#it was wild when i found out they were all related lmao

[irl]

in that same town because i was only out and about at night, i also got a reputation for myself. i joined the ranks of the local cryptids with the doll girl and the penny lady. i heard so many stories about myself from people who didnt know they were talking to the legend. and it was so dumb too lmao

small towns, an alternative looking person in all black that only shows up at night and wanders around the town square? thatll do it

[famewolf]

2019 was one of the hardest years of my life but woah I'm just remembering that I had a therapist who was insistent that I didn't transition and that I follow a one year program of proving to her that I was trans.

that wasn't even why I was going to see her in the first place, but the moment she found out she wanted me to stop hrt immediately so she could 'properly' diagnose me with gender dysphoria. she went on this long rant about how back in her day people had to spend years talking to doctors before they were allowed to transition and she has trans clients from the 80s and 90s who were made to prove to her that they were trans for a whole year before she would prescribe them anything.

[botanyshitposts]

ok INCREDIBLY old content originally meant for this blog but in 2018 when i was just a wee lad with a little spinner propeller hat and big rainbow lollipop i went to a carnivorous plant convention in california and met a bunch of people who breed/collect/study these guys. one person was this collector who was slowly working on leaving the hobby or at least no longer growing plants, and he had a bunch of carnivorous plant related files he was charging like 50 cents for or something, and so i came into possession of these, which are examples of the kind of paperwork you have to have done to legally ship/trade endangered species of both plants and animals. functionally very boring paperwork, but something i found like, incredibly fascinating. i blacked out the personal id of the person and then immediately forgot to ever upload them, lmao.

these plants were bred and raised in a greenhouse and sold abroad, not taken from the wild, but because the species are endangered and often protected in their native countries (most of these are nepenthes, asian pitcher plants, a huge family spread throughout oceania and southeast asia), there's a lot more documentation that needs to be done regardless of their origin, both on the end of the seller and on the end of the buyer.

the rabbit hole on carnivorous plant trade is deep and kind of wild. there's plenty of common, non-threatened, greenhouse-grown pitcher plants on the market that people buy all the time, even non-collectors, but there's a whole debate to be had on if it's morally okay to be collecting the more endangered/rare of these plants in the first place. the big argument for breeding is that breeding them in captivity means there's more supply that's not poached from the wild, meaning poachers have less of an incentive to take the risk of taking adult plants from their habitats; from what i've heard, sometimes countries will issue permits for breeders to collect some wild seeds just to create a non-wild breeding pool to drive down the price. predictably, however, you also get people who are very much willing to pay a lot of money to get as rare of a plant as possible.

anyone familiar with the allure valuable plants have had over people throughout history can imagine the rest, but here's an article about a guy who started buying poached plants to enrich his private nepenthes collection, who then got busted by a fish and wildlife service agent embedded in his carvirorous plant circle. the plants this guy was buying were being sold to him without any CITES paperwork or declarations like the ones above; it was literally just a guy in indonesia taking rare plants from the woods around where he lived, selling them over facebook marketplace and ebay, and mailing them overseas as an undeclared 'gift' to get around customs. frighteningly small steps to take on all sides, to be honest.

(also, fun fact: another example of carnivorous plants that get poached are wild venus fly traps, which are only native to north and south carolina in the US. from what i understand it's a mix of people who genuinely did not know it's a native species and people who really are just going out into the woods and digging up plants to sell online. sometimes poaching is closer to home than you'd think!)

anyway. wild and interesting times in the land of plants recovered from a hard drive lmao

[woooyeahbaby]

Genshin men with a streamer s/o

characters: alhaitham, diluc, itto, tighnari, zhongli

warnings: mentions of stream viewers being inappropriate towards reader, diluc is veeery slightly ooc, i accidentally used the words stream/streaming like waaay too much lmao, gender neutral reader i think i tried my absolute best to keep gender and stuff out of it. if i forgot any warnings pls let me know!

Alhaitham

you never really told him, because you never felt the need to, plus you assumed he would’ve found out somehow. whether it was through the internet, or your setup in the room you two “never” used. you were surprised to realize that he only found out when he was reading and he heard you yelling at your chat. he came into the room, observed the situation, and left with no questions asked. it was kind of funny.

alhaitham never really bothers you while you’re streaming, after the last few times he heard you talking to your chat or gaming, he understood your schedule of streams and didn’t want to interrupt. but there was one time where he brought you a meal, and he didn’t show his face but he spoke three words and your chat went absolutely wild.

“BOYFRIEND REVEAL?” “pls say that’s your brother..” “OMG SHOW” and other things related to him filled the chat, which kind of made you uncomfortable at first but once you learned to ignore it, it was fine. after that, you told him and it kind of encouraged him to bring you more things during streams…

sometimes, you’d call alhaitham to your little “streaming room”, as you’d both call it, to ask him a question that was a large debate in your chat. because of how smart he is, he’d quickly reply with the correct answer. however, if it was just an opinion, he wouldn’t quite bother answering and he’d usually just leave the room.

if you have some obsessive viewers, or people asking for your onlyfans or something like that, if you tell him (or if he sees one of them while he’s secretly stalking your stream) he’ll immediately mute/ban them. oh yeah, he’s definitely a chat moderator for you, i forgot to mention. you offered it to him, and he didn’t mind the idea, so he downloaded the streaming service and boom, he moderates your chat now!

Diluc

he actually helped you start your streaming career! not to say that he’s tech savvy or anything, he just let you create the account and such, then advertised it everywhere. hell, he even told kaeya to watch your streams. diluc is very supportive of you!

he doesn’t quite understand it, both the concept of just watching someone play videogames or react to youtube videos live, but you’re his partner, so he’s fine with whatever makes you happy.

the only times he interrupts your stream is when he’s saying goodbye/goodnight or if he’s bringing you something. diluc knows how often you stream, both from memory and from your voice in the room next to him. your followers find his voice really attractive, and they definitely let you know that every time they hear him speak. sometimes you need to remind them to calm down, or you’ll tell them it makes you uncomfortable.

diluc occasionally comes into the room to see what you’re streaming, knowing full well he could just open the app but why do that when you’re right there? he’ll watch you game, or if you’re doing react content he’ll react with you!

weird people in chat? he tries his best to ignore them, but after the stream he’ll ask if you noticed what they were saying. he’ll be a little embarrassed that it made him so annoyed, but what else should he do? you’ll reassure him that the people that comment that type of stuff usually get banned or muted, and he’ll be somewhat okay with that information.

Itto

let’s be honest, he’d probably be a streamer too. but let’s do this in the case he isn’t a streamer. he’d be so happy for you! he’d be like diluc and advertise your account absolutely everywhere, it’s really sweet.

itto would pretty much be in all of your streams, whether he’s in the background watching whatever you’re doing or if he’s playing the game you’re streaming with you. but obviously, if you don’t want him to be he’ll leave you alone.. aka watch your stream on his phone and cheer you on in the chat. if you notice his chats, you’ll say hi and you’ll definitely hear him shout “YAY!!” from the other room, it’s cute.

your chat kind of makes fun of him for how accidentally stupid he can be, like for example if he asks a dumb question about the game you’re playing you’ll answer him sweetly to distract him from the rude chats. “what does he mean, ‘lol why would he even ask that of course the enemies are red’?” “don’t worry about it, they’re just being mean.”

if he sees somebody being disrespectful in your chat, such as being inappropriate or just being rude to you, he’ll either publicly shame them or just point them out to your moderators to mute/ban them. he’ll kiss your cheek every time he sees one of them, feeling bad that you have those types of viewers.

