#i've edited this post like three times holy fuck

[razberrybones]

Been wanting to collect images of my 'types and show 'em off!! so im GONNA!!!

Dogs first, I'm gonna skip dragon bc GRRR nothin looks right, nothin looks how it feels, then owl, wolf (not a very high kin, might not be a theriotype but DAAMN those ears and body language come STRONG) and starthing.

AND OOOH I HAVENT EVEN GUSHED ABT MY EXPERIENCE BEING A STARTHING. noted for later, also its kind of a huge post so chopping it here :3

I found everytihng on pinterest and (im pretty sure) it's all saved on this board of mine!!: https://www.pinterest.com/whimvy/close-animal/

TW!! dead mouse/rodent, no blood though, y'all stay safe <3 (it's the second owl image so a little bit of a scroll down) slight EYESTRAIN at the bottom!

Dogs!!! in order: golden retriever, Bernese mountain dog, rough collie, AND THEN BERNESE GOLDEN RETRIEVER MIX GAAHERRJGF like thats literally jsut me guys holy fuck.

Owl :) (barn owl)

im like practically make of light, very delicate and ghostly looking yknow?

wolf :3c (dunno what kind(s) sorry)

I'm relatively light colored like in the first picture! But i have a rather lighthearted attitude :)

now,, i havent even tried looking for images that i relate to star/angel wise, so they might be a bit scattered but bear with me here lol

also kinda realizing im a little intangible and will jsut have to draw it. it is simultaneously incomprehensible and kind of like 90's anime. ANyway here's my impromptu, uncropped moodboard:

I actually really enjoyed making that. its so HOPEFUL, ENERGETIC, and so SERENE. so ME. thats how i feel. encouraging. I'm like the sun, a promise that the bad times are over. now we are free to dance!!

[celestialholz]

The Resurrectionist (or 'Crowley's dying briefly because character-building, and here's why')

I should start off by saying, friends, that I have written exactly zero books. (Bloody lot of fanfiction, but no actual novels). And I like coffee, but not particularly with oat milk. (The poison's metaphorical, not physical), but... well, you guys can keep both of 'em, because they're just not relevant to this conversation. I am also, as you may have already guessed, not Neil Gaiman. A chick can only speculate, but she does like to back it up with actual evidence.

No, I'm simply here to ask you a question.

What's the single worst thing Heaven could ever do to Aziraphale?

What would drive our angel so far from the clutches of Heaven that he would never, ever wish to return? What would set him unequivocally free from six millenia of assumed responsibility; what would make him realise that God can never change? What would strip everything away from him?

Because of course, this is what we have to do next series. This is Aziraphale's whole arc. If he doesn't try and change things and fail, he will always wonder. Always have a 'what if.' Will never be able to truly move on, will never be free from the eternal abuse cycle.

And so the severing has to be monumental, and everlasting. Then we get our happy ending. Storytelling, loves, done flawlessly. (Again, not a novelist... just a girl who's been writing for over half of her lifetime.)

And so, I ask again:

What's the single worst thing Heaven could ever do to Aziraphale?

And, well, it's a manifold question isn't it, with lots of potential ans - no I'm just kidding. Very simple question, very simple answer.

So congratulations to the very likely hundreds of you who have just said 'murder Crowley,' because a. you're very much correct and b. we've all just predicted the end of series three.

(... I mean, probably not the very end. But the emotional crux, definitely.)

And naturally, I'm not talking discorporation. I'm talking 'wiped from the universe altogether, leaving our angel eternally alone' kinda murder. The real shit. The good shit. Never mind any of this 'editing the Book of Life leading to an ineffable paradox' kinda bullshit - this is Heaven, the natural source point of holy water. One miracled Supersoaker and our demon's ancient history, friends.

Because y'see guys, severing Aziraphale's connection isn't the only problem we face in terms of narrative romance. We've also got Crowley, who has spent six millennia being in love with a guy who just takes, takes, takes... him for granted.

And this is NOT to say that Aziraphale gives him nothing back - he so very clearly does. (I am a consummate Aziraphale apologist, Crowley's just as much of a fool post-series two as our angel is, and Aziraphale needs this, as I've mentioned.) But... Crowley is his teacher. His moral guide. His protector. It mostly goes one way, and despite all of that and him being happy to be that guy for all this time... right when it matters most, Aziraphale (to Crowley, at least) has abandoned him. He's told him he isn't good enough.

(... Which is bollocks. That's not what Aziraphale's said at all, they're both as overprotective as each other and have a desperate, painful longing to keep one another safe in their own best way. But it sure fucking looks like it to CROWLEY, which is what matters.)

And so, we have two issues in achieving our happy-ever-after.

Sundering Aziraphale from Heaven forever;

Ensuring Crowley trusts him fully and knows completely that he is Aziraphale's only choice.

(And also by GOD do they need to have a proper conversation, but that one kinda goes without saying. It'll happen.) We have to even up this relationship; we have to make it absolute narrative equilibrium, and I am absolutely sure Neil knows this probably far better than I do.

... And so, how do we achieve both these things in one hit, whilst also telling a Second Coming story and holding a celestial war?

Well, we kill Crowley. Obviously. Not until episode five or six and after an emotional, romantic reunion of mutual understanding, but... we kill Crowley.

... And then Aziraphale brings him back. Yes, from complete death.

I would like at this juncture to remind you that miracles, apparently (and this is a thing we've just learned guys, almost like it's suddenly going to be relevant ongoing) are measured in Lazarii.

(Great thanks to the Aziraphale to my Crowley, @porgthespacepenguin, for these few screenshots I'm showing off here today. You'd never leave me, not even for my own good. <3)

Lazarii is very obviously named after Jesus' apparently greatest miracle, of raising Lazarus from the dead in the book of John. They managed to achieve twenty-five times the necessary amount of energy it takes to bring someone back from death... without actually fucking trying.

Let's take a look at the book of John a sec. Or more specifically, its eleventh chapter and twenty-fifth verse.

Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in me, even though he dies, will live."

My thanks to Neil once again for murdering me like Heaven's going to murder Crowley. Cold blood, point-blank.

'Who believes in me.' Huh. Only for the past six thousand years, Aziraphale dear...

Here's a little of what the internet has to say about the number 25 in numerology, by the way.

And may I also remind you at this stage that there is a pub in this series called The Resurrectionist, and only Aziraphale goes into it.

I mean sure, Crowley's booksitting and trying to make the ladies hilariously like him and Aziraphale fall in love in the same way he himself did, but the fact remains... one relevant pub name. One guy. (We all need a narrative excuse sometimes Neil, I get you.)

Considering all this, friends, let me ask you another question. This one's a little more wordy, that's on me.

What do you think would happen when a being capable of raising someone from the dead twelve and a half times over for the sake of his beloved's protection loses said beloved beyond all doubt?

... And this will be after he gains the ultimate celestial power-up, by the way. In case we'd forgotten that that alone is also about to boost Aziraphale to the fucking stratosphere, and finally put him on an equal footing with Crowley. (Who is clearly an ex-archangel, but not Lucifer, so Neil's since said.)

... And I think we know the answer, don't we? The kind of miracle that

(You can't see me, but I'm staring into the camera like I'm one of The Office main cast right now.)

This is the kind of power that fucks with reality - the kind of power that scares Heaven and Hell to absolute death, hence Metatron being in the DMs. And crucially, this miracle was boosted because of love. Because of a desire to keep the status quo, their 'own side'. You amplify both those conditions to the nth degree by destroying one of them? It's over, lads. Resurrection is the beginning.

Resurrection evens up a playing field. It destroys Aziraphale and renews him in one hit; it proves to Crowley once and for all that Aziraphale loves him exactly as he is.

... It's a no-brainer, pals.

And what do they do after this? Well, fuck up the celestial order, naturally. I have theories, the main one of them being that they're going to be God and Satan respectively and unite Heaven and Hell in eternal marriage, but... that's just a theory. A television theory.

The resurrection thing? Not so much.

... See, this is the thing, my friends. You don't need to have written a 16k essay to predict the future.

All you need is the ability to tell a story, an observant eye for that which is already present, and a simple question. (Followed by a mildly more complex one. It's a working allegory.)

... I'm just going to leave you with this one shot of Aziraphale picking up his own destiny. Because poetic cinema.

[lowkeyrobin]

I just read your mcyts x musical theater reader and it was so sweet. I was wondering if you could do something similar but instead of the reader doing musical theater, they do movie/tv acting??? maybe with slimecicle, niki, foolish, and quackity?

I can try I can try 🙏🙏 ; I wanna formally apologize to anyone who's sent requests that I've never posted, sometimes the lack of ideas just hits me like a brick and I physically have no more ideas and can't post them lol ; also sorry if any of this is a little inaccurate, this is just what I know from bts videos and dead meat / kill counts lmao

MCYT ; actor reader

includes ; nihachu, quackity, foolish gamers & slimecicle

warnings ; language

masterlist

NIKI NIHACHU

your biggest fan fr

she binges every single movie/show you've been in just for you

then afterward her tiktok fyp is filled with edits of your characters

her pinterest is filled with pics of your characters too lmao

she's got boards for all the diff characters and aesthetics and bts pics

you send her a picture of you hung by a harness and she's like "what kind of contraption are you in and why"

probably watches the movies/shows you're in on stream for first time reactions and commentary

if you have to wear a wig for a project you'll show her like a time-lapse of how the makeup dept puts it on and she's just like "how long does that take???" "an hour" "omg"

ALEX QUACKITY

liking, reposting and commenting on any edits of you/your characters

actually so down bad /hj

yk damn well he's always asking "hey any new movies or shows ur gonna be in soon??" "not soon enough for u to watch rn lmao"

always makes jokes in reference to media you've been in

asks what other actors are like bts and if they're actually nice or if they have a JLO type ego

always wants to match Halloween costumes w your characters and their love interest/best duo type friend iykwim

hides the fact he reads fanfiction about you and your characters

FOOLISH GAMERS

owns every single piece of merchandise related to your characters

owns every piece of media you've been in on DVD, and has most of the original scores on cd/vinyl

constantly making references and jokes to movie/show deaths you've acted out / traumas your characters have endured

his tiktok fyp is FILLED with edits of you

every like three scrolls it's another edit that he likes, reposts and favorites

he rewatches edits 24/7

also dives into fandom culture a bit bc he wants to talk to people who like your career as much as he does

also the type to ask "is ___ a good person or are they secretly a bitch?" lmao

you spill all the juice

CHARLIE SLIMECICLE

has an actual checklist of which movies/shows he's watched and how many times he has

the gossip about other actors bts goes crazy

he's probably the one to show up to set the most to give you food or motivation lol

"whatre you guys doing with all the blood?" *cue him looking to giant gallons of fake blood*

"I, ___ & ___ are dying today"

"Oh, fuck, cool. can I watch?"

matching Halloween costumes with your characters 💯💯💯

he's obsessed with seeing edits of you and reposting the ones he finds on Twitter

"Holy shit you guys are insane (make more right now)

w boyfriend

[armeenix]

Distracting thoughts♡Bakugo x reader

I've been really sad recently so I thought why not write some fluff

♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-

Ever since the very beginning of his freshman year bakugo has always been enthralled with you. There was just something about you that drew him to you as if he was a moth, and you were a beautiful dancing flame. His interest started out small. Sometimes he would glance over at you in class, or catch himself thinking about you instead of focusing on his tasks at hand.

Who are you really?

Why do you cause his thoughts to gravitate towards you?

Is it your stupid fucking quirk?

Maybe it's your stupid fucking face. With your pretty eyes, and your kissable lips, and your cute smile..

Fuck why are you so God damn pretty...?

This was when his thoughts started to get a little to...romantic. He had to snap himself out of this. He barely had time for friends, let alone a pretty little extra like you. He ever so desperately tried to get you off of his mind but nothing would get rid of his distracting thoughts. There was really only one option left and he eagerly took it. The last option he had was to just ignore you all together, and that's exactly what he did. He didn't want to admit it but it was a little harder to avoid you than he expected. Ever since the first day of school you have very persistently tried talking to bakugo. It's not like you did it in an annoying way, like kirishima and denki did. Instead, you were pretty chill about it.

You would casually sit by him and strike up little conversation and when the conversation stopped, it's stopped that was the end of it. You had a tactic of getting closer to him little by little at HIS pace and holy shit it was working. Bakugo started continuing the conversations for longer, and sometimes he would even be the first to start the conversations but, unfortunately for him, he couldn't open up to you anymore

Bakugo would go out of his way to sit far away from you, he would keep the conversations dry and short, and sometimes he just didn't pay any attention to you at all. He really thought this was gonna work but you just didn't know when to fucking give up. Even after how dry and mean he's been you still keep coming back to sit next to him and try to talk to him. Your subtle determination did not help bakugo keep you out of his thoughts, instead it made him think of you even more..you were always in his thoughts everyday of the week, he never could get a break from thinking about you. To be honest, you were the first person to ever be so persistent while keeping a respectful distance and not pushing your friendship onto him, and for some reason that made him feel all hot and bothered around you.

"Fuck..is a respect kink even a thing..?"

"What the hell are you talking about kacchan?"

"ITS NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUISNESS DUNCE FACE"

"Woah, calm down bakugo"

"Whatever..."

♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-

7 YEARS LATER

Its been a few years since you graduated from u.a. Both you and bakugo were successful I'm becoming proheroes. Recently you have been trending all over social media because you reached the huge milestone of finally becoming number three In the hero ranks. Your popularity skyrocketed whenyou stopped a building from crashing down onto hundreds of citizens in Tokyo earlier this month. All over Twitter people have been congratulating you, especially the girls from class 1.A. The posts consist of pictures, fan edits, fan art, and videos from most, if not all of your recent interviews.

Bakugo was scrolling through one of your twitter tags, when his phone buzzed. He swiped the notification bar at the top of his screen down to see that izuku had sent him a message.

"What does he want..?" He clicked on the message to see an image of most of class 1.A sitting at a resturant table with you directly in the middle. You were sitting backwards on a turned around chair with a cake in your hands. The cake was decorated to look like your hero suit and it had a cake topper with a hash tag and a number three on it. Right below the photo was a small paragraph.

"Hey kaachan! I know you've been really busy with everything going on lately, but I couldn't help but noticr how dissapointed y/n seemed when kirishima told her that you couldn't make it to the lunch earlier today. Maybe it's time you finally stopped avoiding her? Don't try to say you havent been, because everyone knows that you have."

"Tch as if. Who does he think he is bossing me around." There was no way in hell he would be able to "pay you a visit". He was way too busy with work just like everyone else. Plus, you probably wouldn't even want to see his face after how he brushed your civil attempts at trying to become his friend off during highschool. Deku probably just read your expressionswrong, thats all.

Right?

Right....??

"Ugh! Stupid fucking deku with his smart-ass ideas. Why does he always have to be fucking right?"

Bakugo continued to mumble as he quickly stood up and grabbed a few of his things. Just as he was about to walk out of his office door, an annoying (as bakugo liked to put it) rhythmic knock was heard from it. "Hey bakugo, you in there? I wanna show you something!"

"Fucking hell"

Bakugo quietly sighed before walking towards the door. "Come on man it's really cool! It's this cat that's wearing a small costume that looks exactly like mine. You've gotta look!" Oh hell no. There was no way he was gonna let kiri in just for that, but how was he gonna get out of his office if kirishima was blocking his only exit? Well, his only reasonable exit. Bakugo never really liked his second option because of how dangerous it was but in this moment he had no choice. It was either open that door and get bombarded with dumb questions from his loud friend, or hop out of his window and use his quirk to stop himself from getting hurt.

"Bakugo if you don't open the door imma pick the lock!"

Once again there was no response from bakugos end of the door. "Alright man, you leave me no choice!" It took a few moments but eventually kirishima finally managed to unlock the door. He turned the knob and walked into the room to see no bakugo, and one of his office windows left wide open, letting the winter night air in. He quickly walked towards the window and looked down to see a figure with explosive hands floating (or more like sloppily falling) down towards the sidewalk.

"COME ON MAN IM NOT THAT BAD"

♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-

AT Y/N'S HERO AGENCY

you had been at your agency building for hours working on an idea for your new merch realise. You were one of the very few heroes who worked on official merchandise themselves. Sure you were able to create what you wanted and people loved it, but this also added so much more work to your already heavy load. To you it was worth it though, because your fans always loved the things that you and your team produced and it made you happy to see that your teams hard work to make the best quality products actually payed off.

You picked up your mug to take a sip of your tea when you realise that all of it is gone. Letting out and exhausted sight you get up from your seat, with your mug in hand, and walk out of your office to go boil some more water. A few minutes later the water was finally hot enough so you quickly made your tea to your liking and walked back into your office. As soon as you walked in you were met with your patio doors wide open and Bakugo leaning against your desk with a greasy brown bag resting right next to him.

"Hey...."

"I....hi?"

♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-♡-

To be continued

Comments, and reblogs always help!<3

[moongothic]

Tbh I wanna see crocodile fight someone so we can see how strong he is because the last time he’s gotten in a real fight was in marineford. Does crocodile have haki? Does he need it at all to survive the new world? Like with most of the relevant pirates knowing haki, retroactively or otherwise, it’s kinda hard to gauge what he’s capable of

Anon I am so sorry I'm gonna go slightly off-topic/become deranged because I've been thinking about writing a whole ass post about this very subject and now you just gave me an excuse to word vomit incoherently instead. So I'm just gonna do that. I'm so sorry

(Hey won't you look at that I actually came back and edited this so it's vaguely legible and there's like a proper point to my thesis lmao)

Also I am. So sorry. For how obscenely long this got. Holy shit I have no idea how this happened I am so sorry

I can not put into words just how badly I want to see this man have an actual, proper 1-v-1 fight with someone. Oda, for the love of god let him fuck up someone, please, I c̵͍͛r̶̢͠a̴͕̾v̷̠͆ḛ̶̐ ̸̤͝t̷̟̋h̷̳̓ḙ̵̀ ̷̱͌b̶͓͑l̸̦̚ô̶̠ȯ̸͇d̴̲̕

No for real though, the one, true, proper 1v1 we ever saw Crocodile have WAS with fucking Luffy and like, to be fair they did fight three times, but still, during Summit War? Sure we see him exchange a few blows but it's never a proper 1v1 because we keep on cutting from one thing to another and the opponents keep on changing etc. So there was no time for a proper battle with anyone

So out of principle alone I want to see him have a proper fight with someone (who isn't a Strawhat preferably) at least once before the series ends (though honestly if we could have more than just one fight scene with Crocodile I would not complain at all, but I might be asking too much at that point)

But also yes. I want to know Croc's actual Power Level in the story right now (and I don't mean that in a powerscaling-kinda way, just in a "I want my husband to look cool because it's what he deserves" kinda way)

Like. The Crocodile we've seen in the past absolutely under no circumstances deserves the fucking unit of a bounty he has on his head right now. And I mean, to be fair Buggy doesn't deserve his gigantic bounty either, canonically the numbers don't matter or mean THAT MUCH-- They just reflect what the WG thinks a person is worth, not the true level of threat the person actually poses But also. Croc's bounty has literally gotten like 24 times bigger from his OG pre-Shichibukai era bounty. To be fair, according to trivia his OG bounty would've at least doubled had the WG known about Baroque Works, but his current bounty would still be like 12 times bigger than before. And god fucking knows Crocodile does not fucking deserve a bounty this fucking big if he hasn't gotten any more powerful since Alabasta. No amount of hanging around with Mihawk and running evil organizations should beef up his bounty that much

So surely, he must've gotten more powerful since we last saw him action, right? Surely? Somehow?

But indeed, how?

And that's where we kinda get to the interesting part, don't we? We have no idea what Croc's been up to for the past two years. Like whatever he's been doing, surely it's been better than spending a decade sitting on his ass and barely ever lifting a muscle when overpowering rando pirates attacking Alabasta with his Logia powers, right. Like surely being in the New World alone would be enough to make him break a sweat for a change

But then like, the only two times we have seen Croc post-timeskip (pre-Cross Guild) he has been just sitting around reading the news (to be fair, the scenes were also about him catching the news about Luffy, it's not like he can't do anything else outside of those scenes). So like. I feel kind of conflicted, like on one hand to get stronger then surely he must've been working out or something. But also I do kind of mentally associate Training Arcs with much younger characters, and Crocodile is quite middle aged, like is he even allowed to go through a training arc anymore?? Especially when he's like a such a Proper Gentleman, it's so hard to imagine him to go back to the basics or anything

But also?? How else would he get stronger?? Like?? Maybe there really was?? AN OLD MAN TRAINING ARC??

But also, to be fair

Crocodile did make a big point about how he "keeps on honing and developing his Devil Fruit skills instead of stagnating like some other losers" back when he and Luffy had their first match. So I really would love it if Oda kept that actually true for the character, I'd love to see him actually whip out some new tricks, techniques and attacks instead of us seeing Sables again for the 839423th time

And really he can't really whip out new attacks if he hasn't at least tried to come up with new tricks (and preferably tried them out)

But that was just the basics right, Croc's Devil Fruit capabilities

Then there's the whole mystery of Crocodile's Haki Status. A whooole different can of worms. Considdering how the only actual damage he seemed to take during the entirety of Summit War was because of Jozu's Haki, and the fact that even fucking Blackbeard can use Haki now, it'd feel deranged if he doesn't have any kind of Haki capabilities. Like everybody knows Haki is going to be Croc's persona kryptonite, including Croc himself! And Haki Mastery really is The Thing that decides whether a pirate crew can actually make it or not in the New World (Kaidou made a specific point about that too). So surely, considdering Croc's supposed to be A Smart Boy and all, he knows he'll need to actually figure out how to use Haki if he doesn't want to lose another limb, right. Like surely he's figured that shit out, right???

Now people have been speculating for years if both Crocodile AND Moria used to be Haki users who lost their Haki after getting their asses kicked in the New World. Which, in theory would make sense, since Haki is essentially just willpower, and getting crushed the way they did would give them good in-universe reasons to why they didn't use the ability, as their traumas could translate to them losing their wills. But also it is willpower, that's not really a tangible thing you can really lose, and the idea of "Haki loss" isn't actually canon (yet at least). So although it's great fanon, we can't assume it's true. Like just as an example, we know Hancock can supposedly use Conqueror's Haki but we've never actually seen her demonstrate the ability

And to be fair to Croc (and Moria), the concept of Haki didn't really start to get Truly Solidified in the story until post-War, so expecting Alabasta!Croc to use it a whole decade earlier in real world time would be ridiculous since Oda hadn't figured out the system yet.

And while that is 100% true and fair.

Thing is. Although extremely vague, I do think Oda had been slowly starting to build the IDEA of Haki already in Alabasta. Like we know the concept gets properly introduced during the Skypiea Saga where Blackbeard both namedrops it and we get to see Observation Haki in action, under the name Mantra. But already in Alabasta, when Zoro is trying to figure out how to cut steel (to defeat Daz), that whole "breath of things" and hyper-awareness he gains when near death... I'm not the first one to point out how much that sounds like rudamentary Haki. And like, yes, on paper the idea of the battle was that Zoro became strong enough to cut steel. But also, learning to use Haki would be what would allow anyone to cut through a Devi Fruit ability like that. The same applies to Luffy's final attack on Crocodile too, his punch destroying the sand blade that before would've sliced his entire hand in half before is poetic on its own, but makes even more in-universe sense if you considder the possilibity Luffy might have subconciously been using Haki at the very end, his sheer willpower allowing him to punch Croc.

The reason I'm pointing all that out is that I kinda wonder if we might've gotten hints at Crocodile having not just Haki, but fucking Conqueror's Haki in Alabasta

This is based on two things:

First, Crocodile's pet bananawani. Yes, he could just be Really Good with animals and that would be adorable on its own. But we know Conqueror's can be used to intimidate and tame animals, including really fierce beasts. Keeping in mind that bananawani are meant to be one of the few species of animals that prey on Sea Kings, IDK, if you told me the reason Crocodile was able to tame them and keep them as pets thanks to Conqueror's, I would believe you. It's nothing solid, there's no proof one way or another, but it would make sense in-universe, it is plausible.

Second, this scene.

Does that blast of Ominous Air/Energy on the third page not remind you of one of those Conqueror's Haki shockwaves?

Of course, considdering Luffy was able to knock out Bon-chan with his untrained, uncontrolled Conqueror's in Impel Down (though to be fair, in the Impel Down scene Bon-chan was in rough condition anyways), if Crocodile was displaying his Haki here, either

A) Shit's real fucking weak or

B) He must've intentionally "kept it down" in this scene just to make sure his agents didn't actually pass out on the spot

But of course, if Croc had fullblown Conqueror's that he was able to control that well, you'd think he might've actually used it to subdue weaker enemies at some point or something (though, again, Hancock also supposedly has it and we haven't seen her use it, and if we had seen him use it on Luffy or something then the story really would've ended in Alabasta). So if that really was Conqueror's, I'd personally maybe rather lean on it being weak as hell (especially if Haki Loss was canon) over him having perfect control over it

Of course, just because that ominous blast of air in hindsight might resemble a weak ass Conqueror's Haki Blast, it doesn't mean that's what it was. Just like with the Bananawani example, there's nothing solid here to go off of, it's just plausible

(Also just for clarity's sake, Crocodile doesn't need Conqueror's Haki. I just think there could be evidence to suggest it if you overthink it just right)

All of this to say

Regardless of what Croc's Haki Status was during Alabasta and Summit War, the fact is that the dude really does kind of need Haki just to survive in the current storyline. So if he can't use ANY KIND OF HAKI, I'm just gonna be speechless. Like Luffy could kill him by just farting on him at that point Not to mention I'd actually love to see the Haki Loss-concept explored in the canon. Like either have it debunked, or somehow confirm it's a thing and show off what a horrifying threat Crocodile can be when he's actually putting his everything into a fight (same for Moria btw, if all he has to protect rn is Perona I'd love to see him go apeship and use Haki to protect her)

BUT THEN THERE'S A WHOLE DIFFERENT DIRECTION WE COULD GO WITH CROCODILE'S POWER LEVEL

OH DID YOU THINK I WAS FUCKING DONE WITH THIS POST? NO, WE'RE STILL FUCKING GOING MAN

So I've seen a lot people speculate about Logia Awakenings and what they could be like. Most people seem to agree on the theory that Punk Hazard being the way it is could be a result of two awakened Logias (namely Akainu and Aokiji) clashing. Similarly that Enies Lobby could be where an Awakened Light Fruit did a thing in the distant past, causing the eternal daytime on the island

I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced that's what Logia Awakenings will be like (some people have also suggested Enel's Final Form was a Logia Awakening, which I kinda doubt but okay), it's a neat idea in any case, we'll just have to wait and see what Oda has cooking for us

Regardless. On a mere narrative level, if they're even possible then I think it'd be cool as hell if Crocodile could act as an introduction to Logia Awakenings and what they're actually like. Because, depending on the role the bastard is going to take going forward, it could prepare us and Luffy for what's to come with Akainu (the real threat)

And again, depending on his role in the story, I think he could be an actual candidate for someone who could deserve to be Awakened-- like the whole Awakening State is sliiightly OP, and Logias are also kind of OP by default. So between OG Croc being kinda weak as hell (by current standards), but also him being an experienced pirate who's known his abilities for god knows how many decades... IDK I think he could deserve The Honors, y'know?

