#monopoly tips

[abbylikestodraw]

I drew this in Probability class. Ngl, I was so proud of myself cauz I already worked on Speed Die (aka Gen Z die) influence on long time probabilities.

If you're curious about this (oddly specific) stuff, you can find it on my website:

Under the [CPGE] tag/Projects. (or just look up 'Monopoly' in the search bar) Careful tho, it's french-infected x)

Oh yeah, and if there is one thing you need to take from all of this:

Usual strategies of Classic Monopoly are even more crucial; invest in warm colors and railroads and avoid (dark) blue properties like the plague.

- Abby, self- proclaimed CEO of Monopoly

[inkdsythe]

Skill and the Hierarchy of Capitalism: Unraveling the Myth

Hey Tumblr fam, let's talk about the role of skill in determining our place in the hierarchy of capitalism. It's a common narrative that if you work hard and possess exceptional skills, you'll rise to the top. But is this really the case, or is it just a myth perpetuated by the system itself?

Capitalism, by its nature, creates an unequal distribution of wealth and power. It operates on the principles of profit maximization and competition, with the goal of accumulating capital in the hands of a few. While skill undoubtedly plays a role in individual success, it's important to acknowledge the systemic factors at play that can limit or enhance one's opportunities.

In a capitalist society, access to resources and opportunities is heavily influenced by factors such as social background, education, and networks. Individuals from privileged backgrounds often have more access to quality education, mentorship, and connections, which can significantly impact their skill development and ultimately their chances of success. On the other hand, those from marginalized communities face systemic barriers that limit their access to resources and opportunities, regardless of their skill level.

Moreover, the capitalist system rewards certain skills more than others. Skills that directly contribute to profit generation, such as entrepreneurship or financial expertise, are often valued more highly than skills in areas such as art, caregiving, or community work. This skewed valuation perpetuates a hierarchy where certain skills are deemed more valuable, while others are undervalued or ignored.

It's also essential to recognize that skill alone does not guarantee success within capitalism. Factors like luck, timing, and personal connections often play significant roles. Many skilled individuals may find themselves trapped in low-paying jobs or struggling to secure stable employment due to market fluctuations, industry trends, or unfair competition.

Furthermore, the hierarchy of capitalism often reinforces existing power structures and inequalities. It can perpetuate systemic biases based on factors like race, gender, and class, making it harder for marginalized individuals with exceptional skills to break through the glass ceiling and reach the upper echelons of success.

In essence, while skill certainly plays a role in individual achievement, it's crucial to acknowledge the broader structural factors that shape opportunities and outcomes within the capitalist system. A person's position in the hierarchy of capitalism is not solely determined by skill, but also by systemic advantages or disadvantages, social background, and the interplay of various external factors.

Let's strive for a more equitable society that recognizes and values the diverse range of skills individuals possess, rather than perpetuating a hierarchical system that disproportionately rewards a select few.

[autistme]

was trying to find some vintage videos but the links were all dead, but at least this comment section is preserved

[watermelinoe]

one thing i will say in defense of the mandela effect people is that most of the accounts i've seen are like childhood memories from the 70s/80s of seeing his televised funeral and then being super confused when they hear he's been released in 1990/becomes president in 1994. children and teens aren't typically the best at keeping up w international politics, especially without the internet

[ghwosty]

I just think it's good to occasionally remind people what the word monopoly means. No reason..

[daylerogers]

What Goes Around

I’ve been the observer of culture long enough to know that there is nothing new under the sun. Solomon said that thousands of years ago. As a mom, I’ve watched toys cycle through new generations. My Little Ponies were all the rage when my oldest daughter was little in 1987. They faded from the scene only to come back in 2010 for another go-around. Traditional games, like Monopoly and Parcheesi…

[dutybcrne]

Bruh he would never do it bc doubtless he’d ever try dropping smth so big without warning after That Confrontation ever again, but I chuckle at the thought of Kaeya, the Instant he got back from Sumeru stormed over to Diluc wherever he is, dumping a bunch of forms for the spices he absolutely arranged the Dawn Winery to get in front of the man and be all “Luc, clear your schedule for the next hour, maybe two, you will not BELIEVE what I have just learned-” after what Dainsleif dropped on him

[mckitterick]

