#fun fact it took me a YEAR AND A HALF to get on board with the 'angel' nickname

[snickerdoodlles]

Serious KP question time: does Kim, at any point in the show, call Porchay "Angel" or not? 'Cause, in fanfictions, it seems to be his default nickname most of the time but i can't remember if it actually happens in the show? Or is that just something the fandom collectively decided on and it stayed?

100% fandom. neither Kim nor Chay ever use pet names for each other in show canon, nor does Kim in show ever carry that sort of religion-related symbolism or references (unlike Vegas or Gun)

some context for why 'Angel' is a Thing despite that;

kinnporsche was hugely popular when the original filmania trailer dropped. there was like 50 fics for the show before the BOC trailer came out, and the Kim/Porchay pairing made up a third of them.

I think Kim calls Chay 'Angel' in the Kinnporsche novel, just because several people did start reading the novel in that year of the show being in limbo and the nickname was even more prevalent in fic back then? I can't say for sure though because I've never read the novel. but even if it is or isn't a thing in novel, the same case occurred: people were really, really hungry for kinnporsche when it first dropped. then there was a year of no news in which we all turned to the novel and/or other fic to supplement the lack of a show, and some nebulous shared fanon most fics drew from started to emerge and grow the longer the show was in limbo. Kim calling Chay 'Angel' was one of those fanon tropes, and then it stuck around even as the show properly got started because they're a secondary pairing and this fandom isn't very good at moving past that old shared fanon or book canon, even though all 2.5 canons are completely different stories from each other

[cherrycherrylady2024]

Christmas with the Grimes'

Christmas with the Grimes'

(Dilf! Rick Grimes x reader) Word count: 1,945

Warnings: 18+, descriptions of dilfs? This one is pretty tame tbh

Chapter 1: Mr. Grimes

Packing your bags for winter break, you thanked your lucky stars you had somewhere to call home for the next month and a half. There was the option of staying in the dorms but you came to terms with the fact that that would simply be too sad. Plus you certainly couldn’t go back to your parent's house, you hadn’t spoken to those two since the day you graduated high school. You were finally well and truly on your own. College was everything you had dreamed it would be. Partially thanks to Judith, your roommate, for dragging you out of the dorm that first week of school. 

You purposely picked the earliest move-in date and had already been living in the dorm for two weeks before Judith even arrived. You tried your best to spruce it up with what little decor you had and sat wringing your hands all day for this girl to appear. With random roommate assignments who knew what you’d be getting? When the door began to open with a click! of the handle, your stomach dropped to your toes, but the second Judith walked in you knew everything would be okay. She immediately ran over to you and almost knocked you over with a bear hug. She was the sunshine that brought you out of your shell, and you two were BFFs since that very day. When she invited you to stay with her family over winter break, it was nearly impossible to say no. 

~~~

“C’mon y/n we’d have so much fun! I can show you around my town, I mean what little there is to see, but still! We can go ice skating, watch movies, have snowball fights with my brother- plus my dad makes some seriously fucking good eggnog.” Judith chatted into your ear as you were finishing up your last essay for finals. You sighed and pushed away from your desk, rubbing your eyes. This paper would be the death of you, especially with Judith's distractions. “That all sounds great, really, but wouldn’t it be an imposition on you guys? I mean Christmas is kinda special and I don’t want to be intruding on your-” Judith cuts you off. “Please intrude! We do the same stuff every year, it gets sooo boring. Anyways, I’ll miss you too much, so I’m not really asking at this point.” Judith plops on her bed and opens her laptop. “This is a kidnapping now?” you ask. Judith types furiously on her computer, “For the greater good. You can’t sit here and mope for the next month and a half, that’s too depressing.” She pauses for a second, staring at her laptop screen. “Is an 8 am train too early?” 

You sigh, and lean back, stretching, mulling it over for a moment.

 “Way, way, too early,” you say.

Judith looks up at you and smiles.

~~~

So here you were, bags packed and ready to go. You two took the bus to the Amtrak station and boarded easy-peasy. “Y’know, I always thought train travel would be like Murder on the Orient Express, but this is like… shanking on the shitty express,” you remarked as you examined the stained seat, shabby carpeting, and… let’s just say, unusual fellow passengers. You quickly corrected yourself, “I mean- not to sound ungrateful or anything.” Judith rolled her eyes in agreement, “Believe me this isn’t my first choice either. It’s only a four-hour drive, if my dad would let me bring my truck up we wouldn’t have to-” she was interrupted by the train starting up. It began to slowly peel away from the station. “Here we go!” you exclaimed, surprising yourself with how oddly excited you felt. Judith yawned, shifting in her seat. “I should’ve gone with the noon train, even 10 am feels like the crack of dawn.”

20 minutes later you were bored as hell and Judith was fast asleep, snoring every once in a while. Your phone had spotty service as it was, but now going through the countryside it was virtually impossible to do anything. You occupied yourself by looking out of the window. When that got boring you too tried to close your eyes, but Judith's snores were becoming increasingly loud. You looked at her and contemplated throwing goldfish into her half-opened mouth, but decided against it. 

Studying her for a little, you concluded that she looked a lot like her dad, from the one time you met him. 

It was the day Judith moved in.

~~~

Judith pulled away from the hug, “Y/n, right? I’m Judith. It’s so nice to meet you! I like your energy already,” she held your hands as she said this. “That's so sweet of you, you too!” you responded. “And this is my– dad come on!” Judith turned to the door, ushering in her father. The man was balancing two large moving boxes, labeled aptly as Judith’s shit, which obscured his face. “Jesus Judith, what’s in here? Boulders?” He shuffled over and plopped down the two boxes on the twin bed across from yours, breathing out in a huff. “Just my rock collection.” Judith teased. Her father wiped his face and turned to you, making a clack sound in his cowboy boots, “Nice to meet ya, m’Rick” he said, extending his hand to you. 

You froze.

Damn. 

He was handsome. 

You didn’t typically use that word to describe guys. They were always “cute” or “hot,” but this wasn’t a guy: this was a man, and he was fucking handsome. His skin was a little bit bronzed from the summer sun, and you immediately found your mind wandering to where those tan lines might end. Rick's hair was dark brown, thick, and pushed back, ending in perfect curls. You were instantly enraptured by his stunningly blue eyes. How do eyes that blue even exist? Rick had a strong and direct gaze, and you got the feeling that from one look, he could know all about you. Was it crazy to say he had a sexy nose too? You had never liked facial hair until this day. This was nothing like the scraggly high school mustaches you were accustomed to. Rick had a short, slightly salt-and-pepper, beard that perfectly accentuated his high cheekbones. His voice was deep and rough, with a sexy southern drawl that you clocked immediately. He wore a plain white t-shirt which, due to the August heat, stuck to him in just the right places. 

Damn. 

The dark blue jeans fit him perfectly, paired with a black belt cluttered by loops and pouches, what for? You weren't sure. The only thing you could identify on the belt was the gun holster, and the revolver snugly clasped in it. 

You took all this in in the few seconds he had turned to you. His hand was still outstretched when you came to.

“Oh- hi Mr. Grimes, I’m y/n.” You shook his hand gently in a daze. His hands were warm, a little rough, and covered yours completely when he brought the other one on top. “Nice to meetcha y/n. And just Rick is fine.”

Rick. Rick. Rick. Rick. Rick. Rick. Rick. Rick.

You nodded your head fervently and withdrew from the handshake. You did your best to act normal but your eyes drifted straight back down his body to the revolver. Judith had already made herself busy unpacking, and didn’t even need to turn around to know what you must be wondering, “Dad I told you to leave your gun in the truck, it freaks people out.” She turned back to the both of you, holding a teddy bear, “Don’t worry y/n he’s not in the mafia or something, that’d be way too cool for him.” Rick shook his head with a smile, his hand on his hip, “How do ya know I’m not?” Judith moved swiftly past him, grabbing something from his belt. “Hey!” Rick laughed. She tossed it to you and upon catching it, you turned it over in your hands. It was a shiny gold sheriff's deputy badge. 

Officer Rick Grimes.

Damn.

You chuckled lightly and handed it back to him, your fingers brushing his, as Judith entered the bathroom with a box labeled shower shit. “Don’t let your mob buddies see that badge,” you teased. Rick smiled (Damn.) and put it back in his belt pocket, “Thanks for the tip.” 

Judith emerged from the bathroom, “Dinner?”

The dinner was unfortunately quick, mostly Judith talked and you listened. Rick chimed in now and again but it was more for you two roommates to get to know each other. You couldn't help but sneak a few glances at Rick throughout the dinner. You watched as his muscles flexed in his forearms, studied when he’d crack a smile, and nearly swooned when he leaned back and swept a hand through his hair, his arm outstretched on the booth behind Judith.

It was like he was magnetic. Every time you looked away you felt a calling for more. You shook the feeling as best you could and focused on Judith. You found out she had a younger brother, Carl, who was a bit of a troublemaker. Through mouthfuls of pasta, Judith put it bluntly that their mom had passed away years ago. "I'm sorry to hear that," you responded. You glanced at Rick for a reaction, finding nothing. You told Judith about your family, sugar-coating some of the details as you swirled your pasta around, not making eye contact. She seemed to catch on fast and didn’t pry. You already liked that about her.

After paying for dinner, and you thanking him profusely, Rick escorted the two of you back to your dorm building. He gave Judith a bear hug goodbye, “I wish I could stay longer sweetheart but I gotta get up early in the mornin’.” He looked over to you and winked “Mafia stuff.” You smiled (oh my god) back as Judith pulled away. “It’s alright, I’ll see ya at parent's weekend pops!” She kissed him quickly on the cheek and headed towards the stairwell to the dorms. Rick chuckled, then shrugged his shoulders and looked to you, “She’s keepin' it all inside.” He said, patting his heart. You laughed, “I’m sure.” Judith yelled to you from the door, “C’mon y/n we gotta lot of catchin’ up to do!” You turned back to Rick, “Thank you so much again for dinner. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Grimes.” He clasped a hand down on your shoulder (fuck). “No problem, you girls be good now, ya hear?” He leaned down closer to you, whispering, “Don’t let her drive you crazy”. You titter nervously, a little overzealous, as he pulls away. Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god.

You could smell his cologne. Or maybe it was just him. A rich, woodsy, musk that you wanted to stuff your face into.

“I heard that Dad!” Rick spun on his heel and began walking away, his hands in his deputy jacket pockets. “Goodnight girls.” You watched him walk away for a moment, then followed after Judith.

~~~

That was nearly 5 months ago, and the last time you’d seen Rick Grimes. You didn’t have a crush per se, I mean, he was a grown man and you were….…well, technically of age, but it would be weird, right? Right??

I mean maybe it's not so bad if- NO. You need to snap out of it. You hadn’t even thought about him (much) the whole semester, but the notion of seeing him again gave you butterflies that you desperately tried to squash. He is your best friend's dad for god's sake. Not that anything would ever happen, but there was no reason to make things weird for yourself in your own mind. He’s Judith's dad, and he just so happens to be good-looking, nothing more nothing less.

Well- really good-looking. And funny too. Very charming. But nonetheless your best friend's dad! 

A dilf and your best friend's dad. 

This was going to be a long winter break.

***

notes: ahhhhhhh! ok so this is my first fic ever and I already have a few more chapters written and planned so lmk what you think! All comments, reposts, etc. are very much appreciated <3 stay tuned for more!

[songmingisthighs]

your child called txt 'dad'

group : txt

pairing : txt (individual) × single mom!reader

genre : fluff

wc : 2.4 k

warning : kids being kids and txt being txt don't talk to me i am so soft for soobin rn and this is the start of my descent into absolute insanity because what the fuck

a/n : aight i might open request for reactions for both txt and ateez but i might have to work some things out first bc this is hella fun ngl

buy me coffee ?

soobin

Your son was uncharacteristically quiet. Usually, when your boyfriend, Soobin, is around, he's a regular chatterbox but not this time. While you noticed it since the day before, Soobin noticed it the minute he walked through the front door and asked for his regular hug that your son gave half-heartedly. It didn't worry you but it saddened Soobin a lot because he truly loves the boy. However, since he was about to go on tour, the next day, he figured he had to be the adult and just try to work through the boy's sulkiness.

From the moment Soobin arrived, he was determined to make your son, his best bud, go back to his usual giggly self. Hours spent on different activities that started indoors with stupid board games to Soobin trying (and failing miserably) to copy Taehyun's card tricks, and even outdoors to get ice cream from the convenience store (which was an excuse because he totally forgot to buy a travel size toothpaste and he needed to buy one while he still remembered). But absolutely nothing seemed to make your son crack a smile, his lips were in a permanently pursed form and his eyebrows furrowed. It was an understatement to say that Soobin was devastated because while your son was out in the living room, you and Soobin scurried to the kitchen so the giant of a man could bury his face in your stomach and let out a muffled scream while you held yourself from squirming, squealing, or even punching him due to being ticklish.

"Did you have fun with Soobinnie today, bud?" you asked as you scooped some food on your son's plate before moving to scoop food for Soobin who was on the other side of your son while you were at the head of the table. You could see your son peeking at Soobin from his bangs momentarily before nodding, quietly eating his food. It was almost comical how you started the day with one boy pouting and now you have two boys at your dining table. The fact that they looked so similar was hecking adorable though.

"You know, Soobin really wanted to spend the day with you having fun because we're not going to see him for a while because he has a tour. Remember the last time Binnie went on tour? He wanted to be able to play with you before he left because he's going to miss you," you tried reasoning with your son, hoping to at least get him to crack and pay attention to Soobin. But much to your and Soobin's surprise, your son finally looked up at you and then at Soobin with tears streaming down his face and bottom lip quivering as his tiny nose sniffled, "I don't want daddy to go," he whimpered before wailing, arms outstretched at Soobin, asking to be held.

Immediately, Soobin took your son in his arms and hugged him tightly, looking at you with eyes swimming in emotion. He didn't know how to react nor what to react to first, the fact that your son didn't wanna see him off or the fact that your son called him dad. The rest of the night they refused to be separated and honestly you wouldn't be surprised if Soobin bought your son a ticket to visit him while he was on tour. Just your son though.

yeonjun

"How can you say no to this? Baby, we're gonna be fucking adorable!" Yeonjun shrieked, following after you who was trying to evade him by going to the kitchen. Your eyes widened and you instinctively turned around and slapped Yeonjun on his arm after he cussed. Yeonjun's eyes widened and he too turned around to see the 3-year-old in pigtails looking up at him with her adorable eyes. "I mean, freaking," he chuckled nervously.

Going back to you, Yeonjun fell to his knees and hugged your legs, preventing you from walking away. "Yeonjun," you huffed, looking down at him, "Let me go." But Yeonjun shook his head, "Not until you said yes to either one of my ideas," he demanded, glaring up at you with determination. "For the last time, we are not going as Shrek, Fiona, and the little green ogre baby to your company's Halloween party!" You exclaimed exasperatedly. "And I told you we can go as Marlin, Dory, and Nemo!" He argued back. As if on cue, your daughter trod over to you and hugged your legs like Yeonjun with a giggle, "Nemo!" She exclaimed, grinning widely. "See? The little miss gets me," Yeonjun said, winking at the girl before pecking her on her cheek.

