#honestly really enjoying it! it hits emotional beats really well

[du-hjarta-skulblaka]

Me and Alfie have been watching the American version of Ghosts together and idk if I'm just late to the party (as usual) but I'm surprised it's not more popular here? It's a haunted mansion full of blorbos

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

It's true that Stede could never have been played by anyone other than Rhys, and Ed couldn't have been played by anyone other than Taika, but even more than that, Ed and Stede wouldn't have worked as well without both of them working together.

Yeah, Rhys is amazing at bringing a likeability and emotional weight to Stede, who could've easily been a very unlikable character. He's an amazingly physical actor and hits those dramatic beats so wonderfully. Taika Waititi, too, is honestly very underrated as an actor; his ability to hit those devastating lows of emotion just as well as the goofy silly moments is wonderful to watch. You can tell watching their performances that these are very important roles to both of them and they care about playing their characters.

But a big part of the reason OFMD works so well is because they're playing these roles together. They've been friends for many years, and they're clearly incredibly comfortable with each other and just enjoy being in each other's company. Rhys and Taika have both said that having each other on set made it so much easier for them to hit the really vulnerable beats, because they were there to support each other.

There's just something really fucking beautiful there. Ed and Stede's relationship is so believable because the guys playing them do love each other, even if it's a different kind of love. They just like being around each other and you can tell in everything from the little gestures to the glances to the way you can see sometimes that they're trying to make each other laugh. And, a lot of the time, this show is so fantastic because, as they've said, they made each other feel safe and supported on set.

No one else could've played Stede, and no one else could've played Ed. But, even more than that, nothing about this show would've been the same if it wasn't the two of them playing these roles with each other.

[chunksworld]

Three's a Crowd, Four's a Party

NewJeans Minji and Hanni x Male Reader(s) | (Tags: Smut) | a collaboration with @gangplanksorenji

Chunk's A/N: Yes, this is a collab. Yes, Raf wrote smut (finally, I know right? xD). Yes, this is a gruppenfick. And yes, this is my longest fic ever (~12.5K words). Two weeks worth of being down extremely bad led to this behemoth of a piece, it doesn't help that I'm currently on spring break so all hands were on deck here lol. It's truly an honor to have my first collab with such a qt and to help write his first smut :).

Orenji’s A/N: Orenjideul! Well, it has been a long time since I put out a fic and honestly, I enjoyed writing this piece with Chunk and I hope the long wait is worth it ehehe. This will be a different genre that I had been deciding to write onto and hope this comes out well. Have a great day Orenjideul! 

-------------------------------------------

Nothing beats the feeling of joy once you hear the school bell ringing on a Friday afternoon, signaling the dismissal of classes. Like clockwork, the school yard is immediately filled with students who are ready to spend the rest of their day basking under the radiating warmth of the Sun and enjoy their weekend. Likewise, Haesoo is also ecstatic to have the next two days off but for a completely different reason: he didn’t exactly have a great day. It was exhausting, boring, and he would’ve preferred to stay home and play video games instead. Plus he had to witness the wrath of his professor infuriated over his classmate sleeping at his desk which in turn made that grumpy old man pissed for the rest of the period, as if he wasn’t grumpy enough already.

Nothing could also beat the sight of Haesoo's best friend, Minji, after such a day—where could she be at this very moment, anyways? Last time he caught a glimpse of her, she was off socializing with her friends. He takes a deep sigh; maybe if he actually had the guts to ask her out she would be by his side all the time but alas, things didn’t go as planned. If there was one person that he wanted to see at this very moment, it would be her. He quickly sends her a text asking for her whereabouts but it wasn’t necessary as he can see her walking hurriedly down the spacious concrete on the quadrangle up to the not-so-narrow corridors from the other building, Haesoo sees the familiar figure with a familiar dark-colored backpack with that bright smile on her face.

Kim Minji.

There she is, with her jet-black locks cascading down past her shoulders. A smile that can only be compared to the Sun, Haesoo's ultimate enemy—his worst rival but also the most adorable, thoughtful ray of sunshine a man could ask for. For almost a decade of being best friends with her, he's just so grateful to meet a girl like her as he can’t thank her enough for all of the work she's done for him as he does the same for her. Even though he didn’t feel worthy of being thanked by Minji, she’ll always reassure him, and let him know how grateful she is to have a friend like Haesoo, even though he teases her like it's his last. From her helping his smallest battles up to even fulfilling his needs, she’s always there for him as he's there for her. 

“And I think, she doesn’t even want to—”

 “Want to what???”

Minji lets out a muffled squirm, her shoulders shrugging and tensed up as she gets shocked by Haesoo's motives.

“Oppa!! Don't scare me like that! You weirdo…”

 “Ahh—Minji, Minji, Minji. You always know that I will.”

While Haesoo smiles from the success of his evil mischief, Minji's face was nothing near the emotion of happiness nor the same succession as his—her face is disgusted by Haesoo's silly, childish actions as she doesn't like it, hitting his shoulder playfully as she pouts right after. Knowing that she isn't really offended or serious about it, Haesoo just laughed it off as Minji mocks his laugh sarcastically as she teases Haesoo more, making him cackle more.

“Stop mocking me! You're ugly whenever you try to!”

“Ohh… Haesoo-oppa is so offended, wahh… He doesn't like to be teased when he teases me so much, wahhh…”

“Minji! Shh, shut up! O-Or I'll do it myself!”

“Like you can make me shut my mouth? Nuh-uh. Never.”

 “Oh, you little—”

“Hello oppa…” A soft-spoken girl interrupts Haesoo's not-so-heated teasing to Minji as the girl fixes her tie and does a small, little wave towards Haesoo, making him flash a cheeky little grin to her.

“Oh, hi Hanni…”

 “Well, I guess Hanni will make you shut up.”

Minji chides as she vents out the little frustration that she built up with Haesoo as he apologizes for Minji's sudden sulky demeanor.

“Whatever… Anyways, we're gonna go home with oppa, don't you wanna go with us?”

“Ohh, I'm waiting for Hyuk-oppa coz' we're going to a coffee shop right after his dismissal.”

“We'll wait for him then.”

Hanni's face was puzzled as Minji and Haesoo chose to stay to wait for Minhyuk, an oddity for her since she knows that only Minji's waits as Haesoo doesn't usually bond with the two girls—Hanni's even seeing Haesoo barely at times, mostly it's just him with Minji.

After a few minutes of waiting and chattering, a familiar figure makes Hanni's eyes wide open as he sees Minhyuk, rushing to hug him tight as he was shocked by her sudden affection.

“Ohh, Hanni… We're still in public. Come on…”

“Bwuf, I awlready mith you, oppa.”

Minji awkwardly looks at both Hanni and Minhyuk as she does a little wave to him, letting him know her presence. Haesoo, on the other hand, feels off and embarrassed at the sight of Hanni hugging Minhyuk affectionately. Not so long after, Hanni then pulls out of the hug as Minhyuk apologizes for Hanni's extremely clingy behavior.

“No need to apologize Hyuk, I can understand coz' Minji could be like that sometimes—”

“Shut up! I only do that coz' I feel cold, that's all.”

Haesoo gives Minji a disappointing stare, knowing that she's clearly lying on her teeth as she feels the same affection as Hanni does. The non-stop teases never stopped between the both of them as Minhyuk and Hanni can't stop smiling seeing them fight like cats and dogs.

“Guys! Stop arguing! We're still here!”

“Sorry oppa, he started it!”

“What do you mean I started it?? It's you who—”

 “Stop it! Please?”

Hanni's mildly infuriated tone are the switches to make their mouths shutted, refraining them to talk further as Haesoo apologizes for being too childish. Minhyuk's eyes became uneasy as a mad Hanni is a rare sight to see and not even him can usually see it.

An awkward silence prevails as Hanni decides to break it, her radiant energy immediately changing the once uneasy and anti-climactic atmosphere earlier. Such was the dynamic of the friend group, bickering ensues between Minji and Haesoo (the other two thinks those two have a huge crush on each other but who knows) and it’s up to Minhyuk and Hanni to break them up.

“Sorry about that, and… why don't we hang out for a bit? Today seems to be a good time!”

Haesoo seems to have second thoughts about Hanni's suggestion as Minji unhesitantly agrees on her motives. “Ooh! We can, a-and maybe at Haesoo-oppa's place?”

Their eyes averted towards Haesoo as his eyes widened from Minji's sudden suggestion to hang out at his place.

“I m-mean, why not? I'm absolutely free and I just cleaned my apartment yesterday but not right now. Maybe next week instead.”

Minji then goes in front of you as she pouts, her puppy-eyes convinces Haesoo to hang out at his place, alongside her motives of modulating her voice in an adorable, lower tone. Haesoo was doubtful, his cheeks puffing as he let out a sigh, knowing that she’s not having her friend doing “aegyo” in front of her.

 “Minji, stop it, you’re so cringe.”

 “Please can it be at your apartment?? We’ll just hang out and it’s us, so, please??”

 “Stop being so cute coz’ this is too cringe, please, Minji.”

Haesoo can’t definitely deny her at this rate since it will just add fuel to the flames so without any choice, he agrees and Minji squeals in joy as the other two flash a smile at you, knowing that they’re happy with your decision. Not so long after, the four of them then walked their way out of the campus. Minji hurriedly walks out as she gives her backpack to you, letting you carry it. With Haesoo being alone, this opens up a great opportunity for Hanni to approach him and ask questions about him and Minji that piqued her ever since Minji had talked about it. Hanni then ask Minhyuk of approaching Haesoo as he doesn't seem to mind, him agreeing as Hanni hurriedly walks towards Haesoo.

“Do you want some help, oppa?”

“Oh, a-ah, u-uhm… I don’t need some but thanks, anyways.”

Hanni just averted her eyes off Haesoo as she nodded but she didn't let her curiosity die at this moment.

“May I ask you something, oppa?”

 “Oh yeah, sure. Go ahead.”

 “This may sound incredibly weird or something, but I wanna ask you something, oppa. I hope it’s not too much or anything…”

 “I'm all ears, Hanni. It's alright.”

Hanni sighs deeply as she gains enough courage and feels the urge to ask Haesoo this question, no matter what the output can be.

“Ah, uhh—me and Hyuk-Oppa are exploring anything about oral sex, more like blowjobs and stuff and you, Oppa and Minji are quite experienced at that matter, so, I'm just wondering if the both of you can teach me some ways of it tonight?”

How does she know that Minji and Haesoo are—Well, it doesn't matter at this point since Hanni wants to learn, Haesoo is ready to oblige but he needs to inform Minji about this first. So, excusing Hanni for a second, Haesoo hurriedly goes to Minji to inform her about this matter.

“Uh, Minji…”

“If you're going to tease me again, I'm not—”

“No, Minji. This is about Hanni, your friend.”

Minji then faces Haesoo as her eyes widen, puzzled at what makes him mention Hanni out of the blue as she becomes all ears on what he's going to say.

“What's with Hanni then, oppa?”

“She said that they want to learn and explore more about oral sex, most likely blowjobs and how did they know that we had a thing about this?”

Minji's eyes were in shock, gulping anxiously as she's uneasy about what could happen next.

“Uh-uhmm… It's just them that knows about it. Hanni opened up to me about this and I decided to step in and help them. If you don’t mind, oppa, can we teach them tonight?”

Haesoo lets out a deep sigh as he doesn't know what to really say about this newfound information yet he's eager to oblige and help them too. Still feeling uneasy, Haesoo trusts them as she looks at Minji's eyes, feeling reassured and comfortable, as he’s still having second thoughts about this situation.

“I mean—okay but I don’t know what to really feel. What if someone finds out that we’re fuckbuddies or some sort—”

“No one will know, only them, oppa, okay?”

Minji then held Haesoo’s hand as a sign for further reassurance, letting Haesoo feel the comfort he'd never felt before.

“Just trust us, oppa, okay?”

“Alright then…”

With all of them being informed about “hanging out” at Haesoo's place, they then hurriedly walked their way up to his apartment with Minji leading the way.

“Oh god, I don't think this is good idea, fuck…” Haesoo mutters under his breath as the sense of excitement and worry runs down his veins. He has never agreed on something this crazy in his whole life, and neither are the rest of them (maybe) but he must not let anybody down tonight.

This will be one hell of a night, and it will be remarkable.

------

There wasn’t any party occurring anywhere near the vicinity of the building and if there could be anything like it, the neighbors may even file a noise complaint on how loud these four people are. Constant blabbering and laughs that even reverberated outside are just signs of enjoyment from all of them.

“Woah, this is such a nice apartment dude.”

“Oh yeah, thanks. I did a good cleaning yesterday, especially in the bedroom.”

“Oppa, why would you even bother cleaning if it's gonna get messy later?”

Hanni and Minhyuk laugh it out from Minji's 'double-meaning' type of joke as Haesoo glares at her with disappointment from his eyes.

“Minji, you're so— corny, gosh and also, how would I even know that y'all wanted to have sex at my apartment, tonight?”

“You have a fair point there, not gonna lie.”

After a minute of those constant, identical chattering with topics varying from anything they could think of, Minji then offers them if they want a glass of water as Hanni just thanked her and said that she’s fine yet Minhyuk was the opposite—he wants some as he’s a bit exhausted from the earlier school activities that's always a pain in the butt.

“You definitely need some energy later, oppa.”

“Thanks Minji.”

“Oh, where was I? Oh—right, so, y’all definitely want to do this now?”

“I mean, can we just watch a movie first? Or like, play some games?”

Reconsidering Hanni's suggestion to bond before the main thing, the rest of them start to brainstorm and most likely, agree to Hanni's suggestions.

“Well, let’s just watch some movies first, no?”

The rest of them agrees from Haesoo’s motives as he hurriedly opened the flat-screen television with the remote. Minji then steps besides Haesoo as he assists him in choosing what could have been the movie that will be enjoyed by all of them. Constant flashes of previews and swipes can be seen at the blue-screened emanated television as the two of them start a small argument on what’s the best one they can all watch.

