#i could only fit ten pics on this so
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Sam and Darlin's House
it’s pretty much this house exactly. the lifted porch, the hill leading to the backyard. it’s just a lot more wooded than the pic. the upper left window is their bedroom and the right is the en suite. it’s 2 bed/1.5 bath
they have very warm but dim lighting everywhere, especially the bedroom. they have a walk in closet with hooks for their respective bath towels. everything is very plush and comfortable, a lot of extra throw blankets and pillows for cuddles. they keep the house cold purely for the purpose of cuddling up with each other under a mountain of blankets
the living room isn’t quite as grand as this, but the ceilings are vaulted like this. i’ve said before in my fics that sam has a suede (that soft, almost fuzzy leather texture) couch. they have a fire place as well
they have a double vanity in the en suite with those lifted sinks. the bath is opposite the vanity and has dark metal fixtures and a rounded tub with white curtains. sam keeps his shaving stuff under the sink and out of the way (darlin hates when he shaves)
the kitchen and dining room are hardly ever used, but it’s all dark wood with green and cream accents. the mismatched chairs at the dining table are everything to me
this sorta color palette for their decor and such
make a suggestion for who’s next in the comments :)
taglist and link to the entire pinterest board below the cut
@sunsickcrab @froggytimemachineinternet @int3rtwiningh3artstrings @zimix-whispers @wilted-rose-posts
#redacted asmr#redacted audio#redactedverse#redacted fandom#redacted sam#redacted darlin#rodeos-roundup#please look at the pinterest#there’s more there#i could only fit ten pics on this so#rodeos-realty
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Ibiza -W2S
words: 1.2k+
warnings: alcohol consumption.
summary: you spend the day on a yacht while your boyfriend and his mates film hide & seek. You deal with his mean drunkenness. Then when you get back to the villa you take care of him.
notes: this is based off of this request!! I think drunk Harry’s hilarious😭. Don’t forget to reblog! Enjoy this extra lone one💓✨
Liked by gkbarry_, ksi and 561,308 others
y/username: Ibiza 2024!🌴🍹🌺☀️💘
Tagged: @wroetoshaw @behzingagram @faithloisak @taliamar @freyanightingale
-comments-
wroetoshaw: 🔥🔥
faithloisak: you cutie
taliamar: stunning girl🫶🏼
y/nfanpage21: pahaha the second pic😭
user31096420: another iconic sidemen holiday
user91837410: she's so fit
A few days ago we arrived in Ibiza. It was initially just going to be the boys because they were planning a few sidemen videos. But they decided that there hasn't been a proper holiday with everyone for years since, Ethan and Faith had Olive, Me and Harry got married, as well as Simon and Talia so we cleared our schedules and booked tickets.
We're here for a week and plan on doing as much relaxing as we can but the boys still need to film their videos. Today they're filming a hide and seek on a huge yacht. We're all staying in a massive villa that's really close to the sea line. "Morning." Harry yawned. My sleepy face curved into a content smile. "Good morning." I whispered before kissing his soft lips. Harry wrapped his arms around my torso. "Do we have to get up?" He dug his head into my neck. "Yes Haz. The boats booked for eleven." I replied. He groaned.
Eventually I got him up and we began getting ready. I pulled on a bikini that wouldn't give me offensive tan lines, since I'm planning on laying in the sun all day. Then popped on a cute cover up. Once I'd sorted my hair and covered myself in suncream I headed downstairs where everyone was sat eating breakfast. I said "good morning." then grabbed a plate of fresh fruit along with a smoothie.
After breakfast we all collected the last of our things then just as the taxis pulled up we left. Harry helped Ethan get Olives stuff into the boot while I carried the baby for Faith while she clipped in the car seat. It's only a ten minute drive so we were soon being dropped off at the dock. The day before yesterday we spent a few hours on a smaller boat but today (since they're filming a video) the yacht is massive. The crew also flew in yesterday to film this video so they met us here.
We were told not to grab our things from the taxis because the staff on board would get it for us. When we got onto the yacht we were immediately given drinks and a quick toor. The woman brought us up some stairs. "And these are the tanning loungers." Me and the girls looked at each other with a smile. "This is where I'm going to be spending the rest of the day." Talia joked, but she was being fully serious and I felt exactly the same.
The boys wondered off to film the intro for the video and all four of us girls lay down on a lounger, while Olive slept next to Faith in a little travel cot under one of the large umbrellas. I chatted quietly with Talia, Freya started reading her book and Faith soaked up the sun. We could hear the boys screaming, shouting and laughing as they filmed. Vik was the seeker and wasn't doing the best job which was obvious from what we could see from the top deck, but I'm sure that will make the video even funnier.
Once Harry, Ethan and Josh had been found we caught them peering up at us quite a few times. "You all look like creeps you know!" I shouted. The girls laughed from beside me and the boys faces turned a bright shade of red. "You just look too good in that bikini babe!" Harry shouted back sarcastically. I smirked with a shake of my head. Then returned to tanning.
After almost three hours the boys finally finished filming so we had some lunch. As the day went on we jumped into the sea, played mafia and just sat around enjoying each other's company. Everyone began actually drinking as it started to get later. Accept me, Faith, JJ and Tobi because I had had like one or two but really couldn't be arsed with a hangover, Faith needed to look after Olive and JJ and Tobi don't drink.
y/username just posted a new story!
I sat next to Harry as he swayed back and forth slightly. "You alright?" I asked. He was clearly very drunk. "What? Oh. Shut up I'm fine." He replied. I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. I looked around the group, all eyes on us. I burst into a fit of laughter. "Alright big man I think it's time you get to bed." I tried to help him stand. "No!" He shouted. I sighed tiredly. "Here. I'll help." Tobi got up from his seat. We decided to all call it a night so left the ship and got taxi's back to the villa.
"Here you go mate." JJ murmured as him and Tobi lay an almost asleep Harry on our bed. "Thanks boys." I smiled as they walked out with a quick "good night." I pulled Harry's clothes off, leaving him in just his boxers. Then I placed a glass of water on his nightstand, along with some paracetamol for his hangover. Thankfully Harry usually isn't physically sick when he has a hangover so there was no need for a bucket. After I took a quick shower I slipped into bed, next to him.
The next morning I got up decently early to make everyone breakfast. Faith was already downstairs since Olive had been awake for quite awhile and she didn't want to wake Ethan up since he was hungover and he woke up early yesterday for Olive. "Good morning you cutie." I greeted Olive in my high pitched baby voice, that seems to just appear whenever I'm around animals or babies. She giggled with the sweetest little smile.
"Morning." Faith also smiled as I sat down next to her on the couch. "So last night Harry seemed to be a little..." "mean." I finished her sentence. "Well yea." She breathed out a laugh. "He's a mean drunk. It really doesn't bother me to be honest. I find it hilarious." I chuckled. "I'm glad, I was a little concerned." "The first time we went out together it was a bit of a shock to the system but over the years I realised that it's just how he reacts to alcohol."
After a good chat with Faith I headed back upstairs to check on Harry. I slowly opened to door to see Harry front down on the bed with his face turned towards the door. I walked towards him and squatted in front of him. "Harry." I whispered as my hand gently stroked his face. He groaned. "Have some paracetamol love." I grabbed the pack from the nightstand. "My head hurts." He slowly opened one of his eyes. I smiled at him "I know. Sit up for me."
He pushed himself up and turned over so he was sitting against the headboard. He took the tablet along with almost the entire glass of water. "Was I mean?" He asked quietly. I laughed "Uhm... I've had much worse." He groaned as he covered his face with his hands. "Sorry." He mumbled. "Don't be. You were completely gone with the fairies." I said sarcastically. He chuckled but then winced, probably from the pounding headache. "Go back to sleep. I'll have breakfast downstairs when you're ready." I quickly pecked his forehead. "You're too good to me." He replied as he returned to his previous position.
#w2s#harry lewis#harry w2s#wrotoshaw#wroetoshaw#w2s x reader#w2s fic#w2s imagine#wroetoshaw x reader#wroetoshaw oneshot#harry lewis x reader#harry x reader#youtuber x reader#british youtubers#fanfic#image#oneshot#x fem!reader#x y/n#x you#x reader#ibiza#sidemen holiday#sidemen#instagram au#instagram
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hi hi! "local" anon here, and i just had a rlly good idea that ik you will deliver perfectly.
matt "accidently" sends reader a d pick and she's all flustered but just doesn't say anything, until like the next day when they all like go out to dinner and everyone's in their own conversation. she just brings it up like, "so what was that pic you sent last night?" and he knows EXACTLY what she's talking about, but is all like "huh? what?"
but then, later that night, she ends up sending a risky pic of her own and then he just texts her saying to like 'come over immediately' or he's coming over to her house and then yk what!!
again, i love your writing and i know you will NOT disappoint with this!! Love you ! 😘
Take The Risk - Matt Sturniolo
warnings : spicy pics and smuttt
a/n : finally!! am i right?? pls look the other way if this is shit, like actually fr.. lmaoooo
—
“This is actually impossible. I’m gonna die of old age before I finish this thing.” I groan to myself, letting my head fall forward onto the table.
It’s been weeks of me staring at all of these pieces, all the exact same, aside from the shape. I’m determined to complete it. I lift my head up, an irregular piece slowly falling from my forehead.
“Who came up with this shit? Why are they so against me?” I ask no one in particular, seeing as I’m completely alone.
I’m convinced whoever created this was just trying to spite me. I can never back of out a challenge, they had to have known that. It’s been hours since I first sat down to work on it today, I am bored out of my mind, but I still can’t put the pieces down. Just as I’m about to toss my head back and cry from frustration, I realize I only have five pieces left. I jump forward, laying them all out in front of me, studying their pattern and the way they could all fit together. It takes maybe another ten minutes before I finally get it.
The last asymmetrical piece, snaps into place, completing the array of silver configuration. Twenty two days, six hundred fifty four pieces later. There she sits, in all her glory. Silver (Krypt), the hardest jigsaw puzzle to solve. This puzzle has no pictures, instead, it simply consists of hundreds of silver pieces, with a circular center and surrounding pieces making the finished jigsaw a plain rectangle. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this thing.
“Never back down, never what?!” I exclaim, jumping up from my seated position, only now realizing how bad my posture is from the ache in my back. I reach my hand around, holding my back as I groan, “Fuck.”
Straightening up, I grab my phone and immediately snap a picture of the completed puzzle. I just have to show Matt, he’s going to be thrilled. I send the photo to him on snapchat, then head to my kitchen. I grab a bottle of water and a bag of chips to snack on, then go upstairs to relax in my bedroom. Once I put my show on the TV, I notice a notification from Matt.
Matty B
NO WAY YOU FINISHED IT
Me
I DID
Matty B
only took you a month lmao
Me
BYE
it was hard asf 👹
Matty B
me too
Me
UM EXCUSE ME
Matty B
whattt
myb
Me
🌚 you can’t just say that then b like ‘mY bAd’
Matty B
i didn’t mean it
Me
oh
Matty B
congrats on finishing the puzzle tho
now i don’t have to listen to you complaining about the creator being against you
Me
blocked.
Matty B
LMFAO
bro. i was joke
Me
awesome to hear bro
I roll away from my phone, grabbing my chips to eat while I watch TV. An hour goes by, before I make my way to the bathroom. I wash my face and brush my teeth, then strip into my pajamas to finally go to sleep. Walking back into my room, I grab my phone to check one last time. As I plug my charger into it, I notice a snapchat from Matt. Upon opening it, my jaw drops.
There, on my screen, is a picture of a dick. Matt’s dick; fully erect, veins dancing alongside it, the tip pink with dribbles of precum. His hand sits at the base, unintentionally giving me a visual comparison of the size, and boy, it’s something. I can’t help but lick my lips at the sight, before snapping out of it and realizing my best friend just sent me a picture of his cock.
I’m at a loss for words. I can’t even think properly, far from being able to articulate a response. So, I just lock my phone and lay down. Yet, every time I close my eyes, I see his dick staring back at me, begging to be touched. I can feel the arousal building in me, my walls now clenching around nothing. Tossing and turning, attempting to ignore the growing desire, I deeply sigh. It’s going to be a long night.
-
I look at my phone screen, observing myself in my front camera. I’m currently about to walk into the restaurant where I’m having dinner with Matt, Nick, Chris, Nate, and Madi. I haven’t addressed the picture Matt sent me yesterday, and he hasn’t brought it up either, but it’s still lingering in my mind.
Putting my phone away, I lock my car and strut towards the entrance of the restaurant. Upon entering, a hostess greets me and directs to the table where my friends reside.
“Y/N!” Nate cheers, causing the rest of them to look over at me, smiles appearing on all of their faces.
“Hey guys, sorry I’m a little late.” I apologize, scooting in next to Matt.
“You’re all good, I ordered your drink already.” Matt informs me, “They should be coming around shortly.”
I smile, “Thanks, Matty.”
Within five minutes, we all receive our drinks and order our food. While waiting on our meals, we resume light conversation. However, I cannot stop thinking about the picture Matt sent me. Every time I look at him, I feel my heart beat faster and my breath gets caught in my throat. Are we just going to forget about it? Is that what he expects? I can’t just forget.
As the other four indulge in their own conversations, I notice Matt is silent, so I use this as my chance to confront him about it.
“Matt?” I call out, loud enough for him to hear me, yet quiet enough so the others don’t.
His directs his attention to me, softly humming in response as his eyebrows raise, expectantly.
“Um, about yesterday..” I trail off, attempting to read his body language.
I see him slightly tense up, clearing his throat as he looks at me, feigning confusion, “What?”
I give him a pointed look, “That picture you sent last night.”
He looks around as if trying to rack his brain, his eyebrows furrowing as he shrugs, “What are you talking about?”
I sigh, coming to a realization that I’m going to get nowhere with this. He knows what I’m talking about. I know he knows, I can see it all over him. Two can play at that game.
I clearly my throat and shake my head, “Actually nothing, forget about it.”
For the rest of the evening, we don’t speak on that topic again. We all just enjoy our food and the company of each other.
After dinner, I arrive home and immediately head to the bathroom for a shower. The entire night, my mind has been stuck on Matthew, wishing we talked about it, longing for more. We’ve never been anything other than friends, but he lit something in me, a fire that I can’t seem to put out. Should I call him over it? Should I do what he did to me?
After getting dressed in nothing but a black lingerie set, I sit in front of my bedroom mirror. I do look good, but should I really do this? Just take a picture and send it? I give myself another once over, before deciding to turn around and lean forward, snapping a quick photo.
I don’t know how much time has passed as I sit there, staring at my screen. My fingers hover over the picture, unsure of what to say, or if I should say anything at all. Taking a deep breath, I full send, then quickly put my phone down, suddenly ridden with more anxiety as I anticipate his response.
Hopefully I’m not reading more into this situation than what it is. Surely Matt is just playing hard to get. If he didn’t mean to send the picture, he would’ve just said that, right? I try to convince myself that he’s just being a tease, but the more I think about it, the more the pit in my stomach grows. After what feels like forever, I reach for my phone and my immediately face falls.
Opened 12 minutes ago.
Before I can even think a single thought, knocks on my front door sound throughout the silent atmosphere. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I grab my black silk robe and slip it on while walking towards the door. Peeking through the peephole, I see Matt standing there, looking antsy. I freeze, my hand stuck on the doorknob, unable to complete the motion of turning it. I toss my head back, taking a deep breath, before pulling the door open. His eyes light up once he sees me, his gaze flickering over my figure before he makes his way inside.
Within seconds, his lips are on mine, needy and desperate. Taking a few seconds to get over the initial shock, my lips move against his, my hands looping around his neck as his hands pull me in closer by my waist. Without removing his lips from mine, he kicks the door shut and walks me backwards, towards my couch.
As soon as my legs hit the side, he pulls back and asks, “Is this okay?”
I eagerly nod, “More than okay.”
A small grin pulls to his lips before they’re back on mine, kissing me with so much hunger. His hands grope at every one of my curves, squeezing and kneading my skin. His hands suddenly grab my robe, pulling it down my arms and letting it fall behind me, before he pulls away and takes in my appearance once again. He licks his lips and tugs his bottom lip between his teeth, and I can see the bulge stiffening in his pants.
“Fuck, you’re so fine.” He groans, pulling me back into him.
His hands forcefully grab my face and he slams his lips onto mine once again, pulling our bodies flush together. My hands tread through his hair, tugging as he turns my head to the side and moves his mouth to work down my jaw to my neck. His breath is hot against my skin, his tongue licking and his teeth biting. I can feel my arousal pool in between my legs, and I have to squeeze them together to relieve the tension. His hands travel down to my ass, tightly squeezing and massaging it, only making me more wet as I let out a soft moan.
He pulls away and rests his forehead on mine, “What do you want, baby?”
I lick my lips, letting out a breath, “You. I want you, Matt.”
Instantly, he pulls his shirt off and comes back to me, pressing his lips on mine again. I reach behind my back, unhooking my bra and letting it fall down my arms and onto the floor. His hands immediately make their way to my boobs, and I’m melting in his palms. He grips them tenderly yet firm, pulling more moans from me. He leans forward and takes one of my nipples in his mouth, sucking on it as he pinches the opposite one.
The desire in me grows stronger with every touch he graces me with. He knows what he’s doing, and I’m weak in the knees because of it. Kissing me with so much passion and lust, his fingers slip into the waistband of my bottoms, pulling them down with ease, only breaking the kiss to fully remove them. My hands tug at his pants, wanting him to take those off as well, which he does, along with his boxers. We’re left standing, completely naked, and hungry for one another.
He places a couple of soft kisses against my lips, before quickly spinning me around and bending me over the side of the couch. His hands travel down my back, applying just the right amount of pressure, causing me to clench in anticipation. His fingers dig into the skin of my ass, jiggling it, and gripping it with enough strength to surely leave bruises. One of his hands breaks away from me, only to come right back with extreme speed and force. I yelp, jerking forward at the feeling of his hand colliding with my bare skin, a moan soon following as he rubs the place he smacked.
“Just wanna make you feel good, baby.” He whispers against my ear, his fingers trailing between my legs, running over my core.
I let out a whimper, pushing back against his hand for more, but his other hand places a firm hold on my back, keeping me in place. His fingers run through my folds, becoming slick with my wetness, causing him to let out a groan. His fingertips rub my clit in slow and soft circles, adding more pressure and speed with every second, leaving me quivering with moans.
“Mm, such a good girl.” He praises, sinking two fingers into my entrance, ripping a loud moan from my mouth.
“Just wanna be a good girl for you.” I find myself saying in between the whimpers of pleasure.
His pace increases, his fingers pumping in and out of me while his other hand runs up and down my back. I could feel the orgasm building so quickly, begging for release. His hand moves from my back, and starts tracing circles onto my clit once more, his fingers inside me going even faster. My legs start shaking and I’m now putting all my weight onto the couch, way too weak to stand on my own.
“So wet.” Matt mumbles in delight at the sound of his fingers in my juices, “Bet you taste so good.”
“F-fuck, feels so good.” I moan, shuddering as he increases his speed even more. “Gon-gonna cum.”
“Let go, baby.”
His fast movements and the sound of his raspy voice fuel my orgasm, my climax falling upon me quickly. I clench around his fingers, letting myself go and cum all over his hands. He continues finger fucking me, letting me ride out my high. He removes his hands from me and I look back in time to see him sucking all of my juices off of his fingers. The sight alone had me clenching again, eager for more.
“I knew it.” He moans against his fingers, “Taste like I could eat you forever.”
I stand back up on shaky legs, turning to face him and pulling him into a deep kiss, our tongues intertwining and exploring each other’s mouth. His hand comes up to my throat, gently squeezing it, pulling me closer, before pulling us apart altogether.
“We’re not done yet, my sweet girl.” He smirks against my lips, turning me back around and laying me over the couch once again.
He wraps his hand around his dick, stroking it a few times, then runs it through my folds, causing me to shake from the sensitivity. Without a word, he places one hand on my lower back and slowly slides himself in my entrance.
A high pitched moan falls from my lips as he groans, tossing his head back, “Fuck. Been wanting this forever, baby. Feel better than I’ve ever imagined.”
I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, sliding backwards to take all of him in me. He moans loudly, tightly gripping my hips. He holds me in place as he starts thrusting, digging deeper into me with every pump. His strokes get faster and harder, our skin slapping together as I become a moaning mess. My whole body shakes with every movement of his, my face buried into the sofa, muffling my sounds as he fucks me. My legs tremble as he hits exactly where I need him, and I instantly begin clenching around him.
His hand wraps around my hair in a makeshift ponytail and tugs my head back, “I wanna hear your pretty moans, baby. You like the way I fuck you?”
“Mmm, yes. I love it-” I sound out, breathless from the pleasure. “You fuck me s-so good.”
His thrusts quicken and his grip on my hip tightens. The knot in my stomach continues growing, proving my statement to be true. I’ve never been fucked like this, and I can’t help but think about how I’m so glad I sent him that picture.
“Fuck, baby. You feel so good wrapped around my cock, taking me so well. My good girl.” He moans, his hips sputtering.
The pressure in my stomach becomes too much and it’s hard holding it in, my hands gripping the cushions beneath me. He leans forward, his hands intertwining with mine as his lips trail open mouth kisses up and down my back. I can’t help the moans that keep pouring from my mouth, feeling nothing but pure bliss.
“I can feel you clenching around me.” He whispers in my ear, “Cum on my cock, so I can fill you up, pretty girl.”
With that, I let go. My entire body shakes as pornographic moans fall from my lips, my pussy clenching around him so tightly. His strokes become erratic and his moans and groans are louder than before. He quickens his pace as he chases his high, instantly filling me up with a loud raspy moan emitting from his mouth. He continues thrusting into me, pushing his cum deeper. He leans back, standing up straight as we both catch our breaths. His hands find my back once again, softly massaging it. He pulls out, my legs twitching from the stimulation. His hands move down to my ass, gently squeezing it, before he helps me up.
“How are you feeling?” He asks, turning me to face him, keeping his hands around my waist for support.
“Like we should’ve done that a long time ago.” I grin, still breathless.
“We can always make up for lost time.” He grins, placing his forehead on mine.
I nod as we both laugh before he places a few kisses on my cheeks and lips. His hand grabs mine and he pulls me even more into him, capturing my lips in a deep but loving kiss.
“Let’s take a shower, so I can clean you up.” He suggests.
My face heats up and I nod once more, following him upstairs as he never lets my hand go.
Our friendship just changed entirely and I can’t wait for what’s in store for us, because I know it’s going to be euphoric.
