#i will just read all my science reviewers and then go to sleep

[sleepless-crows]

i feel like ive done all that i could to prepare for the exam and i dont know how thats supposed to make me feel

[storm-angel989]

Hello!!

I was wondering if you could do a Val x daughter teen reader.

- She’s super duper sleep deprived (yawning every other 5 minutes and it’s so obvious she’s fighting to stay awake), and relies on a crap ton of energy drinks to keep her up and going. How would Val, Vel, and Vox react to finding out about this?

Hi Friend,

Thank you so much for your patience <3

As all three of the Vee’s very well know, sleep is so important. They want to see Reader succeed, but not at the expense of her own health. So take a peek at what happens!

Enjoy!

<3 Mandy

My official bedtime is eleven. I crawl into bed at two. 

My day started at 4:30.

Get up. Drag myself to the gym. Lately, I’ve been listening to my textbooks on audiobook while I run because I, for the life of me, can’t get my brain to retain any of the information. My first sip of an energy drink is paired with water as I frantically scramble to scrub my hair and get dressed in my uniform before I need to leave for school. 

Seven thirty. Skip breakfast in favor of the second energy drink of the day. Slide into my homeroom seat exactly six minutes before the bell rings. I can’t be late, or else I risk getting kicked off the water polo team. 

School ends at three. I lose track of how many energy drinks I buy, how many cups of coffee I consume. All I know is it’s easier to study and drink coffee than it is to study and eat. And midterms start tomorrow. 

Practice starts at three thirty and by the time I get in the water, my week and a half worth of cramming for midterms is starting to catch up to me. It’s all I can do to stay awake, and unlike the other girls, I’m grateful for the freezing cold water. 

This routine had been mine for the past two weeks, and I was exhausted. Cramming for exams always sucked, but this time around felt harder than most. 

“I just need to review one more chapter,” I promised myself as I climbed into the limo. The ache in my head matched the heaviness of my eyelids and I let out another yawn. “One more chapter, and then…”

Out of habit, I pulled out my exam schedule. I felt my heart drop and jolted awake as I read through the test list for the next day. Fuck. Science was tomorrow. Not history. I hadn’t even started to review science.  I opened up another energy drink as I stared into the eyes of what would be another all nighter. As the last drop of liquid entered my body, I could feel my heart beat- an uncomfortable buzz. I tried to ignore it as I exited the limo and trudged upstairs. My mind blurred as I went through the motions without remembering exactly what I was doing. 

“Ah, princessa, I’m glad you’re home,” my father’s voice floated across the room. “Your Uncle Vox just finished making dinner. Come sit.”

“I can’t, Daddy, midterms start tomorrow,” I replied through a yawn. “I have to study, I mixed up…”

“You can’t study on an empty tummy. Your body needs fuel,” my Aunt Velvette replied.

Her tone told me I wasn’t getting out of it. I dropped my backpack and hazily made my way across the living room. I stumbled but caught myself on the table. I could feel all three sets of eyes on me as I righted myself and slowly sank into my chair. 

“Babygirl, are you feeling okay?” Vox asked as he pressed his hand to my forehead. “You don’t look good.”

“No, no you don’t,” my father added. “Did you eat before practice?”

I tried to remember but the memories of the day wouldn’t come. I shrugged in response. 

“Have you been drinking?” Velvette demanded after a moment of silence. She crossed her arms. “You’re stumbling, you’re pale, you’re slurring your words, something is wrong.”

“No! I’m just, I’m really tired,” I protested as I tried to bite back a yawn. “Midterms, they're tomorrow and I..I need to study. I can have another energy drink, maybe that will help.”

I went to push myself up from the table and felt the heaviness of Vox’s hands on my shoulder hold me in place. His other hand reached over and clicked on my VoxTech watch. 

“When did you go to bed last night?” My father asked gently. 

“More importantly, how many energy drinks did you have today?” Vox asked. 

Unable to hold back, I yawned. “It's midterm week, I dunno. Guys, I have to study, I…” 

I watched all three of them exchange glances. Vox hit a button on my watch and they both looked at their phones. Alarm spread over each of their faces.

“No. You’re not going anywhere except to bed,” my father said firmly as he stood up. 

“Dad, no, I’m…I’m fine..” I started to protest as he lifted me into his arms. “Daddy, I’m sixteen, lemme go…” I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes as I tried to push myself away from him. 

“Mhm, yeah, you’re right, you are sixteen,” he replied softly.

The next thing I knew, he laid me down in my bed and pulled the covers over me. I felt the weight of his body on the bed as he sat down next to me. 

“Close your eyes, ninita,” he said softly. “You need to rest.”

Under the warmth of the covers, snuggled in the comfort of my bed, exhaustion swept over me. Unable to fight, I sank into a deep, dreamless sleep. 

It could have been days, or hours later. As I slowly came to, the red digits of my alarm clock flashed. Eleven thirty am. Panic rushed through me. Late! I was so late! I sat straight up, but before I could swing myself out of bed, Vox’s hand pushed me down. 

“Hey, hey kid. Calm down. Relax, you’re fine,” he said soothingly.

“No, Uncle Vox I have my history midterm today, I have to go, I’m so late!” I babbled as I tried to push against him.

“You’ll make them up, deep breath,” he replied evenly. “It’s okay, I promise. I’m going to let your Dad and Vel know you’re awake. If I let you go, will you please stay down?”

Slowly, I nodded as the panic began to subside. He released me and sat down on the bed next to me. A few moments later, the door opened and they both walked into the room. 

“How are you feeling?” my father asked. 

“Better? Dad, my midterms, practice, I have homework,” I began.

He held up his hand. “Stop. Take a breath. Uncle Vox called the school. Your midterms are rescheduled for two weeks from now. Lots of time to study without you running yourself down to nothing.” 

“As for homework and practice, you don’t have to worry about that until Monday, which is when you’re allowed to go back to school,” Velvette added. 

“Allowed back to school? What the fuck does that mean?” I asked. 

“It means you’ve been asleep for almost a day and a half. It’s Thursday, sweetheart,” Vox said gently. 

Panic washed over me. A day and a half? I slept for a day and a half?

“See, the problem with sleep deprivation is that it catches up to you. No amount of energy drinks or coffee can fix the issue. The only way to feel better is to sleep,” he continued. “And it appears that you, little girl, pushed yourself to your max.”

“And could have done some serious damage to your body in the process,” my father added. “So this is how the rest of this weekend goes. You’re going to the doctors to get checked over…”

“Why? I was just overtired,” I protested. 

“No, you were exhausted. And you consumed so much caffeine your heart rate and your blood pressure were sky high,” Vox answered.

“Your Aunt Velvette, Uncle Vox and I have been taking turns sitting with you just to make sure you were okay,” my father added. “So no. A checkup is not negotiable. We’re also going to have a discussion with the doctor on the importance of sleep and the negative effects caffeine can have on the body. Anyway, after you get the all clear, you are going to spend the weekend resting. You can watch movies, study for a few hours, I don’t care. But when your body is tired, you need to sleep. Otherwise, you’re not going to recover from this.”

I felt myself deflate. “Am I grounded too?”

“Call it grounding if you want, but you’re staying home all weekend,” my father replied calmly. 

A thousand protests raced through my mind. I had an away game this week. I needed to keep in shape. I had projects to do and laps to swim. But as I studied the concerned expression on my fathers face, I realized that nothing I could say would make them change their minds. The creeping feeling of exhaustion swept over me and I yawned as I settled back against the pillows. 

I felt lips press to my forehead and I snuggled back under the covers. Maybe a bit more sleep wouldn't hurt.

[bradleysass]

Exam Season- word count: 595 - Jegulas

James Potter was a force of nature on a good day, all wild hair and endless energy. But during exam season, he was a walking hurricane.

Regulus Black watched him pace the shared kitchen of their apartment for the third time that morning, muttering formulas and historical dates under his breath while sipping yet another cup of coffee. The mug in his hand was emblazoned with Best Boyfriend Ever, a gift from Regulus, and it seemed permanently glued to his hand.

“James,” Regulus said from the kitchen table, where he was reviewing his own study notes. “You’re going to implode.”

“I’m fine,” James replied, his voice way too chipper for someone who hadn’t slept in days. “Totally fine. I just need—” He paused to down the rest of his coffee. “Another cup.”

Regulus frowned, standing and intercepting James before he could reach the coffee maker. “You’ve had twelve cups today. Twelve, James. That’s not fine. That’s cardiac arrest waiting to happen.”

“I have three exams tomorrow, Reg,” James said, waving his empty mug as if it proved his point. “And I’m so close to understanding quantum mechanics.”

“You’re studying political science,” Regulus deadpanned.

James blinked at him. “Yeah, but it’s all connected, right?”

Regulus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sit down.”

“I can’t sit,” James protested. “If I sit, I’ll fall asleep, and if I fall asleep, I’ll—”

“James,” Regulus said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Sit. Now.”

James hesitated, his brain clearly too fried to argue effectively, and finally slumped into a chair. Regulus took the mug from his hand and set it on the counter, far out of reach.

“You need a break,” Regulus said, pulling up a chair next to him. “And actual food. When’s the last time you ate something that wasn’t a granola bar or instant ramen?”

James scrunched up his face in thought. “Uh… does coffee count?”

Regulus groaned. “Unbelievable.”

He stood and rummaged through the kitchen cupboards, finding the ingredients for a quick pasta dish. As he cooked, he kept one eye on James, who was now trying—and failing—to read his notes. His head bobbed forward, jerking up every few seconds as he fought sleep.

“James,” Regulus called softly, setting a plate of pasta in front of him.

James blinked blearily at the food, looking like he might cry. “You’re the best boyfriend ever,” he mumbled, digging in.

“I know,” Regulus said, sitting across from him with his own plate. “And as the best boyfriend, it’s my job to stop you from killing yourself with caffeine and stupidity.”

James grinned around a mouthful of pasta, his eyes already brighter. “You’re so bossy.”

“And you’re impossible,” Regulus shot back, but his lips twitched in a faint smile.

After dinner, Regulus all but dragged James to the couch, shoving a blanket at him and turning on a mindless TV show. James protested, mumbling about flashcards and study groups, but Regulus ignored him, sitting down and pulling James’s head into his lap.

