#crystal shares community

[crystalshares]

Life can be tough, but every challenge is a chance to grow. Let your past shape you into who you're meant to be. Keep moving forward with courage and strength. You are capable of amazing things! 🌟 #GrowthJourney #StayStrong #CrystalShares

[nelkcats]

Ice Crystal

When Clark was exploring the fortress of solitude he found murals of a teenage boy on the ice walls. He frowned and followed the drawings to a room he had never visited.

That was odd, so he approached cautiously; it turned out, the room was empty beyond the drawings adorning the walls, which oddly looked like constellations. In the center was an ice table with a crystal glowing toxic green hovering over it.

At first, the Kryptonian thought it was Kryptonite but the crystal hadn't made him feel weak. In general, it didn't make him feel anything. He frowned and took the crystal in his hands, beyond causing him to feel cold nothing happened. He decided to put the crystal back where it was, determined to investigate it later.

Unbeknownst to Clark, a few minutes after he left the room the crystal began to flicker. A "Hello?" was heard around the room as a confused hologram flashed, Danny looked around the place with a frown before cutting the call.

Of course, Clark forgot about it rather quickly, and it wasn't until years later when Jon and Kon were exploring the place (clearly without telling Clark) that they found the strange room. Though contrary to Superman, they stayed and could hear the voice clearly.

[neo-shitty]

i've let myself be fully absorbed by minecraft :')

[bixels]

End-of-Splatoon thoughts.

Thinking about how since the very start, Splatoon has had a feature where players can draw and post artwork and spot them as graffiti on walls or billboards. Or how the weapons have always been paint brushes and rollers and ballpoint pens. Since its inception, Splatoon has been dedicated to engaging its players with the act of creation and creative expression, showing them how their art can build communities and (literally) change the world.

Thinking about finding golden human-made music discs buried underground for thousands of years, and a grand finale music festival. About the Voyager Golden Records. About those human handprints etched into concrete in Alterna. Did those human artists know it would end like this? First a fiery death and then, eventually, a worldwide celebration of music to represent our shared past, present, and future. Did they know that their songs, insignificant in the face of extinction, would one day become the solution that will save the next dominant life-form from the same fate?

Thinking about how eerily similar the Octarian domes are to Alterna. About how close Inklings and Octolings were to repeating the same mistakes as humans. But their doomed fates were undone not by some miracle technology or military power or a rocket, but by music.

Thinking about how humans wiped themselves out with war, and our parting gifts were liquid crystals that somehow paired with the DNA of primeval inklings and somehow infused them with our memories and culture and a Song. And 12,000 years in the future, that same Song will end a war.

Thinking about how art and music and punk culture and rock & roll and friendly competition and petty arguments and water guns aren’t uniquely human concepts, but the fundamental qualities of intelligent life. An inheritable spirit that can cross evolutionary bounds.

Thinking about the theme of Splatoon, that art and music and fun will not die with the human race. That every piece of art we create is a seed we sow for future generations to reap. That our legacy is ingrained into the crust of the earth. That long after we’re gone, the oceans will remember, and they’ll pick up where we left off.

Thinking about how Splatoon says that the essence of humanity –– the thing that will outlive us –– isn't war or prejudice or destruction or greed, it's a song.

[theneighborhoodsave]

V1: Willow Creek + Magnolia Promenade 🏠

The Neighborhood is a CC-free save file that explores the concept of home. V1 celebrates the vibrant communities of the U.S. Gulf Coast. ❤️

This is what comes in V1:

13 community lots

22 total residences (includes 3 multi-family rental lots, 9 single family homes)

New High School & Auditorium in Copperdale (+8 school staff townies)

Secret lot (Sylvan Glade) reimagined

17 unique households with skills, jobs, relationships, and stories that tie into the town

New clubs and holidays

Download, screenshots & more info below ↪

The wonderful Ly family in Willow Creek was lovingly created for the save by @cowplant-snacks. All other neighbors were made by me, you can meet all of them here! Pets are from Pugowned, misc. townies from @cowplant-snacks and @simsontherope on the gallery.

There's lots of little details and things to explore, both around the world and relationship wise, so I'm excited to see what y'all uncover. Please feel free to @theneighborhoodsave in your posts or tag #theneighborhoodsave. I'd love to see what your sims are up to!

I also want to say thank you to anyone who's appreciated this creative journey with me. This save feels like home to me and y'all have supported me every step of the way!

Download the The Neighborhood save on SFS

Alt: Google Drive

The save is 100% CC free! Please note that I do have all expansions, packs, and kits (except for Castle Estate, Goth Galore + Crystal Creations.) For any items you don't own the game will try to auto find replacements for those items. The file is mostly blank this time around but does include the original EA builds in university and vacation type worlds (sans Granite Falls.)

Included is a folder of completely optional skin details/eyelashes for the neighbor sims. Thank you to @faaeish, @pyxiidis, @tamo-sim, and @landgraabbed! There are 4 pieces of CC I cannot include in the folder due to creator TOU. Please check the included "Read Me" file for more information.

All builds and families are up on the gallery (@sweetbeagaming) + tray files have been shared here.

If you've never used a save file and need help installing it, I highly recommend this tutorial by @leeleebsimming.

⚠️ A couple of disclaimers here due to some existing EA bugs. EDIT 4/25: Included in that link are directions on how to avoid TOOL'd items from disappearing. If you want to keep powerlines and such please check this out! ⚠️

Everything was tested to work around these, but I wanted to put them out there as an FYI.

TOU: Please don't reupload my save/builds/sims, claim as your own, and absolutely do not paywall them. Other than that feel free to build your own Neighborhood stories however you'd like!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Kickstarting a new Martin Hench novel about the dawn of enshittification

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/07/weird-pcs/#a-mormon-bishop-an-orthodox-rabbi-and-a-catholic-priest-walk-into-a-personal-computing-revolution

Picks and Shovels is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. You can pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by @wilwheaton:

http://martinhench.com

This is the third Hench novel, following on from the nationally bestselling The Bezzle (2024) and Red Team Blues (2023). I wrote Red Team Blues with a funny conceit: what if I wrote the final volume of a beloved, long-running series, without writing the rest of the series? Turns out, the answer is: "Your editor will buy a whole bunch more books in the series!"

My solution to this happy conundrum? Write the Hench books out of chronological order. After all, Marty Hench is a financial hacker who's been in Silicon Valley since the days of the first PCs, so he's been there for all the weird scams tech bros have dreamed up since Jobs and Woz were laboring in their garage over the Apple I. He's the Zelig of high-tech fraud! Look hard at any computing-related scandal and you'll find Marty Hench in the picture, quietly and competently unraveling the scheme, dodging lawsuits and bullets with equal aplomb.

Which brings me to Picks and Shovels. In this volume, we travel back to Marty's first job, in the 1980s – the weird and heroic era of the PC. Marty ended up in the Bay Area after he flunked out of an MIT computer science degree (he was too busy programming computers to do his classwork), and earning his CPA at a community college.

Silicon Valley in the early eighties was wild: Reaganomics stalked the land, the AIDS crisis was in full swing, the Dead Kennedys played every weekend, and man were the PCs ever weird. This was before the industry crystalized into Mac vs PC, back when no one knew what they were supposed to look like, who was supposed to use them, and what they were for.

Marty's first job is working for one of the weirder companies: Fidelity Computing. They sound like a joke: a computer company run by a Mormon bishop, a Catholic priest and an orthodox rabbi. But the joke's on their customers, because Fidelity Computing is a scam: a pyramid sales cult that exploits religious affinities to sell junk PCs that are designed to lock customers in and squeeze them for every dime. A Fidelity printer only works with Fidelity printer paper (they've gimmicked the sprockets on the tractor-feed). A Fidelity floppy drive only accepts Fidelity floppies (every disk is sold with a single, scratched-out sector and the drives check for an error on that sector every time they run).

Marty figures out he's working for the bad guys when they ask him to destroy Computing Freedom, a scrappy rival startup founded by three women who've escaped from Fidelity Computing's cult: a queer orthodox woman who's been kicked out of her family; a radical nun who's thrown in with the Liberation Theology movement in opposing America's Dirty Wars; and a Mormon woman who's quit the church in disgust at its opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. The women of Computing Freedom have a (ahem) holy mission: to free every Fidelity customer from the prison they were lured into.

Marty may be young and inexperienced, but he can spot a rebel alliance from a light year away and he knows what side he wants to be on. He joins the women in their mission, and we're deep into a computing war that quickly turns into a shooting war. Turns out the Reverend Sirs of Fidelity Computer aren't just scammers – they're mobbed up, and willing to turn to lethal violence to defend their racket.

This is a rollicking crime thriller, a science fiction novel about the dawn of the computing revolution. It's an archaeological expedition to uncover the fossil record of the first emergence of enshittification, a phenomenon that was born with the PC and its evil twin, the Reagan Revolution.

The book comes out on Feb 15 in hardcover and ebook from Macmillan (US/Canada) and Bloomsbury (UK), but neither publisher is doing the audiobook. That's my department.

Why? Well, I love audiobooks, and I especially love the audiobooks for this series, because they're read by the incredible Wil Wheaton, hands down my favorite audiobook narrator. But that's not why I retain my audiobook rights and produce my own audiobooks. I do that because Amazon's Audible service refuses to carry any of my audiobooks.

Here's how that works: Audible is a division of Amazon, and they've illegally obtained a monopoly over the audiobook market, controlling more than 90% of audiobook sales in many genres. That means that if your book isn't for sale on Audible, it might as well not exist.

But Amazon won't let you sell your books on Audible unless you let them wrap those books in "digital rights management," a kind of encryption that locks them to Audible's authorized players. Under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it's a felony punishable with a 5-year sentence and a $500k fine to supply you with a tool to remove an audiobook from Audible and play it on a rival app. That applies even if the person who gives you the tool is the creator of the book!

You read that right: if I make an audiobook and then give you the tools to move it out of Amazon's walled garden, I could go to prison for five years! That's a stiffer sentence than you'd face if you were to just pirate the audiobook. It's a harsher penalty than you'd get for shoplifting the book on CD from a truck-stop. It's more draconian than the penalty for hijacking the truck that delivers the CDs!

Amazon knows that every time you buy an audiobook from Audible, you increase the cost you'll have to pay if you switch to a competitor. They use that fact to give readers a worse deal (last year they tried out ads in audiobooks!). But the people who really suffer under this arrangement are the writers, whom Amazon abuses with abandon, knowing they can't afford to leave the service because their readers are locked into it. That's why Amazon felt they could get away with stealing $100 million from indie audiobook creators (and yup, they got away with it):

https://www.audiblegate.com/about

Which is why none of my books can be sold with DRM. And that means that Audible won't carry any of them.

