#like maybe a little backstory dump kinda thing

[nellandvoid]

if i just do like a fun fact lore dump about silvia and diane would that satiate some appetites until i’m fully back?? cause i wanna spill more stuff about my loves but drawings isn’t happening yet

[javier-pena]

three's a crowd

Pairing: Frankie Morales x f!reader x Joel Miller

Word Count: 9.9k

Rating: Explicit

Summary: You’re in love with Frankie and he is in love with you, but you both have no idea how to act on it. Until Joel Miller comes along.

Warnings: friends to lovers | alcohol consumption | smoking | pining | jealousy | reader’s hair can get wet without it being an issue | Joel is kinda sleazy in this (but reader is very much into it) | mentions of cheating | protective Frankie | threesome m/f/(m) | a surprising amount of biting | the oral fixation in this is insane, I’m sorry | it’s all about hands and fingers | voyeurism | semi-public sex | cuck!Frankie but also not really (guess you’ll have to read it to find out what that means) | nipple play | (brief) fingering | (very brief) masturbation (m) | unprotected p in v sex | rough sex | spanking | orgasm delay | overstimulation | creampie

Notes: I started writing this fic in June and it was supposed to be a fun little summer thing and then stuff happened and now it's October - but here it finally is. There isn't really much I can say about it except that Dani @alexturner saved the whole thing by pointing out that the final fic wasn't really like what I had talked about while discussin the idea with her and after editing it, it's much, much better. I also had a lot of fun talking about Frankie's and Joel's backstory with you, Dani 🤭 maybe I'll write that one day ...

“D’you wanna fuck her, Miller?”

BEFORE

It must have been two years ago, or maybe it was three. Your hair was longer, you had just broken up with your boyfriend of five years, had just moved to a town where you didn’t know a single soul. “A fresh start is what you need.” That’s what your therapist said to you when you cried your heart out after Derek dumped you and moved in with his new girlfriend a week later. But she hadn’t been talking about this, moving halfway across the country, all the way from Maine, where the winters are cold and the air is always salty, to Texas, where it almost never snows and the tornado sirens make you run for cover.

That’s how you met Frankie, sweet, smiling Frankie. Your truck broke down in the grocery store parking lot and he jump-started it. He stuck out to you because he was wearing a pale blue baseball cap, bleached from countless summers under the hot Texan sun, and not a cowboy hat like all the other men around. You bought him dinner at that steak place that would become your favorite, and after three shots of tequila you opened up to him. He held you when you started to cry, took you home, slept on your couch when you asked him not to leave.

You’ve been friends ever since.

He showed you around San Antonio, he flew you to Enchanted Rock in a helicopter he rented, he even took you to Mexico where you found out he speaks Spanish fluently. He helped you fix the roof of your bungalow when it started leaking. You, in turn, took him to the cinema, made him watch horror movies that made him squeal, dragged him along to a rodeo, taught him how to ride a motorcycle when he told you he had always wanted to learn. The two of you just clicked. It felt right.

Now, after three years, you can’t imagine your life without Frankie in it. You don’t remember who you were before him, and you don’t want to. He’s your best friend, and you’re his. Where one of you goes, the other follows. And of course, people mistake you for a couple, of course they ask, “And what about your girlfriend here?”, they say, “You’re lucky to be dating such a nice young fella”. You always laugh, correct them lightheartedly. But sometimes you wish they were right. You love Frankie as a friend, more than you ever thought you could love anyone, but sometimes you want more.

You almost got that more about a year after meeting Frankie. One of his friends, Santi, was in town, and you went out with a group before taking advantage of the hot tub that came with Santi’s motel. There were drinks involved, one thing led to another, and suddenly you found yourself straddling Frankie, wearing nothing more than a bikini, your fingers tugging on his curls, his hands roaming all over your body. It didn’t go any further than that, and the next morning he dropped you off at your house with his usual, “See ya ‘round.” He never talked about it and neither did you. He was probably regretting it and you didn’t want to lose him over something like this, so you left it all unsaid.

He started dating someone soon afterwards, first Arabella, then Bessie, and you hated them both, even though they were probably decent women. Luckily, neither relationship lasted long because it hurt. You didn’t tell Frankie, acted perfectly civil around them, but it felt as if your heart had been dropped from a great height and had shattered against the pavement. You had to ease that pain with a couple of meaningless one-night-stands but they couldn’t take your mind off Frankie buried deep in another woman when it should have been you. And when you told him about Billy and Carson and Hank and Landon and Clara to provoke him to do something, he just shrugged it off and said, “I’m glad you had a nice evening.”

Frankie is single now, and so are you, and life is good. It isn’t always easy, but it’s a far cry from how it was in Maine. You’ve made peace with the whole Frankie situation, realizing it might just be enough knowing you’re the most important person in his life, even if you’ll never have him completely. This way, there also won’t be a messy breakup, hurtful things said in anger, actions you can never undo. You’re content with being Frankie’s best friend, and that should be enough.

It's summer now, one of the hottest on record. The AC in your bungalow broke and Frankie wanted to help you fix it, but then he got busy at work. That was almost a week ago, and you use these circumstances as an excuse to hang out at Frankie’s place as much as possible. He doesn’t mind. He has a big pool in his backyard that he always shares with you, and he loves your company. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he’s putting off fixing your AC on purpose.

You’re floating on your back, eyes closed, the sounds around you muffled by the water. Frankie is lounging in a chair by the side of the pool, resting in the shade after a hot day. Every time you glance over at him, his eyes are closed. That gives you the freedom to truly look, to see him how not many people are allowed to see him.

You take a deep breath and dive, floating weightlessly for a few seconds. It’s so easy to imagine this to be your life, Frankie to be your boyfriend. If he were, nothing would be different. You’d get to use your shared pool, watch him doze in the shade, help him prepare dinner later, laugh at his corny jokes … Your heart squeezes when you realize you have all of that and still it isn’t enough. What’s missing is riding him by the side of the pool, your bodies sticky with sweat. What’s missing is kissing his neck while he’s watching the brazier. What’s missing is knowing he’s yours and you’re his, come what may.

There’s a shadow by the side of the pool, and you scramble upwards, breaking through the surface with a gasp. “What?��� you ask, smiling up at Frankie, shielding your eyes from the sun with your hand.

Frankie gives you a thumbs up. “Just making sure you’re not drowning.”

You’re treading water as you say, “Would you jump in and rescue me if I was?”

He laughs. “I’m pretty sure you’re a better swimmer than me.”

“I’d make it worth your while.” You wink at him.

He lowers himself into a crouch so he’s closer to the surface of the water, closer to you. “How?”

“Ever heard of mouth-to-mouth?”

He laughs one of those laughs that comes from deep inside his chest and shakes his whole body. “Leave it to you to make saving someone’s life sound sexy.”

“But it is sexy,” you say emphatically. “Imagine pulling me from the pool, your big, strong arms wrapped around me. I think you’d stay calm and collected; you’d know exactly what to do. Any woman who doesn’t fall for you after that would be a fool.”

Frankie dips his fingers into the water and flicks some of it in your direction. You squeal and try to duck, but the drops still hit you in a quick shower. “Shut up,” Frankie laughs.

You use your whole hand to try and shove the water back toward him. You miss. “Stop it,” you tell him, no weight behind your words, a broad smile on your face.

“Hey!” he shouts. “Don’t make me come in there, young lady.”

He always makes you laugh when he calls you that, the air of authority he puts into his words. You’re not that much younger than he is, but he always acts as if you’re 20 years his junior, while you have started calling him “gramps” to rile him up.

You propel yourself backward, away from him toward the opposite side of the pool. “You’re too chickenshit.”

“Oh, just you wait.” He starts to pull his shirt over his head, his cap that he always wears getting caught in the hem of the neckline. You really try not to but you can’t help looking at his soft belly, the white skin such a stark contrast to his tanned arms. You wonder what it would be like to touch him, what sounds he would make in response to the difference in pressure, if you were using your nails or –

“Am I interruptin’ somethin’?”

You don’t mean to, but you squeal at the sudden appearance of a strange man next to Frankie. You were so preoccupied staring at your friend you didn’t notice someone else approach.

Frankie lowers his shirt. His cheeks are slightly flushed. “Joel!”

You glance between the two men, but neither of them offers an explanation. Instead, a heavy silence settles itself over this already muggy afternoon.

Finally, the stranger, Joel, speaks. “Is this a bad time or –?”

“No, no,” Frankie quickly assures him while you bite down a harsh, “Yes, it is”. Frankie runs his palms down his shirt, trying to smooth the creased fabric. “I just … I had no idea you were in town.

“Well, I am,” Joel replies in a tone of voice that rubs you the wrong way. “I thought I’d drive by, see if you’re home.”

Frankie glances at you, seemingly only now remembering your presence. “This is Joel Miller,” he says in an oddly formal voice. “We sometimes work together.”

“Hi.” You raise your hand out of the water to wave at Joel, the smile you put on not reaching your eyes.

If you had to guess, you’d say Joel was older than Frankie by at least five years, maybe even ten. He’s taller too, broad-shouldered where Frankie tends to fold in on himself. His graying hair is slightly too long, but his graying beard makes him look handsome, especially when he gives you a twisted half-smile as if he’s fully aware of what he just interrupted and is taking pleasure in your discomfort and annoyance. You want him to leave but with a clench of your stomach you realize you also want him to stay.

“She your girlfriend?” Joel asks without pretense, nodding at you in a way that makes you clench your fists.

Frankie chuckles awkwardly, a sound you only heard a few times before and always hated. He lifts his cap with one hand to scratch his scalp, then shakes his head. “No, we’re just friends.”

Joel shifts, rolls his shoulders ever so slightly. “Nice to meet you, just friend of Frankie’s.”

Can’t say the same about you, you want to say but if there’s one thing you learned from your years spent in the south is that there is nothing more important than hospitality. “You too,” you say instead, and start kicking the water, doing laps in the pool. If you ignore him, maybe he’ll leave soon.

But Frankie opens a beer bottle for him and Joel sits down in the lawn chair next to him, taking a big swig. You try to ignore them as best as you can, but you can’t keep your ears from straining to catch snippets of their conversation.

“… between jobs … just a couple o’ nights …”

“… go out tomorrow … bar in town …”

“… broke up with me ‘cause she … her friend …”

Sometimes Frankie laughs in a way he only does when he wants to impress someone. Usually, you can see it too, usually you admire the same people but there is something about Joel that makes alarm bells ring in your head. And you don’t like the way Frankie behaves around him. You don’t want to call it submissive because you hate that word, but it feels as if he’s putting up a front for Joel, not saying what he really wants to say, not doing what he really wants to do.

But then sometimes Joel’s eyes are on you, his gaze hooded, and he doesn’t look away when you catch him staring. There is something in the brazen way he does it that makes you crave more, and you’re a little bit disgusted with yourself for wanting that. You don’t know this man, and you don’t like what you glimpsed so far, but when he asks, “Any chance of you joinin’ us, sunshine?” you’re so very tempted to say yes.

“I wanna shower first,” you answer, pushing yourself up on the edge of the pool. Joel’s eyes immediately shoot to your chest while Frankie’s are glued to his bottle, his fingers busy picking at the label.

“Don’t keep us waitin’,” Joel says in a tone of voice that grates on you and makes you tighten your jaw. You want to flip him off, and he knows it too because he raises his half-empty bottle to you. You wish Frankie would say something, or at least acknowledge your presence, but a loose thread on his jeans has caught his attention now. Your chest tightens with annoyance and, even though you’re loath to admit it, hurt, and you huff at Joel before grabbing your towel and making your way toward Frankie’s house. You feel Joel’s eyes burn a searing mark into your back.  

You have no right to feel the way you do, you tell yourself as you work shampoo into your hair. Frankie can be friends with whomever he wants to. This is his house and he can let himself be treated however he sees fit. And you’re not dependent on him to defend you against a jerk like Joel, you can manage that all on your own. Besides, it’s not as if Joel is going to be around for long, he will most likely leave after another beer or two, so there really is no reason for you to get so worked up about it.

And yet …

You turn off the water with a quick jerk of your hand.

Stepping out of the shower, locating a fresh towel, it’s like second nature to you. You briefly bury the face in the soft fabric, inhaling the clean scent of Frankie’s detergent, a scent that will always bring you comfort. Then you pull one of the several dresses you keep at Frankie’s house over your head before using the towel to superficially dry your hair. It comes away smelling like him, which sends a pleasant shiver down your spine.

You’ve come to terms with it, you really have. Yes, you sometimes dream about kissing him, yes, you can’t stop fantasizing about what the two of you would be like as a couple, but what you have is nice. And it feels like it should be enough, which should count for something, right?

“Took your sweet time in there, sunshine.”

You jump, only registering Joel’s presence leaning against the opposite wall as you pull the bathroom door closed behind you.

“There’s a half bath next to the kitchen,” you tell him, avoiding his searing gaze. “You know, if you need to go.”

You try to scurry down the hallway and back out into the garden, but Joel pushes himself off the wall and steps into your way. “I don’t,” he answers. “I was looking for you.”

You sigh and look up at him, hoping he’ll notice your mild annoyance. “Why?”

“Frankie’s busy with dinner.” His gaze sweeps you from your damp hair down to your bare feet, widening as he notices your dress is slightly too tight at your chest. “And you look like good company.” Before you can come up with a snide remark, he’s two steps closer and his hand is suddenly resting on your waist, his palm hot to the touch even through the fabric. “You’re certainly prettier.”

The sudden contact, his brazen approach catches you off-guard. It’s been years since a man has treated you like this, and many years more since you were free to do with that whatever you wanted.

“Come on.” Why is his voice so low suddenly? “Cat got your tongue?”

You roll your eyes. “N-”

But before you’re able to finish the second short sound, the thumb of his free hand is on your bottom lip and he starts to pull it down. “Let me check.”