Like compare him to someone like Sabo or Blackbeard who got their Logias only recently and are still learning to use their abilities (more or less). If either of those fuckers somehow Awakened their Logias before Sir Fucking Crocodile I'd be kinda pissed off y'know?

The Admirals are kinda OP to begin with anyways too, I kinda just don't want Smoker to get The Honor of being the first on-screen Awakened Logia either, and really that would leave us with like... Ceasar and Enel as our only remaining options

And Dragon, if he does have a Wind Logia (which remains to be seen)

So. Yeah. If Logia Awakenings can be a thing, I think Crocodile could be the perfect guy to actually introduce them in the story (depending what his role will be).

All of this nonsense to say

Mr Oda, please, I would like to see Sir Crocodile in action pwease

And I want to know what the hell that weird spike thing was

Mr Oda please, I wish to see the Husband and see what kind of tricks he can do now after all these years, please allow him to commit a murder or two or three

[fyrefrostanimus]

Holy shit this was posted later than I wanted it to. I had it done yesterday but my mom helped me clean my room a bit and buried my laptop for a while. Now it's unburied and we're good :)

So this is an idea I've had for a while. I drew all those versions of my comfort character of Evan Afton with features from the Nightmares (my favorite subsection of mainline animatronics) just because, and I wanted to do something with them. So why not post that for the prompt nightmare?

Not much to this AU really, Evan has Nightmare Foxy as a half parental-half fraternal character. Is it probably blatant mischaracterization? Yes, but in this case it's something I pretty much made up for fun. Over time he gained some of the physical traits Nightmare Foxy has, although he chose to cover most of them.

Cue Michael ending up in the Nightmares' domain for a week straight while Ennard was piloting his body. It's like he got visitation rights he wasn't ready for (as much as he wanted to see Evan again). Chaos ensues.

Alright onto art stuff. Here's the main three's heights

If Nightmare Foxy seems like he should be taller, he's the shortest of the main band of Nightmares.

Evan closeups and little design notes (not exactly detailed, but some visible bone and a little blood)

A full drawing with the three of them. If proportions seem wack it's because I've never actually drawn characters with their actual heights so I'll probably need more practice with that

*Foxy is gazing judgmentally as his little brother/child walks up to this (in his mind) random stranger who would be better off dead*

Please god tell me this is Evan enough I do not have the time to make something else

EDIT: FUCK I WAS SO RUSHING TO POST THIS THAT I FORGOT THE TAG @and-stir-the-stars

[boinin]

2024 check-in

It's been a while since I talked about Cassis Orange here. For those wondering, I still don't have a concrete ETA on when I'll publish the next chapters. I'm actively writing the final chapters as of now however, after a few false starts and writers' block. All I can say from here is, I'll keep people posted 🐞

For anyone interested in behind-the-scenes rambling about my writing process, more below the cut.

What's holding things up? Well, I like to finish a full draft of a piece, allow myself some breathing space from it, before going back to review, edit and weave together the chapter's themes and ideas.

Emphasis on "finish a full draft". That's a mistake I've made with Cassis Orange. I've always had sight of the destination, and the scenes needed to get the characters there, but not always how these scenes should join up or how they ought to flow.

In addition, nailing down themes and authentic character growth has been challenging. Lastly, the gap between writing chapters 1-8 and writing 9-10 has slowed progress, as I end up needing to re-read what's already there for consistency.

None of this is to the fic's detriment (I hope), but it's knocked my own motivation at times. "Done is better than perfect" is a motto I continually remind myself of. It's taking me longer than I'd like, that's just life. But I remain excited to finish the story, which is the main metric of concern 😉

Anyway, why is finishing a full draft so important?

Well...

Here's a quick look at my old drafts folder:

Chapter 9's main difficulty, despite me knowing exactly what needs to happen, is hitting the right emotional notes and character milestones. I've already made three distinct stabs at the same scenes, none of which really achieve what I want them to.

Thankfully, these particular issues aren't on the same scale as what I faced with Chapter 7. shudders I am confident about where to go next.

If you're wondering, IMO the best solution to this issue is to just... write them anyway. See the events out, imperfect as they may be. It's more insightful to revise a dysfunctional scene from beginning to end, than a half-baked draft that tails off in author despair and confusion.

A recurring mistake, which I'll try to learn from going forward.

|| Spoilers for published chapters of Cassis Orange start here! ||

This is my note on the oldest draft (which I first started in May, apparently?? holy fuck). Because I wrote out of sequence, the Chapter 9 I'd started doesn't align with the direction Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 took. In fact, it's different enough from what I want to convey that I've considered recycling the draft into its own fic. May still do, but not before I finish CO.

The "Kunigami Sadboi" draft is exactly what it sounds like lmao. In short, I sketched out some angsty scenes in his POV that take place between chapter 7 and chapter 8. Alexa, play I'm Not Okay (I Promise).

Ultimately, I determined these don't fit the vibe of the Chapter 9 I want to publish. But they served a valuable creative purpose. Even if it's not spelled out for you (the hypothetical reader), it's important that the writer (me) and by extension, the characters, know what happened off-screen.

These drafts are imperfect. But now that I'm carving out the final Chapter 9, I can cherry-pick ideas and imagery from them. No writing goes to waste, even if it's destined to lounge in your drafts folder for all eternity.

Anyway, if you've got this far, you deserve a medal. Instead, have a snippet of how Chapter 9 could have looked, had I hit publish on that older version. Featuring out-of-character weepy Chigiri and indulgent author moralising via Kunigami!

I'm irrationally fond of this moment, though it doesn't hold up for a number of reasons. It's what the idiom kill your darlings refers to. I can like this excerpt, and it may have some merit, but it doesn't serve the narrative at large. So it dies, along with the 15,000 other words that didn't quite hit the mark 🥲

Here's another snippet, from Kunigami's sadboi days:

Again, something I personally enjoyed writing. Kunigami's dynamic with his kids is something I treasure a lot about this AU. It's simply one of those scenes that's best kept to headcanon, due to the shape I want Chapter 9 to take.

[therandomtapes]

the weekend is made.

I got up today, it's a very nice day, the first nice saturday in a long time. I did some errands while jamming that new Chat Pile jawn which is VERY VERY VERY GOOD. Oh yes.

I came home, I ate some breakfast, I looked at a notification on the tumblr app, and found some things in my inbox from this past week.

alas989 asked:

Hi,

I've just identified a tape from way back. I've been binging 90s post hc stuff recently and I reminded myself of your blog I used to visit to find new music and a couple of undidentified tapes of yours I still have on my computer.

The tape in question is #106, it's a song 'Starlight' by a band 'Starlight Conspiracy' from Burlington, Vermont, released as a part of the single in 1996, here's the RYM entry:

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/starlight_conspiracy/big_beautiful_drive_in___starlight/

and a Youtube link to a reissue from 2014

great stuff, nice meaty guitars and a tight rhytm section, remind me of Hopesfall a little bit.

I'm wondering if somebody identified tapes #19 and #58, love those tunes and I'm basically certain it's not Versus, vastly different vocals.

Cheers,

We'll get to number 19 and 58 in due time

.....I just wanna show you my literal reaction to this:

so yes. Starlight Conspiracy,

that song is not on Apple Music, but they have a full length (called "sounds like a silver holler") that is, and I have definitely heard some of that too. ...but no, our friend was not done bringing us some joy. Look at this:

alas989 asked: tape #105 is 'The Dinner, The Fight and The Fire' 'by Panel Donor tape #106 is 'Twilight' by Twilight Conspiracy If you ever get tapes #19 and #58, let me know

#105, the one with the best bassline in the world!!!

This album is on Apple Music, and strangely enough, also had this song, which i don't think I posted yet, but yes, is on one of these tapes and yes, it's the same band 'O'

that's three songs . . . .but no. . .no no no. . .

not one, but TWO MORE!!!

alas989 asked:

I've found tapes #19 and #58, they're 'New Wave Dream' and 'Philistine' by The Raymond Brake off of 'Piles of Dirty Winters'. Thought I'd let you know.

what you have to understand is these are white whale holy grail random tapes (and please read that in your best "Mastdon gang vocal")(and yes, the riff is in my head as i type it.)

The numbers aren't in chronological order, but Ive been searching for them the longest. They are on some of the first tapes I recorded of the many collected full of these gems. 19, 58 and 105, literal obsessions.

THIS HAD A VIDEO!?!?!?!?!

I'm gonna see this on deletism one day. Count on it.

I played this for someone in middle school and they loved it and I couldn't tell them who it was HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!You see this?!?!?

YOU SEE THIS?!?!!?!?!

then number 58

This album is not on apple music, btw.

Can't win 'em all.

So yes, thank you @alas989, you are a hero.

You hear me? A HERO!!

EDIT: okay, Panel Donor is fucking dope.

this is also a random tape

the end of this song is amazing. . . .

EDIT AGAIN: as i have gone through this album, a notion formed in my head "this song is probably them too". So, I went back to the main page in apple music and clicked on the 1994 album.

BOOM!

this is now the Panel Donor post.

I even found a live version of ballad of ya ya

I don't understand how I never even heard their name before. I'm serious. I remember hearing about the Raymond Brake and Starlight Conspiracy in passing (but of course, not immediately after they played the song).

. . .bruv, 90s indie rock was fucking special.

It just was. Thank you again.

[nowoyas]

Edible Arrangements 34

First - Prev - Next - M.list - Ao3

A/N: sorry this is running late! I had like three assignments due today and I've been in a depressive rut for like three months so I totally thought I just needed to edit a chapter and post it today. turns out that was the last chapter in my bank and it was only halfway written so AFTER taking an exam I haven't done any coursework for (and kicking ass fuck yeah) and writing a 1k word essay I also hadn't done anything for and also playing stardew valley bc of who I am as a person I finally got the time today to bust out the rest of the chapter! this is more lightly edited than usual due to time reasons. anyways rant over! here's the chapter!

Chapter Summary: Fuck yeah axe throwing and heists!

Warnings: uhhh hospital and knife mentions

Word count: ~2500

Holy fucking shit Tenya is insane. Holy fucking shit you love this.

Axe throwing. He took you axe throwing.

And holy shit, you’re living your best life.

The place does competitions between teams of two, and luckily, there was another pair hoping to fuck shit up on this fine Friday afternoon. They’re both younger, you think—at least, one is. The first, with bobbed brown hair, is definitely around your age—she smiles and waves as you approach. The other, you’re not able to be sure about, namely because she’s just some floating clothes. She’s invisible, apparently.

You wonder if you’d be able to see her features if she lied to you.

“Glad to see we’ve got another pair!” the brunette says as you and Tenya take point beside them. "This is fun, but I think it's a little more fun as a competition!" She's got a playful glint in her eyes. "I'm Ochako! And this is Tooru."

You nod. Tenya gives your names.

"Have you been here before?"

You have not. Tenya shakes his head for the both of you.

“Do you think they’ll be mad if I scream?” you ask as you inspect one of the throwing axes. “I’m going through some shit.”

Ochako laughs. “Go for it. Just try to make it sound more angry than in pain so they don’t freak out, and you should be good!”

Ochako and Tooru are great, as is Tenya. The girls give both of you pointers on good technique as the resident axe-throwing regulars, and you proceed to scream out your rage as you successfully hit a killshot on the target. It’s pure, violent delight, and even Tenya gets into it. By the time it’s over, Ochako and Tooru have thoroughly thrashed you (you silently write it off as the result of both you and Tenya having pretty heavily burnt arms) and you’ve walked out with both girls’ numbers and a group chat entitled “axing questions”.

And speaking of group chats, you haven’t looked at your phone except to get the chat set up since entering the axe-throwing venue. You almost feel light.

Tenya, for his part, is almost hands-off for once. Typically, he can't help but reach in to situations. You never fault him—it's who he's always been. But you can't say you don't welcome the way he's treating you now.

When at last you part ways with Ochako and Tooru, you return to shopping, and though the weird tightness in your chest remains at the thought of Tsuyu, you stick it out to go gift shopping for her. Her birthday's coming whether or not she pressed into something she shouldn't have, and honestly, by now you can't even remember what you were so upset about. You're just stressed about Izuku, is all.

Tenya takes you home when you've both secured your birthday presents for Tsuyu, and at the door, you pause. You wish you'd spent more time out of the house today. Confronting Izuku with everything going on is not something you're up for, and it's all you can do to hope he's still locked away in his office when you walk in. Tenya, sensing your hesitation, places a gentle hand on your shoulder.

"You're okay?" he asks.

You nod. "Yeah. I'll be okay."

"If you need to talk..."

He's watching you with this weird look on his face. Familiar. But weird. It's not an attempt to hide a lie, and anyway, you don't know why he would need to lie about offering help.

"Thanks. I'll keep you in mind."

"Um, [name]?"