For more than a decade, I've been making my own audiobooks, in partnership with the wonderful studio Skyboat Media and their brilliant director, Gabrielle de Cuir:

https://skyboatmedia.com/

I pay fantastic narrators a fair wage for their work, then I pay John Taylor Williams, the engineer who masters my podcasts, to edit the books and compose bed music for the intro and outro. Then I sell the books at every store in the world – except Audible and Apple, who both have mandatory DRM. Because fuck DRM.

Paying everyone a fair wage is expensive. It's worth it: the books are great. But even though my books are sold at many stores online, being frozen out of Audible means that the sales barely register.

That's why I do these Kickstarter campaigns, to pre-sell thousands of audiobooks in advance of the release. I've done six of these now, and each one was a huge success, inspiring others to strike out on their own, sometimes with spectacular results:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2022/04/01/brandon-sanderson-kickstarter-41-million-new-books/7243531001/

Today, I've launched the Kickstarter for Picks and Shovels. I'm selling the audiobook and ebook in DRM-form, without any "terms of service" or "license agreement." That means they're just like a print book: you buy them, you own them. You can read them on any equipment you choose to. You can sell them, give them away, or lend them to friends. Rather than making you submit to 20,000 words of insulting legalese, all I ask of you is that you don't violate copyright law. I trust you!

Speaking of print books: I'm also pre-selling the hardcover of Picks and Shovels and the paperbacks of The Bezzle and Red Team Blues, the other two Marty Hench books. I'll even sign and personalize them for you!

http://martinhench.com

I'm also offering five chances to commission your own Marty Hench story – pick your favorite high-tech finance scam from the past 40 years of tech history, and I'll have Marty bust it in a custom short story. Once the story is published, I'll make sure you get credit. Check out these two cool Little Brother stories my previous Kickstarter backers commissioned:

Spill

https://reactormag.com/spill-cory-doctorow/

Vigilant

https://reactormag.com/vigilant-cory-doctorow/

I'm heading out on tour this winter and spring with the book. I'll be in LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Burbank, Bloomington, Chicago, Richmond VA, Toronto, NYC, Boston, Austin, DC, Baltimore, Seattle, and other dates still added. I've got an incredible roster of conversation partners lined up, too: John Hodgman, Charlie Jane Anders, Dan Savage, Ken Liu, Peter Sagal, Wil Wheaton, and others.

I hope you'll check out this book, and come out to see me on tour and say hi. Before I go, I want to leave you with some words of advance praise for Picks and Shovels:

I hugely enjoyed Picks and Shovels. Cory Doctorow’s reconstruction of the age is note perfect: the detail, the atmosphere, ethos, flavour and smell of the age is perfectly conveyed. I love Marty and Art and all the main characters. The hope and the thrill that marks the opening section. The superb way he tells the story of the rise of Silicon Valley (to use the lazy metonym), inserting the stories of Shockley, IBM vs US Government, the rise of MS – all without turning journalistic or preachy.

The seeds of enshittification are all there… even in the sunlight of that time the shadows are lengthening. AIDS of course, and the coming scum tide of VCs. In Orwellian terms, the pigs are already rising up on two feet and starting to wear trousers. All that hope, all those ideals…

I love too the thesis that San Francisco always has failed and always will fail her suitors.

Despite cultural entropy, enshittification, corruption, greed and all the betrayals there’s a core of hope and honour in the story too.

-Stephen Fry

Cory Doctorow writes as few authors do, with tech world savvy and real world moral clarity. A true storyteller for our times.

-John Scalzi

A crackling, page-turning tumble into an unexpected underworld of queer coders, Mission burritos, and hacker nuns. You will fall in love with the righteous underdogs of Computing Freedom—and feel right at home in the holy place Doctorow has built for them far from Silicon Valley’s grabby, greedy hands."

-Claire Evans, editor of Motherboard Future, author of Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet.

"Wonderful��evokes the hacker spirit of the early personal computer era—and shows how the battle for software freedom is eternal."

-Steven Levy, author of Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution and Facebook: The Inside Story.

What could be better than a Martin Hench thriller set in 1980s San Francisco that mixes punk rock romance with Lotus spreadsheets, dot matrix printers and religious orders? You'll eat this up – I sure did.

-Tim Wu, Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy, author of The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires

Captures the look and feel of the PC era. Cory Doctorow draws a portrait of a Silicon Valley and San Francisco before the tech bros showed up — a startup world driven as much by open source ideals as venture capital gold.

-John Markoff, Pulitzer-winning tech columnist for the New York Times and author of What the Doormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry

You won't put this book down – it's too much fun. I was there when it all began. Doctorow's characters and their story are real.

-Dan'l Lewin, CEO and President of the Computer History Museum

[bernardsbendystraws]

𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅

synopsis: (Matt x Reader x Fem!OC) where Matt wants to help satisfy you with some help.

warnings: SMUT, threesome, pussy munchin, unprotected sex, bisexual fantasies

ʚ with love and big tits, Rose ɞ

Matt’s heart hurt watching you shrink into yourself. Your group of girl friends were more than supportive when you came out. A lot of them were part of the community themselves. 

“NO, SAME! Eating a girls pussy really is fuckin’ amazing, man.” 

Your attentive boyfriend sees your face blank with a dissociative look. 

He knows. 

He knows you feel left out. He can see the tortured look behind your eyes. But, he also knew you loved him and you’d never cheat on him. In fact, he even knew you would never even admit to wanting something—something he couldn’t give you—in fear of hurting him. 

That’s why when the group of girls left, he had sat you down on your shared bed for a conversation. 

“Baby, talk to me. I can tell something is wrong, let me help you.” he encouraged.

You were dismissive and unresponsive as he tried to push the truth out of you. He never needed anyone else to bring life into the bedroom with you, but seeing the longing on your face as you listened to your friend’s experiences changed that. 

“Listen….I’m so proud of you for coming out, baby—I really am. But….I can see that you want more—”

“No! I want you, I—”

“I know, I know, you’re never losing me. Don’t worry about that—I just, just listen, okay?”

You heard him loud and clear as he suggested the idea to you. 

A threesome.

He told you to pick out the girl. There was no part of him that cared for the woman besides if she could please you. But, you were already overwhelmed—you were shocked at the idea and your brain wanted no part in seeking the third member. 

Matt has always been stepping up and helping you out. This was no different. He took all your boundaries into consideration while looking around. Rachel, your best friend, had even received a phone call from him, with your permission of course. 

Learning any information he could from her, he found the girl. It was one of Rachel’s other friends, a girl you had both met briefly at the club and really hit off with. However, she was never in town too often. 

But, Matt didn’t see that as a problem. 

Discussing boundaries and relaying the information to her was easy. The girl was respectful and mindful as she talked to Matt. 

“I….I’m just gonna be blunt with the boundaries if that’s okay….” Matt trails off, slightly unsure as he bites his tongue. 

“Hit me, Matt. I’m down and it will honestly be better to know everything crystal clear.” Avery remarks. 

So, he did just that. He explained every boundary, repeating words when lost in translation.

Which all led to now. 

The night had started off with a couple of drinks to loosen up as well as a high tension. With each sip, the tension faded to an aura of excitement.

Now, you were laying on your’s and Matt’s bed. Your head rested on Matt’s thigh as he brushed your hair out of your face. He watched hungrily at your face contort into pleasure with each nibble Avery left on your skin. 

“That feels good, baby huh?” he perks. 

You nod, your head throwing back further as Avery gently clamps her teeth around your nipple, massaging the other one between her fingers. 

Your body rolls between the two. Matt’s attentive pats and her warm mouth make your cunt throb. Nude skin all touching and brushing together drives you insane. The only remaining clothing left on was Matt’s briefs. 

Avery’s kisses trail up as she pins your wrists down on Matt’s thighs on either side of your head. You get a quick glimpse of Matt’s intense eyes analyzing your expression before shutting them to embrace the feeling of her lips crashing against your own. 

Her lips are passionate, slow and sultry. Each motion leaves your gut fiening for relief. She scoots further up, kneeling one leg up and brushes the top of her thigh against your pussy. You break the kiss with a shriveled moan. 

Avery laughs against your skin as she trails downward with her mouth, wet and sloppy kisses reaching down to your navel. Peeping open your scrunched eyes, you see Matt watching her hands as they slide up between your legs. 

Gentle and softly, she spreads your wet heat to expose the hood of your clit. Toying with the sensitive bud, you let out a shriek. Your knees clutch inward, being stopped by her shoulders. 

“God,” she laughs, amused at your reactiveness. “---you’re so sensitive, baby.” 

You squirm as Matt soothes his hands on top of your arms, comforting you as Avery spits a large wad of salvia down your cunt. A light slap to your pussy makes you jolt and let out a cry. Avery laughs out, pushing her fingers hard around your clit to tease you. You can feel the liquid seeping out from your hole from the tense fever waving over you. 

Repeating the action, you squeak and let out a strangled cry. She pins your hips down harshly, biting onto the top of your thigh. 

“Play nice, Avery.” Matt warns. 

They had gone over boundaries. A simple ‘no’ or ‘stop’ would elicit the end of all wandering hands. He was stern, but he wasn’t upset. 

He just wanted you to feel good. 

And he was able to tease you like how she was—-you didn’t need Avery for that. 

“Jealous? C’mon, look,” she rubs slowly onto your clit. Your hands grab onto each of Matt’s knees as your mouth draws in a wide circle. “---she’s such a fun toy. Could play with her all day, yeah?” she teases, licking a stripe up your thigh with her fingers circling around your pulsating nerves. 

Matt licks his tongue over the bottoms of his teeth. He’s not jealous because he fears she’ll make you feel good—he’s jealous because he wants to be the one doing it. He wants your pretty moans and tight cunt to be plundering whimpers and whines to him. 

As Avery lets her hot breath fan over your wet folds, you shiver in delight. She teasingly prods her tongue through your slick, her lips curling as you whine. Looking upward, she sees Matt watching her intently as he continues caressing his hands up and down your arms. 

“Go ahead.” he grits, a slight pride overcoming him as she waits for his permission to dive through your pussy hungrily. 

It was all part of the deal. You were his—-she had to get permission from him before doing anything to you. She knew she had limitations, and honestly—she was more than willing to compromise—even more so as she licked through your cunt. 