Before your brain can consider all your options, you bite down on his finger, hard, out of reflex, drawing a hiss from him. He pulls back, steps away, shakes his hand. But that sleazy half-smile is still firmly fixed on his face. “Oh, you’re a little fighter, is that it?”

You take a step closer to him in an attempt to intimidate him, but he doesn’t budge. “I just don’t like it when people touch me without my permission.”

“I bet that sweet little pussy of yours is tellin’ a different tale.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” You shove him, both palms hitting his chest, and he loses some ground.

He tries to snatch your wrist but you’re too fast for him. “Careful, sunshine. Don’t irritate me.”

“Why?” You push your chin forward in defiance. “What are you gonna do about it?”

“Oh, I have some ideas.” Joel reaches for your waist again, but you manage to step back quickly. He balls his hand into a fist. “I just ain’t sure you’d like them very much.”

“Didn’t your mother teach you manners?”

“I’d like to teach you some,” he shoots back.

The sound of Frankie clearing his throat makes you jump. He’s standing behind Joel, just inside the sliding door that leads into the garden, a cocktail shaker in his hand, an apron covering his chest. “Drinks are ready,” he announces, his voice tense. Then he turns around, leaving you to wonder how long he’s been standing there and how much he heard.

Your stomach curls tightly with shame. Not because of anything he might have overheard or because of anything you did, but because you liked the way Joel talked to you, you liked that he decided he wanted you and went for it. You liked being close to him, feeling his uninvited touch on your body, hearing him say those lewd things. And all the while you forgot about Frankie, for the first time in months.

Joel glances at you and some of the shame must show on your face because he says, “If I kissed you right now, do you think he’d punch me?”

And just like that you’re back to feeling the slow grating of annoyance, like nails scraping down a chalkboard. “Don’t flatter yourself,” you huff before pushing past him and stepping back out into the garden.

The evening light is softer now, the heat feels less oppressive. The sun has begun to dip toward the horizon, and Frankie’s shadow is long against the grass as he waits for you to rejoin him by the pool. You want to put on your brightest smile for him, want to show him how much you appreciate everything he is doing for you, but with him you never have to pretend. Your face lights up when you see him whether you want it to or not, your steps quicken, your heart feels full of happiness. Even someone like Joel can’t ruin that, no matter how hard he might try.

“All clean?” Frankie has a lopsided grin on his face and a martini glass in his hand. When you nod, he hands it to you. “I made it just the way you like it.”

“Thanks, honey,” you tease and playfully kiss his cheek.

“This one’s for you.” Frankie hands Joel a tumbler full of amber liquid.

Joel raises an eyebrow. “Just whiskey?”

“You seem like a whiskey kinda guy,” Frankie answers with a shrug before taking off his apron and hanging it over the backrest of his lawn chair.

“What are you having?” you ask, sitting down on one of the sun loungers Frankie keeps next to the pool.

Frankie lightly shakes his beer bottle. “I’ll stick with this for now.”

You glance from him to Joel and then back to him as both men remain standing, clutching their drinks. “Well, this is nice and relaxing.”

“Sorry,” Frankie mumbles and lets himself fall back into his chair. “Long day.”

Joel chuckles and steps forward, but instead of choosing the chair next to Frankie’s, he sits down on the sunbed right next to you. The rough denim of his jeans scrapes against your naked thigh and you scoot away from him, clearing your throat. Joel doesn’t seem to have noticed; his eyes are fixed on Frankie.

“You never told me you had a nice place like this,” he says, vaguely waving his hand at the pool and the manicured lawn. “I would’ve come over much sooner.”

“Where do you live?” you ask before Frankie can say something.

Joel chuckles before taking a sip from his whiskey. “You know what would go great with this?” He pulls a crumpled pack of cigarettes out of the back pocket of his jeans, conveniently having to lean against you to retrieve it. You push back, refusing to make yourself small. He holds the pack out to you first, but you shake your head. He doesn’t offer it to Frankie.

“She asked you a question.”

Your eyes snap from the sight of Joel lighting a cigarette, the filter hugged firmly between his lips, to Frankie, who has his elbows propped up on his knees, a thumb and forefinger wrapped around the neck of the beer bottle, holding it precariously.

Joel takes a drag from his cigarette and exhales slowly. The smoke tickles your suddenly very dry throat. “I live here and there,” he finally replies. “Wherever work takes me.”

“Okay, so where do you currently live?” you probe.

Joel waves his hand around. “Y’know …”

“What he means to say is that he’s currently between houses,” Frankie clarifies, a slight tension in his voice you haven’t heard before.

“Oh, so you’re a bum?” Is Frankie’s face lighting up with satisfaction at your comment or are you only imagining that?

Joel takes another drag. “I’m whatever you want me to be.”

It was bad enough that he had no regard for your boundaries when Frankie wasn’t right there next to you, but he can’t expect you to just take it now that Frankie is this close. You try to stand up, but his hand closes around yours and pulls you back down next to him, the force of it making some of your drink spill.

“Hey!” you protest loudly, but he only slings his arm around your shoulder.

“His girlfriend just kicked him out,” Frankie goes on, pretending he didn’t notice what just went down. “He cheated on her with her best friend.”

“Couldn’t have been a very good friend then.” You pick Joel’s heavy arm off your shoulders and let it fall down next to you.

Joel shrugs. “If I see somethin’ I want, I take it.”

“Must be lonely, going through life with that mindset,” you observe, watching him as he stubs out the cigarette against the tiles surrounding the pool.

“Depends on what you want out of life, I s’pose.”

You glance up at the slowly darkening evening sky, currently a soft, darkening blue, then take a sip from your very strong martini. “And what is that?” you ask, watching a bird glide across the sky.

“D’you wanna fuck her, Miller?”

AFTER

“Yes.” It comes out rough and breathless and eager, and suddenly your blood is rushing in your ears. You have no idea when the evening shifted to this, but you suppose it was inevitable from the moment Joel walked in. You just didn’t think Frankie would be the one to ask the question.

You glance at Frankie, sweet Frankie, who always respects you, always treats you like you’re royalty, and you see something in his gaze you’ve never seen before, a sort of strangled curiosity, like he’s desperate to find out where this might go, but unsure if he can handle the way there. You smile at him, and you nod, and his pupils dilate immediately, setting your heart pounding. That’s all he needs from you, and all you need from him.

Frankie puts his beer bottle on a small table next to his chair, leans back, crosses one leg over the other, ankle resting against his thigh. “Tough luck, pal,” he says, and next to you Joel stiffens. “You can kiss her though.”

For a moment, you’re right back there in high school, a bottle pointing at you, your friend Ines grinning at you from across the circle, Billy licking his lips nervously. But you’re all grown up now, you’ve played these games a million times, should know their rules by heart. Then why are your hands so sweaty?

Joel doesn’t waste any time, doesn’t even wait for you to turn toward him. His hand is already at the back of your neck while your eyes are still on Frankie, and his lips have found yours while you’re still trying to decipher the look in Frankie’s gaze. The kiss is rough, almost unpleasantly so, and you can taste the nicotine and whiskey on Joel’s tongue that claims your mouth with hungry licks. Joel’s whole body is pushing against yours, and you push back, pressing your chest against his, making his concentration slip briefly. You use this moment of inattention to gain the upper hand and bite his lip, less violently than you bit his finger but hard enough for him to inhale sharply. Maybe even hard enough to draw a little bit of blood.

Joel shifts, tightens his hold on your neck, and pushes up against you even more, like he’s trying to get you to lie down and submit to him. Resisting his efforts gives you a feeling of power you’re unable, maybe even unwilling, to control. You’re still trying to come to terms with the newness of the situation, with the shift that has taken place, but you know exactly what you want, and that is not to give up one inch to Joel without making him work hard for it.

Joel’s hand is on your naked thigh now, tough callouses rubbing against smooth skin. Just like his kisses, it almost feels too violent, but then you remember Frankie’s hands roaming your body in that hot tub, the way the water hadn’t managed to soften his skin. You remember how much you wanted him that night, and suddenly you wish Joel would touch you more.

As if he can read your thoughts, Joel’s hand is suddenly at the underside of your breast, cupping it through the fabric of your dress, his thumb finding the nipple so confidently as if he has touched you a million times before. Your body responds to the touch immediately and you lean into it, your lips parting in a stifled moan. The pad of his thumb rubs across your hardening nipple, rolls it through the dress and the bra you’re wearing, and you should push him away, make him feel like his efforts are futile and he has no effect on you whatsoever, but it’s been too long. Too fucking long. You’re on fire, unpleasantly so, feeling like you’re burning up too fast, like the flames have barely touched you and you’re already turning to ash. You press yourself into Joel’s touch as your jaw slackens, and he grabs your breast and squeezes it roughly while pushing his tongue into your mouth with the sole intent of making you gag.

“Hey!” Frankie’s voice is sharp, but when you flinch away from Joel and glance over at him, he’s still sitting in his chair holding his bottle of beer.

Your ears feel hot with shame as you refuse to acknowledge Joel’s presence and avoid Frankie’s gaze. Frankie was the one to suggest the kiss, Joel made the first move – then why do you feel such shame? Like you’ve been caught cheating? Why do you feel it’s wrong to –

“What?” Joel asks, interrupting the spiral you’re about to slide down.

Frankie squeezes the neck of the bottle, his skin making a wet sound against the glass. “We said kiss.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you see that sleazy smirk return to Joel’s lips. “Ain’t nothin’ wrong with a little second base.”

Frankie seems to consider this, his eyes fixed to the ground beneath his feet. You wish you could tell what was going on in his mind, but your heart is still racing like you’re being hunted for sport and your body is screaming for Joel to put his hands on you again, and all of that is too much to read Frankie.

Frankie holds out a hand to Joel. “Cigarette,” he says, and Joel obliges. You watch Frankie light it up and take a deep drag, a sight so unfamiliar it makes you eager to commit it to memory. “So you really wanna fuck her then?” he finally asks.

There is a pressure low in your abdomen that makes you shift against the lounger.

Joel only laughs, crude and hoarse, as if deigning that question with an answer is below him. “Where did you get that idea from?”

Frankie takes another drag, a short one this time, before glancing directly at Joel’s crotch. You follow his gaze to find a bulge there, one that definitely wasn’t there before, straining against the stiff fabric. When Joel’s eyes find yours, you make sure he sees you lick your lips. His jaw twitches.

Frankie leans back comfortably in his chair, some of the ash from the cigarette landing on his pants. He brushes it off with a flick of his wrist. “I’ll let you fuck her. But you’re gonna do exactly as I say.”

You think you must have entered a parallel universe or another dimension. For a short while at least. None of it makes sense: the cigarette in Frankie’s hand, the way he talks and what he says, that man next to you who is nothing more than a stranger, who had his tongue in your mouth two minutes ago, and that all of this makes you wetter than you can ever remember being. But then Frankie’s eyes meet yours, dark pupils blown unfamiliarly wide, and yet there is something in them you recognize – this isn’t a stranger who is looking at you, this is your best friend. No matter what happens next, he’s going to look out for you. All you need to do is trust him.

Next to you, Joel shifts, adjusting his crotch. He licks his lips. “Yeah.” He nods. “Okay.”

Your eyes are on Frankie now, heart racing in your chest, mouth completely dry, as you wait for what comes next. Your brain is running hot trying to go through all the possibilities of what Frankie could have Joel do to you, but all you come back to is Frankie kneeling in front of you, spreading your legs. Joel is nothing more than a shadow beside you, watching with a hungry gaze.

Frankie leans forward and reaches out his hand as if he means to touch you, but then stops himself and leans back. “You don’t have to do as you’re told.” The softness in his voice catches you by surprise, but he goes on before you can analyze it. “To start, do whatever you’re comfortable with.”

You glance at Joel, at how stiff his shoulders are, and you face him, trembling fingers pulling his shirt up where it is tugged into his jeans. Up and up you pull it until he has to raise his arms for you to get it off, and then you finally see his body betray his nerves as his chest flushes a deep red. There is a scar on his left collarbone, old and slightly brighter than the skin around it, there are some sparse, dark gray hairs on his chest, and his stomach is so much firmer than Frankie’s, so much less inviting.

Joel huffs and your gaze shoots back up to his face. “Kinda boring, don’t ya think? Pullin’ off my shirt when you could’ve done anythin’ to me?”

You won’t let him get to you, not like that, not when Frankie’s eyes are on you. “There’s no shame in me enjoying myself by taking things slow,” you retort. “I know your first move would’ve been to stuff two fingers into me but where’s the fun in that?”

“Oh, you’re gonna see where the fun in that is when you’re comin’ ‘round ‘em,” he replies with that infuriatingly sleazy smile darkening his face.

You lean in just a tiny bit closer. “Only if Frankie lets you.” God, that thought turns you on so much your head starts to spin.

Once you recover, Joel’s right hand is cupping your jaw, his grip firm, while his thumb rests against your lips. “Someone should stuff that mouth o’ yours.”

You open your mouth then, until his thumb is only pressing against your bottom lip. You let it slide in past your teeth until you can feel it on your tongue, heavy, tasting like nicotine. You close your lips around the digit and suck on it, your cheeks hollowing, your tongue massaging it. The corner of Joel’s mouth twitches. Somewhere to your right, you hear Frankie’s chair groan.

The sound of Frankie’s voice interrupts you. “I want you to take off her dress.”

With a wet plop, Joel pulls his thumb out of your mouth and then starts pulling at the straps of your sundress, pushing them down your shoulders.

“Slowly,” Frankie adds, his voice calm as if he’s talking to a semi-feral animal.

Joel moves you so both your feet are planted firmly on the ground, then shifts so he’s behind you. He finds the zipper at the back of your dress and begins to pull it down, torturously slowly as if there is something he wants to prove to Frankie. As more and more of your skin is revealed, he brushes over it, calloused fingers making you shiver. His hands feel so much like Frankie’s, and yet not at all like him. Frankie would be soft and gentle too, but he wouldn’t scrape you with his short nails, he wouldn’t tremble like it takes everything in him not to devour you whole.