Tighnari

being an outdoorsy type of guy, tighnari somewhat dislikes the thought of going live for a couple hours and only playing videogames or reacting to videos for people to watch. he doesn’t understand it too much, but.. as long as it makes you happy, he can’t hate it.

he doesn’t show up in your streams much, the only time he ever will is when he’s bringing you food or if he’s just checking on you to see if you’ll be going to bed soon. he memorized when you usually stream, so he tries to get everything he needs from you before you get on your pc.

if you’re a little too loud when you’re gaming or whatever you’re doing, he’ll knock on the door or the wall to tell you that he’s a little bothered. chat will sometimes say “oh he must be fun at parties”, not realizing just how sensitive his ears are. you usually ignore those comments, knowing that if tighnari were to hear you talking about that, he’d be extremely sassy to your audience (you may or may not have experienced this once before).

your chat will definitely talk about how nerdy he is once they know more about him, which you aren’t even sure how they did that considering he rarely comes into the stream and rarely uses social media.. but when they do make fun of his dorky personality, it’s very lighthearted. plus.. they’re not wrong.

if someone is being rude in your chat, or inappropriate, he wouldn’t really know, because like i said he doesn’t check in too often. but if he somehow found out, he would sass the hell out of them. it’s funny, honestly. all you can do while he does this is just sit there and laugh until he’s done, then he’ll give you a little goodbye wave and leave the room. you know he feels proud of himself after that.

Zhongli

oh peepaw.. he doesn’t know aaanything about it. he’s been around all this time and doesn’t know anything about streaming. but he must support you in some way, right? he’ll ask hu tao about it, seeing if she knows about it at all, just so he can be a little more educated on your career.

be prepared for horrible backseat gaming. “oh no, watch out for the enemy!” “zhongli.. that’s my character..” zhongli is trying his absolute best to help you while you stream, sitting by your side and trying not to get dizzy as he watches your screen. it’s cute, and definitely sweet, you can’t deny it. you know he just wants to be involved with what makes you happy, but you can’t help but cringe sometimes.

if- i mean, when your chat is thirsting over him, it’s most definitely over his voice. perhaps it’s his face and such, but usually just his voice. he isn’t ugly at all, and your audience realizes, but daaamn will they go wild for this man’s voice! once he realizes, he’ll be very flustered, and try to talk less.

but if your viewers are being rude to you? ohh, no. he couldn’t care less if they were rude to him, but you? the love of his life? absolutely not! he’ll either ask you if there’s some way to have them banned, or he’d use all of his technology knowledge to privately message them and threaten them.

[ihopesocomic]

See something funny

When I watched My Pride I always thought Feather was just Nothing's step-brother

Makes sense, son of her step-father, that's her step-brother

But then I watched your review on it and yall kept calling him her cousin and I went???? No that's her step brother

Until I realized, no he IS also her cousin, her mom and his mom are sisters AND I DIDNT KNOW

They did SUCH a bad job with establishing basic character relationships that I didn't know that Powerstrike and Waterhunter were sisters.

HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THAT THERE AREN'T MANY ADULTS IN THE PRIDE AFTER SHARPTONGUE DIES

Powerstrike and Waterhunter literally never interact it's hard to tell if they even know each other????

Like in IHS you can instantly tell the relationships between Clever, Careful, and Vicious and you can tell they're sisters because omfg they actually talk and interact like they know each other!!!🫨🫨🫨

Like you don't even need to make Waterhunter speak but just let her interact with ANYONE????

She feels like a such an outsider you can hardly tell that Nothing, our main character who she lived with and who grew up with her around, EVEN KNOWS WHO SHE IS

lmao yeah, we've got a lot of comments that are all 'you keep calling Feather her cousin when he's not, he's her little brother: this just proves you didn't watch the show properly and your whole argument is void!' and we're just there snickering because we know...

In some twisted way, nobody knows the ins and outs of this show like we do. We didn't study it for six months without dotting the i's and crossing the t's. We didn't ask for this. We could've become well versed in French or some shit but instead we became experts in My Pride lore. It's a curse. lolol

The only thing I think I messed up was calling Kyoga a 'god' once or twice but, in my absolute defence, she did transform into a literal god at one point so I don't know what the hell else I was supposed to call her. lol

But the weird thing about Waterhunter is that she was actually supposed to have lines and she did have a VA. The lines were just cut for whatever reason. I'm willing to suspect that Tribble probably found the notion of having a voiceless character quite funny but it just made her a big ol' waste of space. A lot of nonsensical things seem to happen just so Tribble could have her weird inside jokes (i.e. Nothing have that weird ass steak thing on her face, Feather randomly disappearing in the middle of the Nothing vs. Fire battle).

A lot of characters could've been combined here. Powerstrike and Waterhunter. Farleap and Feather. Maybe even Silentstalk combined with them two for good measure. There was also no reason for Quickmane and Proudmane to be separate characters either.

But thank you so much, anon. I think another thing that helps is that Cat also designed the three sisters to actually look related too. Powerstrike and Waterhunter not only do not remotely resemble each other but neither of them resemble their mother either. Which is weird because I don't recall Cow of the Wild having this issue. - RJ

[tartsinarat]

Ngl was thinking about this whilst drawing some toh au stuff while watching doctor who in the background but I really feel like Pip would really be into the toh version of doctor who.

no idea what it would be called tho in the owl house but Pip’s into it for obvious reasons of sci-fi but also occasionally randomly fantasy?? show, which has chaotic mess of lore that makes no sense whatsoever (I say this with extreme love tho) and has a main character who’s a mad genius and criminal who stole a time machine and ran away to explore the universe and time which I feel meshes very well into what Pip would enjoy

Like I don’t see him enjoying space frontier as it’s pretty much Star Trek and that show has an really optimistic grand view of the future, it focus mostly on the good of people as a whole and that anything can be achieved if people work together and put their minds to it, I can see why Hunter and Gus would enjoy it which I find really sweet and adorable

On the other hand Doctor who has a very complex but pessimistic view on people/the universe, it mainly focuses on the crazy situations that a lonely alien on who’s constantly running away but desperately trying their best at all times to either atone for what they did in the past or to help people across time and space which I think Pip would find more interesting and relatable.

He’d also probably think that all the historical stuff in doctor who is real and that Britain is just constantly getting invaded by aliens.

Funniest thing though about him discovering Doctor who is Pip finally learning what a British person is, and that he’s got a British accent himself as I’m pretty sure there’s literally no one on the boiling isles other than Belos and Pip have that accent so he wondered where it’s from.

