#goodbye public health i guess

[ma1dita]

i have no words.

[billthedrake]

LINEAGE (PART TEN)

"Hey, Dad," Junior said as I was almost out the door for work. He was still his workout clothes from his morning gym time with Braden.

"Yeah, buddy?" I asked.

I'd been feeling things out with my eldest son since we'd started fooling around. We had Brade's blessing, and about once a week our son joined us in the marital bed. Still, I second guessed myself. It felt right, and yet it didn't.

Only now, Junior... I don't know, he just looked hot as fuck. Self-possessed for a young man his age and yet innocent, emotionally open. A lot like Braden was when I first started up with my son-husband. I was so caught up in taking in his cute-handsome features and jockish looks that it took me a second to notice he was holding a folded piece of paper.

"I wanted to give you this."

I took the paper. "What is it...?"

I started opening it but Junior stopped. "Can you open it later, Dad?" he asked. He seemed embarrassed or something.

"Why?" I wasn't trying to be a bossy father but well maybe I was.

"Please, Dad. Just wait till you get to the office or something."

"All right," I said. stuffing it into my inner suit coat pocket.

I started to lean in for a goodbye kiss, then heard the sound of Evan or maybe Keith's door opening. I gave a shrug. "Rain check?"

Junior smiled. "Yes, sir." I could tell he was enjoying the little secret we had. "Later, Dad."

"Later buddy."

I did as Junior requested and waited until I got to the office. Then I unfolded the paper and read my son's distinctive handwriting.

"DAD'S HOUSE RULES," it read.

Then below were a numbered list.

1. Dad's relationship to Daddy comes first. I'm not here as competition.

2. One-on-one time with my Dad is limited to once a week.

3. Dad and Daddy may invite me to join them. I'll be grateful for that trust each and every time.

4. No displays of affection in front of my brothers, or out in public.

5. School and homework come before sex.

6. I'll never be too old for one of my father's lectures.

I had to chuckle. I'd talked about about some of this with Junior and apologized for lecturing him. This was his way of taking what I'd told him and accepting it, even adding more to the ground rules. I don't think I'd ever been so impressed with Junior and his maturity. I pulled out my phone and dialed him.

"Hey Dad," he said. His voice was nervous.

"Hey kiddo," I said. "I thought I'd catch you before class."

"Just heading to home room now."

"I won't keep you," I said. "I just want you to know that you wrote was perfect, Son."

"Yeah?" I could hear the smile on his face.

"Absolutely. OK if I share this with your Daddy?"

"Of course," he said.

My office door was shut, so I ventured to say, "I love you, kiddo."

"Love you, too, Dad."

I hung up with a proud parental smile on my face. And a rock hard erection in my trousers beneath my desk.

***

I got home early that day, with perfect timing. The twins were down for a nap, and Braden was shirtless in the living room, resting and reading his ipad.

"Hey Dad," he said, looking up in a dreamy relaxation.

"The twins asleep?" I asked quietly.

My son nodded. "Thought they wouldn't ever tire out today. Damn, twins are exhausting."

I felt bad. "We can always take a break on making them a brother," I said. I meant it, too. As much as I wanted another son, real bad, Braden's health and sanity came first.

Brade just grinned and leaned forward on the couch. "I want you to put another set of twins in me, Dad... triplets even."

Goddamn, my husband knew how to turn me on, and I knew that even if he meant every word, he was saying it get me going. Indeed he had a smirk as he reached forward and felt up my trousers to paw at the hardon forming in the crotch. "I love making my father hard," he said softly.

Brade and I got off on sex in the living room or the common areas of the house, since with five boys we didn't have much chance. "You always do, Son. You've given me so many boners." Already I was unzipping, and reaching into work out my cock. I took another second to guide my underwear fully tucked beneath the balls, allowing my excited genitals to stick out fully for Brade's appraisal.

My hunky son-husband felt up that erection, taking his time and barely moving his eyes from my dick. "I know you don't think I mean it, Dad, but I'll start taking those fertility pills if it gives us multiples." The Fiedlers had mentioned their luck with those pills. Indeed, Adam Fiedler at 78, was now pregnant with his boyfriend-son's kid.

I croaked out a half-formed word of approval, even as Brade started taking my cock into his mouth. I placed my hands on my hips and looked down, watching in pride at how good he was at this. I had the best fucking husband in the world.

Braden started sucking nice and slow, sensually making love to my dick with his mouth, until he worked more of my meat into the back of his throat and gullet with each bob. He wasn't gonna get me off, not yet, but he damn well could have once he decided to.

But he pulled off and gave my dick an adminiring gaze. "Is Junior getting better at sucking you?" he asked.

"Some, yeah," I replied. It felt kinky as hell to talk about our son in the middle of sex. "He's certainly giving it his all."

Now Brade's eyes flashed up to meet mine. "I bet. I felt it was like a year of sucking you before I got my technique down."

"I loved every minute, you know that son." I about guided his head back to take care of me again, but I had a better idea. I pulled Junior's note from my inner suit pocket and handed it to Brade. "Here... read this."

My son looked at me with a bemused surprise but took the folded paper and opened it to read. As he did, I slowly stripped off, folding my suit jacket over a spare chair, slipping off my tie, and unbuttoning my dress shirt.

"God," Braden said. "We raised a good kid, Dad."

"That we did," I smiled. "I got so hard reading that," I admitted.

"I bet," Braden said. "I'm leaking now." He leaned back and spread his legs and indeed I could see a big wet spot on his shorts where the tip of his dick rode up the thin fabric. "You gotta take him on a date night, Dad. A real one."

I knew what Braden meant. So far "date night" meant just sex with Junior. An hour or less stolen away for private time to explore with my eldest. Usually after a weekend golf outing. But this... the idea made my cock jerk. "What would you think of that, Braden?"

He looked at me with lust and a good dose of trust. "You know what I think, Dad. I think every son in the world should have the chance to have date night with his father."

I reached down and pulled him up. Brade knew what I wanted anyway and was standing up to meet me. We kissed passionately, a mix of romance and sexual desire.

"I still get so turned on thinking of our first one," I muttered finally.

"Yeah... me dropping my prom date off and you taking me out for late night Chinese. Me in my tux, you in your sport coat." He laughed.

"And a hotel room after," I reminded him.

"And that hotel room after... Fuck," Braden growled. He was undoing my belt now, and could surely feel the leaky tip of my cock against the back of his hands. "I definitely want that for Junior. And for any of our sons who want that."

That idea was there, but it was the first time either of us had said it. My prick jerked against Braden's hands, as he shucked down my trousers.

"You think our boys are gonna grow up to be Daddy's boys?" I growled.

Braden looked at me with this intense look of lust. "Maybe not like Junior... but yeah I do, Dad. Dr. Mark thinks that incest desire is genetic but even if it's not... you're just a stud of a Dad. They're gonna go for you."

This was Braden-style sex talk. Wild and out there, pushing my buttons. I didn't care that it was crazy fantasy, I was gonna fuck with this idea in my head. I now peeled Braden's shorts down. "I fucking love being a father, Braden," I hissed. It was a simple and silly thing to say, but it turned Brade the fuck on.

He kicked off his shorts and stepped back to sit on the couch, leaning back into the cushion and raising his legs, spreading them for me to see his furry trench and regularly used pucker which still had some appealing snugness despite our years for sex life together. His dick was hard against his crunched abs and I could see the fullness in his still milk-producing pecs.

"Lube's on the end table," he said.

I gestured to the hall behind me. "The twins OK?" I asked. I mean, they were asleep but our fucks had been interrupted by cries down the hall before.

"Yeah, Dad, but hurry..."

I nodded as I slicked up and got in place. The entry was quick, but Brade adjusted. I think reading Junior's note, then our expanding sex talk, had him in heat.

"Fuck you feel good, Son," I hissed, powering more cock inside his warm guts.

"Fuck me, Dad. Like that... You make me fall in love again with you every single time."

I was getting real into this, and between the priming BJ and sex talk, I wasn't gonna last long today. I got more physical, not hard, but definitely faster and more urgent in my thrusts.

"I wanna knock you up, Brade. Again. And again." Ok, this was my crazy fantasy getting the best of me.

"Triplets? Multiples?" Braden asked, his voice getting soft in lust.

"If you let me Brade, then, yeah." I was fucking harder.

"I'll let you, Dad. Get those pills from Fiedler. Pop them right in front of you to turn you on."

"Goddamn," I hissed. I was THIS close to cumming and trying not to be loud.

"Make you a bunch of new son boyfriends," Braden grunted.

That did it. My body clenched and I went into full-body orgasm. Face flushed, muscled tensed, cock pumping a heavy load into my eldest son. Braden gave a couple of tugs and his own prick fired off.

We uncoupled and kissed softly.

"Thank you, Son," I said, feeling up my son's hunky chest and nuzzling my face against his cheek. I was a little embarrassed for where the fantasy had gone, but instinctively I knew Braden was there for every bit of it.

"That was hot for me, too, Dad. Jesus."

"How much of that was sex talk, Son?" I asked. Brade and I had a way of letting our imaginations run away from us during sex.

He shrugged. "I dunno. Not all of it. We'll figure it out, OK, Dad?"

"Yeah," I said. I gave his chest one more pat. "I'm going to take Junior on a date... this weekend if we can come up with an excuse to the other boys."

"I'll work on that, Dad," Braden said, getting into the co-conspirator mode.

I looked at my watch. "Speaking of... time to pick up the boys," I said. "I'll get cleaned off." This was our division of labor lately. Braden looking after the twins and starting dinner while I did pick up duty for Evan and Keith.

It was a good arrangement, only now I hated to see Braden pick up his shorts and cover that amazing muscle ass.

***

Around 9 o clock that night, I gave a gentle knock. Junior was doing his calculus homework. But he cracked a huge smile when he saw me. There had been a lot of eye contact and knowing smiles over the dinner table, but we hadn't had a chance to talk about his note. The House Rules.

"Hey dad," he said. God, he looked amazing in his knit polo and golf shorts, barefoot on the bed. Tall and hunky as he was lanky. He was so much like Braden and yet a reflection of me, too. The best of both, I thought, humbly.

I shut the door behind me. "I wanted to talk about those House Rules," I said as I stepped up to the bed.

He looked up at me with that crushed out look I was only now beginning to recognize. Leave it to Braden to catch on to Junior's infatuation with me first. "Did I leave something off, Dad?" he asked, eager and innocent.