“You’re going to rest,” Regulus said, threading his fingers through James’s messy hair. “No arguments.”

James let out a contented sigh, his eyelids drooping almost instantly. “You’re too good to me,” he murmured, his voice already thick with sleep.

“Someone has to be,” Regulus replied softly, watching as James finally succumbed to exhaustion.

And as James snored lightly, Regulus leaned back against the couch, a small smile tugging at his lips. He’d make sure James survived exam season, even if it killed him. But for now, they both deserved a moment of peace.

[guusagi]

MCR Fanfic Rec/Review List #2

Welcome in!

I recently created a long mcr fanfic rec/review, that you can find here. This post is a continuation of that! Less introductory yapping in this one, I promise. I read a lot more fics since writing the initial rec/review list, and I just HAD to make another one. Please give all of these a chance! This took longer than I expected oops...

Ships: Frerard & Fun Ghoul/Party Poison, Gerard/Bob Bryar (yep).

AUs: Office Workers, Gardening Services, Ghost/Paranormal, Superheros/Radio Show Host, Murder Mystery, and more!

Without further ado these are my picks!

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The Science of Sleep by chimneythunder

Rating: Teens and Up (there is smut near the end) Pairing: Frerard & Frank/Party Poison Main POV: Frank AU: Modern World/Danger Days Status: Completed with 9 chapters and 93k words Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883120 My Summary: Frank is living a boring office-job life, but one day he starts having reoccuring dreams about a certain apocalyptic California...Little does he know, they aren't really dreams after all! He also meets an artsy guy at a coffee shop that is somehow connected to all of this? Frank dreams start taking over his waking life...what is really going on here?! Personal Thoughts: This fanfic was really fun!! I was surprised with how unique the premise is here. Frank travels to the Danger Days world everytime he falls asleep, and reading about his journey from thinking it's a dream, to figuring out it was reality after all was super entertaining (this isnt a spoiler as a reader you know its real). I also love the portrayal of everyone in this story, especially Ray and Party Poison, they're just so fun and believable! I can't stress enough how original this story is, honestly a super fun take on the usual Danger Days AU! It also has excellent writing and pacing, can't beat that!

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Living for the knife by drunkonyou

Rating: Teens and Up (no smut) Pairing: Ferard Main POV: Frank AU: Superhero Frank x Radio Show Host Gerard Status: Completed, oneshot with 50k words Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41442144 My Summary: Frank is what you would call a superhero, after rescuing Gerard from being mugged by a mysterious man and saving his life, he almost quits being a superhero due to the trauma of that night. Inspired by his rescue, Gerard starts a radio show where he discusses what Frank is up to, and his listeners share their experiences, theories on what his secret identity is and...ultimately lots of false rumors as well. One day, Gerard recieves a weird listener on call who claims to know who this hero really is...and that he wants to come back for more. It looks like Frank is going to have to rescue Gerard once again! Personal Thoughts: This is a shorter fic, however it felt really long in the best way! I was super invested in the plot of the story, and Frank suffers SO much in this one, it's really sad actually. The relationship Gerard and him build is super cute, who doesn't love a classic rescuing scenario?! I don't have tons to say about this, but the atmosphere is super cool and film noir-esque! Radio show host Gerard is an excellent idea all things considered, please give this one a read!

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Shadowplay by findingsaturn

Rating: Explicit (smut near the end) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Frank AU: Ghost/Witchcraft/Vampires & Murder Mystery Status: Completed with 27 chapters and 147k words Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20872241 My Summary: Frank lives in a small town, where magical occurences such as ghosts, ghouls, witches, vampires and the like are part of the norm. He works as a paranormal investigator alongside Ray. One day on a particularly brutal case, they are tasked to find out what happened. Little did he know, it would be the start of a huge conspiracy and a unique relationship! Personal Thoughts: Wow I can't use fancy enough words to describe how I feel after reading this fic. It's honestly in the top best-written ones that I've had the honor of reading so far. The intrigue and mystery is amazing, Frank's relationship with Gerard is just..so tragic yet beautiful, you really feel for the characters in this story. Everyone went through different tragedies in their lives. And the slowburn uuugh uuuuughh.. please give this one a read! It was also surprisingly scary, the atmosphere was real creepy and some of the later scenes are super TERRIFYING! Otherwise, I loved this one so much I'll read it again someday!

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The Best Part of My Day by pixie_revolver

Rating: Explicit (there is smut in the middle and end.) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Frank AU: Office Workers! Status: Completed with 14 chapters and 63k words Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45339874 My Summary: Frank works at an office, and one day bumps into a person he had not seen before and spills coffee over himself!.. This person is also the most gorgeous person he had ever seen, and fell in love at first sight! We follow Frank's shenanigans as he tries to learn more about his crush, while also being teased relentlessly by his coworkers. Will he get the courage to learn more about Gerard..? Personal Thoughts: This fic was short but SO fun! I was entertained from chapter 1, it's honestly written in a really comedic way. I was laughing and giggling throughout the entire story. Frank is sooo down bad for Gerard, and Gerard is so oblivious about it! Their relationship blossoms in the most adorable way... I want to re-read this one if I'm ever feeling down. There's also a cute touch at almost every chapter where you see Frank texting various friends who keep teasing him about Gerard, this gives a lot of personality to the story! I usually don’t comment on the smut, but it’s really good not gonna lie. Otherwise it’s a very fluffy fic and one of my faves on this list!

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Tints of Rainbow Hue by turps

Rating: Mature (no smut) Pairings: Part 1 thru 2 is Frikey; Part 3 focuses on Gerard/Bob Main POV: Bob & Various AU: Gardening Services Gang! Status: Completed with 3 parts, total word count 65k. Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/3399 My Summary: Ray owns a small gardening business, he travels around with Bob, and decides it's high time to hire someone new. They hire a younger Frank, who's very colorful and full of energy! They decide to work on the miskept and overgrown Way house, where two brothers live. Gerard seems to be ill and doesn't leave the house, while his little brother Mikey provides for both of them. This story follows along the relationships that blossom there! Personal Thoughts: This one is the only fanfic I'd recommend right now that includes Bob Bryar as one of the main characters. He's actually the main POV we usually follow throughout the story, especially in the 2nd fic. The characterization of Gerard's depression was hard to read, in the sense that it felt super real. I personally have not suffered with depression, but this felt more seriously written than most others who write him in that way. THE CUTENESS of Frank and Mikey though?! I read this fic originally cus I love me some Frikey, and Frank's pretty different from his usual punk aesthetic, he's actually quite the opposite! He's like, flowery colorful pastels if anything! It was a super refreshing take on him, though his personality mostly stays the same, he's super earnest and clumsy too. I never read fics with Bob due to obvious reasons, but I was actually cheering on this fictional version of him to allow himself to love Gerard. He's so gentle, yet firm with him, and super kind and it was lovely to read... Anyways before I gush and spoil everything, give this fic a chance!

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Lethal Attraction by desolationglow

Rating: Mature (obviously, there's smut here since Frank's ya know) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Frank AU: Prostitute Frank x Billionaire Gerard Status: Ongoing with 41 chapters and 130k words Last update: 01/22/24 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40619025 My Summary: Set in the late 90s, Frank gets by living in Los Angeles by means of prostitution. His once best friend Gerard disappears after high school, and still misses him to this day. After a series of brutal murders, people are warned about a serial killer on the loose, and Gerard reappears into Frank's life once more. Gerard is now a successful billionaire, and invites Frank on a journey of revenge against those who wronged them. Yet, their relationship is turbulent to say the least... Personal Thoughts: SO TRIGGER WARNING... this fic includes homophobia on Gerard's part. It's set in the 90s so there's typical bigotry in this one. Also this is the idiots in love trope to an extreme! I still recommend this fic cus the story is super well-written, I couldn't put this one down! Gee's mean in this one, but you can't help but like him as a sort of anti-hero/villain. Frank's the poor dude being dragged around by him... I don't want to spoil cus there's quite a few fun plot twists in this one. Also it has not updated since January of this year, however I bumped into the author randomly on discord! Yep, it was a super funny coincidence. I don't want to say much to respect their privacy, but I will say that they have not abandoned this fic! So I definitely recommend it, please continue supporting them as there will be more eventually!

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If I Could Say the Things I Want to Say to You by I_am_but_a_holyman

Rating: Explicit (some implied smut) Pairing: Frerard Main POV: Frank AU: single Dad Frank and college dropout Gerard / Found Family Status: Completed with 25 chapters and 97k words Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46030816 My Summary: Frank has been a single father for a while now and has been struggling with finding a babysitter for his 10 year old non-binary child. One day, his friend Ray introduces him to Gerard, who babysits his own kids as well... it was definitely love at first sight! For who..? Well you'll find out soon enough! This story navigates the difficulties of being a single dad, as well as being a gender non-conforming child in an unaccepting world. Personal Thoughts: I loved this story so much omg!! Frank's kid is an original character for the story and they did not dissapoint! I loved that Frank is so supportive of his non-binary child, and protects them the best way they can. Gerard's just too cute in this one as well, he's also not completely cis and likes to wear more fem clothes, like the perfect rolemodel for Frank's kiddo! Overall a fluffy story, please give it a try!

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And that about wraps it up!! Thank you so much for reading!! I don't think I will make any more of these, but who knows?!

[nerdieforpedro]

Finally Away

Chapter 2 of “This is the Neighborhood Din” Series

Din Djarin (Modern AU) x Sierra Harris (plus size OFC)

This fic is for readers 18+ MDNI

Word Count: about 3k

Warnings: Divorce, domestic violence (both referenced and actual), burns, scratches, blood, stalking, description of injuries, self-esteem issues, matchmaking?, domestic fluff, soft moments and hugs

Summary: Sierra has arrived to her aunt's home and meets their new neighbors Din and little Grogu. She didn't plan on her ex-husband showing up before her long drive - that man decided to ensure she had his disgusting marks on her arms.

Notes: In this chapter there is domestic violence and descriptions of Sierra's injuries as well as past incidents with her ex-husband. Likely will be mentioned again but not with injuries. There's also a burn mentioned as well that Sierra caused.

Special thanks to @pedroshotwifey for beta reading and @julesonrecord for having these resources in their Cherry Wine fic. It’s an excellent read, just make sure to review the warnings as it is marked DDNE.