“I’m telling you oppa, this is way—way better! We must watch this one! Not that stupid horror thriller movie—or whatever you call that!”

*laughs mockingly* “Oh, why? Because your wittle tiny heart can’t handle it? Aww, how cute of you, eh?”

“Argh—you’re so annoying, oppa!”

Haesoo read Minji like a book as she braced himself for the impact of Minji’s punch towards his shoulders. His intentions of annoying and teasing Minji is just the way to let himself win and to further make him entertained.

“Hello? We’re still here! Yoo-hoo!”

Minhyuk grew impatient with their childish-like fighting and might as well their behavior to be exact. Oh yes, they’re definitely still there and they argue like there’s no one around—them arguing like cats and dogs is probably a sight they should expect to see from now on…

“Sorry, Haesoo-oppa is just so annoying.”

“How am I even annoying? I was just teasing you—”

“Well, that’s the point dummy!”

“Hey! Oppa! Minji! Stop this small fight or whatsoever, please. We're not here to be cats and dogs to each other.”

You know things are going to get serious when Hanni steps up to stop this not-so-immature behavior of Minji and Haesoo. She doesn’t seem to be genuinely bothered but she just wants to make a positive approach towards the both of them, especially towards Haesoo.

The both of them said their respective apologies as Minji playfully punched Haesoo, him then flashing a smile back to her as Hanni initiated to pick the movie they’ll watch herself so there will be no “childish” fights that may occur anymore. Haesoo didn’t retaliate as Hanni picked up the remote from Haesoo’s hands as she quickly selected the movie she wanted to watch as the four of them sat on the couch and relaxed themselves.

This better not disappoint us all, Hanni…

------

Between the subsequent laughters, cries and screams by all of you is the sincere delight you’ve never felt before. 

Maybe this was a great idea all along.

You were really hesitant when it came to inviting visitors to your apartment, maybe except your family, some of your friends and maybe even Minji—it’s basically obvious on why Minji feels like comfortable at your apartment—

Apart from that, you’ve never really felt this much comfort and reassurance while bonding out with someone and you never thought that this would be this fun! You always love watching movies with someone  and it’s more fun when Minji is here, even though at the next second, the both of you will fight each other like rivals at its best. You always imagined how exciting it could be watching some thrilling films with groups of people and with Hanni and Minhyuk making your imagination into a reality, it couldn't be better—you're loving every second of this. 

“Gosh, I'm g-glad the movie is already done…”

Well, maybe a scaredy-cat Minji is not what you really expect, to say the least. She always exudes this kind of “fearless” demeanor whenever she's always with you, or perhaps, maybe, just sometimes. You could basically take a picture of her right now, a glimpse of her defenses down as she hides her face with a pillow that she's been hugging since the start of the movie. 

“Aha! Never knew you would be so scared watching this movie, huh?”

“Shut up, oppa, I'm not scared. This movie is just so not-my-type-ish~”

Well, it’s nothing new about her lying on her teeth. Not really. In fact, you’ll be even surprised if she’s straightforwardly honest. 

“Stop the cap Minji, aish…”

Yet, on the other hand, she convinces you like no one can. Like, you may even tell this is sorcery or some mind-bending magic that she uses against you to be persuaded by her. It's even worse when she looks right straight into your eyes as she instinctively pouts—like, who could resist this adorable bunny? Maybe, you can, but you could never deny how much you love it when Minji does that. 

“I'm being for real! Why don't you believe me—”

“Unnie, I saw you hiding your face on Haesoo-oppa's neck, care to explain that then?”

“It's just like a “me” thing, Hanni. You know me, right?”

Another lie. At this point, you know—and most likely Hanni too—that Minji isn't even trying anymore.

Maybe this is the reason why her nose is so sharp. Maybe it is, but honestly, it's not—most likely a childhood-like reference.

“Gosh, ugh… You got me. Now, happy?”

“More than happy, Minji.”

You mocked her, your eyebrows scrunching as sarcasm is evident in your tone. While you're busy mocking her, Minhyuk then comes behind you and whispers something that really wakes you up as you liked what he said. Minji noticed this and as the annoying friend you are, you started to look and laughed at her as curiosity lingered around her mind. She then comes in front of you as your faces are just inches from each other. It's nothing romantic but rather the opposite as she glared at you, her not-so-threatening aura demanding some answers from you.

“What did Minhyuk-oppa say, hm?”

“Nothing really much, Minji. It has nothing to do against you. *whispering* Don't embarrass us in front of them.”

Clearly, with a single sentence of you, Minji's well-mannered disposition prevails as she holds back her frustration towards your annoying behavior, not letting herself ruin her image in front of the two (Minhyuk and Hanni) even though it feels like she already did.

“Well, you're lucky oppa…”

Minji gives you an intimidating look as she faces Hanni and Minhyuk, ready to tell them something that no one will ever dare to forget.

“Uh, guys, since I think we all are like “warmed-up”, I was thinking if we should go and do the “thing” that Hanni wants to do?”

Ah, this horny girl, I swear—you muttered to yourself as you know that she's dying to feel you ever since the movie started. Those eyes glistening with excitement and lust whenever she steals glances with you throughout the film—you know that she's needy and eager to get up to the climax as soon as possible.

“Ahhh, Minji… Come on, it's like almost 7 P.M. right now. Don't you guys want to eat some dinner? I got some chicken and some ramen that we can cook first—”

“I'm still good, oppa. Thanks anyways.”

“Yeah, I'm pretty good too, thanks though.”

Hanni and Minhyuk respectfully decline your offer towards them as they just flashed a faint grin towards you, smiling awkwardly as they giggled to each other.

I guess they wanted the main course early too—well, it seems like it's the case yet you're unsure about their real desires. Maybe is it just because they're too shy towards you? Is it just because they wanted to have possibly the hottest oral session today? You’ll never know unless they answer your question themselves.

“Are you all sure? Not really starving or what?”

Hanni and Minhyuk shake their heads, letting you know that they’re fine as Minji looks at you and whispers something in your ear that turns you on immediately.

“Well, the only dinner I’ll be craving today is that delicious cock of yours, oppa.”

She really knows the right choice of words to let your defenses down as you're aroused on those words, her deep, husky voice being the cherry on top is something you'll always love. Minji is something really clever when it comes to these things as she knows that she'll get what she wants once she starts talking dirty to you. You absolutely wanna be just used by her at this very moment but you won't let you guard down as you look at her sternly and unimpressed, your nonchalant tone while talking is enough to intimidate her.

“Let's just start this, shall we? Minji is—uhh, kinda needy, so, that's why…”

Well, she won't lie about that when she knows she already confessed her needs towards you earlier. She will also get what she wants, and you're ready to fulfill those wants as you're also dying to feel the warmth of her mouth again—it's like she didn't sucked you off two days ago at her place.

With the utmost trust you have with Minji, you let her set this session up making Hanni and Minhyuk comfortable on what she's going to do. She further reassures them that they shouldn't be nervous and you, as part of this so-called “session” will do your best to make them comfortable too. Without no time to waste, all of you then coursed your way to your bedroom and they were met with the simplicity of it. 

The organized setup and arrangement of your things makes them compliment on how tidy your bedroom looks. Those so-called soundproof walls and the mix of the latte-like colors is the cherry on top—basically it makes them think that it represents tranquility and the utmost simplicity.

“Your room looks really good, Haesoo.”

“Thanks, Hyuk. Really cleaned and organized things thoroughly yesterday.”

As they wandered over to your room, Hanni stumbled upon a well-secured transparent box full of common adult toys and more as she told you and Minji about it. You were in shock and panicking on what to do yet Minji immediately approached Hanni and is well-composed about it.

“Oh, unnie! Is this what I think it is—”

“Oh, Hanni, yes, those are adult toys and we sometimes use them with oppa whenever we want to spice things up yet for now, we’ll pretty much gonna be vanilla.”

The sudden panic you’ve felt and the tension on your body wears off as Minji holds the situation calm and composed. You always love these small actions from her as her leadership skills as well as her urge to teach someone and to inform them what makes Minji a good friend of yours. 

Ahh, I should learn more from Minji—you should definitely learn from her more but today, you’ll let her know something that no one else could and you can’t just wait for it.

With you hopping on the bed, you relaxed yourself as the so-called “session” was about to start. Hanni and Minhyuk averted their eyes towards the both of you as Minji went down on her knees, you then spread your legs wide as the beast inside you is just an inch away from freedom, freedom in Minji’s hands.

“Now, oppa, just relax, alright? And Hanni, come here, I’ll show you how it’s done, okay? You just need to observe me.”

With Minji’s reassuring tone, Hanni feels comforted and enthusiastic, her eyes burning with desire and eagerness to learn and discover. 

Without any time to waste, Minji hurriedly drops down to her knees in front of you as she works her way on undressing your bottom half—your belt being unbuckled hurriedly and carefully as she wears off your boxers and your pants in one swift motion.

Minji is in awe at the sight of your freed length, getting erect under her spell as licked her lips in anticipation, you then sensing her exhilaration as her uneasy hands and gleeful smile says enough. Still down on her knees, she pumped your hardening erection with vigor and renewed fervor, making sure that you're fully-erect before she makes an unforgettable show for the two of them.

With the temptation of teasing her, you finally gave in. You then trace her luscious, plump lips with your index finger, feeling every inch and the softness of it as she sucks on it wantonly, her eyes igniting with lust, excitement and  nervousness—might as well add the exigency burning on her iris and those hazel-colored eyes that you always adore and finally, those pupils dilating right in front of you as the cherry on top. With her own, seductively sinful actions, you involuntarily get more aroused than ever as her single touch awakens the entirety of all of your five senses.

“Now, Hanni, for the fun part, watch and learn.”

Minji tucks her hair behind her neck as Hanni watches beside her, her eyes in the form of analyzing every move of hers. 

Minji starts her oral assault on your dick as her tongue circles around the slit, peppering your tip with kisses as she adores the length of yours as with her every touch, it brings peak pleasure and jolts down your spine. She alternates between the short licks and kisses around the base up to your tip as she doesn't let a single inch untouched.

“Oh fuck, M-Minji, that's good.”

You don't want to hold yourself back, not when Hanni is eager to learn and Minji is sucking you off like it's her favorite lollipop. Small moans escape your mouth as Minji smiles between her aggressive licks, knowing how she's doing a great job at pleasuring you as Hanni's eyes sparkle in enthusiasm and how hot the scene is.

“Look closely at oppa, Hanni. You see oppa's facial expressions? That's what you should aim for whenever you're doing this.”

Hanni studiously nods as she takes notes in her head, her eyes averting towards your face and Minji's work from time to time.

Now enough for the playful licks and lustful kisses onto your shaft, Minji’s mouth shifts her focus down to your balls as she kneads them gently like a dough, making sure that you won't be hurt at the same time, still feeling the peak euphoria. Instead of her mouth invading the entirety of your shaft, she instead strokes your length with a rhythm that's pleasurably slow—you couldn't ask for more as you ultimately trust the dexterity of her fingers rhythmically massaging and stroking your shaft. She then takes a ball in her mouth as she sucks on it gently as the pleasure you’re feeling skyrockets, stimulating you further as you release the infamous colorless liquid from your slit.

“Y-You see how she alternates on s-sucking the tip then my balls? That's how you g-give a nice, s-stimulating blowjob, Hanni.”

You point the details of Minji’s spectacular work on your cock as Hanni takes notes eagerly with her eyes wandering over your length, burning with lust. With your keenness and the amicable tone of your voice, Hanni feels more enthusiastic learning and observing everything that Minji does.

If only you were eloquent and can think articulately on this moment, you could have guided and taught Hanni better as the dopamine overloading your brain is to blame for the unavailability of you to think clearly.

As Minji continues sucking each of your testicles, your fingers run down her dark-brown locks as you let out several moans and groans as she stimulates you too well. Minji is a master of her own craft—everything she does is at peak greatness, flawlessly executed like no other can. The way she sucks you with intimate fervor up to the hypnotizing rhythm of her strokes, it just shows how passionate she is on pleasuring you and with Minhyuk and Hanni watching, she won't let nobody down as she exerts more enthusiasm and effort which you really like and always adore.

Minji once circles her tongue again at your slit as she delightfully consumes the pre-cum leaking out of it. A few more licks is what it takes before she does the climax of the show as the both of you made eye contact, knowing what Minji will do as you prepared yourself on what could have been the best blowjob of your whole life.

Minji then pushes her mouth, taking up the half of your dick as she bobs her head, up and down, the pace gradually increasing over time as the dopamine you're feeling is getting over the roof. Minji sucks you off like there's no tomorrow—herself drooling over your cock as saliva seeps out of her mouth, dripping down to her chin and then staining her uniform. Only constant sonorous sounds and the sinful slurpings can be heard as Minji gobbles down on your dick, her facial expression signaling that she's savoring the taste of your cock, like a candy she can’t get enough of.

“Oh my god, Minji is just so good, right, Hanni?”

“Unnie is really good at a lot of things Oppa and oh gosh, this is just so hot.”

Minhyuk and Hanni’s praises reverberate around Minji’s ear as they commend her performance on your throbbing length which makes her invigorated to step up her game, even though she doesn't need to. She then fondles your balls as her repeated slurps and circling of her tongue becomes more aggressive, making you moan her name in ecstasy. 

Not so long after, she pulls out of length, gasping for air as she gains oxygen, you allowing her to as you caress her hair, letting her know how satisfied you are with her performance. String of saliva connects to your tip up to her mouth it drips down to your balls and even the remnants drip down to her uniform.

You swear to god, she's just hotter and more ruinable when she's in her uniform, sucking you off with vigor in her eyes.