I reached forward to squeeze his shoulder muscle. "Not a damn thing, kiddo. I just figured I'd let you know what I thought of what you wrote." With that I leaned forward and kissed my son. A peck, until Junior got the picture and opened his mouth for a fuller French kiss.

"God, Dad..." Junior said. "That's fucking nice." Bill Jr was still very much enjoying the freedom to curse around me.

"I'll say, buddy." I massaged behind his hear. He was so cute, just on the cusp of college but already grown up in so many ways. "I don't want to disturb your homework," I said, in a tone that said I very much did.

"I'll get it done," Junior said quietly. He was horny and emotional. I had to remember he was swimming in a crazy amount of teenage hormones.

"House rule number 5?" I asked with a stern poker face.

That made Junior laugh. "House rule number 5."

I nodded. Proud. "What do you think of a date night Saturday?"

"You know I always love that, Dad."

My fingers went down to tease along his neck. "I meant a real date, Junior. Dinner, maybe a hotel stay after."

Junior's eyes lit up. "For real, Dad?... God.... what about Daddy?"

"It was your Daddy's idea," I assured him. "But I very much would be honored if you'd be my date this weekend."

"Do I gotta dress up?" Junior teased me.

"You gotta dress up," I answered in my best paternal voice.

That thrilled him, only he got a worried look. "What about Rule Number 4?" The one about no affection in front of his brothers.

"Your Daddy and I are working on that."

"In that case... I'd fucking honored to be your date, Dad."

I gave him a soft kiss. Junior was becoming a really good kisser. I looked forward to giving him some more lessons on Saturday night.

"What do you think of a down payment, Son?" I asked.

He nodded, dumbly. Maybe one of these days we'd get to the point where Junior didn't patiently wait for me to initiate sex, but for now we had to manage this new thing. Which meant Dad calling the shots.

I gave him a loving grin and reached down to undo his shorts. "You've grown up to be a big boy," I said.

"No bigger than you," Junior replied, daring to reach forward to paw at my sweat pants, which were fully tented up now. I'd fucked Brade earlier but my libido was firing on all cylinders lately.

"Strip, Son," I hissed, taking the initiative to clear the calculus books off his bed.

Junior couldn't take off his clothes fast enough. He was sometimes self conscious about his body, worried he didn't have the muscle of his Daddy, but now that he saw how much I was into his youthful bulk, he enjoyed showing it to me.

I kissed along his leg, working up from the calf to the inner thigh.

"What are we gonna do on Saturday... sexually?" he asked.

"A surprise," I said. "But I want you to think about what you'd like to do with me, OK?"

"Hell, yes," my son said. Then "FUCK!" he cried as I started to go down on him.

I pulled off and clamped my hand over his mouth. The mansion was spacious but his brothers' room was nearby.

I felt Junior lick my hand, which was a sexual neediness I didn't expect. For some reason that turned me on like crazy. I leaned up and pushed down my sweats, showing off my dad cock.

Junior didn't need me to guide him. Horned up, he dove forward and started licking me. I thought of Braden's question early. Our son wasn't nearly so skilled at sucking, but I got off on his enthusiasm. He worked three and then four inches in steady up and down motion.

I finally pulled him off and claimed another kiss.

"Why don't we jerk off, kiddo? I wanna kiss my son while we cum."

"Hell, yes, Dad."

So that's what we did. Our naked bodies settling in side by side on his double bed. Father and son, stroking and making out, our spare hand feeling up each other's nakedness.

"Dad...." Junior hissed as he got close.

"Let it go, buddy... let me see that big boy load of yours." I patted his chest, much like I'd patted Brade's earlier that afternoon.

Junior held on tight to me as he gave it up. Ten heavy shots of Drake sperm covered us both. I growled my approval and met him for a deep kiss, while I stroked out a healthy amount of cum to mix with his.

We caught our breaths and smiled at each other as we came down from our orgasms. "God fucking damn, Dad... I didn't know that would be so hot."

I nodded. "Just wait till Saturday."

That made Junior laugh. "I don't think I can, Dad."

I patted his arm. "I'm serious about what I said. I want you to think about what you'd love to do with me."

"Anything?" he asked. Clearly excited by that prospect.

I shook my head. "I can't say I'll be open to anything, but we should feel free to talk man-to-man."

"Like you and Daddy do?"

"You your Daddy and I did when he was your age. OK?"

"Yes, sir."

Junior's new room had an attached bathroom and we both had big grins as we showered off, kissing some and making out some.

We were still a little giddy as we dried off and slipped on our clothes again.

"That gonna last you till Saturday, kiddo?" I finally asked softly.

"No," he said with a laugh. "Seriously, Dad. You made my week."

"We'll make it an even better weekend."

I checked on Evan and then Keith and made sure they were getting ready for bed. The twins were already put to sleep so when I made it back to my room Braden was there, watching TV in bed, shirtless and if I knew him, naked.

I didn't have to explain what had just happened. My husband intuitively knew.

"I told you he'd love the idea, Dad," Brade said.

I peeled off my T-shirt and took off my sweats. My dick was soft but I loved the way Braden watched it.

"If you're too spent for sex tonight, that's OK," he said. Understanding, and maybe a little turned on by the fact that I was fooling around with Junior.

"Just give me a little recovery time, OK, buddy?" I asked, getting underneath the covers and snuggling up to my eldest son and feeling the firmer, harder nakedness. He was rock hard against me as we pulled each other into a kiss.

"Dad..." Brade finally said. Like he was going to admonish me. Or ask me for something I didn't want to hear.

"What buddy?" I asked.

His hands ran along my naked back. "Can you talk to Fiedler about getting those pills? Like this weekend?"

That did it, my dick was firming up now. "In a rush, are we?" I winked.

Braden smiled and nodded. "Dad, it's been about two years... I want your kid in me again."

I gave him a deep kiss and rolled over on top of him. Braden clung to me needily, wrapping his legs around me. For all that I was loving the new connection I had with Junior, my husband gave me this pure sexual need that was deeper and different.

I humped against him and we made out until I had an idea. It wasn't quite 10 o clock, not too late. I reached over for my phone and while Braden looked on at me with confusion, I called Dr. Fiedler.

"Todd... it's Bill," I said. "No... everything good. We're all set for Saturday... I'm just... " I looked at Braden while I talked to the doctor. "I want to see if you could prescribe us those fertility pills... the stronger dose... I'll have Braden pick up the scrip tomorrow... yeah, thanks a bunch, man. See you at the club... Yeah, good night."

By the time I set down the phone again, I was rock hard. I kissed Braden and using the lube he'd already applied down there, I entered him. Imagining how amazing it would be to make son number seven.

[foxglovegames]

DEV LOG: 2024 Recap

Helloooo everyone!

This year genuinely flew past us. As a studio, we had our ups-and-many-downs, but we're feeling more positive going into 2025. Let's start with what we got done this year before moving onto our plans for the future! :)

⭐Released Trouble Comes Twice: Bonus Stories!

Feels like we released this ages ago, but it hasn't even been a year yet! Back in April, we released the first (and only) public DLC for Trouble Comes Twice. For us, Bonus Stories was a satisfying goodbye to these characters after spending years with them; we hope that players who decided to give the DLC a chance feel the same.

It'll always be a bit bittersweet moving on from a project you've worked on for so long and dedicated so much towards. There's always going to be what-ifs, but we're mostly just proud of what we did achieve and kind of relieved we made it to the finish line haha. If you're interested in reading more about our experience working on Trouble Comes Twice and what we learned, do check out this post mortem we wrote! We hope it offers some insight for players who might be curious and other vn devs who'd like another dev's take.

⭐A tumultuous start for our next visual novel Burn the Midnight Oil

Since the end of 2023, we've worked on and off on our next visual novel Burn the Midnight Oil. The plan was to launch a Kickstarter campaign and demo before the end of 2024 - since it's now Dec and that never happened, you can imagine things did not go as planned ahah... Unfortunately, we experienced several setbacks, one of the biggest being that our lead artist had to leave the project some months ago due to health issues.

It took us a minute to find the right person to step in and take over the character art, but we recently welcomed a new lead artist whom we're incredibly excited to be working with!

So, where does the project stand right now?

Our new character artist is chipping away at the sprites and CGs for the game, which are the main assets we're still missing to finish the demo.

Script is written, edited and coded in

BGs are completed and the UI is close to completed

We're planning to tackle the soundtrack in the coming months, but our composer BellKallengar has already finished an amazing main menu theme! We can't wait for you to hear it.

For our own sanity and the expectations of our players, we're not making any promises or guesses on when you can expect the demo, Kickstarter, or official announcement until we know for certain. The only thing we can confidently confirm is that it's coming in 2025 (unless we're struck by the worst bad luck ever).

We're going to resume regular monthly updates when the game has been announced, but until then, we're sticking o quarterly updates instead so the next one would be in March. (Unless we manage to announce the game before that! A dev can dream.)

⭐PLANS FOR 2025

There's only one concrete plan - officially announcing Burn the Midnight Oil, releasing the Kickstarter demo, and launching our crowdfunding campaign! Melli and I already finished the demo script earlier this year, so we've been working on outlining (and writing) the routes for the full game. We hope to make as much progress as possible on that before the Kickstarter launches. Hopefully, that should save us a lot of time in the long run.

We hope everyone's having a fantastic holiday season! See you all in the new year! 🥂

[drdtships]

I humbly seek Whitvid headcanons, those twinks need to kiss 🤫

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Whit can turn David’s insults into flirty banter super quickly.

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥To relieve tension Whit sometimes takes David on surprise trips to a Rage Industry.

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥David finally decided to quit his job as a public speaker to pursue a career more suitable for him but he did make a goodbye speech with words of wisdom. Whit heavily inspired the speech. He spoke specifically about finding love and teared up a bit, but he claims it was for the audience (it wasn’t).

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ David made Whit talk to his doctor about his poor sleep and started him on sleep therapy. Now they can sleep in the same bed :D

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Bonus: While Whit’s sleep got significantly better, David isn’t the best person to sleep with, so Whit took him to a doctor in return. He ended up going to therapy since his bad sleep was based on what-if scenarios and recurring memories.

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥David still has the same views on the world, but he feels more hopeful. It wasn’t just Whit’s presence that fixed that, but Whit’s investment in his mental health. The only reason Whit didn’t try and get outside resources for David sooner was because of his poor health (ie. feeling hopeless, depressed, and scared of upsetting David). David almost had a small fit about it until he realized that no one had ever done that for him before– not even mentioned it besides a simple ‘you need help.’ He’s still cynical, but maybe people can change…? Although, he doesn’t believe people would ever want to change.