You do think that the three of you would be adorable in a group costume and you do think it would just be the best to see Yeonjun and your daughter together. You might actually look like a family even though you're not.

"Wait, if we go by Nemo," Yeonjun squealed through sealed lips in excitement only to stop when you gave him a look, "Are you Marlin or Dory? Because Little miss there is mine so I should be Marlin, right?" "What? Of course not, you're Dory, duhh," Yeonjun scoffed as he got up, feeling like he won because you were indulging him in the conversation. "Why am I Dory?" "Because you forget things all the time? Like you still haven't gotten milk so this morning I ate my cereal with americano," the look on your face only made Yeonjun nod, "Yeah, it was disgusting." Hearing the word, your daughter chimed in as she shook her head, "Yucky 'sreal."

"Whatever. Because of that, I'm not going as Dory or even Fiona. I'm Marlin or bust," you huffed, crossing your arms in front of your chest. Yeonjun was about to say something when your daughter screeched, "Mommy, no! Mommy Dory, daddy Marlin!" her cheeks were puffed as she clung onto Yeonjun's leg to make a point, startling you. While you were surprised, Yeonjun was simply amused, liking the sound of her calling him dad. He scooped her in his arms and bounced her slightly, "See? Daddy's little munchkin said daddy's Marlin so, boohoo mommy," he cackled turning to make his way to the living room with your daughter, leaving you baffled in the kitchen.

beomgyu

As a demon child himself, Beomgyu understood how you couldn't find a babysitter for your own demon child on such short notice. So of course, without thinking (at all) twice, Beomgyu offered to watch the little ankle biter (literally, Yeonjun's leg still has the mark) until you're finished with... Whatever important thing you had to handle. You mumble a lot when Beomgyu's daydreaming and he doesn't know why you do that when you end up scolding him for not listening. Knowing that Beomgyu has a rather special and unusual effect on your son (aka he's the only one who's able to calm him down), you decided why the hell not.

Somehow Beomgyu had managed to convince your son that he had a treasure buried in his room and the broom would make a loud beeping noise once he found it. Safe to say your son has been diligently sweeping Beomgyu's room while he and Soobin played a computer game. At least he's still paying attention to the boy. "No, no! Buddy, we don't go in the closet because..." Beomgyu trailed off, trying to think about something that would prevent the boy from ransacking the whole thing, "You'll leave your scent and the monster from the closet dimension can track you down when you go home?" Even Soobin was paying attention to see if your son would buy his bullshit. Thankfully, the boy gasped and immediately scrambled to Beomgyu's lap, "No, not the monster!" he whined, hugging Beomgyu tightly as he buried his face on Beomgyu's shoulder. Beomgyu couldn't help but chuckle and pat the boy gently on the head, loving how adorable he was and how absolutely similar they both were. Then again your son is 3 and Beomgyu has the same mental age, so...

"For someone who's able to come up with that L-I-E," Soobin peered down to see if the boy could understand his spelling only to see him furrowing his eyebrows at Soobin, "You suck at thinking on your feet in this game," he pointed out. Beomgyu scoffed and kicked Soobin's chair slightly, "Because I got you as a teammate, you're a bum!" he said. Determined to prove the other wrong, Beomgyu and Soobin soon found themselves in a fierce one-on-one battle while the little boy was perched on Beomgyu's lap, slumping as if Beomgyu was a couch as he sipped on his juice box. His eyes were darting between Beomgyu, Soobin, and their laptops, the colours and the clicking sound absolutely hypnotized him.

It wasn't until Beomgyu screeched loudly that the boy even noticed that he had lost to Soobin who was sporting a very smug smirk on his face. "Face it dude, you suck," Soobin teased. Your son looked between the smirking Soobin and the sulking Beomgyu before he puffed up his cheeks and reached over to slap Soobin wherever his hand could reach. "Daddy don't suck, Binnie sucks!" he huffed loudly, snarling at the shocked giant. Hearing how your son called him dad and was defending him, Beomgyu's defeated look was changed to a satisfied grin. Knowing how successful his babysitting was, Beomgyu was determined to share every single bit of detail so he can rub his success on your face.

"Yah! Beomgyu, help! He's biting my arm!" Soobin shrieked.

Well, maybe he could spare some details.

taehyun

It was supposed to be date night for you two. You had planned it down to the underwear Taehyun was going to take off of you but your daughter got sick out of the blue. She was fine in the morning when you confirmed your date with Taehyun on the phone but an hour before Taehyun was supposed to arrive with Kai and Yeonjun, your daughter caught a fever. While it sucked for you, it sucked for the little girl too because she was promised a cupcake frosting station back at the dorm. You had been so busy with your daughter that you forgot to tell Taehyun until he came knocking on your door.

"Taehyun, are you sure this is okay?" you were on the verge of another breakdown, feeling bad for making Taehyun stay in and also feeling dejected that you didn't get to go somewhere without a playground. But Taehyun just smiled gently, placing his coat on the armrest of your couch before enveloping you in a hug, gently kissing the side of your head as he spoke gently, "Hey, the whole point of date night is spending time together, are we not doing that?" And with that, you broke down sobbing again because of how sweet he was being. "If you're gonna cry, go cry in the kitchen, I'll get her back to bed," before you could ask what he meant, a cough and a tiny voice called out for you, "Mama?" Immediately, Taehyun let you go and rushed over to scoop the girl into his arms, "Hey there cutie, I heard you're sick, huh?" Taehyun asked gently. At the question, your daughter nodded her head slowly as she looked at Taehyun before she peeked at you and looked back at Taehyun as if asking what was wrong with you. Taehyun simply smiled and shook his head, "Don't worry about mama, okay? Let me put you back in bed," he was about to carry her off to her room when she squirmed and shook her head with a pout on her face. Looking down, Taehyun saw your daughter pointing at your room with glassy eyes and quivering bottom lip. Chuckling, Taehyun nodded and brought her to your room where her blanket was laid out in the middle of your bed, putting her down and tucking her with a peck to her forehead.

After you regain your emotions, you manage to immediately jump to your daughter's aid with Taehyun. It was a good thing too because apparently a sick child is a two-person job and Taehyun counted as three on his own. It amazes you how he was able to take care of your daughter well, knowing just what to give her and how to get her to eat and stay still as you flush the snot out of her nose. Despite her crying, wailing, and kicking, Taehyun managed to stay calm the whole time and even gave your daughter little praises whenever she managed to do what she was asked to. By the end, your daughter was clinging onto Taehyun with a cold patch on her forehead, her head rested on Taehyun's sturdy chest and her mouth agape. You couldn't help but take a picture of the absolutely endearing sight.

It was around 8 o'clock when your daughter finally calmed down and you both realized that you hadn't eaten dinner yet. "You go change into something less snotty, maybe wash the puke off your hair, and I'll order us some food, how's that?" Taehyun teased. Though you rolled your eyes at him, you nodded and left with a peck to his lips. As a man with taste and consideration, Taehyun decided to order something for not only you two but something your daughter can also snack on in case she woke up hungry and didn't want to finish her porridge. Taehyun was in the middle of placing the order in the delivery app on his phone when he heard tiny sniffles and sobs coming from behind. He snapped his head back only to see your daughter sitting up and crying. Her hands were outstretched towards him and her fingers made grabby motions, asking to be picked up. "Papa," she whimpered. If the crying child didn't melt his heart, him being called papa absolutely crushed him.

When you came back from your short shower, you were surprised to see your daughter draped over Taehyun's chest with her blanket covering her body and Taehyun scrolling on his phone. Sensing the attention, Taehyun shifted his gaze to you and grinned with a finger to his lips, "I've ordered something for us but I think you might have to go get it later," he explained. When you got closer to them, Taehyun grabbed your hand gently and he grinned so wide you were afraid that his face was going to split in half, "And she called me papa," he giggled, feeling happy which made you feel happy for him too.

huening kai

Honestly, you don't know why you agreed to Kai's suggestion in the first place. It wasn't that you don't like being in public with him, especially with staff around and his band members running around everywhere because you do. His members are some of the funniest people you've ever met and his job requires him to always be with staff so you acclimated because you love him. The same goes for how he acclimated with you and your son. Kai is a person with a big heart, he just wanted to have the people he loved around and get along well. Which wasn't hard at all because your usually shy-with-strangers son was suddenly being carried like a sack of flour by Yeonjun and you didn't even have to worry because Kai was there telling his hyung to be careful.

Within an hour, the initial doubt about your attendance at TXT's jacket photoshoot was scrubbed clean off your mind. Sure, it wasn't the first time you all met together with your son, but you were there to witness them working. You thought your son was going to hinder the work there but as it turns out, the staff loves him. Moreover, the staff loves him with Kai who insisted on spending as much moving time as he could spare with your son. Not only him, but the rest of the members seemed to like your little boy. You could only grin at the sight of your son playing with the members whilst waiting for directions.

During their group shoots, your son would sit by your side with his legs tapping impatiently. Kai seemed to speak the same language as your son, somehow managing to get the boy to sit quietly until Kai told him he could move around. You wanted to know what exactly he said. While it would be very out of character, you couldn't help but conclude that it's most likely a form of threat. It's not that you were judging or restricting Kai, you wanted to know so you could use it too. But then again, you didn't want to disturb whatever they have, it's better that it's just between them.

One thing you noticed most was the way your son was so intrigued with the wardrobe. While he stuck by Kai's side like glue in general, you noticed how he seemed to be very interested in Kai's jacket. While Kai was retouching his makeup, your son would play around with the material; tugging on it gently, putting it over his head, and even slipping himself between Kai and the material. When Kai went over to do his solo shoots, your son could only follow after him and stood by, watching your boyfriend work in pure awe.

You seemed to have lost track of time and attention because before you knew it, you heard your son squealing and running to the set but this time with a jacket and hair styled similar to Kai's. You thought that people would be mad and that your boyfriend would scold your innocent little rascal. But he laughed and crouched down with arms opened wide, happily gathering your boy in his arms and spinning him around. "Look, I look just like daddy!" Your son giggled, showing off the jacket he was wearing whilst tugging on the jacket Kai was wearing. You must've only expected the worst-case scenarios because while you thought that Kai would be embarrassed, you only saw him beam and wave at the photographer, asking for a couple of shots of them together for his phone wallpaper.

network :

@cultofdionysusnet @sandsofire @kflixnet

taglist :

@kodzukein @phenomenalgirl9 @skzatzloveismonsterous @memorymonster @thesolarplanetarysystem @dreamlesswonder86 @maddiebabyxoxo @imababywolf @do-you-actually-care @marievllr-abg @ilsedingsx @wasteitonserendipity @bbymatz @noonaishere @honeyhwaaa @ateezourstars @yoonjunshi @yoongiigolden @camillelafaye @charreddonuts @kpopnightingale @starryunho @atinct @mirror-juliet @hyuckilstan @jayb17 @kpoplover718 @haatohwa @x-bluee @erinaimeexx @blackb3ll @mingiholic @angelicyeo @vampcharxter @meowmeowminnie @marvelous-llama @kawennote09 @hongjoong-lovebot @stopeatread @spooo00oky @jwnghyuns @cutie-wooyo @asjkdk @shinotani @aestheticsluut

@chloepurpy

[karltface]

Well, I just turned 42. I'm celebrating by reviewing a toy. Specifically, I'm solving a 20-year mystery.

Behold, Mutant Spawn. At a size and image quality we didn't have at the time. I loved me some monsters even then, but this never appeared in my area. I puzzled over this photo again and again, trying to parse what I was even looking at. Why is the armor vomiting his face? Why is there half a bear trap hanging off his kidneys? And bug wings?

Not that I was looking very hard, but this had bothered me ever since. This year, I pulled the trigger. And boy howdy, was it cheap.

Okay then. The card only makes things more confusing. Somehow Spawn (or an alternate timeline version thereof) has become a "dual being", a poisonous (and deadly!) predator that poses as a harmless bug to trick evildoers. I guess this is post-Armageddon, then. Let's do this.

Ah... hmm. I'm enamored with the way that head just sort of oozes out and dangles. It wobbles around a lot too, which is doubly hilarious. What I took to be a serrated metal jaw is in fact a textured, fairly smooth... Well, a friend of mine said it looks like an... adult swing. The four tongues lolling out of the mouth don't help, nor does the spiky toilet bowl collar. The jaws (and mechanical blade-tentacles, boasting a whopping two hinge joints each), are blatantly pegged into a plain black hinge jutting from the sternum.

Articulation is minimal: swivel hips and shoulders, and the head can stand at half-mast if you wedge it up there real good, but no turning it at all. It also retracts into the armor. The aforementioned tentacles have their hinges, as does the tail- which is just another tentacle. On another obvious hinge. The jaw can actually hinge all the way up over the head.

The hands have holes for accessories, but none are present. The holes are the super tiny kind, too, which makes 'em pretty useless, eh? Not sure what might have been planned there, really. He could probably carry the original Spawn's nail-board, though.

Now, "mutant" I get. "Spawn", sure. There'd already been a few odd permutations. But I'm not sure how much of this thing is even organic. All that red and black mostly has the pebbly texture of the chunky armor bits Al was rocking at the time, but there are several portions- the forearms and torso, chiefly- that are purely mechanical, with a stylized endoskeleton look.

In fact, if you lift the bug wings (and we'll touch on those momentarily), the only recognizably organic parts are the head and this hideous lump of alien-looking meat. Almost as if this is just a suit construct housing the little undead tentacle monster that used to be Spawn. The lump is actually soft rubber, and kind of fun to touch.

The wings are a point of contention here. Boxed, mine had them mounted on the forearms. Fortunately, there are holes on the back that will let them rest against the back, where they nestle snugly over Mutant Spawn's apparent mutant slug butt. Some shipments had four wings, but I didn't get that lucky. They were reused for Manga Violator, which is surely even cheaper, but I don't even want half of that thing clogging the parts bin. I'm fine with just rear ones for now.*

And now, the harmless looking insect-like creature. A golf cart sized cyber bulldog with rhino skin, bug wings and a bladed tail. And two shorter bladed tails. "Harmless". The future must be pretty bad if this doesn't set off alarm bells anymore.

A bit of research tells me this started life as Chameleon Spawn. When color-changing paint didn't cost out, they reworked a few small touches and released it this way. And also with four wings. And later, with four organic bendy tentacles, and blue patches on the armor. There may have been a solid silver version too.

And with that, I think I can officially proclaim this the Worst Trainwreck in the original Spawn line. Everything from the design to the engineering, from the odd variants to the terribly vague (and yet oddly specific) backstory, stumbles across the finish line sideways with drinks in hand. Sculpt and Paint did their best with the ingredients they were given (apparently you can polish a turd), but garbage in, garbage out.

Well, that's my bit. And remember, kids: always research before you buy. If you can't find more than one source, nobody else wanted it either.

* I had ordered the four-tentacled one, but there was a mixup. The seller didn't even want this back, so it's getting harvested for wings when that shows up, and this uniquely awful piece will take it's place on the shelf.