I would have posted this earlier but I didn’t get a notification about the poll results. 😭 My bad.

Domestic Violence resources (In case you or someone you know need them):

United States

Canada

United Kingdom

European Union

Main Masterlist/ Din Djarin (The Mandalorian) Masterlist/ This is the Neighborhood Din Series

The drive from Maryland to New York State hasn’t been that bad, just so long. Nearly seven hours. Sierra had planned to leave earlier than she did. It was her last day in her apartment, she was going to leave the keys since all her belongings she planned to take were already in her car. It had been six months since the divorce was final but a year and a half that she had lived apart from Darius.

Sierra knew he hadn’t cared about her, at least the last few years of their marriage, not after those beatings started. She didn’t stay because she loved him, falling out of love with him was at the first punch. She’d been confused at first, he’d never been violent before, always kind. But when Sierra thought on it after the second bloody nose, she wondered if this was happening because something was wrong with her. When he hit her and this time, kept hitting her in her stomach after that last time he came home, she let him sleep and then poured boiled hot grits on him. She’d already looked into getting an apartment by herself and was going to stay with a friend for a week until it was ready. Darius never did press charges against her or told anyone how he got those burns on his abdomen and chest, Sierra assumed that he was embarrassed that his wife who he had been beating got one over on him. After she left, she needed to try and figure out what was next and who to turn to for help.

Thankfully, her aunt Johnnie Mae was more than willing to take her in after she’d been able to save some money by living in that cheap apartment. It almost made the hour long commute to the middle school she taught at worth it. Saving money was her priority so she would have some money to give her Aunt for letting her stay with her outside of New York City. The plan was working, she was able to get rid of clothes and stuff she didn’t absolutely need. That way, everything would fit in her small blue Nissan. Her aunt had said that she didn’t need to offer her any money, let alone rent while she stayed with her but that’s not how she was raised. Before they passed, Sierra’s parents stressed being responsible, paying your debts and taking care of yourself. She’s failed at that last one.

That morning, all she had to do was get up use the bathroom before leaving and leave. That was all the science teacher had planned. She even had a new job set up at a middle school substitute teaching next week. She was open to picking up a part time job until she could get a full time one as keeping a work history going and money coming is was more important than ever.

The barrier to her leaving on time was Darius himself. He sat outside of her small blue car waiting for her. Darius was a few inches taller than Sierra but slender and full of mean streaks. One would think a so called ‘short king’ as he often called himself would be a bit nicer to anyone, let alone his wife but no. The bastard beat Sierra, leaving bruises, cuts and made sure never to break or sprain anything enough to need an urgent care or hospital visit. He left to be with his mistress a month after Sierra burnt him with hot grits as he lay sleep in bed.

The divorce as far as property went was split down the middle, even though the end of their relationship was anything but amicable. Sierra hadn’t see him since the divorce decree was handed down in court, but now he sits here blocking her path away from him finally, no longer tied to him.

“What do you want?” The venom in her voice is clear as he moves toward her.

“Just wanted to see you off. I mean, we had something special for a while there you know.” He attempted to touch her face and she smacked his hand away. Darius grabbed it and her other hand as she struggled against him. “You always fought me on everything after becoming a full time teacher. Being full of yourself. Now you’re going to be fat, broke and alone. You thought it was hard to get married before? No man’s going to be looking for you!”

“This is what you came here for Darius?! Just to try and intimidate me?” Sierra pushed forward, making his legs hit the bumper of a sedan parked next to her, he fell back, but grabbed her forearms hard, digging his fingers into them. She yelled and tried to shake him off but he dug deeper. “You’re a sad bastard who left me for a woman who’s now left you for an old rich man. She’s riding his dick somewhere in Italy!” Her knee connected with his crotch and his grip loosened. Sierra was able to wiggle free and run toward the driver’s side of her car, quickly getting in. She started driving only checking her arms when she finally stopped at a McDonald’s.

Her caramel skin was a deep red, nearly purple with blood as he broke the skin on both arms. She made a stop at a CVS and got some bandages to clean and wrap her arms before continuing on her drive. After a few more hours she stopped crying and determined that he wasn’t worth it, he hadn’t been for quite some time. Just be glad you’re no longer tied to him. If he shows up again, I can use a brick on him or whatever I have nearby. Maybe I need to carry one of those switchblades. As she crossed over from Pennsylvania to New York, she wondered how she’d hide the bandages from her Aunt. She hadn’t shared the full story with her, only that he’d become distant, they would get in shouting matches and the cheating. Sierra hadn’t told her about the physical abuse. She didn’t know how to explain why it went on for so long. She barely wanted to tell the one friend she felt safe enough to move in with for that week. Thankfully she didn’t judge her, just supported Sierra. She was eternally grateful for that.

Pulling up to her aunt’s home she was completely unprepared for the man she saw. The opposite of her ex-husband was sitting on her aunt’s porch. Putting his shirt back on. No one said he had to. Sierra thought, her aunt let go of her and pinched her shoulder.

“You’ll burn a hole into the man if you keep staring at him like that.” Ms. Harris teased.

“How could I not look at him? Who is he?” Sierra inquired. She grabbed her purse from the car and walked over with her aunt to the porch.

Din started to get a bit cold after finishing his glass of water and stood to slip his shirt back on. He still felt her eyes on him and turned to see Ms. Harris walking to the house with a caramel beauty who’s calling his new neighbor ‘auntie.’ Maybe she was just here visiting, his eyes cut to her car before focusing back on her as they drew closer to the porch. She’s staying for a little while at least, I’m not in the market for just a short time though.

As she made her way up the stairs, her black shorts bunched between her thighs. In an effort not to stare, his eyes scanned her legs which were thick and jiggled along with the rolls of her belly that it appeared like she was trig to hide under her large purple t-shirt. She was wearing a black sweatshirt which he suspected her would find equally soft arms covered by the fabric. Her face appeared tired, he assumed from the long drive, but there seemed to be a remnant of sadness in her honey eyes with some redness in her cheeks. Her hair was in tight pun with a matching purple scarf tied at the top of her head. It wasn’t a handshake she offered but a small wave and Din couldn’t help but flash a toothy grin and chuckle.

“H-Hi. I’m Sierra, nice to meet you. Seems you’ve met my Aunt Mae already.” Though clearly nervous, her voice had a dulcet tone to it that had Din exhale to keep from clearing his throat to make it too obvious. He raised his hand and returned her small wave, stepping forward to close the distance. He looked down at her, keeping his grin.

“I’m Din. Your aunt, Ms. Harris has been so welcoming to me and my son Grogu. It’s our first day here. Pleasure to meet you Sierra.”

He is taller and broader up close and his hands are….this man appears to be massive in every sense. Even his voice feels like it’s wrapping around me. Am I okay? My shorts are halfway in my crotch and I know my eyes are puffy and red along with my entire face. This is one of the days, I wish I had more melanin so everything from earlier in the day wouldn’t be on my damn face.

“Well dear, you mind helping me make some dinner while Din keeps an eye on the kids? You missed lunch.” Ms. Harris elbows Sierra in the side and she winces as her aunt’s arm grazes her forearm.

“Sure, lead the way. Um, are you staying for dinner Din?” Sierra asked and Din nodded with Johnnie Mae adding that of course he was, he bought her groceries as a thank you for watching little Grogu for a few hours.

“I really do appreciate it Ms. Harris. I was able to get a lot done in the house so we’ll be set for our first night in the house. The kids we be fine until dinner’s ready.” Rolling his shoulders back, he puts his hands in his pockets and his grin becomes a smile. Sierra’s lips part slightly but no sound comes out, she really hopes nothing came out. It didn’t but her aunt is ever watchful of their interaction and leads her niece into the kitchen. Din turns to the side to watch Sierra walk away, paying special attention to her wide hips and plump backside. I think I should find out how long she’ll be here. If she needs to leave, maybe I can convince her to come back through and visit. Such thoughts were distracting Din from the children and he heard a cry. Delia was sitting in the grass giving a dirty look to both Grogu and Quinton. “Well, I am a man of my word. Let me see what’s going on.” As he made his way down the stairs, Johnnie Mae peeped at the door to Mae sure Din was out of earshot.

“Tell me what you think, I mean I was going to set you up with that boy Leon because he seemed nice, but Din is a grown man. Good and grown man dear. I don’t see a ring and-“

“It’s too soon I can’t even think about that right now. Especially today, I look an entire mess.” And that rat bastard fucked up my arms. Even if my arms were fine, I’m not even wearing my cute leggings. Damn.

“I didn’t ask you all that girl.” Johnnie Mae got out a pot and threw in some chicken broth followed two bags of vegetable medleys complete with carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. “I asked you what you thought. I understand you might not feel like you’re ready. Doesn’t mean you can look.”

Sighing, Sierra washed her hands, got the chicken out of the fridge and started seasoning it before plopping it in a frying pan to cook in some butter. “He’s the complete opposite of my ex-husband. Which is entirely welcome. I just don’t know if I can….” Johnnie Mae hip bumped her niece as an indication of getting a non-answer. Sierra sighed again, “I’d climb him like a tree auntie. I’m not ready, but if I was at all. He would be the first choice.”

“Just need to know your tastes have changed. No more assholes Sierra.” Johnnie Mae laughed and so did Sierra, shaking her head. On that she agreed. The pair finished up dinner making homemade chicken noddle soup. Something that everyone ate two bowels of. Din and Grogu ate three. Delia and Quinton were picked up by their parents when the sun started setting around five in the evening. They thanked Ms. Harris and hugged her before introducing themselves to Din. They suggested that Ms. Harris could watch little Grogu before and after school. That way Grogu could play with Delia and Quinton as they likely were going to go to the same elementary school. The family departed leaving Din, Grogu, Johnnie Mae and Sierra.

Din suggested he could wash the dishes and Sierra rejected his help because he was a guest. Technically she was too, but she’d be living here. It was decided that he would wash and she would dry.

Grogu found a comfy spot on the couch as Ms. Harris sat next to him. “Little G, we’re going to watch a classic me and you. Look at this.” She turned on ‘Winnie the Pooh.’ Ms. Harris started singing along and Grogu joined in, bobbing their heads side to side.