She teases you with a light pressure, prying your thighs apart and letting her manicured nails dig into the soft flesh. Shaking her head back and forth, she lets her tongue roam and wander, smoothing over your pussy and taking notes of where her mouth suctions that makes your moans louder and higher in pitch. 

Matt can’t help it. His cock strains in his briefs, poking the side of your head as you become consumed by pleasure. You already looked so fucked out and they’ve barely even started. He imagines how warm and wet your pussy is gonna feel around him as you rock your hips in Avery’s face. 

Watching you feel so good makes him feel good. 

“C’mon, baby. Doing so good for us, so good.” he praises.

Avery feels you clench around her tongue as she presses her nose to your clit. Matt hesitantly wanders his hands down, grazing lightly over your hot skin. 

You jump at the suction of Avery’s lips around your clit, her teeth resting to prod at the sensitive bud lightly as she sucks hard. Matt stops his finger along your tits, his fingers swirling and pinching delicately on your nipples. 

It all feels so good. Attention from both sides drives you insane. Your legs tense around Avery, quivering as you let out a screech. The pit of your gut clenches as your entire body shivers from the white, hot bliss. 

“That’s it, good girl.” Matt praises. 

You gasp for air as Avery lifts herself from between your legs. She wipes her mouth, smirking devilishly at Matt. 

“You gonna fuck her or what?” she taunts. 

Matt knows she’s pushing his buttons on purpose. Avery had expressed how she was dying to see your face as he pounded into you. But, despite that—it was working. 

“Baby, can she sit on your face, hm?” Matt asks, ignoring Avery as he stares down at you softly. 

Blissed out, you nod. Your hips are still swiveling the bed from the aftershocks of your orgasm. Avery and Matt switch, her legs straddling on either side of your face. Matt adjusts the pillows behind your head, brushing the slightly damp hairs out of your face. 

Turning to Avery, he gives a harsh glare. “Don’t hurt her, I’m serious.” he points. She rolls her eyes, ticking off his buttons more. He shifts his gaze back towards your ogling eyes as you pant looking at Avery’s dripping pussy in front of you. 

And fuck. 

Something about your hungry eyes makes his chest tighten.  

“Gonna eat her pussy real good, huh sweetheart?” he taunts. 

You nod, fighting the urge to dig in as they both stare down at you intensely. 

“Make her cum and I’ll fuck you, m’kay? Can you do that, baby?” he asks. 

“I—yeah, yeah—I can do tha—”

Your words are swallowed into Avery’s cunt as she seats herself on your face. You moan into her, your hands grasping around and onto her hips. 

“Mmmmm, yeah she can��look how good she is for me, Matt. My—fuck—my hungry girl, huh?” she whines out, letting out a hiss as you work against her pussy. 

Matt huffs, walking around and climbing in between your legs on the bed. He kicks off his boxers, licking over his lips. You're too distracted to realize the shift in the bed, too consumed in the addiction sour of Avery’s slick coating your tongue. 

It’s almost like rubbing wet sand into your skin at the beach—-it feels addicting. Your tongue against her soft pussy lips making Avery shriek from above you. She grasps onto the headboard of the bed, her legs starting to tense on either side of your head. 

“Oh my—fuck yeah, baby. You’re doin’ so good, huh?” she praises. 

You gain confidence and more friction as she chases the knot building in her stomach. Matt can’t help but spread your legs further apart and admire your cunt pulse around nothing. He watches as your previous orgasm squeezes out of your tight hole, licking his lips as he grazes his hand teasingly up your thigh. 

“Matt, look—oh my—-she’s doing so good. All for me, huh?” 

His frustration from Avery’s relentless taunts makes his fingers dig into the thick skin between your thighs. Staring at Avery’s marks littered on your skin—he devilishly leans his head down to kiss over the marks. 

Avery’s whines get louder and louder. The bed starts to shake as she grasps onto the headboard for dear life. Placing a soft kiss on your sensitive pussy lips, Matt grins as you whine into Avery loudly, causing her to scream out as her body tenses.

“---cumming, holy fuckin’--’m cumming,” she rides her hips out slowly on your face as she hunches over to catch her breath. 

Matt stops Avery by the hips with his hands as she tries to lift herself from your face. “Uh-uh,” he tuts, “---you’re gonna sit right back down. Be good for my girl, yeah? She doesn’t sound like she’s done.” he slurs with a pronounced dominance. 

Weak from the previous orgasm, Avery only nods before letting herself fall limp on your face. You moan as you taste her yet again, completely drunk on the way her cum slowly dribbles down her walls as you prod your tongue in as deep as it can. 

Avery whines and hisses from the overstimulation, but she’s not alone. You yelp into her as you feel Matt sliding his cock along your lips, teasing your entrance. 

Crescent moons peirce into her hips from your nails as you cry out from Matt thrusting his cock into you slowly. 

“Fuckkkkk, so good. You fuckin’ squeeze my dick so goddamn good, sweetheart. Look at that….” he mumbles the last part to himself, staring at where your bodies meet. He watches as your hole stretches around his length as he slowly starts fucking into you. 

Reaching a hand down, he spreads your folds to reveal your clit. He teasingly rubs the tip of his finger on the swollen bud, moaning as you clench around him harder. 

Pressing completely down, he drags his thumb along your clit in slow circles as he starts gathering a decent pace. Each thrust of his cock combined with the euphoric touch of his thumb sends your noises directly onto Avery’s cunt, overstimulating her further as she pushes her weight forward, desperately holding herself up as her legs vibrate. 

“Oh–!” Avery comes to a high, riding out yet another orgasm as your tongue darts in and out of her hole, the tip of your nose buried against her nerves pulsing by her hooded clit. 

“My god—you eat pussy fuckin’ good.” she pants out. 

Matt huffs in between quickening thrusts. “Yeah—she, fuck, she sucks cock like…mmmm—like no other.” he remarks. 

Avery sits beside your head, her hands toying with your perky breasts as they bounce with each thrust. She mocks your facial expression as your eyebrows furrow, your mouth hanging open wide. 

“Fuck her better, Matt.” Avery grits maliciously. 

Matt is too far gone to care as he abuses his frustration from the relentless girl onto your puffy and pulsating cunt��his cunt. Your tight hole swallows him, milking him as slaps echo through the room. 

“Oh my—-” 

Your boyfriend struggles to contain the impending orgasm as you clutch him in deep with your legs around his waist. His pounding is buried deep in your gut. Avery notices this, reaching down to press on the bulge prodding with each thrust. 

A piercing scream scratches through your throat. Everything feels so good. Your chanting and moaning both nonsense and Matt’s name. Your hands desperately search for something, clutching onto Avery’s wrist as she pushes harsher with her palm on your lower stomach. 

“I’m—--I—--oh,”

You're unable to get the words out through the mind numbing pleasure. Matt’s hard cock is slapping into, hilting to create a pressure between your hips. 

“You gonna cum for me, sweetie? Yeah?” Avery pats your cheek with her free hand, sliding her thumb between your lips. You suck on the finger, nodding helplessly as your body rocks and vibrates. 

“No—fuckin’---she’s cuming—-cumming for me. Isn’t that, ugh god—right, pretty girl?” You clench around him harder at his words. “Mhm, that’s right. Fuckin’--suckn’ me in it feels so good, huh? My cock fills this pretty pussy,  baby? Tell me.” he directs. 

Avery shoots him a playful glare. “She’s busy with her mouth, Matt—”

“Don’t. Give. A. Fuck. Let—god, let her talk—or I swear,” he puffs against your skin between hard strokes of his cock pushing into you as his thrusts deepen with passion. “One more word—you’re gonna, mmmm, you're riding that pretty little face again, you hear me?” he warns.

Avery pops her thumb out of your mouth, her pulsating folds aching beyond any craving for stimulation. She lazily drags the fingers down your body, groping your breasts as she tweaks the nipple.

“Baby, tell me. Who fills this pussy so good, huh?” he rushes out, straining his sentences in a slur of pure ecstasy. 

“I—you, Matt, you!’ you whine out. 

“That’s right, that’s right,” he praises, dropping his head as he feels you start to convulse around him. Your broken moans stripped by your raw throat tip him over the edge. The tightness of your walls milks his pearlescent cum deep inside of you, messily forming a ring around the base of his cock as you both ride down your highs with lazy thrusts.

“Can I make her cum again?” Avery asks jokingly. 

Matt laughs, slowly pulling out as he glances down to your blissed out expression. He brushes sweat soaked hair behind your ear, your hooded eyes lazily blinking up at him. 

“No,” he says, kissing the side of your head as he caresses your cheek. He slurs his words with a dry chuckle.“---think she’s satisfied.” 

[lonniemachin]

JEWELRY RAFFLE FOR PALESTINIAN SURVIVAL AID -- EXTENDED

Due to a lack of entries, a need to get this jewelry off my hands, and these 3 fundraisers' need to reach their goals ASAP, I've decided to extend my authentic crystal jewelry raffle for another month, or until I feel I have enough entries to do the raffle properly.

A local artisan was kind enough to provide me with 8 pieces of authentic crystal jewelry to offer for donation funds supporting three different campaigns for Palestinian families looking to evacuate Gaza or in need of survival aid while in Gaza.

These families are:

Ahmed and Maram’s family (in Euro)

Mohammed Shamia’s family (in Swedish kroner)

Marah Atallah’s family (in USD)

All families are 100% legitimate — I have been in contact with Maram and Ahmed for months, who have provided me multiple pictures, videos, and recordings of their situation. They have been featured in a video by YouTuber Ro Ramdin and have been vetted by @/el-shab-hussein. I am also in consistent contact with their beneficiary through a group chat who updates us on the movement of all money.

Mohammed’s family has multiple pictures and videos of their situation on family member Ahmad’s Twitter/X account proving their legitimacy. I have personally communicated with Ahmad and his history online stretches back far before 10/7. His campaign has been SEVERELY stagnant, often going 20+ days before receiving a donation. He is trying to raise enough to evacuate his sister and her two children. He has had 2 donations in 29 DAYS!

I personally connected Marah to the one managing her campaign, who is a friend of mine. Marah is also friends in-person with other verified families over on Twitter/X, where she posts pictures and videos of she and her family’s situation. They use all money raised to survive displacement in Gaza and to save up enough to register for evacuation when the time is right. Marah’s campaign has been shared by @/90-ghost.