[organizationhimself]

just kinda having some thinky thoughts about how dark road totally rewired eraqus's character and what a phenomenal job they did.

like here's your problem you have. you need to take this cloistered old man who raised his students in the jedi way, somehow put up with Old Man Villainy being That Way presumably on the regular, lost every last iota of his shit and turned on the Apocalypse Child he adopted as well as his surrogate son who was infested with The Evil (which the series has long established as not necessarily being good or bad without context) to say nothing of the headtrip he gave his direct heir, and you need to reduce him to a version of himself as a child that is. like. fun. someone who has a genuine friendship with xehanort and is regarded by xehanort as someone who is a "sly fox," i.e. not the sort of buffoon who tests for mastery of the keyblade by child-proofing some orbs of light.

where do you even begin?

YOU TRAUMATIZE THE UNGODLY HELL OUT OF HI--okay i'm getting ahead of myself, let's start with principles.

because eraqus is principled. he believes really firmly in the light in a way that's nearly sora-adjacent in its intensity, but the thing is that sora has this flexibility that eraqus was simply not raised to appreciate. yes, nomura, we understand you like the bright sunshine one and the wry brooding one, you did it with sora and riku, god knows what you did to axel's spine to fit him into the sunshine kid's mold next to isa as brooding anti-crybaby, and now we're doing the same thing to eraqus. ok. i love it when you're optimistic, let's do it.

so first we need confidence. easy; he's a smug little rich kid. worked for riku didn't it? (source: kh1 manga, and the fact that you cannot convince me anyone can maintain a kid with that build on a budget) but we also need to see how dark road changed him as a person. let's contrast his uptight stick-up-his-ass future with a present day class clown who doesn't take things seriously; a headstrong fighter who jokes that he'll just run away. and hey speaking of emotional damage, let's start easing into the inevitable terrible, horrific, unspeakable traumas we're going to visit on this defenseless creature with a little one as a treat:

HIT HIM RIGHT IN THE GRANDPA.

and there you go! we now have a source for eraqus's rejection of the darkness that is not simply a function of his career as a jedi keyblade master, but has an actual personal experience he can point back to in order to say "hey, darkness is the pits!! here is why." it sets the stage early for him to be already butting heads with xehanort, who takes a much more flexible look at the worlds and the way they work and is more willing to view things from the perspective that he is not an authority on the moral peculiarities of whatever world he is currently inhabiting.

xehanort is also a child of destiny [citation needed]. an isolated visitant who was born for finer things but never slept a day in his life without waking up with sand in his mouth until he reached out and took his fate in his bare hands and let it drag him all the way to scala.

where he met the blueblooded child of a keybearing legacy thousands of years in the making, just like his.

and suddenly what you have are unwitting equals. we're ready to set them both up at the chess board; eraqus's legacy is plain, he moves first and he makes no apologies for it because it's his birthright. but xehanort's half of the board is still buried in shadow, implied but never stated, never surrendered to eraqus's probing questions or revealed by his moves, but already aimed at a clash with destiny, fated, inevitable.

shall we say, already written.

and this is brilliant!! now we have a source for our "sly fox," a reason for xehanort to be extremely familiar with the way eraqus thinks (and not to star wars on main but the obi-wan kenobi series did something really similar to this narratively by using anakin and obi-wan's familiarity with each others' fighting styles to predict the actions they would take in a situation, and i will actually never be over it in my life, absolutely stealing it for a xehaqus fic sometime, just shamelessly mugging ewan mcgregor in the street for that solid gold good shit). not only that, but we also have an explanation for xehanort's motivations as described by kh3. he is not looking at the fight from the perspective of one of the pawns; he is looking at the fight as a player, deciding which pawn gets taken. selecting which rook to sacrifice in exchange for the queen.

and eraqus is opposite him, doing the exact same thing (sort of, kh3 was a little cerebral with that), but there's an important difference here that we'll come back to later on.

so, okay. we have a vague outline in the shape of a sunshine kid now. he has confidence tied to his role in society, his legacy gives him perspective, his trauma ensures that he will one day calcify against the darkness with such emphasis that he will unwittingly pad the therapy bills of an entire generation. so far so good.

but uh, yeah, his kids? he fights them? like okay, axel has his differences with his kids too but he's not trying to kill them (mostly). eraqus really definitely for real is, and ven is defenseless. so that'ssss...hard to square with the sunshine kid we're building, nomura, how do we explain that? we really can't handwave it as amnesia this time, we're not working with ansem the wise here.

(BALDR. BALDR IS HOW--

ok but wait wait wait, before we even get to baldr, there's something we can do:

make eraqus impulsive.

and i mean impulsive. make eraqus spoil for a fight with so much unmitigated howler monkey energy that he will fight his friends just to vent. (this isn't even a unique thing, riku and xion and even sora do it all the time, and we're not here to talk about ven's crimes against miners but it's clear that violence is a spoken language in kh.) eraqus is fluent, so we're making it so that all of eraqus's intensity and passion can be focused on a single point if xehanort pushes exactly the right switches in his head.

and then, y'know, yeah. make baldr slaughter all of his classmates, several of them right in front of him, because of unchecked darkness and baldr's own inability to see past his own grief and resentment for long enough to understand that all he's really doing is inflicting his own suffering on other people in a murderstorm of nihilism and bitterness. unrelenting trauma conga line, check.

and now we have almost all the elements. eraqus's principles can't allow him to accept darkness, both because his grandfather was lost to it and because it left him (by all accounts a bourgeois slacker at the bottom of his class, someone vidar doesn't even consider as a candidate for one of the lights despite what baldr has to say about eraqus as a light source) one of the only survivors of an event that completely resculpted his life and community. time to pack him off to the jedi temple land of departure to be least okayest teacher of the year, right?

well...no. we need eraqus to wait.

because he doesn't take on students. and doesn't, and doesn't, for decades. first he fights xehanort, and as we have established he is spoiling for that fight (white moves first!). and then when xehanort finally visits him to drop off that half-dead kid he found (ven was like that already shhh), he's kind of like politely like "oh, you have apprentices. they seem...bright," like he's congratulating eraqus on finally reaching a life stage that eraqus should have hit approximately 50 years ago, and eraqus is like "yeah yeah whatever shut up anyway YOU'VE got one too now right." (yen sid talks about the role of "seeker" like it's a different thing from "keyblade master" so that's where i'm extrapolating this distinction from, but regardless i don't think anyone ever seriously expected xehanort to take on students.)

my point here is that eraqus waited until the last possible opportunity to take on students. to carry on the legacy that was so important to him as a child, and to re-experience the closest thing to the camaraderie he had as a keybearer-in-training that he could ever have back. that is how impactful baldr's actions were for eraqus.

i'm veering completely into speculation now but i think eraqus was terrified. how could he not be? his class wasn't even taking the mark of mastery and still got decimated by it. how could he risk going through that again, but from odin's perspective this time? what guarantee would he ever have to avoid the same tragedy his master had failed to prevent?

so, NOW we know why eraqus's mark of mastery was a handful of light pinatas and a duel. (i like to think xehanort felt a certain level of professional embarrassment for him and wanted to make it just a little more like a real challenge.)

(this is a sidebar and i'm going to talk about my other blorbo for a second but terra has a beautiful dream of being a sly manipulator. that's why he doesn't worry about investing himself in villain schemes, because he assumes he'll see the snare coming before he gets his head caught in it, but it's never coming from directly in front of him like he expects. so this is a dream that will never come true, but he has it, and i think given what we knew about eraqus as early as blank points, its only possible source is a master who was strict and exacting, but--very occasionally--also a sly fox who secretly delighted in his students' nascent abilities to surprise and outwit him.)

back to the trauma, we also have, obviously, the explanation for eraqus's attitude towards terra, and later ven. terra is a tragedy in slow motion that eraqus has seen happen before. baldr was unable to control his darkness; it overwhelmed him, and eraqus does not have the context that xehanort does, that baldr was in some ways a product of his own darkness-shunning society. even if eraqus does have that context, i can't really see him agreeing with it--and even if he at one point agreed with it, he would have gotten that context from the same guy who last showed up at his house talking about kicking off the apocalypse for the vine.

so like. eraqus has never seen any damn thing in his whole life that doesn't confirm his bias against the darkness. does that make him innocent of parenting Incorrectly? no, he is a Bad Dad. does it explain his hopelessly unsuccessful parenting strategies? yes, it does.

what it reinforces is also that eraqus didn't want to have to fight terra and ven. the original bbs is honestly not very good about establishing this: he cries one Sad Tear. yawn. still child abuse, asshole! the stakes in bbs are also not very well established, because there's approximately six people in it and some of them are just the same guy over again, so we don't really have a sense that terra being taken over by the darkness is like...gonna mean something to eraqus that is sincerely worth the personal cost of killing him. since we're clearly no longer worried about ven, there aren't other students to protect (besides aqua, but she's a really hard sell on the "needs to be protected from terra with so much urgency he must not live another moment" front). there is no immediacy to ven's status as Apocalypse Child; if anything vanitas seems like the obviously more important threat, and maybe eraqus should be less concerned about weeding out students and more focused on vetting friends like Old Man So Clearly The Villain My Guy. bbs eraqus is just genuinely hard to like as a character.

but now we have dark road context.

and white moves first.

eraqus is not seeing terra or ven in that moment, he's seeing baldr. he's seeing the summoning of kingdom hearts that almost was, and he is gripped by meticulously prearranged, bone-deep, irrational, traumatized, unbridled impulse. the emotion must vent. the thing he was powerless to stop has returned to haunt him and he must resist it. he knows what will happen if terra strikes him down here and heads back out into the worlds in search of other hearts, other lights. he knows.

but terra resists, using the full spectrum of his strength without remorse, and it is only when eraqus's keyblade is ready to fall from his hand that he realizes the truth:

My own heart is darkness.

and when this happened in the original birth by sleep all i could think was yeah star wars dad!! nailed it your heart IS darkness you fuckin dillweed, about time!! what took you so long!!

but after dark road, this context is completely changed. eraqus is not just realizing that he fucked up.

he is realizing that he fucked up the exact same way baldr fucked up.

that he let his own grief and suffering cloud his judgment and guide his blade to strike out at his loved ones. that instead of finding a way to live with what's already happened to ven, what was long ago fated for terra, he turned his resentment outward and gave that darkness leave to consume them both whole.

but unlike baldr, eraqus regrets it.

it is that moment that xehanort cuts him down anyway, not because eraqus can't be saved the way baldr couldn't but because xehanort is cleaving away the last of his own attachments to the world so he can follow through with the rest of his plans, and i am SO NORMAL ABOUT THI

but okay anyway. eraqus has exactly one move left.

he can't see the board. unlike xehanort, he has no extra pieces of himself he can just bandy about; the warriors of light must assemble without any of his direct input, chasing the echoes of eraqus's students and pushing and pulling in reaction to xehanort's steady advance through the center. he has only one chance. he can't afford to waste it.

the kings are meeting in the middle of the board. the stalemate will come any moment, when they're both out of moves and out of time, leaving the fate of the worlds undecided.

and it is at this moment that eraqus pulls the same penultimate move that xehanort himself used on baldr, confronting him with the first victim his darkness ever struck down. eraqus almost doesn't have to say anything, at all, because xehanort has to know what it means. has to know what it says.

xehanort resists. the world is too far gone. too many horrible things can happen in it; it must be reset. not purged and filled with darkness, like baldr wanted, but returned to a state that can never mutate into the conditions that made baldr exist in the first place. that doomed all their classmates to die. it's too late.

For us, perhaps...but not for them.

and now we go back to the distinction.

the thing that makes xehanort's chess game different from eraqus's is that, for xehanort, it's only chess. the pieces he's moving have ceased to exist in his mind as individuals. they are pawns on a line of white and black squares, and they may weave away from his will here or there but they cannot be swayed from their march.

eraqus never forgets.

and it's actually eraqus's capacity for forgiveness that i haven't even touched on yet. this isn't a word i ever expected to associate with him, but eraqus spends dark road forgiving. five minutes after any altercation he's already forgotten about it. name-calling. arguments. rejection. opposition. full-on fighting.

murders.

when xehanort kills baldr, eraqus is still calling out for him to stop. when xehanort later strikes out at him with darkness (the thing eraqus is scared of the most!!), permanently disfiguring him, eraqus has already forgiven him before seeing him the next time in person.

he does not forget that baldr is a person in spite of his darkness, and eraqus doesn't want him to be killed for it. that terra is a person in spite of his darkness, and eraqus doesn't want to see it consume him. that ven is a person in spite of the darkness that was cleaved from him, and eraqus doesn't want to see it return.

(if you think about it the real tragedy is that we were robbed of him looking aqua in the eye and telling her that she isn't tainted forever, that it did not take her, and even if it had, that will always, always matter less than her finding her way back. i refuse to believe terra was not already made aware of these facts.)

but he also does not forget that xehanort is not a faceless player in the skies, impossible to convince of the significance of a pawn; he remembers that xehanort, too, is still a person.

this point is important because eraqus's last move is not a checkmate (I KNOW HE SAYS CHECKMATE but it is not checkmate), but it is calculated to produce something else: a concession. he doesn't need the board to support his win or xehanort's loss; he needs the player on the other side to put down the pieces and follow his beacon out of the dark.

and that is how nomura shows us our sunshine kid at last, fully formed, as he takes xehanort's burdens from him and spirits them both well beyond the reach of the board.

anyway yeah microwaving him in my brain along with axel (and also roxas and terra because if i don't collect all my blorbos AND their hot mess dads i'll never fill out my pokedex).

[the-literary-apothecary]

Taste-Testing for the Merchant of the Depths

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆝 ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊ ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡｡˚°.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊⋆.˚｡ 𓇼

Category: General, Slight Fluff

Characters included: Azul Ashengrotto, Prefect (Gender Neutral)

Oneshot Prompt: Azul wins a game and has the Prefect taste a variety of new drinks for the Mostro Lounge’s new menu for this upcoming fall season. No drink tastes like the next, but at least you get to spend some time with a certain merman…

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆝 ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊ ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡｡˚°.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊⋆.˚｡ 𓇼

“Now, now Prefect” Tutted Azul, his gloved hand gently pushing that suspiciously beautiful glass of a drink with a color you didn’t think was possible you could find in liquid form.

“It’s simply a taste test, we had our fun back in the Board Game Club, and last I recalled, I won our little bet; lest you wish for me to remind you the purpose of this evening’s rendezvous?”

You shook your head in a surrendered manner, knowing full well why you were sitting at an empty table within the walls of Mostro Lounge.

During a Board Game Club, you and Azul played a simple strategy game with an added stake for some won, where the winner has to do a simple favor for the other. Unsurprisingly, Azul won. It was probably not your smartest move to suggest a strategy game, you regret not suggesting a game revolved around luck, especially when you know how much this particular Housewarden detested them.

“You don’t need to remind me just…. Why does it look so….. Neon Green?” You’re half convinced that Azul just had Floyd mix up every green chemical available in the academy’s Laboratory.

“We’re making new drinks for the halloween season. I proposed that this year’s limited time drinks should be based on different common potions in popular fiction and monsters. This notable one is based on a potion ingredient” Azul replies, his tone audibly relaxed

“Oh, you’re having me drink Frog’s Breath. Stellar, man.” You hum. "The last time I saw a guy drink that, he didn't wake up, but sure. Let's repeat that particular cycle."

“I’m sorry, Frog’s Breath?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not a reference from your world…”

“Fucking bitter. Throw it out.”

“How honest” Remarks Azul gently, however his body language exhibited the complete opposite. He was surprised by the Prefect’s truthfulness. He was well aware of the sharp tongue you had, but to see you be so blunt had even shocked him. Not that he minded, of course. There’s a reason he confided in you for it.

