#jet wolf's box of random

[keyofjetwolf]

ALL OF THE THIS

[keyofjetwolf]

So I ran the 5k this weekend.

By which I mean I walked the 5k.

This was my first "race". I signed up in January-ish, as a way to help motivate me to get my shit together, healthy-speaking. It didn't work. Or, rather, I didn't work.

I've fallen way off my path toward some modicum of health and fitness. I missed some major goals and was furious with and disgusted in myself. Rather than use that as a stick to encourage me forward however, I beat myself into the ground with it. HI HELLO WELCOME TO OUR SAME OLD TIRED BULLSHIT THIS IS ALWAYS SO HELPFUL TO US. But I varied it up! Since I no longer really have the luxury of being a perpetual sad sack, dragging my failures up on stage to consistently, cruelly, delightfully abuse myself with and about, I shoved it all into a box in the corner and ignored it. Problem solved!

Except of course that included focusing on, you know, SOLUTIONS. Ignoring a thing literally never solved the thing, and I knew that, and kept resurfacing and poking and needling, but I am like Olympic-level procrastination sometimes, and kept punting it down the road. "That's a problem for Future Jet Wolf, and I hate that cunt, fuck her!" is a joke I make often and laugh at always, but of course eventually Future Jet Wolf becomes Now Jet Wolf and there's no more road, just a big ol' ball of problems kicked right smack in the middle of my confused, startled gob. What?? Who could have possibly foreseen??!

So it was when the 5k arrived. I didn't want to do it. In the days leading up, my brain -- cunning hateful bitch she can be -- started whispering all the extremely logical and justifiable reasons excuses to not. "Yeah," I agreed, "but we gotta."

The whisper reached full on panicked crescendo yesterday morning. I don't know if it was self-sabotage, or just the universe having its usual fun, but everything went wrong. I couldn't find my shirt and shorts, buried somewhere in the piles of clean clothes I have yet to put away (another club wielded with great effectiveness before the day was out). By the time I dug up replacements, I was late in the shower, thus late out the door. I grabbed my watch and my headphones, but despite never having difficulty before, could get neither to work. I drove the wrong way and twisted myself around getting to the park where the race was to start. When I finally arrived, I couldn't tell where we were to gather. There were participants everywhere, walking about, but no central gathering that I could see. Signs were posted, but sporadically, and to my eyes, random and contradictory. The race was moments from starting.

I want to say I brushed all this aside without effort, that I bravely and confidently pressed onward and sorted things out. I want to say that. What actually happened is I found a quiet and -- jesus wept, I hope it was -- hidden spot and cried for a minute. Maybe two. Reasons Excuses formed on my lips and they tasted sweet. Hell, if I spun this right, it would be HILARIOUS. Another "Oh, that Theodore Nickels!" story. We would tell it around the Shabbat table and have a grand laugh.

I've not yet found my way to any point of pride in this overlong and deeply unflattering tale, but if I get there, it's likely in this moment, where I wiped my face on my shirt, pushed away from the wall, and resumed my search for the starting line.

Then I was there. The race was to begin at 9:45, not 9:30 like I thought, so I had a solid ten minutes. Got my watch rebooted. Found the headphone manual online and successfully powered it up. When the race began, I took one step forward, then another. 51 minutes later, I crossed the finish line. I had completed my first race.

I was deeply, violently disappointed in myself. The vitriol began immediately. What a pathetic effort. Humiliating. Barely a fraction of what what Doc and Mike accomplished, and done excruciatingly poorly at that. Shameful, laughable, grotesque, thesaurus.com etc etc blah blah blah. On and on, all goddamn day, until I found it as boring as I did upsetting.

PLUS SIDE: the more it goes on, the easier it gets to ignore a constant hateful drone.

LEGIT HILARIOUS ATTEMPT AT BONUS POINTS: my brain seized my lack of creativity in ongoing self-abuse and added that to the evidence list of my suckage BABYGIRL I CANNOT TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY RIGHT NOW ARE YOU FOR FUCKING REAL

Right, then, so what the fuck? If it were literally anybody but myself, I'd be cheering them on. YOU DID THE THING. Doing the thing is objectively more accomplished than NOT doing the thing. What did I realistically expect? That I'd take top prize in the first race I'd ever done with a preparation level I'd managed to sink into the negative? And would that have even mattered? What result would have appeased? What achievement would translate to victory?

24 hours later, I still don't really have answers. It might be pent up derision at myself for that previous goal-failure and backslide which I'm now directly confronting instead of ignoring. It might be some weird twisted preservation thing of the "you can't fail if you don't try" flavour of bullshittery. It might be the desperation of a destructive streak unwilling to allow improvement without a vicious bloody battle. All of this? At the very least, I think, some.

I forget, sometimes, more times than I'd like, that the meds don't fix everything, they simply keep the shit I can't control at bay so I can focus on the work. Work's still gotta be done, kiddo. That's on you.

Last night, I registered for my next 5k.

I'll definitely remember how to turn on my headphones. One improvement, NAILED. Not sure what #2 will be, but I've got three weeks. Time for work.

[bxdbxdboy]

Character Development

BASICS

Full Name:  Luz Noceda 

Alias:   Apprentice

Nicknames: Bad Boy, (Luz Squad) B.Boy, (herself) Soft Boy, (Cottage) Baby Boy, (Eda) Nice Boy, (Sunny) Sweetheart (Bee)

Sex / Gender:  Female, Nonbinary  (she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs ) .

Right or Left:    Left 

Age:   16.

Height:   5'6″.

Eye Color:    dark brown

Hair Color:   Dark brown

Distinguishing Marks:  She has a raven tattoo over her scar she received trying to stop her villain in her timeline. She’s shaved her left eyebrow in the middle to match her friend’s scar.  

Paragraph Of Physical Traits: She’s got a rather strong build which means she has no weak nerd arms and a significant amount of muscle to her arm. Her hair is slicked back like a wave and it’s always been like that it just has always naturally curled and folded over in that direction. When she sleeps it gets wavy or spikey sticking up like a parrot.

FAMILY / RELIGION

Parents / Guardians:     Camilla Noceda 

Siblings: n/a  adopted Brother King.

Marital Status:  Not married. 

Significant Other(s): Bee (Amity-Bee), Blushy (Amity in her timeline)  

Children:   N/A.

Other Relatives:   Many Many cousins, aunts and uncles and cousins on both sides of the family. 

Pets:   Bunga, (familiar, honey badger) Saturn, (familiar magical Owl) Calypso. (palisman Sable)  

Friends:     Cottage, Sunny, Iris, Bee, Lucky, Otter, Puppy, Gus, Willow.

Enemies:     Emperor Belos. 

Ethnicity:     Latina 

Religion:     None. 

Beliefs:    N/A

Superstitions:    black cats, broken mirrors. KARMA!

Languages:   English. Spanish. 

Diction / Accent:    Spanish 

SCHOOL / WORK / HOME

Education:   Public School / High scool leverl/ Hexside

Degree(s):   Not yet. 

Occupation:   Local Power washer for her boiling isles, Food delivery, Potion distributor. 

Own or Rent:    Neither.

Living Space:   Eda’s home in the owl house, Her home in the human realm, and Magic Treehouse bedroom. 

Work Space:    N/A.

Main Mode of Transport:   Skateboarding, Walking, running, or flying. Can drive, will learn, will drive without license. 

PSYCHOLOGY

Fears:      Being replaced / abandoned,  her anger issues, her home getting concurred, loosing her friends, venomous snakes, possessed creatures, dark mimics. spiders, The deepest depths of the Ocean, Slender Man, Siren Head.  

Secrets:    A big softie just doesn’t want many who meet her to realize it. 

IQ:     Was never formally tested,   but she may not be as intellectually gifted as the other Luz’s There’s a big jock mentally mindset to her as a whole.

Eating Habits:  Ravenous Appetite, no matter how much she eats she’s always asking for more. She can put some food away if someone has something they’re saving it’s too late she’s already gotten to it. 

Food Preferences: She enjoys Hot Wings they are her most favorite food besides Pizza coming around at a close second She likes a lot of junk food candy, cookies, chips of all kinds. On occasion she will eat something green though like some lettuce with taco meat or a green pepper. She’ll eat it all everything under the sun and even be adventurous eating a wide margin of other foods. She almost always has hot sauce on her there isn’t a single kind of meal she doesn’t love covered in the hot stuff.  

Sleeping Habits:   She sleeps well, for the most part, when she isn’t attempting to be a night owl she falls asleep relatively quick, even rivaling some of the younger Luz’s with how early she can fall asleep. It’s likely she has sleep apnea as she has tendency to snore so very loud and wakes up during the night in cold sweat, when she stops breathing from night terrors. She will oversleep until almost 2:00 in the afternoon if not monitored.         

Book Preferences:   She’s not a big egg-head book reader like the rest of the squad is the most Bad Boy read in school was “Animal Farm”, and The “Lord of the Flies”, in high school two books that peaked her interest a little bit. She also enjoys listening to Cottage read some horror books it’s the most she’ll really listen rather than use her eyes to read, in fact, one would say she struggles to read efficiently. 

Music Preferences:     Hip Hop, Rap, Dubstep, 80′s music, The Weekend, Various artists. 

Leader or Follower:    She likes to be the boss, but will occasionally follow if she doesn’t have to do much. 

Planner or Spontaneous:  Spontaneous! All of her ideas are never planned out she definitely does not look before she leaps. Her leaps are full of optimism and happy stupidity. The only time she tends to plan is when Bee holds her hand and forces her to take a step back. 

Journal:    Nope

Hobbies:    Dancing,   listening to music,     training,    watching videos / shows,  exercising,  roasting members of the Luz squad, doing dangerous stunts, skateboarding, basketball, baseball, (more so the batting range)  Surfing (Prior), Deep woods exploring, practicing her magic, teaching her familiars, (Saturn and Bunga) Listening to music, Swooning Bee, Video games, Baking Pizza, Breakdancing, Beat Boxing, Collecting Hats, Serenading, Dancing, Snuggling King.

How Do They Relax:  By listening to some calming beats privately, counting to 10, or at any point stroked by Bee she curls and becomes softer. 

What Excites Them:  Competitions,  Wild magic, Magical Creatures, Parkour, Plane Crash videos, Unus Annus, Dogs! Kitties, Being in charge, Buffalo sauce, Food!, Flirting, 

What Stresses Them:  Bossy individuals, Strict Parents, Rude people, Being inside the Emperor Castle, Being the butt of the joke, Tests, Explosives. Needles. 

Pet Peeves:   Vegan food, Whining, losing games, Being accused of being a perv, mocking, people stealing her hat,  Lucky sending her cursed images. 

Prejudices:  high horse, pretends not to be a trouble maker to stay in good graces, struggling to not be hostile towards her doppelgängers, 

Attitudes:   Closed off, Laid back, Aggressive,  or chill and cool depending on who you are. Bad Boy appears to be the “scary” anger issues Luz that is liable to explode at any moment and when she does her face and ears can get as red as Bee’s. You’re either in good graces with her or your not, she’s not always easy to approach unless you have a good sense of humor than she cracks up with you about stupid jokes. 

Obsessions:    Her shoes and hats, her favorite music, lids, BEE

Addictions:    Does addiction to sugary cereal count? because oh my god-!!

Ambitions:     Defeat Belos in her timeline, find a way to get adopted as a sibling by Cottage Core, Have her own identity outside of Cottage and the Luz squad.   Become a powerful witch, Make her mom proud.  

ASTROLOGY / PHISIOLOGY

Birth Date:    November 26,    2005.

Sign:    Sagittarius

Traits Associated with Western Sign:  loyal, smart, assertive, and compassionate personality   

Chinese Zodiac Sign:    The rooster

Traits Associated with Chinese Sign: active, amusing, and popular within a crowd. Roosters are talkative, outspoken, frank, open, honest, and loyal individuals. They like to be the center of attention and always appear attractive and beautiful.

Handwriting:     It’s okay…;      fairly sloppy.

Sexual History:   N/A.

General Health:     She takes pretty good care of herself as far as hygiene and having a good confident attitude.  experiencing some struggles with her adhd, bad posture leaves her with some back pain.

Mental Disabilities:      PTSD,   ADHD,  depression,  

Allergies:   Seasonal.

OBJECTS KEPT IN

Purse / Bag:  Wallet, towel, water bottle, Treehouse keys key chain,

Wallet:     Photo ID, Gold, Cash, rings, Brass knuckle, 

Fridge:     Chalked full of between meal and frozen pizza. 