Donate an amount of $5/€5/kr50 SEK or more in multiples of 5, DM me proof of your donation, and tell me which piece you are interested in (send the number and letter listed next to the description of the piece). I will enter your name into a raffle for the piece you would like. One donation of 5/kr50 SEK = one entry, 10/kr100 SEK = 2 entries, and so on. At the end of the raffle, I will randomly choose one recipient per piece, contact said recipient for details, and mail the piece to you.

From left to right: A pair of Rutilated Quartz earrings valued $20 (E1), a pair of Kunzite earrings valued $18 (E2), and a pair of multi tourmaline earrings valued $20 (E3).

From left to right: A labradorite, aura quartz, clear aura crackle quartz, and sea sediment jasper bracelet valued $30 (B1), and a chrysocolla, morganite, phosphosiderite, and yellow opal bracelet valued $30 (B2).

From left to right: A clear quartz necklace valued $30 (N1), a red tiger’s eye necklace valued $30 (N2), and a flower agate, rose quartz, lepidolite, strawberry quartz, and clear quartz necklace valued $32 (N3).

If you can’t participate, that’s okay! Please share this post so that others may see and enter to win some beautiful jewelry for the most important cause — saving lives.

Tagging for reach under the cut

@wayneradiotv @killy @kahin @tododeku-or-bust @wellwaterhysteria

@kibumkim @mangocheesecakes @kyra45-helping-others @7bitter @tortiefrancis 

@toiletpotato @fromjannah @omegaversereloaded @vague-humanoid @evillesbianvillain

@aristotels @komsomolka @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @heritageposts  @ot3 @brutaliakhoa

@amygdalae @ankle-beez @dykesbat @deepspaceboytoy 

@mazzikah @mahoushojoe @ana-bananya @rhubarbspring @pcktknife

@3amsnow @orange-coloredsky @ehjane @dogesterone @specialmouse

@smalldumbpigeon @sakeeeee @bhavna-does-stuff @hal-your-pal @nevermore-was-here 

@pronouncingitwang @sloppystyle @saltycharacters @cloudofdarkness @dirhwangdaseul

@boudicca @soul-hammer @mxwhore @desire-mona @batmanego

@magnus-rhymes-with-swagness @turian @determinate-negation @sylvianritual @neptunerings

[harmoonix]

💤 Dreamy Astrology Observations 💤

💤 Neptune aspecting Venus can daydream about their crushes/lovers & and having scenarios in their head about them

💤 Neptune aspecting the Midheaven can inspire and influence other people, for example being some sort of influencer

💤 Neptune in the 5H/7H can fantasize about a happy life, maybe with children/spouse and overall happiness if you know in tarot terms this energy can symbolize 10 of cups

💤 Neptune aspecting Uranus, people find you different and unique, some sort of like "I never met a personlike you before but I like it"

💤 Venus in Aquarius or at 11°. 23° degrees can have a large group of friends, they can be seen as an example for others when it comes to friendship

💤 Heavy Moon aspects in your chart can make you a very dreamy/soft/kind person, you can radiate positive vibes

💤 Sun in the 8th/12th houses give the "mystic" one vibes, your subconscious is very powerful and you can often find yourself being spiritual

💤 Sun in Pisces Degrees 12°. 24° can have such mesmerizing tired eyes you'll ever see, their eyes radiate ocean waves

💤 Neptune aspecting the Ascendant especially conjunction can make the native to lose the connection with reality sometimes. They can often find themselves dreaming about sort of situations

💤 Chiron aspecting Neptune natives can be surrounded by people who don't believe in their dreams or desires, who think their dreams will never be fulfilled, is a very powerful placement for those who believe in themselves

💤 Fire Venus or Moon can make you to be attracted into passionate music/art/songs, often listening to dirty songs

💤 Capricorn/Virgo and Taurus Suns can be the most practical people in the room, they always have a solution and a back up plan for everything

💤 A REMINDER that the moon phase of your moon sign can influence it A LOT, for example a Leo Moon born under the 1st quarter will be very different from a Leo Moon born under the 3rd or last quarter (if that makes sense)

💤 Virgo Sun/Moon/Rising can be the biggest nutritionist ever. They'll have a naturist remedy for everything

💤 Sagittarius Venus Moon or those planets in the 9H, those placements are giving Tarzan!! someone very curious, wild, fierce, and charming!! They get along with lots of people

💤 Sun/Moon or Mars in the 6H need to do something productive or they can fall under a depression state and feel bad, you need activities!!

💤 Mars/Pluto/Saturn or Lilith in the 4H, if you have a disturbing family life, it will get better when you'll move out and have your own house

💤 Libra Taurus and Capricorn IC/4H can find themselves decorating their stuff with lots of vintage stuff

💤 If you have Venus in Capricorn or in the 10H and all your relationships failed, is an indicator that you need higher standards

💤 Venus in Sagittarius or 9H native is searching for someone they can evolve amd grow up together with, they are like a global mix of fun, culture, love and music

💤 Sagittarius Risings have their 4H in Pisces, they can decorate their house/home with a deep spiritual things like dreamcatchers, crystals, etc

💤 Never make fun of someone's culture or background especially if they have Sag in their big 3 or big 6 because you gonna recieve the same energy back to you

💤 Mercury or Venus in Pisces, omg I wish I had these placements instead of Scorpio...Lets trade...These placements are mesmerizing to have, especially at communicating and sharing their love

💤 Saturn/Venus and sometimes Moon in the 12th house can indicate that you're going to marry a bit later than others

💤 Saturn in the 10H!! This placement is extremely powerful. If someone does you dirty the karma comes back and exposes the person who did you wrong to the PUBLIC/people and you can find people standing up for you after someone did you dirty

💤 Lilith in Water Signs can have issues or troubles with acknowledging their feelings, because the water element rules over the feelings and Lilith indicates a wound there

💤 Capricorn Risings even if they are mature and solide, they most times wish for a sentimental and kind partner due to their 7H in Cancer

💤 Mercury in the 11H natives don't like to talk for nothing, if you bring a conversation with them make sure to finish it

💤 Venus in Leo Degrees 5°, 17°, 29° may take love to another level, you have to focus all of your attention on them if you want to attract them

💤 Ascendant in Gemini Degrees 3°, 15°, 27° degrees natives have an extremely catchy voice, is that voice that you'll remember ages and ages and especially their jokes as well

💤 If you have your IC in the 5th house you were probably raised in household with a lot of music/fun/creativity, i have this placement and my family is crazy when it comes to music style

💤If you have an Air Moon could probably be a little more logical than sentimental, like logic over feelings

💤 Sagittarius/Libra combo placements in a chart can make someone very artistic, passionate, carefree. They can aslo have a beautiful writing style

💤 Gemini/Aquarius Mercury/Moon/Venus can be that one person who has an digital diary instead of the standard book diary. They prefer the technology

💤 Mars in Pisces Degrees 12°. 24° may like to combine love/sex with art, for example painting pictures of naked statues, intense love paintings

💤 Scorpio Sun/Moon/Rising has an intense charisma, they are like a magnet, attracting all kids of people

💤 Aries Sun/Mars/Venus will be that one person who is like "what they did to you👺 let me teach them a lesson"

💤 Cancer Juno/Juno in the 4H natives are attracted to people who remind those natives about their home/who feel safe around them

💤 Taurus Juno or Juno in the 2H. If you cook or make a good dinner for them you can wake up the next day with a proposing ring 💍, these natives may love to cook for their spouses

💤 Water and Earth Signs in your 2H can be very picky with the food!!

💤 North Node in the 4H is not always about focusing on your home life and about creating your home life, you know to be like Kris Jenner a big fondator

💤 An empty 5H can indicate not wanting kids. I have this as well and I don't want kids at all!!

💤 Chiron in Leo natives should never feel embarrassed about themselves, this placement is about accepting your dark side and being yourself

💤 Saturn/Pluto in the 12H may have a harder time with sleeping the same for Scorpio or Capricorn in the 12H

💤 When Virgo or Gemini placements are under stress they can often talk a lot as a mechanism to keep themselves chill/calm

💤 You may share the same type of humor with people who have their Mercury in the same sign as yours

💤 Moon in 6th house natives. The Moon will give you servitude attitude and will help others without having any selfish motive, they are truly kind

💤 Chiron in the 5H natives may act childish when they feel comfortable or safe because that's what their inner child feels as well

💤 Juno in Leo natives will love a spouse who has a funny/creative way of seeing life, don't make these natives feel depressed because you'll regret it

💤 Cancer Scorpio or Pisces in the 6H natives share a similar nurturing style and they can often nurture others with their energy

💤 Capricorn Placements are often labelled as being "workaholics" because of their strong ambition to never give up ans to finish their thing

💤🌊 Since Pisces Season started today, I wanted to post this a memento to it🌊💤

Hope you all have good a start of the week!☀️🌊

And happy Pisces Season!!🌊☀️♥️

Harmoonix ☀️🌊☀️

[astrogossipp]

moon notes. 🌕

Disclaimer. these observations do not have to resonate with everyone and everything, all expressed in this post is based on personal experience and research.

"The moon in our birth charts represent the inner us, our emotions, house, mother, deepest feelings, instincts, our basic habits and reactions, unconscious and also our comfort zone."

masterlist🧿

☾ aries moon

Aries moons are extremely protective of their romantic partners, possibly due to the difficulty they have in getting along with just anyone. When they find someone they can love, it feels like a miracle to them. Their tired eyes hold many secrets, yet they also invite others to share their own. Aries moons are deeply committed to their beliefs, prioritizing prayer if they believe in God or disregarding criticism if they're into crystals and spirituality. Being misunderstood frustrates them, especially if they have Virgo personal placements. Moon in Aries individuals often experienced a challenging and powerful childhood, shaping their view of home and family as constant challenges. They need to feel comfortable with their partner before starting a family to avoid repeating the same attitude they received from their parents or relatives. Aries moons live in the present, are passionate, and tend to be impatient. They take criticism to heart and become defensive. They crave excitement and can get bored in peaceful environments. Their needs, desires, and crushes are short-lived and sometimes vague.

☾ taurus moon

Individuals with Taurus moons display distinct traits influenced by their emotional development. Those with undeveloped Taurus moons may struggle with giving and receiving affection until adulthood. Conversely, a developed Taurus moon suggests a nurturing childhood marked by stability and material comfort. Taurus moon individuals exude groundedness and stability, attracting attention and commanding respect effortlessly. They uphold high standards, seeking the good in everyone while grappling with occasional indulgence. Despite their serious initial impression, they are actually fun-loving and seek positive energy. Partners may find them challenging to understand due to mood swings, yet they offer deep emotional healing and encourage appreciation for the ordinary. Taurus moons prioritize building secure and cozy environments, cherishing routines and loyalty. Affectionate and sentimental, they value reliability and comfort above all, making them steadfast companions with strong emotional needs.