“It’s like all you did was blend limes and every sour candy ever. Chill it out a bit, damn” The Prefect grumbles.

“Is it truly that sour? Goodness, I had created this one with Floyd and was hoping for a more bittersweet aftertaste. I was under the impression that we had balanced it well enough.” Azul looked down at his notebook and took quick notes, pushing the end of his quill. Truthfully, he had tasted it beforehand when trying to fix the bitterness. He just wanted to see your reaction to the taste. Afterall, there's a group that panders to these types of drinks- but they're not worth making and selling if they only pander to the minority.

“Is the sweetness in bittersweet in the room with us right now?” Asks the Prefect sarcastically, to which Azul only rolled his eyes. That of course following a scoff. “This might have given Riddle’s famous oyster tart a run for its money for uniqueness.”

Azul knew for a fact that your last line was by no means a compliment, but then again, none of what you said fell under praise. “Alright, alright. You’ve made your point. Next drink”

You were handed water to wash the first one down. You leaned back against the smooth leather seating of the cafe, allowing the cool atmosphere to relax before you heard the sound of a plate pressed against the marble table. You opened your eyes, and watched as Jade set down your second mystery drink and bowed- leaving to return to the kitchen.

It was so cute and pink. And the frosting was white and frothy. Upon closer inspection, it looks like there’s strawberries too. They’re even cut up to look like hearts. It’s positively adorable. You guessed in your head that it was most likely based on a love potion.

You didn’t think twice before sipping it. Enticement was on the playing field and Azul took instant note of that.

He also took notice of your reaction, trying to ascertain your final statement to the beverage before you could say it. You swallowed it swiftly and smacked your lips. Once again the drink left you nothing short but surprised.

“Cocaine might be easier to consume than this, but fuck was it delightful”

“Goodness,” Azul smiled from disbelief. At this point, he found your colorful honesty to be nothing short of entertaining. He found himself more eager to hear your reactions than to your critiques. Uhm- not that he was avoiding them, of course.

“Too sweet?” He asks, though it was obviously in a rhetoric sense.

“Far too sweet, but there’s a charm to it” You’re saying this genuine. You loved sweet drinks, and this was no exception. As cloying as it was, you couldn’t seem to stop yourself from taking more and more sips. You smiled. Delighted by it.

“Sort of tastes like these super sweet bobas back at home, they had lots of caramel and whipped cream.. But this one is just as good…”

Azul’s eyes would perk up at that little detail. You did not speak much of your home, and the merman knew better than to pry anyone’s past like that. Surely, even he had some limits when it came to prying into your business (Not like it would be easy anyway). But there was this care in your voice as you reminisce about something so small. To him, it was actually quite sweet.

Maybe even sweeter than that drink you were being so giddy about.

“... Let’s head on to the next drink, okay?”

It was the last drink, the fifth one you noted.

Thank goodness it was too. After that pink drink, you really only took necessary sips. They were pretty good after that, but you were getting full just by looking at them.

But this last one was… something.

It was nothing like the others. It stood out, but not for the most positive of reasons.. It was so plain looking that your first instinct was to question if the Octa-Trio was pulling your leg here.

It was dark green, but that was it. No gummies in the drink to make it look a bit more presentable. No . The liquid looked thick enough to perhaps be a simple smoothie. Not that you would complain if it was just a smoothie, of course. But it was curious. What an anticlimactic end.

“This is a separate one from the menu. Jade insisted that we make these healthy shakes directed for the student body, on account of how hard working they’re being during the making of their stations for this year’s Halloween. We’re also making fruit smoothies” Explains the second year with a relaxed hum, fixing his silver frames before glancing back at you

You were aware that Azul was part of the Halloween Committee this year, along with Jade. That explains this suspiciously red flaggy token of benevolence.

Not wanting to waste time, you once more picked up the glass

You lifted up the glass, and took a very light sip from the straw.

You perked up.

“Oh!” You took another sip.

“Okay, wait, this isn’t so bad” You comment, your expression relaxed. “Spinach with banana, those are the main ingredients with this one… and other fruits too? It’s better than I thought it’d be” You hum, taking another.

“Though, I’m curious, there’s this one thing that- Ah?!” You yelped, and quickly pushed the drink away from you.

Concerned, Azul stops taking notes immediately. He had his own serving of the same drinks you were having this whole time, and while he quietly jotted down his own opinions, he had been listening to yours. When he drank from this one, he found nothing wrong in particular.

He took another sip from his own to try and discern it. “Spinach, oats, banana, milk, apples…. Wait a minute, something’s in here that’s not in the- Hm?!”

It was then that he understood why Yuu yelped in such a way and struggled to speak. His tongue was paralyzed. Azul didn’t even need to put two and two together.

This was the work of a mushroom. And there's only one audacious eel in this dorm to have enough gall to mess with any of Azul's recipes for the sake of "Bringing his findings in the limelight."

In less than a minute, he found himself pushing that glass of water to you as a way to motion to wash it down. Right after that he stood from his seat-

"JAAAAAADE!!"

Note to self, never do taste testing for the Octa-trio, even if your life depends on it.

At least the pink drink was good.

Author's Note

𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆝 ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊ ‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡｡˚°.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊⋆.˚｡ 𓇼

Hope you liked my first actual oneshot thingy here.

This was a present for Miss @quartzztwst , I hope you liked it! I wanted to make something simple, but lighthearted as an easy read ^-^

I hope to improve better and faster as I learn how to write here on Tumblr. I'm quite new when it comes to uploading this sort of stuff like this... Still, there will be longer and more fluffier fics.

For more of my fanfics, go HERE to see my list of published fics (and other information)

Thank you! Buenas noches 💜

[dirtysvthoughts]

𝓟 𝓡 𝓘 𝓥 𝓐 𝓣 𝓔 𝓓 𝓐 𝓝 𝓒 𝓔 𝓡 - CHAPTER FOUR

pairing: rapper! seungcheol x stripper! reader

word count: 3.2k (longest for this series so far!)

general tags/warnings: smut, pwp, female! reader, dom! seungcheol, deep voice cheol, dirty talk, giving cheol head, reader gets partially nude, mentions of d*ugs, pet names, grinding on the d w/o a condom (please protect yourselves tho, always), seungcheol’s fave body part on you is your ass (he is an ass man, i’m not fighting people on this, it’s a fact)

notes: after about a nearly two month break we’re back! sorry y’all i know the momentum has kinda died out a bit, but between coming back to the states after a month long trip and returning to my normal routines and going back to work and some family stuff, it was hard to find the energy to write. but we’re back nonetheless! thank you for sticking by if you’re still here!

playlist songs: money showers - fat joe, remy ma, ty dolla sign, hey daddy (daddy’s home) - usher, another nasty song - latto

taglist: @im-gemmy @enhacolor @hooniewnderland @svtup @kawaiikels @weeevrse @diorsfxck @kyexvly @woozarts @ifuckcheol @marsstarxhwa @haoxiaoba (if your user is crossed out that means i cant tag you)

the smell of weed is strong enough to take over the small studio space, it slightly crowded with the amount of people in the room. a few producers sit in their chairs, altering the sound board controls every and now and then, a heavy bass booming through the system.

behind the door and in the booth is seungcheol, or s.coups (his stage name), spitting fire into the mic as he records the final tracks for an upcoming, anticipated mixtape. he had a pretty decent following after posting some songs on soundcloud for the fun of it, and it continued to grow when he released his first mixtape a few months ago. now pretty much everyone knew his name and it wouldn’t be long before he caught the attention of a mainstream, viral artist.

as he says his last words, the volume goes down and a voice fills the booth, “yeah man, that was great as fuck!” seungcheol smiles as he puts up his headphones and exits the room, dapping up all the producers to thank them for their hard work.

“this mixtape is gonna be so fire, cheol, you’re really out there now!”

“yeah, soon you’re not even gonna need us anymore, working with all those big time producers,” someone chimes in and seungcheol immediately frowns.

“hey man, don’t even say that. you guys were the first people to give me a chance, i’m never gonna forget my brothers,” he nudges them in their shoulder, and they respond by rolling their eyes.

“well that was the last track we had to do for today, what are you guys’s plans for tonight?” someone asks, but before he can even answer, seungcheol hears his phone ring with a text message alert.

princess: hey cheollie, just making sure you’re still on for tonight at illusion! i have a vip room ready and waiting just for you baby ❤️

he can’t help it, but his dick twitches at the last sentence you typed out. he was intoxicated just by the thought of you.

seungcheol has been one of your few regulars ever since he showed up to the club one night two years ago, celebrating the release of his first mixtape. the night in it of itself was a movie, expensive bottles everywhere, music blasting, and girls half-naked dancing on the tables and couches. cheol’s section was upstairs and it was where the party was really at. word got around quickly through the dressing room that cheol was there, and most of the dancers were hanging out with him and his entourage, trying to be the one girl to get him all to themselves. who wouldn’t want him all his glory to be honest?

you however, not exactly enticed by the rowdiness, took your spot at one of the available poles on the main floor. “just another one of those wannabe rappers,” you thought. not too far from his section, you went into one of your routines once a new song started playing. while spinning and inverting, enjoying the high the pole gave you, you didn’t even notice that seungcheol’s attention somehow made its way towards you.

to say the least, he was astounded. not only were you gorgeous in every way possible, you danced like you were on air, as if gravity meant nothing to you. as one of the bottle girls walked through to deliver another round of shots, she calls out to him, waking up from his trance when one of his friends shakes his shoulder.

“coups, are we getting more shots or what? stop daydreaming, it’s way too lit in here for that,” he grabs the ass of the dancer that was currently grinding onto him, matching his body to her energy to mimic riding her.

“y-yeah, sorry, we’ll have more shots,” seungcheol stutters as the server puts down the tray. before she can leave though, he taps her hand.

“do you know all of the dancers here?”

“yeah..” she responds in a slightly confused tone. “why are you asking?”

cheol then points to you, thanking the gods that you didn’t disappear from his line of sight. cash now lined your pole’s platform as your hips rolled to the beat, and then dropped down into a surprise split, patrons tossing even more bills at you.

“who’s she? she’s so fucking sexy,” he sighs sweetly, wanting to leave the table and everyone else just to have even a moment with you.

“oh, that’s sage - she’s one of our main dancers. if you wanna see her dance for you though, you better ask fast. there’s a reason why she’s so popular,” she says as she walks away carrying the empty tray under her arms.

without a second thought, he gets up from the table and goes down the stairs, his friends groaning in disappointment that seungcheol was leaving them. “this is all for you and you’re leaving the fun?” someone calls out behind him.

“i’ll be back in a bit!” he waved his hand, motioning to shoo them away. “there’s something i wanna do first.” with his friends out of the way, now he could focus on what he really wanted - you.

little did the both of you know that you would meeting sooner than you thought. you needed to make your way to the dressing room to grab something, but you got so caught up in your drive that you didn’t even notice another body heading directly towards you. you and cheol then accidentally bump into each other, and luckily you’re able to regain your balance in your heels just in time.

“whoa, i’m so sorry, i didn’t see you ther-” seungcheol freezes mid-sentence when he realizes it was you he bumped into. “holy shit,” he thought to himself. you looked gorgeous from afar, but right in front of him? it was taking everything in him not to have his hard-on show.

“no, it was my bad, i wasn’t paying attention,” you respond, your voice flowing sweet like honey to him. you try to continue walking but cheol reaches out and grabs your hand. you look at him funny as he doesn’t say anything at first.

“is there something else you need?” you ask, a bit confused, wanting to hurry up and go to the dressing room.

“yeah, you,” he thinks to himself again, trying to keep his eyes on yours and not at how your boobs were almost spilling out of your olive green two-piece.

he gathers his thoughts and takes a mental sigh. “there is actually,” he smirks as he pulls you closer to his body, his hands on your waist. he whispers in your ear and it sends shivers down your spine and your core.

“lemme take you to a room, princess. i saw you dancing over there and i wanna have you all to myself.” you bit your lip hard at the proposal. while he may have awkwardly grabbed your hand and you questioned his actions for a second, you could see why practically everyone was trying to be in his section. he’s handsome as fuck, his dark hair slightly hanging over his eyes, and his black shirt and jeans defining his built body. and to top it off, he had a voice that melted you like chocolate fondue.

“how will i know that it’ll be worth it? you’re clearly not the first guy i’ve taken to a room and you definitely won’t be the last. how will you make it worth my while?” you tease him, twirling your hair in between your fingers.

he chuckles and runs his hand through his hair. “why tell you and waste time when we can just get to it now, princess?”

yup, just your style.

“wait by the bar for me?” you wink at him as you go to the dressing room, purposefully walking slower to make sure got a full view of back of your body, admiring how good your ass looked even from afar.

he couldn’t help but smile to himself as he walked to the bar, in awe at the fact that he was so damn lucky today. a successful mixtape release, a great party, and now the most gorgeous woman he ever laid eyes on was about to be in his sole presence. nothing could get better than this.

or so he thought, because later than night. things definitely got way better when you finally took him to a vip room. after you danced for him on the pole, it lead to one of the hottest lap dances you’ve ever given, which subsequently lead to seungcheol taking you down on the couch, having you scream and moan his name until you came not once, not twice, but three times in the span you two were together.

ever since then, seungcheol came to see you nearly every single week, providing you with stacks of cash, phenomenal sex, a good conversation, and sometimes even all three. you also quickly realized that cheol definitely was not one of those “wannabe soundcloud rappers.” he had the talent, charisma, and passion for the industry, and you hoped that someone would recognize him for his gifts very soon.

going back to the present, cheol speaks up getting the attention of his audience. “well sage is working tonight, and today’s the usual day i go see her, so if anyone wants to hit up club illusion with me, we’ll roll right now,” he looks down at his silver audemars piguet watch, the hands pointing very close to the 10. a few people agree to go with him, others saying that they weren’t in the mood for a strip club or they had other places to be at.

cheollie: i’ll be there soon, i just wrapped up another studio session. can’t wait to see you princess, been on my mind all day

after getting some food and chilling out, the group finally makes its way to the club, the line pretty much nonexistent at this time for a thursday night. he and his crew stick together, some of the dancers approaching them.

“hey coups,” one of the girls flirts with him, biting her lip. another dancer next to her waves her hand, flipping her hair back to show off her decorated neck, inviting seungcheol to come touch her. he nods and smiles at the both of them, but he was only interested in just one person.

“coups!” you call out for him, spotting him from a distance. you walk down from the platform - your lemon-colored sequin bikini set tracing every beautiful curve on your body, the yellow heels you wore matching perfectly. as you walk down to meet him, you can’t help but admire how sexy he looks. his blonde hair, his white shirt encapsulating his muscles, his expensive sunglasses on his forehead. seungcheol quickly embraces you when you take your last step off the stairs, hands on your waist and both your lips locking immediately. it quickly escalates, moaning into his mouth when you feel his tongue roaming yours.

his friends groan behind of him when they see how intimate you two become, seungcheol’s hands starting to palm your ass. he turns his head, chuckling at their reactions, “like what you see?” he winks at them and goes back to kissing you, hands now moving their way across your chest.

they mumble to each other and leave the two of you alone, making their way to the main floor to find a table. once you know they’re out of sight, you grab his chin, causing seungcheol to stop and look at you. “finally,” you sigh happily, kissing the inside of his neck. “i’ve been waiting for you baby.”

he caresses your cheek, “didn’t you say you had a room for me too? c’mon princess, let’s go somewhere a lot less crowded.” you take his hand and lead him to the hall of private rooms downstairs, opening the second to last one, revealing a soft, golden lit room - the furniture basked in a champagne hue, and the stage decorated in a chrome, slick black.