Minji didn't even bother uttering a single word and instead, took you in her mouth again as this time, she effortlessly deepthroat you, making you squirm in pleasure as her warm, wet cavern sends your brain in haywire. You were caught off-guard as you really thought that she was gonna stop but it was a complete opposite—she takes every single inch of your length inside her mouth as frantic bobbing of her head ensues, her lips wrapped around your glans up to the base of your shaft. More saliva seeps out of her mouth as she becomes a disheveled mess—her hair messier than before, remnants of her lipstick now smearing the base of your shaft, a hint of her makeup ruined as tears stream down her cheeks and her drool seeping out of her mouth being the cherry on top. Hanni is in awe and shock at how eager Minji sucks your cock as constant slurps and forceful gagging reverberates around the room. You can feel the knot in your loins tightening up, so you informed Minji about it as she knows that you’ll be releasing soon on how much your length is throbbing inside her warm mouth.

“M-Minji, fuck—I’m about to cum…”

There it is—almost there—it’s almost there—

Pop.

A loud pop is all you hear as you can see Minji pulling out on your length that’s once invaded by her mouth. You can just see a sight of a ruined Minji and the strings of saliva connecting to your tip up to her mouth as she breathes heavily right after, catching her breath from the breathtaking (pun intended) act she has done onto your shaft.

“Why d-did you stop?”

Minji chides as she squints with a hint of her fierce glare, letting you know that something is wrong but you aren’t sure what it could be.

“Why not? And, you're not gonna blast your load on my throat, not right now.”

Not right now.

Is she implying something? Is she going to surprise you? Well, maybe time will tell to find out what exactly she has in store behind those lustful eyes of hers.

“I hate how fucking good your cock always tastes like.”

The oxymoron in her sentence just shows how she always adored your shaft at all times as the intense fervor and enthusiasm of her performance earlier is one evidence of it. She won’t stop herself from getting obsessed with your length and even with the worst of all moods and even if she lies through her teeth, she will always get aroused with the thought of you and most likely, the woodwork between your legs.

I'm going to ruin you tonight, Minji. Mark my words.

------- 

Minji's sudden eccentric demeanor is something rarely seen by Hanni, let alone you. It feels unreal at how everything seems to be out of place; everything happened so fast that it doesn't feel right. The other side of you, says the opposite as you felt aroused and enjoyed the spectacular performance you've witnessed and you can't wait to feel what Haesoo felt.

“Ok Hanni, we'll start right now, okay? And Hyuk-oppa, I want you to relax and we’ll do the work, okay? I need you to trust us and I’m sure Hanni will do a great job.”

You feel reassured with Minji's soft and stern-filled tone as you lay back on the bed as she instructs Hanni to get down on her knees, right in front of your crotch.

“Undress him, Hanni. Maybe, you can tease him with your fingers while stripping him but I prefer it the fast way.”

“What do you mean by “the fast way”, unnie?”

“This is what I mean—”

Within a single second, you can just see Minji undressing you hurriedly as she yanks your pants and boxers with one swift motion, your raging, almost full-erected length is now released from its frustrating restraints as it almost hits Hanni in the face. You can tell that she’s serious about this as her forbidding eyes full of lust and anticipation says enough. You don’t know if you should be scared or excited with that but you then relaxed yourself, trusting them with all of your heart as all you can think is how good these girls (most likely Hanni) will make you feel good.

“Oh, sorry oppa! Are you hurt or some—”

“No, I’m good, it’s just—”

“Too fast? It’s alright, we’ll make sure that you’ll feel good right after.”

With Minji’s further reassurance and your relaxed state, Minji then instructs Hanni the basics and the supposedly start for a good blowjob.

“You can stroke Hyuk-oppa slowly okay? And, I want you to pepper his cock with kisses and, I need those kisses filled with intimacy and eagerness, okay?”

Damn, Minji has never been hotter instructing someone like this—

It’s maybe your first time seeing this side of Minji as she’s a completely different person when she’s teaching someone eagerly—her never faking a façade for even a split second.

Without any time to waste, Hanni peppers your shaft with lust-filled kisses as she doesn't leave anything untouched with her luscious, plump lips. With this single action of hers, you're now fully-erected as your slit leak amounts of that colorless liquid, aroused with the sight of your best friend pleasuring you with her utmost efforts.

Her strokes are leisurely done with enamore in her eyes but you won't complain nonetheless as her mouth are the ones responsible for the peak dopamine you've been experiencing. Even though Hanni is naïve about this stuff, it feels like she's done this multiple times as her talented mouth drives you crazy—she's a complete natural at this.

“Also, if oppa is leaking, consume it, okay? Don't waste your food and I bet, it's really, really delicious, maybe even better than Haesoo-oppa's.”

Haesoo glares at Minji's not-so-serious roast as the three of them laughed. Knowing that Haesoo isn't offended, the three of you continue what you've been doing.

Hanni follows Minji's instructions as her warm tongue presses against your slit, collecting the pre-cum out of it as you squirm and moan with the sensitivity and pleasure you've been feeling. 

 “Oh gosh, Hanni, you're doing really well. So now, it's either you can increase the pace of your strokes by spitting on your hand so it becomes more lubricated, for you to easily stroke him with a fast pace or you could start sucking his tip with your mouth and tongue, your choice though.”

As much as you want those slim fingers with her long, well-manicured nails stroking your cock with intense fervor, the latter sounds much more pleasurable and way hotter as you're dying to feel her warm, inviting mouth wrapping around your swollen, mushroom-shaped tip.

Hanni didn't even utter a single word as all you ever felt is her warm cavern—which is her mouth—wrapped around your tip as she slowly sucked it. The pace was excruciatingly slow as you're dying for Hanni to increase the pace but you let her do what she wants to. Gradually increasing the pace of her bobbing, she adds a few licks onto your swollen cockhead as you continue to moan her name, like a chant ringing around Hanni's ear. Hearing this, she smiled as she thinks she's doing a great job and on the other hand, Minji is not really getting impressed by the sight of this—maybe she wanted Hanni to gradually make this scene hotter or she's just really impatient, who knows what she has in mind.

“Stroke him while you suck his tip and maybe even fondle his balls so he gets more stimulated. Gosh, I know you can do better than this Hanni.”

Hanni just nods to Minji between her bobs as she uses her drool as a lubricant to pump your shaft. Between her strokes, she hurriedly, and gently fondles your testicles as you groan in pleasure. Her strokes and fondles don't really synchronize to the rhythm of her bobs and licks onto your tip but that's what makes it incredible. The blowjob may not be close to the utmost perfection that Minji has done to Haesoo, but nonetheless, it's way too pleasurable and she's too good for a first-timer.

“There you go Hanni! You're doing a great job. Hyuk-oppa is moaning like crazy, do you hear that? Oh, he must be so needy for you and, ooh, what's this? You're already wet, huh?”

“Icawn't hwelp iwt, unniw—”

You could tell how Hanni had waited for this moment as her needs are also inevitable as much as your cock is so irresistible for her. Her muffled speech is still somewhat audible considering how she's slobbering so much over that juicy meat of yours. The accumulated drool makes your testicles wet by dripping on it and so is the tie of her uniform, making the scene hotter.

“W-We should have d-done this sooner, Hanni.”

Hanni only responds with a satisfied hum and an immediate nod as she continues the oral assault on your throbbing length. She then applies what she saw on Minji's performance earlier as she takes half of your length, frantically bobbing her head as she pumped your shaft with vigor. Hanni's tears are evident as you can see the glint in her eyes, further messing up her make-up as the lipstick now smears alongside your length.

Not so long after, she gags onto taking half of you as Minji instructs her to relax the muscles on her throat.

“Relax, Hanni, relax…”

Pop.

Another almost so-identical pop can be heard as Hanni pulls out of your shaft, coughing and gasping for breath.

“Oh shit—are you okay, Hanni?”

Minji then pats Hanni's head as you ask if she's not hurt or anything, concern evident from both of your eyes.

“Is she alright?”

“I think so, Haesoo—”

“I-I'm g-good—I'm fine.”

A sigh of relief escapes your mouth as you're reassured seeing your friend, Hanni, responding to your questions and that she's not hurt in any way.

“I know how much you want to take it all in, but don't force it if you can't, okay?”

Hanni nods frantically as she holds your shaft again, stroking you before taking you again into her warm cavern. 

She's now a disheveled mess considering how she's sucking you off like a lollipop that can't get enough. She slobbers all over your raging length as more saliva seeps out of her mouth, knowing that she loves the taste of your shaft. You then grabbed her dark locks, making a makeshift ponytail as an outlet to fight the pleasure you've been feeling. Hanni didn't mind your motives and continued what she's doing, and more so, being more enthusiastic hearing your lustful moans and calls of her name.

“Hanni Pham. Hanni Pham. Hanni Pham! Ahhh—I'm gonna cum!”

You don't hold back as the knot in your stomach tightens, signaling your release. Hanni then stops sucking you off, pointing your throbbing length right at her face as she licks her lips, full of anticipation and bracing herself on what's about to come. Her hurriedly furious strokes send you into overdrive as she sticks her tongue out, as tempting as possible, making you aroused even more.

“I'm—fu—ahh, cumming!”

Your ragged breaths turned into relieving sighs and moans as you release shots of thick, warm semen at her disheveled face, painting every inch of her visage in pearly white as she moans in satisfaction and how warm your load feels on her face.

She then strokes you on your orgasm, making you squirm in half-pain and half-pleasure as your post-sensitiveness doesn't help with it. With a few breaths escaping your mouth, you slowly recover with your high as you regain your vision back to normal.

“W-Woah, that was one hell of a load, oppa.”

Wow. She's just so beautiful with your hot load covering every inch of her face.

She is truly beautiful, but right now, she's just simply breathtaking. 

You still lay down on the bed as Hanni scoops a small sample of your semen on her cheek, tasting it as she squirms in delight, knowing that she's ultimately satisfied.

“Oh god, that was so fucking hot. Shit…”

Minji is just flummoxed on how incredibly hot this went. She's in awe of how well Hanni did as she praises her, Hanni then flustered as her cum-covered cheeks shades a rosy pink.

“Where's the bathroom, Haesoo? Because, I'll help Hanni clean up—”

Haesoo points on which way directs to the bathroom as they hurriedly went there, Hanni getting some tissues on the pastel-brown colored box near the table.

Well, this was only just the beginning of what's about to come.

------

It has not been a long time since Minhyuk and Hanni went to the bathroom as you supposedly wait for them to come out, but they don't and it all fits incredibly well to your plan.

“M-Minji…”

“What, oppa?”

You stammer as between your ragged breaths are those needy, lustful eyes of yours begging to fulfill your own needs. You can't take it any longer as that act of Minhyuk and Hanni makes you almost touch yourself to release it but you know that Minji wouldn't like it, because you know how she doesn't want any drop wasted.

“I r-really need t-to fuck your face.”

Minji is shocked at how straightforward you are as she smirks right after, knowing that teasing and edging you is the best option, maybe just a revengeful act on what you've done earlier.

What exactly did you do for her to be like this though? Maybe it's because of all the teasing you've done earlier or maybe, it's because of her picked movie not getting picked to be watch by all of you—yet, either way, it's childish if those are the exact reasons but you half-doubted these thought because it's just maybe her wanting to act dominant around you.

“Hell no! You're not fucking my face after what you've don—”

You pin her against the bed as your face is just inches away from hers, letting her smell the mint-flavored toothpaste on your breath. You glare at her as she glares back at you, not falling for your dominance.

“But what did I exactly do, hm, Minji?”

The switch of your stances are so abrupt that the two of you are shocked, but stayed in that, nonetheless. Being the dominant person is always fun and no wonder why Minji loves to act dominant with you but this time, you wouldn't let that happen, not even a single second.

“You e-exactly—ahhh—teased me so m-much… You're s-so damn, a-annoying—”

“Oh, getting weak now, huh, Minji? Never knew that my single touch will make you too much for yourself to handle, hm?”

Minji is never a quitter. She never was and no wonder why she's a friend to rely on: she's capable of teaching others with enthusiasm and she never gives up and quits. You loved those traits of hers but right now, you're adamant. You won't let her small games trick you to fall into submission yet she reads you like a book, breaks your defenses like it was nothing. She looks at you, straight in the eye as she places her warm hand on your chest, feeling the sudden enervation as you feel falling right into her knees.

“It's not that, oppa, it is because—”

Not allowed to finish her sentence, you kiss her lips as you invade her mouth right away, exchanging breaths and intimacy as she fights back with her tongue, dominating you. The taste of her strawberry-lipstick is still there, so, you savor the flavor ultimately of her lips with it, like some candy you can't get enough of. The intimate kiss lasts abruptly as Minji pushes you, letting herself to not fall over your dominative aura.

“Ahh—o-okay! Okay! I'll let you fuck my face but if Hanni and Minhyuk-oppa gets out of the bathroom, this will be over, okay? I don't care if you'll fuck me with just a second or if I’ll edge you.”

Wasting no time, the both of you got up on the bed as Minji knelt right in front of you. She pumped your erection furiously, like it's her last. Knowing that it's fully-erect, she took you in and started bobbing her head up and down.

It was like the ordinary blowjob she had given earlier but this time, it will be a spectacular one as it's way better. You wasted no time putting your hands behind her face as you started to thrust slowly. Between your sluggish pace, Minji adjusts herself on your length as to her surprise, you begin thrusting frantically, which caught her off-guard. 

She welcomes each rough thrust as you pound her mouth with abandon as drool seeps out of it, knowing how well you're using her tight, warm cavern. Constant moans escape your breath as you use her mouth like a fleshlight that nobody can afford. Everytime your tip hits the back of her throat, she lets out a gag that reverberates around the room. You didn't give her some time to even breathe as you pound her mouth more, only concern for your own pleasure, her then holding both of your hands with her own on the back of your head, further assisting you on fucking her.

You know she loves this so much and you can see it from her eyes, those oh-so lustful, brown eyes, full of glint as tears stream down her cheeks. You know that she wants to touch herself under that uniform, so with force (you're still gentle towards her), you force her to avert her gaze towards your eyes as not so long after, she matches your rough thrusts with the bobbing of her head.