The fabric of your dress glides down your shoulders and back, and comes to rest around your hips. It isn’t anything Frankie hasn’t seen before – your breasts are still covered, after all – and yet there is something in his gaze when you look at him, a strange kind of longing, like desire that has been kept in check for so long it has become second nature to him. You can see it in the flare of his nostrils, in the darkening of his eyes, in the way his bottom lip trembles briefly before he darts out his tongue to wet it. And yet he sits there, watching, his body unmoving like it has been trained not to give in.

“Take off her bra.”

Even Frankie’s voice is controlled and even. You shift, pulling back your shoulders and pushing out your chest in an attempt to get him to break, but his gaze shifts from you to Joel as he waits for the other man to follow his orders. Joel doesn’t need to be told twice. He flicks open the clasp at your back with one hand and your bra falls away. You push out your chin, willing your face not to heat up.

Frankie’s throat works as he swallows, a small crack in the otherwise impenetrable wall he has put up. “You’re perfect …” His voice, too, cracks on the second syllable and he coughs. “Wouldn’t you agree, Joel?”

Joel doesn’t reply. Instead, he cups one of your breasts again and squeezes the nipple tightly between his thumb and forefinger, making you arch you back as a small stab of pain shoots through you. Now that the protective barrier of fabric is gone, you can feel just how rough his skin is against your sensitive spots, how his callouses catch in places your own fingers smoothly glide over. Your head falls back against his shoulder as he pinches your nipple again, as he begins to roll it roughly, pull on it from time to time to hear you hiss.

Joel’s chest rises and falls against your back, hot skin pressing into hot skin, his breath caressing the back of your neck. He runs his nose from your earlobe all the way down to your shoulder, then back up again, but before he reaches the starting point, he sinks his teeth into your neck and bites down, drawing a shivering gasp from you. And then he doesn’t let go. He bites down harder, holding you in place, while cupping your breast with his entire hand, kneading it until your world tilts.

You’re not aware of how desperate you are to find purchase, but the garden and the pool and the sky above right themselves when your hand finds Joel’s thigh. The denim is rough beneath your palm, but he is a rough man so it doesn’t surprise you. What does surprise you though is how hard you have to fight to keep yourself from bucking your hips.

“Joel, stop.”

For just a short little while you had forgot Frankie is there with you, but his voice reminds you with brute force. And when Joel does as he’s told and you are left with nothing to distract you, all you can do is look at your best friend, at his fingers wrapped around that cigarette, and wonder what it would feel like to have him play with your nipple instead of Joel. The painful way your heart constricts at that thought utterly catches you by surprise.

Frankie takes a final drag on his cigarette, flicks the butt away, and clears his throat. “You’ll only do what I tell you to do.”

You shift, the fabric of your underwear rubbing against your clit sending a bolt of desperation through you, mixing with that unbearable longing to create a heady, dangerous cocktail. “Frankie, please.”

Frankie takes you in, and you have no idea what he sees, but he runs his thumb across his bottom lip and asks, “Do you want him to touch you?”

Joel runs his fingers up and down your arm, his touch so light it feels like torture. You try to squirm away but he keeps you trapped against his chest.

You exhale shakily. “Yeah.” There’s a brief moment of hesitation, one that makes your heart flutter as you decide whether you should keep going. You do. “God, I’m so wet.”

Joel’s wandering fingers close around your upper arm like a vise.

But Frankie keeps up his walls. “Show me how wet she is, Joel.”

You don’t think there has ever been a moment in your life where you were more turned on, a single moment where you were less in control of your body and your desires. You try to stand up, your legs trembling like you just finished a marathon, hands wrapped around your dress, ready to pull it all the way down. Joel doesn’t even let you straighten your back. He pulls you back against his chest and wraps an arm around yours before running his free hand down your stomach, not seductively or teasingly but as if he has a task to fulfill. You’ve barely registered the sensation of his fingers against your lower stomach before he has pushed them past the fabric bunched around you hips and into your underwear, and this time you lose the battle against your own body. You roll your hips into his touch as your eyes flutter shut, you push and push, moans and whimpers urging him on. He doesn’t need to be encouraged – he rolls your clit beneath his index finger, just like he rolled your nipple, before dipping it lower, pushing past the muscles at your opening and up into you.

Before you can make sense of it all, he removes his hand and holds up two fingers right in front of your eyes, glistening with your slick. Your chest heaving, you try to catch your breath.

Frankie’s eyes are wide open. “What does she taste like?” he asks, his voice rough as if he hasn’t used it in quite some time.

Joel rubs his thumb against his index and middle finger, toying with your slick. “Don’t you want to find out for yourself?”

Frankie nods so slightly you can’t be sure it really happens, then hides behind a smirk, and you feel something unbearably insisting curl up tightly in the pit of your stomach. “You tell me.”

Suddenly, Joel’s fingers are at your lips, pushing into your mouth. You open up, surprised by the sudden intrusion, and then his thick digits are pressing down against your tongue, making you gag. Tears are filling your eyes, and spit drips out of your mouth as you feel Joel’s hot breath against the shell of your ear.

“Tell him.”

You can’t, not even if you wanted to. Not because you can’t taste yourself on Joel’s skin, not because you can’t talk with his fingers filling up your mouth, but because Frankie flies out of his chair, brow furrowed and fists clenched. Before he can come to your aid, you close your hand around Joel’s wrist and push his fingers even deeper into your mouth, not breaking eye contact with Frankie, not even for a split second.

Joel presses down against your tongue and you suck on his fingers eagerly, but none of that matters to you. The only thing you care about is the red flush creeping up Frankie’s neck and into his cheeks, and the way he keeps closing the distance between the three of you until he’s standing right there, close enough for you to reach out and run your hands up and down his thigh.

Frankie’s hand is warm and heavy as it closes around yours, pulling Joel’s fingers out of your mouth. You gasp, unable to prevent a thin thread of spit from connecting your lips to Joel’s hand. It winks out of existence a second later when Frankie’s mouth clashes against yours, drawing another gasp from you, one that releases months and months of pent-up longing, one that originates deep in your chest but almost dies on your lips, stifled by wonder.

It isn’t a soft kiss, it isn’t even particularly well executed since your teeth clash painfully and Frankie pushes too hard too quickly. He also tastes more like Joel than himself, of beer and cigarettes, but none of that matters. He could have given you a small peck on the cheek and it would have been the greatest kiss you had ever shared with anyone. You feel his breath against your cheek, a shaky exhale, and before you can stop yourself, you find yourself fisting his shirt, fingers clenched so tightly you will never be able to let go again. That is all you ever wanted, all you ever prayed for, and now that you have it, you never want to lose it again.

Eventually, Frankie pulls back ever so slightly and whispers against your lips, “Summer, that’s what you taste like,” and it’s such a corny line it should have you rolling your eyes, but instead you crane your neck and seal your lips to his again, high from the feeling of your tongue in his mouth. He huffs and pushes up against you, but he’s not close enough – there’s still so much space between you. You reach up and grab the collar of his shirt and pull him even closer, but suddenly rough hands grab your arms and hold you back forcefully.

“I wanna go first.” It isn’t a request, that much is clear.

Frankie pulls back and smiles down at you, his face soft and open, searching for any indication you don’t want to do this anymore. Even though you’ve never wanted anyone as much as you want him right now, the thought of him watching while Joel fucks you, utterly in control of the situation, makes you clench around nothing. Frankie can tell – he switches back to his neutral mask in the matter of a second. “You didn’t do as you were told …”

It isn’t a threat, but it might as well be.

Joel hooks a thumb into your mouth and pulls down your bottom lip. You try to bite him again, but he is prepared this time, holding you in place. “Let me come in her mouth at least.”

Frankie grabs Joel’s wrist again and pulls his hand away from your face. “No.”

You have never heard him use that voice before, that kind of voice that makes you snap to attention, that voice that commands people to follow him. You shift, trying to rub your thighs together, but it’s just a primal reaction you have no control over. All your attention is on Joel trying to pull his wrist out of Frankie’s grip, and on Frankie holding him in place, the muscles in his arm straining.

“I’m going to sit back down, and you’re going to fuck her.” Frankie’s voice is so calm it sends a shiver down your spine. “Slowly,” he adds, letting go of Joel’s wrist. “And if you make her come before I tell you to, there’ll be consequences.”

Every muscle in your body tightens. You’re too wound up to rationally consider what Frankie is proposing, too wound up to think about how much you want this and what that might mean. You glance behind you to catch Joel’s reaction, to see if he’s just as affected by Frankie’s proposition as you are, just in time to watch him lick his lips.

“And I get to fuck her however I want?”

Frankie’s gaze shifts to you. It’s nothing more than a glance, a quick check-in, and you nod, just as quickly, just as imperceptibly.

“Yes,” Frankie answers.

Next thing you know, you’re up on the lounger, knees and hands braced against the soft pillows, faded from long summers under the hot Texan sun, focusing on the sounds of Joel unbuckling his belt. You feel your throat tighten at those sounds, leather scraping against skin, metal clicking against metal, but your mouth is too dry to swallow. Joel unzips his jeans, then there’s a rustling sound, followed by a deep, needy groan. It’s enough to make your heartbeat stumble over itself with excitement. You try to turn your head and glance behind you to see what he is doing, but Joel catches your movement and forces your head down, firm grip at the back of your skull.

“Stay.”

To your right, you hear the sound of Frankie shifting in his chair. He doesn’t intervene.

Joel grabs the bunched-up fabric of your dress with both hands and begins to tear it with quick, jerking movements, ruining it. It falls away and glides down to the ground where it comes to rest next to the lounger, leaving you almost completely exposed to Joel. And Joel doesn’t hesitate. He pushes the thin fabric of your underwear aside and sinks into you with one deep, calculated thrust you can feel in your chest.

Your fists clenched, your head hanging low, you try to take it, but his thrusts send shudders of pain up and down your body. It’s not unbearable, and it shouldn’t surprise you; he fucks like he does everything else – rough and with an edge of violence to it – but the stretch is uncomfortable, and the thrusts are greedy, so much so you wish he had surprised you after all.

“Slow down,” Frankie orders, and you lift your eyes to him. A muscle twitches in his jaw, and when Joel does as he’s told, he watches you closely, searching your face for any signs of the discomfort lessening. You shift, your body adjusting to the feeling of being so full, and when Frankie asks, his voice low, “You okay?” you realize that you are. You’re more than okay, actually. Two more shallow thrusts from Joel and you’re completely relaxed.

“Yeah,” you answer, just for Frankie to hear and his lips quirk up in a smile.

“We’re good,” he tells Joel.

Joel’s open palm lands against your ass cheek catching you unawares, as does the moan you let loose at the sudden burst of pain. Frankie swallows, or at least you think he does – you can’t be sure with your eyes flutterin shut. You push back against Joel, eager for more, pulling him deeper inside of you with a greedy clench.

“The way you’re clenchin’ ‘round me makes me think you’ve never had dick before.”

Joel’s voice comes out restrained, the words are punctuated by more slaps, one harder than the last. Their meaning is lost on you as you are reduced to a babbling mess, unable to retain anything that is happening outside of your desire for him. You gush around his cock, hot and wet and wanton, and somewhere between the thrusts and the grunts, you hear a chortle.

“Greedy little thing, aren’t ya.”

That chortle is what pulls you back into yourself, and you risk another glance behind you, hoping that this time he will let you see. He does, and you watch him pound into you, both hands on your hips, denim pulled just low enough to free his cock, dark hairs curling just above it, streaked with bulging veins. He has one knee braced against the lounger, one foot firmly planted on the ground. You almost hate yourself for being so affected by that sight, but you can feel everything tighten, your body begging for release.

“Fuck,” you groan, your voice breathy. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, I’m gonna –”

With a condescending smirk, Joel reaches for your clit. “Go ahead, sunshine.”

You close your eyes, focusing on how you’re clenching around him. You’re so, so close, you can almost taste the release on your tongue. Your mouth hangs open, a moan begins to emerge from someplace deep inside your chest and –

Joel’s hips falter and still, and you can feel yourself flutter desperately around him, but it’s not enough. You glide along his length, coming down from the edge, frustration blossoming in the pit of your stomach. Joel’s fingers rest uselessly against your swollen clit, still as the rest of him, and whenever you try to grind yourself against them, his touch lessens.

“Joel …,” you whine, opening your eyes to look back at him.

It’s not Joel your gaze lands on. It’s Frankie, standing right there next to the lounger, one hand on Joel’s head, fisting his hair, pulling on it so his chin is raised high, his neck exposed, a thick vein pulsing near its base. Joel is breathing heavily, but he doesn’t move, doesn’t try to free himself, while Frankie looks down at him, darkness clouding his features.

“You’ll do as I tell you or I won’t let you come inside of her.”

Frankie lets go of Joel’s hair with a shove to drive home the point. Even now, freed from his restraint, Joel doesn’t fight back. He glares at Frankie as if he’s imagining beating him bloody, but he does like he’s told, removing his fingers from your clit to dig them back into your hip. He picks up the pace again, thrusts a little shallower than before, drawing a sigh of relief from you, scratching that undefinable itch Frankie restraining Joel like that triggered in you. That itch you don’t want to examine too closely right now but that you know you’ll return to.

Frankie pats Joel’s shoulder, two firm raps against the straining muscles. “Good boy.”

You clench so hard around Joel he must notice, but he doesn’t remark on it. He resumes the steady snapping of his hips while your eyes fall shut and drop down to your elbows, those two words floating around your mind like an echo.

Good boy.

