learn it was her, it would make it so much more tragic.

CHARYBDIS:

This was the song I was looking forward to the most and I was not let down! The musical storytelling was so so good! Everything about it that I imagined is practically exactly what was on the animatic. Also extra points to part of it being done by @anniflamma (i’m not even gonna try to lie, Anni is my favorite Epic Animator) I LOVED the final verse. It was so pretty and Jorge portrayed the Longing of Odysseus SO WELL. I also adored the expectation diversion leading into…

GET IN THE WATER:

First off the Intrumentals starting the song were BEAUTIFUL!!! The piano was so striking and i loved it! Steven Rodriguez is genuinely PERFECT for Poseidon. I’m not gonna lie Poseidon is my favorite Greek God(Blame PJO) and Ruthlessness is actually the song that got me into EPIC. So it was amazing to hear him again. My Blood ran cold during the “Ruthlessness… Is Mercy Upon… Ourselves” part and I loved the overlapping vocals of the “Die”. And because it’s a bossfight it just has to end with making me cry. The “spirits” of Odysseus’s comrades was so pretty and I think it was my favorite(besides love in paradise ofc) of the “Heartbreaking remembering comrades” moments.

600 STRIKE!!!

1st of holy shit the Wind bag is such a cool Bossfight instrumental. It was so freaking cool(I love all the Wind parts in EPIC). I was a little disappointed by the Visuals, no disrespect to the artist at all! But i just thought the 3d was a little jarring. I truthfully think it would have been a little better if it was 2d. Enough of visual art talk though MUSICAL art talk time! I LOVED the chanting throughout the first-half. It was such a great(I think) wrap up to the Crews story and it also sounded awesome.

600 STRIKE: PART 2(that part)

Steven Rodriguez’s voice is really hot. I just had to get that out of the way. But in all seriousness this is my favorite moment of the Saga. I don’t think 600 strike was my favorite song, that title goes to Get in the Water, but 600 strike is a close 2nd solely based on the epicness of this moment. The way my heart just stopped when Odysseus said “Exactly” was just something I’ll never get over. Also I’m weird and i loved hearing Poseidon in pain.(I like my fav. characters to suffer). Also the overlapping vocals(can i even call poseidon’s part vocals it’s just him screaming in pain) was PHENOMENAL! I especially loved the 2nd “OOoohhhh” I saw someone say that Poseidon likely regenerated around the trident before it was pulled out and that’s engraved in my brain now.

And hot Take.

I think that Poseidon was actually ASKING Odysseus how he sleeps at night. During Monster Ody says “Is he scared that he’s doing something wrong” and I actually think Ody was right. Poseidon’s “I can’t” during Get In The Water seems genuine. I don’t know if it was because He literally couldn’t forgive Ody because of what Ody did, or if He’s is actually just trying to “keep us in check so we respect him, and now no one dares piss him off”. This may just be me over-analyzing/trying to sympathize my fav character but does Poseidon actually wonder if he’s doing something wrong.

And Finally, NEXT TO MY WIFE was actually so FRAKING cold. If someone said that to me i’d be devastated.

Ultimately the Vengeance saga was probably my 2nd favorite saga(after wisdom i just adore god games) Jorge did an AMAZING job with it and I’m so excited to see how much more a monster rawr rawr rawr Ody becomes.

I hope you enjoy my thoughts (:

[starlightseraph]

honoured to have been summoned, comrades 🫡

@dtmsrpfcringe

those screenshots are truly unhinged.

- ever heard of candid photos? ones that aren't posed or staged to have the person look a specific way? ones that capture the essence of a moment and have a more organic feel? ones that can celebrate the mundane? is it abnormal for family/ friends/loved ones to take candid in-the-moment pictures? no. or if it is, then i guess everyone i know, all the people i've seen doing this, and every person who's ever posted a non-posed photo of their loved one is a creep.

- appreciation and kindness for everyone but him? let me refer you back to this: "happy birthday to the best person most of us will ever know. the kindest of people, the cleverest of people, the funniest of people and the best dad of (many) people. sometimes i wonder what i do to deserve him..." and this is only a selected example, not an exhaustive list.

- hijacking his party and refusing to acknowledge that it was his? the card they posted was literally for a combined party. a 90th birthday, and given that david's not 90, but he's in his early 50s while she's almost 40, and it's not anywhere near either of their real birthdays, it's fairly obvious that it was meant for both of them. as you would know, if you payed attention to the goddamn card.

- normalising abuse? girl where. you have no knowledge of their private communication and boundaries, what they've talked about/agreed on, what they find mildly annoying and what they are genuinely upset by. poking fun, egging on, banter, all are perfectly healthy. if he's truly disturbed by anything, it is his responsibility to communicate that, and her responsibility to respect it. but these interactions are normally not public. they've almost certainly discussed social media sharing outside of the few snippets we've seen. it's fairly safe to assume, then, that any conversations they've had on-camera apply to those specific instances. "not right now" as opposed to "not ever". and a reminder that we literally do not know these people. you can't draw a diagram of an entire house by peering through a few windows.