☾ gemini moon

Gemini moons possess a natural charm and wit, fostering pleasant company with their curiosity about life. Yet, within their comfort zones, a sense of nervousness and restlessness often accompanies them. These individuals thrive on constant mental stimulation, becoming moody when deprived of it. Childhood experiences shape their communication skills, sometimes marked by instances of feeling mocked or uncomfortable, particularly by siblings. In adulthood, they seek partners who value open dialogue and opinion sharing, craving discussions on diverse topics. While they appear approachable, earning their trust to reveal their fun side can be challenging. Gemini moons enjoy sharing their interests, often trying to influence others' preferences. In matters of love, they can be shy yet straightforward and may send risky texts. Despite attracting attention effortlessly, they remain indifferent to others' desires to emulate them, focusing instead on genuine connections and mental engagement.

☾ cancer moon

People with a Cancer moon are very empathetic and in tune with the emotions of others. They are peaceful and seek familiarity, but can become moody. They hold onto old memories and have a forgiving nature, especially with loved ones. Drama is avoided, and they are focused on justice and fairness. Cancer moons are ambitious and career-oriented, valuing hard work. They desire to build a happy family environment, but can be hindered by their tendency to feel deeply and get hurt easily. Letting go is important for finding love and affection. When drunk, they may have the urge to fight or dance with strangers. Sharing is caring, and balance is sought in all aspects of life.

☾ leo moon

Individuals with Leo moons seek attention and love within their inner circle, exhibiting both a craving for admiration and generosity towards loved ones. Creativity and a sense of justice define this placement, alongside a remarkable capacity for forgiveness, even towards those who have wronged them. They may have experienced embarrassment due to past forgiveness, learning the lesson of discernment. Leo moons prioritize self-love affirmations and enjoy disproving others' opinions. Trust issues develop early, leading to a reluctance to share personal secrets. They are non-competitive except in defense of friends, showing jealousy in childhood friendships. Quick to forgive, they use sympathy to mend relationships, disliking prolonged conflicts. While disliking long conversations, they engage enthusiastically in mysterious topics and detective documentaries, demonstrating a thirst for knowledge. Despite a dislike for subjects like math, they persist in pursuing success, reflecting their determined nature.

☾ virgo moon

Virgo moons are known for getting attached to people very quickly. They admire those who work hard for their dreams and love to party. They seek soul ties with people who match their personality and are drawn to confident individuals who appreciate beauty in everyone. Cooking for loved ones is how they show their love, as they likely paid attention to their mom or grandma while cooking as a child. Virgo moons are ambitious and goal-oriented from a young age, but tend to care less about school as they get older. Despite this, they are kind and make even disagreeable statements sound agreeable. Virgo moons are sensitive and experience emotions mentally, which can lead to moodiness. They have a tendency to focus on details and can struggle to see the bigger picture due to early conditioning. It is important for them to be light-hearted with judgments towards family and future family. They find contentment in the little things and prefer simplicity. Virgo moons need to feel useful and thrive on routine, or else they become self-critical. They are trustworthy and reliable.

☾ libra moon

Libra moons are known for their desire for peace and harmony. They are social and sympathetic individuals who like to have the last word in arguments. Although they strive for the best, this focus can sometimes prevent them from enjoying the moment. They are fond of giving compliments and expect the same in return, but their egos are fragile and can be easily crushed. Libra moons are often taken advantage of due to their people-pleasing nature. They are also known for their strong attachment to their mothers. Libra moons may have been obsessed with their appearance during their teenage years, but as they age, they prioritize personality over looks when choosing a partner. However, one negative trait they possess is complaining even when they chose to help someone. Libra moons are indecisive about trivial things but are confident in important situations. If you are a Libra moon, it is important to work on being honest. Overall, talking to a Libra moon can feel like talking to yourself, but with agreement on every point.

☾ scorpio moon

Scorpio moons are the sweetest people. They are attentive, caring and very focused on making sure others feel good. They can get anxious but it's cute. They respect the privacy of others because they want their privacy respected too. Scorpio moons are great at comforting people, even if they feel awkward about physical comfort. They may have family issues and they love alone time. They love watching horror movies and learning from them. Scorpio moons are clever, perceptive and seek intense emotions and experiences. They value strong relationships and commitment. They live by the motto "all or nothing".

☾ sagittarius moon

Individuals with a Sagittarius moon placement exhibit traits of optimism, cheerfulness, and a love for freedom. They dislike routine and prefer spontaneity, which can lead to conflicts with more structured individuals. Despite their impulsiveness, they are trustworthy and forgiving, often giving second chances to those who betray them to avoid confrontation. They possess a genuine interest in other cultures and exhibit respect towards all races without discrimination. While they may avoid seeking advice from others, they are likely to turn to their mothers for guidance. Sagittarius moons thrive in social settings, preferring nature and the company of many friends over isolation. They are attentive listeners, willing to invest time and effort in understanding others, even when tired. Additionally, they have a diverse taste in music, gradually exploring various genres as they mature. Overall, Sagittarius moons embody positivity, openness, and a deep appreciation for diversity and connection.

☾ capricorn moon

Honestly, Capricorn moons have a hard time understanding their emotions and because of this people usually end up thinking that they are detached or emotionally unavailable. I hope they know that it's okay to admit how you truly feel and if they ever try to communicate with anyone please listen to them cuz they are trying hard. They always seem to need advice in relationships, even for small issues. They romanticize a perfect relationship and search for advice to make it a reality. They tend to force themselves to feel numb about the things that hurt them the most. All this happens because they are unable to understand their emotions and it takes them time to do so. They don't like ranting, but when they do, they pour their hearts out then act like they didn't. They're sensitive individuals who want to be understood, despite some people talking harshly about their detached emotions. Capricorn moons usually have a problematic relationship with their parents and may have experienced abuse growing up. They're reliable and levelheaded people who are well-organized and realistic. Tradition, authority, and security are highly regarded, and they are no risk-takers.

☾ aquarius moon

Aquarius moons are known for their observant nature and love analyzing other people's actions. They tend to feel like they don't fit in with their peers and value independence and individuality. These rebellious individuals don't take criticism well and take pride in their thoughts. Aquarius moons have a lot on their mind and are often thought of as stoners because they find themselves lost in thought often. They may make sex their love language because they want to please others and themselves. These people tend to enjoy aggressive music and may judge others for not liking the same artists as them. Aquarius moons have a great sense of humor and are always interesting to talk to. They tend to get lost in their thoughts and may zone out while telling their life story. Overall, these people are never boring and always leave an impression.

☾ pisces moon

Honestly, I could go on for pages about Pisces moons. They're the family member who knows everything and wants to come off as lovely to strangers. They avoid confrontation and might disagree with something just to be left alone. Pisces moons want to feel spoiled and financially stable. They either think about money, sex, or how depressed they are. They're also prone to falling for fictional characters or celebrities. If a Pisces moon is dating a Virgo sun, it feels like paradise, but they might not admit it. Pisces moons are hardworking to the point of forgetting to eat and might have trouble with spicy food. They romanticize toxicity and have remarkable intuition. They can get lost in the suffering of others and are known for their odd sense of humor.

this post was created by @astrogossipp on tumblr <3 if reposting my work please give credits.

[crystalshares]

Life's hurdles might slow us down, but they can't stop our progress. Remember, each step forward counts. Stay strong and keep moving towards your dreams! You're capable of amazing things. Let's lift each other up on this journey. 💪🏾✨ #KeepMovingForward #GrowthJourney #crystalshares

[unsolicited-opinions]

Bro no one hates jews for ethnicity, news are hated for faith.

If you are an atheist "jew", no one gives a shit about you.

Stop pretending to be a victim and trying to appropriate antisemitic struggles.

I'll address these point by point.

Jewish readers, please share your thoughts!

You wrote: "No one hates Jews for ethnicity, [J]ews are hated for faith."

"Hitler...defined the Jews as a race and not a religious community, characterized the effect of a Jewish presence as a “race-tuberculosis of the peoples,” and identified the initial goal of a German government to be discriminatory legislation against Jews."

[Source]

More here

As David Baddiel put it, "I'm an atheist, but that would get me no free passes out of Auschwitz."

The Jews are a people. Judaism is the traditional religion of that people. A Jew who does not engage with that religion does not cease to be a Jew by Jewish definitions OR by antisemitic definitions.

You wrote: "If you are an atheist Jew, nobody gives a shit about you."

First, see above.

Second, you're incorrectly assuming that a Jewish atheist is not engaged with Judaism.

Here's the thing:

Judaism isn't necessarily theistic.

Let's set aside the explicitly non-theistic movement of Humanistic Judaism for a moment (huge topic for another time) and just talk briefly about theism in Judaism.

Most kinds of Judaism, while certainly encouraging faith, do not require it. There are no thought crimes in Judaism, no crucibles of faith, and no requirements that one announce or perform proof of belief for witnesses. Those things are often parts of Christianity and Islam, but in Judaism...not so much.

In Jewish thought, it is not what you believe about metaphysics which lifts you up, ennobles you, improves you, or makes the world a better place. In Judaism, you pursue those things by how you behave.

Sola fide is a Christian concept which Judaism does not share. Judaism is a profoundly existential religion with ethics which are overwhelmingly humanist.

I was raised in Reform and Conservative congregations...and non-theistic/atheistic/humanistic views were very common there.

When I was studying to become Bar Mitzvah, our congregation's Rabbi made crystal clear to me that there was no contradiction between my identity as a Jew and my inability to swallow the idea of an anthropomorphic, sapient, interventionist God who cared at all about petitionary prayer. He felt that wrestling with God was a very Jewish thing to do. He introduced me to Maimonides' apophatic theology. Decades later, I'm still grateful.

Many Jews pray, I believe, not to be heard by God, but so they can hear their own hearts and minds. This is why kavanah is important and why I disliked (and still dislike) prayer-by-rote and rituals performed for the sake of ritual. It's more mindfulness meditation than petitionary prayer.

There's a famous Hasidic story, recorded by philosopher Martin Buber in his "Tales of the Hasidim," about how Judaism views atheism:

The Master teaches that God created everything the world to be appreciated, since everything is here to teach us a lesson.