“welcome to the champagne room, seungcheol!” you exclaim walking him in, cheol making sure the door was closed behind you. he whistles in amazement - the two of you have been in a share of private rooms in illusion, but this is the first time he’s been in a room as decorated as this.

“a change of pace i see,” he says walking towards the center chair, taking a seat on the cushions. “why the new setting princess?” he asks, running his hand behind his hair, unintentionally making you clench with how his muscles flexed.

you sultrily saunter toward him, making sure he could see all of you, making him crave for more of you. without another word, you gingerly sit on his lap, lacing your arm around his neck. “i actually wanna try something new with you, cheol,” you sheepishly smile, looking down at his chest, fingers starting to play with the necklace he was wearing.

“we’ve done so many things in these four walls, but the one thing i haven’t done yet is give you head in the private rooms.. which is crazy now that i’ve think about it,” you let out a small laugh, mind wandering to all of the dirty things you two have done, from cheol fucking you against the wall, handcuffed to nearly having a threesome. but one of the simplest things you could’ve ever done with cheol - neither of you had acted upon it yet.

“whaddaya say? can i go down on you seungcheol?” you whisper the last few words in his ear, and he groans as he reaches for his pants and his belt, loosening it up without hesitation.

“i’m all yours baby,” he tilts your chin up to look at you. “get this dick wet like only you can.”

——

is this the first time you’ve given head at a strip club? of course not, but it’s never felt as good as tonight. you’ve seen and felt seungcheol’s dick several times, knowing he was big. but you still weren’t prepared for the feeling of bliss having him deep inside your throat.

“that’s it baby, take some more in,” he guides your head, bobbing it up and down his length, making sure your pacing wasn’t going too fast. he wanted to savor you for as long as he could.

the tip of his dick was hitting the back of your throat, and it felt so good that you felt tears might prick your eyes. you moan around him, taking it a bit faster, and he groans loudly, head tilting backward, hands roaming your hair.

“fuck.. baby, keep taking me… mmm, just like that,” he breathlessly smiles at you and you feel you immediately clench, your panties getting even wetter. you speed up your pace for the final time, and not even a minute later, he cums into your mouth, and you don’t hesitate to swallow everything he gives you.

you lick your lips and open your mouth to let him know you’ve finished, and he kisses you again, your tongue fighting for dominance as you stand up and sit in his lap. he undoes your bra as it falls onto his lap and you begin to feel his length on your panty covered crotch.

“mmm, you just can’t enough of me, can’t you cheol?” you giggle, maneuvering your fingers to pull your panties to the side. “got you so rock hard that the only thing you can think of is me, huh? you’re so down bad,” you fully sink down on him and you both moan out loud, adoring the way how both of you feel on each other.

he grabs a handful of your ass and starts groping at the skin, to which you respond by grinding down on cheol, tits slowly beginning to bounce as you established a rhythm.

“okay, so i am down bad, but what about you princess? i bet your panties got wet the second you laid eyes on me tonight,” he says planting a smack on your ass, not too hard, but definitely not soft either. “but then again, when do you not get wet when you’re around me? always so needy for me, my baby. but you’re so patient and so ready,” he begins to kiss down your chest, reaching your breasts.

“fuck- don’t stop talking, please keep going!” you moan again as you both start to speed up the pace. “i-i don’t think i’ve told you this but, i love your voice, cheol.. it melts me like butter, ah!” you exclaim as he envelops one of your nipples in his mouth, pushing his head in further so he could take more of you.

at this point, you were now fully bouncing in his lap, his hands bringing you in closer, making sure you both were body to body, as close as you could be.

“feels so good my princess, fuck yeah, keep bouncing on me like that. doing such a good job for me, pretty girl,” he can’t help but revel in your glow, the faces you’re making, and how you're riding him - he knew you weren’t too far off, and he was getting close too.

as you keep grinding down on him the coil in your belly continues to tighten, and when you finally feel it break, you can’t even give seungcheol so much as a warning when you come all over the lower half of his body.

“holy shit,” you breathe out, trying to compose yourself after the amazing orgasm you just experienced. “cheol, holy shit, you’re amazing,” you chuckle at him and smiles back at you, giving you little pecks around your face.

“nah, that’s all you, princess, no one can do me the way you do.” he stares at you lovingly and you try not to let the blush creep up your face.

——

after a few minutes go by, you both begin to put your clothes back on and you across the room for your bra top. as you bend over to get it, cheol whistles, mentally groaning at how full and pretty your ass looks from far.

“damn princess, have you been working out?” he asks coming closer, giving another smack to your cheek one more time, then putting a few bills in between the strings. you put on your bra, making sure it was decently tight.

“a little bit… you like?”

“like? more so love,” he grabs you by the waist, back flush against his body. his hands stay there, going up and down to every inch of skin. you start to sway your hips, seeing if you could get him hard again.

“ah ah,” he whispers in your ear, licking your earlobe. “don’t start anything you cant finish, sweetheart.”

“i could say the same for you, cheol,” you snake your hands up to caress his face. “but don’t you love that about me baby? when i get started, it’ll be an experience you’ll never ever forget.”

and he’ll admit it - you were right. you are addicting, irresistible, a flame that continues to burn in his heart - his forever pole princess.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: #11

11. GREECE Marina Satti - "Zari" 11th place

Decade Ranking: 38/153 [Above Pasha Parfeny, belowGjon's Tears]

The internet is sometimes so strange yo. Fans went ABSOLUTELY FERAL over "Zari" over release, were sacrificing their firstborn sons (metaphorically. most of them -thankfully- won't ever procreate) declaring it a POTENTIAL WINNER, A CLEAR TOP TENNER. Even now, the chants of ZARI WAS ROBBED are still ongoing even if they calmed down a bit since the Final last month.

Meanwhile, I was sitting on my island thinking "um why do these human skidmarks enjoy that horribe cacaphonous abortion of a song?"

YES, that was the take preshow, and I'm not sorry about it. "Zari" was a lot of shit and most of it was... well... shit. Ethnic instruments that were thrown together with zero regard for harmony, pivoting between "edgy" hiphop and "romantic" downtempo bits at the drop of a pin. The TA TA TA? A throbbing MIGRAINE of a chorus (I guess? I don't get headaches, I only cause them). "Zari" was tailored for Zoomers so again, why is this OLD ASS MILLENNIAL (lol she's three years older than I am) playing up to people half her age... by using TikTok memes? Stick to your generation, nerd. It was like a dozen Greek clichés haphazardly strung together as the ultimate clickbait. Borderline un-fucking-listenable.

Now, I am FULLY aware that take puts me in mortal peril since the first and only step in Marina Satti fandom is to make it your personality. I've accepted the fact that a gang of Zari Zombies will be standing at my front door all

but it's MY TRUTH, children and the truth WILL out!. The song was a mess in studio version and that a hill I'll happily die on! Annoying song + obnoxious fanbase => I was SO ready to rank it low and be veeeeery petty and supercilious about it!!! You know, the usual Me Stuff.

But then... we get to the semi and turns out "Zari" t actually works really well and its fans were right all along lmfao oops!!! MORPH!!

Yeah, "Zari" was just the contemporary and Greek equivalent of "My Slowianie", wasn't it? (you'd better say Yes, because I'll compare them for the rest of this post...x) Esothertic ethic mess that somehow functions as a Stage Piece. Obviously NOT AS GOOD as "My Slowianie" (a social media overlay does NOT compensate for the lack of butter churners - where are the olive press workers, hmm?), but it was a decent enough forllow-up, on the clock ten years after Cleo.

Not a large part in the live being good was Marina herself though. Laryngitis or not, she went HARD.

GIRLBOSS

GASLIGHT

GATEKEEP

This is loads of fun!!! I hear the Satti Stans were disappointed by the stage presentation and that is fuckin' daft. The act was honestly... hot and slay and sold the song. It wasn't without faults (the styling and social media overlays were SOOO tacky lmfaooo), but christ who the fuck cares about a few inaccuracies after Marina took the camera (literally? lol) and ran away with it. Second most charismatic on-stage personality in this year after Ladaniva.

The one-shot camera

into the choreographies

into the explosion of colour

into a diffusion of energy that interacted with the audience-

heralded the metamorphosis from an obnoxious TikTok degenerate into a very well-executed Eurovision entrant that - despite possessing multiple ideas that shouldn't work on paper - got most of its shit right, in the correct dosage. It was more than enough to drag me on board, and I was a massive fucking sceptic! It worked, period.

At the end of the day, 11th place is actually a perfect result for Marina.

First off, it's where I've ranked her myself. (which was unplanned, since i fold the songs into my excel first before I look at their overall placements)

Secondly, I never thought she would be top 10 (then again, the only people who thought that were the contingent of her fanbase that thought she was the main character of Eurovision 2024 (over... Eden, Joost, Baby Lasagna and Nemo? lol.), and also thought she'd WIN which is a whole nother slice of insanity ham.)

And thirdly, some of the things Marina did were better executed by some of the remaining artists so it makes sense she didn't outrank them, here or on the scoreboard. She wasn't the biggest revelation (Ireland was), nor the most charismatic (Armenia were) nor the best girlbop (Italy, sort of), etc. She was very good at all of those things, but not the top dog.

In sum, "Zari" is just too um... unconventional to win many juries over. It did as well as it could have done, and still got left side thanks to a beefy televote. That's a good result in my book. It's good when my negative first impressions are proven unfounded by a strong and engaging live, and even better when these growers are rewarded with highish spots. Such results can only benefit the battles, which needs all the small victories it can get.

Pity I'm really that keen on dragging Olly Alexander into my top ten, huh?

CONGRATULATIONS TOP TEN!!!

(not in order...x)

[lonelychicago]

Re-delivery 😁

Different first meeting AU: Buck and Eddie were roommates at some sort of boarding school/private school

jshsjs sorry for the inconvenience. im dumb.

okay so, obviously buck's parents couldn't wait to send him to a boarding school and wash their hands off him. buck is clearly upset and the first day he's a total asshole to his new roommate eddie. they start getting along after a rumor starts that there's a centuries old treasure hidden somewhere in the school and buck and eddie make a deal to work together to find it and then they'll split it (eddie doesn't really believe the treasure thing but hey, it's making him get along with his roommate and buck is really hot, that's a bonus)

they spend half the year looking for the stupid treasure just for it to end up being a silly legend one of the older guys made up because he was bored and wanted to see the school go crazy. they even broke into the dean's office. eddie made buck hide just in time before getting caught and took the whole blame for them. (buck almost kissed him after that. it was a big™ moment they don't really talk about)

when the holidays come, the students can stay at the boarding school or leave to spend time with their families. buck thinks his parents will be there to pick him up or AT LEAST maddie will. she's his sister and he wouldn't leave him alone on christmas, even tho she just married doug right? buck surely would come first.

but when no one shows up buck is really bummed and eddie ends up inviting him along with his family at the last minute. (eddie's parents are not thrilled exactly but they're nice enough and abuela even ends up teaching buck how to knit! eddie's sisters are super cool too and sophia (the younger one) might end up with a tiny teeny crush on buck.

they're basically inseparable after that and eddie almost confesses how ridiculously in love he is with buck on their last year there. (he backs off at the last second).

they meet each other ten years later on their high school reunion and they have sex on the dean's office. this time they BOTH get caught but it's fine. they're not students anymore so they only have to endure a bad look from the man and a promise to never come back

Send me a potential AU and I’ll tell you five fun facts that would happen in a story.

[blogger360ncislarules]

NCIS Season 22, Episode 9 ‘Humbug’ is the episode we were waiting for to close out this first half of the season of NCIS and go into the hiatus satisfied with where the show is going. From the Torres focus, to his secret girlfriend, to the episode playing out as the team vs. LaRoche—with the team coming out on top—it was a very satisfying hour that also managed to be heartwarming and even a little bit Christmasy.

In fact, the only thing the first half of the season didn’t really give us is some clarity regarding Jessica and Jimmy. It makes no sense for the show to drop the ship now, after all the setup and time spent together, but they sure don’t seem in a rush to put them back together. Sure, there are lessons the two had to learn separately before they could truly come back together, but it’s hard to argue that they are learning those lessons. Instead, it feels like they’re just learning how to be without each other.

But overall, the first half of the season was pretty solid, with some truly high notes. In the back half we’d love to get that Jessica and Jimmy answer, obviously get more of the LaRoche and Lily plots, and please, please, please can we get some more of a focus on Kasie as an individual? We’re begging here.

A COMMON ENEMY

The reason LaRoche works so well in NCIS Season 22, Episode 9 ‘Humbug’ and in general is because he gives the team a common enemy to unite against. And sure, he starts off and will probably remain first and foremost a Jimmy foil, since it was the job Jimmy wanted that he took, but if this episode proved, Parker is right there with Jimmy and the team isn’t far behind. Even if they don’t distrust LaRoche as much as Jimmy does, they don’t like outsiders telling them what to do, and they certainly don’t trust the Deputy Director.

It makes sense that they wouldn’t. There have, of course, been changes to this team through the years. McGee has worked with so many different people he’s trusted with his life at this point that it’s getting kind of hilarious. But they’ve all been different from someone like LaRoche, because they’ve been people out in the field with Jimmy, and they’ve also been people who have earned that trust. Simple as that. LaRoche has only not done that, he looks shadier by the second. In fact, he looks so shady I’m starting to question Vance for not thinking he’s shady. He probably needs to dial down the shady just a little bit or his storyline is going to be over sooner rather than later, that’s how sus he is to me.

But hey, for now, it remains mostly a McGee thing, with the team chaffing at being told what to do by LaRoche and trusting Jimmy’s instincts but not fully buying into it. Soon enough, though, LaRoche will probably do something that’ll get the entire team on board with Jimmy’s “he’s a problem” attitude. And then this storyline will turn really and truly fun.

BABE?

NCIS Season 22, Episode 9 ‘Humbug’ introduces a new mystery to the show, one they will surely touch on when NCIS returns in January. Who is this mysterious woman Nick Torres is dating—and is ready to spend Christmas with? Where did she come from? How has the relationship progressed so fast without us knowing anything about it?

Could it be…someone we already know? It’s unlikely to be Bishop, the reason Torres has had such a hard time with trust in the last few years, but with the show not revealing who it is he’s talking to, there’s always the possibility that it is. Especially considering he kept the identity of whoever it is he’s dating from the team. But Bishop’s exit would make this problematic, even if Emily Wickersham somehow wanted to return to the show.

If it is someone new, though, who could it be that fans could easily accept with Torres? There was a lot of talk in this episode about letting go of guilt and accepting help, and it felt at first like Torres was still in the bad part of the comparison to Samuel Cross, but perhaps he isn’t. Maybe he’s coming out on the other side and this relationship is part of the reason why. If so, fans will want to learn who the lucky lady is, sooner rather than later.