—
a/n : tadaaa!!! ugh i hope this wasn’t shit, it’s been forever :((( lmk what you think! requests are closed bc i have wayyy too many that i need to catch up on, but i’m hoping i can get back into it! love uu <333
#lustfulslxt#joss speaks#sturniolo triplets#sturniolos#the sturniolos#matt sturniolo#imagine#sturniolo smut#matthew sturniolo x you#matthew sturniolo smut#matthew sturniolo x reader#matthew sturniolo#matt sturniolo x you#matt sturniolo smut#matt sturniolo x reader#sturniolo fanfic
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also, because I am both a big nerd AND a silly magpie, I own three of these in real life 😌
Magic Ring Squad :D
#I realized taking this pic they all need to be cleaned and polished pretty badly lmao oops#admittedly the ring of free action is a bit of a cheat:#it has an illustration in the book but I didn't like it so I decided to redesign it (I wanted it to be a spinner ring)#and I did so knowing I wanted it to be a ring I could also acquire irl SO...#long story short her ring is designed AFTER the irl ring I found that I really loved that felt thematically appropriate haha#I made/ customized the ring of the depths! the bad news is the base only came in size like... 4 or something so it Does Not Fit Me#but I made the 'amethyst' seashell myself 😌#just need a ring of water walking... actually just found a couple on etsy that look pretty close 👀#someone USED to sell an actual replica of the illustration in the book but it was expensive (these were all like ten bucks haha)#I also kinda want a new/ different feather ring but the one I want is... well not VERY expensive but more than ten bucks#this one's a little uncomfortable/ annoying to actually wear :I#not art
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okay let's go bananas 🍌
what jumps out at me about bananas is how fruity it is. in many ways lmao.
first of all, i want to talk about his skill once again. because these lyrics are skilled.
so in rap music there are rhyme schemes and there are thematical schemes. a rhyme scheme is about rhyming words and how you alternate between different rhyme types. a thematical scheme is about what you're talking about and how you bake one lyrical theme into different meanings through metaphor. most rap songs will have multiple thematical schemes through the song, and holding on to one thematical scheme for several bars let alone verses takes skill.
well. bananas holds on to one thematical scheme through the whole entire song. and that theme is, basically, fruit and vegetable. there are ten different fruits and vegetables mentioned in the song and multiple of them are not only there to help a rhyme scheme but because they have metaphorical or innuendo meanings that fit the lyrical content, the subject of the song. they further the plot, so to speak.
on top of that, i'd say at least three of them also work to multiply the fruit theme and lift it into a different level, but i'll talk about that more a bit later.
he is really skilled at using this fruit and veg scheme to "further the plot" and paint a picture. so let's look at some of the bars.
"pokella on mandariinit kainalossa" meaning "the bouncer has mandarins under his armpits". if you understand the line, it's not only hilarious but informative. if you don't, let me explain. this line refers to a finnish slang term mandariinikana, mandarin chicken. mandariinikana is someone who pretends and acts like their biceps are bigger than they actually are. mandariinikana will hold their arms a bit further away from their torso, to make it look like their muscles are so big their arms simply cannot just rest at their sides and touch their body - but in reality, there is no muscle there. in fact, what is actually between their "biceps" and their torso is just air, empty space. so much space you could fit mandarins in their armpits. hence -> "pokella on mandariinit kainalossa" is not only a clever bar in the fruit scheme, it also tells us so much about what kind of character this bouncer is. a very smart line!
"en ole greippi, en ole lime, olen makea ja onnelline" meaning "i'm not a greip fruit, i'm not a lime, i'm sweet and happy" excellent use of the fruit scheme! what does this bar tell us? greip fruits and limes are sour. he denounces being sour, and underlines that he is sweet. which, by the way! in finnish makea works the same way as cool in english. if someone is makea (or makee) that means they are cool. i think he uses makea here to mean both sweet and cool at the same time.
second verse "aamulla kurkut silmillä ja mun otsaan on kasvanut tatti" again, such a cool and informative way to use the thematical scheme. "aamulla kurkut silmillä" meaning "cucumbers on my eyelids in the morning" paints a vivid picture and gives us so much information about where we are in the story. "otsaan on kasvanut tatti" now we're once again deep in finnish territory but i'll try. tatti otsassa (bolete mushroom on the forehead) is a cleaner version of kyrpä otsassa (cock on the forehead) and, do not ask me where this comes from, but kyrpä otsassa means you're very annoyed and put out. so again, using the thematical scheme in a clever way, he has informed us of the mood in the story now.
and so we get to the eggplant. now. eggplant, peach and banana (and the way he's been using bananas in his live shows..) are what i meant before, when i said some of these fruits are opening up another level to this fruity thematical scheme.
because like.
this song is pretty gay. and i don't think that's an accident.
it's not just that the bouncer is checking him out, it's that he notices. giving the bouncer the good old look back, hm? and his DM's are full of eggplants, dick pics. is this a gay club, where everyone is "going bananas"? because hear me out.
jere would have grown up at a time where fruittari was a term used to describe certain type of men. and yes the word fruittari comes from the english word fruit. fruittari men weren't necessarily gay, they were just sort of.. male fashionistas? at a time where it was, i guess, so unusual for men to care about their looks that it needed a term lmao.
now like i said, fruittari men weren't necessarily gay, but then that word isn't really used anymore, not in that way. and i would argue that to refer to any man as any type of fruit, in today's finland, would come across as calling them gay.
so for him to build an entire fruit scheme to describe both himself and other (male) charcters in the song? yeah that's kinda fruity in the gay way lmao.
now, i'm not saying this is a coming out song. i'm saying he's clever to recognise the implications of the fruit and veg scheme and to lean into it, rather than trying to no-homo the scheme. i don't think he cares what people make of his sexuality. i mean hell, it could be a coming out song! or it could just be him being gay for 3 minutes for the thematical scheme of it all. who knows! either way it fucking slaps.
my unpopular(?) opinion is that bananas doesn't have a deep secret meaning behind it, i think it's about what it says on the tin: partying. but of course, when you look at the placement of the song on the album, you can make conclusions if partying also works as a metaphor of some sort in the album narrative. or it could very well be the sort of partying that ultimately has had to end, part of the toxic lifestyle that snuck into his life after the whirldwind of 2023.
however. this song sounds kinda old school to me, for multiple reasons. the sound itself fits this new käärijä era, but thematically and lyrically this also has the ghost of like välikuolema or even like puuta heinää or something. this sounds like the bratty yapper käärijä.
and towards the end of the song you hear these synth hits that remind me of early 2000's, idk like in da club by 50cent etc. so even more old school.
and there's one detail that kind of dates this song. at the very end he says "paita auki Copacabanas". i don't think he means the actual real copacabana in brasil, i think he means a club in helsinki that had a famous dance floor that could fit like hundreds of people. and the club was known for letting absolutely no-one skip the queue, because you could not reserve tables on the restaurant side of the establishment after nine - and in the beginning of the song he is queuing.
well, copacabana hasn't existed in years. i don't remember exactly when it closed, but a new club opened to where is used to be in 2016, so it's been at least 8-9 years.
so maybe it's a nostalgic song? or maybe it's about slipping into old habits? i don't know.
what i do know it's damn clever either way.
this post is dedicated to anon, who asked me about bananas, got me thinking about it, and so i wrote like the entire thematical scheme bit at 1:30 am
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I have ten billion WIP sketches I need to finish, but for some reason I stayed up from 9 PM to 4 AM conceptualizing, making patterns, sewing, painting and applying makeup on this stupid fucking felt squid......the detailing needs to be cleaned up cause there's only one coat of paint so far, but he's pretty much done
my neighbors probably think I'm insane because I was running around the yard clenching this toy kallamar in a death grip and flying him around like an airplane/putting him in the barbecue/poking him with a stick. I want to tie him to a string and recreate the opening of napoleon dynamite >:) ALSO I MADE HIM SMOKE OUT OF A STUPID CRYSTAL PIPE BUT PLEASE DON'T ACTUALLY USE THOSE, THEY ARE SUPER TOXIC LMAO MINE IS FOR DECORATION
I don't have any process pics because I had tunnel vision autism style and forgot the rest of the universe existed while I was working on him. BUT if you're curious I'll ramble below the cut
Okay I am not a seamstress by any means. I've sewn my entire life but very, very infrequently. I've done plushies, clothes, cosplays, fursuits, accessories, etc. but I only do one like once a year, so while I planned to make all 5 bishops, I'm not really sure I'll get them all done. The material cost was like 20 bucks tops so I'm not too upset if I don't finish them. I AT LEAST WANT TO GET SHAMURA OR HEKET DONE.
here is the concept sketch ft. heket's toes and shamura's fingers. I decided to do his pre-schism version so I could fit him with jewelry! I did him first because like I said I sew infrequently and don't know wtf I'm doing, everyone else seemed a lot more complicated.
So I basically just traced this drawing on a printer paper-sized canvas in SAI, and guesstimated how everything would look in a 3D space. His head is four pieces, one triangle identical to the one in the picture, two wide triangles that are sewn together in the back, and a circle for his chin. You can't really see it in any of the pics but he's literally like a black cylindrical stick with little tentacles sewn on where his mantle connects to his cloak. The leg tentacles are one piece of felt that look like tassels, where they're connected by a rectangle but branch off into individual pieces. He can't stand up very well, so his cape keeps him up (that's gonna be an issue for every other bishop too except heket cause she's gonna be ROUND). Mostly everything like the crown, cloak, head, etc. are cones so I just had to make a lot of wide triangles.
For the details, I just used acrylic paint that was watered down so he's not especially crunchy, and for the blush tone I used a makeup palette my mom bought me 10 years ago in hopes I'd get in touch with my "feminine side", but I grew up into a nonbinary butch lesbian so OOPS. Kallamar looks better with makeup than me anyway. I'm kinda sad I couldn't get his freckles as lopsided as I draw them but it probably looks better in plush form to have them even anyway....
I could just post the pattern so I don't have to explain this but 1. I am mentally ill about the thought of my kallamar being in someone else's house and 2. the original pattern had to be tweaked while I was working on him so the final pattern straight up doesn't exist, I winged it the whole time
OH and the jewelry is just scrap pieces I had laying around, I might repaint it all to be gold instead of silver + bronze. I used 20g aluminum wire for his armlet thing, jumper rings for his earrings + ring (+ a diamond dot from my mom's kits for the gem) and chain for the bracelet. I made him an amulet as well but it felt like overkill so I took it off. I'm probably gonna make him a plague doctor mask and medicine bag sometime because I think about nurse kallamar more than I probably should :') I've already sewn one as a prop for a toy raven before so it shouldn't be too hard
#cult of the lamb#cotl#kallamar#plushie#felt craft#does this count as a plush or is it like a doll idfk#I just make shit because I feel like it not cause I can categorize it in any way#drug cw#ONLY CAUSE OF THE REAL PIPE#THERE IS NO ACTUAL DRUG USE HAPPENING
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Aquatic INSP Set Pt2 (More Objects)
This set includes 12 objects, either recolorable or default replacements:
Venus Girdle Inspired Table Light (FULLBRIGHT) V2
TS4 to TS3 EA Angler Fish as FX Machine (LN EP REQUIRED)
Severinka Neon Flock REDONE (RECOLORABLE with Fullbright)
EA Kelp as Outdoor Lighting (GLOWS) - Regular | Taller
EA IP EP Kraken as Decor
EA Hang Ten Seal as Decor
EA IP EP Shell Wall Decor REDONE (Frameless, Smaller) - Regular | Flipped
EA Pets EP Hay DR (Blue)
Sketchbook DR (UNI EP REQUIRED)
Pearl Pattern Non-Seamless
Enjoy!
Download (package files): Mediafire | SimFileShare
Description & preview pics under the cut:
Venus Girdle REDONE: Fullbright
Yay, I fixed it! I hated the way the OG version came out, cuz I really wanted it to glow similar to how IRL Venus Girdles do.
Close enough! ^0^
Angler Fish FX Machine (LN EP REQ)
These things are frikkin frightening--y'all owe me for this, LOL.
I made TS4's Angler Fish a recolorable Late Night EP FX Machine so it could spit out bubbles, cuz ofc it should. Found under Party/Entertainment.
Fullbright: Neon Flock & Kelp Lights
I made Severinka's Neon Flock ACTUALLY neon, by making it glow with the Fullbright Shader, as well as making it recolorable. IDER what category it's in--use the Search mod like god intended.
The Kelp Outdoor Lights also have the Fullbright Shader.
EA Kraken as Decor
Includes 2 variations. Found under Lawn Ornaments (IIRC). This mesh is friggin huge, so you'll need a big enough lot to fit in on.
Hang 10 Seal as Decor
I took the Evil Seal mesh from EA's Surfing Station, and made it a Lawn Ornament. I added the retexture from @mspoodle1's Hang Ten mod. You'll need an OMSP with these.
Shell Wall Decor REDONE
I was NOT prepared for how huge & clunky the IP EP mesh was, omg. I reduced the scale, removed the USELESS square frame/border, and added an extra version with a Flipped mesh. Jfc, EA.
Pets EP Hay DR (Blue)
While playing with horses in Mermaidia I realized that their hay/straw was a garish yellow that made no sense underwater. So I decided to fix it. AFAIK this texture replacement only affects 2 items:
The Pets EP Horse Stalls (including @mspoodle1's No Walls version)
The Pets EP Hay Pile that sims woohoo in.
UNI EP Sketchbook DR (Aquatic)
These are all the swatches possible--I have no idea what levels they show up for, it seemed pretty random AFAIK:
This is them hung up:
Pearl Pattern Non-Seamless
Found under Plastic, I'm tired.
That's that!
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Enjoy!
Download (package files): Mediafire | SimFileShare
#sims 3 cc#sims 3 conversion#ts4 to ts3#sims 3 mods#sims 3 lighting#sims 3 plants#sims 3 patterns#sims 3 animal parts#sims 3 decor#sims 3 late night#sims 3 island paradise#sims 3 fantasy
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Day 60
Wow we really made it 60 days huh?
Okay so i’m not gonna yap long for this part. You saw the image, you see the read under. This is a small comic adaptation of @vanadisvalentine’s “Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed” fanfic. And it adapts the end of Chapter 4 which is pretty fuckin pivotal in that story. So if you haven’t read that fic yet I’m actually begging you, please read it and don’t let this comic be your first experience.
Second warning, this is going to be a long one. How long? Who knows. I haven’t written it yet, but this Day represents one of the biggest turning points in the whole project for me.
When you click the read under you’re gonna get just the comic, and then you're gonna get hit with a gigantic fucking wall of text. I apologize in advance for the amount of rambling I’m about to do but I got a lot to say here.
Okay so you read the comic, you ready? Cause not only am I gonna yap about making that comic along with all the behind the scenes stuff, (amidst other tangents), but I’m also going to talk about the fic this is based on. This is probably going to feel a bit disorganized but i’ll try my best to keep this legible. Apologies in advance.
So your first thought is probably “Jem why the fuck did you do that?” and you’re correct for thinking that way. Rest assured, you’re going to ask that question again later but significantly louder and more exasperated in the future.
Answer is simple though. I wanted to do something big for Number 60, cause every 10 images I wanna do something Big. For Number 50 I came out of retirement and wrote a fanfic and some art to go with it. So I wanted to go up. How do i go up? Well I am a comic artist, and making a webcomic is my general goal in life and what directs me forward. Sooo, why not a comic?
Okay but a comic of what? Well, why not a fanfic? And at the time the real answer was obvious.
There are Three Fanfics made for Junkan that are pivotal to this entire event. Without all three of them combined ya’ll would not be having Junkan art pop up in your feed every day, questioning what the hell is in my bloodstream to make me draw all this. The answer is Junkan, junkan is in my bloodstream.
I plan to talk about all three of those fics in this event, in as much detail as I can muster. That said not only are we going in reverse order, as todays fic “Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed” is the last piece of the puzzle for why I went off the deep end and drew this much Junkan. But also the other two fics aren’t gonna be discussed for a long time due to their placement in the event order. I’m talking within the last ten days. Oops.
But at the time it was, pretty fucking easy to choose this one to adapt. The other two either wouldn’t really fit my style that I had been working with up to that point, or were just not made to be a comic without way more energy.
And as a reminder this was before I had actually gotten to know some of ya’ll. Within the realm of Junkan Val was the only friend I had. I did have other people who liked DR and were on board with Junkan after I showed them my supply and stated my case, but Val was the only person I knew at the time who was as brainrotted for this ship as I am, granted I think she has like, a normal amount of brainrot. I think by the end of the project I’ve fully snapped and now I can’t stop thinking about these two, like I have actually tried to stop thinking about them but they keep popping up. What was I talking about- Right! Point is, you can consider Day 60, or as I would call it in casual conversation “The 22 Page Junkan Comic,” my most excessive thankyou to her for helping me stay motivated throughout the project and playing a massive part in its inspiration.
As for making the comic.
It was a very bold mix of “I’m having the time of my life” and “Hell,” that's the shortest way I could put it. The longest way? Wellll
So by this point I wasn’t just showing these pics to Val alone. I had a few friends even before Val who I showed the art too. I’d get compliments and feedback and all that nice stuff that keeps me going.
As I’ve stated in the past (i think) one of the hardest parts of this project for me was the lack of validation for my efforts. I do not make art purely to be complimented, I make art in order to hopefully bring a smile to someones face. However I do still take a lot of joy when I see my art being positively received, it shows that my efforts were worth it. Seeing peoples reactions helps me remember why I’m doing this and that I’m doing a good job at it. So if I don’t get a lot of that, especially on something i put a lot of effort into, it can be a little demoralizing. It’s something I’ve tried to work past during this year, but at the time it was a big issue. Day 60 took around 2 weeks to finish, as I was managing other projects and commission work at the time. The whole time I barely showed anyone, Val was obvious because this was a surprise gift for her, however the rest is because I was very adamant about not spoiling the Fic it was based on, and say for a single person amidst the people I would show these pics to none of them had read the fic. So I went from showing a small handful of people these to showing one guy (admittedly one of my best friends) for the span of 2 weeks while grinding away at the comic. It wasn’t until the very tail end that my girlfriend surprised me by reading the fic, meaning I could show her as well finally.
Was it worth starving myself of a majority of positive feedback for 2 weeks when I haven’t had to do something like that for years? Oh god yes but we’re not there yet I still need to talk about the actual comic.
So when you compare the fic to the comic you’ll notice I skipped a decent portion of this scene, this is mostly just for the sake of not making this take too long, I think I picked a pretty solid starting point but also I won’t lie and say there isn’t a part of me that wishes I took like an extra week or two to adapt the whole scene sometimes. Sometimes.
Mukuro acted as the pseudo cover for the comic, both because it was a small detail noted in the scene that she was watching the door, and because I could call back to the “Mukuro Notes” bit I did on the Vampire Junkan comic, which seemed like a cute call back. I also used this as a way to skip past some of the initial dialogue of the scene in terms of adaptation. I’m really happy with how this page turned out visually, I remember having to fiddle with Mukuro’s anatomy and smaller details for awhile.
As you can probably tell, like usual the art for this was still being done as a sketch which I colored rather than what I do in my usual comic stuff, that being Sketch > Lines > Colors > Shading. I did shade a few of these pages cause I think the extra effort was warranted for some pages. I wouldn’t know this without like, actually time traveling to check but I think there was even a time this would be just uncolored sketches. Clearly that didn’t last because yeah, the chick who’s drawing 100 days worth of junkan art is going to make a 22 page comic and NOT color the whole thing, keep telling yourself that Jem.
Once again since I was directly adapting this fic like with Day 20, I tried to be semi accurate in what I assume Junko’s appearance would be, giving her the bunny and bow clips in her hair. I didn’t go all the way since honestly I think i would have gone a little crazy if I drew both characters in their actual Hope’s Peak uniforms for the whole thing, so I mostly stuck to their killing game designs with that small change to Junko. And yes, I did have to edit Junko’s hair to remove the bear clips multiple times throughout the first few pages because I kept forgetting not to draw them. For the first time having these two memorized was a hindrance.
If you’ve ever seen me draw a Question Mark with a cross instead of a dot when drawing Mikan, it’s cause of this comic. Val said it was a cute detail so I decided to stick with it when applicable.
I think I have read the segment of the story this is based on like, 30 times bare minimum. Now some of those times were just because I often reread this fic to help me relax before sleeping, but the majority are because I kept looking at this scene over and over again so I could try and get every detail of this perfect. The posing, expressions, and other visuals, while a little rough around the edges were all possible after going over every paragraph to get the vibe as close as possible.
The dialogue is word for word, punctuation for punctuation ripped from the fic itself. Mildly difficult to pull off without having to extend certain pages, but in the end I managed to pull it off.
Page 7 is one of my favorite pages from the experience. Originally the visual was supposed to be Junko in literal chains of despair with Mikan coming in with a key to unlock them, however chains are agonizing to draw. Not drawing them was a form of self care, even if I think it would have been a bit of a stronger metaphor.
Mikan’s expressions were very difficult to get just right in this, which was half the fun. Do you know how fucking satisfying it was to draw her happy crying??? Very.
Page 10 is another one I’m really happy with. I don’t know exactly what the original plan was beyond the fact that I wanted the shot of Mikan reacting to that being a lot more visually extreme for the colors and amount of space it takes up to make it as overwhelming as possible. But I went in reverse and made the initial heart stop moment of her realizing that Junko just said that more prominent than the rush of emotion hitting her right after.
There were going to be more visuals of Mikan being cute in the following page, however not only was I struggling for ideas but also my energy was fluctuating to hell and back by this point in the comic.
It took awhile to get the initial kiss to look good because by this point I was still really figuring out how the fuck to do that. I can’t remember if I mentioned it but the kiss in the Vampire Comic is one I actually edited after the fact before the post was scheduled because it looked really weird and pissed me off. Luckily this one doesn’t bother me at all. I remember being super paranoid i made the posing look too sexual, I don’t know what the fuck past me was on about but I’m not here to question I’m here to curse you all with knowledge and funfacts.
On page 15 Junko’s blush and smile are a bit more intense compared to the other panels on this page while she wipes away Mikan’s tears. This is because in future stories by Val it is confirmed a few times that Junko has dacryphilia, meaning she thinks Mikan looks really hot when she’s crying. Yes I’m really working in details from other fics into this comic, you should not be surprised this isn’t even the weirdest thing i’ve put in this whole event.
Peak comedy that I mentioned the question mark with the cross dot earlier and on Page 16 I didn’t do that, immersion broken, back to square one Past Jem!
Junko with no contacts!!! I mentioned during one of the Vampire AU days that while I don’t feature it in that AU alone I like the idea of Junko’s real eye color being red. Something I can never remember whether it’s actually canon or just strongly implied. I think this is the page I put the most amount of effort into, both to make it look well lit, and also to make sure her god damn eyes look as pretty as humanly possible. The end result may or may not be my favorite page of the whole comic? I dunno
I said Mikan’s expressions were hard to draw for this since I wanted to get them just right, she requires a lot more work on the smaller details to make everything feel right. Junko however? Oh no I was thriving by this point, her more lowkey expressions do need a bit more thought and effort, but by this point in the comic I was in my element with her.
But speaking of expressions, Page 19.
That smile on Mikan in the middle panel took 20 fuckin’ minutes because I had never drawn Mikan looking that happy and I had no fucking idea what I was doing. I did actually edit the page last night (as of the writing of this post), however it wasn’t for the expression. In the original version of the page, Junko looked really fuckin weird in the last panel, like I don’t know how I let that slide but her whole face and neck looked way off. These pages aren’t like, perfect quality but that one was just egregious. Also edited Mikan’s blush in that panel just cause I was already there.
Junko’s surprised face was very fun.
And I think if I were gonna ever redo any page in full for this comic it’d be the last one. I don’t think this one looks bad I just know that I could I could do way better nowadays even if I stuck to just coloring a sketch. Maybe sometime down the line.
And that’s the comic itself! I can’t think of any other fun facts or thoughts on the art itself at this point. Uhhhh, I guess the cover I made last minute for this post is technically a reference to a future day? What does that mean? Oh you’ll fuckin’ see.
So 2 weeks of effort with little feedback and rereading the same scene over and over again, was it worth it?
God yes it was.