One clever student asks "What lesson can we learn from atheists? Why did God create them?"

The Master responds "God created atheists teach us the most important lesson of them all- the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that God commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in Goda at all, so his acts are based on an inner sense of morality. And look at the kindness he can bestow upon others simply because he feels it to be right."

"This means," the Master continued "that when someone reaches out to you for help, you should never say 'I pray that God will help you.' Instead for the moment, you should become an atheist, imagine that there is no God who can help, and say 'I will help you."

You wrote: "Stop pretending to be a victim and trying to appropriate antisemtic struggles."

I invite other Jews to advise if I have appropriated anything which is not mine.

Your opinion, though? Your view, as a non-Jew, about what is or isn't Jewish? On what is or is not mine in my heritage? Your claim, framed by your obvious and absolute ignorance of my life, my family's history, Jewish history, Jewish theology, and Jewish philosophy, that I have not experienced antisemitism and am "appropriating?"

I don't have a single fuck to give about any of that, and neither does any other Jew

Still, thank you for the writing prompt. It helps to crystalize my own thinking and provides an opportunity to educate.

[knowledge-from-the-abyss]

Deity Work vs Deity Worship

What is deity worship? 

Deity worship is when you venerate and revere a deity/deities. There are many ways to do this;  there is no right or wrong way to worship a deity, it is whatever you feel drawn to do for them. Many people in the pagan community do this in their own unique way, while some will follow more organized, ritualistic ways of worshipping their deities. 

I will go more into detail about the various ways to venerate deities below. 

What is deity work? 

Working with a deity is a more intensive, interactive relationship. Working with a deity often involves actively communicating with them through things such as divination (tarot, oracle, pendulums, dice, osteomancy, shufflemancy etc) and psychic abilities. It can also involve them being more active in your practice, guiding you in both mundane and magical ways. A very common way deities work with someone is by doing shadow work with them, but there are many other things people do with deities that fall under the category of ‘deity work’.

How do I work with a deity/deities?

There are a lot of ways that you can work with a deity. As mentioned above a very common way of working with them is by doing shadow work with them. They will often guide the practitioner on various prompts to focus on. Another common way that you can work with deities is doing spellwork with them, such as doing protections, cleansing, banishment, and even baneful magic with them. 

Some of the things my deities work with me on is teaching me about energy work and weather magic. 

As with deity worship, there are no right or wrong ways to work with a deity. 

Altars

Many people will set up altars for their deities as a way to either work with or worship them (or both!). Here are some popular things you can put on your altar!

Candles 

Statues

Incense holders/fountains

Altar cloth

Decanter

Spell jars 

Crystals 

Herb pouches

Sigils

Books

Offering dish

Cups

Divination tools 

There are many other items you can put on your altars for your deities. This is just a short list, both of items I myself have put on altars before, and things I see others put on their altars. 

A lot of people also use their altars as a place to connect with their deities (which can get into deity work) as well as a place to do spellwork.

I’m going to answer some common questions about altars I see here. 

Can I put two/multiple deities on the same altar? 

Yes, you can. Some people (like myself) even create altars for entire pantheons, rather than individual deities. In addition, these deities do not all need to be from the same pantheon either. I have had altars where Loki and Leviathan were sharing the same general space (with different items in different sections for just one of them, and some items being placed there for both of them).

Can I add/remove/use things from my altar? 

Yes. You can (and should) clean your altar and you are of course allowed to use the items on your altar. Many people will store their divination tools on their altar, for instance. 

What if I do not have space for an altar/can’t have a physical altar? 

Digital altars are a very valid practice, I currently do not have enough space for all the altars I would want for the deities I worship/work with. I have seen people make altars in Minecraft, on Picrew, and I have altars set up on Pinterest as well. I have also used Pinterest’s collage function to make moodboards for my deities in order to honor them; these can count as digital altars as well. Some people make their own discord servers and use that space as a digital altar for their deities (I also have this set up for my deities too). On these digital altars, you can include pictures of how the deity appears to you, pictures of statues to represent them; themes surrounding what they rule over, colors, animals and plants they may be associated with, and much more. Just like a physical altar, you can get very creative with what you include. 

Will my deities get mad if someone else touches the altar? 

I’ve heard (and also experienced myself) times where family members or roommates will mess with someone’s altar. There seems to be a lot of fear with this; people are afraid it will anger the deity if the altar is accidentally touched. However, deities are very understanding and know that most times the person is unaware that the space is an altar; they won’t get mad if their stuff is accidentally touched, removed, or if someone else disposes of old offerings. 

Now, if someone is messing with it on purpose, with malicious intent, that might be different. However, especially for those in the broom closet, the deity is still not going to be mad at the practitioner or punish you in any way. 

Moving on from altars, I’m going to answer some questions I see when it comes to deity worship/work, before fully getting into the difference. 

Do certain deities not get along? 

Again this is something I see asked a lot online, both for deities of the same pantheon and deities of different pantheons. This comes down to personal experience. Many people think and might assume that deities who did not get along in their myths do not get along in real life either. However, at least for me, this is rarely the case. Remember, these are higher beings and the myths are just that -stories, that have been made up by humans. The myths do not reflect how they may be in real life. 

There are definitely instances where deities genuinely do not get along; I have experienced this in my own practice. However, this is oftentimes not because of myth-related disagreements but rather because the deities disagree on what may be best for the practitioner. This might also occur simply because the deities' energies do not mix well, it’s less that they don’t get along and more so that their energies clash with each other. This does not mean that you should stop working with these deities together if this is the case. Sometimes opposing energies are necessary.It’s also always a good idea to ask the deities themselves how they feel about the situation and what they think you should do. 

Will my deities get mad if I’m not able to give consistent offerings? 

This is another question I see a lot. Deities understand that we are human, we have our mundane lives to live, and we may not always have time or money to be able to buy offerings for them. There are many ways to give offerings to your deities, and some can be free and non-physical offerings too. I’ll go through some offerings I give to my team a lot, and some offerings you can do that are more non-physical or broom closet friendly. 

Doing shadow work in their honor/with them if you have a working relationship with them

Cooking/eating in their honor 

Bathing in their honor 

Putting on makeup in their honor 

Any form of self-care

Doing art/reading in their honor

Going on a walk/drive

Cleaning in their honor

Practicing divination

Journaling

Writing letters to them

There are many other offerings you can give to them, this is just a list of some of the things I do and some common things I see others do as well.

Do I need to pray to my deity/deities? How do I pray? 

Prayer is often a big part of deity worship, however it is definitely not a requirement. Prayer is when you ask your deities for something. You can do this in a very ritualistic way, lighting candles, sitting on the floor, etc, or you can do this in a very casual manner (like sending a quick prayer to them on your way to work). Again, there is no right or wrong way to pray to the deities you worship, there are many different ways you can do this. 

How do I start deity work?

Starting deity work will often involve reaching out to the deity/deities you are wanting to work with. You can do this in many ways, it can be as simple as calling out the deities name and saying ‘I would like to work with you, I’d like you to be more involved in my practice’. Using divination tools such as tarot or oracle cards, pendulums, spirit boards, etc can also help greatly in communicating and developing a relationship with the deity you are wanting to work with. 

Is my deity mad at me because…

The answer to this is most likely ‘no’. It takes a lot to piss a deity off. This question often comes from people who grew up with Abrahamic religions that taught them that making mistakes would anger ‘god’. The pagan gods do not get angry because you make mistakes or are not perfect. It is very hard to actually offend them, unless you do something purposefully to try to piss them off, you will not make them angry. They might get frustrated at us sometimes for falling into the same cycles and bad habits, but this is much different than them actually being angry. 

I also want to address blowing out candles specifically with this question. Some people see it as rude to blow out candles that are devoted to specific deities or used as a form of divination. It is not rude to blow out candles at all, if you have finished communicating with your deity, or are simply moving to a different room/leaving your house, or need to blow it out for whatever reason, you can absolutely do so. The deities do not see it as rude and will not get angry at you for doing this. They might be a bit sad/disappointed, but again this is different than them being genuinely angry. It's like having to tell a friend you have to get off a call with them, even though you still want to talk to them. They might be a bit disappointed but they will understand. 

Is __ a sign from my deities?

The answer to this is complicated; discernment is very important when it comes to answering this question. An easy way to answer this is by asking the deity through divination if whatever you experienced really was a sign. Sometimes deities will send signs in unusual ways (even through social media, yes I know that’s controversial but it does happen sometimes). 

The other question to ask is: did I ask for a sign? There have been times where I will ask for signs and they may show me the sign in a weird way (like asking to see a specific type of bird in my area, and then seeing it on a postcard, for instance). 

Can I reach out to deities? How do I reach out to a deity? 

Yes! As long as the deity is not from a closed/gated practice you are not part of, you can reach out to whoever you want! There are many different ways you can go about reaching out to them; I first recommend doing research on the deity you are wanting to reach out to (this in itself may get their attention and let them know you are interested in them). A very simple way to reach out to them is simply by calling their name, and telling them you wish to work with them or are going to be honoring them. 

What are closed/gated practices? 

Closed and gated practices are usually religions where you need to either be born or initiated into the culture in order to practice it. Many of these practices are closed or gated because of other cultures and religions attempting to appropriate these practices, or erase things within these cultures. 

What do I do if a closed practice deity reaches out to me, but I’m not part of that culture? 

This is going to get controversial, but this is my opinion especially as someone who is part of several closed practices myself. In my opinion, while practices themselves can be closed, deities are not. Deities are independent beings from us, they do what they want outside of human rules and laws. If a deity from a closed practice reaches out to you, my advice is to do tons of research first. There are some closed practices that have officials who can help you with figuring out if a deity from that culture truly is reaching out to you, and can give advice on what to do moving forward. My other piece of advice is to not ignore the deity calling you. There have been some instances where I ignored the call from some of the closed practice deities I now work with, and while it didn’t necessarily anger them that I ignored them, it did annoy them and they were incredibly persistent with their presences until I did acknowledge them. 

What do I do if I need to take a break from practicing? How do I let my deities know? 

Breaks are very healthy and help with preventing burnout when it comes to practicing witchcraft or being pagan in general. If you feel you need to take a break, I recommend just letting the deities you are working with or worshipping know in whatever manner you usually use to communicate with them (a very easy way is just telling them ‘hey, I need to take a break’). They will understand and they will wait for you to be ready to resume practicing with them. Like with previously mentioned situations, they will not get angry at you for simply needing to step away for a bit. A lot of deities may even continue to be around you while you are on break as well, to show that they still care about you and are willing to support you. 