Things I think I think:

Are they all huddling by the copier because it gives off some sort of fake warmth?

Oh, they are.

Nick, why are you being so cagey about your Christmas plans?

Glad that McGee is just “I think LaRoche is sus” instead of keeping that from the team.

Oh, fun, a book-centric plot. Not joking here, I actually like this.

Parker’s “can’t wait” to LaRoche working with the team deserves some sort of award for sassiness.

And Jimmy chiding LaRoche about eating in the lab. Ha. My petty team.

Does LaRoche just have no bedside manner or is he being this much of a nuisance on purpose?

Once again, Nick, why are you lying?

I mean, Cross, why even invite someone in?

What does LaRoche mean by “you shouldn’t have met Cross without me”? Does he think this highly trained team can’t do their job without him?

Jess and Kasie seeing right through Nick was nice.

The fact that they dusted off McGee’s author persona was a nice touch, truly.

Ok, but the way I despise LaRoche.

Torres, you projecting a tad.

All of this turned out nicer than I expected, I’m not gonna lie. Christmas miracles do exist!

LaRoche took the blame? More like took the credit.

“It’s not about me. How are you?” hit me hard.

Babe?

BABE?

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #48

I did it!!! I finally did the thing!! I did it with help!!

Look!!!

I took a broken Dance Dance Revolution (DDR for short!) pad, which wasn't a very good pad to begin with for a variety of reasons, and turned it into a DDR pad that actually works!! I'll show you how!!

There were a lot of steps involved with this, but obviously, the very first step was to take the broken DDR pad apart and figure out how it works:

As it turns out, on the inside there are two sheets of plastic with conductive paint on the inside. When the conductive paint on the top sheet touches the conductive paint on the bottom sheet, a button press is recorded! A thin foam sheet with holes perforated in specific spots is put in between the two sheets of plastic, such that the conductive paint only touches if you step on certain parts of the pad.

The pad was broken because the plastic sheeting with the conductive paint ended up being crunched up in certain spots, which made it more difficult for the paint to conduct properly. After taking the pad apart, my husband and I used packing tape on the sides of the sheets without conductive paint to smooth out the wrinkles and reinforce it.

When the crunched-up sections were able to lie flat in a satisfactory fashion, I then used a staple gun to affix the bottom plastic sheet to a very sturdy piece of board. From there, it was time to reapply the foam in the correct orientation. That was also stapled down. Then finally, I aligned the top sheet of plastic with the bottom sheet (the foam was slightly translucent even in the parts without holes, so this was relatively easy), and stapled that down, too. Here was the result:

After that, you have to protect it with the sturdy plastic cover. I wanted a pad where the arrows were slightly raised, and I wasn't going to use the foam bottom of the pad for anything, so I cut little squares in the shape of the arrow buttons and applied them to the bottom of the plastic cover, like so:

And then I flipped it over, aligned it with the plastic sheeting, and stapled it down!

And do you want to know what??? IT WORKS!!! So far, it works better than any other pad I've ever owned, and that includes my old RedOctane that gave out after 10 years of heavy use (RIP, my trusty RedOctane; I miss you dearly).

DDR is a very old game at this point, so they don't make high quality pads like the ones RedOctane used to make anymore. RedOctane as a company no longer even exists. It's a real shame.

Anyhoot!! I went and played one of my favorite DDR songs on Stepmania, on Expert level difficulty! The timing of this pad couldn't be better (though I wish I could say the same for my stamina at this point, hahaha!), and despite the fact that I am very much not used to this kind of exercise anymore, I still managed to get an A!

And the best part about it is that it's HEAVY. The wood that the pad is stapled to is fairly weighty!! This means it doesn't slide around on the floor all crazy when I am using it, and that's a HUGE bonus!! I've sprained ankles in the past from mis-stepping on a thick foam pad that moved without me realizing it while I used it, and goodness me, such an occurrence is NOT a fun time!!

Now that I have a pad that works properly and a funky green half-oval that can stick my ribs back together after the fact, I'm hoping to be able to play more DDR in the very near future! Maybe if I can get my stamina back and start playing on Expert mode all the time again, I'll even record a little video for you of me derping around on my Frankenpad! It'll look ridiculous, but it'll be fun!! Hahaha!

I'm really pleased with how this turned out; it works a lot better than I expected for a first attempt at trying anything like this! I'm hoping to make another one! If I do this again in the near future, I should do a better job, because next time I'll have a better understanding of what to do and what to expect! Then I can play with multiple people at the same time!! And that would be amazing!

Have you ever built anything cool? Heck, have you built anything that you think is uncool? If you have, then I wish you could tell me about it! I suppose I'll have to settle just for asking without ever receiving any answer, hahaha... Oh well.

I think I'll end this letter here for now. As you might expect, my grip flexors are VERY angry with me right now because repetitive uses of the staple gun is not something that squishy noodle-arms like mine are accustomed to, hahaha! Also, I moved around a lot, both for the construction of this and for testing it, and so my ribs are pretty angry at me, too... Sheesh...

I'll work at getting my stamina back so that I can send you a neat video. Count on it, okay?

Please stay safe until then. Remember you are loved. Remember that you are human. Make good and kind choices. Take nice care of yourself. And if you can spare the time, maybe try to see what sorts of things you can build, even if it's something silly like a little person made of sticks and twine. Building things is good for humans; it doesn't have to have a use.

I gotta rest now. I promise I'll have a bunch of amazing pictures to share with you tomorrow (but I'm not gonna tell you what they are gonna be pictures of!! I'm gonna leave you in suspense!!! NEENER NEENER NEENER!!! Hahahaha!), so just you wait...

I'll write to you again tomorrow. So don't disappear anywhere, okay? Promise me.

Your friend, Lumine

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: Odd Squad UK -- "The Other Ozzie" Episode Followup, Part 1

Well, this can either go really really great! Or it can go like "this shit...is so ass".

According to the fandom, this is a good episode, so I'm hoping that'll be the case for me as I pry off my cynic glasses, smile, and kick back at this episode that is titled similarly to "The New Ozzie" BUT IT BETTER NOT BE LIKE "THE NEW OZZIE" OR ELSE I WILL RI-

Let's get started with a followup on our last pre-finale episode. Below the break!

Fun fact: there's this family in my area who goes around to stores and supposedly plays the violin, except they don't and they're faking it.

That's what this is, but on a less egregious scale.

...Oh. It's a Jon episode. He wrote "A Dish Served Odd" previously, I believe.

Again, as long as it's not Omar or Tasha. I'll take what I can get.

Keytar, Ozzie. It's called a keytar.

Man can't know his instruments worth a hill of beans.

DO NOT THE POKE CHILD.

DO

NOT

THE POKE

CHI-

Okay, I said what I said about the violin family as a half joke! I didn't think it would actually come true!

I believe this is what people call "the world's most punchable face".

But...you can't really punch a child unless you wanna be a big-shot asshole, so...

Orli once again displaying God's gift of self-awareness of what series she's in and what universe she's in, while also missing the entire damn point at the same time.

"He's from an alternate universe."

So anyway, here's my 300-page bible on Agent Mandy and Peaches, my two OCs from an alternate uni- why are you getting in your car. WHERE ARE YOU GOING. LEMME GUSH ABOUT MY ODD SQUAD CROSSOVER ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE, PLE-

Hold on, hold on. So this is something that's FUCKING NORMALIZED FOR THIS PRECINCT?!?!?!?!

That's such a fucking cool concept and it took them 10 fucking years to implement it why?!?!?!?!

So the way I see it, this is a world where Odd Squad: The Movie is made many, many times over.

...The movie we know has already been proven to be canon in this universe...

I want you to sit on this. Really sit on it. Think of the sheer possibilities. Think of all the fanfic material.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BUM-BUUUUUUUUM BUM-DA-DUMMMMM-

"We usually end our cases with math."

You guys remember when Omar -- the agent, not the writer -- interrupted a math lesson with "WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT MATH?!?!"

This isn't exactly the same thing, but God if this isn't the most self-aware shit of the entire fucking season right here.

Mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: a villain turning things and people purple is very reminiscent of the show's pilot, which had Olive showing a slide of the same thing happening to a family.

Different countries, same oddness, abso-fuckin'-lutely a reference or you can bite my hot dog package whole.

...Oh no.

OHHHHHHH NO.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS FROM THE FUCKING FINALE. WHAT DO YOU M E A N IT'S FROM THIS EPISODE?????

*long sigh* Bad enough when Goopy Gus reared his ugly head, now they're doing it for Canadian-exclusive villains.

I'm going to get one of my biggest gripes out of the way now: the Baroness of Goo. She was portrayed as a villainess last season, but wasn't a villainess in Season 2. And Season 2 would be right, because she's not villainous; she's just incredibly hard to please. Why this franchise is so keen on painting her otherwise, when they have 10 years' worth of villains in a rogues gallery, I will never understand.

Of course, you should know my biggest gripe is that 3/4 of the villains on this board are Canadian. Lady Bread, Threesie Louise-ie, Game Show Gary, Mr. Lightning, the Baroness, the Stitcher, Father Time, Monsieur Papier-Mache, Goopy Gus, and the Waffler are all Canadian. (William Ocean is a bit blurred since he originated in Season 3, but it's not in the UK where he debuts. The Stitcher is a bit of an exception since she travels, but the sentiment is the same and it's implied she traverses in Canada so I'm including her.) We've had numerous villains they could have used to fill the board, up to and including the Terrible Three if they wanted to aim for foreshadowing. Instead Jon gave us nonsensical callbacks like this instead of narrowing the count down for an 11-minute episode or reworking the moral so the board isn't there at all.

Genuinely was not expecting this, and I had high hopes for this episode, but this is easily one of the most maddening things in the entire season bar whatever the fuck happens in the finale and now I am extremely pissed off.

Jon, I respect you, but don't do this. Either halve the board, or don't have it at all and focus on another mathematical aspect. None of these Canadian villains have any righteous reason to be in the UK, unless...

...Unless this season is trying to paint this as Anytown, Anycountry. And if they're doing that, then fuck you genuinely. Could have just said "Manchester" and been done with it, but nope.

*another long sigh* God, and we're only 3 minutes in. At this point I'm holding out for the in-universe blooper reel.

Ohhhh, so it's a dumber Ozzie.

I'd have liked it if he were more egotistical than dumb, but let's just hope this will be the funny stupid and not the "I'm going to army-crawl through non-comedic bullets" stupid.

These halls really shouldn't be echoing, and I don't think audio should be coming from the left audio channel only, either.

Now how in the hell does he get "Osner" from "Orli"?

To everyone who has ever questioned how the franchise handles memes, I need you to look at this, and then look at me as I tell you, "There's no fucking hope for an Among Us cameo or anything rent-free unless you really stretch your brain."

The Math Lady meme was already dated when "Villains Helping Villains" came out. Now it seems like the only how-do-you-do-fellow-kids thing they're willing to lean back on because it involves math. Which is stupid, and they really could commit to adding more memetic things if they wanted to.

Jon, what in the absolute fuck are you doing?

If I really wanted to, I could view this as some sort of jab at the acting industry. Maybe...not in the UK, but definitely in America.

Autonomy is as dead in his world as chivalry.

Now, see, you notice how a good chunk of the Canadian villains are crossed out here? Now we only have Mr. Lightning, the Baroness, the Stitcher and the Waffler as outliers.

...Oh my God, if it's the Baroness I'm going to launch myself into my yard and beat the ground and scream infinitely.

"And you're doing this without a script?"

"Well...yes, but also no. You see, I'm playing a character named Orli on a show called Odd Squad, so before each take, I have to read a script and-"

"Oh my gosh, we're twins!"

Alexander Shaw busted ass for his fucking paycheck this week, and he will not let you forget it.

I won't forget, because I respect the grind.

Orli you DENSE motherfucker. She kinda has to say it, because...y'know...the math lesson. Don't act like ya don't know!

I'm sorry, but there's not much that can beat the hairwear of the museum curator in "Ahead of the Times". That's one of the best designs in the entire franchise!

I'd normally crack on this book, but purple is a very strong indicator color for power, so there being a villains' guide for it kinda makes sense.

That being said, the more I think about whether it's the Baroness or not, the sicker I get.

NNNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FAAAAAAAAAAAHCK.

Okay, it's not the Baroness, I'm relieved, but still...this callback fucking pains me. How we went from "A Dish Served Odd" to this shit I will never understand.

Keep things linear. No episode callbacks. If you're doing one, make it smooth. This is as rough as riding in a Jeep.

Looking this up, I'm aware it's a Sherlock reference.

And frankly, I'm not fond of it.

Ahh, see, and it looks even goofier than when Mudbriar did the same thing in MLP!

They can try and disguise it all they want, but I know it's a Math Lady meme reference because I know my fucking shit.

(On to Part 2!)

[itsthenovelteafactor]

TV Shows Roundup: Jan - June

AKA every show I watched in the first half of 2024. I’ve been wanted to keep better track of my own viewing habits and thought it’d be fun to keep a running list with mini reviews. might do a tier list at the end of the year if I end up having enough. Curious what y’all have been watching/if you have any recommendations!

about 12 shows here which sounds like a lot but in my defense, there are a lot with one one season (currently!! we are manifesting some renewals here)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (season one):

Full transparency: I was not watching this show. 12 year old me who was obsessed with Percy Jackson, knew who her godly parent would be, and acted out sword fights with her siblings, was watching this show. She has no complaints. School Spirits (season one):

As soon as I heard the premise of this show I was on board, but it ended up delivering even more than I expected. The mystery was interesting and I felt like I received information at the exact right pace, the ghosts made a very charming undead-breakfast club and the characters in general were very compelling. Whoever put that Phoebe Bridgers song at the end of episode 1 deserves and Emmy and I’m not kidding. Loki (season 2):

I’ve fallen out with the MCU as a whole, but this show brought me back for season 2. I appreciate how it stands on its own as a series with its own characters, worldbuilding, and story that doesn’t require I watch 15 movies and 2 shows to comprehend. This season leaned into the wacky scifi time trace shenanigans in a way that reminded me of Doctor Who at times. The ending made me unexpectedly emotional. The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself (season 1):

Okay, I liked the first couple episodes of this but once the main trio of Nathan, Annalise, and Gabriel were together it was *electric*. I loved how gorey and dark it wasn’t afraid to get and the characters played off each other so well. I’m devastated we won’t get to see more of these guys because despite the fast pacing of the show, you really grow to love these characters. Lockwood and Co (season one, rewatch):

Just as good the second time! Truly a masterfully done show; the worldbuilding, mysteries, and aesthetic are top notch but what sells it are the characters and their relationships to each other. There really is something incredibly comforting about this show for me, I keep coming back to Portland Row and the people who live there. The fact that we did not get to see later books in the series adapted is a tragedy.

Fleabag (seasons one and two):

This is just smartly done comedy with characters whose dysfunction manages to feel a little too familiar. I loved the shades of the stage play peeking through - there is a theatrical feel to the show overall that I love - and despite its cynicism, this show has a beating heart that occasionally hits you across the face. Basically everything they say about this one is true.

Doom Patrol (seasons three and four):

I will admit, season three (minus the DVDA) episode, felt very slow to me, but season four was an excellent return to form. It’s strange, bordering on absurdist, and flits between comedy and horror at a dizzying speed. This show is an underrated gem and truly one of a kind.