When I sent Val the Google Drive folder with the comic I was jittery for hours as if I had too much coffee. I was nervous as shit over whether she would like it or not, since this was when I still was a perpetual nervous wreck with very little self respect who was viewing her as “Coolest Person Ever” rather than “That’s bestie.” I was also nervous because it was the first time I actually asked for a more detailed response rather than just letting her respond in whatever way she wanted.
But when she responded?
I have lived the past several years doing weed, I’ve recently quit (i think by the time this posts it’ll be close to 3 months since I went clean), but that’s besides the point. I’ve had mild highs, crazy highs, bad highs, good highs, sad highs, and highs where I don’t feel anything.
I severely doubt that any drug or vice on this planet will ever match the feeling of reading that response. I was shaking, I bit my knuckles until it left indents for like a full hour minimum, an adrenaline rush doesn’t even begin to describe what I was experiencing. I rode out the happiness from this moment for an entire week, I worked on comm jobs that would normally leave me feeling aggravated as hell and did so with a smile because I was just that fuckin excited over it. This probably sounds embarrassing as shit but there have been times where I go back to read that response when I just need a pick me up.
I had a fuckin epiphany at that moment. Who fuckin cares?
24 fucking years (25 starting tomorrow) I’ve lived my life as a people pleaser perfectionist with extreme paranoia problems with absolutely no self esteem and a whole wealth of other mental health issues. I would feel like dogshit if I halfassed a comm even if it was a really bad one. My whole goal in life was to make a webcomic that would make EVERYONE happy, be a positive part of their week. I was paranoid about pissing off the wrong people, starting shit, how people perceive me, about what ideas for my comic would be problematic or not. But after this? Who gives a shit?
It ain’t about making People Happy it’s about making Yourself Happy and the People you can reach happy. My goal is still to make a webcomic that people will come across, and look forward to every week as an escape to give them some positive vibes every week, but I ain’t gonna do that if I’m desperately trying to appeal to every single person on the planet while trying to stay as uncontroversial as possible. I wanna make art that makes people happy, and if I make it the way I wanna make it then it will eventually reach the people that it can make happy.
But enough of that shit, the actual big thing that happened because of my complete reassessment of my personal values and entire goal for life is that I fucking finally stopped giving a shit about whether people were gonna throw me in a woodchipper because I shipped Junkan. And it will continue to get funnier and funnier that after all the time I spent scared out of my fuckin’ mind over what people would think, that absolutely fucking nothing happened. It is day 49 at the time of writing this and STILL I have not had anyone give me grief or issues over this whole project, nothing but support and even some new friends over it. You cannot write something funnier than that.
I think if I went back in time and told myself at the beginning of the year that her fears were completely unfounded she would bleed out the eyes and pass out, and I would laugh. I’d laugh so fuckin’ hard.
So yeah, this Comic and the reaction it elicited changed my entire perspective on life and being an artist, I can’t say It’s been perfect or that I haven’t faltered on certain things, but I think to an extent I have been a lot happier as a result. Is it a little weird that this niche version of a niche ship is now directly tied to a drastic change in my mind? Is it any weirder than the fact that I transitioned into a woman because I binge read like, all of the Tokomaru I possibly could on AO3 and it made me think that wearing a skirt might be cool?
Alright so how’re ya'll holdin up? Drink some water we ain’t done. This is already getting up to 7 pages on the google doc that I prepare these posts on and now I have to like, talk about Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed properly. So bare witness to me trying to figure out how the hell to format talking about what might just be my favorite fic of all time.
But first lemme go reread the entire thing, I know the passage of time doesn’t exist in the context of these text walls but i’ll be back in like, a few hours to a day.
Okay i’m back-
I’m honestly not sure where to start here. Normally with my biggest obsessions I could probably go on lengthy rambles about why I love them so much, but this? I struggle to find a proper place to start, or even how to format this. I don’t want to just give a beat for beat plot synopsis while talking about the things I like, but also how do I talk about something this good otherwise.
So fair warning this might be completely incoherent at points, sorry??
This was not like, the third Junkan fic I ever read despite it being one of the three fics vital to me becoming the inhuman machine of pure Junkan brainrot that I’ve become today. A lot of things are blurred but if I remember right the exact timeline of events was Read a cute Junkan fic which made me think “Wait this ship can be soft and cute???” and then I read Smile by Kayleen, which is funny in hindsight because I really went to tooth rotting fluff to one of the darkest Non-Abusive Junkan fics out there (dark by my standards at least and I think my frame of reference is out of sorts). I think after that I just stopped for awhile, partially because Smile wasn’t finished at the time, partially because I still wasn’t sure how to navigate the Junkan tag to find what I was looking for in the ship.
Smile comes to a thrilling conclusion and I think to myself “maybe this author has more?” which is how I found Kayleen’s series of One-Shots for these two (along with separate three other pieces), I read through those in a day and would continue to check the tag to see if it updated, like, every day. Eventually after a couple months (possibly way longer), something came over me and I finally started seriously looking over the tag to try and find more Soft Junkan, whether there were others I read before it or not, I honestly can’t remember.
What I do remember is I came across “The Marvelous Makeover of Mikan Tsumiki” by VanadisValentine. I don’t know how I found that before the fic of today’s subject, if I had to guess I wasn’t reading the tags first on this run through. I was likely reading the name of the fic, and THEN i read the tags to see if it has what I was looking for (I wasn’t a starving animal for the ship by this point so I was a lot more picky with what I was willing to risk my time on). And this fic’s name was slightly more eye catching for me at the time I guess??
Fun fact when I first read this fic I wasn’t even sure if it actually was a shipping piece at first, not until finishing it at least. How? Poor reading comprehension is my only guess lol. Anyway, I finish that, loved it, and made my usual move of checking to see if the author had written anything else like this fic, and oh boy did she.
This finally brings us to me finally reading “Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed.” Took us fucking long enough.
It was perfect, it was everything. I fucking loved reading it the entire time. It had everything I could have wanted out of this ship without me even realizing what I wanted at the time. The weirdest part that my immediate response after wasn’t to go on an adrenaline fueled binge of the tag like I did for Tokomaru way back when I first got into Danganronpa. The most I did was read the other Junkan fics in Val’s library at the time. Otherwise I just stopped again.
It was then that I drew the first three days of this event, the original sketches. I kept them a secret between myself and a small few friends, too paranoid to let anyone find out. And things just kinda stayed like that, for awhile. And then sometime in December, of last year I decided to give that same fic another read, and something just kinda, fucking snapped?
I went up and down the Junkan Tag on AO3, reading whatever I could, I was reading stuff I wouldn’t have ever risked reading with variable amounts of success. I only skipped a small handful of fics, including one that we’ll come back to way later in the project. Everything else I was scraping even the smallest crumb of fic to read at times. After that I scoured the tumblr tags, taking in whatever soft art or headcanons that I could, I went to Fanfiction.net, a website I still barely know how to fuckin’ navigate to try and find ANYTHING. I went to Deviantart to try and find any art or fics, no results not helped by the fact that it would include results that were slightly related. And not to sound like a Youtuber with no personality who’s built their career on punching down at whoever they can because otherwise their audience would see they’re a complete shell of a human being, but it being deviantart you can imagine what I was finding more often on that search.
I even went to Wattpad, and that ones it’s own mini story that I’m saving for Tomorrow because the art for Tomorrow doesn’t have a lot of talking points on it’s own like this one does. But Wattpad had no fuckin results either.
I cannot remember the last time I had ever been this obsessed with a ship, this desperate. So, 100 Days of Junkan began, even if it wasn’t planned to be this big project. All cause of this fic turning a switch in my brain with a hammer.
Hey look we’re talking about the fic again, I told you this was gonna incoherent.
Anyway so the fic is just, perfect? To me at least? Before I had even realized why I liked the ship in the first place it did everything that I love about it at it’s core. It practically set the standard for the ship in my brain, at bare minimum within the context of a Non-Despair AU. And overtime as Val’s continued to write for these two her portrayals of the character are practically just how I view them at this point.
It’s not 1 to 1 but you can likely trace every aspect of how I portray Junko and Mikan whether through art or writing back to Val’s writing, down to even using certain pet names for the characters because of their usage in her work. I’d worry that I’m being way too much, heaping an overbearing amount of praise and respect. But also this fic unintentionally sent me careening into the direction of drawing 150+ Junkan pictures, learning various new skills and techniques as an artist, rekindled my love of writing (despite the horrors of actually having to write), making new friends both in and out of this community including some who I consider close, coping with mental health issues, and then performing this gigantic project at the tail end of the year. So I might actually be underselling this a bit in actuality. And don’t worry when I get to talking about a few other fics later in the project I’ll be doing my best to give equal praise to them as well, it’s just gonna be a bit sdlahfljasdfhas.
I’ve already said it but the fic has everything, at least of the core reasons I love this ship from the non-abusive perspective that this blog has built its foundation on.
To me I love Junkan because it’s two people that could not be anymore different from one another, who arguably should despise one another finding happiness in each other. It adds a new layer of depth to Junko to ponder how someone like her, whether in canon or in a non-despair AU like this could fall in genuine love with a total wreck like Mikan and how that would affect her character. It’s fluffy moments of Mikan getting to be genuinely happy for what might be the first time in her life while Junko showers her with affection. It’s Junko being fucking hilarious while Mikan can barely keep up with her humor and teasing because she’s so flustered. It’s Junko grappling with newfound emotions. It’s Junko and Mikan bringing out the best in each other and inciting positive change through their influence. It’s that perfect blend of hurt/comfort. And so much more beyond that, all contained in this one god damn fic. I might even be forgetting things I like about the ship too, there’s just so much that goes into this!
Obviously this is all specifically in a Non-Despair context, the Evil Girlfriends angle has a myriad of other reasons to enjoy the ship which I’ve become fond of. Especially in some of the parallels it can have with a non-Toxic Yuri angle of things. But that doesn’t really apply for today’s subject and I’m not someone who’s deeply knowledgeable or equipped to sing its praises at the moment. Maybe in the future though?
Is there anything else I can yammer on about with this fic? Uhhhh- Oh. I love how it uses the supporting cast. I think Val has a really excellent grasp on how to write Mukuro and Junko’s dynamic without dipping into the territory of DR3 where it just gets a bit uncomfortable. I think that’s better exemplified in one of her other fics rather than this story, but I still do love Mukuro’s portrayal and role in the story. This was my first time learning who Yasuke was, I hadn’t properly heard of Danganronpa Zero by this point so I was really confused as to who the hell he was. Certainly left a strong impression in the story though. I think Kaede’s sudden appearance and role in the plot progressing towards the stunning climax of Chapter 4 was really good!
I very often go back to Chapter 1, 4, and 5 whenever I need to go to relax before bed. I’ve reread this fic multiple times as a whole but an absolute fuck ton of times as separated pieces, they’re so god damn soothing on my mind.
The fact that I haven’t left giant fuckin’ comments on any chapter of that fic is quite frankly one of my deepest sins, but one of these days I’m gonna buckle down and write up on those because they deserve every ounce of praise in my scrawny lil whitegirl body.
I think I’ve said everything I can for now but even now I feel like I haven’t gotten across how much I love this fic. It genuinely is my favorite fanfiction out there both just for the quality of it’s writing and the comically massive influence it had on my life this year. If you somehow haven’t read it by now, please do, if you like the art I’ve drawn of this ship over the past 60 days I can almost 100% guarantee that you’ll like this story. And read the rest of Val’s fics too! Please!
As always, Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the Tags are appreciated!~ They always make my day!~
#danganronpa#junkan#junko enoshima#mikan tsumiki#enomiki#junkomikan#junko x mikan#enoshima junko#tsumiki mikan#shipping
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Visiting relatives down south for the Christmas season. I always dread it. All my cousins are so much younger than me, just fresh out of high school, and they’re all such dumb country meatheads. I feel completely out of touch around them. I wish I could fit in better, just to make the holidays easier.
Dude, your cousins are kids. They are six to ten years younger than you. Why do you want to spend time with them? Do you want to smoke secretly behind the shed and push cows around at night? Then you'd better stay in Boston, you'll never have any real fun that way….
You're a sophomore in college. Economics and business math. Your dorm is emptying more and more just before Christmas. But you just don't feel like flying to South Carolina. But it doesn't help. Your mother is a family woman. And even though she has always lived in New England since she went to university and met your late father there, she always made a point of celebrating Christmas on the farm. Well, for your mother's sake…
There are a few other of your colleagues on the bus who are studying business administration and are about to do their MBA. You chat about your plans for the holidays. You're looking forward to playing football with your cousins. You're the big boy, they adore you.
Thank goodness you're only flying with hand luggage. A bit of dirty laundry, that's all you have with you. You buy presents in old Pete's general store. And you can certainly borrow clothes from one of your uncles. Most of the time you'll be hanging out with them and talking about the farm anyway. You're about to finish your master's degree in agricultural sciences. Yes, most people here think you're a nerd, but as long as you win at arm wrestling, your word carries weight.
Uncle Mikey picks you up at the airport. You can finally take off that damn thick down jacket. It's wonderfully warm. You don't talk much on the drive to the farm. You don't talk much at all. You're more men of action than men of words. And Mikey quickly gets down to action. By the time you're on the highway, he's already jerked you off. You love the holidays in the south.
Technically, you're their nephew. But your mother's younger brothers are barely older than you. And you are, after all, a trained agricultural machinery technician. Most of your family struggled to finish high school. In any case, you and your uncles are inseparable. Christmas Eve is your traditional tractor pull. Mikey has prepared his protein eggnog. Another tradition is that you have to empty the punch in one go. And you invented the tradition.
Burp! That was a good one. Hehehe! And let's see who can pull the six-ton monster the fastest the 100 yards. You may be a kid from the big city by now, but winning is a matter of honor!
Pic found @eurobeef
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Anon rebelde
La última promoción de Sam para Audi ha dado un paso más en su colaboración, ya no se limita a una foto con el nuevo coche del año sino que ejerce de embajador más que nunca. Esos eventos más elitistas, como su estancia en Austria y ahora en Alemania, indica un paso más en su compromiso como imagen de la marca lo que es bueno para su exposición pública más centrada en el actor y empresario serio, lejos de polémicas y rubias. Podríamos hablar de una nueva imagen ?
Dear (and always faithfully returning) Anon Rebelde,
Extrañaba tus ingeniosas réplicas y casi me maldecía por no publicar tu último envío. Entonces puedes imaginar mi alegría. De todos modos, primero la traducción:
'Sam's last promo on behalf of Audi is a step forward in their collaboration, since it's not just a pic with the new car of the year, but acting, more than ever, like a real brand ambassador. These elite events, along with his presence in Austria and Germany are indicative of a progress in his commitment as the image of the brand. This is good for a public exposure more focused on the actor and serious businessman, far from controversies and blondes. Could we see it as a new image?'
You know, OL will soon-ish be over, so I think he needs all the opportunities and projects he can get, in order to negotiate the Next Step. By no means an easy one, as the last ten years were rich, dense, dramatic and oh, life changing in so many ways. He said it himself, more than once, it will be difficult and well... new, for the former struggling actor he is. And I have to say I am so damn glad to see him working and patiently building both a financial safety net and a more elevated public profile. I am also glad to see booze promo only on his socials, for the moment: this is a good choice.
Now, if he only understood he needs to keep those ring-a-dings out of sight, as they seem to have (briefly) served their conversation fuel purpose in this very blasé fandom, I (along with many) would probably be over the moon. They simply don't fit with the effort to be seen as a more mature and serious actor -cum - entrepreneur. I will write it in deserto until it happens, just because this is my page and I can do whatever I want with it.
My surest barometer something is slowly changing on this front is always positioned across the street. Judging by the ever mounting level of bile and spit being fruitlessly spent there every time something like this happens, I believe we can be prudently happy for S, indeed.
So a big kudos to Savvy S, but without those rings and perhaps with a bit more outfit variety. That Gattaca look is so aseptic, I had trouble seeing the man we all know and are fond of.
Thank you for being back and thank you for being you, Anon Rebelde! And yes, McFitness is certainly trolling us big time: Vienna, my arse.
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Date with a devil
You finally give the man-child from your online game streaming team a chance to buy you a drink. Just when the date from hell is going well, he kidnaps you and uses your body mercilessly. Leaving your head spinning, your heart and nether aching for more.
Warning: Non-Con, Shigaraki Tomura x plus size Reader, Bondage and Discipline, Rope Bondage, Non-Consensual Bondage, Kidnapping, Rough Sex, Rough Oral Sex, Non-Consensual Oral Sex, Vag Fingering, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Size Kink, Large Cock, Large Breasts, Drinking, Cussing, Light BDSM
You nervously fidget as you wait for your date to arrive.
You sigh, grab your purse, getting up to leave for the sixth time that night. You were already feeling iffy about this date, to begin with. You met him on a game chat. He was polite at first. Overly polite and well-spoken. You thought he might be a dad in his forties. Then later, he started with the serious game lingo. Soon he was a regular on your channel, finding the best gear and creating some of your most popular content when he threw his ominous tantrums. Sometimes they are aimed at you when he wants to be the lead on missions, and you make the call to have some of the other content creators get footage.
A year of flirting later, he had finally asked you out for a drink. But this was Tenfingerdeathpunch. He wasn't smooth, and he definitely wasn't pleasant. It had been a while since you went on a date. You gained weight as you got older and are an American. Men weren't beating down your door, and he was a lot more brazen when you two were alone. Flirting so hard the thought of it makes you blush. He sends you pictures of his torso. Each one has been steadily creeping lower and lower. You both always wore masks when it was video feed. Only he also distorted his voice and created a fake background. You chuckle to yourself when you remember the time a meme was made from one of his tantrums using an old cartoon character called Skeletor. We wore that mask quite often. Honestly, it has paid the bills more than once. It also showed he had a sense of humor.
Ten was also creepy, threatening, and sounded like a little incel man baby. You didn't ask for those pics. He sent them to you because you lost your cool and started insulting his appearance and anything else you could think of that would hurt. You were not expecting a pic of his pretty abdomen, and the tip of the outline of what you have to assume is a monster cock. Ten, who could not read a room, immediately caught onto your eep.
"Oh, you like it?" You could hear his smirk.
"No, I don't. Shut up. I'm going to have to cut all this footage. Neither of us looks good," you sneered.
"That's not true. You think I look good," Ten mocked. You hung up on him. Since then, he has been hinting at things but asked genuinely a few days ago. You look in the mirror at the back of the bar and knaw at your lips in worry. Make that you gained a lot of weight. Your chest is so big you have only seen the tops your toes for years now, and they are brushing the tabletop. This little round booth is not doing you any favors, you take up most of the space, and it will be too intimate. You both have yet to see each other. You can still make a getaway.
"Toughgirlsheart?" A voice rasped. You look up to see a slender young man with light blue hair shadowing his bright red smoldering eyes, surrounded by scars and scratch marks. Same with his neck, his lips dry and cracked. His clothes are clean but a bit ill-fitting and ragged at the edges. You instantly know why he only sent you a pic of his shirtless torso. You're not going to lie. The scars are jarring when you first see them. But he has a nice body. Your cheeks heat when you combine that mental picture of his abs with his handsome face hidden under the scars.
"Y-yeah. Ten?" You answer. A grin tugs at the corner of his lips.
"You are even prettier than I imagined. Let me buy you a drink," Ten said sweetly, raising his hand to call the bartender over, while staring intensely at your chest and lips. You narrow your eyes.
"Brazen as ever, Ten," You say, rolling your eyes.
"Two six fingers of Pappy's on the rocks," he ordered. The bartender paled, taking in Ten's appearance and his ragged clothing.
"Sir, that is rather exspen-," The bartender said when Ten sighed and pulled out a platinum diamond card. Oh my god, he was loaded. No wonder he was such a brat. The bartender goes to get your order while you snap your mouth shut.
"I get less picky the more I drink, but I'm not going to let our first date start with cheap trash," Ten said. Spoken like a true alcoholic. When your order came, There was no doubt in your mind. You both liked to drink, at least, his eyes never moving from your chest.
"My face is up here" You hiss. His crimson eyes dart up and he smirks.
"I didn't think I had to play meek with you. Aren't you American? Aren't you made of tougher stuff? I was hoping you could handle me. Especially now that I can see how damn hot you are."
He's so smug and sounded annoyed having to tell you how hot you are. You don't know if he's being sincere or sarcastic. You take a sip of your drink and decide to stay for the drink, at least.
"Oh, my god. This tastes like worship," you gasp in delight.
"Dark smooth smokey tones. The best part is it's 92 proof," Ten grinned. You start talking about drinks. He was charming. Talking about gaming for hours. Drinking the entire time. You deeply regretted sticking around later when you both started getting tipsy. But grateful you stuck to your gamer names. You don't want this brat doxxing you if he decides to throw a trantrum.
"Why did you put in Dreamcaster1995? He's weak when it comes to dungeons. He is much better with pvp. He's a pussy, and everything about him sucks," Ten snarled, scratching his neck. You rolled your head back in exasperated drunk melodramatics.
"This fucking guy," you slurred before pointing your finger at him. You really want to jab his demon eye out at this moment, so this will have to do, "Look. Of course, you would have been better."
"If you knew that, then why him?"
"Part of being a good leader is trusting your team and helping them too. It can't all be about you. Of course, you would have been better, but he has a channel and has helped me in the past. Plus, there is no doubt he would succeed, and watching people struggle a little makes for interesting content too. As a team member you have to help people achieve there goals. Seriously, did you invite me out to harp on this some more?" You lectured.
You are about to get up and leave when his hand shoots out, wrapping four fingers around your wrist. You want to slap him, stopping when you notice he is listening. You could see the gears locking into place as he came to an epiphany. A strange horrid grin splits his expression.
"You're right. You're so right. Please, don't go. Let me buy you another drink. I like talking to you. This is nice," Ten said, vulnerable. A single finger scratched at his neck. His eyes hooded with sincere gratitude. He looked beautiful. You let him pull you close. The side of your breasts presses against his hard chest as he whispers in your ear. Divulging a little secret to keep you there.
"I asked you out because no one else kept me on their team. You are always so patient and buttery sweet with a sharp tongue. A perfect balance of a leader and I admire that. I wanted to learn from you. That's the original reason. But now I really want to bury myself in you. I meant it all the way. I was hoping you could handle me," He rasped, licking your ear and pulling your hand to touch the monster bulge pressing against your thick thigh.
He was not being sarcastic earlier. If that cock was an indicator, he was definitely attracted to you. That thing was much bigger than you thought, and heat prickled over your skin as you lightly squeezed to be sure it was not his leg. How does he have enough blood for that thing? You wondered. A needy, sad part of you really wanted to feel him inside you. Your quirk made you crave, mostly alcohol but there's other ways to get drunk.
"You're disgusting," you breathe back. No real bite to your words, and he grinned.
"Yeah. But not to you. Your skin is hot and flushed with the liquor. That blush over your tits is driving me wild," Ten growled. Pinching on your nipple, pressing a sloppy kiss against your lips. You don't know what it was, but you do not pull away. You let him grope and kiss until you notice people are watching and feel shy.
"Ten, this is embarrassing. People are staring," you mumble against his mouth. He pulled away abruptly.
" IS it that embarrassing to be seen with me?" He seethed.
"What? No. I just don't want strangers staring at me like I'm a fat slut," you snapped back. He really knew how to get under your skin.