How do I balance working with multiple deities? 

This is, of course, dependent on you as a person. I know some people who make schedules, while others will allow the deities to decide when to show up in their practice. Since I work with quite a few deities and pantheons, generally I dedicate each week to a different pantheon, and dedicate each day to a different deity from that pantheon. I also have picker wheels that I use for this; this is both to make it more ‘fun’ for my ADHD brain (lol) and also to allow the deities to decide who wants to be more present during the week. Sometimes, deities may also decide to be more or less present depending on what you’re going through in life and what type of guidance you are needing. There may be times where a deity will take a step back so that someone else can step forward to take over guiding you a bit more. This is all very normal when it comes to deity work; not every deity needs the same amount of attention and not all of them will always be equally present, and that's ok! 

There are also sometimes where a deity will decide they have taught you all you need to know, and they may discuss ending the working relationship with you entirely. This does not necessarily mean you will never see them again, but it may mean that they show up a lot less, as they have guided you in all the ways they feel you needed them for. Oftentimes, this will happen years and years into you working with them, and you may even realize that this is going to happen before an official discussion about it is mentioned. You can, of course, continue to honor and worship them even after they have officially stopped working with you. 

Another subject I want to address here is that while you can absolutely reach out to and generally work with multiple deities, it's also important to remember to not rush into things. At the beginning of my practice, the only deities I had around me for years were Hades and Loki. After I had been researching and practicing for at least 6-7 years, that's when new deities started approaching me and when I felt comfortable reaching out to some deities as well. I know that working with multiple deities can be overwhelming, which is why I have covered how to manage this so thoroughly. If you are a fairly new practitioner who has multiple deities who are interested in working with you, or if you are interested in working with them, I definitely advise that you take it slow. Research the deities who are reaching out or who you are interested in, learn about them, and slowly start contacting them as you feel comfortable. This is still something I do to this day. 

Everyone’s practice is different; I know people who have been working with the same deity for 10+ years and have hardly interacted with other deities during their practice. On the other hand, I also know people who were approached by several deities at once in the beginning of their practice, and who were consistently approached by various deities over the years as well. It all depends on the deities around you, what they feel you need, and ultimately, what you feel is best for your practice. Whether you wish to work with just a few deities, or many, that is up to you; just make sure that you are also taking your own health into account while doing so! 

How do I know if a deity is reaching out to me? 

I discussed signs a little bit earlier on in this post, however I did want to cover this question specifically. There are many ways deities can send signs to us or let us know they are around. For someone who is more in-tune with their psychic abilities, they may feel different energies when different deities are around. They may even be able to see, hear and possibly even smell the deities around them at times as well and this may be a way to figure out if someone new is around. Another easy method you can use is doing divination to check and see if a new deity is around. As I mentioned above, deities do use social media sometimes to send us signs and sometimes even to show us that they are reaching out. This is another instance where discernment is important; if you interact with a video about a certain deity on Tiktok, for instance, it's a lot more likely the app will start showing you more videos about that deity. So it's important to use other methods (such as divination) to figure out if a deity is truly reaching out, or if it's just social media’s algorithms at play. As I addressed above, sometimes deities will also send signs to you in your mundane life too; while it is important to pay attention to events that may be signs, I would recommend not obsessing over it. If a deity is reaching out, they will make themselves known to you one way or another. 

How do I figure out who is reaching out to me? 

There may be times where you know that someone is reaching out, but you are not sure who it is. Again, divination is a very easy way to figure this one out, there are many deity ID spreads online that you can find (and when I make a post going into more detail about divination, I may include some of those spreads in that post). If you are not able to do divination for yourself on who is reaching out, I recommend trying to ask a friend or finding a professional reader who offers deity IDs. I actually am a professional reader and I do offer deity IDs, you are welcome to inbox me if you are needing one! 

Another way you can attempt to figure out who the deity is on your own is to do research; if you are able to sense energies, or if they are sending you specific signs, you can look into the energies you feel and the signs you are getting to try to figure out who the deity is. 

What is vetting? How do I vet? 

Vetting is the process of ensuring that the deity/entity you are interacting with is who they say they are. The most common way to vet is by asking the deity/entity questions about their mythology. You can also ask questions about personal experiences you’ve had with them in the past. Another easy way to vet is by assigning the deity/entity an ID card using tarot or another form of card divination (you could also do this with shufflemancy with ID songs) and ask them to show you that card/cards or song/songs to verify its them.

What can deities help me with when I’m working with them? 

Deities can help with a ton of things, both in your mundane and magical practices. Deities can (as mentioned before) help with shadow work; they can help you to develop your psychic abilities, and they can share knowledge with you about both the physical and magical realm. They can teach about crystals, herbalism and nature magic for instance. They can help you develop and practice divination skills. They can help you to learn how to save your money, and help you with relationship issues. Just about anything you can think of, deities can help with! 

I would like to give special credit to Prince Stolas for helping me write this and edit it; he very much helped me with a lot of this and ended up channeling to help me with some of this info. This post is written in honor of him as an offering. 

I’d also like to give credit to my friend @astralscraft for helping me so much with this; the questions they came up with and the feedback they gave me for this post was incredible!

[natalievoncatte]

The heat was getting to be a problem.

The power had been out in National City for three days, and those three days were expected to be among the hottest of the year. Lena was, frankly, desperate.

You might think that she’d have it easy, but anyone who would think that a penthouse in a skyscraper would be easy to cool would quickly be disabused of that notion. The windows mostly didn’t open and having the balcony doors spread wide did next to nothing when the breeze felt like opening an oven, even up here.

It had been Alex’s suggestion, sent by text.

Why don’t you go to Kara’s? The loft is pretty breezy.

She was right, of course. When Lena arrived, Kara had every one of her huge loft windows open, allowing the breeze to flow freely through the open, airy space.

There was another problem, though.

When Kara opened the door, Lena nearly keeled over. Kara was wearing a sports bra and shorts so short they barely deserved the name, exposing a vast amount of golden, sun-kissed skin. Worse, her gloriously muscled stomach and shoulders glistened with sweat.

Lena was surprised to see that the heat bothered her, but it clearly did. Kara had forgone her glasses, too, and after she opened the door, she swept the back of her hand across her forehead and sighed.

“Hi,” Lena squeaked.

“Hi yourself. Hot out there?”

“It’s hot in here.”

“Come in, come in,” said Kara.

Lena stepped inside, forcing herself not to stare at Kara’s thick thighs and the swell of her chest under straining fabric. Was that zipper some advanced Kryptonian technology?

“Want something to drink?”

“Isn’t your fridge dead, too?”

“Yeah, but I cheat. Watch.”

Kara slipped a bottle of water out of a pack on her counter and breathed on it. Ice crystals formed on the surface and the water visibly chilled. It shocked Lena when she accepted it and the cold water on her lips was bliss. Lena let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of cold spreading through her chest, cooling her body.

When she opened her eyes, Kara was the one staring. Lena had thrown on a short, a-frame sun dress that bared her back, for no other reason than making sure that her skin could have as much surface exposed to the air to evaporate and cool her down as possible.

“So what are you up to?” Lena asked.

Kara gestured to the notebook and stacks of papers on the table.

“Old-fashioned journalism, I guess. My laptop battery died yesterday.”

“I thought you’d be out there trying to fix the power.”

Kara shrugged. “With what, my super-electrician powers?”

Lena shot her a look, raising her brow.

Kara turned away, heading for the windows.

Oh, Jesus, Lena thought.

It wasn’t as if Lena hadn’t… noticed Kara’s physique. She wasn’t blind, after all. They’d taken spin class together, and Kara liked to wear leggings on the weekends.

But holy shit, those shorts made her ass look… Super.

Lena was still fumbling over a buns of steel pun in her head when Kara turned back.

“Hey, you okay? Your heart raced for a second there.”

“F-fine,” said Lena.

“Alex and the others are coming over tonight for an emergency game night,” said Kara. “I better get ready.”

For the next couple of hours, Lena helped Kara neaten up her apartment and prepare non-perishable snacks and a cooler full of beer and wine coolers, chilled care of Kara. Alex and Kelly were the first to show up, with Alex giving Lena a cheeky look as she walked into the apartment.

“Hey, you two,” she said. “Been having a hot time?”

There was something brittle in Kara’s laugh that set Lena a little on edge, and the Danvers sisters shared one of those looks they shared that made Lena wonder if they could communicate telepathically. Whatever the message was, it made Kara look away first, distracting with an offered beer that Alex gladly accepted.

Lena took a wine cooler, wishing it were wine.

Nia and Brainy showed up next, followed by J’onn, who was the only one fully dressed in a button-down shirt and khakis, while everyone else was dressed for the beach or a track meet.

Lena sat on the floor, because the hardwood was cool under her butt, and leaned back against Kara’s couch. Kara sat beside her and Lena’s heart definitely sped up.

Looking over, it was hard to tear her eyes away. Kara made a magnificent display- the blocky weight of her shoulders, full biceps and strong arms and bulky, sculpted forearms. Lena’s eyes followed the vein on the back of Kara’s arm down the back of her strong hand and the elegant lengths of her fingers.

Kara kept her nails neatly trimmed like that because of Supergirl duties, right?

Right?

“Hey Luthor? You having a heat stroke?” said Alex. “You look spaced out over there.”

Alex had a playful grin plastered on her face, though she too was sweating profusely. A cooler breeze rolled in through the big windows and everyone sighed in delight.

Except J’onn. “What shall we play first?” she said.

“Clue!” Nia chirped.

“Brainy always kicks our ass at Clue,” said Alex, “and I am not playing Monopoly with a literal billionaire again.”

“Perhaps we should play Risk,” said J’onn, rifling through the game shelf.

“We could try Twisted,” Kara suggested in a deadpan voice.

Lena swallowed hard, thinking of herself tangled up on the mat with Kara, clothes glued to their skin by sweat, salty skin sliding against salty skin, the scent of her…

“Earth to Lena,” said Alex. “Got any ideas?”

“Exploding Kittens,” said Lena. “We haven’t done that one in a while.”

“Kara, chill us some cold ones, will you?” said Nia.

Once everyone had a rapidly warming drink, Brainy dealt the cards and the game began. Alex called Kara out for peeking several times, with that loaded Danvers Sisters Look and an almost predatory smirk.

She wasn’t the only one peeking.