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥D: “Whit, I think I’m ready to take our relationship to the next level…”

W: “A THREESOME?!”

D: “Wh– no! I’m asking to marry you! But I guess we cou–”

W: fanboy screeches “YES YES YES”

(based on a scene in Wedding Crashers)

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ W: “You know, that fanboy you have is pretty cute. If you wanted to date him, I wouldn’t mind.”

D: “Whit, if this is you asking me if I want to break up, stop it.”

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥The end of ‘Your Stupid Face’ core. From 4:20 (LMAO)-4:44. That scene is them oh my gosh. Maybe I’ll write it lmao.

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥W: “You’re paying!”

D: “Alright.”

W: “Wait– no–”

–Mod Fishy!!

[the-colourful-witch]

A short goodbye, but not farewell! I'm not going to dance around it, so here it is: I'm taking a little break from socials this upcoming month. ( cue: gasppppp) I already mentioned last week that I'm getting a bit overwhelmed by all the content I see daily. I love all the art and the artist that share their work. I appreciate all of it and I really enjoy seeing everyone drawing things that make them happy. I enjoy drawing things myself, and I always will. I've had a few bad weeks creatively. It's not just a hobby, it's my job. I'm working on a big children's book, my first ever big publication. It is a tough project and it's taking up a lot of energy. I want it to look good and I want to deliver quality work for the author, who put her heart and soul into this book. However, it's getting more and more difficult to have faith in my own work when all day, every day, I see all these amazing, talented artists getting book deals, releasing products, making double figures from their art... And I know very well that everyone has their own process, that some of these people have been in the industry for years without getting anywhere, so trust the process. I can and will. I can trust my own process and I will get there eventually. Right now, though, it's hard to stay focused. I'm on my phone too much during the day and it has to stop. For my own health and for my work. So, long story short. I will be off my socials for 30 days, just to see what I can create without all the input from the internet. I'm going to work on the children's book (which is a fairytale book, by the way, so cool!) and on new character designs for my blog. I've started working on the teachers now, which is a lot of fun. Also, I'm working on opening a shop, so I'll put my energy towards that as well. I guess I have no idea what the next thirty days are going to bring me. I'm going to start tomorrow, so today (5 Feb) I will be checking my accounts still, just in case you have questions or concerns :) For now, this is it. I love you guys, and I'm so grateful for the support. Sharing my silly little drawings with you is very special <3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PS: I never shared my Meet the Artist 2024 on here! Granted, I did make it for my art Instagram (splashofcolour23) where I post most of my book illustrations and other fun stuff. BUT! I wanted to share it here, too. If you scroll all the way down my blog, like far, far down, you'll see the 2021 (I think) version, with which I started this blog. It's my favourite January tradition every year, so here it is! Anyway, time to go. See you in 30 days!

[captaincouture]

Wildflowers in the Wind

Chapter 1 sneak peek

As a child, Auguste had been mischievous, a fact his father had painstakingly tried to conceal from the court and the public, with only minor success at the latter. The court was too often a victim in his games to be unaware of his nature, and subsequently became wary of him in his young years. Boredom, of course, was the main cause. Everything changed one early morning during late spring in his twelfth year when tiny baby Laurent came screaming into the world.

Mother had been sickly Auguste's whole life, but more so in the months leading up to Laurent’s birth. An experienced older brother to be, Auguste hadn’t paid much mind to Hennike’s approaching ninth month, expecting this pregnancy to be like all the others, fruitless. So when he was summoned in the middle of the night by a servant to his mother’s rooms, he assumed her health had taken a turn for the worst and that he would be saying another tearful goodbye to her, just in case, like all the other times her health had failed.

But tonight his father was there too, and so something was clearly different. Mother was still as lifeless looking as she usually was this late in pregnancy, but the physicians were busying themselves checking between her legs instead of feeding her teas and soups. With weak hands Hennike beconned her baby boy to her bedside, and reached out to him as best she could. Auguste took her frail hands in his and squeezed them tight, “What is it Maman, what’s going on?”

With a steadier voice than should be possible, she responded, “The baby is coming now, Auguste, and I need you to promise me something.”

Auguste had promised his mother many things over the years. That he would stop sneaking away from his history tutors, that he wouldn’t steal councilman Herode’s fancy feather pen anymore, that he hadn’t been secretly dressing up in commoners clothing and pretending to be a cobbler selling shoe shine to the locals. Usually, Auguste’s promises weren’t worth much.

“What is it Maman?”

Hennike grits her teeth through a wave of sharp pain, and exhales in fractions. Auguste waits as patiently as a boy of just twelve can, shifting from foot to foot anxiously. One of the physicians with a funny cap places a wet cloth on her forehead.

“The baby is coming now Auguste, your baby brother, and I may not be here to help raise him-”

Aleron’s voice cuts her off sharply, “Don’t say that Hennike, you’re going to be just fine.”

Maman shoots him a look Auguste can’t decipher and continues.

“I may not be here to care for him like I cared for you, so I need you to be there for him in whatever ways he needs, do you understand?”

Auguste tries his best to keep his sniffling quiet, he can’t let Papa know he’s crying. “I guess.”

“No guessing Auguste, you have to be sure. This baby will not have his mother, so he must have his brother. You will love him, and care for him, and keep him safe, and hold him when he cries, and never let anyone hurt him.” Hennike pauses, breathes deeply as Aleron stands stiffly at her side, and Auguste crawls into the bed with her despite the physician's protests. “He’s coming early, so he will be small and sickly, and will need a lot of patience and love. You’ll do that for him, won’t you, Auguste?”

“Yes ma’am, I will.”

“Good boy, you’ve always had such a big heart, I don’t want you to hide it. Your love should be a privilege to those who receive it, but never a rarity. I love you my boy.”

Auguste chokes the words out, “I love you too Maman, it’s going to be okay.”

Hennike is silent after that, if you don’t count her cries as the physicians mess around between her bent legs where the sheets cover her down to the thighs. Auguste stays laying by his mothers side, holding her hands, and tries not to wince when she squeezes a little too tight.

After a single command from Aleron, which Auguste doesn’t quite hear over his pounding heartbeat, the physicians stop glancing worriedly at Hennike and focus on the baby coming out of her. Whether by chance or as a result, Auguste doesn’t know, but Mamans grip on his hands loosen, and eventually ceases completely as her eyes slip shut.

Auguste tries to shake her back awake, but to no avail. “Papa, something is wrong, Mamam isn’t waking up!”

Aleron’s stony face turns to his son, then his wife, away from the physicians work. He steps to the head of the bed and places a solid hand on Auguste’s shoulder, “Calm now boy, you are a prince.”

Auguste can’t see the moment little Laurent makes his way into the world, but he can surely hear him. Maman must have been wrong when she said he would be frail, since his lungs are nothing but. His screams must echo through the entire castle, waking every servant and courtier from their sleep, and Auguste has never been so afraid in his life.

The physicians pull the screaming bundle away from the bed and clean him off -Auguste hadn’t realized birth was so bloody- and the head physician holds him out to Aleron. At Aleron’s cool stare at the baby and lack of action, the physician with the funny hat gently takes him from the other man's hands and walks around the bed to place the bundle on Hennike’s chest.

The baby's cries soften at contact with his mother but do not cease. The physician with the funny hat takes Auguste’s hands and places them on his baby brother, he whispers just so Auguste can hear him, “He is your responsibility now.”

Aleron does not balk at a physician directing his son, so Auguste nods and stares at baby Laurent for the first time. He is so tiny, and so fragile, Auguste is afraid his new treasure won’t last the night.

But he does last the night, in Auguste’s arms, with Aleron standing quietly nearby. And by the time the bells ring out the morning's tenth hour, Maman opens her eyes and cries as she holds both her boys for the first time.

Auguste has never felt so full of love.

[cocomanga]

*Spoiler Alert* Solo Leveling Review Ep.25 Season 2 FINALE

On To The Next Target.

And so... The season ends. 😭

I am so sad about that, in and of itself, but also that I simply didnt have time to post this Sooner... Good lord it took me forever.😅 haha.

We enter this episode with Jinwoo hovering over Cha, everyone hopeful that he has an answer that will help heal her. And he does.

He calls for the cameras to be turned off immediately, to avoid the public witnessing what he planned to do:

His plan?

Awaken Byung-Gu.

Now, lemme just say... here... right here in the story … Where he arose him, is where the image that pulled me into this manhwa appears.

In 2023, a fellow reader posted this panel in the comments of another Manhwa we were in at the time. I saw this and said, Oh... My... God... who... is THAT?!?

She replied. "Oh, that's Sung Jinwoo from Solo Leveling."

I thanked her, ran to read his story and have been hooked ever since.

He. Is. GORGEOUS.

But I digress... 😌

It also took me a minute to decide how I would manage this review, because I felt many ways about this Finale.

This opening scene was so heart wrenching. Us seeing Byung-Gu's mutilated body there was more than enough to trigger heavy sadness all over again, but his best friend had to watch as someone resurrected his spirit.

That Said,

Let me be clear, that I understand the difference between panels and motion pictures. I also know that most of the time, we're just not gonna get a verbatim panel for panel of an adaptation … again … MOST of the time, and generally, this studio did a great job of it.

However😌, the first... feel-some-kinda-way I experienced, was:

1. The opening scene was told differently than in the manhwa. Jinwoo actually made 3 attempts to wake Byung-Gu, and only his third was successful. Jin was genuinely, and quite visibly concerned that he wouldn't "Arise" because he thought Byung-Gu had moral objection to becoming a shadow. (unlike Hunter Kim-Chul, who became Iron. And we can recall how immoral he was when he lived.)

Jinwoo was troubled, that the extraction wouldn't work. Nevertheless, on his third try, Byung-Gu awakened, and wandered over to Cha, healing her without Jinwoo's instruction. He never actually asked Jin-woo to resurrect him as they said he did in the anime, where Jin says he "heard a voice".

Not telling this version, in my humble opinion, was a mistake for anime only's, because it drew a parallel between Byung-Gu's personality and Kim-Chul's. Not to mention raising the question of morality surrounding Jinwoo's occupation, also speaking to the dark nature of his practices and the direction they're taking his character.

On the other hand, they may have just decided to make this different, as I mentioned in previous reviews, to keep us guessing and possibly to prompt those who haven't read the manhwa to do so.