"A. Fat. Slut," he repeated slowly and smiled, "You're so fucking cute. You are tempting me to do terrible things. I heard that the bigger the girl tighter the cunt. I don't have to be gentle with you, do I, tough girl?"
He pounced on you and left you breathless before you could answer his disgusting question. He is much quicker than you expected. His kisses quickly adapted to get better and more passionate. His tongue entwining and playing with yours like a controller. They are still wet but not drowning. You are about ready to take this back to your place. When some pro hero sidekicks walk in to relax after work. Ten pulls his hood up and leans in.
"So. How many do you think you can take?" He asks quietly. You laugh and then stop because he is not joking. Alright. At a certain point, it doesn't matter how big your cock is. Crazy murder talk should be a line. You are about to tell him it's getting late when his face hardens as he spots someone in the mirror, "I'm going to pay the bill. Stay here."
He darted away before you could even answer. Leaving you panting and fanning yourself. He's as aggressive as you thought he would be and you did not mind that part at all. Sometimes you wonder if your quirk makes you thirsty for more than liquor. You see, Ten is talking to some girl. A perky little blonde who looked like she was gushing at him. He said something to her and followed her outside. Your heart plummeted into your gut. Of course, he would run off with a young tiny thing. You finish your drink when he pops up in front of you. Startling you, damn he's fast you think.
"We're going now," he snapped.
"Yes, I am," you tell him, obviously irked, when he flashes you your car keys. The stern look in his eyes is all the warning you need. You follow him to your SUV. Heart racing that he stole your keys and knows which car is yours. A big red flag in your book. The thing had a giant sponsor sticker on the side. Ten would defiantly recognize it, but this was too much. You are making excuses for his bad behavior like this was normal. Your instincts told you that you did not want to get into a confined space with him.
"I can't drive. I'm too drunk," You say quickly as Ten opens your door.
"Tsk. We both know your quirk works best when you're drunk," he growls, tossing your keys at you. You catch them quickly. He knows your reflexes are inhumanly sharp the more you drink. It gives you the edge when gaming, "At least your body is honest. I would not ask for a ride. But an acquaintance is in trouble, and the person who dropped me off is not picking up his cell."
You must have lost your mind. You're really getting in the car with him. But it really sounded like his friend was in trouble. The kind that if you call the cops, they will only make it worse. He looked so sincere too. He's a spoiled rich boy who doesn't understand how many social rules he breaks or more likely doesn't care. You mentally write it off as another thing not to like about Ten. That doesn't mean you can't help or be better.
"You owe me," you huffed. You hop into the driver's seat. Ten already programmed an address into the gps. It's another private bar you never heard of. It looked very exclusive. You become embarrassed. You assumed he was running off with that girl or trying to get you help chase her. She must have come and told him about his sponsee, she looked way to young to drink. It's not unusual for heavy drinkers to be sponsors and sponsee's for alcoholics anonymous. There was a long awkward silence as you drove.
"So, you're stalking me?" you asked. Not fully sincere. Ten took it seriously and snorted.
"That's rich. You post everything on social media. Is it really stalking if you admire someone and they invite you? Besides, what if you were a serial killer? I have met plenty of crazy women," He rasped. You thought you heard a thud from the trunk. It was probably energy drinks tipping over, you think and forget about it. You want to forget about this whole date and ignored his snide comment.
"I watched you win the 55-boss tournament wasted. I noticed you never live stream, and you slurred in chat more than once. I also noticed your baggy hoodies stretched out in the chest, and you played better drunk. I had my suspicions about you. It's part of the reason why my acquaintances are in trouble. Do me a favor and wait for me. I need to grab someone from inside," he says cryptically. As you park with a sigh. This guy can send you on a roller coaster of hate and lust. It was getting exhausting.
"Why did you throw my tits in the mix? Nevermind, that's just a Ten thing. You know you don't come off as the cuddliest. You're downright prickly. But you are also surprisingly caring, so I will wait," you say honestly. Ten is on you again, your reflexes are more than fast enough to block him, but your arms are weak, and you don't mind he is leaving you breathless. This was the best yet. You shuddered, and your toes curled.
"I am glad you are being candid. I prefer the authentic you. You're fast but not strong. I like that. Don't look in the trunk," Ten purrs.
"What?" You asked his retreating figure as he went into the building. You suddenly had a creeping suspicion about the thud you heard earlier as more time passed. You check to see if there is anyone else around. Your heart is pounding as you step out and walk to the back suv. Ten had to be just messing with you. He wouldn't be crazy enough to put something in your trunk, would he? You pop the trunk to have a blonde, bubbly girl launch herself at you with a knife. She would have plunged that thing right into your eye if you hadn't dodged. It was damn close when she fell on you.
"You are so cute. I couldn't help myself. It's Tomura-kun's fault. He had to be so mysterious about his type. I see he likes them thick and busty, or he could have been boring and meant your personality. You really gave him a taste for fame. All he ever talks about is his headlines, meme's made from him, and this date he's going on with this adorable gamer girl," The blonde psycho giggles.
"Get off me!" You scream.
"Toga! Get off her. Kurogiri quickly. Charge your damn phone next time," Ten hissed.
"I was just keeping her from escaping," Toga whined.
You woke up in some strange room tied to a bed. Spread eagle. Some horrible man with half his face that looks like a scab is fondling your breast. You screamed, and he smiled. It sent a violent chill down your spine that you choked on your screams.
"Master. This is just rude. I know I asked to borrow your power. I'm grateful, but she is mine," Ten rasped.
"I wanted a little fun. It's so rare when I meet new people. I like buxom sweet girls." He grins to Ten and leans in to talk to you, "It is a very straightforward quirk. Betray me or any member of the League of Villains, and you will go boom." The scab said, showing you a video of that exact thing happening to people. You believe him. You believe him so much you burst into body-racking sobs.
"You can let the girl go to her new home. She won't be talking," All for one said, leaving with his travel life support. Ten waited and then shooed away the shady guy in the room. The man looked like he was made of clouds when he wisped away, leaving you with Ten. He cleaned your face and waited for you to stop crying.
"Breathe, baby. You're a tough girl, remember. I really was trying to help you. I didn't want you to meet Toga. She can be a bit obsessive and stabby. You inspired me, so I was trying to protect you. I was hoping I could trust you. You just had to go and be a bad girl, though. Right after we were having fun," He rasped with a glare. Reaching out his hand to untie you, his glare burned into you with an intensity that was more infuriating than anything he had done up until that point.
"You repulsive ghoul! Your sinister smile makes me sick. I know for certain that nobody enjoys being around a creep like you - least of all me," you sneered at him. He paused, pulled his hand back, and scratched at his neck.
"No. No. No. That was all you. You wanted me. You felt something for me. I know it. Quit denying it, or I'll make your body tell the truth once more. Your body was truthful. It's screaming out for me even now," he growled. He kissed you deep and roughly. Becoming frustrated when he didn't get a response. His nails tearing into his delicate pale flesh, "This worked before. I know it did."
"Not every lady gets a slobbering pussy from a little nipple play and a make-out session. The whole world isn't a hentai or eroge, creep," you scoffed. You wish you could kick him.
"Oh. If that's true, I can take it to the next level, right? After all, you were dishonest and disobeyed. All of this is really your fault. I was happy with some kissing. I was going to let you go if you had just followed a simple rule of trust. I would have taken my time with you and let things build slowly. A few more dates, more pvp. Allow you to get used to what I'm about to do to you. But you made this personal." His fingers playing with your panty line under your skirt. Your body betrays you with a pathetic squeal and jerks towards his fingers when he brushes your clit over your panties. You wished the world would open and swallow you as he grinned triumphantly.
"Your panties are soaked. Although it's grown cold. Let's see if I can get that slobbering pussy you mentioned," Ten chuckled. You shake your head violently back and forth. This was torturously good, and you didn't want to give Ten any more satisfaction.
"I'm sorry, Ten. You're right. I was being dishonest. Let's stop. You win," you moan. Struggling against your restraints.
"But your pussy wants my attention," Ten purrs, licking two of his fingers, pulling your panties aside, and shoving them knuckle deep. You groaned and bucked against him. Oh god, you are so embarrassed and humiliated by yourself.
"No. You are the worst!" You wail.
"Careful. All five fingers will turn you to dust. Mmm. So wet and warm." He rubs and twists his fingers inside your body, working them in and out, trying to unlock your secrets. Parting your lips to stare at all of you. You squeal and try to close your legs to him.
"No more. I came already! You win. Game over," you pant and plea. He pulled his eyes away from the slick fold to narrow his eyes.
"You really know how to piss me off. Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie. You are driving me insane. This pretty puss is blushing. This little bud it is hard and ripe for me to bite on. Your walls are gripping my fingers. Sucking me in like the greedy little slut you are for me. Oh, right, there is the spot. You got tighter and wetter. Right. Here," He smirked.
His fingers work harder on your sweet spot, making your back arch. Ten looks down at you with hunger in his eyes. His tongue traces a slow, sensual path up your inner thigh. He lightly parts your outer lips again, two fingers lightly pinching your clit and spreading again, making you shiver with anticipation. He buries his face between your legs, and his fingers slowly plunge into your body, heating your core as his tongue lathes over your clit.
"Fuck. I thought you might be tangy, but you smell like soap and taste like nothing. Did you prepare yourself for me before the date even started?" He chuckled.
"You gross me out," you gasp.
Ten fiercely nipped your clit for that, sending a spark of pleasure through your body. Your hips involuntarily buck against his face as Ten lightly sucks and kisses your clit, intensifying the pleasure coursing through you. Your breath quickens as the intensity of the sensations overwhelms you. He can feel your arousal intensifying with each passing second, and he moves his tongue in circles around your clit. His tongue flicks faster and faster, bringing you to the brink of ecstasy when he abruptly pulls away. Leaving you with no stimulation and feeling hollow inside. You whimper at the loss of his digits. Ten looms over you, his face glistening with your juices as he grins down, inches from your lips. You can hear his pants unzip. He wipes his face, his tongue slurping his fingers before it reaches between your legs. Tearing your panties away with one harsh jerk. You can feel him jerking his length over your throbbing crotch.
"Now that is a slobbering pussy. You even managed to moisten my lips. But I gross you out. Maybe I should just stop here. What's with the sad look, tough girl? I thought I grossed you out. But it really looks like you want more. Isn't this like in those boy-love mangas that you read? Being tied up and giving control to a man that makes you feel good? If you are honest with me, I will give you this," he says, smacking the head of his cock against your clit. You jerk and whimper, a wet swack with each swat of that hot thick thing.
"You were stalking me. No one knows what I have hidden under my bed," you pout. His crimson eyes bore into you so intensely with an expression you could not read. It sent a shiver of fear down your spine.
"I had Toga gather information. She is very skilled at it. I didn't know the closer she got to you, the more she would want to kill you. I couldn't have that. We have been having some team bonding issues, and I didn't know that part about her quirk until later. You inspired me tonight, though. I invited you for a drink because I guessed right about your quirk. I originally tried to get you here, but you were not having that. See where being stubborn and defiant got you? If you had just given in and had been honest, none of this would have happened. Imagine my surprise when I saw you all dolled up, with a clean, freshly shaven pussy ready for me, considering how disgusting I am," he mocked.
"You really like hearing your own voice. Please, finish and let me go," This is the closest to begging you will do. None of this would have happened to your ass. Ten has always been the kind of guy that will do something fucked up and blame it on the victim. He saw a flicker of emotion cross your face, one that displeased him. His features hardened, and his gaze narrowed menacingly, causing you to stay silent and avert your eyes.
"Your right. I much rather hear your voice," He grinned wickedly. He shoves his face between your legs, pressing his lips to your swollen, shaved lips, exploring your most intimate places with an eagerness that speaks of a deep craving. Ten's tongue dances and swirls, savoring the sweet nectar of your pleasure like a connoisseur of the finest delicacies. His hands move up and down, caressing you with a passion that is both tender and intense. As his mouth devours your essence, his hunger for you intensifies, and you can feel the intensity of his pleasure in every fiber of your being.
Your body trembles as your orgasm builds and finally devastates you. Quivers run through your body as the crescendo of pleasure crests and crashes, leaving her breathless. Ecstasy shivers through your veins, and you can't help but scream out in joy. His tongue continues to tease you until your crying and horse from the intense bliss it's painful. He's completely sated, then he pulls away, a satisfied grin tugging at his lips. He looks down at you with a satisfied smirk and contentment. You cry out in painful bliss, and surprise, he uses his thumbs to spread you open. His cock slipped from your tight wet hole. Hitting your clit, continues to rub himself over your hard nub, wave after wave of pleasure washes over you, driving you mad.
"Look at that little flower blossoming for me. I parted those petals nice and wide for me. I should have used three fingers; I'm almost four fingers wide. This might hurt you. My rosy little pussy is tight. You can handle it, though. Am I right, tough girl? Be honest," he hissed. Losing patience, he grasps your waist with one hand, gripping the head of his cock and pressing it harshly at your entrance, pushing his manhood firmly against your core. You gasp with pleasure as he presses in, your breath coming in shallow gasps.
"No. I can't. I can't handle it," you say truthfully and desperately. With one powerful thrust, you felt his searing heat fill you. You felt yourself being pushed to the brink of your limits, and the sensation was excruciatingly intense.
Ten groaned, folding over you as the pressure from your cunt caressed him. His lips crushed against yours, his grip on your waist tightening as his other hand gripped the back of your neck. He took your moans, each one boosting his ego more as pride swelled his chest. Being inside his tough girl was agonizing bliss for him too. You tried to raise herself, but the restraints kept you in place, and he kept thrusting, trying to bury himself deeper. His desire grew increasingly intense, and he growled in frustration as he pulled out. His eyes burned passionately, and he wanted nothing more than to stay inside and keep you close.
"Not yet," he said, his voice laced with desire. "Let's savor the moment. I really want to make you scream." He paused, then ran his tongue along his lower lip before giving her a knowing look. "Not me," he said, leaning in, taking your lower lip between his teeth in a gentle nibble.
"Please," you whimpered, desperately trying to move your hips, but his iron grip refused to let you go. You weren't sure if you were begging for more pain or pleasure, but you knew you had to try something. The thin straps of your dress snapped, and your bare breasts spilled free. His mouth immediately found your taunt nipple, his arousal-slicked hand reaching for his jacket pocket. You watched in horror as he pulled out your vibrator, the one you kept at home. What was he planning to do with it? He ruthlessly thrust the toy inside you, his mouth releasing your nipple with a wet pop. Your lips locked as teeth and tongues clashed against each other. You tried to turn your head from his kiss. Then you felt the sharp slap of his hand against the tender flesh of your cunt. Leaving a trail of burning pain to cool in the cold air. A warning growl in his throat, and you knew it was a warning not to push his buttons.
"I'm sorry…" You whispered against his lips, tracing his bottom lip with your tongue, "I just need you so badly. This is torture."
"Come on, tough girl; hold out for another twenty minutes. I need to stretch you out a little more," Ten growled, his voice low and tantalizing in your ear. His hands roamed your sides, sending shivers of pleasure through your body. He settled between your legs, the heat radiating off him. Throwing his head back, Your muscles clenched over his hot length, the warmth of you pulling him into the deepest depths, drawing him in inch by inch.
"Fuck, you're still so tight," he groaned, his breath hot against your neck. "Good girl. Take my cock. Not so tough now." He chuckled, pushing further until you felt like you'd be split in two.
"I wasn't tied up or had your cock inside me when I was being tough. Tough guy," you spat back. He responded with a sharp pinch to your nipple, causing you to yelp in pain. He did not like you talking back. His fingers trailed down your body, gripping and ripping your dress in two. The sound of fabric tearing was lost among the moans of pleasure that escaped your lips as he buried himself deep, to the hilt. His tongue pressed against your parted lips, and his hands roamed your body, making you squirm in fear. He moved his hips in a relentless rhythm, pushing you further and further until you were screaming in pleasure and stretched pain. He grips your thighs and drags his hands all over your body, making you squirm in fear from those hands. The dress was now nothing more than dust. You are left trembling with pleasure beneath him. It is confirmed he is op, and his quirk is deadly.
"Did you ever touch yourself?" He whispered, his breath hot on your skin as wet kisses pressed over your collarbone. "Toga says you saved those pictures of this, he mocked, pulling his shirt off. A gasp escaped you as you were left speechless. His teeth teased the sensitive skin of your nipples before twining his action on the other. His gaze locked with yours, his eyes smoldering with an unspoken question. "Did you ever touch yourself?" He asked again, his voice husky.
"You know I did..." your moans intensified as he increased his pace. His hands traveled up and down your body, exploring each of your curves. His thrusts became harder and faster as you felt your body trembling with pleasure. You through your head back, eyes rolling to the back of your skull, as you felt the waves of pleasure wash over you.
He let out a deep groan, his grip on you tightening as he moved faster and faster. His thrusts sent shock waves of pleasure through you, and you could feel the pressure building up inside you. You screamed his name, and he growled, "Good girl. Finally, honest."
He released the restraints with a single touch, pulling you up to him and wrapping his arms around your body. You gasped as he ran his hands up your sides, your skin tingling with anticipation.
"Can we keep my hands tied?" you asked, a hint of embarrassment in your voice.
He chuckled and nodded, a devious glint in his eyes. Taking the restraints, he tied your hands behind your back and pulled you close.
"You are mine," he growled, his breath hot on your skin. "Fuck me. Ride me hard, or I will be harsh with a new punishment."
He held you at the waist and the back of your neck, helping you to move faster and faster as you rode him. The sensation was intense, a pleasure that threatened to consume you entirely. You moaned and gasped as he drove you higher and higher, the tightness of the restraints intensifying the pleasure. Your pleasure was so intense that you couldn't help but cry out in ecstasy as he leaned back and drove up into you.
The showers of slippery suds, hands covering your breasts with a teasing peak of skin underneath. The dirty phone calls leaving little to the imagination, the small sounds of Ten believing he's on mute all led up to this moment. You came so hard on him he stopped and gritted his teeth in pain. You felt your body quiver and tremble as he pounded you, and you felt a wave of pleasure so intense it almost knocked you out.
He forced you back onto the bed, a menacing look in his eyes. He flipped you over. His hand pressing down at the back of your head, he drove himself into you, his other hand gripping your tied wrists. You felt the force of each thrust as he pounded you from behind. You screamed out his name as you felt yourself come undone, and he looked down at you with a satisfied grin. His soft hair clung to his sweating flesh, chest heaving as warmth spread deep inside you. He slowly moved in and out of you, drawing out his own pleasure, and you could feel the intensity of the desire slowly slipping away.
Exhausted and trembling, you collapsed onto the bed, and he kissed you softly on the forehead. He unties you gently, his touch surprisingly tender. He draws you into an embrace and holds you close, his body warm against yours. You never expected such tenderness from him after the sex, but you can't help but feel a sense of comfort and safety in his arms. He kisses your forehead and whispers sweet nothings in your ear, and you can't help but feel a rush of emotion. He may not seem like the type of guy to show such affection, but here he is, loving and caring, holding you close. Pulling out his phone to take pictures of you covered in his sweat and cum. Posing with you like a creep. You would call him that, but he fucked you stupid, and you need a break.
The smoky guy you assume is Kurogiri comes in with two glasses and a craft of juice. You squeal and try to cover your cum dripping pussy. Ten, however, didn't bother to cover up at all.
"Um, thank you," You squeaked to Kurogiri.
“Get out,” Ten snarled at Kurogiri.
Kurogiri bowed and quickly left the room, leaving behind a stack of warm, moist towels and two fluffy robes. You quickly grabbed one of the robes and covered yourself, blushing furiously.
"Um, thank you," You said, embarrassed.
Ten simply nodded in response, and you both began to dry off. He grabs a towel and yanks the robe away from you. He starts to clean your body. You squeak in fear and shrink from his touch. He stepped closer, his eyes blazing with intensity.
"You don't have to fear me," he snarled. "I know you won't turn on us. Not a word of this will ever cross your lips. You're going to be an invaluable asset. A real prime piece. I was always going to take you and use you. But you were such a brat I had to break you for your own good."
"Really?" You ask. Not daring to disobey as he pulls you in to continue to clean you up.
He stared at you with a crazed gleam in his eye, his voice a low growl. "Yeah. I admired your skills," he said, his lips curling into a sinister smirk. "You had a large following and helped gain me some anonymous notoriety." His eyes glinted with a maniacal intensity. "I was going to kidnap you and have you spread my message." He paused, a twisted grin spreading across his face. You cock your head at him.
"What you are saying is that you will give a place with free rent, electricity, wi-fi, and garbage removal to make some propaganda?" you asked.
"That was the idea. But now I might just keep screwing you. I will destroy the hero society one way or another," He chuckled. Laying back to play with your hair.
"No," you say firmly. "Sign me up for kidnapping. I'm dead serious. The world out there is harsh. Our government makes us feel like failures for being unable to afford their outrageous housing costs. I used to be able to play games for fun, but the day I started making it a job, it stopped being enjoyable. I spend so many hours editing and creating content just to pay the rent. My quirk will kill me if I keep having to use it to entertain others. So, if all I have to do is upload a 5-minute propaganda video each day in exchange for a roof over my head, then use me as much as you need. Ten, this is the only warning I'm going to give you. When you cross that line, it will become a job; destruction might lose its fun. When that happens, I wouldn't mind maybe dating. Doing it slowly, like you said."
He gazed intently at you, his eyes sparkling with emotion. His lips curled into a tender smile. His gaze was so intense it was almost tangible. You felt a rush of heat to your cheeks, and his words rang in your ears, "I can feel my heart already falling for you. By the way, call me Tomura."
You are standing in the bedroom, waiting for him, heart racing as you hear his footsteps coming closer. He stopped behind you, and I felt his strong hands gripping my hips tightly. His breath was hot on my neck as he leaned in and whispered, "You ready for this?"
You could only nod, unable to find the words to express your anticipation.
He started to move, pushing you down onto the bed. Letting out a gasp as he pressed his body against yours, his hardness pressing into you. He started to thrust, his movements becoming more and more forceful. You could feel your legs shake and tremble beneath him as he pushed harder and harder.
Your breathing becomes ragged and erratic as he continues, and you feel your body going limp. Lightheaded and drooling, your senses spun as he continued to fuck you roughly. Feeling your orgasm building, and just as it was about to crest, your whole body rocking in ecstasy, laying there, panting and trembling, trying to catch your breath. I had never felt so alive and so satisfied before. Tomura stopped and rolled off of you.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" You screamed as men burst in and snatched you from your comfy bed. Your heart raced in fear as you realized this wasn't the hero. It had to be the cops. You started to get nervous when Tomura disappeared after the yakuza thing. You had been discussing a lot of quirk singularity conspiracy theories and the Meta liberation message, touching on the heteromorph plight. You had plenty of heteromorph friends, but you never asked them what horrible things they had to deal with daily. You started to feel good about what you were doing for rent. You had no idea what this could be, but you had a sinking feeling it was the nutty eugenics religion.
They brought you before a skinny man. The man's voice was filled with contempt as he spoke, "You'll be working directly under me for the social media saturation. We are looking for young males and a heteromorph demographic. I've seen some of your work, and I must say, I was only mildly disappointed. He said he wanted to see you."
"He?"
"Yes, him," the thin man spat. "The leader. The boss. The man, I'm sure, only has malicious and depraved intentions for you. Brace yourself. Take her to him. The rest of us have real work to do."