Lena participate in the game but her mind was elsewhere, specifically the valley of Kara’s broad back, where sweat gathered between her muscles and rain down in heavy beads, or the sweat gathering along her collarbone or sparking along the lush inner curves of her tightly contained breasts.

“Hey,” said Kara. “It’s your turn, Lena.”

Then she reached over and brushed damp lock of inky hair out of Lena’s eyes.

She could have melted. She swallowed hard, brushed the sweat from her brow, and made a hasty and wasteful play that would probably cost her any chance of winning, but she didn’t care. The game seemed at most a distant concern.

Kara’s tongue glazing along her soft pink lips was much more interesting. They’d pretty much all given up on makeup but Kara was still positively radiant, soft and inviting and homey in a way that made Lena ache in her chest.

And, uh, other places.

It was full dark now, so they finished the game and Kara and Alex got up to light a few candles.

“This is like camping,” said Nia.

“We should have thought to procure ‘marshmallows’, said Brainy. “Kara could toast them with her heat vision.”

“We hardly need more heat. I’m boiling,” said Lena.

J’onn let out a soft grunt. “It’s my turn to go on patrol. I think I’ll be the first to head out.

Everyone gave their goodbyes as he headed out the window. The others huddled closer around the table, lit by the candle sitting in the middle.

“We should tell scary stories,” said Alex. “Like around a campfire.”

“Since it was your idea, you go first,” said Kelly.

Alex leaned into it with abandon, leaning in over the table as she started spinning a campfire yarn that Lena quickly recognized as The Hook.

Kara edged closer, until her bare thigh pressed against Lena. She leaned in close, and it wouldn’t have taken much for Lena to… rest her head on Kara’s shoulder. It just kind of happened, Kara’s scent filling her nostrils as she turned into Kara.

Lena flinched as Kara shot her a concerned look.

She can hear my heartbeat.

Kara must have thought Lena was scared, because she casually slipped an arm around her.

Lena’s breath caught. Kara’s powerful arm rested lazily around her hip and her relaxed hand rested on Lena’s thigh, fingers placed lightly on bare skin.

It was a powerfully possessive gesture, not just protective but… more. Lena shifted a little and let herself completely fall against Kara.

Alex kept on telling the story, her gaze pausing heavily on the two of them as she scanned the room. Brainy looked bored but Nia looked genuinely petrified and Kelly was looking at her wife with the kind of adoring reference that was currently plastered on Lena’s face as she looked up at Kara.

Alex reached the crescendo of the story and Lena let out a little gasp, turning her face into Kara’s neck, more for the sake of it than out of fear. Kara’s hand stroked lazily up and down her back.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone get you,” Kara whispered.

“You two okay over there?” said Alex.

“Fine,” said Kara.

“There are two actual couples here and you two are the ones doing the heavy petting.”

They weren’t heavy petting. Okay sure, Lena had her fingers curled around Kara’s hip and Kara’s hand was staring to pass the platonic zone when stroking her back but…

Oh.

“It’s getting late,” said Kelly. “Maybe we should head home.”

“Agreed,” said Nia. “Come on, Brainy.”

Lena and Kara didn’t get up.

The others did, piling out of the apartment. Alex went last, shooting Kara another of those damned looks, smiling like a self-satisfied cat after a big stretch.

The door closed and Kara yawned.

“Mind if I stay?” Lena said, quickly. “My place is just too hot to sleep.”

“Of course,” Kara said softly.

Lena didn’t move. They were alone now, the apartment dark except for candles that threw flickering shadows and made Kara even more ethereal. Lena could barely believe someone so gorgeous could be real.

“Lena,” Kara said quietly. “Have you ever thought about…” she trailed off.

“About what?”

“Us. What we are to each other.”

“Yes,” said Lena.

“Me too.”

“What are you thinking?” Lena asked.

“You’re my best friend. You mean more to me than basically anyone else, and the thought of you has kept me going through some really dark times.”

When Kara smiled for her, her eyes lit up, sparkling in the candlelight, like moonlight dancing on nighttime waves. She was entrancing.

“I…” Lena began. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you as just a friend. There’s more on the table if you want it.”

“More like… kissing?”

“Yes, exactly.”

This was actually happening. It was real, not a daydream or a fantasy. Kara moved with agonizing slowness, full of a gentle, kind intensity as she leaned down and lightly brushed her lips across Lena’s.

It was like being tossed in a tub of ice water… in a good way. Lena shivered as Kara cupped her jaw and went for another kiss, more forcefully this time, more insistent. The breathed as one.

“Kara,” Lena whispered.

She couldn’t help it. Lena dragged her tongue over Kara’s skin, tasting the sweat pooled at the base of her neck. Kara let out a low moan followed by a deep basso rumble in her chest, pulsating in time with her breathing.

“Did you just lick my sweat?”

“Are you purring?!”

Kara giggled. “I can do lots of things.”

Lena looked up at her with lidded eyes. “Oh yeah? Show me what you got.”

She squeaked as Kara picked her up in a single smooth motion, and with a self-satisfied smirk, carried her towards the bed.

Later, as they lay in a tangle of perspiring limbs atop sweat-soaked sheets, the power thumped back on and the air conditioning began to blow over them, chilling Lena’s skin.

She barely noticed.

[mountainsoftreatos]

Just having some thoughts/feels I had to share about Charles’ reaction to Edwin’s confession on the steps of Hell –

People-pleasing Charles – who only feels like a ‘good person’ when he is keeping spirits up and protecting the people he cares about, Edwin most of all – can’t bring himself to respond to Edwin’s confession directly. Initially, Charles cannot bring himself to say “I don’t share those feelings,” because he knows it would hurt Edwin. And hurting Edwin is so antithetical to who he is and wants to be as a person, especially in this moment when Edwin is so vulnerable, when Charles has just seen, for the first time, the torture he had to endure in Hell.

So he compares them to Orpheus and Eurydice. He is trying, in this very stressful moment, to get Edwin to understand, “I love you as much as Orpheus loves Eurydice. I love you enough to risk my entire existence to come down to Hell to get you. No one and nothing could stop me. That is how much I love you.”

And I love Edwin’s response!! Because Charles just compared them to romantic couple, but that doesn’t matter to Edwin if they don’t get out of Hell together. He was serious when he told Charles that he didn’t have to feel the same way. Not being with Charles is the worst possible outcome to Edwin and that is what he focuses on – not the romantic comparison – but the tragic ending.

Charles again tries to avoid addressing Edwin’s confession. When he says he never finished the story, he has this little smile and I’m not actually sure if he is being truthful, or if he does know the story and is trying to make a little joke, but either way, he is trying to tell Edwin, “The important part of the comparison is the strength of love in the story, not how the story ended.”

But Edwin seems even more upset by his answer, his little joke. (I do wonder if it was Crystal pointing out that Charles hides his pain behind a smile that made Edwin push Charles to give him an actual response, or if he would have done it anyways). “I’m being quite serious,” he tells Charles.

And I think Charles realizes that his non-answer is hurting Edwin anyways. He realizes that Edwin needs to know how Charles feels, even if it risks letting Edwin down. And I love Charles’ response:

You, Edwin Payne, are my best mate. That will never change. You are the most important person in the world to me. There’s no one else, no one else, that I would go to Hell for. And we’ve got, and we’ve got literally forever to figure out what the rest means.

These are all very strong, very certain words. He is basically certain about three things:

Edwin is and will always be his best friend.

Charles would risk everything to save Edwin. No one else, just Edwin.

They will be together forever.

Compare that to his line, “And I can’t really say that, like, I’m in love with you back.” There’s uncertainty there! The words “really” and “like” are used as qualifiers, which are words that limit the meaning of another word/phrase. He is softening his words. And telling Edwin “I can’t really say…” is not the same as “I’m not...”, right? “I’m not in love with you back” says,“ I know what I’m feeling and it’s not romantic love.” But “I can’t really say,” communicates, “I do feel something, and in this moment I’m labeling that feeling as not ‘in love’ but that label might not be accurate.” As Jayden Revri said, he leaves it open.

Then he ends by saying they have forever to figure out what the rest means, as long as they get out of Hell – bringing his reassurance back to what Edwin had been concerned about – that they escape Hell together and will be together forever. Okay, lots of thoughts – just had to share!

Ahhhhhh, I just love Charles.

[nataliescatorccioapologist]

Please let Natalie have close relationships with other female characters in Season 3‼️‼️

Nat is arguably the only character that does not have any close female friendships in the show. She’s close with Travis, Coach Ben, and Kevyn (and that ginger guy from the pilot episode, Rich?); all male characters. I get that she is likely more distrusting of other women because of her strained, neglectful relationship with her mother and she seeks out more male attention/validation because of her abusive relationship with her father. And I get that she is subconsciously pursuing toxic relationships/friendships with men because that is what is familiar to her due to her father (codependency and mistreatment with Travis and becoming involved with Kevyn even though she is in a very emotionally vulnerable state and clearly not ready for it).

But now that Natalie has been in the wilderness in a matriarchal dynamic for quite some time in the teen timeline, I want to see her slowly begin to embrace femininity and connection with women (no, I don’t mean she has to dress and act “girlie” because that is not what femininity is).

So far, her relationships with the other girls have been marked with hostility and competition. Nat argues with Taissa over freezing out Allie, she fights with Jackie about Travis, she competes with Lottie over the Wilderness and the direction the group is heading in, she expresses general disdain for Misty (with some occasional affectionate moments), and now she’s presumably going to have conflict with Shauna over leadership. Natalie clashes with the group and isolates herself just as the girls begin to embrace a matriarchal system led by Lottie, where shared rituals and communal female bonds take center stage. I love toxic yuri don’t get me wrong, but I would love to see Nat lean into this female community a bit more.

We get Taissa and Shauna, Shauna and Jackie, Misty and Crystal, Lottie and Laura Lee, Melissa and Gen, Taissa and Van (although that’s definitely a lot more than a friendship). Where’s Nat’s female bond??

I want Nat to find safety, vulnerability, and nurturance with women! I want her to distance herself from male validation and find female connection! Even if it’s just in the wilderness and then, when she is rescued returns to a patriarchal society where her father wound will inevitably reopen, she will return to her old ways.

My hopes of Nat connecting on a deeper level with the other women on this show is fading rapidly with these new Season 3 promos. I think isolation will continue to be Nat’s crutch and her conflicts with the other female leads will only increase. But a girl can hope. And I hope for Nat having at least one connection to another woman that isn’t contentious. Is that too much to ask?