“F-Fuck, your mouth feels so good—argh! As always, it feels so good, so tight, perfectly shaped with my cock. You're wanting this, aren't you, huh? What a greedy little brat who wants to ruined by m-me. Don't worry Minji, I'll m-make sure your mouth will be well-spent once I'm done fucking you—”

You double your efforts on fucking her face as you felt the familiar knot on your loins, signalling that you will release anytime soon. As you're busy pounding Minji's mouth, you then hear a loud click echoing from a door, the sound is most likely coming from the bathroom.

“Unnie, Haesoo-oppa! Are you guys done—ah!”

To their surprise, Hanni and Minhyuk were shocked to see you mercilessly fucking Minji's mouth as it shows a lewd display to them, making them feel something that is not right. 

It shouldn't feel right. Yes, it shouldn't, but here you are, using Minji's mouth like it's your last as you didn't fulfill her deal and might as well, her wants. Knowing that you won't last any longer, you groan as you screamed her name in ecstasy.

“Oh fuck, Minji, I'm going to c-cum, and you're going to take i-it like a good girl, okay?”

All it takes are a few thrusts before you know that you’re going to blast out. Tricking her into releasing inside her cavern, you suddenly pulled out of her warm, tight mouth as surprisingly, she initiated to furiously stroke your throbbing length until your orgasm arrives, just right in time.

“P-Please give me your l-load, oppa. I’m dying to feel and t-taste it…”

“I’m cumming Minji!”

Minji’s idyllic smile is the last thing you see as you roll your head back, letting everything out as streaks of hot, thick semen fire towards Minji’s enticingly beautiful face. As much as she wants your load down her throat where she would choke and taste it, she wouldn’t complain about being painted fully, every inch of her face covered by your own cum. The both of you then laid down at the bed, exasperated with all of the action you’ve done as you recover from your high and Minji gasping for air as both of your faces are flustered as you exchanged smiles with each other.

Gosh, Minji is just really ethereal looking like that—she is indeed ethereal as if you were to be asked, she’s the epitome of beauty. Even her being a disheveled mess with you to blame by your own doing, she always looked gorgeous nonetheless.

The two of you are so focused on each other that you didn’t even know that Minhyuk and Hanni already came out of the bathroom as you can only see their eyes, perplexed by the hot sight that just happened. 

“I’m still not done with you, Minji.”

As Minji’s still tracing some samples of your load from your cheeks to taste it, you then grabbed her wrists and turned her, facing against you as she didn’t even dare to resist from your actions—you know from this moment, she fell into submission and it couldn’t have been better.

“Op—pa~, please be gentle—”

“I am, Minji, and now, be a good girl for me, okay?”

All that Minji can do is nod frantically as she gets down on her fours, knowing that she will be taken care of by you (definitely). Offering your finger for her to further assess her wanton needs, she greedily sucked on it as the mixture of your cum and her saliva can be tasted by hers. Not so long after, you hike up her skirt and notice the not-so-common spot on her panties.

“You’re wet, huh? Hah, well it’s not really new because I know how much you are always dripping wet because of me.”

“S-Shut up…”

It’s true. Even though she always lies about it (as most of the time, she does), you know that deep inside, she is already aroused and wet by the thought of you ruining her. She can’t get enough of you as much as you are to her as the feelings are mutual, and you couldn’t ask for more.

It almost feels like you didn’t wanna strip her off because of how you’re much more aroused with her disheveled uniform but you had no choice but to do so—you can still fuck her with those clothes on but it would be a struggle at your end.

Tracing your fingers slowly on her milky, pristine thighs, you make her feel how she’s going to be ruined by you as gasps and shallow breaths escape her mouth, her emotions with a mix of anticipation and nervousness. She squirms under your touch as you know how sensitive she feels right now, and it’s way too much because of how submissive she feels under your spell.

“W-Why are you teasing m-me so much—ahhh—”

“Because why not? I’ll reward you right after but you need to be a good girl, do you understand?”

Another nod. At this moment, you know that you’re in full control because of her submissive antics towards you yet you're still not complacent about it. To further assert your dominance, you lightly pull her hair, making a makeshift ponytail as you spank her butt harshly enough to make a mark and to make it sting—the sting lasting until later, or maybe even until tomorrow. She squirms and wails in pleasure as the dark spot on her panties got worse, letting you know how drenched she is right now. You then yank her panties off, down her ankles as your hardened girth twitches on the sight of her dripping pussy, drenched with her own juices. You then brush your index finger gently on her waiting entrance as she squirm and moans your name, arousing you even further. 

“Stop t-teasing me, oppa. Just p-put it in me already…”

“Nu-uh, just be patient Minji, okay? If you aren’t, this won’t be better for the both of us.”

Minji grew impatient from your own antics and games. Her pussy is drenching wet as her sultry moans and squirms reverberate around your ear and all you can see is a needy, submissive Minji.

“Pleas—se oppa, I n-need you inside me…”

You ignore her pleas as you rub her clit with your thumb with a rhythm so pleasurable that Minji can't help but wail and moan. 

If she edged you earlier, might as well pay her with her own coin.

“I can't seem to hear you, Minji. Hah, it would be a shame if you were to get off on my fingers. ”

“Please oppa, just p-put it in—ahh—me, please. I w-wanna feel you oppa, please…”

With Minji’s further attempts to persuade you into fucking her, it just further ignites the flames of teasing her, which she didn’t approve of. It’s maybe hitting her, realizing that you’re doing this to her in payback of her edging you earlier. She hitched a breath as symphonies of moans escaped her lustful mouth. 

“I’m s-sorry about edging you e-earlier, oppa. So please, I w-want to feel you, please, p-please, please, just shove y-your fat cock in my p-pussy and t-tame the living brat out o-of me. Fuck me hard and use me like a toy like you a-always do.”

Her submissive pleas are basically now a chant ringing on your head as between her numerous stutters are wails of pleasure coursing down her veins. With her great choice of words to tempt and arouse and your carnal needs towards her, you also can’t help to tease her for so long as you grabbed the bottle of lube from the cabinet table nearby and began pouring some on your hands. Minji knew about your motives about this as she tried to complain but you read her mind as you hissed at her.

“I’ll do what I want to do, Minji and you’ll like this like you always do.”

Lubricating your throbbing girth with a thick layer of lube, you tease your tip onto her waiting asshole as you insert a finger on the rim of it, teasing her further as it sends her mind into overdrive. You then teased your hard erection with rubs on Minji’s soft buttcheeks as you spanked it again, sending ripples and waves of pleasure on Minji. You then stopped teasing her as the long wait is over, the both of you gasping and wailing as you feel each other’s touch.

“Shit! Oppa! You're s-so big—ahh!”

“M-Minji—ah! Fuck, you’re so t-tight—ahh! So, so tight—grrr.”

Symphonies of moans and calls escape from both of your mouths as you push your tip further, sending shivers down your spine as over time, you gradually increase the pace of your thrusts, therefore overloading the dopamine you're feeling. 

It always had been an euphoric experience having sex with Minji. Whether it is just a fast one or such long sessions, you always feel like you're in heaven, in a state of bliss—rather calling this, perfection. The two of you always loved exploring new things to do and today is the perfect time to do so, as Hanni and Minhyuk are the ones who will make this more than an unforgettable experience.

With your constant rhythm of thrust inside Minji's incredibly tight asshole, you can't but grip on her makeshift ponytail as you begin to pound her ass with only concern of your own pleasure. You know that she likes it rough and hard, so you need to fulfill her wants by simply granting it. 

“H-Harder, oppa. Fuck me h-harder—ahh! Yes! Ahh!! Use m-me, punish me—ah!”

Her mouth is agape as subsequent moans of pleasure only comes from it, her eyes rolling over on how well you're fucking her. You begin to exert more effort into fucking her as the constant slapping of each of your own bodies echoes around the room as the heat from the hot sex that's happening emanates around the room. Between her constant wails of pleasure and your groans with your gritted teeth, you noticed that she's touching herself, rubbing her thumb on her clit as her own juices stain the bed sheets—and you swear to god, you're going to clean and fix your bed again on how dirty is this going to be. You didn't care about it as Minji fingers herself faster, synchronizing to the rhythm of your thrusts as she screams your name within a constant pattern, still able to form coherent sentences and words despite how rough you’re pounding her ass right now. 

“Haesoo-oppa, Haesoo-oppa, Kang Haesoo! Ahhh—y-you're fucking me too good! Shit—you always fuck me so well, oppa—guhh—ahh!”

With her calling your name, your length throbs gradually as her juices streams out of her pussy like a waterfall on how much it has been dripping, you know that she's gonna climax soon as you helped her reach her high sooner, inserting a finger on her wet, warm cavern as your other hand holds her hips still, assisting yourself in a relentless pace that you're always loved doing.

“Oppa, I'm gonna cum—AHH!!”

It was all enough for Minji as her reservoir broke loose, her juices gushing out, staining the bed sheets and might as well some of it on the floor and your thighs. Her climax was so strong that you felt the excessive pulsations of her pussy even though your length isn't penetrated in it. You never stop thrusting as you fuck her through her orgasm as your chasing yours too. With your rough thrusts still occurring, you’re still surprised the spaced-out Minji still has the ability to assist you, moving herself in unison of your thrusts as you groan her name, the pleasure skyrocketing and heightening up all of your senses.

“Oh shit, Minji, I’m about to fucking cum and y-you’re gonna take it like the good girl you are, won’t you?”

“Ahh—ahh! Y-Yes, oppa—ahh!”

If you were to be asked, there’s nothing coherent and articulate about Minji’s response as her moans and screams of pleasures prevailed. You give her a few more hammering thrusts as you bury the entirety of your cock deep down her tight cavern as you can feel your orgasm coming soon.

It was all too much, way too much for you to handle as you groaned Minji’s full name in unison with your euphoric high. Thick shots of white, pearly semen paints the inside of Minji’s ass as you managed to pull out of her clenched hole, the last shots then painting her pillowy cheeks, a canvas painted white as your cum glistens on her soft, luscious skin and the first rounds then dripping out of her asshole. Your orgasm sends shockwaves throughout your body as it enervates you, but not for too long as you regain your stamina back, ready to ruin this beautiful girl more in front of you.

“I’m gonna enjoy ruining you Minji.”

“R-Ruin me please, oppa. I misbehaved s-so bad you need to punish me more. Please strip m-me oppa, please…”

“Don’t tell me what to do, brat! I’m gonna fuck you with this uniform on you until you pass out.”

Ignoring her pleas just send gasoline on the fire of lust as her peak submissiveness arouses you further as your cock twitches on her glistening cunt, wet with her own doing. Positioning yourself onto her entrance, she grabs your arm for support as you will reward her more—more like a punishment in this situation.

Whilst the two of you are on the verge of another hot, steamy sex, small whimpers and groans can be heard to the other side of the room as it reverberates around your ear. Your suspicion was right, it’s Hanni and Minhyuk making love as you didn’t avert your focus towards them as you’re mind is way too clouded about fucking Minji and maybe even more.

------

It doesn’t feel right, it shouldn’t feel right. And yet the hushed whispers of encouragement in your ears as you carefully plunge your length inside her is only driving you further and further into madness. Every “oh fuck” and “yes please” rolling off her tongue so smoothly, so lustfully only serves to heighten all five of your senses. Lips brush past hers as they find refuge on the crook of her neck, your tongue darting out carefully to capture the sweet and salty taste of sweat that you have already discovered to be so addicting. The reaction is immediate; her tiny body squirming and writhing as you continue to lap up such an immaculate taste of her sensitive skin. Wrap your muscular arms around her to keep her steady and to feel more of her soft skin against yours. It’s messy, it’s hot, it’s raw, and it’s downright carnal. But it doesn’t compare to the guttural moan that she emits once you finally reach the promised land, legs quickly wrapping around your waist as you fill her completely. 

“H-Hyuk oppa!”

Whereas Minji and Haesoo are fucking each other like rabbits, you prefer to take it nice and slow because Hanni deserves that level of respect and attention. Capture her lips for a fervent kiss once more, partly because you wanted to muffle her loud moans so that the four of you don’t receive a noise complaint—God forbid anyone finds out about the sinful things happening right in this very place—but also because you want to taste her again. And again, and again, and again. You just can’t get enough of those lips: soft, plump, and with just a hint of the strawberry lip balm she always uses. It’s a perfect concoction that serves to push you towards the edge of your sanity, holding on tightly much like she does with her well-manicured nails latching onto your shoulders and making deep, red scratches that will surely sting once you wake up tomorrow. But adrenaline overpowers your system, a sensation more lust-inducing than the strongest alcohol ever crafted.

“Hmmph!” 

It also serves as distraction while you continue to gradually increase the pace, though the tightness of her warm and velvety walls makes it difficult to do so. But you would gladly give her all the time in the world to adjust to you (it was already a challenge for her mouth to accommodate your raging cock), especially if the payoff includes having her body pressed against yours with no inch to spare. Pull away from the kiss regretfully to regain oxygen but you don’t stop in your pursuit of pleasure, stare intently at her unfocused eyes and they convey more than a thousand words could. They burn with passion and unbridled lust that could only be matched by the intensity of your own eyes. You already found her gorgeous to begin with (especially when she’s sucking the soul out of you) but nothing can beat the sight of her disheveled hair, bruised lips, and rose-tinted cheeks all while she whispers your name like some sort of mantra. 

“Hyuk oppa.”

“Hyuk oppa.”

“Hyuk oppa.”