Medicine Cabinet:  Bandages, Healing Potions, Icey-hot muscle rub,  

Glove Compartment:   Parking tickets, Trespassing tickets, concert tickets. 

Junk Drawer:     fidget spinners, gum, pens, sharpies, stress balls. 

Backpack:   Hats, Snacks, Mints, hair gel, Extra clothes, socks,  pepper spray, hand sanitizer, suntan lotion, hair brush

Desk:   Doodles, Paper Airplanes, Crumpled up Paper.

Clothes Pockets:    Phone, Hot Sauce packets, hand warmers, stress ball.  

OTHER

Halloween Costumes:   A zombie, the cementary is hiring.

Talents:    break dancing, beat boxing, fighting in close quarters, self defense, making Luz squad question their sanity, making jokes, flipping her hat. being annoying. 

Politics: Nah. 

Flaws:   stand offish,  moody,     blunt and direct,   vain,  doesn’t like to be on the losing side indecisive, selfish,

Strengths:  Her optimism, strong sense of personal integrity, avoiding the status quo, free spirited, confidence level, good sense of humor.  

Drugs / Alcohol:    N/A. No who invited? 

Passwords:     The most random shit. 

Prized Possessions:   Her hat passed down by her oldest cousin, her unus annus sweatshirt, a small wolf plushy named Akela 

Time and Place:    Currently, at the Treehouse interviewing new members of the Luz squad. She just got back from a trip and she has jet lag.     

Special Places:      The treehouse, her original house, The owl house, the forest where she goes to meet Blushy, The cliff by the Grom tree, the beach. 

Special Memories:   Meeting Eda and King then running into Cottage and Bee, Becoming friends with Cottage Core learning magic from them, Teasing Belos and Hunter with Cottage Core, Dancing with Bee at her Grom, becoming a polyamorous couple with Bee and Cottage. Being accepted into the Luz Squad. 

Tagged by:    Stole it from @witchesborn​

Tagging:    You,    if you want to do it.

[keyofjetwolf]

Party in the front, adjustable vegetarian chicken in the back.

Perhaps the greatest failure of machine translation I have been privileged to see on one of them resale sites:

[lokigodofaces]

thoughts on loki ep 2: the variant (spoilers)

under cut to not disturb your scrolling

Overall I enjoyed so that's good

Uh frick my mind blanked so sorry if things are completely out of order

I don't know, I expected the renaissance fair to be 2012 or 2021 or 2024 (Loki's time, our time, current time in the "sacred timeline"). So I was genuinely surprised when it was in 1985.

Ok, i really like the title card thing. And how the year scrolls around. It's a nice aesthetic touch there.

I wonder why the female Loki variant chooses her locations? Does she have a thing for renaissance fairs, French cathedrals, and Oklahoma?

1985 is when Back to the Future came out. And it's y'know, one of the most popular time travel movies ever. So I think they chose that year as a reference.

Again, not liking that the minutemen only have numbers, not names. It is giving me lots of Clone Wars vibes. If you don't know anything about Clone Wars, the clones are given number identifiers by the Kaminoans. Things like CT-7567. The clones would give themselves names (CT-7567, for example, names himself Rex). A really good sign throughout the series that someone is a sketchy person is if they call the clones by their numbers. The clones don't want to be known as numbers. They are people too, they deserve names, so they come up with all sorts of creative names (Rex, Fives, Cody, Tup, Hevy, Hardcase, Echo, Waxer, Boil, Wolffe, Jesse, Kix, Fox, Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, Omega, Tech, Matchstick, etc). The jedi respect this, and the only jedi that i can think of that called clones by their numbers is Krell, who fell to the dark side. the Kaminoans and other sketchy people all call them by their numbers and the clones don't like it. A big focus of the show is on the clone's agency (at the end, they all have brain chips that take away their agency and force them to kill jedi), and how the clones need to be respected. So for me to see in another series that people are only given numbers is bad. What's worse is that the minutemen are fine with this. They don't see it as dehumanizing or belittling. They are brainwashed into being okay with it. Which says a thing or two about the Time Keepers.

did. did the renaissance fair really have Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero" for their renaissance themed fight? Is this normal? Was it normal in the '80's? We saw later that the female Loki can do electronic stuff. Did she rig it to play it? For the vibes?

Also the stuff before the song was about fighting for a princess, and in the end she kidnaps C-20.

Okay, btw, I'm just gonna say Lady Loki for a while because no one has explicitly said Sylvie yet, so I'm going to refer to di Martino as Loki until she or another calls her Sylvie. Cool? Cool.

I was thinking the "Holding Out for a Hero" fight would be the roomba fight or something. It is such a good song that has huge potential for this genre. Why did they use it in a lame fight as that one?

When Lady Loki did the spell on C-20, it looked similar to what Wanda and Agatha can do. As in, it had similar visuals.

Loki reading a random magazine he finds while sitting with his feet on the desk bored out of his mind because he has to learn sh*t is a MOOD.

What is Miss Minutes? She can jump around anywhere, and pop into computers. But she can't be just a projection. She took the effort to dodge Loki swatting at her, so that may mean she was corporeal. She also could be something similar to the Kree's Supreme Intelligence?

So, did Mobius give Loki the shirt, tie, and slacks, but really didn't give him the jacket until they had to call him in? What? That makes no sense? Did the TVA not have any jackets with the variant label? Did someone have to custom design a jacket for Loki?

What is up with this show giving me things I wanted to see only in holographic form? First we saw Coulson's death, and now Loki in his Jotun form in a holograph of another variant.

Okay, Loki being someone the TVA has to constantly deal with is very on brand. Loki is a creature of chaos, of course he's going to unknowingly rebel against the sacred timeline.

Also, headcanon that the Jotun Loki we see is king of Jotunheim because that would be epic.

Also, for personal reasons I choose to believe there is a Loki variant that defeated the Avengers and immediately went queer rights.

Loki's reaction to there being many Loki variants. He's seen what his life is supposed to be. I think he is even more upset that the TVA often deals with him, that there are so many things that could have been instead if it weren't for the TVA and the "sacred timeline."

Also, I totally think Mobius was waiting for another Loki to show up to help him defeat Lady Loki. They get them so often, it makes sense.

Loki explaining the difference between illusion projection and duplication was great. And very helpful to me personally understanding lore. Also, Mobius, get your crap together. If you're a Loki expert, figure this stuff out.

Loki calling the TVA out on propaganda, we love that.

The wolf quote is actually very nice, I quite like it.

Okay, the TVA doesn't even bury or cremate or do any sort of ritual for their fallen minutemen, they just reset the timeline. Which to me seems like another way to show how little the TVA actually care for their workers.

There are statues of the Time Keepers in Ravonna's office. The camera pays extra attention to it. Keep reading for more about Time Keepers and cinematography choices.

What. What sort of relationship does Ravonna and Mobius have? What is going on there? I am really confused.

Who is this "analyst on the side?" What is going on there?

Ravonna is MEGA SUS. Along with that, the Time Keepers are mega sus.

She signs R. Slayer. Yeah. Slayer. Not at all subtle, Marvel. Letting us know that she'll do the deed if needed.

Mobius you are sending me mixed signals. What do you want?

Okay, Mobius saying Loki was a "cold, scared boy" and an "ice runt" and stuff was totally a jab at Loki being Jotun.

Mobius saying Loki is insecure because of Lady Loki is...probably true.

With the elevator, the camera stops and focuses on the Time Keepers.

The Creation of the TVA, the beginning of time, the end of time, all classified. That is sus.

Loki almost crying over Ragnarok was good. Let him cry over the destruction of his home.

Loki being the one to discover something the TVA had no idea about after a day is on brand for Loki. And it shows how the TVA really are vulnerable.

Mobius: Really? In front of my salad?

No but the object lesson was well done and actually did help me understand what Loki was talking about.

Casey! Casey drinks grape juice! Imagine how confusing this is for Casey though. Loki is captured, threatens to gut you like a fish (whatever that means), and now he's dressed like an analysist, stealing your juice box. Does Loki get Casey more juice?

Honestly, Loki looking at everything logically and scientifically is fantastic. Adds to the science = magic thing Marvel's got going on, since Loki is a sorcerer.

Loki saying volcanoes are cool is fun. I agree. Volcanoes mean the planet is geologically active, which means we won't die. Also, there is a volcano named Loki on one of Jupiter's moons. I wonder if the creators knew that and put Loki in Pompeii because he is already linked with volcanoes.

Mobius telling Loki to start off small and Loki completely disregarding that felt very personal to me.

Loki being absolutely chaotic and telling everyone they were going to die while speaking perfect Latin was iconic. I want more of that content. Let the man be buckwild.

Again, Loki finding something out after a day that the TVA never knew about is on brand.

"Be free, my horned friends, be free!" I love that way too much.

Mobius being obsessed with jet skis wasn't something I expected, but I'm down for it. Heck, even Loki admitted they were cool.

The discussion on beliefs is going to lead to saying the Time Keepers are bullcrap. Hopefully.

Grapes and nuts are "candy" on Asgard. So, when Loki was eating grapes in Ragnarok, we can interpret that as him eating M&Ms. Second, this might add to something I've seen around here. I've seen things about a book somewhere with Loki saying chocolate fountains are mythical (which is really funny to me). So, I guess Asgard really doesn't have chocolate.

Oh my gosh, so many apocalypses between 2047 and 2051...hopefully none of those happen in real life.

Roxxcart is probably part of Roxxon, something that has been around in Iron Man movies.

Lady Loki got the shovel thing from Roxxcart that she left in Oklahoma! The minutemen said it was from the early third millenia, which is where we are now! 2050 also fits that category!

I saw something about the file saying Class 8 hurricane...there are only 5 classes...which means this is a crazy storm.

Does B-15 want Loki dead? This is a legitimate question, because I think she does. Dead or pruned.

Loki looking around at the storm, I love it. This could be him loving science, or him missing Thor, since Thor creates storms. Also, at this point Loki probably things Thor dies shortly after him in the sacred timeline, so Loki would be particularly sentimental about Thor.

I love Loki drying himself off and not anyone else. And B-15 yelling about his magic. And Loki's motions are so fluid, it's so aesthetically pleasing, I love it.

Dudes, I thought B-15 was going to try to prune Loki when they were alone.

Okay, was Lady Loki bsing about the azalea sale, or does Roxxcart actually do that? I want to know.

Wunmi Mosaku did a really good job as Lady Loki, I loved it.

Loki being annoyed at Lady Loki and saying he understood how Thor felt, does that insinuate Loki can do what Lady Loki was doing?

B-15 and C-20 were both very shaken after being possessed by Lady Loki. I wonder how that felt for them? We've had different explanations of mind control/brainwashing/similar from Clint, Bucky, Daisy, Mack, Fitz, and Monica in the MCU (including AoS). I wonder what is specific to Lady Loki's possession.

C-20 kept going on about something being real. What was that about?

C-20 revealed the location of the Time Keepers to Lady Loki!

Lady Loki not wanting to be called Loki could be a sign she is Sylvie.

There's something weird where Loki's voice echoed around while the camera focused on Lady Loki. Maybe she's telepathic?

Someone needs to keep a tracker on people telling Loki this isn't his story in a show literally about him.

But, that does add to themes for his life, and how everything was always about someone else in his life. He was always a supporting character for Thor, for Odin, for Thanos. Now, even in his own story, everyone insists he doesn't matter.

I was wondering what the reset charges would be used for. I wasn't expecting a massive bombing of the sacred timeline! Wow! That was unexpected and I loved it!

Okay, this isn't from me, this is from New Rockstars. But to list all the places mentioned on chronomonitors, either bombed or not: Knowhere, Barcelona, Niflheim, Dartford, Phong Nha, Lisbon, Vormir, Thorton, Cookeville, Asgard, Rome, Sakaar, Barichara, Porvoo, Ego, Titan, New York City, Tokyo, Hala, Kingsport, Xandar, Beijing, Madrid, Portland, Jotunheim. Bolded are other planets. Those are almost all the planets visited in the MCU. So fun easter eggs there!

I like Lady Loki's aesthetic. The fingerless gloves, the cloak, I love it. And YES SHE ISN'T SEXUALIZED. So many genderbent characters are excuses to sexualize women. But Lady Loki is just as covered as the male Lokis.

Lady Loki just...left the time door open for Loki to follow...for a really long time...I'm worried he's running into a trap.

What is Loki going to do now?

