#literally this used to be my whole entire thing

[ateezscupid]

reader fingering sub!yunho ♡

"It feels -- weird," Yunho whimpers as threw his head back, laying it on your shoulder. "A-And it kind of hurts…"

"Well, it's your first time." You chuckle. "And I'm trying to be gentle! But it's hard to move my fingers when you're squeezing them! We might run out of lube if you keep doing that-"

"Can you not say embarrassing things like that when your fingers are literally inside of my ass?!" Yunho hisses, his cheeks reddening as he tightens his grip on the bedsheets. His eyes are squeezed shut, and beads of sweat form at his temples. The room is filled with the sound of your labored breathing and the faint squeaks of the bedframe under the two of you.

"Fine! But, with the way your dick is twitching, I can only assume you like it~," you tease, pushing your fingers deeper inside of him, causing him to whine. Yunho's body tenses up momentarily before he relaxes with a deep sigh. The sensation is foreign but not entirely unpleasant. He's been curious about this for a while now, especially after all the things he's read and watched in secret. But the reality of it is so much more intense than his imagination could ever conjure.

"Fuck," he gasps. "I-I'm starting to-"

"Feel good?" you whisper, your breath tickling the shell of his ear. The scent of vanilla and sweat fills the room, a heady combination that somehow seems right in this moment of shared intimacy. Yunho nods, his hips involuntarily rocking back to meet your slow, careful thrusts. His body is a landscape of curves and tension, each movement a revelation of the pleasure you're bringing him.

"I could tell," you giggle in his ear. "Your hole is twitching like crazy. You like how my fingers feel, don't you?"

He nods once again. "H-How can this feel so good-?!"

"How do you think I feel when you finger me?" You laugh. "It's like your body is trying to swallow me whole, so tight and warm." Yunho's breath hitches, his eyes flying open. The burn is intense, but he's starting to get used to the fullness. His hips begin to rock more confidently, setting a rhythm that matches the pulsing of his heart.

"Now how about…" you mumble, your fingers now moving with purpose as if looking for something. "Here?"

"Huh? Wha-- AH!" His back arched immediately. Your fingers were rubbing against his prostate. The sensation was like nothing he'd ever felt before, and it was as if every nerve ending in his body had just been electrified.

"O-Oh fuck, fuck--! W-What--"

"It feels good?" you smile against his ear. "Yeah, I kept watching those prostate massage videos to figure out how to do this."

"O-Oh my god, Y/N…!" Yunho gasps, his body trembling as you continue to stroke that sensitive spot inside him. His eyes widen and his breaths come in quick pants. You can feel his muscles clench around your fingers, the intensity of his reactions making your own arousal spike.

"You like when I touch that spot, hm?" You smile. "Are you gonna cum?"

"I-I'm so -- I'm close! R-Really close!" He shudders, grinding his hips down on your fingers. "D-Don't stop! Please!" His voice is desperate, the sound of his need echoing off the walls.

"Good boy," you whisper. Yunho gripped the sheets as tightly as he could, his cock leaking precum onto the bed. You felt his insides tightening around your fingers, his breath hitching in a way that told you he was on the edge. You leaned in closer, your other hand reaching up to gently trace the line of his jaw, the stubble prickling your fingertips as you turned his face towards yours. "Look at me," you ordered softly.

His eyes stayed open only for a moment before shutting once again, the volume of his moans spiking. His back arches and his jaw is hung, hands gripping the bed sheets. "I'm gonna cum, I'm gonna cum, I'm gonna-!"

You press your lips against his, his hand rushing to grab your arm. The kiss is frantic, matching the rhythm of your fingers inside him. His tongue slips out, and you take it into your mouth, sucking gently as you keep the pressure on his prostate.

Cum spurted from his tip, painting the sheets in a warm, sticky mess as he releases himself into your hand. You keep fingering him through it, savoring the feeling of his hot, pulsing cock as he shudders and gasps against you. The smell of sex fills the room, a potent blend of arousal and satisfaction.

He lets out muffled moans, pulling away from your mouth and throwing his head back again, a weird feeling crawling up his body. From head to toe, his body trembled. It felt like you were forcing the cum out of him, each spurt making him squirm. You feel his ass tighten around your fingers, and you keep up the rhythm, pushing him closer and closer to the edge. His moans turn into whimpers, his body a tightly wound coil ready to spring.

And with the last spurt, Yunho's body goes limp, panting heavily against your shoulder. His cheeks are flushed and his eyes are glazed over, a look of pure bliss washing over his features. You pull your fingers out of him gently, and he gasps, the sudden emptiness making him whine. You chuckle, bringing your hand to your mouth and licking the cum off your fingers, watching him watch you with a mix of shock and arousal.

[wickedlyqueer]

Just some thoughts on Glinda not making that final step to go with Elphaba. Elphaba has nothing to lose — she already wants Nessa to be independent, her father sucks, and her only real friend is Glinda (and Fiyero). Glinda has a whole world of people who adore her who she is afraid to leave behind (but unfortunately, she doesn’t quite realize/accept in that moment that Elphie is the one who matters, see: For Good).

But one thing I haven’t seen discussed much… In the immediate time leading up to Defying Gravity, it’s Glinda who is in the most grave danger, over and over! She faces the entire corridor of monkeys punching through glass. She is the first to come face to face with the human guards. She is the one who has to make a leap onto the air balloon. She is the one physically grabbed by a guard trying to drag her out of the basket. She is last off before the balloon collapses in flames. But Glinda goes through all that and repeatedly makes the choice to find and stay with Elphie. It was when she literally is asked to jump off a skyscraper and rely on her friend’s terrifying, newfound powers (which are admittedly shaky, and Glinda has no personal experience using herself), when she has a moment to stop and reflect on the absolute insane gauntlet that she just ran through, that she finally can’t do it anymore. And even then (!!!) she does make the run with Elphie towards the edge—just like she made that jump onto the train to the Emerald City at the last second. And if not for the guards literally ripping Glinda away, maybe, just maybe Glinda would have made that final leap with Elphie.