Each thrust is an earnest attempt in locating that sweet, magical spot that would be the cause of her undoing; to completely unravel that woman that you’ve known for over a decade. It’s a journey that leaves your abs burning like you just ran a marathon but the reward is more than worth the wait as she slumps forward, energy completely zapped out of her with repeated jabs towards the soft bundle of nerves. Her canines bite down on your clavicle, surely an unorthodox way of expressing her outburst of pleasure. They dig down on your skin as if you’re a prey somewhere in the middle of a barren landscape. She mewls, then a sound that can only discern itself as a mixture of cries and wails. Or maybe it’s Minji making those noises while Haesoo continue to fuck the living hell out of her—good thing it’s the weekend because she won’t be able to walk at all. But the point is moot, you suppose this is Hanni’s revenge for covering her neck with hickeys that announces to the entire world that you two fucked, at your friend’s place nonetheless. 

“So fucking tight, Hanni. Ugh. So. Fucking. Tight.”

You are not going to complain, however. Maybe it’s still the adrenaline or maybe you’re just a masochist, but it fills you with a surge of dopamine that only drives you further and further into your most primal of desires. The stinging pain left by the imprint of her teeth, her nails that continue to leave scratch marks on the expanse of your back, it all blurs into a bundle of pleasure that serves as a catalyst to your own eventual undoing. Add your moans and groans to the cacophony of the vocalization, feet planting on the bed while you chase for her lips again. Feel her moans vibrating against your lips, the thunderous slapping of skin against skin—she’s screaming something in English but you can’t quite catch what it is, but she screams with such vigor that it must be something good. But with how she clenches and pulsates around your cock, you didn’t need to understand her words. Her slick and wet pussy continuously floods your crotch with juices, such delectable honey regretfully wasted when you could be lapping it all up. Maybe some other time, maybe this won’t be a one time thing.

“Feel so damn good. Shit. Shit. Shit. You’re so fucking irresistible.”

“M-Minhyuk oppa!” Her vocabulary strictly limits itself to your name, though the tone and volume varies from time to time—ranging from hushed whispers to loud proclamations. But it doesn’t seem to get quieter anytime soon, in fact it’s rising to a crescendo. Not even the muffling you attempt with your lips (it’s definitely not purely because you want to kiss her again) can silence her; and it’s not like you really want to do so anyways. The symphony is reaching its final movement, your thrusts have become sporadic, a virtuosic prowess that can only be demonstrated by the orchestra of your bodies. From your peripheral vision, your eyes wander to Minji and Haesoo’s tired and spent bodies already cuddling in the far edge of the bed.

“Oppa, p-please. I-I can’t hold on much longer!”

“Cum for me, baby. Please. Please cum for me, I wanna feel you.”

“Oppa!” It’s loud, it’s deafening, and it’s so fucking hot. She clenches around your length so fiercely that it almost becomes impossible to continue fucking her, juices completely drenching the satin sheets underneath while she completely unravels in your arms. If you weren’t sure if the neighbors can hear you two, then you definitely are right now. The way she ragdolls to your chest, sweaty bodies intermingled with each other, hot and shaky breaths as she rests her head next to yours, every single sensation sends shockwaves to your body that ultimately unshackles the very fiber of your being. You were so focused on helping her achieve her high that your own orgasm catches you by surprise and arrives in unexpected fashion. You can only groan in silence as ropes of semen fire deep inside her womb, filling her completely and draining your balls with every thrust and with more to spare as they spill out of where you two are joined. It’s pure and unparalleled bliss, your vision turning white for a fleeting moment as your thrusts begin to slow down.

“Hanni, fuck…..”

Mindlessly, you cup her cheeks and kiss her again (this time it’s devoid of lust as you want to display just how much you truly cherish her and thank her for allowing you to give her that experience). Hanni continues to whimper and moan as her hips continue to buckle but at a much slower pace, as if she wants to drain every single drop out of you. And that’s exactly what she does because despite one orgasm already, you manage to unload at least eight shots of thick and hot semen inside her which immediately trickles down to your balls. You join her in making those satisfied sounds as well, you’re tired and aching but you feel so fucking relieved. Even in this state she still looks so pretty and gorgeous, if you could kiss her all day you would. And as much as you don’t want to admit it, she causes butterflies in your stomach that you don’t want to—

“Fuck, that was hot. Right, Haesoo-oppa?” The brief silence is interrupted by Minji, still resting in the arms of Haesoo. Right. You completely forget about the presence of the other couple in the room because your eyes are focused on her and nobody else. The male can only groan and nod, probably just as drained as you are. The woman resting her head on your shoulders on the other hand, is looking at you like a lion gazing down at its prey.

“Hyuk-oppa…”

An exasperated Hanni calls your name as she breaks the silence between the both of you. As you still feel light-headed from your high and the exhaustion you’ve been experiencing, you still managed to respond to her as all you can see is the aftermath mess after a hot, steamy session.

“W-What, Hanni?”

Her petite body climbed up as her head rested onto your shoulders, her gaze then averting towards you as she hitched a breath, preparing to say something. “I don’t know if you… know this but, there are times that… I am just—uh—so grateful to have you as a friend. Like I don’t k-know how to express this accurately but I’m just so grateful. So, so grateful, oppa. This may seem weird but I wanna express it now. I wanna express on how—”

“You love me?”

The world felt silent as time ticked slower than before. With a single word, you felt butterflies on your stomach as you finished her sentence, her tired disposition now changed with unbridled delight as her eyes are wider than before—her pupils dilating with your response. The both of you then exchange smiles as you shed a tear, intense fervor prevails your emotions as if it was a roller-coaster but in the end, all you can feel is peak ecstasy. 

“How did you kno—”

“Hanni, I k-knew it from the start, but I’m just afraid of really expressing my feelings too, so I thought that you won’t feel the same. That you were just playing it off every time you made a move. I was dumb, so dumb to know your true motives. I—”

Hanni pauses you as all you can just see is her soft lips pressed against yours as you were caught off-guard but fast enough to reciprocate to the kiss. Both of your tongues fight and tangle to each other as you kiss her with intense passion; intimacy and love permeating around the air on how much you show your affection through every second of your kiss. After a hot minute of kissing, you pull out of her mouth as strings of saliva follows from your tongue on how much you exerted effort and love with that single, intense action. The both of you exchanged breaths and smiles as you can see the glint in Hanni’s eyes, knowing how much she loves everything that has happened, up to this moment.

“I love you, oppa and I hope that you feel the sa—”

“I love you too Hanni, my honey.”

You’re not too sure if you intended a pun unintentionally or you’re just simply in love with her right now that all words that utters in your mouth are full of affection and nothing more than that. You kissed her lips once more as you captured the sweet taste of it, again as your animalistic urges wanted you to dive in more but you refrained yourself, as you just wanted to rest on her and spend the preceding hours just in her arms and nobody else but her. With the pent-up exhaustion, drowsiness took over your body as the both of you lay in each other’s arms.

“Hanni is just so sweet, right, oppa?”

“Yeah, if only you’re as sweet as Hanni, I could’ve made a move to you—”

“Oppa, what the fu— eww…”

Haesoo and Minji will be the living epitome of the saying “cats and dogs” as they were about to tease each other again. All you can just hear are their faint murmurings and unhurried movements as your vision becomes blurry, and soon gives in to the drowsiness you've been feeling.

------

Everything seems to be calmed and much tranquil from the earlier emanated hotness that once permeated around the bedroom. Not so long after, Minji and Haesoo gave in to their own drowsiness as they didn’t bother to even clean up, their exasperation was to blame here as it drained their energy.

Everything just went dead silent as it’s just the faint sound of the air conditioner buzzing and the loud, metropolitan noise outside that resonates up to your eardrums.

Well this is one hell of a night, a hot night, a hot night to remember.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #44 – The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon

This was a book I went into with no hand holding or preconceptions, and so I very much dove into the deep end of the pool. This is, frankly, a mess - but a beautiful one. There’s a lot to love, a lot of meat to chew on; but Candon’s reach really does exceed her grasp in ways that show, and I cannot blame anyone in the slightest for finding the narrative alienating or hard to follow. But shoot for the moon and you still end up among the stars, right?

The book follows Sunai, a deeply traumatized drifter and guide, who absolutely never got over the apocalyptic collapse of the AI-governed city he grew up in – quite literally, as he was interfaced with the AI-god at the time, and has spent the decades since hiding his nature as a Relic despite his stubborn refusal to age and tendency to heal from all injuries in a matter of minutes. Should his nature be known, he would be conscripted as the pilot and adhesive for a towering killer mech, and used to protect and oppress the new city now growing in the ruins of the old. Instead he fled half-way across the world and spends his days helping salvagers and refugees and his nights on drunken benders. After receiving a letter from his past he goes on a particularly intense one of those, and wakes up having both slept with and accepted a job from Veyadi, a former Archivist of the same AI who he’s clearly already told too much. Despite his heroic efforts to avoid honest conversations or emotional connections, from there he’s dragged straight back into the world of dead gods and killer science.

This is a book that hits the ground running and never stops, without much in the way of care about whether you’re able to keep up. The setting has both history and politics that are clearly important but are never explained beyond the bits that are directly relevant, with the expectation that you’ll figure the rest out through context clues (or not). There’s all manner of words being used as technical terms and basically none of them are ever actually defined. Sunai spends half the book explicitly trying to head off or avoid revelation-heavy or important conversations and, while he might know what topic he’s evading by turning the conversation into a quickie, I at least did not. Which is something I enjoy, honestly – I felt I had a solid grasp on most things by the end, and the world was fascinating (if occasionally absurd) – but I really cannot hold it against anyone who checks out.

The narration doesn’t help, either. Technically speaking, the entire book is told from Sunai’s POV. He merely has an unusually porous consciousness, and so spends a large fraction of the book being directly spoken at by one of a couple different voices in his head, or else semi-conscious and seeing the world through one of several different people’s eyes. When he’s not just outright hallucinating or trapped in a VR simulation, or spiraling into flashbacks (some of which are even his). This I found harder to adapt to and more frustrating, and in many cases felt like Candon was trying to show off and not quite managing it, but when it worked it really did work (the playing with the narrative voice in the second act, especially).

The book’s most saliently about trauma and (failing to) deal with it. It is not especially subtle about how Sunai’s relic nature is just a literalization of how he latches on to the plans and hopes of others to avoid even considering the idea of what his own might look like, and makes no bones about making him the whole thing’s beating heart. The book, then, depends a great deal on how compelling you find him. Personally I found the broken wreck of a man endlessly endearing, even when he was also deeply frustrating to be stuck in the head of.

The book’s other characters fare less well, sadly. The other major characters, despite (or maybe because of) all the time spent looking through their eyes and ruminating on their motives, still end up feeling opaque and a bit arbitrary. There’s only so many world-shaking revelations you can layer on top of each other before they stop having much impact and you stop being that invested in the characters. Ruhi and Imaru especially suffered here, the former for having so many story beats stuffed into him he ended up feeling more like a plot device than a real character, the latter because she felt like the story highlighted her importance to Sunai and general significance and then didn’t really know what to do with her past a certain point. In both cases (and like, this is clearly intentional) you end up knowing quite a lot of what Sunai think of them and not that much about the characters themselves.

Veyadi does better, if not always consistently. His romance with Sunai (osculating between unhealthy coping mechanism FWBs and all-consuming devotion as the story progresses) is another of the book’s main throughlines and it largely worked for me – Sunai’s wilful refusal to accept either of their obvious feelings was well-done and didn’t last quite long enough to be frustrating, and it was always entertainingly unhealthy in one way or another. ‘adi’s character outside the romance is significantly more opaque. Partly for reasons of plot and preserving tension, but still – I ended the book caring that Sunai cared about it, but not really about him for his own sake.

I admit I feel personally let down by the ending less for what it does than what it teases at then fails to do. All that buildup and ominous foreshadowing about losing your identity and being subsumed and synthesized into a greater hole as the walls come down and in the end they and the remnant AI just end up being able to DM each other’s brains. My expectations of a perfect lyctorhood or even some original examination of codependent relationship realized as the literal synthesis of identities, entirely dashed.

The ending in general was also just, well, messy. Too many plates in the air, too much ambiguity and nuance that then needed to be forcefully resolved to tie things off, too much sublime technology and miraculous agency in conflict for the final result not to just feel arbitrary – especially since the neat resolution arrived at makes absolutely no sense at all unless the ‘AI’ in question was actually just some kind of incorporeal demon the whole time. The emotional beats do work, but the result feels like a bit less than the sum of its parts. But then I may need to accept that my standards for a good ending are just impossible for 99 books in 100 to hope meeting.

Still, mess aside a thoroughly enjoyable read and one I’m deeply sad doesn’t seem to have gotten more attention. Though it also definitely doesn’t need to be the first in a series (many such cases, these days).

[mynonclicheblog]

One final Never Have I Ever love triangle thematic analysis

I've said this in one of my posts before, but the narrative is always going to favor what is best for Devi. A lot of what makes this show so juicy to dive into is because so much of its meaning is rooted in symbolism and higher concepts, not just the individual interactions you're looking at onscreen!

I think that's what doesn't work for some (not all) pro-Dxton anti-Ben folks. They see Paxton being respectful and kind to Devi, they see that he's the attractive object of her desire from day 1, and they see that the two of them genuinely do connect and help each other in certain ways. But when these same people look at Benvi, they only see Ben making obnoxious comments to Devi (+ others), they see childish behavior and mistakes being made, and they see them frequently butting heads due to their shared competitive nature.

And honestly? I get it. These conclusions are easy to come to when you're looking at the surface, but they don't take into account the full story that's being told.

Let's get into it. 😎👇

So I mentioned the idea of what is best for Devi. Not what is best for any regular person out there -- what is best for Devi Vishwakumar! Our girl expresses in no uncertain terms that she enjoys her hypercompetitive rivalry-turned-bond with Ben ("Ben's smart and we talk- mostly argue- for hours!" // "I don't want to break up with Ben. He really pushes me.") The fact that they fight and compete is not a detriment to their compatibility, it is actually the thing that makes him most desirable in her mind. She would not have wanted to be with him in the first place if this were not true. Their sharp-tongued communication style may not be the standard picture of a 'healthy' relationship for most people, but, well. Devi and Ben are far from most people.