- about the criminal offence bit, i can tell you, with absolute certainty, that no one is going to report anyone to the police for taking a candid photo in a kitchen. i promise, it's not illegal, by any stretch of the law, for a wife to take a photo of her husband standing at a counter. it may be technically illegal in some places to distribute those photos without the person's consent, but we, as outsiders, have no way of knowing and therefore shouldn't assume that she didn't get consent. i have several lawyers in my very close family, and i can already hear the legalese they’d break into to counter this argument.

the most important point i want to make is that they are married, and have been for a dozen years, and have known each other for years more than that. they understand each other, they probably know each other better than anyone. they certainly know each other better than we do. when you get to that point with someone, you generally don't need to confirm every single thing you do. in most cases, you can get a sense of what's ok and what's not. it's possible that georgia has some difficulty with that, as she's neurodivergent, but in that case the boundaries just need to be clarified for her. if she's unsure, she can ask, if she's unaware, he can tell her. because human relationships go both ways, boundaries need to be communicated, understood, and consistently adjusted. only then are they even tangible concepts that can dictate social interactions. and smaller things or individual moments can exist freely, without a giant rubric attached. they're both adults, they both have agency, and they both have access to support. trust that they're making good choices for themselves and each other, because you have no real reasons to think otherwise.

[moxfirefly]

Pretty please do Donnie x Frem!Reader 🥺🙏 Jealous/possessive Donnie, maybe he snaps at some guy for coming onto the reader and then feels a little insecure about the relationship and needs reader to remind him that he's all they want. Maybe Donnies a little rough/possessive during the sex(feel free to disregard this if you want) and preferably private sexy times if you could. 💜💚

[HOLD] for one muse to slide their arm around the other in a possessive way.

[REMIND] for our muses to have passionate sex meant to remind one party who they belong to.

To eachother:

"Tell me you're mine." and " no one else is ever gonna have a chance with me. You're it. You're all I want."

To a third party:

" don't you dare touch them."

You know I love my mans, so let’s do this.

“That I miss you when it’s quiet”

Rated Explicit (18+ only)

He often wondered if these little appreciation events were worth it. For the most part they were usually held at a secret location and aside from themselves, Chief Vincent and close friends; it was filled with known faces.

A majority of the police force was also invited. Donnie knew them all, not from speaking with them. He had files on every single person who knew of their existence. He had to be a step ahead naturally, contingency plans weren’t an easy thing to prepare but he had them.

He hadn’t quite developed one for jealousy though.

This was jealousy of course. He could feel how it vibrated everywhere within himself, from the clench to his jaw to the tension at his fingers. The rookie he’d refer to him, he was the one with less experience in the force compared to his comrades. It had dawned on this individual to start chatting you up, and maybe a few cocktails into the nights festivities had egged him on to be bold. Because as he laughed at, no doubt a shit joke, he thought he could slide an arm around your waist.

You had recoiled, a nervous smile trying to ease the movement.

But it’s all the incentive he needed.

Because Donnie marched his god damn ass over to the two of you ready to put one of his contingency plans in motion. He very sure of himself when he wrapped and arm around you, large three fingers digging into the side of your waist. You opened your mouth, relief washing over you that Donnie was there but his gaze was zeroed in on the tipsy man.

“Hey big guy! Havin fun?” The rookies splotchy red cheeks painted a picture of just how inebriated he was becoming.

Donnie tugged you close, nosed the crown of your head and simply whispered for you to go somewhere and wait for him.

As you walked away, you looked over your shoulder to see Donnie grip the man’s shoulder in what could’ve looked as a friendly pat.

You didn’t catch his words, muffled by the chatter and music.

Didn’t quite see as he tugged the man close and leaned down to his eye level.

“Don’t you dare touch her” He deadpanned, eyes focused and reading that whatever came out of this man’s mouth could be his saving or his downfall. It served to sober him up enough and the man staggered backwards with fear in his eyes.

Exiting the party felt like a blur, there was a quiet almost volcanic feel to the ride back to your apartment. You figured you’d turn in and forget this messy end but when Donnie pushed open the window as your closed the door to your apartment you knew other things were in store for you.

There was an apprehensive jitter to his movements, a second guessing that brought you back to the early stages of your relationship with him.

When you had approached him, hands landing on his rough plastron in a comforting rub. You could feel his early need to recoil.

But he didn’t.

He placed his hand atop your own and rubbed. You kissed him, did your best to quiet that mind of his that ran a mile a minute. With those kisses you had soon found yourself at the mercy of his hand undressing you and taking you to your bedroom.

It had been there that he found that all those feelings, all those drowning sounds that sounded much like his own voice, could finally quiet themselves. He need not remind himself that when he had had you beneath him all he needed was to simply loose himself inside of you.

And that he did.

You felt his hands slide beneath you to grip your rear and further glue you to the bed. His face was stuck to your neck and with each thrust you felt his groans vibrate all across your skin. His teeth found that sensitive spot, your his quickly melted into a moan as he angled his hips. You wanted to see his face, wanted those beautiful eyes of his glued to you but just as you tried to stick your arms out from beneath his own he spoke.

“Tell me you’re mine” He mutters out against your cheek, huffs of warm air hitting you just as you lift your legs a little more.

His words aren’t playful, they don’t have that hint of flirtatious undertone that they have. When his eye do land your face, when you see how naked his gaze his, it hits you that he’s needs this.

He needs to be reminded that you belong to every inch of him.

You managed to unstick a hand and grip his chin, his thrusting slowing to a gentle rocking. You held his gaze, mouth dry from your exertions but you smiled, honest and sincere.

“No one else is ever gonna have a chance with me. You’re it. You’re all I want.” Your thumb ran across his lower lip, and every beautiful and meaningful look you had give him before did not compare to the way you looked at him in that very second

You watched his eyes, shiny and moist and holding back simply breaking apart on top of you.

“Im yours, Donnie”

He dove into kiss you, so feverishly and so desperately.

[codmw2019-2022]

COD MW [2019-22] - Relationships part 1 of ?