A desperate little whimper escapes you, one at least Frankie seems to hear, because he runs two knuckles up and down your spine in a movement that is meant to calm you but shoves you toward the edge with a violent jolt. He must know what he’s doing to you, there is no way he hasn’t noticed. And it should fill you with shame, it should make you resent him, the way you lie bare before him, showing him the most vulnerable parts of yourself, but it only makes you want him more. You open your eyes to find him standing right next to you. This close, you can see how tight his pants stretch over the bulge you hadn’t noticed before, how you think you can even make out a dark spot of precum forming against the fabric. You lick your lips.

“Frankie, please.” Your voice is rough and broken, laced with desperation.

Joel shoves into you so violently you feel the thrust in your throat, but he doesn’t say anything.

Frankie leans down and places a soft kiss against your temple, then runs his thumb across your furrowed brow. “Just tell me when you’re ready.”

You whish you could tell him you’ve been ready ever since he suggested Joel should fuck you, but you can only laugh, a broken sound followed by a hard swallow.

Frankie straightens his back, his eyes bright with excitement. “I see.” He makes his way back over to his chair and sits down, the wood groaning beneath his weight. “Go ahead, Joel.”

Joel picks up the pace, making every thought, every doubt you might have, instantly disappear from your head. His fingers find your clit again, rubbing you hard, and after that it doesn’t take long at all. After that, you let out a deep moan and push back against Joel so hard it makes him lose his rhythm, but it doesn’t matter. You’re coming, pulling him deeper into you as he fucks you through it, letting you squeeze him as you sink deep into pleasure, losing track of your body’s movements.

You come back to the surface when you’re spent, and everything feels sore and tender, but Joel doesn’t stop. There is a burning between your legs now and you hiss, reaching back for him.

Frankie is there next to you again, cupping your cheek. You have no idea when he approached, what made him leave his role as spectator this time, but you instantly relax when you feel his touch on him. “Just a little more,” he murmurs, calming you. “You can take it, I know you can.”

You watch him squeeze the bulge in his pants, and giving it another, harder squeeze when Joel grabs your wrist and pins it to the small of your back. The proof of how much he’s affected by you is enough to chase away the discomfort and rekindle the fire in the pit of your stomach. Your eyes glued to the bulge in Frankie’s pants you wonder what it would be like to feel him thrust into you, chasing his release, to feel him take what he needed from your body, fueled by how much you want him in return.

Finally, Joel stills and spills into you, groaning as his orgasm sparks through him. But your eyes are locked to Frankie’s, as neither of you dares to look away.

THE OUTCOME

The neon sign of the motel casts deep shadows into the cabin of Frankie’s pickup. Your gaze is fixed to the flashing letters, promising vacancy. A car rushes past, its tires whispering against the concrete, still hot from the Texan summer day. You try to ignore the tightness in your stomach, but when a door falls shut with a rattling bang somewhere nearby, you feel that sound like a punch to your gut.

“That was fun,” Joel says from the backseat. He stretches his legs, kicking his foot against your backrest. “If you ever wanna repeat that …” He lets the offer hang there in the air between you.

Frankie grabs the steering wheel tightly, the wood groaning under his skin. “We’ll know where to find you,” he finishes the sentence.

Joel braces both hands against your backrest and leans forward so his lips are close to your ear. “I think I’ll stick around for a while, so if you ever wanna grab some drinks, sunshine …”

Only half-listening, you reply, “Whatever,” fighting down the nausea you’ve been feeling ever since you climbed into Frankie’s truck.

“Whatever,” Joel echoes with a huff, opens the backdoor, and climbs out. “You know, I’ve had better,” he adds, before shutting the door with a loud bang.

“Hey!” Frankie barks, but you shake your head, and Frankie lets him walk away.

It doesn’t matter what Joel says to you. You couldn’t care less. Because as soon as Frankie starts the car, he’ll drive it straight over to your place, say goodnight without really looking at you, and tomorrow, he’ll pretend that none of this happened. Just like he did before. And as much as you hate that thought, you’re going to have to live with it.

As Joel climbs the stairs to the second-floor landing of the motel, you say, “You’ll want to take me home now, right?” It’s best to get it over with as quickly as possible.

The wood groans again, but this time from Frankie loosening his grip. He takes off his cap and runs his fingers through his ruffled curls. You don’t look at him, but you study him out of the corner of your eye, trying to read his face. He puts the cap back on, then slings his arm across the backrest of your seat. “Actually … I was hopin’ you’d come back to my place.”

The nausea you’ve been feeling pricks up its ears with interest and then curls up into a tiny ball, tugged away in a corner of your stomach. “Oh?” you say. And that’s all you manage before he closes the distance between you, his left hand cupping your jaw, his lips brushing against yours, tentatively, asking for permission. You give it to him by fisting his shirt, pulling him toward you, by smiling against his lips, exhaling all the tension in one short giggle, full of relief. He strokes his thumb across your cheek at the same time as you open up for him so he can brush his tongue against yours. You find yourself mirroring him, hand on his cheek, thumb running over the stubble there, relishing the feeling of him being so close.

You pull away first, and he follows you, mouth slightly open, chasing another taste. “What are we gonna do at your place? Do you have more friends who want to fuck me while you watch?” you ask, high from the feeling of his tongue in your mouth, from that promise that he won’t forget about any of this in the morning.

A neon flash lights up Frankie’s face, once, twice, as you watch his cheeks darken with a flush. He takes his time, studying your face closely. “No,” he says, his voice a low rumble, so unfamiliar it draws a smile from him, “I want to fuck you myself.”

If you enjoyed the fic, I'd love to hear from you 🥰 feel free to leave a comment or drop into my inbox anytime ...

dividers by @saradika-graphics

[star-boi0720]

Giant lore dump here, basically they're the seven deadly sins, in my version to become one you commit an act to break a seal that Irene made to contain the devil within and their punishment is to become the new host for said devils. so I'm gonna go person by person and explain how they became a sinner

(the concepts aren't complete, still needs work but I just want to have it written down)

Aaron-Wrath, has a similar backstory to the OG, but I added a thing I remembered from Emerald Secret of the Utltimas backstory (this was solely from my memory and might not be exact) and took Zane out of the equation, basically Aaron had a hobby of hunting and he without knowing killed this holy wolf that Irene created, and as a punishment he was combined with it and in the foggy haze of his transformation he murdered his whole village and his family.

Lucinda-Gluttony, Her hunger for knowledge killed her best friend(/ maybe girlfriend aka Sasha don't 100% know yet) and sealed away her mother to the cursed forest. Hyria used to have like a coven/school for witches she made after Irene left. Lucinda was a prodigy and wanted to just keep learning to the point she was so desperate she stole a book her mother told her never to even touch (which had sin inside and was trusted to hyria by Irene) which made Lucinda's magic go crazy and destroy the school and seal her mom away and kill Sasha.

Travis-Lust, so his mom dies to seal his dad away all that's the same but Travis is just super lonely right, but then a girl comes to visit him and he eventually falls in love with her but she actually is a member of his fathers cult to break him free and Travis is so obsessed with her he doesn't notice, and before he can stop her fully she partially freed him and travis in the struggle to stop her he kills her and breaks his mothers necklace(which had lust inside) but right after he kills her a bunch of villagers burst into the chamber the demon warlock was locked in and it looks like Travis just sacrificed some girl to his father and they try to kill him so Travis hides deep in the mountains

Katelyn-Envy, her entire life in her village of dragons she was treated as lesser compared to her brothers Kayden and Cain cause she wasn't as strong as them and she pushed herself but wasn't enough, her jealousy boiled over and in a fight with her brother Kameron she broke a statue that had the sin inside she didn't kill him but burned him beyond recovery

Garroth- Pride, He was the cocky prince troupe kinda like Hercules from the Disney movie and he liked to play hero, and vylad always went with him like Garroth's little sidekick. but one day they came against a monster they couldn't beat and Garroth refused to back down and in which the monster which was a huge lion killed vylad garroth killed it but it had the sin of pride inside it Garroth returned home and when he told his mother of what happened she hid him away knowing the world would see garroth as a threat and kill him. So Evelyn(Aka Zianna I changed a lot of the parent's names cause it seemed repetitive to me, so mom is now Evelyn and the father's name is now Adam) sent Garroth to hide in Phoenix Drop and claimed the beast killed both of them.

Zane- Greed, Zane was always a good man the whole kind young priest get up. but after the sudden deaths of his brothers, his faith was shaken, and in a desperate attempt to bring them back he began to research black magic and corrupted his mind and he opened a box deep in the catacombs of Okasis which was Pandora's box which held the sin of greed and became and the once kind prince became a true monster.

Nana-Sloth Nana is the eldest daughter of a duke of the Tula Kingdom, her mother died when Nana was young and her father was very heartless about it, like had a new wife in 2 days and all her other siblings were only her half she tried to be close to them but her father kept her away from them to the point she stopped trying after so long but on a night a raid happened she was only able to save one of her siblings her youngest Juno who was only like 7 but as she was escaping she broke a mirror that had the sin of sloth inside and possessed her and nana escaped to ruan and made her little cafe with her sister. (Nanas I don't fully like it yet but it is something ig)

So that's pretty much just some tragic mfrs sorry for any spelling mistakes

[when-gravity-has-fallen]

Background details/me blabbing about my askblog yaaay!! Mostly because it's difficult for me to get motivated as it is! Plus maybe after being inactive for 2 years (rip 💀) this will help pique interest? Idk I just wanna talk about my sillies tbh. And the Axolotl needs a break you know? My guy's watching over an entire multiverse.

First off. The post about my LGBTQIA+ headcanons here: https://www.tumblr.com/craycray-wolf/737090570384703488/while-in-wait-for-the-book-of-bill-already-hard?source=share

It's still accurate to how I feel about the characters...mostly. In the time since I made this post, I have since been converted to "Grunkle Stan is bi" and I'm now preaching the Good Word 🤟

Anyway with that now amended, here's some stuff!

I originally made the majority of the posts about where everyone is now back in 2022, when I intended to have the blog launched as part of the 10th anniversary of Gravity Falls airing.

Well clearly that didn't pan (🩷💛💙🍳) out but maybe it was so it could instead coincide with all the revelations from TBoB! Life is kinda a beautiful thing sometimes.

Anyway point being, I'll have to tweak the timeline a bit. Which is fine because I wanted Dippin Dots and Mabes to hold some jobs before college anyway so really my lack of updating is just an excuse for this. That's the major point I could think of but if I didn't properly consider others please sound off 📣 (yes I'm a cringe emoji user AND I'M PROUD)

Soos and Melody are still attempting to conceive because they want at least one bio child if they can but they're working on adoption.

Many assume Gus Burnside to be missing or worse dead. But maybe... he's still out there somewhere...with his physical body fulfilling a deal. But y'know! No one can say for certain!

To be completely honest I'm still figuring out my interpretation of Bill's backstory. Sorry about that.

Though the reason the Axolotl has contacted our dimension to begin with has to do with his concern...about a certain someone. And who better to give a helping hand than the fandom and the Zodiac?

Since Stan taught Wendy how to hot wire vehicles and whatnot, they one day found a fairly intact Harley motorcycle in the dump. They fix it up together and Stan declares it hers. This is where her Harley previously mentioned in other posts comes from.

When did this happen? I've always assumed the Stans come back to land from time to time, including some summers. So likely during summer but a holiday could work too!

Mabel loves being a passenger. Dipper not so much unless he clings tight. Wendy installs a seat back at some point and this helps ease his anxiety. A little. He likes seeing the scenery though so he'll bare through it if asked to ride. Not to mention he cares for Wendy and thus doesn't want to deny her sharing her joy.

Robbie probably figured out he wanted to be an anime artist while doodling in college classes he wasn't paying attention to. Either he was in generals or some other degree at this point. He only drew in private during high school.

THIS NEXT SECTION WILL BE SHIPS 🚨 YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Pacifica during her high school/diner years thought she like liked Dipper. And well, she was Dipper's rebound crush so at around 15 or so they dated for a while. Pacifica however eventually realizes she's actually a lesbian and was misinterpreting her care for Dippin Dots, as well as thinking she only had so many options initially. Dipper realizes it was to cope with Wendy.

Therefore they cut off romantic ties on good terms and continue to be good friends.

(I have nothing against Dipcifica, it's cute. I'm just personally a Mabcifica person and enjoy my lesbian Pacifica hc)

In their early college years Mabel and Pacifica become girlfriends, LET'S GOOOOOO

Candy and Dipper have began to catch each other's eyes... they've healed from the events of Roadside Attraction in the years since and now they can have a healthier relationship in several ways. I WILL DIE FOR THIS SHIP OKAY

Fiddleford and Ford are sweet old man boyfriends. Though romance baffles Ford it makes enough sense with Fiddleford.

Stan is Stan. Though maybe all of his family coming out awakes something in him... something new to explore about himself...

Past Billford will likely be discussed at some point, though they haven't been a thing for decades and it was toxic to begin with.

Grenda and Marius are of course married ❤️ Candy, Mabel, and Pacifica were her bridesmaids. Mabel and Candy were piling over each other trying to get the bouquet, though Wendy catches it. Uninterested in marriage she throws it back out and reflexively Dipper catches it. After confused for a solid moment he tosses it and finally Pacifica then catches it.

_________

SHIP SECTION FINISHED ⚠️

The Pines Twins revisit Gravity Falls every summer until their high school graduation. Well *maybe* they go one more after graduation but then they have job schedules to contend with.

One of those summers (probably when the Mystery Twins are 15) their parents surprise them with a visit! But then they start to question everything because y'know. Weird town.

Eventually the truth comes out about everything, and they better understand their kids.

It wasn't the easiest summer but an important one.

They let their children return because they know how dearly they love their time there, albeit with ground rules established.

As for their jobs, Mabel was a barista and Dipper restocked shelves at a grocery store.

Dipper now has come to care for his birth name and birthmark. He still likes going by Dipper but he insists that only those close with him use the name. The only reason he still wears bangs is that his hairstyle is just comfortable and familiar. This also keeps his birthmark special as only some get to see it (in full).

