#as opposed to lying flat

[tardis--dreams]

If this doesn't end Very soon I'll have to ask my professor to register my thesis in April rather than March because i don't think I can do this in the remaining 2 weeks in this state ahahaha

[astralnymphh]

okay hear me out right… horndog!farmellie thats so incredibly horny that she cums untouched in her boxers from you kissing her neck and sucking on her nipples 🤫

ughhh the usual horndog!ellie !! always so sensitive when the tables turn n she gets pleasured ౨ৎ MDNI !! very lovey dovey

setting the scene, night time, both of you reclined supine into the cushy nature of your bed, crafting a little gully in the mattress with your combined weight. a thin sheet wisped over the curvature of your bodies, rippling the material perfectly across your thighs– neglecting the toss so it leaves your loins and torso exposed to tottering candlelight, every groove highlighted and cast in umbrage, she looked of a delectable nature, lying flat to your raised–elbow poise. your index, soft as a plume, rides the fleshy rise of her bare breast and merry–go–rounds her bumpy nipple. she seizes up a breath, indenting the skin between her ribs lightly, mouthing, "fuck.." at the sensations. on the contrary, she'd be the one rousing every bit of your body to her relentless touch– but not tonight. in these little hours, these little, loveable hours, her flesh and bone would rather lie rot to your touch, an all–consuming caress. beryl eyes move to and fro, shimmy side to side, trailing after your encircling fingertips. then, her pupils dart, and find sightly purchase on your lips. how they curve, and flush a streak of pigment when you bite down with those pretty teeth of yours. a shared idea seems to floodlight the dark cavern of both your heads because as soon as a gasp flows down her gullet, it catches. hitched, like a mouse in a trap. your mouth hollows over her perked nipple, suctioning the flimsy nub between squeezing lips. every interval, you suck, wrinkle your lips to a pucker, and pop with a wet smack. it tasted of nothing but skin, and that wasn't an issue. the natural tang of skin was enough for you, and a lot for her. a coil begins to slink tighter and tighter, tickling the lubricous, aroused walls of her vagina. the irk a throbbing clit brings, comprised decuple the volume of sting it ordinarily would. for that sting, she clenches, like a string had attempted to flip her cunt inside out, drawing wads of frothy clear precum to dribble cold along her perineum, and far between the vale of her ass. the chopped whinnies of els' pitching suffrage all but clogged your skull, egging you on as those little noises stain your susceptible impulses, especially, certain words of,

"fuckkk you, god–",

"don't be gentle, fuck, please..",

"you' trynna make me ruin m'boxers? mhh–",

to be gentle with her was an anathema. she harbored a love–hate relationship with tender touches. the time it takes to tilt your partner over a climax cliff with teasey–tricks, renders it slow and painful, painfully gratifying. a cold thumb tamps her opposing nipple down, flopping the bundle of skin on all sides. that move? oh, that move was a curse, in fact. the time given, she tilts that blurred line between a rising climax and wetting up her boxers like a spout. and so, she cracks. "uhhn– fuckfuckfuck, mh!" she squeaks, pushing her shaken thighs harsh into the spongy bed as she cums. a gush of sticky warmth runs past her tremoring hole in lacy serum ejections, simmering a dark–hued splotch, taking a heartly shape on the plateau of her boxers, inseam tightening her fat pussy lips apart. a leak of it dribbles downward and makes merry with her smushed asscrack, smearing skin as she wriggles. you coo, "hmm, so sensitive– are we pretty girl?" as your lips drag off her suffused, swollen nipple, glistening with your bubbly saliva. a grunt grizzles in her chest, prior to her gripe of, "d–don't, call me that.." cause nuh–uh, she's 'spose to call youuu that. you chuckle, lips curling nasal creases, "hah– okay, how 'bout handsome girl?" and she just tosses her eyes off bounds, partaking her focus in the dramatic swell and heave her chest breathes, too embarrassed to gaze upon you. a smack of your lips, a rise of your body, and a stuffing of your head to her cuddled neck gets her talking again, wincing at the sanguine bite left in your rein of loving torture. one last gasp, she shudders, "f–ffuck, swear to god,"

"you make me crazy babe."

[sinsmockingbird]

KITTEN IN HEAT | Lynette

PAIRING: Lynette x GN!Reader

WARNINGS: Smut, NSFW, Dom!Reader, Sub!Character, Reader has a cock, Heat, Breeding, Scratching

AUTHORS NOTE: The sweetest baby that I love with all my heart. Lynette deserves nothing but the best, I stand by that.

LYNETTE TOLD you everything. She always had since the first day you both became official. She'd tell you how her day went, how she was feeling, and she'd tell you about her wants. She told you everything, everything but this.

You noticed something was off with Lynette the moment you had woken up that morning. She had a sort of... distant look in her eyes, and it always seemed like she wasn't entirely present. She was more quiet- more so than she usually is, really only giving you yes or no answers or just a nod or shake of her head. But nothing rang more alarm bells in your head than just how clingy she was being with you.

Lynette wasn't always big with physical affection. She wasn't opposed to it by any means, and would accept any you give her if you initiate it. She never initiated any sort of hugging or even hand holding, she always waited for you to do it. Yet, here she was, practically glued to you as she curled herself up in your lap, hands clutching onto the front of your shirt.

"Lyn, is something wrong?" You asked for the 10th time that day since you first saw her. You glanced down at her, not being able to meet her eyes considering she had buried her face into your chest.

Lynette didn't respond, and she made no indication that she had even heard you. You frowned, moving to pull her off your lap to get up from the couch, and immediately she made a sound of protest. You flinched when you felt her nails dig so deep into your shirt they were pressing into your skin, and for a moment you thought she'd break through it.

"Lynette," You said her name with a bit more force that made her momentarily pause, giving you enough time to pull her off you and settle her onto the couch besides you. "What the hell is going on with you?"

You held her arms firmly against her sides, looming over her and making sure she wouldn't be able to wiggle out of your hold. You finally got a good look at her face after hours of her having into buried against you. Her face was flushed red and covered in a light layer of sweat, her pupils dilated, and you could hear her heavy breathing.

Your eyes widened, finally realizing that something was indeed wrong, "Lynette what's wrong, please talk to me."

"I-" Lynette opened her mouth momentarily before quickly closing it, her gaze averting away from your face as she tried to wiggle around in your hold once again, but you kept it firm.

"Lynette," You said her name once again, your voice slightly raised and serious as you looked at her with pleading eyes. You were utterly worried about her at this point.

She froze again, and you could tell she was having a debate with herself in her head, and you waited for her to respond, and when she did, you didn't know how to react. "I'm in heat."

You simply just... froze at her words, your confusion clear as you tried to understand what exactly she meant by being "in heat." Lynette ended up using the opportunity to finally wiggle out from your grip, and you didn't have much time process before she was pushing you flat onto your back onto the couch. She moved to curl herself back up into a ball, lying on your stomach and chest, her hands gripping at your shirt.

"W-What are you-" You pursed your lips, just deciding to not fight back and allow Lynette to lay on you. She was clearly intent on doing so, and you had a feeling it was because of this heat thing. "What do you mean, "'I'm in heat?'"

Lynette pursed her lips, thinking over her words for a reply very carefully. She had never talked to you about this before, and she honestly wasn't sure on how to, especially not when she was currently in the middle of one.

"It means it's breeding season for cats, and considering I'm, well," Lynette's tail thumped softly against your tail, letting you know what she meant.

"I- I see," You muttered, allowing her words to sink in and allow yourself to understand on what she meant.

Considering Lynette had quite a bit of cat qualities to her, it would make sense to you that she would experience some sort of reaction to the breeding season. It would explain how she was acting very unusual with you, and would explain some other things. But as you thought over it more, one realization came to you, and you felt your face flush when you hesitantly spoke up.

"Does this mean your, uhm, sexually aroused right now..?" You tentatively asked, and you felt her body slightly arch up against you.

Lynette was quiet, and for a moment you thought you had somehow pushed her too far with the question, but then you heard her mumble a simple, "Yes."

You noddes your head at her answer, your face flushing even more at the new knowledge you had, before asking her one last question, "Can I help you with that?"

Lynette's ears perked up, and she subtly shifted her head slightly on your chest, her eyes widening slightly. "Y-You want to?"

"If it means I can make you feel more comfortable, then yes." You answered without hesitation, your voice gentle as you moved a hand up to scratch behind one of her ears, causing her to let out a small sound of approval.

"...Okay," Lynette nodded her head, agreeing to allow you to help her.

She was hesitant to move off of you for a moment, but eventually did. Once you were up and off the couch, you grabbed her hand and began tugging her towards your bedroom. You could tell she was eager by the way she stuck close to you and by the swishing of her tail.

Once entering your bedroom, you close the door and move to kiss her softly, and slowly. When you felt her wanting to deepen the kiss, you do, and from there it only escalates more and more until the kiss is sloppy and desperate.

"P-Please..!" Lynette whined against your lips, jumping up and wrapping her arms and legs around you, and you barely caught her as you carry her over to the bed.

"Okay-" You breath, dropping her down on your bed, and pinning her beneath your body, kissing her deeply and desperately, your hands moving to begin undoing her clothing. "Okay, shh, m'gonna help."

You don't really bother with undoing her top, mostly focusing your attention on undoing her bottoms. Once they were pulled down her legs, you hastily began undoing your pants, hissing as you felt Lynette's nails dragging down your arms in desperation.

She let out needy whimpers and whines, mouth agape as you finally free your cock from your pants. She pants, her cunt aching between her legs even more, the intensity of her heat becoming all too much. It's almost excruciating, the pain and heat coursing through her body.

"P-Please-!" Lynette whimpers, bucking her hips up against you, her pupils blown as she looks at you with a begging face. "P-Put it in!"

You dip a hand down between her legs first, checking to see if she was wet enough, and to your surprise, she was soaked. You hear her choke on a moan at the feeling of your fingers dragging through her folds, gathering up her slick before moving to lathering up your cock in it, while moving to position it at her entrance.

The second you press your tip into her, her back is arching off the bed with a loud cry, her body so sensitive from hours of suffering through the intense heat coursing through her body. You move to hold her close, pressing gentle kisses against her face, while pushing deeper into her before giving her some thrusts.

"F-Fuck, so wet and tight," You groaned, feeling her slick coating your cock quickly the more you thrusted in, and you swore she felt more tighter around you than normal.

"M-More-!" Lynette begged, her hands clinging onto your shoulders, digging her nails through your shirt and into your skin.

The pain made you hiss, but you didn't stop, not when you could see the agony of pleasure coursing through Lynette's face. So you thrust faster, pushing yourself deeper and deeper inside her tight pussy, spreading her perfectly to fit your cock.

You groan, pressing your face into her neck at the feeling of her wrapped around you. It felt so good, the way she was so tight, and all for you. The feeling made you not want to leave her, to keep her stuffed full of your cock just so you could feel her tightness for longer.

