#just. just tell me the rule. tell me why it's like this. no don't say 'you don't need to worry about it' PLEASE im drowning

[silentstaresfanficandfanart]

you know this post seems a lil sad to me, cause when I was stuck in a corn maze I only managed to get out because there was an enthusiastic effort amongst everyone in the corn maze to help one another get through it, pointing the way and offering hints and asking questions When I was in the dmv so miserably early the doors hadn't even opened yet people were bringing over big buckets for others to sit on, and when inside there were so many random acts of kindness between the individuals there and silly little interactions that by the time I finally got my driving test done there was an air of kinship in the air and I only got out so quickly because another person realized she'd gotten something wrong paperwork wise and gave me her place in line

And when I hurt my wrist as a kid everyone kindly held open doors for me at every turn When my mom and I got stranded in the middle of no where thanks to a car issue like 5 different people stopped by our car and asked if we were okay, offered to help, (we were waiting for the repair guys or something like that) and warned us "its a bad area so be careful" and yet not once did anything bad happen at all, every person we saw was kind and worried for our wellbeing...(which while that does make me wonder what on earth they were trying to warn us about it did give me the impression at the time that perhaps they just all had some sort of beef with other, but i was a little kid so I wouldnt really know, it seemed to me like it was in fact a much nicer than average area)

When tragedy strikes don't people rush out to help?

When there's a hurricaine, a fire, a tornado, an earthquake, don't neighbors rush to help and protect one another? don't we try to save each other? don't we express heartache and rage when the first response ISINT to help? Why is it that our first response is rage? grief? heartbreak? when the first response to a bad situation is to take advantage of it or to abandon those suffering, or worse yet, to yank them back down?

Because we are social animals Crabs dont likely understand why they cant get out or even that theyre forcing the other crabs to stay in the bucket when they yank and pull, they just think its a way to pull themselves up, they dont have enough going on to grasp how physics works or to be cruel and want others to suffer with them.

Selfishness does exist, but it's not the rule

it's the exception, and we shout and point when it happens.

Of course we notice, because kindness is the rule

do we know the names of every single individual to ever save another human life? let alone to save thousands? Have we memorized the names of heroes who eradicated disease or created safety guidelines or fought for rights and for goodness in this world? Is it not the names of those we revile that we focus on most

telling our children of their crimes?

Why don't we focus more on every hero? Because theres just too many of them, because being a good decent human being is the norm.

Maybe not perfect, maybe even a pretty messed up human being but with a good heart, goodness knows I know a lot of people who while you might not say "thats a great person" you'd also never call them cruel or evil, just that they could use some help or deserve better lives.

I truly believe humans for the most part are good, and I say this without denying the evil exists. I am vividly, horrifically aware of the darkness in this world, but I refuse to let that define our race because to do so would be to excuse those who chose to do the wrong thing.

I believe humans are above all else, defined by the fact we can chose right or wrong. I dont want those who do evil to be the ones who represent us, in my mind or in anyone elses mind

They are the exception to a kinder rule.

this is just a me ramble though , my opinion thats not more valuable than anyone elses, just one I felt like sharing, because maybe it will bring someone some relief...

I used to feel guilty as a child for being human, for being something as horrible as that, and I know maybe some others did or do too

But remember please like mewtwo once said, its not the circumstances of your birth which defines you, but what you do with the gift of life.

we are not evil we are capable of it.

we are not good

we are capable of it.

and we will do both in our lives.

but I have been pleasantly surprised now that I'm older and know more about the world to see that in fact the world isint just like in history books overflowing with grief and pain, and convinced that since everyone said children were naive and unaware, that it must be worse than I could ever imagine

but in fact the world is full of the mundane, and every day normal people go about their lives and chose to be decent to one another and often do much more kindness than we will ever know.

I'm glad we arent crabs in a bucket

i love you all

people are like "if you put crabs in a bucket they can't escape because they keep pulling each other back in, this is called crab bucket mentality and describes why people don't help each other" and never acknowledge that crabs do not naturally occur in buckets, a human with more power had to put them there

[tinfoil-jones]

Jerk Ford AU: Silliness V

If you mean Watchdog Ford by @nowimjustastranger, whom is sometimes called "Guard Dog Ford" Those two aren't friends. They just happen to run into each other a statistically impossible amount of times in the multiverse.

Any and all reports that they've saved each other skin at least once, and hang out sometimes are just rumours spread by their mutual ally (ALLY not friend) the Anti-Ford.

If you mean Guard Ford from the AU by @skeptiql... it's their AU, I'm not imposing on it.

If there is a cosmic security guard out there monitoring the Fordverse, considering that all Jerk Ford does in the multiverse is be a total jerk to everyone and cause trouble (and then get banned from dimensions for the two aforementioned reasons), I imagine reactions to him are typically going to be:

He's not heinous, malicious, or evil, he's just a really big jerk for no good reason.

---

Me and @nowimjustastranger are in the process of proper crossover, don't worry.

In the meantime...

Pre-Weirdmageddon:

Jerk Ford: Watch, this is Stanley. Stanley, this is Watchdog Ford and Lee.

Watchdog Ford: ...

Lee: ...

Stan: Well heya pal. It's nice to see Stanford's made more friends! I knew he had it in him to be nice and compassionate.

Jerk Ford: Stanley, I swear to God.

Watchdog Ford:...You're-

Lee: You're tall.

Stan: *looks between Watchdog Ford and Jerk Ford in an exaggerated up-and-down to annoy his brother*

Stan: *to Watchdog Ford* So are you.

Lee: *grinning* Oh, we're going to get along just fine. Let's chat.

---

Watchdog Ford: You... You aren't suffering?

Stan: If you don't call grading two hundred student assignments without assistance suffering, then sure.

Lee: ...nothings wrong?

Stan: Right now, no. I did miss my brother for the thirty years he was gone. It wasn't easy... the townsfolk truly believed I murdered him, and thought that was a good thing. And then acted like I was wrong for missing him.

Lee: So everything went okay for you?

Stan: I don't know what to tell you, pal- excluding not having Stanford in my life for thirty years and the issues that comes with that, things are going fine. If I'm having trouble I can just ask someone for help, and if I have problems emotionally I have friends and family that would lend me an ear or two. Also, I am medicated and seeing a therapist for stuff.

Lee: ...

Meanwhile Jerk Ford is in the corner sipping from his #1 Big Brother mug, and Watchdog Ford gets suspiciously misty eyed.

[Dialogue primarily by @tearosepedall]

---

It's a misconception at that Jerk Ford does not experience empathy (or at least not any for anyone besides his twin brother). This misconception is one of the reasons why The Ford Hate Club is always tripped up by him - they don't understand him. They think he's unfeeling with little to no emotional intelligence.

He has a surprising amount of empathy, you can see in this post he even says that most other Fords do not hate their Stanley, what they really have is resentment.

Jerk Ford just uses that empathy to know how to get under peoples skin and really hurt their feelings. Can't hurt feelings very well if you don't know what they are or how they work!

What he does lack is compassion, as in he doesn't help, support, or uplift people. That's a Stanley thing.

---

Jerk Ford: Your attack misses.

Dipper: Misses?! With my bonuses I had a total of twenty-three to hit!

Jerk Ford: That doesn't even touch the monsters THAC0.

Dipper: THAC0? Great Uncle Ford, 3.5 Edition is over! It's armour class now!

Jerk Ford: I'm the DM, and I rule your attack misses.

Dipper: *flips the battlemap, forgetting that the infinity dice is there*

---

Jerk Ford had such a bad habit of getting engrossed into his research and study that he would overlook things like finances (and showering). Stanley managed the finances between himself and and his brother, and he did send money back to the family, not millions but it was something.