Devi is an incredibly emotional, dynamic person who's always searching for another high. The competitive nature of her relationship with Ben is enough to satisfy her itch for novelty/excitement (her differences with Paxton don't hit this box), yet Ben's presence also provides a comforting long-term consistency in her life. He's seen the very best and the very worst of her and he always comes back. He frequently brings Devi back to herself, too, when she loses sight of what matters (friendships, family, sense of self, her goals, etc).

Then there's the dream vs. reality dichotomy that very much applies to this love triangle. Simple as it may be, it's accurate. I believe it was built that way on purpose because of how well it reflects Devi's relationships to Mohan and Nalini, which is the beating heart of what NHIE is all about. One (Mo/Pax) is more outwardly palatable than the other and provides an easygoing, self-soothing escapism that she needs in order to work through her grief. This person represents youth and the rose-colored past; Devi's tendency to idealize and indulge. The other person (Nal/Ben) is sharper around the edges, a bit harder to swallow, but pushes Devi to do better and supplies the support she needs. This person represents Devi's grounded reality; her time in the present and the woman she is growing into.

They are both important pieces in Devi's journey, but the themes of past vs present speak for themselves. The past is something we keep close to our heart- in this case, it's someone who has impacted us that we'll always carry with us. But the ultimate goal is to move forward from that. The central relationship of Never Have I Ever, in my opinion, is that of Devi & Nalini as they heal and grow together. In terms of Devi's romantic life, her relationship with Ben is the one that more closely shadows the series arc between her & Nalini.

I'd like to address some things by the individual season now. One of my observations watching s1 for the first time was that Paxton was usually aligned with bad things in Devi's life, whereas Ben was aligned with the good. e.g., Paxton was in some way the source of Devi's falling outs with El/Fab and Nalini; Ben is the one who repaired those relationships. These things aren't Paxton's fault, nor do I place any blame on him. They're just subtle narrative choices that send up unspoken flags saying, hey look, this isn't the right person for her. This theme was left behind in s1 for the most part, but given that it was NHIE's debut season, it planted several seeds for me about who the boys were for Devi and how they fit into her world.

Season 2 does a lot to sort out the difference in what Devi thinks she wants (Paxton) and what her heart truly wants (Ben). Yes, I'm going there, too: head vs heart. Devi's underlying preference for Ben > Paxton should be easy to spot as early as 2x01 -- if only for the fact that Devi finally bagged the hot guy of her dreams, and yet, choosing to be with him isn't easy for her. In fact, as both Devi and Eleanor confirm later, she wanted to choose Ben in the first place. Like... that is crazy when you think about it!!! Despite all the pieces falling into place for her and Paxton, and against her friends' shallow advice, she decides that she won't let go of Ben. Instead, she makes the misguided decision to date both. This isn't the kind of mistake she'll ever make again. It isn't Devi acting out because of Ben -- it signals a profound attachment to him when, all things considered, picking Paxton should have been a no brainer. That revealed everything I needed to know in order to understand that being with Paxton wasn't what she wanted in her heart of hearts.

Then, of course, 3x10 brings that all home with the stomach knots comparison. It tells us that, ever since Devi and Paxton moved into a place of genuine friendship, with him no longer on a pedestal, those romantic feelings (esp. on her part) have dissipated. As a bonus, Devi even explicitly states that Paxton was a dream! Ben, however -- her flawed reality -- is the one who still gives her butterflies. This is the result of Devi's slow awakening to her true inner self, the Devi who values realness and authenticity and loving through imperfection. It's a step closer to the complete acceptance of herself. (Notice as well that right after this point, it becomes more undeniable than ever that Ben is who she wants to be with.)

As long as Paxton was a romantic possibility for Devi, their relationship was tied to her feelings of insecurity and inferiority. Again this is not Paxton's fault -- he assures her of the opposite all the time -- but this is Devi's story, and we are shown over and over that Devi fears true vulnerability with Paxton (both sexually and emotionally). Compare this to the way she has always felt confident, seen, driven, and unabashedly herself in her relationship with Ben, even when they were enemies. At a glance Devi may appear to act more immature in Ben's orbit, but the truth is that she grows with him more than anyone else (besides Nalini) thanks to Ben's penchant for encouraging accountability and showing her that actions can have consequences.

Anyway, TLDR version:

Paxton = Devi's youth, Mohan, grief, distraction, the past, idealism, and the head (constructed ideas).

Ben = Devi's future, Nalini, healing, confrontation, the present, reality, and the heart (authentic truths).

Never Have I Ever's romantic story structure rests on the premise of these symbolic definitions. They are gospel, and while the characters will grow and change and become better versions of themselves, they will do so within the lines that are already drawn. The lines exist for a reason -- they are a narrative tool! These characters cannot and should not 'grow out' of their roles because those roles are their identities within the show's framework. The characters are exactly who they are meant to be right through to the end. They are symbols. If that's not your cup of tea then so be it! But there's nothing wrong with this writing style. In fact it's one of my personal favorites because everything is so neatly defined, yet fascinating to read into 🥰

The imperfect Ben had to be Devi's true love because her love interests are, in a way, reflections of herself. By no fault of his own, Devi always felt the need to be "perfect" for Paxton because that's how she viewed him; a false paragon of everything she wanted to be. That is the point of their story together. Her acceptance of the deep love she has for Ben (and Nalini!), despite his sometimes off-putting demeanor, is aligned with Devi's acceptance of her own imperfections -- that she is hot-headed, she can be self-absorbed, she acts without thinking and makes mistakes -- but that she is also brilliant and driven and caring and radiant, and she is equally worthy of receiving the love that she has to offer others.

Narratively speaking, it was never truly a competition.

[aihoshiino]

chapter 148 thoughts!

New chapter! New arc! New - Osh no Beach Episode?! Uh - sure, fuck it! Why not!

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Completely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 5

It felt weirdly jarring to realize it was late summer in series for some reason lol… I think it's a combo of it still being pretty chilly here in the UK and me just having entirely lost track of the passage of time while we were in Movie Arc Purgatory.

I actually don't have a ton to say about this chapter as it's kind of just an echo of what we got with 138; a little breather beat between emotional upheavals that sets up the oncoming drama at the end. I definitely think it does so less gracefully than 138 and I ultimately enjoyed it less. That's not to say it's a bad chapter and watching everyone have goofy fun in the sun was cute - it just didn't quite Hit in the way I was itching for, especially after last chapter was… well, the way it was. There's some stuff I have to complain about which I think will make this post read as more negative than it maybe is, but it's one of those chapters where the good stuff doesn't really warrant a lot of comment other than 'i liked it'.

On that note, things I liked: everyone hanging out was really cute! I was honestly hoping we'd get more interactions like this during the Movie Arc with everyone scrunched together onto a single project but I'm happy to see it now.

Gotanda being being Dads With Cats this chapter was also really cute. It's a throwaway line but that little lore crumb of him having been looking forward to starting a family at some point is… honestly really sad and interesting? I think it adds a lot to the way he takes to Aqua and looks out for Kana, on top of the way he throws himself into his art.

frill taking a big ass break between projects is really good, too. i hope she has a very good time doing absolutely nothing.

that said. the fact that the only time we've gotten an acknowledgement of ruby and taiki's sibling relationship in the manga after like 80+ chapters is him making a comment about her tits makes me want to put aka akasaka through a pasta maker.

but no, for real. joking aside. Taiki and Aqua's relationship and Taiki going from being standoffish to accepting Aqua as his younger brother is one of the more understandably sweet relationship arcs in the series and it feels like a waste that we didn't get anything similar for him and Ruby. In general, Ruby is starting to feel very isolated from the rest of the cast which I'm not a fan of.

frill's full body wetsuit was a god tier joke though i gotta admit

Kana hyping herself up to flirt so overtly with Aqua was… funny, if a bit weird, especially given the note the chapter ends on. But Akane going right in and getting all over her thighs. holy shit, girl.

tsukuyomi at the beach what will she do

Akane's chat with Aqua also made my ears perk up in the way it continues a theme established by 143, of Aqua being challenged on his dedication to his self destruction by the people around him. Ruby and Kana were able to poke and prod at the issue but Akane, having the full picture as she does, is able to more directly shake Aqua and point out what he has to lose. In trying to self destruct, he will only end up destroying the thing he's trying to protect.

Also worth pointing out; Aqua is back to double black hoshigans as of this chapter which seems to line up with my thoughts on them representing his wavering dedication to his revenge play.

And then Kana….. whooooooooooo boy.

Like I said earlier, this ending feels super jarring off the back of both the last AQKN interaction and Kana's attempted flirting in this very chapter. As part of her overall arc, I think it makes sense but within the scope of this chapter it's too abrupt and lacks any real trigger. I can assume she saw AQAK talking to each other and made some assumptions but we don't actually see it. As it's presented in the comic, Akane basically walked up to her and triggered a cutscene lol

It is interesting to me that we're getting this overt push towards romantic resolution happening now given that… well, I'm not keeping that 'chapters since 143' count going just for goofs. I'm honestly torn between frustrated and darky amused at how much of a nothingburger 143 has turned out to be in the long run given that its only persistent status quo change (Aqua's white hoshigan) has fallen back by the wayside again. Neither Ruby or Aqua are acting like anything at all has happened. Literally right now it feels like you could skip 141-143 completely and not miss anything. It's baffling and it really does feel like that kiss was used as cynical reaction bait. Ruby's feelings are being treated with little to no respect and I'm honestly tired of it.

Obviously we're going to be getting some future resolution eventually because any Aqua-related romantic resolution is going to end up dragging Ruby into things but man. The fact that THIS is how Akasaka is choosing to drag it out is just insane to me. What was even the point of that kiss if it was going to have literally no impact on either character or the status quo whatsoever?

As for what this means for relationships… who even knows at this point. If you put a gun to my head and forced me to make a call, I'd say that in a romance manga, this would make me very confident in a Kana endgame. 'Girl tries to selflessly give up her love' is a pretty huge 'winning' flag in these kinds of situations. But Oshi no Ko is not strictly a romance manga and there's so much other relationship baggage floating around, who even knows what this is all going to mean. You could tell me this is the flag for an Aqua/Minami endgame or something and I wouldn't be surprised at this point.

At least we'll find out next week, assuming Akasaka doesn't offscreen the rest of this talk lol

[markantonys]

I came across a Twitter thread that said the set up for the docks when it comes to the Warder bond between Lan and Moiraine was handled much better in the books cause in the show they feel like the mechanics of the Warder bond was too vague/not explained well in the show that they weren't able to connect with Moiraine and Lan's emotional conflict in s2 because of it. And I am a bit confused cause honestly I don't think the books explain how the Warder bond works at all from what I remember. Just making a lot of wild claims about how everything about the books are better and how the show is fumbling when they haven't even read half the series yet (show first to book reader). Just this trend to shit talk every choice the show makes when you don't even know the full complete story is wild to me

haters: the show hasn't done enough to explain how the bond works

all the screentime across 2 seasons the show has dedicated to showing how the bond works which the haters kept complaining was a waste of time better spent on rand having swordfights:

like literally what do they want lmao some people will never be satisfied!

but the mention of the "mechanics" of the bond is interesting to me because i think we may be hitting upon 2 different types of viewers here: the minority of lore enthusiasts who need to understand every single detail about how things work or else they will be upset and lose immersion, and the majority of audiences who are content with a general understanding of how things work and don't get hung up on details, or will at most go "hmmm i'm not sure if this makes sense, but it's a cool story beat so i'm happy to shrug and move on".

the former category were going "but what weaves is moiraine doing now? did they actually unbond and now she's remaking it from scratch? i thought the bond was only masked? this is such a plothole, it doesn't make sense, i can't concentrate on anything else about the scene" during the 2x08 moiraine & lan beach scene, and the latter category were thinking "what a beautiful and emotionally satisfying moment of seeing them come back together!" and that's it. and probably similar for the rest of the season. if somebody felt unable to connect with the emotional aspects of that storyline, i would bet it's because they felt too unclear about the mechanics of the state of the bond and couldn't let go of that confusion enough to sink into the emotional aspects. (which is really more of a personal thing; my show-only mom was definitely keyed into the emotional aspects of this storyline and didn't get bothered about some mechanics being left vague. in fact, i think she would've just gotten confused if they'd tried to explain the mechanics in more detail djkfjg bless her.)

undeniably, the show does not explain magic mechanics in as much depth as the books do. but that is because it's banking on the very fair assumption that the majority of audiences don't need to have this level of detail in order to enjoy and understand the story (and may get more confused than they need to be if they ARE given this level of detail). i'll admit that s2 was a bit muddled on What Exactly Is Going On with moiraine and lan's bond, and i found myself a bit confused by the mechanics at times, but that never impeded my appreciation or understanding of the emotional aspects of the storyline because i'm someone who is happy to shrug and move on if the mechanics of how something is functioning in a fantasy story aren't making total sense to me.

also, moiraine & lan at the docks won't happen until the end of s3 and it's very very possible we might learn even more about bond mechanics earlier in s3 via elayne and birgitte (who will be good candidates for explaining some New Bond Basics that it wouldn't make sense for moiraine and lan to talk about since they've had theirs for 20 years), so like..........maybe they should just Watch And Find Out.

it's also very interesting that this is coming from someone in the show-to-book pipeline because i honestly would not be surprised if a lot of their base knowledge for how warder bonds works was absorbed..........from the show. and they just don't realize it. granted, if they started with new spring it might be different because i'm assuming new spring goes into a lot of depth about how warder bonds work (though i don't know for sure, i haven't read it). but if they only read EOTW-TFOH, they sure as shit are not gonna have gotten much info about bonds *from the books* because we barely spend any time with characters who are part of a bond during those books. we get, what, maybe a couple chapters total of moiraine or lan pov and then start diving into it a tiny bit more in TFOH with elayne and birgitte, but it's really not that much from what i can remember - and i can't remember very well, because i went into the books already having a very solid understanding of the concept of the bond thanks to all the work s1 put into showing it. i do not remember learning anything significant about the bond in the first 5 books that i didn't already know from s1.

it's also so strange to me in general to see people start with the show, then go to the books, and then start hating on the show because as a show-to-book pipeline person myself, all going to the books did was make me go "wow thank fuck for the show, it will fix X, it will fix Y, it's already fixed Z" basically constantly. it made me 10000x more grateful for and appreciative of the show and the way it's choosing to tell the story!