Mabel still loves knitting and sweaters, but she's experimented a lot with fashion throughout the years. She now has more variety in her wardrobe than sweaters and skirts.

The twins live in dorms with a couple roommates and return back to their childhood home during holidays and summer. They intend to live in Gravity Falls once they get all their education/credentials.

Waddles is an old man but still kickin'. The parents were initially upset with his presence but were convinced by Stan to begrudgingly keep him. They grew to care for the piggy as well.

The family cat (Sniffles) has since passed :(

They have a dog (Honey) now though! She was a puppy from a dog Dipper once dogsat. The owners didn't realize said dog was preggo. It was a whole thing. Anyway Mabel loves putting her in cute outfits that match Waddles, something she used to do with Sniffles.

Mabel is a k-pop multistan (originating from Candy and Grenda introducing it to her) and absolutely loves drinking boba/jelly milk tea. Dipper likes the sound of k-pop music but isn't a fan the same way his sister is. He likes milk tea but the boba pearls themselves freak him the heck out.

There's a lot more but I'm blanking 🤪

[yurtb0y]

GNAWING ON THAT OC GIVE ME INFORMATION

YESYES OKAY!!! *inhale* SO.

(this all might change later since he's still pretty new)

General info I guess (haven't fleshed out his backstory much yet.)

was a Catholic priest before the AM takeover (obvis)

he's roughly in his mid/late 30's- early 40's

he doesn't have a name yet because I'm stupid.

He lived in the United States when AM attacked. He was born in Poland and moved to the US in his mid 20's. (probably someplace like Texas or Utah... )

probably gay or in some way queer but DEEPLY in denial. (also in my mind IHNMAIMS takes place in the 60s/70s somewhere around that time so like... y'know... also makes room for the religious guilt plotline.)

Kinda stopped believing in god after long enough in AM's complex because like really who wouldn't. throwback to Ted's entire spiel about AM being god y'know the one.( Ik that wasn't meant litterally but the sentiment still works.)

As for his relationship with the other survivors and his torture.

Ellen- He'd most likely be less harsh on her and not really like.... *ahem*. use her. He'd always been a pretty compassionate man he was never like the freaky creep kind of priest/pastor. He can most likely sympathize with her past a bit as well- or atleast as much of it as she's willing to share which I imagine isn't much.

Nimdok- This mf is Polish. He does not like Nimdok. (If we're talking game Nimdok which is what I'm basing this... AU, I guess? off of.) I don't think they'd actively beef but they'd prolly just try to avoid eachother within the group. In terms of book Nimdok I think there's a slight possibility they could've gotten along. Honestly for Nimdok like... (Idr if where I saw this I think it was from a fic somewhere) but I like the idea that he wasn't actually a n*zi but since it's mentioned his memory is fucked AM just convinced him and the others he was so pin them against him and fuck with him some more. idk man allied mastercomputer behaviour. It also makes me dread thinking about him a little less.

Gorrister- Surprisingly, I think they'd get along. Even if they don't share a religion I think they'd find solace in confiding their guilts in eachother, esp with Gorrister's guilt over what happened with Glynis-- also since it's mentioned in the book Gorrister used to be an activist (which I think is more interesting than his trucker backstory from the game so I'm sticking with the activist storyline.) I feel like he's the least likely to be quite as homophobic as the others (cause let's be real here.) so maybe. MAYBE. He'd eventually try talking about some of those buried up feelings with Gorrister. Unlikely though. Overall I think they could be the closest thing to friends I can imagine with their situation.

Benny- I think they could've gotten along pre-monkey'd, (For Benny I like to combine his book and game backstory in my mind so tldr he was a professor and was later fired when it was discovered he was gay and then the enlisted in the military and killed 3 people. boom.) I think Priest oc would've respected them but after the monkey moment I feel like he'd kinda treat him like the family dog just as the other survivors do.

Ted- Ohhh boy. I have some words I'm not sure I'm allowed to use on Tumblr. They'd either get along or beef or some secret third evil and more sinister thing. Toxic without the yaoi. They make eachother worse. I need to map my thoughts out better before I write anything about them out. giggles but not in a good way.

wow I really used this as an excuse to dump about my ideas for the other survivors too huh.

Whilst I haven't sat down to ponder how AM would fuck with him I do know I wanna play off the theme of guilt somehow. I can imagine him being ripped apart by wolves for some reason that's just been like stuck in my head the whole time I've been typing all this out. Also maybe almost something with sacrificial themes? I'm kinda thinking about how Benny's part in the game ends for inspo on that it's hitting the right vibe. Please don't cancel me I'm Polish and all my family is Catholic.

Annon I hoped you liked reading this cause I had fun writing it. Also here he is again for anyone who's seeing this but didn't see the og post.

also I'm SO open to name suggestions for this freak cause I've got NOTHING.

[talos1111]

Well I’m just gonna dump some DnD lore and art, finished (ish) and WIP. I’m still new (both to DnD and art but mostly art) and really should be practicing more but hey maybe posting here will give me more motivation eh? Anyway-

Background of the setting: modified Spelljammer, (I’m completely new to the lore anyway so I’m just gonna say everything because idk what’s modified so if I’m acting like I’m repeating common knowledge, that’s why) it’s the Age of Starsail. In the distant past there was a war involving a race called the Forerunners and the Mindflayers. The Forerunners were seemingly wiped out, however there are ancient high tech relics and ruins with still working machinery (this is where Warforged come from). Along with this, there are places that called the Burned Lands. These are essentially magical radiation zones that were created in the ancient war. I’ll skip the rest of it because I just want to show my art aaa

So here’s my character: Errk Gearwing. I don’t have a full body ref, and I’m actually re-designing him now, but this pic has my most complete works:

My boy!

His whole vibe is supposed to be something akin to Warhammer 40k’s Adeptus Mechanicus, with the idea of forgoing his organic self for the Strength and Certainty of Steel.

Fun fact: his arm was the first thing I drew on my iPad, so I kinda went wild trying out brushes.

His backstory is that he was hatched/born into slavery, sent into the Burned Lands to recover particularly valuable artifacts. He was mutated from his exposure, causing the horns and spikes (in reality I wanted something to sorta fill out the space on his head and couldn't draw feathers well, then noticed my attempts looked like spikes and I just rolled with it). At about 15 years old (for the record Aarakocra live a more typical 80-ish year life instead of the shortened 30 years) he was injured in an explosion, but being resourceful, crafty, and happening to be near a med station, he managed to replace them himself. He would later manage to escape, violently slaughtering his masters.

The knife and axe are just ideas for his melee weapons, they don’t have any magical qualities (and every time he gets in melee he gets thrashed so they don’t see much use). The little bars in the middle are for the absorb element spell, being a sort of battery for the stored energy/damage.

In the upper right are a bunch of rune ideas for arcane infusions, self explanatory. The idea is they’re supposed to be able to be done in a single motion.

On the lower right is still unfinished concepts for the tiny Eldritch Cannon. They borrow heavily from the Vulcan from Metal Hellsinger, with the Force Ballista (top) really just being a souped up crossbow. As you can probably tell I didn’t finish the flamethrower.

Onto his now main weapon(s)!

HE CASTS FROM HIS GUN.

INFINITE THANKS TO MY DM FOR NOT ONLY LETTING ME DO THIS, BUT ACTIVELY GAVE ME THE GUN AND TOLD ME I COULD MAKE IT INTO A VERY LITERAL "ARCANE FIREARM." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Right so specs: the top gun is a mash of a few ideas. In gun terms it’s a lever-action falling block with extra doo-dads. In other words, there's a block that lowers (falls, hence the name) when you work the lever, allowing you to load a single bullet, and when the lever is worked back the block rises back up, sealing the bullet in. Literally stole the action and chamber design from the Martini Henry. It’s cut short because I wanted it on a thigh holster. While it can use typical bullets, the way its used as a spell focus is that Errk can "flash print" a round that would have the effects of whatever spell he's casting.

You might notice that I have a thing for opposing duos. The axe and dagger from the first pic are named ebony and ivory, and here you have this beautifully crafted rifle... and a stubby grenade launcher held together by tape and prayer, and Errk is an atheist. Hell, I have the idea that it might now "shoot" grenades, it just could have a rune of Catapult that just YEETS them. The grenade launcher is mostly just a partial handwave for how a rifle could casting larger AoE spells; it doesn't, in game the two are basically just one item, an arcane firearm to cast from. Shown here are also a few round ideas: bottom left is a Dazzle round, my DM allows me to use the Pyrotechnics spell without needing a fire to make explode, so it works basically like a flashbang, minus the bang. Bottom right is the grenade of fireball, inspired heavily by Fallout's mininukes. Top right is an unfinished idea for shocking grasp, a melee cantrip, where the grenade would be jammed into someone, the little arms pierce them and hold it in, and then it discharges.

One last finished piece:

A quick and simple explanation of gunpowder. Recently the group... "landed" (attacked from orbit by a Nautiloid and escaped in pods that crashed) on a planet in a new system, and the local humans (a species new to us, though there are Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings back home so a bird person is weirder to them than they are to Errk) weren't as advanced as our system. I basically just wanted something that Errk could show to explain the basics of firearms and gunpowder.

Onto the WIPs:

The start of his new design. Originally he was a red tailed hawk, partially because it was a simple color palette and relatively easy to draw, and also because their cry is just really cool. Now, he's gonna be part hawk, and part bearded vulture. For those of you who don't know, 90% of a bearded vulture's diet is B O N E S. Plus, they look absolutely sick (if you find images of them with red rings around the eyes, turns out those are threat displays, so he can basically do the eyes go red meme whenever he wants to).

And my last two pieces:

In the upper left is how he got his name: a set of mechanical wings. Originally, I wanted something done to prevent him from flying, since I heard it can kinda break encounters, especially with a ranged focus caster, but wanted to keep some aspect of them, and worked with my DM to basically give him permanent slowfall. Originally he was gonna have his flight feathers cut during his time as a slave, then I went for having them mangled, and then I decided to just replace them entirely. If you play Warframe, you might see the similarity to the Icarius Syandana, which heavily inspired these wings.

(fun fact: the name came before the mechanical wings. I felt he needed a last name and went to a name generator, "Gearwing" felt perfect. I was gonna explain it as he signed up for an expedition or something, and the dwarf doing the paperwork suggested it).

On the bottom right is my idea for the small sized, self propelled Eldritch Cannon. My DM is a geologist with an interest in paleontology, and she likes to base some of the animals off real world extinct beasts, so I guess that just rubbed off on me (plus bird with spikes and horns already feels like 2 steps from a dinosaur, why not go all the way?)\

Right! That's all I got at the moment. Right now dealing with IRL stuff, barely even been practicing basics, let alone actually trying to draw a full thing. Hope to come back with more soon!

[kestrel-bee]

I just finished ISAT, and. Wow. I am in shambles after Act 5 holy FRICK

Okay, now that I’m done, time to dump all of my thoughts out at once, because I NEED to talk about this game holy crap

(spoilers abound from this point, don’t read if you are interested in playing for yourself)

(CW for discussing religion-related struggles with sexuality, if that’s something that bugs ya)

Okay, for starters, I just want to talk about how well executed this game is.

The gameplay was interesting and not too hard to understand while still being unique and fun, the illustrations and art style was really cute and charming, the character designs are recognizable yet creative, the writing is entertaining and made me love all of the characters in a very quick fashion, and the story overall was just FANTASTIC.

Literally my only complaint is that i had a tricky time adjusting to how sensitive the controls were when walking. Maybe it works better on desktop, but I was playing on the Steam Deck, and the only other platform I can play on is Mac, which this game does not support.

But honestly this ended up being a nonissue, I figured it out pretty quickly and after an hour or so I had the controls down to pat.

I also love how they handled the concept of a time loop, and the slow descent of Siffrin’s mental downfall. The way he started getting so desperate at the end, clinging to every scrap of hope he could find was heart wrenching.

Act 5 was KILLER, omg, I was so wrecked over it I had to take a break to calm down 😭

It’s not often a piece of media evokes THIS much emotion out of me, holy crud.

To talk about some of the characters,

I LOVE me some found family fluff, and boy oh boy was I fed, they’re so wholesome, they’re all so skrunkly 😭

I loved the little snippets of representation in these characters, with Odile being mixed race and attempting to connect to her roots, and Isabeau’s very trans-coded backstory. And yk, the multitude of gays and lesbians throughout the game XD

Even though that kind of representation doesn’t resonate with me personally, I still like to see it.

But oh man, Mirabelle’s cutscene in Act 3 hit hard. I myself am aroace and religious, and marriage was always something I felt was expected from me.

As I got older and realized that romantic attraction wasn’t really something I feel for people, I tried to convince myself I was attracted to a good friend of mine who had a crush on me, which obviously didn’t work out.

I’ve always had a hard time identifying with womanhood in the way my church has always portrayed it as, so having Mirabelle talk about her faith related struggle with her asexuality and identity was such a comforting representation for me.

Another thing, I can’t tell if it’s intentional or not, but I love how neurodivergent coded they are?

Like, we have Siffrin, kinda touch averse and quiet,

Odile who doesn’t like change and needs her routine alone time to recuperate after every floor,

Mirabelle and Isabeau, the funny noise appreciation squad, the hyper-empathetic duo who would always get over hyped over things together,

And while I can’t think of a specific example for them, Bonnie is always there matching Mirabelle and Isabeau’s energy.

Not to mention the frequent amount of times the latter 3 would repeat each other (echolalia) when saying something fun or happy. (Like the “Pie Smell!” candle).

Do these things on their own make them neurodivergent? No, but the way they’re consistently written like this feels very intentional and I love it.