Jerk Ford also had most of the money because he had his grant, and also a few patents, but Jerk Ford only cared about anamolies and terrorizing humanity so money wasn't something he thought about very much as long as their basic needs were being met.

When he lived back in Glass Shard Beach with his family, however...

"We should go graffiti Pines Pawns."

"Hell no, dude."

"What, you scared of Old Man Pines?"

"Forget Old Man Pines, don't know know what his son did to Crampelter? We don't need to be on his sh*t list."

[thekirammanjinx]

This person is an idiot(don't argue with idiots) but let's examine their "points".

Imagine, just for a minute, saying that she doesn't need to be held accountable as much as caitlyn? Jinx age by the end of s1 is also kind of ambiguous, but that's not the point.

Jinx literally, of her own free will and choice, uses lethal bombs on several enforcers, bombed the council, and killed several firelights amongst other crimes. Now tell me why she should not be held accountable for all these actions? Tell me? Jinx literally commits acts of terrorism. Attacks piltovers highest capital building, a sign of war.

And if we are speaking on juveniles and the legal system, they are tried as adults all the time, because you need to look at the atrocities of their crimes. Be so fucking for real. That "argument" is not a flex. Juveniles don't exist to get away with multiple counts of murder and terrorism. But okay.

We need to take into account their actions and the circumstances of them. Caitlyn gassing a group of individuals who are oppressing and doing harm onto their own people? No one is excusing the use of gassing but yall twist the narrative and ignore key points so much.

Chembarons, a group of people who do not care who pays the price of shimmer. The way shimmer has been forced upon zaun and created turf wars and deaths and so much harm. Like do people not understand shimmer, the chembarons and the firelights? Or the usual; pureposefully obtuse about it??

"Power imbalance" bro please stfu. Jinx and Ekko do have a power imbalance in s1, just because they are of the same class doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Ekko and the firelights have been stuck and forced to operate behind closed doors because of silco and jinx.

Silco and jinx are top of the food chain, they take advantage of zaun, they make sure zaunites stay underneath their ruling. They use enforcers to continue this, to give zaunites an enemy to take the spotlight off themselves.

Timebomb was basically nonexistent. Not just under developed.

Jinx does not reconcile the pain she caused zaun and ekko. "They reached a common ground" because ekko was made to just brush that shit off and they had a war to fight. Like what?

Caitlyn being of a higher class, yes it gives her more opportunities, but she doesn't use this against vi. She doesn't use it to lord herself over vi. Mentally and emotionally they're on the same level.

Imagine saying someone can't ever get with someone in a higher tax bracket than themselves? Like that argument is so weak because it never accounts for their actual dynamic with each other. You sound classist when you make that point.

Vi is never totally dependent on caitlyn and the show never makes that assumption. You do because you view vi as someone incapable of taking care of herself. At the end of act 1, we see they go their separate ways, vi didn't have anywhere to go then, but she FINDS and MAKES her own way.

Vi and Caitlyn hold each other accountable. The most important thing in a relationship is the mental level that both people are on.

[h0efor2ho]

Mingi X Reader

WC : 1.5K

TW : Mingi is a whiny princess, Begging, Unprotected sex ( wrap it up ) P In V, Vulgar language, Oral ( slightly for .2 secs )

Part of the : Who's a Dom, Sub or Switch head cannon

Your eyes open a crack, revealing the pale light streaming into the window across from you. Glancing at your clock you see the ungodly hour in bright neon numbers, telling you it wasn't your alarm that woke you. A moment later your silent question is answered when you feel the hard length that is your boyfriends pushing up against your ass. "Really? its 5am"

"Oh you're awake" he breaths out into your neck. "I am now" you whine back as he hugs you tightly, pulling you up against him and his hard body. "Since your already up" he says, his hips pushing forward into you "can you ride my cock baby please I woke up so hard" He pushes into your backside again as to get his point across. "Mingi, you wake up hard almost every morning" you retort back as you roll over to face him. His big chocolate eyes gazing down at you, lips pushed into a pout as he pleads. "please baby, your the reason why I do to begin with"

"Mingiiiiii its so early" you whine as you lay back to look up at the ceiling. You feel the covered shift, being pulled low. "But babe, look how hard you have me" he says mater of factly. When you look over what you didn't expect to see was your boy friend with his sleep plans pulled down around his thighs and his hand wrapped around the base of his impressive length. "Pretty please babe, you know you want to. You know how much you love when I shove my cock in you" you cant help the audible gulp that happens when you swallow because he is not wrong. 

This happens almost every morning. He wakes up hard, you tell him not now, and then he begs and you don't know what it is about this giant 6ft tall man begging and whining like a little baby that gets you going but it does and you give in every time. Just like you are right now as your hand is replacing his, barley able to circle his cock, slowly starting to slide up his shaft. "Is this what you want Min' ?" you ask as you get up onto your knees, looming over him. Leaning down placing a gentle kiss to his lips as he shakes his head yes. "You want me to touch you" you ask, your lips ghosting over his lips. "Please" he whispers, pushing his hips up into your touch. "Ahh" you slow your hand "You know the rules baby"

Climbing on him, you straddle his thighs and slot your core up against his hard shaft. You're, well his t-shirt you were sleeping in, riding up exposing your wet center to him. "Are you going to be a good boy for me Min?" you ask as your hand starts up again, slowly jerking him off. "Yes, I'll be good, just please sit on my cock already. Need it please baby" You grind yourself down against his thigh as you tighten your grip on him, the little gasp that leaves his lips brings a smile to yours. "Please baby, please just need you to sit on me. Need to feel you gripping me" 

You watch as the bead of pre forms on the tip of his pretty cock. You lock eyes with him as you slid back and lower yourself. Ever so slowly you sticking your tongue out and swipe it over the tip, licking away the warm liquid. The sound that comes from deep in Mingis chest goes right to your core. "Please" he pants out "Please need you" "You beg so pretty for me baby" you say as you kiss your way back up his body. Slowly you lift your hips and position yourself over his leaking tip. With agonizingly slow movements you lower yourself, feeling the tip push past your entrance and past the first ring of muscles. 

His hands fly to your hips, gripping them tightly trying to control himself. Your hands are planted firmly on his chest, your thighs screaming as they hold you're body up, slowly lowering you into his hard shaft "Fuckkk baby" he whines out when he is half way inside you. "Feel so good Min" you breathe out as you sink down "Always feel so good in me"  You have to give both of you a moment when you finally reach his base. No matter how many times you take him it is always a tight fit. His hands unclench before gripping your hips again hard. You'll have more bruises for sure. "Feel so good around me" he breaths out making you smile. 

Slowly you start to rock your hips. Forward then back, forward then back. Leaning on his chest, helping you with your leverage as you start to slowly slide your stretched out opening up and down his cock. You're so wet, you slide so easily. "Yes baby, that's it ride me" he whispers as his hands help you pick up motion. It's not long before you're using your thighs to fully lift yourself up till you slide to the tip of his cock before you slam back down again. 

Mingi bunches up your shift, helping you life it over your head. His eyes fixated on your chest as your breasts bounce up and down with each motion. One hand coming up to pinch and pull your nipple. You let out a gasp at the sensation, your cunt squeezing his cock on the downward slide. "Fuck yes" he moans "Your always so sensitive, love feeling you squeeze me so tight. More please" he begs as his other hand reaches down to where the two of you join. His thumb sliding along your folds as you slide up on his shaft before quickly finding your clit.