"O-Oh, Archons!" Lynette whined, pressing her body up against you, eyes rolling back in her head as she reaches her first orgasm quickly.

It's not surprising to you, considering she must have been holding all of this in all day, and finally being able to have this pleasure... makes sense why she was cumming all over your cock. It was long and intense, leaving Lynette shaking and unable to breath till it finally died down, and she could feel your gentle thrusts again.

"You okay?" You asked, your voice soft as you rocked your cock in and out of her gently, letting her feel every inch of it inside her, something that made her whimper through her gasps of breath.

"K-Keep going," Is the only thing Lynette responded with, moving to wrap her shaking arms around your neck and her legs around your waist.

Being all but trapped against Lynette, you obliged and began picking up your thrusts once again, and it didn't take you long to get back into the swift pace you had before. Small, but sharp thrusts deep into her, perfect to make her body erupt with pleasure as well as allow you to feel her tightness squeezing around you.

It felt amazing, and you didn't want to pull out, even when your orgasm was building more and more. You grunted, clenching your jaw as you felt that coil in your stomach, but you didn't want to stop, didn't want to pull out of her.

"Aghh, g-gonna-" You bury your face into her neck, grunting and unable to form the words you needed to say, but she knew, she understood.

"Inside!" Lynette quickly gasped, tightening her body around you and holding you closer, making sure you couldn't pull away. "P-Please, inside!"

Hearing her beg you to cum inside me fueled a fire inside you that you didn't know you had. With sudden brutal thrusts, your hips stuttered, until you pushing all of your length inside her and letting go, grunting into her neck.

A dopey smile spread across Lynette's face when she felt your cum filling her up. She layed there, shaking and moaning as she came with you, focusing on the feeling of your warm cum. You were left groaning and panting, wrapping your arms around her waist and tugging her closer to you, wanting to shove every drop of your cum into her.

Once you finished, you couldn't help but collapse on top of her, panting to catch your breath, eyes shutting as you focused on the feeling of being buried inside Lynette, a few words utteres from your mouth, "Gonna be the cutest mommy."

It had her freezing for a moment, her heart beating quickly in her chest, before you tail thumped against the bed, her joy from your words not being able to be held in. You smiled against her shoulder as you felt her nuzzling her face into your hair affectionately, a soft purr beginning to be heard.

Thoughts of having a family, kids of your own went through your head, a silent love passing between you both as you relished in one another's arms.

ENDING NOTES: May have rushed the end a bit, apologies, I just couldn't find a good fitting end to write.

[fanaticsnail]

Recovery

Masterlist Here

(Art Link) 

Synopsis: You are in a recovery cot in a hospital willing to accommodate you, resting as your body heals from your latest battle. Expecting to recover alone, you are pleasantly surprised to find yourself within the company of the person you craved the most

Themes: gn!reader x zoro, gn!reader x sanji, separate drabbles, fluff, domestic fluff, mention of injuries.

Notes: Written for a new friend who’s currently in hospital for several hours who needed something to read. @enterprisearboretum I hope this helps! Speedy recovery!

Tag List: @sordidmusings @since-im-already-here @gingernut1314 @writingmysanity @cinnbar-bun @vespidphoenix @sexc-snail @feral-artistry @carrotsunshine

Zoro: 

Lying in the recovery bay, you shuffle the thin blankets up your chest to engulf your body with more of its lackluster warmth. No matter how much you cower beneath the blankets, the warmth would simply not rise to where you needed it the most. 

Shaking within the sheets, you remember Chopper suggesting you use your arms to heat your chest as opposed to using your hands to shake warmth into your biceps. Shuddering in each step, your fingertips brush with the bandages as you engulf your upper body in an embrace. 

The door to your bay slides open, revealing the First-Mate of your crew. His body is covered in bandages not so dissimilar than your own. Without making eye contact, he strides over in three long steps and brings himself to your bedside.

“Scooch over,” he utters, placing his three swords against the bedside table, “‘M gettin’ in.” 

“What-?” you begin, eyes widening in shock as he whips the blankets back and gently nudges you over with his large thighs. 

“-You always get cold in recovery,” Zoro spoke over your concern, tugging the thin blanket over your shoulders and his broad chest, “And I always get too hot. Need to feel you close. Cancel each other out, or whatever.” 

Where you expected this burly man to accidentally brush against your wounds, you found careful and slow movements from his fingertips. His hands slowly glide over your waist, his head settling into the single cushion behind you, while tugging gently for you to lie down against the firm mattress. 

“This okay?” he murmured, his eyes still not meeting your own in his own fluster. The heat radiating from his body immediately soothed over your freezing skin, the warmth encumbered you in an embrace of its own. 

You felt your body relax, slowly wincing as you raised your arm to brace against the larger man’s chest. 

“It’s nice,” you utter your confirmation to him, prompting his eyes to flutter open and look down at you, “Thank you, Zoro. You always think of everyone before yourself.”

“Was thinkin’ of myself too,” his smirk rose up to paint his lips with its radiance, “You’re always so bloody cold. 'Gotta cool myself down while I warm you up.”

Laying in each other's arms, you drift into a warm and comfortable slumber: as comfortable as one could be while recovering from hefty injuries. 

Sanji

Glancing out of the window, you propped yourself up onto the single, flat pillow to watch the soothing splash of the oceanic waves. The sea always calmed you in recovery, often finding yourself drawn to the rise of the subtle roar each time the water met with the shore. 

The sliding door opened, revealing the blonde chef of the Straw-Hat crew. In his left hand, a tray with several bowls of food in various shapes and sizes shuffled intentionally upon the silver tray. 

“Hello Sanji,” you smiled at him, wincing beneath the strain of your injuries as you attempted to greet him more appropriately. 

“No, no. Lay back and get comfortable,” he gestured with his right hand for you to recline against the backboard of the recovery cot, “I’ve brought you a couple of things for you to eat. Hope you’re hungry.” 

Smiling up at him, you scuttled back to assume a more comfortable, upright position. As Sanji began assembling the items in front of you, you felt your eyes called once more to the sea. The rise and fall of the waves prompted you to breathe in each time the soft foam brushed along the gold sand, exhaling each time the water tore itself away from the beach. 

“I brought you some seaweed soup cooked in beef bone broth,” he handed you the soft, bento tray, noticing the soup bowl off to the side, “I gave everyone else some spicy kimchi jjigae, but you said you were allergic to peppers from memory. I had to improvise with getting some heat into that dish. Ginger and some green radish should do the trick in making it spicy for you. Get the blood pumping to heal you better.”

Your eyes softened at the blonde chef. He always took such good care of the crew, even when in recovery himself. Upturning your eyebrows at him, you gave his hand a gentle tap as you expressed your gratitude to him.

“Thank you, chef,” you whispered, looking at the assembly. He’d cut several of the vegetables into various shapes: stars, flowers and animals. You cocked your head to the right, noticing a small shell beside the box. 

“What’s this?” you asked him, lifting the small shell up to hold it out in front of you. It was a small spiral, coiling up to a single point. Several specks of green spots littered the base of the shell, the peak in a warm yellow.

“It’s from the beach down there,” he smiled at you, placing down a final bowl of rice in front of you, “The beach calms you, right? Helps you breathe?”

“Oh, Sanji,” you chuckled at him, shaking your head as you smoothed the pad of your thumb over the shell, “You’ve really thought of everything, haven’t you?” 

“What was I meant to do?” he gestured his hands outwards with a small shrug, “Forget all of the knowledge you’ve made me privy to in our time together? Now, eat up. We sail as soon as you’re well enough to travel.” 

He smiled at you, turning away and making his way to the door. Your attention was fully captivated by the spiral shell he’d gifted you from the beach. You slowly inhaled with the ocean, breathing in the many herbal scents from the meal he’d dutifully prepared for you. Softly smiling, you began to make your way through the items, all while holding the small shell and breathing with the ocean.

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

CG and Execution Thumbnails

I recently got my hands on the V3 art book and I am absolutely obsessed with it!! I wanted to share some of my favourite (mostly subtle) differences between CG/Execution thumbnails and their final iterations.

In this death road of despair cg, Miu was originally supposed to be in the same slice as Kokichi and Gonta, and a tenth unknown person in the top left corner.

Angie seems much more defeated in the original sketch for the other death road of despair cg, with her head drooping rather than praying.

I just find Shuichi's grimace in the sketch of the first training cg Very funny compared to the final one (which is much more dignified).

Shuichi and Kaito's shocked expressions in the original sketch for the cg with Maki joining in training are delightful to me, I wish they kept them.

Maki originally was reaching out to Kaito in the trial 4 cg where his illness is revealed, as opposed to her straight posture in the final cg. Shuichi's expression in the thumbnail is also very funny to me.

The stupid little nose they gave kiibo in the sketch of the cg where he's lying flat in the hydraulic press made me giggle.

Maki's expression was much more intense in the original sketch for her pointing the crossbow at Kokichi in this cg.

Himiko's >_< face made me smile in the cg of everyone (minus Kiibo) training together after trial 5.

THIS thumbnail from trial 6 is especially interesting to me. I wonder if the thumbnail was made before the trial character placements were decided at all, so this portrait and figure are random. Or maybe this was done later on when it was partially decided, and a survivor was initially next to Tsumugi, before they were moved later. It's kind of hard to tell because of the, uh, lack of detail in this one. But I'm very curious.

In the dark belt bonus scene in chapter four, originally Himiko, Shuichi, and Gonta were in their normal outfits! Also, Gonta's expression is MUCH different. I'm glad we got that cute little smile in the end, its such an iconic Gonta CG and probably one of my favourites because of it.

Initially, the end of Kaede's Execution had everyone sitting as members of the audience. Its much less intense then the final result, so I think this was a good change.

Originally, there was no death fake out for the v3 survivors! Kiibo just let them be and proceeded to blow up the school.

BONUS:

Nothing different here as far as I can tell, I just LOVE how detailed the storyboards are for Kaito's execution. This is just one example. Its so, so pretty looking

[littlemessyjessi]

"Herbal or Verbal?": A Holiday Marauders HP Imagine: Sirius Black

A Holiday HP Marauders Imagine 

Sirius Black x Plus Size Reader, PS Reader, Reader

Use of Y/N because frankly if I tarry too long on flushing out an oc… it will never get written and we’ll all be lucky if I post it by NEXT holiday season.  

Fem identifying reader because I love women and I just want to.   

Warnings:  Mentions of Sirius’ terrible mother? Mentions of the first wizarding war with Moldysnort and all of the trauma kind of attached to that. 

Also, if you’re under 18, get out.  I love you.  I wish you well.  A very happy holiday season to you! But get out.  Auntie says this with as much love as possible but hit the bricks, kid.  Come back when you’re older. Love you but git.  Stay warm, drink some water, eat well and be kind to yourselves though.   Just because you ain’t allowed here doesn’t mean I don’t wish you the best.  You’re worthy of love but I must insist.   Scooch on out.   