Anyway, whoof, that was very long, but TLDR: this game was PHENOMENAL, and I will be recommending it to everyone I know

[lavendermoon48]

ummmmm

HAVE A SCIENCE INFO DUMP/ THEORY ABOUT SBG GO

okokok this is gonna be a real science and theory infodump so feel free to scroll 

so from my understanding in order to jump dimension to dimension you need energy. like a shit ton of it. like almost black hole (well theoretically black hole amount bc there's a theory that black holes are wormholes but that's science for an other time)

this implies that something had to have made a crap tom of energy in sbg. now i understand that it may not be gulley scientifically accurate cuz i mean this kinda science is really theoretical and im no professional.

so as far as i can tell things started when ashlyn was born. which in turn connected ash to the phantom dimension (im assuming its a different dimension) so something must have created X amount of energy to connect the dimensions.

as we see a phantom temporarily crosses over to our dimension and cuts mike which means something brought it there, but what?

now we don't have too much info on the cranes past/ backstory BUT knowing that something had to have created enough energy to connect the dimensions.

my theory is that the cranes (in the past) were already researching alternate/ different dimentions around the time ash was born

now we don't know the exact location of ash's birth or the cranes facility (unless i missed something) so i think it is very possible that the night ash was born the cranes started as experiment and generated a bunch of energy to jump dimensions, but something went wrong and it pulled emma, mike, and ash into the dimension for a moment

this could have given ash and her parents a connection to the phantom dimension, but especially ash because she was still very little (literally out of the womb) and could have affected her differently

if this is the case you may be wondering 'then why didn't the cranes take ash and her family sooner?' to which i say they didn't know about her connection

i think they didn't realize about ash until she was a bit older and even then there was really no way to  confirm that she had any connection at all

that is until they went to the sorrel house, (which i feel like plays a bigger role, we just haven't figured out how yet) where she had an active encounter with the phantom dimension

maybe the sorrel house had a bunch of energy from something and that's how the gang was able to temporarily cross over and how ash 'pulled them in'

[itsashowtime]

Hiii!! So I saw your art of Yona Yona and he looks so fucking cool 😍😍😍 I'm desperately curious and noisy af so I hope it's okay if I ask a couple questions?

Like he's the one who made the fake vongola rings (love how you filled that plothole (?) btw that's awesome) so is he a jewellry maker? (is that even a word? I don't have to vocab for this, just blacksmith but for jewellery?)

Also you said he's a menace to society, so I assume he's chaotic? On scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being an angel that would do no wrong and 10 being "I've blown up a city block and I would do it again" what would you rate him chaos wise?

sorry for just randomly sliding into your inbox 😂 but I couldn't help myself 👉🏼👈🏼

Omg, thank you for taking interest in my skrunkly little man!

For context: I am the CEO of (moon) Bunny x (sun) Lion Oc x Canon ships and because Xanxus is out there with his Lion/Liger box weapon, I was like: "he needs a bunny boyfriend to knock him down a few hundred pegs"

Hence, Mr Yona Yona here. I thought it'd be cute to have a Y motif/name character for the X motif character too LOL.

I am rewatching KHR with two friends and when the fake Vongola rings got brought up, I was sat there wondering WHO THE FUCK could've made perfect replicas? I was already thinking of making an OC so I had the idea of filling that plot hole.

At the moment, Yona has the mist/cloud flames attribute. Regardless, he has the ability to essentially copy and paste any solid object with his mallet/hammer. (he can't copy/paste living things though like humans and animals) It just costs a LOT of energy depending on how intricate the object is.

Eg. Duplicating money isn't much of an issue , that's mostly how he gets by. But if he tried to duplicate something like the rings or the ten year bazooka, he'd be out for a few hours / or days.

I need to brush up on my KHR flame lore (looks at shimon arc's flames and ugly cries at my memory) but I am the rabbit/moon OC maker ever so I've been trying to cook up a Moon Flame for him to possess too. Maybe it's a branch of flame of night or something idk, I really need to study the flames again HAHA

As for being a menace- He 'TRIES' to be lowkey because the mafia crowd are after him to take advantage of his ability. Cause imagine being able to perfectly duplicate deadly weapons. Yikes. But he also hates the mafia so if he is cornered and he gets the chance, yeah, he'd cause problems ON PURPOSE and make things worse for them and himself out of sheer pettiness LOL

So I think on the scale it'd be like an 8. He'd blow up a city if it means he could make the mafia that are after him groan in despair.

ALSO I should add, his backstory is that: he was involved in the same experiment Mukuro, Ken and Chikusa were in and as a result, he ended up with this copy/paste ability. They were basically using him to mass produce possession bullets until one day he just copy/pasted the master keys of the lab and made a run for it.

He's been on the run since and has BEEF with Xanxus after the whole fake vongola ring incident. He's kinda on the hit list because he's potential danger anyways but he doesn't pass up the chance to mock the Varia w

SORRY FOR THIS DUMP , I hope it's coherent . . .

[politemenacephd]

Hiiii, imma be honest Arachnophilia was interesting to me! But i have a question and is for curiousity. (Sorry for my english i am hispanic so lol)

If Mig and reader are going to have offspring, like 10 daughters and 1 son i saw you said answering a question, by laying eggs. How reader would feed them? Is so many kids! Unless the drider daughters eats like idk small preys? and the humanoid son drinks the mother's milk? Sorry if i sound very weird. But is just i am curious and well i try learn about logic of a family of a drider dad and a human (spider) mom

Hey! Totally valid, please don't worry about asking questions they make v happy, I love getting the chance to lore dump!! So you're totally right it sounds messy, it would kinda have to be, they are like... basically creating a new species lol. I went through this w AFM with OG!Miguel's genes causing some havoc so weird baby lore is a favourite of mine. First thing I'll elaborate on though: the 10 daughters and son would not be all born at the same time! I would not put reader through that absolute hellscape of a timeline! Now this isn't exact, I wasn't sure how interested people would be in a family arc so I haven't fleshed it out in the same way I have his backstory or their relationship progression, but here's a little more info on my initial theories. They have handfuls of eggs at a time (cos spiders, that's like a v classic spider thing but also probably for the best cos tryna give live birth to something w tiny frail legs? oh god no please) but only a couple of the eggs end up being viable and hatching, so they have usually have 2 or 3 babies at a time to raise.

(edit because i had a thought: i did wonder about them having a few kids who are just straight up large spiders?? who are still affectionate with the family but are just. spiders. love the idea of them being v protective of reader and they cuddle all the time.)

Since even the driders have a human top half they'd all start feeding like regular babies, either formula or milk (I imagine reader could stock up on some, or Mig would just rampage through the local city to steal some) and they grow very rapidly at the start to kinda catch up! So its do-able, just a little more difficult than usual. I did also think about them maybe needing to be in an incubator early on since they would be smaller? I could see Mig putting his old skills to use to build one. Hope that explains it better!

[metawatts]

Saw your review for the jl/rwby crossover. You mentioned Cruz as being one of the failures of the movie. Kind of leaves me conflicted because honestly she was kind of my favorite part of the movie while everything else was just mostly meh or frustrating. I am not that familiar with comic Cruz and the Incarnation I am more familiar with from DC superhero girls is very different from the comic from what little I know. Care to do a deep dive on this particular GL and how the crossover failed her?

Alright, I have some time to do asks, so lets dive on in! I was gonna write this out way better but my dotpoints kinda became their own essay so here we go!

TL:DR: I think that Jessica's anxiety was mishandled due to a fundamental misunderstanding of how her character is built in the comics, because they wanted a Cute Agoraphobic Queen (and forgot to have the agoraphobia). I also think that she lacked agency in her own mental health and plotline, with Jaune being the main mover in both, and that there is whitewashing to her design, as seen here compared to: other cartoons, other comic runs, her other rwby designs (feat. one Simon Baz because DC is keeping him from me)

Yeah. Hm. Anyway, lets get into my rambly thoughts about Jessica Cruz

Alright first things first: I’m not against Jessica Cruz being written differently to the comics if she’s written respectfully. I also really do like dc superhero girls and Jessica there is very fun as a character, even if I have some other issues with what they took out from her storyline

The thing about this iteration of Jessica Cruz is that apparently the theme of the movie was ‘gun violence’ or whatever and that’s. That’s her whole. That’s literally her whole comic backstory.

For a quick recap in the comics: Jessica Cruz one day was hiking with friends before they stumbled across some guys dumping bodies in the woods. All of Jessica’s friends were shot down and murdered right in front of her for being witnesses, and Jessica gained an absolutely brutal case of PTSD, which later fuelled her agoraphobia and anxiety.

Then, after spending 3 years literally never leaving her apartment out of terror that she was going to be tracked down and murdered like her friends, she was instead tracked down by an artifact called Power Ring (it’s complicated but p much it’s like an Evil Inverse Green Lantern Ring). The Power Ring, which is fuelled by the wearer’s fear and trauma, forces itself onto Jessica and turns her into a villainous puppet for it’s own will. She’s canonically being tortured by physical and psychological pain the whole time she’s wearing it. She’s nearly saved a few times from her Literal Possession but the thing that sticks is when she pulls a self-sacrifice and supposedly dies, only it turns out that the ring died in her place and then she got a Green Lantern Ring for her bravery in facing her fears and such. (I think the universe/writers were apologising because Genuinely WTF)

Now, the thing that a lot of people praise about Jessica as a character in most comics, is that she is, most of the time, a very realistically-written character with anxiety. Her anxiety is rooted mostly in her PTSD, which means that it has very definite triggers, one of which is, on her bad days, ‘guns being aimed at her’.

However, Jessica is also someone who actively works on this aspect of her mental health, she’s shown having gone to therapy sessions, learnt how to internally combat her negative self-talk, and actively works on herself. She has her coping mechanisms, and they genuinely work for her when she’s spiralling, and she’s able to work through her anxiety and remind herself that, in what is one of her main catchphrases ‘you are not your fear’.

DC Superhero girls pretty much just axed Jessica’s anxiety entirely and while she’s a fun character she’s also not really close enough to comics Cruz for me to really draw comparisons, although I do wish they’d been willing to explore that storyline (and maybe have Simon there) I understand why with the age range they didn’t decide to throw in Gun Violence and Anxiety (but they could have had Simon there where are you keeping him dc)

Meanwhile: RWBY/JL Jessica Cruz. Well. I don’t want to hate on people who like her. If you found joy in something that I did not, then I’m happy for you, but I do want to explain my problems. The first is the way they misrepresented and mishandled her anxiety, and the second is Jaune. Why does it always have to be Jaune, I don’t even hate Jaune, I just hate how much everyone in the writing rooms love him.

Anxiety: Jessica in the film is pretty much given a much more generalised anxiety disorder. She mentions that she’s had it from a young age, that she’s always been afraid, that the ring helped her fit in. She’s given a much different trigger of claustrophobia, and her agoraphobia is completely missing from her character. DC Superhero Girls took away her anxiety, so there’s nothing to misrepresent. RWBY/JL put in her anxiety, and put in the wrong one.

Comics Jessica’s anxiety, and her insecurities, come from a genuinely traumatic event, one that shaped her for years, one that she’s still fighting overcome. And then worse stuff happened to her and she kept going. I have a generalised anxiety disorder, I’ve had one since I was a teenager, and I can also say that how it was shown in the movie was… kind of stereotypical. She’s meek, and she shy, and she’s nervous and jumpy and doesn’t feel like she can do anything. And this is meant to be Jessica who still is that adult, just in a teen brain, and I know hormones suck, but they completely axed the fact that this is canonically a character who has mental health issues and works on them so they could have Jaune peptalk her through her panic attacks, which. Cures them, all of a suddenn

Yeah we’re getting into the Jaune stuff now. Jaune is the catalyst for everything Jessica does. He makes the plans while she worries, he talks her through her panic, he talks her through all her anxiety, and then… that’s it, really, all she does from that point on in the movie is Solve All The Problems. The emotional core of most of their scenes from post-Jessica confessing her anxiety disorder up until ‘the claustrophobia panic attack’ is on Jaune missing Pyrrha so much that he ignores Jessica actually trying to be reasonable about ‘this is sus’. It feels like they wanted to do ‘Jessica gets a best friend who helps her through her anxieties and supports her to stand on her own’, forgot to write the second part of that, and forgot one other tiny lil detail

WHICH IS SHE HAS ONE.

Simon Baz is Jessica’s Green Lantern partner in the comics, they’re your classic ‘hothead/cautious’ duo, they have literally the best interactions of friendship ever, this is the man who worries that Jessica’s not feeling okay after a bad day and shows up to make her pancakes for breakfast. They also have a real interesting quirk to their specific brand of green lanterning, which is that Hal Jordan was like ‘okay you need to learn to work together’ and fused their Power Batteries together. (quick rundown: green lantern rings need to be periodically charged up with lantern shaped power batteries otherwise there’s no constructs or cool costumes). Simon and Jessica cannot recharge their rings separately, they have to work as a team. And the first few comics of their run are great (I know nothing about the state of it now). They’re mutually supportive, they both have their issues, and Jaune feels like he was written to slot into that role.

I get that ‘we can’t have two green lanterns in here that’s boring’ was probably what was said but this is also what speaks to a wider issue about how Jessica is getting a lot more press time in non-comic properties. Which is awesome! Overall I love her character, I love the different takes on her, and it’s very cool to see her. Simon Baz, however. Is. Not getting any of this. Which is a shame. I just wish that my duo could get to be a duo.

But, I mean, if dc superhero girls is willing to just completely nix jess’s anxiety from her, why not nix Simon Baz’s backstory and still have him be her partner there? Why do all these properties decide that Jessica is best written when all of her character stuff beyond ‘female green lantern, occasionally nervous’ is removed from her? This isn’t just a rwby problem, but it’s something I’ve noticed especially in the rwby movie because of how they took Jessica’s character, when her backstory as it was would have tied into the so-called ‘theme’ for gun violence, and stripped her entirely for parts about ‘Jaune is a nice caring friend look how protective he is of poor scared Jessica’. He even powers her up for HER big 'ending the bad guy' move instead of allowing her to be as strong as a green lantern ring is meant to be

Jessica in the film is pretty much written as ‘nervous agoraphobic adorable widdle queen’, all of her actual agency, all of her own inner strength of being someone who struggles with anxiety and overcomes it is removed so that she can be a Pep Talk Recipient, and I gotta say another small thing: pep talks, in my experience, don’t actually cure a chronic generalised anxiety disorder.