Your heart raced as the door slammed shut behind you. You were thrust into a dark and mysterious chamber, the only sound of swords clashing and ringing off the walls. In the corner, you could make out the silhouette of a pale man in a bed. At the same time, a scaly, reptilian figure shouted for healing spells. You get closer to get a better look at the guy in the bed.
"Ten?" You ask timidly. Those red eyes land on you. A grin splits his mouth in two. Before you can escape, he grabs you and pulls you down to the bed, his lips pressing against yours in a passionate kiss. You can feel the intensity of his embrace, and you know you won't be leaving anytime soon.
"My tough girl," he purrs. Tomura's gaze was intense as he slowly moved his hands over your body, making your clothes turn to dust. He pulled you closer and ravished you before you could even say hello.
"Tomura!" you gasped in surprise as he kissed you hungrily.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't wait any longer," he said before continuing his passionate assault.
Your skin felt alive as his hands explored your body, and you soon forgot everything else.
"I should probably go," Spinner said with a rosy blush.
Tomura paused for a moment, and you both smiled. "This is my friend Spinner. Spinner, this is my girlfriend. She'll be doing your interview later. Right now, I'm going to fuck her brains out," Tomura mumbled around your nipple.
You covered your face and said it was nice to meet him, then Tomura resumed his passionate onslaught. You knew you'd never forget this moment. Ten grabbed your face and pulled you in for a passionate kiss. His tongue explored your mouth hungrily as if he hadn't tasted you in years. He pulled away, and you felt his hardness pressing against your lips, and you knew he wanted you as much as you wanted him. His salty flavor invades your mouth. He slowly pushed himself inside you. You gasped at the sensation, his thick girth filling your throat completely. You felt yourself start to tremble, and he held you tighter, his hands gripping your head as he thrust into you. He bucked his hips harder and faster, pushing you to the brink as he fucked your throat. You cried out in ecstasy as he drove deeper and deeper down your throat. He pulled away, his eyes burning with desire.
"Open wide," he said, his voice low and commanding. Finally, he let out a deep groan and slowed his movements. Shooting his hot load on your tongue. He reached around and snapped several pictures as he moved, capturing the moment's intensity before he let you swallow. You collapsed into his arms, exhausted and full.
"Be honest. That don't look in the trunk was a set up so you could doe this?" You asked. A knowing grin quirked his face.
"I love you," he whispered, his voice full of emotion. "I missed you so much. I'm not going to let you go. I'm going to fuck you so hard you won't be able to walk. I want to give you a pearl necklace."
You smiled up at him. He was as lewd and brazen as ever.
"I missed you too," you grinned.
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"King Killmonger: The Golden Jaguar Chapter 9"
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"You're beautiful, you're wonderful! Incredible, I love you so You're beautiful! Each moment spent with you is simply wonderful This love I have for you, girl, it's incredible And I don't know what I'd do If I can't be with you The world could not go on so every night I pray If the Lord should come for me before I wake I wouldn't want to go if I can't see your face Can't hold you close What good would Heaven be? If the angels came for me I'd tell them no"
Michael Jackson – "Heaven Can Wait"
The king and queen rose early at approximately seven in the morning to shower and eat a quick breakfast of porridge, scrambled eggs and fried crocodile sausage. They chose to wear periwinkle blue linen pants and tight long-sleeved shirts to protect them from the sun that was supposed to warm the entire day without rain for once. Stylish and functional, their fits looked good enough for a royal cocktail party. Yani carefully placed her queen's isicholo on her head. Her crown was meant for all public appearances, no matter the occasion.
Okoye was adamant that they were escorted to the market on the water and also when they walked on land again. That meant four Dora Milaje canoes flanked Yani's and N'Jadaka's river paddling. The Royal Talon Fighter would be on stand-by in the air on remote if the royal couple had to be swept away from overzealous crowds.
N'Jadaka had hoped he and Yani could blend in discreetly with the people, but his aura was hard to hide behind shades and covered locs. It was better to just be open about their appearances. He walked like royalty and his presence alone jarred people in person, especially up close.
They were both excited to start their trip downriver right away. Ayo had arranged for them to have lunch at a secured location inland and stinger aircraft flown by his hand-picked Onyx Squad would track them on the water hidden behind their spectral camouflage.
He helped Yani climb into their canoe and he settled in behind her. They worked in tandem rowing with the oars for ten miles and he eventually told Yani to stop rowing so she could rest her arms and take in the views before they arrived to their destination. He paddled at a leisurely pace. Yani stuck her hand in the cool emerald water and glanced back at him occasionally with a huge smile on her face. He looked all around pleased that the weather was perfect. Directly in front of their canoe at fifty feet was Okoye. Behind them was Ayo, and on their sides were Quamba and Aneka. He knew they were having fun with them by the slips of grins that he caught on their faces whenever Yani squealed about the beauty of the landscape on the wide river, snapping more holo-pics with her kimoyo beads.
To their right lurking just above the surface were a pair of crocodiles that ignored them as they floated by. Everything around them was wide open, green and lush. Yani waved her hands with thrilled abandon.
"I see it! I see it!" she said.
N'Jadaka could already smell the odors of cooked food, fresh fish, sweet foods, and smoking grills. Music peppered the air in the distance and there were already river boat vendors shouting about their wares for sell all across the wide body of water. Quaint floating shops shaped the throughway for all the customer boats floating about. Larger craft shops and riverside cafes closer to shore were propped up on stilts. Entire families rowed long boats to shop for seafood, crocodile meat, chicken, goat, or beef, rice, vegetables and fruits plucked from the rainforest. Entire platters of cooked combination meals were already being served hot and it was only a quarter past nine. Sparkly trinkets, hand-crafted rugs, colorful rainbows of fabric and jewelry were sold too. It reminded N'Jadaka of a Moroccan-styled Open Air Bazaar except it all took place on the river itself.
River security riding on sleek Wakandan-styled personal watercraft jetted over to Okoye and she gave them instructions on how they would proceed through the floating market. Five more security watercrafts took their direction from their boss and N'Jadaka paddled them forward.
Word spread fast.
Vendors and customers gaped openly at the king and queen. No one there was told of their arrival. Only the river security team was notified and there were emergency contingency plans on their route there. Luckily, the people were respectful. Many tried to pretend it wasn't a big deal to have royalty floating near them shopping for goods like regular citizens.
The colors and aroma of the market dazzled the eye and nose. The sounds of laughter and shouts to buy goods kept Yani enthralled. He noticed a large Ferris wheel on a pier that reached across the water filled with all kinds of amusements. Tall metal poles held an aerial tram ride that carried six people at a time over the treetops. There was also a zipline that shot couples down an exciting adventure below the grand heights of the outer emergent layer of broad-leaf forest trees that had lived for almost one thousand years.
An elderly vendor in one of the floating shops waved his thin dark carob-brown arm to get Yani's attention so she could taste a sample of his fresh chocolate candies. Yani gobbled down what looked like a piece of fudge with coconut and peanuts in it. She leaned back and handed a sample to him. He ate it and the chocolate had a kick to it as it melted on his tongue. The peanuts were roasted in cayenne pepper infused honey and the fresh grated coconut was soft.
Yani purchased a pound of it using her kimoyo beads, tapping it against the small yellow screen floating above the vendor's beads. She tucked the candy inside the water-proof bags she brought to collect souvenirs. Easing in among the other customers they enjoyed strong thick coffee with a springy layered flatbread smothered in cherry butter. They licked fingers, sipped, and spoke choppy D'Ja, a River Tribe dialect, to the proprietor floating next to their canoe with the help of their translator buds. The River Tribe territory was inside Birnin D'Jata and because the Panther Tribe and River Tribe ancestral territory overlapped, D'Ja was often used as a universal tongue since they shared a similar linguistic root.
N'Jadaka paddled further into the throng of small boats, some shaped like micro-sized catamarans carved from wood that could hold up to four people and their goods in the center. Yani inspected bananas, mangoes, passion fruit, papayas, loquats, and various tree nuts before buying two pounds of fried plantain chips from a young woman who couldn't stop fawning over meeting the queen in person. He watched his wife nibble fried fish nuggets and barter over sweetbread stuffed with sweet vanilla cream.
"Yani, you'll be too full to eat lunch at the restaurant later," he said.
She crammed half of the sweetbread in her mouth and flushed it down with chocolate goat's milk.
"I'll make room," she said stuffing the other half of bread into her mouth.
The two older women who sold Yani the sweetbread grinned at the king. One of them clucked her tongue at him in a friendly way.
"Kumkani, it has been a long time since we have had a good round queen. It is propper to fatten up your wife. It makes her even more beautiful than she already is. Here we call Queen Yani our special daughter because she looks like us with lighter skin. Do not deny her the pleasure of food. A fat woman is a gorgeous woman who is loved," she said.
N'Jadaka burst out laughing at the openness.
"Fatten her up, huh?" he said.
The woman nodded emphatically and stuffed another bag of sweetbread into Yani's hand.
"I promise you kumkani, make her a bigger woman and you will never have any problems in your life."
He sampled the bread and stayed away from any more sweets. However, he did put another small round sweetbread in Yani's hand. Good elderly women never steered him wrong and he always enjoyed big women. Another thirty pounds on Yani might be the move, he thought.
"There's so much to see here…almost too much. I can't believe this goes on every day," Yani said.
Their security made sure they had plenty of room to maneuver and that made it easier for him to control the canoe and keep it from bumping into boats crammed close to theirs and the Doras. Vendor after vendor slid their boats against each other trying to sway customers their way. From an outsider's perspective it looked chaotic to N'Jadaka, but there was a natural rhythm to the dense population sharing water space. A pretty woman in a faded green dress and short close-cropped hair floated next to their boat under Okoye's watchful eye so that Yani could check out her supply of fresh flowers picked from the forest floor earlier that morning. N'Jadaka paid for several bouquets delighting the vendor. He allowed her to take a picture of him and Yani. Aneka snapped the holo-pic with her kimoyo and transferred the image to the woman so she could be in the photo too. Once Yani had her fill of shopping on the water and filling their canoe and all of their Dora Milaje's canoes too, they went to the pier, tied their canoe, and had one of the River security men guard their things from prying eyes.
Helping his wife out of the canoe, they were met with people holding up their kimoyo's to record their travel onto the land. Some observers seemed to just want a chance to catch a whiff of Yani's walking by air, because her perfume attracted oglers like bees waltzing to a honeycomb. Okoye and Quamba shooed folks away, but didn't deny them holo-vids under Yani's command. No citizen had become unruly and she didn't feel the need to stop them from capturing her image. Okoye warned them to stay at a respectful distance from the couple. Yani pulled a light blue shawl over her shoulders and they walked hand-in-hand up the steps that led to a busy amusement area. People played all manner of games like shooting long water guns at fish and crocodile images, and fished directly from the pier. Some ate ice cream and other treats as they watched visitors chatter and scream on spinning rides or amuse themselves being entertained by magicians and a puppet show for children. There was a line of thrill- seekers waiting to ride the zip line. A group of young musicians played instruments and sang songs for tips. The large Ferris wheel took up the far end of the pier. Scattered throughout were picnic tables where people could eat their bought food or just relax and enjoy the weather and a view of the wide river below.
They made it a point to visit each entertainment stall and snack station to say hello to the people they ruled over. Yani greeted children who shyly waved at her and giggled when she asked for their names and spoke to their parents. N'Jadaka shook hands and did his part to be cordial like his wife.
The zip line attendant allowed them to cut in the front of the line much to the insistence of the thirty people already waiting before them. Okoye and Ayo rode it first to place themselves at the final destination point before he and Yani went down. He walked up the stairs that took them to the top of the platform where a young man eagerly strapped them into the double seats. Yani held the thin strap in front of them and yelped when they were pushed down. They were so high up. Their legs dangled above the emergent layer and then there was a gentle downward swoosh as the zipline carried them through the opening in the canopy. Yani laughed and yelled her loudest to hear her voice travel across the scenery. Both their stomachs dropped. He laughed too and enjoyed the view flying past them while keeping his hand on Yani's isicholo to keep it from flying off. At the very bottom of the forest floor, Okoye and Ayo stood watching them disembark. Waiting for Aneka and Quamba to reach them, they decided to ride the aerial tram to see other parts of the forest that would also return them back up to the top where the market was, saving them a tiresome hike up the stairs or using the long escalator that ferried people back to the starting point. They rode in their own tram with the Doras in front and behind them in separate transports.
"The air is so clean and so different from Zana. Smell it?" Yani asked.
He nodded.
Far below a herd of domesticated water buffalo crossed a section of the Ibukun and Yani sighed.
"We are so blessed," she said in awe.
He stroked her cheek and kissed her.
"Happy?" he asked.
"Very."
Yani rubbed his arm.
"Let's go and find the restaurant. You're running low on batteries and wearing your hungry face," she said.
N'Jadaka clasped her hand and on their return to the market pier, Okoye guided them through a tumultuous boardwalk filled with shoppers and other citizens simply going about their regular day. They were gawked at and plenty of people stopped in their tracks to watch them pass. Yani's isicholo gave her a regal bearing that was gentler to take in as opposed to his larger-than-life figure. A few children ran up and handed Yani flowers and handmade bracelets. She accepted the flowers and sniffed their fragrance. N'Jadaka helped her put on the bracelets after Okoye scanned them for anything strange. The king didn't sense any oddities, but appreciated Okoye's thorough nature.
Ayo hustled them away to give them room for sightseeing the land-based shops and various cafes filled to the brim with men and women enjoying brunch on sidewalk seating. Most people stood up immediately the moment they realized who they were seeing, and others froze, too stunned to do anything but stare.
"This is the establishment, kumkani and ukumkanikazi. The proprietor's name is Lungile Chilza. His family has run this business for over fifty years. His wife, Nomble Chilza is the head chef," Okoye said.
Lungile and Nomble stood waiting for them at the front entrance. Nomble wore a pale green chef's hat and matching chef's apron. Her dark skin was without blemish for her age and her smile held white teeth with small gaps in them that made her look even more youthful. Lungile was a robust man with hair whiter than soft cotton that floated like a cloud three inches off his scalp. His ebony skin was shiny and smooth like his wife's.
Yani stepped forward first and greeted them both. She shook their hands and the older couple gushed over her before N'Jadaka was brought forward. He elicited nervous energy in them both. Giving a heartfelt smile that relaxed them, N'Jadaka held out his hand to Lungile and the man shook it firmly.
"King N'Jadaka…Queen Yani, my wife has prepared a wonderful meal for you. Come inside, please, make yourself comfortable. We have you seated at our best table."
Lungile held out his hand inviting them in. Okoye and Ayo stepped in first to inspect the place and gestured for them to enter. Yani sauntered in first and they immediately noticed the exquisite artwork on the walls. Landscape paintings of the Ibukun River and portraits of Birnin D'Jata life at night.
"Here…sit here, please," Nomble said.
N'Jadaka reached to pull out the chair for Yani, but Lungile beat him too it, his pudgy yet spritely frame eager to please. Yani sat down and Nomble admired the isicholo on her head.
"Your crown is so lovely Queen Yani. I enjoyed watching your nuptials to the king. It was all that everyone talked about."
"Thank you, Nkosikazi Chilza," Yani said.
"Please, call me Nomble, daughter. You are family here," Nomble said.
The other patrons in the restaurant peeked at them, but then went about eating their own meals when his eyes cast out to take in more of the restaurant décor. Lungile poured them refreshing cool glasses of chilled passion fruit juice along with glasses of water.
"Would you like anything stronger, kumkani? We have a wide array of wines and other beverages."
"This is fine for me. Yani would you like anything else?"
"I'd like a glass of your best wine from this region," Yani said.
Lungile clapped his hands thrilled that she wanted to try something else from their place.
"My wife has cooked you both a delicate smoked pork brisket smothered in a mango glaze with some savory greens and our famous spicy plantains. I will bring you a glass of D'Jata's most popular white wine that will tickle your tastebuds, my queen."
"Spicy plantains? My father Prince N'Jobu cooked those all the time for me and my mother," N'Jadaka said.
Lungile patted his chest with pride.
"Your father used to come to our restaurant when he spent time here as a teenager. My wife taught him our special recipe to make them."
"Then I have her to thank for making my belly happy when I was a child."
Lungile beamed and his wife returned to their table carrying two platters of finger foods to start their meal.
"The king loves your plantains. Prince N'Jobu cooked it for him and is mother," Lungile gushed.
Nomble cheesed hard, her cheeks rising up higher than the sun outside.
"I think in another life your father would've been a wonderful chef. He was a quick learner and loved food. He would fly here all the time with your grandparents and…."
Nomble stopped talking.
"Finish what you were about to say," N'Jadaka said.
"I do not want to upset you kumkani."
"You won't."
"I was going to say your uncle's name. My apologies for making that mistake."
"No need to apologize. My family held this place in high regard. It's why I brought my wife here. To enjoy what my father loved."
Nomble nodded quickly and her eyes watered, fearful of upsetting the king despite what he said. He reached out and held her hand.
"No reason to get upset Mama Nomble. I take no offense and look forward to chowing down on the best pork brisket in Birnin D'Jata," he said.
Nomble trembled with his hand covering hers. His touch shook her up and she wiped her eyes. Yani stood up and gave the woman a hug.
"He means what he says Mama Nomble," Yani said.
"Eh eh…the king and queen have called me Mama…me a humble cook," Nomble said.
"Who said you were humble?' N'Jadaka joked, "I heard you brag on your food to rival the chefs in the double palace."
A few patrons eavesdropping laughed at his comment and Nomble held her cheeks.
"Brag on yourself!" N'Jadaka said.
"Yes, I am the best!' Nomble conceded and even Lungile laughed with her. "Let me get the rest of your food. Baba, keep them entertained until I return."
N'Jadaka glanced at the window of the restaurant. A crowd of people stole glances at them, pressing their noses to the glass.
"I will close the blinds to give you privacy," Lungile said.
"No. Let them watch. Queen Yani doesn't want any special attention other than ones needed for safety. We are customers like anyone else."
"No…no kumkani, you are our guests. This meal is our treat."
"I insist on paying. Let me contribute to your continued success."
Lungile wanted to shake his head, but N'Jadaka's voice was commanding and the man grew nervous at the idea of pressing the matter.
Nomble returned with four servers. Three held large platters of food and a fourth carried a warm bowl of lemon water and hand towels to clean their hands. The food was placed on the table along with plates and bowls. Two servers helped him and Yani wash and dry their hands.
"Mama Nomble…Baba Lungile…you will join us, won't you?" Yani asked.
The elderly couple looked shocked at the request. A bottle of white wine was brought over to their table. Yani waved a hand to get the attention of another server.
"Please bring two more plates, bowls and wine glasses for Mama Nomble and Baba Lungile," Yani said.
The server hurried away and N'Jadaka stood to pull back the chairs across from them for the elders. Nomble handed her chef's hat and apron to another server. Her silvery-white hair was styled in puffy Nubian knots. She took her seat next to her husband and N'Jadaka helped push their chairs closer to the food-laden table. Lungile gave instructions to another server to take his place as the host and Nomble gave instructions to her other cooks to continue working without her.
"A toast," N'Jadaka said after he poured glasses of wine for his hosts.
Glasses clinked and the wine tasted crisp and delightfully elegant. A perfect pairing with pork. Yani shared their day in the market and the older couple sat spellbound listening to his wife rave about their honeymoon thus far. N'Jadaka discussed the history of the river market with Lungile full of enthusiasm, and after a couple of glasses of wine and delectable food, all four of them chatted like lifelong friends catching up. Loquacious and energetic, Nomble and Lungile were avid historians and prideful people. N'Jadaka learned more about the River Tribe in one sitting than he ever did reading about it or hearing tidbits from Nakia. The Chilza's were happy to answer any question they had, and Yani had plenty more over dessert.
"There are so many breathtaking places throughout D'Jata," Yani stated over another glass of dessert wine that was nearly empty, "We hiked above the waterfall near Ekuqaleni and it looked so unreal above the trees."
"Ekuqaleni is a very special place to the River Tribe. It is where the Panther Tribe and River Tribe made their truce before the final war of binding us all together with King Bashenga," Nomble said.
N'Jadaka offered to pour more after-dinner wine for her, but she held up a hand and latched her eyes onto Yani's.
"We were told our tribe had a habit of intermarrying with yours," N'Jadaka said.
"Elder Bhira's niece and your cousin carried on the tradition. In a way, you've also carried it," Nomble said.
"How so?"
Nomble folded her plump fingers on the table and smiled at Yani first before wrenching her eyes away to gaze at the king.
"She is a child of Mama Wati. As was your mother kumkani. We see the Lost Tribe as our kin. Other tribes in Wakanda do not agree, but we do. In our oldest creation stories they say that a lost child from outside will return here and raise an empire."
"Empire?" N'Jadaka chuckled.
Yani studied his face carefully. It was a touchy subject with her since their return from the states. Several African nations surrounding them accused him of that so often that it became a narrative that carried far and wide on the continent.
"I have no plans for empire, and I've never read in our books about creation where someone comes back here to do that," he said.
Lungile patted his wife's hand and Nomble grinned.
"Not your Panther Tribe stories, kumkani, ours. My people of this region," Nomble corrected.
"Tell us your story," Yani asked.
"I have taken up much of the talking, I will let my husband share that."
Nomble looked at Lungile and he cleared his throat.
"We used to think they were fables…myths that we told our people in times of war, famine or intertribal disagreements that may have led to more war. I suppose every culture in the world has a story about a savior of some kind appearing to redress all wrongs. Isn't that what the Christians out there believe their Jesus will do? In Wakanda, Bast is the great cosmic mother who birthed daughters and sons that she planted like seeds on this earth. One of her daughters, Mama Wati, was planted near here before there was any water in the world at all. The Ibukun River that we know of today used to be a big dry gorge that stretched all the way to where the sea is now. Bast spit on her precious seed, and our water goddess sprang forth fully formed. This is why every newly married king must offer his seed back to her in a burning ceremony before he can taste the fruits of his wife—"
"Lungile! Sthhh! Must you say that in front of our queen?" Nomble scolded before covering her mouth with embarrassment.
Lungile lifted his hands palms up and stared at his wife.
"Aye…Mama…it is part of the story they have asked me to tell."
Yani laughed and tilted her head. Her eyes twinkled.
"Go on, Baba…tell us more," Yani encouraged.
Nomble rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair with her arm thrown over the back of it, her body turned toward her husband. Lungile slowed his cadence, making his voice sound more dramatic with the telling.
"Mama Wati made the great trek through Wakanda leaving water in her wake, creating all of our lakes and rivers and waterfalls until she reached our empty ocean and gave the world all of the liquid you see all over the planet. She was given dominion over all the water that birthed all the creatures in the sea and even mankind. She is the goddess of childbirth and healing. She is the goddess who cradled the first man and first woman on this earth. The Panther Tribe says that Bast is the mother of us all, but in our ancient stories that were written on the sides of cliff walls in a language we don't even speak anymore, she is actually the grandmother. Mama Wati is our ancient mother. She is your mother too," Lungile said with conviction.
The older man's voice grew softer. He sipped some dessert wine and looked down at his fingers.
"In the dark days, when the slavers came to this continent, we in Wakanda didn't always have secure boarders or have the full capabilities to make our shield dome just yet. The border tribe protected all of us. They are some of our fiercest fighters. We were still warring with the nations along our borders and knew we had to close ourselves off from the rest of the world in order to prevent more bloodshed and other countries discovering our secret. Mama, you tell the rest, you know it better than me," Lungile said.