Din’s hands were covered in soapy water, scrubbing the dishes before rising them and handing them to Sierra to dry. They chatted about the merits of Pooh and Piglet’s adventures. They laughed that before the episode was over, both Ms. Harris and Grogu were asleep on the couch and arm wrapped around each other. Din snapped a few pictures with his phone. Sierra hesitated, but asked if he could send her the pictures he took. Din was going to suggest that she take her own, but understood that she was asking for his number without saying it. Trying to be subtle. That’s cute of her. He agreed and send her the pictures, the small smile on her face felt like a part of a curtain had been pulled back.

Back at the sink, dishes slowly made their way into the cabinets. Sierra’s sleeves were getting wet and it made her arms itchy so she pulled them up, and reached for the plate Din was handing and she took the plate. She started drying and looked down at her forearms, some blood had soaked through. Panic set in for the second time today, though not from fear of her safety. Instead it was that the easy laughter would stop, there was nothing funny about her arms or what had made them that way. Din stopped washing and wiped his wet hands on his pants.

“You don’t have to tell me how it happened. Just…are you safe Sierra? Is the person who did that after you?” Keeping his voice flat was the only way not to yell, he shouldn’t yell at her. It would be misdirected. It looked like they were fresh maybe even today. She looked up at him and the brightness was gone from them, only panic. Is that why she came here? How fall far had she driven? She did seem to have a lot of stuff in her car.

“No. Thankfully I’ll never see him again. He has no reason to find me. That ended six months ago. I’m…” Closing her eyes, she swallowed the saliva building in her throat. “Divorced. Six months ago. He was…just the worst. Could you just…”

“I’m not going to act like I didn’t see them. If don’t want me to say anything it’s not mine to tell. But does she know?” His eyes shift over to the couch before refocusing on her. He’d rather know this bastard’s name, just in case but she didn’t say it and now isn’t the time to press. He hesitated, but placed a hand between her shoulder blades. Sierra flinched but when Din began to pull his arm back she turned and reached for his hand.

“Please don’t do that. I’m not fragile. I know you’re not going to do anything I’m sor-“

“Don’t apologize. I shouldn’t have touched-“

“Then you don’t say sorry either.” Sighing, she looked down at his hand and held it as to shake it. “Let’s start over. Please Din and I’ll tell her. I kinda have to with these.” A weak smile matched a soft chuckle. He missed the smile he’d seen when he sent her pictures a few minutes ago. Shaking her hand, he nodded.

“I won’t apologize then, but I disagree, you are fragile. It’s a fact for now. You won’t always be, but it’s okay.” He didn’t release her hand. “Is it alright if I hug you and then take a look at your arms? You have more bandages?” Sierra nods and doesn’t speak, she folds her arms around Din’s torso. His hands returned to her back, rubbing it slowly and started stepping side to side, rocking her. Short whimpers came from her, quieting as the pair swayed.

“I have more in the car, but I can take care of that. Just a little more. A little while longer.” Sierra was conflicted in asking him to continue to hold her, but she didn’t want to let go. She felt it was selfish to ask this of him upon just meeting him today. He just moved in with his son no less. That’s plenty on his plate.

Din didn’t answer her. He didn’t release her either. They continued to remain in each other’s arms as Johnnie Mae peered over her shoulder from the couch. Now truly aware of why her niece has said she’s not ready, she wouldn’t push Sierra.

Neither of them knew how long they stayed in the kitchen embracing but Sierra let go first citing that Din should get little Grogu home, thanking him. He told her it wasn’t an issue and told her he was going to bring in her bags before leaving. She blinked and Ms. Harris told him the keys were near the door. The older woman shot a look at Sierra warning her to stay put. After bringing them in, Din said goodnight and scooped up Grogu taking him home.

A pivotal first impression had been made.

Chapter One. Chapter Three

Space Buddies: @readingiskeepingmegoing @604to647 @syd-djarin @yorksgirl

@harriedandharassed @survivingandenduring @drawingdroid @katw474 @trulybetty

@bitchwitch1981 @soft-girl-musings @tinytinymenace @djarinmuse @littlemisspascal

[ebonysplendor]

The Science of Staying Awake Review 👁️

TL;DR: Sleep is often for the weak, but having, what is likely but claims not to be, a hallucination being violently in love with you is something that is not for the weak. Apparently, it's not for the living either...

Game Link: https://viscereye.itch.io/the-science-of-staying-awake

Notable Features: Gender Neutral MC, Unnamed MC (referred as "You"), Yandere LI, Choice-heavy storyline Spiciness: 0/5 -- Not exactly wholesome because violence but no option to buss it open so no spice LI Red Flags: 1.7/5 -- Physically abusive, Crosses boundaries...other than that, he be's a touch starved boi who just wants cuddles

Wanna know more? Well, let's get into it!

Before I say anything, I just want you to read this:

Let me tell you, I had no idea how accurate that description was until I played it. That is a damned accurate description, and quite frankly, the only way to describe the experience that this was.

Anyways, I had ran across it when going through my game files, and I was like "Oh yeah! This game exists!" and decided to write a review on this one. I played this game many moons ago, and frankly, I don't see many people talking about or referencing this one; I honestly feel like more people should know about it, because there is a game to be played here. I mean, how many people are actually going to run across this review, I have no idea, but shit, hopefully it'll get a few extra downloads, because as "cheesy" as it may look, this was actually a pretty damn good game!

Honestly (and respectfully) speaking, you know how you look at a game, and you're like "This is probably going to be bad, but I'm curious"? From looking at the backgrounds they used, the description itself, and how they described the game as "cheesy" and a "creepypasta fanfic", I honestly thought this was supposed to be one of those "intentionally bad but funny as hell" games for jokes, but...yeah, no. If it was meant to be that way, I didn't get that at all.

I'll explain more in the actual review portion, but I'm going to go ahead and cut to the chase. As always, I give you the disclaimer that -- and those that have been vibing with me since the start of all of this already know -- I'm going to tell you as much as possible about the game without ruining the game itself.

Just as a side note, I think I do say that verbatim every time I write a review -- between that, "so boom", and the whole "drink water, don't be dumb" thing lol. I might switch it up one day, but that's honestly how I talk in real life. Like, can you not tell that I type the way that I speak? I mean, if it was something for college or work or something, yeah, I'm going to code switch, obvi, but for stuff like this? I'm pretty much talkin' to y'all like y'all are the squad because...well, y'all are lol.

Anyways! Enough chitchat, let's get summarizing.

So, boom (lmao ya see?).

We're in class, and we're tired as fook. Like, it's not even that "Damn, this class is boring" type of tired; it's that "I deadass haven't slept in 2 days, and I'm starting to hear colors and see sounds" type of tired. That "Ayo, why does this hard ass desk feel mad comfortable all of a sudden" type of tired. That plain and simple "a bitch is TIDE not tired" type of tired. Anyways, we recognize this as a current problem, and we know that we've gotta do something about it. Expeditiously. So, we hit up the vending machine, get something to wake us up a little, and then head on home.

When I say that it took everything to get up those stairs and to our bedroom...listen.

Like, as soon as we got through the door, we dropped that backpack to the floor, and we dive -- you hear me, dive -- into that bed. Now, with the way that we were feeling, dreamland should've been immediate. To be real with you, we were probably asleep by the time we were mid-air, but like, when we landed, we landed on something, and this something -- or rather someone -- goes "Ow". Like huuuuuuuh?

Again: Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuh? Fuck you mean, "Ow?" Like who the hell is yooooooooou?!

No, like, we literally ask who he -- ...it? --- is, because clearly, he was not here when we left, let alone just chilling in our bed, but he's just super casual about it, like, "Oh! I'm Vance!". Like, oh, right, Vance; that suddenly makes this whole situation totally normal and nothing to worry about -- as if that were even slightly true.

Here's the thing though, oddly enough, it actually is kind've true. See, we're not scared of him as a...whatever he is, but something about him is just...not right; something is very clearly off. Like, when he had introduced himself, he had shook our hand, and we immediately got this mad intense feeling of dread that we couldn't describe, and something about it just kind've made us feel like we were, quite literally, spiraling into insanity.

Naturally, we pull ourselves away from him and step back -- that spiraling feeling and anxiety is instantly gone. As you've probably guessed, it didn't take us long to put together that it's not good for this "Vance" creature to be too close in proximity, let alone anywhere near us.

He kind've picks up on this, and he's adamant that he's not going to hurt us. Still, we try to explain to him that, while we're not really threatened by him, we get this weirdly intense feeling whenever he's nearby, and he essentially needs to stay a little more than an arm's length away at all times; frankly, the further away, the better. Well...

He didn't take that well, and now, we feel threatened by him.

I hadn't mentioned this before, but Vance was already pretty upset that we wouldn't really let him come near us, let alone cuddle with him, but now he's extra pissed because we're essentially rejecting him altogether, even though he's, quite literally, driving us insane.

So, now that he's like this, we've got to get the hell out of there because, now, we aren't sure if he's still on the whole "I'm not going to hurt you" energy like before. That being said, we completely bolt, and he's like "Nah, bring that ass here, boi". Panic. Big panic time.

So, we do. We run off, but it does no good, because he finds us.

Granted, he doesn't know exactly where we are, but it doesn't matter because we're completely cornered. What are we going to do?

Well, let me rephrase that I know what I'm going to do; better yet, I know what I did. Now you guys on the other hand? Lol, I'll guess you'll have to play it for yourself to see what y'all are going to do.

I had honestly forgotten how good this game was until I had replayed it to grab some screenshots and to get a refresher on what actually went down. I'm not even kidding about that. My love for the game had literally re-sparked, and I can't believe that I forgot how good it was. If you've read my past reviews, you know that I mentioned at one point that I become an absolute slut for a choice-heavy game -- this is a choice heavy game and a damned good one. Speaking of choice-heavy...

Just to get off topic very slightly, you know what was crazy? When I went to replay it, apparently, I had done something different than when I had first played though the game and lmaoooooo, do you know that I had ended up finding THREE more endings? Wanna know something even crazier? One of them was a secret ending that I didn't even realize that I had gotten to!