[shaapes]

how does it feel having played night in the woods for such a long time ? (i just saw that this blog was made in 2017, and i only just now finished the game and am replaying it)

it feels weird !! but it also makes me appreciate this game so much more, honestly.

i first played it while i was in high school. i felt a lot for the characters and gravitated a lot towards mae's emotions and gregg's storyline. i was dealing with my own emotions and felt a lot of comfort in the game as well as just really loving all the characters.

i replayed it last year and it was a very different but equally emotional experience.

i've graduated university now and did not have a good experience there. mae's lines about not making any friends, her mental health while there, and why she left hit a lot harder. i didn't drop out like mae, but i almost did a few times, and i connected a lot with how she seemed lost and things hadn't turned out how she expected.

but having worked both jobs i like and ones i hate now, i also understood the other three a lot more - i both saw parts of myself in mae and saw how her friends all had lives that she was now appearing back in. the disconnect in the stages their lives were at but their love for each other regardless was very important to me.

i played bea's storyline last year. when i played in high school, i liked bea but didn't connect with her story as much as others - i usually just did the gregg hangouts. i felt like i was seeing bea through completely different eyes this time, and understood her a whole lot more now. some of her scenes felt like i finally understood her and she understood me.

sorry, i don't think you probably expected this much info! but it has been a really interesting experience for me over the years to come back to this game now and then, and see how the experience changes as my life changes. i think that there is so much to say about nitw, and the things we individually connect to in the game vary not only from person to person but across the different stages of our life. if i replay it next year, there might be new lines that hit completely different than they used to. if i replay it another 7 years from now, i think in a way it will feel completely different because of how much i'll have changed.

i hope you enjoyed your first playthrough, and i hope you enjoy your replay too!! this game has so much to offer. if you let it, it can have a really special place in your life. i don't think i'll ever be over it.

p.s. i used to be so good at demontower, i beat it at least 4 times (getting both achievements for myself and my best friend) and nowadays i can't get past the second level?!

[dundunny]

Completely forgot to mention that Tears of the Kingdom was finished. I have a lot of mixed feelings toward this game. Let me start off by saying in terms of plot, I think it's superior to Breath of the Wild by far. Ganon actually makes an appearance as a living being you can have emotions about, rather than some sort of nameless force of calamitous nature. The tie between past and future is great, as well as finding out Zelda's actions and her ultimate plan.

The issue is the game is it's a sequel to Breath of the Wild and it constrains what Tears of the Kingdom was trying to do. Let's start off with these floating islands. Where the hell were they in the first game? They sure as hell didn't rise up at the beginning of the game like Hyrule Castle because there are no other giant holes in the ground. No one thinks this is weird? That there are suddenly islands? I also love how no one even really knew about the existence of the Zonai, but suddenly in Tears of the Kingdom everyone and their mother have a PhD in the topic.

The depths is a big discrepancy. Although admittedly pretty cool to explore and kinda creepy the first time around down there, there's literally no point to it. Sure, yeah, 1.5 dungeons are down there and you can get extra equipment, all of that could've easily been written out. Like... even within the plot it doesn't make sense. So the Zonai were flying above in the sky until one day Rauru decided to come down and bang some Hylian priestess. Sure. But before that apparently they were mining in the depths to maintain their society and technology up above? They just... had a major industry and were collecting all these materials and someone no one on the surface noticed these massive amounts of minerals floating back up to the islands above? Honestly I think Nintendo designed the depths to create more content so players didn't realize they were redoing the Breath of the Wild map all over again.

Dungeons were still not of the same level of previous generations, but they were a definite improvement from Breath of the Wild. Probably the closest we got to a traditional Zelda dungeon was the Lightning Temple. I still stand by my stance way back in A Link Between Worlds on lack of linear direction: If you can go to any dungeon at any point, there's no sort of difficulty curve for any of them. Compare say the Deku Tree to the Shadow Temple way back in Ocarina of Time. I actually can beat the Deku Tree without taking any damage, that's how easy it is. But then compared to the confusing nature of the Shadow Temple, I feel a sense of accomplishment when I see how far I've come. Jumping around with Sidon in the sky didn't feel any different than using mine carts in the volcano with Yunobo.

One thing that boggles my mind is they replaced Teba with Tulin. Why? He was probably my favorite dude from Breath of the Wild. Everyone else was the same. Did Nintendo feel with Riju more grown up, little kids don't have representation?

Personally I didn't like the building aspect of the game. The first couple of hours I think I screamed a lot from frustration when some machination I spent ten minutes working on fell apart because I accidentally grabbed the wrong thing. Although I became skilled with it toward the end, it's not my cup of tea, although I can see other people really enjoying it.

Final boss fight was a major upgrade from Breath of the Wild. The fact we had to trade counter attacks, a nod to previous Ganon fights where you had to hit his move back to him, was a really nice touch. Props to Nintendo for that.

After all this, I still prefer Breath of the Wild. Maybe it's because by the time Tears of the Kingdom had come around, I was tired of walking all over this map. If Nintendo had developed Tears of the Kingdom on its own, it could've been very superior. Now I'm hoping they'll get rid of this open world shit and return to the Zelda I know and love, but given how popular Breath of the Wild was, I doubt it.

[hibischush]

What kind of music, or song that instantly comes in your mind each FoM bachelors and bachelorettes would listen to?

God this is going to reveal so much about me y'all better not judge my odd musical escapades 😤🌺

Seriously though, I love character playlists so if any of y'all make one please share!

Bachelors;

Balor

Okay...I dunno why but

Fall Out Boy

Balor just seems like the type of guy to like the content sung in their songs and I think he definitely enjoys pop-punk

Like I immediately thought of "Sugar, We're Goin Down" from Fall Out Boy

Literally any other emo-rock/punk band too

Think MCR

March

Anything from The Offspring tbh

I was listening to "Want You Bad" and I was like. Yep that's him

Same goes for "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid"

For music that he listens to, I also think he would be a rock enjoyer

NOT BECAUSE HE'S A BLACKSMITH. OK?

But more specifically older rock (think Bon Jovi, Journey, The Rolling Stones)

Hayden

Yes I know he looks like he listens to country

But its more folk-country than the pop-country that's super popular these days

I thought of "Southern Nights" by Glen Campbell

Also pretty much anything from Johnny Cash

Specifically "Ring of Fire"

Ryis

I think he would like some country artists similar to Hayden, but I thought of Jimi Hendrix honestly

Like Hendrix's "Purple Haze"

Soft rock basically

"Drive," "Just What I Needed," and "You Might Think" all by The Cars

Eiland

This man definitely listens to classical/orchestral music I mean look at him

I can't really point out any artists for that

But like... if video games/movies existed in Mistria

He'd listen to video game OSTs too

Like you'd be catching him listening to Indiana Jones' OST while digging up artifacts 😭

Bachelorettes;

Celine

I think Celine would listen to pop or pop-punk for sure

Like she's listening to Billie Eilish idc

Esp Billie's HIT ME HARD AND SOFT album

I think she'd listen to Kali Uchi too (her "Moonlight" song came to mind)

But I think she'd also like R&B too (Specifically Ravyn Lenae)

Juniper

She'd get down with rap and R&B man

"Paint the Town Red" and "Agora Hills" by Doja Cat

"Dang!" by Mac Miller ft. Anderson .Paak

She likes the soft beat packed with words or hype music I suppose

makes her feel powerful

Reina

Reina is another R&B enjoyer-- but specifically a huge SZA fan

I thought of "Snooze" by SZA

But Reina seems like the type to enjoy any type of music honestly

Her family really encourages music as a past time with her mom singer and her father playing stringed instruments

Valen

Only piano music

Literally she's the type to dislike music that hypes her up/makes her feel strong emotions like anger

She likes music that calms her and piano music does just that

Adeline

Adeline is similar to her brother in that she enjoys classical music

She enjoys ball room dancing, and often "classic" or orchestral or waltz music plays

But I also see her enjoying Brazilian Bossa Nova music as well

"Brazil" (Aka Aquarela do Brasil) by Antonio Carlos Jor

"So Danco Samba" by Stan Getz & Luiz Bonfa

I think she likes bossa nova because the rhythm is so different from more western music

It challenges to adapt to the beat while dancing and she likes it

Bonus; Caldarus

For Caldarus, it has been a long time since they have heard music

When they hear it from your nearby farmhouse, they find it very pleasing

If they ever get outta statue form then I think they are very eager to seek out all types of music

Whelp hopefully none of these are musical hot takes.🥲 Whenever I mention certain artists just know that I primarily mean the vibes/style of the artists, cause you wouldn't find Doja Cat in Mistria lmao

[koorinokujira]

Yakuza 0 is a SPECTACULAR game and I'll shove my love for it in everyone's faces now

Alright, I'll take a bit of a break from regularly scheduled Basara-posting (don't worry, the next batch of imagines is getting worked on), because boy, am I full of emotions right now. This will most likely turn into a mini-series of posts, I don't know yet.

TLDR: Background of me getting into it all and me gushing about my appreciation for the game since I finally finished it. Some (at least vague) spoilers will definitely be involved, so if you haven't played the game yet, here's your warning! Also, I ramble a lot, sorry.

So, I am still fairly new to the Yakuza fandom, all things considered. While I first discovered the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series a few years ago (through a Majima meme, lol), I wasn't that into it at the start. I had other hyperfixations at the time, and it was just sort of at the background. I watched some gameplays, saw some memes, and after watching a full playthrough of Yakuza Kiwami (and a bit of Y0), I eventually decided to get Y0 and play it myself. Bought it and played for a few chapters, but then it got buried again beneath other games, even if I liked it a lot. But this year, it all just came back to me, and I decided to throw myself into it fully this time, restarting my Y0 playthrough (and engaging with the fandom a bit more).

And I'm incredibly glad I did.

At the time of writing this, I finished the game like 30 minutes ago, give or take, and I feel like I'm feeling everything right now. There aren't many games that hit me so hard. Every single second of this game just kept my eyes glued to the screen, and even when I was not playing, the feelings from the story lingered.

You know, I've been sort of living through other people's experiences with the series lately, especially here on Tumblr. Even if I don't know half of the characters everyone talks about yet, I still appreciate the funky stuff everyone here creates. I love the ridiculous memes, the sweet Minedai and Kazumaji fanarts, the kick-ass cosplays, and all the other stuff! You guys made me love it even more and keep going, so I could enjoy it even more! But I have to say, experiencing at least Yakuza 0 for myself hits so much harder than just watching a gameplay.

I got to play as a buff, scary looking man that races toy cars with kids as if his life depends on it, and constantly gets tangled up in ridiculous situations and helps people around town, all the while he's putting his life on the line to protect those he loves the most. I got to hire a chicken as a real estate manager, enjoy some karaoke with my best pal Nishiki, and save some poor ladies from terrible guys who harassed them on the street. And there was also so, so many heart-wrenching things that made me stop what I was doing, because I just hated to see Kiryu's kind, gentle heart get torn apart by the world he willingly stepped into.

I also got to play as a man that went through hell and clinged onto life through sheer determination. A man that was lost, but slowly found what was important to him through the course of the story. But even with him, I got to experience a ton of hilarious weirdness, which may or may not include things like pretending to be a desperate girl's boyfriend, beating up a cult leader or accidentally raising the taxes for all of Japan. Majima, I love you too, you crazy bastard!

All the characters are written so well, and felt very real to me the whole time. Nothing was really black and white, and even the simpler looking characters ended up being very complex most of the time. Honestly, I could ramble on and on about how it broke me to see Tachibana cry, or how much I adore Kashiwagi, even with the limited screentime. I will probably make a few more in-depth posts about certain characters and how I view their themes in the future.

But all this is to say, I'm glad that I finally took the plunge, and I am looking forward to what I have yet to experience! I even have a few OCs that I may share in the future (if I finally learn how to draw properly, that is), and maybe some fanfics, too!

After I finally 100% Ghost of Tsushima, I am definitely buying Kiwami, too! Glad to finally count myself a "proper" member of the RGG fandom ＼(￣▽￣)／

Thank you for reading my excited ramblings, and as I always say...

Have an amazing day!

[icebluecyanide]

Alex Rider S03E04 Reaction

My unspoiled reactions to episode four, aka TUTOR YASSEN LET'S GOOOO

Liveblog

Oh okay so they are blaming Blunt in this, even if I think the trap was actually the Malta operation to bring him in.

Omg John/Yassen flashback!!! Yassen was so nervous!! I love how calm John stays throughout it all. And gosh the way Yassen closed his eyes when John told him to does things to me. I assume John saved him but gave him the scar in the process much like in canon

Yassen watching him sleep!!!

I was so ready to go noooo when Yassen said they had to leave their past behind them but apparently it was about Ian and not John lol. Love Yassen calling himself a professional

Twenty years ago 🤔 So with John being at Scorpia for three years that means Alex is canonically seventeen now

Alex stop questioning them in front of other people ahsldfhs

Tutor Yassen!!! Lmao ‘faster! This is slow’ I love how him having high standards is canon

SPARRING omg their faces

“He was kind to me” 👀 yesssss

How did they not realise yet that Scorpia went after Consanto when the woman literally said Julia Rothman was going to finish with Consanto lol

Lmao the awkward silence when Alex fails to hit the more human like targets, and they’re not even pictures

Yassen telling Alex how to kill someone 👀

The idea of them being allowed to keep their phones as they are training in the super secret training facility is just wild lol. Like yeah I’d make the signal bad too, what if people connect to their fitbit or something

Well this isn’t love bombing lol

Ahsldfh Alex is literally missing and you could tell the authorities Jack

Alex lying about the beating is big SAS training in the books vibes

Lmao Alex comparing Blunt and Mrs Rothman

Ahhhh so that’s the show equivalent of the vaccine!!