Just wanted to preface before I get into it that I did struggle with writing this. It's my first time since high school writing something like this so it's been a bit of a struggle to get back into it.

I've also haven't added any romantic relationships to this, unless the characters have kissed or are canonically married ( like Laswell ) it falls more into head-canon territory. I may also come back and edit this in the future, I'm just getting down a general idea of how I currently view their relationships.

!! Just adding this is all my own interpretation of these characters. !!

Relationship Chart

Explanation : So this cube shows character relationships following both MW (19) , MWII (22) , and MWII Atomgrad Raids storyline. (Yes I am ignoring MWIII, no I will not elaborate /hj)

With this I can confidently show who has and has not interacted and what their relationship is from there. Since I'm not speculating if relationships are romantic or not I've decided to focus on how close the characters are. For instance Alejandro and Rodolfo are both shown to care about each other, same goes for Laswell and Price.

I was going to add in characters like Hadir and Valeria, but with Valeria her relationship with Alejandro and Rodolfo is very cut and dry; and Hadir's relationship is something I'll focus more on when I write about Farah. Their relationship is more complicated and interesting than most other characters.

Character Relationships

Farah :

Her relationships are mostly focused on trust or admiration. She's more close to characters who have stood by her side in tough times, such as Alex and Price. With this though as soon as her trust is betrayed she is more resentful and hostile towards them, like with her brother Hadir.

You can see through most of MW before Hadir's betrayal that she does care about her brother, but as she says to Alex during the cutscene before Hunting Party.

Farah's relationship with Hadir changes instantly after his betray, no matter how much Hadir and Farah care about each other she will never see him as her brother again. This is shown more during the 6th and 7th cutscene during the Atomgrad raids. Hadir does care for Farah and even admits he personally wont kill her, but he will still stop her since their beliefs are so different.

Quotes :

Gaz: You'll be hunting your own brother. Farah: He is not my brother. Not anymore.

Farah: It is impossible that we share the same blood. Hadir: I love you, Farah- Even if you hate me… Hadir: In that way we are not the same. Farah: One of many…

Hadir: Sister… Together we can stop them, like we did before… Farah: Believe me… I will… Farah: My way… with those I trust.

Price :

He keeps a wall of professionalism between most of his close relationships, the exception being Laswell. We see this on multiple occasions where he goes from calling Laswell by her last name and instead calling her Kate. Usually when she is either in danger like what happens during Recon By Fire, or during moments of stress/anger.

Price does show genuine care for those he is close too especially when they could be hurt or in danger, but it's just not shown the same way his care for Laswell is. Same with Nikolai their relationship is best described by the mission title when we first see Nikolai, 'Old Comrades'. They're close but not in the same way civilians are, both being a hardened solider has changed the way their friendship can be viewed from the outside.

Laswell :

Similar to Price she keeps her interactions more professional, while still also bantering with Gaz or Price on occasion. She does however verbally show more care about those she is close too, for instance telling Farah to "Take care of them." ( in reference to Gaz and Price ) at the start of Atomgrad raids.

Alex :

With rewatching both MW and the Atomgrad raids I've realized that Gaz and Alex's relationship is a lot closer than the fandom makes it out to be. Both of them check in with each other, sharing banter and jokes. Alex's relationship with Gaz is more familiar and close, where as Alex's relationship with Farah is focused more on him being supporting and committed to her and her cause. He's willing to sacrifice himself for Farah, where as Gaz and Alex are equals leaving room for more friendly banter.

Quotes :

Gaz: If it wasn't me- I'm glad it was you. Alex: Too bad we couldn't kill him twice.

Alex: I'm pretty sure everything we do is illegal. Gaz: Only the good stuff. Gaz: You got friends nearby. Alex: You too.

Gaz: Told ya you had friends nearby. Gaz: Man o' steel. Alex: Titanium…

Gaz :

Out of all the characters Gaz is definitely the most open about his feelings. He outwardly more caring and emotional, we can see this with how he treats the other characters, he barely knows like Farah and offers her a drink after Hadir's betrayal and also willing to make his own support for Farah known when her liberation force is put on the foreign terror organization list.

Unlike Price, Gaz isn't as hardened by war yet, we do see this change over the course of the series so far. But compared to Price, he seems more friendly this may be because he is a good judge of character or might be because he is just more friendly. This doesn't mean he's quick to trust though.

AN:

Thank you all for waiting for this to come out, I've been struggling a bit with working on this blog. I will keep working on it but I'm just not as confident with my character analysis as I am with research gathering and collection information which is important to the story and characters we love.

I'm going to spend a bit more time working on the next part to this focusing on the character introduced during MWII, but in the mean time I'll see if I can get something else out.

PS: I've also spent some free time working on my cod oc and because of this I might be redoing the character ages post, not sure yet whether or not to edit the post or make a new updated one.

I'm also wondering if you all are interested in learning a bit about my cod oc and the mixed matched cod universe I've put them in. I'd make a separate blog for zem but curious to know if this is something you want to see.

[shizucheese]

So you know how there are some people who like to attack/ vilify those who don't like Lae'zel and they try to paint it as a sexism thing or claim it's "because she's not conventionally attractive" or w/e and then bring up Astarion and Shadowheart "because they're racist too" in the same breath? I think I had a bit of an epiphany on this that needs to be shared. Putting content warnings here as well as in the tags just to make sure we're thoroughly covered: references to trama, physical and verbal abuse, SA, toxic family dynamics, religious trauma, and religious zealotry ahead. Also note that this doesn't just apply to people whose favorite character is Astarion and/ or Shadowheart, I'm just focusing on them since they're the ones people complaining about people not liking Lae'zel always bring up.