Now mind you (lol you know the story is about to get a lil' spicy when that's said)! I had already unlocked like...if I remember right, like, 14 endings at this point, so when I found these other endings -- again, by total accident because, at this point, damn the review! I'm legit replaying the game for me, now -- I was now sitting at a grand total of 17 endings. So, now, I'm like "Ayo, what the hell?". Like, my mind is blown, because I was so sure that I had found all of the endings and completed the game. Remember, I hadn't touched or thought about this game in literal months because I was that confident that I had finished it. So, it's like, how many endings are there if I'm still managing to find more?

Naturally, I sprint to the dev's game page to conduct research on this burning question, and I am reading everything that there is to offer, but there was nothing. No "hey, this game has x amount of endings", no walkthrough map, no nothing. Did that stop me, though? Nah, because surely someone had experienced something similar to what I just had and was also like "Damn, how many endings are there...?". Lmaooooo well, I was right. You know what the answer is?

19. There are nineteen endings in this game.

I already knew the answer, but I go back to count the amount of endings that I have; there's 17. I dig into the game files for some more hints, and I find two icons (you'll know what I mean when you play it) that I've never seen before. Oh, okay. So, it's confirmed, but let me make sure that I've got the details straight:

Are you seriously telling me that, not only had I incorrectly assumed that I had all of the endings and finished the game because I had gotten all of the achievements, but the fact that I found three other endings -- again, by accident! -- doesn't even matter because I'm still missing two more because there's NINETEEN ENDINGS total?!

Wild. Chaotic even, and you're damn right that I'm here for it all. I LOVE that there are so many endings. I love even more that I have other endings to look for because I'm totally in love with this game all over again. Even though, lol, it was the deadpan, nonchalant "19" from the dev for me. The dev said "I said what I said, and what about it?". We love to see it.

Anyways, I'm a huge advocate for this game. If you've got some time, definitely give it a try. I highly recommended, and Vance is a pretty sweet dude, if you can find that side of him, I mean. Also, just for a very light spoiler but not really, the real ending was so sweet to me. Like something about it, it just...I don't know. It was just a warm feeling that washed over me when I had read it, and I was just like "That was actually really cute?" Bittersweet, even. Like, ugh, I am honestly really pushing for more people to play this game. It was genuinely so good, and I hope that the dev comes out with more visual novels. I truly forgot how in love with this game I was until I replayed it. This has, highkey, been a great experience.

Anywho, it's time that I stop my rambling and end it here. If you'd like to give this game a go for yourself and discover all 🌟nineteen🌟 endings -- which I highly recommend that you do -- a link to the game is at the very bottom of this post as well as at the very top. Hell, I'll even put the link right here so you can get to it quicker. If you're feeling extra motivated, visit the dev's page and post a comment telling them how great of a job they did and give them that extra validation to let them know "Hey! You're pretty good at what you do! You should keep doing the thing!". I didn't see where you could donate to them, but assuming I just missed it, remember that monetary validation is always helpful as well.

That's all from me though! Drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!

The Science of Staying Awake

[literaryfandomangel]

The Promise - Chapter Twenty-Nine

Unfortunately, our summer came to an end as the dawning of the school year occurred. That meant that I couldn’t spend as much time with the guys, just a few hours because I needed sleep. Thankfully, I was able to spend most of Friday and Saturday nights with them since I could sleep in the next day. 

Within three months of being in Santa Carla, I was gaining weight, steadily. I was actually eating, had an appetite. I was now around 105.4 pounds. Mom and the four guys were extremely proud of my progress, always full of praise whenever I would eat something. 

Sam kept insisting that it was strange that my boyfriends couldn’t pick me up from school. He would wave the Vampire Comic underneath my nose at every chance he could get. I always fluffed off his reasoning of vampirism, though, I couldn’t deny it was weird. One day, I stole his comic and read about the living dead Sam was obsessed with. It was an interesting read, but I’ve seen all four guys eat garlic, no one had to count rice if it spilled before them, and I’d seen their faces in my bureau mirror. 

One Friday night in October, they were taking me home after we had fun on the town. All the midterms had sucked the life out of me, therefore, they wanted me to be able to do something fun. Instead of constantly studying. Though, the four guys were able to help me with studying my senior classes. 

Shockingly, Marko was the best at helping me with mathematics. He was patient while he explained the formulas. Sometimes, he'd smirk as I'd get lost in my thoughts while staring at his head of golden curls, but Marko was an excellent tutor. With Marko's help in understanding the formulas and reviewing the homework, my grades in math rose. David's specialty was science class! He loved to read the chapters before the work. Then, if I had any questions about the homework, David would explain the situation. Dwayne loved reviewing my literature assignments, though it was more debates about the latest books. Paul, well, he helped with history. By help, I mean he would stand in the cave and do inaccurate monologues about the most outrageous situations in history. Dwayne would roll his eyes, shoving the blonde with the wild hair, while I fell off the couch, dying of laughter. 

Even though I knew these four were cruel to others outside their circle, they were totally sweet towards me. I'd seen David threaten a group of Surf Nazis, the sound of his voice causing my blood to curdle, then he would turn towards me with a faint smile and gentle touches. Marko was one of the cruelest, I'd come to learn. I watched Marko bash a kid in the head with a napkin holder just for commenting about me. Marko laughed the entire time the kid cried, holding his hands to the bleeding gash on his forehead.  

Regardless of how my blood curdled in those terrifying minutes, my heart warmed every time they turned their gentle caresses onto my skin. I knew how deadly their touch could be; it only proved they felt something for me. Not one of the guys had ever touched me in anger; David had snapped a few times but apologized profusely. 

I had fun just losing myself in one night of no studying. Mom told me to leave the house and have fun, but she took my bag. She said I didn't need to take any textbooks with me tonight, and Paul had whooped, kissing Mom's cheek. Therefore, that night had been filled with fun, laughter, and going on rides. Even though the tourist season was over, it was still warm enough that most amusement rides were open. 

Once we had arrived at Grandpa's house, the guys cut the engines to their bikes. David was the first at my side, offering a gloved hand to help me down from Marko's bike. I leaned down to gently kiss Marko, and then Paul swooped in like the whirlwind of energy he encapsulated. Dwayne waited his turn before David captured my lips in his smug smile curving against mine. Unfortunately, I was so lost in their company and touched that I didn't even notice the Volvo in the front yard until it was too late. 

"ARIA ELIZABETH EMERSON!" I drew back from Marko, who had once again planted a kiss on my lips, fear washing over my body. I knew that voice - it was my father. I gulped as he glared at the group from the porch, Mom hovering behind him. She was wringing her hands in anxiety, knowing that Dad wasn't going to accept this relationship. "You let her kiss a group of guys?"

"Robert, it's fine. They love her," Mom tried to reason with Dad, but he just shrugged off her hand. I slunk back, trying to hide behind David. The four guys had picked up on my fear but couldn't challenge my father without giving away what they were. They also didn't want to hurt my father, even though he was angering the predators in front of him. 

"Get in the house!" My dad roared, reaching around David. He grabbed me roughly by the coat and pulled me away from the safety of my four guys. "And you four - never come back here again!" My father shoved me into the house. I heard the four men growl before my father slammed the house door so hard the windows shook. 

"Dad!" Sam protested, standing at the top of the stairs, hearing the commotion. "She's fine. Leave her alone!"

"Sam, get back to your room," my dad pointed at my baby brother. I nodded to Sam to listen before wrapping my arms around my body. "You. . .You two!"

"Robert, this is my home," Grandpa opened the door to his taxidermy room, glaring at my father. I sent him a grateful smile at his intervention. 

"My daughter won't act like a whore! You are letting her get passed around by four bikers," Dad shook angrily, pointing his finger at my mother as if it were her fault. "She's coming home to Phoenix."

"Daddy!" I protested, tears welling inside my eyes. "I love them!"

"Robert, you can't do that!" Mom protested as I felt the tears spill from my eyes. "You signed away all your rights!"

"I will go to the courts tomorrow and demand both the kids, Lucy," Dad threatened, and my heart sank. "Or I can just take Aria and return to Phoenix."

"Mom," I said, voice soft. I knew what needed to happen. I needed to return with Dad to Phoenix. "I'll be back for Christmas, yeah?"

"Honey," Mom wrapped me in her arms, shaking her head. 

"You best be packed and ready to leave by the day after tomorrow," Dad pointed a finger at me. "I mean it." With that, Dad swept out of the house, his car pulling away. I started to cry in earnest, feeling as if my world had shifted again. 

"Mom, the guys!" I whimpered, feeling my heart crack at the thought of having to leave them. 

"I know, baby," Mom rocked me in her arms, trying to comfort me. "You can write me letters, okay? I'll make sure that Max gives them to his sons."

"I've never felt like this about anyone," I whispered, knowing that what I felt was love. My mom nodded her head, understanding. She wasn't judgmental about the relationship, having witnessed how the four men treated me. They treated me, her daughter as if I were a Queen. A priceless artifact under heavy surveillance at a national museum. A tomb of unopened treasure worth billions. 

"I'll help you sneak out tomorrow," Mom promised, pressing kisses to my hairline. I nodded, detaching from Mom both physically and mentally. 

"I'm going to bed," my voice felt wooden, tongue too thick. I started up the stairs, looking down at the place I felt was my home. It felt more like I belonged in Santa Carla than I had living in Phoenix. I dragged my body up the stairs and went into my room. 

"Princess," I heard Dwayne's velvety voice say, and I jumped. As I looked up, I saw all four men I loved sitting around my room. I didn't question how they managed to sneak into my room; I was just grateful to see all four of them.  

"Dwayne!" I wailed, crashing into his body, tears streaming down his naked chest. He hummed, speaking to me in his native tongue, Navajo, I believe. Marko slammed into my back, running his hands through my hair, obviously in distress as well. 

"We'll kidnap you," Paul declared, a frown on his face, once I had stopped crying. I was lying on the bed, head on Dwayne's chest. 

"My dad would find me," I shook my head, even though my heart ached for that scenario. To be kidnapped by the four men I loved, spending all my time with them. "I don't want him to take Sammy back. It will kill Mom. She's already going to be in pain without one kid; she needs at least one of us."

"Are you certain?" David asked, flicking his cigarette butt out of the window. He crouched by the bed, tracing my delicate features with his pale fingers. "We could make him disappear."

"Of course," I giggled, shaking my head. "My big, bad bikers."

"You know it, baby," Marko grinned, head on my shins. I rolled my eyes before letting out a sigh. 