At this point his hips are meeting you thrust for thrust. You know it won't be long before he blows inside of you. His thumb rubbing tight circles on your bundle of nerves as his other hand moves to your other nipple showing it the same attention he did the other. "God please I'm close baby. Cum on my cock. Please want to feel you grip me so tight" His filthy word spur you on as you continue to slam yourself down. "fuck, fuck, fuck" he chants with each swipe of his finger on your clit. "Please more, I need more. You feel so good"

The room filled with your moans, his begs and the wet sound of your bodies clashing together. "Fuck Min' gonna cum" you moan out as you feel the heat in your lower stomach. That tell tale band fighting with each swipe of his skilled fingers. "Yes please cum baby, cum on my cock" His hips full on thrusting into you at this point. With a few more pressured swipes of his finger you slam down on his cock. The heat in your stock erupting as your tight walls grip him in a vice grip.

"FUCKKKK" you cry out as your orgasm washes over you. Mingis hands now gripping your hips as his own still pushing up into you, sending shuttering sock waves through you as you come down. "Yes, Yes baby thank you, fuck" he groans. His pumps becoming more erratic as he reaches the edge. "Please can I cum" he asks "Please, please, please" he whines out as he continues to jack hammer his cock up into your spent hole. "Fuck yes Min' be good and cum in me" you breathe out. That's all its takes for him to vault himself over the edge. 

A strangled cry leaves him throat as his pushes up and then his whole body locks. His abs flexed, arms gripping you tight as you feel his cock pulsing inside of you as he fills you with rope after rope of his hot sticky cum. After a few moments his body relaxes. His hands drifting from your hips up over your back and pulling you down to his spend body. Kissing the top of your head as he holds you against his heaving chest. "Thank you, thank you baby" he coos into the top of your head. 

You slowly lift your hips, wincing at the pain as you slide off his cock before settling back next to him. You can feel your release's coating the inside of your thighs already. You shift onto your back before looking over at Mingi. He's looking back at you with those big brown eyes you love to much. "Was it good" he asks "Was I good for you" A small smile plays on your lips as you open your arms. 

"Always good for me Min'" you say as your boyfriend clings to your body, wrapping his arms around you, his head resting on your chest, using your boobs as pillows. You hear him let out a content sigh as your hand treads in his hair. "Let's go back to sleep" he yawns out "After all it is so early in the morning" You cant help but laugh as his arms tighten on you before closing your eyes. If only people could see that your "big scary" boyfriend was in fact the worlds biggest pillow princess. 

Dividers by @saradika-graphics

[shadowmaat]

This is all good information to consider, and the perspective of fostering as opposed to adopting would be a good one to explore more in depth.

While I agree that Din's role was "take care of the kid til I find the right people to raise him," and that this shares a lot in common with fostering, it obviously isn't a traditional set-up. There's no Agency to act as a middleman. No Agency to keep track of records and information. There's just Din.

And that's why I think the handover scene fell apart. Sure, from a cinematic perspective it's all cool and mysterious and brief. Luke swoops in, saves the day, and takes the kid.

But from a realism perspective I think exchanging names and comm codes would be the very least they could do. Even if Din fully plans on never seeing Grogu again. Even if Luke intends to raise and train Grogu in the ways of the Jedi. There are still likely to be questions Luke might need to ask. Does Grogu have any allergies? What's his vaccination status? He's telling me you let him eat five frogs for dessert, and he's so convinced of this I can't tell if he's lying. Is he?

Sure, Luke can get some information direct from Grogu, but he's limited both by what Grogu knows and what Grogu believes. Having another perspective would be useful.

Also, just because a kid gets adopted or goes back to their "real" family doesn't mean the foster parent has to sever all contact forever. That's something that usually gets worked out between the parties. By talking.

It was blatantly obvious that Din and Grogu shared a bond. The least Luke could have done was toss out a breadcrumb. Or explain why he didn't want to maintain contact. Telling Din (and Grogu) that Grogu needs to concentrate on his studies and can't afford any distractions would be a good one. Warning them that their bond is in danger of becoming a threat to them both and everyone around them (as evidenced by Grogu's misguided attempt to strangle Cara) would be great, too, and would emphasize the need for a permanent separation.

Otherwise I don't see the point of implying they'll never be allowed to see each other again. I could get behind a moratorium of, say, a year, to allow Luke to work with Grogu to strengthen his shielding and skills and so forth so that he'll know how to control himself, his emotions, and his bond with Din so that there won't be any danger in a visit/return. But permanent? Why? Canon Jedi lore is a bit of a nightmare to try and parse, but given that Jedi were allowed to go "home" to learn more of their culture, I think there's at least some wiggle room. It could also vary from person to person, rather than being a Temple-wide mandate. Not that it should matter since Luke is doing his own thing and isn't bound by whatever came before.

Anyway! I don't believe Luke "stole" Grogu. That's Sith propaganda right there. I do, however, think things could have been handled better. Even if TPTB hadn't handled it in the moment (and thus ruined all the dramatic tension), there could have been a filler scene showing Din and Luke (or more likely Din and Ahsoka) setting up some ground rules and going over some of the basics of the Care and Feeding of a Tiny Chaos Gremlin.

Favreau really said that Luke Fucking Skywalker is a baby snatcher. The ONE GUY who has never given a single blessed fuck about the jedi attachment rules. He would STEAL A BABY without bothering to leave a name or number to keep in touch with the baby’s dad.

[cocosparkel]

anything with hermes please

All For You

(Hermes x princess!reader)

Summary:You are the sole daughter to a king in ancient Greece. What will you do when Hermes gives you an irresistible offer ?

Warnings: none

Word count: 636

Story tags: fluff ______________________________________________________________

You sighed as you flung yourself on to your bed. Being a princess may seem like a perfect life to everyone, but all you wanted was a little freedom.

Being the youngest daughter of the king with 3 older brothers, you were heavily pampered, and looked after like you were still a baby.

While this was nice at times, there were instances where all you wanted was for your family to let you make your own choice.

Just a few minutes ago, you had walked in on your father and your eldest brother planning on marrying you off to some prince. You had argued with them, and your father sent you to your room and forbade you to leave.

Honestly, all you wanted is to travel the world, explore the places your brothers and father had told you about. You wanted to sail through uncharted waters, and discover new places. But, being a woman seemed to be the problem here.

“Why so sad, darling ?” A mischievous voice said, and you looked up to find Hermes.

You scrambled out of your bed, “Hermes ?”He grinned, his wings fluttering as he floated to her.

“Do you know anyone else as handsome as me ?”

Laughing, you shake your head. “I thought you wouldn't be able to visit today ?”

Hermes was one of your best kept secrets. You had met him almost 2 years ago, by accident, and after that, you kept seeing him everywhere. It wasn't too long before your tentative friendship turned into something more.

“Can you blame me for wanting a break from my extremely tedious job ?" He said.

You rolled your eyes at that, but smiled nevertheless. “No, I guess I can't.”

“Well, tell me, my sweet princess, who do I have to blame for that frown on your pretty little face ?”

You could feel your cheeks turn red at his subtle flirting, as you stammered out a reply, “Father wants me to marry some prince..”

His face fell slightly,“I see.”

“But I don't want to marry him,” You blurted out.

“Oh ?” Hermes murmured, an unreadable expression on his face. “And why is that ?”

“I-I want to travel the world, I want to see every corner of the world and meet new people, learn about their culture, and-” she stopped suddenly, seeing the smile on Hermes’ face. “Sorry, I was rambling again… It's just that if I marry a prince.. I'll never be able to do that.”

“No no, it's fine.” He said, plopping down on her bed next to her, as they lapsed into a comfortable silence.

You bit your lip, stopping youself from saying how he was one of the reasons you didn't want to marry that prince, or any prince for that matter.

“You know, I could take you around the world.” Hermes said, suddenly standing up.