I'm being attacked in my own inbox, wtf...... 😭😭

[ryssabrin]

i feel like people who don’t like solas or solavellan have such a warped perspective of what the romance is and how fans of it actually engage in it. like i’ve seen a lot of (most likely het dudes lol) on reddit say they tried it to see what the fuss was but felt it was “demeaning” and i’ve seen it described as literally a horror story where solas is manipulating and using and lying to a young impressionable lavellan who gives up her entire identity for him and becomes a complete doormat to all the awful shit he does. that’s never been my experience and i kinda just want to ramble about how i see it and what i find romantic about it?

so full disclosure, if veilguard had come out a few years ago with how they portrayed lavellan and solavellan i might have been pretty disappointed. i think there is a subset of the solavellan fanbase that likes the wolf/halla or student/professor thing and they play their lavellan younger and agreeing almost without question to everything solas says. i see the appeal but i never played my lavellan that way and i really like the dynamic of it when lavellan actually goes against his advice at times. solas is a character that needs to have his preconceived biases questioned. especially in inquisition when he’s still coming to terms with the fact that the modern people of thedas are in fact people lol. so i was concerned at the prospect of my lavellan being taken out of my hands and having to listen to her make excuses for him and submit to everything he says. (which tbf i don’t think is how she actually comes across in dav, but that was a worry.)

however when i replayed my canon dai run this year, i realized i was closer to the age i always saw my lavellan as (early 30s), and as my lavellan is probably the bioware pc i’ve always played closest to my own personality, i took the opportunity to tweak her a bit and make some different choices. i’ve (hopefully lol) matured and grown a lot since i was 24 and so rather than going for the snarky sarcastic cool girl vibes i opted to play her with more diplomatic and caring choices. it made me see the solas romance in a completely new light. rather than some sort of student/professor dynamic or a pride and prejudice-esque rivals-to-lovers vibe where lavellan is fighting for his respect the whole time, what stuck out to me was how much their connection builds simply because lavellan is kind to solas. she hears him out when he wants to give his opinions and advice, she respects his expertise on the fade and spirits, and she offers him comfort and friendship when she sees he needs it. she impresses him because he finds himself wanting to indulge in her closeness. he finds a connection to someone he never expected to and it makes him rethink everything about the broken state he put the world in.

it’s worth noting that lavellan is always making the first move. she kisses him first, she pursues him. he tries to brush off the kiss as a spontaneous lapse in judgement and she doesn't let him. he only ever gives in to her advances, he doesn't make them himself. he calls their relationship "selfish" on his end. he knows he shouldn't be encouraging her but he can't help but long for her companionship. that being said though if lavellan shuts it down he respects it. he probably feels a little relief because the temptation is now out of his hands lol.

i feel like there’s also this perception that he’s constantly shitting on the dalish while lavellan just has to put up with it and that alone is reason enough to find the relationship demeaning. he mentions the dalish in one optional conversation chain where you ask him for his opinion on the state of the elves and then in the balcony scene where he realizes he’s misjudged the inquisitor after his personal quest. in both instances, lavellan can stick up for the dalish. in the optional conversation, lavellan can say that if solas had a bad experience with a clan once (which we know from dav is exactly what happened lol), that she’d like to correct that misunderstanding about her people.

it's worth noting as well that lavellan doesn't know solas is the dread wolf when he's criticizing the dalish. from her perspective, he's essentially a city-born elf who had some dalish look down their nose at him for not being a "true elf" like they are, something that not only happens in canon throughout the games and lavellan would be aware of, but literally happens to solas specifically, right in front of you. he doesn't say a single word to mihris and she doesn't know a thing about him other than his face is bare and thus feels comfortable referring to him with what is essentially a slur. but rather than confront her directly about it he just passive aggressively speaks to her in elven almost exclusively for the rest of the quest lol.

far from the dynamic being that lavellan is just putting up with someone talking down to her about her culture, i think it's reasonable to see her view is more that they're both members of the same marginalized group, but from different cultures. his position in criticizing the dalish is not punching down it's lateral. she loves her culture, but is able to recognize it has flaws and not every member in it treats other cultures well, particularly even when they're from the same marginalized group. (and it's also just really meaningful that the first "flirt" option you get in the solas romance is lavellan recognizing that solas has put himself in a very vulnerable position as an elven apostate joining the chantry-led inquisition and with whatever power she has she will make sure that it's not held against him.)

i do think the writing conveys that he does have his mind changed about the dalish at least a little bit, but one of his pet peeves is when people are ignorant and refuse any information that challenges their worldview. as a manifested wisdom spirit, it is a particular sticking point to him to not be listened to when he is providing knowledge. i think criticism of how he is towards the dalish is lacking without taking into account his nature as a spirit. obvs we didn’t know that in dai but we do now. when wisdom isn't listened to it turns to pride. "i told you so," "i'll prove i'm right," "you should have listened to me," etc. etc. he got his feelings hurt when the dalish didn't believe him (and according to dav, literally tried to kill him) and his ego's held a grudge ever since.

when it comes to the vallaslin, to me it’s less about solas wanting to dismantle part of dalish culture (he offers no actual opinion on the dalish during that scene) and more that it clearly bothers him a lot that he fought so hard to free the elves from slavery and the one community of elves that’s closest to the descendants of the people he wanted to free still wears tattoos honoring the very tyrants he wanted to free them from. if lavellan says she wants to keep them and that the dalish reclaimed them and they mean something else to her, he doesn’t argue. i actually don’t like that solas’s post breakup banter with cole implies that lavellan thinks he might have broken up with her over the vallaslin. it’s putting thoughts in the head of my character that i personally don’t see her having. the way the breakup plays out, there’s not a single indication that it has anything to do with the vallaslin. i like to pick the “i believe in us” option because it shows lavellan having some idea that there’s something solas isn’t telling her and that’s the main reason he’s walking away. and the irony of course is that we learn in dav that that was the moment he came the closest to just giving up everything to just be with her.