Nomble turned back to Yani and N'Jadaka.
"Well…there are several versions of a prophecy that have been handed down, and depending on which clan you talk to, it is said that a child of ours…a Wakandan…would come to us from the outside world and help protect the entire nation by creating a vast empire by absorbing other tribes into our fold. No one believed it of course because we had closed ourselves off for centuries. We were never slaves to anyone so it would be impossible for Wakandan blood to leave our borders…let alone return to conquer other nations and rule over them. But here is the most interesting part, and this comes from the eastern faction of our region…"
N'Jadaka glanced at Yani and his wife's eyes were as big as plums. She had leaned forward in her seat. He reached over and rubbed the middle of her back. Nomble palmed her hands together, warming up to her addition of the story.
"The people there say that it's not one child who will return, but actually two from very different places in the world who will guide the hand in the building of a future empire. Unfortunately, the stories never say when this will happen."
"Well it can't be me or in my time because I'm the only person to return here with Wakandan lineage from the outside that shifted the culture… and like I said, empire building is not on my agenda," N'Jadaka said.
Nomble nodded her head.
"The prophecy says that it will happen in a time of great distress, and I think you have already fulfilled it when you fought the alien intruders. You are powerful enough for two people, kumkani," Nomble said.
"Or," N'Jadaka said, "My greatest grandfather already fulfilled the myth by uniting all the tribes during the great battles back in the day. Remember, he was still an outsider to your people until he married Queen Tiye, your tribal member. Their first child was born outside of this territory and brought back to your people."
"True, true," Nomble said, "But the elders of long ago had many stories and who knows, we could be living out what was told long ago and choose to ignore it because we think myths and fairy tales are for children."
N'Jadaka thought of the stories he was raised with back in Oakland. Believing in fairy tales from his father brought him an entire kingdom to rule. As far as he was concerned, fairy tales held kernels of truth. Had he fulfilled the legends on their cliff walls and whispers around long ago campfires? If two children were supposed to come back…
Riki and Joba.
His heart thumped a little faster. His two youngest children came from two very different places in the world. They had Wakandan blood through him.
Lungile lifted his wine glass and his hand shook slightly. He was a little tipsy.
"To King N'Jadaka Udaku and also our first ruler, King Bashenga…two great kings who helped save the nation twice…our myths who sprang to life!" Lungile said.
N'Jadaka and Yani raised their glasses for a final toast.
A pregnant customer headed for the exit with her husband and Yani stopped them to ask how far along she was. The expectant mother shared that she was seven months along. After they left, servers began lighting candles on all the tables. Yani checked her kimoyo beads.
"We have been here for three hours. Taking up all your time," Yani said.
"Stay as long as you like, in fact, stay for the dancing," Nomble said.
"Dancing?" N'Jadak glanced around at the dining area. The Chilza's restaurant had nothing but tables and chairs for eating.
"Come see…in the back," Lungile said.
He ushered them with their Doras who finished eating their own meal hours ago to a door that led to another section of the restaurant that was set up with a bar and a dance floor. A bartender and a few waiters prepared for an evening crowd. D.J. equipment was set up in a corner and a woman behind the D.J. booth fiddled with a soundboard. Everyone stopped what they were doing to set their eyes on the king and queen.
The walls were decorated with giant pink flamingoes and 3D blue lagoons that gave the space a marshland setting that didn't match the décor in the restaurant. Nomble noticed the confusion on N'Jadaka's face.
"In three weeks the pink flamingoes flock here before they set off for Birnin S'Yan's beaches, right before the Mama Wati celebrations. It is a spectacular sight. Vast numbers, over two hundred thousand alone flock to Umbono Lake and then migrate through our territory," Nomble said.
"What do you think, kumkani, hmm?" Lungile said, wiggling his hips and holding his hands out like he had a dancing partner, "You and our wonderful queen enjoying a night of music and dancing together?"
N'Jadaka waved his hand. He rubbed his stomach and reached for Yani's hand, pulling her next to him.
"You have fed us beyond capacity. Your reputation as a master chef has been proven Mama Nomble and because of that, we'll probably start to nod off. Another time," he said.
Yani released his hand and held Nomble's shoulders, "Thank you for your hospitality and the fantastic food. We will come again real soon and bring our children."
"That would be our honor, ukumkanikazi. Please let us show you out," Nomble said.
Lungile rushed off to the back of the bar and met them outside later carrying another bottle of top shelf wine and a small tan biodegradable container.
"A gift from us. Enjoy it tonight. Our best wine you enjoyed and some spicy plantains to snack on later. It is Mama Wati's favorite offering outside of sugary sweets and flowers. Give some to the river and she will taste that you know her as your own," Lungile said.
N'Jadaka took the gifts. The Dora Milaje blocked off the street as the royal couple said their final goodbyes. The evening patrons studied their interactions and Okoye summoned the Royal Talon Fighter to fly above them for a gravitational pick up. The tracker beam pulled them into the aircraft and Yani hugged N'Jadaka's waist.
"Today was so beautiful," Yani said.
She settled in their comfortable couch in the back and they watched their flight across the boardwalk. Ayo traced her fingers on the viewscreen across from them to lift the six canoes they used that were stuffed with all of their river market shopping. A gravitational force field kept the canoes stuck against the bottom of the aircraft.
They arrived at the treehouse encampment in time to catch a new display of stars above the river tributary. The canoes were lowered onto the ground with them and Yani picked out items that could go onto their houseboat, and the rest that would be stored on the Talon Fighter. The Doras worked quickly and the canoes were pulled back up to the aircraft.
"Remember to leave two canoes at the houseboat. We'll need the extra for when the children join us," N'Jadaka instructed Aneka.
Yani pulled off her isicholo and walked up the stairs into the treehouse.
"I am beat," she sighed.
She tucked her crown inside the special hat box made for it that locked by her fingerprint. Too tired to bathe or do anything else, they slipped off their clothes and went to bed early. They cuddled and listened to the night song of nocturnal creatures.
"Okoye had a hard time today, yeah?" Yani said in the darkness of the room.
The faint light of stars appeared above the skylight. He stroked Yani's arm.
"She doesn't like us to mingle with citizens in the streets for long. Too much unpredictability and one thing that woman wants is to control every security move."
"It looked like she had a little fun, even though she was strict."
"Yeah, they all did I think."
"Imagine being forced to canoe on a lovely day and fly across tree tops," Yani said.
"The nerve of us making her do all that," N'Jadaka teased.
"I know right? Her having to eat chocolate and cake samples because the queen couldn't make up her mind which tasted better."
"You also demanded that she eat that jumbo fried shrimp plate while on duty at the restaurant."
"I expect our security personnel to comply with my wishes at all times."
"You are a cruel ruler. They will ask to have your head cut off!"
They giggled together.
"Tomorrow we will simply relax, read, and nap…deal?' he said.
"Deal."
Yani lifted her head and pressed her lips softly against his.
"I love you so much," she whispered.
"I love you, too."
Yani drifted off to sleep before he did. When she had slept for a least an hour peacefully, he detached from her and pulled on a robe. He needed to check the grounds before he could fall asleep and decompress from the day alone.
"I know your big asses aren't on that furniture," N'Jadaka scolded.
S'Bu and Unathi lounged on the outdoor couch. Unathi jumped up at the sound of his voice and quickly leapt from the couch to scurry onto a thatch of soft grass near the treehouse. S'Bu rolled over on his belly.
"Nah, man. Get down and go sleep somewhere else. Y'all ain't slick. Now I know what you do when we aren't watching. Go on now…get."
N'Jadaka clapped his hands and S'Bu joined the other panther.
"Watch my wife. Stay here," he said in Wakandan.
Both panthers ambled over to either side of the staircase entrance of the treehouse and watched him move quietly around the perimeter. He sniffed the air and used his own special nocturnal vision to check for movement of any animals. He had been warned that crocodiles sometimes crawled onto the land to sleep under their outdoor furniture often, attracted by the energy of the place. There were protective barriers and warning systems in place to let them know if any had snuck into their area.
Nothing was out of order.
The moon finally rose above the trees. A halo of colorful hazy light surrounded it indicating new rain to come in a few days. It was a good sign. He and Yani would be floating on their houseboat and could enjoy the patter of raindrops falling on the lake they would anchor down in for a week.
Moonlight sparkled on the tributary and he thought of the conversation with the Chilzas. They reiterated what he had been told about Ekuqaleni. It was a place of enchantment that made one feel that anything in life was possible for those who walked among the ancient trees. He understood why the people there considered it a healing place. There was a spiritual energy that pervaded it. It prodded the mind and body to recognize it.
It also made him feel like something would happen that would nudge him to some important discovery about himself. There was a power there that still made the hairs on his neck and arms rise like it did when he did his sabbatical at the Temple of Bast. This was a kindred power. He searched within his soul for reassurance from Bast herself. She rested within him quietly letting him settle into the expectation. Ogum slumbered in a deep repose, unbothered by the place.
Ekuqaleni was tranquility and contentment. A needed retreat from the responsibility of holding up a nation that dominated the political landscape of the outside world. It gave his wife joy, and whatever Yani wanted he would give it to her in abundance with more trips together out in nature.
He wandered about on a sort of meditative walk that cleansed the slate for that day. The staff would bring them breakfast in bed in the morning per his directions. Perhaps by noon he and Yani would frolic in the bigger pool of water, or maybe take a dip in the tributary. Sunbathe. Sleep. Make love.
The children crossed his mind. He missed them dearly, but he had to admit, time away from them and being alone with his wife was a dream come true. No wonder his parents snuck away to their bedroom as many times as they did when he was a child. It was good to be in solitude with your beloved and not have to worry about your child for a few hours. His parents had one child, but he had three and more energy depletion because of it. He couldn't even imagine his parents handling two more of him growing up.
Two more of him.
The Chilza's story still poked around in his mind. The possibility of Riki and Joba fulfilling some long ago legend bothered him. Unlike his own later childhood, N'Jadaka wanted his children to grow up knowing nothing but peace and security. He would be the only one of his new lineage that would experience war and have to build up nations to defend their own lands. One day all three of his children would have to do the mandatory military service required of all citizens. He would raise them to become whatever they wanted and whichever one took over the throne, he would become their counsel.
The idea flitted in his mind about whether or not he wanted them to even take on ruling the nation. All Udakus had been raised to one day take the throne. What if Riki or Joba didn't want to? Sydette was legally his daughter in the eyes of the ruling class, so she would also be considered for the role. But he knew all of the tribes would challenge her at Warrior Falls. Legal daughter or not, the elites preferred direct bloodlines. He couldn't see Yani allowing their eldest to fight five challengers. Sweet Pea was a gentle spirit who detested all violence. She had survived mercenaries holding guns to her body and being shot at as a baby. It wasn't in her to inflict harm. Truthfully, he just didn't see his children choosing that life anyway. Sydette wanted to be a scientist. Riki a rock star. Joba wanted to learn new languages and study art.
A tickling in his gut compelled him to walk closer to the water.
His mother told him a child was coming that would shake up the world. Maybe the throne wasn't meant for his three oldest, but for the one that wasn't there yet. His mother had been adamant that he look out for that new one because they would be something different. N'Jadaka wasn't seeking to build empire. But maybe the next Udaku from him would.
He hurried back into the treehouse and collected three pieces of spicy plantains from the container Lungile gave him. Returning to the tributary, he knelt down in the soft, moist earth and offered the plantains to the water. They floated away toward the center and were swept downstream quickly. Still kneeling, he lifted his palms up and stared at the water.
"Mama Wati, I offer you a gift. My mind is troubled with thoughts about my children. I was a man who sought retribution in this land, but instead I gained my soul and my family back. Bast raised me and Ogum chose me, but I feel as if you have touched my life more times than I can count without even knowing it. In Brazil I knew you as Yemanjá. With my Nana Jean, she called you Cymbee. I see traces of you in my wife. Back where she is from, they call her the Black mermaid. By nature, I am not a humble man. I come from a father who was as large as a god in my eyes until he was taken from me. But now I am here…on my knees in your domain, asking for guidance…a sign that all will be well with my family. If there is a child coming who is going to build an empire, help me understand why this needs to be…if it needs to be. I have killed and spilled blood all over the earth. I don't want that life for my children. I beg of you, under the eyes of Bast, your mother, and Ogum who wields the iron of war in my blood…please. Don't let my children ever have to see the destruction that war brings again. I want them to become who I could've become if…"
N'Jadaka's night vision caught sight of the crocodile much too late to move. It rose to the surface, black eyes shining with icy concentration. He heard and sensed movement behind him. Turning his head slowly, he found S'Bu and Unathi flanking him. They sat on their haunches in a relaxed stance and not one of protecting him from the predator.
N'Jadaka regarded the giant crocodile coolly as it ambled its big body slowly from the water. He held his breath and kept the springing of his panther suit at the tip of his one immediate thought. His natural recoil reflexes were kept still and he waited to see what the croc would do.
Bast moved and the pressure of her presence sat at the top of his head. Ogum remained submerged in inactivity. This was a Wakandan matter not needing his input.
The crocodile settled its mammoth head in front of N'Jadaka's bent knees. This wasn't an ambush at all. The creature could've snapped the king's head into its giant maw, and that should've been unlikely from jump since their encampment was surrounded by security detectors. A powerful system in the water was also on alert to prevent them from sneaking onto land without people knowing. There was even a force field deterrent set up for crocs and water vipers that gave a slight shock to help them move away from that section of the river. The eyeshine in the crocs slit pupils reflected an unnatural iridescent glow that grew brighter. Mighty jaws snapped open and the croc lunged forward, its heavy snout-tip pushing weighted pressure against N'Jadaka's chest before it disintegrated into a splash of cold river water onto his chest, waist, and thighs.
He threw his hands up and gasped, startled by the frigid water soaking his robe through to the skin underneath. N'Jadaka touched his chest and the cool liquid evaporated. His robe and skin were as dry as when he first approached the edge of the tributary. He exhaled relief and his body felt light and airy. The intrusive thoughts about his children's future turned into warmth and serenity. In his mind, Mama Wati let her presence be known. Nana Jean once told him that alligators and crocodiles held spiritual meaning. They existed in two worlds, the physical and spiritual. The land was the physical world, and the water they submerged in was the spiritual one. He took on the experience as a message that he was a part of those two worlds and he would have to trust the greater wisdom of the gods to carry him through.
S'Bu nudged his head against N'Jadaka's shoulder. The king lifted his arm and scratched the back of the big cat's ears.
"You two were letting me know it was okay. I understand," he said.
N'Jadaka stood up and tilted his head back. He bathed his face in moonlight and said a prayer for his parents. And his beloved Nana Jean.
Breakfast in bed was so good, Yani ate seconds and refused to get out of it until it hit high noon.
She bathed and put on a bikini, joining N'Jadaka outside to sunbathe while reading. She held a physical book in her hand and stretched her left arm above her head indulging in doing nothing. N'Jadaka read a physical book right next to her on the lounger couch wearing tight trunks that might as well had been briefs. It did nothing to hide all that he held between his legs, his dick print and balls outlined visibly. She peeked at his face. He'd been pretty quiet for most of the afternoon. They'd chatted a lot during breakfast and once they were in their own little worlds reading, no words had passed between them for two hours.
Yani placed her book on her chest and sighed to get N'Jadaka's attention. He turned the page of his book and scratched at a scar on his chest.
"Should we call the kids?" Yani asked.
"No."
N'Jadaka kept reading, not even looking at her.
"We've been sending them vids and pictures, but we haven't spoken to them directly since we left. You think they miss us?"
"I'm sure they do, but think about it. There are a ton of little cousins still in the palace on holiday with our family. They're busy running around and having fun. Probably preoccupied with the wedding gifts we gave them too."
His eyes scanned the pages on the book, but Yani caught the glint in his eye the moment she mentioned them. There was a little twitch in his jawline too, like he'd been waiting to talk about his pride and joy.
"Three days is a long time not talking to them. Maybe just a quick chat up?" Yani said.
"We agreed to five days of no direct contact. For us."
Yani turned on her side, her fully baked skin two shades darker and smelling like sweet coconut oil.
"Just five minutes. Not a minute more. I want to see their faces."
N'Jadaka dropped his book near his side and stared at her.
"Didn't we talk about not coddling them too much? This was an opportunity to build up character and self-reliance. They have an entire staff, three nannies, great-grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins keeping them occupied. I don't want to be one of those helicopter parents," he said.
Yani chewed her lip and squinted when a ray of bright sunlight struck her eye when he adjusted his separate couch back support to a lower position. It unblocked the sun from his bulky frame. He glanced over at her and the pout on her face made him smirk.
"Five minutes," he said.
Yani clapped her hands and wiggled in her seat. He tapped his kimoyo beads for all three children. Riki answered first. The eyes that stared back at them with his floating image looked just like his father's when he was annoyed.
"Baba, what is it now? You keep calling us," Riki whined.
"What?" Yani yelped.
She smacked N'Jadaka's arm. Joba and Sydette's images popped up next to Riki's.
"How many times has your father called you guys?" Yani asked.
"Four times today," Sydette sighed out with an equally annoyed tone.
"Four times?" Yani said. "But I was here and I didn't see him call anyone."
They'd eaten breakfast. Swam in the river, showered, sunbathed, read their books, ate lunch and…
Yani's lip curled into a grin. She'd gone to the restroom four times that day. He'd called the kids when she was inside the treehouse.
N'Jadaka quirked his lips and shrugged his shoulders.
"All this backchat you were doin' man, and here you are calling them behind my back."
"Can we make this quick please, Mama? I'm in the middle of something with Zuko and Balwe, and if I don't pay attention, Zuko will move one of my game pieces," Riki said.
Yani looked them all over one by one. Happy, healthy, and whole. Her perfect trio.
"I miss you. It's been a long time since I spoke to you all."
"Three days isn't a long time, Mama," Joba said.
"To us it is. Neither one of us has been away from you all this long together. It feels uncomfortable sometimes," Yani said.
"But you're having fun, right?" Sydette asked.
"Yes Sweet Pea, we're having the best time—"
"Snack time everybody! Leave your toys and games where they are…what…what are you doing?" Umama said.
Their great-grandmother's face came into view.
"N'Jadaka, Yani…is everything okay?" Umama asked.
"We're fine, just checking in with the kids," N'Jadaka said.
"Again?" Umama said.
"I wanted to see their faces this time, Umama. Let them go have their snack."
"Okay, Mama, bye!" Riki said.
The call winked out.
"You sneaky cheater!" Yani said, pinching his arm. "Talking all that stoic shit and you're the one to break our pact."
"Okay, okay, I missed them a lot. They were on my mind all last night and part of today. Thinking about their future."
"Thinking about their future because of the story we heard last night?"
"Yeah. A part of me doesn't want them to carry the weight of the throne, and yet another part of me wants their legacy to be better than mine."
"You're going to be king for a very long time. We'll probably be great-grandparents before you even have to worry about succession."
"Even so, I can't be the Golden Jaguar forever. One of them may have to take the mantle while I'm still king."
Yani cradled his chin with her hand, the softness of his beard warmed by the sun.
"Listen to me. That's a long way away."
"I hear you. But you're right. It's nothing to worry about now."
He rolled over and placed his head on her stomach. She rubbed his head and untangled his locs on his back. Tension rested in his muscles. The future still rested on him. Yani hummed him a tune and stroked his forehead gently. The tautness in his muscles relaxed under her fingers.
Yani didn't like that he pondered too long on the children and their political future in Wakanda. They were finally a happy family unit and their children were living fruitful lives as normal children. At least as normal as royal children could be.
He needed something to get his mind off of politics and the march of time to come. She wanted to have fun with him and not waste their energy soothing fears.
"It's getting extra warm for me, I'm going to go cool off and rest indoors for a minute until the sun is behind the trees," she murmured in his ear.
"No, stay here. You've made me too comfortable. Don't leave now, it's not that hot."
"I'll be back. You can take this heat more than me right now. I want to fix my hair too, oil my scalp a little," she said.
He whined and pretended to throw a tantrum with his feet. She bent her head closer to his and kissed his forehead. Scooting off the couch, Yani headed for the treehouse and bee-lined to the bedroom where she rummaged through their belongings and pulled out a wig box. Inside was the red wig N'Jadaka loved. She shook the tresses and carried it into the restroom. Using a brush by the sink bowl, she smoothed the hair and fixed it on her head with a bit of hair sealant and a spritz of perfume on her body. She unfastened her bikini and pulled on a short silk bathing robe that rose above her thighs.
Staring at her face in the mirror, she added a little make-up and pink lip gloss. Debating about adding eyelashes, she eventually took the time to add some onto her top lid and made one final inspection of herself. Sexy, and she carried the aura of a different woman. That's what she wanted to be. Not the fretting mommy needing to check up on her kids. That woman could return when the children joined them in eleven days. She fixed the bit up lip gloss that ran over her lip line and decided to add one more detail before she left the treehouse. The bottle of lubricant on the open cupboard would help with what she needed to do.
After her preparations in the restroom, she returned to the outside where N'Jadaka rested with an arm over his eyes.
"Is this seat taken?" Yani said.
N'Jadaka lifted his arm and looked at her. The grin plastered on his lips thrilled her.
"My wife was planning to come back later," he said.
"Oh, well, I'll just find someplace else to sit."
"Nah, you can chill until she comes back. Long time no see, Toya."
Yani pushed back the hair on her shoulders.
"You don't mind if I sunbathe next you…nude, yeah?"
He patted the vacant seat next to his on the comfortable couch lounger. She took off the robe slowly and turned to place it on the end table next to the couch. Bending over further than she needed to, she allowed him to see the cherry-red anal plug heart she had inserted in the restroom. She crawled onto the couch knees first and settled in next to him, her toasted skin sparkly with mica chips from her coconut oil. He watched her recline and his gaze fell to her breasts.
"You sure this is okay?" she asked.
"Yeah."
Her right hand drifted to her vulva. Running her fingers gently around her clit, she kept her eyes on his face while he watched her hand play with her pussy. He reached over and played with her right breast, squeezing her nipple. They didn't speak. Yani dipped her fingers lower to open her labia. She made sure he saw that it glistened with her own arousal. The piercings they loved looked so pretty. Her inner labia fell open and the puffy engorgement made him groan. Yani stared at his swim trunks and the bulge there grew and stretched the material. She reached over and palmed it, feeling the girth inside harden under her touch. His fingers trailed down to her vulva and he bypassed her clit to finger her opening, her arousal making his digits sticky.
"Do you miss fucking me, kumkani?" she said, all breathy and low, as if she didn't want anyone else to hear them.
"Yesssss."
He moaned and slipped his trunks down, freeing his erection. The full mass of his dick had her sighing his royal title, exciting N'Jadaka more.
"Kumkani, I don't want to get you in trouble on your honeymoon. But I know you miss fucking me in the ass and stretching out my pussy."
She gripped his dick, squeezing it first to test how hard it was before sliding her hand up and down.
"I miss this big dick, kumkani. Let me make you happy."
"Shit…yes…keep squeezing it like that…"
He sat back and let her work her fingers around him. She nestled her index and thumb under the ridge of his tip and twisted it in tight half circles. It didn't take long for pre-cum to spill out. She stopped her movement to let him kick off his trunks all the way, and then continued pleasuring him. Her pussy was already acting up and the fullness of her anal plug hinted at the debauchery to come.