He looked at you, a strange intensity in his eyes.“Wherever it is you want to go, I can take you.”

You blinked, taken aback. “What ? Why ?”

He looked away, “I’d do anything for you, princess, if it means I get to have you for myself.”

You swallowed, shocked. Your thoughts were racing, was this his way of saying he wants you in a romantic way…?

“How ?” You asked.

He pulled you up with him.“You don't have to worry about it darling.” He said winking at you.

You still weren't convinced. Seeing your hesitation, he sighed.

“Don't you trust me ?” he asked with a small pout.

“I do.” You said without missing a beat.

His smile grew wider, “In that case, what are you waiting for?”

Giggling slightly, you hold his hand,and he pulls you towards him, before lifting you bridal style, leaving you a blushing mess.

“Ready princess ?” He asked, the glint in his eyes making you feel excited and apprehensive.

______________________________________________________________

A/N :

Hope you like this, your request was kind of vague, so I did this first.

(rules for requesting)

[kingdom-of-sins]

hii how do u think the fourth wing boys would react to finding out your dragons are mated? 👀 (pls pls include aaric?)

(I have only read till half of IF so forgive me if something doesn't align with the characters)

Ridoc: You both are first year and this guy has been flirting with you from the moment he saw you cross the parapet. You were a challenge to him and you enjoyed the game as well. You both made a bet that if both of you survive thrashing and bond with dragons there will be some serious celebration which will not involve any clothes. Imagine Ridoc surprised, happy, horny, confused at the same time. That's how he was when you both found out your dragons are mates, and the celebration certainly happened sooner because both your dragons started "celebrating" as well. Ridoc is especially happy about the connection he has with you now...sending "wild" thoughts in the middle of a series class or the continuous mental fighting. He also pouted an entire day when he realized you successfully learned to shield your mind and used it against him, but luckily for him he knows how to get your shield down. Ridoc is also very grateful that his dragon prefers to stay with his mate all the time.

Liam: Okay for this I have an entire scenario in my head. You as the daughter of the king but you hid your identity well and no one in that death hole war college knows who you really are, except for violet. You and Liam have fought each other during training, obviously Liam always winning and ending up on top of you. The subtle flirting and caring could almost go unnoticed, but still enough to make both your hearts crave something more. But you know you have to stay away from the marked ones and can't develop feelings for any of them, maybe that's why you sometimes act rude towards him just when things start to get a little more than a mere friendship. After the threshing, Liam immediately figured out that both your dragons are mate (Xaden helped him). But you couldn't figure out what's going on, and let's just say your dragon has a mischievous side and is enjoying your confusion and frustration. Liam's has suddenly developed an urge to be with you all the time (not really, he felt this way before but the dragons gave him a good reason now). Because of the bond Liam soon found out your true identity, maybe he read your mind or his dragon told him because your dragon can't keep a single secret from his mate. Out of loyalty Liam told Xaden and it became a whole mess. A big fight happen between you and Liam and at that moment both your dragons thought it would be funny to hook up. So all that emotions let to angry hate sex with you and Liam. A marked one and the princess. The hate sex didn't last long and it soon turned into something more passionate and emotional. The next day Liam happily sat next to his dragon as he watch you scold your dragon for getting horny at the worst time possible. You still have a lot to get used to but you don't regret your time with Liam. Liam thinks its the best thing that has happened to him.

Imagine Liam using his signet to watch you when you are a little bit far away. Imagine his love sick smile and everyone is like "what's he smiling about?"

Bodhi: You being a first year and Bodhi a third year. Bodhi was not expecting you to bond with his dragon's mate, especially when everyone knows your dragon has an attitude and is very picky. Bodhi was literally going "no no no" when he was observing the thrashing and his dragon is like "my mate choose well, she is pretty and strong". Up until then Bodhi never really care about you but now suddenly there is this big twist. Imagine you are one of those people who thinks that rules should always be followed, it certainly doesn't work when Bodhi is literally part of the rebellion. So what does Bodhi do? Get you in trouble first which could get you kicked out or worse, and then tell you that your dragons are mates. It's the only idea he can come up with in short time to protect the rebellion and to make sure you don't do blabbing away, not that you were ever going to because even though you follow rules you know what is wrong and what is right. Your dragon doesn't like Bodhi much but tolerate him because of his mate. Bodhi's dragon however adore you. When your dragon started mating you stay away far away from Bodhi, maybe even seek the comfort of another and lets just say Bodhi has a hard time hiding his jealousy, especially when his own dragon is also jealous on his behalf

Garrick: "I am fucked" That's the words that came out of Garrick's mouth when he realized you bonded with his dragon's mate. And why he reacted that way? Because you two hooked up shortly after you started your first year and he ended things because you caught feelings and he didn't, at least that's what he believe. Now it didn't take you long to move on (that's what he believes) but he is certain that this new change between you two will make everything more complicated. Garrick trying to explain you the enter thing, mated dragons, him and you never going to happen and all that. He was kind of disappointed when you only replied "cool". He can hear his dragon laughing with its mate about the entire situation. The fact that you are so chill about all this made him even more frustrated and he just keeps lying to himself that the frustration is because your dragons are about to "mate" again, and you are like "then why am i not feeling it?" and just walk away. You will be in hell before you let yourself catch feeling again, and Garrick is terribly regretting not giving you his heart when you first confessed. "I am fucked", and his dragon is like "yes you are and me and my mate are enjoying this". The direct mental link is another thing that has disrupted his entire life when you just simply indifferent to him and flirt and hook up with others. And when you learned to shield your mind Garrick was losing it. He can't even imagine not able to have the constant connection with you, but of course he tried his best to hide it

Dain: Yeah this guy felt like he lost all control when you bonded with his dragon's mate. "is that even possible?" he is in complete disbelief. But he immediately, like second later after the thrashing, got extra protective. Maybe you two knew each other from childhood, maybe you two were friends, or maybe you were never able to tolerate him. But now your life is tied to him in the most annoying dramatic way. Instead of trying to teach you to protect yourself and fight Dain is like "maybe you and your dragon should sit this one out", and like hell you are going to listen to him. It's an endless cycle of you getting on Dain's nerve and Dani getting on your nerves while both your dragons are hopelessly cheesy romantic. But like imagine Dain slowly realizing he can't always ask you to step back and not like you ever listen so he trains you. You are not happy but accept his offer. "but if you touch me without gloves i will chop you hands into tiny tiny pieces, fry them in hot oil and feed it to my dragon." Dain just roll his eyes and is like "do you always have to be so violent?"

Aaric: His real identity was revealed to you the day you bonded with your dragon. Aaric was somewhat chill about it but he had to calm you down because you are one of the marked ones and he is the king's son. There may have been some hurtful words from you side but he is just calm and let you work you emotions out. And then came the mind talking thing. "get out of my head" "i didn't even realize i was in...okay okay, i am getting out...i think we are never getting out of this." It's almost unbelievable how fast your friendship developed after this. Sure there is always something more than friendship between you two but you both have mission but Aaric always tell you "I think you will be happier with someone else" and it always confuses you because you have no idea what his signet is

Jack FUCKING Barlowe: Okay but imagine his dragon choose him because you bonded with your dragon first and his dragon is somewhat unhealthily attached to your dragon, just like Jack has an unhealthy infatuation with you. It's not a typical mate thing but there is something and its kind of scary. The type of scary that you always feel in you bones but it send chills but also a strange comfort of knowing he wont hurt you. Jack was grinning like a maniac when he realized his dragon is your dragon's "mate". Since that moment onwards your mind was never safe and you were never alone.