Okay, now with all that out of the way... I think the people who complain about people not liking Lae'zel but liking Astarion and Shadowheart and fixating on the whole "but they're racist too" argument miss some pretty major points regarding why a lot of people like Astarion and Shadowheart and how the way Lae'zel treats you in Act 1 is a major factor. A lot of people like Astarion and Shadowheart because on some level, they relate to them. Maybe they came from a household where one or more adult was abusive (physically or verbally), narcissistic, overbearing and/ or controlling. Or maybe it was a friend or romantic partner, or more than one, who used them and abused them and treated them like dirt. Or maybe they're an SA survivor. Or maybe they have religious trauma, and maybe that religious trauma is exacerbated by the fact that they have people in their lives who refuse to change their views, or even double down on them, even when shown evidence that contradicts their beliefs. Or maybe it's some combination of these.

Even the reasons why Astarion doesn't like the Gur and Shadowheart doesn't like Githyanki is steeped in trauma: it was a group of Gur beating Astarion nearly to death that lead to him being tricked by Cazador into becoming his spawn (and if he hadn't been turned into a vampire, he would have died), and Shadowheart makes multiple references to the fact that she saw githaynki cut down her comrades during her mission with some serious brutality.

A lot of these people who identify with Astarion and Shadowheart because of their own past traumas have promised themselves that they're never going to let anyone teat them that way, speak to them that way, try to control them, act like they own them, etc. etc. ever again. I know that's what happened to me. Now let's look at how Lae'zel treats you in Act 1, shall we? She's verbally abusive. When you try to talk to her, she simply replies to you with "Speak" as if you're some kind of dog. When she first propositions you for sex, she's still at her most abusive towards you, but because you fight good, she wants to lick your skin, taste your sweat, and "take what's hers." Even once the entire party knows--because we literally all see it in action with our own eyeballs--that the only thing preventing us from becoming either brain washed slaves to the Absolute or just straight up becoming mind flayers is the Astral Prism, she still keeps trying to take it and return it to the githyanki, even going so far as to try and kill Shadowheart for it. Even when her loyalty to her culture nearly gets her killed in the Zaithisk, and you tell her the true nature of it, she refuses to accept the reality and tries to blame the doctor, who she accuses of being a traitor, rather than accept that no, actually, it was working exactly as intended. It takes Voss showing up at our camp after everything else that had happened, and telling her the truth about Orpheus--something we had already been told about and found books covering before that point--to get her to even consider the fact that um actually maybe Vlaakith is evil (something that coming face to face with her and her nearly killing us didn't even convince her of).

All of these things I've described about Lae'zel in Act 1 are things that can be incredibly triggering to someone who has experienced any of the traumatic experiences I described above that has resulted in people identifying with and latching onto Astarion and Shadowheart. And like....does Lae'zel get better in Acts 2 and 3? Sure. But by that point, the damage has been done. And like in real life, Lae'zel isn't owed anything just because by Act 2 she's clearing the bear minimum of not being straight up abusive to your character. People aren't required to stop ranking her as their least favorite character, or straight up not liking her, after the way she treats you for the first third of the game. Especially not when that "first third" can easily be the part of the game you spend the most time in, with you spending dozens of hours in that part of the game, which also means they're spending the most time with Lae'zel before her character improves at all. Like I'm not saying that the ven diagram between "people who relate to Astarion and Shadowheart because of trauma" and "people who don't like Lae'zel" is a perfect circle, but the overlap is probably a way rounder oval shape than people who are too busy insisting that if she were a handsome man she would totally be popular appreciate. Before I wrap this up, I want to touch on that last part because I think it's important to address. I've seen people make that claim, but would Lae'zel really be more popular if she were a guy? I haven't seen a single person who makes this claim say they would like Lae'zel more if she were a guy. What I have seen is multiple people say in response that they would actually like her less if she had been a guy, which is honestly also how I feel.

Maybe this is something worth exploring in a separate post someday, but I would actually argue that the only reason Lae'zel works as a party member at all is because she's a woman. Flip her gender and she becomes an abusive man who treats you like you're beneath him and who says he wants to taste your skin and your sweat and claim ownership of your body as the first "nice" thing he ever says to you. As a woman who already has to deal with the general sexism of our society (including lawmakers trying to take ownership of our bodies and make medical decisions for us instead of leaving it between us and our doctors), especially a woman with multiple male-dominated hobbies, that's something I would find incredibly triggering--(even more so than I already found Lae'zel's sex proposition, which already made me super uncomfortable and had me thinking "wow imagine if a guy said this"). That's not "edgy and mysterious;" a man who treats you poorly but still thinks he's entitled to you/ your body, would be the poster boy for toxic masculinity, and I can promise you that more people would have taken issue with a character like that than they do with Lae'zel as she is.

Especially people with trauma like what I described at the beginning of this..

[hellframe]

Macaulay twins & Thackeray

A nod to Vanity Fair in chpt. 2 makes not much sense at first, though for Richard it must’ve been rather alarming — Rawdon Crawley played cards to fleece his comrades.

However, this association may be a clue to understanding what is happening around the Macaulay twins in Book 2.

The parallel between Charles and Rawdon becomes more clear in retrospect, closer to end of the novel.

Both from respectable families but empty-headed, moneyless and dependent on relatives, they spend time drinking, gambling and screwing around. Both have debts — tend to be overly jealous — get arrested — get involved in love scandal with a rich rival — are ruined but ready to fight — end up in exile.