Theory time y'alls: Lady Loki bombed the sacred timeline to flush the minutemen out of the TVA, leaving it defenseless. And she's gonna go after the Time Keepers themselves. We know she gets into the TVA from trailer footage, and that's what I think we're gonna see next episode. I think she (like the Loki we are following) is upset over the lack of free will, and she plans to change that. That's why she wasn't interested in helping Loki "take over" the TVA, because she doesn't want to become the leader of a new TVA, she wants it destroyed.

Alright, back to the Time Keepers stuff. They keep focusing on the middle Time Keeper. Even in the end credits they have a weird cut to focus directly on his face. I'm not 100% on this, but I like this theory. That face is similar to Jonathan Major's, the actor confirmed to be Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Kang is a well known time travelling villain in Marvel. Maybe he is Kang, and is using variant versions of himself (that's a Kang thing in the comics) to mess with the timeline, and no one expects that from him. Also, Renslayer was his S/O for a bit in the comics, and they keep framing her in front of that one Time Keeper's face. I feel like this would be a good way to set up Quantumania and to show how sus the Time Keepers are.

Also, Loki was absolutely adorable the entire episode. And he got to sleep! Yay for him!

Again, I enjoyed, and can't wait for next week!

[stereksecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, jimtremor!

For @jimtremor, who asked for basically anything. I did my best with that.

Read On AO3

*****

Useful Information

“Mr. McCall will be in the North Dorm and you Mr. Stillinski will go to the East.” The director of student affairs passes them Welcome packets, across his desk. Hn,

They both start to protest but Deaton holds up a quieting hand and stands, quickly moving them both out of his office. “I’m sure you’ll both adjust just fine. If there’s anything you need, my office hours are Monday and Friday 8am to 2pm.” He closes the door in their faces

****

“This is the stupidest idea ever,” Stiles says dropping his pack just inside the door to his new dorm. Stiles notices right away that the room is painfully neat for a college dorm.

“You can’t just throw people together and expect them to form proper pack bonds.”

He flops onto the empty bed across the room from what he assumes is his assigned Alpha and waits what he’s told is the appropriate amount of time for his new roommate to respond but the wolf just flicks hazel eyes at him, before going back to reading his novel.

“Scott— my best friend Scott, we applied to this place together. He’s going to be an Alpha and I’m going to be his bad-ass Emissary.” The wolf continues to ignore him and after a few minutes, Stiles huffs and starts unpacking.

It takes him a few minutes more to realize that his dorm is amazing. There’s a fridge. Not a mini fridge. A full-sized fridge in what might serve as a very quaint breakfast nook. The open area has a desk, a TV and closets next to the beds. When he opens the door to his, he finds a dresser and plenty of room for his meager belongings. His dad had been very proud of the fact that he entered college with a change of clothes, a martial arts trophy, and a six-pack (abs not beer). So Stiles was carrying on the family tradition. Sort of.

There’s a bathroom and if Stiles didn’t know any better a tub big enough to house jacuzzi jets.

“This place is amaaa—"

His roommate reaches over and clicks on a small iPhone dock that looks like a radio. It starts blasting some sort of German metal. Stiles stares at him for a moment before pulling out his grimoires ‘fine be that way then.’ he thinks, flipping through the pages to a spell he needs for his next class.

Scott is so going to hear about this dick.

****

“—a serious neat freak, and he acts like he can’t be bothered to answer even the simplest of questions. I swear Scotty we need to go over somebody’s head. It has to be a mistake that they split us up.”

“Derek Hale!?” Scott suddenly shouts sitting up from Allison’s lap. Stiles glances around hoping his best friend’s dorky exclamations aren’t drawing attention annnd yep people are staring.

“As in Hale Observatory? As in Hale Hall? AS IN THE HALE EXPLORATORY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT FOR THE SUPERNATURALLY INCLINED? The people who might be able to find a way to cure me?”

He says the last part much quieter. He’d worked harder than he ever had at anything to get into this private college. Hoping against hope that they’d somehow turn him back human. It wasn’t that Scott didn’t love every minute of being a wolf, it just came with a lot of baggage, including possibly outliving everyone important to you. Every human anyway.

“There’s no known cure for lycanthropy,” Allison says quietly.

Stiles glances up at the heavens, his ears burning. “Yeah my roommate is Derek Hale. Geez Scotty it’s not that big of a deal.” Scott stares at him as if he’s grown a second head.

“You—you’ve lived your whole life here and you think rooming with a Hale is not a big deal? The Hales own half the town and probably your house Stiles!” Scott’s volume is going up again and Stiles tries not to roll his eyes.

“Having a rich family doesn’t make you a big deal Scotty.”

Scott sputters his eyes going to Allison in a desperate plea for back-up. She just shrugs. Right. She just moved to Beacon hills so she wouldn’t know.

“HaAVing A RIcH FaMILY dOEsn’t maKe You a bIG DeAL.” Scott says half snidely, half mockingly under his breath.

Stiles cocks his head to the side, like he’s trying figure out who the crazy person was possessing his best friend and they begin one of their famous silent conversations.

‘I’m not an idiot’ Scott thinks at him

‘I know Scott but really it’s no big deal. He’s like a totally normal asshole. A painfully neat asshole.’

‘Think you can maybe talk to him about the whole *my best friend is a werewolf who didn’t ask to be a werewolf thing*? Maybe mention that your best friend is desperate for some guidance as to where to find a cure’

‘There’s no cure for werewolf-ism Scott! And Scotty. Friend. Buddy. Pal. I can’t even talk to him about where to put my toothbrush in the bathroom. Apparently it’s important to keep your toothbrush as far away from the toilet as possible. He even has this little protective cover on his.’

“Huh. I just thought of something.” Allison says breaking into the silent conversation. “Maybe they want you to be the new Hale emissary.”

Stiles and Scott both turn to stare at her.

“Huh” they both say

She pretends to study, but Stiles can totally see the dimple at her cheek deepen.

****

Derek is particular about his space, and his things. It’s normal for a wolf. Even at boarding school they hadn’t made him share a room, although maybe that had more to do with the hefty donation his mother had made and less to do with his werewolf sensibilities.

Stiles is in his space for less than a day and he’s somehow everywhere. He smells woodsy- like wet leaves and rain when he finally decides to shower off the cheap body spray. He puts his toothbrush in the wrong spot on the sink and unpacks his one box of belongings.

There’s a pile of spell books on the floor under his bed and pots of herbs line the windows. He doesn’t know what’s in the jars in his fridge and he doesn’t want to know. Instead, he politely tries to tidy Stiles’ things, but it seems like they just gravitate back to where Stiles left them. He does his best not to growl whenever the emissary walks into the room.

His annoyance level is already high. The welcome packet was clear that he was meant to start a pack with this kid. That they should spend their time working together and bonding for the sake of their future pack.

Everything about him was a mess, and Derek didn’t do messy. Not anymore. He’s half asleep when the scent of arousal teases at his senses. He wants to growl but he’s done that for the last several hours. This was definitely not happening.

****

‘Use your finger. Just one. You should be able to find it pretty easily.’

Stiles groaned into his pillow. He was on a dry spell. And when he was on a dry spell he always thought of Lydia. His other best friend, the girl who helped him find his G-spot. He’d flirted with every big dark-haired wolf he came across, but they’d all turned him down. It was strange. It was almost like they were actively trying to avoid even talking to him.

Stiles reached into his pajama bottoms, the memory of Lydia’s very thorough instruction all those years ago is still his favorite, although watching Derek workout was a close second.

“If you’re gonna jerk it, at least have the courtesy to do it when I’m not here. Stiles jerked his hand from his underwear at the miserable tone in Derek’s voice.

“Um..”

“Yeah, I can smell it. For days.”

Stiles groaned and dragged his pillow over his head.

‘who thought the human/werewolf hybrid dorm was a good idea anyway?’

****

Derek keeps his face neutral as he listens to Dr Deaton’s analysis of werewolf mating practices. He’s a little more accurate than the usual crowd but there were still things he’s getting wrong. The emissaries were always considered some kind of authority but human experts on werewolf mating rituals tended to start off wondering if human werewolves really grew knots whenever there was a full moon.

Deaton is at least trying to debunk a lot of the weird lore humans tended to apply to werewolves and it sort of gives Derek hope. Maybe this year he *won’t* have to listen to a half assed lecture on werewolf anatomy and moon cycles. Derek’s hope deflates when he hears the words Transitory Bite.

The last time he put a temporary mark on someone it almost started a war between hunters and humans and gotten him shipped off to boarding school. His mother had kept him out of Beacon Hills for three years. It had taken joining forces with his uncle to convince her he wouldn’t make the same mistakes. Now he was being told to mark some random dorky kid like it wasn’t a total imposition. He had a right to choose or not choose to mark someone and his mother needed to understand that he wasn’t interested in his life spinning out of control a second time.

“I’m not doing it.” Derek gets up to leave but Deaton steps in front of him hands raised. “I assure you Mr. Hale this is necessary. Starting a pack and choosing a mate can be extremely difficult. A transitory bite will allow you to test your compatibility with the mate you were matched with.”

“It won’t work” he growls eyeing Stiles

Stiles’ face is bright red, and he keeps his eyes on the toe of his sneakers. He’d been wearing them since high school. They were his favorite pair. He wishes he’d thought to clean them sometime in the last six years.

So that’s why everyone had been treating him so strangely. He was probably Derek Hale’s mate. He really should have read the welcome packet. He tunes out the rest of the conversation and tries to ignore the hot twist of humiliation in his stomach.

Derek tries to focus on what Deaton is saying but Stiles scent is rapidly changing. The burnt ash flavor of Distress and Despair fills up his senses and it’s all he can do not to gather the entire boy into his arms and run away with him.

“I don’t need this there are—there are plenty of wolves who would love—love to have me for a mate.” Stiles gathers his things as he tries to save face. It’s bad enough this is happening, but he can’t bring himself to look at the other pairs.

“Fine”

Stiles is almost to the door when that single word freezes him in place. He swallows and waits.

Derek moves him back against the nearest wall, with just a few intimidating steps. His hand lands on Stiles’ shoulder, his fingers brushing against the skin at the base of his neck. Derek’s hand slides up the side of his throat, and Stiles sways toward him. He growls at his traitorous body and forces every muscle to stay stiff as a board. The corner of Derek’s mouth kicks up and then he’s leaning in, letting his teeth scrape across the smooth skin at the base of Stiles’ neck.

Stiles gives an unmanly squeak when Derek’s teeth skin in, the pain just barely registering before he feels the brief swipe of Derek’s tongue across the wound. Derek stares at the mark for a long time before turning and leaving.

***

Stiles only has two classes with Scott, but he and Derek share the exact same itinerary. Even though Derek can’t really do the magic part, they’re expected to show a united front, so he sits off to the side and glares at everything and everyone.

Stiles spends his time doodling the different angles of Derek’s head during each class into the margins of his grimoire. When there’s wolf lore he flicks his eyes across the room to Derek. His can almost tell by the set of Derek’s brows whether the stuff being taught is accurate or total bullshit.

He tries to connect with the other students in his classes, but they tended to cut the conversations short or avoid him altogether. He’s pretty certain this only happens when Derek is around. He starts to feel boxed in, like the only reason he was there was to be slotted into the Hale pack, like everything about his future had already been decided. His whole week had been classes more about pack politics and somewhat less about exploring his abilities as an emissary.

Lydia listened patiently while he complained. It was a call that had lasted all the way across campus, and back to his dorm. She wanted to roll her eyes. For a kid who was curious about everything, Stiles hadn’t shown the slightest interest in learning about the alpha he’d been assigned to.

Stiles complained constantly that he was always around. Which was technically exactly how he was supposed to behave toward his potential mate. Lydia was testing herbal mixtures. Hopefully the small satchels would give Stiles some semblance of privacy or at least get Derek to give Stiles some space.

“You need to read the welcome packet Stiles. It’ll help you adjust to living with a wolf. And come to the party tonight.” Lydia says flipping through her notes. “I’ll introduce you to some guys who definitely won’t say no.”

He keeps glancing at Derek, but Derek’s attention stays on his novel, his thumb, sliding to leisurely turn pages. Derek’s pretending not to listen again, so he decides to be that guy. He refused to stay trapped in whatever game Derek was playing.

“Yeah. I’ll be there. I’m really looking forward to getting dicked down again” Derek doesn’t look up, but Stiles can practically feel the way he pauses in the middle of a page turn.

He hides a smile and goes to brush his teeth.

****

Lydia flits through the party commiserating with her numerous slightly-better-than-facebook acquaintances. They make it to the kitchen with Stiles only being handed three phone numbers and groped four times. He briefly wonders if other potential alpha mates are treated this way and then he remembers that he kinda wants to be treated this way.