I didn't add Xaden because we already know how he reacts and I don't think i can write something different for him

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Petard (Part II)

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/31/the-blood-speech/#dudeface-from-chiapas

Biden's FCC unanimously passed a rules banning landlords from accepting kickbacks to force all their tenants to use one ISP as a rental condition. Last week, Trump's FCC boss Brendan Carr (who voted for the rule just last year) killed it, saying that he was sticking up for tenants, who would somehow save money from this sleazy arrangement:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/fcc-chair-nixes-plan-to-boost-broadband-competition-in-apartment-buildings/

In some ways, this is to be expected. The Trump agenda is about trussing and plating working people so rich sociopaths can conveniently devour them whole. On the other hand, this move lays bare the long-run historical phenomena that led to this moment. Case in point: back in 2013, I wrote a sf story about this very subject, Petard, which was published in MIT Tech Review's 2014 anthology Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Bruce Sterling:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535595/twelve-tomorrows-2014/

I love that story, and upon re-reading it, I realized that it was extremely timely. So timely, in fact, that I decided to serialize it over four days on my newsletter. If you're feeling impatient, you can tune into a four-part podcast version from 2014 and 2018:

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_278

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_292

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_293

https://archive.org/details/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_294_-_Petard_04

Here's part one of the story:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/30/landlord-telco-industrial-complex/#part-one

And now, onto part two!

My advisor is named Andronicus Andronicus Niyazov, and her parents had a sense of humor, clearly. She founded the Networks That Change lab three years ago after she fled Kazakhstan one step ahead of Gulnara's death-squad, but they say that she still provides material aid to the army of babushkas that underwent forced sterilization under old man Karimov's brutal regime. Her husband, Arzu, lost an eye in Gezi. They're kind of a twitter uprising power-couple.

I'm the only undergrad in the lab, and the grad students were slathering at the thought of having a bottle-washing dogsbody in residence. Someone to clean out the spam filters, lexically normalize the grant proposals, deworm the Internet of Things, get the limescale out of the espresso machine, and defragment the lab's prodigious store of detritus, kipple and moop.

Two days after telling them all where they could stick it, I got a meeting in AA's cube.

"Sit down, Lukasz," she said. My birth certificate read "Lucas," but I relished the extra consonants. I perched on a tensegrity chair that had been someone grad student's laser-cutter thesis project. It creaked like a haunted attic and its white acrylic struts were grubby as a snowbank a day after the salting trucks. AA's chair was patched with steeltape, huge black cocoony gobs of it. And it still creaked.

I waited patiently. My drop was in my overalls' marsupial pouch, and I stuffed my hands in there, curling my fingers around it and kneading it. It comforted me. AA closed the door.

"Do you know why my lab doesn't have any undergrads?" she asked.

I gave it another moment to test for rhetoricalness, timed out, then gave it a shot. "You don't want to screw around with getting someone up to speed. You want to get the wo rk done."

"Don't be stupid. Grad students need as much hand-holding as undergrads. No, it's because undergrads are full of the dramas. And the dramas are not good for getting the work done."

"Andronicus," I said, "I'm not the one you should be talking to –" I felt a flush creeping up my neck — "they –"

She fixed me with a look that froze my tongue and dried the spit in my mouth. "I spent four years in Dolinka prison in Kazakhstan. Three of my cellmates committed suicide. One of them bled out on me from the top bunk while I slept. I woke covered in her blood.." She looked at her screen, snagged her attention on it, ignored me for a minute while she typed furiously. Turned back. "What did your labmates do, Lukasz, that you would like to talk to me about?"

"Nothing," I mumbled. I hated being dismissed like this. Of course she could trump anything I was inclined to complain about. But it was so… invalidating.

"Never forget that there is blood in the world's veins, Lukasz. You've done something clever with your years on this planet. You're here to see if you can figure out how to do something important, now. We want to systematize the struggle here, figure out how to automate it, but eventually there will always be blood. You need to learn to be dispassionate about the interpersonal conflicts, to save your anger for the people who deserve it, and to channel that anger into a theory of action that leads to change. Otherwise, you will be an undergraduate who worries about being picked on."

"I know –" I said. "I know. Sorry."

She held out a hand to stop me fleeing. "Lukasz, there is change to be had out there. It waits for us to discover its fulcrums. That's the research project here. But the reason for the research is the change. It's to be the bag of blood in the streets or the board-room or the prison. That's what you're learning to do here."

I didn't say anything. She turned back to her screen. Her fingers beat the keyboard. I left.

I pretended not to notice three of AA's grad students hastily switching off their infrared laser-pointers as I opened her glass door and walked back out to the lab. Everyone, including AA, knew that they'd been listening in, but the formal characteristics of our academic kabuki required us all to pretend that I'd just had a private conversation.

I pulled my laptop out of my bag and uncrumpled its bent corners. I'd only made it a week before and I didn't have time or energy to fold up another one. It was getting pretty battered in my bag, though, the waxed cardboard shell getting more worn and creased in less time than ever before. Not even my most extreme couch-surfing voyages had been this hard on my essential equipment. The worst part was that the keyboard surface had gotten really smashed — I think I'd closed up the box with a sharpie trapped inside it — so the camera that watched my fingers as they typed on the letters printed on the cardboard sheet was having a hard time getting the registration right. I'd mashed the spot where the backspace was drawn so many times that I'd worn the ink off and had to redraw it (more sharpie — a cardboard laptop owner's best friend).

Now the screen was starting to go, the little short-throw projector attached to the pinhead-sized computer taped inside the back of the box was misreading the geometry of the mirror it bounced the screen image off of, which keystoned and painted the image on the rice-paper scrim set into the laptop's top half. The image was only off by about 10 degrees, but it was enough to screw up the touchscreen registration and give me a mild headache after only a couple hours of staring at it. I'd noticed that a lot of the MIT kids carried big plastic and metal and glass laptops, which had seemed like some kind of weird retro affectation. But campus life was more of an off-road experience than I'd suspected.

But I'd never go glass-and-plastic. AA thought that the way to win a war was to shed your blood. I have a limited supply of blood. There's a lot more cardboard out there. Why fight with meat and blood when you can use free infrastructure and good code to organize a resistance. You'll never win a war of atoms against the Powers That Be. They'll always have more lethal atoms. When they're hitting you with a baton, your glass-and-plastic number will crumple just as surely as a cardboard laptop. The best way to beat a policeman's baton was to be somewhere else when he was swinging it.

I spent fifteen minutes unfolding the laser-cut cardboard and smoothing out the creases, re-sticking everything with fiber-tape from an office-supply table in the middle of the lab, and then running through the registration and diagnostics built into the OS until the computer was in a usable state again. The whole time, I was hotly conscious of the grad students' sneaky gaze on me, the weird clacking noise of their fingers on real mechanical keyboards — seriously, who used a keyboard that was made of pieces anymore? Was I really going to have to do that? — as their chatted about me.

Yes, about me. It's not (just) ego: I could tell. I can prove it. I was barely back up and running and answering all my social telephones when some dudeface from Chiapas sat down conspicuously next to me and said, "It's Lukasz, right?" He held out his hand.

I looked at it for a moment, just to make the point, then shook. "Yeah. You're Juanca, right?" Of course he was Juanca. He'd been burned in effigy by Zetas every year for four years, and his entire family, all the way to third cousins, were either stateside or in Guatemala or El Salvador, hiding out from narcoterrorists who were still pissed about Juanca's anonymizer, a mixmaster that was the number one go-to source of convictable evidence against Zeta members whose cases went to trial. If it wasn't for the fact that Juanca's network had also busted an assload of corrupt cops, prosecutors, judges, government ministers, regional governors and one Secretary of State, they'd have given him a ministerial posting and a medal. As it was, he was in exile. Famous. Loved. It helped that he was rakishly handsome — which I am not, for the record — and that he had a bounty on his head and had been unsuccessfully kidnapped on the T, getting away through some badass parkour that got captured in CCTV jittercam that made him look like he was moving in a series of short teleports.