Yet, the only important thing here is Rawdon's relationship with his wife.

At her brother's elbow Camilla played the role of Becky Sharp in marriage with Rawdon: an attractive young couple that works in tandem, using their charm and wit to take advantage of wealthy friends, and exploiting affections of others to live a better life.

Francis gave some insights into this symbiotic relationship, describing it as 'they like to present a unified front but I don't even know how much they care about each other' (chpt. 8).

When Camilla abandoned this unified front, for Charles it was a betrayal as if she used to be his business partner, not just a lover or family member.

The most notable link to Becky is the role of Clytemnestra, performed by Camilla as well, and the symbolic meaning of it in both novels.

Like Clytemnestra, Becky Sharp is an archetype of a predatory female in disguise of false innocence. Strong-willed, cunning and bold, she’s a skilled actress and manipulator, still unable to predict the consequences of some of her actions.

At some point Camilla makes it clear to Richard that drunk Charles abused her, but Richard is surprisingly angry with her. He questions how Camilla got her injuries, because he feels that something's wrong (chpt. 8).

This situation looks quite peculiar in view of the analogy to Vanity Fair.

Camilla's counterpart, Becky Sharp, complained to her patron Lord Steyne that she experienced all sorts of injustice from Rawdon Crawley (VF chpt. 52). It sounds false, because Rawdon could’ve been a bully with other men, but with Becky he was a meek, submissive husband. All her complaints had only one purpose: to be pitied for her own benefit.

It's unclear to what extent this analogy works, but it may explain why Camilla wanted to put a distance between Richard and Charles. If she lied to Henry, or rather manipulated him, she wouldn't be glad to be exposed: just like in case with Bunny, Richard still was an alarm bell, the first person to whom the one can confide.

Thus she had to neutralise him. And thus she was unable to reconcile Charles and Henry later.

I dare say, Henry had seen what was going on, but he was glad to get rid of the third party in their love triangle anyway. Even Richard doubted his 'good' intentions.

Rawdon Crawley said about his wife: "if she's not guilty, ... she's as bad as guilty" (VF chpt. 55). It might illustrate Charles's point of view as well. Like Becky, his sister didn't want to bet on a losing dog. But even if Camilla had no evil intentions, the consequences of her actions were awful — she opened a Pandora's box.

According to Thackeray, “it is the unwritten part of books that would be most interesting”. And Donna Tartt used this principle full on, leaving all crucial events in shadows, but giving some hints to lead and mislead her reader through carefully constructed cultural references.

Which also can be just some Metahemeralism.

[hausofmamadas]

Plastic Gangster | Anatoly Givenchy Romanov

(He is modern man but don’t even think about trying to play tickle fuck with him bc he is serious man too)

The Gentleman, Episode 3 - Where’s My Weed At?

∴

So, remember how I actually despised this tiny, angry little mess of a man until I’d lain eye on his alter ego. Well comrades, this is that alter ego.

And what exactly is it about this scene that turned me around so drastically? where literally like if my body were a car, my brain’s grabbing the steering wheel and pistol whipping it, full 180 in the opposite direction as fast as Tam’s pitching that McLaren around the parking lot ?

OHHHH I don't know.... could it be the over-the-top, Boris-and-Natasha, his-and-hers Russian accents? Could it be the fact that they clearly do it against Eddie's explicit instructions? that he prob recited like a drill sergeant in the car no doubt, to avoid another I-just-killed-someone-E-I-E-I-O!!!!! on the way there ORRR could it be the fact that for whatever reason the shit seems to work? bc like somehow it does work, and in a way that Eddie's strategy was super .... not, at least in terms of getting them into the building.

Idk if Mama Mercy was so put off by the accents, she just wanted to get the sale over with, or if she heard the words, "Little Leopard Lady” and/or “FUCK. money” come out of ‘Anatoly's’ mouth, and decided that only someone with more money than God would say some edge-lord shit like that out loud. Whatever it is? It fucking works. Mercy caves. Okay and she was stone-walling tf out of Eddie who's wildly capable of doing pretty much anything and everything else except this. But for Anatoly it’s red carpet, the whole PIA pain-in-the-ass VIP treatment.

And I think the reason this success is so remarkable is bc at this point, the stakes are high, and yet the bar for Freddie is so low, it might as well be the core of the earth. Like he's managed to fuck things up so consistently and with such catastrophic results, if there was a drunk, coke-sniffing, constantly-crying version of the Tasmanian devil, Fredward would be Her, okay. But this is one thing he does correctly, the first thing in the entire show (this is ep 3 of 7, for reference), the first moment when he shows a modicum of value besides being hilarious for reasons that are usually-but-not-always accidental to the scooby gang as it were.

And honestly?? it kinda makes sense that, in this case, he comes thru in a way Eddie can't. Bc what the actual fuck has Fredward Horniman been doing all his life, if not bullshitting bouncers and promoters, charming them enough so they lift up those red, velvet ropes to exclusive (read: pretentious) underground clubs, boxing matches, raves, bath houses, key parties bc no one will convince me he and Tam don't love a good key party once in a while. No one will, it just won't happen like Freddie has CONMAN written all over him, doesn't he? Not necessarily like good? con-man? okay he's no Madoff, right but good enough that he can make you think for a split second, if you really tilt your head and squint your eyes, that this person must be telling the truth.

Bc only someone telling the truth would feel comfortable acting that fucking unbelievable.