Oh yeah and also not only is her Green Lantern outfit in this crossover really not good (everyone is, except vixen, vixen’s power is too strong for rwby character designers to truly damage), she’s also definitely whitewashed to the point that I think a lot of people would find it hard at first to know that she’s meant to be Latina. Like, even compared to her Adult Version, or her rwby comics version, or, say, some of the other animated versions of her, or even her comics version in The Good Runs, as shown above. I called her ‘ben 10-ified’, and I stand by that, it’s just… it's a bit eesh, considering rwby's other problems with colourism and such.

I think all the DC characters got massacred, but if this had to be the anxiety rep for the film, why couldn't it be the Jessica who was actively working on dealing with it, dealing with her self-talk, like this?

I know rwby's allergic to character development, but come on. Jessica is more than an Anxious UwU bean. That's kinda the whole point. Also, she plays pokemon, what's not to love?

[wetbloodworm]

just musing on some stats re: my arikids since i've got 5 now and i like comparing them and seeing what variety there is, or what patterns there are

2 martial classes (niamh as a rogue and mik as a monk), 1 caster class (zenith as a sorcerer), 2 half casters (cathan as a paladin with a martial focus and toby as an artificer with a caster focus). i have a lot of fun as all types! i LOVE spells but i've also really enjoyed Hitting Things Very Hard. niamh mik and cathan could all hit SO HARD

for the martial focus characters, niamh uses a shortbow, mik uses his fists, and cathan uses a longsword. for the caster focus characters, toby favors lightning/thunder damage and zenith favors psychic damage. i should try out different martial classes but idk i just... love spells... maybe i multiclass next, haven't done that! idk what combo i'd go with but bardbarian is fun to say

all different species, the closest being two legacy types. toby's a half-orc, niamh's a hexblood, mik's a changeling, cathan's an aasimar, zenith's a dhampir. yay variety!

decent leaning towards high CHA kids with 3/4 (niamh, cathan, zenith) with 20. toby and mik both have high INT at 20. cathan had over 20 STR with an item, toby also had 19 STR with an item but in reality that's toby's dump stat. niamh and mik with 20 DEX.

2/5 who explicitly follow gods (mik with brutena, cathan with aphdos), though toby has obvious ties to eltis. i love the gods and find playing religious characters interesting, so i'd be interested in doing more of that! gods or demigods, since that's an option now

we're now at 4/5 kids being aspec lmao. toby is gray-aroace, niamh is aroace + sex/romance repulsed, mik is demiromantic + gay, zenith is aroace + sex/romance favorable, and cathan is our lone allo kid.

3/5 nonbinary! toby and cathan are nonbinary without additional microlabels, zenith is agender (technically, in the way we largely understand gender, he wouldn't use the label. you can call him anything tbh it's just all wrong lol). niamh is a cis woman and mik is a cis man. clearly this means my next kid has to be binary trans. alternatively, fuck it, more nonbinary kids, let's gooooo

2/5 autistic (toby and mik) though it's a little nuanced since i wouldn't necessarily call zenith allistic either. he's Something. neurodivergent in the sense that yes technically he diverges from what is typical, because he's essentially an alien lol. i think he could easily be mistaken for autistic, though. he's that character dynamic meme of like "character 1 who thinks they're both autistic and character 2 who is a monster/alien/robot/etc"

finally, because it's a classic dnd trope, we got just 1 tragic backstory (cathan). niamh KINDA comes close, she's at least got a shitty strained relationship with her family and had the hag thing going on. everyone else is pretty well adjusted and having a good time! toby subverts the trope in having barely any backstory at all lmao

[noperopesaredope]

My F*cked Up Collector Backstory AU (Pt. 1)

So, recently I made a post mentioning that I kinda made a small AU type concept for an alternate Collector backstory. A backstory that I described as “kinda really fucked up, even for me”. It seems that a few people are interested, and I believe that it would be fun to at least just put out there for my fellow Collector angst lovers. Maybe even my general angst lovers. Possibly a few Hunter angst lovers? Who knows.

Probably just gonna call this the “Servitude Collector AU”. Might make other types of posts related to it. Might make a few OCs. It kinda relies/thrives on OCs. The OCs won’t quite be the focus of the AU, but they will be important to it.

Anyways, I didn’t quite properly write this out in the form of a proper, straightforward description. Instead, I thought of what is more of a half written one-shot in which I torment Luz and King by making them incredibly uncomfortable as Colly just kinda casually trauma-dumps on them a bit because Colly doesn’t realize how deeply disturbing the topic is.

This is the first part of that thing:

So the Collector now lives in the Owl House with the Owl Fam (might also just live with Camila, but hangs out sometimes in the Demon Realm), and is slowly becoming a functioning member of society. He’s actually relatively chill once you get to know him, just a bit bratty and way too powerful for his age. He also has a habit of saying some…questionable remarks. This is a particularly noteworthy incident.

So Luz, Colly, and King are all chilling in the house, each doing their own thing in the living room. Luz mentions that she needs to go in a few minutes.

Colly, who is eating a sandwich, pauses and asks, “wait, which friend is that one again?”

Luz: “You know, Hunter. The tall, blonde guy? Friend of mine? Doesn’t seem to like you? Used to be the Golden Guard? You probably know him.”

Then Colly casually drops this one-liner: “Oh, right, Belos’ pet.”

The other two people in the room freeze at this, and Luz slowly turns to him to make what is approximately this facial expression:

King, who knows exactly what’s going on here, quickly says: “Collector, buddy, we talked about this.”

The Collector scoffs. “Oh here we go again. I already told you, like, a bajillion times: 1) it’s a cultural thing, 2) it wasn’t that bad, and 3) it wasn’t slavery,” he says before crossing his arms.

Luz is now deeply alarmed, but King and Colly are completely lost in their own little argument at this point.

King: “Based on the way you described it before, it sounds exactly like slavery.”

Colly: “Just because we were considered property, and had little personal rights, and were domestic servants, and could face cruel and unusual punishments for disobedience, and had no property of our own, and were under the threat of execution if we tried to escape, and…okay, that does sound exactly like slavery when I say all that out loud, but I promise you that it isn’t. Besides, it wasn’t all that bad. I mean, I turned out great.”

Luz, quietly, to herself: “Ah, yes, great, well, that’s one way to say it.”

Colly: “Besides, we had some rights. We couldn’t be executed without permission from the king, we were allowed to have guards (we couldn’t really hire our own or ask for them, but we could have them), and it was illegal to punish any of us in ways that would give long lasting physical scars and/or injuries (though, in a society full of magic, that doesn’t mean much).”

King: “Besides the guards, that is less than the bare minimum.”

Colly: “Well since only the royals could have pets, we all lived with pretty well off people, and they would typically treat us pretty well if we behaved. We got nice food, comfortable living spaces, fancy clothes, all that nice stuff. We also never had to do any hard labor unless it involved magic, so I’d say we lived in luxury. Unless your person wasn’t very nice. Then it became a lot more complicated.”

Luz, finally deciding to speak up: “Um, I just have a small question to ask.”

Both turn to her, remembering that she’s present, and Colly gestures for her to continue.

Luz: “Yeah, so, what are you two…talking about? Like, what even is a ‘pet’ in this context?”

Colly gets clearly excited to explain, and immediately begins infodumping.

Colly: “Okay, so, in my species, we have your typical caste system-”

Luz: “Wait, caste system?!”

Colly, annoyed at being interrupted: “Yeah, you know, caste system. Do humans not know what that is?”

Luz: “No, we do…lemme just go grab something real quick.”

She runs out of the room really quickly and scrambles back in with a journal and pencil in hand. The journal is labeled “‘Discussion’ Topics to Have With the Collector”, which is essentially Luz/Camila’s shared journal that basically functions as Colly’s therapy folder, but in journal form. Everyone in our squad has their own “‘Discussion’ Topics” journal (“‘Discussion’ Topics to Have With Luz”, “‘Discussion’ Topics to Have With Hunter”, etc). I would just like to let that be known.

Luz sits back down and opens the journal, ready to start writing.

Luz: “Okay, I’m ready. Go!”

The next part occurs with more visual storytelling stuff.

Colly: “So, ours is, from top to bottom: Monarchs, Nobles, Potential Nobles (which are powerful families that might become nobles), Starkeepers, Planet Organizers, Grand Military, Space Jumpers, Researchers, Librarians, Scholars, Assistant Librarians, Guards, Commoners, and Servants, though nobody is really born a servant. 

If a child is born a commoner, but has unusually high magical potential, then they will typically be taken by the Royal Magic Tracking Agency and sent to the nearest Starkeeper, who will perform a few tests before announcing that a new ‘Servant’ is available. They will label how powerful the child is, therefore determining what type of servant they will be, and hold an auction of sorts overseen by the monarchs. Only nobles and the monarchs can get servants, and nobles are typically only allowed to have one of each type of servant. Monarchs can have a couple, but they are very picky, and only have a few at most, especially considering the number of assassinations some of the servants have planned on each other.

There are a few types of servants: There’s Planners, who do things like keeping track of your records and organizing your schedule and reminding you of important things you need to do and writing things down for you and stuff. There’s Bodyguards, who are your personal protectors at your side at all times. There’s Caretakers, who do things like clean the home and make food and set things out for parties and occasionally act as waiters and stuff. There’s also a few other ones that I don’t really remember. 

And then there’s Pets! Pets are basically there to entertain. You can dress them up to make them look pretty, have them stand around as decorations at parties, do entertainment stuff like singing and dancing and cool tricks, and even play games and stuff! I’d say that Pets are the best, since we don’t have as many responsibilities as the others, besides playing with kids sometimes, if the nobles have any. We’re also often some of the most powerful.

The complicated thing about us Pets is that we have a weird place in the caste system. We’re often considered more important than Commoners and even Guards, and some of us can tell them what to do (depending on the situation), but we aren’t really considered ‘people.’ We’re kind of like really expensive objects. Like, we’re important and powerful people often find us to be more important than not powerful people, and we get taken care of and treated as valuable, but if anyone said that the object should have rights, everyone would laugh. I mean, sure it’s valuable, but it’s not a person. And if someone had to choose between either saving, say, a Commoner, or saving a Pet, everyone would save the Commoner.

And that’s how Pets are viewed. We’re valued, but we don’t really have any kind of bodily autonomy…but hey! It’s better than being a caretaker! Those guys are seriously overlooked and neglected. It’s honestly kinda sad. But I can’t really say anything about that. My Lady was really mad last time…”