Gosh Alex forced to hit her as she’s held down

Does Yassen outrank Nile? 👀 omg Yassen/Nile showdown

“This one is my responsibility” 🥰

Love Yassen going ‘yeah you sadists are letting it cloud your judgement’

“What are you doing?” “Filming this?” “Why?” “Because it’s evidence” “Yeah of me committing a crime” ahsldfhsh yeah Tom!!

Yassen just. Refusing to talk about John is so funny to me

John saving Yassen <333 And gosh Yassen thinking of himself as expendable kills me

Exceptional agents <333 Though really there was no need to hit his cheek here lmao

Just let Yassen have his little speech about how emotions distract you, Alex 😭

Oh damn the taxi driver is Scorpia too, creeeeepy

“If he slips up just once, they are gonna kill him” yeah… unlike that other mission you were pretty casual about in s1… how is this a surprise??

Ahsdlfhs is Alex really gonna change their mind on weakness

Overall

Loved it!!! Really enjoyed the Yassen/Alex training scenes, though I kind of miss the love bombing from the book. Loved the John/Yassen flashbacks and I’m very excited to see more Alex & Yassen stuff!

Thoughts/Predictions

‘Kind of lonely though, right?’ I gotta be honest, the whole story with Alex challenging their notions of weakness and stuff really wasn’t doing it for me, but I feel like it sort of develops from Alex not being as isolated as he is in the books. Like yeah, it’s lonely, but Alex in the books is also lonely a lot of the time and it’s something that kind of goes with being in this world. But I do love Alex saying John saved Yassen out of friendship because it reminds me of his thoughts in Snakehead.

Some really interesting differences with the other students here, firstly in that the love bombing aspect isn’t there and they actually seem pretty antagonistic to Alex, while in the book they are all very friendly, in huge contrast to Alex’s earlier experiences with the SAS and MI6. It’s honestly kind of ironic that here it’s the exact opposite, because Alex lying about how he got beaten up is basically what happened with the SAS.

Second point about them is that they are all orphans and seem to be younger than in the book, so it seems the students are different? Are they teenagers like Alex? I honestly can’t tell, what with them casting adults, but I guess maybe Alex isn’t meant to be such an outlier in terms of age, which makes sense with the actors, but is interesting in terms of story because it means Alex isn’t exceptional for being young. I guess that’s also why it’s not made a big deal that he’s a teenager (also since it would seem unbelievable). But now John Rider joining at 30 seems like an outlier, since none of these kids actually had any experience haha.

Invisible sword seems to come from the gas and maybe still the nano particles, but how do all the people in London get hit by it? Just a cloud of gas? The football team probably got it in their system before the match with some excuse.

Nile’s so angry at Alex most of the time gosh. I guess Yassen took over the nice mentor role from Nile here.

Also real convenient that Mrs Jones and Jack don’t actually want to tell each other the truth lmao. I guess here the Department has no idea about who joins Scorpia since they have no eye on them like MI6 has in the book. But that also means there will be no all ports warning to arrest Alex.

Questions

Does Yassen know about John being a spy???

Did Tom and Kyra just… forget about Alex supposedly getting killed if they don’t do as told? Like do they really think Scorpia isn’t going to notice them not getting off the plane in London? The flight isn’t that long… 

[heretherebedork]

So since we’ve established wedding impossible sucks and treats the most vulnerable characters terribly, what are some recent shows where you feel the opposite? Shows that you think treated the characters with the dignity and care they deserved? Personally I think love for love’s sake did an amazing job. I didn’t really have any expectations going into it but I was blown away by how amazingly it the narrative was crafted. I think the storytelling was incredible and really hit all the right emotional beats. I also binged let’s talk about chu this weekend and haven’t stopped thinking about it. I honestly actually enjoyed everyone in the show and was invested in everyone’s stories, but I especially loved the BL plot. It felt so well handled and mature and I loved how the ending was clear that despite Yueh going to jail, the show explicitly showed that Yusen and him seem determined to make their relationship work. It felt like a really lovely full circle moment for each character and their relationship. I didn’t go into that one with any expectations either and was also very satisfied with the show.

I mean, Love for Love's sake did a fantastic job of handling grief and depression and what it means to find the way to love yourself and I loved that, how loving yourself was a strength and needed and how much loving other people could help you learn to love yourself and how much love was healing. Absolutely A+.

Let's Talk About Chu was good and the relationship work was good as well but I can't say it was my favorite in those terms because I never got the depth I wanted into the formation of their relationship but it did show how much they're willing to work for this relationship. It was good, though.

I didn't love Cooking Crush overall but they did handle the parental issues with respect and honored that sometimes relationships change and grow even without fixing everything. I had plenty of problems with the show but that was not of them.

What Did You Eat Yesterday? is an amazing exploration of an adult couple and of people coming to terms with their own sexuality and growing together and becoming better people because of their love and what it means to keep growing even after you're an adult. It's truly great and mature.

La Pluie is imperfect but is also an amazing exploration of what it means when you try to rely on fate but also what it means when you are so focused on fate that you need to deny it entirely or when you try to let little things guide you rather than looking at the bigger picture and it really does treat all of those ideas beautifully. Not quite the same but similar.

Not a BL but Oh No! Here Comes Trouble is a beautiful and poignant and amazing story about living and grief and moving past without ever forgetting but finding ways to forgive yourself for choices that accidentally hurt the people you loved and about growing past grief and it's just beautiful.

That's the short list, at least for me, of shows that are at least a bit more recent and really do get into more and deeper issues.

I mean, there's also The Eighth Sense but that's not super recent just really, really good and delves into trauma and pain and loss and grief and depression and what happens as you begin to heal and grow.

[bereft-of-frogs]

current high republic ranking upon completing phase I!!!:

The Fallen Star

The Rising Storm

Out of the Shadows

Into the Dark

Light of the Jedi

Midnight Horizon

Fallen Star remains on top. I'm just such a certified tragedy bitch. I actually cried at work listening to the audiobook/reading it while on lunch a couple times (ok it was also shark week I once cried over a sock during shark week). I also really enjoyed the foray into more space horror bits, Gray did the parts where they go searching for the spooky anomaly really well. And Bell of course was perfect <3 I love Bell. Sad bb. Also why Rising Storm is a close second, he's so great in that too, plus Indeera (and Elzar Mann being a stupid slut*) (*affectionate)

Honestly I think 3 + 4 are kind of a tie I really enjoyed both of them! Into the Dark just slipped a bit because 1) Cohmac annoyed me this time and 2) I LOVE Vernestra. So much. But really both had the right blend of emotion and adventure and peril for me, but being YA I think they had to hold back on fully exploring the consequences and its follow-through of the more traumatic events, so I didn't quite get the same 'omg this is everything' catharsis feeling that the top two adult books provided.

The jump between #5 and #6 is a PRECIPITOUS decline. I honestly feel like I should put a few blank spots between them, spot #5 is much closer to #4 than it is to #6. Because the difference between #5 Light of the Jedi 'I appreciate the difficult task Soule had to introduce the context and a huge cast of characters, I just don't think he entirely succeeded, the opening incident action description drags a bit and some of the emotional beats only hit in hindsight, once you've had some time with other writers fleshing out characters, like Jora Malli's death, but overall it was enjoyable and got me interested in the series' and #6 Midnight Horizon 'I hated about 85% of this, I think it was supposed to be funny but the humor missed for me so completely that at one point the secondhand embarrassment made me physically nauseous and it almost made me stop reading (again)' is so stark it feels like they shouldn't be next to each other.

Onward to phase II! I already started the Paths of Deceit audiobook on my walk home, there's a cult, I'm into it.

[hatedbyiife]

So... what ARE your thoughts on Epic the Musical?

Okay I've been sitting on this cause I needed some time to gather my thoughts on this

Dead dove, this is a critique, I am not going to be singing praises, and most importantly: this is my personal opinion

A few things to note:

I'm not going to critique the storytelling nor the performances themselves but the structure of the storytelling

I would also like to say that I don't know what the history of this musical is or how it came to be

I'm not a songwriter, I'm just some guy on tumblr that did original college theatre shows for a little over half a decade so I'm no expert but I do have experience

I went into this completely blind, or well, as blind as someone who knows the story of the Odyssey

So my biggest takeaway from Epic is that the lyrics are just... bland. I honestly can't tell if the lyrics will be better if it'll be sung differently or the lyrics just need to be entirely changed

This is literally what I sent my friend while I was going through it:

(I am someone who doesn't particularly enjoy LMM's work so that's not exactly praise from me)

I think some songs should have been cut or shortened, there are parts that are redundant and don't really add to what has already been established or furthers the plot or emotional beats of the characters

There are parts I've noticed that don't always hit the right units and don't really invoke the sort of emotions I think it's trying to within the listener?

It's not all bad, the music is great, and the performers do an absolute great job at their roles, but the way it all comes together just seems to fall apart

I think the best way for me to put this is that it has so much potential to be good but as it stands it's just a bit disappointing

[mannatea]

part 3

I just did ch10 today, got busy with other things and all that.

Anyway, I love the prologue with Lyn. I think it does a great job of giving us a small, likable cast of characters. "Lyndis's Legion" is truly a wonderful time. Honestly, I could have played a whole expanded version of the prologue with just this cast tbh! But that's what fanfic is for.

(Anyone else remember the >9,000 novelizations out there?)

Sain has the best Lundgren conversation tbh. Kent is immediately angry and ready to murder (and so is Lyn), but Sain messes with him a bit first, which I enjoy. Sain is a good friend. <3

Lundgren is literally just the worst guy imaginable.

Like even his death rattle is him being a racist piece of shit. Please leave Lyn alone. I think it's interesting that he's a general though, and that's something I don't recall many people ever calling attention to.

Like dang. There's an implication here that he leads part of Caelin's military directly; this explains very simply why so many soldiers unquestioningly followed him...and how he knew enough about Eagler to keep him under his thumb. (I wonder if Eagler was protecting Reissmann? Like, what if. Just kidding...unless...?)

ANYWAY

I got a little emotional at Lyn's reunion with Hausen SHUT UP I KNOW I'M CRINGE. It's a story beat that just works well for me. She was all alone in the world and now she has a grandfather and all these friends. Also I love that even though he knows his daughter eloped for love, that he never had any real closure about her life. There's something really touching about him finding peace not by just meeting Lyn, but by learning that his daughter had a good and happy, loving life, even though he wasn't part of it.

(Me, thinking casually of the rp I did where Lyn gets poisoned in the post-game after Hausen's death) Yyyeah how did that work out for you, Lyn? (/kicks it under a table)

SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP DOES HE EVER GET TO GO?? DOES SHE EVER GET TO TAKE HIM? I can't believe I never tied this into any "Hausen Dies" story? I've failed as a longtime Lyn enjoyer.

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP I'M SORRY LYN HE WON'T HAVE THAT!!!!

ahem

It's interesting that Lyn only says she intends to stay until her grandfather is well again; there's no discussion here of inheritance and I like that. I do feel like that pressure is still likely to fall on her to inherit (and the fact that she tries to learn manners/etiquette points toward it) but I think it's nice that it at least doesn't really...start out that way?

It also makes me wonder something... I know in a lot of Kent/Lyn fics there's a discussion about her returning to the plains (reasonable, this should be discussed) but in their A Support he does say two things that are interesting. "If I let go your hand now, I would regret it for the rest of my life" + "I am here for you. Even were I not a knight, even were you not my lady."

With the prologue a little more firmly in mind now, where she's been clear more than once that she doesn't want the actual title/doesn't wish to rule Caelin, I wonder if Kent says these things specifically because he knows she does not intend to stay and therefore doesn't want to lose a good chance to confess his feelings for her (in the most Kentlike way possible, of course).

Like, for him to say he gladly does everything for her and that even if (when?) their situation changes it will not change his heart is so gently romantic for a guy who supposedly isn't great at talking to women. Like obviously I'll talk about their supports soon (I will get them asap obvs) but in the context of him being very aware that she will not stay to rule Caelin...this confession feels much, much more intentionally trying to hit on things she needs to hear. Hence, her, "Stay by my side always": she understands what he means.

I could definitely be reading too much into it, but that's an interesting angle to their supports and the context of the prologue (where he also said he would follow her anywhere) that I hadn't thought of before.

It's especially interesting in context of most Kent/Lyn fics anyway, where her ruling Caelin (or having to abdicate) is always this really big obstacle Lyn has to overcome...because obviously telling Kent that she doesn't intend to stay after his love has been confessed is awkward. And like, I fully believe they should still have that conversation...but it's neat to think that he might not actually be in the dark about it—that he confessed this to her specifically knowing that if she chose to leave he would go with her.

Of course, blindsiding him with the knowledge creates a lot of tension and drama, and that's always fun, and there's probably something good, too, about Lyn having to get up the courage to have that conversation with him anyway (because apparently when she's anxious about emotion she gets weirdly avoidant and shy about it LOL)...but I could see this being less of a big deal if a writer wanted it to be.

(Also it's funny how all of their supports begin basically the same way: with him saying her name and then her saying his.)

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Anyway, I love how so many people end up staying in Caelin with Lyn and how happy Sain and Kent are to have her there. And that Kent canonically teaches Wil manners so that he fits in more is soooo sweet UGHHH I LOVE THESE GUYS. I think they're half the reason post-game Lyn fics are so much fun. Lyn, Florina, Kent, Sain, Wil? Dream Team. And also how pumped up Florina is to train and get better!! I just love all these fellas.

I'm gonna play more tomorrow hopefully. <3 Sorry in advance for the 500 posts that might pop up!