"It'll be okay," I sighed, sounding upset even to my ears. "Mom said she'd bring letters from me to Max. That way, we can keep in touch. It shouldn't be long. I promise. And I'll be back by Christmas!"

***LOST BOYS POV ***

'David, we need to tell her,' Dwayne told his best friend and brother. David shook his head, almost imperceptible if not for vampiric sight. 

'She can't know,' David disagreed. Paul's lips tightened in anger. 

'She's going to know,' Paul sighed. 'The mating bond is already wreaking havoc on her. Remember when we didn't see her for a few days? She was getting sick again.'

'I'll ask Max,' Dwayne sighed. Even though they didn't get along with their sire, everyone had been trying to have peace for the sake of the Emersons. Aria was their mate, while Lucy was apparently Max's. 

Once their mate's breathing had softened, obviously in the throws of sleep, the four left her room. They flew to Max's house, where the man opened the door, obviously shocked to see his four wayward sons. 

"What happened?" Max asked, wordlessly holding the door open. 

"Aria's Dad is taking her back to Phoenix," David stated as the four sprawled out in Max's living room. Max sucked in a breath, shaking his head. 

"Have you solidified the bond with her?" Max asked, raising an eyebrow as he pulled off his clunky glasses. The four shook their heads, negative. 

"She's not ready for that," Dwayne stated, voice a deep rumble. Max pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"I'm not going to lie to you, four," Max said. "She's going to get worse if she's away."

"How much worse?" Marko snarled, looking feral, fangs flashing in the dim light. 

"Aria met you guys before," Max sighed, finally dropped the bombshell onto the four guys. 

"WHAT?" David roared, face changing into his vampire visage. He was furious at this news. 

"She was thirteen years old," Max sank into his armchair. 

"No, we would have remembered!" Paul whined, looking lost, but Max just laughed. 

"I erased your memories of her and her memories of you," Max revealed. The four vampires snarled, becoming angry at their sire for messing with their mate. "I had to!" 

"Why?" Dwayne forced himself to calm down. He knew they needed to hear this story, and none of the others could calm down enough to listen to it. 

"She was thirteen," Max pointedly stated. "You four didn't want her to leave for Phoenix. I knew the mating pull would bring her back, hopefully when she was older. However, I didn't account for how strong your connection is with Aria."

"Is that why she's sick?" Paul hummed. Even though he was a stoner and enjoyed being aloof, Paul's mind worked. That was the reason he preferred to be stoned because sometimes he needed to shut his brain down. 

"Yes," Max looked upset at his decision. "It's why the four of you hold such disdain for your sire. Your subconscious vampire knows that I removed the memories of your mate. But I did it for all five of you!"

"That's against the rules, Max," David snarled, lighting a cigarette to calm himself. His hands were trembling in suppressed anger. 

"I know," Max dipped his head. "But usually, meeting your mate once, if she were human, wouldn't invoke such responses from the five of you. It wasn't until I saw her that I realized the error. It appears Aria was feeling the mating bond and tried to fill the void with a boyfriend. However, that made her sicker, which is why she suffered from Anorexia. That's why once you five found each other this summer, she's been able to start recovering."

"So she was searching for her mates and found Justin," Marko mused, humming as the pieces clicked together. 

"That's why I'm worried about her state if she goes to Phoenix," Max admitted, and their eyes flashed golden at the thought. 

"She was in such a bad state just from meeting us once," Dwayne muttered. "The mating bond will strain upon her now that we've been together for over three months."

"Mates aren't meant to be apart," Max agreed. "The male vampires are supposed to cherish their mates. We all know that mates aren't strong enough on their own, hence the reason a nest has multiple male vampires and only one female."

"Yes," David waved a hand in the air pompously. "We all know this!"

"Do you know how mates have to feed, David?" Max's eyes flashed gold in his anger towards his firstborn. David shook his head. "Mates only feed from their mated vampires. Their fangs aren't strong enough to feed on humans. The other reason why there are multiple vampires per mate."

"So, we have to feed her?" Marko's eyebrows creased as he looked up at their sire. They were all confused as none of them had heard about this. 

"Yes, mates drink from the vein of their vampires," Max got up and filled a glass with bourbon. He drank it down, refilling the glass. "Mates cannot be away for long. Once the bonding has been solidified, she can be away for a few days. But Aria needs the venom and blood of all four of you running through her veins to turn."

"What's going to happen if she goes?" Paul asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. 

"I'm not sure," Max's eyes looked troubled. "All I know is it won't be anything good."

End Part 1

Part 2 - Time After Time - Chapter One

[real-odark]

if you were to ask me how i feel about a commercial jingle for regina comet, i might say its pretty good or something.

but if you asked me on a deeper level,

i'd tell you how much i absolutely love this musical. id tell you how im its biggest fan possibly ever, and i curse myself every day for not being able to see it. id tell you about my signed playbill of it being one of my most prized possessions and i used to sleep with it by my side. id tell you how the bootleg is one of my favorite things ever, and how many times ive listened to it, making timestamps for each song and even uploading a full version of it for myself to youtube. id tell you how its my third favorite musical of all time. id tell you how i didnt even know ben fankhauser until i found out about this musical and i dont think i could love any of his roles more than man 2. id tell you how i wrote my own self sustaining fanfiction for it. id tell you how i made up names for them. id tell you about my dozens of fanart for it, and how other man used to be muscle memory to draw, so whenever id go to draw something hed be the first thing to warmup. id tell you how i know just about every lyric of every song. id tell you how when i do home-alone theater karaoke, this musical is the first one i go to everytime. id tell you how literally any role in this would be my dream. id tell you how underrated its representation is, showing the exploitation of women in the media, and has such a good message. id tell you about how during silent reading time in class, id reread the script for this show over and over while everyone else pulled out icebreaker and stuff. id tell you how i have consumed every advertisement for this show ever. id tell you how i would go through every review article, and if they said anything even remotely bad about it, id find a way to counter it. id tell you how i used to go through every 2 pixel picture and video of the set (which is amazing by the way. im obsessed with it) and made a list of every single paper i could make out, how they asked the crew to write down musicals on sticky notes for it, and how i analyzed each of their sides of the apartment. id tell you how id do anything to see the original cast of this in person. id tell you about other mans bpd coding. id tell you about how i started to copy the mannerisms of these characters and actors and put myself in physical distress sometimes because it made me feel like them a little bit gulp thats not like the kind of physical distress youre probably thinking of btw i meant id like run laps of long distances because hearing myself breathe made me think of other man. id tell you how i dont think anyone could ever be more these characters than these actors. id tell you how i would just listen to the bass/piano/drums (all isolated) of the songs and learn the piano by ear. id tell you about the freaking haarrrmoonieeess in it. id tell you how cute and . cool the lighting is. id tell you how i much of the choreography i had(/have) memorized. id tell you how many times ive quoted this show (women in science. and, for a little bit of backstage stuff, nothing i will be woorrking.) id tell you how ive gone through all of their social media posts and every post theyre tagged in as well. id tell you about how i dedicated an account to it until i got locked out lmao?? id tell you how i may or may not have genuinely cried over this musical so many times. id tell you how i made floor plans for the flourishing pig (the hottest vegan nightspot in the meatpacking district) ((i got rid of them tho my bad lmaooo)). id tell you how even perfume just reminds me of this show now. id tell you how i have forced everyone i know at gunpoint to hear this musical at least once. id tell you about the complexity of man 2 and other mans relationship and nothing wouldve happened if they had just kissed sighh (/j). i would tell you about this show. id tell you about this. id tell you about. id tell you. id tell. id. i. .

...but ill probably just say "yeah its kinda cool"

[littledeadpotato]

Dracula rant:)

1st post! This'll be a book review (not very professional, cuz im not a book critic, I'll probably just write down what I liked) of the 1897's novel Dracula by Bram Stoker which I finished last night (running on 3 hours of sleep). I had a Czech translation from the library (because money) and that was Omega version from 2017 (it has a nice cover, Go check it out). This one took me a while to read, mainly because last few months im really tired and go to bed at like 23.00(??), so I read like 15 pages a day. Now to the review ;D

Started: 25/11

Finished: 30/12

Rating: 4.25/5⭐

Fun-ness: 7/10

Lovable characters: 6.5/10

Amount-of-times-I-spaces-out-because-Van Helsing-was-talking-pages-and-pages-and pages: 100000/10

When I started this I had no idea what I was getting myself into (plot wise, I knew there'd be Vampires), but I really enjoyed this book. For a 19th century novel, the characters were really fun (most of them, I couldn't bring myself to be genuinely interested in Van Helsing), I really liked Dr. Seward, Reinfield and Lucy (I liked the rest too but these just stood out to me).

I wasn't a huge fan of the way the Czechs (and other similiar groups) were depicted, it was very "us, english men, Are educated and know science! Those guys, stupid, they believe in Vampires and are crude", very not cool. The way this book describes women is also very funny, Im not saying Bram had some hate towards woman (the opposite, I think he also wrote strong female characters in his other books), but it really shows when this was written, on one page, both the men and the women are like: ,,Oh men are so strong and brave, women are so soft and delicate, they can never be as brave as men", and on the next one, everyone is worshipping Mina (which - fair).

(Spoilers ahead)

I would divide the book in few parts:

Jonathan's stay with Dracula

Lucy

Vampire hunting

Jonathan's stay with Dracula

This part I really liked, I'm part of the problem, because im aware Jonathan was going thru his worst, but cmon, it was a little funny to see Dracula climb down a wall like a lizard and Jonathan describing it in sheer horror. There were few very fun moments, but sometimes when Dracula was talking for too long, I sort of spaced out (-> my fault). I also enjoyed that one time the 3 ladies tried to drink Jonathan's blood and Dracula was just like: ,Get tf out👊'.But it was fun.