Stiles is wearing his best button-up and his sluttiest pair of jeans. He fully intends to end the night with his legs wrapped around someone, anyone. It’s a surprise when they leave the kitchen with their drinks and Stiles is brought up short by the feeling of eyes on him. It only takes him a minute to spot his alpha across the room.

Derek is slouched onto the frat house’s well-worn couch like some kind of artist’s dream. He’s wearing tight black jeans ripped in all the right places and a leather jacket. His gaze starts to heat up as Stiles’ eyes hungrily catalogue every inch of him. Stiles eyes settle on the bulge in the tight jeans and Derek just lets his legs relax open. Stiles’ mouth goes dry and his dick gives a hard twitch.

Stiles does his best to ignore the feeling of the wolf’s eyes on him. It’s annoying that Derek can’t seem to make up his mind about ignoring him.

***

Stiles loses count of how many drinks he’s had and that’s when he gets the best idea. He can feel the wolf’s eyes on him as he moves across the room and one of the frat brothers steps into his space. Price or Preston something. He doesn’t even bother listening to whatever the guy is saying, just steps close and bites his lip.

Preston’s eyes drop to them and immediately his tone changes and he wraps an arm around Stiles’ waist. Stiles grins and runs his hands up Preston’s chest. Preston draws him close.

“I love the way emissaries smell,” he says leaning down and taking a deep breath against the side of his neck. Stiles laughs, because at best he smells like Axe shampoo mixed with a litany of the various herbs they have to learn to mix. It’s not a great combination. He tries to put some distance between him and the wolf, but Preston keeps, pulling him close and grinding against him.

Stiles thinks blearily that he’d like to get laid but not in the middle of a werewolf frat party and definitely not with the guy who thinks Axe and sage are a great combination. He tries to tell Preston this but Preston just keeps rambling on and Stiles’ alcohol soaked brain reminds him in his fourth grade teacher’s voice that it’s important to be polite and listen when people are talking.

This was a bad idea.

He suddenly feels Derek is next to him, and he wants to tell him that he has the prettiest eyes, but Preston is still talking, and he has to keep pretending to listen.

“I need to have a word with my roommate” Derek’s eyes flash as he glances at Stiles before stepping between him and Preston. Stiles watches as Preston stutters and stumbles, like a fan meeting their idol. He tilts his head and drops his shoulders in some parody of submissive behavior. Stiles scoffs and glances around the room. None of the humans are paying attention but all of the wolves are watching them closely.

He watches Derek tilt up Preston’s chin with one wicked black claw. “A Beta should know better” He pulls back his lips in a parody of a smile and shows his long sharp teeth. Preston swallows and raises his hands as if he only just realized he’d been flirting with an Alpha’s future mate. He moves as slowly as he can and backs out of the room one step at a time. Derek watches him until he’s certain the other wolf is gone and turns back to Stiles.

Red begins to seep from behind his irises and his smile turns hard. “I’ll kill anyone who touches you.”

He says it softly, but he’s still showing Stiles his teeth.

Stiles holds his gaze ignoring the little thrill he gets from the way Derek is looking at him. “I’m not your property wolf.”

“You are” Derek responds his eyes fully red. Derek’s hand settles around the back of Stiles’ neck, his thumb just barely brushing against the still-tender mark.

Stiles takes a shuddery breath, unable to break the hold Derek’s possessive gaze has on him. He relaxes his shoulders tilts his head back just slightly. It’s enough of an invitation but Derek doesn’t move to kiss him. Instead, he leans in until his lips against Stiles’ ear.

“Careful who you tease,” he breathes

Stiles shivers, wanting to call out to his alpha. Derek is long gone when he’s finally able to catch his breath.

****

Stiles doesn’t light the herbs Lydia mixed. He was tired of living like some reclusive monk.

He knows that Derek will probably know immediately. He knows the smell of sex could linger but he doesn’t care. He wants Derek to know and he wants Derek to come for him. He imagines the wolf coming home right when he’s just about there. He knows he’d probably run not because of embarrassment if Derek saw him.

He’d run because he knew Derek would chase. He’d run because he wanted to be caught. Stiles lets his imagination free. It’s been a week and he’s tired of caring about Derek’s sensibilities.

It would be a real hunt. Derek would simply stay on his heels nipping at him playfully, claws tearing off bits of his clothes. Stiles would run until he couldn’t breathe and then Derek would show himself. The wolf first. Its sleek black fur would glow under the moon and Stiles would lie back and tilt his chin up.

“Alpha.” He’d whisper, and Derek would take his human form naked and proud under the moon, he’d stare down at Stiles with a cocky grin. He’d enjoy watching Stiles submit to him.

“Stiles,” he’d growl and Stiles’ cock would stand up.

Stile bit into his palm, his fist flying over his cock, the sweet-smelling lotion he used as lube squishing between his fingers and making a lewd sound with every movement of his hand.

Derek’s teeth would sink into him properly this time and claim him, claim him, claim him…

Stiles gasped and came all over his fist.

Fuck. He needed to get laid before this got out of control. Before it got more out of control.

****

“So. Uhhh, about yesterday…”

Stiles is standing awkwardly in front of Derek’s bed. It’s all he’s been able to say for a good five minutes. That and some version of ‘Huuhmn. mn.’ Because Derek is currently shirtless. His feet are hooked into the openings between the bars on the baseboard of his bed and he’s burning through crunches like there’s a delicious zero calorie chocolate cake waiting for him if he hits a thousand.

His eyes skitter around the room because he knows if he keeps his eyes on Derek Hale for more than a few seconds he’ll end up embarrassing himself. He drags his palm from his chest down, just barely remembering to stop before he hits the waist of his jeans. Even he can still smell the lingering scent of sex in the room. He’s almost certain Derek’s lip curls up slightly at this but it’s hard to tell, what with all the sweat and muscles flexing.

It’s another ten minutes before Derek finishes his workout. Stiles completely forgot what he wanted to talk about. He just stands quietly watching Derek’s tight abs. When he manages to meet Derek’s eyes the wolf is glaring at him, and Stiles tries to open a hole in the floor with his mind. He doesn’t try too hard. The power of his will had been known to surprise him from time to time.

The wolf moves around him with a disgusted sniff and heads for the bathroom.

He looks even more annoyed when he exits the shower. It’s a full 3 minutes of Derek staring at the back of his neck before he finally lets himself meet the wolf’s eyes.

“What?” he asks. It’s easy enough to pretend he doesn’t already know. Derek’s kind deeply respects druids, just not Stiles shaped Druids apparently.

“You’re an Alpha-Mate”

Stiles blinks. This is first time since he was marked that Derek brought up the subject. And he sounded kinda… Pissed.

“Sooo….?” Stiles draws the word out to emphasize his confusion.

You. Are. An Alpha's. Mate.” Derek’s words come out a harsh growl that makes Stiles feel cold everywhere. Cold and Embarrassed.

“I’m not the one…”

“I’m not the one throwing myself at every wolf I come across!” Derek snarls.

Stiles cheeks pinken, but he hold’s Derek’s terrible gaze.

“I’m not the one denying my mate.” He says the words as quietly as he can, but they seem to echo loudly in the room once he’s said them.

It’s Derek’s turn to take on color.

Stiles doesn’t regret saying it.

He regrets not following when Derek walks out.

****

Allison and Scott both tell him he’s an idiot. For an hour. And then they make him read the welcome packet. He realizes after his third read-through he might owe Derek an apology.

When he gets back to their room Derek is organizing his herb garden. He keeps arranging them first by name, then color. He clears his throat and Derek pauses but doesn’t turn around.

“Did you know that wolves get really territorial about people they live with? That they only like certain people in their personal space?”

Derek moves from arranging plants to slotting his books into the low bookshelf next to his bed.

“And did you know that a wolf’s mate should probably never throw themselves at other wolves?”

He hears a quiet scoff and Derek finally looks at him over his shoulder.

“You’re asking me, a wolf if I know about wolves?”

Stiles shrugs and continues “Because I didn’t know.” He says stepping up behind him and wrapping his arms around Derek’s waist.

“You should have read the welcome packet Stiles”

Stiles lets out a choked laugh and presses his mouth to the back of Derek’s neck.

“Yeah. I know. It really is full of useful information.”

[keyofjetwolf]

Me too, I was like, "damn, this new video looks savage as hell, what song is this?"

Kelly Reilly as KERRA in BRITANNIA, 1.02

[sebabestianstan101]

Suit and Tie - 003

Pairing: Ceo!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Synopsis: You’re good at your job as the Secretary in The White Wolf Enterprise for years now, with a great set of friends and co-workers and a really hot boss, James Buchanan Barnes. You have a pretty decent work-relationship with him, even if you have to use all of your strength and self-control to not jump on him at every chance you get. Nothing exciting is really going on with your life, until your boss himself decides to spice things up a bit.

Themes throughout the series: Smut, angst, fluff, slight dom!bucky x sub!reader (nothing too crazy..), there’s probably going to be more as the story progresses

Warnings this chapter: Voyeurism, masturbation

SERIES MASTERLIST  Teaser  001  002 

“Oh god, It’s beautiful!” 

Your eyes shine brightly, taking in the heavenly tropical view of vibrant blue water and white sand. You look up to see the bright green palm trees perfectly contrasting with the clear blue skies. The sight is breathtaking and you wonder if this is what heaven looks like. 

Bucky observes you with a soft smile on his face, feeling warm just seeing you so excited and happy. At that moment, he knew he’ll do anything to keep that look on your face. 

“it is, isn’t it?” He agrees with you, but he doesn’t really care about the view you’re referring to. He’s been to Barbados before as well as other countries that looked better than this, but nothing compares to how he saw you. 

While you’re busy looking at the area, Bucky takes the opportunity to really take you in. His eyes travel from your face and down to your body, protected by a white sundress thats still shows a bit of your cleavage from the low neckline, leaving the rest to his imagination. (Which he had imagined, plenty.) 

With the sun kissing your skin, you look divine. He starts to worry that this might be a bad idea; bringing you with him to an island, alone in his beach house wearing the least bit of clothing most fitting for the hot weather. How can he possibly control himself for 4 full days when you look like that? 

He then shows you around his beach house and  to your room which is right across his. Even his house looks so cozy and breezy with the perfect view of the beach. You feel a little bit guilty for feeling so relaxed when you’re really there for work. But you know, it won’t hurt to indulge a little. 

“Thank you, Mr. Barnes. It really is beautiful here.” You smile up at him. In the flight to Barbados in his private jet, you have been working on an upcoming project, and he’s kind enough to make you rest for the whole day. 

“Y/N, call me Bucky. It seems a little unfit for you to call me that in such a relaxing setting.” He grins. 

You chuckle, agreeing with him. Your heart warms at the thought of how casual this is. You have been working with him for years, and you’ve grown close, but nothing really went past the work dynamic. 

The relaxed smile on your face masks the whirl of emotions you’re feeling at how good he looks. The usual suit and tie he wears already makes you go crazy, but this casual, laid-back unbuttoned dress shirt makes you lose it just as much. Maybe even more. 

“Thank you, Bucky.” 

- 

You decided to take a short nap for a while, and you wake up from the sound of knocking. You stretch while checking the time and see that is noon. Bucky is probably calling you for lunch. 

Still a little groggy from your nap, your feet lazily make its way towards the door. You yawn as you open the door and is met with Bucky who smiles at you almost apologetically, knowing that he woke you up. 

“Ooh.. I think I disturbed someone’s sleep.” He lightly teases with an eyebrow raised. You give him a playful glare and roll you eyes. 

“If you weren’t my boss, I would’ve beaten you up.” 

He chuckles, shaking his head, “I hope the good lunch we’re about to have can spare my life, then.” 

The sound of lunch –– a good lunch, made your stomach grumble. Your cheeks heat up and you smile sheepishly at him.

“Uh, I think your timing is perfect.” 

You both make your way to the table and your mouth waters at the sight of the amount of food on the table. There’s almost a little too much for the both of you, and you give Bucky an incredulous look. 

“How many people are you feeding?” You gape at him

 “I wasn’t sure what you’d want so,”  he simply shrugs, and gestures to the food. 

You shake your head, thanking him still, as you take a seat. You mentally remind yourself that this is Bucky’s normal; the same situation with the dress and jewelry he gifted you. He really splurges on extravagant things because he has the capability to, so you can’t really say anything. What you don’t know, however, is that a part of him really just wants to give you what’s best. 