Baek was also a little less relaxed about this situation, and questioned it more aggressively in the manhwa than was shown.

However, moving forward as written, Byung-gu restored Hae-In's health, and Baek asked Jin to please not force him to fight since he didn't want to fight when he was alive...

Jinwoo acknowledges Byung-Gu's honorable and compassionate character, cancels the extraction, and he gets to say a warm goodbye to his best friend. This is one of my favorite scenes in the story.

In the meantime, the Japanese Hunter's leader is still pissed, yet managed to call off his nonsensical rampage to manipulate this situation for his benefit, since Jinwoo practically destroyed his plan to make pawns out of the Korean hunters.

At this point, the remaining ants were going haywire. With no real home to go back to and their queen dead, they had nowhere to run. They attacked any and everyone and, of course, all the available hunters end up destroying as many as possible.

The wounded Korean team heads back to homeland, leaving Jinwoo to clean up the remnant mess of ants on Jeju.

During this process, we get to see another amazing panel come to life on the screen.,

And at this point, (another thing omitted, which may or may not be in the next seasons' beginning episodes) the USA notices Jinwoo's talents, and realizes that Il-Hwan, I call him Papa Sung, is Jin's dad. They begin some sort of plan to convince Jinwoo to work outside of Korea, claiming its too small for a big power such as his. Which, of course, is ridiculous. lol. Leave it to US, right?

And our hero makes it to a milestone Level: 100.

Ah... He's so HOT.

He finishes defeating all the ants with his boys and his brand new amazing sword, and we finally get to raise up the guy we've all been waiting for: BERU.

He's awakened, and Jin is surprised to find out that this one can speak. He deduces that he's capable of doing so due to his ranking, which is "General".

Beru is stronger than all of his other soldiers, and we find out a new fact about the army's capabilities. (I cant wait to see who voices Igris🥰.)

Which brings me to the next, dare I say... "issue" with some events in this episode...

2. Jinwoo was supposed to reawaken the Queen Ant. When he did so, he realized something strange:

The moment he resurrected the Queen ant, he felt a shift in his powers, and Beru explained why. Jinwoo decided there was "no need for two commanders", so he cancelled the extraction. I felt this was an important item to note in the story, speaking to the free will of his soldiers as well.

Apparently, the creators felt it wasn't necessary to tell it, but as a reader, I greatly appreciated that element as an indication that the soldiers actually have a choice of whether to serve Jinwoo willingly, as Beru explained the "inherent" need for the ants to serve the queen, which was still present in them even after they became a part of Jinwoo's army.

That said, from the moment Beru was awakened, even with his rank in the queen's army, he had already displayed an extremely high level of loyalty toward Jin-woo, regardless of the Queen's awakening... creating a promising outlook for the future of them as a team.

And Guys.... Beru is a POWERHOUSE🔥.

He advised Jinwoo how many ants remained, 4,000 or so, and Jinwoo trusted him to wipe them out. He did so promptly, and in the process, saved the lives of some of Jinwoo's old friends.

Jinwoo also, as he stood majestically aboard Kaisel, saves his wounded comrades again as they're attacked while on their way back home.

Chairman Go announced the victory over the 4th Jeju island raid, and all seems well.

And with that, we are given the gift of being introduced to some heavy hitters that we can look forward to seeing in future seasons... Hopefully next year?

Liu Zhigang - the resident badass of China, joined the party by knocking off quite a few of these bugs Bakugou style. LOL✨

Wouldn't it have been nice if he were a little closer to Jeju a bit earlier? I wonder if Beru could've taken him down... Maybe not?

The next event, for everyone who makes it home, was to take the time to honor the fallen. We see a heartwarming moment where Baek also gives honor to Jin-woo, telling him that regardless of any doubts from the public, he is a true hero and deserves to behave as such. 💖He's such a great guy.

They all are.

Of course, now that Jinwoo's powers have been witnessed internationally, as the Chairman noted, he asked what Jin planned to do with all of it.

His decision was to create is very own guild. ... Super exciting!

Yet during the memorial service, and while Jinwoo is meeting with the Chairman, two more newcomers, obviously troublemakers, enter the scene ...

Lets just say they're quite powerful, more powerful than anything else we've seen thus far, and will absolutely need to be dealt with post haste.

They make their appearance, all while Papa Sung watched from the background.

So... I guess my (sorta) last … "concern"?🤷🏾‍♀️ … would be this:

3. The lack of formal introduction of Thomas Andre. So... yeah... they did mention him a few episodes ago, back before Jinwoo got to Jeju. however, he was meant to be introduced formally with details in this last episode, per the order of events in the manhwa. Now I'm wondering if they planned to leave this info for the beginning of season 3, which kinda would make sense, since he's kind of a big deal. LOL

Thomas is a great part of this story, and there's a link between him and Dongsoo... You remember. The guy that Papa sung left looking like a chewed up piece of gum in the hospital?

Yeah, him. hahaha!

So yeah … maybe I was just excited to see/hear them mention this situation more, as a set up for next season.

Speaking of which,

There are tons of rumors floating around about whether there will be a season 3 next year, in 2027, or at all as the studio works on other anime. But, I'm hopeful, and not quick to presume, or believe for that matter that they wont ride this momentum and give Jin's fans, old and new, what they want.

But... Moving along...

They pan to a boatload of traffic, where apparently Jinwoo is stuck.

… in traffic.

like...

rush hour traffic.

just sitting in it.😆

Seriously.

Can we just take a moment to sincerely appreciate this scene?

How this supremely powerful man, who quite literally has no need whatsoever to drive ... like ... at all ... yet is just hanging out in rush hour traffic like he just ended a shift at a 9-5.

This is lowkey hilarious.🤭 I love him so much.🥰

Gosh ... look how cute he is. 😍 btw, I totally have one of those phone holders he had in my car right now. 😂

- Anyway...

I'm so loving how the Chairman and Jin are on such a relaxed and informal basis that he just called Jinwoo up like "can you do me a favor?" and Jin's like "Sure man."

And lets just THINK about this for a second …

About where we are right now …

Jinwoo was called "The Weakest Hunter of All Mankind" just a little while ago. NOW, he's just strolling up all willy-nilly to the most dangerous spots in the city like,

"I'm here to close the gate.

I'll be fine Solo."

Walked right in, all alone, no group, no backup, no problem.

🔥Fire.

Aaaand of course, it turns red. Now typically, as we know, no one can get in or out of one of these until its cleared, but … Jinwoo has soldiers in shadows.

So... If he's inside a red gate, and say, Igris is at home with sis, really, he could just like... go home while his boys fight right? I wonder....

Yeah... this was his chibi face in the manhwa. I love this look on him. its cute. And funny. 🤭 Also funny how he was like, "How does this keep happening to me?" LOL

Now... this clip... imho, was the pinnacle of this season, and it was absolutely everywhere the second the episode was over. I must admit, it's a hot one.

This was a beautiful clip, and the way they executed his vibe, his swagger, the intensity of the moment, and the display of his already immense power... was SPOT. ON.

Just look at his army all lined up... Is that not insane? And the loosening of that tie? Fskdjflskdjfaskdjf 😵🤤

And as I said before, one would never think that the Jinwoo of episode one, would be capable of being the leader of such an enormous group of soldiers. He's a fascinating character.

And that VOICE....😩😭

Overall, this season was PHENOMENAL. I'm very grateful for what we got, and though there were little things here and there I (and a few others) would've chosen to execute differently, I was plastered in front of my TV every week, to see my Jin-woo.

And as soon as he comes back, I'll be on the frontline, ready to see the first episode of season 3 the second it airs.

Beautiful work.💖

P.S. I hope he wins an award!

Video clips by @CocoManga & @dexx7u7

[briamichellewrites]

70

Meow. Bark! When the animals heard a car approaching the house, they gathered at the front door. They anticipated the arrival of their humans. They greeted them as soon as they opened the door. You are home! Hello, humans! They said hello to them and tried not to step on their paws. It had been a long and emotional day. All they wanted to do was relax. Brad stayed at the hospital with Bria and Jon. He would be returning home later. Jon was the highlight of the day because he made Bria happy.

She had the biggest smile on her face when he walked in. He and Dave were both thrilled to have him there because they had been fans of his band, Bon Jovi, when they were younger. Mike remembered listening to them with Bria when they were hanging out at her "party house." She would play their greatest hits album repeatedly. He wished he could go back there. It was private.

He and Jason loved it because they could do whatever they wanted without their parents' knowledge. They never did anything illegal. Rather, they hung out and discussed topics they could not tell their parents. Independence was something they desired as teenagers and young adults. That house was where they had their first kiss. It was also where they got together. That house held so many wonderful memories. He wished he could return there and spend the afternoon.

Dave interrupted his memories by asking what he was thinking. He was simply thinking about innocence. What did he mean?

"Jon reminded me of when Bria, Jason, and I were younger. We would listen to his albums over and over. That reminded me of the house she lived in after graduating from high school. We called it 'the party house.'"

"Are they good memories?"

"Okay, yeah. It’s just… I do not even know what the correct term is. How did life go by so quickly? I guess that is what I am thinking about."

“I don’t know. It goes by before you know it."

“How was your appointment?”

He was so grateful that he pushed him to go. The therapist was an army veteran who had been diagnosed with PTSD. He had to retire due to his diagnosis. A veteran at the VA encouraged him to pursue a career in therapy. He was going to be evaluated for possible PTSD. How about his sleeping problems? He had a prescription for something to help him sleep. It was not addictive.

He felt relieved to hear that. Dave showed him the bottle. It included his name, instructions, and side effects. Good for him. His mental health was not something he should be embarrassed about. He gave a nod. That is what he learned from him, Bria, and Chester. They were both hungry but too tired to cook, so they looked in the refrigerator for leftovers. Dave asked him if he fed the animals. No, he had forgotten. He volunteered to do it.

After taking the dogs out, the rest of the evening was spent in the studio. Mike created beats that could be used on the band's next album, while Dave sat and listened. He needed to do something to help himself relax for the night. He always felt better after listening to music. Dave was just happy to be home, and it did not matter what they did as long as he was with his husband.

Jon and Brad did not stay long because she needed to rest. He had a few days before returning to New Jersey, so they made plans to meet again. If the situation were different, he would invite him over to hang out. Jon understood. When they arrived at the hotel where he was staying, they hugged and said goodbye. Brad returned to the car and drove home, listening to the radio. Ironically, Bon Jovi happened to be the song playing as he drove away.