"Yeah. You got the blood speech, huh?"

I nodded.

"It's a good one," he said. I didn't think so. I thought it was bullshit. I didn't say so.

We stared at each other. "Welp," he said. "Take it easy."

[tklpilled]

your sweet red rose

riddle likes to stick to a routine. it’s simpler that way, no surprises or unexpected turns. he knows exactly how things are supposed to be and he makes sure they stay that way. the other students are well aware of this; it's why they try to stay out of his way, although he thinks it's more out of fear of what he'll do to them, rather than actually caring about his schedule. he’s stuck to the same routine since freshman year, only tweaking it a bit once he became housewarden.

somehow, inexplicably, floyd leech has wormed his way into that strict routine.

it took some getting used to, of course. walking to his usual study corner in the library only to see the most annoying person he’s ever known wasn’t exactly pleasant, even less so when said annoying person began sneaking into his room, too. but part of what makes floyd so damn irritating is that riddle’s threats always seem to bounce off of him, and of course, he can’t do much more than threaten, considering floyd’s signature spell. so riddle is stuck with him. it isn’t consistent. floyd shows up whenever he wants. riddle has learned to stop caring so much, or else his blood pressure would constantly be skyrocketing.

riddle is in his bedroom, homework papers splayed across his bed as he works through them. floyd sits beside him, practically coiled around riddle’s body with his face nestled in the crook of his neck.

riddle doesn’t pay him any attention, now long used to his antics. at least, he doesn’t, up until there’s a warm and sharp feeling at his collarbone.

“no,” says riddle, poking floyd’s head with the tip of his pen. “you’re not biting me.”

floyd whines like a child, squeezing riddle tighter. “why not? it won’t hurt…”

“human bites can be very dangerous,” riddle says, still not looking up, “and i can’t imagine how that translates to someone like you, considering your teeth are sharper and you’re not fully human anyway. i need to be in top shape, you know.”

floyd grumbles, untangling himself from riddle’s body. “yeah, whatever.” he crawls down towards riddle’s legs, sitting on the bed next to them. he tilts his head, examining them curiously. “so weird…” he trails a finger down the back of riddle’s leg. “what's it like?”

“hm?”

“having legs.”

“...you have legs,” riddle points out, finally looking over at him.

floyd shrugs. “but they're different. they aren't as real as yours.” he runs a finger down the leg again. “so? tell me.”

goosebumps raise over riddle’s skin at the featherlight touch. “i’m really not sure what you're asking. they feel the same as yours, i’d assume. stop that.” the last part is accompanied with a tiny kick as floyd repeats the action for a third time.

“huh? goldfishie is ticklish?”

“what?” riddle stiffens up so subtly that it's barely noticeable. it wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone not watching him as closely as floyd is. “no. just stop it, i'm trying to focus.” he's trying to change the subject, but really, he knows it's useless. there's an unspoken rule when it comes to tickling, one that riddle despises; if an individual says they aren't ticklish, one must test it for themselves. plus, once something has caught floyd’s attention, there's no distracting him until he loses interest.

even so, he doesn't expect the feeling of knuckles pressing into both his sides at once. his body spasms, accidentally throwing his pen onto the floor and scattering his papers as he makes an embarrassingly loud noise. he whips his head around to glare at floyd, who simply grins back.

“d-don't do that!” riddle scolds, sitting up so he can begin to reorganise his papers. he rubs at his side to try and get rid of the lingering tingles.

“but i wanna tickle you.”

huh?! riddle freezes, feeling the familiar sensation of his face turning pink, but this time not induced by rage. he turns to look at floyd, the room growing suddenly warm. “you—! i don't want you to!”

floyd pouts. “why not?”

“b-because…!” riddle stumbles over his words. “i'm busy right now!”

“you're busy?” echoes floyd, curling back around riddle's body as he lays back down. “so i can tickle you when you're done?”

damn it. riddle squeezes the pen in his hand, pointedly looking at his paper and nowhere else. “...fine.” he regrets the words even before they leave his mouth, and floyd’s look of pure excitement does nothing to help.

as it turns out, riddle should have let floyd do what he wanted to begin with. because now he’s teasing him, just centimetres away from touching him, and it might just be worse than the tickling itself.

“you’re gettin’ all twitchy around here,” floyd says, mostly to himself, his hand hovering around riddle’s midsection. “this a bad spot?” he giggles, wiggling his fingers in the air as he approaches and stops just before touching riddle’s side. “azul’s real ticklish here too, you know. and jade—” he moves towards riddle’s neck, and the housewarden scrunches up his shoulders even though there’s nothing actually there, “right here. i wanna see how you compare to them.”

riddle doesn’t respond to any of it, though he can feel his face burning as he tries desperately to focus. it’s getting hard to remember the answers when there’s nothing but ticklish thoughts running through his mind.

it takes a few minutes longer to finish than it should.

riddle is tempted to keep going; keep writing down something, even just random scribbles, anything that will postpone his demise. at the same time, though, the anticipation is killing him. he thinks the tickling would be more bearable than this.

so he sets his pen down, sighs, and turns to look at floyd. he tries to ignore the burning under his skin.

“...i’m done.”

floyd’s reflexes are terrifyingly fast. riddle blinks and suddenly he’s face-up on his bed, floyd settled happily atop his hips. he giggles as he looks down.

“goldfishie’s cute when he blushes.”

riddle grumbles, covering his face with his hands. “just hurry and get this over with!”

he doesn’t have time to feel embarrassed about his plea before floyd’s sharp nails are scribbling all over; his neck, his stomach, his sides, and riddle is suddenly laughing harder than he remembers ever laughing before. which, quite honestly, isn’t a high bar to rise above, given that he hasn’t had much to laugh about at all throughout his life—but still.

“stop, stohohop!” he cries, head thrown back as his hands find their way to floyd’s wrists. he’s always been incredibly ticklish, and floyd is one of the last people he ever wanted to find out—but now that it’s happened, he doesn’t hate it as much as he wants to.

and he does want to hate it. this is so…unbecoming of him; as a housewarden, as valedictorian, as a subject of the queen, but…as he laughs, he feels lighter than he has in years.

floyd’s eyes are practically sparkling. “i’ve never heard ya laugh so much before!” he exclaims, scratching at riddle’s lower ribs and making him cackle, so free, so undignified. it’s too out of place.

riddle hiccups between laughs, fits of giggles spilling out uncontrollably. “ihihi—i demand you stohop thihis!” he wants to cringe at how wobbly his voice sounds.

“eh?” floyd pouts, not letting up on his attack for even a moment. “but goldfishie promised i could tickle him…are you going back on that?” as if to reprimand, he tickles a little harder, veering on the edge of painful and way too ticklish. “that’s gotta go against one of your dumb rules.”

in a normal situation, this is the part where riddle would begin to scold; the queen’s rules, however foolish they may sound, are all important and to be respected. if he could, he would; but right now, he lacks the ability to speak more than a few words without crumbling to giggles once again.

“where's goldfishie most ticklish, huh?” floyd asks, skittering his fingers up and down riddle's sides. “‘cause it looks like you're just ticklish everywhere. what about here?” he reaches to pinch above riddle’s kneecaps, and riddle squeals and kicks and laughs and not much more, because there’s not much more he can do.