Walmart is the first place I noticed enshittification, back in the late 1990s, with the humble Q-Tips

back then, I didn't know to avoid the place. I distinctly recall buying a box of Q-Tips brand swabs from Wal-Mart (how it was spelled back then), and noticing that not only was the stick weaker (it bent under normal use) but the heads used less cotton

naturally, I never again bought Q-Tips from Wal-Mart, but I began to notice a weird thing: these crappier Q-Tips - still the premium brand, not just generics - started showing up everywhere. Walmart had not only procured a cheaper-made product, but in doing so made all the Q-Tips everywhere just as bad

and this is only one of countless examples that people Of A Certain Age remember, and why we rail against unfettered and unregulated capitalism:

corporate greed will always yield enshittification

dragging down entire markets until people grow accustomed to buying garbage

The one weird monopoly trick that gave us Walmart and Amazon and killed Main Street

I'm coming to BURNING MAN! On TUESDAY (Aug 27) at 1PM, I'm giving a talk called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE!" at PALENQUE NORTE (7&E). On WEDNESDAY (Aug 28) at NOON, I'm doing a "Talking Caterpillar" Q&A at LIMINAL LABS (830&C).

Walmart didn't just happen. The rise of Walmart – and Amazon, its online successor – was the result of a specific policy choice, the decision by the Reagan administration not to enforce a key antitrust law. Walmart may have been founded by Sam Walton, but its success (and the demise of the American Main Street) are down to Reaganomics.

The law that Reagan neutered? The Robinson-Patman Act, a very boring-sounding law that makes it illegal for powerful companies (like Walmart) to demand preferential pricing from their suppliers (farmers, packaged goods makers, meat producers, etc). The idea here is straightforward. A company like Walmart is a powerful buyer (a "monopsonist" – compare with "monopolist," a powerful seller). That means that they can demand deep discounts from suppliers. Smaller stores – the mom and pop store on your Main Street – don't have the clout to demand those discounts. Worse, because those buyers are weak, the sellers – packaged goods companies, agribusiness cartels, Big Meat – can actually charge them more to make up for the losses they're taking in selling below cost to Walmart.

Reagan ordered his antitrust cops to stop enforcing Robinson-Patman, which was a huge giveaway to big business. Of course, that's not how Reagan framed it: He called Robinson-Patman a declaration of "war on low prices," because it prevented big companies from using their buying power to squeeze huge discounts. Reagan's court sorcerers/economists asserted that if Walmart could get goods at lower prices, they would sell goods at lower prices.

Which was true…up to a point. Because preferential discounting (offering better discounts to bigger customers) creates a structural advantage over smaller businesses, it meant that big box stores would eventually eliminate virtually all of their smaller competitors. That's exactly what happened: downtowns withered, suburban big boxes grew. Spending that would have formerly stayed in the community was whisked away to corporate headquarters. These corporate HQs were inevitably located in "onshore-offshore" tax haven states, meaning they were barely taxed at the state level. That left plenty of money in these big companies' coffers to spend on funny accountants who'd help them avoid federal taxes, too. That's another structural advantage the big box stores had over the mom-and-pops: not only did they get their inventory at below-cost discounts, they didn't have to pay tax on the profits, either.

MBA programs actually teach this as a strategy to pursue: they usually refer to Amazon's "flywheel" where lower prices bring in more customers which allows them to demand even lower prices:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaSwWYemLek

You might have heard about rural and inner-city "food deserts," where all the independent grocery stores have shuttered, leaving behind nothing but dollar stores? These are the direct product of the decision not to enforce Robinson-Patman. Dollar stores target working class neighborhoods with functional, beloved local grocers. They open multiple dollar stores nearby (nearly all the dollar stores you see are owned by one of two conglomerates, no matter what the sign over the door says). They price goods below cost and pay for high levels of staffing, draining business off the community grocery store until it collapses. Then, all the dollar stores except one close and the remaining store fires most of its staff (working at a dollar store is incredibly dangerous, thanks to low staffing levels that make them easy targets for armed robbers). Then, they jack up prices, selling goods in "cheater" sizes that are smaller than the normal retail packaging, and which are only made available to large dollar store conglomerates:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/27/walmarts-jackals/#cheater-sizes

Writing in The American Prospect, Max M Miller and Bryce Tuttle1 – a current and a former staffer for FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya – write about the long shadow cast by Reagan's decision to put Robinson-Patman in mothballs:

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-08-13-stopping-excessive-market-power-monopoly/