Colly spaces out for a second, and Luz stops writing as she and King both look at each other, concerned.

~~~~

So, this got a lot longer than initially planned. I’m just split this up into multiple posts. I’ll add their links to this once I’m done with them.

Anyways, hope ya’ll find it interesting!

[pocketizz]

Hellooooo! This is kinda a long post today but it’s a dump of a lot of stuff and some ig ‘backstory’ to one of my friends… Enjoy!

—————————————————

I was meant to go into work today (only volunteering at a charity shop) But i got no sleep last night so i didn’t go 😔 went into town anyways with my mum to get some bits for the house, also got my dad a toblerone bc his birthday is soon!

i got him a wine bottle holder that’s in the shape of a car for his main gift (he wanted it i don’t get the appeal tho). He’s made a little man cave for himself at the house, made his own bar and a pool table that turns into a flat table to play ping pong on (it’s v cool) he also makes all his own wine now???? Not complaining tho, he’s got so many bottles it means i can steal one or two here and there without him noticing :P

Speaking of alcohol, I got invited to go to a party with my friends and their freinds this friday but i said my mum wouldn’t let me go bc i didn’t want to hang around a bunch of people i hardly know, get drunk, and then have to get either a bus home or call my mum whilst drunk and i didn’t want either of them :P

My ex-girlfriend (let’s call her H) has been msging me a lot recently, she wants to meet up in aug when she’s back from a holiday. I don’t reallyyyyyyy want to… I love her (as a friend now) but she’s been pretty rude to my bsf and her bf recently (my bsf ‘S’ Her bf ‘Al’). She told both sides that the other was $hing bc of being in a relationship and how ‘stressful’ it was. Although S has struggled w that before and currently, she was not doing so bc of a relationship, and Al doesn’t and hasn’t????? H is just such a liar honestly, it’s been the same since we first met, she’ll just make shit up: one example of this was when we were in yr9, she told me that a girl in our yr had called me ‘fat and ugly’ so she punched this girl in the face (in front of other people), gave her a black eye, and told her to go to the nurse and say that she’d just walked into a door or fallen over or smth.

Reasons i know this is fake/a fat lie:

1. She supposedly did it in front of others, if this was the case it would be a big thing, my whole yr were pretty close at the time so this story would’ve spread quickly. I never heard anything about it happening.

2. H would not tell me who it was. I was genuinely upset and surprised that someone had said that abt me, and wanted to know who had said that so i could either confront them or just stay clear away from them. She made it into some sort of game, where i had to guess who it was who’d said it. This upset me even more so she told me it was sm1 who i went to primary with. For the rest of the week i scouted out every single person at that school who went to the same primary as me to see if anyone had a black eye or looked injured but no one did.

3. When i asked H about it more recently she told me it was this girl called ‘T’ …. i hadn’t spoken to T since at least yr3 and had never interacted with her in secondary school, why she would care abt what i looked like makes no sense… H also supposedly had a crush on T during yr10, why she would have a crush on a girl she punched in the face i have no idea…

So i doubt that really happened. She also just lies about little stupid things, the sports she plays, the careers she has/had, Apparently she was supposed to play Enid Bingham (the emo one) from stranger things but she turned the roll down bc of school (she would’ve been 11/12 at the time of casting, enid is supposed to be 16/17) (maybe, idk but a lot older than 12) and supposedly she’s been in tons of films and shows but she just doesn’t want to tell anyone what she’s been in…. sureeeee

You should see some of the shit she sends me jesus christ, all of that soppy shit on tt like the ‘This is how i see you’ slideshows that are art pieces, don’t get me wrong it was cute when we were dating, but now that we’re not i find it kinda weird. i should tell her but knowing her she would cause some shite bc of it.

Recently she blocked everyone on our gc for ‘no reason’, S then asked on this gc ‘So you blocked us and made us upset and worried for you for ‘no reason’?’ she got PISSED at this ( copy and pasted from the gc)

‘You don’t get to do that’

‘You don’t get to guilt trip me and make it all about yourself that’s not right’

She wasn’t guilt tripping??? She was upset for a valid reason and worried about you for a valid reason (H has struggled with their MH before as well as $uicidal thoughts ect so people are (RIGHTFULLY) worried when she blocks everyone and drops off the face of the earth for a day!

When i msged her later asking why she blocked everyone she said (copy and pasted again)

‘It’s just so I don’t get careless and start upsetting people cause I’ve been a bit short recently so I’m like punishing myself’

Which sucks don’t get me wrong, i don’t want her to feel as though she has to ‘punish’ herself bc she’s had a short fuse atm (probably bc she’s stressed from gcse season) But how can you say this after doing the exact thing you just said you didn’t want to do?!?!!!! i didn’t respond to that msg bc it just pissed me off seeing it after she had been so rude to S…

(Quick lore dump of me and H’s friend/relationship)

- Became friends in yr9 through two mutual friends

- i had a fat crush on her in yr9 and so did she but we never said anything

- She then dated my bsf and i felt v awkward abt being around them both

- Yr 10 a mutual ‘Friend’ drove us apart

- End of yr10, this ‘Friend’ was a pos who ‘Exiled’ (their words not mine) me and my friend (we’ll call her ‘K’) from our friend group for not hanging out with M (the ‘friend’ for less than 3 days…)

-end of yr 10 Me and H are friends again ‼️‼️‼️

- (yr 11) At S’s house for a sleepover, both drunk and during truth or dare she gets asked by sm1 ‘what’s the longest you’ve ever had a crush on sm1?’ She says just under 3yrs. How long had we been friends? Just under 3 yrs, coinky dink i think not.

- One thursday i do drugs for the first time (in school ik please don’t judge i was going through it) I feel like shit all day, passing out being sick ect but refuse to go home. Next day i stay off bc im coming down and still feel like shit. Sat morning i get a big confession text from her ‘i’ve liked you forever i feel bad hiding it from you i don’t like lying to you’ (but she does…. so often…) later that month we’re dating. It’s awkward. It’s horrible. She never talks to me in person and always avoids me which takes skill bc we go to the same school and are in a lot of the same lessons so???? She wants a ‘break’ bc GCSEs will be stressful, i say ‘let’s just break up then’ bc i was pissed at her for doing it over text rather than to my face, a few gcse’s later me and S are walking around town after an exam and she tells me ‘H really wants to ask you out again and is just wating for exams to be over’ I say ‘ew’ i msg her saying ‘i don’t want to be in a relationship with you again, im saying this now so i don’t have to potentially turn you down face to face in the future’

She says okay i’ll stop

She doesn’t, she keeps on being flirty sending me texts about how much she loves me or misses me (it’s so much worse if she gets drunk) and i try my best to let her down gently each time but she never seems to get the hint.

So yeah!

Now you know a little bit more about me and H :0

I’ll write some more tomorrow but for now i’m going to bed!

Good night anyone reading, i hope you’ve had a great day you deserve it! <3

[alitgblog]

alright s9 vol 5 thoughts: the episodes are getting less interesting to me but also shit I might be becoming a Hamish fan

I had a bunch of gems saved up because I got a bunch of the rewards from playing s4 episodes and also because I was slowly replaying S4, I kept getting the daily log in gems and the ones from watching ads, so I was fully prepared to use them this volume. And then oh nope I'm not even remotely interested in the drama they're asking me to pay to learn. Like I think I got one of the new dresses because I was sick of the t-shirt dress, but that's it.

"Woah woah woah I still don't know what's going on here" has basically been the name of the last two seasons with how much you gotta pay to listen to drama that mc conveniently wasn't around for

So Melissa gets dumped and her partner also gets dumped but he doesn't say much, which you'd think because no matter which route you're on, he did briefly have a thing for MC, he'd at least say something to her. Or there'd be an opportunity for a hug or closure? Nope. Goodbye, Henri. (And I played this on the fourth of july, that's just unAmerican 😤).

Then comes the highlight of the episode for me, which is the impressions game, because it could've worked so well and yet it happens soooo fucking badly.

But like the sticky notes on their foreheads, sure. It's like an easy gimmick to change the sprites so the game feels different. Like every time that they bring out the hideaway box, it's mildly exciting but mostly corny. But then it spoils which islander is coming up next, so why couldn't they have done it one at a time? Like show Will's name on Finn's forehead first, and then when that's done, THEN Kelly pulls out Bea's name and puts that on her forehead. And we shouldn't be able to see MC's note. Like let us guess and potentially be wrong lol.

Another even easier way to do this, is just drawing names out of a hat so the person pulling has to do an impression. Then MC has more opportunities to guess (like it's more engaging for the player than just reading what everyone else is doing). And like most of the writing would be the same I think. Like MC's partner is bad so instead of saying anything Alfie actually does he just says "oh... it rhymes with Galfie?" and then Hamish can still show off and guess each one if MC doesn't get it, or even if MC does get it then he still starts explaining every islander's backstory.

I also think someone needed to have done something absolutely unhinged for Stefan's name. Like Kelly is like "omg I wasn't even thinking putting his name in" which like I don't believe her, that's kinda shady, but also just kinda boring. Maybe the producers set up the game, or if the islanders do that's fine (like just have Kat or Melissa do it instead bc maybe they want to swoop in and take MC's partner). But like if we say it's the way I described above, then Kat's partner should've been like oh I can do an impression, and then straight up kissed MC, or like did a little speech about how he wants her back, or recited something from when Stefan was upset she didn't leave the villa with him (like it's an opportunity to drop more Stefan lore the way they've been doing it, which I agree is really annoying, but just to continue the trend). And then MC of course can choose the right answer, some other islander, or just be like uhhh wtf??? And then just kick off some more drama that way.

Also the impressions started off strong with Will and then quickly just explaining what happened to that islander. Like, ever heard of show not tell? Even for Ivy, I think it would be so easy to just bring up her checklist but instead they go for "sexy librarian energy"???? tf?? On behalf of Ivy, I'm offended at that description actually. And now you got me out here defending IVY of all people.

Uh anyway, so yeah my favorite bit was Hamish being really into Love Island lore.

And like I said, I don't believe Kelly when she says she didn't mean to put Stefan's name in there. Like I don't think it'll amount to anything, but because it seems like everyone's getting the universal, default Finn being into MC route (getting Suresh treatment), I'd rather it actually be her being kind of shady on purpose. Like she's jealous actually because Finn has already told her he doesn't want to be with her and wants to be with MC. And then give the wlw players a friends to enemies to lovers route with Kelly to change it up a little.

Oh right there was an excess baggage challenge this volume. It feels too late in the game. I think we need another fun challenge, comparable to the S2 paint challenge or the cake one. I feel like we don't get many of those anymore. I think an obstacle course-esque one is fun, because you can a few quick prompts that don't really affect the game but keep the player engaged. Like the games day in S8 but less pay to win prompts.

nothing notable from the baggage though imo. like even the Finn stuff was boring. also I kinda hate him doing hosting roles post love island, idk seems like he'd more fo all in with his brewery stuff and vacationing but instead he's tied to Love Island gigs? like I see that for like Tim because he's basically like Kem from UK S3 and for a while kem did just do hosting gigs for a while so it's not unrealistic to think an islander is making an appearance somewhere else, I guess I just don't see that for Finn. and like I could think of several islanders from any of the new seasons I'd pick before finn. Honestly even Hamish I would understand.

But I only bring up the excess baggage thing because MC and Hamish crawling around trying to listen in on drama is actually so fun. Like it just feels like a S2 Bobby thing to do and I appreciate that. I do hope Hamish's route isn't ruined and also that it only happens if you romance him, because I would want this type of moment to happen even if y'all were just friends, because we get so few friends in the game these current seasons.

Then we get to Finn's pool chat. I just wish, if it were as open as he said it was, then it wouldn't be a secret late night rendezvous situation. Like have the chat in the daylight if you're not afraid, you coward. Idk gave me kinda icky vibes just like in S5, so I said no even though I do think Finn could still be a really good friends to lovers route, like on the level of Jake, but the ball is constantly being dropped with him.

and so little has happened for Finn (that we the audience know of) between this episode and last volume where nearly the same thing happens in the shower and Finn rejects MC if she tries to kiss him (and so I rejected him this time lmao)

I saw the word double and I was afraid Marshall and/or Ozzy were gonna show up as hosts for the date (as if hosts for a date make any sense)

And having them switch dates is kind of a fun twist if not for the fact that the twist last time was that MC went on dates with Lyle and Jude and Chen went on dates with Kelly and his ex. Chen cannot catch a break and for all the loyal girls, wheres their time with their LI?? Like, I like the idea, but maybe it could've been saved for a different season? It just feels irritating to do it back to back. Especially when they've been in there and long enough that Chen and Natasha already know they don't like each other, and it feels like an excuse for Kat and Finn to have some drama we have to pay to listen to.

But you do get to talk to Hamish about Natasha, which feels like it could've been a friendly chat in the villa and we didnt need a date excuse. But alas, we don't get chill chats in the villa anymore 😭

and his little confession!!

Anyway,,, why am I kinda jumping ship for Hamish rn likeeeee... idk I like an individual route and I'm not liking where Finn's at rn soooo

I'm hoping for some Kelly villain vibes just for a little bit (like I said, give the wlw players an frenemies to lovers with her). Like she seems pissed about the note, and I feel like maybe she can possibly recognize Finn's handwriting? That'd be fun.

And then back to challenges, it feels too early for snog marry pie. I don't think they're doing a casa this season, just based off of leaks of islander names I don't think there's enough, but snog marry pie in my head is always around casa or after, and it just feels too early for even casa. But then again, we're on like 15 of 42, so maybe it's fine.

Yeah so overall, I don't even really remember too much. Like it's feeling like S7, and I didn't finish season 7, but I do think I'll finish this one because I'm so curious how the Finn route will go and if they'll drop the ball with Hamish and also with Stefan. And also I like making these weekly posts so I might even just keep going for that alone. but also I enjoy slow burn and second chance romance plots and drama anyway so that could make the season better for me we'll see

[jackiebrackettt]

okay so a little lore dump thing for my bitb lab au ^_^ I want to mention that this Will include spoilers (and so i’m putting it under a cut) but please note that I have no current plans to write this fic out more than what you’ve already seen - certainly not to the level where it’s a coherent story at all

however! i am kinda encouraging ppl to write their own versions of it if they want. and if anyone Does do that -> how much they stick with this bit of lore/backstory is up to them

(Tagging @alkalineleak , @kasperconvergence and @transatos bc u guys seemed interested in hearing more :] also! rbs appreciated)

anyway onto the lore:

personally I didn’t want to go too in-depth with an unethical/morally ambiguous lab but there’s elements of that that can be built on. in this au I imagine they’re not all from Galloway bc I think it’s more interesting if Rand Kian and Rolan didn’t know each other beforehand - which feels impossible if they’re all in Galloway

Kian and Becky are exes and this was known by the lab - in fact, they were explicitly seeking out interns who knew either Becky or Rolan. kian’s music career was failing like with canon and someone approached him with the job offer and he took it. the timeline on this is a lil iffy but whateva. kian didn’t know becky was one of the bug monsters until he read the brief and signed the contracts etc etc

the idea here is that the scientists are trying to figure out if previous attachment to a person carries over to the bug-ified version

becky and rolan both turned themselves in to the lab and are there of their own volition. rolan is less there for studying/to help humans and more there bc he doesn’t trust himself and is freaking out. this is why kian says that rolan is safer than becky - as much as becky didn’t want to hurt kian, she wasn’t afraid that she would until it was too late

kian is there because the forms he signed essentially worked as a “i consent to being quarantined if something goes wrong” rand has also signed these. it was Very obvious and they weren’t trying to trick them. kian is mostly just pretending that he’s doing okay and that this is just a bit inconvenient/boring -> he’s pretty freaked out to understate it

relationship-wise: kian had a bit of a relationship with both becky and rolan. both of them very much knew about the other etc etc hashtag poly win! i say “a bit of” bc it was kinda cautious/early stages for both. rolan was starting to open himself up to the idea that he’s not inherently dangerous and then the thing with Becky happened so now he’s back to square 1

now! for the major spoilery bit:

i mentioned earlier that the scientists are specifically looking for interns with connections to the bugs and also that Rand doesn’t have any connection with them. this is bc there is actually a fourth bug monster that they are keeping in the lab and this is the Queen Aka Rachel

once rand gets settled into things they’d probably introduce him to Rachel and then I imagine all hell would break loose - I never really thought too much about plot which is why I’m kinda happy to move on from this idea (also I really don’t need another longfic on my plate o(-( man..) the queen is separated from the other bugs to try and minimise her control over them. i’m also kinda thinking that maybe becky came to the lab specifically to try and get close to the Queen to help her and then kian showed up and things got complicated

real quick: relationship endgame I imagine is nbr+becky dating kian

anyway yeah ^_^ that’s everything I have -> lmk if you have any questions or if ur thinking about taking over this concept from me :]