2. Lucy

This is the part where Lucy becomes the first vampire our friends have to deal with! This was my favourite part. I just really liked Mina's and Lucy's friendship (or more, I wouldn't mind lesbian vampire rep ;P). The whole events around it were at some point very frustrating, because you know whats happening and what they should do, but Van Helsing is just waiting and then is like "source: trust me bro💪", (speaking of Van Helsing, since my head is still full of Arcane, I kept imagining his voice sounding like Heimerdinger's, im sorry lol) which I understand but it results in things like one of the maids opening the window when Lucy was dead (or removing the wreath, I don't remember). Also all the stuff around the ship and the dog!!! Oh those are my fave parts of the book!!! I'm also pretty sure there were some chapters with John and Reinfield, which I also really liked. I was really dissapointed when Reinfield died cuz I enjoyed him as a character so much and was excited where his character gets (spoiler: to grave) and how his research continues (spoiler: it doesn't), that was my main moment of being pissed at Dracula and also when he started fucking with Mina which was a dick move honestly.

3. Vampire hunting

I'm pretty sure this was the longest part, which makes sense. I found it a bit funny, since Dracula keeps escaping and making his mischevious plans and spending money on shit and then Van Helsing, Arthur, John, Jonathan, Quincey and in certain parts Mina trying to catch him. It was a bit silly when I actually realised those babes are playing mouse and cat and also that Arthur spends shit ton money on this stuff. I dont even wanna know how it would go if neither of them was rich. How I said, wasn't a fan of Dracula being a bitch and making it Mina's problem, that sweet sweet woman didn't deserve it (I'm so glad Mina gets the recognision she should get in the book). ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT JONATHAN??? My poor man has been through the worst stuff possible through the book, he's in his late 20's and got grey hair and wrinkles just from Dracula. Also PTSD and some illness he had after getting out of the castle. Shout out to Jonathan for being the first wife guy and also LIVING THROUGH LITERAL HELL???? We dont talk about this enough T_T. Also here's my favourite fanart (idk if im just bad at looking for fanart, but this book doesn't have that much of it, like Dracula does but the side guys and Mina - Mina has few but most are with Dracula which is ickyyy - and Lucy.)

Credits to @hauntingyourself (I think)

The ending wasn't any revolutionary, it was good tho, also Quincey's death was so out my pocket, but im not complaining.

I'd also say why I liked and enjoyed this book was partially because I didn't take it as seriously, I mean I'll watch some analyses about it and all, but while reading, I was just having fun, and memes and silly fanart also helped with that.

It was a fun book, shout out to Mrs. Librarian who borrowed this book for me from another library 💋

Edit: also if you plan on reading/are reading Dracula I recommend listening to the album Empire of the vampire by Paralysed age :3

30/12/2024

[chuckeroo777]

Isekai Roundup

Been reading a few Isekai-type mangas lately, so here's my brief review of three that I've enjoyed.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime- 9/10

This one is a lot of fun. With a focus on political maneuvering and large scale stakes, Rimuru is determined to make the world a better place for everyone.

After awakening as a slime, Rumuru saves a tribe of goblins from wolf monsters, and ends up uniting the two races under his leadership. From there, he continues to gain followers to build a city of monsters, uniting all the monsters of the great forest.

Rimuru is hilariously overpowered, but the main focus is on the strength of the alliances and friends he secures with his kindness and charisma.

Plus he's a cute femboy, so that's a big plus.

This is Screwed Up, But I was Reincarnated as a GIRL in Another World!- 9/10

Don't let the erotica tag fool you. While it isn't obvious at first, this is first and foremost a cooking manga. Seriously, there isn't any sex, just occasional mannequin-level nudity, and a lot of off-screen masturbating.

Upon reincarnating, Ren discovers her exceptional powers of crafting and creation, and seeks to live the quiet life of a hermit, alone in the woods, using her modern knowledge of science to create wonders for her personal use.

Throughout the story, she works to improve her skills and find new and better materials and ingredients, while doing her best to maintain a low profile. Unfortunately for her, she ends up making quite a few friends, and she can't resist making their lives better, even if it risks exposing her.

But yeah, if you enjoy seeing characters exploit their abilities to create all sorts of wacky stuff, this is the manga for you.

A Transmigrated Vampire Would Like to Take a Nap- 8/10

If Rimuru was determined to go to any length to make the world a better place, and Ren was determined to make as few waves as possible, then Argento just doesn't give a single shit.

Argento just wants three meals a day and the ability to sleep for the rest. But between a need for blood, and powers far beyond any normal vampire, the world isn't gonna let this lazy vampire girl stay idle for long.

Overall, while I'm unsure if this was the best sampling, I can certainly see why the genre is so popular.

Now if only these manga sites would add a "Female Lead" tag, I wouldn't have to rely so much on "Yuri" and "Genderswap" to find adventures about cool ladies.

[mx-piggy]

Here's my weekly Futurama review, a day late. Spoilers ahead!!

I didn't care for the Prince and the Product. It's about on par with the Covid episode for me, if not below it.

I've read through some opinions of it to get a better understanding of what it was going for, so that somewhat justified what the episode did with the melodramatic A plot of Leela 'falling in love with' the Prince with minimal explanation given, with it being like a soap opera, which is why there are commercials between each scene. But, I still didn't like it overall.

I've never been a fan of anthology episodes, especially Futurama's. I like the Anthology of Interest episodes, but that's about it. Other than that, I guess I'm a bigger fan of Saturday Morning Fun Pit than most, just because the GI Zapp segment kills me. So, maybe part of my dislike for this episode is because I'm naturally bored by anthology episodes. But, in the case of this episode, it really failed to hold my interest regardless.

For one, I hated the A plot with Leela, Fry and the Prince. It felt like it should have been a Comedy Central episode because of how it treated Fry and Leela's relationship in such a disrespectful way. I understand now that it was supposed to be over-the-top, but I still found it really unpleasant considering the fact that this season they've actually committed to Fry and Leela's relationship, and seeing this conflict occur with very little explanation as to why it happened just felt really irritating. It didn't really entertain me, other than Fry being so supportive of Leela that he would fight for her to be happy even if it was with someone else. But, at the same time, I kind of hate how unequal this makes Fry and Leela's relationship, and how unpleasant it makes Leela come off. I really wish that Leela wasn't just reduced to 'woman that Fry loves' in this episode; it does a disservice to her character, and makes her come off kinda horribly. She just didn't feel like her well-rounded, fleshed-out self in this episode, and it was just such a bummer to see her break Fry's heart like that without really caring about it; like she doesn't owe him anything, but at the same time Leela only dumps Fry for the Prince because she's under a 'science spell'- a joke that did make me laugh a little. Even if she's under a spell that makes her fall in love with the Prince, surely that doesn't mean that she'd also abandon all of the compassion that's integral to her character? It just seems like poor, lazy writing, which I feel bad saying with the WGA strike. Maybe I'm just being stupid and overthinking this weak episode of Futurama.

Like I said, I only really liked seeing Fry be so supportive of Leela, and then them being in their knight outfits. I also liked the macaroni portrait of the King's wife- I thought that was funny at least. Other than that, I found the A plot to be really irritating and unpleasant, and it's a shame it had to come as one of the last episodes we'll see for a while.

I really didn't care for the toy commercial segments either. The wind-up toy segment was forgettable to me and I refuse to rewatch it any time soon lest it put me to sleep. I didn't like the car toy segment because it just felt really mean-spirited without being particularly funny, with all of the crew being horrible to Zoidberg and then Zoidberg dismembering the crew. This one felt too cluttered, with it trying to be a Ring parody, a car thing AND the thing with Zoidberg. It just wasn't that fun to watch. Also, I saw this article headline which said that this was also a FNAF parody, so I watched it expecting something FNAF related, and then when I actually read the article it said something along the lines of 'it's not an overt parody of FNAF, but the similarities are striking', which is really dumb to say, because it's always obvious when Futurama is parodying something (see: Parasites Regained, with the DUNEg beetles- remember that slightly grating joke?).

The segment I liked the most was the rubber duck/egg people (?) segment. It made me laugh more than the rest of the episode did. The plot was kinda dull, as is standard for most of the Futurama anthology episode segments. But, I won't deny that I was entertained by some of the jokes, such as duck-Kif's wearied groan being a quack noise. And, at least it had a sweet Fry and Leela moment in it to sort of make up for the A plot. I liked the duck designs more than any of the other designs in the episodes, maybe because they were just really cute. I don't think that this segment made up for the rest of the episode, though.

I think maybe this episode felt a little lazy because it was too similar to Saturday Morning Fun Pit, with its segments parodying media aimed at kids. Not only that- and I'm absolutely overthinking this- but I don't think it makes much sense for this soap opera-esque A plot to have commercials for products aimed at children. Plus, they never really felt like commercials anyway, like they were supposed to be. At least with SMFP, the segments were parodying kids shows and commercials for products aimed at kids, rather than telling kind of morbid stories with toys aimed at kids. Like, the only reminders that these were supposed to be commercials was the beginning and end of each segment, where the voice over said '[insert toy]: buy it'. Again, maybe I'm just thinking about this too hard, but to me this makes the episode feel so muddled and clumsy.

Overall, I think this was just a really dull, unengaging and messy episode that at its worst was grating. I disliked this episode so much and what it did, so much that I feel like I must be missing something. I'd really appreciate some insight, so if you have any please let me know.

I feel bad about being so negative, and I'm worried that people are going to think that I'm a Futurama snob who can't be pleased by anything this show does anymore; sorry if that's how some of these reviews have come across. I really have liked a lot of this season overall, even if my reviews have been quite critical. Maybe I look stupid for getting so heated about this silly episode of a TV show. The bottom line is that this is my favourite show and I care a lot about it. I care about it when I love an episode, and I care about it when I absolutely don't like an episode. I'm really hoping that episode 10 is better than this.

[snakewh1sperer]

Ofc !! I'm glad youre doing alright. How was your day? I'm going to sleep after sending this so I'll tell you how my day is first lol. My day was good, I went to school unfortunately and got to do some reading and caught up on my computer science class that I'll surely fall bhind in again because my teacher assigns too Much at once TwT we have an hour and a half in class and we used like half an hour reviewing today and then we had about like. Around 2 hours worth of work? Sob sob.. it's fine I can work on it at home lol. Sleep well ^^

- jar

I hope you sleep well, Jar. ^^

I've found this in the morning, but yesterday was alright. I also went to my classes. We're wrapping up an alchemy group project, which is a relief. The Housewardens and Vice Housewardens are once again discussing plans for Halloween this year. I suggested we invite Rollo from Nobel Bell just to give him a mildly insulting costume like he did for us when we visited /j

Really, that's all that's been going on for me. Congrats on catching up in your computer science class again! Hopefully it's relatively smooth sailing, even if you fall back behind again. You're most certainty capable, I believe in you.