"Has your wife been good to you?"
N'Jadaka's lips were smooshed together; his focus lost on her hand getting slick from his pre-cum. His eyes became glassy and narrowed. She began to give his dick harder strokes up and down, loving the feel of her hand wetting up his shaft, making it sticky. Lowering her head, she darted the tip of her tongue in and out of his slit.
"Fuck!"
N'Jadaka's voiced carried over her head as it moved up and down, deep throating his dick. His right hand slid down her spine and around the curve of her ass to finger her pussy. He finger-fucked her, plowing his digits into her fast, wiggling them back and forth so he could hear how wet she was. She gasped when he spanked her hard. Rubbing on her backside, he moaned and thrust his hips up to shove his dick further into her throat. He pushed on her anal plug and fondled the shiny heart.
"Lemme stretch that pussy before my wife comes back," he whispered in her ear.
Yani obeyed, scrambling onto her knees and straddling his dick in reverse cowgirl. She wanted him to look at her anal plug in anticipation of stuffing his dick there in its place. Widening her thighs, she guided him inside her slippery entrance and the tightness in her ass doubled her pleasure with his dick stretching her out too.
"Kumkani, you feel so good in my tight little pussy," Yani huffed, meaning every word she said while looking over her shoulder at him.
N'Jadaka slapped her ass cheeks with a determined rhythm.
"Look at that ass…look at that big ass…tight pussy fucking me so good…grip that shit…yeah…grip it tighter…you a little grip monster on that thang girl…fuck…"
His words tumbled over each other and Yani bounced on his dick, flexing her back muscles to give him a view of the perfect arch.
"I missed your big dick, kumkani," Yani yelped.
"Ride that dick, baby…yes, ride it hard Toya…"
Yani twisted her hips from side to side so he could experience the pleasure of her cheeks bouncing as she moved. N'Jadaka kept smacking her ass and her backside grew hot and tingled with delicious pain. He rubbed both sides of her rump to give her skin a break from his slaps, but he continued again when she did slow winds all the way to the tip and back down. The slow motion dance on his dick had him shouting her name and cursing about how good it felt. Yani rose up again and leaned forward to let him watch her opening throb and grip the tip of his dick with syncopated squeezes that looked like sucking motions from her pussy. She practiced for weeks with her queen training on the erotic arts. Her instructor was a no-nonsense elder noblewoman who gave Yani silver balls of varying sizes to insert in her vagina and walk around with for hours using her pelvic floor muscles to grip them. Every time a ball fell out, she had to re-insert and try again or risk a scolding. Sex was a very serious matter in the royal lineage. Even N'Jadaka had to take lessons for his dick, tongue and fingers to please his new queen. Those tiresome lessons paid off as she made her man holler and grunt with pleasure. She gripped and released his tip in fast successive motions, twisting her body ever so slightly to change the angle. Her suction around the ridge was like the lure used to catch a big fish. Her husband gasped and clutched the cushion of the couch.
She dropped down on his length hard and used her walls to clench around the root of his dick while she fondled and squeezed his nutsack. He was literal putty in her hands only eliciting moans as she showed off her sex magic. Those queen lessons truly enhanced the natural gifts she already possessed, and helped her build up more stamina to handle the king. She did the ripple effect, using her walls to clench his dick in sections as she rose up and down slowly. Because he stretched her with his girth, N'Jadaka could watch her pussy lips kiss and pulse on every inch of his dick. She became more excited by the delicious feeling of fullness in her insides. His sounds of enjoyment rewarded her pussy with hot throbbing coming from his dick. Her perspiration increased from the furnace of his heavy body radiating so much heat.
The pressure of his dick tugging on her clit and the anal plug filling her up had Yani speaking in tongues. Her skin tingled all over and the heat from his blows to her ass cheeks created a perfect storm of pleasure for her that she couldn't hold onto anymore. Her pussy throbbed on a final thrust from him. A pulsing sensation raced up her spine and she trembled all over. Yani threw her head back and wailed out his name as her orgasm choked his dick and her own throat. Her voice echoed above the trees and shushed a few birds who had been chirping in the late afternoon sunlight.
When he couldn't take it anymore himself, N'Jadaka plucked the anal plug from her ass and pulled her down against him. Her back went into his chest and he spooned her for a few minutes, playing with her breasts and kissing her neck and shoulders before pushing his dick into her ass. She was ready for it, already keening and pulling her ass cheek to the side so he could watch his entry.
"Bitch I love it…I love when you let me fuck you in the ass…taking all this dick…"
His voice sounded bewildered and hungry for release. She gripped the cushion on the couch and held still, letting him pump wild thrusts into her.
"Just letting me fuck you like this…nasty little bitch…fucking the king's dick…I'm all up in there…fuck!"
"Your wife will be back soon," she said, urging him on to glory.
"Tryna rush me like I'm scared of being caught?"
"Aren't you, kumkani? The queen wouldn't be happy to see you fucking one of your secret women."
"I think she'd like watching me fuck you."
Yani gasped as he slowed down his thrusts and played with her breasts.
"I think her pussy would get wet watching this big ass dick stretching you…watching you cream all over me Toya…"
He stroked her clit, plucking at the piercing there. His breath warmed her earlobe and he nibbled on the outer shell of her ear.
"Or maybe you'd like to watch me fuck my wife like this. She takes dick so good in the ass."
"Yeah?"
Yani shuddered as her skin combusted with the fire of her lust listening to his words.
"My wife is the best. Before we were married…back when we were on an island together, she used to let me fuck her in the ass all the time. She has a nice big bubble. Niggas been after her for years and still want her. But she's mine and she lets me do anything I want to her. When I fuck her pussy, it weeps on my dick…"
Yani gasped. Listening to him talk about her in the third person was such a turn on. N'Jadaka had transformed into a trickster, changing the power dynamic of their encounter. She had come down from the treehouse to seduce and drive him crazy and he flipped it on her. He shifted their position, forcing her on her knees with her ass up and her head down. He kept a hand on the back of her neck and fucked her ass with slow hard thrusts. Each time he smacked against her rump, the slapping sound was loud and disrespectful to her ears.
"My wife is such a good girl. She knows to get on her knees without me asking so I can cum all over her pretty face. She'll lick up every drop of cum I give her. And she can take my dick so deep…lemme show you how I fuck her ass deep, Toya."
Yani began whimpering. The nerve endings in her ass were on high alert and her clit twitched.
"I took her to an opera in Zana and she let me fuck her ass right in the theater booth. She hiked her dress up and got on the floor and let me fuck her like that, even though there were nobles in the sections next to us. Feel it? Feel how I fucked her ass, Toya?"
"Yes!"
Yani cried out and she squirted on the couch. The sudden release heightened everything.
"I'm making you squirt, baby?"
The tone of his voice was so raspy that Yani's body squirted again, harder, making a complete mess on the couch.
"I'ma nut in you so deep. Let you have what my wife gets…yeah…feel all that? Your king is balls deep in that ass."
He pressed a hand on the arch of her back, and then gripped her hips with both hands.
"Taking it so good…that's a good girl…that's it…let your king fuck that ass…ooohhh….'bout to nut…fuck…here it comes…here it comes…shit…here it comes!"
He thrust hard once more and shot hot cum with curses flying from his mouth. Yani took it all and fell over in a satisfied lump when he finished. Her entire vulva throbbed and her clit still pulsed with anticipation.
He allowed her to rest a few minutes. She lifted from the couch and smoothed the hair on her wig. His dick was still hard.
"Come on," he said, lifting her up in his arms and cradling her against his chest.
"Where are we going?"
"Inside."
"But the queen…"
"She'll just have to deal with her man fucking his lover on their bed."
Yani held onto his neck tight. He bounded up the treehouse stairs and carried her into the bedroom.
"Wait here," he said.
She listened to him shuffle into the restroom and run water to clean his dick off. He returned and stroked his dick with fresh lubricant on it. Yani admired his body. He had always been a beautiful man. From the moment she first laid eyes on him, N'Jadaka was the finest chiseled specimen of man she had ever seen. The scars on his body actually enhanced his beauty and that man knew he was physical perfection just by the way he preened in front of her.
He lowered himself to the bedding and held her close to him.
"I will show you how I make love to her," he said.
He kissed her forehead with lips so soft that she forgot that he was her husband. The scent of his skin reminded her of honeysuckle blooming and she held onto his shoulders feeling safe in his arms. He rubbed his nose against hers making her smile.
"I love you," he said.
Yani pressed her lips against his and savored the softness. Oh how she fought to have this man! From the naysayers back home to the nobles who questioned her worthiness, Yani held onto her husband tight, feeling his heartbeat against her chest. Her tongue twisted around his and the joy in her heart thrummed throughout her body, raising the temperature on her skin and causing her pores to sweat even more. Their combined heat raised her arousal. He bit the side of her neck with those sharp slugs and Yani gasped, her eyes glued to the opening in the ceiling.
N'Jadaka penetrated her pussy with a quick motion in his hips and he marinated inside of her, keeping his kisses deep and wet inside her mouth. Her walls contracted when he pushed in further, accommodating him with intense slick heat.
He sucked in a breath when she squeezed around him tighter. His claw necklace dangled above her nose. She raised her legs up and held her thighs. N'Jadaka raised up on his hands and watched his dick go slowly in and out of her pussy. The focused concentration gave her joyful shivers. He loved looking at her body while he made love, and kept checking in with her by staring at her face. Swiveling his hips he slowed down his pumps and drops of sweat fell on her from his chest.
"Show me how much you love me," she begged.
N'Jadaka inhaled and then huffed out puffs of frantic air. The pussy clenching was getting to him. Yani absorbed the yearning he had to make her cum again while he stretched her out. Her clit was engorged and sat there fat and gorgeous like a precious jewel.
He was so big everywhere. His body. His dick. His personality. His legacy. His love.
Yani had shaped him and the world he conquered. No two people had ever wielded the power they did together all over the globe. His power over her body flowed out in hot waves across her tender skin. Her breasts bounced with his thrusts and his eyes darted down to watch. He loved every inch of her and she could see that clearly in those cunning brown eyes. She panted. He was too much. In the end of all their intimate encounters he was always too much. God, what a blessing.
He hit a spot inside of her that made her scream his name that became exaltations to heaven. N'Jadaka watched her face as she came on his dick and she felt him swell and spill inside of her. Looking down at their wet messy joining, his dick pulsed and so did his balls.
Yani let go of her thighs and let her orgasm cascade over any thoughts of anything outside of Ekuqaleni. All that mattered was them. Right there. Right now.
She gave herself permission to forget her children and the rest of the world.
N'Jadaka was all that she would live and breathe for in that moment. They were perfect and divine and meant to make love for a lifetime.
Attendants carried away the last of Yani's personal belongings she used in Ekuqaleni.
N'Jadaka conferred with their Dora Milaje and she took a final walk past the treehouse and into the forest. Their houseboat was ready for the next part of their honeymoon and all that was left was to give instructions to their personal staff and notify the palace that they were leaving within the hour.
"Don't go far," N'Jadaka called out.
"I won't," she said, waving at him.
She wandered past the large mineral pool and headed over to the mini waterfall that fed into the stream that attracted the best butterflies because of all the lovely flowers that beckoned with their nectar. The long wrap-around cornflower-blue dress she wore brushed past her ankles and a gentle breeze blew across her face. The coolness from the canopy gave her skin a break from the sun as she rounded a bend in the stream to get one last look at the mini waterfall.
In her peripheral, she caught sight of something dark and low to the ground. She pretended not to see the panther cub until two others popped out on her side next to it, all three watching her walk along the damp path of forest floor dirt in her sandals. Above the canopy she could hear and feel the vibration of the Royal Talon Fighter leaving Ekuqaleni.
"I'm going to ignore you because you aren't real and you won't harm me," she said out loud, throwing her voice over her shoulder at the cubs.
There was no sense looking at them, they would only disappear after a few minutes anyway. Whatever magic or spirits that lived in the forest would stay there. Yani was leaving in thirty minutes.
"Where are you?" N'Jadaka asked.
His image floated above her wrist. She stopped walking to catch her breath.
"Not far. I wanted to see the little waterfall and maybe collect some flowers before we leave," she said.
"Do that, then head on back. I'll wait for you at the firepit," he said.
She tapped her beads and his image winked out. Bending down to pluck the best flowers, one of the cubs brushed against her leg. She yelped and jumped back, not expecting it to be real flesh and blood at all. It purred loudly and rubbed against her ankles, its cute little tail flicking with agitation.
Should she pick it up?
Yani glanced around. The other two cubs sat on their haunches watching her…and waited.
What harm could befall her if she bent down to test if it were a solid thing?
N'Jadaka waited for her. All she had to do was walk away and leave with happy memories. They weren't real, just a trick of the mind. She decided to forgo touching and spun around to head back to her husband.
The cub jumped in front of her path and rubbed himself back and forth against both of her ankles. She felt the warmth from its chunky body. It opened its mouth and gave a weak kittenish yawp, showing its tiny baby teeth. Too cute. It stared up at her with cute eyes and cute whiskers.
Yani bent down and the first cub ran in front of her, looking back to see if she still locked eyes on it. It gave that pitiful baby panther cry again and the two other cubs ran toward them and ran around her in a circle, rubbing their little warm bodies against her ankles too. They jumped away when she tried to pet them, and ran in front of her a few feet, looking back to check her stance. She walked forward when they ambled back to her, but the closer she got, they ran ahead of her again and stopped. Yani got the message.
They wanted her to follow them.
Running ahead of her in the opposite direction she needed to go, Yani had a decision to make once more. Go with them or stay?
N'Jadaka knew where she was. If she sensed danger, she could scream and tap her beads, and he would come to her rescue within seconds with his enhanced speed. She could follow them and if they led her to someplace sketchy, she would put up the force field that was embedded in her beads to protect her until her husband arrived. Ekuqaleni never showed her any harm or made her feel unsafe. Panthers were the Udaku's animal guides. If she left without seeing where they went, the curiosity would get the better of her and ruin her honeymoon. She tapped her beads.
"N'Jadaka, I see the panther cubs again," she whispered into the beads.
"Stay where you are, I'll be there in a minute."
"They rubbed against my legs. They seem real."
"Do not touch them," he said.
"Okay. I'll wait here."
It would take him at least fifteen minutes to walk there.
The cubs ran ahead of her again, much further this time. They still looked back at her to make sure she had eyes on them.
Wait.
Yani tapped her foot and glanced over her shoulder. N'Jadaka was taking too long coming to her. The cubs padded further south. She took a few steps forward to keep them in her eyesight as they passed through some low fronds off the path she had taken.
"Hurry N'Jadaka," she muttered under her breath, not wanting to cause the cubs to disappear before he arrived. Although he couldn't see them, he could sense them, and it would be better to have him go with her on a wild goose chase. Or a panther chase.
She couldn't see them ahead of her anymore and took a chance following. Nothing in her gut felt weird and she wasn't afraid.
She quickly caught up to them and they began to run. They weren't as fast as her and she lifted the hem of her dress to keep from tripping on it. The shade around her seemed to grow darker the further she went and she brushed away low hanging branches, vines and brush to keep up.
Ahead of her was a clearing and she caught sight of the cubs running as fast as their little legs could carry them. She started laughing, feeling the air on her skin rush by, and the wonderful physical sensation of her leg muscles stretching in a good sprint. To her right was a part of the tributary that led to the main river of the Ibukun, and that shocked her because it meant that she had run further than she thought. Twenty miles.
Yani took in her surroundings and checked her kimoyos. There was no way she should've been able to run that far in under fifteen seconds.
"Yani, where are you?" N'Jadaka's voice broke her reverie.
"I'm here!" she said, looking at his floating image.
It winked out and Yani stared at the three panther cubs still running ahead of her. Several yards ahead of them, next to the riverbank sat three serene-looking River Tribe women on a rug in a circle. They're eyes were closed tight as if in a deep meditation session and they stood up the moment Yani appeared. They all wore lavender headwraps twisted in the style of their people. Two wore sleeveless long purple and turquoise dresses and the other had short sleeves on her pale turquoise long dress. The purple rug under their feet was five feet in diameter with white swirling lines and white dots that looked like tiny stars. A lit candle floated inside a bowl filled with water at the bottom of the carpet. The flame flickered and Yani noticed that sky was the color of lilac and amethysts and that could only occur there at sunset.
"Wait…wait…this can't be. It's still morning," Yani said.
The panther cubs ran directly toward the women and before Yani could reach them, each cub ran through the bottom of each woman's dress and vanished.
"Are you real?" Yani asked.
The woman in the white dress smiled.
"Yes Queen Yani, we are very real," she said.
"Were those panther cubs…?"
The woman in the white dress stepped forward but kept her feet on the rug.
"Our apologies, kumkanikazi. I am Jabulile. That is Khanyisile, and she is Nolwazi. We had to get your attention without upsetting the king. He gave an edict that no one was to disturb you on your honeymoon, so we were unable to come to you directly. Using avatars allowed us to get close to you. We had hoped to catch you alone and draw you out here to meet us without the king becoming angry."
"Why do you need to see me?"
"The oracle requests an audience with you."
"Oracle? What oracle?"
"Nolwandle…the mother of oceans. She received an urgent message from the other side and Mama Wati has given permission to let it pass through her. You must go to Nolwandle as soon as possible. But the king must not know about this or else Bast will find out," Khanyisile said.
Yani took a step back.
"If you are afraid of Bast finding out, then are you trying to do something bad behind her back?"
Nolwazi clasped her hands together in a beseeching motion, "Kumkanikazi, the Grandmother of us all must not know about this because she does not like messages about the future reaching human ears. There is order in all divine things coming to pass, but if humans know things ahead of that time, they may disrupt the pattern she has set forth."
"I want my husband with me. I don't go anywhere alone without him by my side."
Jabulile nodded with understanding, but her eyes pleaded for Yani to heed their words.
"You must see Nolwandle, within three days. She can only be a vessel for the message that long, or else it will cause her great bodily harm and mental distress. Today will be her first day. It will be to your detriment to ignore her call. A message like this has traveled through souls to get to you, my dear queen."
Yani gestured toward the sky.
"You could be tricking me," Yani said.
All three women shook their heads.
"It would be a sin for us to trick anyone," Jabulile said, "We do not mean to frighten you, but I beg you Queen Yani. Heed our words daughter. Go to Mama Wati's statue at the mouth of Warrior Falls, past the great Manta Ray monument. Look at her face at the first light of the morning and it will show you the path to the Oracle. If you do not receive this message, the Udaku bloodline will come into jeopardy, and so will the fate of our country."
Jabulile held out her hand. Her words startled Yani and she reached out to the woman. Jabulile clasped Yani's hand and pulled her onto the beautiful rug.
"Oh God!" Yani cried out.
Her body felt like it was rushing through a powerful vortex of pure light and loud sounds that rattled her eardrums. After a few seconds she saw the figure of a dark-skinned woman sitting crossed-legged with a crackling fire in front of her. The woman's eyes rose from the flickering flames and stared right through Yani.
"Come daughter…Mama Wati protects you here…come Black mermaid…I have a message for you…come quickly…"
Yani's body whipped back at an angle and it felt like she was about to do a backflip or split in half trying to do so.
"Easy kumkanikazi, you are here with us again," Jabulile said, still holding Yani's hands.
Yani stumbled back off of the rug. The women stepped off of it too, and Jabulile rolled it up.
"Find your way to her…your bloodline is in danger if you don't," Jabulile said. "Go to Mama Wati's statue. Let her show you the way."
The women lowered their heads to Yani and walked toward a canoe waiting for them halfway out of the water. The tucked the rug inside and each woman climbed inside quietly with Jabulile in the center. The other two women paddled them downriver.
Yani watched them and caught her breath.
"Yani!"
Yani whipped her head around toward N'Jadaka's voice and it was morning once more. She checked her kimoyo beads. It was the same time as when she had first spotted the panther cubs. Glancing around, she was back at the mini waterfall with flowers still clasped in her fingers.
Her husband smiled and walked toward her.
"Ready to leave?" he said.
He held out his hand and she threaded her fingers with his, her body trembling.
"You okay, Yani?"
"It's just a little chillier in the shade. That rainy weather must be on the way," she said.
"Don't matter, we'll be snuggled up and floating in blissful waters."
Yani walked out of Ekuqaleni trying to figure out a way to go to Warrior Falls sooner without raising any suspicions in her husband. The weight of something extraordinary depended on her carrying it in secrecy. That was something she promised N'Jadaka she would never have with him. Secrets.
"Onward, " he said, and Yani stayed by his side.
Chapter 10 HERE.
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#King Killmonger#King Killmonger The Golden Jaguar#Black Panther Fanfiction#Wakanda Forever#Killmonger Fanfiction#Uzumaki Rebellion Writes#Uzumaki Rebellion#Namor
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disclaimer for the theory i am about to present: im not saying any of this is, or should be, cannon, it’s a semi- headcannon that i find interesting.
i feel like it’s been fairly well established that the whole “rito evolved from the Zora” thing really raises more questions than it solves. I mean sure, the presence of both in botw can be explained by speciation, in which two groups of the same species becoming so geographically separated they emerge as two different species. but that doesn’t change the fact that the basis of the ritos creation is based on the idea that Zoras (creatures who live in the water) would have to evolve into creatures with wings because…hyrule was flooded? It could be explained by the idea that zoras are like dolphins and needed to breathe air but, that can be done without flying and Sidon is depicted as having gils (pic below).
Because of this, i kinda came up with my own theory for the rito that i feel like is a lot simpler and fits well with the timeline anyway.
thinking back to the end of skyward sword, it’s heavily implied that the people skyloft eventually colonize the surface, starting with Link and Zelda. As we can see in later games (most prominently ocarina of time), Hylians are an entirely land-based people. i would assume that over time, the people of skyloft/the hylians spent more and more time on land, using their loft wings to travel to the sky less and less. While the loftwings can travel to the surface once the cloud barrier has been dispelled (as they do at the end of sksw cutscenes), they are air-borne creatures who need to fly.
It’s my theory that the loftwings, now remaining in the sky while their masters have less and less use for them, have to become a bit more independent and more organized for the purpose of survival with less help from their previous owners. The loftwings are clearly intelligent creatures, able to sense the presence of their skyloftian counterparts in skyward sword, and being able to decide who their rider will be as children (although i understand that has a bit more to do with fate, ik). Eventually, over the thousands, tens of thousands (??) of years during which the minish cap, four swords, and oot take place, the loftwings evolve into the rito, albeit very slowly.
This explains a lot of things imo. The lack of rito up until wind waker is explained by the loftwings/rito still being mostly sky-bound and not evolved enough to act as a civilized race with the other peoples in tloz. It explains the coexistence of both zoras and ritos in botw and totk. the only thing it doesn’t account for is the lack of zoras in wind waker, but with how much water there is in that game, a case can easily be made for them just being somewhere else. Also this theory in its nature negates some of wind waker’s plot.
just some thoughts, also ik this is impossible given when the games were all made. This is purely based on the canon timeline given in hyrule historia
#tloz#skyward sword#wind waker#legend of zelda#the legend of zelda#tloz theory#fan theory#sksw#minish cap#oot#ocarina of time#zora#rito#loftwings#skyloft#botw#totk
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Fixing The House, Chapter 8: Master of Bathrooms
Part One: I Do Not, In Fact, Have the Power
Part Two: Let’s Spend Lots of Money!