Cracow Monsters (season one):

This show is beautiful; its color scheme, setting, and camera work are immersive and feel like wandering down rainy cobblestoned streets. The story took a while to pick up, but the horror elements were very well done. I wish we’d spent a bit more time with the other students, as they all seemed like interesting characters in their own right. I loved the mythology, and folkloric inspiration.

The Artful Dodger (season one):

It’s a period drama, it’s a medical show, it’s a heist, it’s inspired by Charles Dickens. This show is utterly delightful and thoroughly engrossing. I suspected I would enjoy it from the concept alone, but there is just something completely charming about it start to finish I could not get out of my head.

Dead Boy Detectives (season one):

So…this show took over my brain. The world here is populated by dynamic and fascinating characters and the case of the week format allows for the chance to see them shine in different situations. It somehow balances the absurd, the macabre, and the heartfelt and once it finds its footing does not let up. It’s smart, eccentric, and basically candy for the kind of person who loves over analyzing the actions of fictional characters (me).

Hannibal (season 3):

Had to wait for this to come back on Amazon to finish and it did not disappoint. First half of the season was slower, but I really enjoyed the gothic castle sections. Second half was Red Dragon, which was really cool with these versions of the characters. A wholly satisfying (and appropriately morbid) conclusion to the series.

Andor (season 1)

People have been telling me to watch this and that I’d love it since it came out and they were all correct. There was so much more thought and care put into the depiction of life under an oppressive government and I expected and even if I wasn’t a Star Wars fan, the story is gripping and beautifully shot on its own. Because I *am* a Star Wars fan, it’s even better.

[dakotakazansky]

Ghost • Twenty One

Previous | Master List | Next

Warnings: 18+, Fluff, Angst, lots of Dumb Bitch Juice, Some Smut Pairings: Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x OC & Javy ‘Coyote’ Machado x OC Word Count: 4,922

Kota Ten Weeks Later

It was officially our 12th week of Top Gun, and two days before Christmas Eve, but even like school as kids, or like in the Academy, they gave us the next week and a half off for Christmas and New Years. I was excited to have this week and a half off to be able to spend with loved ones. I was pretty much extremely exhausted after each day at this point. Training hops, and classroom time were getting more and more intense as we neared the end of our time at Top Gun. 

Our current rankings of our Top Gun class proved our little friend group was in it to win it. I honestly felt a lot of imposter syndrome. On one hand I knew I had what it took, to be first in the class like I'm currently sitting with Tate, but at the same time, I could never doubt the fact of who my family is, whether blood or not. I'm far too close with so many higher ups in the Navy that even I doubt myself at this point. I also felt bad because I know that it's always been Jake's dream to have his name on the Top Gun board, but it's also Tate's dream, and who am I to deny her that. It really weighs heavy on me sometimes. 

It's Friday night, and as per usual our little friend group is meeting up at the Hard Deck for drinks and more fun. Jake and I had made the drive over to Tate and Javy's place in his truck, as all of us had decided to go together tonight. The four of us had waltzed our way into the Navy themed establishment the same as we had done every week. I do a little two finger Salute to Penny as we had walked by to claim our spot, with a few other Navy personnel and aviators, by the pool table and darts board. We pulled about 3 tables together to make our usual spot. "I'll be right back, I'm going to grab our first round of drinks from Penny!" I say running off to the crowded bar. 

"Hey Kota!" Penny hollers over the music and chatter at the bar, while she finishes serving the customers that were there before I was. "Hey Pen!" I holler back and wait my turn. She serves 3 people their choice of beers or mixed drinks, before it's my turn. "The usual Kota?" she asks. I nod, "Yes please! Hey, did Ice invite you to our Family Christmas Dinner?" I questioned her. She grabs our first round of beers and slides the glass bottles across the bar to me, "He sure did, got the invite this morning actually." I grab my beer, taking a swig out of the bottle before wrapping a small bar napkin around it so I don't hand it off to one of the others accidentally. 

"Are you going to invite the group there?" Penny asks, nodding her head towards Jake and Javy acting like fools, and Tate laughing at the both of them. "Actually yeah, for once I do plan on inviting those 3. It's kinda nice having people to invite on my own for a change." I chuckle lightly looking back over towards my group of goofy friends. "How much for the beers Pen?" She just shakes her head no to me, "They're on the house tonight dear. Go. Go have fun!" She nods her head towards the group again. "Thanks Penny!" I say grabbing our beers, and walking back over to the group. I set them down lightly on the table, before handing them all out minus mine, which is still wrapped in the napkin. 

"What's going on over here?" I question referring to the goofiness that was transpiring just moments ago. "Just the boys being boys, as per usual!" Tate says cheerily. "Hey so uh, before we get too rowdy, or too invested in pool and darts tonight I wanted to ask you guys something." I say a little nervously. "What's up little buddy?" Javy asks, and I break a smile at the nickname. "That nickname is never going away huh Goliath?" I say, picking back up the nickname for Javy who towers like a whole foot taller than me. He laughs, and I shake my head, "Anyways, my family always hosts a huge Christmas party. Everyone that is family or cherished members of our lives gets invited, and well, I wanted to invite you 3, because you all mean the world to me." 

I'm met with a chorus of, "We'd be honored to." I smile happily at my little found family. "I can't wait for this party, and for you guys to meet everyone!" I say significantly more excited now. "Everyone is hopefully going to be there, like all of Ice's and Mav's Top Gun buddies, and some extended family, I'm hoping Bradley will be able to make it too, I'd love for you guys to meet him!" They all gave me a shocked look when I mentioned all the different higher up Navy buddies that might be in attendance. 

The rest of the night goes as per usual until about the last hour we are there. Jake chatted with Penny for a moment, before gathering our slightly tipsy little group around the piano of the Hard Deck. "Oh I see what you're doing Seresin!" I say catching on to what he's planning. I had told him the story of Mav, Bradley, and I gathering around this very piano when I was younger. I take my seat on the piano bench and play a few rifts to get the feel of it, while Jake saunters off to the jukebox, to unplug it from the wall. I look over to Penny at the bar, who just raises a beer in my direction, and I nod back to her. 

Jake pulls the plug and we are met with a bunch of boos and groans now that the music has cut off. I play one more little rift before starting into Jerry Lee Lewis'  - Great Balls of Fire. What I hadn't known before, was Bradley had gotten the invite from Ice as well, and was back in town, and just so happened to make his way into the hard Deck as I began playing rifts.

—

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain Too much love drives a man insane You broke my will but what a thrill Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

I laughed at love 'cause I thought it was funny You came along and you moved me, honey I've changed my mind, this love is fine Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

—

As I start the song, and am too focused on the piano, crowd, and my friends I fail to see Bradley snap his head in my direction as I play the song, that takes not only myself, but him as well back to our childhood.

—

Kiss me, baby Mmmh, feels good Hold me, baby Well, I'm off to love you like a lover should Oh, you're fine, so kind Got to tell this world that you're mine, mine, mine, mine

I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs I'm real nervous, but it sure is fun Come on, baby, you're driving me crazy Goodness gracious, great balls of fire

—

Jake kisses my temple as I sing the line "Kiss me, baby". and by the time I'm down the song to the line "Got to tell this world that you're mine, mine, mine, mine!" Jake is almost screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs making me blush instantly. Everyone but Bradley yells in unison, "Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!" As I finish the song, Bradley downs his drink, with an annoyed look on his face, as he watches Jake kiss my temple. He orders another drink sticking around for one more song, which I play You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - The Righteous Brothers. Once the song ends he leaves, without me spotting him at all. 

I take a huge swig out of my beer while the crowd cheers and hollers enjoying the musical performance I put on for the bar tonight. I finished off my musical serenade with the same song I had played and sung for Jake on the beach during our picnic date, Lay It Down - ILLENIUM, Krewella & SLANDER. The crowd once again erupts into cheers and hollers as I bow before hopping off the same platform that the piano was up on. I get some pats on the back as I walk towards the Jukebox to plug it back in for the bar patrons. I pick a random song, before my small group of friends and I walk back towards our spot by the pool table.

—

Christmas Eve

"Jake, C'mon we're going to be late, and we still need to pick up Tate and Javy!" I yell, while waiting by the front door with the armful of gifts for my family and friends. Jake comes out of our room dressed in a button down, his jeans, and his Stetson. "Now you know I told you to dress comfy, you don't need to impress my family, they already love you, maybe even more than they love me." I say laughing. "Now we both know that isn't true, they still love you more." he replies. "But... while your pretty little hands are full—" he says before pinning me against the door, and kissing me with a needy passion. 

When we split apart I cock my eyebrow up at him. "Seresin! Truck! Now! Please!" I say dramatically with desperation. He chuckles, taking the gifts from me, and walking them out to the truck, as I lock up the house. We picked up Javy and Tate, and made our way over to my parents house for the smaller Christmas Eve Party. 

As we all approach the door, I can already hear the laughter of my younger cousins. I knock on the door before opening it. I call out, "Hey we're here!" I hear my mother call out, "Welcome in Kota! We're just in the living room!" I usher Jake, Javy and Tate in and shut the door behind us before leading them into the living room. I stop in my tracks, when I notice a familiar figure in the room. "Holy Shit, Bradshaw is that you?!" I say, shocked to see Bradley sitting in the living room with my family. 

"Language!" I hear my elementary aged cousin Morgann yell at me. I bend down to give her a hug, "I'm sorry Momo, I'll watch the language." She hugs me back laughing. That precious little child-like laugh. Bradley slowly walks up to me, and my little group of friends. I stood again, frozen in front of him, taking in the fact he's here. "Kota, you look good," he says sheepishly. I take a few more steps towards him, before wrapping my arms around his waist, my face burying into his chest. "You're actually here." I say, whispering just loud enough for him to hear. "I am, and I'm sorry I've not kept in touch with you." he whispers back to me, hugging me back before we release each other. 

"Bradley, this is Tate, My WSO." I say gesturing to Tate before gesturing to Javy, "Javy, Tate's boyfriend, and a friend of mine from the academy." Jake sets the presents down under the tree before approaching and wraps an arm around my shoulder, "And this is Jake, my boyfriend. Jake, Javy, Tate, this is Bradley, my childhood best friend." They all exchange pleasantries and hand shakes, before I introduce Javy and Tate to my mother Sarah. I notice a small expression of hurt on Bradley's face when I mentioned boyfriend, but I don't bring it up, not wanting to sour the mood of the holiday. 

We all eat a small Christmas eve dinner, before we tuck Morgann into bed, telling her that if she doesn't get to sleep, then Santa won't be able to come to drop off presents to her. It took her no time to climb into her bed for the night, and cuddle up for sleep. Like every year, I read her the 'Twas the Night before Christmas pop up book. She was sound asleep before I had even finished the book. I place the book on the shelf and walk out to the living room again, where Ice and Sarah have matching pjs, and a gift bag for everyone in attendance. 

One of our family traditions is that we all get a set of matching pajamas, and then we drink hot chocolate, sometimes spiked hot chocolate, and watch Christmas movies before we finish last minute present wrapping for the little kids that will be at the party tomorrow. After we all had changed into our matching pj's, Ice comes over with a phone in hand, and snaps a photo of Jake, Javy, Tate, Bradley and I all together on the couch watching The Grinch.

I look around at our little group, "We like to give our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, so that tomorrow we can focus on all of the younger kids." I say before getting up to grab my gift for Jake, and Tate. "I uh, didn't know you were going to be here Bradley, so I'm sorry." I say referring to the fact that I didn't have a gift for him. He smiles softly, "That's alright Kota, I mean Sarah and I planned for me being here as our gift to you." Bradley replies back, rubbing the back of his neck. 

I hand Jake a little box, and Tate a card, and wait impatiently as they both figure out who'd be opening their gift first, before eventually settling on Tate opening hers first. She hands me a small rectangular box, before opening her card. She reads over the card, before reading the little voucher that was inside said card, "I figured, to commemorate our time as Pilot and WSO together, we could celebrate with matching tattoos." Tate puts the voucher back in the card before setting it off to the side, and getting up to hug me tightly, "Oh Kota! That's such a thoughtful gift, I love it! Thank you!" 

Jake nods towards the box sitting in my lap, "You first Darlin'." I nod and open my present from Tate. It's a gorgeous little black dress. "Tate!" I exclaim. "It's gorgeous!" She laughs, "Now you have at least one fancy thing in your closet that you don't have to rent for a night!" I start to laugh with her remembering back to the parent trap first date with Jake. Jake then opens the little box I had given him while Javy and Tate exchange gifts with each other. 

Jake pulls out a small moon charm, with a K engraved into it. I whisper to him, "K for Kota, and because I'm the moon to your Sun." He holds it in his hand, admiring the beautiful charm, "Kota it's perfect!" He says back in a hushed tone. "I figured I could sew it onto your favorite jacket, or your Stetson." He smiles up at me, "I'd love that." He says beaming that million dollar pearly white smile to me, before he passes a super small box to me.

I open the box to reveal a jewelry box, and inside of that, I see a silver fighter jet pendant on a dainty silver chain. "Would you mind?" I say to Jake as I take the necklace out of the box, and hand it to him. "I'd love to, move your hair for me?" I nod, pulling my hair to the side so he could slip the silver chain around my neck, clasping it shut, as the fighter jet pendant now rests gently, about an inch below my collarbones. "Jake, Thank you, I love it!" I say before placing a kiss to his cheek. "You're Welcome Darlin'. Now you have a little piece of me wherever you go."

My mother clears her throat, before we all finish up with our gift exchanges. "We have one more gift for everyone." She says looking over to Ice before reaching out and taking his hand into hers. Every pair of eyes in the room remains focused on the two of them. At the same time, my mother and Ice hoarsely said, "I'm/He's cancer free." I fly up out of my seat and over to my parents, taking them both into a tight hug, "That's the best present of all!" I say as everyone else gathers around the 3 of us, all joining in to the group hug, although Bradley is sporting a puzzled look on his face, as he didn't know Ice had and now has beaten cancer. 

Everyone heads off to their respective guest rooms for the night. Javy and Tate together, Morgann's family in the room with her, and Bradley in his own room, that we had given him when he was younger, since he spent so much time between our house and Mav's growing up even after Carole passed away. Jake and I made our way to my room, but I paused outside of the door, "Hey why don't you go ahead and go on in, I'm going to go chat with Brad for a moment." Jake nods, "You sure you don't need me to come with you?" I shake my head no, "No I'll be alright, just going to catch up with him for a little bit, and explain the Ice situation to him." Jake nods, as he points into my room, "I'm just in here Darlin' in case you need me." I chuckle, "Thanks Jake, I'll be back in a few minutes."

I pad my way down the hallways towards Bradley's old room, and upon reaching the door I knock on it softly. I hear some movement, and a moment later, a shirtless Bradley is opening the door to see who is outside of it. "Hey." I say softly, "Can we talk a minute?" He nods, opening the door, more allowing me to walk as he closes the door behind me, before walking over to the bed, and sitting down. I sat down next to him.

"How long?" he asks, his voice cracking just ever so slightly, asking about Ice. "We found out, about a week and a half after I started Top Gun, and that was about, maybe 9 weeks ago. I tried to call you, but I guess you didn't have service." He nods, "Yeah, I just got back from a deployment about a week or two ago." He says quietly. I hugged him tightly, "I've missed you." I say barely audible but just enough for him. "When do you leave again?" He hugs me back resting his head on mine, "On the 27th, have to be back in Virgina on the 28th." I sigh. 

"So boyfriend, huh?" Bradley asks, and I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Yeah, I met him during the plebe summer when we were in the Academy." I chew on my lip, "He became one of my best friends, but he'd never replace you, but he did lessen the blow of not having you around. We just started dating about a month and a half ago. Before you ask because I know you will, yes he does make me happy." Bradley frowns hearing me speak about Jake filling the gap he left, thinking I'm not watching his reactions, but quickly swaps to a smile when he notices I'm looking at him again.

"I'm really happy for you Kota, and I'm glad you had him around for when I wasn't there. Hey uh, we should head to bed, maybe catch up more tomorrow?" I can tell he's upset, but I'm not going to push the issue, I nod, and make my way to the door leaving Bradley sitting on his bed. "Goodnight Brad, sleep well." I say before slipping out of the door, and back down to my room, to crawl into bed with Jake for the night. "How'd that go?" Jake asks once I'm settled into bed, and snuggled into his arms. 

"Oh it went as I expected. Not 1000% perfect, but he's happy for us, or so he says." Jake cocks his head to the side, "What do you mean?" I shrug a bit, "He doesn't think I saw him, but he looked sad when I answered his question about us, but immediately changed his expression when I really looked at him." Jake nods, "Well nothing we can do about it tonight, but I would love to get to know him more, I wanna know all the good stories about you, when you were younger!" I playfully smack his chest softly, "Oh can it you! Keep acting like that, and Santa's going to bring you some coal!" I say laughing, as we laid in bed, and eventually fell asleep for the night.

—

Christmas Morning

Jake is still sleeping pretty hard, but I give him a soft kiss on the cheek, before walking out to the kitchen to grab some coffee. "Good morning Koty." I hear my parents say, as I pad my way sleepily into the kitchen. I mumble back a "g'morning" to them. I grab my favorite mug, and a mug for Jake, before grabbing the coffee pot and pouring us both some coffee. I nearly jumped out of my skin feeling a huge palm rest itself on my shoulder, almost dropping both mugs of coffee. "Woah sorry Kota, forgot you were jumpy after you just woke up." I hear the sleep ridden voice of Bradley say to me. "Almost made me lose my coffee, and my favorite mug!" I say pinching my eyebrows together.  He just laughs at me, before grabbing his own mug and pouring himself his own coffee. I take that chance to swiftly make it back to my room, with Jake and I's coffees safely in hand.

Jake's awake, when I walk back into the room, softly kicking the door shut behind me. "Good morning Cowboy." I say while walking over to the bed and handing him the mug of coffee I got for him. "Good morning Darlin'." He replies back, voice filled with sleep and his southern accent coming out thicker. "Little Morgann is going to be awake soon, we should head out to the living room." He nods back to me, but not before grabbing the coffee out of my hand, setting it down on the nightstand and pulling me into his lap straddling him, my arms wrapped around his neck, pulling me into a needy kiss. 

We made our way with coffees in hand, to the living room plopping down on the couch. Tate sits at the arm end of the sectional couch, Javy to her left, then Jake. I'm tucked into Jake's left side, his left arm wrapped around my shoulder. Ice and Sarah are sitting on the loveseat next to the couch. Bradley saunters in with coffee in hand as well taking a seat next to me, and before we know it little Morgie is running in leaving her parents behind, screaming happily that Santa came as she spots the presents under the tree. 

Morgann spends the next hour ripping open her presents from everyone and Santa Claus. She was very excited to get a new squishmallow. I ended up getting her a little metal works model of an F-18 Super Hornet for her and I to build together later.

After Morgann finished opening all her gifts, she totes them all back to her room that she's staying in. Everyone else disperses to attend to our next little job of the day, my family and I get into the kitchen and start prepping the Christmas meal before the rest of the guests get here. Jake, Javy, Tate and Bradley all offer to help but Ice, Sarah and I decline their offer as they are guests today. We make a huge ham, some mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, some of mom's family's recipe of chicken noodles, rolls, and a roast. 

The food is almost done so I run off to get ready for the party, Jake on my heels in case I need help. I quickly shower, throw some dry shampoo in my hair before styling, and then I put on the gorgeous dress Tate bought me. I walk out of the bathroom holding the dress tightly to my chest. "Cowboy, could you zip me up?" He trails featherlight touches down my back before grabbing the zipper and slowly zipping me up, making sure to not catch my skin in the zipper. I turn around taking in his outfit. He's wearing his black Stetson, with a dark Navy blue button down shirt, a nice pair of dark wash jeans and his cowboy boots. "Cowboy you look—" I trail off taking in the handsome man in front of me, "—so incredibly handsome." 

—

A few hours in, and the party is well involved. Mav and Penny are here, as well as everyone from Ice's Top Gun class, and a few others he's met while stationed at other bases. I'm standing with Jake, Javy, Tate and Bradley while we talk to Slider, his family, and Sundown and Merlin's families. I lean over to Jake, whispering, "Hey I need a few minutes, gonna go grab some air outside." He nods, whispering back to me, "Do you need or want me to come with you?" I shake my head no, "No, I'll be fine, please enjoy the party, I'll only be gone a few minutes." He nods again, softly kissing the top of my head before I walk over to Ice and explain the same thing to him. 

I slip out the sliding glass door, and am immediately met with a small shiver as it's slightly colder in San Diego currently. I walk over to the fire pit, turning it on to warm up. About 5 minutes later I hear the door open and close, and before the person can get over to me I can already tell who it is. The wind blows wafting his musky cologne in my direction, and without looking up I call out, "Hey there Stud." I always imagined Bradley and I would've ended up like Carole and Nick. He approaches, saying, "Hey there Honey." 

He takes up the spot next to me, and I lean against him for the extra warmth. I look up at him sadly, and just above a whisper, my voice cracks, "You left, and then stopped talking to me." I feel his shoulders drop, "Honeybee I'm sorry, I never intended to stop talking to you, I just got through basic and then deployed almost immediately and by the time I wanted to reach out, it had been so long, I didn't know how to speak up." I sigh, "You know I almost gave up my dream, because I had lost contact with you?" He looked over to me saddened, "I found out after you went to the Academy, Ice called one day telling me about it." 

"So you and Jake huh?" I nod, "Yeah he makes me happy." I look over to the fire for a moment before looking back into those honey brown eyes, "I always pictured us together you know, thought we'd end up like your parents." He wraps an arm around me, "You know we still could?" I shake my head no, "No, I would never leave him for no reason, I can't do that Bradley." I turn off the fire pit wanting to get back inside to Jake, "We should head back inside, it's a little cold out here." I say getting up, leaving Bradley by the fire pit.

—

A few more hours later and the party is finally dying down. Jake, Javy, Tate and I go around saying our goodbyes. I give Bradley an extra long hug, "Please keep in touch Stud, I really do miss you, no matter how awkward it may feel." He nods, humming a mhmm to me, "I will Honey, I promise." 

We drop Tate and Javy off at their house, and before we pull out of their driveway, I reach over and pull Jake's cowboy hat off his head, plopping it down on mine while he's too busy to do anything about that. He stammers shocked about what just happened, "Uh Kota, you uh..." I chuckle at him with the biggest boost of confidence I could muster, and in a sultry voice I say back, "No I didn't know about the football Jersey rule," I pause a moment, "But I know all about the cowboy hat rule." He turns to look at me quickly, I throw him a wink, and I swear that man almost broke every traffic law in existence, to get us home fast enough to act on my new found confidence.

It took us no time to get in the door, his hat still sitting pretty atop of my head, he pulled me into another passionate, needy kiss, and I can feel just how needy he really is, as his body is pressed against mine. When we pull away, I breathlessly say, "Merry Christmas Cowboy." That was all he needed to hear, as clothing items were swiftly removed, each step of the way, as we made our way to the bedroom as quickly as possible. The need for each other was rapidly growing more and more desperate as we got closer to the bedroom. Safe to say, that was one rowdy Christmas night to remember.

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[solasan]

mollie can you please spare some facts about your bg3 ocs? they all seem so 🥺💖

aaaaaa sophie tysm 🥺 i would be HAPPY to spare some facts abt them (im still working on the ask meme u sent me im sowwy <333) buckle up tho bc theres.... four of them lol 🤪

so estrilda nerezac is my most recent tav. she's a draconic bloodline sorcerer from the noble house nerezac (descended from a gold dragon named solarien) and is, fittingly, the proudest of all my tavs with a nice little (big) superiority complex to boot. she has the thickest french accent which doesn't matter but i love. her family's flitted about a lot in the last few generations (sun elves amirite) but they returned from evermeet in the 1360s, when estie was about 10, and settled in silverymoon. that makes her roughly 140 years old by the time of bg3, so she's Lived A Life in that time. she'd just recently agreed to take a husband from one of the other sun elf noble houses in silverymoon and was on the road to everlund with her older brother valoran to look at wedding dresses when the nautiloid took them. valoran is successfully turned into a mindflayer while they're on-board 😔

she romances gale and they spend most of their time together by turns either competing with each other (my magic is better than your magic) or having some surprising moments of understanding & comfort lol. they end up married and settling down in waterdeep (which her family has their issues with) and having a couple of kids. estie unfortunately will outlive him but im trying not to think abt that haha.

then there's alarice silversong, who's a college of swords bard. she was raised by four "mothers" in a brothel (only 1 of them was her mother by blood, but they all looked after her) in the lower city of baldur's gate. birth name was alice. fell in love with music as a child bc she was expected to play the lute for the brothel's patrons on the main floor. after 3 of her moms died, she ended up on the streets, where she became quite the accomplished little pickpocket and eventually joined the guild. nine-fingers became a sort of mother figure to her — which is why she's so pissed that alarice ran off with loot from duke ravengard, blowing an operation wide open and getting multiple guild members killed before the nautiloid grabbed her. despite being selfish & greedy & an incorrigible liar, alarice is charismatic & fun, so she's good at drawing people in. lonely tho.

her and astarion have a lot of similar issues, so their romance is a lot of learning to recognise and love yourself through the other &lt;3

next is callista lomarel, a cleric of selûne native to baldur's gate. she was abandoned on the steps of the house of the moonmaiden when she was only a couple of days old, bc her (noble) family were all human and she popped out purple with a tail, so. that's all she really knows about her past for the most part, which she pretends to be ok with, but curiosity and abandonment issues do haunt her a lot. she was raised in the faith, an acolyte in the same place she was abandoned at, and maybe she was never loved in the way that most children are loved by their parents, but she felt the love of selûne every day of her life and became a very dedicated cleric. she didn't really leave the house of the moonmaiden (making her very naive and ignorant to the ways of the world) until the day she was taken by the nautiloid. she's super sweet and gentle, very kind, looks after everyone around her. baby.

she romances shadowheart <333 while shadowheart goes into the romance trying to convert her to shar (lol SIKE for her), callista just... sees good in her and can't stop seeing it, no matter how much she wishes she could sometimes. they r very cute girlfriends by the end. shadowheart's callista's first lover ever so it's a learning curve for her but yeah. <3

and then the tav that i know the least about is izevel (no surname), who's a half-drow great old one warlock and my dark urge tav <3 i haven't played huge amounts of her and i dont want to spoil the durge for myself so i rly don't have much to say except that i think she's going to romance wyll and she tries very hard to be a good person despite her fucked up urges. cant wait to eventually get to her full playthrough LOL

[blackbirdsonthemountain]

"I don't care who the hell she thinks she is, Francis. It's my name on the companies, the houses...the cars. The bar. The goddamn ranch and the oil fields are mine. You wanted a younger model and a fresh start and you got it. I..I just wanted a life..with you but I wasn't ever enough so here we are. I've moved on you've obviously moved on."

The sudden realization hit Frank Flannery like a Mack truck that he was indeed almost penniless all thanks to what? He desire for something new? He had loved Colleen at one point, then the anger took over. He could blame a million things on why he had treated her like he had during their ten years together. Col had been nothing but good to him, faithful and true right up to the dissolution hearing. He, on the other hand had literally fucked the sectary and was now paying for it, or rather, living paycheck to paycheck thanks to it. Falling head over heels in love with the feisty redheaded grey eyed woman that was due to be celebrating her 21st birthday in a matter of days had Frank sweating bullets. Lot rent was due, MaryKay wasn't feeling well - he had a sneaking suspicion as to why; he was praying that the milk from this week's pick up from the Eagle Eye Dairy was enough.

"Tell ya what, Frank. I've got a little investment property, it's a trailer park over on the back road to Hoyt's Hill."

Over and around the turn he could almost see the place she was talking about. They used to park up on one of side roads higher up and look down at the open lot.

"Over on Blackbird Mountain."

"Yep. You'd be doing park and lot maintenance but you could live their rent free with your family."

Frank Flannery was many things to many people but to Colleen he had been a menace. Yet she still helped him.

"You..really?"

"Yes. You need help and I'm in a position to offer it. You were a sonofabitch to me, She fucked me over to get to you...ya'll's kid is the innocent one in all this...and I'm not completely heartless.

'Flight 745 to Port St. Lucie now boarding.'

Colleen had always wanted to travel but in their time together Frank had never been much of a worldly explorer. He smiled at the fact that Col was following her heart.

"Where ya headed, Irish?"

"Off to the Cowtown rodeo to snag me a cowboy. Have a weekend of fun over at the hunt and riding club and get stoned and drunk off my ass."

Choking down a snort failed and Frank laughed. MaryKay stirred in the living on the ratty blue couch half covered with an afghan her mother had gifted them. An empty trash bag lined humongous pastel pink bowl lay on the coffee table next to a pack of open saltines and a can of Mr. Spritz Lemon Lime soda. He was nearly forty with a twenty one year old wife most likely about to bless the world with a being of their own creation and his dark haired green eyed wild woman of an ex was headed to parts unknown to let her considerably long hair down. He couldn't blame her.

"Be safe out there, Colleen."

"Will do...oh and I wouldn't worry about that check from Eagle Eye Dairy...it's padded nicely."

"How did you know about that?"

He could almost hear a smile in her voice as she dropped the third bombshell of his day.

"I know the owner, she mentioned seeing MaryKay at Doctor Nash's practice a week or two ago and she thought maybe you guys could use it. After all Eagle Eye's promise is all about looking out for the locals."

Her grandfather's nickname had been Eagle Eye. He, along with Harvey Starling and Col's aunt Eileen stepped in when her mother, Minnie had worked self almost into an early grave to make a life for the two of them after Jimmy Murphy had met a bad end one night.

"I don't deserve..."

"I know you don't deserve Jack shit from me but it's how I am, ok? Tell her to lay on her left side if she feels really horribly nauseous and sometimes humming helps."

Just like that Colleen was gone and the ear splitting voice from the Standing Rock airport told him the time in Japan and Guam and then told him to hang up.

'You never deserved a woman like her as a wife and you sure as fuck don't deserve to have her as a friend. That woman says jump you say how high, ma'am.'

His stern inner voice, which come to think of it sounded a hell of a lot like his younger brother Jackie; the one that Col had really truly loved, barked at him. For once in his life Frank Flannery obeyed advice from beyond the grave.