so when i played through dav with my solasmance lavellan and she talks about what drew her to him it all just felt so right. he was kind and wise and sad but he made her feel like she was the only thing that mattered to him. (and that was very almost true!) there was a passion and intensity to their relationship that made her think he was the person she wanted to be with forever. when she says "i thought i would have followed anywhere he asked me to" you could read it as her saying she would have joined him in tearing down the veil if he asked and depending on your lavellan that might be true (though in the next bit she talks about how she would have been trying to change his mind anyways). but you could also read it as what her mindset was while she was with him during dai. before joining the inquisition, she knew him to be someone that traveled the world looking for lost secrets and history. why would she not have wanted to join him in that? is that not something you do when you're in love with someone?

something else that i find really compelling about solavellan is how solas relates to the inquisitor (not just lavellan) as a figurehead stripped of their personal identity. he knows from personal experience exactly what that's like. in the romances (not just solas's), the inquisitor is able to find someone that knows and cares for them for who they are, not what they represent. this aspect of the inquisitor's arc is honestly why i like keeping the vallaslin. my lavellan wants people to be able to look at her as the inquisitor and see a dalish elf. it's one small act of defiance and in reclaiming her own narrative. so thinking about what she might want to do after her responsibilities to the inquisition are over, it's reasonable to think she might want to just go wherever solas goes? because she loves him and feels like herself around him. even her asking him to let her come with him in trespasser feels more motivated by the fact that lavellan sees solas isolating himself and closing himself off and she's sad about it because she cares about him. that was why she wanted to grow close to him in the first place.

and i genuinely don't think it's all that wild that lavellan still holds a torch for solas 10 years later. i personally was friends with this guy in high school i always had a crush on, and towards the end of senior year it looked like it could actually end up turning into something. but then he immediately left for a summer abroad after graduation and eventually moved out of the country full time for school. we kept in touch off and on and caught up when he was in town, but nothing romantic ever happened. for years after i would catch myself thinking every so often what could have been and what he was up to. for solavellan, they were actually together. they had mutually expressed feelings and though their time together was maybe a few months at most, it was intense and passionate. they split up not because anyone's feelings changed, but because of solas's baggage. it's really not unrealistic for lavellan to continue wondering to herself what would have happened if he had been honest with her sooner. if she could have convinced him to change course. and it's not like she has the luxury of retiring and just not thinking about him anymore. that's not a conscious manipulation on solas's part to string her along, that's just the reality of their situation.

and even with all that in mind, in dav lavellan is still able to have the self-awareness to understand that the good in him that she believes exists and all that they had together and what she meant to him could all just be wishful thinking on her part. that she's giving him the benefit of the doubt "imagining his broken heart" when he doesn't deserve it because it makes her feel less foolish. she's not blindly faithful to him. i just loved everything about that scene and every word out of my lavellan's mouth felt spot on and perfect for how i saw their relationship. i could not have been more relieved lol.

as for the ending, i really really dislike the bad faith read that the only thing that matters is mythal and that he somehow loves mythal more and if that weren't true then lavellan alone would be able to convince him to stop. varric says about solas that he wants to be a hero, but it's easier for him to play the villain because it means he didn't fail, everything bad he's done is a choice. once you've done one bad thing, betrayed one friend, manipulated and sacrificed some pawns, committed one lil genocide, etc. lmao, it becomes easier to do it again. you've already crossed your moral event horizon and now you just have to find an end that justifies the means of all your misdeeds. what i've said about solas before is that what's frustrating is that he does genuinely feel remorse about the shit he does, but he needs to believe it's necessary and he will keep doing it. he needs to believe it will all be worth it in the end. it's not that he thinks feeling sorry makes up for it necessarily, but that he had to do it. he had to be the one taking on all of the bad things to hopefully one day do a good thing and it will all work out.

(as a side note when solas says "i would not have you see what i become" in trespasser i always thought that meant he was going to resort to some awful corruptive magic or something but it turns out what he actually meant was "i'm about to be a real asshole and do some incredibly awful things and i don't want you to see that side of me" which is much sadder.)

so when rook says "you don't have to do this" solas counters with "i've betrayed and fucked over and killed so many people who trusted me and if i stop i will have done that for nothing." so then the inquisitor jumps in with "as one of those people, i'm telling you that you can stop." but then we get to the heart of it. he thinks he failed mythal when she died the first time and was unwilling to listen to her as flemeth. he needs to make that mean something. he needs to justify to himself what mythal made him into. so he needs to hear from his mythal, not morrigan's mythal who has the benefit of the wisdom and hindsight centuries of living among mortals gave her, but his mythal, the one closest to who she was when she died that what he is is broken. that she's the one that broke him and he alone doesn't have to bear the weight of everything he did because of her. it's not about loving her, it's about the specific relationship he had with her. with that baggage unpacked, he's not only able to let go of his prideful need to prove himself right by tearing down the veil, he's also free to choose what he always really wanted: lavellan.

and still! yet again! he does not ask or assume anything on her part. she offers! of her own free will. something that really rustles my jimmies about a lot of solavellan criticism is that people act like lavellan has no agency. that she couldn't possibly make the choices she does of her own accord and it has to be solas manipulating her. that has never rang true to me at all. she always made the first move. i think this more uncharitable read might unfortunately be encouraged by how many actual solavellan shippers play into the wolf/halla thing but i personally don't think that's the dynamic that weekes actually wrote. it is lavellan that pursues solas, not the other way around. and weekes was honestly so careful in how they wrote the romance so that when solas's identity and plans are revealed, it doesn't feel like he intentionally tricked you or took advantage. i actually really like the ambiguity of whether or not they slept together because to me it does feel like that's a line solas wouldn't cross, but i get why that doesn't matter as much to other solasmancers.

i also think there's this perception that solavellan is a ship with an unhealthy power dynamic that needs to be "fixed" in some way or at the very least apologized for before you're allowed to like it. for me it's honestly kind of the appeal? not that there's some goofy dom/sub thing going on lol but that in spite of how "superior" solas may or may not feel to lavellan and the modern elves, he still falls hook line and fucking sinker for her. lavellan has so much more power in the relationship than she realizes. she changes his entire perspective on modern elves and his ultimate goals so bad he had a complete crisis of faith and had to run as far away from her as he could. how could he have broken the world so badly he needs to catastrophically break it again to fix it if it could create someone like her? someone he wants and cares for so desperately? it's the push and pull of him trying to stay away but selfishly indulging as long as he can that's so juicy to me! it's so good and i just wish other people could see that, even if they don't care for the character.

anyways. i don't have a conclusion. i don't want anyone to think i'm vaguing about them. this is honestly the result of some thoughts that have been brewing for a while and a lot of common criticisms i've seen over the years. i didn't want to respond directly to anyone in particular bc i learned my lesson about not doing that waaay back in the shenko fandom iykyk lol. i just really like the ship! i think it's tragic and romantic and lovely and poetic and mythological and all that good stuff. it humanizes solas as a character and makes me think about empathy and compassion and how much faith you can have in someone if you love them. or how it might feel to sacrifice love for something you think you need to do, only to ultimately realize you never did and find that love patiently waiting for you to get your shit together. or to love someone and know they love you back and that they love you so much they had to leave or they would have given up everything they thought they needed for you and then to be able to actually get through to them and get them back. "she could save him if he'd only just let her"! it's a very niche wish fulfillment fantasy and it's me! i'm the fan being serviced!

[panties-on-boys]

Pavlov’s Dog— Chapter 11: Nobel Prize

“Mail for you.” Al grumbles, dropping a thin package into Logan’s lap.

Logan squints at the shipping label. It is, in fact, for him, but… “How did you know its for me?”

Al disappears into her bedroom to close and lock the door.

Wade rounds the corner from the hall in just a t-shirt and panties. “Good morning.” He chirps. “I do not receive mail and Al’s banned from online shopping after last year’s Black Friday Incident.”

Logan glances up, brow furrowed. “Last year’s…” he starts, but decides he’s probably better off not asking. “Okay then,” he mumbles, “but I didn’t order anything either.”

Wade smiles as he pulls out everything he needs to make pancakes, down to the blueberries he despises even touching but adds because Logan likes them. “I know. I ordered it for you, peaches.”

Logan squints. He’s able to resist the curiosity for the express purpose of feigned nonchalance for maybe fifteen whole seconds before he’s using a claw to cut the package open.

okay, that’s a wrap! thank you for reading :,) i feel weirdly attached to this one and i’m grateful for all the love i received while writing it- especially to my cheer readers and also el for the literal entire scott summers powerpoint thing because y’all ate that up.

if you went and sniffed tobacco vanille you’re legally obligated to tell me.

i love you. xoxo kensy

[gayeddie-saved-me]

What is your favorite thing about merlin and arthur.

i was clearing out my ask box, why did i never see this 😭 so sorry

also im assuming you mean their like dynamic? like them together? so my favorite thing about them is probably that they’re actually best friends. like no amount of teasing or fake hatred can hide the fact that they are Best Friends. they get along like a house on fire. they tell each other things that they’d never admit to anyone else (ignoring the whole magic must be a secret thing). they have a million inside jokes. they struggle to go without each other for more than a day. they are so intertwined with each other that trying to remove them from each other would be death for both. it’s beautiful. they’re best friends who are in love and it’s beautiful

if not here’s my favorite things about them as individuals:

arthur is one of the most loving characters ever written. it’s often ignored by people who take him at face value but it’s quite literally his fatal flaw. he cares too much, all the time. he loves so deeply it kills him. he can’t help but hold an unhealthy amount of loyalty towards those he cares about, even when it’s destroying him. he loves like he’s never known anything but love, even though all his father taught him was hate and dismissal. it’s what makes him the once and future king. it’s what seals his fate. it’s my favorite thing about him. the only thing he never learned to love was himself

merlin… he’s complex. he’s a kid who has the entire world thrust upon him. he was born Wrong and he never stops feeling like he has to make up for that. his love warps his perception. he cares so deeply he loses sight of his own morals. he protects at the cost of anything. he is terrified and fearless. he is confident and doubtful. there is nothing he can do to escape his fate, but he tries anyway. he’s the loneliest character in the world. he has an endless, unknowable amount of power. a power of gods. but he’s just a boy and he’s alone and he makes mistakes. mistakes that are so so so human. mistakes we’d all make in his shoes, if we didn’t know what we know. he is a weapon to everyone around him, waiting to be used. he just wants to be loved. he just wants to be good. he just wants to save arthur.

[aihoshiino]

Taiki's Instagram story in 166.5 broke me... I really liked his character since his appearance in the manga, and he's been through so much that it makes sense that he ended up suicidal after Aqua's death / his mum revealed as a pedo rapist & biological dad a murderer with a death cult! But... These are all off screen. He's doing his best to survive now for Ruby but we didn't even see them interact as siblings. I feel so awful for him... I can't help but feel like despite all the glorification of Aqua's death that Aka's been doing, he knew that more people's been fucked up by it than saved.

tbh I was shocked that we got ANY resolution for Taiki at all bc Akasaka just so clearly didn't really give a shit about him which, like. The more I think about it, the more insane that is??? In this story all about the importance of familial love and dedication, Aqua and Ruby have a third sibling with at least a few fingers in the revenge scheme pie and he's kind of a literal who as far as the story is concerned.

And that on top of, like you said, all the utterly cranked shit that happens to Taiki being given zero weight... idk, I can understand Akasaka maybe not having the space in the story to dedicate to Taiki because at the end of the day he is ultimately a side character. But at the same time... he's a side character BECAUSE Akasaka chose not to focus on him even during arcs that could very naturally have lead to and in turn been strengthened by an examination of Taiki's feelings.

Honestly I can't help but feel the whole "staying alive for my last sibling" thing is less about Taiki himself and more of the narrative using him to continue glorifying Ruby like it's spent basically the entire finale doing. Like... am I seriously supposed to give a rat's ass about Taiki and Ruby's relationship when they literally Do Not have one? The one and only time they have even been in the same panel together that wasn't acting was yet another cumbrained incest joke because that, apparently, was more important to spend panel time on than building up the relationship of the two siblings who would survive the end of the story.

[grimaldiapologist]

Woke up to roll out of my bed today because my body's decided to murder me in my sleep and this and everyone's tags are the first thing I've seen and like. I've been howling.

Yes. Yes I've found my people. We've been served a tragedy and you know what I don't like about that? The tragedy. What if it was a (dead serious) sitcom instead.

What if we had the most dysfunctional family built nearly entirely out of nothing but political necessity into a marriage that used to be shelter and used to be refuge from exactly the madness you've now had to bring into it? To nurture the dream of Rome, in a world that simply isn't ready for her to change yet, what if your most straightforward means of change come from acting as if your insurrection is an alliance? That you all WANT to be there? That NOBODY is being coerced? That you're NOT holding the emperors hostage in a 24/7 guarded bedchamber with a sheer drop down two stories outside the only two latticed windows? That they are NOT cooperating with your insurrection because their only other alternatives are to face public execution now or face public execution after a pre-settled trial, AND because they're playing you for more freedoms to get back to exactly the position they used to have before you, without telling anybody about it, took your five friends and their 7 000 men combined into the heart and marrow of Rome to stand by in case someone decides to lay sideways across your self-justified march to free the empire from the kind of bloodshed you disagree with? That you WANT to endorse their rule - WANT to bring them into the family line - and aren't doing this purely because it's the only compromise that you all can settle on?

Acacius, night after night with less than 3 hours of sleep, coming to let the emperors know if the council has decided to just execute them yet: I hate you, I hate your guts, I hate everything you stand for, we forgot to feed you and I do not care one bit because for months now I've watched you starve continents for your own pleasure, I will sit here to tell you exactly what I've thought of you this whole time now that you're nothing but two half-dressed, terrified children being held at swordpoint, and I am slowly, inevitably, going to find myself in a compromised position where I realise I mean that. Two terrified children no one ever told how to rule. No one ever told how to win friends, how to build trust. No one ever told how to show compassion to, so you don't know how to show it to others, either. Just two miserable, entitled, privileged boys stuck in a world where they've never had anybody outside each other, so you just don't think further than yourselves. Pretending that I'm not growing fond of the way you shut up when spoken to, firmly, with authority, and respond to gentleness where you expect cruelty. Pretending I'm not looking forwards to leaving the plans, the organisation behind for the night so I can sit with you, to challenge you, to pick you apart and see where the rot really lies, and which parts could still be salvaged. Pretending it didn't profoundly change how I see you to begin with to find out that, when put against the wall, your first and last thoughts are of and for each other, that instead of throwing the kinds of insane tantrums I'd have expected from tyrants, you shelter each other first and do whatever it takes to stay together, because that's the only shelter and security you've ever had.

Lucilla, meanwhile, exasperated, sitting in the gardens eating grapes compulsively: I hear what you're saying but I also think you've eaten something toxic and should lie down so you don't end up dead for it. I spent months being their prisoner and they're the worst people to exist, and everything about them reminds me of the worst of my brother.

Lucius, unseen, unheard, unknown, tracking his path through Rome to kill LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE IN THE STORY sans his mother whose allegiances have still deeply disappointed him: I'm going to make this so much worse

unhinged concept (I'm entering that stage): Lucilla actually does adopt Geta and Caracalla which ruins Acacius's life but also makes him their step-father and they finally get an actual father figure who teaches them how the fuck to hold swords and not be the worst people ever.

and we just cancel Macrinus entirely, which, I don't know what the hell happens to Lucius but that's someone else's unhinged concept to worry about.

And we put Caracalla on a leash because the boy cannot behave. That's no way to treat your mother

[angelpuns]

redrew a bunch of angels from like pre-2020 cause I was thinking bout em today :) The bottom girlies are lesbian angels and I still love their designs :)

Also the two traditional drawings are like..the very first angel I ever drew and some amgic lady. From 2012 at the earliest. So yeah. Enjoy. I like redrawing things, it makes me very happy :)

[egophiliac]

do skully have pokemon?

Pumpkaboo is the obvious one, but y'know, sometimes the obvious one is the right one! (we'll say SUPER SIZE Pumpkaboo, just for fun. big pumpkin for big skeleton boy.) and another person actually also suggested Greavard, which I somehow hadn't considered, but feels so perfect that I feel like I should have. dangit.

(they can also have little Nightmare Suit costumes :D)

[tricoufamily]

more ancient ocs i got bored and made as sims. they were doing every tired annoying romantasy trope years ahead of the curb smh i could have been making booktok bucks

[thefreelancebioexorcist]

Though his body was quite literally dead when in Downtime, his mind was not. Internally, Betelgeuse was in front of an old chalkboard, writing down everything he could about their situation past and present that could prove to be relevant. After a time of scribbling, he had filled most of the board with information on their previous lives and their current lives up until now. From all this information, he came up with the following questions, which he had written off to the side:

Where has Delores been this entire time?

Why hasn’t she appeared before this?

Why now?

Was she after him?

Was she after Lydia?

Was she after both of them?

These were the questions he’d take to Juno, and hopefully it would give them some direction. He didn’t think it was possible that Delores wanted a quiet afterlife. That she wouldn’t seek retribution for her murder, even if she had deserved it.

Feeling better to have a starting point, Betelgeuse came back to himself, only to regain consciousness to Lydia straddling his lap, kissing him sweetly. Of course, he didn’t move at first, savouring being woken up in such a way, but soon he couldn’t help himself, and his hands moved to her hips, the ghost looking at her fondly when she pulled back from him. He nodded at the suggestion of pizza, his grip on her hips going slack as she hopped off his lap.

Betelgeuse watched her place their order before she disappeared into the kitchen, and he sat up on the couch and stretched his arms high above his head, feeling his bones creak as he did. Then he got up, and followed her into the kitchen after a moment or two, watching as she busied herself with tidying up before grabbing something for them to drink. He eyed the bottle she had grabbed with interest. That was a rather expensive bottle from her father’s stash. He wondered where she had been hiding it, and if this was better saved for a special occasion rather than a stressful one. He was pulled from his thoughts as the door rang, and he moved to answer it, only to be immediately told off with a look. “Hey now, Netherworld delivery folks woulda killed fer that quality o’ lizard, honey,” he explained. “It was one o’ my best ones, too…”

The pizza was excellent. At the sight of the container of dried crickets, Betelgeuse pulled her in for a kiss. He knew she wouldn’t kiss him after the crickets. At least until he brushed his teeth.

When they were done, and Lydia went to the kitchen to put away the leftovers and grabbed their drinks, Betelgeuse popped into her bathroom to clean his mouth out. By the time she returned, he was back on the couch. He took the offered bottle and after taking another look at her face, he opened the bottle with a quick twist of his wrist and poured them each a serving. Lydia’s was, of course, a smaller helping. He was well aware of her limits with alcohol. And even though they had joked about getting drunk, even he didn’t think it was the best idea at the moment.

“This ain’t easy fer me t’ admit, babes, but…I’m uneasy about this whole thing, too. Delores killed both of us, an’ I killed her fer killin’ you. Furthermore, she didn’t even get what she wanted, so I imagine she’s pretty pissed. But I don’t know if she’ll be more angry at me…or at you in order t’ get back at me.” He took a sip of his drink. “As fer what you’ll do when I’m gone, it’ll be like any other time I’m not here. Yer gonna get up in the morning an’ go t’ class an’ work as usual, babes. I don’t think I’ll be gone fer long. I’ll be back every night, promise.” He indicated the many different watches on his wrist that would help him with that. “Y’ just can’t go with me at the moment…not until I’m more sure of safety fer both of us.” It was one thing if he put himself in a little danger, but it was another thing if he put Lydia in danger.

“An’ as fer Juno…Maybe she’ll know where Delores has been all this time an’ why she’s surfacin’ now. Anybody who opens a business in the Nether, especially in the downtown area has t’ file a bunch o’ paperwork. Maybe she’ll let me leaf through it. Or maybe she can tell me who Delores’ caseworker is an’ I can get information out of them.” As Betelgeuse spoke he seemed to get more and more agitated, and his gestures became more sharp. His voice even got louder. Not enough to be yelling, but he was obviously unhappy and angry with the whole situation. “Fact is, babes, I-I don’t know. I’m flyin’ blind with this one an’ I can’t—“ He downed the rest of his drink in one gulp. “I gotta do somethin’. I can’t lose y’ again, so Juno’s the best place t’ start gatherin’ information. An’ don’t worry. I won’t be goin’ out in the Nether like I would normally. Other than th’ Monsters, I got some family I can call upon t’ do some snoopin’ fer us. A certain royal has eyes an’ ears everywhere in th’ Nether. An’ Donny’s got his ear t’ th’ ground with all th’ gossip among the shop owners, so…” Betel gave her a hopeful, though still nervous smile.

“The best thing y’ can do fer me, babes, is keep yerself safe an’ outta trouble,” he responded with a smile, taking ahold of her hand and bringing it to his lips to kiss the back of her palm. “An’, no powers? Babes, not only can y’ see ghosts, you can quite effectively pull me out of states that no one else can AND calm me down….Of course y’ got powers. I can even feel it in yer fingertips right now. Might even be stronger than it was before, given yer connection t’ me an’ yer extended times in the Nether. Yer powers now are just untapped, not unlike I was when you taught me everythin’ before.” He grinned, then sighed. “We can start workin’ on that when I get back from Juno’s.”

“As fer fightin’ her…well, as much as I’d rather y’ not do that at all. I guess it’s best t’ be prepared fer every possibility…” He considered. “Damn, t’ see the look on her face if y’ were t’ beat her ass with witchcraft. She’d be pissed.” He looked delighted. “And you’d look smokin’ hot, babes”

Roadhouse Redux

Continued from here

Slivers of early morning light had begun to filter in through the curtains of Betelgeuse’s bedroom windows when Lydia’s eyelids fluttered open. Slowly rolling over, she smiled sleepily when she caught sight of her ghostly husband. She took a moment to admire his profile in the early morning light, something in her chest warming at the sight of him in such domestic comfort. The most feared poltergeist in all of the Netherworld and here he was, propped up in his bed reading a book, a pair of spectacles resting at the bridge of his nose. 

“Morning,” Lydia said quietly and smiled, propping her head up with her hand. Her hair was a wild tangle of inky black tresses around her head. “Guess all the excitement from yesterday must have worn me out. Last thing I remember, I was jotting down some ideas for the new Roadhouse.” Sitting up to lean against the gravestone headboard, she reached up to try and finger-comb her hair. “Are we going to head over there again today? See how much we can get done? I’m so excited to see it all come together.”

[primus-why]

I Feel TFOne Could've Handled This Better...

Hot take but I feel like folks have been really generous with the take that OP was unable to find ~the perfect words~ in the heat of the moment (and thus should be given some grace) when he told D to stand down and "not be like Sentinel"... namely cuz I don't feel that the narrative supports this?

Like-- after all is said and done, OP doesn't reflect on that part of their split. He doesn't have a moment where he seeks validation or voices his regrets over the choice of his words, it's actually cut-and-dry. The narrative (as it stands) supports that OP saw D-16 acting up, so he called him out and stood on business, down to the last scenes where he's basically like "yeah it's a shame but y'all knew I had to do it to 'em."

It didn't have to be much! I'm not saying to absolve Megs, just show OP looking at things from a different perspective/contemplating a bit on that tough choice and the morality of the moment. Some examples of what I wish we had:

B-127 straight up blurting the obvious by later chatting with Orion like, "Wait so you told your best friend that he was acting just as bad as the guy who enslaved us for our entire lives and was torturing him like an hour ago? Oof. Seems kinda harsh." Then have some of OP's regret show on his face.

OP asking Elita-1 after Megs is banished if he did the right thing. Have Elita back his choice up, saying, "You should have seen what he did after you were... gone. It was terrifying. I know it was tough, but you made the right call." OP is grateful for the support, but a conflicted look still flashes across his face before he steels himself to look out towards the horizon... and the future.

Have OP walk past other mechs/former miners who didn't go with the High Guard saying stuff like, "Wish I could've given Sentinel a piece of my mind!" "Yeah, but I'm glad he's gone for good." "Ugh I miss everything." "Oh, it was crazy! Megatron picked him up and then he rrrrriiipped-- oops, hey there, Mr. Optimus... Prime... sir?" And have OP wave hello, looking a bit sick when they leave.

Post-credits scene with Starscream going on and on, asking Megs when they'll be back to teach the upstart Prime a lesson. Megs grabs his face to shut him up. "Patience, Starscream. The Prime thinks I'm no better than Sentinel... but I'll show him. He wants Iacon? He can have it. In the meantime we'll take the rest of the planet! Then I'll come back, crush Prime under my heel, and we'll take Iacon too. Sentinel's reign will barely be a footnote, because I'm about to become Optimus Prime's worst nightmare." The vocal performance would really need to sell this-- like picture Megs saying something like that from a place of anger and hurt, not so much a place of genuine evil or malice.

Basically instead of Orion's assertion being backed up as black and white/good vs bad, I wish we had some different opinions/reactions from the characters sprinkled in there. Like you can't tell me out of allllll the miners who weren't strong enough/willing to go with the High Guard and ended up sticking around that NONE of them were like "eyyo honestly?? Kiiiiinda glad Sentinel is dead. Wish I could have helped, tbh." like come onnnnn...

And you can't even argue that he's not an active threat-- I don't think everyone would see things that way! It's not just about the threat he physically has, but the threat he represents and is very likely to act upon if given the opportunity! He has a proven track record of not only being sneaky and conniving, but also capable of dealing some serious damage/killing people bigger and stronger than him, plus he has the backing of the Quints. All he'd need to do is wriggle his way out of jail and run off to his sponsors, then he'd probably be back to hurt more people! (If the Quints didn't just kill him out of incompetence lmao). There's a lot of "ifs" here, but I think it's a valid argument that not everyone would agree on what is the right or wrong way to handle Sentinel once he was down long enough to, like, do something about him.

I feel the situation needed a bit of nuance. In some way I wish they had kicked the can and had D and Orion bicker while Sentinel escaped, then have D get frustrated enough by the loss of Sentinel to point fingers (and his fusion canon) at Orion, who then falls and becomes OP. (Megs could still show some of thar emotion/remorse right after he does it too.) Not only would this open the door for a sequel, but tbh the Quint might have just killed Sentinel anyways and sought to deal with the miners uprising themselves lol. (Maybe that could have been an after credits scenes too instead of the B-127 bit??)

Would love to see a moment in a sequel where they have a calmer moment after arguing for a bit. Have OP mention how Megs was out of line, that it hurt and even scared him to see him act that way, and Megs can quietly point out "you said I was as bad as Sentinel... is that really how you see me? After everything we went through?"

Then OP can fumble the bag again lmao like "D, I... I'm sorry, that didn't come out right... but you still took things way too far..."

"Why am I not surprised-- your opinion is what matters the most! Maybe that's why you became a Prime, since you're so good at acting like the world revolves around you--!"

*gets interrupted by someone else before another yelling match ensues*

[neo-punks]

i just fucking love neopets so much 😭

[contagious-watermelon]

it's kind of like insanely isolating that literally every aspec or "ace & aro" space I've found has been in actuality, solely for aces. perhaps arospec aces or aroaces who entirely prioritize their asexuality could also find company there, but even as an aromantic person who is also asexual, they're really not intended for me. so I can only imagine how isolating it must be if you're aromantic and allosexual

[emeryleewho]

I don't necessarily disagree with what you're talking about, but "tropes" are not the same as a *formula*, and that is my whole point. Tropes are fine. They are just things that have been done before.

A formula is "When character A, discovers B, C happens at 15% through, D happens at 25%, E, F, and G must happen by 50% along with a repetition of D at 60%, introduce H which segues into I, and at exactly 83%, cut to J which then leads us into K, followed by three pages of epilogue to tie everything up neatly".

You can have "there's only one bed", "soulmates", and a "second chance romance" without the MC revealing that their love interest lied to them at exactly 50% through the story so that we can set up the third act breakup which leads to a big gesture at the climax where the MC will inevitably decide that love interest 2 just isn't for them because it was LI 1 all along. The first is playing with things that people are familiar with, the second is a copy and paste formula where you can literally sit down with the bare bones of an outline and [insert name here], [insert conflict here], [insert big reveal here] an entire book that ultimately reads exactly the same as 1000 other books released over the last five years but with a handful of different inserts for spice.

This is actually why the constant "X plagiarized Y" convo is so trite. They are not plagiarizing each other. They are all following the mandatory trad pub formula, which just so happens to yield the same results 99% of the time because you can only insert so many interesting spices before your dish no longer fits the recipe.

For a couple years now, I've been struggling with reading Big 5 books because I realized that the majority follow a very specific formula, and once you crack the formula, every element becomes predictable and kind of boring.

Last year, as publishers started leaning hardcore into AI (especially my publisher who has been trying to force AI on us for years), it really clicked for me that the reason they don't think AI books suck is because they've already been forcing a sort of AI-adjacent storytelling on authors. "AI writing" is just language prediction. Put a bunch of words together in the order they'll most likely appear in based on previously established datasets, and in a lot of ways, that was how I felt writing books for trad pub to buy. It felt like every time I sat down at my computer, I was just plugging pieces into slots to fill in the formula, and any time I deviated from that formula, I would be told that every deviation needed to be removed to make the story "clean".

I don't know at what point so many people who claim to love books completely lost sight of what stories are supposed to do, but last year, I told myself that if I don't want to be replaced by AI, I need to stop letting trad pub force me to write like one. And frankly, this is why I think media literacy is so important.

Every human made book--no matter how good or how bad--has something to offer because when you engage with it, *think* on it, you open yourself up to another chunk of the human experience. You're communicating with other people like or unlike you. Even books you hate inform your opinions. Even books you think are problematic help you better establish your moral compass. Every book has something to offer.

But if you can't tell the difference between a real book and ai content with a book aesthetic, you also won't notice the difference as real art and storytelling is replaced by ai generated slop that has nothing to offer because it doesn't come from *anyone*. It's just the book-length equivalent of pressing the suggested next term on your keyboard while you text your mom. The words mean nothing, there's nothing to engage with, and anything it makes you feel is based solely on your own projection, the equivalent of getting into a fight with yourself over something that could never happen.

Now, I don't think all trad pub books are bad. Like I said, every real book has something to offer. But I think the prevalent mentality overtaking trad pub of what makes a book "good" is not actually about writing quality and is entirely about how to generate the fastest, most formulaic story on the misguided premise that this will make the most money. At some point, authors, agents, and editors will have to push back against this or we're all set to be replaced because publishers have established audiences that are looking for formulaic and predictable stories, so why not let them be written by predictive text? Saves them a lot of money and completely cuts us out of the picture. I'm over it.

[lupins-hehim-pussy]

I wanna know ur Fontaine msq criticisms 👁️👁️👂I’m all ears

I'm not sure if you wanted me to talk about this secretly or publicly but! Here I go!

The TLDR: Fontaine MSQ aestheticised prison, poverty, child abuse, the justice system/court and didn't properly address any of it.

More:

Focalors/Furina has way too much of a sympathetic angle for a dictator who's lets people drown with her inaction.

Neuvillette feels Bad for sentencing some people to death/prison, but that's it. He's one of the most powerful people in Fontaine. If he felt like there are systemic injustices, I.E sending an abused Child to prison, he should be the first person to DO something about it, not just cry and be sad so the audience can be like aw, that's complex character writing isn't it? No it's not! And guilt doesn't absolve you!!!!!!! (These are stuff we deal with in OTCOJ read my fic now /j)

Meropide has children in it, both Sentenced there (Wriothesley) and BORN THERE (Lanoire), and this is just a quirk of the place. Not only that, Meropide accepts prisoners of all genders and crimes. There are abusers and abuse victims in one place. Do you know how bad that is? How much potential for crimes to happen in a place like that— oh wait, Meropide isn't under Fontaine's jurisdiction. If you are assaulted as an inmate it literally means nothing to the court.

Wriothesley had no qualifications when he took over. Depending on how long he lived on the streets, how old he was when he killed his parents, how old he was when he was first taken in by the orphanage, etc, the man might never have more than 4–5 years of formal education. Sigewinne probably had to teach him how to write reports. And do Meropide's spreadsheets. Edit because I forgot to elaborate on this one: This isn't a point brought up anywhere, which is bad, because when poverty and incarceration robs you of a proper education (and the rights to vote in many places too, too, by the way), it reduces your prospects for jobs, reduces many people's ability to get a home etc etc. Wriothesley was just, narratively, Given his position.

Meropide is an industrialized prison, and they portray this as a good thing. Prisoners are paid in coupons for their labour, and this is also portrayed as a good thing.

The One-Meal-A-Day reform was something Paimon gushed about being so great of a perk, that people might want to go to jail for food (could be interesting and reflective of systemic poverty if MHY had brains, but they don't, so I was just Pissed because essentially all Paimon wanted to say was "Prison isn't so bad, but still don't go to prison guys! Prison labour is really hard!"). By the way, in most real-world prisons they are obligated to feed you three meals a day. Because that's how much food a human needs. MHY went with one meal just so they can say "if you want to eat more, you have to work." And then the welfare meal is a goddamn gacha. So imagine you're a starving child who's too weak to work in the fucking robot assembly line, and you wander up for your first meal in 24 hours, only to luck in with a shit one. I'd kill myself.

They wrote Wriothesley, who's a victim of the system, into a guy who's say shit like "I'm the Duke I can do whatever I want" for a cool moment where he choke-slams an inmate (I know he was a bad guy. But also, in copaganda when cops are violent/disregarding protocols, they are always only portrayed to do that against bad guys, so what does our critical thinking tells us about this one?) They wrote Wriothesley, who was an inmate of a prison so bad, so notorious that it is the literal boogeyman of Fontaine, that has a legal (???) fighting pit, with an administrator who abuses his position to be unreasonable, to willingly stay in the place and become an Administrator who would choke-slam an inmate while saying a cool line about how he has the power to do whatever he wants. They wrote him, the guy who had to be fed on the streets by melusines, to think one-meal-a-day was a good enough reform (while he spends god-knows how much on his boat). This wasn't a victim-turns-into-abuser narrative either, they want all this to be seen as positive character growth.

And then, the final kicker is, they gloss over his entire abuse. You can only read about these shit in his profile, which most people don't because they don't Have Him or doesn't care to unlock it/read it online, and they jammed his entire backstory into a flaccid info-dump at the end of his character story quest. This man isn't Allowed to feel abused and neglected and show any reaction to it within the narrative of Fontaine itself, because if they actually Gave Weight to what happened to him, they'd have to confront THE FUCKING JUSTICE SYSTEM they had NO PLANS on criticising. I don't think they ever explicitly said the fucking Crime-Theatre nonsense was Bad either.

I could go on, but this is already so long. But yeah, I hope this gave you an idea.