Like who would look this woman in the face and say without an ounce of irony, “listen, in my life funny little lady, if you are not safe…. You are DED” I mean the only thing missing is him dragging his finger across his neck, all miming a guillotine. FREDDIE. FREDDIE FUCKING HORNIMAN, THATS WHO.

Beautifultropicalfish Edwina makes the mistake of trying to sell a believable story, a lie grounded in too much reality, when it's clear that the clientele for Mama Mercy prob consists of like eccentric arms-dealers and kooky billionaires ppl with some really sus, really weird, uniquely terrifying ‘hobbies’ that none of us ever want to know about but that will inevitably be the subject of a true-crime doc on HBO someday. Like this woman speaks to the most mind-blowingly ridiculous men on the daily.

And is Eddie over here with his sexy professor cardigan and sexy look-im-such-a-bookworm glasses, rolling up to negotiate on behalf of some white-collar-crime, new-money, C-suite, tech exec with ‘only’ a seven-figure salary, when really he needs to be coming at this with more of that oil tycoon, crimes-against-humanity, Fuck-You-Money energy that Freddie's serving.

Eddie also just can’t seem to suppress the Narc vibes that are seeping from his pores and tbh it’s actually what makes him such a great gangster but not a great con man. Bc Mercy sniffs him out p much every time he speaks, like so👆

Now, it's unclear if Freddie enacts Operation!BorisandNatasha in response to Eddie's evident flailing or if he planned to do it the entire time but either way, you cannot tell me he's not responsible for them being able to get into the chop shop to test drive that car. Bc again, it’s not enough to just walk into this place and act like you belong there. In this case, acting like you belong has to be: giving a ruthless, machete-wielding murderer a cute nickname like “little leopard lady,” claiming that she “laaaavs” when you call her that even tho she seems less than enthused, pitching a fit about wanting something less “poof-poof,” and “more sexier,” and spitting general bars like, “don’t play tickle fuck with me, lady” BC WHO TF SAYS SHIT LIKE THAT UNLESS YOU HAVE MORE MONEY THAN GOD AND HEAVEN AND ALL THE COSMOS

And bc it's not entirely clear whether or not Freddie decided to do this on the fly, I feel liek it’s one of those choose-your-own adventures situations. So I, for one, choose to believe that this was a plan deployed in the face of Eddie's plan not working, and for all of his flaws, Freddie is savvy enough to know how to bullshit someone to get his foot in the door. Bc I firmly believe he can be competent juuuuuuust long enough and lbr probly only long enough to do that.

I mean cmon look at Mercy👇you know she thinks he’s a lil funny

And as if the above display of uncharacteristic competence wasn’t enough, I’m more endeared to Freddie bc of how crazy he is about his wife. And why tf wouldn’t he be when she’s clearly way too cool for him which he seems to be vaguely aware of just casual busting out these moves ripped straight from from stunt choreography of like the fucking Italian Job or something and for like exactly no???????reason????whatsoever?????

Which brings me to the next point bc can we talk for a bajillion yrs about Tamzin is out-of-fucking-nowhere an incredible stunt!driver/renaissance!woman??? and they drop that on us and move on like I'm not asking a bajillion questions like whywhenandhow’d she learn to do this????

Like???? was she once, in her early 20s, engaged to an F1 racecar driver who taught her all the Ways of the Track before he tragically died in an accident, and in her grief, sought solace in a boy named Freddie, whomst she met at a race once, and then later married??? Was she a stunt double who worked on hollywood sets, appearing in some of the most critically lauded, well-known movies, before she settled down and married an aristocrat for his money, a boy named Freddie, whomst she met once at an afterparty, and then despite his lack of wealth bc she was in way too deep at that point and made the fatal mistake of actually falling in love later married??? Is she the long, lost daughter of legendary stunt performer, daredevil himself, Evel Kneivel who taught her everything she needed to know about her birthright before shipping her off to boarding school in the UK when she was just a lass, and then grew up and was charmed by a boy named Freddie, whomst she met when her all-girl’s high school or secondary school whatever tf they call it was paired up with his all-boys high school at a cotillion, and then later married???

I NEED ANSWERS, RICHIE. COUGH UP SOME ANSWERS, MAN. OR DON'T, BUT BRING TAM BACK, WE NEED MORE TAM IN S2, IT'S OFFICIALLY A MANDATE.

taglist: @drabbles-mc, @narcolini, @bellinitini, @ashlingiswriting, @when-did-this-become-difficult, @noctuabunda

[ckerouac]

Every time I glance at the NYT or Washington Post it’s some variation of:

“VP Harris points out that Trump’s Project 2025 wants to ban abortion for everyone, no exceptions.”

Fact check: Trump responded ‘nu-uh’ so this is obviously a mistake, also he didn’t sign the print out so we can’t guarantee Project 2025 has anything to do with him. Rating: Mostly False.

“Trump insists on referring to VP Harris as Comrade Kamala.”

Fact check: While VP Harris has been a registered Democrat since she was 18, we cannot rule out that she secretly joined the Communist Party under an assumed identity or as some sort of Face/Off scenario. Also, she took a Politics 101 class her freshman year of college and has heard of Karl Marx, so that’s probably something. Rating: Possibly True.

“Tim Walz described his dog Scout as ‘the bestest boy’ in an Instagram post celebrating the family pet unearthed from 2019.”

Fact check: Walz has not met every dog ever and cannot say with authority that Scout is ‘the bestest’. Rating: Fucking Liar.

[teecupangel]

Imagine that clay was part of dedsec until he mysteriously went missing nobody knows what happened to him for years though they remember him fondly until a massive information dump from the abstergo servers was released on the Internet and they learn his fate or at least the version that doesn’t reference the assassin/Templar war

I mean… this could totally be part of the Aiden x Desmond fic idea we have here.