You Give Love A Bad Name. 1986. He was twenty-three years old and attempting to make it as an actor. Brad Pitt was unknown to the general public at the time. A year later, he landed his first acting job. It was strange to look back and realize how far he would come. Time slipped past him. One moment he was William Bradley Pitt of Shawnee, Oklahoma. Then he became a Hollywood movie star.

He greeted Dave and Mike when he found them in the kitchen. They greeted him. They were all tired, so it was obvious that the night would be quiet. They talked while they ate. Brad was returning to the hospital the following morning. He would probably spend all day there. Mike and Dave decided to stay at home and catch up on housework because there was no reason for the three of them to be there. He was fine with that.

Have they taken the dogs out yet? If they had not already, he offered to do it. That was okay. They took them out when they arrived home. Dave thanked him for the offering. They said good night to Brad after finishing their dinners and went upstairs.

As they prepared for bed, Mike reminded him to take his medication. Oh, yeah. He opened the bottle and removed the necessary pills. They tasted terrible without water. He cupped his hands under the faucet and drank the water to wash away the taste. Mike had to laugh when he asked if that helped. Yes, it did. How did it taste? It had a chalky taste. He made a face.

“Ew.”

“I’m bringing a plastic cup up here tomorrow.”

“I’ll try to remind you.”

They slept late the next morning. Brad left a note informing them that he had taken the dogs out and left food for the animals. He would inform them when he was on his way home. The animals appreciated having their humans around. Instead of rushing somewhere, they stayed at home with them. They went out with the dogs for some exercise. They enjoyed chasing each other around the backyard.

Kate was chasing Misty when she abruptly came to a halt. She looked behind her and noticed her using the restroom. When she was finished, they resumed running around. Mike kept his phone in his pocket, just in case. He took it out after feeling it vibrate. It was Jason. He asked his brother why he was calling him, as he did not think he would be able to use his phone in rehab. Uh oh. Dave could tell by the tone of his voice and facial expressions that things were not going well.

"Jay, I am exhausted. I love you, but I need a stress-free day. You do not know what Dave, Brad, and I are going through. Bria is in the hospital with cancer. I will come to see you tomorrow, okay? Please give me 24 hours."

When he finished talking, he hung up frustrated. He asked what happened. Jason wanted him to attend a family therapy session. He seemed to feel the need to tell him something. Dave instructed him to take deep breaths. He did, and it helped him relax. Whatever it was, it could wait until the following day. He was at home, resting with his husband and pets.

After a while of playing, the dogs became tired. They ran back inside to get some water. Yum, Yum! It tasted delicious! The home was quiet and peaceful. Mike absorbed it for a moment. It was as if his stress level had decreased. Perhaps he and Dave could take a nap later. Just the two of them. That seemed like an amazing idea.

@zoeykaytesmom @feelingsofaithless @alina-dixon

[missmarymaywindsor]

I hope you can answer this question I will ask you. What kind of mother was Queen Mary (Mary teck) to her children?

Everyone says she's a cold, bad mother. When her youngest son, Jony, died, I wonder how she came to accept his death. I wonder if she fell into depression. When a mother loses her child, it's so hard to deal with this indescribable pain How did Mary deal with it, then her son George, Duke of the city, and later his son George VI (Duke Albert of York), who became king.

With thank you my dear friend @collarsncrowns for helping me answer this! ♥️

Apologies for your wait in my answering! Hard to believe maybe but I’ve only recently discovered where my askbox is 🙈

The misconceptions are especially evident with Prince John, who according to Churchill’s book as well as other books like Richard Dent’s “The Life of King George V”, Prince John was adored by much of his family including his parents and the King and Queen were not embarrassed by him at all. He was not often in public in an official capacity due to both health reasons and stigmas related to epilepsy at the time. Nevertheless, John absolutely spent time in public throughout his life, albeit in a more “unofficial” sense: he went on outings with friends and family, such as going to sweet shops and (as seen in the above photograph) visiting the London Zoo. In a nutshell, his parents adored him. With all that said though regarding the children, it should be noted that during that time period aristocratic and royal parents often left most of the actual “parenting” to nannies. This is true in the case of Queen Mary as well, but it is noted in Alexandra Churchill’s book that Mary and George did spend more time with their children than most upper class parents tended to during that period.

In regards to John’s death and the Queen’s feelings, it is clear she was extremely saddened. Before she found out he died, she had been writing a letter to Bertie, but when she came back and went to finish the letter after learning of son’s death and visiting him, she could scarcely write much more. She also wrote in her diary something like “am heartbroken” and “miss the child very much indeed”. Before John’s funeral preparations, the King and Queen returned to Wood Farm to sit with their late son at his bedside again, and after the funeral they revisited his grave again just one day later. May saved a lock of Johnnie’s hair and had some of his flowers pressed. She also saved some of his things for his siblings and gave his books to his best friend…the books had the note “in memory of our dear little prince”. George and Mary spent the next several days answering condolence letters and they were in mourning for the next couple months. So although it is not certain if Mary experienced depression, the loss was no doubt devastating.

As for her son George, I am not sure what her reaction was but they were extremely close and she was no doubt heartbroken. In her photo album, shortly after his death, she labeled a recent photo of him with an extra endearment…I think it was “my precious Georgie”. As for Bertie, I know she wasn’t able to attend the funeral but she watched the procession from her window. I believe the story goes that the only time she spoke during the viewing was whispering “there he is”, which at least in my opinion is incredibly sad. Other than that I know she did make a comment how she had lost three sons without being able to properly say goodbye, which is heartbreaking. Again, I am not sure about depression and how Queen Mary coped with the last two sons, but if I were to guess she probably threw herself into her work: WWII at the time of her son George’s death and helping her granddaughter Elizabeth II navigate her new role after the death of Bertie

Hope this helps! ♥️

[disco-cola]

you know what I think is crazy? The media and many western politicians were soooo quick about sensationalizing that „Hamas beh€aded 40 Israeli babies“ horror story that turned out to not even be real. But when a few days ago they released two more hostages, 85 yr old yocheved lifshitz and 79 yr nurit cooper they took from a kibbutz, and as shown in the video filmed during the release the older one turned around and said shalom which means goodbye or even peace in hebrew and even shook the hand of one of the Hamas members who turned her over to representatives of the Red Cross and then both got airlifted out of Gaza back to Israel - even tho this is HUGE NEWS i would say it wasn’t in the headlines the way it should’ve been. I looked it up and in the most read German newspaper (which is pure pro Israel propaganda like the fact it is the most read German newspaper makes me rip out all my hair) it doesn’t mention ANYTHING about the handshake or the interview (I’m gonna get to this). It basically says well yeah two more hostages are back but don’t forget Hamas is bad and Gaza deserves this. Not kidding. The video, of course, wasn’t shared but just described and the sentence ended in „Hamas are laughing and acting nice towards the old ladies but don’t fall for it it’s propaganda“. They however printed a photo of Yocheved Lipshitz smiling to a family member which got the caption „first smile in freedom“ 🫠 And then following her release the 85 yr old woman gave a public interview and while she did say she was beaten during the drive (and of course an abduction is an abduction like let’s be real about this it is awful in the first place) she also said that while in captivity, they were treated well and that there were doctors and other medical personnel and women taking care of their health and hygiene and that they were sharing food and this is why she did the handshake. Despite her husband still being held captive over there. I read a lot of Israelis are „furious“ at her for the handshake and the interview. I guess that just doesn’t fit their agenda and imagery they have been trying to create. Then again a lot of people were also mad at the brother of hayim katsman who was killed at the kibbutz on October 7. The brother publicly stated in an interview that this is not what his brother would have wanted since he was a peace activist and his killing shouldnt be used as justification and that I literally have to quote this from the interview „what Israel is doing now is very clearly not for the security of anyone. The real reason is just revenge and killing and distraction from the failure of Israel to protect its citizens.” Where are the sensationalist headlines in the big newspaper articles about this? No instead people are being MAD at Israel’s OWN VICTIMS 🤡 again I feel the need to also state this is not supposed to mean „omg Hamas is so nice 😊“ like no, there’s still like what 200 people in captivity (and I really do hope they all get treated as well as the woman said and also all survive the bombings brought on by their own homeland) and it also doesn’t change anything about the fact that from what i read around 1400 israelis have violently lost their lives since October 7 (just for INFO at this point bc I want to mention both: the latest info I read was that around 6700 palestinians didn’t survive the last 20 days) - but it really does make me wonder why a lot of people supporting israels actions are mad at the woman instead of at least celebrating her getting out alive and as she says apparently rather well on top of that??? and why the brother of the man who got killed said from the start „what I’m gonna say will upset a lot of people“ and he was right like…

[edaworks]

This. Equal access to resources and social assistance programs is so important. And if you're U.S.-based and in need of support to combat poverty or inequality issues, or just want a fair shake at getting a freaking job, you've just been effectively abandoned by our federal government: many social assistance programs and/or safefuards against discrimination/unequal implementation of assistance will be defunded.

For instance - goddamnit, fine, I'll talk about it - the recent Executive Orders (EOs). The following EOs related to assistance programs and inequality/poverty issues were just rescinded by Trump:

(Summaries in part sourced from https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2025/01/president-trump-issues-numerous-executive-orders-with-potential-impacts-on-federal-contractors-and-grant-recipients/, with my own commentary in bold.)

EO 14096 (Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All), which directed agencies to ensure all programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance “that potentially affect human health or the environment do not directly, or through contractual or other arrangements, use criteria, policies, practices, or methods of administration that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin.” (Good luck ensuring that those in marginalized communities have any protection against federal agencies or contractors coming into their communities and subjecting them to toxic and harmful environments from industrial, military, or infrastructure activities from now on.)

EO 14052 (Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), which established an Infrastructure Implementation Task Force to implement the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (This was to include funding for and development of improved public transit programs. No longer. Good luck accessing any resources without even basic, half-functioning public transit.)

EO 14091 (Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government), which established a government-wide goal of 15 percent of federal procurement dollars awarded to small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals in Fiscal Year 2025. (What was that? Yet another bullshit bootstraps argument? I thought so.)

EO 13985 (Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government), which directed agency heads to review and report on potential barriers to full and equal participation in agency procurement and contracting opportunities. (No oversight? No problem...I guess.)