He's still standing there as you pause with your hand on the doorknob. You wait, patiently, as he opens his mouth to speak, then closes it again.

"I... thank you for today. Truly."

"Are you alright, Tenya?"

He smiles. He doesn't glow. "Better than I have been in a long time. Don't let him worry you too much, alright?"

You smile thinly and nod. "Thank you for today. I think I needed this more than I realized. You've been distant since new year's, so I'm glad that whatever it is has cleared up. I don't think I could take you being mad at me, too."

He chuckles softly. "I could never."

He bids you goodnight, and you linger on the porch until long after he's gone, palm massaging a particularly itchy bite mark. The night air will be your comfort, if that is all you get to have.

~

This plan might possibly be ill-conceived.

It's funny; Neito never thought he'd question himself like this. Ever since his untimely death at the hands of his stepsister, he's been doing that plenty.

So now, every time he thinks back to tonight's plans, he finds himself preening. Smoothing out a shirt, then deliberately re-wrinkling it just to do something with his hands as he goes over it again and again.

"You're going to drive yourself insane like that."

He snorts softly. "And you're going to drive yourself insane worrying so much about me."

Itsuka leans against the door frame, hands clenched into fists. Normal-sized, thank god. "It's not like you don't give me reason to worry. I feel like a mother, and I'm not even out of college yet."

"Now, now, there's plenty of mothers in college. You know one of them, she brings her infant to our—"

She rolls her eyes. "I get it. You're obnoxious."

"Isn't that what siblinghood is all about?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

He can work with standoffish. The words are coming easier to him. Even just the one session with Dr. Fuyumi seems to be doing its work well, given that he and Itsuka are actually talking.

"You do realize how stupid this plan of yours is, right?"

"Isn't it?" He smooths out the cotton undershirt over the table once again. "But I think it's all we have."

"Did you try asking her for the records?"

"What good would that do? If she said no, not only would we be at square one, but she'd be more vigilant. She'd know to keep an eye out for missing records, and she'd know who'd taken them when she noticed them gone. Like this, she has no reason to suspect anything."

She sighs. "I get it, but... this is illegal, you know?"

"A lot of things are illegal. But you know, many ethical theorists agree that the most moral action ignores the concept of justice in favor of—"

"Oh my god, do not talk to me about philosophy. Just... this is me, trying to talk you out of it. And if you and your friends get caught stealing the therapy records of one of your classmates, I'm going to tell the police that I tried to talk you out of it. So just, do me a favor and pretend like I've talked you out of it. If you go out and do it anyway, I don't want to hear about it. So if the cops ask, I'm not involved, you're my stepbrother and you're crazy and I honestly thought I talked you out of this stupidity. Got it?"

"Aw," he teases, "I'm glad to have your blessing."

The smack to the back of his head is well worth it.

~

The receptionist isn't cold, but she's not talkative, either. Hitoshi keeps his phone on his lap, waiting for the signal from Mina. Namely, for her to walk in through the door.

Tsuyu to Heist Crew at 6:32PM

Tsuyu: We're here. Hitoshi, heads up.

Hitoshi: cool. no cameras in here. I love patient privacy rights.

Tsuyu: I'm sure you do.

He glances up from his phone at the receptionist, who's hard at work with some stack of papers at her desk. One deep breath. Another.

This is for you.

"Hey, where's the bathroom?" he asks.

"Oh, it's down the—" She chokes on the words, face going blank.

Bingo.

Hitoshi: come in.

"Stay in your seat and close your eyes." A precaution.

The girls file in quickly, gloves already in place. Hitoshi snaps his own onto his hands.

"Give me your keys to the building."

The keys wait in her palm. He takes them carefully, and the trio strides into the back of the office.

It couldn't have been better-timed. Neito's appointment was the last of the day, which meant no distractions. No risks.

"Tsuyu, you check the receptionist's computer. Mina, with me. We're going to search the file room," he whispers. Several nods, and they're sliding down the hall.

Dr. Fuyumi Todoroki likes to keep files on paper. It was a nice quirk for Neito to notice during their first session: she wrote every single thing down. According to Neito, corroborated by both Mina and Tsuyu, you started attending therapy right around two years ago. Mina takes the filing cabinet labeled "2047", and Hitoshi beelines to "2048", to cover both potential years.

And it's easy. It's almost too easy. He finds a file with your name on it, calls off Mina and Tsuyu, and slaps the entire thing into the copier. With the copies in place, stapled, your file is returned, and then everything is locked back up. They slide out of the back, Tsuyu joins them, and then Hitoshi is handing the keys back to the receptionist. "Put these back in your desk drawer and close the door."

When she obeys, Mina and Tsuyu walk out with the copied file in hand. Only then does Hitoshi give his last command. "Forget you ever saw me or these two."

There's the subtle twitch of the expression, and then he walks out the door. When he's sure every sign of them is gone, he releases his hold and tells himself that this hasn't proven anything.

Hitoshi to Neito at 6:36PM

Hitoshi: hey, I'm going to wait at the cafe down the street. let me know when you're out of your appointment.

He pockets his phone. No sense waiting for a return text that won’t come.

The three of them hang out in said café as long as they can. Hitoshi nurses his coffee, watching with an approximation of amusement as Tsuyu does her damnedest to keep Mina from blurting about everything they just did. When a lull comes in the conversation, Tsuyu catches his eye.

“You’re a really quiet person.”

“I’m just tired,” he replies.

“Constantly?”

“Yes. Constantly.”

There’s a moment of pause, where she seems already to know whatever it is is running through Hitoshi’s mind. Honestly, he’s not even sure, until he’s saying it.

“It feels weird actually reading the notes we got,” he admits with a shrug.

She nods. “I feel like we have to. This won’t work if the notes don’t back up everything we say, right?”

“Not to be your resident killjoy, but we don’t know if it’ll work at all.”

“So we’re all clear?”

Hitoshi turns to see Neito, standing behind their table looking absolutely elated for someone who wasn’t even directly involved in pulling off their little heist. “Yeah. We got them. Get your vanilla latte or whatever and we’ll take a look to see if it’s any good.”

Neito pauses. “How did you know my coffee order?”

“Wow, that’s seriously it? You are easy to read.”

When Neito returns with his coffee, Hitoshi lays out the notes on the table. “We need to get our story straight with the notes. If even one detail is off, they’ll latch onto it and this whole thing falls apart.”

He wishes he’d made multiple copies of the notes. Luckily, Tsuyu and Mina needed a refresher more than anything, having been there, so the notes were mainly shared between Hitoshi and Neito as they laid out the details.

Regardless, they keep their heads down, their nose to the work, and they iron out every last detail until they’ve got a truth powerful enough to smash your thrall.

This better work.

~

You don’t know how long you sit on the porch. The night air is a comfort, and Izuku’s front door seems just so heavy tonight. So you sit. You breathe. You think of the fight with Izuku.

You don’t think you’re unjustified in wanting him to live. You don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask someone not to do something which might very well kill them, let alone to ask that of someone you care deeply for.

But… shit, you get it. He’s going after someone who destroyed everything he cared about. You have to understand that, and you do!

But…

You continue to turn the “buts” over in your head, passing them back and forth until you’re dizzy with the effort to just stop being mad at Izuku.

“I really hate this,” you whine into the cold.

“Aw, that’s too bad!”

A shrill giggle.

The cold isn’t just in the air now. It’s in your blood, in your lungs, in the glint of metal in the hand of—

A man. He’s tall, ratty-looking, with features you can’t make out in the dark. It’s just as well—they’re dripping away into a far more familiar sight.

You’re not sure if the scream leaves your mouth or stays viciously stuck in your throat.

~

“So then we’re seriously doing this!” Mina chirps as they stride out of the café at last. “[name]’s gonna get all her memories back!”

“Seems like it.”

“When should we go talk to her? I know she’s been kind of down lately, but—“

Mina’s phone rings. She takes it out, glances at the caller, and, brows furrowed, answers it.

“Hey, what’s up?”

Surprise on her face morphs into trepidation. Trepidation morphs into horror. If a girl with pink skin could go pale…

“W-where? I’m with most of the others right now. Everyone but Tenya, actually…”

A pause. A nod. Hitoshi hasn’t even tried not to pay attention since she answered the phone.

“But why did… why did you call me?”

“…yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Um… are they… how are they…”

“No, yeah, I’m okay! Yeah! I… I have to be, right? This isn’t the time to be… You know what, all of you. Walk with me. Tsuyu’s car. Now.” She gives an urgent look to Hitoshi and the others, and they each go along with it. Mina doesn’t drop the phone from her ear until she’s sat in the passenger’s seat and everyone’s buckled in, and even then, only to give Tsuyu the address to a hospital.

“When do you think she’ll tell us what’s going on?” Hitoshi whispers to Neito, who shrugs.

“I’m sure we’ll find out…?”

“Izuku, listen. They need you to breathe right now. We’re on our way. Have you called Tenya?” A pause. “Okay, I’ll call him. Tsuyu, is his place on the way?”

Tsuyu nods. “He’s not far from the hospital.”

“Stop to pick up Tenya.”

Tsuyu nods, knuckles white on the wheel. Mina goes back to her careful attempts to talk Izuku through whatever’s happened. The others in the car just have to wait to understand, apparently.

As though that’s fair to anyone.

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[super-ion]

Ion & Emily - Ion's First Night Out

(Ion & Emily master post)

It's just my luck that the bank I decided to hit on my very first night out is already in the process of being robbed when I get there. I gotta admit, they're doing a pretty good job. They've disabled the silent alarm, cracked the vault and have already loaded several bags with cash by the time I get there. I was hoping for just a clean robbery, but I guess tonight is gunna be baby's first fist fight.

I don't *need* to fight them. I could just go find another bank. The thing is, I scoped this one in particular out. I spent all week planning this, I'm hyped for it.

And I had a contingency section in my planning binder for this, so I'm prepared. Technically the contingency is "non-lethal countermeasures for security personnel", but I figure there's enough overlap that it doesn't make a huge difference. I pull the security cameras back online, but route the signal into the equipment in my backpack.

Yes, I'm recording this. If it goes badly, I can play it back later and see where I went wrong. If it goes well, I can edit it all together and post it online for my grand debut.

I've also got three mini drones with me, I unclip them from my belt and let them loose. Between the cameras and the drones, I count three guys. I can take three guys in a fight, right?

First guy goes down before he even knows I'm there. I hit him in the back with the electrified gloves I cobbled together this week. I'm honestly actually kinda surprised I even got close enough to do that.

Second guy takes a little more effort. He shouts and takes a few swings. I think tech powers may have sped up my reflexes just a tiny bit, since I manage to avoid him long enough to get another shock in.

Third guy… oh shit!

One of my drones pings me with an urgent alert. I fall to the ground and roll behind a desk as the gunshot rings out. The bullet smacks into the wall right in front of where I was just standing. Not gunna lie, I'm fucking terrified, but I did plan for this. Looks like this is baby's first gunfight top.

I send my drones swarming around his head like angry hornets, tagging him is the face with spray paint as they buzz past. He flails wildly and I slip in and deliver a shock that crumples him to the ground.

I stand there, panting for a moment. Holy shit, I did it. I won!

I stride over to one of the pile of bulging duffle bags. I'm pragmatic, I know I can't carry more than one of them out of here. That's fine, I don't actually need the money, I'm mostly just doing this for funsies. I unzip one and holy wow, there's gotta be at least a couple hundred thousand bucks of cashy money in here!

My feeling of victory is cut short by the sound of someone slow clapping behind me. I whirl around and… aw fuck.

It's Jackrabbit in his gray and white supersuit. He's the local speedster and a card carrying member of the league of superheroes.

I do not have a contingency section in my binder for an encounter with a superhero. I was hoping to work my way up to this. You know, hit a couple banks, build a reputation and an arsenal… maybe actually put together a binder for actually fighting another super.

"Good job, kid!" he says, folding his arms and leaning cockily against a column. "For a moment, I thought you might need some help, but you handled yourself pretty good."

Kid?? This guy is like five years younger than me.

"I'm twenty-seven," I say flatly. Probably not the smartest move, but he's got my ire up.

He flashes a smile that I think is supposed to be disarming. I'm not disarmed.

"Sorry," he continues. "I haven't seen you around and you got the whole… newbie vibe going. I mean, you are wearing cosplay."

I don't say anything, I just glower menacingly as my mind races. He's got speed. Even if I do have heightened reflexes, they aren't going to count for shit if he can take me down faster than I can blink.

"You know," he says, running his eyes over my costume in a way that makes me feel dirty, "we've got top notch tailors at the Tower. We can hook you up with all the best gear if you join up."

"Yeah, not interested," I reply.

He snaps a finger and makes a face of mock annoyance.

"Yeah, I kinda figured, the way you got that bag in your hand. But you know what they say, villain and vulture both start with V."

The fuck? I very much doubt anyone in the history of anything has said that. I think it's supposed to be a joke, but… what??

Okay, focus. What do I got? Tech powers. What's he got? Super speed… and a whole lot of super high tech gadgets. He's got two way communicators. He's got a full wraparound visor with an AR HUD. He's got… some kind of electrostatic friction control in his boots. The security on the devices isn't half bad, but I've already found several exploits to open up a back door.

I've got the beginnings of a plan and the means to execute it.

"Tell you what," he says. "A pretty girl like you doesn't need to get beat up on her first heist. You leave the money and walk out of here, no fuss. All you gotta do is tell me your name."