Lunch went well, and you got to see a much more relaxed side of Bucky which you enjoyed. 

He’s a very intimidating man; perhaps it comes with the power and the way he carries himself as a CEO. But once you get to really spend time with him, you experience his charming and humorous side. You start to wonder what other sides of Bucky Barnes you’ll come across in the next few days. 

“By the way,” Bucky stands, grabbing another box sitting on the counter and hands it to you, “we can check out the beach later at sunset. The view is phenomenal; you’d like it for sure.” 

Confused, you questionably eye the box, unsure of what it is for. He’s not giving you more gifts, is he? 

“Bucky... What’s that for?” 

He glances at the box, furrowing his brows before realizing how strange this probably is for you; him handing you a random box midday. 

“Oh right,” he chuckles,”I realized that I didn’t really tell you to pack swimsuits –– maybe you did, I don’t know, but just to be safe I had some ordered for you.” 

You gape at him with a million thoughts running through your head. Your uneasiness must be evident on your face as he looks at you with concern. Just as he was about to ask you if everything was okay, you beat him to it. 

“Bucky... I don’t think I should... I mean you’ve already given me enough these past few days from the dress and this whole thing.” You gesture at the luxurious house. You appreciate his gifts, really, but your overthinking nature gets the hold of this making you feel a little self-conscious. “I’m grateful for these, I can’t thank you enough. I just don’t want you to think that I’m ––” using him? Taking advantage of his wealth? You didn’t know how to exactly word it, but when his eye his soften, you figure that he understands your implication. 

“Y/N,” he says softly, “I admire you for your... humility and politeness, but you don’t have to worry. I want you to accept these, sweetheart, you deserve it.”  

Your heartbeat quickens at the casual nickname he dropped. It sounded so natural, as if he’d been calling you that in the past. Yet again, it’s probably nothing. There are some people who can casually use words of endearment and maybe he’s just one of them. 

“Thank you, Bucky. This is very thoughtful of you.” You shyly smile, still unsure of how to react with such affectionate gestures. You’re not very used to being treated so kindly, given your past toxic relationships. 

That’s my girl, he wants to say, but that would probably be too soon for that. Instead, he nods in approval and that alone was enough to have you preening. 

- 

You get ready to go to the beach while trying to pick the swimsuit to wear. You packed some of yours, but you figure that it would please Bucky if you wear what he had given you. Plus, they were a lot better than what you originally had. 

You can’t help but notice that all of the swimsuits he gave you were white. It’s perfect because white is actually your favorite color. Bucky doesn’t know that yet; he just really likes seeing you in white. The color is so pure and so innocent – perfect for you. 

You ended up picking a white one-piece with crocheted detailing along the neckline down to your chest. It isn’t too revealing, but it hugs your body perfectly and you feel confident wearing it.

Grabbing a cover up, you hear Bucky knock at your door to which you open immediately. A wave of shiver travels down your spine as Bucky moves his eyes along your body. You’re sure that he’s really just admiring his work – the suit on you, so you try not to dwell on it. 

But he isn’t. 

He’s admiring you. Fuck the swimsuit. It looks good on you, of course, but he’ll rather see you without it. 

He clenches his jaw, somehow hoping that it will relieve the tension he’s feeling. He’s aware that he’s basically eye-fucking you, but he can’t bring himself to look away. Unprofessional, maybe, but he doesn’t care. 

Bucky holds on to the last bit of self-control he has, and with all his willpower, clears his throat and looks back at you. Only to see that you’re also checking him out as well. 

He smirks, feeling less guilty as he catches you doing the same. He knows you’re both just practically dancing around each other, waiting to see who’ll break. (He also knows it’s him.) 

“Ready?” 

You glance back at him and you spot that familiar glint in his eye. Is it hunger? Desire? Whatever it is, you hope you can keep your composure. You cannot jeopardize your work, let alone your relationship with him. 

“Let’s go.” 

- 

The beach was incredible. 

What made it even better was seeing your insanely hot boss shirtless. And wet.  

You were so hot and bothered with just the thought of his defined chest and toned muscles against you that the heat of the sun could not compare. 

Your legs unconsciously press together as it tries to alleviate the tingling sensation between them. Your pussy clenches at the thought of him, and you’re so desperate that you can’t even bring it within yourself to be embarrassed. 

Which is why as soon as you reached his beach house, you hurriedly made your way to your bathroom to splash yourself with cold water. You look at yourself in the mirror with a flushed look on your face, unsure if it’s from the sun or your sinful thoughts. 

What’s wrong with you? 

You’ve had many thoughts about him in the past. Literally he has been the star of your imagination when you touch yourself. But this is different. He’s under the same roof as you, and it’s just a little too risky. 

Hearing a door close, you assume that he’s in his room. The sound makes you pause. 

You glance back at the mirror, your bedroom door, then your bed. 

With the pulsating pressure in your pussy, you won’t be surprised if the wetness trickling down your leg is from your own juices and not from the sea water. 

You both haven’t had dinner so you know that he will probably call you to eat. You’re not sure when, so you debate if you should give yourself some relief now or later. 

You clench once again. Clearly, you wouldn’t last that long. Sitting a few feet apart from him with completely drenched underwear is obviously not a good idea. 

Your gaze hardens at your bed before making your way to it. You can make it. You can bring yourself to your own climax fast. Lying down on the soft cool bed, you cover your mouth with your hand to muffle any sound you might make while the other travels down to cup your sex. 

Bucky can call for you any minute now, so you know you don’t have time to edge and tease yourself. You immediately get on it, rubbing fast circles around your clit with an image of Bucky hovering over you. Your hips buckle wildly against your hand, desperate for release. 

You’re so lost in your own thoughts and pleasure that you don’t hear the knocking outside your door. Bucky waits for a few minutes and starts to wonder if you’ve fallen asleep. He gently opens the door, peeking in and –

Holy. Fucking. Shit. 

He stands frozen by the door, eyes wide, knuckles turning white with his hard grip on the door handle. Talk about a great view. 

Bucky knows it’s wrong. He can’t just watch you pleasure yourself, it’s just inappropriate. But again, you make him do things he has never done before. The sight of your hand on your glistening pussy, looking abused with your back arched was phenomenal. His cock twitches his throat dries at the sight that will forever be imprinted on his mind. 

You gasp, eyes opening up at the ceiling as you feel the familiar coil in your belly snap. You shake through your orgasm, trying to keep your hand between as you rub through it. You’re still unaware of Bucky’s presence, too lost in your own pleasure to be aware of your surroundings. 

Bucky tries his absolute best to close the door, but just as soon as he was going to, he heard his name. He freezes, thinking that you caught him. Luckily, he spots a mirror adjacent to the bed and gives him a view of you. Your eyes are now closed, breathing heavily as you reach the end of your high. 

He takes rapid breaths when he realizes that you were fantasizing about him. 

And holy shit does he find that the hottest thing ever. 

He closes the door as he continues to catch his breath, back leaning against the wall right beside your room. For a moment, he finds himself in a daze and forgets how to function. His eyes are screwed  shut as the image of you panting his name while rubbing yourself kept replaying in his mind. 

Bucky doesn’t know how long it’s passed, but he doesn’t even react when you open the door. He’s still breathing heavily as his eyes bore at you, dark and full of lust. 

Your eyes are filled with worry, wondering if something bad happened while you were indulging. You open your mouth to ask him what’s wrong until you catch. a glimpse of his hardened cock through his shorts. 

Oh. 

As if you just haven’t had your release, your pussy clenches at the sight. You’re unsure of how to react. Your mind is spiraling with your hot boss with a painfully hard boner staring at you with lust and hunger. 

The sight is enough to make you rub your legs together, making Bucky groan as he notices the movement. 

Well aren’t you a greedy girl. 

“Buck ––” you gasp when he traps you against the wall, pushing his hips against your front making you buck your own against him. He hisses, closing his eyes at the sensation. 

Heavy breathing fills the hallway. He hovers his lips closely against yours, your eyes flickering at how delicious they look. 

“If you want me to stop, just push me away, Y/N. Please, I need to know.” His voice is strained, trying to keep it together. All he wants to do is rip that swimsuit of yours and fuck you raw against the wall. 

In response, you grind against him once again, making him grip your hips tighter as a warning. 

“Please,” you breathe out, “please, Bucky.” 

“Please what, Darlin’?” His lips trail along your neck, forming goosebumps all over your body. “What is it you want me to do?” 

You let out a moan when he sucks just below your ear. He surely left a mark, but you don’t care. He can do anything and you’d let him. He makes eye contact with you, grinding against your core, urging you to answer him. 

“Whatever you want,” you gasp, “I’m all yours, James.” 

A/N: BITCHASS NEXT CHAPTER IS THE START LOCK UR DOORS AND CLOSE UR BLINDS!!!!!

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[keyofjetwolf]

dude wtf is your problem

Wow am I going to need you to be more specific.

[zebraslovescupcakestoo]

Blush Blush Wish List: New Boy edition.

If you read my wish lists from my previous posts, I did my first as random and a second one about clothing, which one of the clothing wish is coming true slowly, I decided to make a THIRD wish list, based on the Boy/Man bundle. We knew that there will be a new guy coming, plausibly the phone fling winner Poe, so here’s some dream ideas of mine that inspired me.

I will mark a disclaimer right here and now so please read it:

Any thing I write here is MY opinion, MY fantasy and JUST A THEORY. They are NON-canon, not project proof and they’re just fan fic/pic related to Blush Blush.

If you don’t like them or disagree, that’s OK! we can talk about it in the comments or ask box like big girls.

Without further ado, here are my Manimal ideas:

1. Racoon Thief!

I’m staring off with what I already mention on my first and my personal favorite.

I used to read one of the first few books of Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc a few years back and I also watched the old French TV series from the 70′s. I also used to own a film based of him from 2004? and I love it. There is also a 90′s animated series from YTV called Night Hood.

I also noticed that there was a PS2 game with a couple of sequels and a PSVita remake with all the games in one. If you ever played Sly Cooper, this would be a very nice compliment to a legendary Gentlemen Burglar.

I imagine about how the player was on a detective mission, like Cole’s, and he/she stumbles a burglary scene from a bakery store. Player noticed some crumbs leading to an alley and soon find a well dressed racoon... Speaking some French accent, the Gentlemen racoon would explained that since he’s somehow got in a situation that prevents him to go to his ‘job’ he had no choice but to ‘borrow’ until he’s back to normal. With past experiences, you’d tell him that you can help him revert back if he’d promised to pay all of the goodies he has taken from.

I can imagine a Persona 5 references or Lupin the 3rd Easter egg dialogs.

2. Beauty Guru BF!

BEFORE anyone has to say about Jeffree, I’m gonna say HERE that I’ll understand if you don’t like or support him, this is just a reference and ideas.

Now, my second idea for a next Manimal, it would be a beauty guru BF.

Now I would go for someone between Jeffree Star and Kimora Blac. Someone’s that’s very influential, a bit controversial but not that serious and very honest.

So imagine a scenario when the player decided to take a break from streaming and just surfing on Youtube when they came across a makeup review tutorial with a face of an animal. Any animal. Player then clicked it and the animal said:

“Hello everybody and welcome back to my channel! Today, I woke up, got to a mirror... beyoch... The Panda Team, is crazy!!!”

Somehow the player texted on the comments and then sends some pictures that proves you can help him, so he flew from his private jet to meet you!

If this gets canon, let the team know about Jeffree Star and try not to copy him too much like they did with Markiplier.

3. Fashionista Drag Queen BF!

Following from the previous, another LGBT representative would be the man with good fashion taste, RuPaul!

I thought about how the Player would one day be shopping for new clothes and then notice an animal giving out fashion advices. He does admit he’s sadden cause of his physical state, he can’t dress up whatever he’d normally wear.

He’d also would reference from high brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Guicci, random Italian brands, ect... 

Imagine on his semi or full human form, he’d be wearing RuPaul inspired tuxedos or a dress option DLC. 

4. Royalty Prince charming!

I know that on Phone Fling, we have the self proclaimed Arabian Prince Sascha, but think about an EUROPEAN prince!

Imagine Player was doing gardening and then all of a sudden they heard someone complaining.

“Why are they treating me like I am some pet?! I am a PRINCE!”

You notice the ‘Manimal’ and told them your ‘specialty’ after introducing. “So you’d help your prince from this curse? Should we do true love’s first kiss? Fairly well, but you must prove it!”

This could inspire Disney prince references. ;) You take your pick!