“i-i don’t knohohow!” riddle confesses, hands pressed over his face to hide and muffle himself. he’s been tickled before, but only briefly. he had no way of knowing how bad it would be.

floyd barks out a laugh at this, the sound intertwining with riddle’s for a second. “you don’t know? does that mean i get to tickle you ‘til i find it?” he flashes a sharp, dangerous grin, crawling under riddle’s arms.

“no, it does nohot!” yelps riddle, arms shooting down to protect himself. “st-stop it, i cahan’t take it! plehehease!”

he’s not normally the type to beg, but this entire situation is making him desperate and his nerves feel more alight with each touch. he tries to grab at floyd’s wrists, to push him away, hoping he’ll get bored and focus on literally anything else. being floyd’s victim isn’t anything he’s not used to, but this is new and he isn’t sure how he’s supposed to handle it.

it’s not long before his grip slackens, lashes growing damp as his strength is all but sapped out of him.

it takes a while to realise that the tickling has stopped.

he blinks his eyes open, deep and heavy breaths making his chest rise and fall, interrupted by stray residual laughs. he looks up, mismatched eyes meeting his. floyd’s hands are off of him now, but he’s still situated atop riddle’s thighs, not letting him move.

floyd giggles. “you’re real fun to play with.”

riddle can almost feel the heat rushing to his already warm face. “d-don’t tell a soul about this,” he hisses, “not a single person.”

“hm? ‘course i won’t.” floyd pokes riddle’s stomach one last time, as if the ensuing squeak is the punctuation at the end of his sentence. “teasing goldfishie is my job.”

[rarepairdumpster]

Vampire AU #2 - Part 2

Part 1

Pairing: Viktor/Silco (Arcane) Rating: M C/W: Vampire Silco, Blood, Sick Viktor, Vampire Transition, Doing what we want with Vampire rules

Viktor starting to get sick and Silco can taste it in his blood and he knows it's terminal.

By this time Silco has already become very attached to Viktor and struggles with himself because after Vander he promised he would never change anyone else.

Viktor being upset when Silco pulls back from his neck after barely a lap of his blood. More so, when Silco presses a handkerchief to his mouth, as if to soak up the taste.

Silco's instincts tell him to run but he's unable to when Viktor looks up at him with concern and longing. 

"Did you eat differently?" Silco asks, already knowing the answer.

"I ate the basket you gave me," Viktor answers immediately, reaching for him. "What's wrong? Why do you look so....anxious?"

Silco sighs, running a hand through his hair. "In your blood, I can taste..." He reaches forward and cups Viktor's cheek. "You need to visit the doctor immediately."

Viktor is alarmed by the faint break in Silco's voice. 

"Okay," Viktor whispers.

Viktor goes still and then his face twists, full of emotion.

"Please, don't -- don't leave me, Silco. Whatever it is, I can get better...I will get better." 

No, you won't, Silco thinks to himself.

"I have to go," Silco still has to feed tonight, even if it won't be Viktor. "I'll be back. I promise." He pulls Viktor into a kiss, the disease burning his tongue, but the taste of Viktor's mouth is more overpowering.

Viktor voice is small as he clings to him a little longer, a little tighter, asking "But you won't....do the other things.....with....someone else?" 

Silco cups his face. "No one tempts me, as you do."

When Silco comes again, Viktor has the results from the doctor on his nightstand. Viktor is curled up in a ball and doesn't move, even when Silco sits on the bed and puts a hand on his arm.

"You knew," Viktor says quietly, bitter note in his voice. "You knew." 

"Yes." 

The admission is quiet....sad.

And then a broken keen escapes Viktor as he turns his face deeper into the pillow.

"I don't want to die."

Silco takes a deep breath. "That's why I came." 

Viktor stills for a moment. "To say goodbye?"

"To offer an alternative," Silco says quietly, the words paining him, because he knows....if Viktor accepts....it'll never be the same between them again.

Viktor won't feel so warm and vibrant and alive in his arms, and his mind will be silent to him. His blood will never taste as sweet.

Viktor finally turns to Silco. "You mean..."

"Yes," Silco can see he hasn't been sleeping and likely not eating either. He runs a hand through Viktor's hair and brings it to rest on his cheek. "If that is what you truly want."

The gleam in Viktor's eyes makes him feel uneasy.

"But I warn you.....the transition isn't easy. You....you may wish you'd died. And then you will have to adjust to....everything."

Viktor swallows. "How many have you...turned?"

"Just one other," Silco sighs. "Centuries ago."

"Where is he?" 

Silco hesitates for a long moment and then says, "Ashes. I killed him after he attempted to do the same to me. Took a while to recover from his brutality, but age affords me a strength to endure that fledglings lack."

"Did you also..."

"Love him?" Silco looks softly at Viktor as the boy processes what he just said. "Yes. He was very different from you, though."

"I would never do what he did," Viktor says fiercely, face set with the same kind of conviction he wears when he speaks about the injustices he witnesses in the world.

And Silco smiles, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"Come now," Silco lets out a breath, knowing he needs to do this now before he talks himself out of it yet again. "We have to be finished before morning." 

"Wait," Viktor grabs Silco's arm. "When I change, I'll be...different. Physically." 

Silco nods. "Yes. Any physical ailments will go away. Your disease and your leg."

Viktor shakes his head. "No. My blood. It won't taste the same, will it?"

"Your blood will never taste as sweet as it was," Silco answers, expression softening, "but it won't taste sick either. It will be different. Like mine. It wouldn't sustain me, but could be enjoyed from time to time."

Viktor lets go of Silco's wrist and looks down. "Why then?"

Silco lifts Viktor's chin. "Do you really think that I've continued this solely because of your blood?"

Viktor looks away, shrugging weakly, and Silco gets flashes of Vktor being told that he's a worthless cripple over and over, that he'd never amount to anything, etc

"Your blood may have brought me to you," Silco explains "but your beauty and your brilliance kept me returning." He tucks Viktor's hair behind his ear. "And now, I find the idea of continuing without you to be very painful."

Viktor looks at him again, eyes watering.

"You would miss me, if I...." 

"I would mourn you for the rest of my existence," Silco admits, hand lingering where he'd tucked Viktor's hair.

Viktor reaches up and clutches his hand tightly.

"I want this. I want you. Forever." 

And Silco doesn't waste time. He scoops Viktor into his arms, tucking his face against his neck, and then he runs, so fast that the world feels like a blur.

Silco carries him to his home, with its electronic blackout blinds set to a careful timer. 

Silco sets him on the large plush bed carefully, and then fills the walk-in tub in the ensuite, because Viktor will need to be washed once he makes it through the other side of the transition.

Turning someone is messy, stinky business, as it is technically a kind of death.

Viktor isn't sure what to expect but it certainly wasn't this.

Silco starts by kissing the inside of Viktor's wrist and apologizing before using this teeth to rip it open.

Viktor yells but the numbing quickly takes effect, until Silco opens his own wrist and places their wounds together. At the contact, the blood starts to burn, further and further up his arm as his veins take it through his body. 

Silco pulls his wrist away then takes a few steps back, clutching it. There was nothing he could do about the pain, and he had to make sure Viktor had someone to feed on when he woke up.

Remembering someone from the academy that had berated Viktor in his memories, he decided that would be perfect.

The worst of the burn is in his chest....his spine, hip, and leg.

He feels like he must be on fire, that he must be burning alive and he's screaming, he's crying, he's thrashing. 

He is so lost in it that he doesn't notice when Silco leaves. He doesn't notice his abdomen contracting or the rush of filth being rejected from his insides.

When he comes through the other side, when the burning fades, and he's left to pant on the bed, it's to the awareness that there's too much noise.

Sirens, car horns, water in the pipes, music from nearby bars. Too loud too loud too loud too loud.