DedSec already has a beef with Blume and Umeni during the story of watch_dog which we are coinciding with Aiden and Desmond’s story so, for this one, DedSec would probably have some sort of rivalry and camaraderie going on and they try to stay out of each other’s ‘target’ but they would send any dirt they get from the other side.

And then…

Aiden Pierce released all those damning documents and recordings.

And they learned what happened to one of their DedSec members, one of the first members…

Clay Kaczmarek.

And they pivot from Blume and Umeni and set their sights on taking down Abstergo as revenge for their comrade’s death.

They give Erudito a head’s up, only to grow more suspicious when Erudito try to stop them.

Why would they try to stop them?

Wouldn’t having another group be better?

Something fishy was going on.

So they secretly contact Aiden Pierce.

He was a third party in all these.

He might have broken hacker etiquette but DedSec ignored that because he gave them information about a missing member.

Aiden answers BadBoy17’s messages a few hours later.

And joins them in taking down Abstergo as a ‘freelancer’.

When she asks why…

Aiden tells her that it was personal for him.

[slurping-up-grass]

Twinks and Sex Workers in 19th century wartime literature

(if this is of interest to you)

So I'm sure we've all heard of Dorian Gay *gray*- I hated that shit, too many descriptions of flowers, not enough evil satanic sensual not-so-heterosexual romance for my tastes.

This academic year, the school has decided that I should read Maupassant's Boule de Suif, a book set just after the french defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1871, where France is still being occupied by German soldiers.

The author himself fought in the war and has much to say from this experience, but as we stumble into the second chapter, we find ourselves face to face with "Mademoiselle Fifi", who, as a non native French speaker, took me a beat to comprehend is a male, German, second lieutenant so twinkish in attitude and physique that his comrades have nicknamed him "Little Miss Fifi".

French is a strictly gender-binary language, and Maupassant consistently refers to Mr Mme Fifi with feminine pronouns and conjugation, which is quite an incredible level of gender-bending for his time period, considering that the language requires you to specify far more frequently than in English the gender of the person you are talking about, and Maupassant narrates "woman".

Our introduction to this character is remeniscent of other notable twinks-

Hamilton:🎵peach fuzz and he can't even grow it🎵

Mme Fifi: "pale face where her burgeoning moustache was barely visible"

And continues:

Dorian Gray "made a little moue of discontent to Lord Henry, to whom he had rather taken a fancy"

Mme Fifi "had taken up the habit of expressing her sovreign discontent towards people and things"

-basically, the common thread is cuntiness.

Maupassant fixates on Mme Fifi's teeny-weeny baby white waist for a little bit too long and we begin to wonder what might have really motivated him to drop out of law school to join the big manly war of 1781.

The men decide that they need some good prostitutes for their party, and Maupassant notes that "Mme Fifi" "herself" seemed "out of place". She is very uncomfortable, sitting up and down in her chair and decides she wants to break something, so stands up and shoots a painting of a woman with a moustache, you know, like the moustache he is too "coquette🎀"* to grow? *feminine

So after Frankenfurter reminds everyone that this is his god-damed rocky-horror gay-ass castle and he gets uncomfy when people put women in it, they all go to the castle museum where Fifi begins happily stimming and clapping her hands because they are going to play her favourite game "making faces".

She created this game after her meanie superior officers refused to "Ding-don-don" the churchbells for entertainment even after she tried "pussycat manners, womanly cajolery, and soft whispers of a mistress hysterical with desire" to persuade them.

IS IT POSSIBLE TO CREATE A MORE CAMP CHARACTER?

Sidepoint- a consistent theme that redevelops here is whether french "women of pleasure" should feel guilty for betraying their country by sleeping with German occupying soldiers, or whether this is just a service they sell to survive (the prostitutes reassure eachother that it is just their job and they shouldn't feel guilty.)

"It's the job that wants that"

They don't desire the soldiers, the separate entity that is their employment does.

The women get put in size order and the smallest woman (Rachel) is given to Fifi, the twinkiest man.

He then blows smoke in her mouth, which is pretty gross, but she doesn't voice her anger. We get the impression he is either freaky, or really not into women because instead of engaging in traditional pleasure, he enjoys pinching her to make her shout, then making out with her and randomly biting her to make her bleed.

He looks her in the eyes and reminds her he is paying to be able to do whatever he likes to her.

The men begin toasting the things they own and include in this The Women of France. Rachel cannot help but correct:

"Me! Me! I am not a woman, I am a whore; that is absolutely all we have given to the Prussians."

-she breaks the illusion of desire, this is a job to her

He slaps her. She stabs him. FIFI DIES. The women are locked up. There is disorder and Rachel escapes. The soldiers are punished for forgetting the aims of the war and exploiting their position with prostitutes. Rachel hides in the church, which is sacred ground the soldiers cannot enter, and is remembered as a hero after the occupation.