They tell the story of Robinson-Patman's origins in 1936, when A&P was using preferential discounts to destroy the independent grocery sector and endanger the American food system. A&P didn't just demand preferential discounts from its suppliers; it also charged them a fortune to be displayed on its shelves, an early version of Amazon's $38b/year payola system:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

They point out that Robinson-Patman didn't really need to be enacted; America already had an antitrust law that banned this conduct: section 2 of the the Clayton Act, which was passed in 1914. But for decades, the US courts refused to interpret the Clayton Act according to its plain meaning, with judges tying themselves in knots to insist that the law couldn't possibly mean what it said. Robinson-Patman was one of a series of antitrust laws that Congress passed in a bid to explain in words so small even federal judges could understand them that the purpose of American antitrust law was to keep corporations weak:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

Both the Clayton Act and Robinson-Patman reject the argument that it's OK to let monopolies form and come to dominate critical sectors of the American economy based on the theoretical possibility that this will lead to lower prices. They reject this idea first as a legal matter. We don't let giant corporations victimize small businesses and their suppliers just because that might help someone else.

Beyond this, there's the realpolitik of monopoly. Yes, companies could pass lower costs on to customers, but will they? Look at Amazon: the company takes $0.45-$0.51 out of every dollar that its sellers earn, and requires them to offer their lowest price on Amazon. No one has a 45-51% margin, so every seller jacks up their prices on Amazon, but you don't notice it, because Amazon forces them to jack up prices everywhere else:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/01/managerial-discretion/#junk-fees

The Robinson-Patman Act did important work, and its absence led to many of the horribles we're living through today. This week on his Peoples & Things podcast, Lee Vinsel talked with Benjamin Waterhouse about his new book, One Day I’ll Work for Myself: The Dream and Delusion That Conquered America:

https://athenaeum.vt.domains/peoplesandthings/2024/08/12/78-benjamin-c-waterhouse-on-one-day-ill-work-for-myself-the-dream-and-delusion-that-conquered-america/

Towards the end of the discussion, Vinsel and Waterhouse turn to Robinson-Patman, its author, Wright Patman, and the politics of small business in America. They point out – correctly – that Wright Patman was something of a creep, a "Dixiecrat" (southern Democrat) who was either an ideological segregationist or someone who didn't mind supporting segregation irrespective of his beliefs.

That's a valid critique of Wright Patman, but it's got little bearing on the substance and history of the law that bears his name, the Robinson-Patman Act. Vinsel and Waterhouse get into that as well, and while they made some good points that I wholeheartedly agreed with, I fiercely disagree with the conclusion they drew from these points.

Vinsel and Waterhouse point out (again, correctly) that small businesses have a long history of supporting reactionary causes and attacking workers' rights – associations of small businesses, small women-owned business, and small minority-owned businesses were all in on opposition to minimum wages and other key labor causes.

But while this is all true, that doesn't make Robinson-Patman a reactionary law, or bad for workers. The point of protecting small businesses from the predatory practices of large firms is to maintain an American economy where business can't trump workers or government. Large companies are literally ungovernable: they have gigantic war-chests they can spend lobbying governments and corrupting the political process, and concentrated sectors find it comparatively easy to come together to decide on a single lobbying position and then make it reality.

As Vinsel and Waterhouse discuss, US big business has traditionally hated small business. They recount a notorious and telling anaecdote about the editor of the Chamber of Commerce magazine asking his boss if he could include coverage of small businesses, given the many small business owners who belonged to the Chamber, only to be told, "Over my dead body." Why did – why does – big business hate small business so much? Because small businesses wreck the game. If they are included in hearings, notices of inquiry, or just given a vote on what the Chamber of Commerce will lobby for with their membership dollars, they will ask for things that break with the big business lobbying consensus.

That's why we should like small business. Not because small business owners are incapable of being petty tyrants, but because whatever else, they will be petty. They won't be able to hire million-dollar-a-month union-busting law-firms, they won't be able to bribe Congress to pass favorable laws, they can't capture their regulators with juicy offers of sweet jobs after their government service ends.

Vinsel and Waterhouse point out that many large firms emerged during the era in which Robinson-Patman was in force, but that misunderstands the purpose of Robinson-Patman: it wasn't designed to prevent any large businesses from emerging. There are some capital-intensive sectors (say, chip fabrication) where the minimum size for doing anything is pretty damned big.