Pip also enjoys this show even more because time travel is a concept in toh, soooooooo the guy is just itching to figure out how to make a real Tardis, the only thing stoping him is that he’s in the human realm and in the demon realm the titan themselves was like “nope not even risking it” and decided to never allow him to be able to find a time pool again (he was apart of the events of elsewhere and elsewhen along side Luz and Lilith… it was awkward between him and Philip to say the least but it was more on Pips part because he was like” holy shit is he an older me?? Or my great great- something?? grandad what is going on???” So he didn’t know how to react to that and neither did Luz who was like yep they’re related, and Philip was like “what a strange hooded kid, I didn’t know that demons could mimic accents and appearances so well, I should be stay wary of that abomination and slay it when I have the time”. Oh yeah Pip does almost get killed but Lilith springs into action and does the badass punch to stop Philip. Ngl I’ll have to draw this as a comic at some point because it’s interesting to imagine/draw)

As well I had some ideas of him in thanks to them dressed up in a nerdy doctor cosplay which I found fun but idk if that’ll end up being what I draw him as for his Halloween costume, all three were picked because they all had similar Pip personality wise and I feel like he would relate most to these three in particular;

Like Pip, 10 is pretty much a wild card personality wise depending on the situation he can either be a sad destructive arrogant bastard with a slight god complex who takes matters into his own hands because he believes that he’ll make the right decision without thinking about the consequences or be a lonely silly guy who rambles a lot and is always running around and just wants to have fun.

1 is a grumpy trickster that has strong opinions about right and wrong, he also appears rude or uncaring but actually cares a lot and is the guy who ran away and stole a fucking time machine. He and 14 (14 is basically a mature 10 but I was tempted to go with him instead of 10 but he doesn’t have the ego problem so 10 it was lmao) fought a god like being that’s from another dimension thats obsessed with playing games.

4 is a bit of an odd ball though, he’s the weirdest doctor out of the bunch. He’s pretty silly, but at times he’s shifts into being quite callous and broody but still has a heart of gold. As well as 4 seems to struggle a lot in acting human as he’s pretty distant, aloof and alien at points, he even emphasises a lot throughout his run how he’s not human. Which I feel Pip would find extremely relatable as well as enjoying 4’s adventurist spirit and his extreme hatred of authority.

I think 4 is Pips favourite so he’d most likely cosplay as him during thanks to them.

Omg almost completely forgot to mention but I didn’t add his scar on purpose, he’s used illusion magic to remove it to make the cosplay more accurate and because his curse at that point is showing more physically on his body at this point in season 3 (he goopy 😔) and I can imagine it’s hard to explain to people in public why you a rotting infected looking green scar across your face and an even worse looking arm that’s weirdly proportioned to your body.

[that-trans-autistic-guy]

Dead Boy Detectives x Slugterra Crossover

i promised i would and ive only just gotten enough time to post it here lmao. this post is just gonna be the boys, since i've got the most info on them but i would be overjoyed to post the rest of what i have. so, without further ado, enjoy this mess of my special interests and hyperfixations colliding. (DBD folks if you need reference help, click here)

Character Backstories

Edwin’s Story

His parents were never particularly attentive or caring. Neither of them paid him any kind of attention. He spent most days on his own. Most of them he spent in a library or the wild, learning as much as he possibly could to satiate his curiosity. He found a love for magic and myths, even more so relating to the Shadow Clan. So, he had adventures to try and find any place relating to the Clan. On one such adventure, he stumbled across a group of hunters prowling the woods. He heard them muttering about finding the Enigmo that had been spotted and he immediately perked up. He knew all about the Enigmo, but he also knew what the hunters would do if they found it. So he sprinted around the woods, keeping his keen eyes peeled for a flash of turquoise. And he found it. As it fell from high above him and hit him at velocity. The blurring of his vision frightened him, but he grabbed the slug and tucked it into his pocket. As he snuck out of the forest, he noticed colors surrounding the slugs of the hunters. He realized that he was seeing their auras, an idea he’d found during his many hours of research. Thankfully, the bullies at his school had taught him how to be stealthy, even with doubled vision. He used one of his father’s spare blasters to fire the Enigmo and undo his vision. The slug was affectionate, if slightly clumsy. It was a welcome change to his parents’ uncaring attitude. He named his new companion Thoth, the god of knowledge. A year or so later, he would meet Charles. They became immediate friends, always sharing their ideas and days, a pattern they continued into adulthood. 

Charles’ Story

As a boy, his father was abusive. He was allowed nothing. Even when the other boys his age were befriending and collecting their first slugs, he was forbidden it. One day, his father locked him out for some reason or another. With a bruise on his face, he wandered around to waste time until he could return home. He met an Armashelt. She stuck to him, even when he tried to tell her that he was just a failure. They became fast friends. When he did eventually return home, his father threw his new friend out and slammed the door. During the night, however, she snuck back in through his window. Time and again, his father threw her out and time and again, she snuck back in. However, he never truly had a chance to name her. One day, his father was in a drunken rage and Charles ran away. Out in the forest, the young boy met Edwin. Despite their differences, they became best friends immediately. When Edwin spotted the Armashelt, he asked her name. Charles was sad to say she didn’t have one. So they discussed it. When asked what he liked about her, he said that he admired how she was a shield in many ways. The few times she had met velocity was when the other boys were bullying him. When velocimorphs flew at him, she had dug in her claws and used her shell to shield him. Edwin suggested the name Aegis, the shield of the gods, and Charles thought it was brills. The two would often sneak away together, staying friends into adulthood.

Character Info

Edwin

Uses strategic/magic type slugs

Knows Shadow Clan Language, loves researching their history and magic

Main is an Enigmo named Thoth 

Works as a researcher, rarely seen outside of his home or Shadow Territory

Charles

Uses heavy hitters like Rammstone, Hoprock, Tazerling

Main is an Armashelt named Aegis

Works with blaster and Mecha customization and repair

Other Information

The boys have Frightgeist siblings they bonded with together

They boys made accelerators and fusion models together

Standard Teams (plus pics for the uninitiated) (no megas for this post but they do get them)

Edwin

Enigmo (Main)

Frightgeist

Geoshard

Arachnet

Slicksilver

White Boon Doc

Charles

Armashelt (Main)

Frightgeist

Forgesmelter

Rammstone

Hop Rock

Tazerling

i am cooking up a way to imitate edwin's hell story but this the basics so far. honestly, its so much fun to get back into this show so i might have to rewatch a bit for nostalgia. so, if my DBD people havent watched slugterra, you should! and if slugterra peeps havent watched DBD, you should do that too!!

[martellspear]

it bothers us because you have delusions that martell princess who was raped but nobody except her family was bothered by it cause she was so irrelevant suddenly should matter more than Jon Targaryen's parents who according to canon 'he loved her she loved him' and their love brought about the birth of the prince who was promised

suck on it irrelevant ugly woman stans and you have the gall to compare princess viserra to her when viserra was million more beautiful than the dornish scum and her ill spawn could ever be

Jon WHO? LMAO. I wasn't going to post this - my moots & followers don’t deserve to read this shit -  but it made me laugh more than the others

Rhaegar chose Lyanna, I agree.... but it was to die. Do you think he wouldn't have taken here somewhere safer and with more people to ensure > her < safety during childbirth if he wanted to? Please.

He could've let Elia die in a third pregnancy and be free from her and marriage duties. The thing is that the moment he found out it might happen he went "no❤️".

Also, I'd be embarrassed to use the show as source. Especially if my pRoMisEd pRiNcE's end was that one.

'Ugly woman' and that's her:

"The crowning of the Stark girl, who was by all reports a wild and boyish young thing with none of the Princess Elia’s delicate beauty."

I can't believe you're so obsessed to the point of seeing posts I don't tag😭. Go use that time to read the books, they're fun.

On a more serious note [tw: rape]:

You are disgusting. Do you know how hard someone has to try to be worse than some ASOIAF men?

‘In Casterly Rock, it was common knowledge that Gregor Clegane had killed Elia and her babe. They said he had raped the princess with her son’s blood and brains still on his hands.’

That’s what you are mocking. I don’t care that she’s a fictional character, what you and your rabble say about her is truly sickening, it’s heartbreaking that you get to vote.

Someone who’s not from her family and cares a lot about what happened is Ned. I’m sorry if his own sister’s death didn’t influence his non-Jon decisions but Elia’s did.

Thus, one of the reasons he gives Cersei the chance to escape is his memory of Elia and her children's bodies presented to Robert and his reaction, you can’t even deny how much it affected him.

‘Ned had named that murder; Robert called it war. When he had protested that the young prince and princess were no more than babes, his new-made king had replied, “I see no babes. Only dragonspawn.” Not even Jon Arryn had been able to calm that storm. Eddard Stark had ridden out that very day in a cold rage [...]’

A few other quotes: 

‘Tyrion watched the faces of the Lords Tyrell, Redwyne, and Rowan, wondering if any of the three would be bold enough to say, “But Lord Tywin, wasn’t it you who presented the bodies to Robert, all wrapped up in Lannister cloaks?” None of them did, but it was there on their faces all the same. Redwyne does not give a fig, he thought, but Rowan looks fit to gag.’

"Cersei is frightened of you, my lord … but she has other enemies she fears even more. [...] In Dorne, the Martells still brood on the murder of Princess Elia and her babes.

‘Some nights, Ser Barristan wondered if he had not done that duty too well [...] m. Princess Elia and the children. Aegon just a babe, Rhaenys with her kitten. Dead, everyone, yet he still lived, who had sworn to protect them.’

‘The Dornishmen burn to avenge Elia and her children [...]’

I know you can’t relate but Elia was loved. It wouldn’t matter if ‘only her family’ cared, what happened to her was brutal and nothing changes it. You people just come off as rude, uneducated and ignorant. 

Fun fact: the name 'Elia' is mentioned 75 times throughout the series, 'Lyanna' 53 and 'Rhaegar', thanks to Dany, 258

[midnightcupiid]

i want a love like i’ve seen in the movies, that’s why i’ll never fall in love

pairing: valgrace (leo valdez x jason grace)

summary: jason is dead. leo writes letters to him to cope.

word count: 418 (oof)

a/n: GUESS WHO FINALLY GOT HER ACT TOGETHER!!!!!! title from ‘like the movies’ by laufey, relates to nothing i just thought it was cute lmao. wrote this at 2am while severely dehydrated and sleep deprived. i did not check, but hopefully the spelling is ok. enjoy!!!!

(dividers by @plutism)

jason,

you’ll never get this. trust me, i know it. you’re gone.

piper says you wrote letters to me when I was gone. gods, why would you write letters? you’re you were dyslexic, you idiot! i’m barely writing right now. this is hard.

i never found the ones you wrote when we were going through your stuff. i wish i did. maybe it could’ve given me some closure, i guess. i hold on to every part of you i can find. your clothes smell less like you every day. the flowers i put at your grave the first day are starting to wilt. 

i still can’t believe it; we were done, out of the woods.(will has been forcing me to listen to taylor swift to try and cheer me up. it’s torture.) now, you’re gone. what’s the point of anything at this point? nothing feels real. one day, i’ll go to elysium. see you again. hopefully. the judges better grant me that mercy. i’ve lived a shit life. i deserve a happy ending. at least, i think i do.

i would go to a therapist, but… i don’t think that would be good for me right now. too much thinking. i usually try not to think. instead, my therapy is building stuff in bunker nine. i’ve been looking at spheres. they can do so much! i almost lasered off my whole arm the other day and but it’s whatever, you don’t want to hear me ramble right now.

i’m reading more, too. you would always get on me about that. well, fake you, at the wilderness school. you were always so righteous. i guess real you was too busy saving the world to annoy me about my reading habits. anyways, i asked annabeth for recommendations. BAD IDEA. now she’s forcing me to read all the “classics”! it’s a nightmare. but some of them are okay, like jane austen. did you know she was a baddie? because she is. but i was reading the canterville ghost, by oscar wilde. there was one line that made me think, which i don’t do much, clearly.

“death must be so beautiful. to lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. to have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. to forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.”

i know most of this is wrong. they don’t have any silence in elysium! but for what it’s worth, i hope you’re at peace. you deserve that, after everything.

i miss you.

leo

end note: ANYWAYSSSSSS

i am planning to make a prequel of one of jason’s letters eventually. i rlly hope you liked it! i’ll link it here when it’s done. lmk if you want to be added to the taglist!

GENERAL TAGLIST: @illneverforget365

VALGRACE TAGLIST: n/a

[persephoneggsy]

5, 10, 15 from fifty more rook qs if you’re doing em!

I’ve got two Rooks now (a mother and daughter pair), so I’ll answer for them both!

Left is Phryne Ingellvar (Reaper Warrior), right is Elke Ingellvar (Death Caller Mage)

Fifty (more) Rook questions!

Five. Who does Rook romance? What was the moment that sparked their interest?

Phryne romances Emmrich. A part of it is she feels the rest of the companions are too young (Phryne is 58 years old), but at the start she found Emmrich rather dashing. His intelligence and competency in his field further added to that initial attraction. Him waxing poetic in front of a display of corpses about how life is fleeting and one should live their lives to the fullest really cemented the “oh, I can’t NOT fuck him”.

Elke romances Davrin. At first she thought he was just a tough talking brute, but she softened after seeing how hard he was trying with Assan. She’s a mother to a teenaged boy, so she could relate to his frustration while also giving him some gentle advice.

Ten. A spicy scene between Rook and their LI(s):

Phryne and Emmrich are an extremely tactile couple, so they’ve always got a hand on each other at all times. Sometimes those hands wander… I like imagining a scenario where Emmrich is looking for a book and Phryne just comes up behind him, hugging him around the waist. It’s all very cute, until her hands start drifting lower; ten minutes later, Phryne’s back is against the bookcase for support while Emmrich puts those magic fingers of his to work between her legs. >:3c

Elke and Davrin are much more reserved, in comparison. Elke is very orderly and prim, so she hates looking disheveled and out of sorts… so naturally Davrin loves seeing her like that. He’ll rile her up with some flirting and teasing, until she comes storming into her room, eyes wild, and then he’ll smirk as she pushes him down onto the floor and has her merry way with him.