So yeah, patriotic prostitutes and crazy, jealous twinks🌈

I am fully convinced that nobody will ever read this @strange-aeons

[serenfire]

attention, anyone who cares about the witcher s3's character's motivations with regards to the books but who hasn't then read time of contempt, here is a post for you!

here's some interesting differences between the book and show characters, especially in ep 5 (spoilers for the witcher s3 so far and the books):

since yennefer does not have her s2 beef w aretuza subplot, none of the mages are her direct enemies, and she is a member of the lower circle of leadership within the brotherhood, called the council, with philippa and 3 others who are not in the show. she is also not the one who calls the conclave; she finds out about it while bringing ciri to aretuza, and attends with geralt so that they can draw out the mage who is backing rience. in the book, they're trying to convinced everyone that ciri died at cintra, and haven't been together since then to keep up the illusion, so going to aretuza together will draw out the mage who knows ciri exists and is trying to kill her

vilgefortz is, firstly, the hero of sodden in the books. he's the war hero against nilfgaard, and one of the leaders of the brotherhood. he's also (spoilers for probably the second half of s3) working for nilfgaard now, and not in the way that s1 portrays where he kills his comrade on the battlefield after the battle's over, but in an "even the hero of sodden who singlehandedly saved the north from nilfgaard wants power enough to ally with his enemy" way.

he is the leader of the chapter, which is the highest circle of leadership of the brotherhood. tissaia and francesca findabair are also members, as well as artaud terranova (guy who falls over the champagne glass table in ep 5). in ep 5 he recounts his backstory to geralt, some of it word-for-word, except for an important part: as part of his backstory, he fell in love with an unnamed mage before becoming a sorcerer, and after breaking up with her, decided he should pursue magic. he and tissaia are not together! i cannot stress this enough, in the books the mages are powered by their individual searches for power, and love does not tie them together! it's what sets yen apart: she's one of the only ones willing to sacrifice for another.

FRANCESCA FINDABAIR. member of the chapter/high ranked aretuza member, in the book shows up to the conclave party early, stirring up the northern vs nilfgaardian sentiments by being there. wild that she hasn't appeared there in the show yet. her motives in the show are WHACK. in the books she did not have a baby and did not say she wants to genocide the humans (although that is propaganda against her): she leads the scoia'tael to fight for nonhuman freedom and allies herself with nilfgaard to continue to fight the north, and she will receive a free land for the elves (dol blathanna) in return for the scoia'tael being branded as war criminals and outlawed. in the books she is the catch-22 of stuck between a rock and a hard place: allying with imperialism will save her people but gut her guerilla soldiers who fought for it.

philippa eilhart is so far the best-written character this season (to me) because she is one of the only characters who everyone knows is seeking for power (in the book she's referred to as the one who's really on the redanian throne, backed by dijkstra) and she, directly, says that she's looking to keep power in the north. in the books, most if not every mage's motivations are for power, whether in a king's court or by allying with nilfgaard, and the imperial machinations are what the politics in the books are about, so having a character not be preoccupied with interpersonal reasons and instead directly embody this is refreshing!

however! in the books philippa's position is anti-nilfgaardian invasion, not anti-brotherhood. she's pitted against vilgefortz, who's allied with nilfgaard, instead of against him because he's a leader of the brotherhood. the brotherhood as an institution isn't interrogated as a state (unlike the northern kingdoms and nilfgaard), and her specific grievances against other court mages have to do with the fact that almost every kingdom is goading nilfgaard to attack so they can attack back and vie for power. she's also got redania on a lockdown by killing vizimir right before the conclave party and i don't know how this will play out in the show considering radovid exists as well

also in the books radovid is vizimir's son who ascends to the throne after philippa and dijkstra kill vizimir, and (in the games) he makes it his life mission to kill philippa. he does not physically show up in time of contempt and adding him into the show as vizimir's brother 1) crunches the timeline down to a period of time that makes a bit more sense than the books and 2) allows the show to make up the funniest fucking subplot with jaskier. oh my god none of that happened in the books but wouldn't it have been hilarious. jaskier hooking up with the sweet and sensitive younger prince who's a fan of his music and then smash cut to twelve hours later and he's the fucking king of redania. the comedy potential is unmatched

[darkmaga-returns]

Patrick J. McShay

— Ronald Reagan, US President — Jewish Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin

Kamala Harris has just six days left to do something she has yet to do since being crowned as Braindead Joe’s replacement candidate, due to his advanced dementia and cognitive impairment. She has yet to articulate why she wants to be president and what she would do differently than “Dementia Joe”. Unfortunately, she’s got nothing but abortion and continuing her globalist controller’s disastrous policies that have destroyed the country.

While killing their babies seems way too important to the slags on the left, who in their right mind would give this woman, who has destroyed the country for four years and has a track record of failing upward most of her life, four more years in office?

Harris used Affirmative Action for a leg up to get into college and was also the recipient of assistance through the Legal Education Opportunity Program (LEOP) at UC Hastings Law School, originally called “The Minority Assistance Program”, a program designed to assist disadvantaged students. For some reason, Harris is angered when she is referred to as a DEI candidate, but she is, after all, the quintessential DEI candidate.

What were her disadvantages? Her father was a tenured economics Professor at Stanford University, her mother was a scientist and Cancer researcher, and she grew up in one of the wealthiest zip codes in Canada. The poor thing.

Kamala and her Marxist handlers are panicking, and the cries of “Hitler” and “Nazis” are all anyone hears from these fake media hacks in the mainstream media, absurdly comparing the Trump rally at Madison Square Garden Sunday night to the 1939 Nazi Party rally that was held in the old MSG building that was demolished nearly 60 years ago. The Trump rally was in the new MSG building built in 1968. Harris, whose father is an admitted Marxist, is using the Communist playbook in her attacks on Trump and Vance because that’s all she has left.

G. Edward Griffin wrote that in 1943 the following directive was sent from Communist Party headquarters to their comrades in America. This sounds like the Harris playbook she and her protectors in the media are using against Trump. It is truly disgusting and disturbing to see the corporate media coordinating their attacks on Trump with the Harris campaign.