5. Native American Boy.

Before I explain, I just want to say that I respect the Natives and they’re are one of the nicest people, I’m just saying as a character perspective.

If you remembered on my first wish list, I asked for more diversities so here’s one of them!

Player was walking in the nature park and decided to take a rest on a table park when they noticed some thrash that some human dumpster fire was too lazy to put it in the thrash so you did. All of a sudden you head someone said thank you. You turned to see the Manimal in question. “It is so nice of you to think conscious about our home environment when you knew you weren’t the one who done it. May the Great Spirits looks on you.”

I kinda lean towards the Eagle or a Bear cause the Wolf is already taken.

I think it would be a nice reminder for a dialog to us about the environment once in a while and also Disney’s Brother Bear.

6. Frank Sinatra the 2nd! Old school but cool!

THIS is probably one of an interesting idea about an ‘old’ soul. It’s kinda like Myx but classier. Swag are for boys, Class are for men.

Remember the Old Looney Tune cartoons? Remember that character Tweety Bird? Yeah, I go with a canary or maybe a yellow-crested cockatoo with this number.

Imagine Player decided to play a mainstream music from their room, when after about a minute in, you hear someone screaming from next door.

“WILL YOU TURN THAT OFF-TUNE BLIP BLOP?! I’M TRYING TO REGAIN MY SINGING SWING!” 

At first you thought it was probably you neighbor, but come to find out, it was a talking bird in a cage. You asked him and he answered. “I just moved in from my relatives and now I’m stuck with feathers instead of a classic bow tie. You said you had experience with this?”

This Manimal would be one of those nerds with bowties and sweaters on shoulder prep boy. He’s more like Frank Sinatra (Pic 1 and 2 with Elvis), Dean Martin or Sammy David Jr. A bit more old fashioned but about the same age as college kids.

Imagine the dialogs would be more like Tweety birds whenever Cole is change in between and had comedy accidents like the cartoons to prevent being his next un-cook chicken nugget!

7. Ancient temple guardian!

If anyone had played Crush Crush, you know about the Suzu bundle in the shop. She’s a white fox spirt that the player had accidentally broke the statue.

Now imagine the same thing, but this time you notice that one of these statues are not the same cause they don’t breathe.

8. Marine surfer/oceanic enthusiast!

Remember when I said there’s no Marine Animals (Yet?) If they do, I hope to see a hot guy who was turned into one while I was just looking at the waves.

Imagine Little Mermaid in a gender swap perspective. He wants to learn about the ocean like Jacque Cousteau and sometimes collects sea shells or old object from the 18th centuries that was from sunken ships.

9. German Soccer coach!

Remember when the German won the soccer tournament from Brazil by 7-1 a few years ago? Now imagine someone from that country that’s the new soccer/football coach for your team.

Player wanted to try a new sport so they go for it, but noticed the coach is a big German Shepperd. He’s Strict, Disciplined and very Passionate.

We need a good doggo for 2021!

10. Eastern Master Chef

I think I saved a nice one for last, but my random card tells me that we need a chef in that game. CC have Bonnibel, we have a Michelin star chef!

I thought about an old school 90′s Iron Chef stars like Chef Hiroyuki Sakai and Chen Kenichi. But this one is from China, where they eat anything with four legs except tables and anything that flies except planes.

Honorary mentions of Gordon Ramsey in the dialogs but he’s too nice and... I want to see someone else besides him.

AND THAT IS IT!!

That’s all I have for Manimal ideas for now. Do you like any of them? Do you have any other ideas? Please tell me of what you think!

[keyofjetwolf]

Me whenever the narrative shoehorns in het romance.

[elejah-wonderland]

Bleeding Love/3

Fanfiction 

Elijah Mikaelson x Elena Gilbert

an AU TVD/TO story

a/n: Thank you so much for reading xoxo

@rissyrapp20 @dendrite-lover @captainshurley @cassienoble2000 @goddessofthunder112 

____

Elijah Mikaelson Mansion

“What happened here?”- Freya Voelkel said as she entered the lounge seeing smashed up furniture everywhere.

“I hated the décor”- Elijah said to the witch-”and if you don’t mind I am not in the mood to talk about any witch business tonight. Up on the first floor, there is a room ready for you.”

"Fine."- the witch said and went up to her room.

Elijah got up, cleaning himself off from the bits of blood stained all over his face All the cuts that were caused by splinters of broken furniture flying around were closed. But that one wound in his heart was not closing. It bled.

How do you live with yourself knowing what you know- Elijah's heart throbbed with pain asking his mind that tried so hard to shut it down. STOOOOOP!!! Elijah's mind shouted back. And the battle of the two continued, not leaving any hostages. His heart was in the infinite turmoil.

He wished he could back in time and stay in the coffin the ancient witches had put him in. Thousands of years he slept in it plagued by hallucinations were nothing compared to the pain he had felt day in day out, seeing Elena and listen to her tears at night, cursing the magic and all it has brought to her. Remembering her sweet lips on his. Her loving smile her eyes shone as they became one. Her dear whispers of love and how she will carry this love forever in her heart.

And then, the words of the witches soothed that pain somewhat-"Saving Elena means saving the balance. The universe. Without her all will become chaos. Evil will be brought back. The doppelganger is essential to destroying it. But she is not all powerful. She will need everyone to stand with her."

Elijah stepped once again into a daydream. Feeling Elena's kisses burning on his lips, in his heart, his very soul. Whatever he tried it was not easy to lessen his heartache. 

****

The next morning

Elena woke up and raising her head up from the pillow  now saw a man sleeping next to her. All that had happened the night before came back in a flash. And the man was not just a random guy she picked up. She made a little mental sigh. The man was Tyler's uncle Mason, who she had a huge crush on when she was sixteen. And now he was there, lying next to her.  She slid out of the bed quietly not to wake the man up and picking up some of her clothes, as well as her phone, she got out of the bedroom pressing the speed-dial with Bonnie's number.

As the witch picked up, Elena, who was now in the living room said in a low voice-

"OMG- you will never believe what I've done"

"Why are you whispering?"- Bonnie asked.

"Because I don't want to wake him up."- Elena said.

"Who is - him?"- Bonnie wondered.

"Mason."- Elena now said.

"What??"- Bonnie couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Elena sighed and then continued-"Yeah- I - slept with Mason. Why did you guys let me drink so much?"

"Nobody could stop you."- Bonnie said-"anyway, how was it?"

"Bonnie!"- Elena was embarrased for some reason.

"Well, I remember you having wild thoughts about him once upon a time"- Bonnie reminded her friend about her mad crush.

"Hot."- Elena then slipped-"but- this like- a no. Big no."

"Why? You're single, he is - I don't know, but I remember Tyler saying that he was engaged but broke it off."

"Oh, please don't remind me of - the possible drama"

"It was just a ONS, so- no big, right?"-Bonnie said-"it happens."

"Yeah- ahm, don't say anything to Caroline, at least not yet."- Elena said.

"Ok."- Bonnie said and now she told the doppelganger that Stefan's brother was also back in town.

"Damon is back?"- Elena now exclaimed aloud.

"Oh, yeah. But I dealt with it."

"What do you mean?"

"We locked him up in the Boarding House."- Bonnie said.

"What is he doing back?"

"He doesn't want to say it, but he has a strange spell on him."- Bonnie replied.

Elena now heard noises from upstairs, which indicated that Mason was awake and so she now said- "Can we talk later?"

"Sure."- Bonnie said hanging up then.

Elena finished preparing the coffee. And not long after, having heard that Mason walked down the stairs met him in the hallway.

"Hey"- he said.

"Hey"- Elena uttered continuing-"I had to like this call, so- I-"

"It's ok."- Mason said-"don't sweat."

Elena nodded a little putting a small awkward  smile on. The silence said it all. It was one of those things. Mason nodded a little, too and said-

"I'll see you around."

"Yeah"- Elena slipped and he turned to open the door, but then he stopped turning to her and said-"I had a great time."

"Yeah?"- Elena suddenly felt flushed.

"Yeah"- Mason replied adding-"Tonight? The Grill?"

Elena gulped and with a small mental sigh replied -” Please don’t get this wrong - ahm- I got so many things going - and - ahm”

“Yes - I get it - but - if you - it was an amazing night and -” - but then Mason stopped it there, as it was clear from the doppelganger’s body looking at the wolf quite tensed up, that this was not gonna go any further.

With a small see ya - slipping their lips, Mason left, and she closed the door behind him.  ran upstairs to take a shower and get dressed. Her priority now was to meet with Bonnie and find out more about Damon returning to Mystic Falls.

■

In the Boarding House, Stefan threw a blood-bag to his brother, who was in his room, spelled so he could not get out.

"How generous of you"- Damon shot sarcasticly at his brother.

"Don't want you to starve."- Stefan said, continuing-

"I thought you would never return to this pitfall of civilization?"

"And I wouldn't if I didn't need a certain witch's help"- Damon said.

"To do what exactly?"- Stefan asked.

"So get this spell off me so I can feed."- Damon said-"Why won't you fucking believe me?"- the vampire now snarled at his brother-"I am sick to death drinking this stale stuff!"

Caroline, who now came up to them, said-

"Seriously, you think we will believe you?"

"Believe it or not. It's the truth."- Damon said.

"Right. And if it is the truth- why do you think Bonnie would unspell you?"- Caroline said.

"Because I might have information about a witch you are looking for called Olivia Mitchell or let's call her by her real name- Liv Parker."- Damon said.

"What are you saying?"- both Caroline and Stefan said in one voice.

It was clear by the way Damon looked at them that he knew something more than they did.

"Not saying anything anymore, but Liv was playing  you all hard."- Damon said and having finished squeezing the last drop of blood out of the bag tossed it at his brother-"She is coming to get your precious friend - the doppelganger."

This last revelation disturbed the vampire and the blonde. Caroline now took her phone out of her jeans and speedialed Bonnie, who now entered Elijah's Mansion.  

¤

Bonnie looked at the phone and now swiped the call off, writing a quick message to Caroline that she will call her back.

"Thank you for coming."- Elijah said to the witch.

"I hate this."- Bonnie said straight out without a greeting-"I don't want to do anything behind Elena's back anymore. I know you don't want to see her because of-"

"Because of?"- Elijah was now puzzled at Bonnie's insinuation. He feared that Elena remembered what had happened in New Orleans.

"Because of all that thing between you two- you know- the sire-bond and everything. Anyway, why couldn't you tell me over the phone?"

Elijah made a silent sight and then called Freya to the lounge, introducing the witches.

"I asked Elijah to call you, because, I - "- Freya sighed a little and then continued-"My aunt belonged to a Traveller coven, until she decided to leave and was killed."

And?- Bonnie's eyes stream at the witch.

"I- can't practice magic. If I do, they will know that I am alive, and they will get me. She left us this box. In it is a key of a tomb in Rome. It is your ancestor Quetsiyah, the witch that initiated the Traveller covens." -

Bonnie now looked at Elijah and then at the witch. The revelations left Bonnie speechless.

"Only the blood of Quetsiyah's descendant can open the tomb. You might find some answers there."

"Rome, Italy?"- Bonnie then said.

"Yes."- Elijah said-"I can have the jet ready to leave as soon as you wish."

"Ok."- Bonnie said-"but first I have to talk to the others. We are in this together from the beginning. And I will tell Elena that you are here."

"There is no need. I was going to call in on her as soon as we finish here. Namely, I am staying here until we deal with the threat."- Elijah said.

"Ok."- Bonnie said and now saying a little bye went to her car, dialling Caroline's number.

Elijah and Freya also left the Mansion.

"You can stay as long as you want to. It is much safer here, even though it doesn't seem like it."- he said to the witch.

"Thank you."- Freya said feeling somewhat relieved.

"Have you found anything out about Gia?"-Elijah then asked.

"Yes. I spoke to her last night. I was going to tell you about her last night. She might be the werewolf with a Traveller witch in her family."

"Might be?"- Elijah said.

"Yeah. There was nothing that I could find for sure."- Freya replied.

"Ok. I will try to find out more."- Elijah then said getting into his car, his thoughts now diverting to Elena. He got his phone out of the suit jacket and dialled the doppelganger's number.

Elena, who was now on her way to the Boarding house, looked at the incoming call and seeing Elijah's name on it, felt like lightning shot right through her. She draw a deep breath and answered the call, playing it cool, but feeling her stomach churn big time-

"Hey. What's up?"

"Hello"- Elijah replied trying also to keep his emotions under control-"When can we meet?"

"Meet?"- Elena said not expecting him to be back in the country, let alone her hometown-"You're in Mystic Falls?"