And the following EOs negatively impacting these issues were just implemented by Trump:

Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government EO Defines sex as an “immutable biological classification.”  All federal agencies “shall enforce laws governing sex-based rights, protections, opportunities, and accommodations to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.”  Federal funds “shall not be used to promote gender ideology,” including pursuant to federal grants. (Say goodbye to any federal funding for social assistance programs that have as any part of their mission provision of assistance to, or even breathe in the direction of, trans- and queer-inclusive communities.)

Regulatory Freeze Pending Review EO Orders all executive departments and agencies to not propose or issue any rules until a department or agency head appointed or designated by the President after Noon on January 20, 2025 reviews and approves the rule. (Meaning not a single federal agency can do ANYTHING to implement ANY programs - social welfare programs or otherwise - or generally create administrative rules and federal regulations without being specifically endorsed by Trump - this just means literally nothing will get done. Thank SCOTUS - they paved the way for this bullshit by overturning Chevron.)

Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing EO Orders Director of Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Attorney General (AG), and Director of Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to “coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including ‘illegal DEI’ and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”  OPM immediately issued a memo to all federal agencies to provide initial guidance regarding this portion of the EO.  This includes a directive that each agency terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all “equity-related” grants or contracts and that each agency provide a list of “[f]ederal grantees who received Federal funding to provide or advance DEI, DEIA, or ‘environmental justice’ programs, services, or activities since January 20, 2021 to the Director of the OMB.” (Self explanatory. Good luck getting federal employment or contracts if you are part of a marginalized community once the hiring freeze is off.)

Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity EO Revokes several previous EOs, including EO 11246 (Equal Employment Opportunity), which prohibited contractors from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin and required contractors to take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity in all aspects of employment.  Requires agency heads to include two terms in every contract or grant award: (1) “requiring the contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that its compliance in all respects with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of section 3729(b)(4) of title 31, United States Code;” and (2) “requiring such counterparty or recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.”  Further, directs OMB, with the assistance of the AG to “[t]erminate all ‘diversity, ‘equity,’ ‘equitable decision-making,’ ‘equitable deployment of financial and technical assistance,’ ‘advancing equity,’ and like mandates, requirements, programs, or activities, as appropriate.” (I CANNOT BEGIN TO STRESS what a huge problem rescindment of EEO is. THIS HAS BEEN IN PLACE SINCE THE 1960s AND WAS ONE OF THE PRIMARY GUARANTORS OF DISCRIMINATION CONTROL AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL.)

That's just a smattering. That's without even getting into the horribly discriminatory immigration/citizenship-related EOs or new legislation which will all but ensure immigrant communities are cut off from access to social assistance they might have otherwise received. Why? Because they will probably feel the need to avoid public places swimming in government officials where they might become visible targets. Why “targets,” you ask? Because now even allegations of certain criminal acts, paired with questioned immigration status, will require ICE to detain - no conviction needed. This is disgustingly rife with pitfalls. I won't go into more detail about the hows and whys because I think it unethical to publish what could effectively be a roadmap for exploitation.

"But if immigrants are here illegally-" No. This issue affects EVERYONE, no matter their status, and EVERYONE is a human and deserves access to these resources. Plus: your status can be 100% valid - you can even be a citizen - and you can still be stripped of status, arrested, detained, or deported due to administrative error or due to racial or ethnic profiling. Not convinced? The US Government Accountability Office confirmed that "ICE arrested 674, detained 121, and removed 70 potential U.S. citizens from fiscal year 2015 through the second quarter of fiscal year 2020 (March 2020)." That's right: We deported 70 people that ICE itself had cause to believe were citizens, and arrested and jailed hundreds more...for alleged immigration offenses. Whoops.

All it takes is bad luck, or to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and suddenly those who don't care about these issues now might find they care a hell of a lot.

[morgan-reblog]

just saw a tweet with states about what is the most used in each county to travel (car vs public transit vs walk) and saw some people being very fucking negative about how expensive cars are, how bad it is for the planet/health and whatever else and saying how they dont understand why people take cars so much.

but I feel like these people don't realise... depending on where you live you lowkey need a car to drive yourself if you wanna go anywhere.

Like where I personally live (somewhere rural-suburban in Canada, where I feel we have something similar to the US). if you don't have a car you better kiss goodbye to go anywhere easily if at all.

Buses? In the morning, from 5h to 10h, one comes every 30 minutes which only goes towards a terminus with more buses. Then that's it. Afterwards, buses come back to town in the afternoon, from essentially 16h to 19h, its about every 20-30 minutes.

Better not want to go out on weekends because then it drops to a bus every 2 hours between 7:30 and 19:30.

Even in bigger towns / small cities with more buses than whatever rural region gets it's not that good. Even more so since they redid the whole circuit and now it made rides longer than before for people.

The only place where it's kinda reliable is in the big city, where you also have the subway (which surprise surprise, doesn't cover all the big city and leaves huge gaps).

So I guess we can forget using public transit if it sucks so bad in rural-suburban regions (which, where I live, is a good chunk of places).

Wanna walk or bike? Not everywhere has side-walk and cycling paths, you need to walk on the side of the road. Also, unless you live somewhere close to where many stores are, you have nothing that is within a reasonable walking distance.

closest grocery store or Walmart to me? 57min by walking (or 15min by bike, where I need to bike on the side of the road in gravel)

closest mall that has many mixed stores? an hour by bike

Those travel times are just not doable, especially for groceries in summer if you have refrigerated/frozen stuff, while in winter it's cold as fuck up here and there's often lot of snow.

I genuinely feel like people who hate cars so much just live in countries where there are a lot more options aside from needing to own your own car if you wanna go anywhere by yourself.

Because you know what? If it was viable, I too would like not to have to drive fucking everywhere. I too would like to not be stuck in fucking traffic (which am lucky to avoid most of the time). I too would like to not have to pay for expensive gas and car maintenance. I too would like not to have to buy an expensive car.

But the reality is that I can't do that unless I want to be stuck at home and not be able to go to work. reality is I can't ask for a fucking lift from people I live with because our schedule just doesn't work for that sadly, especially with mine not being fixed. reality is the society I live in is built around using car, especially in rural-suburban regions.

so before shitting on people who use car and complaining about all the bads of it, maybe wonder why so many people are using cars. Pretty a lot of them would be happy to not have to be burdened with all that comes with it.

[cathulucos]

Helpful Chat

TW: Christianity, Death

Adora smiles softly and Alice walks Marlo off to find his mother. Adora goes to her room to mull over everything they’ve gone through today. Marlo’s death has conflicted her more now. His friends and family are strong though and will make it through.

Adora decides to go to the living world to walk and hopefully get a better understanding of the living world. Maybe she’ll be able to talk things over with Xander. Flying down to an active city she walks around hidden to the public eye. 

“Leave him the fuck alone how bout that!” a familiar voice yells out.

Adora looks over shocked and sees Xander, but he looks different. His wings are hidden and his third eye is gone. His fashion and hair have stayed the same. His eyes, pink as ever, have anger in them as they glare at the older lady he’s addressing. Adora steps closer to fully witness the situation.

“You’re insane! You’re all insane!” The lady says before huffing off.

Xander turns back to the young boy he was protecting and smiles. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, thank you, sir,” he says smiling hugging him.

“Xander?” Adora says softly. His eyes flicker up then back to the young boy.

“If you’re okay then I'd best go, I have errands to run. Stay safe, ok,’ Xander says before walking away. The boy nods watching Xander leave oblivious to the angel following the secret fallen cupid. Turning a corner with little people Xander hides, “Adora, what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about a mission I just had… and failed,” she says softly looking down.

“Failed? How badly?” Xander says softly watching his friend.

“He died. But it’s confusing. He likes the afterlife, but we said goodbye to his family today and it wasn’t nice. He cried and he was sad and so were his friends and family. But when he was alive they were ignoring him, who he was. He was trans and he wasn’t able to really transition and… he feels free now I guess but,”

“Death is complicated Adora, even in ideal situations there’s mourning. There’s always gonna be someone sad, from family, from friends, from the deceased themselves. They may miss their old life, childhood, companions, or body. You just need to give the support you can,” Xander explains.

Adora nods tearing up again being reminded of all who she hurt.

“Don’t cry. It’ll be okay. You just need to learn and adapt,”

“How do I help someone who doesn’t want to live? Who wants to hurt? With only persuasion? I hurt him. I hurt him so much, he died because of me,” Adora cries hugging Xander.

Tensing at the sudden contact Xander hugs back patting her back. “There’s a few ways: therapy, journaling, walking. I’m sure your classes will go through them. But if they don’t I can show you afterwards.”

“You can? But don’t you help people by being there physically? Since you’ve fallen?”

“Yes, but I know a thing or two about humans, and how they cope from living down here for so long. Don’t worry. I’ll help you okay,”

“Thank you so much, Xander,” Adora says calming down smiling softly.

Xander smiles back nodding while Adora lets go. “If you ever need something, Adora, in the human world, I’ll tell you to reach me. In case you need advice or something, but don’t use it too much. I don’t want you to get in trouble,”

“Thank you so much, Xander. I’d appreciate that so much. I promise I won’t use it much, just in emergencies,”

Xander nods before taking a deep breath. “Hold your hands close to your heart, vision me clearly and call my name. You have to put a lot of focus into it,”

Nodding, Adora smiles softly waving. “Thank you. I’ll be off then. Goodbye,” As she flies off Xander watches curious as to what will happen with her.

Adora finishes the week by observing Marlo’s family and friends and making sure Marlo transitions well to the afterlife. A pamphlet arrives at her dorm telling her what classes she will be taking.

Adora’s Class Schedule

Humans Mental Health 1000 building 100

Dealing With Death 1200 building 333

Human Angel Safety 1400 building 210

3 months

If you fail these classes you will have to retake them 

Only three classes for three months, it’s only her first mistake so it's natural they don’t overbook a new angel.

Adora smiles softly nodding to herself setting the pamphlet on her desk. These classes will help her with her future. After these classes are done she'll still be on leave for 9 months to continue studying on her own through books and visiting the human world. 

[enpr-ss]

Episode 5: Why did she give the sheer shawl back? More bs magic? Oh Shuusai came with Shouka? Or some other time. Wait did Senka actually wanted the Hyou wiped out? The Hong family is known for its seeming good-natured while being extremely dangerous? Backstory!! Wait I thought Shuurei and pretty much Kouchou and everyone doesn't disagree that she's not more than pretty? Guess this guy is obsessed and seeing things. Grey vs Gray morality and complex characters! I'm so mad at this idiot ball. WHY WOULDN'T YOU TELL SEIRAN ABOUT THIS THREAT?!?! YOUR FATHER LITERALLY SENT YOU AWAY FROM IT. Omg this family CANNOT communicate. I can blame magic bs on Shuurei not recognizing the threat but come on.

