#i know from the timestamps it looks like I added the same image more than once but I can assure you I have not

[soniclibraryooc]

[g0ldgauntlet]

Hilichurls and "Tribal" Portrayals.

While we're talking about Natlan, I also want to mention how awful it is that a section of the fandom tried to make us all out to be crazy years ago for pointing out how racist the portrayal of the Hilichurls are.

Quick content warning for mentions of slavery, colonization, genocide, and anti-Indigenous racism. (Image description is in alt text)

Hoyo used Indigenous people as references for these in-game enemies, which we literally have video proof of, provided by the company itself (Timestamp: 1:30).

The Hilichurls were constantly belittled by Teyvat's people, with an Inazuma npc likening them to demons. I remember Paimon acting like the items they collected were meaningless or pieces of junk during the earlier parts of the game.

They become a lot more sympathetic later due to their actual origins in-game (which I'm sure @phoenix-creates can confirm for me because I know you're farther ahead in Genshin than I am right now), sure, but I always found it strange that Hoyo used Indigenous cultures to portray these "monsters" who have lost their sense of selves (meanwhile their human forms are white), as if to imply that Indigenous cultures are more "wild" or "savage."

Genshin fans of color, since 2020, have pointed out the racist undertones that Teyvat's people were perpetuating against the Hilichurls due to them acting the same way that racists irl act towards non-White cultures, but they were told that they were overreacting and this was swept under the rug as a result. The very next year, it's brought up again with more people finding out about it, and we were still being told that we're overreacting.

So now that we're at Natlan, is it seriously that hard to believe that Hoyo straight up just doesn't respect Indigenous cultures? Black (and many brown) cultures too, because it's very telling that Iansan, the Natlan character with the darkest skin so far, is given a more stereotypically "tribal" look on her design with a bunch of bones used as her accessories despite that not being what her actual inspiration looks like.

(Artist for picture on the right: vieirapx on Instagram)

Sucrose has confirmed in her "Something to Share" voiceline that she collects Hilichurl bones, which is similar to colonizers taking the bones of dead Indigenous people with this added context.

Also, please read or reread the Teyvat Travel Guide Vol. 1. Alice basically confirms that she wants to enslave the Hilichurls for labor and also feed the weaker ones to the stronger ones.

That latter point is cannibalism. I know that many people are fans of Alice, but a lot of what she talks about in the first guide is why I don't like her.

Yes, it can be argued that Indigenous cultures are not the only inspiration for the Hilichurls, as it's been said that they may take inspiration from goblins, Bokoblins from the Zelda franchise, and the Amanojuku from Japanese mythology. Answer me this question, though.

Why is Hoyo capable of referencing a creature and not a human being when it comes to the Japanese inspiration for the Hilichurls, but this does not apply to the Indigenous references? It's dehumanizing, and it feels like another double-standard that needs to be addressed.

Hoyo has casually made black and brown cultures in Genshin appear to be less civilized and more "tribal" compared to our White and East Asian peers, both with the human characters and the non-human ones. Sumeru's quests and enemy npcs had multiple examples of this, with the Traveler and Jeht even destroying almost the entire Tanit tribe with the narrative justification being that, conveniently, most or all of them were selfish, bloodthirsty, and manipulative (Jeht's profile on the wiki page goes into what happened with more depth). They had to die because the tribe was dangerous - even though the main problem seems to be Babel - and Jeht's white, blonde companion needed to help save everyone from these evil, power-hungry savages.

(Sidenote: I think this is the second time overall that Hoyo has come up with an excuse to justify Traveler committing genocide on an entire group of people, with the first being the Iwakura Clan.)

I'm sure that the same thing is going to happen with Natlan's quests and npcs because Hoyo has always been weird about the portrayal of black and brown-inspired characters. The question is not whether any of the creatures or humans from specific groups are bad, suspicious, or designed to fit a specific image. We know the answer to that. The real question is why they are portrayed like this, and why it keeps happening more commonly to the black and brown cast members compared to our lighter peers.

[jojo-oliver]

How to tumblr for artists… my own version

A collection of things that have been working for me, but may not work for everyone

~~~ your posts ~~~

!!!reblog your own stuff!!! you need to reblog your own stuff, there is nothing morally wrong with reblogging your own stuff regularly. in fact, it is morally right to allow the chance for more people to see your artwork.

~~~ queue it!! ~~~ my queue is 500 posts strong. maybe don't try to make your queue hundreds of posts strong in the same day omg but like… once every month or two i'll go through my whole blog and just scroll and "add to drafts" to every one of my own posts i have. then i'll use the "mass post editor" to add content warning tags. and add to queue, and shuffle. and then I write down what the date was for when I last added my posts to be reblogged on queue. this is helped by turning on timestamps for posts in tumblr "dashboard preferences" settings.

queueing is necessary and life saving for me. It takes out so much work with decision fatigue and the anxiety around posting. It also guarantees that even if I suddenly need time off or away from my phone, I don't just disappear and lose all traction. It also breaks the instant-gratification cycle that you expect when you finish an artwork. It's hard to keep creating when you post something and, when you're expecting to get that gratification, you get none... If you queue your new artwork to come out at a later time, you've separated that expectation - with time. It hurts less and contributes to a more consistent gratification thing instead of peaks and troughs.

~~~ tag ya stuff ~~~ when you're making a new post, the first 20 tags are what gets put into the searchable tags. do not feel shame for using lots of tags. shame is the mind-killer. tags are hard. hard to know what to tag a post with. hard to remember the tags. so I found some ways to help myself. maybe they'll help you too. dedicate some time towards just figuring out what tags you want to use. i have a list in my phone notes that i add tags to and reference whenever i'm making a new post. i have the phone right beside the laptop while i'm tagging so that i can just look at it and scroll. tags are the only way for people to find your artwork, other than people manually coming to your blog because they saw you somewhere. there is no algorithm. posting without tags, until you have an established fanbase, is throwing something into the void.

When I'm doing tag research, I look at what people seem to use - when you put something in the search bar, tumblr recommends you some that have a higher following, typically. Looks like this on desktop:

if you like one tag, look at what other people who use that tag also tag their posts with. Observe and learn how this tag is used. search through a bunch of them and write them down.

here's what i got in my notes, for the specific kind of art I post and look for:

these tags are sort of specific to me and the kind of art I make. You'll want to research your own tags, but this is an example of how I keep them organized to make posting more effective. I generally only write down a tag when it's got more than 2k followers. You might be tempted to use the tags with millions of followers, but I've actually found those a lot less functional for small artists. If your stuff doesn't immediately get a bunch of notifications, you're drowned out and pushed to the bottom much faster. But the bigger tags are better than no tags, so I keep them if I can't think of anything else to tag something with.

~~~ post at the right times….? ~~~

fridays and saturdays is when I post fresh new things... usually. every website has it's own peak hours, and you can find those hours in many different online articles that try to sell you social media growth services. tumblr is unique in having later hours.

here's some random graph from google images:

please don't over think this. please don't let this consume the idea of when to post, preventing you from posting at all. it doesn't mean too much - if you post during very active hours, maybe your art would just be pushed down the feed faster. if you post at the end of hours, maybe everyone's going to sleep… if you post at inactive hours, maybe there's less 'competition'… if you post at the beginning of active hours, maybe that's just more time for your post to circulate for the day, if you have enough people reblogging it once it drops....

this also is in EST. So fuck the other time zones, I guess. I'm over here in europe knowing that the "best" time to post would be like 2-3am or something. It's like this for most english-speaking majority sites - higher traffic in north american time zones.

it's also worth mentioning that this is scattered as heck, compared to other social media sites. and it's not like, the activity times of your followers. it's not the best time to post for your niche. this is just tumblr, broadly. all of tumblr.

~~~ Plan ahead for annual dates ~~~

Your artwork will get more circulation if it's posted on a celebratory day. You could just put them on your calendar and if you're wondering what to make, look on the calendar for what's coming soon. For example, asexual awareness day, trans day of visibility, location-specific holidays, etc. Here's my phone notes thing with my own recorded annuals:

I got these dates from googling and reading different articles, but I find that I still miss dates, and then I add them for next year. If you know of some I missed, tell me and I'll add them please <3

~~~ reblog other people's stuff ~~~

tumblr is sorta about ecosystems. things get passed around within groups of people that are all following eachother. to enter this ecosystem, you must engage and reblog other people's stuff too.

if you reblog other artists' stuff, sometimes they'll come over and reblog your stuff too. sometimes they'll follow you back. this is called becoming a mutual. I'll search specific tags for the kinds of people I want to follow and the kind of art I like - those are listed in the screenshot of my tag note under "Tags for finding new people".

I see a lot of blogs out there that are very clean, posts are tagless, and are only for the artists' content. like scrolling through a portfolio. I imagine this is good for people who are migrating to tumblr but already have their own established fanbase from elsewhere.

you don't need to do reblog other people's stuff on your art blog, you can do this on a separate blog. but if the two don't look very closely correlated, it's hard to tell who you are when you're interacting. and hard to make sure people know that you are the same person as your art blog. and you gotta remember to promote yourself on your personal blog.

~~~ have an art tag ~~~

make your blog easy to search!

if i go to your blog, and you've written 'artist' or 'sometimes art' in your bio, i wanna see it… it make me so sad when i don't get to see it. i want to reblog it. please let me reblog it :(

to make a tag on your own blog searchable, you don't need to repost it to add a tag. you don't even need to reblog it. you can actually just go back to the original post and edit it to add your tag. I've seen post people just have their art tag be something like #(blogname)art . you can see my own in my tags image above. if it's very unique, then it'll work tumblr-wide. I think that's good, since the tumblr search function is really weird. Otherwise it should still work if it's not entirely unique, people just have to make sure they're searching specifically your blog to see only your stuff.

I like to have a link in my pinned post where people can click to have immediately searched for my art tag. Convenience is king. Keep in mind that most people are on mobile, and if something isn't immediately clickable, they often won't find it.

~~~ be consistent and be patient ~~~

!!!this time will pass anyway!!! how many notes you have is not correlated with how good you are as an artist. wanting to earn something from your art means you essentially have two jobs. two potentially full time jobs. this shit's difficult. most of the job is promoting yourself. don't undersell how hard it is to do… don't feel bad for not immediately succeeding. I would write about how hard it's been to promote myself, but it would just be long and sad I think.

This isn't a full guide, please feel free to add more!!

I'm sure in another year I'll disagree with a lot of this, it will become irrelevant with time, and I'll have a lot of different opinions. Chip in and share what you've been doing? Teach me? This is very overwhelming. Don't do it all at once, just like, try one thing at a time, and see how it works for you. Your niche might be different. One size does not fit all. If you're confused about some of the things I talk about in here, you might be on mobile. I do most of my queueing and posting from the desktop browser version.

I will update this with more as things change, but I think you'll have to click through to see the updated post

[dramatical]

screencapping with ffmpeg

hey friends, long time no write! today i'm gonna explain how to get image sequences (aka screencaps) from any video files using ffmpeg in the command line.

First, if you don't have ffmpeg please go an download from HERE and install it, here's how WINDOWS / MAC and once you're good to go we can start!

i have a windows os so i'm going to explain for that but i don't think it should be more complicated for macs if you know how to work on the command line, under the read more bc i used a lot of images lol

what we need:

a video player to get the proper timestamps we need, i use mpv but any video player will help tbh

make a folder for our screencaps

okay! so i'll be taking caps from a 4k video and i find my timestamps, this is my start (i don't have 4k movies on my computer, so you'll see my kpop boy lmao)

and this is the ending

i would recommend to set the timestamps a second earlier and a second after the video ends so there isn't frames missing if you want a complete scene, deleting caps from a folder is easier than doing the whole process again lol

on the folder your video is while having it selected, click on this icon to copy its path

now i go to the folder i made! in the path bar it should be like this on windows

we click on the blank part and write cmd and hit enter

the command line should open right now

we proceed to write the following command

ffmpeg -ss hh:mm:ss -to hh:mm:ss -i [paste path to the video] -compression_level=0 output_%04d.png

hh:mm:ss is how you imput your timestamp, it's the most accurate way of doing it

output_%04d.png: name the files will have, if you're capping several timestamps from the same video i would change the name output to anything (example part1_%04d.png for scene 1, part2_%04d.png for scene 2 and so on) otherwise ffmpeg will overwrite your caps every time, i know there's probably a workaround but i haven't researched to that point yet, i'll update later!

compression_level=0 : makes the png the highest quality possible, pngs are essentially lossless, but without this command i've found the file size is rather small even if the finished image doesn't have much difference. you could try not putting the command and see if there's a difference for you, the files will just be smaller

Update (240402): my ffmpeg doesn't seem to recognize the command for compression level as it's written here anymore, but fear not! If yours doesn't either it's just a matter of adding a space instead of an equal sign between the command and the 0. It works as it's supposed to!

on your command line should look like this

you hit enter and ffmpeg should start processing, once it's done it'll open a new line for you to keep doing things on that folder, but if you don't want to do anything else just close it. your folder should be filled now with your screencaps

to compare, i capped the same scene with mpv to see if there was any frame drop and i was pleasantly surprised that the amount of caps was basically the same (there wasn't frame dropping! just the regular more frames bc you were a little slow on stopping the process on mpv)

and the size is what mpv usually gives when screencapping too so it was a win for me

if you have any doubts ask me! or if you know more about ffmpeg and want to add on to the command i shared please do!

[hydrus]

Version 556

windows

zip

exe

macOS

app

linux

tar.zst

I had an ok week. I fixed some bugs and added a system to force-set filetypes.

You will be asked on update if you want to regenerate some animation thumbnails. The popup explains the decision, I recommend 'yes'.

full changelog

forced filetype

The difference between a zip and an Ugoira and a cbz is not perfectly clear cut. I am happy with the current filetype scanner--and there are a couple more improvements this week--but I'm sure there will always be some fuzziness in the difficult cases. This also applies to some clever other situations, like files that secretly store a zip concatenated after a jpeg. You might want that file to be considered something other than hydrus thinks it technically is.

So, on any file selection, you can now hit right-click->manage->force filetype. You can set any file to be seen as any other file. The changes take affect immediately, are reflected in presentation and system:filetype searches, and the files themselves will be renamed on disk (to aid 'open externally'). The original filetype is remembered, and everything is easily undoable through the same dialog.

Also added is 'system:has forced filetype', under the 'system:file properties' entry, if you'd like to find what you have set one way or the other.

This is experimental, and I don't recommend it for the most casual users, but if you are comfortable, have a play with it. I still need to write better error handling for complete nonsense cases (e.g. calling a webm a krita is probably going to raise an error somewhere), but let me know how you get on.

other highlights

I fixed some dodgy numbers in Mr. Bones (deleted file count) and the file history chart (inbox/archive count). If you have had some whack results here, let me know if things are any better! If they aren't, does changing the search to something more specific than 'all my files'/'system:everything' improve things?

Some new boot errors, mostly related to missing database components, are now handled with nicer dialog prompts, and even interactive console prompts serverside.

I _may_ have fixed/relieved the 'program is hung when restored from minimise to system tray' issue, but I am not confident. If you still have this, let me know how things are now. If you still get a hang, more info on what your client was doing during the minimise would help--I just cannot reproduce this problem reliably.

Thanks to a user who figured out all the build script stuff, the Docker package is now Alpine 3.19. The Docker package should have newer libraries and broader file support.

birthday and year summary

The first non-experimental beta of hydrus was released on December 14th, 2011. We are now going on twelve years.

Like many, I had an imperfect 2023. I've no complaints, but IRL problems from 2022 cut into my free time and energy, and I regret that it impacted my hydrus work time. I had hoped to move some larger projects forward this year, but I was mostly treading water with little features and optimisations. That said, looking at the changelog for the year reveals good progress nonetheless, including: multiple duplicate search and filter speed and accuracy improvements, and the 'one file in this search, the other in this search' system; significant Client API expansions, in good part thanks to a user, including the duplicates system, more page inspections, multiple local file domains, and http headers; new sidecar datatypes and string processing tools; improvements to 'related tags' search; much better transparency support, including 'system:has transparency'; more program stability, particularly with mpv; much much faster tag autocomplete results, and faster tag and file search cancelling; the inc/dec rating service; better file timestamp awareness and full editing capability; the SauceNAO-style image search under 'system:similar files'; blurhashes; more and better system predicate parsing, and natural system predicate parsing in the normal file search input; a background database table delete system that relieves huge jobs like 'delete the PTR'; more accurate Mr. Bones and File History, and both windows now taking any search; and multiple new file formats, like HEIF and gzip and Krita, and thumbnails and full rendering for several like PSD and PDF, again in good part thanks to a user, and then most recently the Ugoira and CBZ work.

I'm truly looking forward to the new year, and I plan to keep working and putting out releases every week. I deeply appreciate the feedback and help over the years. Thank you!

next week

I have only one more week in the year before my Christmas holiday, so I'll just do some simple cleanup and little fixes.

[writerpeach]

Jealousy

IZ*ONE Yena x Male Reader

9790 words

categories: smut, oral, rough sex

---

read on AFF

read on AO3

masterlist

“Good morning, everyone. You all know why we’re here today.”

Detective Kwon was seated at the head of the white rectangular table centered in the precinct’s main conference room, folding her arms and commanded attention from the other eyes in the room. It wasn’t often that the lead detective was in such a foul mood, yet given the events that led up to this meeting, it wasn’t surprising. The conference room was filled with nothing but blank expressions.

“Our mission was nothing but a complete failure and we need to find out why. Detective Miyawaki will go over everything we know right now,” Eunbi said, the harshness and frustration in her voice unmistakable.

“Yes, boss.” Sakura's usual sugary-sweet cute smile was replaced with a more serious expression. The petite detective stood out with freshly dyed pink hair, adding to her adorable image.

Sakura cleared her throat and sat up straight, taking a deep breath as she looked around the room at other members of the team.

“Our operation commenced last Friday morning at what was Patriarch Goda’s location based on information given by our informant. Detective Eunbi took point along with Detective Hyewon."

Sakura took a steady breath before continuing.

“Our teams surrounded the mansion on three separate sides while Detective Kwon led the charge. All three teams simultaneously breached and found zero members of the Goda clan inside, while the patriarch was nowhere to be found.”

"Our informant Dojima-san has never been wrong about anything we've gone to them about, so we have no reason to believe this is any different," Eunbi briefly interrupted.

"Please continue."

Sakura nodded politely. “There wasn’t anything useful inside but communication equipment. Several laptops were found by our teams, but no useful information could be taken from them as they were securely wiped with military-grade equipment. They knew what they were doing, and most importantly they knew we were coming.”

“Thank you, Detective Miyawaki. Now the question is how in the hell did they find out this information?” Eunbi asked.

“I believe I can give some insight to that, Detective Kwon.” The new voice came from a blonde woman who you had briefly met in your time helping out with the case. Her role was one of the few members of Eunbi's team that wasn’t a detective, working as the precinct’s head security analyst.

“Please give any information you have, Miss Yena.”

“This morning during a routine weekly check of our network logs I noticed some unusual activity. Upon further investigation, I noticed our network firewall had been breached, coincidentally thirty minutes before the raid on the mansion."