As Miller and Tuttle write:

The goal of RPA was not to create a permanent Jeffersonian agrarian republic of exclusively small businesses. It was to preserve a diverse economy of big and small businesses. Congress recognized that the needs of communities and people—whether in their role as consumers, business owners, or workers—are varied and diverse. A handful of large chains would never be able to meet all those needs in every community, especially if they are granted pricing power.

The fight against monopoly is only secondarily a fight between small businesses and giant ones. It's foundationally a fight about whether corporations should have so much power that they are too big to fail, too big to jail, and too big to care.

Community voting for SXSW is live! If you wanna hear RIDA QADRI and me talk about how GIG WORKERS can DISENSHITTIFY their jobs with INTEROPERABILITY, VOTE FOR THIS ONE!

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/14/the-price-is-wright/#enforcement-priorities

[jackwhiteprophetic]

Board games that have been banned at the 118 and why:

MONOPOLY: Ravi kept talking about real estate, Chim made an awkward lawsuit joke when Eddie got sent to jail and Buck kept demanding he be allowed to pay the bail.

SETTLERS OF CATAN: Buck and Eddie just simply end up sharing all their resources because they can't say no to each other. Buck said "thanks I'm so bricked up now" after Eddie traded him bricks once and Bobby threw the board off of the loft balcony.

CLUEDO: Chim has NO poker face (poker is ironically also banned after an LAFD wide notice was sent around following the poker date) and Bobby kept trying to call Athena for tips.

UNO: No one could agree on the rules and Hen ended up trying to use the official Uno twitter posts as proof and Bobby stormed off. On a second attempt, Chim started a +2 chain that went around the group twice and ended up with him having to pick up +16 cards, and as revenge he said the Q-word. Bobby burned the pack at the next group barbecue.

PICTIONARY- Eddie and Hen are too good at it because they've had to spend recent years deciphering their kids' drawings.

They also tried to do heads up but Buck didn't know any of the films and Eddie refused to use a phone for a "board game".

PLEASE ADD MORE IDEAS THIS IS SO FUN

Also thank you to @wayfarers0 @eddiesfagstache @blue-desert13 AND THE OTHER AMAZING EDDIEBUDDIEBLR PEOPLE I LOVE YOU ALL

[diejager]

I never thought I would like a stepdad!konig so much, I just don't. But here I am.Soo I saw the need to do this

I felt 'jealous' of f!reader's mother.Simply the fact of reading how she becomes unconscious (with good reason, it's könig!) After a while with him.... And that they are practically husband and wife. It's a strange feeling,You know. like a delusion (I feel so stupid right now)

How would stepdad!konig react if he found out about it? (I feel a little better with the comfort of dbf! Horangi, scary, I know)

You are incredible, thank you for your writings 🌻

Oh, that sunflower at the end is cuteee Cw: unprotected sex, rough sex, creampie, sex marathon?, stepcest, DUB-CON?NON-CON, degrading, tell me If I missed any.

"Oh, is the what you want?" König cooed, smirk cruel and smug as he watched you wail beneath Horangi.

He recently came out of his room, baggy pants hanging low on his angular hips, dropping on one side and showing off the sharp dip on his navel and happy trail, a salacious way to walk into a room smelling of sweat and sex. He cleaned up, brushing his ginger hair with hints of silver to the side, messy and slightly damp from his session with your mom. Chest clean and body fluids wiped off, he always came to you clean and ruggedly handsome. Much like his friend who, until a few minutes ago, had the monopoly in your attention and silent cries, who drove his cock into you with strong and purposeful thrusts while he kissed your mewls away, swallowing them down with the harsh press of his scarred lips.

"You should have told me, Schatz," könig pushed on, pulling his waistband down enough for his engorged cock to spring upwards, slapping his deep V with a wet sound.

Horangi chuckled, hoisting you up on his lap, hands guiding your hips up and down his cum-coated thighs. You clung to him, arms wrapped around his shoulders, nails digging into his sculpted back (for someone of their age, they still had an enviable physique, back, arms and thighs ripped with thick and strong muscles while having a soft but equally sculpted abdomen.) With every buck of his hips skyward. You hid your face in his neck, damping it with your tears and open-mouthed mewls by biting down on his shoulder, muffling any keens and cries that would echo too loudly in your room.

"Use your big girl words, ja?" Your stepdad went on, pumping his pre down his uncut head, pulling down the foreskin to show his red and angry tip.