My… name. I don't have one yet. I have a shortlist of my favorites, but I haven't settled on one. The camera's are running though. I guess it's time for some villainy. I draw myself up and strike a dramatic pose, checking myself in the camera feeds. I turn up the brightness of the led strips in my costume, bathing me in poisonous green.

"No deal," I say imperiously. "But I will give you my name. It's Ion."

He cocks his head in confusion.

"So what?" he asks. "You got like electricity powers or something?"

Yeah, I probably could have gone with a different name more in line with my abilities, but Ion spoke to me in the moment and I'm committed now. All aboard the Ion train!

"Not exactly," I reply and trigger the worm I've installed in his gear.

Okay, full disclosure: my plan is cowardly. I have no illusions about that. That's the great thing about being a villain though. I don't need to be heroic. I don't even need to win. I just need to escape with my bag of money. All other considerations secondary. Crew expendable.

Just kidding, if I had a crew, they wouldn't be expendable. They would receive fair pay with excellent benefits and two months paid vacation.

Anyway, the worm activates and he's completely locked out of his visor as the video plays on his HUD at full opacity. His earpieces are dialed all the way up (not enough to cause any permanent damage, I'm not a monster) and the music starts blasting.

He shouts in alarm and rips the earpieces out. The volume is up high enough to hear the dulcet tones of Rick Astley as they clatter to the ground:

We're no strangers to love

You know the rules and so do I

A full commitment's what I'm thinking of

You wouldn't get this from any other guy

His earpieces are out, but the video's still going on his visor, effectively blinding him. He wants to take it off so badly, but there are too many cameras and he's too well trained to reveal his secret identity like that. You might say he's… he's never gonna… okay, I'll stop.

At this point, I'm sprinting for the door. Against a speedster, every second counts and if I can make it outside, my chances of escape improve significantly.

Jackrabbit shouts after me. For good measure, I have my drones splatter paint on his visor before zipping after me. They'll never catch up at this point, but at least if they make it outside, they can stash themselves somewhere until I can recover them.

The last thing I see through the security cameras before I cut the feed is Jackrabbit falling flat on his ass. My worm's last parting gift is overriding the friction controls on his boots. I guess he uses it for improved maneuverability or something, but for this glorious moment it belongs to me.

I burst out the door into the alleyway. My lungs are already burning. I'm not in bad shape exactly, but I'm also not in great shape either. I can't keep this up, but the important part is I'm outside.

You see, the great thing about a modern city is it's absolutely full of traffic and CCTV cameras. They're everywhere, watching everything. But Ion, you might ask, how is that a good thing? Can't they just see me wherever I am? They can. They can also see everywhere I'm not. I've deployed another worm into the internet of things and it is already creating dozens of phantom versions of me running in every possible direction. It's not going to hold up to any kind of human scrutiny, but I have a hunch it's more than enough to trick any AI that will be tipping Jackrabbit off. Denial and deception, baby!

I round the block and duck into another alley where I hunker down behind a dumpster and wait.

Boom! There he goes like a bat out of hell. I don't care where he's going as long as it's far the hell away from me. I heave a sigh of relief and begin digging through my backpack to change out the more obvious bits of my costume. After a few moments, I'm just some girl on her way home from the gym. I pop in my headphones and make my way to the nearest bus stop with a bounce in my step.

I did it! I freakin' beat Jackrabbit on my first night out! I lose myself in the euphoria and let out a whoop of victory. My fellow late night commuters glance at me curiously, and I duck my head in apology. I can't stop grinning though, so I do my best to play the part of a perfectly normal citizen who just got the best news of her life.

I'm anything but perfectly normal though. My life will never be perfectly normal again.

Look out world! Here comes Ion!

[enniewritesathing]

1, 2, 7, 9, 15, 20, 21, 26, 28

Hey girl heyyy 👋

what’s the last screenshot you’ve taken for your story?

(ominous...)

2. describe your story in three words or less

Werewolf Therapy Session // Holy Shit, Dude // John Curses ALOT // Get His Ass! // These Memories Suck // He's Not Okay

(I can go on, lol)

7. whats the biggest risk you’ve taken with your story? did it pay off?

The biggest risk (so far) is telling this story in general and how I'm not holding back with the subject matter(s). I know simblr tends to shy away from like bloody/gory shit and all of that, even as it's integral to the story itself, and... y'know, it's Sicko Hours at Ennie's place (I've got juice!); there's so many TWs. It's like that one post -- tws for a heads up, tws for 'oh word? 👀' very ymmv.

I'm not sure if it's paying off, though. Slightly over it at this point.

9. what about your story are you looking to improve on?

So, a while back, tumblr switched to the new text editor, which means that I got knee capped into 30 pics each post. And for those who've been here a minute, my posts were always long with multiple scenes. Like 5. I'm having to condense things and really having to think what shots to use (even if I take the same amount... the most I've took for a scene was like 250 something.)

tl;dr - pacing. I know it's a little wonky; I'm trying my best here! 😫

15. what have been the highlights of creating your story?

Getting to use all of this CC I've gotten over the years!! All of it is so super niche-y and without it, I wouldn't have been able to tell this story (accurately). It's also great how everything's coming together, y'know? I've had skill growth since the last time I did this, and my skills and editing are really shining through.

20. choose your favourite shot from your story so far

ngl, there's so many, but this one?? let me count the ways:

The sheer fury of The Werewolf has in this scene, but I like how this shot came out. The toxins in his veins that are (unbeknownst to him) actively killing him at this point. He's in unimaginable pain, but his anger is even more. He's had it.

The veins themselves and how you can see them as he's fighting it. (I've had to double them up and also use some others for his face as well.)

the fucking monitor in the background (lord do not get me started on that but it's for Enhancement and leave it at that.)

The Werewolf making his proclaimation: "I will fucking kill every one of you; you will not get away with this and you will suffer my pain."

if anyone else is intrigued by this -- I guess this part will be my hook.

And I felt that. Really. I struggled with that whole scene basically until I posted it, but I feel like I got the emotion part of it down. if I'm gonna be honest, I didn't know what to do for that scene until I had a Rogue Thought™️, and I made damn sure I was gonna be able to pull it off. I say I did.

there's so much more I can gush about this part but we will be here all night lol

21. choose your least favourite shot so far

It's a good shot but it's my 'least' favorite is because of what happens. (aka pics taken before disasters.) And really, this shot alone tells you what kind of person Charles is. This mfer's vibe? Hideous. Rancid. Abhorrent. Etc.

26. have other sim stories inspired you? 

of course!

28. if you could reproduce your story in another medium (movie, novel, comic, etc.) what would you choose and why?

Comic, hands down. I say this because if it were a movie, it wouldn't make sense and also, who tf would play John/The Werewolf? No one is even close!!

[dodger-chan]

20 Questions for fic writers:

Tagged by @cchapsticck

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

59, if you count the very old stuff I archived there. 39, if you only count the stuff I originally posted there.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

194,755

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Recently, it's been all Stranger Things. If I start writing other fandoms again, tumblr will be the first to know.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Their Wedding Night (cowritten with @sharpbutsoft )

Adventures in Housekeeping

The Opposite of Love

The House Dick

Her Double Life

All but The Opposite of Love are part of A Bliss Like This

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to. I used to not, but I've gotten into some nice conversations with other authors who responded to my comments, so I decided to try it. And I'm a very small author (don't let the word/ count fool you; I've been posting fic online since the late 90s) so there aren't that many comments to reply to.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably that sin, through which I run. Though it's told backwards, so it might depend on what you consider the ending.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Any fic in A Bliss Like This. It's a guaranteed happiness series.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Never on AO3.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I've written, but not published smut. I'm not good enough at it.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I don't, really. Nothing wrong with crossovers, I'm just not usually inspired in that way.

I did work with a couple of friends once on a wild, universe hopping crossover that involved Sonic characters, Gundam Wing, Dragonball Z, The Old Man from Scene 24 (Holy Grail) and others with a friend that I think she posted somewhere. Probably fanfiction.net, but it was like 25 years ago (I am very old) and I'm a little scared of how awful it must have been so I'm not looking.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that anyone's mentioned to me.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not in the sense that we've blended our writing into a single story, but @sharpbutsoft and I built a 1920s AU together. Individual stories in A Bliss Like This are often hers or mine but they build off each other and all the major details are a joint endeavor.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

This is an impossible question.

I have noticed a preference for jock/nerd or similar such pairings. Where one half of the couple is "normal" or socially acceptable and the other half is very, very weird. But only when the relationship develops without either of them giving up that aspect of their personality. No makeovers!

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

A Nancy POV fic tentatively called 'Three Truths and No Lies' that I started between the two volumes of season four. Because there were all these "fruity four" fics and I thought Nancy would likely try to fix or at least find closure in her relationship with Jonathan as soon as he got to Hawkins, leading to her feeling a little left out of the Eddie and Stobin closeness.

Also a third part of Coming Out with a Purpose, where Robin and Steve come out to Joyce to test her reaction and give her the opportunity to learn from the mistakes she makes with them so that she doesn't fuck up when Will finally comes out.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Limited POVs. I think I'm decent at character voices, too, but I'm less confident there.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Actually writing words down (what do you mean just thinking about the fic doesn't make it exist?). The urge to edit while I write. Spelling. Plots.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm not good enough at it to really do it, unless the character speaking is not supposed to be fluent.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

That I published online? Fushigi Yuugi, as I recall. Maybe Gundam Wing. But as a kid I used to write Real Ghostbusters fic for my parents (they wanted to encourage my creativity). Mostly fleshed out (no pun intended) back stories for the ghosts.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I'm still writing it. I'm gonna finish it, I swear.

Of what I've published, it's probably Her Double Life, because genderqueer drag queen Eddie of the 1920s is just so much fun. I have so many thoughts and feelings about her. So, so many.

No pressure tags for: @sharpbutsoft , @greenlikethesea, um, who else writes? If you do, and you want to answer these, please consider yourself tagged.

[alegocarmadein]

Long read ahead I do warn.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Somber. Morose. Melancholy. Those three are my holy grail of insane meanings.

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Yeah my own work, the Shaman was too late. So, I wrote it in 2021. Very beginning of 2021. I had just been put on bupropian, after years of trying anti-depressants, it finally worked. Slowly. But I still had psychosis, so I'm getting less depressed but I'm still psychotic. And literally the last day of 2020 into the early hours of Jan 1st 2021, I listened to (and binged) Kane and Feels. Obsessed. FUCKING OBSESSED. IMMEDIATELY. But I was off of social media in its entirety, so I had one (1) person to scream at and she was busy in school and shit. So I turn my mind to fanfiction. Psychosis is a BITCH. It robbed me of my memory during and after, it made me paranoid, and a horrible insomniac. So I sit in my room and formulate this plot in the early hours of morning, just muttering to myself. This weird story that would not ever truly make sense but vaguely had a plot and a destination. And I wrote it! And because my memory was so terribly dogshit, every night and every morning, in between edits and writing fits, I would read it. Uh. Out loud. It took hours to read, partially because of how long it was, partially because my reading skills were close to non existent. For a while I considered making a podfic of it to go along with it, but I didn't have recording equipment or money! I was really isolated and spent well over a hundred, maybe two hundred hours on a 13k fic. My writing skills at the time were…diminished, and far from polished, so it took a lot of edits to make it readable. But it was my baby. It was the first fic I'd truly fallen in love with of my own. And eventually I posted it and didn't hate it like all of my others. I would reread it every month, sometimes every week after, checking for errors (of which there were many). Again, my baby. And still, I consider it one of my best fics, this fic I wrote in between 16 hour sleeps, interrupted often by hallucinations and paranoia attacks. And its just terribly special to me, because I know it so very well. I spent two months writing it, and I love that fic, truly. 

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

Okay its not really a subject matter, but fluff? So hard. Don't get me wrong, I can come up with it and put it on paper….but keeping it around is sooooo very hard. I am very much a kill-the-part-of-you-that-cringes, but with kaf especially….eeek. Like the first bit of physical affection I think we've ever been aware of them doing is in the end of WHY, right? So writing close affection is like….babe no, this is Kane we're talking about. but….I think I've had enough independent events/developments (character wise) through my string of fics that I can stretch the lines a bit and put in a little affection here and there. Not super shippy either, just…"holy fuck I'm so glad you're alive that really sucked man." oh and verbal affection is a BITCH. Dude NO. I can't. it never sounds reasonable. I can't do fluffy I CAN'T DO FLUFFY. I'M A MAN OF ANGST DEAR READER. ANGST. Anyway, I wrote a fic about them waltzing. You should read it. And I'm also really proud of the next of kin scene in Next of Kin.

And memory related magic trauma whatzits are my favorite thing to write. I have it so many fics of mine. Psychosis <3 you are so fun to write about, my beloathed.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

This is from The Shaman was too late, near the very end.

"Lucifer Kane is standing on a cliff, overseeing a hazy ocean with a soft lavender-grey sky. Distant golden-grey light shines through the clouds, and the smell of salt and a gust of a warm, ocean breeze puts him at ease."

First off, full name, this is serious talk. Usually I call him Kane, Lucifer when I'm trying to make a point, full name is for introductions and endings. The present tense is something I very rarely do, I generally get tripped up with present tense. The only other time recently I've used it is in Next of Kin at the very end of chapter 4-7, where Kane notices Brutus and is back in the present moment. Weird choice. And I don't really know why I had such a clear image of the hazy ocean with the golden light, streaming down, crepuscular rays (god's rays) streaming from the cloud, but still hazy. The lavender grey was such a spur of the moment thing while I was writing it, it's the color theme for the fic, the other worlds are lavender grey all over. I knew I wanted an emotional yet…like…quiet moment for them being reunited? Keep in mind at that point only season one and WHO, the first ep of season two had been put out, so no hand squeezes, no ocean, not yet, no reuniting, and I didn't know if kaf would ever be coming back. Sigh. Rough times. Well the scene at least hit dyn hard enough for them to make some really baller art of that scene, so I'm happy.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

so…..so much. Most of the time at least. Big fics are almost guaranteed to have a separate notes document with a general outline, to keep my ideas on track. You usually find them in the final end note on the fic, though occasionally they're too messy to really share. This is actually what has tripped me up so bad with the sequel to Next of Kin that I've been working on FOR A FUCKING YEAR NOW, JESUS, is that I wrote an outline for an ending, went a completely different direction, wrote a new outline, then changed it again and now I'm super duper stuck and have no clue how to get to the end. :\ 

It's a document with bullet points or checkboxes with short plot points and weird details/characters/places I want to add. I ignore them at my will. I actually do enjoy it…for any other fic than the elphame fic. jesus.

37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

a fucken weirdo. Not like. WEIRD weirdo, just a weirdo. like, that artist who did the beautiful, colorful cat potraits that look very interesting? the one who had schizophrenia so now everyone attributes the weirder ones to his mental illness instead of to his creative ability? louis wain? I feel like they'd attribute all the weirder stuff I write to mental illness, when instead that was hand crafted and delivered by my loving, not-really-stable-i-kinda-have-a-tremor-but-lets-pretend hands.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Louis_wain_cats.png)

(my ao3) https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlegoCarmadein/profile

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

(Not my poem (rest of the post is a poem))

Ode to Silence by Edna St. Vincent Millay

---

Aye, but she?

Your other sister and my other soul

Grave Silence, lovelier

Than the three loveliest maidens, what of her?

Clio, not you,

Not you, Calliope,

Nor all your wanton line,

Not Beauty's perfect self shall comfort me

For Silence once departed,

For her the cool-tongued, her the tranquil-hearted,

Whom evermore I follow wistfully,

Wandering Heaven and Earth and Hell and the four seasons through;

Thalia, not you,

Not you, Melpomene,

Not your incomparable feet, O thin Terpsichore, I seek in this great hall,

But one more pale, more pensive, most beloved of you all.

I seek her from afar,

I come from temples where her altars are,

From groves that bear her name,

Noisy with stricken victims now and sacrificial flame,

And cymbals struck on high and strident faces

Obstreperous in her praise

They neither love nor know,

A goddess of gone days,

Departed long ago,

Abandoning the invaded shrines and fanes

Of her old sanctuary,

A deity obscure and legendary,

Of whom there now remains,

For sages to decipher and priests to garble,

Only and for a little while her letters wedged in marble,

Which even now, behold, the friendly mumbling rain erases,

And the inarticulate snow,

Leaving at last of her least signs and traces

None whatsoever, nor whither she is vanished from these places.

"She will love well," I said,

"If love be of that heart inhabiter,

The flowers of the dead;

The red anemone that with no sound

Moves in the wind, and from another wound

That sprang, the heavily-sweet blue hyacinth,

That blossoms underground,

And sallow poppies, will be dear to her.

And will not Silence know

In the black shade of what obsidian steep

Stiffens the white narcissus numb with sleep?

(Seed which Demeter's daughter bore from home,

Uptorn by desperate fingers long ago,

Reluctant even as she,

Undone Persephone,

And even as she set out again to grow

In twilight, in perdition's lean and inauspicious loam).

She will love well," I said,

"The flowers of the dead;

Where dark Persephone the winter round,

Uncomforted for home, uncomforted,

Lacking a sunny southern slope in northern Sicily,

With sullen pupils focussed on a dream,

Stares on the stagnant stream

That moats the unequivocable battlements of Hell,

There, there will she be found,

She that is Beauty veiled from men and Music in a swound."

"I long for Silence as they long for breath

Whose helpless nostrils drink the bitter sea;

What thing can be

So stout, what so redoubtable, in Death

What fury, what considerable rage, if only she,

Upon whose icy breast,

Unquestioned, uncaressed,

One time I lay,

And whom always I lack,

Even to this day,

Being by no means from that frigid bosom weaned away,

If only she therewith be given me back?"

I sought her down that dolorous labyrinth,

Wherein no shaft of sunlight ever fell,

And in among the bloodless everywhere

I sought her, but the air,

Breathed many times and spent,

Was fretful with a whispering discontent,

And questioning me, importuning me to tell

Some slightest tidings of the light of day they know no more,

Plucking my sleeve, the eager shades were with me where I went.

I paused at every grievous door,

And harked a moment, holding up my hand,—and for a space

A hush was on them, while they watched my face;

And then they fell a-whispering as before;

So that I smiled at them and left them, seeing she was not there.

I sought her, too,

Among the upper gods, although I knew

She was not like to be where feasting is,

Nor near to Heaven's lord,

Being a thing abhorred

And shunned of him, although a child of his,

(Not yours, not yours; to you she owes not breath,

Mother of Song, being sown of Zeus upon a dream of Death).

Fearing to pass unvisited some place

And later learn, too late, how all the while,

With her still face,

She had been standing there and seen me pass, without a smile,

I sought her even to the sagging board whereat

The stout immortals sat;

But such a laughter shook the mighty hall

No one could hear me say:

Had she been seen upon the Hill that day?

And no one knew at all

How long I stood, or when at last I sighed and went away.

There is a garden lying in a lull

Between the mountains and the mountainous sea,

I know not where, but which a dream diurnal

Paints on my lids a moment till the hull

Be lifted from the kernel

And Slumber fed to me.

Your foot-print is not there, Mnemosene,

Though it would seem a ruined place and after

Your lichenous heart, being full

Of broken columns, caryatides

Thrown to the earth and fallen forward on their jointless knees,

And urns funereal altered into dust

Minuter than the ashes of the dead,

And Psyche's lamp out of the earth up-thrust,

Dripping itself in marble wax on what was once the bed

Of Love, and his young body asleep, but now is dust instead.

There twists the bitter-sweet, the white wisteria Fastens its fingers in the strangling wall,

And the wide crannies quicken with bright weeds;

There dumbly like a worm all day the still white orchid feeds;

But never an echo of your daughters' laughter

Is there, nor any sign of you at all

Swells fungous from the rotten bough, grey mother of Pieria!

Only her shadow once upon a stone

I saw,—and, lo, the shadow and the garden, too, were gone.

I tell you you have done her body an ill,

You chatterers, you noisy crew!

She is not anywhere!

I sought her in deep Hell;

And through the world as well;

I thought of Heaven and I sought her there;

Above nor under ground

Is Silence to be found,

That was the very warp and woof of you,

Lovely before your songs began and after they were through!

Oh, say if on this hill

Somewhere your sister's body lies in death,

So I may follow there, and make a wreath

Of my locked hands, that on her quiet breast

Shall lie till age has withered them!

                             (Ah, sweetly from the rest

I see

Turn and consider me

Compassionate Euterpe!)

"There is a gate beyond the gate of Death,

Beyond the gate of everlasting Life,

Beyond the gates of Heaven and Hell," she saith,

"Whereon but to believe is horror!

Whereon to meditate engendereth

Even in deathless spirits such as I

A tumult in the breath,

A chilling of the inexhaustible blood

Even in my veins that never will be dry,

And in the austere, divine monotony

That is my being, the madness of an unaccustomed mood.

This is her province whom you lack and seek;

And seek her not elsewhere.

Hell is a thoroughfare

For pilgrims,—Herakles,

And he that loved Euridice too well,

Have walked therein; and many more than these;

And witnessed the desire and the despair

Of souls that passed reluctantly and sicken for the air;

You, too, have entered Hell,

And issued thence; but thence whereof I speak

None has returned;—for thither fury brings

Only the driven ghosts of them that flee before all things.

Oblivion is the name of this abode: and she is there."

Oh, radiant Song! Oh, gracious Memory!

Be long upon this height

I shall not climb again!

I know the way you mean,—the little night,

And the long empty day,—never to see

Again the angry light,

Or hear the hungry noises cry my brain!

Ah, but she,

Your other sister and my other soul,

She shall again be mine;

And I shall drink her from a silver bowl,

A chilly thin green wine,

Not bitter to the taste,

Not sweet,

Not of your press, oh, restless, clamorous nine,—

To foam beneath the frantic hoofs of mirth—

But savoring faintly of the acid earth,

And trod by pensive feet

From perfect clusters ripened without haste

Out of the urgent heat

In some clear glimmering vaulted twilight under the odorous vine.

Lift up your lyres! Sing on!

But as for me, I seek your sister whither she is gone.

Weird Questions for Writers (because writers are weird)

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you’ve always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?

31. Write a short love letter to your readers.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice…what do you Know?

37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

[steddie-island]

Finished

The Haunting of Alejandra - V. Castro 4/5 ⭐️

Electric Idol - Katee Robert 3.5/5 ⭐️

Learn My Lesson - Katee Robert 5/5 ⭐️

A Worthy Opponent - Katee Robert 4/5 ⭐️

Death Between the Pages - Peggy Jaeger 3.5/5 ⭐️

The Hellbound Heart - Clive Barker 3/5⭐️

My Darling Dreadful Thing - Johanna van Veen 5/5⭐️

Requiem for a Memory - Saige Denmark 2.5/5⭐️

Hunt on Dark Waters - Katee Robert 3/5⭐️

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson 4/5⭐️

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - Eric LaRocca 2/5 ⭐️

Camp Damascus - Chuck Tingle 4/5⭐️

When I Arrived at the Castle - Emily Carroll 4/5⭐️

From the Belly - Emmett Nahil 5/5⭐️

Hexis - Charlene Elsby 3/5⭐️

Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Dan Kois 4/5⭐️ (This was sort of a book of short stories and would've been a solid 3/5 but one of the stories gave it another full star!)

How to Sell a Haunted House - Grady Hendrix 5/5⭐️ (This was my first foray into Grady Hendrix and holy shit I love him. This book was so good, I finished it in one night.)

Incidents Around the House - Josh Malerman 5/5⭐️ (Holy fuck, one of the best horror books I've ever read. It sucks you in from page one, definitely one of my top reads of the year!)

The Mary Shelley Club - Goldy Moldavsky 4/5⭐️ (Could have used another edit, basically the first half of the book was setup, but holy shit it had a GREAT ending.)

My Best Friend's Exorcism - Grady Hendrix 4/5⭐️

Currently reading The goal is to get through these three by the end of the month and then just read Horror Movie for book club but we'll see!!

A Dowry of Blood - S.T. Gibson (Definitely not hitting the way I wanted it to, it feels like not a whole lot has happened yet? We'll see how long it takes to pick up.)

Horror Stor - Grady Hendrix (I'm really really trying to get into this one but it's not pulling me in the way his other books have. But I'm not giving up yet!)

The Salt Grows Heavy - Cassandra Khaw

Upcoming TBR We'll see how many of these I actually get through, with all of the ST writing events and kinktober 💀

Horror Movie - Paul Tremblay

The Final Girl Support Group - Grady Hendrix

DNFs of the year

Never Whistle at Night - A dark fiction anthology

The God of the Woods - Liz Moore

Still Life With Bones - Alexa Hagerty - What I read of this was really good, but it was also super heavy and really intense and maybe the time to read this would've been now, given the multiple genocides going on in the world, but I just. Couldn't cut it. I will absolutely be returning to this later, but for now I had to DNF.

Manhunt - Gretchen Falker-Martin - Again, what I read was good, but it also hit too close to home right now given gestures around fucking everything going on with trans people. I'm planning on revisiting this one eventually, too, but at this point in time it made me too anxious to enjoy reading it.

(Previous versions of this post x x x )

[bobgoesw00t]

Top 10 Video Games of All Time: bobgoesw00t Edition (Part 09)

It's almost midnight where I live, it's -4 (-27 when you factor the wind chill in) and Winter Storm Elliot is suppose to hang around the for next few hours. It's almost Christmas Eve so I figured, WHAT BETTER TIME TO POST MY PENULTIMATE VIDEO GAME OF ALL TIME!!!!!!! >_<

Number 2 goes to the MMORPG I've been apart of for the last TEN YEARS now, the MMO that truly broke the traditional mold of MMOs by taking the "Holy Trinity" of party building, going "NOPE!!! FUCK THAT BULLSHIT!!!!!" and gave us a game that was unlike anything at the time, Guild Wars 2.

Now I was lucky enough to enter this franchise with the Third Expandalone title (yes, ArenaNet was doing expandalone games WAY before that was even a thing in most developers minds) Guild Wars Nightfall and I was hook instantly. I actually beat 3/4 campaigns in the original game on my Dervish and he didn't even have Max Armor...which is fucking nuts! It wasn't until roughly a year or so before GW2 went live that I opened his inventory and went, "OH! MY CHARACTER DOESN'T HAVE MAX ARMOR!!! THAT EXPLAINS WHY I'M TAKING AN ASSTON OF DAMAGE EVEN AT LEVEL 20!!!!!"

Anyways, so I was able to run through all four campaigns on two characters before GW2 went live at the end of August in 2012 and get 90-95% of the cosmetic stuff from the Hall of Monuments by the time it came out. I even played most (if not all) of the Beta Weekend Events leading up to launch and I was hooked even more so than with the original.

I literally don't know what to say about this game that you can't find by simply looking up information about the game other than my only real gripes I have are even after playing the game for over ten years now, I still only have one Legendary Weapon which is only due to how much fucking money you need to make all the various components combined with how a good chunk of those items are time gated and can only be made once every 24 hours or so. Thankfully, Ascended weapons are a tad easier to come by and have the same stats as Legendary ones, so it's not that big of a deal.

My other complaint is that the only way to get a Guild Hall is via an "Expedition" and if your in a tiny guild with only a few people (less 50), you'll have no chance of getting one. In the original game, it was possible to get one if you saved enough money to get the require item so it's kind of annoying.

Even with those two gripes, this is still one of the best MMORPGs I've ever played (which, while not a lot, it still a few) and I'm glad to say that I've been apart of it's community since launch.

So I'm giving Guild Wars 2 and all three of it's expansions (this score is VERY true of the most recent one, End of Dragons) a 5/5.

Honorable Mentions:

Aion: Another good MMORPG that's free to play that has combat that's a good mix of titles like WoW and an action game like Guild Wars and Blade & Soul (or as I like to call it, Boob & Soul xD)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The Smash Bros game to end all Smash Bros games. Was supported for almost three whole years post launch with two sets of DLC Fighters, including the long awaited inclusion of the Dorky Keyblade Master (who, unsurprisingly enough, was the most requested fight for the Sm4sh Fighter Ballot Sora Ltd and Nintendo did years ago) Sora from Kingdom Hearts. My Smash waifus however are Zelda (GOD her Final Smash in Ultimate is broken) and the Aegis duo of Homura/Hikari (one is fast as light and the other has STUPIDLY high knockback on her Side Smash, N-Special and Up Special).

Sorry for the short entry for my penultimate game, but I have family coming over tomorrow to open presents since some of them are busy on Christmas Day and I really want to go to bed ASAP xD. The reveal of my Number One pick will still be coming on the 27th so look for it then!

[existslikepristin]

It has been too long since I've posted an actual story, so I got super impatient and am posting this with no editing. Please forgive the low quali— holy shit this was supposed to be a quickie…

Tags: NSFW, TheLounge, Lovelyz, Pixy, Weki Meki, Sujeong, Sua, Rina, Male reader, A FUCKIN FOURSOME, it's a damn free-for-all, blowjobboes, butt stuffoes, eating cum out of pussoes, something more, if you figure out the title no you didn't, pretending to be in multiple simultaneous relationships you aren't in, weird plot stuff, don't be scared you love it

Bare Attack

Thank fuck you live so close to this place. You can get home before your coffee cools off and enjoy your work-from-home day with the top tier flavor of The Lounge fresh on your tongue.

You make your way through the door and onto the street, where the morning sun warms you a bit less quickly, but more completely than your eco-friendly mug. And wouldn't you know it, you see three idols coming your way, in the midst of conversation. How… serendipitous and convenient to your story or whatever.

"Please? You're so good at it!"

"We've never asked you for a favor before."

Sujeong is tailed by two other girls you're a little less familiar with. You at least remember their names are Sua (looks like she's still blonde) and Rina (her hair is a lot longer than you recall). All three are dressed snugly in thick coats, as is fitting for walks in the brisk winter morning air. Sujeong carries a close-eyed look of dismissive pride, dark hair in a high ponytail, smirking and shrugging.

"Yeah, why not show us on him?" Sua points at you, and Sujeong opens her eyes. She freezes in place, which is odd because it's not that cold.

You wave. Sujeong flinches and poses like she's ready to turn around and run.

"Uh, Sujeong?" Rina asks, looking from her to you and back, "You good?"

After a moment of hesitation, Sujeong slowly pulls out of her flight stance and waves back at you. "Heeey. How's it going?"

You wave again. Shit, that was awkward. You didn't need to do that. "Pretty good. How about you? Rina, and… Sua, right?"

Sua's eyes scan you and she opens her mouth in the way people do when they remember your face but not your name. "Yyyup! Doing good! It's a good morning."

You pause for her to say something else. When she doesn't, you remind her of your name. She smacks her forehead. "Oh! Duh! Sorry. It's been a minute eh?"

"Haha. Yeah, it has."

Sujeong cuts in before you can address Rina. "You don't remember me?"

You blink. "What? No, I remember you Sujeong. We hung out just like five months ago. Board game night with Ryujin and Chel." Maybe it was more than five months ago. Oops. What was it? Seven months? Seven for some, five for others. Well, five and a half to seven and a half. Yeah, that's it.

"With Ryujin and Chaeryeong? Not… with…" Sujeong is clearly trying to get more out of you, but you can't figure it out.

"I was on set on the Obliviate video too... Went to dinner with you and Kei..."

Honestly, does she think you don't remember the salmon filet? It was fucking delicious.

"And that's it?"

"Um… yeah I think so…"

Sua butts in. "Are you two fuck buddies or not?"

Rina blushes furiously. Sujeong's eyes grow huge. You raise an eyebrow. Sua shrugs. "What? It'd be helpful to know."

You look at Sujeong. She's staring at you like a deer in the headlights. It's not that you hadn’t ever thought about Sujeong like that before. She's hot as hell. You've even felt slightly… compelled? Is that the right word? No time to think about it. She looks super hecking embarrassed. You can practically see the beads of sweat forming on her brow.

"Nnno," you say, waving the question away, "It's not like that."

There's a strange release of tension in the air, but then Rina squints, dips her head forward, and speaks through gritted teeth. "Dooo you want to be?"

Your eyes meet Sujeong's. She looks like any second now, she'll turn into the Sweating Jordan Peele meme.

** ** **

Well, you're home. You're comfortably seated on your couch. You have your coffee. It's still hot.

But it seems work is going to have to wait.

Sujeong is between your legs, kneeling on the floor. She, you, and Rina and Sua, who are now seated on either side of you, have shed your coats. And your pants. And your shirts. Really just all of your clothes, except Rina who left her socks on because she said she was chilly. She's got a decorative throw blanket thing wrapped around her shoulders for the same reason.

"When you asked if we wanted to be fuck buddies," you reiterate, "I didn't know you meant to include yourself and Sua."

Rina blushes and tightens the throw around her arms. "I didn't, um, mean we would be friends with benefits. Unless, uh…"

Sua pops up to her knees and presses her chest against your shoulder. Her eyes are wide, hungry. She bites her lip before and after each sentence. "Oh that's okay. If you don’t want more fuck buddies, I can be your girlfriend!"

You laugh and rub your elbow on her shockingly solid abs. "Suuure, sure. Ten minute girlfriend, right."

She laughs too, kissing your temple and wiggling her breasts against you.

"You're not really his girlfriend, Sua." Sujeong shoots down Sua's fun. That's strange. She's normally more cheerful. Maybe it's something you did. You remember washing yourself properly before you left for The Lounge. Your dick can't smell that bad, right? Great. Now you're thinking about it. Self-conscious with a super hot naked idol's face mere centimeters away from your cock.

Sua pouts and sits back on her heels. It's adorable, frankly. You pat her on the head. "No, let's go with it. Seems fun!"

She smirks and cuddles you again. "I agree. I'm your girlfriend for the day. Sujeong is your fuck buddy. How about Rina?"

You skip over Sujeong's grimace to look at Rina. She shrinks into the throw. "I-I’m okay with being a fuck buddy too."

Sua whines and love taps Rina's arm. "Oh come on. You write sexy novels! You can think of something!"

You raise an eyebrow. Rina writes what now?

Rina's blush intensifies. "S-Sua! Don't t-tell..."

"It's okay," you say, "I heard nothing."

"Heard nothing the same way you don't remember me, right?"

You and the other current couch dwellers look down at Sujeong. Her emotions are showing all over her face, but you have no idea what emotions they're supposed to be. Confusion, concern, consternation, condescension? What the hell is she talking about? "Sujeong, I, uh, definitely remember you. Are you okay?"

Sujeong's eyes flick back and forth between the three of you. She scoffs. "Yeah. Yeah! I'm totally fine. Why wouldn't I be? I've got this nice, juicy cock here to… um…" She suddenly engulfs your dick with her lips, taking you halfway down in an instant. Sure, it's very weird, but the sensation is fantastic and you sure aren't going to stop her. You'll get an explanation later when you're seeing fewer stars. Probably.

"Sooo," Sua asks, "Whatcha gonna be, Rina?"

You tear your eyes from the blowjob to see what Rina thinks. You watch her stare, beet red, at the fellatio for several seconds before she tears her eyes away too. "Right! Oh. I can… be… your… wife…?"

You're about to comment on the lack of legal representation available in the moment that can make that happen, but Sua speaks first. "Oooh, that's so cute! Awesome! Thanks for sharing your husband with us today, wifey."

Rina shoots her gaze down to her socks. She looks thoroughly embarrassed now. You wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her into a side hug. "She's right! It's cute. I got a new friend with benefits today, then a girlfriend. Never expected I'd get married too."

Her shoulders bounce under your arm a little as she chuckles. "Yeah. Same. Um, how's the blowjob, h-honey?"

"It's excellent. Thanks for inviting my fuck buddy over, sweetheart."

Rina covers her mouth to contain a snort. She looks at you out of the corner of her eye and the ends of her lips rise.

"Hey! Girlie friend over here deserves a cute nickname too, eh?" Sua shakes your shoulder.

You laugh and capture her under your other arm, the more you feel of her, the more impressed you are with how strong she seems to be.

"Of course, babe."

You'd say more, but she squeals and jerks forward to give you a thorough taste of her raspberry chapstick. And with that, it seems that the foursome is beginning in earnest. Sujeong takes your breath away metaphorically with the blowjob, Sua takes your breath away literally with the kiss, and Rina takes your hand underneath the blanket to sit on.

Your fingers get to work automatically on Rina, inching as far into her as they can get while restricted by her weight. She bites her lip and shudders, grinding down against them, which is cute but ultimately unhelpful. Not that you currently mind.

Speaking of minds, Sujeong is blowing yours. And your dick, but you've been over that and you're sure you got the point. For someone acting so strangely, she's putting in a truly Herculean effort down there. You don't even have to break away from Sua to picture what Sujeong is doing. In fact, it's very clear in your mind's eye. Suspiciously clear. The way she tilts her head side to side, the way her tongue curls around you, the way Rina leans in for a closer look and strokes Sujeong's hair, and the way Sujeong strokes herself up and down with her fingertips. With your eyes open, you see Sua's enthusiastic face, panting every dozen seconds when you both take a moment for air. But when your eyes are closed, it's like you're watching a porn, camera circling around the action, with Sujeong as the main star.

You're snapped out of it by your wife's shifting. Rina gets up her knees like Sua, but dips down, giving the bottom half of your cock a short lick. Sujeong wordlessly backs off, letting Rina take over entirely. Again, your dick is engulfed, but from a different angle.

Rina is much more timid, but no less physically sensational. She's subtler, trailing her tongue along the side and lightly peppering your cock with kisses, seasoning you to perfection. You're moderately disappointed that she still has the blanket on, because with the way it sticks up behind her you're sure you're missing out on a wonderful sight. Nothing wrong with seeing by touch though.

Having a hand under the throw already got you acquainted with Rina's burning hot core, so you explore her shell. For how thin she is, she's got incredibly soft curves. The expanse of her back is like a warm, silken sheet. Small waves crest and fall along it as she engages her whole body in your pleasure.

The romance of Rina's performance is undercut by Sujeong climbing over the top of her (shoving her further down your dick in the process, resulting in a muffled "hurg" noise), pulling your face away from Sua, and staring into your eyes. It's a hell of an intense glare, like she's trying to find Waldo in your skull.

Simultaneously, you and Sua say, "Um."

Sujeong slowly backs away without a word. The suspicious look on her face shifts to a softer expression the further away she gets.

Rina pushes herself off your dick with a gasp and a cough. "Sujeong! What the fuck?!"

"Sorry Rina. I just had to be sure."

"Sure of what?!"

The last of Sujeong's glare fades and she smiles with her eyes. Suddenly, she looks like the same girl you played Betrayal at the Mansion on the Mountain with. "Nothing! It's fine. Super good blowjob by the way! You're doing great!"

Glancing at Sua, she seems as unsure as you are about how to proceed. Thankfully it seems Rina is undeterred.

"Thanks… I guess?" she says before dipping down again to hesitantly wrap her lips around your tip.

This time, Sujeong doesn't do anything weird (in the context of group sex). Instead, she runs her fingers through Rina's hair and licks around the base of your shaft. You can't quite tell from above, but as Rina continues to hesitate, you think she may still be giving Sujeong some side eye. You hope nothing else unusual will happen for the remainder of the foursome.

Sua doesn't give you any more time to think about it. She stands up and plants one foot on either side of you and crouches just enough to touch her clit to your lips. The message is brutally clear, so you open and re-close your mouth over her pussy, getting an immediate taste of her enjoyment and flicking your tongue out for more. You can appreciate the positioning too. Sua has to flex slightly to hold herself in place, so you can look up at her bitten lip through the valley of hard abs and cute tits.

Again, the third person vision of what's happening around your dick comes into focus every time you shut your eyes. Sujeong guides your cock with her fingertips into Rina's mouth and back to hers. Each swap is accompanied by a quick, perhaps apologetic kiss between them. Rina tends to use her lips more, rubbing and twisting. Sujeong uses her tongue more, swirling and pulling. The rhythm is uneven, but hypnotic nonetheless. It helps that you're still physically feeling it and not just watching, and Sua’s wetness is like alcohol, dulling your higher thought processes while leaving sensation and instinct intact.

Sujeong gently lifts Rina back to an upright kneel. You continue to watch the movie with Sua's clit as your popcorn. Rina watches too, as Sujeong straddles your lap and rolls her hips in exactly the right way to capture your dick in her pussy with practically no effort. Your hands are drawn to her slim waist, and you squeeze unconsciously but noticeably.

Her body is curvaceous, honed, incredible, just like the way she moves. It's like she was drawn by a pinup artist and studied as a porn star's apprentice before completing her masterwork and this analogy is too long. She bounces and grinds at the same time. Her legs are a mechanical and visual marvel. As are her feet (you're sure that they'll come up when Yerin finishes telling you her story about the Feet the Good Feet rally, but it's nice to be "seeing" them for yourself)!

For just a moment, you open your eyes again. Sua's face is contorting in beautiful agony and her abs wave as she takes shallower and shallower breaths. And then, her eyes shoot open. Her thighs tense. Sujeong's chin touches yours. You don't have to close your eyes to confirm that Sua is being treated to a double oral performance.

Your eyes are drawn shut again, compelled to watch as your brunch partner digs into her half of the meal. You may have some sort of omnivision right now, but you still can't see the lower half of Sujeong's face through Sua's ass cheeks.

Sua's orgasm comes out of nowhere. Your blood pressure goes up while her thighs smash your face. Thankfully there are three people to hold her upright, since her falling over with your head in a vice grip would presumably be a bad time.

"Fuck!" She squeaks.

Once you're allowed to breathe air again, Sua panting in a heap next to you, you're treated to a heated make out with Sujeong and Rina. They pull you back and forth, sharing your lips and tongue between them. Your cock still belongs entirely to and inside Sujeong though.

"How you feeling so far?" Sujeong asks without skipping a beat on your lap.

"Not bad," you say with what you hope is a cool smirk.

Rina frowns. "Not bad? But Sujeong is…" She hesitates, but continues before you can question it. "Really good at this!"

Can't argue with the facts. Not that you have a reason to. You hiss between Sujeong's thrusts. "Yeah, I'm just being facetious."

Sujeong puts a hand on Rina's cheek, drawing her into a brief kiss. "You're so cute. Would you please eat his cum out of me?"

The very slight offense you feel over the maybe-inadvertent comment on your stamina is not enough to change the fact that you definitely feel your orgasm coming. And Rina begging Sujeong for your cum doesn't help.

"Yes, please! I would love to eat all of his cum out of you! Please let me…" She slows down, you assume because she realized it might take a moment longer to actually happen. "Um. Please? I'll slurp it out... of… your deliciou—”

Sujeong yanks her in again, tying up her tongue with something other than words. Rina submits and shuts up immediately, thoroughly entranced. Not to be outdone by Sujeong (because you suddenly, distinctly recall the way she betrayed your trust when she fed you to a nightmare just because she wanted your spear card, not that you’re going to remind her of that indignity), you pull Rina closer to you by the hips and wrap your arm around her underneath the blanket, feeling more of her and dipping your fingers inside her.

Warmth surrounds you as Rina swings the blanket around you. You get the tiniest glimpse of her petite body before you’re enveloped in darkness and met with her oh holy shit you’re cumming.

Just like the way Sua’s orgasm struck without warning, yours does too. It’s like your mind goes entirely blank. Less like bliss and more like you’re gone, literally. Like you go somewhere else to masturbate off-screen. And when you come back, you’ve cum deep inside of Sujeong and the pleasure you’d normally have felt during the earthquake instead hits you a moment later as a tsunami. You still can’t breathe underwater.

Sujeong falls off of you and drapes over Sua. Rina dives for her thighs, but is blocked by Sujeong’s hand.

“You want this cum?” Sujeong’s voice drips something viscous… and white.

“Mhm!” Rina hums back.

“Will you take his cock in your ass first, please?”

You blink. Did you just hear what you think you heard or are you still in that weird void state?

No. No you definitely heard that right. Or you and Rina just hallucinated the same sentence, because she maneuvers around to your front, facing away, and drops the blanket. Before you can even mentally comment on her figure, she guides your cock into her ass.

You drop your head back against the couch. This is just one of those very good mornings, apparently. Both in the sense that you're having a foursome, which is pretty cool in and of itself, and because your cock seems adamant to become any less adamantine. Maybe it has something to do with your out-of-body orgasmic experience.

Rina’s voice isn’t a whisper, but it’s very breathy, like she’s trying to speak through a wistful sigh. “Oh fuck. It already feels so good in my butt.” And she’s right. “[Your dick] feels so good in [her] butt.” Unless of course she’s implying the way that she feels, not you, but you’re not her dialogue editor so you decide to leave it up to interpretation.

You already got a head start on feeling her up, but now that it’s combined with a visual medium, you can’t help yourself. Your hands travel up and down her body, not in any sort of attempt to assist her clumsy bounces, but just to admire and physically experience the intimacy she radiates. The way her ass grips and yet glides on you is merely a bonus. She seems to have a similar idea, putting her hands on your knees initially for balance, but shortly transitioning to padding them up and down your thighs when she hits her stride.

“Do you work out?” she asks in that same, breathy way.

“Not exactly by choice, but yeah,” you respond through clenched teeth, trying not to shout “fuck” every time her ass cheeks tap your legs.

“Can I join?” Sua chimes in. Seems she’s recovered from her double oralgasm.

“I mean, it’s a personal, private gym I go to, but I could totally ask.”

Sua giggles. “No, silly, I meant what you’re doing right now. The sex.”

Interesting point she brings up. How exactly does foursome etiquette work? Is one allowed to simply exit and rejoin at any given moment? Assuming so, does the event still count as a foursome in the interim?

Rina takes the initiative while you question your knowledge base and rearranges herself, going from standing in front of you to planting her feet on the couch on either side of you. “Here?” she asks.

Sua gets between her (and your) legs, standing over the two of you and leaning down, taking Rina’s chin in her hands. The pervert in you (which is just you) wants to say, “Now kith,” but it seems that was Sua’s plan all along. She closes the gap and kithes—kisses—Rina deeply, pressing her onto you with considerable force.

It doesn’t take long for the pressure to subside though. Sua crawls down Rina’s body, kithing—kissing—along the way. She slows to suck and grope at Rina’s tits, but only stops when she’s got her face pressed against Rina’s pussy.

“Yes! Just like that, Sua, yes!” Rina slows down her pumping significantly, likely to avoid giving Sua a bloody nose, which is admittedly a pretty good reason. Her ass clenches around you in an off-kilter rhythmic way, probably matching the pattern of whatever Sua happens to be doing with her tongue. You get a view of the action when Rina reaches an arm back around your neck. Her nails rake your upper arm.

“Is it nice for you too?” she asks, sounding a little more out-of-breath than intentionally breathy now. Of course, the question clears up her prior grammatical snafu, but really, she shouldn't have made the initial sentence so ambiguous.

You pull her head down and strain your way up to meet her. Her mouth tastes like raspberries. Whether it’s residual from making out with Sua or they shared some chapstick in the moments before everyone undressed, you may never know.

"It's great. Thanks for asking, honey." You're physically rocked by the shivers that run through Rina's spine as soon as you use the very appropriate pet name. And you get another similar reaction when you reach around with both hands to cup her fun-size boobs.

Next to you, Sujeong stands up and grins. "Aw, look at you. You make such a good couple...s. Couples? Trio? Menage? I know there's a word."

She steps over Rina, straddling the two of you with her exceptionally long legs, one hand still pressed between her legs. "Come on now, cutie. Say 'Ah.'"

As there was already plenty of cum eating talk, not even all that long ago, and preceding your orgasm, you feel slightly cheated out of the shock of seeing Rina open her mouth to accept your cum straight from the twat-tap when it could have been foreshadowed so much more subtly. They could have "shared a knowing look" or… something. Rina surely could have done better.

Not that it matters once you're enraptured by your cum flowing from Sujeong's pussy to Rina's tongue. The ways Sujeong curls her fingers into Rina's hair, Rina swallows like a connoisseur, and Sua’s tongue keeps catching the base of your cock are starting to overwhelm you. You've been in the center of some wild scenarios, ranging from a public threesome to backstage sex to an actual Christmas carol-themed orgy, all with some of the world's most desired people. Through all of that, you've kept your cool (technically, and don't ask Eunbin to confirm that), but for the briefest moment, here, pinned underneath three idols you have mostly only had passing interactions with, pretending to have more developed relationships, dick in one of their butts, on your own couch, you feel a pin prick of subtle panic at the back of your mind.

But immediately after you feel it, it fades. It seems that your fuck buddy, girlfriend, and wife all missed your confused expression.

Sujeong steps off and slumps down next to you when nothing is left to drip from between her legs. She brings you back to your proper senses with a kiss at the corner of your mouth. You hadn’t realized that you'd lost so much focus as to barely register the intermittent pressure of Rina's ass pumping.

"Throuple, I think," Sujeong whispers, running a hand over your shoulder.

You blink. "What?"

She smiles. "I think 'throuple' is the word I was looking for. It's like 'couple' but with three people. Like a polyamory thing. Or 'triad,' but I'm not an expert. I don't know which is more app---"

"C-cumming." Rina interrupts. "I'm… I'm…"

True to the words she seems incapable of organizing into a proper structure, Rina reaches her peak. She wraps her hands over yours and squeezes down on her tits. Her eyes scrunch up and her tongue peeks out from between her lips in one of the most adorkable orgasmic expressions you've ever witnessed.

A solid thirty seconds of stillness later, Rina goes limp, feet sliding off the couch and hanging to either side of yours. She's already dead weight on your lap and chest, but is pressed even harder against you by Sua's body colliding against hers. Rina's butt tightens around your dick.

Sujeong speaks softly, but close enough to your ear that you can hear her over the sounds of vigorous post-orgasm make outs. "Not to be a party pooper, but I've got a shoot to get to. I wouldn't feel bad if the three of you kept going without me though, just saying."

And without waiting for anybody to reply, she stands up and gets dressed.

There was something you wanted to ask her though. It's on the tip of your tongue. Maybe it's got something to do with Rina continuing to grind her asshole on your dick. Maybe it's Sua's needy moans. Maybe you're distracted by Sujeong’s killer body. What the fuck were you going to ask?

Rina moans back. She's getting needy too. Her arms constrict Sua in closer, pinning your hands between their breasts. They're both so soft. You could stay that way forever. Right? Couldn't you? Won't you?

You can feel Sua's fingers on the opposite side of Rina's inner walls against your dick. Rina clenches down on you like she's expecting another orgasm from the fingering. Sujeong is smiling at the whole affair, zipping up her coat. Are you going to cum? You probably could. You could cum again and again and again. It doesn’t matter so much where. Rina's ass. Sua's. Their pussies, their mouths, their feet, their faces, their tits, their hands. They could collect pools of it just to lick it up. They could swap it back and forth between them while you build up to the next load. Sujeong is walking to the door. They could please you. Forever. Do you want another blowjob?

"Sujeong! Hold up!" Your sudden shout startles Sujeong, if the way she jumps is any indication. Sua and Rina are far too engrossed in devouring each other's faces to have noticed.

"Uh. Yeah?"

"What were you supposed to show them, 'on me?'"

Sujeong blushes and breaks eye contact. "Just, um, my blowjob technique."

"Is that it?" you ask, doing your best to ignore the gyrating women on top of you.

"Yeah, totally. I was bragging about it in a group chat and, yeah."

Silence (besides the gasping and moaning).

"Ummm, yeah. So like." Sujeong rubs her neck. "Ask them if they liked my blowjob technique for me? Go ahead and text me what they think. You have my number, right?"

You nod. "Sure. Yeah, I'll ask."

Sujeong grins. It looks fake. "Cool, thanks. I'll see you again soon, kay? Tell the girls I said they're hot as hell, and, um, bye!"

She's out the door. The brief, cold draft generated by the door may be what snaps Sua and Rina out of their fervor. Sua backs off and Rina partially follows, releasing the pressure from your chest. You weren't exactly dying for air, but a full breath is very refreshing, and any worries you may have just had drift away. Worries? You had worries? What would there be to worry about?

Sua strokes your balls with the tips of her fingers, though not especially gently. Based on the reaction, she must be doing something similarly rough to Rina too. You laugh and give her a light swat on the arm.

"You have to work soon, right, babe?" Sua asks, already pouting without even having an answer. "Think we could stick around for a bit longer if your wife makes us some lunch?"

"W-what?!" Rina whines. "Me?"

"No. His real wife."

Rina's face drains of color. She slowly turns to stare at you. "You're… you're actually married?"

You smirk and shrug. Immediately, Rina leaps off of your lap and dives underneath the discarded blanket again. Her voice comes out muffled. "Shit! I'm sorry! This is m-my fault! I'm sorry!"

It seems she's taking a lot more of the blame than is really her share, if there were blame to go around in the first place, so once you and Sua get the last of your giggles out at her expense, you lift one of the blanket corners. "I'm kidding. I'm not married. Well, except to you."

Rina peeks out from the blanket. "Don't freak me out like that."

More giggles. You stand up from the couch for what feels like the first time in an eternity and stretch your legs. "Well, if you do want to stick around for lunch, I'm definitely hungry, and I can take care of—"

Sua wraps her fingers around your still-hard shaft, staring up at you with enormous eyes. "If we can stay… does that mean it's my turn for butt stuff?"

You sigh with a smile. You've got a feeling that it'll take a while to get your work done.