Reishin's fuelled by spite and attention. And at least Kouyuu is enlightened enough to slap himself out of thinking of marriage and women as things to be given to him / opportunities. And the effect it would have on his friend. AND REALIZES THAT HE HIMSELF WOULD BE UNHAPPY WITH THE SITUATION!!! Bro NEEDS good friends he gets lost in his head too easily. Literally reached gratitude and self-enlightenment and contentment within the span of a tea break. He's happy as he is, but is ready for the future possibilities! God I hope this remains a theme. Was it a trap from Kurou? IMAGINE IF THIS IS HOW SHUUREI FINDS OUT ABOUT REISHIN AND ALSO THE ARRANGED MARRIAGE.

I cannot believe Seiran brought it up to the Emperor and Shuuei. That icy side glare lol. Seiran taking leadership and telling the Emperor what to do without explaining himself with his pissy face on.... Senka WHAT were you thinking. Ran Shuuei Ryuuki's military and spy advisor? 0 politics so 0 info? LAME.

Yuushun must be fucking terrifying to face across the negotiating table, that the Merchant's Guild would rather lose face than risk lose out on more important things by meeting with him or his wife, partner, or boss. I wonder what that means for the conversation between him and Ryuuki about prime ministership? And how does Kouyuu know this? And why is he doing all the affectionate acts of service NOW? Even the narrative and anime framing doesn't treat this as anything romantic. Keep WHAT a secret? The handholding? The mandarins? Well at least Kouyuu knows how to swiftly recover from a social situation.

Trying to make them look older than their 13 years. At a Sage shrine? Ah so the deathbed scene was Eigetsu sharing his soul with Doushu. Huh so not even Eigetsu knows who Yougetsu is. Bro's got more rizz than Ryuuki OR Sakujun. Rip this tragic teen romance SOMEHOW a more extreme version of Ryuuki and Shuurei. Kourin you fainted from a kiss? EIGETSU YOU JUST LEFT HER ON THE FLOOR LIKE THAT? A society of doctors and the beginnings of public health! The exchange of information and services, to send them out like officials and military. So that was his whole goal all along! The fortunate lives of Eigetsu and Kouyuu.... omg where is this comparision going??

Episode 6: this silver fox grandpa can still get it, sigh. Finally someone pouring tea and serving her! And why does Eigetsu's backstory always have spears on the walls? The best way to start the medical association! This is definitely going to Shuurei even more issues about health and medicine and people sacrificing themselves without a word goodbye. Wait if Seika Village is gone, then why is Eigetsu going back there? And Shuurei gets to work immediately to combat the disease!! If only real life was like that. OMG SHE'S LOOKING AHEAD FOR THE FUTURE AND KNOWS THE CONSEQUENCES FOR HER ACTIONS!!! And how convenient, that this guy has always wanted to be Sa's governor will get it in exchange for furthering her academic research institute goal. Xanatos Gambit!!!

And same with Eigetsu. How cleverly he trapped Ensei with responsibilities. It's all going to be a public expense? That's already better than America during the pandemic. Ah so the snow foxes thing is just correlation and Eigetsu showing his rural folklore background; it's actually contagious? Wait no! I'm so glad the show's basic science has proven my theory wrong. And the basic concept of how germ theory / contamination is here! Well I wouldn't say it's not contagious because it occurs as separate locations. That's kinda the definition. Yay for alternate reasoning to boil water to kill "organisms" rather than freezing that would convince the public. Fear-mongering, blaming an outsider of a different class that threatens their way of life, taking advantage of inexperienced and uneducated populace, emotional and outlandish appeals and solutions, wow this holds up well to today's audience. Ah so was the cult the spur for Shuurei's later actions that might see her removed, rather than just making the academic institution dream come true and curing the disease ASAP? yay complexity!

Oh the medicine sector of the Temple is in the capital? Did Doushu steal those books? It would explain why he had to go on a journey to get them. omg Doushu actually was Kashin, another child prodigy? And another guy who refused the emperor and just wandered off? WAIT DON'T JUST GIVE THEM THOSE BOOKS FOR FREE! DEMAND COPIES AND DISTRIBUTION AND PRODUCTION AND FREE TEACHINGS!! Or at least to fulfill her demands to send out the physicians to Sa. What IS the director of medical at Taijyou Temple trying to play at? Just dodging any negative fallout? Also why does he have control over the court physicians? And Yuushun coming in clutch to support with specific requests and details! Shuurei taking full responsibility because she's calculated the risks!! Truly a badass moment. Still a bit sus of the medical director though; the animators made an excellent character design!

Season 2 liveblogging!

Episode 1: Ryuuki waiting and dreaming is such role reversal of the usual romance male love interest! What do you mean, the maids are gossiping about how much SMARTER he's been? Actions beyond the governance? Shuuei's always running away? From what? Even at the Emperor's side? Shuuei and Ryuuki both dodging the questions LOL.

Seiran I do not understand how Shuurei's desire to help others relates to your childhood loneliness. Sure there's a link there about needing to be needed but that's your current mindset, not former. Also I cannot believe this is how I find out that the White noble clan is Haku not Hyou. He got told to go make more friends, touch some grass, and figure out what you want out of life now that he has a solid home and foundation and sorted out his backstory trauma (a bit).

oooooh drama about Kouyuu's place in the clan? Omg finally a competent and communicative person in this anime. Kurou gets right down to business!

There's no way Yuushun is that much taller than Rin. But Rin looking SNAPPY with that pose. The way these two keep looking at each other!

Oh Seiran knows archery too? Unfair. RAN LIQUOR TO GET OUT OF ATTENDING AHAHA. Seiran knows how to not look drunk after court and Sakujun. Rip Kouyou literally going to where his friends and alcohol are. Devil's party is correct lol. The boys are so drunk, dragging each other to Shouka's. Shuuei huddled up in the chair to make sure Kouyuu doesn't drown in his own vomit. LOL THEY'RE SO DRUNK. I don't think this was what Shouka intended. Poor Shuuei didn't get a chance to drink, he had to look after these idiots. Rip Kouyuu honestly. Seiran slumped in a trashed kitchen with a water bucket over his head is ICONIC. Shuurei strong enough to fling a fully grown man into a wall. THE WATER BUCKET!!! Feminine rage in her eyes!! Rip Shouka he should have known better. Seiran at least has the excuse of being drunk and encouraged to share all his feelings. Literally chased out with a broom! OF COURSE YUUSHUN AND RIN ARRIVE AT THE WORST POSSIBLE MOMENT. True punishment is making Seiran be useful even when he's so drunk. Are women more influential in the Hong Clan, Shouka? Or is it just your family? And Yuushun with the uncomfortable reminder of where he's from!! But Shouka isn't the head of the clan? And how did he help in Sa province?

I'm sensing character arcs for Seiran, Kouyuu, Eigetsu, Shuuei, and Yuushun!

Episode 2: Is he implying that his family nearly ate him for food during the civil war. Sounds like Doushu was a bit toxically positive, even if he acknowledged the reality he lived in. From the palace? Gov exam, what for? He's already top of his gaokao. Side profile and only reflections of Ryuuki's face! Framing telling us that we don't get to see how he truly is anymore, only as the hardworking Emperor.

Kijin removed his mask for his friend's wife! As a test, or a show of trust for them? Kei seems amused and happy. WAIT HIS NAME IS YURI KEIJIROU??? Or the other way around? COME ON. Rin doing all the negotiating and heavy lifting!!! She's so cool. All the adult women in this series are so well written and given interesting roles.

Kurou's argument would be the right choice if they were in a more realistic setting. But since she's already proven that she doesn't need the family name to pass the national exam, earn her place, expose Official Sa, and deal with the Sa clan / Sakujun; I think Kurou is short-sighted here. And to boldly admit that Shuurei will rise above Kouyuu, is just showing that a trueborn daughter will always be worth more than an adopted waif of a son. And Kouyuu himself is proof that one doesn't need clan backing to get to where he is. That all he’s good for is supporting Shuurei’s career and aspirations. All this is a role reversal of the classic arranged marriage groom candidate. Literally he said "I hope you will consider yourself the most suitable husband for Shuurei". Also Ryuuren wtf??? I thought no romantic subplot between them. Unless it's a failsafe for the future. Or forced by the narrative for a "competitor". At least Kurou acknowledges all the advantages, and that no romantic love is necessary or expected, that they can partner just fine because they like each other. He’s trying to fix his brothers’ mistakes: fully cementing Kouyuu to the clan and clan leadership, and giving Shuurei the clan backing she never had as well as a secure, comfortable life regardless of what happens (look at the state of Shouka’s estate after Shoukun died.) Uncle Kurou is a bit stuck in his ways and unwilling to adjust his strategy, only tactics. He didn’t even ask Shuurei (though he did get her father’s approval). Honestly, he’s trying to do too much with one move. Kouyuu can either get fully adopted, or marry another Hong girl (Kurou’s children in fact). Shuurei can just start using the Hong name more / be more familiar. Reishin and Kurou could have a bonding time over mercilessly slicing Shuurei’s suitors to pieces. Truly Kurou is protecting Shouka from dealing with all of Shuurei’s marriage proposals and alliances / invitations. Which goes to highlight how Ryuuki has no one to do it for him. Ordinarily it would be Seian’s job. Kouyuu still missing the point but focused on gaining more family members and also on the realities of managing the in-laws and his real competitor, which is usually the role of the bride candidate. This boy just wants approval from his family, especially from a father figure. Absolutely amazing writing and I'm eating all of this up. Omg did they assign Shuurei to Reishin to force the uncle issue, and to let Kijin catch up with Yuushun? Rip Kouyuu he's having so many breakdowns about everything. And I'm enjoying Seiran and Shouka having to step up around the house / meals instead of relying on Shuurei. Yuushun laughing at Reishin's pain, truly they are best friends.

Wait I thought Doushu died when Eigetsu was young. Unless he recovered? What promise? Sage stuff? Or more magic? Lame on Kourin's part to not try to comfort Eigetsu.

[unholyevilness]

In celebration of my first actual post, let's have something fairly fitting to myself; queerness. Prompt: Aot men being trans (nsfw) - Eren, Reiner, Zeke, Jean

cw. afab genitalia mention, praise and degradation, squirting, sex toys, armpit kink, golden showers, public sex, dubcon because alcohol

Reader is written gender neutral!

Eren

Eren struggles a lot with his mental health due to his gender identity, so it takes him a while to warm up. The testosterone played a big role in having sex with him more comfortably, he just cannot say no when you offer to suck his tdick like a starving whore, praising him for how big he gets when he's excited, all swollen and dripping at the same time. It's so very validating for him, but he also loves exploring you from the inside with his strap. It's rather average because he wants to keep it as realistic as possible, skin colored and 6 inches. Despite the mental fight with his body, Eren knows he has a pretty face without bragging or being an ass about it, purposely blessing you with his lewd expressions and putting on a show for you. He lets the sweat beads run down his face, and it makes him look like a God. You call him divine, and he squirts into your mouth.

Reiner

Our sweet sir Braun turns off his brain when he's having sex, and he doesn't even have control over it. You take advantage of it by shoving as many of your fingers as possible into his hole, teasing him about how wet he always gets and the obscene noises his cunt is making. He loves having you run your fingers through his pubes, it's such a natural way of being for him. It reaches his belly button, and you love tracing his happy trail with kisses and bites, having mastered the perfect balance of worshipping and humiliating him. When you stick your nose and face in the crook of his armpit for the first time, he moans more out of surprise rather than pleasure, but he quickly grows to love how experimental you are, always coming up with new ways to rock his world.

Zeke

Just like his brother, Zeke is very discreet about it. He's neither very comfortable nor proud of his body, so he doesn't have sex a lot. The issue is, he's a pervert, which doesn't really help the fact that he already struggles with opening up to someone about his gender identity; he fears rejection and usually receives it at the very latest when he reveals his dark desires. He's embarrassed about it, but he can't swallow the craving that comes with seeing you. He wants to cover your entire body with bottles of cumlube, piss on you, wholly destroy you in abandoned alleyways late at night when you've said your goodbyes to your co-workers. He's not confident enough to have you go down on him, so he does it for you religiously. It's one addicting way of scratching the itch within him without getting naked, so he moans obscenely, loves sending vibrations through your whole body, fully indulging in and devoted to messily making you climax. Sometimes when he's really horny, he shoves whatever he can get his hands on up his cunt, unable to function properly and giving in his primal needs.

Jean

Jeanny boy would buy the biggest packer he can get his hands on and bait you into thinking it's legit, feeling up your body and flirting with you at a party with little to no shame. After successfully dragging you home, he pours you two another round of wine and lets some of it drop onto his crotch. "Oops-" he says, "Guess I should get this off of me." and starts to fiddle with his pants, unzipping them teasingly slow as your hungry eyes follow his every move. He doesn't miss the adoration in your eyes, and grabs a fistful of your hair, gently positioning your head between his legs as he places each of them next to your body, left and right, both of you seated on his couch. It all happens too fast for you to comprehend it properly, Jean is riding your face in no time, mindless filth leaving his mouth. He's vocal, and you're left speechless. "You looked like you wanted to say something, I hope that's not true. Good toys don't really speak unless I am done playing with them." He excuses his behaviour by stating its his way of coping with his gender identity and you would punch him in the face for it, but he's far too handsome for you to miss out on this lay, and his pussy gets you hypnotised.

I totally wasn't projecting with this.

[kazuchii]

Could i have some fluffy headcanons with Diluc, Zhongli, and Albedo who have an s/o with really dark eyebags? Like they sleep fine at night but the eyebags just...won't go away

GN!Reader with Eyebags w/ Genshin Boys

A/N: Thank you for requesting! This request was actually really easy for me since I too, struggle with eyebags that just won’t go away XD Sorry this took a bit! I've been a little busy. Hope you enjoy it!

Synopsis: The Genshin boys are a little worried about your eyebags, thinking you're not sleeping at night.

Characters: Albedo, Diluc, Zhongli

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: N/A

Masterlist

Albedo didn’t seem worried at first when it came to your eyebags. He just assumed you weren’t sleeping very well.

Honestly, I doubt Albedo gets well rested at night. He probably stays up late doing alchemy stuff after all. He always advised you to go to bed ahead of him for you to get the best sleep possible.

Whenever he would come to bed, you’d always be passed out under the bedsheets.

So when Albedo noticed your dark eyebags, he was puzzled.

You seemed to be sleeping like a log at night. You were always passed out and dreaming away whenever he arrived home to your shared bed.

The only hypothesis to this he could speculate was that you were indeed staying up late at night. Were you possibly staying up late at night waiting for him?

This only made Albedo more concerned. He told you that there was no reason for you to stay up late waiting for him. But you went and did it anyway, resulting in you passing out at night waiting every night.

The guilt Albedo felt made him mess up a couple of times the following day. Items would slip out of his grasp the moment he let the guilt surface.

He confided to Sucrose about the issue, his head in his hands.

“Well Mister Albedo, shouldn’t you just…be honest with them about your concerns?”

So that night, you were getting prepared for bed. Just as you sat on the bed, the door slammed open.

You jumped a little, swinging your head to the maniac that decided to scare you just as you were about to head to bed for the night.

Albedo stood there, a serious expression planted on his facial features.

“Albedo?”

“Stop staying up late for me.”

An awkward smile crept up onto your face, cocking your head off to the side.

“What do you mean?”

“Your eyebags. I’ve noticed them. You need to get more sleep.”

“But Albedo-“

He wasn’t listening to you though. His face morphed into a more sincere, worried one as he moved towards the bed.

“I want what's best for your health. Please stop staying up late waiting f-”

“Bedo, I don't stay up late for you.”

Albedo froze on the spot, blinking as his brain shut off.

“I go to bed on time each night. Who said I ever stay up late for you? Bedo, I love you, but I’d rather sleep than wait for you for hours.”

He was almost offended by that statement.

“But...your eyebags.”

“Oh, yeah they won't leave no matter what I do. Probably payback for staying up late years earlier. I should probably try some sort of cream to get rid of them.”

As you blabbered on and on about your eyebags, Albedo was still trying to restart his brain. Sure he was the one who had originally told you your health was more important, but why did that statement hurt so much-

For the past few days, you’ve hardly been able to get a single glimpse of Diluc. He’s been so preoccupied with his work that you never see him, you only hear him bid you goodbye early every morning.

The only people to keep you company was the maids working at his mansion. They would take care of you by making any meals and just cleaning throughout the building.

Meanwhile, you just did whatever you pleased.

I mean, this was your home as well so there wasn’t really anyone stopping you. You’d just do whatever you felt like doing at the moment.

But you got to a point where you were bored. You missed the feeling of Diluc and the warmth he always had radiating from him. You craved the feeling to be wrapped up in his arms.

You wanted to feel loved

So since absolutely nothing was stopping you from doing whatever you pleased, you decided to go on a little adventure.

And by adventure, I mean taking a little trip to Mondstadt and stopping by Angel’s Share.

Diluc never exactly said you couldn’t visit while he worked, but I don’t think he ever thought you would so he never said anything.

It was late into the evening when you finally reached the gates of Mondstadt. The exhausted guards greeted you with a lazy wave as you passed by them.

It didn’t take too long to find Angels Share.

Creaking open the door to Angel’s Share, you peeked your head in. The bar was completely deserted besides a single man residing behind the counter; Diluc.

“Diluc!”

Diluc’s head perked up instantaneously.

“(Y/N)?”

He rushed out from behind the counter to come to greet you at the entrance.

“Love, what are you doing here? You should be back home getting ready for bed.”

“I missed you, so I wanted to come to see you. We haven’t been spending much time together after all.”

Diluc could feel the heat rising up to his face. How could you say that without being embarrassed in the slightest?

The smile on your face wasn’t helping his situation whatsoever. But soon enough, his eyes caught something off about your appearance.

“Love, have you been sleeping well at night?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You’ve got dark eyebags underneath your eyes.”

Oh yeah, you forgot those were there. You were so used to them being there that you forgot all about them.

“Oh, yeah. So, they refuse to leave no matter what I do. I get at least a solid eight hours of sleep every night, but they just don’t seem to want to leave.”

“Have you tried different treatments?”

“I have tried all the possible ones here in Mondstadt, but nothing seems to be working.”

“Perhaps something to help you could be located in Liyue…”

“You don’t have to do that for me!”

But Diluc wasn’t having any of that. He lifted his gloved hand, cupping your cheek, and gazed towards you lovingly.

“Love, I hope you realize the things I’d do to make you smile.”

Zhongli never expected him to fall for a mortal. When you came into his life, at first he was a little concerned. After all, you were just a human with a limited life span. If he were to get attached, he would be forced with leaving you behind. He would be forced with watching you age and eventually pass on.

So, when he first felt the bubbly feeling inside his chest whenever he would spend time with you, he was wary. He tried to distance himself from you, but in the end, it didn't go as planned.

He still became attached, it was just something he couldn't prevent.

Now he finds himself with you whenever he can. He'd rather spend time making memories with you than worrying about your fate.

Although, whenever the two of you would go out, you were the one who always ended up paying.

"My love, I don't have any mora."

"Expected. But luckily, I brought some with us."

He was always grateful for having you at his side. When he told you that he was actually the Geo Archon, he expected you to not believe him and find him weird.

But strangely enough, you believed every word he told you

This man has been a puppy following you around ever since. He adores it whenever you hold his hand in public; it always brings a smile to his face.

He also worries about your health constantly. After all, you're mortal.

So when you met with him after his work was completed for a little date in Liyue, his eyes were wide with concern.

"My love, have you not been getting enough sleep at night?"

"Yup! I've been sleeping perfectly fine."

Zhongli was suspicious of that statement.

"Are you positive?"

"I'm 100% positive, Zhongli. Trust me, if I was having issues sleep I would tell you immediately."

"Then why do you have such dark eyebags underneath your eyes?"

"Not really sure. They don't seem to want to go away. I get a solid eight hours every night, too. I guess I'm just stuck with them."

"Do they bother you at all?"

"I mean, the only issue is when people look at me funny because of them. Otherwise, I forget they exist."

Zhongli didn't like that one bit. He didn't mind that you had the eye bags, but what he did mind was that people would give you looks due to them.

"I"ll find something."

"Huh?"

"I'll find something that'll help fix your eyebags. I'd rather not have people giving you looks because of them."

"You don't have to do that! It's perfectly fine."

But Zhongli wasn't listening to a word you were saying.

"I'll find Childe. I'm sure he'd be happy to pay for anything I'll need-"

"Wait!"