Feeling quite smug about your disheveled look, being the one responsible for it after your stepdad took too long fucking your mom to sleep, Horangi pressed kisses up your neck, behind your ear and teasing you with his teeth, playfully nipping at you while he looked at König. He peered over your bouncing shoulders, brown eyes seeming pitch black in your dark room, illuminated by a small lamp, the dim yellow light giving a golden tint to his eyes. He was goading König in a way, narrowed eyes and cheeks pulled by scars when he smirked at your stepdad, flashing his teeth as he bit down, reveling in the whimper he pulled from you.

"We shouldn't disappoint, huh, König?" Horangi chuckled, ramming you down his cock, feeling your walls clamp down on him while your legs shook, toes curling as you come, painting a pretty ring around his shaft.

The only reply he got back was a vindictive laugh, deep and rumbling, a bigger hand wrapping around your nape, scuffing you. König yanked your head back, blurry and teary eyes staring up at him, he held you there until Horangi finished, until Horangi painted your cunt white, until he got a turn to stuff you full of his cock and cum, and until he could fuck you unconscious like you wanted to.

Taglist: @sae1kie @yeoldedumbslut @tallmanlover @distracteddragoness @vxnilla-hxrddrugs @konigsblog @havoc973

[oatmealdaydreams]

Random Headcanons No One Asked For :)

I have many Thoughts.

Ford speaks many alien languages from his time dimension-hopping and will forget human words sometimes. so he uses the alien word for things and no one knows wtf he's talking about

Stan being on the road for 10 years & Ford dimension-hopping for about 30 years has parallels that I can't articulate right now

Stan gives Mabel boxing lessons after she uses her Mabel Power on him (aka: puppy-dog eyes)

Mabel & Ford share a love for scrapbooking/journaling, so Mabel gives him some tips about better glue and the use of fun stickers

Dipper and Stan play card games together, including poker and slap jack

Family Game Night is one of the most chaotic nights of the week and Monopoly was banned after "The Incident"

Ford is allergic to strawberries and fucking hates bananas (because I say so)

While sailing together on the Stan O' War II, Ford and Stan find out about each other's scars and where they're from. Protective Sibling Bonding ensues.

Stan makes an off-hand comment about an attractive guy and that's how he comes out to Ford

All four Pines have different mental struggles after Weirdmageddon & the whole Bill Cipher situations, so they try their best to be there for each other because they understand a bit better than anyone else

Sometimes Ford & Dipper get really horrifying nightmares relating to Bill-Possession and stay up talking in the middle of the night

Ford still struggles with paranoia and paranoid episodes (as does Dipper, depending) but he's growing and learning how to trust again & always has his family to support him

Stan likes to visit the Mystery Shack sometimes to check in on Soos and Wendy

Ford and Fiddleford work on rebuilding their friendship, sharing sea adventure stories and how life is living with Tate

Fiddleford and Tate work on rebuilding their father/son bond, which often includes fishing together at the lake

Ford, now in his 60s, discovers he's asexual and has this moment of peaceful realization. helps him feel more like himself as he recovers from everything he's been through with Bill

Stan sometimes worries that a piece of Bill is leftover in his mind, but is often reassured by his family that Bill is truly gone and can't hurt them anymore

Stan struggles through memory relapses and amnesia episodes, but Ford & family are always there to help him through it (the memories always come back in the end)

Stan and Ford finally catch up with Shermie after so long of no seeing him & it's an emotional reunion (and a bit of a surprise to Shermie to see both of his younger brothers alive)

at some point during highschool, Dipper has an "oh shit" moment when they realize they like using they/them pronouns

And many more things! This is long enough, lmao.

[lovebugism]

Play wrestling with bff Steve and getting giggly when he just straight up manhandles you 😭😭😭

✶ ┄ SORE LOSER !

summary: steve harrington doesn't like to let you win until he realizes how good it feels to lose. pairing: best friend!steve harrington / f!reader word count: 1.6k warnings: a lil bit suggestive towards the end, but nothing crazy a/n: i got super carried away with this lol i kinda just took this request and ran with it and well... here we are :) enjoy!

Steve never lets you win. 

He thinks it’s letting you off too easy.

The boy’s competitive to a fault. He can’t stomach a loss, even if it’s in something as meaningless as a carnival game you only wanted to play for the giant dinosaur plushie that’s half the size of you. 