[dominapirevita]

My 2024 fig tree

Happy new year! I wish everyone the best of luck in completing their goals.

I drew a moodboard in the form of a fig tree, based on Plath's fig tree analogy. The idea is that I pick as many figs as I can in 2024. Some of my goals aren't meant as careers and are just basic things to improve my health or well-being.

My figs are:

Continue using Habitica to track my progress and get inspiration for new challenges

Read 24 books (around 7 books for school, 2 books about science, 3 French books that are not for school, 1 audiobook, 2 poetry collections and 9 other books of choice)

Get better sleep by going earlier to bed, waking up earlier, avoiding my phone in the early morning and late evening, having a morning and night routine and by logging how much I slept, used my phone and how much I read.

Clean my room daily

Use sundays to prepare for the week (outfits + weekly reflection)

Practise the piano daily, experiment with making my own music and discover new music

Watch at least one film each month, reflect on it and experiment with writing my own script

Read at least 2 books about science

Learn every week a new bit of ancient Greek (grammer or a new text) and review daily

Write an outline for a novel and write 6 poems.

Post more on this blog (I am thinking about using it as a girlblog and posting every two weeks)

Make nice memories with new people and record it in a diary

Finish my homework a few days before the deadline and review new material beforehand.

Exercise a little bit every morning and begin learning ballet online

Image from the film 'Black Swan' (found on Pinterest)

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig-tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and off-beat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig-tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

[cheolhub]

for science what are your favorite scoupsie hcs 🤓 i don’t think i’ve seen anything like this yet but i’m kinda lowkey obsessed with the idea of loser cheol 🌵

OKAY I DID TWO PARTS TO THIS ASK LOL —

MY FAVES HCS? HMMM

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE HC is that cheol loves fucking in front of mirrors. especially if you had said something mean abt yourself, he literally won’t let it slide. he’s sitting you in front of a mirror, split open on his cock n he’s like, “no, baby, open your eyes ‘n look. look at me fuckin’ my pretty baby—“ AND IF YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES, HE THREATENS TO STOP.

he also makes you repeat after him n everything T-T “who’s my pretty baby?” “i-i am.” “good, say it to me now.” “i-i’m your p-pretty baby.”

i think hes a really good boyfriend in general. never fails to tell you how much he loves you or tell you how beautiful you are. wants to eat all of your insecurities bc to him, you’re literally a perfect doll and you deserve nothing but the world

i also like that he gives off sugar daddy in a sense where he just spoils the fuck out of his partner. if you want or express even the slightest interest in something, it’s yours before you can blink— price doesn’t matter bc you are priceless to him

he’s a soft dom through an through. like he loves praising you for taking him :( loves the way you babble for more of his cock even though youve cum countless times :( loves making you go stupid all for him while he just coos and tells you how much a “good baby” you are

EVEN THO HES A SOFT DOM, i think he’s also #1 brat tamer. he will not put up with an attitude and is so quick to put you back in your place. he’ll entertain you for a lil, but the second you start getting testy, he’s bending you over and making you apologize and beg if you wanna cum

PUSSY EATING KING !!!$$!!!!!! HE JUST KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING

hmm, i also think he’d be really possessive [which is so fucking hot to me] and he’d say my in front of any pet name. [i.e. my baby, my angel, my princess, etc.]

personal preference, but i would enjoy calling him sir and i think he’d fuck with it

———

AS FOR LOSER CHEOL?! i’ve literally never thought of him as a loser, just someone that can ruin me but maybe i can think of something…..

maybe ? english lit major loser!cheol who nearly cums in his pants every time he sees you. he always thinks you don’t notice him staring at you from across the lecture, but you do, and you think it’s really cute that he has a crush on you. you give him a chance because, yeah he’s kinda dorky and really good at english, but he’s… definitely not ugly. quite the opposite, actually. and the more you think about him, the more you think about him with his head between your thighs, foggy glasses framing his face??

so you stop him after class one day and he looks so shocked, about to stutter out an apology for no reason. before he embarrasses himself, you ask him if he can peer review one of your essays for the class and he … generously (and nervously) agrees.

so now you’re in your dorm and cheol’s trying to read your words on the page, but they’re starting to blur together because he can smell you. he can smell your sweet perfume on you and on your bed sheets and now he’s hyperaware of the fact that … he’s in your room where you sleep and where you shower…. naked… in the bathroom over…. how you probably have spent nights with your fingers in your cunt on the very bed he sits on.

and it’s almost too much, but he literally loses it when your hand touches his arm. “cheol? is it bad, you look like you’re in pain?”

“fuck-“ he curses under his breath, the quietest whimper coming out and you piece it together. he’s turned on. “i-i need to—“

you smile, feeling flattered. “i can take care of you, cheol… if you proof my paper… i can offer my mouth?” you suggest and when he gives you wide eyes, you panic over the fact that you may have misread the situation. “i-i, nevermind- sorry, that was w—“

“please?” he breaths out, moving the paper fro out of his lap to reveal the large tent in his pants. “please, i’ll do anything…”

[the-knights-of-rohan]

20/100 days of productivity.

It's actually less busy than I thought it would be today. Classes have been pretty chill, and a couple of my teachers got sick, so there's not much to do. But I finished my college apps, so now it's just interview prep for Saturday. I am...very nervous, especially because the school is quite literally the best for my major.

(Ice in that water looking CRISP.)

Today’s productivity:

Did AP Physics practice FRQs to prepare for unit test on drag and motion, luckily the test got postponed to next Monday.

Did AP Statistics review questions on experimental design, not too bad.

Did US Government notes, long and boring.

Worked on website for my club, we're using Jekyll to create all of the pages. Now I can add Ruby to the list of languages I am "moderately proficient" in!

Spent an hour flashcarding for Japanese 4 new chapter vocab

Self Care:

Daylight savings meant that I got to sleep in an extra hour. That was fun.

Spent a good hour playing Monster Hunter Rise, and getting blown out by the Variant Malzeno.

Future Goals:

Study for 3 tests in the coming weeks; AP Statistics (Experimental Design), AP Computer Science (String manipulation), and AP Physics (Friction and Drag)

Figure out how I'm going to read The Jungle without spending money (read: One Piece-ing)

Keep preparing for college interview (僕はスペインにいる。スは静かだ。)

Song of the day:

Name: Pyro

Album: UNLOCKED

Artists: Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats

[theheelerbooklifereads]

⁉️QOTD: If you could choose 3 characters to be in your found family who would you choose?

Today I’m excited to participate in the Bookstagram & Creative Tour for Church of Thieves by I.Q. Malcolm hosted by MTMC Tours.

When a priestess discovers a dark secret…she’s murdered to keep it that way. Church of Thieves is a fast-paced New Adult Fantasy published on May 16th, 2023 from Lost Umbrella Publishing.

Quotes that I just love:

"If death was but a common tax, an unexpected loss, then murder was a theft which robbed you of everything you held dear and basked in taunting your anguish."

"As my master says, it is better to ask ignorant questions and be a fool for minutes than to keep it to yourself and remain a fool forever."

Mini Review:

I will be honest: I am still reading Church of Thieves and because of that I will review what I have read so far. I will do a fuller review once I finish the book. Church of Thieves opens up with Mother Sienna's death, which just ends up opening a can of worms and sets the motions for what is to come.

IQ Malcom does a fantastic job with making us the reader feel the pain of the characters and have us questioning why all this is all happening to them.

Church of Thieves is a fast-paced read, which I really appreciate since I have been having the worst time focusing lately due to my ADHD. I am looking forward to learning more about this world and the fingers of the church. As of now, I just landed on a oh crap moment and I need to go pick up my book to find out what is going to happen next since I had to put my book down at 3 AM this morning to go to sleep.

Cover + Description:

Title: Church of Thieves Author: I.Q. Malcolm Publication Date: May 16th, 2023 Genres: Fantasy, New Adult Pages: 290 Format: eBook, Paperback, Hardcover Purchase a copy: Amazon Add on Goodreads!

When a priestess discovers a dark secret…

…she’s murdered to keep it that way.

Can her acolytes uncover the truth in time?

Tallis dreamt of becoming the world's greatest thief. Mother Sienna's death scattered those plans in the wind. With the vultures circling, he would do anything it takes to keep his found family together…

Even if that means following her into the grave.

All Nerea has ever known is struggle. The refugee-turned-inventor agreed to join Cuvar's temple to save her ailing mother. When she discovers she joined a church of thieves, her skills and morals are put to the test.

Can she survive in this secret society…

…or will she become one of Cuvar's misfortunates?

You will love this fast-paced new adult fantasy because it's filled with morally gray characters, political intrigue, and witty banter.

INTL Tour-wide Instagram Giveaway!

Head over to my Instagram account to enter the tour giveaway where three readers will win a hardcover copy + book art of Church of Thieves!  Ends on August 5th, 2023. Winner will be announced on @mtmctours’ Instagram

Tour Schedule:

July 24 @thereaderandthechef - Bookstagram & BookTok July 25 @theheelerbooklife - Bookstagram & Book Blog July 26 @jlreadstoperpetuity - Bookstagram & BookTok July 27 @fromherlibrary - Bookstagram & BookReel July 28 @paperfury - Bookstagram & BookTokJuly 29 @acourtofbooksandrambles - Bookstagram & BookReel July 30 @vintagelygrace - Bookstagram & BookReel July 31 @little_red_cover - Bookstagram & BookTok August 1 @punwithbooks - Bookstagram & BookReel August 2 @bookish.apothecary - Bookstagram & BookReel

About IQ Malcolm:

IQ Malcolm is a YA/NA science fiction and fantasy author. Prior to committing to the genre, he dabbled in the realms of psychological thrillers (The Draxler Program) and middle-grade fantasy (The Land of Unlived Dreams). When he isn’t writing, Malcolm keeps himself busy by teaching middle schoolers in the southwest corner of Wisconsin. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his lovely wife, playing with their goldendoodle, and daydreaming of Jeff Probst putting an immunity necklace around his neck. He lives with his family in Platteville, Wisconsin.

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You can find more about the giveaway and the book over on my bookstagram: