#it’s technically good as far as the language and writing goes

[raaorqtpbpdy]

I'm gonna use just "Cats are the best" since for the test I will be given a statement to write an opinion essay about based on my personal experience. So here it is: "Cat-Fight" an essay by me

There are few debates as long-standing and thoroughly argued as whether cats or dogs make better companions. Dogs are loyal, but cats are self-sufficient. Dogs are protective, but cats are comforting. The two most common pets in the world both have their vices and virtues—they would have to, to achieve that esteemed title—but is one truly better than the other?

Many dog lovers argue that cats are less affectionate, that dogs somehow love their masters more than cats do. It’s true that when faced with a home invader, a cat is more likely to run and hide than to fight to protect its home as many dogs will. That said, when was the last time you saw a house cat big enough to knock a home invader down? Does knowing their own size necessarily mean they don’t love you enough to protect you?

I read an article many years ago from a scientific journal I no longer remember that has stuck with me ever since. It described a study investigating the reason why cats purr, and the purposes that purring serves. The researchers observed that, in addition to purring when they’re content, cats will also seek out those who are sick and injured, sit near or on them, and purr. At first, the researchers were uncertain of the reason for this, but upon further study, they discovered that the vibrations of purring actually had a positive impact on the healing process of those affected.

A dog will protect you. A cat will comfort you.

On the other hand, there are many such similar stories about dogs lying beside their sick masters to give them comfort, acting as a pillow or a blanket and staying with their people during panic attacks and times of stress. In the same vein, cats will hiss and scratch at anyone they deem a threat who gets too close to the people they deem theirs.

A cat will protect you. A dog will comfort you.

Of course, those aren’t the only virtues one must take into account when weighing the two species against each other. Service dogs, for example, add a whole new layer to the debate. After all, a cat can’t be trained to sense heart problems or low blood sugar. They’re too small to open most doors or press crosswalk buttons—to say nothing of the fact that the vast majority of cats will go off on their own the moment they step outside, rather than staying near their master to assist them.

Furthermore, outdoor and indoor/outdoor cats pose a danger to local wildlife, hunting birds and small rodents that are essential to the natural order even though the felines have a guaranteed meal at home and don’t need them for food. They also face many dangers both from the elements and from man-made dangers like cars and pollution which reduces their life-span; outdoor cats live an average of ten to twelve years compared to twelve to fifteen years for indoor cats.

Does all this mean that dogs are the better pet?

Well… no.

I, for example, have no need for a service dog. I’ve owned cats throughout most of my life and have always kept them indoors—barring a few great escapes that I failed to stop, but they always returned home. Cats, on the whole, tend to be quieter than dogs, meowing only when they need something rather than every time a car passes by the window. The texture of their fur is typically softer than a dog’s as well, and they can be lighter even than the smallest dogs, which is a great boon to those who want to hold their beloved pet but don’t possess much upper-body strength.

At the end of the day, it is not about cats versus dogs. It is about the people who care for them. Humans are incredibly varied in personality and personal needs, and as such, no animal is universally a better companion for humanity than any other. Some people don’t care for either cats or dogs; they keep pets such as snakes, birds, rabbits, or any number of other animals—or no pets at all.

Are cats the best?

The simple answer is: it depends on who you are.

I gotta write some timed practice essays tomorrow so if a couple of you could reblog this with a statement that I can write a quick opinion essay about in 30 minutes that would be very helpful!

[junityy]

ʚïɞ — gift giving with enhypen.

pairing. ot7 x gn!reader

genre. fluff, hcs

wc. 1.8k

note. its kinda embarrassing how easily you can see which hcs i enjoyed writing the most 💀💀 and also damn i really didnt think id be this excited to post these every 3 days 😭🙏🏻 so i hope you enjoy <33

taglist. send an ask or reply to this post if you want to be added to the taglist.  —  you can also sign up for my general taglist here if you want!

➝  5 love languages masterlist.

ʚɞ. lee heeseung — 이희승

handwritten cards

it's such a lovely thing, you can't help but laugh out of happiness every time you get another one of heeseung's handwritten cards. you think it's silly (obviously in a loving and positive way) every time you open the card and see that there's a block of handwritten text dedicated to you. you think it's silly until you read heeseung's short love poems for you at the end, and you can feel your heart doing literal backflips. either he has a way with words, or you're just insanely and hopelessly in love with him (probably both). most of the time, though (more like always), he insists you read them when he's not there - which you can understand, and therefore do. the only problem with it is that, once you're done, you can't kiss or hug him like you desperately want to every time. and well, heeseung's only problem is that, no matter how insanely beautifully he writes those texts for you, and how much he pours his heart into it, he knows there won't ever be a word to do his love for you justice. hell, there will never even be anything that comes close to putting how much he loves you into words. that's probably why he takes his time with the cards too - he wants them to be perfect, knowing you keep and reread every single one over time. and every time you intimately kiss him without saying a word as a really heartfelt thank you, he feels like writing them for you until the day he dies.

ʚɞ. park jongseong — 박종성

jewelry

from necklaces, to earrings, bracelets and rings - after a while, you almost lost count as to how many things jay has gifted you by now. you love jewelry; even more when it's something jay bought you. some people would find it rather too materialistic and simple, but for you, it's like you're wearing a tiny reminder that jay loves you - no matter what kind of jewelry you put on that day. especially when you know how picky he can get, only wanting the best things for his love; so he often takes his time when choosing what to buy you. and because they're quite on the expensive side, you always try to make sure you're taking care of them well; just looking at the way you put them in your jewelry box in the neatest way possible so they won't get tangled up alone. you try your best to take care of them, despite wearing something out of your little collection basically everyday. and with time, you eventually learned to stop feeling bad about how expensive these things must be - knowing jay would literally give you the world and more if he could. although sometimes you still feel a tad bit bad, you just appreciate every yet so tiny piece he gives you so much. jay absolutely loves seeing you wear whatever jewelry he got you one day, as it brings a tiny smile to his face that he tries to hide every time.

ʚɞ. sim jaeyun — 심쟤윤

clothes

usually, you'd go shopping together at any given chance. but when jake is at the mall by himself and quickly (mostly randomly) goes into some stores and does end up buying clothes, he finds himself buying clothes he thinks would look good on you as well, or just clothes you'd probably like and wear regularly. technically, it's (probably) not a 'classic' gift for many people; but as you both share a big interest in fashion and definitely influence each other's style in a way, you'd go as far as seeing the clothes he buys for you specifically as unspoken gifts every now and then. and well, like nine out of ten times, the things he buys actually end up in your closet (like the rest of the clothes you bought together, or he simply bought for you). jake absolutely loves seeing you wear the things he bought you - and it's hard for you to not notice that, with the way a big smile forms on his face when he sees what you're wearing. and without denying, you love it just as much, possibly even more. it's something so simple, and maybe rather small to other people, but you two always have and will cherish it.

ʚɞ. park sunghoon — 박성훈

flowers

it's the classic gesture, but that definitely doesn't make any flower sunghoon brings home to you any less special. it started with - and also still is - most of the time a whole bouquet of flowers, where he (most likely) handpicked which flowers would go in the bouquet to make it perfect. or at least as perfect as possible, according to himself. from classic roses and peonies, to colorful lilies, tulips, pink carnations, dahlias and so many more - you've seen them all, and you've seen them in every color there is. however, when it's not a bouquet, it's something simple like a few flowers he picked up on the way home. like, literally, just a tiny set of random flowers he thought you'd like and therefore keep - because after a while, he realized that he doesn't need to go all out with big bouquets all the time, but small things like four to five small flowers would make your heart flutter, too. a few daisies and verbenas or whatever else there might be on the way home are enough, he realized. it's the simple fact that he takes time out of his day to put together a bouquet of flowers just for you, or simply stops on his way home to pick some up because you crossed his mind once again. and, really; you grew to love flowers because of it. every single one you see now reminds you of sunghoon, and all the countless times he walked through the door with at least one flower for you. there won't ever be a day where a smile won't grace your face instantly when sunghoon, yet again, walks through the door with another flower or a whole bouquet as a surprise for you.

ʚɞ. kim sunoo — 김선우

beaded jewelry

surely, you would have a collection with the amount of beaded pieces of jewelry sunoo has given you over time. whether it be necklaces, bracelets, or even rings - he made sure to cover everything, so you'd have quite the collection! sunoo loves to wear his own beaded jewelry whenever he gets the chance to, but nothing compares to the feeling and smile on his face when he sees you wear it. especially when (weirdly enough) it's not even outside, - although, he must admit, he absolutely loves when you wear it outside too - but rather when you just wear one/a few pieces casually and on the daily, barely ever taking it/them off; even if you're just home during that time. he knows what you like, so he simply puts your favourite color/s together, colors that he knows would go well with your wardrobe or simply color that are easy to style with any outfit. and you can trust him that whatever he makes, will look insanely good - perfect, even. hell, if you didn't know any better, you'd think he's been doing it for years and might even sell them. but imagine your major surprise when he told you that it's 'just' one of his dearest hobbies. and the look in your eyes, when he added that he felt like sharing it with you.

ʚɞ. yang jungwon — 양정원

buying matching items

whatever he buys, he will look for a matching piece to it. not something too obvious, though. nothing that screams that you two are a couple, but rather something vague, and simple. most of the time even something small; like if he finds a bracelet he likes, he looks for the same one, but just in a different color (possibly your favorite), so that you could have something small to match with. it can be jewelry, a keychain, a cute charm, or even something as silly as vaguely matching pajamas - mostly wearable stuff. whether it be worn outside or only at home, jungwon doesn't miss an opportunity to buy something that matches somehow. and of course, you can't help but smile with him when he shows you what he got - for both of you. it's cute, really, and you both always agree to keep the two items in the same place, so you definitely won't lose your matching piece. and you especially love it when, like nine out of ten times, you decide to wear whatever you have on the same day; so you can, even when you're not together, still match with at least one item that no one else will even notice. and maybe that's also what makes it special; it's really vague stuff, so nobody else would ever know or guess, but you both know that although you're not together that day, you have something that still connects you.

ʚɞ. nishimura riki — 西村 力

self made things

when riki gifts you something self made, best bet he will get creative as hell with it. while he could quite literally gift you a piece of paper with a heart on it (and you'd probably frame it), he tends to take his time to really make something out of it. most of the time it's paintings (whether it be somewhat big or smaller ones), which is already insane to you, considering he's really just talented like that. what you always like about his paintings, - beside the fact that they look like they're straight out of a museum every time - are the details and how much thought he put into it; always explaining each and every detail from his initial inspiration to verbally guiding you through his thought process. the way you always switch between admiring the artwork and him while he's explaining it all to you might be the reason why he keeps doing it, but he'd never tell you that with words - his art speaks enough. however, it can also be something small, yet still thoughtful and creative, like origami - which you ended up loving, so he kinda stuck with it. and god, riki thought his first origami looked so unbelievably tacky, but he still decided to gift it to you (recalling how you'd literally keep and frame a piece of paper with a heart on it, mind you); he figured you'd still like it. yet when he saw your eyes light up at the, according to him, 'tacky' origami flower, a huge smile graced his face and he fell in love all over again. the paper flower looked literally perfect to you, and you were convinced that he couldn't get any better than that - but hell, he did; which still leaves you speechless every time. from all kinds of flowers, to several colorful butterflies, your favorite animals, different sized hearts and whatever else he could make after watching a million tutorials. you had already admired him in every way possible, but whenever he stands in your door frame with another creative, self made gift for you, you simply find yourself at a loss for words - while admiring both, riki and the artwork in his hands, which he's showing you so proudly with a smile on his face.

taglist @tyunni @geombyu @jaeyunverse @yjwfav @sieuneo @choconyu @czlluvriki @envirae @aureliaxuuu @4xiaojun

[simpingcowboy]

On The Clock

Gif by pedro-pedrito-pascalito <3

Pairing: bottom Javier Peña x top agent M!Reader, reader is publicly out

Word Count: 4.2k+

Warnings: SMUT! mistaken homophobia (quickly rectified), slutshaming (both the kinky and non-kinky kind), humiliation/degradation kink, crude language, fighting for dominance, work place relationship, semi?public sex, oral sex, fingering, spit as lube, protected anal sex, aftercare

Summary: A few words spoken out of jealousy lead Peña to confront you... "What?" He cuts you off with a growl. "Now you're sorry? You wanna show me how sorry you are?" Javier asks, a soft tilt of his head

A/N: Listen I don't think slutshaming was technically a word in the 80's but you get the vibe. Someone had to put this man in his place!!! This one was alot of fun to write :))

"There he goes again." One of the two male agents before you says with a sigh.

       You look up from your desk, eyes following the two other agents' to see Javier Peña hitting on the newest transfer. He's got her closed in by the water dispenser, an arm propped up on the wall behind her. The opposite hand is tied into the belt loops on his waist as he pops his hip out, doing all to make his small behind seem more prominent. Those stupid sunglasses still perched on his nose despite being indoors. 

"Jesus, does that man ever take a break?" The senior agent to your left remarks, rolling his eyes at the interaction. 

"Wasn't he just seeing the receptionist? The blonde one?" You chime in. 

"Nah, Peña gave her the boot last week. He was taking that CIA girl out last I knew."

The older agent clicks his tongue, “Keeping track of all of his girls is damn near impossible.”

You resign back to your work with a sigh. “Well you know Peña,” you say unoticing of the DEA agent quickly approaching your desk, “he’ll fuck anything that moves.” A sharp nudge to your shoulder pulls your eyes back up from your paperwork. Catching the dark haired agent breaching earshot.

“Hey Agent Peña,” the senior agent says smoothly, silently praying Javier didn’t hear your comment, “What can we do for you?”

“Yeah…actually I was wondering...” He lingers, pulling the pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket and hitting one out into the palm of his hand. The thin cigarette is placed between his plush lips, as his eyes glare up into yours through the amber aviators, “Any of you got a light?”

A collective exhale is let out between you and your colleagues. Thankful that there would be no fights breaking out in the office today.

“I uh think I got one.” The younger agent pats his pockets, finally finding one in his back pocket. “Gotcha.” he says, offering the lit lighter to Peña. 

“Thanks.” the DEA agent mumbles, leaning in close to catch the light on the end of his cigarette. He takes a deep inhale, blowing out the puff of smoke down onto your desk with a sly smile. “Think I dropped mine out in the field, you know how it goes.” Javier drops your gaze to look off to the far side of the room, taking another deep inhale of the cigarette. 

     As annoying as you find him, it’s useless to deny the pure unadulterated sex appeal of the man. It’s easy to understand how he gets so many women in his bed. He even makes smoking look good. Hip popped to his left, hand sitting right above his tight ass. Right hand holding the cigarette to his lips. Broad shoulders squared off facing you. Making it easy to oogle at his physic. His strong chest, practically pulling against the half undone button up shirt. A small waist, cinched in by his tight belt and painted on jeans. His turned neck pulls focus on his strong neck, and mesmorizing side profile. 

“Anyways-” He cuts off your wandering gaze snapping you back to the moment, “I gotta go see what Murphy is up to. See you guys around.” Is all he says, before whisking away to the DEA sector of the floor.

“Whatta weirdo.” The man to your right announces with a roll of his eyes. “I don’t get what all the ladies see in him.”

To that the senior agent laughs, “You’re just jealous!”

“Am not!” he defends. “I bet I could get the new transfer’s number if I wanted.”

“Yeah right!” The agent to your left chuckles, but the conversation is lost on you. Your mind muddled with the tantalizing image of Javier Peña. “Hey!” He snaps, bringing you back to reality. “You there?”

“Y-yeah” you stutter, suddenly aware of the semi you were sporting under your desk. “Sorry guys, I really gotta get going on this paperwork.” Not exactly a lie, but not the real reason for your wandering mind.

They sigh, but get up off your desk. “See ya tomorrow!” They each wave goodbye. 

     The day drags, the pile of paperwork not much smaller than when you’d first began. Your brain appartently fixated on one Javier Peña. Your cock twitching with every intrusive thought about the DEA agent’s tempting figure. Before you know it, the floor is cleared. The office growing darker and darker as the lights go off one by one. The receptionist makes her final round, always staying far later than neccesary. She bounds around the corner, shooting you a kind smile.

“You’re still here?” She asks, with a soft tilt of her head.

You huff out a chuckle, “Paperwork won’t do itself.” you say with a shrug.

The receptionist smiles at you in the dim room, “Well have a goodnight Agent.” She says with a nod of her head, about to turn towards the exit. “Oh and goodnight Peña!” She waves to an unseen figure behind you.

“Night Sweetheart.” He calls back from the shadows, stepping forward and resting a heavy hand on your shoulder.

Fuck. You think to yourself, your breath catching in your throat. Silently hoping the kind receptionist will find a reason to stay. Much to your dismay, she promptly shuts the door behind her. Leaving you alone with the DEA agent.

“You know she likes you?” He says from behind you.

“She’s not really my type...” You bite your tongue to keep from saying anything more. The girl was kind. Pretty. But you only had eyes for a certain one person in this office. The one currently leering over your shoulder. 

“What is your type then?” Peña leans in close to your ear, the huff of his breath blowing over the side of your face. 

“I uhh” you gulp, trying to keep your composure. It wasn’t exactly a secret that you liked men, a small fact that slipped during an undercover job with the Cali cartel, but you far from appreciated the condescending tone in Peña’s voice  “like dark hair…dark eyes.”

Javier chuckles at your side, a smug smile on his face. “Sounds alot like me.” He teases.

“Fuck you Peña!” You get up from your desk, pushing his hand off of you. “I’m not gonna take this shit from yo-” 

He stops you, hands quickly grabbing your waist and pulling you against him. Wordlessly catching you in a heated kiss. Plush lips pressing against yours, a low groan escaping the other man as he grinds his hard cock on your hip. Thick hands find their way into your back pocket, cupping your ass. He pulls back, barely separating himself from your lips. “Didn’t mean it like that, Hermoso.” He whispers, dark brown eyes blown out with lust. 

"Peña you…” Your hands brace themselves on Javi’s chest, as your mind still reeling from the turn of events, “You like men?"

He scoffs at you, offering a half hearted smirk, "As you said. I fuck anything that moves, right?" 

A wave of guilt comes over you, face going hot with embarassment. "Fuck Peña I-" 

"What?" He cuts you off with a growl. "Now you're sorry? You wanna show me how sorry you are?" Javier asks, a soft tilt of his head. Hands freeing themselves from your back pocket; sliding up to your face. His thumb gliding over your bottom lip. "Get on your knees." He commands, hands dropping to pull at his belt. 

     Part of you wants to hit him for having the audacity to fuck with you like this. But all the blood rushing to your cock makes it difficult to care. You drop down onto your knees, looking up at him expectantly. Watching eagerly as he tears those way too tight jeans off his thick bulge. Your eyes go wide as you realize, the motherfucker doesn’t even wear underwear. His beautiful cock springing out proudly, damn near jumping in front of your face. It's long and girthy with a weeping uncut head. A perfect patch of dark brown curls coating the base.

"Too much, Baby?" Javi teases with a cocked smile. Obviously pleased with your assessment of him. 

You shoot a glare up at him, "I can take it."

     With that you down his cock as best you can in one go, pushing the tip down to the back of your throat. Swallowing around the sensitive head. One hand working the bit of him you can't take all the way down. 

Javi hisses as you take him down your throat. "Ohh you're good at that." He exclaims, head thrown back in pleasure. Hands bracing on the desk behind him as his hips thrust up to meet your bobbing head. 

     Precum spills from the uncut head, languishing your tongue in his taste. He tastes salty and just a tad bitter. Taking him down to the base, you catch the scent of his clothes. He smells like cigarettes and gunpowder, but there’s more. A remnant of sweat heavy on him, filling your nose with Peña’s own delicious scent. It’s earthy yet bright. His thick pheromones go straight to your already hard cock, making it throb in your pants. Uncaring of what Peña thinks, you reach down to grind against your hand. Moaning around his cock at the sweet relief of friction.

"Fuck" Javi groans, watching as you touch yourself. "Is this what you wanted, Guapo? My cock? Got jealous of all those pretty girls, hmm?” He asks, snapping his hips down your throat. “I bet you just wanted me all to yourself." The DEA agent says with a self assured smirk. He lets you continue on, enjoying the sight of you on your knees. Before pulling you off, “Don’t wanna cum down your throat, wanna cum in your cute ass.” 

You get up off the floor with a smirk of your own. “No way, Peña.” You push up close against him, grinding your cock against his hip, taking his hard member in your hand. “Who knows where that thing has been.”

Javier winces as your hand squeezes around him. An indisputable throb running up his cock at your cruel words. A warm blush creeping up his cheeks. “D-didn’t mind it in your mouth.” He half-heartedly retorts, obviously affected by your words.

“Keep mouthwash at my desk for a reason, Peña.” You tease, though that was not the reason, you knew that Javi’s lust filled mind wouldn’t be able to reason against it.

His heavy cock jumps in your hand, as he lets out a soft whine. “Y-yeah okay” he says with a groan.

“You want me to fuck you?” you ask with a raised eyebrow, surprised with how quickly he changed his mind.

He nods swiftly, a squirt of precum leaking over your hand. “I want it.”

"Fuck okay. I'll take care of you, Baby." You assure him, moving to rub your hands soothingly along his sides. Hands sliding up his shirt. "You got a condom?" 

Javier nods, sliding one from his pocket into your hand. "H-how do you want me?" He asks shyly, obviously nervous. 

God, he looks so cute like this. All shy and flustered. You deliver a soft kiss to his lips, which he melts into, relaxing in your hands. "Can you bend over for me?" You ask in a hushed voice, needing to walk him through it.

"Y-yeah." He squeaks out, pulling away from you and bending over the desk, elbows resting on the smooth oak. Another soft whine escapes him as you shuck his pants down. Though you'd never be able to tell by the tight pants the DEA agent sports, he is actually just slightly self conscious of his backside. 

"Fuck that's pretty." You moan, hands gliding over the petite globes of his ass. His tight hole flinches at your touch."Peña, have you ever?"

"Once…or twice." The man admits with a hot blush, almost unbelieving he's about to let you fuck him like this.

"I'll go slow." You assure him. You take your thumb in your mouth, wetting it to the best of your ability before slowly pushing it in. "Relax. Let me in." The small digit slowly sinks into him. Earning you a loud moan from him.

"Fucking christ-" He cusses beneath you, leaving a quiet reminder to himself to start keeping some lube on him. 

Your thumb rocks slowly in and out. Opening him up for you. "Doing so good, Peña-"

"Javi." He cuts you off abruptly. "Call me Javi."

You can't help the smile that comes over your face, "Okay…Javi. Can you handle more?"

He nods, head falling between his hands. "Yeah. I can take it."

     With that, you retract your thumb. Bringing your index and middle finger to your mouth to wet them. You lean in close to his hole, and spit on it. Javi's mouth drops at the feeling of your warm spit against his ass. You work your two fingers into him. Sliding them in slowly. You bite your lip as he encompasses your fingers in his warmth; imagining how good he'll feel around your cock. After a few moments, he begins rocking back against you fucking himself open on your fingers. 

"M-more." Peña moans. "Your cock-."

"Shit, Javi are you sure?" He was still so tight around just your two fingers. 

     Peña reaches back, pushing you off of him. He turns around standing up right and grabs you by the back of the neck. Pulling you into a sloppy kiss. His tongue finds solace in the confines of your mouth; the taste of himself still heavy on your tongue. That neat mustache rubs abrasively against your upper lip. You eagerly swallow down every greedy moan he releases into you. Thick hands find your hips and push you down into the desk chair.

"You wanna fuck me, Agent?" Javier leans in, looming over you, breathing hard. "Get to it then." He says, a hand grinding down on your throbbing bulge. 

"Fuck. I got you." You groan, sitting Javier back on the desk. "Needy thing."

     You both work to remove your clothes. Javi pulling off his pants and unbuttoning the remainder of his top. You rip your shirt off, throwing it back behind you. Pulling at your pants, desperate to relieve some tension. Finally, freeing your cock from its constraints. Making quick work of the condom and rushing to roll it down over yourself. A pair of legs wrap themselves up around your waist, pulling you closer.

"Hermoso…" Peña pleads, big puppy dog eyes staring up at you. His cock throbs heavy against his stomach. His pretty body is on perfect display beneath you. Just the edges of his broad shoulders were still covered, that pink shirt he wore barely clinging to him. 

"I know, I know." You say softly. Spitting into your hand, trying to make everything as slick as possible for him. You lean in close, pressing your forehead to his. "Tell me if it hurts, okay?"

A small quiver in his voice comes through at the softness of your words, "Y-yeah I will…" a tinge of red evident on his cheeks.

"Good boy." You say as you slowly push into him, hands on his hips. Sinking deeper and deeper into Javi's tight hole. Enveloping you in his warmth. Every inch of your cock getting squeezed by his insides. He feels like heaven around you.

     Javi is just as enraptured in you. The weight of you pressing against him makes him throb. Your slow breach of him has stars bursting behind his eyes. The stretch stings just slightly, but the pleasure is too overbearing for him to care. He doesn't miss the softness of your words and actions. The sweetness makes his ears go red, and heightens the delinquency of the situation; that is you fucking him on your work desk. A matching moan spilling from both your lips as you bottom out.

"Fuck Javi-" you hiss, rolling your hips out slowly. "You're so tight."

"Mierda." Peña groans out, eyebrows pinched and head thrown back in pleasure. 

      Another tentative roll of your hips has him loosening up around you. His body eagerly accepts the intrusion. His slender hips hesitantly rocking to meet yours. Bottoming out with each long slow thrust. He feels so fucking good, a desperate need to rut into Javier builds in you. And apparently in Javi too.

"More." He grits out between clenched teeth. "I need more." He repeats pulling you in closer by the back of your neck. 

     A small smile pulls at the corners of your mouth. Javier Peña likes it rough and you were happy to oblige. On the next roll of your hips, you slam back into him. The corners of the old metal desk Javi is sat upon creaks. He rewards you with a loud whine, cutting himself off with the bite of his lip. You continue. Fucking into him with quick sharp thrusts. Though slightly looser, his tight hole is still gripping you like a vice. It took a lot of work to move yourself in him, having to carve room for your cock from his insides.

The words escape your lips before you even have time to think. "You really don't bottom a lot, huh?" Though a fact, one he'd shared himself earlier, it comes out much more teasing than intended.

He whines in response, ears going red "N-no…"

You don't miss the way his dick jumps. That's when you realize, he's not just putting up with your teasing, Peña likes being degraded. "Fuck- but you like that dick don't you? Needed some cock, Baby?" 

"Mierda- yes!" He huffs, eyes rolling back as you grind into him particularly deep. 

"Being so good for me. Letting me fuck you on my desk- such a good whore." 

That catches his attention. Ears going red. No one had ever called him that before- least not to his face. Sure, he was known as a womanizer but to be called a whore by the man bottomed out inside him? Felt downright humiliating. Javi loved it. 

"Gave up that pretty ass so fucking easy." You whisper low into his ear. 

Peña's face burns bright with embarrassment. But his cock is throbbing with arousal. A flood of precum running down his throbbing member. A whine coming up from his throat. 

You eat up every second of it. Every word spilling from your lips, turning Javi's usual golden skin, flushed red. Even spreading across his beautiful chest. The usually over confident cock DEA agent reduced down to this shy man beneath you. "What? Dirty slut too cock drunk to say anything?"

Javi bites his lips, struggling to maintain your harsh gaze. "S-shut up an-and fuck me." He manages to get out between clenched teeth. Fighting to stave off his orgasm. 

"Thought I already was. Or do you want more?" Your eyes glide over his body. Down his broad chest, filling the line of his stomach, and finally to his hard cock. The head is purple and throbbing with need. "Want me to touch you?"

"Fuck yes-" he says with an eager grin. Hips rolling up in anticipation. Needing some relief.

"Beg." You demand with a terrible smile. 

"W-what?" He whimpers. Big brown eyes staring up at you, a soft pout on his plush lips. 

"Beg me to touch you." 

Peña bites his lip to stop the words from coming out; not wanting to give you the satisfaction. Javier Peña has never begged for sex in his life. But with the way his cock is practically pleading for you, he supposed now is as good of a time to start as any. "Please…" He begs, his hand wrapping around your bicep. "Please touch me."

"Good slut." You reward him by taking his cock in hand. Which causes him to grow tighter around you. There's sufficient precum to jerk him in time with your thrusts. With the way he throbs in your hand, you can tell he's close.

"G-good…so perfect- fuck" Javi mumbles incoherently. Rocking his hips below you. Moving himself back and forth between your hand on his dick and your cock in his ass. Letting you get even deeper inside him. Pushing the head of your cock against that perfect spot inside him, that has him seeing stars.

"Fuck Javi-" you moan at the way he clenches around you. Tight and hot. "Want you to cum for me." You say, snapping your hips harder into him. Your own body tightening as your orgasm builds. 

     Javier's mouth drops open. Legs closing around your hips, pushing you deep inside him. His cries echoing through the empty office. Fingers digging into your back, pulling you close. Javier cries out your name with a choked moan as his hips jerk beneath you. Cum splatters up over his stomach and chest. Head thrown back in ecstasy.

     The delicious sight below you has you teetering on the edge of your own climax. You can't help but lean in to take a taste. Dipping your head down to Javier's golden chest, lapping at the warm cum splattered upon him. Another breathy moan escaping the DEA agent as he watches you taste him. His warm brown eyes glued to you.

      It's too much. Those eyes on you. His arms and legs wrapped around you. The way his body pulses around you. The salty taste of him on your tongue. And with another half dozen harsh thrusts you finish inside him, filling the condom. 

"Javi- Javi!" You moan against his shoulder. Slumping down against him, arms braced on either side to keep some of your weight off of him. 

"Fuck…" he breathes out between pants, coming down from his orgasmic haze. Nudging his arched nose against your cheek, leaning in for a soft kiss. Uncaring that he can still taste himself on you.

     You happily accept his soft kisses. Enjoying the fuzzy post orgasm feeling. Smiling at the feeling of his fluffy mustache on your lip. Large hands find their way to your face, cupping your cheeks. Reluctantly, you pull off him.

"Javi, I need to slip out, okay?" 

He affirms with a nod. 

"Relax for me." You say softly, leaning back off of him. Taking one last look at the mess you two made; you grip the condom and pull out. Quickly tying off the end and tossing it in the waste bin. 

     You look across your desk for the box of tissues, sighing as you survey the damage done to your work space. Your paperwork was scattered. Folders disorganized. Pen holder tipped over. Not to mention the stench of sweat and sex hanging heavy in the air. But all that could wait.

     Taking a handful of tissues, you begin cleaning up Javi. Running the paper over his exposed body, gathering the remnant of his orgasm. A soft hiss leaving him as you clean up his softening cock. Another as you gently wipe his slightly gaped hole. 

As you turn to clean yourself up you ask, "Are you feeling okay?" 

"Y-yeah." He answered simply, slowly rebuttoning his pink shirt. "I'm good."

"Good…here!" You call, tossing him his pants that he'd thrown to the side. 

"Thanks." He says, finally unseating himself from your desk. 

     In a comfortable silence, you each get dressed. Just the soft sound of fabric filling the air between you two. The rustle of pants. The familiar sound of a zipper being pulled. The clink of a belt. It continues until you're both back in your clothes. If it weren't for the mess around you, and the taste of Javi still on your tongue; you'd almost think you'd imagined the whole thing. When you look over at him, he's already staring back. Lit cigarette in hand. Warm brown eyes on you. He's the first to speak up.

"So uhh …round two?" He asks with a lift of his eyebrow, taking another puff of his cigarette. "My place?"

"Fuck yeah." You answer with a smile. Swiping your jacket from the back of your desk chair. Half heartedly reorganizing your desk. Just enough that it wouldn't be so suspicious come Monday morning. 

Peña is just as eager. Dipping away momentarily to snatch his leather jacket from his desk across the office. He jogs back over to you, "Ready to go, Hermoso?" 

"Yeah, all good." You confirm, letting him guide you out of the shared office building. 

     You can't help but notice the other agent's usual swagger seems impeded. His typically confident strides were replaced with a shuffle. Each step falling short and heavy. He'd definitely be feeling the events of tonight for the next couple days. Peña brings you to his car, holding the door open for you. Quickly sauntering over to his side of the vehicle. 

Once seated, Javier pauses "Listen…that slut shaming shit. Keep it between us? Not on the clock. Deal?"

"Fuck…yeah. I am sorry...really. I was just jealous." 

Javier smirks, taking the final huff off his cigarette. "Guess you don't have to be jealous anymore."

"Guess not…" you return his mischievous smile, plucking the end of his cigarette from his lips. Burying the glowing end into the ashtray. "You know, if you need something to suck on I've got something for you."

Javi scoffs, "Only if I'm topping this time." He responds, shifting the car into drive.

"We'll see about that Peña." You roll your eyes, wondering just how many of his buttons you can press before you arrive at his apartment. 

[ilstar]

name — vos

pronouns — they / them

preferred comms — i'm happy to chat anywhere but i have a bad habit of forgetting to reply to dm's on tumblr and the barely functioning notification system doesn't help. disc is always quickest!!

name of muse — gesturing at my roster. robin, caelus and horrible oc are whispering in my ear the loudest right now though

experience in RP — technically. technically around 14 years because my first exposure to rp happened when i googled warrior cat games at the age of NINE and stumbled upon a chatroom instead. strictly on tumblr, i believe it's around 8-9 years. you have to kill me

best experiences — they are few and far between but it's still very special to me when i get to meet people who i feel like i just match with on every level from like, writing style to humour to being insane about a particular character(s) in the same way. insert honourable mention to val here AS ALWAYS. someone who has made my time on this website so much more enjoyable kdjfhgd another honourable mention to the rpc i wrote in before dipping my toes into hyv for being so creative and open to oc's, which has always really stuck in my mind as a nice place to be. while it lasted.

pet peeves / dealbreakers — some things that will always happen when i write popular or plot - significant characters are having people mansplain my own muse to me, having to bat away fanon concepts and dealing with people running on assumptions made by them, chasing and (stares at kazuha) constant angling for extremely popular ships that i have openly stated i don't like. don't be any of these guys

writing preference ( fluff, angst, smut ) — i'm good for anything but if most of our interactions tend to default to fluff / give me slice of life vibes i will get pretty restless. i like to delve a little deeper. and honestly, i do love angst, as long as it serves a purpose or actually goes somewhere, but angst for angst's sake doesn't really interest me.

plot or memes — plots 100% because i think that talking about our muses and developing a dynamic is half of the fun here. i love prompts!! but having an idea of how our muses bounce off of each other and knowing that we're on the same page gives me so much more to work with, which means i can write something you're much more likely to enjoy / feel able to reply to :)

long or short replies — i'm actually trying to learn how to enjoy writing smaller replies. i've never held myself to a standard where a piece of writing MUST be of a certain length to post it but i also like ... have a tendency to dwell on things like introspection and body language, probably too much, which means by the time i've actually given the reply some interaction / a direction for my partner to take it in, it's already getting pretty long and i could. just keep going. so i am doing my best to practice cutting out what's not really important. being more concise.

best time to write — has to be at least evening but is almost always at night. i'm not someone who can comfortably sit at a computer during the day when there are other things i could be doing, most unfortunately

are you like your muse — there's probably a little piece in all of them that i can relate to on some level. but when i'm developing a character i try my best to avoid projecting too much of myself onto them, and i mostly gravitate to characters who interest me or seem fun to analyse rather than ones who i see myself in / understand very very easily.

[running-with-kn1ves]

My brain goes brrrrrr for Cirdan, and since you mentioned he was a massive virgin, could you write a lil something about the Physical intimacy TM of his first time, like how was it?

well *technically* his first time was right after the marriage ceremony, though that honestly was more of a forced performance than anything. I mentioned it a little bit in the OG one-shot but its a sort of elven tradition for couples on their wedding night to be physically intimate, lest their marriage be doomed and void of love or attraction. However, for Cirdan and reader, it wasn't particularly enjoyable like most would assume. It was mostly awkward and without rhythm, with both cirdan and his darling fumbling around just to get the job done. It was an experience that neither would prefer to talk about.

After that though, once Cirdan and reader became more comfortable with one another, say specifically after their bath moment, he was far more involved therein. Cirdan's a very affectionate lover and loves to be the small spoon, so he very much has his head buried in reader's neck, partly out of bashfullness and overstimulation. He's had very little sex education in his lifetime, so the entire process was very much a trial and error. Despite his amateurity, he gets into the rhythm and emotional aspect of sex very quickly. His lack of experience has led him to be very sensitive, and honestly finishes twice before the reader does. He has stamina for days though-- and despite his emotions running wild, hes very in tune with the readers needs.

He honestly has a massive praise kink that's both sexual and nonsexual; though his eagerness to please and lack of hesitation from how pent up he is, is far more present on the bedroom. If you so much as utter how good hes being, how good hes making you feel, it takes the elf all of his willpower not to finish right then and there.

I'd like to think he was mildly emotional once he was physically intimate past the original wedding ceremony. The first time after that, he may have shed a few tears from the rush of physical intensity, but also because he had never felt so loved within one moment. Hes a strongly silent type, but he wears his heart on his sleeve with physical touch as his love language. Whether its suffocating the reader with a bear hug or putting them in a mating press, hes all in for it.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

so much on Ficino & Plato & Sex

your daily Marsilio blogging continues, this time with the gentle reminder of the deep misogyny of most homoerotic anything in the medieval and early modern period (among other times as well).

At the same time, I appreciate Marsilio being like: Fuck this, we can do the Petrarchan model of Ideal Love too. Just watch me and Giovanni yearn for twenty years.

I do appreciate that in the whole of Ficino's writing he rarely, if ever, refers to sex between men as sinful. He uses terms of disgraceful, filthy, worthy of disgust, ugliness etc. but he uses those terms equally for heterosexual sex conducted for pleasure alone with no intention of making the babies. Corporality on the whole - in all its forms - is the problem. (And the contemporary medical hang-ups around the expulsion of semen aside.)

But it's still not sinful, it just makes it harder to climb the ladder of love to salvation. Some might think this a small thing (he still reads it as bad!) but there's a huge gulf of difference between a priest from 1478 saying X is disgraceful but never using the language of sin around it.

Granted, Ficino doesn't harp too much on sin in general. I would be very curious to go back in time, get him a little wine drunk, and ask him his actual, not-Church approved views.

Ficino loves trying to reconcile everything through Plato. Marsilio "What if We Applied Plato to This Situation??" Ficino.

The desire/beauty thing - you can just see his struggle in trying to make it all work and never quite succeeding. It's one of the many things he and Pico debated with great animation. Pico was anti-the physical desire part of Ficino's formula while Ficino believed salvation/finding Philosophic Truth (i.e., God) required it.

I do really love Ficino's broadly positive read on humanity. He always goes in with a: People Are Good approach to a situation.

I love this little caveats he gives in his writings. The bit: "Love, even when mixed with an inderior appetite [for sex], does not cease meanwhile to raise the soul as far as it is able."

Giovanni having a panic about the state of their souls as they lie about in the grass and Ficino thinking fast on how to assuage him. "Umm, look, this isn't ideal, and we really should try harder to resist. But ... uh... Love is Good. Right? Our Love is Good and holds no Evil, correct?'

Giovanni, 'Yes, that is correct.'

Ficino, 'Great, so because our Love is Good and our Souls naturally desire Truth and Love is always working to help raise our souls up to Truth - even when we uhhhhh slip up, shall we say--'

Giovanni, 'We purposefully went into a remote field to commit sodomy. This wasn't an accidental slip up, Marsilio. You even checked to make sure you had time enough after this to confess and seek absolution so you can say mass on Sunday.'

Ficino, 'Slipped up. Could have happened to anyone. Anyway, even when that happens Love is still raising our souls up as far as it is able. So what I'm saying is, don't worry about it.'

the knots this man will tie himself in to try and make it ok to accidentally, whoopsie daisy, sleep with men. That full quote from him on how homosexual consorting (sex, that is what he means quite literally) is part of spiritual procreation is really something else.

I also think the caveat he includes of "of course, naturally, when you're horny you should go to your wife to make sure you're doing sex Properly" is doing a lot of interesting work there.

"Giovanni and I loving each other is necessary for OUR PHYSICAL HEALTH OK??"

Technically, he's not wrong. In the sense that being able to openly and honestly love/be loved by who it is you desire - regardless their gender - is incredibly important to mental health which impacts physical health.

mess! mess! mess!

this is super interesting. That Ficino was attempting to figure out how to guide people through reciprocal love in a world where that wasn't normal to navigate.

All of Ficino's back and forth on sex, desire, beauty, love is just so telling of how much he wanted to resolve the issue and how knotted everything was for him (and he wasn't alone, obviously).

--

ok I'm done inundating everyone for now.

[fanfoolishness]

For the "even more fic writer asks!"

1, 26 and 29 (And Ietting you choose the fic 'cause I can't decide/maybe some have no linked answers?)

Ahhh, the agony of choosing XD Thank you for sending an ask! <3

I'll pick some Bad Batch ones for you <3

Start to finish, how long did it take to plan and write? Did you take breaks during the process?

Technically I'm cheating a bit, since a rain that sounds like home isn't yet complete. But it has been percolating since.... (checks google docs) May 15, and I only started to feel confident in actually writing it in the past month, and only started publishing it in the last 2-3 weeks. I kept going away and coming back to it, getting frustrated because I couldn't quite figure out how I wanted it to go. I knew I wanted Crosshair to have a big, messy breakdown about Tech. I'd been wanting to write that story for ages. But then the finale came along and cut off my boy's fucking hand and I realized I had to deal with that too. Then I had to figure out how to twine his PTSD, the recovery from the amputation, and his unresolved grief about Tech that just barely, barely got brushed on in the finale all together into a big knotty mess. Then I had to figure out how to start to untangle them. It kept feeling like a herculean task, and for a while I contemplated leaving Tech out of it. But it's my goddamn mission in life to help characters deal with sibling grief (since I got through it, I want them to, too!).

This next chapter is going to be an emotional nuclear bomb going off, and Crosshair's finally going to have to start dealing with his feelings about losing Tech while never reconciling with him, and I hope it comes out just as messy and painful as I've been aiming for. If all goes well editing-wise I'll post that tomorrow, and the final chapter still has some writing to do but has an outline. All told it will be about 3 months of work, with many breaks to let my brain try to puzzle it out.

26. Share your favorite detail.

Favorite details? Ooooh, that is tough. I do always like using my whole being a veterinarian IRL whenever I can in fic, sneaking in little things like medical whump or weird animal facts. Patching Up has Crosshair dealing with minor paw pad injuries for Batcher, and Evaluations is a fun little angsty look at Crosshair through Nala Se's eyes, using medical language to create distance. There's also a little shoutout to merle mutations in dogs when Nala Se muses that Crosshair's gray hair is likely linked to his ocular enhancements. Humans don't have a merle gene as far as I'm aware but what the hell, it's Star Wars, I can do what I want.

I have also slowly but steadily been throwing in references to Crosshair starting to pay attention to birds on Pabu in multiple fics to go with my headcanon that he develops a love of birding, using his exceptional vision to spot birds. They show up frequently in moments where he is observing things around the island, using details from real Earth species (or near-Earth species). He doesn't have names for the birds yet, that will come later, but the groundwork is being laid and if you are sharp-eyed you can find several references to them so far in my canon of work. :)

29. If you made a playlist, talk about the songs on it and share a link.

If. IF I made a playlist. omfg. my playlists, let you show them (or at least a good chunk of them). Every blorbo gets a playlist, some more than one if they have a long enough arc, and most ships get one too. Chaptered stories often get their own playlist as well.

Lately I have mostly been writing to my Crosshair and Crosshair Recovery playlists, but I sometimes visit other angsty ones for good writing music. I usually can't write to the show's score by itself because I get too focused on the themes and where exactly certain moments in the episode happened in the music; I can handle a few songs on a playlist but not the entire season score. Most of my Crosshair songs have a male vocalist with a heavy focus on angst, war themes, guilt, and isolation; the Crosshair recovery playlist starts frantic, veers towards guilt and depression, then builds towards songs focusing on release and acceptance, like the story itself (a rain that sounds like home).

Phew! Thanks for all that! Sorry for jabbering on :)

[fantasyfantasygames]

Virtue

Virtue, Dupré, 2009

Virtue is an ambitious game. It tries to tackle two very difficult challenges simultaneously.

First, it's an Ultima RPG, specifically focused on the games from Ultima 4 to 6. The "Age of Enlightenment" games, as they're called, focus strongly on virtue in word and deed. They play heavily off the existing standards in computer and console RPGs, where running into someone's home and looting all their stuff had no real consequences. In Ultima, not only will people notice what you do, but your character's "virtue" scores are quietly changed behind the scenes to reflect your actions. Do enough bad stuff and the world is doomed, no matter how mighty your character is.

Second, it's written entirely in poetry. No technical writing or prose fiction - poems only.

Both of those are extremely hard to tackle. Virtue set a very high bar for itself and didn't manage to clear it.

The mechanics are all centered around Truth, Love, and Courage. (The eight virtues that come from combinations of them don't come into it directly, though they do inform some of the setting.) You have values of those in the 1-10 range (usually 2-5), roll 1d6 and add to get a total, and compare to get a winner. You can also spend points to switch the contest to a virtue you like better, which ends up mostly just being a bidding/exhaustion mechanic.

The hardest part of the mechanics is that everyone knows you're here to build virtue, and so the choices are made much more obvious. To its credit the book does provide a lot of sample moral dilemmas, but you're still in a situation where the players know that it's win/win, win/lose, or lose/lose and are most likely going to metagame it. Like, there's literally no incentive to not metagame it. The GM can't have much earlier choices turn out to be wrong without making the game feel pointless and arbitrary, and they can't put you up against an unbeatable challenge without it feeling unfair. Those would be dick moves. There's no option for a real sting to your choices that doesn't also make it un-fun.

As far as the writing goes, I'm not a great judge of poetry. It seems ok. It rarely rhymes, which is for the best. It's mostly free verse and meter, but it is most definitely poetry. The biggest problem is that you have to sort of collect the rules from multiple places in the game, and it's all semi-buried in flowery language and intimations. Good organization is basically impossible in this format. You could theoretically read this whole thing and just think it was a weird, slightly disjointed collection of poems about virtues and colors and not realize it's a game.

Being an unofficial Ultima game, Virtue was never published. It started life as a text-only netbook back in the early 2000s. I've seen a three-ring binder of it (unusual even back in 2010) with images, and a PDF generated off an early LaTeX doc, so it seems likely this came from an engineering college. I haven't found a place to get a legitimate copy yet.

[mischievouschan4]

Fic Tag Game

Thanks for tagging me, @starwalkertales!!! I've had my eye on this one for a while, and now I have the push to do it haha

Here we go~

How many works do you have on ao3?

For both my handles: 19, but technically 20 if you count the one I abandoned............oopsie 😅 Specifically for Star Wars: 17

2. What's your ao3 word count?

Amazingly, it's a nice even number right now?! 126,000 😲

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Main fandom: Star Wars (Obikin, QuiObiAni) Previous fandoms: Hocky RPF, MDZS, Promare

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

1) WorldBigFlameUp with 620 kudos; this is for the Promare movie, GaloxLio with (dirty) domestic fluff post canon 2) Transference with 471 kudos; my current QuiObiAni golden child; Obi-Wan time travels to save the galaxy and receive aaalllll the love he should have gotten the first time around 3) Wisdom Teeth Woes with 260 kudos; really really cute SFW Obikin, the obligatory post wisdom teeth removal amnesia fic 4) How Anakin Got his Groove Back with 161 kudos; switch Obikin, I fondly refer to this one as "BDSM fic" 😌 she's filfthy, she's fun(ny) - maybe?, she's got BSE (big switch energy) from Obi-Wan LOL 5) I Know You Love Me with 150 kudos; HockeyRPF, my Toews/Kane (bottom Jonny) fic from the Chicago Blackhawks glory days *big sigh* **tears up** And the honorable mention abandoned fic (Thorki) at 718 kudos LOL (no judgment, okay?? I was a practically a bebe when I wrote it 😅)

5. Do you respond to comments?

................................I need to be better about this. I definitely do for Transference every time I update with a new chapter, but I find it hard to keep up for some of my other fics (EVEN THOUGH I CHERISH EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!!)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

nOnE oF mY fIcS hAvE aNgStY eNdInGs 👀 (like actually)

7. What's the fic your write with the happiest ending?

I swear they're all happy! But I think the sugary-est fic overall has to be How to Fall in Love with a Lawyer, you can't say no to Obikin engagement! But also, I think The Kenobi-Skywalker Family Goes Viral is also quite adorable (not that I'm biased or anything ha)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have been lucky! No hate so far, just some very astute fans of canon that have pointed out inconsistencies haha (which is 100% acceptable)

9. Do you write smut? What kind?

HA... YES! I do lots and lots and lots of smut! But almost all of it is MxM I think!

10. Do you write cross-overs?

Historically, no. Would I be open to it? ...I think I could be convinced...

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yesssss!!!! And it is such an honor?!?! My QuiObi fic Seasons of Love was translated by the amazing @cakushi into Russian😭💓💓💓

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

NOT YET!!! BUT SOON!!! I'm looking at you, @dark--whisperings 💖

14. What's your all time favourite ship?

QuiObi probably? 🥰 It's definitely my comfort ship.

15. What's your WIP you like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Oh goodness, welp, I have a WIP called Love and Devotion (MDZS/The Untamed fandom) which is a pseudo-Regency AU for Lan Zhan/Wei Ying that's just sitting there 3/maybe 6 ish chapters in........... I really do want to finish it, but I need to get my head out of Star Wars first....

16. What are your writing strengths?

Visualizing situations to translate them into words

CUTE FLUFF

Writing in a way that's comfortable for me to read out loud

Extensive research (both for smut and non-smut content hehe 😼)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

GRAMMAR (I switch between present and past depending on the fic and it screws with my brain so much)

Pacing 😠 (How much detail is too much detail?? IDK)

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

Select lines yes, I have for Love and Devotion since the original content is in Chinese and that's my second language, but entire chunks? Definitely not. I usually just do italics to signify another language haha.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I'm honestly not super sure LMAO back in my fanfiction.net days I wrote for both Death Note and Alex Rider hahaha

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Probably Transference haha when you put that much effort into a long-fic, it's hard to not put it on a pedestal.

Thank you so much for tagging me!!! Had lots of fun thinking about these.

Apologies if you've been tagged already, and apologies if I missed you! Anyone can pick this up if you find it interesting!!

@dark--whisperings @thesilverqueenlady @dreaminghour @briliantlymad @anakinsthot @cakushi @to-proudly-go (Omg I’m sorry I left you off!)

[nhaneh]

One of the things that really get me with this huge "AI" fad is how for all their talk of Artificial General Intelligence and whatnot, they've really only recreated the Chinese Room thought experiment and declared it the solution to all of the world's problems.

The Chinese Room, if you're unfamiliar, is this hypothetical about the difference between understanding and the mere appearance of it, and basically goes like this: imagine a room with a man and a book. The room has a tiny slot on one end where one can communicate with the man via written letters in traditional Chinese*. The man himself does not actually know a single character of any of these languages, but the book contains an exhaustive list of possible messages he can recieve along with appropriate responses and instructions on how to write them. Now imagine that this book is so well constructed that in spite of not understanding any of the communication he is receiving, nor any of the replies he is giving, the man and his book are still able to effectively pass the Turing test and convincingly appear a fluent speaker to anyone knowing a traditional Chinese language: can we realistically say anything within that room has any actual understanding of either Chinese or any of the communication it has participated in? The man clearly has none - does the book? Does the room as a whole system?

While I personally tend to think the thought experiment isn't necessarily all that useful due to underestimating the necessary complexity of the book and also the sheer extents to which humans showcase Competence Without Comprehension, it's not lost on me how the recent proliferation of Large Language Model systems and the forced attempts to insert it into just about anything and everything no matter whether it makes any sense or not is basically a straight up example of the Chinese Room on an industry-wide scale.

We have entire throngs of techbros falling over themselves in praise and wonder of these fancy little rooms they've constructed and the free market capitalism that purportedly has created it - even though OpenAI, the organisation that kicked off the AI gold rush with ChatGPT, is technically a non-profit organization, supposedly with the explicit goal to keep AI research available to the public and not left purely in the hands of grubby venture capitalists and profiteering CEOs.

Honestly it's kind of hard to shake the feeling that the whole AI rush is basically the same hypercapitalist tech cult that previously worshipped the blockchain turned to a new golden cow so they don't have to think about their own culpability in the current late stage capitalism hellhole we find ourselves in, even as their latest toy tech god already indulges freely in misinformation, rampant fraud, and good old racial profiling - just to name a few.

And honestly don't get me wrong - I think LLMs as a technology likely have far more actual practical applications than the blockchain ever did, but it's pretty inescapable that most examples we're being shown aren't particularly practical - if anything, I'd argue most of what I see is just spam, spam, spam.

(* the hypothetical scenario of the Chinese Room was proposed by an English-speaking American, and the choice of traditional Chinese as the example is one made purely on the basis of its perceived illegibility to many westerners. The thought experiment does not depend on any particular characteristics of traditional Chinese languages beyond their distance to English, and can easily be exchanged for any written language you personally find utterly incomprehensible - or even some generic form of encryption if you prefer, so long as the information in the notes exchanged is never presented to the person inside the room in a form that they could possibly understand)

[the-ravening]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you @zsparz and @six-demon-bag for tagging me! ❤️

1. How many works do you have on ao3? Only 12, because I am a baby writer.

2. What's your total ao3 word count? 86k

3. What fandoms do you write for? Winterbaron, or more accurately, Zemo/everyone

4. Top five fics by kudos: Let's do a top 3, since top 5 would just be like half my fics.

Something Sweet to Eat (142 kudos) Extremely underage Halloween fic, bunny boy Zemo shows up trick or treating at Bucky's house Adopt, Don’t Shop (123 kudos) Omegaverse, bratty teen Zemo is for sale at an Omega kennel and Alpha Bucky goes shopping Gift-Wrapped (113 kudos) This was the first fic I ever posted (just a few years ago) and I'm still pretty proud of it. Just a silly Winterbaron rimming PWP, but it's hot

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to, I always mean to, but I think I'm a bit behind right now. I know there are some amazing comments on Home to Me from last year that I still haven't replied to and I feel bad about it all the time.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably Under Lock and Key (what a mess we’ve made), the Heinrich/Helmut Zemo dadcest fic I wrote for @ex0rin where I followed her hurt/no comfort philosophy of leaving him on the floor crying.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I don't know if I really do happy endings? I have PWPs where the happy ending is they both come, if that counts. 😅 Let's say... Ink Kissed (with violent precision) where tattoo artist Bucky gives his client Zemo a dick tattoo, and Zemo ends up quite happy with the tattoo as well as the rest of the service.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I've only gotten one or two of the world's mildest hate comments. I guess my ships are sufficiently niche that no one cares about them.

9. Do you write smut? Yeah! Do I write anything other than smut? No.

10. Craziest crossover: I've only written one crossover, A Suitable Course of Treatment, Bucky Barnes/Laszlo Kreizler from The Alienist, which isn't crazy at all because as we all know, Laszlo has Zemo's face. (If it counts, I once started a Dir en grey x Sailormoon fic where the band members magically turned into Sailor Scouts, but I did not ever get far on it.)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, the aforementioned Adopt, Don’t Shop was co-written with @violenciorp and @tales-from-a-maphia-don, because Vio lovingly bullied us into it, despite me and Mel ostensibly not being into Omegaverse.

14. All time favorite ship? I've jumped ship a lot over the years, but it's gotta be Winterbaron, since this is the ship that finally got me writing and posting and getting really involved in a fandom.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? The first serious attempt I made at writing in this fandom was this teen Zemo necrophilia thing, and I wrote the necro part but none of the plotty stuff leading up to it. I still dream of finishing it, in an abstract way where I have no motivation to ever work on it.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm pretty good at rhythm and flow and making my prose sound musical? That's something I focus a lot on and I tend to read aloud while editing to make sure it sounds good to my ear.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Probably plot and dialogue, and figuring out how to include technical details of things I know nothing about. But most of all procrastination, my arch-nemesis.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language? I personally avoid it, because I find it annoying to have to look up the translations in the middle of reading. I prefer to just say they're speaking in whatever language but write the dialogue in English.

19. First fandom you wrote in? J-rock RPF in the early 2000s, but I mostly just did a bit of RP and never got far with any fics I started.

20. Favorite fic you've written? Sometimes it feels like every new thing I post is my new favourite, haha. But I thiiiink my fave has been Something Sweet to Eat since I wrote it (the Halloween fic mentioned earlier), because it's probably the most self-indulgent thing I've written to date. I am truly the main audience for that fic and I'm very happy with it.

No pressure tagging: @violenciorp, @tales-from-a-maphia-don, @thepiper0fhameln, @ex0rin, @unlikelymilliner, @evenmyhivemindisempty, and anyone else who sees this and wants to join in!

[autumnslance]

Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @sheepwithspecs technically on my main but this is where fanfic goes. Do this if you wanna!

How many works do you have on AO3?

47 as of 2/6/24. There's a few things I need to get around to adding there though.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

411,290 as of 2/6/24

What are your top 5 fics by kudos

Downtime (compilation of younger Scions & other teen chars being pals in Norvrandt) Unexpected (compilation of shippy nonsense) A Constant Distant Thunder (Thancred in ARR patches post-Lahabrea) Ruminations (General Warrior of Light introspections & adventures) Rogue's Prelude (My headcanons on Thancred meeting Louisoix, Papalymo, and Yda)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I usually do! I often try to. So my comment count is almost, not quite though, doubled.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Hrm; I tend to do a lot of bittersweet endings. We'll keep it simple and say "Never Gets Easier", a fic where Edmont and Charlemend talk about their lost sons. There's no sweetness there, just men haunted by mistakes and losses.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Maybe "When Everything Changes" which is kid fic from the POV of my WoL's older brother when she's born and his ambivalence turns to big brother joy and love.

Do you write crossovers?

Haven't yet.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not that I recall.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Occasionally. Usually pretty vanilla. It's all right, I guess.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Had an OC's backstory on our WoW RP server's fic blogging site lifted wholesale; they changed the names and class, and then…walked into our weekly guild meeting that I was leading and tried to join our guild. When confronted, the person claimed their partner had leveled the character for them and based the backstory on Skyrim (my OC's story is very specific to WoW). They tried to message me later as if we were pals who would laugh this off someday. I informed them that was not a thing and btw the site mods knew they were a plagiarist now. Also everyone knew who their alts were and a bunch of other trouble they'd caused. So far as I know, they bailed from our server after that.

I hoped they learned better and grew up quite a bit; this was well over a decade ago.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Once or twice now; so long as folks credit and link back to my originals, and share the translated link with me, it's all good!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Roleplay and actual story collaboration both. It's a lot of fun.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

How dare you.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

*stares at WIP folder*

Come back with a warrant.

(I won't say never, but there's a lot that probably are just noodling and scraps to feed something else later)

What are your writing strengths?

Folks seem to like my dialogue.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Impatience, and certain grammatical abuses that do nothing for length nor clarity.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Depends on the fic. Depends on the intended audience.

For dialects, mostly the concern is "don't overdo it" as it can slow things down, be really jarring at best and offensive at worst, and difficult to understand if laying it on too thick.

Other languages entirely have different guidelines though, from sprinkling in single words or short phrases, to entire passages, and whether or not you translate or leave it up to the reader. Depends on fandom, on the characters, on the story, author intentions.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Narnia, in a my little girl diary as a pre-teen. I wanted to pick up Susan's story as a grown up and bring her and family back to a magical land. Cuz I knew it could, would happen someday, even if Lewis never got to write it himself.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Final Fantasy XVI. Midst. The latter is tricky as I really don't have ideas at the moment, but really want to dig into that vibe. My writing needs to be more weird in general, really.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

How dare you, come back with a warrant!

[multiversetravelingjournalist]

Language Construction Kit and The Art of Language Invention. A personal comparison

First off, this is not an Essay by definition of my high school. This is a rambling thought dump from a man who still feels novice in the craft of artificial languages. that said, I have recently read both Mark Rosenfelder's series to (somewhat) completion and David J. Peterson's book. I will say again that this is a personal opinionated take rather than an objective critique. I also invite both authors and readers to give their opinions as well. That said, let me compare.

The Language Construction Kit (LCK) was the first book I read on the subject of conlanging. at the time I was even more of a Novice so most of the terms flew over my preteen head. but after exposing myself to linguistic material of all types, I can say for certain that it is a good explanation of the technical terms one would stumble across in their research for inspiration. not only that but it being the first in a series of (so far) four other books means overall that there is a lot of ground to cover. those other three being the Advanced Language Construction (ALC), Conlanger's Lexipedia, and Syntax construction. However, it can be inconvenient to need all four books to experience the full range of advice the author has to offer (especially if one relies on Library Loan-outs, like myself).

Personally, I favor the Lexipedia because it is the only Rosenfelder book that my Library owns (for now). showing me the full range of semantics and meanings to make my conlangs' vocabulary unique. a close second would be the Syntax Construction Kit, for the one list that shows all the different ways grammar could be marked on a language. The LCK and ALC are also good for going through the overall basics of ones own conlang. however I have found sources online that cover some of the subjects in the same way. still nice to have around for a check list though.

The Art of Language invention is the second book I have read on the subject. What feels to me like a personal exploration of language creation from a creative view rather than a technical one. also covers things I feel are missed in the Rosenfelder series, one of those subjects being grammatical evolution which personally interests me. the book also goes over some (hopefully not dated) real world references as examples or inspiration. Such as explaining the creation of words from old ones like calling a pizza topping that falls off at the last moment a "DiCaprio". Or how a certain hotel has lead to "-gate" deriving as "a scandal associated with the word". I feel that these references work for approaching unusual features in a language in a way that makes sense. the conclusion at the end is also inspiring for comparing language construction to art, in that art can have many genres. Naturalism being used for paintings and certain conlangs leading to the questions of what a cubist conlang would be like? then asking if a popular piece of media had its own (sets of) conlang(s). I am glossing over most of it.

The biggest strength of the Art of Language construction, though, in my personal opinion, would be that of the four chapters dividing the book, each one ends with an example of the author's own process of approaching said subject from their own works. The phonology of Dothraki, the Vocabulary of Irathient, the Grammar of High Valyrian, and the Writing system of Castithan. reading these sections makes me feel that I too can find a way to approach whatever obstacles arise from my own works.

That is all I have to say, each book has its strengths and weaknesses, but I consider all of them to be useful in the self-education of conlanging. I do recommend them; I also recommend searching through linguistic sources mentioned in the books as further education.

Thanks for reading, and till next time... ;).

[justporo]

From your fanfic Q&A prompt! 13, 14, 15 and 18! <3 :D

Thanks for asking, Anon! From this Q&A thing.

13. What are some must-read fanfics in your fandom? Why do you admire these, and how have they impacted your works?

I'm not nearly reading enough fanfics about Astarion - which is solely because I have too much shit to do... So it's mostly one-shots I come across.

I guess, for one, you absolutely HAVE to read @tripleyeeets A Lover's Folly because wow (and also there's another story developing)... Their writing is amazing, the way the characters are written... also their writing deeply motivates me to get better because I feel like I have much to learn in terms of articulation and just in a technical sense.

@sweatandwoe has written some amazing one-shots for requests and wrote this one here which desperately made me want to write a story with ascended Astarion and all the angst and slow-burn in the world.

@lokasxnna has written this wonderful piece about Astarion and his pointy ears (and the title is so amazing): To Hold Me Like Water And I just love the idea and the way a soft, intimate moment is shared.

@thatfreshi writes very emotional one-shots that explore vulnerable moments, that sometimes go as far as making my chest hurt: Not if You Collect Them Like Ex-Lovers (Enjoy the damn pain, y'all!) And that really made me want to include more moments in my stories where Astarion and Tav deeply connect on an emotional level

Alright, some more questions, this will be long, so rest goes under the cut:

14. What aspects of your creative process do you enjoy the most? Which are most challenging?

Most? Thinking about it, immersing myself in the world and the characters, down to the last little details. Coming up with stupid or very emotional stuff and funny (at least to me) dialogue. Most challenging is definitely finding the time to work on stuff - atm I could really just keep writing all day. Also... the English words won't English sometimes although it's gotten better already (I think??). But yeah, cliché, I know, but: English isn't my first language - so... I'm sorry.

15. What programs/tools do you use while writing?

I write in Word and use OneDrive so I can work on different devices (might move over to GoogleDocs soon to make that easier). Dict.cc is my best friend in terms of vocabulary, when I don't remember exactly if I've chosen the right word or just can't English for a hot moment... Also Spotify stays ON while writing. That's it I guess.

18. Are there any themes or tropes that you enjoy writing? Any themes or tropes you hate writing?

I can't say that I've written awfully much yet, so let's go with what I think I'd like or hate. I definitely like enemies-to-lovers and slowburn, a good grumpy meets sunshine trope, grumpy characters, sassy characters, gothic themes and environments, the gentleman villain trope... List could go on I think. Things I really don't enjoy is like major miscommunication and when characters just won'T FUCKING TALK ABOUT WTF IT IS THAT BOTHERS THEM, UUUGH (this is the worst really and makes a lot for lazy writing when trying to create drama, imho) But I can't really think of something else that I'd really hate (other than stuff that's ofc not legal or shit like that).

[inkforhumanhands]

For the "Yet another writing ask" game, #3, 10, and 33? <3

3. How would you describe your writing style?

I think I concern myself a bit more than the average person with making sure (or trying to) that what I write Sounds Good when read out loud. Which probably comes from my background in poetry combined with the fact that during my writing process I read back what I have out loud over and over both to get myself into the groove and to make sure it's how I want it. I also use a fair bit of metaphor! Other than that I'm not sure! 😂 Though I guess I also like to be a bit silly? I've written a good amount of humor at this point.

10. Top three favourite fic tropes.

Mutual pining, hurt/comfort, and semi-recently I've been realizing how many great fics contain some form of fake dating so I suppose I will switch things up a bit and include that one as my third!

12. If you write in more than one language, what's the difference?

As far as fic goes I've only written 2 in Japanese and both were for the same manga fandom (and they're both ficlets!), so I can't confidently say this would apply to any fic I'd write in Japanese, but reading them back over one of the things that strikes me with both is I have a higher percentage of dialogue over narration compared to my English fics. Also, this is truer of one of the fics more than the other but with Japanese I feel a lot freer to just kind of like... let things float? Like one of them is basically just a short conversation between 2 people but between the lines of dialogue you get the POV character's thoughts about what's just been said, which I think just feels a lot more natural in Japanese versus the same thing in English. I tried translating that one to English here but it doesn't come across the same at all, sadly lol. The dialogue also sounds so much better in Japanese it makes me cry lmao. Because the source material is manga there's a heavier focus on dialogue and it's much easier to make the characters sound like themselves in the actual language. As for the other fic, I'm also noticing that while technically it has a POV character the perspective seems a bit more objective(?) than my usual brand.

This question really made me think!

33. Give your writing a compliment.

Earlier I touched on the fact that a lot of my writing is pretty silly, and I've reread some stuff recently so I guess I'll say that some of my funny lines are bangers actually. There's one I like that's something like this: "It was the kind of miracle God preferred: one where Matt put in most of the work."

Oh I forgot to add that #12 was from an extra ask that came right after this one lol so I just smooshed them.

[scribbledquillz]

Anxiety rambling under the cut.

I don't like having to make posts like this because I inevitably end up feeling like I was somehow trying to manipulate people into telling me I'm not a bad person. But sometimes the anxiety brain rips the wheel out of my hands and leaves swerving all over the road, and this is definitely one of those moments. Getting things out tends to help so here goes.

I realized this afternoon that - despite doing my best to research and plan my script and plot with the right care towards a certain minority group - I've still managed to inadvertently include at least one, possibly two depending on perspective, tropes that are. Not cool. The "silent native" one specifically. Add that to the fact that there's a situation in the plot done by the main antagonist that is EXTREMELY messed up (and never presented to be anything BUT messed up and vile) and I'm basically in panic mode over it.

I'm trying to tell myself that I caught it. I'm fine, I'm fixing it. I've added an additional scene that lets the characters have more voice in the story and gives a more direct perspective on why one of them reacted to something with anger and (mild) violence (injury to and threat toward the life of their child). I've also settled on a way that will allow them to be shown to be speaking in a different language than the other cast members, at least until I've been able to build up interest with my prologue and (hopefully) raised enough money to cover the cost of first a sensitivity reader (which I'd planned to do from the start) and then potentially a translator who can help me have their speech translated to a dialect appropriate for the region they would feasibly be in. Coast Salish, Halkomelem specifically.

But anxiety being what it is, I can't stop rotating a hundred more what ifs around my head.

What if there's another huge problem you aren't seeing? What if your fix isn't good enough? What if you've got to go back and redo the last six months of work? What if even after bringing in a reader, translator, etc it still isn't enough and the internet rips you to shreds for being an entitled white lady trying to tell stories you shouldn't be?

Given the context of the story, where it takes place, what it involves, it only makes sense that this group of people I'm worrying about (which technically aren't homo sapiens, but are an extremely close evolutionary relative) have a lot of similarities with the indigenous populations nearby. It wouldn't feel right or genuine to try to make them something else. And I swear on everything I'm doing my best to make sure I approach this story with the right respect and consideration it needs.

But omg if I fuck this up... My first writing project I've actually managed to see this far... Jesus I don't know if I could handle that.