Yena lowered her head apologetically as she continued. “I’ve patched the breach and added tighter security to our systems. I apologize I wasn’t able to catch this beforehand.”

“You don’t have to explain. There were so many things happening, with you making sure our surveillance van was properly running I can’t say I can find you at fault. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Yes, boss. I’m on it.”

“What did they gain from this breach?” Eunbi asked.

“No sensitive data was stolen or accessed, but our logs show our monitoring systems were rerouted.”

“So they were able to access our comms? That explains how they were able to figure out the details of our plans and getaway.”

“Exactly. I’ve sent in an order for more secure headsets, as well as changed all our frequencies. It’s a mistake we won’t make twice.”

“Thank you, Miss Yena. Is that all?”

“There’s one more thing,” Yena said, placing a small metal device on the table that was roughly the size of a flash drive.

“It wasn’t a software breach but a hardware one. Someone physically installed this into one of our servers, which was how they were able to bypass our systems so easily.”

“Do we know who is responsible?” Eunbi asked.

“No, I’m afraid not, boss. Our security footage was wiped during that time period and replaced with a looped recording. The good news is I’ve checked timestamped footage and everyone in this room was accounted for.

“So you’re saying it was an inside job? That whoever attached this device works for us?” Eunbi said as she inspected the small device.

“It’s a high possibility, boss. We’re looking into it as much as we can.”

“The moment you find any information let me know as soon as possible.”

“Of course, boss.”

“Now, if there’s nothing else to discuss I believe that will conclude this debriefing. Our priority is still capturing Patriarch Goda, but now we also have to deal who was inside our systems and why. If you find any pertain information please let me or Detective Hyewon know immediately. Dismissed.”

Detective Kwon couldn’t help hide her frustration as things winded down, not that anybody would have blamed her. The room cleared out as you were left alone with Eunbi who grabbed your arm just as you were about to make your own exit.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Eunbi playfully said, caressing your shoulder and batted her eyelashes.

“Seeing as I officially work for you now, I should get back to work. Boss.”

Eunbi had brought you on as a consultant with an extremely lucrative salary that you couldn’t turn down. She knew your experience on the other side of the law would come in handy during investigations and interrogating suspects, knowing how they acted, how they worked, and how they thought. It didn’t hurt that the job offer came with a nice comfy office and the chance to be around a group of beautiful women every day.

“Boss? Look at you all formal now,” Eunbi said as her fingers played with the collar of your dark-colored dress shirt, flashing you bedroom eyes that signaled danger like prey caught in a predator's trap.

“Now that everyone is gone...mommy could really use some stress relief,” Eunbi said, her lips curling into a smirk.

“That doesn’t sound very professional, Detective.”

“Well, It’s not very professional when you rail Detective Miyawaki in our break room either is it?” Eunbi said, her tone clearly unamused as she folded her arms.

You didn't have a chance to defend yourself the door to the conference room abruptly swung open and walked in one of the leggy rookie detectives, Kim Minju. The look on her face expressed she wasn’t here to deliver anything but bad news as you both sensed the dread in the air.

“Sorry to interrupt, boss. There’s been another body found,” Minju said, trying to keep her expression muted.

“Goddammit. Where was it found?” Eunbi asked, her body tensing up as she gritted her teeth.

“It was pulled out of the river about an hour ago. It hasn’t been identified yet but forensics stated it was a male in his early fifties.”  

“Most likely another hit, this has to stop. We need to figure out a way to catch these assholes who keep endangering our citizens.”

Eunbi rubbed her temple in small circles as she contemplated what her next step was. “Thank you, Minju.”

Minju bowed and exited without another word, leaving you alone with Detective Kwon once again.

“I have to get down there right away and check things out. Guess we’ll have to take a raincheck on that stress relief,” Eunbi said, her lips fading into a frown as she flashed a look of disappointment.

“Call me if you need anything.”

                                                       ✦✦

You didn’t have much direction without Detective Eunbi at the precinct. Part of your new job entailed staying behind the one-way mirror during investigations, giving valuable advice with your knowledge of the other side to prove assistance.

There wasn’t any of that in the early morning for you to assist to, only left with a stack of dossiers from criminals given by Detective Kwon you may or may not have had previous contact with. You found yourself restless and decided on a little stroll around the precinct to stretch your legs.

It wasn’t that easy navigating your way through the precinct halls as you tried to remember where things were, using familiar posters and bulletin boards on the brick walls of the precinct.

The layout still confused you regardless of how many times you had been in this building as you exchanged pleasantries with the different officers and detectives you had met before, giving polite greetings to those you hadn’t yet.

Leaving your office you realized how little energy you had at that moment. The clock hadn’t yet made it to noon as you made a beeline to the break room in need of an energy boost, remembering the coffee there was better than it had any right to be and put any coffee chain’s overpriced roast to shame.

The quiet door to the break room creaked open as you weren’t the only one with the same idea to sneak in a little caffeine break. You found the security analyst from the morning meeting occupying the room.

“You’re in luck, I just brewed a fresh pot,” the pretty blonde said as she grabbed one of several mugs from an above cabinet. She carefully poured fresh coffee into her mug, opening three packets of sugar and poured them all at once, stirring it several times as she took a seat.

“It’s Yena, right?” you asked as you poured yourself some hot piping coffee into your own mug, watching the satisfying steam coming out. You didn’t bother adding anything, needing the strong and bitter taste to wake you up as you took a seat next to her.

“That would be me,” Yena cutely said as she slurped on her coffee, using both hands to drink it as she clearly enjoyed the taste of it as it hit her taste buds. This was your first official introduction to each other you realized, and there wasn’t a better time to get to know her.

It wasn’t unusual for the room to not be occupied given that the detectives were constantly too busy to breathe on most days, much less spend time to enjoy a meal.

“And you’re Detective Kwon’s new hire, right?” Yena asked, the color in her eyes visible as she leaned in, letting the aroma of the fresh coffee take over.

“Yes, that’s right. I’ve been working unofficially with her on the Goda clan case for weeks. I’ve been spending so much time around here she wanted me to be getting paid for it. Plus, it’s an easy way to keep me safe.”

“Because you used to be one of them, right?” Yena asked. Word went around quickly that Detective Kwon had hired a former yakuza, which made the district uneasy but Eunbi was fully trustworthy and quickly quelled any concerns.

“Something like that,” you responded, not quite wanting to fully respond to such a heavy question to someone you hadn’t had a prior conversation before today.

“Did you ever kill anyone?”

The abruptness of her question almost caused you to spit out your coffee.

“No, I was just a low-level grunt. Not that I was capable of it anyways,” you replied, still surprised at her question.

“You wouldn’t be here working for us if you had, and you’re right. You’re not capable of it at all, you’re too cute.”

You didn’t know how to react to that, taking a long sip of coffee. When your mug hit the table, Yena abruptly grabbed your hands, carefully inspecting them with care.

“Ah, you still have all your fingers,” Yena said, as your expression became even more puzzled.

“...Why wouldn’t I?”

“Don’t you get a finger cut off if you mess up?” Yena said with the cutest amount of laughter.

You stifled a laugh before you felt like responding to such an absurd question.

“You have to commit a serious offense for that to happen. Disobey your patriarch’s orders, kill someone you weren’t supposed to, that sort of thing. Only saw it happen to one other member.”

“Or leave the organization without warning and leak information to the police,” Yena said, putting a hand over her mouth to cover up her laughter this time.

“If they get to me they’ll cut off more than just a finger.”

“Don’t worry, Detective Kwon will make sure all your limbs stay just where they belong,” Yena said teasingly, running a finger around the rim of her mug.

“Are you and Detective Kwon...” Yena said, giving a moment of hesitation before forming the rest of her sentence.

“Are we what?”

“Are you together? You seem so close, I see the way she looks at you whenever she talks to you,” Yena said, and if you didn’t know any better she seemed at least a little jealous.

“No, nothing like that,” you said, sipping on your coffee carefully, amused at the way the conversation had changed.

“Detective Kwon and I had a very interesting first meeting, and we’ve been working together ever since, so we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well working on this case. We’ve established a very tight relationship.”

“I’m sure that’s not that only thing that’s tight,” Yena snickered. You ignored her cute little one-liner as you kept your attention on well, her. She was a real striking beauty - light blonde hair, pretty dark brown eyes, a cute nose, and the fullest red lips you had seen, definitely her best feature. There was some regret sinking in for taking this long to talk to her.

“Yena...are you jealous?” you fired back. If she could ask ridiculous out of nowhere questions then so could you. She wasn’t expecting it if the expression on her face was anything to go on.

“Jealous? What could I possibly be jealous of?” Yena asked nonchalantly, running a hand through strands of golden hair while her cheeks became reddened. If Eunbi had taught you anything it was how to read people, and Yena had a bad poker face.

“I’m too busy working twelve-hour days to be jealous,” Yena said, quick to defend herself. She broke eye contact as her hands fiddled with her coffee mug, shyly staring off in the distance. l

“I should probably get back to work. There’s a stack of dossiers Eunbi left me that I should look over,” you said.

“So soon? We haven’t been here for that long,” Yena said, looking up at the time. “That reminds me, I need to drop this report in her office. Care to come with me?”

“Sure,” you said. You didn’t really see a reason not to accompany her and weren’t actually that eager to go back to going through stacks of criminal profiles that you felt was a little more than busywork.

                                                       ✦✦

“It’s locked,” Yena said as she jiggled the doorknob to Eunbi’s office. You’re not sure what she expected given the detective had been away all morning. Yena tried again for some reason, as if she were expecting it to magically open the second time as she looked around and tried to figure out what to do.

“You can just drop it off later when she’s back from the investigation can’t you?”

“I could, but what if I forget to give it to her? It’s so easy for me to get caught up in my work that I should leave this for her, it’s important that she gets it.”

“Ah!” Yena said as she scurried away, finding who she needed just out of view. It didn’t take long for her to return, bringing one of the janitors back with her.”

“Here it is. If you could unlock it for me it would be very appreciated. Detective Kwon needed this report on her desk by the afternoon, but you see she’s away on investigation, and I have something to attend to so I won’t be here. You understand, right?”

“No need to explain, Miss Choi, I’ll get you in,” the janitor said as he looked through a giant ring of keys, trying to find the right one and unlocked the office door.

“Just make sure you lock it back up when you’re done. You have a good day.”

“Thanks, you too!” Yena said as she stepped inside and you followed her in, waiting for her to drop off the report.

“I always forget how big her office is,” Yena said as you followed her inside. Detective Kwon had moved to a bigger office, one that was deserving of after her promotion. Yena looked around the office, carefully scanning the various awards and achievements that lined the walls, once again unable to control the jealousy inside her.

“Detective Kwon...you’re so lucky,” Yena muttered under her breath with a faded smile, setting a dark-colored folder on top of her neatly organized desk, making sure not to knock anything over.

“This place is big enough to move in,” Yena said. She took one last look around the spacious office, picking up Eunbi’s signature piglet plush off her desk and gave it a squeeze before putting it back where it belonged.

“Well, we should get out of here before we get too comfortable then,” you said and moved towards the door, ready to move on and get back to whatever work you could manage to do. Your exit was soon blocked by Yena, carrying a mischievous smile on her beautiful face as she stood in the doorway.

“What if I wanted to get a little too comfortable?” she said, closing the door with one hand as it shut behind her, the thud of the door slamming echoing against the high office walls.

“I’m sure you have plenty of work as well, Ye-”

She was quick to silence you by closing the distance and pressing a fingertip against your lips, stopping any additional objections.

“Work can wait. I’ve done what Detective Kwon has asked of me and gave a full detailed report of our breach which is on her desk waiting for her when she comes back.”

“I have dossiers I need to look through to see if I-”

You didn’t finish your sentence for the second time in a row as Yena’s deep brown eyes stared into your own, and you felt her small hands playfully pushing you back as you fell onto the couch. Yena wasn’t far behind and straddled your lap, the weight of her small body comforting as her legs around your waist.

“That can wait, too.”

“Yena, we can’t-

“Have you had sex with her in here?” she said, insisting on not letting you finish an entire sentence.

“What?”

“Have you had sex with Eunbi in this office?”

“Of course not. She’s a professional and this office is for work use only.”

That was the answer Yena was looking for if the change in her expression was anything to go by.

“Let’s change that, then,” she said as she wrapped her hands around the nape of your neck, staring even deeper into your eyes.

“Unless you don’t want to, that’s fine. You can go back to your office all alone and look at a bunch of old guys who you may or may not have seen in your past life.”

“That sounds like a terrible alternative to what’s happening right now.”

“I think so too."

Without another word you felt the warmth of her full lips smacking against your own, taking you by surprise. Instinctively you snaked your hands around her slender waist, giving in to temptation with ease. Her lips were soft as silk and tasted like your favorite candy as her tongue eagerly entered your mouth played with your counterpart.

Yena showed her aggressive side as she grabbed the back of your head, wanting you to taste her deeper as her tongue danced around in your mouth as you explored her body with your hands and wanted to rip the tight black top she had that only served as a nuisance.

“Not bad,” Yena said as the kiss was broken, lightly gasping for air as she cupped your face and stared intently into your eyes. You wanted more of her, more of her addicting taste, but she had other ideas as you let her take charge.

“I’ll show you something even better.”

Yena didn’t give you a moment to respond as she dismounted your lap and dropped to her knees, eyeing your crotch as her lips curled into a devilish smirk, ruffling a hand through her hair.

“Let’s see what Detective Kwon has been keeping to herself,” she said with a lustful look on her features as she worked your pants and unzipped them, running her small delicate hands all over your clothed cock as it hardened at her touch.

“Looks like someone’s ready,” Yena giggled, biting her lip as she gave your crotch a firm squeeze and traced the outline of your bulge with her fingers. Giving your thighs a few strokes she spread your legs wide and pulled your cock out of your boxers, wrapping her fingers around it and gave a few pumps to bring you to full hardness.

“This must be one of the reasons Eunbi likes you so much,” she said as she admired your hard shaft, the feel of her warm hand on your cock sending heavenly pleasure up your body.

Yena kept the friction slow and pleasurable, lazily stroking your shaft as she pulled your boxers down to grant full access to your cock. Licking her lips she gave a long swipe of her wet tongue from base to tip. swirling around your swollen cockhead and flicking against your leaking slit as you moaned.

She explored your throbbing shaft with her wet tongue, gathering up precum on it as she needed more and wanted to move on to the main event. Yena had deep desire and lust in her seductive eyes and hunger that could only be satiated by one thing.

Yena licked everywhere she could, tasting every inch of your cock and needing you inside her hungry mouth without delay. She ran her tongue over her lips a second time and planted a tender kiss on the tip of your cock. Making sure her hair was out of her eyes, her lips parted with your shaft and took you into her wet warm mouth, causing a deep moan to escape your mouth almost involuntarily, sending electricity throughout your spine.

You felt intense pleasure as Yena’s soft plump lips wrapped around your cock, a feeling like nothing else that set your senses on fire as she slowly sucked on your swollen tip, her tongue playfully licking the underside of your shaft.

“Yena...fuck,” you moaned, tilting your head and relaxing back into the couch. Yena’s lips felt so warm and soft, the wetness of her mouth overwhelming you as she sucked you off, tending to your pleasure at her pace and keeping constant eye contact that aroused you even more.

“Do you like that?” Yena asked, spitting on your cock repeatedly and stroking it furiously, wanting your shaft nice and wet for her as her tongue wandered around and coated every surface in warm plentiful saliva.

“I do, it feels amazing,” you said, the intense pleasure causing your breath to hitch. The pleasure was intoxicating as Yena returned to working your shaft, using her delicious plump lips and tongue in tandem as she bobbed her head up and down and watched the satisfaction in your eyes that she was giving.

You let out a loud deep breath as Yena continued her oral assault, sliding her luscious lips up and down your cock with ease as she let out messy slurping noises as she enjoyed what she was doing to you. In no time at all she upped her pace, no longer content as her movements grew wild, sucking your cock sloppily in a way that matched only the way Eunbi performed oral on you.

Yena knew what she was doing as she fondled your balls with one hand, caressing your thigh with the other to bring as much pleasure as she could and amplified the intensity, leaving a trail of drool as your shaft glistened in the light.

“God, that feels so fucking good,” you moaned, running a hand through golden strands of hair before grabbing the back of her head, guiding the movements of her amazing blowjob and trying to find any outlet for the harsh spikes of pleasure taking over.

You could barely remember where you were, much less that you were in Eunbi’s office and one of her team members was pleasuring your cock.

Yena’s lips went deep, hitting the end of your shaft as she slobbered on your cock, covering every inch in her warm saliva. The endless pleasure was becoming too much as you watched the gorgeous blonde swallowing down your cock with ease.

“Fuck...if you keep doing that you’re gonna make me cum.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Yena said seductively as she rubbed your shaft all over her puckered lips.

“Cum in my mouth.”

You weren’t going to say no to that.

Yena wanted to show you what she could really do as she held onto your thighs and bobbed her head hastily, becoming a blur of blonde hair as she eagerly anticipated your release.

The point of no return rapidly approached. You couldn’t help moaning loudly at how Yena’s mouth felt, so warm, and wet, her lips so incredibly soft that it was impossible to last any longer. The look in her eyes pleaded for your climax and you weren’t going to disappoint her.

“Yena, I’m gonna fucking cum, oh f-fuck-”

Your climax struck like a lightning bolt as you felt it from your head to your curling toes. With both hands on the back of her head, you pushed Yena’s pretty face all the way down to your base, your shaft throbbing wildly as you unloaded several spurts of hot cum into her warm mouth and down her tight throat, grunting loudly with each shot.

Nothing existed at that moment as you groaned and groaned as your sharp orgasm took over your body, continuing to empty your balls into her mouth. You were both so focused on your pleasure, the way your cock was being drained dry that neither of you noticed the sound of the doorknob being turned as the door swung open.

“Could have sworn I locked this door before I left...”

Detective Kwon.

You both froze in panic at the situation, releasing the tight grip on Yena’s head as you had been caught quite literally with your pants down. Your depleted shaft plopped out of Yena’s warm mouth as she had gathered your thick and plentiful load into her mouth and you were both forced to turn your attention to Eunbi as you both gasped for air.

“Well, well, well. This isn’t what I was expecting to see during my lunch break,” Eunbi said, shutting the door behind her and standing with her hands on her hips.

“Dwrtrecrtrv-” Yena tried speaking with her mouth full of thick hot semen gathered on her tongue.

“Seems like your mouth is a little full at the moment. I hope you were planning on swallowing that.”

Yena immediately obeyed as if it were a direct order, tilting her head back as she took two big gulps and sent your load down into her stomach, licking her lips clean. She opened her mouth, letting you and not Eunbi see that nothing was left, all gone.

"Delicious."

“Damn right it is, good job. Now, care to explain why you’re on your knees sucking my new hire’s cock in the middle of my office? Not that I blame you, but how did you even get in here?”

“I had those reports you requested from this morning’s meeting, and I made sure not to forget to drop them off. There was a janitor nearby so I asked him to let me in.”

“Spoken like a true security expert. That explains the first part, but not why I found you with a mouth full of cock.”

“Well, we were having coffee together, and he’s cute. Do I need a better reason?”

Eunbi sighed. “Try and keep it in your pants, both of you. Now get dressed and get out.”

Yena headed out first as you got dressed quickly, not wanting to make things even more awkward. She gave a polite bow to Detective Kwon while hastily making her exit. You headed towards the door to make your own exit when Eunbi placed a hand on your shoulder, leaning into your ear to whisper something.

“If you’re going to fuck her later, make sure you don’t pull out. I bet she’s tight.”

Just the thought Eunbi put into your mind sent blood to your loins again. You gathered your senses and smiled at Eunbi.

“I’ll go look over those files now. See you later, detective.”

                                                       ✦✦

It was hard to concentrate on the rest of the day to say the least. You went in and out of Detective Kwon’s office, giving your input and knowledge throughout the day and thankfully not once did she mention the incident from earlier in the morning, focusing on giving what limited details she decided to give from her crime scene investigation from earlier.

Long into the afternoon you roamed the halls, heading back towards your office to go over more files Detective Kwon had assigned.

“Come with me.”

You barely heard the three words until you were dragged into a nearby supply closet. Not even bothering to switch the light on, you felt your back being pushed against shelves, small hands pressed against both sides of your face. You felt warmth against your mouth, lips that were unforgettable and unmistakable soft lips of the security analyst, Yena. You could barely see the outline of her pretty face, the darkness of the room dimly showing her blonde hair.

“I think we should find another office.”

“I’d rather we didn’t get caught again.”

“Well then, my place or yours?”

She didn’t give you a moment to respond as she pulled you into another kiss, time more aggressively, adding more tongue and biting on your lower lip. You felt powerless to resist, not that you wanted to.

“My place,” Yena said, deciding for you. “I want you somewhere Eunbi hasn’t been.”

“You really are jealous, aren’t you?”

Yena huffed. “I told you, I’m not,” she responded, giving your crotch a firm squeeze through your pants.

"It's not like she has the most amazing figure, perfect huge tits, and thighs that could crush a watermelon. Not to mention how beautiful she is, but no, I'm not jealous."

"Not even a little?"

“No, shut up, let’s get out of here.”

                                                       ✦✦

Out of the few women you had slept with from Eunbi’s team, including the detective herself, they all gave you a chance to explore their place, even so much as offering a drink before the magic happened.

Not Yena.

There wasn’t any offering of so much as a glass of water, barely did you even have a chance to kick off your shoes as you entered Yena’s apartment before being whisked away dragged straight into the bedroom.

This Yena was different from the security analyst back at the precinct, the cute girl who loved to make jokes and covered her mouth every time she laughed. This version of Yena was a little less shy, a lot more confident, and certainly a lot more aggressive.

That’s not to say you didn’t love this new side of Yena. Every move she made caught you unprepared, and before you knew it you were flat your back was flat on her black silk sheets, as you engaged in another hot and heavy makeout session.

“I want you, Yena,” you said as you tenderly kissed her sensitive neck, wrapping your arms around her slim waist again as your hands roamed all over each other’s body desperately as you found her irresistible.

“And I want you to fuck me,” she said, quick to divest your shirt off your body as she admired your bare chest.

This Yena knew exactly what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to ask for it.

“Fuck me like you’ve fucked Eunbi,” Yena said. She had the same lustful stare from earlier, this time more intense and hungry.

“Eunbi is usually the one in control,” you said, matching her gaze and trying to keep up her intensity.

“Then I guess it’s your turn. Must be your lucky day.”

“Considering I got a blowjob from the hottest blonde before noon today, I’d agree with you,” you said, briefly letting Yena react before you grabbed her body and pulled her onto the bed, switching places with her. She smirked.

“Fuck me,” Yena repeated, the look in her eyes growing with intensity even more. It wouldn’t be that hard for you to give in to her demands as you dove into her neck again, sucking away at the tender skin until you were stopped.

“D-don’t leave a mark, Eunbi will kill us.”

“Then let her kill us.“

Yena took a second to think. “I’d rather have your lips somewhere else.“

Without hesitation, she grabbed the hem of her black top, lifting it up and over her head and tossing it away in the distance. Your eyes feasted on her full round breasts covered in a lacy black bra that demanded to be free.

Yena always dressed rather conservatively at work, wearing buttoned-up shirts or blouses that covered up her chest without any real hint as to what she was working with. It was a nice surprise to see how busty she was.  

“What do you think? They’re nowhere near as big as Eunbi’s,” she said, somehow disappointed even after showing off such a delicious set of supple tits.

“I think they’re perfect.”

You didn’t waste any time, allowing your hands to take over as they caressed over any exposed skin you could find as you felt her tight, toned midriff, kissing her collarbone on both sides and falling into a trance at the sight of her nearly exposed breasts.

Yena had as little patience as you did, reaching behind her back with one hand as she unhooked the clasp of her bra, hastily wanting to be rid of the piece of fabric. She watched your reaction as she removed the straps off her shoulders, stripping off the garment and disposing of it to leave her full breasts exposed for your eyes only.

You grew breathless at the sight of her exposed juicy tits, mouth salivating at the sight of perfectly pale and round mounds of flesh that nothing else no longer mattered to you.

Yena lifted her arms over her head, giving you the perfect view of her now topless body and exposed pale skin as her breasts bounced. You couldn’t resist any longer as you cupped her sizable tits, squeezing the soft flesh that fit perfectly into your hands that earned the cutest of moans from her as you kneaded them gently.

“Taste them. Taste me,” Yena said, her voice full of need as you kept your hands full, never wanting to stop playing with her large tits that felt so pillowy soft to the touch.

“Do you like my tits?” she asked, clearly already knowing the answer. You couldn’t get enough of them, both your hands and eyes were drawn to them like a moth to a flame, massaging the warm flesh as you ran a thumb over both nipples, causing them to harden against your touch and eliciting cute gasps.

“I fucking love them,” you said, immediately diving in and latching your lips around one of her stiff nipples, sucking gently on it as your other hand fondled the one not in your mouth. Yena whined cutely, her body jerking at the pleasure as your lips and tongue stayed attached to her stiffened nipple that you never wanted to leave.

Yena’s beautiful eyes closed shut for a moment as you switched breasts, your lips attacking each and every part of her voluptuous chest as you slurped on her nipples until they were drenched in saliva and swollen, suckling with purpose and desire.

She was falling apart by the second as you messily sucked her tits, and you felt the need to give her even more. You wanted her to melt into a puddle as you gradually traveled a hand down her pants, into her underwear and slipped a finger into her tight pussy.

Yena gasped and her hips bucked as your finger explored her hole, your digit being coated liberally with the slick juices that had formed. She squirmed and writhed underneath you wildly as you fucked her hole slowly, earning several muted moans as you couldn’t help but continue kissing her as she moaned into your mouth

“You’re so wet, Yena,” you said, slowly pumping into her cunt back and forth, feeling the tightness of her walls gripping your finger harshly, the wet womanly juices abundant on your fingers as you played with her wet folds two knuckles deep.

“I’m wet because of you.”

Those words brought a smile to your lips, finding motivation to move deeper as the only sounds escaping from Yena’s lips was a series of gasps and moans as you brought a second finger inside, pumping into her as deep to the very hilt as wanton desire flooded her body.  

“F-fuck, I need you inside me. Not just your fingers, I need you to fuck me. Now.”

You couldn’t quite tell if she was begging or demanding, either way you weren’t going to let her request go unanswered. You gave a few more pumps before withdrawing your wet messy fingers out of her hole before making a show of licking them clean.

“You’re delicious, Yena.”

She gave a shy smile in response, and you were quick to work the zipper of her pants, forcibly yanking down both her pants alongside her underwear. Yena was left completely naked and all her beautiful curves on display for you and nothing could make you take your eyes off her.

Yena’s nude body was impeccable, a beautiful work of art from head to toe - perfect breasts, tight tummy, plentiful thighs, and the prettiest pussy, clean-shaven and dripping wet, delicious pink flesh ready to be devoured.

Yena instinctively spread her legs for you, and while you were nothing but eager to give her a taste you frowned as you felt your face being pushed away and denied of such a succulent treat.

“I can’t wait any longer, just fuck me.”

While you lamented the loss of having her thighs around your head, you couldn’t argue with her as you quickly stripped to match her state of undress, sending clothes flying off of your body in a blur.

You were equally eager to get started as you knelt and positioned yourself between Yena’s spread legs, admiring her pink flesh dripping with arousal as you took your cock and lined it up with her entrance. It took everything in your power to not immediately shove your needy cock deep inside Yena, wanting to savor the experience of initial penetration.

Her pretty pink pussy was more than ready for your cock as you rubbed your shaft between her slippery lips, feeling the heat from between her pussy inviting you in. Yena couldn’t take much more of your teasing, unable to control herself as she snatched your shaft out of your hand and slipped the tip of your cock inside her dripping heat, parting her warm flesh as you entered her pussy for the first time.

“Oh f-fuck…” she moaned as she let go of the tight grip she had on of your cock, letting you do the rest as you pushed in deeper to allow your tip to disappear inside her wanton body.

“A little impatient aren’t we?” you teased, gingerly moving your swollen cockhead in and out of Yena’s tight pussy as the intense warmth and wetness surrounded your rigid shaft.

“Y-yes. Don’t make me beg.”

“But that sounds like so much fun,” you said as a wry smile washed over your face.

“Just shut up and fuck me,” Yena bluntly said, as if she had flipped a switch from begging to demanding. When a woman asked you to fuck her, you wouldn't dare disappoint.

You moved slowly inside Yena with a gentle but steady pace, using your hips as you gave smooth, gentle strokes, watching the slick pink lips of her tight pussy being stretched out with the first few inches of your shaft.

“More. I can take it, give me all of you,” Yena said as she let out a series of whiny moans, tossing blonde hair back and placing her hands flat on the mattress.

Yena looked up with an insatiable desire as she bit her lip, and you followed her instructions as inch by inch you slid in deeper into her cunt, keeping your eyes focused on her, only finding deep pleasure in her eyes.

Keeping the movements smooth as possible you worked every inch inside, letting her tight pussy swallow up your shaft until you had bottomed her out, sharing gasps and moans of being completely inside her.

“That’s it, just like that. Fuck, you’re so big,” Yena blurted out as she gritted her teeth, letting herself adjust to your length and gasping at the hard flesh buried inside her cunt.

“So fucking tight,” you said, unable to think straight at the sensations of you being buried to hilt inside the incredibly sexy blonde you were lucky enough to now be inside. Yena’s eyes signaled for you to keep going and you did so without hesitation, sliding every inch that had been covered in her wet juices again and again.

Yena grew relaxed as the time went on, every thrust as pleasurable as could be as you fucked, finding the perfect rhythm. You impaling her with every inch with deep strokes and you felt overwhelmed by the tight grip of her drenched wet lips.

“Does that feel good?” you asked, watching Yena carefully. It took her a moment to process your words, pleasure running its course throughout her body.

“It feels amazing. Fuck me harder.”

You were happy to fulfill her request, having your fill of build-up. Grabbing onto Yena’s slender waist, you used more power in your hips as you granted harder thrusts, driving yourself deep with every movement and upping your pace gradually.

It was a wonderful sight to see. Yena’s gorgeous naked body was rocked by your deep thrusts, causing her beautiful breasts to bounce deliciously with every pop of your hips as her pretty mouth stayed open, releasing a mass of satisfied moans. She grew progressively wetter the longer you fucked her, every inch of your hard shaft covered in her essence as kept yourself buried balls deep at the end of every thrust.

“Come on, I said to fuck me harder,” Yena said with a fire in her eyes, unsatisfied

with your current pace. You had been holding back, not wanting to hurt her and also savoring the feeling of every entrance and exit into her wet cunt.

The chains had been unshackled and you were going to give in to both of your desires, fueled by the lust and hunger in her eyes. Without the need for build-up you immediately intensified your thrusts, slamming your hips against her tight body and fucking Yena with deep strokes into her body that gave spikes of pleasure.

Your rhythm grew harsher as you pistoned into her pussy, the bed creaking and rocking against the bedroom wall. In no time at all the room filled with the lustful sounds of pleasure and smacking of hot flesh against hot flesh as your naked bodies became misted with sweat. You leaned forward and captured Yena’s full bouncing breasts with your fingertips, squeezing the soft flesh as her pretty moans grew louder and whinier.

“There you go. Pound that tight little pussy,”

With your hands full of Yena’s plentiful tits you let out your own series of lustful noises, growls and grunts that sounded more animalist by second as you kept slamming your cock into Yena, finding the perfect angle as the walls of her dripping warm hole became more of a tight fit by the second.

“Fuck, that’s so good, don’t fucking stop!”

You kept the intensity up as sweat dripped down your forehead, exerting all the energy and power you had in your hips. You didn’t care if the bed underneath you was going to give out and collapse, all that mattered was the sharp pleasure you were feeding the both of you.

“Oh my god, I’m going to cum!” Yena desperately cried out, the pulsating walls of her heat confirming her words as they squeezed your cock and released repeatedly as you continued pushing her over the edge.

Running your hands all her bare skin you felt all you could of Yena’s pale bare skin, gliding your palms over her soft flushed skin. Yena reached for your hands as you interlocked your fingers with her, feeling her small hands squeezing yours as you repeatedly drove yourself inside her and helped Yena chase her impending climax.

“I’m cumming!”

You didn’t dare stop moving your rapidly pistoning shaft as Yena came hard all over your cock, her breathing audibly speeding up as her toes curled, and her hips bucked with a mind of their own. Her orgasm was so loud and so violent as the entire bed frame shook, her slim fingers squeezing the life out of your own and pounded her straight through every second of her orgasm.

It took several moments for Yena to recover from her orgasm, coming back to life as her breath slowly came back to its usual state. With your hands still linked when Yena you gradually slowed down your hips until you were barely moving inside her, leaning as far as you could and lifted her arms over her head.

“You’re really good at this,” Yena said, every syllable gasping for air as she softly kissed your lips as she looked into with glazed over eyes.

“Good at what?”

“At making me cum. I can still feel it,” Yena said weakly, a shy smile overtaking her features. She leaned into to give you one more kiss as her eyes continued to stay half-lidded as she recovered from her euphoric bliss.

“It’s your turn now. You must be close, right?” Yena asked, catching her breath, her delicious chest heaving hypnotically.

“I’ve got a little left,” you said, looking into Yena’s eyes once more as she gave off a proud smile.

“Keep fucking me then. Take me however you want.”

You didn’t exchange any more words as you slowly withdrew your cock from inside Yena, your cock stained with her messy juices that glistened in her bedroom lights. You immediately knew how you wanted her as you grabbed her hips and turned her body over, letting you see her cute backside for the first time.

Yena quickly received your message and got into position on hands and knees, raising her tight ass and shaking it as she brought a hand between her creamy thighs and played with her splayed pink lips, looking back erotically.

“Shove that nice cock back inside me.”

There was no time to waste in a moment like this, but you allowed yourself just a second to admire Yena’s bent over body in the best position, face down into the mattress and her delicious ass raised up in preparation for what was next.

Yena wasn’t left empty for very long as you returned your cock back inside her, finding it impossible to tease her as you slid back inside with one smooth stroke. She was even wetter after her orgasm, and in this position she felt much tighter, the snugness of her walls almost too much to bear as you picked up speed and fucked her from behind.

“Oh fuuuck…”

Just like before you didn’t bother with any build-up, immediately re-establishing your pace and ramming your cock slick with her juices at a swift pace, earning sinful gasps and moans from the moaning blonde.

The view in front of you was perfect. Yena’s bent over body, the perfect arch of her back, pristine pale skin from head complete with beautiful pink lips that your cock was spearing repeatedly, it was all surreal to experience.

The air felt light as you felt the tightness of warm flesh wrapped around your shaft, you wondered how you lucked into sleeping with a fourth different member of Eunbi’s team, each woman a unique sexual experience in their own individual way.

Yena’s wide hips were the perfect resting spot for your hands as you thrusted harshly into her, giving deep firm strokes that hit her most pleasurable spot as you found her favorite angle. Her cheeks jiggled with every rock of your hips as you smacked up against her tight body, constant wetness and warmth suffocating your shaft.

“Just like that, you’re so fucking deep, oh god…”

It wasn’t enough just to take her in this position, you desperately needed more. With one hand on her hip, you grabbed the front of her shoulder with the other and pulled her back until her body was upright with yours, her sweaty back pressed up against your chest. The newly found position added for even deeper penetration and a heightened sense of intimacy, with the additive incentive of Yena able to moan closer to your ears.

“I’m starting to think you like my pussy,” Yena said.

“I love it. Your pussy feels so fucking good, I want to be inside you all night.”

“Do you like it more than Eunbi?” Yena said. “You don’t have to answer.”

You were thankful she didn’t need an answer for such an impossible question, one that you would be able to answer in a million years. Your thoughts resumed back to the dripping hot flesh wrapped around your cock that you were pounding into, desperate to take as much pleasure from her body as possible.

“That’s it, just like that! Fuck me as hard as you can!”

Yena’s lustful words and sensual moans were music to your ears. Part of you worried that you were being too rough, but when the screams and moans that were a constant stream from Yena’s lips you knew otherwise.

You did everything you could to keep Yena in this position, holding onto her body with one hand to ensure her body stayed upright. Your other hand had reached around to her plentiful chest, grabbing the breast closest to you as best as you could and squeezing the soft mound harshly all while you were ramming into her tight cunt at full speed.

“Oh f-uck! Fuck me just like this, fuck me until you cum in me!”

You hadn’t heard a better set of encouraging words all week. The room grew hotter by the second, each thrust into Yena’s warmth sending shockwaves of pleasure. Your hips worked overtime, smacking harshly against her sweaty body as the beautiful echo of flesh slapping echoed in the room.

It was your turn to be greedy as you gave everything you had, desperately craving your release the same way Yena had taken hers already. Your bodies intertwined as you ravaged Yena’s tight body, using all your leftover energy to give in to your animalistic desires.

“I”m so fucking close,” you growled, keeping up the merciless pace, each thrust being buried to the hilt inside Yena’s tight pussy, aching for your release. The loud smack against her ass, the wetness of her tight pussy, it was all far too much to handle.

“I want you to cum, I need you to cum inside me, please. Cum inside me like you have inside Eunbi, please, please cum inside my tight little pussy,” Yena begged, once again her switch being turned on as she turned in a cute whimpering mess.

There wasn’t a chance of doing anything else.

You didn’t want it all to end. The creak of Yena’s bed that you swore was liable to break at any second, the deep guttural moans that escaped her lips, and the wet squelch of her dripping tight cunt as you endlessly pounded into her, a sound that intoxicated you as it entered your ears, you wanted it all to last for eternity.

Just a few more thrusts was all you had left, at the peak of your final one you slammed hard and buried yourself deep into her dripping cunt and exploded, throbbing violently and filling her walls with thick hot cum. Yena tilted her head to meet yours and interrupted your moans with her warm lips as you filled her tight cavern to the brim with hot cum, muffled moans desperate to escape each other’s tired mouths as you emptied every drop into her hot tight body.

The look of satisfaction in Yena’s eyes was unforgettable as her pussy milked you dry, aching for more as you shared one final kiss, struggling to remember where you were. You crashed together on top of the tortured mattress, sweaty bodies stacked together as you rested inside her warmth, spent and depleted of stamina as you kissed the shoulders, neck, and upper back of the woman who you just had the most exhausting and satisfying sex with.

“That...was...amazing…” Yena said, syllables difficult to form as much as the depleted air in her lungs. Once you came back to your senses, you gradually withdrew your cock from her freshly fucked pussy, watching as your thick milky load stained her pink splayed lips and thighs, introducing itself to her expensive bed sheets.

When it was all said and done you found yourself underneath Yena’s tired and sweaty body, trying to fix the messy strands of her disheveled hair as the idea of moving a muscle felt impossible.

“You okay?” you asked, hoping you weren’t too rough on the young girl, finding stringing a sentence together in your post orgasm haze a foreign concept.

“I’ve never been better.”

                                                       ✦✦

Detective Kwon twirled her pen repeatedly as she looked over the multi-page report on her desk from security analyst Choi Yena. Several things had happened over the course of the past six hours that Eunbi involuntarily skipped lunch, only able to fit in a few granola bars and a bottle of water. While some of the terminology stated wasn’t familiar to her, she got the gist of and signed off on the necessary security upgrades, routine password changes, and additional security staff employed around the more vulnerable areas of the precinct.

Eunbi grew endlessly frustrated at the situation, finding the case at an impasse. She had investigated dozens of suspects and witnesses over the course of several weeks, all that energy put into a failed raid was causing her to lose faith in her job as head detective.

Taking a deep sigh Eunbi rested her head on her desk, trying to momentarily forget about the troubles of her job. Not even getting a few seconds of respite her phone rang, the vibration nearly causing it to fall off her no longer organized desk. She hesitated at first to answer, not only since it wasn’t usual for her to get calls after hours but also from a private number, ultimately choosing to answer at the last second.

“Detective Kwon speaking.”

“Detective...this phone call has been a long time coming.”

“Who is this? How did you get this number?”

“That’s not important. It seems your entire case has fallen apart at the seams hasn’t it? That’s rather unfortunate.”

“Listen here, whoever the hell you are I will find you and l-”

“Relax, detective. I’m not here to cause any more trouble than you already have. I’d like to offer you a deal.”

“I’m sorry but I’m not interested-”

“You’re trying to catch Patriarch Goda, isn't that correct, Detective? It seems like you’ve run low on luck lately.”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss any information pertaining to any of our ongoing cases. It’s all strictly confidential.”

“That’s too bad, then. I guess you won’t be interested in any information I have on the patriarch’s whereabouts.”

“I’m listening.”

“I can tell you everything you need to know. His hideouts, his clan members, I can even give you detailed information on his weapon supply. All I need is one thing in return.”

“And what exactly would that be?”

“You have two of my men in custody. Takabe-san and Kasuga-san. They haven’t been formally charged with any crimes if my research is correct.”

“I’ve already told you I can’t discuss confidential information, especially over the phone.”

“Then let’s speak hypothetically. If there were any men arrested under those names, were they to be released I have information to use at your will regarding Patriarch Goda.”

“How do I know this information is accurate?”

“I’ll send one of Goda’s hideouts free of charge as a gesture of goodwill. When both of my men have been released I’ll give you everything you need about him, what you do with that information is up to you, detective.”

“Why would you give up this information in trade? Are these men that important to you?”

“Loyalty is important, and these men have been loyal to me since day one. I find the patriarch’s methods detestable and I’ve seen too much unnecessary bloodshed under his command. I wish to take over his clan and become the new patriarch.”

“That sounds very ambitious. I’m not exactly convinced about this.”

“What choice do you have, detective? You don’t exactly have many options at this point I gather?”

“Fine. Your men haven’t done anything to be charged with anyways.”

“Good choice, detective. I’ll give you twenty-four hours to release my men, bring them to the pier by the northern highway at midnight. Come alone.“

Eunbi didn’t have a chance to respond when the caller on the other end hung up, Whoever it was was right, she didn’t have many options at this point.

                                                        ✦✦

“This is clearly a setup, Detective Kwon. It all sounds too good to be true,” said Sakura, the worry in her eyes visible as the sun was bright.

“I’d have to agree, it sounds like the perfect opportunity for a trap.”

“I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself. If they try anything I can distract them with these,” Eunbi said, grabbing two handfuls of her large breasts as she flashed a cheeky smile.

“We’ll have a small backup team nearby as a precaution.”

“If you really think that’s necessary, but make sure you stay far away. I don’t want them to get spooked.”

“Of course, detective.”

“This is our second chance. Let’s not waste it.”

[peachpitmp3]

hi!! i saw that your requests were open, i was wondering if you could do willie, on 2 nights of no sleep and about 12 cups of coffee, sends alex a confession text at 2am. chaos and fluff ensues

i love your work so much

-🦜

In hindsight, Willie probably shouldn’t have been awake for two days straight. Or at least, he shouldn’t have allowed himself near his phone after being awake for two days straight. Or maybe it was the coffee. 12 cups in 4 hours does strange things. Apparently. 

Regardless of the cause, it was 2am and Willie was staring at their phone in absolute horror. 

alex 🥁💜

[2:04AM]

so this is probably a really dumb decision but it’s 2am and i just had 12 cups of coffee so here goes. uh. i like you. in a non platonic way.

im sorry i’m really bad at this. haven’t exactly done this before. basically, i love you. a lot.

i know u don’t feel the same and that’s fine but i just wanted to tell you

btw if you wanna take some space or something i totally get it. just let me know haha

[delivered]

Yeah, Willie was fucked. It wasn’t their fault, though. Really, it was just the 2am timing (that he had decided to stay up until) and the 12 cups of coffee (that they had decided to drink). 

Okay, so maybe it was his fault. But still. Any plans they had of sleeping had been completely thrown out the window. Willie knew Alex went to sleep at 11:30pm every night; they’d teased him at least a thousand times for it. Even knowing that, and knowing that there was no way Alex would be awake for another several hours, Willie could still do nothing but sit on the floor and check his phone every ten seconds. 

Even despite their hypervigilance, he almost missed the low buzz that emitted from his phone after what felt like years of waiting. Willie snatched their phone up to view the lock screen and- @cool.skateboards444 liked your post. Oh. Willie felt his shoulders slump and he rubbed his eyes. What did they expect? It was- they reached over to his phone again to check the time and promptly dropped it back on the floor with a clatter. Below the glowing 2:17 timestamp was a bright white rectangle standing out against his lock screen: alex 🥁💜 - iMessage. Willie rubbed his eyes to make sure they were reading it correctly, and when he opened them again, the notification stared back at him, exactly as he had read it before. With shaking hands, they typed in the passcode to his phone (definitely not Alex’s birthday) and when they opened the messages app, they were met with the absolutely terrifying sight of the smallest text bubble they had ever seen: “oh.” 

Willie barely had time to overthink the message before it disappeared, the messages screen now hidden behind a request to FaceTime?? Running off of caffeine, panic, and reflex, Willie instinctively pressed accept and was met with a sleepy-looking, pajama-clad, messy-haired, unfairly adorable Alex. Fuck. 

“Uh, hey,” Willie said, and immediately cursed himself for how tense his voice was.

Alex stared for a second, seemingly taking in Willie’s run-down and exhausted appearance, before clearing his throat. “Oh, shit, sorry. Did I wake you up?”

“Nah,” Willie let his face split into the small grin that Flynn liked to call his ‘Alex smile.’ Only now he was realizing maybe that was accurate. “I was already up.”

Alex nodded and was silent for a moment before his eyes widened slightly. “Right. Your 12 cups of coffee. Please tell me that was an exaggeration?”

“No can do, hotdog,” Willie responded, shrugging slightly and running his restless fingers through his hair to ease the fidgeting. ADHD and coffee. A combination that was always unpredictable, never desirable, and pretty much inevitable with Willie at this point.

Alex frowned slightly and Willie wanted nothing more than to be able to somehow teleport into his room and smooth away that little crease between his eyebrows. Unfortunately, he wasn’t some ghost who could poof wherever he wanted to whenever he wanted to. That would be the life. Another thought far outside the realm of ghosts entered Willie’s mind, and he pushed aside the mental image of skating in Justin Bieber’s empty pool and focused back on Alex.

“Hang on, why are you awake?” Willie smirked, but his nervousness tugged his lips back down into a slight grimace. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“Time is a social construct,” Alex replied airily, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, and that’s my line.”

“Fine. I couldn’t sleep. And then you… you texted me.”

Willie couldn’t tell if the blood all rushed to or from their face, but it was one of the two because suddenly they were overheating, shivering, and vaguely nauseated. “Oh. right.”

“So…”

Willie couldn’t bring themself to look at Alex’s face on the screen, so they stared at their socks. They were mismatched, he noted; one was dark blue with hot dogs, and the other was dark red with skateboards. Alex had gotten them for him and had taken a sock from each pair for himself. Something twisted in Willie’s stomach and he looked away from the patterns. “Yeah.”

“Did you mean it?” Alex’s voice suddenly burst out louder and Willie looked up sharply. Alex’s eyes were wide in the frame, and through the grainy camera quality Willie noticed him biting his lip nervously. As if he thought Willie was going to say no.

“What- of course I meant it,” Willie blurted out before he could overthink it. “I mean- no, yeah that’s exactly it. Yeah. I meant it.”

Alex’s mouth dropped into an ‘o’ of surprise, and he breathed, “Oh,” so quietly that Willie nearly missed it.

“Oh, c’mon, hotdog,” Willie said quietly, daring to look into the camera. “You can’t just leave me hanging like that. What d’you mean by oh?”

“I mean I like you too, speed bump,” Alex said, followed by an audible breath of relief. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Now can you try to sleep?”

Willie felt like they had been hit over the head with one of Alex’s drumsticks. No, not a drumstick. They felt like someone had dropped the whole drum set on top of their brain, and they were still dazed from the impact. He shook his head quickly and blinked. “Uh-”

“Are- are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Willie reassured him with a growing smile. “It’s just, this is sorta a dream come true, y’know. So I’m a little out of it.”

Even in the crappy lighting of the phone screen, Willie saw Alex’s face go completely scarlet. Clearly fighting back a smile, Alex shook his head and returned, “Go to sleep.”

“Okay, okay, fine. Whatever you say, hotdog.” Willie giggled and ended the call, the image of Alex’s small smile imprinted on his retinas. Yeah, there was no way they were going to sleep anytime soon.

Just as they were starting to get into bed to at least try, there was a soft ping and Willie’s phone screen lit up. 1 message from Alex. With a soft smile, Willie unlocked his phone and opened up messages. There, in the familiar grey bubble, read the six most beautiful words Willie had seen in his entire life.

alex 🥁💜

[2:33AM]

it’s my dream come true too ❤️

-❊-

taglist (send an ask to be added): @deathdancer @julie-and-the-himbo-ghosts @willex-n-waffles @wlwcarries @girlboss-molina @julieandthequeers  @lemonade-potahto @honorablescythecurie

read on ao3

[no-gorms]

I guess this is a timestamp for Stuck in a...? Last week an anon asked what happens next in that ‘verse and a couple of days later my brain decided to come up with this short thing.

Steve/Tony, established relationship, a/b/o, fade to black (also on ao3)

+

Left to his own devices, there are few things that can throw Tony out of a workshop groove. Typical hard limits are hunger and exhaustion; softer limits are the occasional frustration at being unable to solve a problem and its opposite, the thrill of finding a solution that he then needs to show off or celebrate.

Then there is the other kind of distraction.

Today, Tony’s working on a pair of experimental rocket boots, which are balanced on a test gantry and awaiting power-up. It’s a straightforward test – a culmination of the morning’s work and is perfectly pedestrian right down to DUM-E’s concerned chirps from nearby with the fire extinguisher. Yet what seemed crystal clear a moment ago seems suddenly hard to pin down, the numbers slipping away from sense every time he looks at them, and forcing Tony to futz with the test parameters on his control screen.

It doesn’t help that his lower back aches. He’s been rubbing his knuckles against it absent-mindedly throughout the morning, though he’d mostly relegated it to a distant ignorable distraction until it travelled upward along his spine and is adding on to the pile of things that are not doing his concentration any favors.

Wait.

“Oh,” Tony says in surprise. “Huh.”

A heat, then. Maybe. He thinks it might be early, not that he’s ever been that good at cycle tracking. That said, Steve is good at cycle tracking and has called his past heats that they’ve shared together right down to a 36-hour margin of error, so the fact that Steve hadn’t blocked Tony’s whole schedule today means that it must be either early or a false alarm.

Tony tips his head back, sets his feet apart and closes his eyes. Rolling warmth immediately blooms out of lower stomach, sending him doubling over.

All right, it’s definitely a heat.

Which means that Tony can surprise Steve for once.

Tony grins. “JARVIS, where’s the good ‘ol Captain?”

“In the conference room, sir.”

“Great. Put a bookmark on everything, would you? Thanks.”

Tony liberally sprays himself with Axe (so his scent won’t give the game away) and leaves the workshop with a spring in his step.

It’s not that he minds having to handle a heat on his own – he’s done that often enough, and gotten suppressants for whenever it’s too inconvenient to bother – but having Steve on his team, as it were, makes the whole thing far more enjoyable. It’s an excuse to drop everything (workshop binge included) and spend time with his favorite person; who, coincidentally, thinks of Tony as his favorite person, and isn’t that just something?

Though Steve would likely protest with something like: do they need an excuse? They can just be together whenever they want to?

To which Tony would respond, but this is the universe purposefully reminding them to take a break from whatever else is going on and just be. Also, the accompanying heat-heightened orgasms are fun.

Tony has more of that make-believe argument with Steve all the way down from the workshop to the conference room floor. It does occur to him that he could go to their room first and set it up – snacks, liquids, change of sheets etc. – but surprising Steve feels far more urgent. Besides, they’ve gotten a pretty good heat/rut routine down by now, which only needs their cycles to settle in sync to be perfect.

But that’s a goal for another time.

Today’s goal has Tony sneaking up to the entrance of the conference room, from which he can hear Steve and other voices in discussion. Tony’s step falters a little as he parses the tones of their voices. Business-like and serious, though it can’t be that serious since they left the door open.

Tony considers his options. He backtracks the way he came and detours to the pantry that’s two rooms over. There’s coffee brewing there already, so he helps himself to a cup and is halfway through it before remembering that caffeine’s not a good idea before a heat. He’d never bothered with such things before Steve, and the fact that that thought has Tony feeling fond instead of annoyed says a lot.

“Fine.” Tony dumps the remainder of the cup, has some water instead, and trudges back towards the conference room.

“—it’s not enough,” Steve’s saying. “I’m sorry, but I’m not comfortable with this.”

“I don’t blame you,” Maria replies. “But we can’t keep the task force there. It’s recall or finish it.”

Tony’s a handful of feet from the doorway. He pauses there, hands on hips, and tries to will the meeting to die by ESP alone.

“I know a guy,” Clint says.

“You know a guy that I don’t?” Natasha says.

“All right,” Steve says. “How do you want to play it?”

Tony rolls his eyes at the ceiling and retreats to the wall just next to the doorway. He leans against it, arms crossed and the ache of earlier starting to creep down his thighs. Excitement of getting to see Steve apparently distracted him enough that he didn’t notice the slow, coiling warmth gathering down below.

Tony takes a deep, chest-rattling breath. His nose always gets more sensitive leading into a heat, and sure enough, he can make out the teasing curl of Steve’s scent in the air – familiar and calm and not close enough. When Tony shuts his eyes he can picture Steve’s form in crystal-clear mental definition: his brow furrowed and his arms crossed, a Captain America in full business mode and not expecting a diversion-in-wait a mere couple of yards away.

“—two-person show,” Clint says. “Any more and we spook them.”

Tony realizes that he’s rubbing his elbows against the wall behind him. He’s marking said wall, but he’s also working off the creeping itch under his skin. At this rate he’s going to start rubbing his face and other sundry body parts against the wallpaper soon. It’s nice wallpaper, and the Tower is technically his so he can mark everything as much as he wants, but the itch won’t be satisfied by that. It’s more likely that the itch will simply grow, and become intolerable, and there’ll be a Tony-shaped scent mark in the wall that’ll take forever to clean.

It occurs to Tony that he’d sped up his heat by coming out here to find Steve, who is right there. In the next room. When he could be in the same room as Tony, and preferably in Tony to boot.

Now that’s a nice thought.

It’s a very nice thought, in fact, and is further buoyed by some very nice memories that he and Steve have made together lately.

Tony realizes he’s panting. His gulps of air dry out his lips, and make him dizzy. He feels compelled, pulled, drawn.

He only realizes he’s started walking when he’s already taken a couple of steps away from the wall, his head tipped up slightly as though tugged through the open space by the invisible lure that is Steve’s presence.

Tony enters the conference room and, finally seeing Steve, makes a bee-line towards him. He also vaguely registers other people in the room but they’re mere shadows, distant and vague, and very unlike the solid, glowing figure of one Steve Rogers.

“Hey Tony,” Steve says. “I thought we were—”

He’s cut off when Tony reaches his target, flinging his arms around Steve’s torso and pressing his face against Steve’s neck. Steve is solid and warm, a wall of muscle that speaks to safety more than strength, and Tony breathes him in deep. There are a few inches of bare skin just above Steve’s collar, and though the skin has Tony’s scent on it, it is muted, which will not do at all. Tony rubs his cheek against Steve’s skin, in firm but small motions back and forth, while Tony’s chest does the same work marking up Steve’s torso.

“Oh, uh.” Steve takes a questioning sniff. “Ah.”

“Well, that’s your day gone,” Maria says. “Just let Barton take an away team—”

“No,” Steve says firmly, “this isn’t an excuse—”

“It is time-sensitive,” Natasha says. “Just saying.”

“I know, but—” Steve makes a surprised sound when Tony moves, sending his arms upward over Steve’s shoulders and wrapping them behind his neck. “Tony—”

Tony pulls. Not very hard, but just enough that Steve hunches over a little, giving Tony the boost he needs to bounce up and wrap both legs around Steve’s waist. Steve is, of course, a very smart man, and immediately has both hands under Tony’s thighs to hold him steady. Tony’s rumbling purr of approval lands at the soft skin of Steve’s neck, just under his ear.

“Yeah, you’re done,” Clint says. “Got a bad case of a limpet.”

“No, I want you to get in touch with your guy, find out what he can put together in 24 hours,” Steve says. Tony really likes the way Steve’s chest vibrates when he talks. He shows his contentment by tightening his grip around Steve, who pats his thigh twice in subtle acknowledgement. “The task force stays. You two put your pull-out plan to paper and send it to my email in an hour, before we even think of engaging.”

“An hour,” Natasha echoes.

“You’ll probably need longer than that to call it in,” Steve says, which has Natasha huffing in amusement. “Task force stays. Got it?”

“Got it,” Maria says. “I’ll pull the latest sat images. An hour, you said?”

“Yeah. Well.” Steve adjusts his grip on Tony and starts walking, presumably to a more private and agreeable destination. “Thereabouts.”

“Bye!” Clint calls out as they leave the room. Tony lifts one hand from Steve’s shoulder just long enough to wave.

When Steve next speaks, his voice is different. Softer, like the very bedsheets Tony hopes Steve’s taking them to. “You’re early,” he says.

“Your powers of deduction are astounding.” Tony tilts his chin up to nip at Steve’s ear, and is gratified by Steve’s shudder against him. Steve’s steps speed up to almost a run, jostling Tony as they move along. Tony grins. “Are you seriously going to take breaks to answer emails?”

“I can multitask,” Steve says tetchily. “Or at the very least, get you distracted enough that you won’t complain.”

“A challenge,” Tony says with a hum. “Sorry for interrupting the whatever, though.”

“Don’t be.” Steve stops walking, and removes one hand from under Tony’s thigh. There’s a click of the doorknob, and then Steve’s shifting his weight to toe the door open and bring them both inside. “I’m grateful that you’re comfortable enough to come to me like that. That’s, uh. It’s nice.”

Oh, so Steve likes that. Success.

Tony’s still grinning when Steve tosses him on the bed.

[mittensmorgul]

The Tumblr Beta Version: an objective analysis

I was tempted to just type “it sucks.” And while that is an objective analysis, it’s not exactly helpful. I’ve sent several requests to @staff and @support to restore my account to the old tumblr dashboard format, and received the same automated reply twice now. I’ll copy/paste it here so everyone is on the same page:

(lol, I had to go back and edit this, because apparently the beta version doesn’t display block quotes on the dash. So I’ve also put the block quotes in italics... hopefully it’ll display properly... note after editing: nope, it doesn’t display italics either... how the heck am I supposed to differentiate quoted text? I’ll start each quoted bit with an asterisk, I guess...)

*Thanks for reaching out about the beta dashboard.

*We're currently testing it out, and your account seems to have been selected to take part in the test. Thanks for your patience while we work on it! At this time there is not a way to opt out of testing. You may see your Tumblr experience return to normal as we continue testing.

WE CAN ONLY HOPE.

*In the meantime, check out some of the new features available only in the beta dashboard:

OKAY TUMBLR, IF YOU INSIST, though I would MUCH rather have back all the functionality I personally invested into this website through xkit... you know... making the site ACTUALLY FUNCTIONAL. Let’s see what this beta version has given me instead of functionality:

*Change Palettes: Go to the person icon, then click "Change Palette." You'll find the classic Tumblr blue, dark mode, and a few other color palettes for your dash.

So I tried out all the color palettes. In addition to the ones mentioned here, there’s one that’s trying to look like a green screen terminal that gives me flashbacks to the early 80′s. There’s a reason we stopped using green screen terminals... Another one is “canary yellow.” It’s very yellow. The “classic tumblr” isn’t actually classic tumblr... all the post boxes are dark blue with grey type, not white with black type. And all the other colors are the insanely bright fluorescent of the new Dark Blue standard tumblr scheme. Which means links are practically invisible unless I highlight them. It’s migraine inducing. The one theme with a light colored background is called “Concrete” or “Cement” or something like that and even that only works for about half an hour before the migraine aura really kicks in. I just want my Old Blue via xkit back. You know, what tumblr actually used to look like. I don’t want any of these horrible color palettes. None of them work for me.

*The new "meatballs" menu: This is where you can copy the post link, unfollow the Tumblr who made or reblogged the post, or report a violation to our Community Guidelines.

I could do all of this from the user menus with xkit, too. I don’t regularly report violations or have the urge to block people I have chosen to follow. Why on earth would I want to do any of this? And why would I want these features located directly beside the post link copy feature? 

You know what I do miss? I miss the xkit timestamps feature. I didn’t have to hover dangerously close to the KILL IT WITH FIRE meatballs menu in order to see when a post was made, and in this era of disinformation and misinformation spreading around this site faster than Covid-19, being able to see when a post was ORIGINALLY created is a far more useful feature than an easier way to block people. For reference: I currently have three blogs blocked. Two of them are pornbots. One is a nazi. If I don’t want someone’s content on my dash, I don’t follow them. This “feature” is entirely useless to me.

*A quick note: Pagination is not supported in this beta test, but we're collecting feedback to send to our engineers.

THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST. This beta test might actually be tolerable if I wasn’t trapped into endless scrolling. If I could page through my dash, refreshing it every ten posts or so. You know why? Because once I scroll about 30 posts down my dash, tumblr starts overheating my laptop under the load of ALL THOSE POSTS. Things start malfunctioning-- it takes longer and longer to load new posts the farther I scroll. And the keyboard navigation (both page down and hitting J to advance to the next post, and even just using the down arrow to scroll as I read a long post) freeze and stop functioning. One of my laptop fans has actually begun to malfunction.

You know why this wasn’t a problem on the old version? If the data load got to heavy, I could open a post in a new tab, click view on dash with xkit, and voila! Brand new tab! I could close the malfunctioning tab and everything would be refreshed to normal! But without pagination, THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

Also, after reblogging a few posts, the beta version of this site breaks, and doesn’t open a post tab to add commentary or even tags. It just... reblogs the untagged post with no warning whatsoever. You know... that’s really really not cool. I tag EVERYTHING. Well, almost everything. The tags are the only way to keep track of the 40k+ posts on my blog. And warn people that I am posting potential spoilers, or other specific content. It’s REALLY inconvenient to have to either immediately go to my blog to edit the post and add tags, or even comments. The alternative is to scroll up to open individual posts I want to reblog in a new tab, and then reblog directly there. Ironically enough, THOSE pages actually open with xkit installed, and everything (surprise!) functions perfectly there.

It’s perfectly reasonable to understand why this specific issue has limited the number of posts I reblog. Reblogging content should not be this much of a hassle. Creators have been complaining for a while that reblogs have drastically slowed down, and I think making it even more annoying and difficult to reblog posts will not help this problem.

Also, with xkit enabled, there’s a function that auto-loads images as you scroll, so the images are always visible BEFORE they appear on screen. I don’t have to look at the colored boxes and wonder if this is a post I’ve already seen or something I should sit and wait for. Don’t even think about watching tumblr videos. Loading priority is given to the ads that you cannot pause or dismiss, so that video loads and plays in choppy two second bursts instead of being given priority. Since that’s the content I am actually here to consume, it kinda makes me want to do the opposite of patronizing anyone who advertises here with graphically intense ads. And then when you scroll away, with xkit, gifs and videos you’ve scrolled past STOP loading and playing, which I think might be contributing to the intensity of the resource hogging that’s literally melting down my laptop.

And for reference, I have a pretty decent little gaming laptop. A blogging platform shouldn’t be driving it to the brink of frying itself. I didn’t realize just how much xkit worked to streamline this and provide basic functionality to this site.

*And lastly, if you're an XKit user, know that the XKit team is working hard to update things on their end to make it compatible with the beta dashboard.

And this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what I’ve lost without xkit. And this is a really REALLY garbage response to user complaints. “Oh, yeah, sorry we made our site suck even worse, but those nice people who do our jobs for free will surely fix our garbage soon!”

Dear wonderful people at @new-xkit-extension, I love you, and I miss you, and while I wish xkit worked with this beta version I’ve been forced into living with, I truly feel for y’all who are trying to deal with this nonsense on behalf of all of us.

And to the folks at Tumblr... maybe try to just... make your site actually more like xkit. You know, actually functional. None of these special new features are useful or functional to me. I respectfully request for a fourth time to be removed from this inane beta test.

Give us OPTIONS. Let us display ALL THE TAGS without having to click a button. Let me have back my Activity+ that actually allowed me to interact with people from my dash! That showed me real-time inline notifications in a way that I could reply to with a single click! Bring me back to my column of open messaging conversation icons so I have easy access to the people I talk with throughout the day instead of closing them all every time I refresh the page. I already feel socially isolated in freaking quarantine, please stop shutting off all my avenues of communication!

Let us have pagination! I mean, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to force heavy users of this site into a beta version that doesn’t allow us to opt out until your engineers had actually figured out how to make it work in a very basic way.

*Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!

YES. PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM THIS BETA TEST NOW. I have let you know exactly what I want from this site. I just want it to ACTUALLY WORK. For someone who spends 12+ hours a day on this site, this beta test version is NONFUNCTIONAL. PLEASE ALLOW ME TO OPT OUT. I AM LITERALLY BEGGING YOU. I WILL ACTUALLY PAY YOU CASH MONEY TO ALLOW ME TO OPT OUT OF THIS AND GO BACK TO HAVING A FUNCTIONAL BLOG AGAIN. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!

PLEASE! 

I AM OFFICIALLY AT THE END OF MY PATIENCE FOR ENDURING THIS NIGHTMARE.

(one final quick note... I’ve only been back on my dash long enough to make the parenthetical edits-- i.e. adding italics that don’t display and then adding the asterisks at the beginning of each section of quoted text, and already my laptop is overheating again. For reference, I originally typed this entire post from within my tumblr inbox page-- which still functions normally with xkit-- and spent over an hour on it. My laptop was fine the entire time. Clearly the issue is this beta version of the website. I will never forgive tumblr if y’all fry my literal only portal to the outside world at this time. PUT ME BACK TO NORMAL NOW. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING AND ENTIRELY UNACCEPTABLE. Thanks)

(oops apparently i lied... when the asterisks and the previous final note failed to display, I thought that seemed suspicious, and realized that I literally needed to refresh my entire dash in order to see edited changes. Funny how xkit enabled me to do that in real time, which is just another bit of functionality I’ve lost with this beta program. Please guys, this is really, really not working for me at all, just put it back.)

[ckret2]

So I've been deeply pulled into the Radiosnake pairing bc of your fantastic writing! Problem is, now I have fic ideas but no knowledge of the Hazbin background. Can you tellI me where I can get more Hazbin info? I've only watched the pilot and read your stuff. I heard there were comics??

That is an excellent question anon, because right now it is really hard to get Hazbin background easily.

Okay, so, the canon info on Hazbin Hotel can be sort of sorted into four tiers, from most to least canon.

Tier 1: The Definitely Canon

There is, of course, the pilot. And then there is an Angel Dust prequel comic, only seven pages of which have been released so far. We’ve been told it’s gonna be finished and we’ve had glimpses of in-progress prequel comics for a couple other characters—most prominently Alastor’s and Charlie’s—but so far that unfinished Angel Dust comic is the only one that’s been officially released.

Finding the in-progress comic pages is... a challenge. Nobody, as far as I can tell, has been specifically collecting all of the pages we’ve seen so far. I was able to scrounge up:

Couple more Angel pages

some Alastor pages

another Alastor page

a random Alastor panel

another random Alastor panel—I’ve seen the full page of this before, Alastor goes “Hello ladies!” and they go “HELLO ALASTOR~<3″ but I can’t find the full page now

There’s a smattering more canon panels on the artist faustisse’s twitter, but I haven’t dug them all out, and some of the posts I’m gonna link in a lil bit have a glimpse of another panel.

If you haven’t already heard of Helluva Boss, I recommend looking into it as well. It’s a second series being created by the same folks, different cast of characters but set in the same version of Hell, so any canon details we learn in Helluva also apply to Hazbin.

Helluva’s pilot is here. Plus a cute music video here.

Earlier this month, during a BLM charity stream hosted by show artist Ashley Nichols—she runs regular streams under the title “HuniCast”—they released a few sneak peaks of future Helluva scenes, all compiled here.

And that’s it for canon. Two pilots, a music video, a smattering of future scenes, part of one comic, a few WIP pages/panels from other comics.

Tier 2: Pseudo-Canon

Everything else we currently know about Hazbin (and Helluva) are things that the creators have told us. Consequently, they’re all pseudo-canon—and likely subject to change in the future as the shows and comics are further developed and released. Some details that were released/described in the past have been contradicted at other times, or else radically changed by the time the pilot came out.

(For example, when Alastor was first created years and years ago as an OC with no plans for Hazbin, he was a demon deer who could shapeshift into a human shape—now he’s a demonized human with a few deer traits. And Charlie and Cherri Bomb used to look very different.)

So until and unless they make it into canon, all these pseudo-canon details are subject to change and should be taken with a grain of salt—but, they also comprise most of what we know about the characters’ backstory and the as-yet-unaired characters.

Pseudo-canon info on Hazbin is scattered mainly between two sources: the creators’ twitter accounts, and livestreams where they take questions and talk about the making of the show. If you and livestreams do not get along (my ADHD and livestreams do not get along), or if you don’t want to wade years and years back into twitter accounts to dig up every scrap of info on the characters the creators have ever mentioned, collating all the pseudo-canon info is gonna be hard. (It’s gonna be hard even if you do want to sit through the streams and dig through all their tweets.) Lots of fans, me included, depend on the absolutely heroic work of various fans who are willing and able to watch hours-long streams and collate a list of canon factoids released during the streams. I’ve reblogged as many of these posts as I’ve been able to find:

Alastor’s sound design (on twitter)

Alastor's Sound Design (post I made with screenshots of weird—but very interesting—subtitles slipped into the aforementioned video)

Sir Pentious and Cherri Bomb’s sound design

Niffty and Husk’s sound design

Charlie, Katie, and Tom’s sound design

Intro song’s sound design

Happy Hotel’s sound design

details from Faustisse (including a pic of a couple costume designs. Most of these posts come from zatyrlucy, who’s been doing a fantastic job of going stream-by-stream to get lists of details from the regular streams by Ashley Nichols and by comic artist Faustisse.)

more details from Faustisse (including a pic of the Von Eldritch family dining room)

Faustisse 3 (better look at that table)

Dollymoon’s Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART ONE (Shoutout again to dollymoon for compiling these, we’ve never spoken but I am eternally grateful for this service. Dollymoon’s posts are THE single most reliable compilation of Hazbin Hotel’s nebulous pseudo-canon facts that I have found to date, including both links to the sources and timestamps where applicable. Dollymoon’s URL has changed since making this post so the “read more” link doesn’t work but the “source” or “reblogged from” links direct correctly to the new blog. Incidentally, the risk of other blog creators deleting their blogs/posts or changing their URLs is why in info posts like these, I always link to my own reblogs rather than their original posts—their original posts might vanish without warning, but I know I ain’t gonna delete my posts, so these links will still work in the future.)

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART TWO

Hazbin Hotel Facts - PART THREE

Faustisse 4

HuniCast - Australian Wildlife Relief charity stream

I think this was a faustisse stream (the original source deleted these posts, so the comic pages that were originally behind that read more cut are now gone.)

Faustisse stream 6?

And those are all the masterposts of factoids I’ve managed to collect. If anyone has more masterposts, chuck ‘em at me.

Even this isn’t all the knowledge that’s been released about the show. The posts that dig the farthest back are Dollymoon’s, and even they don’t comprehensively cover all of Hazbin’s production. A couple of these characters, Vivziepop created as a teenager, so there’s some truly ancient concept art floating around out there that will have details that probably aren’t canon anymore... but might still be until something happens to actively contradict them.

Tier 3: The Wiki

The wiki is kind of an absolute mess. It’s a chaotic blend of things actually seen in the pilots/comic, things mentioned at some point in some stream somewhere, and wild fan speculation based on what they headcanon as plausible based on the above, all mixed together with very little indication for which is canon, pseudo-canon, fanon, or speculation. Most of the statements on the wiki don’t have citations.

(And, on top of that, half the main characters’ info gets split up into separate tabs instead of just having a normal-ass wiki page, AND their image galleries are on COMPLETELY SEPARATE pages that are linked to in one of the tabs, and the most important characters all have TWO SEPARATE GALLERIES. Which doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of the facts hidden underneath those tabs, but nevertheless drives me up the wall.)

Some things on the wiki were added according to info released so long ago it’s probably changed by now. Some are possibilities that got reported as facts. Other things on the wiki have unambiguously changed, or else are just flat-out incorrect. (For instance, at this moment Alastor’s page still lists him as an overlord, even though it's been confirmed that Alastor is not an overlord despite his power level because he isn’t interested in and didn’t pursue that position, per this stream. For a little bit, somebody’s fanart of their headcanon human Alastor got added to the wiki as concept art.)

tl;dr: the wiki should never be trusted as a primary source. The wiki’s better than it used to be. Even so, at this time, it’s only trustworthy to fill in the gaps of what you already know is true from other, better sources.

The thing it’s good at is it more or less compiles all the known info all in one place. Trying to figure out who the hell this Vox guy is is really hard if you’re reading for mentions of him in compilations of a dozen different streams, much less if you’re trying to comb through those dozen streams yourself, plus a dozen more, plus three different artists’ twitters. In comparison, it’s really easy to, say, just go look at Vox’s wiki page, where all the trivia is compiled. (And Vox’s page is actually one of the better cited on the wiki. Look at all those numbers!)

So, if you need to find out who this character is you’ve never heard of before, if you want to see a full list of the thus far named characters, if you don’t remember whether Alastor likes coffee or tea, if you want to know what Angel’s twin sister looks like, if you need a reminder of Sir Pentious’s death year... check the wiki. It’s an okay starting point.

But, if you see a “fact” on the wiki that you yourself don’t remember from straight out of the pilot, and it doesn’t have a citation that links to a tweet or a stream... regard it suspiciously. And do not trust it unquestioningly as fact until and unless you have seen the source.

Tier 4: Noncanon Creator Shitposting

I’ve mentioned Ashley’s HuniCast streams a couple times. The biggest draw of them is that she usually gets several of the voice actors in the streams, where they’ll happily say nonsense in their character voices. For the most part, they’re not sharing any actual canon info they’ve been given on their characters, just goofing around pretending to be their characters. Nevertheless, a lot of the things that happen in streams get accepted as broad fandom headcanons, like Alastor being into dad jokes. (My favorite, for obvious reasons, is this one.)

It’s easy to find the source audio for all this wonderful nonsense by searching youtube for “HuniCast highlights,” and then rummaging around for animatics people make out of the audio. The only one noncanon video of this sort I can think of that didn’t originally come from HuniCast is a lone one from Alastor’s singing voice (who’s a different voice actor than his speaking voice).

So, obviously, none of these are canon. But they do come from some of the people actually involved in the creation of the show, and they are in the characters’ canon voices, so a whole lot of people treat them as semi-canon anyway. (Even the wiki lists “dad jokes” among Alastor’s likes, which to my knowledge hasn’t come up anywhere except for HuniCast streams.) Since they’re so broadly-known, they’re worth knowing about as important sources of fanon, even if you don’t want to adopt them into your own headcanons. They’re basically the same level of canon as blooper reels.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Jigsaw // Red: Part Three

You Had To Make It About Her 

A/N: Wow. Look at that, a whole month later and here we are FINALLY with part three. With Krista and Arthur out of his way, only two more names stand in the way of Billy’s revenge. What happens when he pays one of them a visit? (i would like to thank @something-tofightfor for assisting in this murder.) 

Warnings: murder, talk of suicide, blood, major character death, violence

Word Count: 4,021

“I told you, Agent Madani, I haven’t heard from Billy in-“ your words jammed up in your throat and he watched you swallow them down without a chaser. “Months.” Your eyes were focused somewhere just to the left of the camera, your hands beneath the table, hidden in your lap. He looked down at his own palms, turning them over. They were shaking, the lines of his knuckles stained a deep garnet red despite the cursory rinse he’d given them. “I have nothing…” your voice made him snap his eyes back to the screen, chest going hollow at the small crack on the word ‘nothing’. I did this…I did that to her. I hurt her like that, I- “I got nothing to tell you, Agent Madani.” You rolled your eyes up to meet hers, and though they were fogged with ache he could still see a spark of resiliency in them.

“Yeah, and even if you did, even if you had heard from him, you still wouldn’t talk, would you?” The second voice was flooded with venom, and though she was standing off camera, Billy could almost see her, coiled to strike like a viper. Fucking bitch. He was the reason that you had been dragged in for questioning, but she was doing her best to make sure that it was as unpleasant as possible.

You cocked your head to the side, a slight twitch pulling up your top lip as silent tears trickled slowly down your cheek. “No,” you said simply. “No, I wouldn’t.” The vice around his heart spun tighter at your bold display of loyalty. 

The click of high heeled shoes on the floor preceded the scoff as she paced on her side of the table. “And why, may I ask, is that, huh? What, you think-“ another scoff, and when she spoke again her voice was louder, closer to the mic, leaning in and staring you down. “You think he loved you? You think he gave a shit about you?” Billy’s nostrils flared, his eyes going wide and wild as he gripped the screen with his bloodied right hand. Who the fuck is she to…how dare she… He was glad he’d killed her, but after watching the videos he was sorry he hadn’t been able to draw it out longer, make it slow, make it worse.

“No, Agent Madani,” You placed your hands on the table then, leaning in yourself. You were never one to be easily intimidated, Billy knew that. “No, I don’t think he loves me. I know he does. Just like I know that I love him. And there’s nothing you could tell me that could change that fact. So, no. No, I wouldn’t tell you anything, even if I had anything to tell you, Dinah.”

“You’re incredible. You really are, I mean…” She paused and you narrowed your eyes at her. “You’re either delusional, or you’ve let him manipulate you into something just as bad as he is.” 

You didn’t say a word, pressing your lips together and giving a small shrug of your shoulders, trying to show her that you weren’t phased by her tactics, you weren’t swayed by her lies.

“He’s a goddamn murderer!” She finally lost her temper, the camera quaking as she dropped her heavy binder onto the metal tabletop. “I mean, you know that, right? Billy Russo is a stone cold killer, and you’re protecting him, you’re- you weren’t even the only woman in his life, doesn’t that bother you? Doesn’t it bother you that he and I were-“ Sick was an understatement as waves of acid crashed in Billy’s stomach at Madani’s implication that she meant anything at all to him, let alone anything close to how important you were to him.  

The door behind you opened then, a small, somber man in a dark navy suit stepping in and motioning to his agent to stop the recording, the video ending. This was the third that he’d watched, each one increasingly more aggressive, each separated by several weeks denoted not only by the timestamps, but also by the loss of color in your eyes, the growing unsteadiness in Madani’s voice.

Billy squeezed his eyes shut as the video file reverted back to a thumbnail image on the cracked, bloodied screen. He let the laptop slide off his thigh and onto the cushion beside him, his shaking hands falling between his knees. He turned the left one over as he opened his eyes, watching a thick stream of blood trickle slowly down his forearm, dispersing as it filled the lines of his palm. He followed it back up his arm to the graze wound on his bicep. He’d almost forgotten that he’d been shot, the pain completely erased by seeing you on the screen, hearing your voice. Nothing could possibly hurt more than losing you. Nothing could possibly cause him real  pain anymore.

 He looked down at his feet and grabbed the white plastic bag of tape and gauze that he’d stopped for on his way back to the warehouse, the memory of entering a store, making a purchase, and walking back completely absent. Peeling his shirt up and off, he used the gauze to wipe at the wound, cleaning the blood away from the torn skin. Both of Billy’s biceps bore small, faint pink lines, battle scars from badly aimed bullets. As he wrapped the cotton dressing tightly around his upper arm, dark red stain blooming on the thin white bandage, he could almost feel your fingertips tracing the old divots and lines. “No more of these, got it?” You’d say, dropping your ruby lips to the markings. He gripped the bandage, digits digging into the muscle, trying and failing to control his uneven breaths as a sob ripped free from his chest. He tightened his fingers, pulse throbbing against them and blood soaking into the gauze beneath his palm as he stared at the video files on Madani’s computer screen. Why did she have to…why did…

“No more close calls, Billy.” You’d press your cheek to his scarred skin before leaving another kiss there. “You gotta come back to me.”

 Anger flared in his gut as helplessness clawed at his heart, the two at war within him, culminating in a harsh, howling scream. He released his injured arm and used the good one to send the laptop flying into the brick wall. It crashed, erupting in a spray of bits of plastic and wires, letter keys scattering as what was left of the screen shattered. The sound echoed in the cold, concrete building, mixing with his shouts and the ragged, labored gasps he was taking. “Why did she have to make it about her?” He demanded of the air as it swallowed the noise and replaced it with silence once more. He stared at the remains of the laptop, the memory of another video playing itself out in his head.

 ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  .. 

“Okay, okay,” you giggled, hiding your face by pulling the scarlet Santa hat down over your eyes. The velvet and faux fur obscured your cheeks and nose, leaving your plump, smiling lips exposed. You pressed them together before grabbing the snow white pom-pom dangling from the pointed end and tugging it back up. “I’ve had a few glasses of eggnog, so,” you shrugged, another giggle tumbling free as you held up one finger and tilted your head to the side, your focus directly on the camera. “So be nice, Lieutenant.”

Christmas never really mattered to Billy- not since he was conditioned not to have his hopes lifted while living at the group home. It always felt superficial to him; the thin, chintzy dollar store wrapping paper covered in grinning snowmen and prancing reindeer, cheap red plastic coverings taped down to the card tables, the chipped trays of store bought, tasteless cookies. It was always clear to Billy that these things were simply props, for show. There was no thought put into the matchbox cars or wiffle ball sets, the dolls and yo-yos and donated items that got passed along to the kids. There was no added warmth in the room from the dated foil garlands or bare, bottle brush tree. There was no Christmas in the Christmases he spent there, so he learned not to need it, not to want it. If you don’t want something, you can’t be let down when you never receive it. Christmas was for other people. Until he met you.

You’d decorated your apartment the same way you had the previous year, your tree in the corner, filled with glittering lights and dozens of ornaments, red and green candies in a bowl on the coffee table, a wreath on the door. His heart lurched when he read the gold embroidery on the stockings that you’d hung on the wall beside the tree- yours on the right, older, well-loved, the fabric wearing thin in some places from being over-stuffed through the years, and his on the left, brighter, newer, only used once. Nervously fixing your hat one last time, you settled on your knees in front of the tree, and closing your eyes, you started to sing. “I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need…”

You were in no way a talented singer. Your voice broke and warbled, you were off key, and you even flubbed the lyrics at one point. But by the time you wrapped up your performance, Billy had moved himself as close to the screen as he could get, one palm pressed to the monitor as though he could reach through and grab you, pull your giggling form against his chest, kiss your neck until your song turned to sighs. He’d almost forgotten that it was sand, not snow outside his window.

You took a long sip of your eggnog, cheeks rosy from the alcohol and from plucking up the nerve to record your carol for him. Setting the poinsettia patterned glass back on the table, you spoke to the camera again. “I hope you enjoyed your private concert, Billy.” Your eyes widened then as your smile wrinkled your nose. “And I hope it was a private concert, and that Frank isn’t over your shoulder filling up on blackmail!” You dissolved into laughter, the sound sending a flush of warmth through him in the chilly pre-dawn desert. “Anyway, Merry Christmas, Billy Russo. Oh, and don’t worry, that wasn’t your only gift.” You pointed to an emerald green package wrapped in sparkling red ribbons that had been placed beneath the tree. “But you’re gonna have to come get the rest. You gotta come back to me, Billy. You’re all I want…all I ever want.” You’d wished him Merry Christmas once more, told him that you loved him, that you couldn’t wait to have him back, and then the video had ended with you reaching towards your screen to tap the button to stop the recording, and he was left in the communications tent, alone.

“Merry Christmas,” he said to his inbox as he closed your video attachment and logged off. He wanted to sit in that tent all damn day, replaying your video, watching you fidget under your hat, listening to your laughter as it interrupted your song. But his time was up, so he pushed back from the desk and stood with a sniff, clearing his throat.

“All good, Bill?” Frank clapped him on the shoulder. “Your girl send ya a nice Christmas message?”

He forced a smile, wondering how Frank had been able to spend so many Christmases, holidays, birthdays, so much time away from Maria, away from his kids, wondering how he was ever going to leave you again once he had you back in his arms. “Yeah, Frankie, she did.” He nodded to the monitor behind him. “I’m sure you got somethin’ just as good from Maria and the kids.” Frank nodded and grinned. “Merry Christmas, brother.”

..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..

Billy paced back and forth, staring at the debris of the laptop he’d taken from Madani’s apartment. He hadn’t meant to take anything. He’d had a very clear mission when he arrived in her parking garage, and he’d meant to stick to it when he found himself in front of her door; revenge, that’s it. One motive, one punishment to carry out, and then on to the next mission. Just like back in the desert- complete the task, fulfil the objective, await future orders. Knowing that the door would be locked, bolted, likely, Billy planted his left foot and cocked his right leg back, knee to chest. Might take more than one kick. A memory sliced through, and he saw himself, in a suit, undoing his tie as he fastened the locks and chained the bolt, with her behind him, already pawing at him. I can handle more than one kick. 

With a grunt and a shout, he forced all of his weight through the door via the boot sole of his right foot, planting it as close to the locking mechanisms as he could. The door frame splintered, a satisfying crunch accompanying the kick as the bottom two locks broke, clattering heavily to the floor. Billy nearly lost his balance at the door’s resiliency, but a quick shuffling hop righted him once more. He peered through the small opening and saw that the entrance was only being barred by a short length of chain. One more good one. He squared up again, knee smacking his sternum as his heel, then arch, then toes made contact with the weakened door, popping the remaining locks free from the destroyed frame, sending the metal chain scattering across the floor inside. 

The victorious feeling was cut short, as the unmistakable sound of a gun firing cut the air and filled his ears, a bullet ripping through the busted door and just missing him as he spun away. Alright. He pressed himself against the wall next to the door and took a deep breath through his nose. Alright, the bitch has a gun. You knew she’d have a gun, just get it out of her hands. Adrenaline pumped through his veins with every beat of his heart, the muscle working overtime to flood him with the necessary strength and steel to carry out the rest of the mission. Get it out of her hands and kill her. 

“Russo!” Her voice shot through the bullet hole in the door, two footsteps punctuating her presence. “I know you’re there, I know you are. Show yourself you piece of shit!” 

It was strained, cracking, uneven, her voice. It was scared, unhinged, broken like the locks she thought would protect her. She’s off her game. Not gonna be able to aim for shit. Billy waited another couple of beats, listening closely for any sign of movement or any clue that there was anyone else there with her. Five seconds of silence went by. She’s alone and she’s off. Go, now. 

Your face filled his mind in a flash of light, and for the briefest of moments he could feel you in his heart instead of the hate and the anger. But as quickly as you’d come to him you vanished, and he was reminded that you were gone in part because of the woman standing on the other side of this wall. He loaded up one more good kick, all the hatred and anger, all the rage and pain centralizing in the force of that kick to bring the rest of the door down with an inhuman scream. Before the door had hit the ground, she’d pulled the trigger twice. Billy had been right- she was off, her aim- if ever she had it to begin with- compromised by the situation. He took one bullet in the bicep of his left arm, through and through, the second one lodging itself in the remnants of the door frame. Feeling nothing but the pulse of adrenaline, he advanced on her as she clutched her weapon in trembling hands. 

“You had to bring her into it, didn’t you?!” His own voice sounded foriegn to his ears, the way that it was shaking and the tone that it took completely new to him. “You had to make it about her!” 

Madani’s eyes grew wide as she realized that she wouldn’t be able to get another shot off before his hands were on her. Billy saw her fingers freeze in terror as she tried and failed to squeeze the trigger again. He closed the remaining distance in one long stride, turning his palm outwards, fingers wrapping around the barrel she’d held pointed at his chest to push it away, two more shots ripping into the floorboards and drywall. Wrenching it free, he tossed the gun aside. Won’t be needing that, not for this one.

“Answer me Dinah, goddamnit!” The hand that had disarmed her grabbed at her throat, the other wrapping around one of her wrists. “Why, huh? Why’d you have to drag her into it? She’s dead because of you now!” He hadn’t noticed the tears gathering in his eyes, and they surprised him as they fell onto her face as he held it inches from his own. 

“I...didn’t…” she choked out against the pressing of his fingers on her trachea. “You...did, Billy...You...she died...because of...you.” 

“Shut up, bitch!” Spittle, tears and sweat flew from his lips as he throttled and shook her. She’s right. It’s your fault. “No! No. No...I loved her...I loved her and she’s...she died because you wouldn’t leave her alone. She was safe! You kept pushing, and pushing.” With every word he spoke his grip tightened. “You shoulda just left her alone!” A mad sob tore through his vocal chords. “You shoulda let her forget me...it’s me you wanted, right Dinah?” With that question, he pulled back to look in her eyes, and the fear that he saw there was nearly as satisfying as the sound that the door made when he parted it from its hinges. “It’s me you wanted. And here I am, just like old times, huh?” 

She tried to shake her head under his grasp but the force that he held her with stifled her movement. “Fuck you, Russo, you’re not getting away with this. Frank’s on his way and-” 

“Frank?” He cocked one eyebrow high and regarded her with mock curiosity and a sadistic smile. “Frank’s on his way?” The smiled dropped like a ton a bricks. “No shit, Dinah. I know that!” He shouted into her face again until she whimpered from behind shut eyes. “I know that you called your little dog to come deal with your garbage. But I’m gonna be long gone before he gets here.” She tried to shake her head again, this time a small cry coming from her throat. He released her wrist and covered her mouth, palm pressed against the hot breath spouting from her damp lips. “Oh yes I am. And so are you, come on.” 

Blood soaking through the sleeve of his shirt and dripping down his forearm, he dragged her by the face, fingers digging into her cheeks and causing her to bite the insides of her mouth. She tried like hell to grab onto anything- the couch, the doorway to the hall, the walls themselves. Billy turned his head in time to see one of her fingernails snap from the nail bed as she tried to claw at the textured wallpaper. But he was stronger than she was, gunshot wound or not. “Oh, come on, Dinah, we’ve done this before, you and me.” She splayed her legs out at the entrance of the bathroom, digging her heels into the carpet and catching them on the marble tile. Billy huffed. “Shoulda done this then, better late than never though for a goddamn bitch like you.” He scooped her up, flailing limbs doing little to hinder him, and dumped her hard into the stark white porcelain tub. 

Wincing and whimpering in pain and fear, she crept back into the corner of the bathtub, cradling her head where it had hit the hard surface, but Billy didn’t let her get out. He held her down with one hand, using the other to start running the water, soaking Madani’s pants. “What are you doing, you sick son of a bitch?!” She spat at him, blood from where she’d bitten her cheeks mixing with saliva and landing on Billy’s chin. 

He wiped it with his elbow, a smear of his own blood, dripping down his arm marking his face. “Just getting you cleaned up, Dinah. Like last time.” He pulled a knife from his jacket- the one he’d pocketed when he’d scored himself his new threads- and flicked it open. The water thundered from the faucet as he stared at the blade. “You know, they say that suicide rates are highest among the more stressful profesisons. Doctors, lawyers…” he raised his eyes to hers then, her body half submerged, steam rising in foggy clouds. “Law enforcement.” He gripped the dampened curls at the base of her neck and dragged her face close enough to speak into her ear. “I thought about doin’ this after I killed your partner, Dinah. I shoulda. No one would blink at an agent killin’ herself after she fucked up and got her partner killed. But I didn’t. And I been livin’ with that regret ever since that night on that fucking carousel. When I saw her. Behind you.” He pulled back, still grabbing her hair, feeling a few strands come free under his fingers. “I shoulda. But now I will. And no still… no one’s gonna blink at an agent cuttin’ her wrists after her ex-lover freed himself from the loony ward and started off on a killing spree.” 

Hurry up, you don’t have that much time, Frank’s comin’. He reminded himself not to get carried away by the theatrics of revenge. Kill the bitch and get out. She’d dissolved into a crying mess, muttering the word “no” over and over and over. “Weak. You’re weak, Dinah. It’s why you couldn’t kill me. Why you couldn’t take me down on your own...why you needed to get her involved, why you need to call Frank...you’re weak. And no one’s gonna blink at a dead, pathetic, weak bitch.” Before she could say another word or move another muscle, Billy dragged the sharp edge of the knife against the underside of her forearm, opening it from wrist to elbow, the water swirling a bright red ruby color before deepening, almost to black. She gasped, her chest spasming as she tried to gulp at the air, but Billy made quick work of her other arm before curling her fingers around the handle of his blade. He rinsed his fingers quickly before shutting off the tap. Without blinking, he stood from where he knelt beside the tub, and left her there for Frank to find. 

He was all set to leave the scene having completed the task, when the laptop that had fallen from the kitchen counter in the fray caught his eye. It was open, the cracked screen displaying a file of video clips. Normally he wouldn’t notice. Normally, he’d stride right out the door and down the emergency exit stairs, pulling his hood up and hiding his bloody hands in his pockets. But these files were labeled with your name. These files were displayed with thumbnail images of you, and it knocked the air from his lungs. He reached out slowly, placing his hand on the screen as his heart ached and burned. He whispered your name in the dead agent’s house, and immediately regretted speaking it there. Closing the screen, he grabbed the computer and the sleek black phone that had tumbled to the ground with it, along with the gun he’d stripped from Madani’s hands. 1 Missed Call - Unknown blinked at him, and he stuffed the phone in his pocket, and headed into the hallway, looking over his shoulder as he lifted his hood and made for the stairwell. 

He’ll call back. Frank always calls back. 

.

@something-tofightfor @its-my-little-dumpster-fire @suchatinyinfinity @gollyderek @thesumofmychoices @obscurilicious @traeumerinwitzhelden @jigsawlover10 @getlostinyourparadise @breanime @nananananananananananabatman @lexxierave @songforhema @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @lysawayne @roses-in-your-country-house @ymariejp @belladonnarey @audreychaz @songtoyou @stories-you-wont-hear @luminex3 @ificouldhelpyouforget

Please let me know if you’d like to be added or removed! 

[shineonmalcolmbright]

Shine On, Bright: Chapter Twenty

Table of Contents

Past

For somebody who saw ghosts, he realized he needed to start believing in them seeing how the room was so full of life and yet his father saw none of it. He heard none of them.

Malcolm bumped elbows with the probable ghosts while he stood stuck in the middle of the barroom as his father’s friend was sitting right there, right in front of all of them, he was drinking beer in front of them. Malcolm had even seen Mr. Watkins talking to him and talking to Ainsley and talking to Martin and talking to Gil.

A little bell rang as the doors opened. Malcolm moved into them then looked at his notebook, it’s not open but maybe it was something he should note. Somewhere in the pages about the stranger things happening at the Overlook Hotel. With one hand, Malcolm began to open it up and with his other hand, he bumped a button to visit another floor to find some peace, up there was a shared area overlooking the hedge maze. The doors closed with a ding before it clicked away sending him up to the fourth floor.

Malcolm continued to flip through his notebook, he pushed his pencil behind his ear and stopped because something was written in shaky handwriting. He touched the words for no real reason other than maybe it’d help bring him closer to them.

All it said was: Be careful.

No further explanation.

Malcolm pulled his hand away to grab his pencil to leave a question mark by it only to see red smear across the page. The iconic reddish-brown of blood smeared across his page. He looked at his hand to see his fingertips were drenched in blood yet there wasn’t any pain.

The elevator rang.

Its doors opened startling him.

It knocked the notebook to the ground and he stood stock still because he stood in blood. It flooded the elevator. Splatter ran up along the walls. Each button was smeared in it. Then the floor, right where he stood or if he stood anywhere, he was lost in a thin puddle of blood. It shimmered under the lights like little puddles that caught too much oil after the rain.

Before he could get out, the doors closed and starting to click away all over again. The elevator brought him back to the first floor. At least there was a library waiting for him. It was as if the elevator wanted to scoot him off or away from the above floor and to be honest, no problem. Malcolm slid out looking at how blood tracked across the faux marble floors. He went into the little pretend library dropping his stuff and stood there. Blood was smeared all across his research. It stained the floor and he needed-he needed a restroom. He needed water to wipe the blood off his hands.

At least one waited in the lobby, didn’t take long. He returned, finding his notebook opened to a different page. Even though he held a few paper towels in hand, the blood trail disappeared. Some newspapers and a scrapbook sat out waiting for him. It was information he found tucked away into corners as if the Overlook wanted him to understand pain. The pain he avoided though was the pain locked up underneath them all in the boiler room.

Hey! No fair! Ainsley’s voice rang out, sounded like she was down the hall a bit. It’s my turn! I’m the swan princess this time, not you!

Imaginary friends were growing tougher and tougher. Malcolm looked from his notebook to the next thing he wanted to start going through. It’d all be stuffed into a folder marked L, E which meant nothing to him. But as soon as he opened a scrapbook. Somebody cut out the same face over and over again off milk cartons, flyers, articles, and more. The same woman looked back at him with the same word hanging out around her, Missing.

“Missing persons case,” Malcolm whispered to himself about to write it down on a new bloodstain free page except something else on the page already caught his attention. It’d been written so small and so light as if it weren’t meant to be found. Malcolm needed to squint to make it out better.

11/08: Woke up in library. Thought I went to bed. 11/09: Woke up in ballroom (?). Remember going to bed. Mother said something to sleep better. Don’t remember falling asleep. 11/10: Is it possible to not remember falling asleep but waking up? I feel like I haven’t slept for days. Ask somebody about it. (Would Gil know? Where did Gil go?)

None of those words. . .Malcolm couldn’t remember writing any of them down. It was as if he had sliced up film for a brain, something he needed to piece back together but it didn’t even make any sense to why or how any of it was happening. As if the hotel was eating him up from inside out.

Malcolm added:

11/11: Woke up in bar, heard music, heard voices. Father found me, we talked, said to talk to him, didn’t hear all the noise. Ask him about it later?

At least his father was smart, he had to be smart seeing he was a surgeon and all or something along those lines.

Underneath, Malcolm started a new page about a new story of the Overlook. He wrote Missing L, E because a name wasn’t listed. When he turned the page, the scrapbook was covered in a collage of security footage. He leaned forward, looking at the grainy images. All appeared to be moving in order as if he could take a flipbook, move through them to make his own animation.

The missing girl was running down a hallway, she kept looking over her shoulder, she went into the elevator, it looked like she hit all the buttons and leaned into the panel. The doors stayed open and open and open with her there. Either it was a mistake with the same image on repeat or she waited that long. Little timestamps in the corner said otherwise. He could trace them all.

11:05; 11:06; 11:07; 11:09. Then L,E looked out at 11:11.

She looked both ways in the hallway but there were images from 11:11 in the hallway, nobody was there. It played out the same way across all the images. Just buttons were lit up, the elevator moved. One by one the button lights went out and each time she looked into the hallway and nobody was ever seen. Then she left the elevator.

In a red pen, somebody circled her and noted: Last known image.

What did he even write down? What even was the purpose of all this research? His pages were filled with such tragedy. There was this story to accompany the last caretaker killing his two daughters, Alexei and Alexa Grady, his wife, and himself. At some point, he found a several page article in a magazine all about them, but it hung out somewhere else in his little research area or downstairs.

There was also a story about a mother who took all seven of her children to the roof one day begging them to jump. Nobody knew whether they jumped or not, it was either they jumped or were pushed because one by one they all died, splintered on the pavement before she made a run for it. She went missing for about two months until somebody went into the boiler room and found her hanging from the ceiling there.

Stop. . .STOP IT ALEXIE! NO! Ainsley interrupted his thoughts again.

Malcolm glanced at the doorway before back at his notes. A shootout happened at the place, one with lurid details about the mob, which he had no idea was a thing until he read the articles about how all of them had been shot, slaughtered inside the presidential suite.

AAAAAALEXIE!

Rather than sit around in some casual loneliness, Malcolm got up to ask Ainsley to be a little quieter. If either of their parental units heard her yelling, they would have terse and harsh words with her about her actions. Only out in the hallway, Ainsley was standing by her little big wheel bike, the sort tots loved as she was tugging at a ball hanging in the air.

“I found it! It’s mine!” Ainsley yanked with all her might and fell backward, she crashed into the big wheel sending it spiraling. She groaned in pain and Malcolm stood there staring at her. She hung out there, upside down hugging the ball to her chest.

“Ains. . .who. . .who are you talking to?” Malcolm asked.

Ainsley rolled her eyes and sat up using a hand to rub the back of her head. And Ainsley retorted, as if he were the stupidest person in the entire world, “Uh Alexie and Alexa! Who else?”

Good question, who else because the only girls with those names Malcolm could think of were dead and besides, they were all alone in the hotel.

[kyotakumrau]

2019.06.27 sukekiyo x DRESSEDUNDRESSED at Nakano SUNPLAZA -setlist and report-

無限の歪な可能性  Endless distorted possibilities ただ漏れる卑猥な愛の形　A form of indecent love that simply leaks out

-video-

01 偶像モラトリア���

02 猥雑

03 沙羅螺

04 アナタヨリウエ

05 純朴、無垢であろうが

06 kisses

07 elisabeth addict

08 aftermath

-video-

09 白濁

10 dorothy

11 君は剥き出し

12 本能お断り

-instrumental session-

13 濡羽色

14 anima

-session-

15 ただ、まだ、私。

16 憂染

17 漂白フレーバー

.

This was different. Even being told so, I don’t think anyone expected this kind of performance. Old sukekiyo intertwined with new sukekiyo, new ideas and new collaboration.

As announced on twitter upon entry we received a leaflet and a small sealed programme.

After arriving at my seat (but actually already going through the door to the audience area) I could see that there was a new concept - the curtain was down but in front of it there was a table covered with a long white cloth. There were five plates and wine glasses, utensils, 3 lit candles on each side. There was something red and shiny on the plate in the middle - apple? small glass ball? One chair stood’ behind the table.

I was planning to watch the show without seeing the programme, but because of the table I broke and had a look. The programme introduced the collaboration with DRESSEDUNDRESSED and asked us to fully experience the result.

BGM kept the atmosphere of the tour with Dead Can Dance.

Also, there were quite a few cameras, but I don’t know if it was enough for a fully fledged release.

Then the theater buzzer sounded for the second time and lights went off.

They started with wind chime sound, it was very dark but I noticed two silhouettes walking from the sides of the stage towards the middle, one person from each side. They wore black suits and had their whole heads wrapped in white cloth, so we couldn’t see their faces, anything. They also had white cloth hanging from the front pocket of the jacket.

With piano melody the front screen started to show the performance credits, the video was kept black&white with an addition of one red geometric element per frame, it included the images of a ballerina on a wooden floor.

In the credits video all band members were sitting behind the table, looking dispassionately ahead. But on the stage two clothed people reached the table and one of them sat down, while the other stood behind. The standing person bent and put their hands on the head of the seated person, tenderly. The seated person took the red ‘apple’ and held it, caressing it. They both wore black leather gloves. They stayed like that, glued to each other head to head, like some kind of weird embrace, so soft.

When finished the clothed people just stood up and slowly walked off the stage, in the separate directions. Theater staff wearing black suits and black cloth wrapped over their heads removed the table carrying it to the left side.

With the use of the screen in the front and darker stage the old feel of sukekiyo’s hall performance was back. And more than ever it brought with it the feeling of separation between the audience and the stage. It felt a bit unreal - you knew there were the real musicians behind the screen but it felt like a movie. It was so well done.

And as always when watching sukekiyo’s seated performance I felt so much adoration and respect towards Mika - the videos he prepares are always absolutely breathtaking and today was not an exception. The way they enhance the feelings, the amount of details, the timing. Everything was really perfect.

In silence the first guitar notes from utA resounded in the venue. Guuzou moratorium had a video with various images of Jesus Christ, including the crucified Christ and the thorn crown. Japanese lyrics were composed into the images. Kyo sang using the microphone on his stand, which means standing with his back to the audience. But the video also included him singing - was it live or made beforehand??? I’m guessing beforehand but the make up and outfits were exactly the same as they wore at the venue.

(my further guess is that they prepared the videos during the break between Fukuoka and Sendai - YUCHI’s new hairstyle is a good timestamp! ;))

Stage presented had a front screen, a back screen and of course stage itself. Again bow towards Mika for creating an incredible effect merging those dimensions together.

All band members were wearing black suits today. They had different shirts etc, but all of them had jackets. Kyo’s had a very specific details - a huge sparkly letters (diamondy/glittery) CHA NEL on the front of his jacket, and a long black scarf attached to the left side, the scarf was hanging flowing together with his pants leg.

For THE WAIZATSU (which started with the huge title on the screen, was it neon pink? And there was so much light!) the front screen went down and Kyo sang holding the microphone in his hand, facing the audience. He wore very dark red lipstick and heavy eyeliner, he smudged the lipstick while dancing during Waizatsu (on purpose and then he matched the Kyo from the video). Kyo again danced with YUCHI who came to the center, intense!

Sharara - during the phrase 心書き綴り 私は存在する Kyo makes a person shape with his hands, a curvy shape? The guitar solo by Takumi is awesome, if you like it on the CD you will die when you hear it live!

Anata yori ue had a video with glittery lips, the lyrics were flowing from the right side to be then ‘sucked’ in by those mouth.

The piano intro in Junboku is heavenly. I also love the video, it started with water and rain images in the beginning to change into fiery red when the song escalates to return to cooler, water-themed imaginary.

Kyo danced and sang, YUCHI was jumping and headbanging a lot. utA made his signature moves, 'stomping’ and leaning his head back when moving arms. Takumi kept switching between keyboards.

The show was getting more and more heated, to be honest I had a good way to cheat the staying still but not really - I placed my bag on my lap so I could keep my hands behind it and tap (silently!) to the rhythm. I’m sorry, I just can’t do it otherwise 🙃

During kisses Kyo sent kiss with his hand twice, at the time of singing 'kiss’ and at the end of the song.

The drum and guitar to introduce elisabeth, oh it was wonderful to hear them! 😭 utA played on violyre with his guitar resting on his back. YUCHI moved closer to the centre and played his upright bass, Takumi sat to play on the acoustic guitar. Kyo was standing in the middle, singing using his mic stand.

And then aftermath!! So many feels😭❤

The stage went dark and I could (barely) see that the members left the stage. But a soft piano melody and a video started on the front screen. We could see all members sitting at the table with candles and plates, just like the table that was on the stage before (from left Mika, utA, Kyo, Takumi and YUCHI). They were in a darker room, it had film noir atmosphere, especially that the video was black and white. There were side tables with more candles, plates with food.

Then the two people from the start of the show came into the room and stood in front of the table. The scene kept changing, as the people came close to each other and they started to touch each other tenderly, suddenly in the next shot all sukekiyo members had black fabric bags over their heads, next shot they were gone (this repeated one or two more times). The people started unwrapping the white clothes from their heads, but they only removed some layers. We could now see the outline of their jaw, lips. Band members continued to just sit there, detached. The two people started to undress each other.

One person was more delicate build, while the one on the right was taller. Under their business shirts they wore simple white t-shirts, but they had black roses (?) on them, they matched, the taller person’s image flickered and for a moment his roses changed to white. They took those t-shirts off as well. Finally they were in their underwear, socks and black shoes, black leather gloves and the remaining white cloth over their heads. They were truly faceless and could seek other roles than the ones decided by their clothes.

Suddenly the taller person was holding a piece of cloth that turned out to be a very simple white bralette. The more slender person put the bralette on. They embraced and kissed.

The scene finished with the shot of an old fashioned lamp with a shade, then last focus on a pictureless frame on the wall.

As the video ended Hakudaku started. 顔のラインを変えて 少しばかりはアノ子に似せられた？ こんな私で御免 汚れて行く価値観

Next was Dorothy… it actually had a disco ball. But only on the video, not the real one!😂 But the atmosphere is set, the rules of the game changed, the world of pleasure inviting.

Kimi wa mukidashi started with the intensity of the red screen, red light continued while the screen in the back showed various scenes. One of them was a couple kissing, they were painted with fluorescent paints in all colours. Then the 'rain’ mid song had lights changed to cool blue only to return to red as the music gets more intense. The 'good day’ appeared on the back screen as Kyo was singing. Scathing.

Dancing continued in Honnou okotowari. YUCHI was doing all the shouts. This song had red effects on the screen that looked like lighting or fire, swirling and moving.

The silence followed as sukekiyo members moved to prepare for a session. Kyo picked a new addition to his equipment - he used a mouth controlled synthesizer.

When I was trying to google the name my first search was 'instruments used in horror movies’… it wasn’t on any list but after hearing their session I think it should be added there!

Takumi was on piano, YUCHI on bass, utA on guitar and Mika played middle tempo. The melody was very jazzy but the addition of the sounds from synthesizer made it eerie, unsettling.

The video screened during the session showed a broken room, bare walls with paint and even plaster coming off, some bricks visible. There were two tall windows, set of two sofas, empty. Everything was black and white.

The clock ticking like sound started Nurebairo, the stage was mostly dark, the main source of light was Kyo’s mic stand shining cold pink on him. Kyo slowly unbuttoned half of his shirt to show his chest, his heart.

And anima… melody pulls you in but the singing breaks you.

Takumi played the last piano notes Kyo cried それでも私 側にいていいですか？ and they continued, piano and crying.

I can’t hope anymore, my love doesn’t change, my heart broken who can I live for? I want to be loved, I want to enter your heart So scary, I cry, in pain, alone I want to live

Then came the acceptance and control of oneself. Tada, mada, watashi has such strong message.

During Uso the front screen became a wet window from rain we looked through. The back screen had various scenes, from a woman walking in the poppy field, cherry trees, river, sea waves caressing the sand; a lot of nature scenes. Band members were bathed in a warm light. It was such a soothing scene, serene. A goodbye.

As Hyouhaku flavour started the front screen went up and the band just kept playing, Kyo singing, playing theremin and dancing as in a trance. Then suddenly theater staff brought the table back, this time accompanied by 5 chairs. Kyo kept dancing.

Instead of walking off the stage as was done before, sukekiyo members one by one took a sit behind the table, YUCHI after putting his bass on the floor, utA left his guitar, Kyo turned and took a step to sit down, last Mika and finally Takumi stood and walked towards the table in silence. Kyo picked up a silver spoon and started playing with it, holding it up, it was catching light.

The wind blowing sound and soft piano melody started again (very slow arrangement of tada, mada, watashi melody). On the back screen ending credits started to play, tour name, dates with venues, band members and all the staff.

At the same time the two people came back as well, mostly undressed as in the end of the video, again from the opposite sides of the stage. They came to the table, the slender person wearing bralette sat first, moving with grace he placed his legs, in socks and black business shoes one by one on the table. The other man soon joined, sitting across from him, their position mirrored.

They again embraced, started kissing and tenderly touching each other. Caressing each other faces, even though still covered by cloth, arms and legs. They kept going lower, until they were lying down, holding each other legs, kissing them. sukekiyo members just sat through this behind the table.

But then, in the end Kyo stood up and took one of wine glasses. He slowly started to spill the content over the people on the table. It was red, looked quite sticky. He took one more wine glass and repeated it, creating splashes of red on their bodies.

The back screen showed FIN then curtain went down and usual piano ending started. Audience gave a fierce applause.

It was truly unforgettable.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, early February 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles I came across since the late January report, although some may be older than that. Report is a bit short because I was sick this last week; don’t worry, I used hand sanitizer before typing this up, so you are all safe 🤒

I am currently looking into setting up a new ecommerce business forum where we can discuss this sort of news, as well as any day-to-day issues we face. I need some good suggestions for a cheap or free forum space that has some editing tools, is fairly intuitive for inexperienced members, and is accessible. If you have any suggestions, please reply to this post, email me on my website, or send me a tweet. (I will put out a survey once we narrow this down to some good candidates, but if you have any other comments on what you want from such a forum, please include those too!)

As always, if you see any stories I might be interested in, please let me know!

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Searchmetrics says Etsy did quite well [podcast & text] in the Google January Core Update, while both Amazon and Walmart lost a little bit. “Who won January? I’m going to say Etsy. Etsy has really done a tremendous job [with Google visibility] over the last two years. Sure, they’ve been on the winning side of the algorithm update, but consistently, being in that a position, from my experience, isn’t by chance.” Here’s more analysis listing the US winners and losers, including by subject category (sadly, not shopping sites). Marie Haynes says that the update likely targeted sites that aren’t properly disclosing affiliate links, as well as some pet health sites. 

Since a quarter of Americans have a disability, your website, your products & your marketing should be more accessible. Lots of good ideas in here! 

ETSY NEWS 

TOU alert: Etsy has banned the sale of spent bullet casings (often used as craft supplies). It’s not clear why. There is a thread from a seller whose listings were pulled here.

The 2020 wedding trends blog post is one of those pieces that is useful to sellers & buyers alike, and is also good for Etsy because it attracts outside articles and links. Some trend & keyword info of interest: ”there has been a 171% increase in searches on Etsy for bridesman items and a 72% increase in searches for best woman items”... “searches for ‘70s invitations increase 18% and searches for disco ball items increase 18%” ...”24% increase in searches for bridal jackets and a 4% increase in searches for women’s pantsuits” …”searches for reused, recycled, or reclaimed wedding items increasing 7%” in the last six months (compared to the same time the previous year).

Etsy released its annual diversity & inclusion report on January 29, getting some media coverage along the way, for example here, here and here.

Reverb hired David Mandelbrot as their new CEO; he most recently ran Indiegogo. (Etsy bought Reverb last year.)

The 4th quarter 2019 results will be out Feb. 26. I am currently planning on doing my usual summary thread in the forum. 

Decent overview of product photography for beginners, with some pointers on what Etsy wants you to do with photos. For example, “The recommended size for listing images is 2000px for the shortest side of the image, and a resolution of 72PPI.”

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

So you know what Etsy tags are, but you get confused when people talk about tags for search engines? Read this beginners guide to SEO meta tags. (not needed for Etsy shops, but it is terminology used by some website builder sites, as well as coders of course.)

Data provider Jumpshot will be closing due to the controversies over the revelation that their parent company Avast (the anti-virus software) provided user activity to Jumpshot while perhaps not always fully disclosing this to the users. This will affect some SEO tools that relied on these click stats to generate estimates for traffic & search term use, Hitwise & Moz among them.  “In all likelihood, Avast took the action to protect its core business, as multiple articles, including from Consumer Reports, called out the company for its data collection practices, while some called for the uninstallation of the Avast software. This is probably as much PR damage control as it is driven by any principled position.”

Forbes appears to have been hit by some Google search issue, but it happened later than the Core Update, so no one is sure what is going on.They were previously penalized for selling links, but that was years ago.   

John Mueller listed all of the big Google search news from January in this almost 9 minute video. Click to see the detailed info under the video, because they helpfully summarized the important topics by timestamp, and linked to text resources as well. (Some of it is technical/coding relating; you have been warned!)

There may be another big Google ranking update happening right now (Feb. 9), as tracked by Search Engine Roundtable. Check that site over the next few days for any updates. 

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

The time you send your marketing emails matters, although it’s going to vary more than this article lets on. Keep track of your own stats. 

Debunking some myths about Instagram, including the importance of your follower count. “...your follower count isn’t the most important metric on Instagram. Your engagement rate is. Your engagement rate (which is found by calculating the number of engagements you receive divided by EITHER the number of people who saw it OR your total followers, depending on who you ask) is crucial.”

If you use the app Social Captain for Instagram, be aware that your Instagram password was publicly available in the source code. 

Facebook’s algorithm has a lot of different factors controlling who sees your posts, including actually having conversations with others, and including “quality, original videos.”

Facebook’s revenue was up 25% in the 4th quarter of 2019, to $21.1 billion, but they expect the privacy controversies to cut into growth this year.

Pinterest is testing an augmented reality tool called “Try On” that allows users to see what they will look like with specific lipstick colours. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Google Shopping Ads will soon be shown in Gmail accounts, YouTube and the Discover feed, starting March 4th. Note that “Retailers have been steadily shifty more of their search budgets from text to Shopping ads.”

A comparison of Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads, with plenty of tips. According to them, if you are seriously considering one, you should probably do both. “When we talk about Facebook, we’re also talking about Instagram, What’sApp, and Facebook Messenger. Google also includes YouTube, the second-most trafficked site in the world (behind Google itself).”

Google’s revenue was up 17% in the 4th quarter in 2019, almost all of it from advertising. YouTube makes more on ads than Amazon does. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

eBay released its 4th quarter results for 2019 on January 28, with revenue down 2% and gross merchandise value down 5%. Amazon’s sales were up 21% for the 4th quarter. 

BigCommerce now allows customers to check out in over 100 currencies, integrated with several different payment processors. 

Wondering what a good conversion rate would be for different ecommerce pages? Here’s a brief overview of the known stats, with some tips on improving.. (Note that any action can be counted as a conversion, including signing up for an email list, so this isn’t just about purchases.)

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Are you marketing to Generation Z, or think you should be? Here are 52 facts (with the citations); some highlights: Gen Z has more members than millennials do, and “As of 2020, Gen Z makes up more than 40% of U.S. consumers.” and finally “When shopping online or in stores, 65% of Gen Z prefers to see as few items as possible out of stock” (that last one explains a feedback I received, I think LOL Kind of hard on Etsy when you might have a listing with multiple choices & you only have the one left.)

A study of Cyber Week email open & click rates shows that it might be better not to mention the holidays or discounts. 

This article warns consumers of the tricks ecommerce sites use to nudge people to buy more, including some clear examples of deception. “A study by Princeton University and the University of Chicago singled out online clothing seller Fashion Nova, which tells customers that items in their cart “are in high demand.” The problem? The message appears for any item that’s added to the cart. Fashion Nova’s cart also tells shoppers that their items are being “reserved” for 10 minutes. But nothing happens to the items after the 10 minutes are up.”

MISCELLANEOUS 

YouTube wants Clearview AI’s face recognition program to stop scraping its videos for content, and to delete anything it has already collected. (Twitter did the same last month.)

[uiruu]

lol Anthony Fantano mentioned Loona’s XX album in a “Y U No Review” video he did yesterday (timestamp 11:16)

And like, he said it was good, it was fun, but felt kinda too “cleaned up” and stuff in the way that a lot of kpop and just pop in general nowadays is, and he just kinda left it at that

To be honest like I get what he means. idk if this is a controversial opinion but... like.... it’s good and I loved it and will listen to it more, but its not a good Album. It’s a good collection of some songs but not an Album. It feels like it’s just Butterfly plus some b-sides, which is kinda the case anyway. I mean, b-sides that I love a lot and think are interesting, but b-sides nevertheless. It doesn’t feel like a cohesive album with strong point after strong point, it feels like Butterfly and things that serve to complement the mood and tone set by Butterfly. And that’s fine, that seems like the go-to strategy for kpop? Like they definitely don’t do albums the same way we do here. XX has 5 tracks and one single. Again, that’s not bad, it’s just hard to use it as a selling point if you aren’t already invested in the group, and it doesnt show the full range of what they’re capable of, because how could it? It’s only 5 songs and a 50 second intro track lol. The way Loona releases music doesn’t fit the format of the way Fantano reviews music, I don’t think, outside of when he does track reviews, and music videos aren’t really his wheelhouse. 

However, if Loona released an album that was just like 8 or so of their best music video songs, with a couple other tracks to flesh it out and help the album flow naturally, I think that album would kill, and I think someone like Fantano would praise it highly. The production on Loona songs is so interesting, and I know I’ve talked about that a lot in the last couple days, but I really feel like Loona is the music lover’s kpop group. If you’re into choreography and filmmaking there’s a ton for you there too, because both of those aspects are also really top-notch, and if you’re into the fandom of the members and stuff and you look up to them or idolize them or whatever there’s that too, but like... If you like music and you like music that experiments and plays with sound and genre and changes up your expectations and is very rich and vivid with color and noise, and you’ve been unable to get into kpop or you would like to try it out, please check out Loona lol. But instead of the XX album, I would much more recommend just their music videos at first, and pay attention to the production and instrumentals as you do so, and just all the artistry there.

I know it’s kpop and the girls don’t write the songs, but that usually means it’s some executives doing fuckin market research and shit to see whats popular in America who write the instrumentals, or they just come up with a checklist of what the next big single needs to have... But I just cant shake how Loona doesn’t feel like that at all. Like, its kpop, its bright, its fun, etc, but there's a surprising amount of versatility and creativity. They could get away with a ton less production than they have, but most of the songs are so dense with noise... like they take a basic skeleton of a pop song, with a catchy and danceable beat, and then just sort of throw things at it, adding little bells and whistles all over it, adorning it with little background melodies and interesting soundscapes. Is soundscapes the right word? Probably not lmao, I just mean the character and feel of the sounds, the mood they set and the sort of world and image and vibe it takes you to in your head. 

And honestly like, I’m so new to Loona (like only maybe a month into them), but I’ve been a fan of experimental and interesting music for a loooong time, so like, I know that this individual album isn’t mindblowing. Loona is quickly becoming a powerful force for me, a group and sound I really respect artistically, but like, I don’t think id put this album anywhere near my top ten, because, as I said, it doesn’t feel like an album, it just feels like a main track with a couple b-sides. 

So, I’m of two minds about this. Three, I guess. 1. I really love Loona and even though he brought attention to them still by doing this (and that’s cool), I wish it was a positive thing and I think he missed out on something I think is up his alley by not diving into their broader discography. 2. He can’t really dive into it though, because he reviews albums, not discographies or individual music videos, and also he doesn’t have time unless it’s in album format, he’s a busy guy. And so, based on its own merits as an album, yeah I wouldn’t probably do a full review thing of it either if I was him. and then 3. Fantano isn’t the be all and end all of music criticism, and I have a lot of issues with him (though less than I used to, I mischaracterized some of his views in my head. not all of them though, there’s plenty of stuff that comes to mind that i do disagree with, but not like dealbreakingly egregious stuff i guess. he’s just kinda liberal. lefter than a lot of democrats, but he’s definitely still a democrat through and through) So like whatever lmao, I know this doesn’t matter at all, he’s just one dude, but he’s turned me on to so much music that I love and honestly my thoughts about the intricacies of Loona’s music come from learning to think more critically about music I listen to after watching his videos over the years, and I’m not alone in that, so he has a huge platform of people who probably will check out something if he says its good. Not necessarily that people just follow him blindly, but that he introduces people to a lot of stuff they’ve never heard of, and a positive review of something unfamiliar to me might warrant me giving it a try even though it’s a little embarrassing to say I found a lot of my favorite music through this Bernie-bro socdem 30-something memeguy. But yeah, ultimately, I don’t care that he didn’t review it or call attention to it or even that he wasnt a huge fan, I just had a lot to say in general.

[bitcoincodereview-blog]

In Wake of ‘Major Failure,’ Bitcoin Code Review Comes Under Scrutiny

“Shock” is perhaps the word that best describes the mood ever since one of bitcoin’s most severe bugs was discovered and patched last week.

As the community reels over the vulnerability that was hiding in the code for two years, and that could have been exploited to print more bitcoins than the 21 million is hard-coded to be produced, developers are wondering: Is there a way to prevent such a severe bug from being added to the code again?

Bitcoin Code Review

Days after the discover, there hasn’t been any formal proposals. But that’s not to say the event hasn’t prompted discussion about how bitcoin works and how similar bugs in the cryptocurrency’s most popular software implementation, Bitcoin Core, can be identified and resolved in the future.

It’s an important question, too – What if a malicious actor had found the exploit first? What if there are other hidden bugs in the code right now?

To this point, pseudonymous bitcoin subreddit moderator ‘Theymos’ urged the community not to forget the bug.

He argued it was “was undeniably a major failure” in a widely-circulated post, adding:

“If all of Bitcoin Core’s policies and practices are kept the same, then it’s inevitable that a similar failure will eventually happen again, and we might not be so lucky with how it turns out that time.”

That said, there’s an argument to be made that Bitcoin Core, powered by an open network of global participants, now has a more robust process for code review than at any time in the technology’s history.

Right now, the implementation has more developers than ever contributing to the open-source codebase. And it is tested quite a bit; by one estimate, tests make up nearly 20 percent of the codebase.

The community’s ‘fault’ Still, developers argue more could be done to make sure the digital money works smoothly.

Theymos thinks one avenue would be to build “more sophisticated” tests tailored at locating severe, but hard to find bugs, like the one last week. “Perhaps all large bitcoin companies should be expected by the community to assign skilled testing specialists to Core,” he continued, adding:

“Currently a lot of companies don’t contribute anything to Core development.”

Bitcoin Core contributor James Hilliard stressed much the same, suggesting that developers can increase the “amount” and “quality” of testing. Though, this might be easier said than done. Bitcoin Core contributor Greg Maxwell agreed in Theymos’s thread that testing is important, but the quality and detail of the tests is important.

“Directing more effort into testing has been a long-term challenge for us, in part because the art and science of testing is no less difficult than any other aspect of the system’s engineering. Testing involves particular skills and aptitudes that not everyone has,” Maxwell said.

This sort of expertise is hard to find.

“Bitcoin development is largely bottlenecked by code review and there are not a large amount of people out there who are able to do that,” Hilliard told CoinDesk.

Yet, many others believe the responsibility shouldn’t only rest on developers. A common sentiment shared was that as a decentralized project with no leaders, keeping bitcoin free of errors is a shared responsibility.

“My main problem with a lot of the backlash is people pointing at specific developers to assign blame. The entire project is open, there is no ‘membership’ and users have just as much of a responsibility to audit code as developers actively contributing,” pseudonymous bitcoin enthusiast Shinobimonkey told CoinDesk.

Such a sentiment was shared by Bitcoin Core maintainer Wladimir van der Laan who tweeted, “It was wrong that the buggy code was merged. Yes, we screwed up but the ‘we’ that screwed up is very wide. The whole community screwed up by not reviewing consensus changes thoroughly enough.”

Chaincode engineer John Newberry agreed. Even though he didn’t write the buggy code, he argued that as a developer in the bitcoin world, he played a role in the error, too, by not looking closely enough.

He went as far as to say that the code in question had looked funny to him. Yet, he assumed others had already checked.

“Instead of verifying for myself, I trusted that people smarter and wiser than I am had it covered. I took it for granted that someone else had done the work,” he stated.

Multiple Bitcoin Cores Still, some argue there will always be a risk of bugs.

“There’ve been bugs in bitcoin before and there’ll be bugs again. It’s just software. There’s nothing magical to it,” tweeted Blockstream COO Samson Mow.

Along these lines, there’s another popular idea floating around.

Today in bitcoin, there’s one main bitcoin software, Bitcoin Core, run by 95 percent of bitcoin nodes. (At least that’s according to one count – interestingly, there’s no way to see every bitcoin node, because some nodes want more privacy and don’t advertise their existence to the rest of the network.)

One idea, then, is to make more bitcoin code implementations. That way if one implementation has a disastrous bug that crashes the network, the other implementations could still be fine, keeping bitcoin as a whole running.

And to a certain degree, this already exists. There are lesser-known code implementations, such as Bitcoin Knots and Btcd. Elsewhere in the cryptocurrency world, this is becoming the norm. For instance, ethereum has two dominant implementations, geth and parity, each of which can be used by anyone running the software.

Still, many bitcoin developers worry that adding more than one implementation could introduce problems that would be even worse than last week’s vulnerability.

“What many people do not realize is that having people run different implementations makes it easier for attackers to partition the network,” Bitcoin Core contributor Andrew Chow argued in a conversation outlining the pros and cons.

As such, developers don’t necessarily agree on exactly what needs to be done.

Theymos perhaps put it best when he said:

“I don’t know exactly how this can be prevented from happening again, but I do know that it would be a mistake for the community to brush off this bug just because it ended up being mostly harmless this time.”

Metal shield image via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

SecurityBitcoin CoreBitcoinBug

Staking Isn’t Just a Way to Earn Crypto Money – And It Shouldn’t Be Jake Yocom-Piatt Jake Yocom-Piatt Jun 22, 2019 at 09:30 UTC  Updated Jun 22, 2019 at 09:32 UTC OPINION Jake Yocom-Piatt is the project lead for Decred and the creator of btcsuite — an alternative full-node Bitcoin implementation written in go whose source code has been used in several notable projects.

Staking is money you don’t want to miss out on — simple as that, right?

While most cryptos today are trading 70 -90 percent below their all-time highs, staking is making what looks like easy money, scoring coin holders up to 30 percent rewards. More and more people are paying attention, with staking touted as the best way to make semi-passive returns in a bear market.

Coinbase is launching staking support, and new staking coins are cropping up to compete with the established players like Tezos, Dash and Decred.

It’s not really that simple. Staking is getting attention for all the wrong reasons, and it’s time to re-examine its role.

Misconceptions around how it works and why it exists will have lasting consequences if expectations aren’t set now. Projects that implement any form of proof-of-stake (PoS) need to plan for long-term sustainability, not just the immediate future.

If You’re Going to Stake, Stake Right Staking is evolving from being a semi-passive reward, to becoming a powerful incentive for participating in governance. Projects that plan for the future will figure out how to incentivize active participation, while those who elect a set of governors based on the quality of their kickbacks won’t last.

Choosing to stake on the right projects for the right reasons is the best way to earn rewards.

Proof-of-Work (PoW) was introduced on bitcoin as a block validation method to timestamp transactions without the need for a trusted third party. PoW has an established track record with bitcoin securing its network using energy. People began exploring PoS as a way to use less energy to do validation “work.”

PoS is more accessible and decentralized, empowering coin holders, who “stake” coins to “forge” blocks by maintaining an online wallet or node.

Staking started as just another method for recording transactions securely, but it’s constantly evolving. Some implementations are a hybrid with PoW, while others add delegates who either receive votes from, or are empowered to act on behalf of, the group.

Staking for Rewards vs. Staking for Participation As Zaki Manian, co-creator of Cosmos, pointed out in an interview with CoinDesk, “[P]art of the dynamics of proof-of-stake is how frequently do people just vote to give themselves more money?”

In this scenario, coin holders collect exorbitant rewards without putting in any work.

Staking has been erroneously portrayed as the crypto version of a bond. While there are projects that don’t require any more work than staking funds for a reward, this approach is ultimately unsustainable and will get participants who thought they could “park and earn” into trouble.

It’s not unusual for projects to employ a toothless charade for centralized parties to claim they’re not in control. These systems are often overly complicated and characterized by confusing procedures and non-binding voting, which in practice discourage voter participation and lead to voter apathy.

When it comes to participation, several staking projects have voting on treasury spending — projects like Dash, Decred and PIVX are paving the way in governance where the community participates in project-level decision making. Decred’s participatory voting feature, for example, allows token holders to vote on everything from protocol decisions to choosing to hire its PR firm.

Today, staking spans a gamut of implementations beyond locking up funds, from ensuring the security of a blockchain to changes in consensus rules. PoS doesn’t necessarily imply governance, but its incentive structure combined with governance has radical implications for participation.

Staking for Rewards and Power With the right incentives, staking can not only return rewards, but also give you input on a project’s future direction. When staking your coins, they usually go through a lock-up period while voting — rules on this vary from project to project.

After voting, you get your coins back as well as a staking reward.

If you vote against the project’s interests, while you’ll still get the immediate staking reward, over time you’ll feel the negative market effects of bad decisions like an all-expenses-paid stakeholder’s ski trip to Switzerland. In a system that gamifies decision-making and other processes, voting on decisions has a longer-lasting effect beyond earning an immediate staking reward.

Staking governance is powerful because it embodies a philosophical underpinning of the crypto movement: the belief humanity’s accepted forms of large-scale decision-making aren’t working well.

Staking aims to put that into practice — in crypto in the near term and on a societal scale in the distant future. This means eliminating corrupt intermediaries in favor of peer-to-peer interaction, and shirking representative democracy in favor of direct voting.

Individual sovereignty is tantamount; if you have skin in the game (i.e. are financially invested), you should help determine the direction of that game. But with that comes the responsibility of making informed decisions, and not necessarily trusting anyone else is going to make them for you. If you want to participate in staking long-term, you need to understand a project well enough to stake it.

If you want to have a say in how a project is run, you need to stake one that incorporates your sovereignty as a user. To participate, you need to keep up on changes to its consensus rules and actively vote for what you believe is best for it.

Staking can yield significant rewards, but to simply receive compensation for voting sets up a poor alignment structure. Coin holders must understand the responsibility that comes with locking up their coins and use it wisely — and only then enjoy the fruits of their labor.