And voices, so many voices, voices he doesn't know, all mish-mashing on top of each other.

But then one voice cuts through them all, clear as a bell.

"Look at me, Viktor."

His attention snaps on Silco immediately, and Viktor gasps, because he's seeing  Silco in an entirely new light. 

Silco almost glows, but in a cold way, like a glacier.

And then Viktor looks at his own hands to see he almost glows, the same way.

Viktor finally seeing the person Silco has kneeling at his feet.

And at first, Viktor doesn't even recognize the person because the sudden pull of hunger is so immediate and so strong.

Viktor doesn't even realize he's moved until he has the person's face gripped in his hand.

And then all he can see the rapid thump of arteries pumping blood around the body.

Silco bends the victim's neck, showing Viktor where to bite. With an unfamiliar ferocity, Viktor bites into the man, his inexperience clear when a few spirts and drops fall to the floor.

Silco's hand soothes over Viktor's hair. 

"Easy, my darling; don't pull too hard." Silco's voice is lightly chiding, but affectionate. "Let his heart do the work for you."

Viktor hums and listens to Silco, slowing his drinking. Visions of what the man is thinking start to barrage his mind, mostly fear and regrets. It causes Viktor to pull off the man and hiss, grabbing his head. 

"The thoughts," Viktor strains. "It's distracting."

"Yes," Silco agrees quietly, "It can be. Focus on the beat of his heart. It should help while we work on building control. But remember: you stop when the heart stops. Dead blood will make you sick."

Viktor nods and takes a breath, focusing on the man's rapid heartbeat and returns to his neck, more careful with his bite this time. The thoughts are still there but Silco was right about focusing.

As the victim's heart slows, Silco grabs Viktor's shoulder just before the man dies, reminding him to leave that last drop

It takes effort to pull away, because Viktor is still craving the feed because the taste is still on his tongue. But he does pull away, and just sits there on the floor for a minute breathing heavy, and realizing that he does feel full.

Silco kisses his temple tenderly.

"Time to clean up. Go, take a bath. I'll take care of him  and the bedsheets.

Viktor slowly stands, with Silco's help, but notices his leg and his back don't hurt like they used to. He's able to stand up straight and walk without his cane. He turns to thank Silco, but he's already taking care of the body and Viktor knows there's more than enough time later.

Viktor goes to the bathroom, smiling at the already filled bath, and sinks in. The warmth feels different against his skin now, but not unpleasant. Viktor closes his eyes for what seems like a minute, but opens them when Silco walks in, seemingly already finished with the chores.

"How do you feel," Silco asks, a soft and a little sad smile on his face. 

Viktor looks at him funny. Silco never asked before; he always just seemed to know. 

Viktor tries to reach out with his mind, to hear or feel anything from Silco, but all he gets is silence. 

"Why is your mind closed?"

"Because that's what happens when we share the gift. We will never be able to touch minds again."

Silco sits on the side of the tub near Viktor and rolls up his sleeves before grabbing a washcloth. He dips it in the water, then starts to wash Viktor's back, smirking when he leans into the touch.

"I feel...different," Viktor answers. "Certainly not bad. All of my pain has vanished." He sighs and leans his head back as Silco uses a cup to rinse Viktor's hair. "It's a sort of unnatural feeling."

"I know how unnatural it can be," Silco says. "When I went through the change, I had to learn how to live with two working eyes, after living with only one since childhood."

Arch + Woods

[scoobydoodean]

Dean keeps his cool far more than I would have. He thinks Cas isn't doing well because of whatever he did for Sam, and so he sits and he plays Sorry with Cas. But it quickly becomes clear through their conversation, that Cas is convertly telling Dean all the reasons he won't help him—that Cas understands more than he lets on—that Cas is hiding. And Dean isn't naive to this. He's catching on.

CASTIEL: You know, we weren't sure at first which monkeys were gonna make it. No offense, but I was backing the Neanderthals because their poetry was... just amazing.

"I don't actually care about humanity that much as a species. You're just a bunch of monkeys to me" (This isn't how Cas usually feels. This is the way characters like Uriel and Zachariah spoke—the way Godstiel spoke).

CASTIEL: You guys ate the apple, invented pants.

"Humans have done both good and bad. I feel indifferent about your suffering."

DEAN Cas, where can we find this, uh, Metatron? Is he still alive? CASTIEL I'm sorry. I – I think you have to go back to start.

"Maybe the world should just start over".

DEAN This is important. I think Metatron could stop a lot of bad. You understand that? CASTIEL We live in a "sorry" universe. It's engineered to create conflict.

"Sorry, Dean. This is just the way the world works. People hurt you lower creatures, who are both good and bad, and therefore exploiting your species is a neutral activity".

I mean, why should I prosper from... your misfortune? But these are the rules. I didn't make them.

"I don't make the rules. Humans (you, Dean) being left in a steaming pile of shit to suffer is just how the world works, kiddo. Sorry. You're on your own. And yes—I get to stay here and relax while you suffer."

Dean isn't stupid. He knows exactly what Cas is saying. That he doesn't care about humanity's plight, and he doesn't care that Dean is in pain (which is a turn from 7.17. btw). So Dean responds in kind:

DEAN: You made some of them [the rules]. When you tried to become God, when you cut that hole into that wall.

You made this happen. It's your responsibility, and you're avoiding it.

CASTIEL Dean... it's your move. DEAN pounds a fist on the table and swipes the board to the floor. DEAN Forget the damn game! Forget the game, Cas. CASTIEL I'm sorry, Dean. DEAN No. You're playing "Sorry!"

Cas (in this state) isn't sorry at all. He's playing a character who is avoidant—a character who doesn't fight anymore—who just watches the bees—the bees with a structure sort of like the Leviathan.

CASTIEL Outside today, in the garden, I followed a honeybee. I saw the route of flowers. It's all right there, the whole plan. There's nothing to add.

"I'll let the Leviathan do whatever they want. Existence is just a study in God's plan, which we can't ever truly defy". (This is also a rejection of everything they fought together for in season 5).

Just remembered the Sorry board disk horse.

If Cas gave me that completely insincere smile while holding up the game “Sorry” as a form of “apology” I would have not only knocked the board on the ground I would have launched at him over the table.

[novella-november]

Is this fanfic friendly? I feel like an outlier.

I guess this is my sign it's time to throw together a FAQ post to link to lol.

Yes, every event for this blog is fanfic friendly :D

Though as I mentioned on my Ominous October post, for events that include multiple short stories, I encourage everyone to flex their creativity and take one of their planned short story fanfics, and at least *attempt* to turn one of them into something entirely original; rebuilding a character and story from the ground up to stand on its own two legs is no easy feat, and that is what makes it so fun!

It really gets your creative gears turning, to make an "au of an existing material" to be something entirely original, and you can be pleasantly surprised about the things you come up with!

As a few people say, its not just a matter of "filing the serial numbers off" -- you have to add in just as much *or more* as what you take out when you are turning a fanfiction into something that is original and completely divorced from its original source material / inspiration, and that is a hard, but very rewarding challenge!

Obviously, this is not a requirement (there's no hard requirements for any of the challenges, other than no cheating, including no using AI),

but if you would like an extra challenge for the short story events and you're planning on doing entirely fan-fiction, I highly recommend trying it out at least once, and seeing where it leads you--

you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by what you find down that rabbit hole!

[nguyenfinity]

Every time I draw Mamagi it does AoE damage (I am also in the area of effect)

Lighthearted bonus:

[arttsuka]

🫂

Thank you 🫂

Virtual hugs are always appreciated :)

[gender-euphowrya]

spell of explode all transphobes Activate

[soupblr]