"I am."- Elijah replied-"there has been some developments."

"Right. Ahm- I am now meeting the guys at the Boarding House. Damon is back. How about you come up there? I guess you got stuff to share- we will all be there. And the house is spelled, so we can talk without anyone listening in on us."

"All right."- Elijah said-"I will meet you there."

With a see you there, they both hung up.

Each in their respective cars now sighed a little, swallowing hard. Elena didn't think she would see him this soon. As for Elijah, it was because of the secret human day he was harbouring from her. As well as the fact that she was moving on with another guy, who he now saw crossing the road in front of him giving Tyler Lockwood a pat on the shoulder.

Elijah pulled up not far from them, and listened to their conversation.

"Where did you end up last night, unc?"- Tyler asked Mason.

"A gentleman never kisses and tells."- Mason answered putting a big smile on-"But I am glad I came home."

"It was that good?"- Tyler said.

"Heaven."- Mason replied and both men now entered the diner.

Elijah drove off, putting the foot on the gas pedal storming out of Laurel Avenue.

The man was a Lockwood. But how did he not know about him? He knew the Lockwood family so well. Elijah tortured himself now more with different thoughts, especially seeing Mason's happy look.

"Pull yourself together! "- he sifted to himself now pulling up in front of the Salvatore Boarding House.

As the meeting with Mystic Fall's Scoobies finished, they all left the study with different excuses, leaving Elena and Elijah on their own. The strange atmosphere that had descended between those two the minute Elijah walked into the Boarding House, and all the time during the meeting, now amplified.

Now they stood there in the room silent for a moment or two.

Elena started first-

"How come you changed - house?"

"It was too remote."- Elijah replied, as the Mansion he lived in when he first arrived in Mystic Falls was on another address.

"Well, yeah, it was."- Elena said-"Ahm, you know, I think you should go with Bonnie to Rome. I will feel better if someone like you is there- if something happens- you know"

Elijah nodded a little, making a mental sigh- thinking now- she wants me out of the way- it figures. Which was so not true. Elena only thought of Bonnie's safety. Her thoughts were too jumbled up at the moment, her heart in terrible mess, still agonising over - why he had kissed her the way he did back in New Orleans. And then also, at the back of her mind she had a strange guilty feeling arise because of sleeping with Mason, even though she and Elijah were not a couple and yet, she felt she had betrayed him.

Elijah now spoke

"Yes, I think it is best if I go with her. You are right."

Silence again descended on them.

Elijah then looked down and then at Elena. It was like he had something more to add, like there was more to say, but more of a different kind, nothing that concerned witch, vampire or hybrid business.

Elena looked back at the vampire, her eyes sparkling at him with love and deep anxious feeling.

"I better go."- Elijah now said with a sad whiff in his voice and turned to walk away.

"Yeah"- Elena said with a deep sigh and with a mixture of sadness and frustration, she now blasted-

”Huh- I hate this"

Elijah gulped turning around perplexed at the last bit said. 

Elena worked up as she was, continued-

"You are walking away - again- and- I know that - this-"

Sighing she paused before continuing-

"this- and- the kiss in NOLA- I mean I don't hate it- I just-"- pausing for a second, both of them looking at one another, the atmosphere now charged up to the hilt-

"Elena"- Elijah started-" I have truly meant to stay away- and I don't want to confuse you- I am sorry that I am - maybe if we have never met- none of this- you would have a life - a different one."- he looked away as now the secret that he was keeping from her shot like a dart straight into his heart. 

"Confusing me? You are not confusing me. You couldn't- I- know what I feel and- if it wasn't for the sire bond- everything would be-  this is why you left, didn't you? I know- and- you say that you are sorry-"

Elijah gulped as he now flashed back to the talk they had in New Orleans. Inside of him everything screamed, wanting so much to tell her about the day, about them, about him having this one human day. And he now wanted to cut her off and in the middle of her ranting he slipped -

 "Elena-"

but she was not letting him speak, as she carried on-

"But- I am not sorry that I met you- I am not sorry that  am in love with you!

Even though this- we are - never going to be-  HUH - "I love you, Elijah!"

Upon this declaration, completely overwhelmed with emotions, Elijah now walked to her pulling her into the sweetest kiss of them all.

"I love you, too, Elena! So much! You don't know how much- But how can I give you anything, a life, family? You know that the sire- bond- your blood is calling me- and I - "

Elijah pulled away from her now, trying hard to suppress the blood craving that his heightened emotions produced.

"I could not live with myself if I'd hurt you- and-"- he gulped-"and he can give you this"

"He?"- Elena now looked at the Original puzzled.

Elijah felt bad that he said what he said, as she looked at him with disappointment kicking at him. The vampire now tried to explain-

"I came by your house last night and- I -"

"You saw me and Mason?!"- Elena now stated.

"Yes."- Elijah uttered and continued-"I - wanted to- see you- talk- tell you that I am back and - well, you know why I've returned."

For some strange reason Elena now needed to explain-"Ha- ok. It was just- last night I- I've been to the Festival at the Lockwood Grounds- which is- irrelevant-"- she now looked at Elijah and breaking the previous thought said-"I am not with Mason. I mean not - well-"- she gulped-"it was this one thing- ok, I don't need to justify myself here-but- there is nothing. And I don't want anything with him. And you know why- because I am not in love with him, Elijah??! I want you. I want my life to be with you."

Elijah felt relieved hearing that she  had no feelings for the werewolf. And hearing her say that she wanted him brought joy to his heart, even though the second later, he and even her faced the harsh reality about them and what would, could be their life together. He now stressed out the burning fact again

"I cannot give you - a family- Elena, and one day you would want one. And- "

"Family? Kids? What are you talking about? How can I have a family with this fucked up supernatural madness always knocking at my door?"- Elena said now trying to reason with him.

"Elena- you - will want someone to make love to you- and I can't - we can't be together like that. This is not the life that you deserve."

"So, you've just told me that you love me and you're breaking up with me? Although - it's not like we ever were a couple, so we could break up."- Elena rambled on she felt tears coming up, her chest tightening with sadness and disappointment.

"Elena, please. How can we make this work?"

"Well, we work on it- every day. We just- do it, because we love each other. And- a witch put a spell on Damon and he can't drink from anyone, so maybe Bonnie or your witches could spell you- and- we can be together."- Elena said.

Elijah looked at her lovingly. And now pulled her into another kiss to what Elena responded even more fervently. Elijah could feel the fire pumping in his blood, taken in by the love flaring all his desires, the same blood now rushing like the hurricane right over all his controls, making him vamp out...

*to be continued*

____

[tabletoptrinketsbyjj]

Trinkets, 7: Interesting baubles, semi magical objects and items touched by mystery.

A 120 piece puzzle in a large oak box, inlaid with jet. The pieces are made from different pieces of rock crystal and quartz, that form an abstract pattern when assembled.

A 7 sided die made from magnetic wood

A badge from a forbidden order of fallen paladins.

A bag of very large hazelnuts.

A belt pouch filled with cleaned sloth claws.

A belt pouch filled with cleaned sloth teeth.

A bit of malleable, red metal that generates constant, soft static noise

A blood-stained set of manacles.

A blue blade shard that hums. If a creature holds the piece for long enough they will start hearing voices that urge him to kill and claim souls for it.

A blue sash cut from perfectly hydrophobic cloth.

---Keep reading for 90 more trinkets.

---Note: The previous 10 items are repeated for easier rolling on a d100.

A 120 piece puzzle in a large oak box, inlaid with jet. The pieces are made from different pieces of rock crystal and quartz, that form an abstract pattern when assembled.

A 7 sided die made from magnetic wood

A badge from a forbidden order of fallen paladins.

A bag of very large hazelnuts.

A belt pouch filled with cleaned sloth claws.

A belt pouch filled with cleaned sloth teeth.

A bit of malleable, red metal that generates constant, soft static noise

A blood-stained set of manacles.

A blue blade shard that hums. If a creature holds the piece for long enough they will start hearing voices that urge him to kill and claim souls for it.

A blue sash cut from perfectly hydrophobic cloth.

A bobbin of thick string with which it is impossible to tie knots

A bone clip inlaid with gold that resembles the teeth of some long dead rat.

A bone ear peg fashioned from the tooth of a desert tiger.

A bottle of clear liquid whose flavor changes to match whatever you most desire

A box of twenty oddly shaped stones in different shades of red that can be used like chalk but never run out

A box of wooden toothpicks that each have a different and sometimes strange flavor

A brass bracelet stolen from a very minor deity, whose holy symbol is etched on the inside of the band.

A bronze insignia of rank from some long-forgotten military force.

A bundle of ripped and torn links from a chain mail vest. They seem to glow with a royal brilliance, but do not emit any actual light.

A cameo pin which displays a woman’s skeletal visage in relief.

A candle that never goes out in high wind and must be deliberately snuffed out.

A cat skull whose shape was warped by fel magic

A ceramic coin minted by a long dead merchant house

A ceramic jar of ointment made from animal fat and various herbs that protects from sunburn or frostbite when smeared on the skin.

A ceramic tile that etches itself with strange markings whenever someone speaks to it

A ceremonial wooden short sword that is bestowed upon gladiators of the nearby kingdom, who won their freedom through combat.

A chunk of a strange green glass. Occasionally dark patterns seem to swirl below its surface.

A cleaned skull of a dire chipmunk

A cleaned skull of a dire squirrel

A clear gemstone that seems to reflect back an oddly distorted view of whoever looks into it.

A clear glass cup that changes the colour of any liquid poured into it. The colour shift randomly but the user can start and stop the shifting at will. The liquid will revert to it’s natural colour five seconds after leaving the glass.

A cloth mask that gives anyone who wears it itchy hives for one hour

A coin of purple metal, etched in strange runes

A coin stamped with the profile of a man that changes each month

A crystal that glows and pulses in time with the heartbeat of anyone holding it

A curious looking pair of goggles with the words “Property of Ice! DON’T TOUCH!” scrawled into the side.

A curved blade fashioned from a jaw-bone designed for cutting fat from meat.

A dagger’s hilt. The pommel is carved in the form of a lion.

A dog skull whose shape was warped by unholy magic

A doll-sized sword of masterwork quality. It is useful as a razorblade.

A dozen small stones in a narrow, tin box that burst with vibrant colours when tossed into a fire

A drum made from animal hide that creates a hollow, echoing sound when struck.

A dwarven iron bracelet inscribed in runic dwarvish “Our bond is that of metal”

A eight-inch length of invisible steel cord

A face mask made from the tanned skin of an orc.

A faded writ of trade from the city-state of Kurn

A feathered arrow embedded in a perpetually frozen potato.

A fire drake scale that is always warm to the touch

A good luck charm bracelet made from the teeth of a giant lizard.

A good luck charm made from the skulls and bones of three small corvids tied together by leather cord. Each has a symbol painted on them - the symbols are life, death, and fortune.

A handful of small metal tiles that taste good but are inedible

A large dried, hollowed gourd filled with dried herbs and vegetables. If an amount of boiling water is poured into the gourd, stirred gently and left to sit for a few minutes, the result is a tasty and nutritious vegetable soup.

A large, tattered flag with silver, green, and black stripes.

A leather eyepatch with a cat’s eye painted on it.

A leather eyepatch with a goat’s eye painted on it.

A leather eyepatch with a stylized eye painted on it.

A leather eyepatch with a wolf’s eye painted on it.

A leather pouch containing a board etched on one side and a dozen coloured pebbles used for a popular local game.

A leather pouch containing a handful of dried beetles. When crushed and added to saliva they make a bright blue pigment.

A leather satchel containing twenty-seven marbles.

A long arrow, with the tip hollow as if it once contained a message.

A map carved onto the back of a piece of hide that seems to show to location of a hidden oasis, however there is what looks like a cloud of smoke and a skull etched beside it.

A mirror made from polished stone. Occasionally when it is used a demonic burning face can be seen staring back out of it.

A mithral key about six inches long.

A model bronze weapon rack with six detachable polearms. Each is three inches long and decorated with a red horse-hair tassel.

A much-loved child’s doll embroidered with gold thread. It’s been through a lot.

A one-foot length of silver cord with both ends neatly cut

A one-inch square of folded black paper that can be unfolded until it becomes a three-foot square of paper

A one-inch tall pewter elf soldier, armed with a shield and longsword; the base reads “4 of 7”.

A pair of bone dice with a different card based gambling game on each side.

A pair of bone dice with a different colour on each side.

A pair of bone dice with a different constellation on each side.

A pair of bone dice with a different type of alcoholic drink on each side.

A pair of bone dice with a different type of sexual position on each side.

A pair of bone dice with the arcane rune of a different school or type of magic on each side.

A pair of bone dice with the holy symbol of a different God on each side.

A pair of bone dice with the symbol of a different melee weapon on each side.

A pair of drum sticks made of oak

A pair of stone dice with the coat of arms of a different noble family on each side.

A palm sized crystal with a face that bears uncanny likeness of whichever creature is currently holding it, etched in its center

A pencil-on-paper schematic of a crossbow-like contraption of tubes, triggers and optics.

A perfectly round black obsidian orb two inches in diameter.

A perpetually wet whetstone.

A piece of crystal that lightly vibrates

A piece of stone on which someone has expertly engraved a portrait of a young man.

A pipe made from the leg bone of an animal. When played it creates a series of high-pitched shrieks.

A portrait of a figure sitting astride one of the Great Desert Worms. The portrait changes over time so the figure resembles whoever possesses it.

A pouch containing dried brown grass that when, smoked it gives off a pungent spicy aroma.

A queen piece from a chess set with a hidden compartment. Inside is a human finger bone.

A scrap of hide engraved with the first half of a child’s nursery rhyme.

A scroll that chronicles the adventures of Zhataru, an infamous thief of legend who vanished mysteriously.

A set of chimes made from hollowed bones. When hung up on a leather cord they make a low whistling sound when the wind hits them right.

A set of colourful glass beads on a silken cord, designed to be worn as hair ornamentation.

A set of leather saddlebags with two concealed pockets inside them.

A set of stone divining tiles used by shaman for foretelling the future.

A set of wood and leather sandals that appear sized for a halfling, gnome or small child.

A signal horn that was made from the twisted shell of a burrowing creature.

A sloth’s tooth on which is etched the image of a halfling village

A small bone statuette taken from the nearby shrine of a minor God of a Random Evil Domain

A small bottle filled with dark sand from the Black Desert

[kakarikoherald]

PATCH NOTES - Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, Nintendo Switch ver. 2.6

Prepare for battle!

Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid for Nintendo Switch just received a new update. Here are the patch notes from the official website!

Major Improvements

CPU AI has been dramatically improved and a CPU Difficulty setting has been added to the Settings menu.

Lord Drakkon’s Throne Room (Story) and Command Center (Story) are now selectable stages.

CPU Difficulty affects Arcade, Story, and Versus (CPU) modes.

CPU AI now moves around and behaves more naturally.

Presentation Improvements

Camera effects improved on Throws, EX Attacks, Swap Strikes, and Supers.

Visual effect and dramatic super pause added to Super activations (i.e., “pre-flash pause”)

Slight character shake effect added to character attacks (during hitpause).

BGM Mode has been added to the Audio Settings menu, with options of Normal and Random (plays any stage BGM, regardless of stage selected).

Bug Fixes

Inflicting a “Super pause” against an incoming character no longer causes erratic behavior. I.e., performing a Super after KO-ing a character no longer causes the next incoming character to ignore Super pause.

Characters/Megazords

All Characters

Fixed a hitbox interaction issue with MZ Ultra activation (meaty throws versus MZ Ultra no longer causes erratic behavior)

Goldar

Goldar Tackle (Forward Special) total frame count increased from 65 to 73 to address a true infinite combo.

Dragon Armor Trini

Jet Rush (Back Special): DAT now becomes projectile invincible on frame 19, down from 45.

Missile Charge (Forward Special) is now cancelable (on hit or block) into Dragon Pound.

Mega Launch (EX Attack): follow-up blasts are now guaranteed to land regardless of distance.

Trini Megabeam (Neutral Special): fixed an issue that caused DAT’s Megabeam to deal excessive block damage.

Ranger Slayer

Pterotumble Attack (EX Attack): fixed an issue with Ranger Slayer’s facing direction in certain situations (now auto-corrects… correctly).

Tommy Oliver

Dragonzord Missile Assault (Super): cinematic startup can no longer be interrupted (“pre-flash” is invincible).

Jason Lee Scott

Forward throw is now cancelable into Triple Slice.

Back Roll (Back Special): each blaster shot is now cancelable into special versions of Triple Slice 2. E.g., back special > special > forward special > forward special.

Cenozoic Blue Ranger

Portal Engine (Super): physics box adjustments to accommodate mid-screen hits.

Cenoball (Assist): durability increased significantly.

Jen Scotts

Fixed an issue where Jen Scotts’s position changed erratically when she’s hit in specific situations.

Standing Medium: hitbox height reduced slightly.

Forecast: Rain (Assist): assist entrance starting position moved forward slightly, making it easier to hit her before she fires her missiles. Assist projectile homing capability reduced slightly.

Time Force Combination (EX Attack): follow-up shots are now guaranteed to land regardless of distance.

Trey of Triforia

Wrath of Pyramidas (Super): cinematic startup can no longer be interrupted (“pre-flash”) is invincible.

Magna Defender

Normal attacks: Magna Defender can now perform Light > Medium > Heavy chains.

Scorpina

Health reduced to 950, down from 1000.

Soulshredder (Back Special follow-up): attack property has been fixed; is no longer an unblockable attack.

TK Sting (Assist): projectiles are now destroyed if their owner (Scorpina) is successfully hit. Each projectile applies 2 points of combo damage scaling, up from 1 each, reducing follow-up combo damage significantly.

Standing Heavy 1: damage reduced to 70, from 80.

Standing Heavy 2: damage reduced to 70, from 80.

Robert “RJ” James

Lunar Cyclone (Super): raw damage reduced from 480 to 450.

Knee Crush (Jumping Special): reduced initial jump height. Decreased total travel range and drop speed. Reduced blockstun from 27 frames to 21 (always jab punishable).

Wolf Crush (Jumping Special follow-up): reduced blockstun from 27 frames to 21 (i.e., punishable with most light attacks).

Standing Light: total damage reduced from 60 to 40.

Standing Medium: total damage reduced from 60 to 40.

Crouching Medium: no longer ignores the juggle limiter.

Standing Light and Standing Medium: now boost the juggle limiter gauge slightly.

Lauren Shiba

Health reduced to 950, down from 1000.

Sakura Strike (Assist): projectiles are now destroyed if their owner (Lauren) is successfully hit.

Standing Medium 1 and 2: added slight juggle limiter penalty.

Crouching Heavy: total damage reduced from 90 to 80. Each hit now applies a point of scaling. Meter gain slightly reduced.

Samurai Fire Detonate reworked

Samurai Symbol Power (Super): damage reduced from 500 to 470.

Hitbox height reduced significantly.

Speed increased significantly.

No longer hits multiple times (now a one-hit crumple, dealing 70 damage). Spawns one vertical butterfly projectile, down from three.

These changes are aimed to make Samurai Fire > Crouching Heavy sequences less oppressive against much of the cast.

[keyofjetwolf]

I completely forgot I sent this. What pure delight.

For future funsies: How does Emily Post suggest welcoming an Evil God possessing her friend?

It is good for us to remember, in situations such as these, that though many are born to Best Society, that it is not simply, in the way of the Continentals, a birthright. Indeed the overt promise of America may be in her assurance that given opportunity, and charm of manner, knowledge of the social mores, and good form of speech, any one individual may be raised to the Best Society. 

If one has made their way to Best Society by the possession of a body which previously inhabited, who are we to imagine this is any more unusual that the sudden wealth of the oilman? 

The Evil God may  be treated as an outsider coming with letters of introduction from a former community, given that one’s former friend proved a welcoming place for the Evil God to enter, and so must approve lightly, at the very least. In this way, you may invite the Evil God to parties and clubs with ladies and gentleman of similar position to one’s friend. 

When making introductions, the social level to ascribe to the Evil God may be difficult to define. While one may find that Gods are above Kings and Presidents, if Kings and Presidents attend the parties at which you are debuting Evil God, it may do well to advise the spectral being not inhabiting your former friend that American social mores dictate this manner of introduction: 

“Mr. President, I have the honor to present Miss Gorblax, formerly of Chicago and the Netherrealm.” 

In all other cases, the basic rule that a woman is never presented to a man may be followed, and the introduction would go thusly: 

“Miss Gorblax, may I present to you the Duke of Overthere.” 

When seating Evil God at a dinner, the situation requires thought, but as hostess, thought in your dinner list should already be of the utmost importance. The same as you would hardly sit two great talkers together to duel as operatic sopranos auditioning for a role, so you would never wish to seat two Evil Gods together, nor risk enmity by seating Evil God next to Father Kelly. Evil God may well enjoy the company of Mr. Ventur Capitalist, or Mrs. Marketing, and a through search of your dinner list will do much to assist Evil God in incorporation with one’s societal rank. 

A housewarming present is considered unnecessary in this situation, and perhaps even gauche, as it may remind Evil God that one’s body for formerly possessed by another, something a bit more worrying in bodies than in homes. 

[i-am-very-very-tired]

I used to be deathly afraid of being outed about my mental-health struggles. What if I got a speeding ticket and ended up on the front page of my local paper? Award-winning writer found with unknown crazy-people prescription pills in car while driving with child!

I could get into a car accident or curse out a waitress at Applebee’s (allegedly) or shoplift a planner from Office Depot (I thought she rang it up!), or someone could see me yell at my kid, who reads while crossing the street. Or I could cut someone off in traffic, go into a Laundromat only for quarters or eat an entire box of Pop-Tarts (allegedly).

No matter what, the meds I take each day and the therapist I see every week would be used as proof: THIS is why she cursed out the waitress at Applebee’s! When, in reality, she was just being a jerk and I was hungry and jet-lagged (allegedly).

So of course, because Stephen Paddock was immediately assumed to be a lone wolf, folks started to think. Well, why would he do this?

Here’s a comment on my Facebook page:

It doesn’t look like this was about racism, religion or politics so mental illness is all that’s left …

I read that and wanted to punch a wall. What sense does that make?! Oh well, no racism or religion or politics. Let’s just call him crazy and be done with it.

First, it’s only been a day. We don’t know everything. We may never know. Why are some of us so sure what his motivation was or was not?

And why is there this undercurrent, this need to throw out mental illness and tie it all up with a neat little bow?

That’s not how mental health works. Like any label, it’s layered and nuanced.

Every few years, the American Psychiatric Association publishes a manual for diagnosing mental disorders. The most recent version is called the DSM-5, and there are over 300 disorders listed. Some we all know and throw out often: Depression! Bipolar! Anxiety! Many we don’t know: functional neurological symptom disorder?

If you look through all of the definitions, you’ll see how ridiculous it is to reach into that grab bag for a random diagnosis for anyone who commits an unspeakable crime.

(And even if we want to brand him a simple, garden-variety psychopath, please note that psychopathy isn’t considered a mental disorder, and even if it were, he doesn’t fit the profile, at least not right now.)

So let’s talk about what mental illness is—and isn’t. No longer can we just envision hospitals and straitjackets and needles and lobotomies. Medication and therapy and alternative medications and exercise and diet and misdiagnoses of all kinds are part of the story. But mass killings? Not necessarily. For a better understanding of the typical mental-health story, you can envision … me.

I’m a resident of what I like to call Crazytown. And my block is a relatively boring place in the neighborhood. I need therapy and meds. Shit can get hectic if I’m not diligent about both. Before finding the right doctors and meds, I was a mess. All in all, pretty simple stuff.

Now let’s talk about you. Or maybe someone you know. Know anyone with insomnia? Alzheimer’s? Maybe someone who is a hoarder or has OCD? Do you know folks who have anxiety or maybe bite their nails? All of those items are in the DSM-5 because mental disorders are multifaceted, and 1 in 5 Americans live here in my city.

All of those people aren’t in the category of Stephen Paddock. Does he live here in Crazytown? Maybe. Are we sure? No.

There are a whole lot of folks who live in my hood who are not shooting up country music concerts. We’re just making sure we get to the pharmacy beforehand so we can spend an hour on Amazon.com trying to find the ultimate travel pill holder.

I get that it’s easy to explain away scary behavior with a catchall like “mental illness.” But it’s ineffective and harmful to those who are trying to cope. If we’re constantly rushing to label every bad guy crazy, it’s especially damning for those struggling to seek help.

Sometimes “normal” people do super-awful things. Like open fire on hapless folks just gathered to listen to some music.

Sometimes “abnormal” people do super-awful things. Like open fire on hapless folks just gathered to listen to some music.

But ultimately, until some facts emerge, it’s simple: Anyone can do awful things—whether they live in my town or not.