Fifteen. Who else has a crush on Rook?

Phryne has always been known locally as a MILF and later GILF lmao. She had a ton of young Watchers hot and bothered as she made her rounds in the Necropolis. She has a long list of ex-flings (never any serious relationships until Emmrich came along) as well. Maybe Strife looked at her and Emmrich and debated asking if they were looking for a third lmao.

Elke inherited the MILF gene from her mother, but she was too uptight and rigid for people to develop an attraction to her beyond physical. It also doesn’t help that she didn’t have a lot of friends lol. When she joins the Veilguard, I like to think Lucanis is briefly attracted to her but knows she’s turned off by Spite, so he moved on quickly.

[laismoura-art]

Satoshi and Kidd Thunder would've been a part of the kombat kids smh. They had the potential to become full-fledged characters in the story. To me they were the og kombat kids (Frost probably counts too) before the mkx kombat kids came along. Can you imagine the new era kombat kids would consist of Frost, Satoshi and Kidd Thunder??

Giiirl!!! The potential this Kombat Kids Team carry is OFF THE CHARTS!

I've got a plenty of ideas on how this team would come to be in both the New Era and the Previous Timeline, so buckle up!!

New Era first:

Frost:

I strongly believe New Era!Frost will be basically Noob Saibot and Sektor’s kid, and they will raise her to be the next Sub-Zero!

@mikka-minns and I had the idea that if an Frost raised by a good guy turns out evil, a Frost raised by bad guys would turn out good (cause she likes to contradict her parents no matter the universe, lmao) so eventually Sub-Zero!Frost will join Kuai Liang's Shirai Ryu and there she will meet her teammates!

Satoshi Hasashi:

Following MK1 logic, Satoshi would still be related to either Harumi or Hanzo but not as their son.

Harumi would make some sense, as Hanzo's family is dead, but consider the scenario:

We don't know how Hanzo became an orphan in the New Era, but if it was through a massacre, it would be interesting if he got to save his baby brother, Satoshi, the same way Harumi saved her daughter in the MK2021 movie.

Hanzo would initially think he failed in saving him, only to find out he succeeded and now he's got his brother back with him in the Shirai Ryu!🥹

Deviating a bit from canon, you know MK1 Hanzo is a Netherrealmer to me, so imagine the same history, but settled in Netherrealm and now Satoshi is a Hellborn and a Pyromancer like his big brother!

Both Hanzo and Satoshi are trained to be Shirai Ryu and Kuai helps them both master their Hellfire!

Kidd Thunder:

Ok, I left Kidd Thunder for last cause I'm about to go wild!

You know how Raiden has a sister in the New Era and we all collectively assumed it would be genderbent Fujin? Hear me out:

Kidd Thunder is Raiden's sister!

I know Raiden and Fujin are the OG siblings and they are referencing the Japanese Mythology, BUT we can't hardly say the same about New Era Raiden. He is a regular dude who's powers come from an amulet! He is not the Thunder God Raijin or even our Thunder God Raiden. He's pretty much a new character with his own new lore. So here's an idea:

We know Raiden was afraid of being corrupted by his power and/or not being able to control all that power, so a solution he found was to share his power!

With the help of Liu Kang, he divided the Amulet in two and the power was split in two. The owners of the two halves would have to be on the same side and share their ideals, otherwise the Amulet wouldn't work.

Raiden gave the other half to his younger sister, and she was thrilled with the opportunity to leave Fengjian and become a hero!

She's heavily into superhero comics, so when she gets her powers she starts calling herself Kidd Thunder! Raiden thinks it's corny and unnecessary, but she loves it and everyone slowly grows fond to it so eventually Raiden gives in (Johnny is also heavily encouraging of her theatrics, and that's why he's her favourite, he gets her🤭)

Now to the Previous Timeline:

Satoshi Hasashi:

Imagine a world where Hanzo did keep his promise to Raiden and spared Bi-Han’s life, and in return, Raiden kept his end of the deal and brought the Shirai Ryu back!

Satoshi's grandparents were the Grandmasters of the Shirai Ryu, so the titles would be passed down to Harumi and Hanzo sooner or later, but as the two of them were the ones who took the reins and resettled the clan back to it's former glory, Harumi's parents decided they would take over sooner!

Satoshi's parents became Grandmasters Hummingbird and Scorpion and now it seemed expectations on him only increased! After all, he is the son of the clan's greatest warriors, the clan's saviours and leaders!

So Satoshi pushed himself to be the best! He learned how to emulate his father's Pyromancy through his mother's potions and became his generation's greatest warrior: the Firebird!

Frost:

Hanzo's decision didn't just affect his future, but also the fates of the entire Sub-Zero Family!

Since Kuai wouldn't have to worry about avenging Bi-Han, he could focus on the threat growing in his very backyard: The Cyber Initiative!

From within, he convinced not only his twin, Lisa, to runaway with him but also his adoptive siblings Tomas and Cyrax!

They found Bi-Han after the tournament and together they decided they would defeated Oniro and Sektor and reform the Lin Kuei!

Of course that wouldn't be an easy task and when Hanzo and Harumi heard of their situation, they offered shelter and resources! The siblings stayed in their home for a long time, but that was hardly a problem as they all had time to grow closer... some of them even closer, lol!

In gratitude, the siblings promised that once the Lin Kuei was theirs they would start an alliance with the Shirai Ryu!

Said and done, Kuai, Lisa and Bi-Han became Grandmasters and thus the most legendary clans of Earthrealm formed an alliance!

But the focus is not on the Grandmasters Subzero, but on their star student: Frost!

They found her when they were dismantling a Black Dragon fortress! She fought in their rings for the evil clan's amusement. She was extremely talented, and all siblings agreed all that talent was being wasted on that ring.

They set her free and brought her to the Lin Kuei, always reaffirming that she was free and could leave whenever she wanted but, if she choose to stay they would treat her like a person and help her properly develop her Cryomancy. She agreed!

With the alliance of the Shirai Ryu and the Lin Kuei officially settled, Frost and Satoshi finally met!

Kidd Thunder:

I'll keep Kidd Thunder as a girl cause I really liked the concept, but she has a very different origin here:

Unlike her New Era counterpart, this Kidd Thunder isn't a human, she's Lord Raiden himself! Well, a part of him!

Raiden wanted to learn what was like to be a human, but didn't want to risk leave Earthrealm vulnerable with his own vulnerability, so instead, he separated a part of his own soul and created a human being that would be able to fully experience... well, humanity!

Raiden used to simply call her "Raiden" as she is a part of himself, but his champions explained though she is a part of him, she's still her own individual and therefore should have her own name! Raiden understood and told her to pick a name and she chose Kidd Thunder!

She grew up with the Shaolin and spend most her childhood among Earthrealm's champions!

Years later, the Special Forces assembled a team of young warriors, the next Champions of Earthrealm, Kidd Thunder was the first to be called and there she finally met her teammates, Frost and Firebird!

I shamelessly tie-up this with my Divorced!Hanrumi AU cause I really liked that AU and wanted to develop on it!

Anyways! Here's another huge rambling! Hope you like this one!💕

Also, did you like girly Kidd Thunder? If anyone has ideas for names for her, I'd love to hear!👀🩵

@thedragonholder @thegrimoiresvoice

[occasionally-victor]

bwaah ghost au spiderbit; you can see i kinda lost motivation on this one a bit lmao welp

in this au people that die peacefully leave like. normal ghosts. the "transparent floating person maybe with some quirk" type of ghosts. idk whether make them move on to some Otherside or are they just still hang out in normal world - probably a bit of both (alive people usually can't see those tho). the people who die from some sort of cruel death or at the moment of death have A Lot™ of negative emotions? their ghosts are Fucked Up and Kinda Dangerous™ and less person looking. the nature of it is Unknown™, but those ghosts considered "cursed" - which entails that the curse can be lifted and the ghost can be granted peace. those ghosts behaviour is in fact totally targeted towards ridding themselves of that curse HOWEVER it's usually slow. have i mentioned those ghosts are Fucked Up and Kinda Dangerous™? yadda yadda there are people who specialise in helping those ghosts get rid of their "curse" because otherwise they can do a lot of damage before doing it themselves.

this au was kinda born after thinking what would the actual ghosts of cubitos look like, and then deciding to just make a seperate thing from it

!roier was still abducted, but here it's by some fucked up people who wanted to experiment on humans - he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. take a wild guess how he dies (idk body gave up after weeks of horrifying experiments or something). ghost!roier is surprisingly Not That Dangerous™ - mostly scares encountered people and also seems to bring the rat infestation to every house he is seen in. barely floats, in general looks like a walking corpse that slightly glows, rarely seen on street as seems to hate light (most of it, at least), rats do follow him a lot. doesn't seem to talk and in general also feels constant sickness and disorientation. moves between places a lot, so not many actually seen him. the commonly used name in reports is "Blinded man" (as his eyes are very much hidden behind the cloth constantly)

spiderbit were very much married in this au and well, you could have guessed, !cellbit didn't take the news well at all (authorities eventually found whatever that underground lab was and yknow the bodies). mans left his work at flower shop, became basically a complete shut in and then one day theirhis apartment was on fire. the fire part actually nor because someone set it in fire or whatever - it's because some ghost can be "born" uhh with very real impact on normal world let's just say, and in this case the very first thing ghost!cellbit did was to set the place on fire👍 not cool, because the fire was white, which is very notoriously very hot actually (the whole thing was brief tho - the only thing affected was the apartment) (the cause of death is very much grief induced heart attack btw). the heat from ghost doesn't appear right until the flames themselves are touched - while the burn itself is nonexistent, the pain is very much is. moderately aggressive, seems to have a soft spot for kids (as in, avoids them and in general seems calmer around them). often noticed around various flower shops and other flower related placed (looking for something?) - in a places where his sightings were reported often found ashes of already burn flowers (a specific flower does seem to be burnt much less tho-) (flowers actually can completely distract him - seems to be stuck in place until they finish burning - ideally not be there when that happens). the blood is real, but it vaporises before it hits the ground most of the time. the common name in reports is "Whiteflame ghost"

the way to lift their curse is for ghosts be reunited - the nature of their curse does kinda force them to be "physically" inseparable as to not return to their cursed selves, but it's not like an issue for them at this point.

will i ever expand this au? probably not tbh, but maybe.

[kraeki]

what do you find intriguing about domi and robbo and how would you describe their dynamic

I’m so sorry for answering you so late! The thing is that you asked an interesting question and I didn’t want to answer quickly but then I forgot about the ask and then I only ever remembered it when I didn’t have time to answer 😭 I don’t even remember under what post I mentioned that I found them intriguing 😅 Anyway!! Warning, long and unedited ramblings ahead:

Well most of what I find intriguing about them is the potential they have for fictional interpretation. So my answer is based on that, not what I believe is the truth about their dynamic. I just think that Dominik is a very heart on your sleeve, earnest loverboy. While Andy maybe hides more under a loud shell. And that this makes for an interesting mix!

Last year, during DomiTrent autumn, it was almost a running joke how Trent was always with Domi and Andy was somewhere depressed in the background. I thought it was a fun bit and never thought that Trent had actually replaced Andy with Dom (and hate them being pitted against each other! Trent can have more than one friend!!!) but it can be used to let our imaginations run wild. Maybe Domi tried to be Andy’s friend too but Andy was so caught up in self pity over Trent replacing him that he didn’t like Dom. I like picturing Dom earnestly trying to be friends and Andy interpreting it badly, like Dom taunting him or something. In one Inside Training from that time Dom asked to be Andy’s partner in training and Andy said “no, you talk too much” as a joke but well… was it?

Then Andy gets badly injured, he talked about how hard it was to not be part of the team for that period. How he missed hanging out with them at Kirkby because he had a different schedule. Our fictional Andy could’ve felt extra alone in the world, watching from afar as Dom and Trent giggle at each other.

But then! Dom gets injured too! So they could be forced to be together, both sulking from their injuries. Maybe a bit raw. Maybe some walls are broken?

Fast forward a bit after Andy, Dom and Trent all are finally in a match day squad together again after their injuries. And they all warm up together as a trio when Dom and Trent as a duo had been shooting long balls at each other to warm up for almost the whole first part of the season. But now, for every match, doesn’t matter if they are all starting or not, they do their little trio warm up. And I think it has cute implications! We never see sad Robbo in the background of DomiTrent anymore. The dynamics are more even now.

Then the Euros happen and they both captain their teams and have disappointing Euros and they even meet each other in both of their teams’ last game. Dom’s team ruining any hope Andy’s team might have had. Drama! But also, they can relate a lot I think. And then at the same time their common factor, Trent, was busy making heart eyes at Jude for a whole summer.

And now at the beginning of pre season, they were there before Trent and I love that they did media together there as well! Something about them interacting without Trent pleases me. The notion of their relationship growing independently and beyond their glue (Trent) is fun. Our fictional Andy realising that this manchild is actually not so bad. Dom not being insecure anymore over Andy being Trent’s old and established friend that would always eclipse the newbie Dom. Trent, the princess he is, not always being the centre of the universe. The other sides of the triangle should touch too!

Ok I’m done! Once I started it was difficult to stop lmao but as you can see I stuck to their fictional dynamic. For their “real” dynamic, I still think they have an interesting mix of personalities and it really is possible that Trent being their mutual friend made them closer than they otherwise would have been. Then they are both captains of their small(ish) national teams and they did have an interesting Euros story. I will at least be watching them with interest this season both for fictional headcanon reasons and not 😁

P.S. They are also both dog coded but in different ways! Different breeds I suppose 😭 (Trent is a cat)

[sathellio]

it's the genloss ep 2 anniversary! which means I'm gonna share my thoughts as I rewatch it for the first time in, uh, a few months. enjoy!

1. the Dread I felt at the beginning of this episode watching it live Oh Boy

2. already jamming to the soundtrack

3. "every single bicycle"

4. I love Jerma's speaking cadence as the Puzzler it's so good, especially in the first room

5. it's really interesting to me how the majority of people instinctually pick the middle key

6. the rats <3

7. THE FLIP BETWEEN THE FILTER AND REALITY IS SO GOOD RAHH

8. "another hot wheel?" "vroom"

9. I love the Puzzler's theatrics with the TV and having Rae throw a tape in before he would show himself. he's so dramatic lmao

10. "oh shit a rat!"

11. I think it's cool how each episode becomes more real. like, ep 1 was treated like a sitcom (the characters didn't know they were on a show at all, cameras were treated as if they weren't there), ep 2 they know the cameras are there, but it doesn't really click until the very end, ep 3 they're all Aware. just a neat progression

12. I've been wondering why Sneeg's hat breaks the filter in this ep when he always wears it in the first, but it finally clicked (maybe I'm just a little silly, oops). it's a break of character. this Sneeg "isn't really a hat guy" bc he's a Different Character. the hat crosses wires in a way, and that discrepancy causes the filter to break. I think anyway

13. the please hold is wild /pos

14. oo the hat goes back on in Evil Sneeg mode aka brainwash mode

15. god the long pause when Sneeg gets "reset" and the camera's focus goes in and out is SO GOOD

16. "I see the light" is out, "I'm going upstream" is in. thank you carousel fish talk

17. human sized mousetrap would go so hard (not really related but still)

18. the "it's a push" with the candy room door lmao

19. when Vinny was joining them I didn't notice Sneeg say "they gotta go through a bullet too?" lmao

20. the entire laser room is so goofy

21. the fact that Showfall can canonically teleport people is wild

22. there's at least two solutions for the long pipe puzzle we didn't actually get to do (I know because I found another one while it was on screen), and now I wanna know how many solutions there are just for funsies

23. Jerma breaking the door >>>

24. OOO in the wardrobe room Ranboo says "where should I look?" in the Same Tone they used in ep 1 when we actually helped them search. when they got "reset" (aka scruffed by an employee while walking through the door), they definitely got some memories messed up/some heavy controlling considering they're not nearly as worried about things as they were before. maybe that's why he reverts to ep 1 mannerisms. fresh reset = fresh mannerisms and speaking patterns (I definitely noticed this before but I'm appreciating it again shh)

25. also Sneeg trying to spell something = ep 1 reference

26. the wardrobe room gives DND party that took the puzzle in the completely wrong direction but it's funny so the DM doesn't wanna say anything

27. the Puzzler says he's been doing this for 30 years. implications

28. Rubik's cube moment

29. imagine Showfall casual Fridays. that'd be so silly. cosplayers please

30. the moment Ranboo locks eyes with the camera I still feel so much dread. what a cinematic moment. dare I say life changing

31. THE MALLLLLL

okay! see y'all in two days for ep 3 <3

[count-skribula]

i saw that you were welcoming infodumps that relate to dracula! i have a not so fun fact about bram stoker and oscar wilde to share :)

so. we know for a fact that wilde was invited to a bunch of dinners at the lyceum theatre. we know stoker wrote those invitations, and it's overwhelmingly probable that he was also responsible for making the guest list. we have tons of evidence showing that stoker was pretty close friends with wilde's parents. basically, we may not know the specifics of their relationship-- we have no solid evidence that justifies saying they were close-- but we do know they knew each other. they hung out in the same circles, their families were friends, stoker presumably chose to invite wilde to all his cool club dinners, and wilde certainly kept in touch with florence.

wilde also adored both henry irving and ellen terry, the leading players of the lyceum, so he found a lot of excuses to visit the theatre. he and stoker shared a passion for walt whitman's poetry. they went to the same university, where stoker recruited wilde to the philosophical & historical society-- though wilde was never a particularly active member. all this to say that wilde was definitely, inarguably, someone who had a presence in stoker's life.

in stoker's only work that can be even remotely considered autobiograpical, which is actually a biography of his boss + allegedly close friend henry irving (titled personal reminiscences of henry irving; wouldn't recommend it, it's not exciting reading), he never mentions wilde. not once. not even when he just straight up lists all the famous people who visited the lyceum theatre.

the book was published after wilde's conviction for gross indecency. there's no record of stoker voicing any opinion about the trials or the conviction-- no public outrage, no public mourning. nothing. wilde's brother wrote to him about the whole ordeal, but there's no evidence stoker ever replied. ellen terry was vocally supportive of wilde. author hall caine, to whom Dracula is dedicated (under the petname hommy-beg), expressed shock and grief and moral outrage. but as far as we can tell, stoker said nothing.

to me, that's one of the loudest silences in history. the only indication of an opinion we ever get is that some years later, he published some articles arguing for the moral benefits of censorship of plays and novels.

florence kept the letters wilde had written her till her dying day, though. apparently her family was convinced she could have prevented the tragedy if she had just married wilde instead of stoker, which is..... certainly some kind of take lmao

(most of this info is taken from Barbara Belford's biography on Stoker plus Talia Schaffer's article on the influence Wilde had on Dracula. they both end up... idk, sort of trying to psychoanalyze a guy who's been dead for a century in a pretty invasive way that kinda skeeved me out? but all the claims i'm repeating here are pretty well substantiated by historical sources, which both authors were very good at tracking down. i know i probably don't need to cite my fucking sources in a tumblr ask or explain why i'm choosing to rely on flawed sources but it's the grad school brainworms i can't help myself)

Don’t apologize for citing sources I love you for it ❤️

Also that’s SUPER interesting, there just seems like a lot of uncovered bts drama happening with stoker and wilde’s relationship but like you said so much of it is just speculation and it’s easy to slip into territory of disrespecting dead people by theorizing too much about their personal life. But it is a really fascinating subject to learn about

And I’m realizing asking for info dumps is an amazing way to get through the off season so YESSSS THANK YOU!!!

[illfoandillfie]

Hey hope you are well! For the bday blurbs I would loove a little origin story of your 'Rogers housekeeper' blurb, like when and how were professional lines first crossed.. 👀🔥

this was a lot of fun to revist! the original houskeeper blurb can be found here. part 2 is below the cut. I did write it over about 3 days because work got in the way so hopefully it's mostly coherent lmao

warnings: boss x employee relationship, p in v sex, lots of smoochin, condom use, drinking. thats about it. this one is a bit softer, a bit less explicit than my last few have been.

It wasn’t until after you’d accepted the job that you found out Roger was recently divorced. You’d assumed (not totally incorrectly) that it was his work situation that convinced him to hire help. Extended periods of travel did factor into his decision but, as you found out, it was the divorce that really made up his mind. Which was understandable but also made you a little unsure. Roger Taylor had a reputation after all. He’d always been portrayed as a something of a rock and roll rogue, a bit of a flirt and a fan of excess. And it made you question things a bit. Not just about how much damage he and his friends might do to his property during one of his bands wild parties, but also about how it’d be to work with him. Would he be polite or should you prepare yourself to rebuff his advances?  

Luckily Roger soon put those worries to rest. He was charming, yes, and very personable, but never indecent. Your first few days were spent largely with Roger as he showed you around and made you familiar with everything he thought you’d need to know, but not once did he make you feel uncomfortable. A couple of times you felt him watching you as you worked or made yourself tea, but you figured he was just sizing up the new hire and there was nothing more to it. But, you did feel like it gave you permission to glance his way once or twice.  

As the year went on you got to know each other quite well. More often than not, if you were on the property Roger wasn’t but you were in frequent contact to update him on any issues and to reassure him that nothing had happened to his cars. When you were both at home it was often with his kids so you became quite used to having important work conversations while being interrupted so you could watch their cartwheels or dive bombs. And before you knew it, the conversations weren’t strictly work related. Roger liked to chat, especially over a cuppa, and was frequently asking you questions about your roommate or family or whatever else came to mind. And somehow, in all of that, the kids took a shine to you too and you became the backup babysitter. So it felt inevitable when Roger began inviting you to dinners and shindigs he hosted.  

It was at one such night that he dropped the bomb. The dinner party had gone on much longer than the final course. Someone called for cocktails and all bets were off. You’d limited yourself to only a few drinks but you’d hung around all the same, enjoying yourself. So when you finally did decide to call it a night, Roger had definitely had enough to drink. He wasn’t falling down drunk but he was laughing very loudly at terribly unfunny things and seemed unsteady on his feet. But still he’d insisted he should walk you out and wait until your cab showed up. Which is how you came to be sitting on his front step with him, chatting as you watched for headlights coming down the road. You’d been saying something that you couldn’t recall even five minutes later when Roger suddenly broke in.   “You’re very pretty.”  From someone else it might have made you self conscious and awkward but instead you laughed, figuring the alcohol had brought out some of that flirtatious charm the magazines were always writing about, “Thank you. You’re not so bad yourself.”   His forehead creased and he frowned a little, “We should hook up sometime. It’d be fun.”  “How much did you drink tonight?”  “That’s doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”  The cab had trundled into view by then so you stood, “It’s a bad idea but I will take it as a compliment.”  “Well good,” he’d pouted, “It was meant as one.”  “Goodnight Roger.”  “G’night Y/N.”  You gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting into the cab and driving off.  

A few days later you’d been back to access the damage from the party (thankfully minimal). Of course you’d thought of virtually nothing but Roger’s comments in the intervening days. And never more so than as you were headed inside following the man himself. You’d resolved not to bring it up and at first it seemed as if Roger had decided not to say anything either. But it became clear that he didn’t really remember the conversation. You caught him squinting at you like he was trying to work something out and he said, “Did I wait for a cab with you?”  With a small laugh you nodded, “You insisted on keeping me company.”  “And we talked?” he shook his head, “Sorry, nights a bit fuzzy.”  “Not surprising really. But yes, we did talk. Sitting out the front.” And then, as if you’d lost control of your mouth you said, “You, um, you propositioned me actually.”  “Oh Christ, did I?”  You couldn’t help but laugh at his horrified expression, “Yes but it was done very sweetly.”  “I’m very sorry, Y/N. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”  “It’s fine Roger, don’t worry about it.”  He was quiet for a moment and then, “Would a raise make you feel better about it or does that come off as.....unseemly?”  “You pay me plenty Roger. And, if I’m being honest, it was a bit flattering. If I’d drunk more I might have said yes. But anyway, this work wont do itself.” You ducked your head, intent on finding your pen, kicking yourself for admitting such a thing.  

Roger said nothing more about it and neither did you but it wasn’t forgotten either. You weren’t sure if it was your imagination, but you felt as if you were catching Roger looking at you more often than normal, his gaze quickly darting away each time. Which was probably because you were looking at him more too. It felt nice to have his attention and part of you definitely wanted more of it. Plus it was hard not to stare when you were thinking so much about what he’d said. If he hadn’t made his suggestion that night, you’d never have guessed he was attracted to you. But now that you knew, you couldn’t help but wonder. It wasn’t like you’d never noticed that he was rather handsome. And as you’d got to know him better, you’d found out he was kind and generous and funny and a little bit cheeky. And you liked that. The rational side of your brain knew you should keep things professional. But, the other part was much more inclined to encourage his advances. And in the end you decided that you would let him take the lead. You’d do what you could to subtly let him know you might possibly be interested – nothing too scandalous, no tight shirts and short skirts, no unnecessary stretching, just little things like offering to make him tea or sitting closer than was strictly necessary. But you refused to be caught trying to get in your bosses pants if he had no intention of allowing it. He had been the one to crack the door when he’d drunkenly talked about making out, he could be the one to open it entirely if that’s what he wanted. Luckily Roger had no qualms about being forward.  

You’d had to stay late at work one evening, preparing for when he’d next be out of the country in a few weeks time. He’d bought dinner and told you it was too late for you to drive home. You’d rubbed your weary eyes and agreed, although you were feeling less and less tired with each anticipatory moment. There was a pause as Roger studied you and then he’d leant in and kissed you. Softly, lingering a little, but nothing excessive.  “You can tell me to fuck off if I’ve read things wrong.”  “You read it right.”  He smiled and caught you in a second kiss, this one deeper, full of held back desire. You wrapped your arms around him, not wanting to stop.   Together you’d fumbled down the corridor to his room and ended up in his bed. It was good too. You were both a little hesitant to start, aware that you were crossing a line, and there were a couple of slightly awkward moments. You’d volunteered to open the condom and then struggled so much he’d taken it back with a chuckle and done it himself. But he’d kissed you when you tried to apologise, entirely flustered. Once you were in the moment though, it was enjoyable. He’d moaned when you’d stroked him which you loved, and then he’d asked you how you liked to be touched, letting you guide his hand until he’d gotten the right pressure and speed. You weren’t sure how much sex Roger had had since his divorce and you’d not had a partner for a while, so you took it slowly. Focusing on kissing and touching and getting close before he pressed into you.   When he did finally start fucking you it was slowly, making you moan and tug on his hair as he’d eased into a rhythm. But before too long Roger became much more urgent, his thrusts speeding up as you begged him not to stop.  

After you’d both finished, Roger had kissed you more. He’d only stopped to get rid of the condom, and then he was back in bed and your mouth was back on his. So it took quite a while the reasonable part of your brain to wake up. And when it did all it could do was worry about what would happen next, with Roger and with your job. But before you could voice any concerns, Roger spoke.  “That was really good, right?” When you agreed he’d hastilly added, “Just so you know, this has absolutely no bearing on your job. I’d have wanted to kiss you even if you weren’t working for me. Probably would have a bit faster if you weren’t. Um, but, yeah. I don’t want to worrying that you have to keep sleeping with me to keep your job. That’s not what this is at all. In fact if you think you can’t work here anymore then I understand, and I’ll write you a good reference to find a new job and all that. Or if you’d rather keep the job and never do this again-”  You cut him off, almost knocking his head into the wall in your eagerness to kiss him again.   “Oh, okay,” he murmured against your lips, pulling you in tight.