Now, then. Let’s begin. 

………..

………..

………...

Thick puffs of smoke billowed out into the cold December air. 

A sigh with a mixture of irritation and anxiety followed it. 

Sirius Black sat on the steps of his girlfriend’s flat. 

A girlfriend that was nowhere to be found at the moment despite the fact that today she’d invited their whole friend group to a holiday get-together at her own home. 

His best mate, James, was also nowhere to be found… and HIS girlfriend hadn’t a clue of his whereabouts either. 

Sirius was not often irrationally jealous when it came to Y/N and today was no different. 

However, the both of them gone at the same time had him on edge for a myriad of reasons. 

The thought of his love and his best mate having been attacked… or worse… had his blood boiling and running cold simultaneously.   

His stomach was a complete mess of knots.  

Business with the Order hadn’t been good as of late with two recent deaths and death eater numbers growing every day. 

He’d ran into his oh so delightfully awful cousin, Bellatrix, just yesterday. 

Always a pleasant experience, that one. 

Nearly tried to kill him and Sirius would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about kicking her off a cliff on more than one occasion. 

Tensions had been high between him and Remus. 

The latter of which was currently sat inside the flat with dark circles under his eyes, a few new scars and barely concealed irritation as he waited ‘patiently’ on this chocolate tea that Y/N promised him. 

Lily, despite acting as if it were nothing, kept flitting back and forth in front of the fireplace as if the two of them would suddenly appear by floo powder when everyone knew damn well that Y/N sooner die than get soot in her hair before a party. 

She always apparated and floo powder was a last resort. 

“I can never get it out of my hair, Siri. Even with magic. And that must be awful for your lungs.  I can’t be bothered.” she’d told him once before when he’d suggested it as a opposed to a half a dozen trips by apparating to get the shopping home. 

To which she shamed him by shrinking the groceries, giving him an unimpressed look and apparating away in her sassy little fashion… leaving Sirius standing in the alleyway puzzled … and even more in love than usual. 

He rubbed his hands together to try and get the feeling back into them before heading inside only to be immediately mauled by Lily. 

“Have you seen them? Are they here yet?” she bombarded. 

“No, Evans.  No sign yet.” he said, swallowing the lump in his throat. 

The two of them shared a look. 

This didn’t feel good. 

At all. 

“Where’s Peter?” he asked, aggravated at having not seen their friend today when he knew that Y/N had most definitely invited him. 

“Said something came up.” Remus supplied from the couch, his fingers digging into his temples at the headache coming on.   “I don’t remember all the details but he said to pass on his apologies to Y/N and that he’d come by when he could.” 

Sirius ground his teeth together but chose to let it go. 

He knew expressing it would only cause a disagreement between him and Remus and given that two of their group were literally nowhere to be found… now did not seem like the time. 

He had all but decided on putting out an alert with the order when the door opened and the familiar scent of gingerbread that seemed to haunt him this entire month hit him. 

He whirled around and snatched the person into his arms, burying his face in their neck. 

“Siri, love, what’s happened?” 

He squeezed the soft, cushiony woman into his frame even tighter and refused to answer but the slight shivering that coursed through him told her he was either cold or scared. 

Given the month, it could’ve been both but she figured on the latter. 

“Sirius, sweetheart, it’s alright.  I’m sorry to have worried you.” she said finally pulling him away enough to look into those stormy eyes of his. 

“Have you seen James?” Lily butted in. 

“Lovely to see you too, best friend.” Y/N teased the ginger who gave her a pleading look.  “Yes, he’s outside.  He’s been with me the whole time and he’s fine.  Although, he is standing outside my home as a deer with his tongue stuck to the fence so you might want to take some warm water with you when you go.” 

“I’m ripping him off of it without any help.” she growled. 

“I thought you were fond of his tongue, Lillian.” Y/N teased. 

“Y/N!” Lily gasped. 

“I’m sorry, Lils.  The opportunity presented itself and it was just too good to pass up.  Had to.” Y/N admitted. 

Sirius couldn’t help but smile. 

Behind those chubby cheeks and soft, sweet face was the mind of a filthy little beast and he adored her for it. 

Merlin’s beard, he was so happy that they were both safe and sound but in recent times every second of worry was justified. 

She leaned up to peck Sirius’ lips once before looking around the flat.  

“Sorry it hasn’t been decorated.  I thought we’d be back long before now but your mother was apparently very lively today.” she said pulling out her wand and with a flick the whole flat had been transformed from it’s usual decor to a magical Christmas wonderland. 

A tower of tiny cakes emerged from nowhere where a giant poinsettia set atop it like a red star. 

The table became decorated with a glittering tablecloth, tea cups adorned with a holly print and shining baubles here and there.

Sirius smiled in awe despite the rage boiling inside him at that moment. 

Y/N was everything he wanted in a person and she could turn even the simplest things into magical moments. 

Which was saying something as everyone in that flat literally went to Hogwarts but he'd never got to experience the nostalgic things of childhood holidays.  

When he met her… he realized that Y/N celebrated everything and she gave it to others as well. 

Life was an experience with her and she made every moment count. 

It was a huge driving force of what drew him to her and something that made him fall in love with her more and more every day they spent together. 

“Alright, now that that’s settled.” she said. “I need to change my outfit quickly and then we’ll be ready.  Well, once James has been detached from the fence. I did tell him not to do that but then again, I also told him not to change into a deer this time a year because it would attract children who wanted to see Santa’s reindeer… but he never listens to me anyway which is another reason as to why we're late because a tiny little ginger girl wanted to ride Santa's reindeer and because she reminded him of Lily... he couldn't very well say no. So his dumb ass did three rounds and we're both standing there freezing our bits off. And he comes back and immediately decides to lick an icicle. I honestly don’t know why I’m even surprised anymore.” 

“Y/N.” Remus spoke from the couch cutting Sirius off before he could explode. 

“Yes, dear?” she said, turning towards him for the first time that day.  

“This tea you’ve been telling me about…” he spoke tiredly. 

“Herbal or Verbal?” she asked. 

“What?” 

“Herbal or Verbal?” she said again.  “Are we talking actual hot tea or hot gossip?  I have both today.” 

Remus simply blinked at her for a moment but smiled eventually. 

The two of them had weekly ‘tea time’ during school in which they would discuss a book, have some tea… and also spill it. 

Y/N knew EVERYONE and Remus was quiet so no one suspected him. 

The two little twerps sat there under the ruse of discussing a book and gossiped for a solid hour. 

Sirius was convinced she was cheating on for a solid week until Remus told him to shove off and that he would never date someone who he viewed as a sister.  

It would be like dating Lily. 

Lily, who happened to have been standing behind him at that time, was caught between admiring him and being completely insulted. 

The tea sessions continued through school but after graduation they had been few and far between since then. 

Remus chuckled, “Both I supposed but you did tell me about a chocolate tea when we spoke last week.” 

“I haven’t forgotten, dear.” she smiled. “I think I’ve got quite a few treats that you’ll like today actually.” 

“If you two are done flirting.” Sirius said impatiently rolling his eyes. 

“Sirius, it’s not like that-” Remus began. 

“Oh, he’s not serious, Remus. Well, he is but- oh for Merlin’s sake. I am not doing this today.” she huffed. “He’s not actually jealous.  That little vein in his neck isn’t popping out yet.” 

Remus lifted an eyebrow at her and Sirius only smirked despite himself. 

“What is it, my love?” she asked, coming to stand in front of him before speaking to Remus over her shoulder.  “Remus, feel free to begin.  We’ll all join in a moment but you’re absolutely no fun when you’re peckish.” 

“Gee thanks.” he responded. 

“You’re welcome.” she sassed back before turning her gaze back to Sirius.  “Please continue, love.” 

“Why did you go to my parents’ house? Do you realize how dangerous that is in general, much less alone?” he pressed. 

“I didn’t go alone, my love.  James was with me the entire time.” she said. 

“Why go anyway?” he pressed. “It was crawling with the wrong sort even before all this started.  Y/N, I don’t like that. If something had- if- if she- if they- if you-” 

“Sirius, darling, I’m so sorry to have frightened you.” she said, her chubby fingers coming up to curl around his jaw. 

Sirius loved her hands. 

Always had. 

He’d always loved how soft they looked. 

He loved the roundness of her fingers and the smoothness on the back of her hands. 

“I promise that we were perfectly safe.   We were in disguise. Polyjuice potion in fact on James’ end.  We never separated.  We changed our voices as well.” she soothed him. 

“Why did you even go?” he pressed. 

“Well, it was one part justice for my beloved/justice for James as you and he are as brothers.” she explained. “And the other part was that it was a mission for the Order.  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, love, but it was top secret. I couldn’t risk you stopping me.  There has been news that that house is being used as a meeting place for the death eaters.  You know the charms I’ve been working on lately?” 

At his nod she continued, “Well, Dumbledore asked me to place one at Grimmauld Place.  He figured with my metamorphamagus abilities, I could likely go a little more unnoticed.  He had Kingsley brew up some polyjuice potion for James and we went disguised as a couple of those children that play in the street there.” 

Sirius still didn’t like it but he also understood how Order missions went. 

“One hell of a well placed game of ding dong ditch, a snowball right in old Walburga’s face and your lady had the house bugged.  We were gone before they even knew what hit them!” came James’ voice as he and Lily finally entered the flat.  “It was brilliant, Pads, really.  She was brilliant.  I reckon old stuffy is still standing there picking snow out of her eyelashes as we speak.” 

Sirius laughed in spite of himself. 

He hated the idea of either of them going to his childhood home for more than one reason but the image of his best mate and the love of his life playing ding dong ditch and bashing his mother in the face with a snowball was just too hilarious for even him to ignore. 

“Please tell me that one of you looked at her and can share that memory.” he finally said once he’d stopped laughing. 

“Oh, mate.  I got you.” James laughed. 

Y/N rolled her eyes, “Yes, he does because whilst I was trying to safely get us back someone insisted on getting a good look for, and a quote, 

‘Sirius has to see this.  He’ll shit himself.’ So you’re welcome to get the pensieve out and piss yourselves with laughter.  Just don’t do it on my carpet.  I’ll be back in a moment.  I have an outfit picked out specifically for today and it shall not be going to waste.” 

Sirius watched her go before he and James rushed to retrieve the pensieve. 

The two of them were rolling on the floor laughing when she returned in her holiday best, complete with a rather intricately braided mass of red and green hair in a crown atop her head adorned with holly.  

Being a metamorphamagus did have it’s perks sometimes. 

“Alright, children.  It’s time for tea.” she said, taking her seat. 

“Herbal or Verbal?” Remus smirked at her, life and color back in his face a bit more since he’d already consumed two cups of this chocolate tea and about four chocolate biscuits. 

Y/N smiled at him, “Herbal this time, love.  Mind tapping that cranberry vanilla tea for me?” 

“Ew, stop flirting with each other.” Lily teased. 

“Oh, Lillian.” Y/N said, a smirk of her own crawling onto her mouth. “I think we both know that’s not how I flirt or shall we relive the Christmas of ‘76?” 

“What happened the Christmas of ‘76?” James asked curiously, far too aware of how quickly his girlfriend’s face was beginning to match her hair. 

“Lillian’s bisexual awakening.” Y/N said only for Lily to throw a biscuit at her. 

She caught it and simply dunked it in her tea. 

“What is this about then?” Sirius asked curiously. 

“Before we got together, love.  But only just.  We were together by the following Valentine’s Day.   Lily, a bit too drunk on the firewhiskey, accused me of being too soft and sweet for the likes of you.” she said, chuckling as Lily sunk in her chair. 

Sirius nearly choked on his tea because he knew all too well that of the two of them… Y/N had a far dirtier mind than he did. 

“And you call yourself her best friend, Evans.  You don’t know her at all.” he laughed. 

“Oh trust me, I got to know a whole new side of her that night.  I finally understood why she gets whatever she wants.  She’s fucking adorable usually but when she turns on the charm… merlin, woman.  That should be illegal.” Lily said, cheeks still aflame. 

“It only works because it’s used few and far between.  It’s more shock value than anything.” Y/N said with a shake of her head. 

“Explain Sirius then.” Remus piped up. 

“He loves me.  That’s different.” she shrugged. 

“I do, love but, er, I don’t know that it’s love that causes the rerouting of every single drop of blood in my body when you give me those eyes of yours.”  Sirius admitted with a nervous laugh. 

“Yes!” Lily chimed in.  “It’s unsettling because she’s normally so cute and then, bam! She just turns it on-.” 

“And turns you on?” Remus teased. 

“I think the two of you are evil twins separated at birth.” Lily said.  “Evil, the pair of you.” 

Remus and Y/N smiled coyly at one another, thoroughly enjoying both the verbal and herbal tea that had been served today. 

And all the rest wanted to smack the pair of them. 

“Happy Christmas, Remus.” 

“Happy Christmas, Y/N.” 

“Oi! Where’s my Happy Christmas? You are my girlfriend!” Sirius interrupted, vein popping out in his neck as a smidge of true jealousy flared. 

Y/N reached out to card a hand through his hair, “I had planned on giving you part of your Christmas later on when we we didn’t have an audience, my love, but I suppose it is the holidays.  Tis the season, I guess, if you have suddenly decided you would like to try voyeurism.” 

“Oi!” he said, panicking at the idea. 

And Y/N sat there, giggling into her tea, happy to have effectively flustered the lot of them. 

Even Remus who was less flustered and more shocked at the sheer cheek of her. 

A very Happy Christmas indeed.

��…

……

……

….. 

Hello, loves!  I hope you enjoy this holiday content! 

Hope ya’ll are having a great day! 

Love you. 

— 

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K, Love you, Bye!

[dogtoling]

Biology of Inkfish - Defenses

Cephalings have multiple defenses that are shared across species. All Cephalings have a strong, chitinous beak, and several powerful and flexible limbs. Many species additionally have venom, specialized ink or strong claws. They also have several deimatic displays, many which differ between species.

Deimatic Displays

Cephalings have a handful of threat displays in their arsenal. Although fleeing is typically the first course of action against predators, this is not always an option. A cephaling in distress will typically show a deimatic display in the form of showing the beak, facing the attacker and making itself look larger to look as menacing and unappealing to fight as possible. As a sign of aggression, the pupils of cephalings expand to take up almost the whole volume of the iris, which is a universal sign of aggression within cephalopods. Darker tentacle shades also signal aggression, and are highly prevalent in threat displays. The tentacles are usually turned dark and raised up in order to signal readiness to lunge and look larger. In species with papillae, spiking out the papillae is used for a similar reason.

Against a lot of predators, the bright and saturated colors inkfish naturally present their tentacles in are sometimes enough to discourage predators that understand them to signal toxicity.

[The deimatic display of a cuttling, portraying neutral display (A) and threat display (B). Many species of cuttling incorporate varying degrees of stripes in their deimatic display, but dark colors are still present. Inkfish in particular are often able to flare their masks to make their eyes stand out and appear more menacing.]

Some inkfish have ocelli, or false eye-spots, on their bodies. These ocelli are usually located on the back tentacles. Ocelli can come in many forms - as opposed to the mostly dark ocelli of their ancestors, the ocelli of inkfish mimic colorful eyes and can be vibrant, with often dark rims. This is because the function of the ocelli, when at their most visible, is to make potential predators that approach from behind think that the inkfish is facing them, even if it is facing the other way, as they are then less likely to attack. Many ocelli have vibrant rings consisting of iridophores tucked in the patterns.

Some cephalings have unique deimatic displays that deviate from standard threat displays. The most famous examples are the blue-ringed octolings, which may present a bright yellow, orange, or white with dark patches with iridescent blue rings inside to advertise their toxicity. Other honorable mentions include Humboldt squid, which rapidly flash between light and dark, and striped pyjama squid which display striking black-and-white stripes.

Camouflage

While cephalopod ancestors had very advanced ways of camouflage, from changing their shape to look like corals or seaweed to digging into the rubble or looking like venomous animals, all inkfish have relatively simple and similar camouflage abilities. Modern inkfish do not camouflage onto clean ground; they actually prefer flat ground that they have inked prior. With their more streamlined bodies and solid, bright colors, they are able to blend into a thin layer of ink nearly anywhere with the added bonus of being able to move quickly within the ink. This is a flexible type of camouflage that comes with an additional defense of being covered by ink, something many predators avoid stepping into.

Due to an inkfish’s main form of camouflage being lying flat in their own ink, their former complex color- and pattern-changing abilities are largely reduced to just larger-scale, blank vibrant colors with relatively little patterning. Species with prominent patterns are able to deactivate these patterns or mask them almost perfectly with ink.

Beaks and Claws

[An image showing the simplified structure of the beak and its position in the mouth. The inner buccal mass is brightly colored to serve as an additional threat display. Beaks often have black and white gradients, which imply hardness.]

All cephalings have chitinous beaks in their mouth. The exact bite strength depends on the species and their typical diet, with crustacean-eating cephalings typically having the strongest bites and scavengers having the weakest ones. The cephaling beak is designed to be softer around its attachment to the muscular base, and harder towards the tips where biting occurs - this design results in the beak often having a black-to-white gradient. Beaks with more black tend to have higher bite strength, with plenty of species being able to pierce straight through carapaces, but even softer white beaks can easily rip through flesh or even bone. The bite of most inkfish comes with a dose of nasty venom, which is also advertised by the brightly colored inner buccal mass in the mouth, visible when the beak is held open as a threat display and often matching the color of the ink.

All cephalings except octopodiformes have a variety of claws or hooks in their suction cups. The suckers on the limbs of squidlings are lined with small hooks or claws in the rim, giving them a nasty grip. While the denticulation on the crown tentacle suckers is very weak, species with longer hunting tentacles have club suckers designed for attack. These club suckers vary from having simple denticulated rims to having inch-long claws lining the edges all the way to having sharp, curved hooks. Other ten-limbed cephalings, such as the cuttling, also have denticulated suckers, but the denticulation is much lighter and less pronounced and thus isn’t much worse than a pinch. Ten-limbed cephalings typically use their claws both for hunting and defending themselves from predators, as well as territorial fights with other cephalings.

Limbs

Even beside all the possible armature in a cephaling’s suckers, even just the tentacles can be a hard thing to deal with for a predator. The limbs of a cephaling are incredibly flexible and strong, and even species with no claws such as octolings are able to cause some serious damage with them, typically in the form of constriction. Cephaling arms may be used like whips or to latch onto predators or prey in an attempt to strangle them, block the gills, or block air flow in the throat. The crown tentacles can be especially devastating, as the grip power of the suction cups in octolings is enough to leave behind bad bruising.

The limbs of a cephaling are useful bait in dire situations. Even if a cephaling is caught by a predator, losing a limb - especially a crown tentacle - is the ideal takeaway from the situation. From the perspective of very strong predators, cephaling limbs tear off easily, and oftentimes the cephaling itself can quickly escape the scene mostly unharmed. Limbs don’t bleed heavily and regenerate right back in less than a year, while crown tentacles typically regenerate in a month if not less. Crown tentacles are thus sometimes sacrificed intentionally to make an escape.

Venom

All cephalings have venom that is channeled into their saliva at will. This venom is primarily used in hunting and immobilizing prey, but it is also an asset at repelling predators and giving very nasty bites. The severity and strength of the venom differs largely by species, but as a rule of thumb, most inkfish don’t get severe effects from the bites of other inkfish’ venom, especially those of close relation. Bites themselves are devastating for other reasons, usually coming down to bacteria - but venom will rarely cause more than burning and pain in the general area.

The venom of cephalings includes digestive enzymes, which means that it will readily start dissolving and killing cells as it enters the bloodstream. This effect causes a near-immediate burning pain around the bite area, and the pain will typically spread across the body as the venom spreads. The venom of cephalings is built mostly to immobilize prey, and is lethal to crustaceans and smaller fish. As the venom spreads, it will cause its victim to lose feeling and control of their body. The aftermath of a cephaling bite can last for days, leaving the victim sluggish, tired and sore. 

Most cephalings are either immune or have greatly reduced effects from the venom of their own exact species. Cephalings are still able to envenomate other cephalings through a bite, although serious bites are rarely present in an inkfish quarrel. Many octolings in particular have genetic cross immunity or tolerance to neurotoxins such as saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin, but many squids do not, which makes inkfish venom immunities a confusing subject.

Ink

[Function of the inkfish propulsion sac, used both for firing ink out of the siphon at high velocity and for launching during jet propulsion. It is also used for primary breathing and for storing air during short periods of flight.]

Many types of cephaling have ink sacs. In species where the ink sacs are functional, ink is used mostly defensively, although many cephalings have small and insignificant ink sacs with ink that is mildly irritating at best and which is produced in small quantities. In contrast to this is the largest group of cephalings, the ink-using cephalings, also known as inklings or inkfish, which store and produce massive quantities of specialized, colorful ink that has many purposes.

Inklings get their common name from the unique relationship with their ink. The high-capacity, high-pressure ink sac in an inkling’s body is a major organ, forming the center of the ink vein system and producing massive quantities of colorful ink. This ink has many active uses relating to locomotion, hunting and defense as well as various passive uses that have to do with the inkling’s everyday activities. Ink is produced en masse in the ink sac and usually fired out of the siphon at high pressure, likely aimed to hit the eyes of an attacking predator.

Inkfish ink is antimicrobial and slightly acidic, protecting the body and skin from infections quite efficiently. It is thus effective both as a defense against predators as it is against disease. The acidity and chemical composition of inkfish ink make it an efficient method of tagging prey as well as repelling an attacker. Ink spray towards a target is often followed by a bite. In addition to being acidic, inkfish ink is sticky and causes a strong irritant reaction in contact to numerous animals’ skin, being especially devastating in contact with eyes or other sensory organs. Inkfish ink also oxidizes rapidly in contact with air, which makes it spread into a smokescreen when fired at certain consistencies, lending the inkfish time to escape. Additionally, this effect triggers ink to expand rapidly when released from the ink sac, which makes inkfish a surprisingly risky prey item as puncturing the ink sac will trigger a brief explosion of highly irritating material out of the body. Between this and the sticky ink flow coating the exterior of inkfish, they have long been difficult prey items for predators that do not hold resistance to either the ink or venom.

Inkfish ink grants the creatures great escape capabilities. Aside from ink spray to cloud the senses of a predator and sticky ink to slow them down, inkfish also move extremely fast in their ink. When faced by predators with poor eyesight, their camouflage abilities within the ink also allow them to slip by undetected or hide in plain sight, potentially leaving the predator to search empty traces of ink on the ground. Their ink and suction cups also allow them to scale vertical surfaces to high altitudes that many predators cannot follow them to. As an ultimate plan of escape, inkfish can use the propulsion organ in their mantle to shoot ink and even air or water in a pinch to launch themselves into the air and reorient hundreds of meters away from a dangerous situation.

Kraken

[Comparison between a regular inkling (left) and the same inkling after a Kraken response was triggered (right). The exponential increase in size is part of the greatly increased ink production associated with the state, with a lot of the ink concentrating in the muscles and under the skin to create the appearance of a much larger and more imposing creature.]

The “Kraken” is a last ditch-effort deimatic display present in most inkfish species. While some people refer to it as if it’s a form of some sort, it’s more of a state of mind and body. The activation of the Kraken is referred to as the Kraken response, for which the threshold lies at different levels of fear, anger or stress based on the individual. As a rule of thumb, though, the Kraken response is typically only reached in life-threatening or equally dire situations. This is often referred to as “krakening”.

The purpose of the Kraken response is to prepare a cornered inkfish that is out of options to flee a potentially lethal situation for a battle with the best chances to win. As a result, it is an all-or-nothing state that exists not for longevity, but for desperation and momentary survival. It is then unsurprising that the cocktail of chemicals present in the brain during transformations evens out to cause a mix of blind aggression, confusion, general disorientation and easily weaponized fear and alertness. The Kraken response triggers every intimidation tactic from showing one’s beak and claws to puffing out ink to the ink veins, which makes the inkfish look significantly larger and less approachable. Ink production and ink flow are greatly increased during Krakening, causing the inkfish to have a very thick ink coat near-constantly. A Kraken is quite easily distinguished through the apparent increase in size, prominent ink bleed, and a bold, dark color palette often with brightly contrasting stripes or miscellaneous patterns to create a foolproof threat display. 

Typically, Kraken transformations are short-lived and largely depend on how quickly the affected inkfish’s mental state stabilizes. The peak of a Kraken transformation is in the beginning when its overwhelming psychological effects are at its strongest, but they quickly begin to subside when the situation calms and hormonal balance begins to even out largely through the amount of excess stress hormones that get removed through the ink flow. Full Kraken transformations that occur naturally are not regularly sustainable, nor are they usually expected - most people will only Kraken one to three times in their lives. The intense emotional load during Krakening as well as the metabolic cost of producing so much ink make the state an extremely exhausting one to recover from. 

The Kraken is commonly used in ink battles as a special weapon by people who enjoy pure power or showmanship. In ink battles, it is triggered by a substance that artificially lowers the threshold for physical short-term effects of the transformation at a much lower level of agitation for a set amount of time, triggering the physical effects and bypassing most of the psychological ones. This makes it a relatively safe way of Krakening, although frequent use of the substance in the past has caused routine users’ natural Kraken response to become easier to trigger over time. As a result, legality has been widely questioned in ink battling circles for several years, but recently a new version of the substance has come out on the market.

[fantasyinvader]

Considering the localization choices I found over the last couple of days, I can understand why certain fans thought Treehouse hated Edelgard. Because, yes, the game does make her come off a lot more harshly than she does in the Japanese. That the English version primes the player from the onset to view her as arrogant and distant, rather than a typical noble girl like the Japanese makes her out to be. But as a result of this the Flame Emperor reveal, the game's main twist, doesn't have the same impact it was supposed to. Rather than the reveal of Edelgard, who was initially the least suspect lord, being the masked person aiding the villains we've been fighting, it comes across more like it was expected that would be the case.

Instead, fans take Edelgard's cute side as the suprise. “Yeah, I know she did all that awful stuff in Part 1, but Part 2 shows that she's not that bad.” The translation flipped Edelgard's gap moe.

However, this also kills the argument that the translators hated her.

For instance, if she fights Byleth at the end of Part 1 she says “I wish you were someone whose heart could be swayed by my words and deeds. If it were so, I would have done anything to make you my ally...” In the Japanese however? “I wish you were the kind of person who could be moved by my words and actions. So I did whatever I could to get you on my side...” The Japanese version flat out confirms that Edelgard was trying to manipulate Byleth, but got erased and made out that she didn't really do anything of the sort. Likewise, mention of her using an information campaign to sway the citizens of the Empire who are opposed to this war, or that Edelgard is really puppeteering TWSITD are removed. Her route even has it's named changed, the symbolism of the safflower replaced with that of a red rose. And on top of that, the ending of her route tries to tone down the final smack in the face to the player. Gone is Edelgard consolidating power on herself to impose her will, alongside her admitting she has been waling the path of supremacy (hadou) which holds very negative implications, and the endings try to make it out that she did work to bring freedom to the people rather than simply imposing her will on them. Oh, and Caspar invading other countries while unable to control the Imperial army? He's merely sometimes reckless, whereas he has “victims” in the other routes. It wants to make it out that your influence prevented her from becoming a monster, rather than her influence turning you into one, putting her in the same camp as Dimitri and Claude.

Meanwhile, the translation makes the Church out to be in the wrong with the Rhea ending saying she rehabilitated the Church, and Seteth's solo making it out that he was intolerant towards other faiths before rather than him taking the stick out of his ass.

The translation mischaracterized Edelgard completely, making her harsher in the beginning but softening her up in the end. It destroyed the twist and message of the game, as supporting a lying tyrant is just a manner or being morally grey when the original game it was supposed to become clear that the player was played and became the baddie by their own choice. It even goes so far as to try to tell players her ideals are close to Claude's when her line was that she doesn't think their ideals are the same, making her more compatible to the lords who don't invade other nations following the war.

The game was meant to condemn Edelgard as a villain, yet the translation just shrugged off her actions and went “moral ambiguity, am I right?”

[peach-and-bugs]

💚Bean Sprout - Lottie Matthews x fem!Reader💚

ch 1 - chapter 2 - ch 3

Fanfiction master list

disclaimer: don't repost my work. I only post on Tumblr and on Ao3. anything else is stolen and should be removed immediately

Summary: You've been happily married to Charlotte Matthews for some odd years now, but it feels like it's time to take a step in a new direction together... aka mama!Lottie

Warnings: suggestive conversation & implication, insecurity

Word Count: 1,346

A/N: Hello Loves, we're back with more Mama!Lottie! I kept this one on the shorter side compared to most chapters I write, but this one kinda ended pretty naturally and I didn't feel like forcing more into it. As always, feel free to leave questions or comments in my comments or ask box, and happy reading! 💚

Lottie Matthews Tag List: (open) @elliesjoints

Yellowjackets Tag List: @frasersgf @minimickzy

"Bean Sprout" Tag List: @mistysswampmud @emilynissangtr

General Tag List: @summergeezburr

-💚-

Of course, a much longer conversation was had, and after a few weeks of intense organization, you both moved on to talking with doctors about your options. You agreed together that you’d carry, seeing as you were younger. You’d argued that 34 wasn’t all that much younger compared to 38, but Lottie had only laughed, shaking her head. It had been some time now, and you'd had begun taking a wide variety of supplements as you started tracking your cycle to get the IVF going. 

On this evening, you were lying flat on your back on the couch, flipping through a binder of potential male donors that the clinic had given you to look through held over your head. Lottie moved into the living room from the kitchen, carrying two mugs of tea with her. She set one down on the coffee table in front of you before she tapped at your feet, silently asking you to scoot. You lifted your feet but didn’t look up from the binder. 

“This is so weird,” You grumbled. Lottie sat at the other end of the couch with her feet up on the coffee table as she moved your feet across her lap. 

“What’s weird, love,” she hummed, taking a sip of her still-steaming tea. She’d been brewing raspberry tea all week partly because of its boost for fertility but also just because she loved the flavor with honey. You sighed, turning through to another page of the binder, your eyes scanning over strange men’s faces and credentials for why you should pick them.

“Flipping through this book just to choose who we’ll use to make our baby,” you scrunched your nose at the wording with a scowl that made Lottie chuckle into her cup. “I wish you could just get me pregnant,” You mused under your breath as you flicked through the binder again, only to look away once more when you heard Lottie hum.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t think about that,” you perked up at the admission, dropping the binder to your stomach as you looked up at her with an arched brow. 

“Oh, have you now?” you mused with a wicked grin. Lottie realized her mistake and refused to look up from her cup, now taking another long sip in an attempt to shield her eyes. The binder was forgotten and slipped onto the coffee table as you moved from you’re lying position. You readjusted, sitting up on your knees beside your wife, the proximity being enough for her to feel your breath fanning over the skin of her neck. Still, she didn't look up, her eyes trained on the cup in her hands as she stirred it with the tiny metal spoon she’d brought with her. 

“Charlotte,” you murmured her full first name in that sing-song tone you so often use. She both loved and hated when you'd do that because, on the one hand, she adored the sound of her voice leaving your lips, but on the other, she knew what game you were playing. You grinned and took the cup out of her hands, moving to the coffee table beside your own because it had become quite offensive the amount of attention it was getting as opposed to you. You could hear Lottie swallow as you moved to straddle your thighs over her lap, arms looping ever naturally around her neck as you tilted your head with an innocent look. 

“Tell me about it,” you mused, batting your eyelashes as she looked up at you as though she’d been caught in your headlights. You ran your fingertips over her forehead, brushing away loose hair that obstructed your view of her, your ever-beautiful wife who’d grown shy at her admission. You knew Lottie had a lot of thoughts when it came to this pregnancy, not all of them being the most innocent.

She rarely ever talked about it, but it had come up long before. Before you were married, even when she had been very drunk one night, her loose lips had let it slip that the thought of her partner carrying a baby, well, specifically your baby, together, was quite exciting, but not only because of the anticipation. She’d felt horrible the next morning, having realized what she’d said, which led you both down a long rabbit hole of conversation to normalize and help her feel better, that thinking that way about your partner was completely normal, and you found the idea quite flattering. 

You knew that given the current conversation buzzing around the house, some of those thoughts and feelings could potentially be found fronting in her mind, though she hadn’t said anything about it till now. And though you now questioned her in a way that made it clear you also found her thought arousing, she held her tongue, keeping her fantasy to herself, much to your disappointment, but you weren't going to push. 

“Well, if you aren't going to tell me, at least help me pick a baby daddy, won’t you?” that phrasing caught her attention now, and you felt her arms snake around your hips, tugging you into her ever so slightly as her eyes found yours with a scrunch in her brow. 

“We aren’t calling him that,” there was a hushed harshness to her insistence that you relished in, biting your lip as you laughed. Without another word, you leaned in and kissed her lips but retreated before any heat could be added. “What was that,” Lottie asked, finally smiling with a curious crook in her brow.

“I like it when you get jealous,” you murmured, pecking at her cheek as you leaned away to reach for the binder again. 

“I wasn’t jealous-” she began to argue as you readjusted yourself over her lap, now letting your legs stretch over the couch as you’re back rested against the arm of the couch. Lottie’s right arm curled around your side while her other hand found its place comfortably over your thigh as you presented her with the binder. 

“Anyways, how do we even choose a doner when we haven't picked an egg yet,” Lottie asked, changing the subject. You pressed your lips in a frown. Neither of you had considered that portion yet. 

“I mean, it doesn’t matter to me. The doctor said we could use either of our eggs,” you recalled. You looked up at your wife to notice a fleeting unsureness in her gaze. “Does that worry you?” you blinked up at her. She faltered as she began to speak, her hand aimlessly starting to rub at your back as she considered her words. 

“I do worry about using my eggs, yes,” she eventually managed. You wanted to urge her to elaborate till it dawned on you. 

“Lot, are you worried about passing your mental illness to the baby?” She didn’t have to answer to verify your suspicion. “Well, we can always use my eggs and find someone similar to you as our donor. That way, it feels more like an even mix, you know?” you brushed your thumb over the apple of her cheek. “Plus, that’ll shrink our pool of candidates and make picking a donor easier,” She seemed relieved by how seamlessly you could solve her worries, though she still had concerns. 

“But I worry it’ll feel more like you’re having a baby,” she murmured, her eyes fleeting from yours once more. You turned her chin with your hand, giving her a scowled look. 

“Lottie. Regardless of who’s carrying or who’s dna is being used, this is our baby. Yours and mine because we’re the ones going through this pregnancy together, and we’ll be the ones raising this child when it’s done, ok?” She sighed, and you could feel her relax under your touch, taking your hand in hers to kiss your fingertips, silently giving you her thanks for understanding. You smiled, letting go of a satisfied breath through your nose before turning back to the binder. 

“Now help me pick a sperm donor so we can get this show on the road,”

[kaytheday]

Wild Woman at the Rodeo

Barrel racing used to be her escape. Cherry used to get on that horse right after her best friend Marcia had finished and ride as fast as she could. Her hair whipping behind her, all thoughts of school and boyfriends and not being good enough leaving as she put on those boots. 

That was before Dallas Winston started competing in the event after the barrel races. He would stand up on the fence next to his buddies. Laughing, talking loud, a toothpick hanging out of his mouth as he stomped around in his cowboy boots. 

Don’t get Cherry wrong. She didn’t get nervous in front of crowds and she was hardly opposed to yelling at a hood to leave her alone but Dallas was something else. He was interesting in the way that a firecracker was interesting. Moving so fast, dangerous and loud that it nearly blinded you. 

It was one rodeo after her and Marcia had finished riding. She was in her signature pink rodeo shirt with the two cherries on the pocket, cute flare jeans to go over her boots. She was talking to Marcia and smoking a rare cigarette. Things hadn’t been great at home lately and she knew her dad wouldn’t be able to distinguish the rodeo smell from cigarette smoke. 

“How you ladies doin?” Cherry ashed her smoke on the chain link fence before turning around to find none other than Dallas Winston. He was wearing worn levis over scuffed cowboy boots. He had an oversized flannel shirt thrown on, unbuttoned, exposing his flat stomach and a scar that ran from his rib to the top of his jeans. She huffed out a sigh, not really wanting to get into it with him. 

“What do you want?” She said in a no nonsense tone she’d heard her mother use plenty of times when she was younger.

“Woah, woah baby.” He smirked, putting his hands up in mock surrender while Cherry took another drag. “Just wanted to say that you guys are good riders, that’s all.” His New Yorker accent peeked through his words, twisting around his mouth playfully. She scoffed a little. 

“Thanks. Now don’t you have somewhere to be?” 

“I got a race to win if that’s what you mean.” The corner of his lips curled up into a small smile. “Why, you gonna come watch?” 

“Maybe, maybe not. You’ll just have to wait and see.” he smirked and left. Lighting a cigarette with a match on the bottom of his shoe as he walked away. 

Cherry would be lying if she said she didn’t like the compliment a little bit. The problem with her potential to fall in love with Dallas Winston was it could mess up everything she had worked so hard to build with the rodeo. 

Cherry was an entirely different girl at the rodeo. She was no longer her parents' little princess who went around in starched clean dresses and got good grades. In the rodeo ring, she was a wild woman. Her red hair whipping like the untamed winds of Oklahoma. She knew how to play a crowd like a lioness, rows of teeth looking like a smile but they still knew how much that bite could hurt. Here, she was more than a soc or her parents' money. 

More than anything else, the rodeo was Cherry’s escape. It was her escape from her sick mother at home and her emotionally absent father. An escape from the life of Socs and Greasers. An escape from everything that made her life rough in all those secret edges. 

She vowed then and there. She couldn’t fall in love with Dallas Winston here or anywhere. Despite his crooked smile and way he had complimented her, his flat stomach and the way he lit a cigarette. She wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t risk giving up the one thing that was truly hers. The one thing in her life that reminded her she was alive. 

The rodeo reminded her of the blood that ran through her veins like fire. It reminded her of the stories of horse women ancestors. The wild women that no man could tame. She thought of herself as one of those wild women. Her feet thundering across the plains of Oklahoma loud shrieks erupting from her lips like fire from the mouth of the dragon. She only felt that at the Rodeo. At the rodeo, she was truly alive. At the rodeo, she was free. 

This is for day 5 of @outsidersweek!

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe Rating: Teen Audiences Words: ~1K Summary: “What’s going on—?” he croaks to absolutely no one (weakened, vulnerable, alone, pathetic—), a jolt of fresh panic surging through his entire system. He’s never seen a gem flicker before. He has no idea what this means.

Got a short one-shot for y'all today! This was a quick lil' guy I whipped up within the past week to boost my Camp NaNoWriMo word count in between working on other projects.

It's a canon-compliant fic set during the SU movie.

Enjoy!

____

“What’s going on—?” he croaks to absolutely no one (weakened, vulnerable, alone, pathetic—), a jolt of fresh panic surging through his entire system as he watches the diamond at his core outright flicker.

He’s never seen a gem flicker before. He has no idea what this means. But even more urgently… his gaze snaps up to all the gemstones littering the grass like it’s a damned battlefield… he has no idea how he’s supposed to de-escalate this situation if he can’t successfully bubble this rogue Gem. The others will reform in no time, of that he’s sure— but so will she. And when she does, what’s stopping her from pulling out another weapon and attacking them all over again? 

Steven shakes the grim thought out of his head, exerting a surprising sum of energy in dragging himself back to his feet. (Stars, he’s so out of breath…) But no— no. He can’t allow himself to get so caught up in the brambles of such nebulous what-ifs. Come on, Universe. Stay resilient. Stay positive. There’s only one mission that matters at the moment, and that’s gathering up that weapon and all these gemstones and moving them somewhere safe. He’s capable of that much, at least.

Still… that anxious, always hyper-vigilant part of himself he tries hard to keep buried can’t help but dread the worst as he shoves that heart-shaped gem and the pink scythe into the deepest depths of his jacket pocket and drags his spent, trembling body up the hill to retrieve all his loved ones.

_

Steven collapses face-first upon the couch the second all the Gems are safely deposited on the living room coffee table, heaving what has to be the single most exaggerated groan of exhaustion any one soul has ever produced. 

Ugh.

Good golly.

Amethyst is usually back by now. That sure doesn’t shine any optimism on this situation, now does it? What on Earth did that scythe do to them?

And what the heck did it do to me, he thinks, the mere act of baseline existence leaving him as wiped as a marathon runner even though he’s literally lying as flat as a board. It’s a kind of total body exhaustion he rarely experiences, far more intense than a hard day’s workout or multiple nights of poor sleep. 

In fact, now that he ponders his predicament, he hasn’t felt as drained as this since—

He pales, his heart pounding at a somewhat uneven tempo. With much effort, he pushes himself upright again… yanks up the bottom hem of his shirt to splay his opposing hand across the familiar planes of his own gemstone, tracing their edges until his pulse calms down and he stops feeling so itchy and paranoid. No. Stop. it’s not like The Incident at all. He’s whole. They’re together, not split in half, not disconnected from one another.

Or at least… (he swallows. Hard.) Not physically.

Flashing a frustrated grimace, Steven gathers the gem of their attacker in his palms and attempts to form a bubble around it again. And again. And again. No dice, alas. The result is the same no matter how hard he tries. Even if he manages to fashion one large enough, it bursts only a few heartbeats later, leaving him breathless and haggard and with nothing to show for it. He wipes away the sweat that’s started to bead upon his forehead, and— rather defeated by this failure— dumps that damned gem back on the table a tad rougher than he probably ought to. 

Okay. So no bubble. Great. Just great. Absolutely peachy. What else about him is broken right now?

He throws out his arm, envisioning his shield bursting to life in front of it. And to his credit this hard-light weapon does briefly appear, but only as a glitchy flicker. Ugh. All right, so his shield’s a complete dud, too. With this in mind he sees no real point in testing any of his other powers. It seems his gem’s simply on the fritz now, no thanks to her. (He shoots a dirty glare at those pink, ever-taunting facets.) Plus, he figures an attempt and failure to float might prove disastrous. Best not to test fate today with how his luck’s been so far.

Steven clenches his fingers tight, painfully aware of how tense his whole body is right now. He outright can’t help it. This is the single most stressful thing that’s landed on his doorstep since the Diamonds crashed Garnet’s wedding. And not only that, but with all these muscle groups activated at once he can feel his pulse thrumming like a never-ending mantra within his wrist, its tempo frustratingly irregular. It reminds him a lot of how Dad describes his caffeine intolerance. Both keyed-up and jittery. Thrown to the brink of fight-or-flight but also exhausted to the point of collapse. It’s insufferable, and without the guidance and encouragement of the Gems he has no clue what he’s supposed to do about it.

Although… 

His breath quivering as he feels his gemstone glitch out within him yet again, he pulls his phone out of his pocket. (And boy, is he surprised the screen isn’t cracked after the mighty tumble he took up on the hill.) He taps into his messages and— his finger hovering over Connie’s picture for a moment longer than it ought to— (no, don’t worry her, just let her enjoy her space camp)— ultimately selects his dad’s contact.

Pls come quick as you can, he types furiously. Town in danger (???) from new Gem, everyone got poofed. At house.

Send.

The teen slumps back upon the couch, letting himself sink back into its plush, reassuring comfort. There. At least Dad might be able to help. And even if he can’t, well… 

(He wipes away that annoying stray tear pooling at the edge of one of his eyes. Childish, he chides himself. Stupid.)

At least it’s better than weathering this storm on his own.

[meetmyothersouls]

Back to you 8:

Back to You

Jonah Hauer-King x first person reader

Warnings: kissing, sexual situation, feeling overwhelmed, not proof read

Chapter 8

I wake up and it’s colder than I remember. But the cold doesn’t penetrate very deep. I’m wrapped up in arms, not blankets. My legs are tangled with another’s and not sheets. I open my eyes and I find myself pressed against Jonah’s chest. He’s laying on his side, facing me. His breaths are deep, steady and even. It’s still dark out and we’re both asleep on the floor, which I would normally be opposed to, but somehow these cold, hardwood floors seem more forgiving with you’re lying on them with someone who cares about you. I attempt to adjust my body, not looking forward to the repositioning of my limbs, but as soon as I inch away from Jonah he pulls me back against him. He wants me even in his sleep. I can’t remember having that…ever. There was that one guy that really wanted me at some point. I just can’t put my finger on who it was. But never someone who just no matter what…wanted me. Needed me.

Jonah groans in his sleep, followed by the lightest faintest snore that makes me smile. His arm is draped over my hip, just like I didn’t want to happen. But currently, I can’t find myself mad at it. I let it stay there. I close my eyes and attempt to go back to sleep but I’m suddenly too aware of his body against mine. And how it feels. I’m not hating it. Maybe it’s because I’ve haven’t been touched by someone…well that I can recollect, in a long, long time. Then I start to wonder. Would it be wrong just to have fun with Jonah? Would it be wrong to let him touch me and love me, even if I’d not fully love him back. Even if I’m not sure about my feelings or what I want. I’ve not decided anything yet. I’m still testing the waters…so what if I just…

I press my lips gently against his neck. I feel him swallow hard, but judging by his still steady breaths, he isn’t awake yet. He’s wearing one of those thin white tank tops, the ones that men wear under shirts. I smile as I skillfully move my hand under it and feel the ripples and grooves of his abs against my fingertips. Something tells me he probably sleeps in just boxers, but he remained clothed in an effort to keep me comfortable. It’s a shame, because I’d really like to see him right now. My mind is wondering to dangerous territory. I kiss Jonah’s neck again. And this time he lets out the softest moan. It’s a beautiful sound. But maybe I should stop.

I start to slide my hand out from under his shirt when Jonah places his hand on top of mine. I’ve been caught. I feel my face growing hot and I can’t hide the embarrassment. My eyes snap up to his and he’s looking right at me.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be touching you. I-”

Then, without a warning, his lips are on mine, kissing me deep and passionately. Any thoughts I had previously have been wiped away. There’s nothing but this kiss we’re sharing right now. Jonah’s tongue swipes against my bottom lip and I open my mouth wider to let him in. Our tongues slide against each others, tasting each other. I can’t remember the last time I’ve kissed someone like this…if I’ve ever kissed someone like this. All I know is that this seems very practiced. Like a dance. Every move he does is bliss. Before I realize what I’m doing, my back is flat against the floor and Jonah is on top of me, the pressure of his and fit of his body seemingly perfect against mine.

There’s a knock against our door. We pull away from each other breathless. The only light illuminating Jonah’s face is the the soft light of the moon peeking through the hotel curtains. When the knock doesn’t sound again, his lips crash back into mine. We move against each other in perfect unison and I wonder if this is the passion we shared previously.

I let my legs fall open, needing him as close to me as possible. His hand goes down to my thigh, and he pulls my leg up, and when he does I can feel him. Every clothed inch of him. And suddenly, it’s too much. I press my hand against this chest and push lightly. Immediately Jonah stops.

“What is it?” He asks. “What’s wrong?”

It’s only then that I can see his breath clouding in front of him.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s too much. It’s too fast.”

He closes his eyes and he doesn’t so much as sigh or drop his head to let me know he’s disappointed. But I know he is. I never should have touched him.

Jonah gets up but doesn’t say anything. He walks to the bathroom in the room. The door closes and the light flips on. Fuck. He’s really mad this time. The toilet flushes, the water from the faucet turns on then off. Then he’s back out. Instead of joining me on the floor he sits on the bed. I sit up on the floor, looking up at him. I feel like a stupid child.

“Are you mad at me?” I ask.

“Of course not,” Jonah says, his soft British accent melting my heart all over again. “I should be the one apologizing to you, I pounced on you without a word. I never should have moved that quickly without talking to you first,” Jonah sighs, running a hand through his now messy hair. The sun hasn’t come up yet but the bluish hue in the room is brighter than before. “I was just caught up in the moment. It felt so familiar to have you like that. Touching me, kissing my neck in the middle of the night. I reacted before I thought better if it. I am sorry, y/n.”

He’s too kind. Way too kind. How did I ever land a man like this. I realize maybe this is why I fell in love with him in the first place.

Jonah’s POV:

I’m desperately trying to catch my breath. Even speaking to her leaves me breathless. It’s taking everything out of me to not pin her back down on the floor as she sits down look up at me. She’s getting back that look in her eyes that she always used to have. That unmistakable look of love that she always had when I was around. It’s coming back. She’s coming back to me. And as hard as it is, I just have to keep being patient. I can’t lose my cool again like that.

“The kissing was nice,” y/n says in a soft voice from the floor. She’s wrapping up in a blanket, and I realize how cold it is in the room.

“It was very nice,” I agree. I ready over and touch the heater in the room. It’s ice cold.

“It’s so cold in here,” she says, changing the subject.

Before I have the chance to respond, there’s another knock on the door. I get up, throwing on my sweater from yesterday. I crack the door open and I’m greeted by an older man. He’s donned in a sleeping cap, a robe and some house slippers. It’s almost humorous.

“Can I help you?” I ask.

“Hello,” the man says. “I’m Harold, I’m sorry to wake you sir, but there seems to be an outage in the area. Not heat, no power.”

“Ah well, we’re leaving in a few hours anyway.”

“Well I’m afraid that won’t be possible, my boy.”

“Why not?” I ask, my confused look most likely evident.

“We’re snowed in.”

Tags: @danielabetancourth @luna2034 @wandamaximoffbae @twinkledinkleg-blog @justagirlwholovedtoread @nonsensical-nonsence @paramorelvrr @thedonswife13 @miniemonie2001 1 1 @jonahhauer-kingg @crazyyynyyyy

[milfclaren]

Please go on a rant about Lando’s birth chart now

oh God. y’all really want me to talk til i’m blue in the face huh?

disclaimer: this chart reading is limited, as lando has not shared his birth time and because of that, i can’t know his rising sign. if i had to guess, it feels like his chart ruler is either mercury (gemini/virgo) or venus (taurus/libra) but that’s just my initial thought, purely based on vibes. i’ll do my reading with no rising sign, as i would rather be ill-informed than flat out wrong.

if you haven’t seen lando’s chart + aspects, it looks something like this:

and if this is all shapes and colors to you, don’t worry!dr. yaps-a-lot is here!

first thing first, holy fuck there’s a lot of mars and saturn influence. like, there is so much of both. this is not uncommon for an athlete’s chart, as when we think of mars, we think of action and when we think saturn, we think of discipline. his sun and mercury are both in scorpio, moon and mars are in capricorn, and his libra is in venus. his saturn is in taurus, and although saturn is a more outer planet and it moves very slowly, i will talk a bit on his saturn because it is so fucking prevalent in his chart. it aspects three of his major placements.

we’ll start with basics, with his scorpio sun. we all know the stereotypes for scorpio suns (moody, possessive liars) so i won’t talk too much about those traits. your sun sign is supposed to frame your approach or perspective, and scorpio is a fixed sign ruled by mars — the planet of action, strategy, ambition; the physical means with which you use to achieve your goals. lando’s incredibly dedicated and incredibly passionate about what he does, we know this. he’s got a strong loyalty to his beliefs. he is firm and uncompromising about the convinctions he holds as true. scorpio also rules the subconscious or unknown, which means that the sun is not necessarily comfortable here but lando exhibits scorpio sun behavior clearly and constantly. this is in part because his sun and mercury are conjunct — there are very few degrees separating them and they are working in tandem with one another.

mercury in a birth chart represents communication - it shapes the way you communicate with the world and express yourself entirely. in scorpio, it means he’s a very intuitive, observant communicator. one of the most interesting landoisms is how receptive he is to the other person in the conversation, especially when it comes to his self-perception and how he alters that, as i talked about previously. a ‘more traditional’ sun conjunct mercury individual is able to communicate a more unified approach in how they share themselves with others. there’s an alignment or harmony with the things they say/believe and the things they do. lando’s mercury is in retrograde, which means things are not as straightforward for him. a planet in retrograde is just a planet moving in the opposite of it’s intended direction — meaning, it will sometimes do the opposite of what it’s intended to do. his style of communication is not as direct as one might traditionally see with this aspect. adding to that, his mercury is in the sign of scorpio, which represents the unknown/subconscious. he can come across as contradictory, or confusing. in the aforementioned post i said (from his perspective) people are dedicated to misunderstanding him — this is what i mean. what he communicates, lando intends as genuine. But what you interpret could be entirely the opposite of what of he intended. just because lando is frank and direct, does not mean that he’s clear or forthcoming. this is maybe why people have a hard time discerning what he means most of the time — it’s hard to know when he’s joking and when he’s serious, when he’s lying and when he’s telling the truth.

his sun also opposes his saturn. saturn represents a lot of things astrologically; control, discipline, consequences, structure, obligation. an opposition is when two planets are 180 degrees from one another — representing two opposing facets of the same ideal in a way. for him to be most successful, he has to find balance. this is maybe where that struggle for control i talked about before comes from, and it’s a huge part of why he’s overly self-critical. lando has always held himself to impossible expectations, and struggles most with his own disappointment when he fails to meet those goals. (even if they were maybe not achievable goals in the first place.) it’s important for him not to sabotage himself in this regard, because other parts of his chart actually set him up well to achieve his goals. shame and self-doubt could be the biggest thief of all his joy and success.

since we’re talking saturn, let’s get into his capricorn moon and mars. his moon and his mars are conjunct, and additionally, his sun sextiles both of these placements. (a sextile is often a favorable aspect, it means there’s 60 degrees of separation between the two placements, leading to a complementary relationship with them — bringing balance or harmony, in this case.)

the moon represents your emotional world, and your inner perception of self. lando’s moon being in capricorn is so fucking fitting. he’s pragmatic, headstrong, defiant, guarded and overly self-critical. capricorn often represents where there is more structure and order in an area of someone’s chart, but the moon is detriment in capricorn. your inner emotional world is a deepily illogical and vulnerable place, and lunar capricorns are people who look to logic and pragmatism to create a sense of order and safety. people with this placement feel things very deeply, though. any feeling too strong for them to understand or control must be suppressed, and if can’t be, they’ll likely throw themselves head-over-foot into whatever goals they have to ignore the feeling anyhow. usually, any attempts to suppress or control emotions they don’t understand lead to the emotions controlling them in ways they don’t recognize. and i mean, i think it’s clear lando does Not enjoy expressing a lot of emotion. (his moon trines his saturn: he takes pride in being able to control and restrain his emotions.) he would much rather come across as cool and unaffected, especially if he doesn’t trust you. trust is a HUGE thing for capricorn moons — very hard to gain, very easy to lose. they usually have a harder time trusting people who are flakier or inconsistent emotionally. i often think of when lando and luisa broke up, and he spent a good few months literally never sitting still. he picked up fucking dj’ing so he had a day job AND a nighttime hobby. or i think of how long it took him a bit more time to really open up and understand daniel, someone that lives a lot in emotional extremes/floats between them frequently.

i’ve already talked a lot about mars, but let’s dig into mars in capricorn right quick. this is sexyyy, to me. capricorn loves to be in mars - it’s all about productivity, and mars loves to take action. he’s incredibly disciplined and goal-oriented but probably doesn’t allow himself to enjoy the fruits of his labor nearly enough. he is headstrong in succeeding anyways. i don’t find him to be showboaty or cocky. rather, he leads more by doing or showing and less by saying. generally, he’s also going to feel more rewarded when he sees the tangible results of the work he’s putting in. he may not be patient, but he is persistent. eventually, he will get there and he will get there his way [mars trines his saturn]. he’s just as determined as he is cautious, and he has an impossible amount of focus for the things he wants to achieve. it’s why failing while learning something new doesn’t scare him off. he doesn’t stop playing golf despite the fact that he’s not great at it — he likes golfing, so he took the time to learn how to do it himself, and there is some level of pride in that. circling back to moon conjunct mars: the things he has passion for, he loves to do and he throws himself into them totally. think of his revolving door of hobbies, how he gets fixated on one for weeks or months at a time and then once the passion dissipates, he moves on to the next one. all the aforementioned warnings of being overly doubtful or self critical still stand but lando has talked about not believing himself but trying anyways. at least twice before! i find that to be a very mars in capricorn sentiment, or a very unique way to use self doubt as a sense of motivation at the least. having the motivation to try something knowing you’re going to fail over and over again comes from nothing but passion, though that’s a very realistic way to look at trying and doing and learning.

and now, let’s talk venus in libra. i think his whole chart is good, but this is one of my favorite placements ever. venus represents your relationships with and to other people. libra is in its domicile (home planet) — it’s comfortable here. a libra venus is someone who might prioritize the traditional pleasures in life: they like beautiful people, places, things and ideas. think him traveling to absurd corners of the world, all his rumored partners being models, all of his cars are customized down to the very smallest details.

people who have venus in libra are charming and affable — most people lando meet end up really liking him. he’s kind, thoughtful and by nature, dedicated to what he considers right, just or fair. libra placements often get painted as a peacemaker, but in the case of libra venus i more see it as them trying to figure out what you need/what the dynamic needs and prioritizing that, to instill balance. think of lando’s dynamic with daniel versus with oscar. daniel was louder and goofier by nature so lando felt he had more of a chance to be quieter and more chilled. oscar was more serious and much more reserved at first, so lando took it upon himself to be a bit louder and sillier. he lead in bridging that gap — so that oscar would eventually feel comfortable enough to do the same. people with venus in libra traditionally enjoy feeling needed, and might look for opportunities to do so. (in my mind’s eye, i’m replaying the video of lando grabbing carlos’ gloves from where carlos set them down, just so he could hand them to carlos put them on.) they need to be cautious and firm with the boundaries they set. people who rely on them too heavily, and offer them nothing in return will cause them to feel great amounts of resentment and distrust. the beauty lives in the balance, babey.

i’m gonna step off my soapbox but before i do, i want to point out his north node. the north node is supposed to be what you’re working towards in this lifetime. lando’s north node is in leo, which means most of the work he’s going to do in this lifetime is directly related to developing his sense of self, strengthening his self-expression and reassessing the relationship he has to intimacy and vulnerability. in the context of the rest of his chart, i find that hilarious. oh my sweet sweet landito, the stars really had it out for you….

[lnkedmyheart]

why do so many people think dazai's character is just "it all went according to plan" like as if that man hasn't ever miscalculated before. he def has like, yes he's a prodigy there's even some things he can't predict.

A lot of modern readers tend to reduce everything to surface level traits. Everything needs to be spelled out or its existence is denied. Queer subtext for instance is disregarded as headcanon and blatant subtext is called fanservice. Actual queer themes and subtext are denied but shit like purple lighting is seen as hard evidence of bisexuality. Dazai's entire thing is subtext and context. You have to view Dazai's words and decisions in relation to his actions. What makes him interesting is that he is always lying even when he doesnt need to but he can be pretty honest and not worry about people taking him seriously. He also tends to usually lie via omission or misdirection as opposed to outright lying except around Chuuya with whom he flat out lies despite the latter being able to see right through him. And its not like modern readers are stupid or anything like that. I think its the tiktok effect, the majority of the books I was recommended via booktok give me a very clear picture of what current readers are reading and most books are surface level juvenile pieces which actively require you to ditch your critical thinking while reading. 'Show, dont tell' is a rarity. Its also in part because the anime cut out a lot of Dazai's fumbling.

[aihoshiino]

Do you think that in 45510 what Ai said about her ideal type (someone who doesn't mind her and doesn't get annoyed everytime she messes up becuase she messes up a lot) is her genuine answer or some sort of strategic answer as an idol? Because she before that she said that people would be sad if they don't fit her ideal type so she used her charisma to form this answer? As all the people seem to love ai and would generally won't mind her because people love their idol a bit too much that they willingly would change their habits or behaviour and the answer would make them happy or smth?

I'm pretty sure it's her genuine answer. Partially is just because it lines up with what we know about Ai's personality and what she wants out of her relationships with other people - she wants people to know who she really is, including all her flaws, and to accept her as she is. A person constantly nitpicking at her obviously isn't someone who can do that and Ai framing this as being about fairness for the other person is also in line with her tendency to direct blame at herself rather than anyone else when she is let down or mistreated.

There's also the fact that the emotional narrative of 45510 is about Ai's honesty and Nino's refusal to come to terms with it. Nino talks about how these sorts of streams often end up with you unintentionally letting more of your honest thoughts out than you intended. It's also worth noting that Nino is absolutely the 'villain' of this little story, at least in terms of framing. She spends the entire story tearing down Ai's attempts at sincerity and is hostile and uncharitable towards her in ways we are clearly not supposed to sympathize with. Even when she is finally coaxed into begrudgingly admitting that Ai was opening up about her true feelings and considering meeting Ai in the middle, all it takes is her being met with a version of Ai who doesn't conform to her own image of the woman for her to be so repulsed and shocked that she has to permanently destroy every trace of it beyond recovery.

Ai's sincerity and desperation to connect being met by Nino's disgust and rejection is the emotional heart of 45510, even as it comes in the form of a gut punch. That emotional beat just ends up falling kind of flat if it turns out that Ai was, in fact, secretly lying here the whole time.

It's also worth paying attention to the way Ai answers questions in this little Q&A session - rather than outright lying, she just gives vague, non-responses to questions she doesn't want to or can't answer. Anytime she gives a direct answer to a question, it lines up with things we otherwise know to be true or are accurate to and in line with feelings she expresses elsewhere. The only time she directly lies, imo, is when she describes Aqua and Ruby as 'a relative's children'.

This also lines up with the way Ai answers some of the questions in the Da Vinci interview - pretty and polished, sure, but still pretty in line with like... basic reality.

In general, the rule of thumb when it comes to Ai's lies is that they're lies of omission as opposed to actively making shit up. It's about leaving out anything that dirties up and tarnishes the pretty image people want to see.

[tqila-sunset]

Not describing something experienced by a wide array of people with a word that implies a more limited scope is a great reason to not use TMA/TME. We already have a lot of potential language for that, we could just talk about that the same way you propose talking about transandrophobia and exorsexism. It's so weird to see people say things like that and then go "but transmisogyny and the way it's used is fine, because the oppression of women is bizarrely sacred". I also am really opposed to the androphobia thing. I'm not saying androphobia against cis men necessarily exists, but I think the trend of saying that TERFs (forex) know trans women are women deep down and just uniquely hate them for being trans women is really ridiculous. Like I saw a post recently that was like "they didn't get there by hating men so hard". Like, yes! They very much did! I get MRAs are cringe and exhausting to deal with but the aversion to describing masculinity as ever being treated negatively has gotten downright pathological.

Now some trans women are just flat out lying to themselves because they've pinned their sense of identity to what transphobes must secretly really feel inside instead of accepting that what other people think doesn't make them less valid. And in the process that means also erasing the harm people like TERFs do to everyone else because now so much as saying "TERFs are also bad because-" is apparently decentering of trans women, who must always be the Primary Victim at all times.

i disagree with the first bit because i've never heard good alternatives to discussing the concept of trans-misogyny other than the term trans-misogyny. like, i could say "the intersection of transphobia and misogyny, which primarily targets trans-feminine and adjacent populations while affecting a wide array of other people less directly" but i prefer just saying "trans-misogyny."

i also like the word transmisogyny because it can be blended with misogynoir (into trans-misogynoir, or the intersection of anti-Blackness, transphobia, and misogyny) very cleanly and that just tickles my autism.

I also disagree with how you've characterised the conflict in the other two paragraphs. i don't understand TERFs as hating men. they hate trans people, primarily trans women, so they degender and position trans women as aggressive men. but (imo) they don't do this because they imagine trans women as men, TERFs would never treat someone they saw as a legitimate man the way they treat trans women. maybe some see trans women as illegitimate men but that's all a woman is to a misogynist - a shitty alternative to a man.

i've never been (openly - obvs i can't read minds) dismissed in conversations about transphobia, misogyny, and the intersections of those axes of oppression by my transfem peers. to some extent i assume that this is because i cite transfeminist thought when i discuss queerphobia rather than relying purely on my personal experiences as a TME trans person.