Part Three: All These Things That I’ve Done
Part Four: I Really Want to Stay At My House
A little interlude.
Part Five: Power Down
Part Six: You Will Leave Some Paint
Part Seven: Backwards to go Forwards
Part Eight: Master of Bathrooms (YOU ARE HERE)
Part Nine: Within a Room, Somewhere
Part Ten: Rooms With No View
Part Eleven: Big Bang Room Part A and also Part B!
Part Twelve: We Can Make It On the Outside
Part Thirteen: Mauve Haze Symphony
Part Fourteen (A) - In the Kitchen
Part Fourteen (B) - Copper Green
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Thought a lot the last couple of days about what to start posting about next and I think I'm ready to show y'all the Master Bathroom. Then who knows what else next update.
I was surprised that a house this small (1100 square feet!) had two full baths. That's kind of a lie... the master bathroom shower/tub was uhhhhh... not a full tub? It was truly a size that I had not seen before. I honestly don't know where they would have even gotten the tub. Maybe it was custom built? I'm sure it was from the 60's.
Posted a couple of "Just bought the house" pics above. Let's take a look through the last 21 years of this bathroom and how we got where it is today.
TBH this post is ridiculously long for the smallest room in the house, oh well.
It's not a big bathroom at all. It fit the three things you need for the requirement of full bath, sure, but that's about it. And, of course, everything in it was original to the house built in 1963 or AT BEST it's possible from the 1980's.
It was also, ya know, gross.
I posted this in the previous update but that's the wallpaper I was met with. It had a barebones mirror, and NGL, I did kinda like this lighting? Honestly, it kinda ruled. I miss it a little. That was the only good thing in this room.
It's a bathroom with a window that looks out on the patio, and that window has always been gross and cloudy.
Even today, that window is there, Arturo promises me the new one should be in next week, so I will probably post another pic or two once that comes in.
I think the pics now posted in here are the only ones I have of the original.
With my near-zero budget after buying the house, all I could really afford to do in here was clean it as good as possible, new shower curtain and rug, and slap some fresh paint on it after taking down the wallpaper, which I believe was very easy in here, at least. I don't remember a struggle.
The original color scheme I went with was purple and green, basically to honor my paternal grandmother, who had recently passed and those were her colors.
Oh also put up this very cheap little shelf in lieu of a medicine cabinet.
lol look at that joke of a shower. The showerhead and shower caddy were also new.
A like $5 thrifted little Van Gogh print, the height of sophistication I could afford. (It's actually STILL THERE, RIGHT NOW. I really DO love it.)
Ugh, those green blinds. Hey at least the window was covered with SOMETHING!
I was very, very proud of myself, I put that little cabinet together and put it up all by myself.
It's still up! I do wish I'd gotten a bigger one with a shelf underneath, though.
So that's what it looked like late 2003 until 2012.
Around 2004 I started realizing that if took a shower for too long, water started leaking out from the wall under the window under the trim. Yep I'd shower and then the floor would be flooded.
I just stopped taking showers in there.
Honestly the tub ended up being storage. I kept the cats carriers in there so I could get them in there and then get them in their carriers without much problem. Anytime I fostered cats, it became the stray/foster cat room until they trusted me enough to let me pet them.
It was essentially a half-bath for the last like 18 years.
In 2012 when my parents and I did bathroom renovations, things got better!
Ooh, much prettier!
The new toilets were one of my favorite changes ever. Big, tall, sturdy ones I've never had a problem with.
I had been thinking about selling the house so the purple and green were changed to beige, to match the sink. Also new towels, rug, etc. Kept the same shower curtain for then, but in the next year or so I changed it.
Accent over the shower, on the small wall by the toilet and on the windowsill was a brownish orange. And kept light green for all the linens.
Yeah the window like I said is still that terrible window, FOR NOW.
Also... did y'all notice anything missing?
LIKE SOMEWHERE TO PLUG IN A HAIRDRYER OR LITERALLY ANYTHING!?! A bathroom... without an outlet. When I had roommates, I'd have to blow dry my hair in front of my vanity in my bedroom. So annoying.
So one of the original like 5 things Arturo was brought in to do, that kicked off everything else was to put an outlet in that bathroom. It's on a wall that isn't as convenient as I'd like it to be, but Arturo has A Technological Reason it has to be there, so I'll take it. With the rewiring, it's also surge protected, so even though it's not as great as I want it, it's a small compromise I can live with.
---
I didn't take a single picture of consequence in the master bath in the next 12 years or so. Honestly sometimes I'd go a month or two without even going in there.
For the years when Patchy lived in the master bedroom this was a little extra space for her, but she rarely went in there.
The other purpose it served was the place where I kept the bag of food for the outside cats. Sometimes also extra kitty litter space, overflow medicine, TP etc. space... but all in all it was pretty neglected space for a long time. I'd clean in there once every six months maybe to mostly get rid of dust. I only used it either in the middle of the night, or when Patchy was alive to spend a few extra moments with her while taking a bathroom break.
At one point a few years ago I tried turning on the shower just to see what would happen and I couldn't even get the knobs to move.
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Getting this bathroom fixed up was secondary to the hall bath, since that was the main bath. So when I showed Arturo the bathrooms to see what he thought, I stressed that this one was not important, maybe just if he could get the knobs working and knew why the water would flow out from the wall.
But his price was so good, of course I wanted to get both done.
Since we needed one bathroom to work, and this was the one most fucked up, he started there, as the first project they'd do after the electricity was mostly put back together and working.
---
I hadn't even noticed the demo had started (remember most of the work was happening while I was also working, like, my job, even though it's WFH!) and so the first time I walked by the bathroom and saw this I honestly wanted to weep with joy.
The fiberglass... the weird-ass tub... gone. Just a hole where it all was, and a hole in the ground as well. They dug through the cement and dirt underneath to figure out what the hell was wrong with the plumbing.
Welllllllllllllllllllllll... it turns out what the hell was wrong with it was that it wasn't connected to the sewer.
Like... the pipe was just draining right into the ground. And when the ground was saturated, the water crept up into the wall and came out that way!
Arturo told me it was a really good thing I'd stopped using that shower. I'd managed to avoid a dangerous and costly black mold problem.
So, Arturo fixed it and hooked the plumbing back up to the sewer.
He replaced all the piping you see exposed there.
There was no shower pan in the really weird size of that space, so Arturo had to build the new walk-in shower with cement. He made a mold, poured cement both for the little wall and the new floor, and for a few days, we left a fan pointed at it and let it cure.
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Also the reason for that one square out of the accent wall was Arturo wanted to see if there was any wasted space in that intersection where the back of the fridge, the back of the hall bath and the shower/toilet area of the master were all kind of meeting up. Turns out... nope. All the space was used. It got patched, you can't even tell there was a hole there now, you'll see.
You'll also notice there's a curtain on the window. Like I said, I'd found a new shower curtain set I really liked not long after the 2012 renovation. I also picked up the matching rug. And I liked the shower curtain so much that I bought a second one that my mom made into a curtain for the window! With the extra material, she made a curtain for her own bathroom window.
So it came time to pick out new colors for the bath, I spent a lot of time with my BFF Sherwin Williams Swatch Book. After awhile, I went all in on using the colors from the shower curtain as the colors for the room.
(I also spent a few hours scouring the internet for a backup shower curtain and FINALLY found one on Ebay in great condition. Considering I bought it around 2013 I was thrilled. It's now in the linen closet waiting for the day when this one gets a little rough. It's fine now, remember I'd never even taken a shower while this shower curtain was in the room. I'm still looking for a backup rug. Anyway, back to paint.)
Contented was a shade darker than the curtain, maybe a little greener, but I fell in love with that color and wanted to use a soft green as the standout color, because the tile and wood in the room weren't changing. The Bathroom would be very beige and brown, so the Contented green would keep it from being too beige and brown.
And I fell in love with Llama Wool the moment I saw it. I know you should never let a color's name influence your decision, it's just what some person at Sherwin-Williams (in this case) decided to call it, but Llamas are sort of a thing with my friend group, and I wanted to use that color as a bit of a tribute to them. It was, again, a shade or two darker than the brown in the shower curtain, but I thought it'd look great.
----
I'm not posting pictures until THE REVEAL because of THE DRAMA, okay? I think it'll be worth it.
Arturo brought a sample of the ceramic main shower tile, 89c per really big piece. It was beige, would match the floor OK, and was perfectly neutral. It was great, a place we could get some savings so there'd be more money for important things.
Accent Tile was another big thing for me. I had always, always, always wanted glass mosaic accent tile in the shower and above the sink. I tried to get my dad to do some during the 2012 renovation but he said no, that was too much work for that weekend. So I was determined to use accent tile I loved.
Arturo had brought me a couple of samples and I'd okayed two of them, but they'd yet to be bought past that. One of them I loved and had marked it for the hall bath, the other I'd thought was fine, and thought I'd put it in the master.
And slowly my mind changed.
First I thought the one I loved would work better with the shower curtain and Llama wool. It was $15 sq/ft, which was definitely on the higher end of the budget, but it was worth it, and putting it in the master would mean we'd just need less of it.
(Arturo said we spent about as much on the main tile as we did 2 pieces of the accent tile, haha.)
And then Arturo told me I needed to find a tile for the shower floor, and I should go to Home Depot and/or Lowes and find something.
TBH, I spent time on both of their websites, then went to Amazon. I'd been browsing a lot of like, Pinterest and just google results of bathroom renovations and knew I wanted a pebble-style tile for the floor. I couldn't find exactly the right thing to match with the accent tile I adored for the master.
And then I looked on Amazon.
And I fell in love instantly. Without consulting Arturo, I bought five boxes of it at almost $90 a box. I didn't care. I had to have this.
I showed it to Arturo on Monday and he was like "YES. PERFECT. I'm glad you didn't wait, let's get started." Unfortunately only 3 boxes had shown up that day so it was a couple of days delay.
Next was picking out a grout that would work with the wall tile and accent tile and floor tile.
I picked a light beige one, the color of sand, on purpose, hoping it would fit my vision for the shower floor.
I also had to pick out shower fixtures... a showerhead/controls. Arturo suggested something to me, and it aligned with what I also really wanted. It was another place where I decided it was OK to splurge.
The master bath shower was just a useless space to me for so long... I wanted it to be perfect.
---
One day, I think it was a Saturday, I walked by the shower as the tile was going up and uh, I noticed that the main tile was going awfully high and realized that the guy installing it had forgotten about the accent tile. The accent was just one stripe around face-high. I stopped him as politely as I could in my slight panic and called Arturo. Also, I just realized, Arturo had yet to create the shelf, which would also include the accent tile.
Luckily, the mud was still fresh on the wall, and only two rows had to come out. The tile could also be salvaged after cleaning off the back. Arturo got there later that day and got the shelf made. A day or two later, the accent tile went on and a few days later, the shower was finished.
Okay enough words... here's the first pic of the finished shower.
Y'all.. I love it so much. SO. MUCH. Rainfall showerhead, a sprayer hose... the floor looks like you're walking on a sandy beach. I literally wanted to weep with joy... idk I might have, when I saw it all together like this the first time.
Still lots to do, but that night was the night I posted the little interlude where I talked about how so much is happening and how I had no time.
When work was done that day, I was so excited to take a shower.
And then my shower curtain rod was now too long, even at the minimum size, since the tile had added like an extra inch.
I wasn't deterred. I went to Home Depot, then Lowe's, then Target trying to find a shower curtain rod I loved to replace the old one. Each place only had shitty cheap rods in that small of a size and none were brushed nickle. So I bought a $7 rod (and a new curtain liner) and a few other things like shelf liner at Target... then went home and ordered a rod I loved on Amazon. When that was done, I took my first shower in the master bath in like 18 years.
And it was fucking MAGICAL. It was like being in a spa. I showered maybe longer than I'd ever showered in my life, definitely the longest I've ever showered in this house.
To me, for the last 20 years, showers were a fucking CHORE that I had to get through. You'll see when I talk about the hall bath more about why. I just absolutely hated showering -- not the getting clean part, obviously, but just being in the shower, either shower, in my house. I wanted to get out ASAP.
I just stood there and was like... I love being in here. This is the most beautiful part of my house right now. I want to stay in here for hours.
I washed my hair twice. I moved my facewash in there to have more to just do in the shower.
It's like going to the spa, every night.
I'd bought new towels, Turkish bathsheets. Huge, soft, absorbent.
Luxury.
Something I never thought I'd associate with my house.
My shower was beautiful. Maybe the first thing I'd ever really associated with that word in this house.
I look forward to my nightly shower now.
I'm using getting to go take it as a reward for finishing this post. :D
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(Oh, oops, I forgot to show you the shelf! Btw, did you notice the COPPER in the backsplash? Have I mentioned I love copper? You have no idea how much I love copper. Just you wait.)
The one thing that I didn't love was that little shower head on the hose. It had nearly no pressure. So I ordered two new sprayer heads, one for each shower. Much better. And this one has a switch you can flip for a high-pressure sprayer hose to help clean the shower/tub easier. Not as sleek, but very worth it.
A few days later I walked by and smelled paint. Peeked in and uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
....someone had painted the bathroom.
The Wrong color.
It was painted the same peachy color as the master bedroom, not my Contented green (and no sign of Llama Wool!) Arturo facepalmed and pointed out the right color to his worker.
This is wrong and bad and LOOKS TERRIBLE.
Eventually, it was painted right and I loooooved it.
Also hey, there's the new outlet! See, not that convenient, but livable. I can recharge my toothbrush with the stand on the windowsill, and a hair dryer plugs in there just fine. Way better than none!
The dumb little shelf came out. We literally ran out of the accent tile with ONE MORE TO GO at the edge of the sink. Then our local Lowe's was out of it. And then the one near Arturo's house was out of it. I refreshed the Lowe's website for like two weeks until it was back in stock, and one Saturday ran straight over there, picked up the one tile and a couple of other things I needed, and it sat here in the house a couple more weeks. Just this week it got put on and grouted, lol. SO NOW I can show you pics of the sink area, too!
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Beige Turkish hand towel (tbh they are like half the size of a regular towel, I love it.) The same decent cabinet as before but now elevated by its surroundings. Beautiful backsplash keeping the wall safe.
Oh, and that faucet?
My old faucet... the plunger part was broken so it would no longer close and the sink wouldn't hold water. Arutro was all "Oh, I have one in my shed you can just have." So he threw that in for free. It's a Delta! FOR FREE! He even installed it for free.
Y'all, I have so much to say about Arturo, he's amazing.
Now the faucet is chrome and the rest of the bathroom fixtures are brushed nickel, but tbh, I don't care. It works, and it looks nice, and it's a well-respected brand, and it was free. I'm HERE FOR IT.
Also, notice the wall color... I am very content with Contented. It's just the right amount of color against all the beige and brown.
And yes, the medicine cabinet has a place where you can insert your own photo under the glass, and YES I have had that medicine cabinet since 2012 and YES IT STILL HAS THE "Insert your own 8x10 photo here!" paper in it. LIKE I SAID this room was neglected. I am happy to report that I have ordered an art print I like that will be in there in a few days.
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There were a couple of other improvements here. A new overhead light went in, replacing the old overhead light, this one has a fan. Yeah, there was no fan in this bathroom before, lol. And LED lighting. It's much brighter and nicer.
I also got a very basic bidet for both toilets. That just went in a couple of days ago and I am still getting used to it. It's COLD, didn't get a fancy heated one.
One thing we're going to talk about later is the trim and doors and stuff throughout the house. This is the only room that retained the Cream color that I used to have throughout the house as the trim.
You can really see the difference in this pic. Also, Fry!
There's an amusing story about the cream color on the trim that belongs elsewhere, that and the window were the reasons I'd been holding off talking about this room for awhile but, eh, screw it. You can see the windowsill and trim on the floor are that cream, so is the inside of the door. The shelf above the toilet also got painted that color, and it all blends really well I think. I painted the windowsill, door and the cabinet myself.
And yes, the floors need a real good cleaning. They ALL do. There's paint splatters and various other stains all over all the floors. I'm going to tackle all of it at once, when everything is done. No point in having to do it multiple times.
---
So here's the finished product, all that stuff all done and the Llama Wool color on the accent wall!
This pic I just took tonight, for this post. The bathroom is more or less complete.
I love it. It went from the room non grata to one of my favorite places in the house. And when I post this, I'm off to take a spa-like shower in it before enjoying a dessert and a couple of hours of TV time before bed.
My only regret is that I really wanted to use the Llama Wool color more. I wanted to do the windowsill and trim in that color but Arturo insisted he'd have to buy a different kind of paint for it, which would be an extra expenditure I couldn't justify, especially since we already had the right kind of paint in the old cream color and it also looked great in there. I honestly almost felt bad for having him buy a whole can of paint just for that one tiny accent wall, but I don't regret it! I tried to think of other places in the house it could have been used but... there aren't any, really.
Thank you, btw, for coming along on these extremely long, self-indulgent posts with me. They're largely written so I can look back at this time and marvel and what Arturo and I did, and how a lot of money and work was all worth it. This bathroom is just one course of several of what's to come! There are three (or four) other rooms that I now love just as much as this one. :)
#personal post tag thingy#fixing the house#fixing my house#btw if you want me to alert you when I post one of these lmk and I'll PM you a share when I do
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Get to know you: Sims Style
Ty for the tag @executables-sims. ^^
What’s your favorite Sims death?
idk this time, whoops. I haven't had a sim die in my game except by old age for a while. 🤔
Alpha CC or Maxis Match?
Both? Is that an option? Both. Really, I like aspects of both and so I blend both in my game. Alpha hair and clay hair, maxis match objects and realistic objects, whatever, if it fits in my game I'll use it.
Do you cheat your sims weight?
I used the SimBlender to change some of the models fit states on my last download post; otherwise, no.
Do you move objects?
I move so many objects, baby 😎
Favorite Mod?
My enormous hacks folder makes this hard to answer, lol. I'll shout out Epi's Baby Personality mod, b/c finally I'm getting some sims with more than 0 to 1 nice points born in Middleground again.
First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?
It was Pets. Because I've always been an animal lover and it came out right after I started playing.
Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?
It's still LIV mode and I'll still die on this hill.
Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?
Made? Idk, I don't often make sims to play (I think I picked Jackie from Far Valley last time), so I'll show you my favorite born in-game sim!
is anyone surprised (if you're new here, that's Clara Blanch)
Have you made a simself?
Yeah, but she no longer exists in my sim bin and no one gets to see her.
Which is your favorite EA hair color?
Black? I guess? Idk, I don't really have a favorite hair color.
Favorite EA hair?
Hmm, I don't remember what I answered last time I did this one. I think the little half-up ponytail from Seasons.
Favorite life stage?
Is it a cop-out if I say everything besides the infant stage? (Does that one even count? They're basically potatoes.) Playing this hood for so long, I've come to enjoy playing sims through each of their life stages. Toddler and kid are cute; teen stage is fun because I get to explore their personality and interests more, and ofc there's budding romances for sims who are into that; adult stage, I get to build their lives and see what their own family turns out like; and elders in my game usually get to relax and savor things once they retire, and spend a lot of time with their family and friends and hobbies, which can be a nice change of pace.
Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?
insert both is good gif from @executables-sims's post here
Are you a CC creator?
Sometimes!
Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?
Yeah, though the concept of a sim squad is so funny to me for some reason.
Do you have any sims merch?
Nope
Do you have a YouTube for sims?
Nooooope. I like to watch some simmers, especially speedbuilds (shout out to @kayleigh-83 and @nervosims for their great speedbuild vids!), but no one would enjoy me flitting back and forth between seven different things at once, lmao
How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?
Play style or aesthetic style? They've both changed over time. Gameplay wise, I really only stick with Middleground and my rotational play now, whereas I used to start (and abandon) a lot of legacies, tried at least one BACC, just random sims that were fun to play. Aesthetically... hmm, you know, I'm not sure this has changed *that* much. Here's Clara circa 2011:
I use more matte skins now, and the style of clothing I download has probably changed the most, but I could absolutely recreate this pic without downloading anything new, including the CC stuff in the background.
Who’s your favorite CC creator?
Don't make me pick one!! If you're really interested, check my sims pinterest in my pinned post, I'm sure there's patterns there.
How long have you had Simblr?
*checks archive* ...Ten years next May, yikes!
What expansion/gamepack is your favorite?
Hmmm, I'm going to say Apartment Life this time. I've really been enjoying playing witches lately, and it added a lot of buy/build items I like. Or maybe Uni??? No, AL it is.
Tagging, uhhh, I'm a little late so sorry if you already did this and I missed it!: @isimchi, @tvickiesims, @episims, @anachronisims, @sushigal007
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Senior year
Hey there!
I’m a Brown guy in my senior year. I go to the gym semi-regularly but am still skinny-fat. I was wondering if you could turn me into a hunk- and a bonus if my twunk bestfriend gets on his knees for me this winter break.
Buddy, maybe you’re just at the wrong gym. Working out with all your snobby Ivy League friends isn’t going to make you one of the big boys.
That new gym you googled is far from even remotely hip or stylish. An unadorned box in an industrial estate. There are mostly pick-ups and vans parked in front of the building. Your Porsche looks a little out of place. Even in the entrance area, it smells of iron, testosterone and sweat. The Neanderthal at the counter takes your details. Surprisingly, all on a tablet. You would have expected everything here to still work on paper. Your login details are your thumbprint and an iris scan. You are impressed. The Neanderthal welcomes you to the club, gives you a fist bump and returns to his cell phone. You’re still wondering whether you should ask him about the house rules or for instructions on the equipment… But you just take a deep breath, go through the security gate and dive into the world of the big boys.
The first few days of training were difficult. There are basically only free weights. And the smallest weights tend to be at the upper limit of what you were moving in your old gym. You never see a trainer or anything that you can ask for advice. And the sweat-smelling musclemen around you only seem to be able to moan and grunt. Nobody talks here.
Shit, somehow you were hoping that this would all work within seconds. Poof! Muscle man! But that didn’t work, you’re still a weakling… Everyone else here is so big… You tried your best to fit in. You cut your own hair with long hair clippers. But you no longer shave your body hair. And your beard maybe every four to ten days. It just takes up unnecessary time. Just like thinking too much about clothes. You wear compression shorts to the gym like everyone else here, and sweatshorts over them. And a tank top on top. Or a T-shirt. As long as it’s sleeveless. Shoulders and armpits must be exposed. Because of the freedom of movement. And because the musky smell from your armpits is pure motivation to sweat even more. Outside the gym, you then wear a tracksuit over your gym clothes. Showering and changing is silly. You train for two to three hours each morning and evening. And if your job as a courier driver allows it, even during your lunch break. One of your bros got you the job. He also got you a good price for your Porsche. The Dodge RAM suits you much better.
Shit, you know the guy who’s making the delivery you have to make from somewhere. The name means something to you. You ring the bell. “Fourth floor left” comes out of the intercom. Damn, of course the elevator doesn’t work. You’re not the cardio type, you start to sweat. There’s a young, student-looking guy standing in the doorway. Over-groomed. Not badly built, but could do with a few more muscles. He looks at you almost lustfully. You grin and say that you have at least one delivery for him.
Hehehe, this isn’t the first time someone has sucked your cheesy boner. But this twunk is one of the better ones. He reminds you of someone. But it must have been a long time ago.
Pic found @stargazerguy
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