He always ends up giving it to you when he inevitably wins, wearing a big smug smile on his pretty, pink lips. You take it from him with a pout. The childlike scowl is quelled only by the funnel cake he buys you after.

It doesn’t matter what it is — a game of monopoly, trivia questions on the ends of popsicle sticks, taking in the groceries — Steve finds a way to make all of it competitive. He wants to have the most fake money and little fake properties, he wants to shout the answer before anyone else can, he wants to carry more heavy plastic bags than everyone else. Just to say that he did it.

If you put this much effort into school, you’d be in college right now, Harrington, you’d tease.

Not my fault you’re a sore loser, he’d retort. I’ll let you win the next one, sunshine. Promise.

He never does.

You and Steve play-wrestle like a couple of kids. It usually comes out of nowhere. You’ll make fun of him, he’ll shove at you, and you’ll shove back harder. Then it just turns into a game of who’s stronger than who — and it’s always him. Obviously. 

You try your hardest to prove your strength, pushing at him with nimble fists and wriggling something fierce in his hold, but you come out red-faced with a participation ribbon laced within his taunts. And even though he’s got several inches on you and quite a bit more muscle, he never lets you win. Ever.

He manhandles you, perhaps a little too rough at times, but it wasn’t like he had to be kind to you. You weren’t dating or anything, you were best friends — this is what a couple of pals do, right?

They play fight on the carpet of the other’s movie room after being told their closest confidant would murder them in a game of fuck, marry, kill between Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jr. with zero hesitation.

Friends totally force the other onto the ground by grabbing at the bottoms of their thighs before kneeling over them, wrenching their wrists in their grip and pressing their hands to the ground on either their head.

It’s the definition of being best buds. Truly.

For the first time, you manage to get the better of him. You’re pressed beneath his weight, breathing heavy and rapidly tiring, and you wave the white flag of surrender.

Just when Steve's letting you up and swiping a hand through his mussed hair, you force him onto his back and straddle his waist — like he always did to you — and giggle with mirth at the idea of finally beating him.

He doesn’t find a similar enthusiasm in it, though. His tune changes almost immediately.

You beam down at him, the words of a taunt on the tip of your tongue, and you notice how his cheeks flare pink. His honey-colored eyes widen and his mouth falls softly agape. He glows red in embarrassment and you think he’s just upset that he lost, but he sounds like he’s panicking. The words rush out of his mouth — “Alright, shit, fine— you win, sunshine. Get off, alright? Off, off, off.” 

His hand swats at the side of your knee to hurry you off him.

“Alright, jeez!” you concede with the roll of your eyes, halfway annoyed that he just can’t let you win anything. “You don’t have to be such a sore loser about it, Harrington—”

You understand his haste in that moment, when you feel him brush your inner thigh. Like, all of him — as in, the boner trapped in the sweatpants he’s wearing, all rock hard and raging in its cotton confines.

Suddenly, you’re just as bashful and panicked as he is. 

Your eyes lock at the rock hard realization but neither of you can think of anything to say.

Do you apologize? Do you act like you didn’t feel anything? Do you trust your voice to make a stupid joke so you can move on and forget any of this ever happened? You’re not quite sure.

And in the five-second silence, Steve just wants to die. Internally, he’s praying for a strike of lightning to take him out on the spot because he’s never been more embarrassed in his life.

He’s certain that he’s grossed you out, or worse, made you irreversibly uncomfortable.

In the mess of thoughts running through his head, he tries to rush out some apology that might soothe the awkward air. Your laughter does all the work for him before he can.

It bubbles like sunshine from your mouth, filling the silence and allowing Steve to breathe again. He finds himself chuckling under his breath with you, though he’s still red-faced about it.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep laughing, sunshine,” he chides with the roll of his eyes, though a smile hints at the edges of his mouth. He rises on his elbows to look at you. “What was I supposed to do? Your tits were in my face and your ass was on my dick— sorry for being human!”

“Sorry, alright? I’m sorry,” you manage through hearty giggles. You settle finally at his side and look over at him, still grinning. “Want me to leave so you can… take care of it or whatever?”

He knows you’re joking but he shakes his head anyway. “Nah, it’ll go away. Let’s just… finish this stupid movie.”

“Stupid movie? You picked it!”

“Yeah, so I could see Kelly Lebrock in a bikini!” he argues back, more thankful for the familiar bickering than he ever thought he’d be. “But you made me miss it!”

“It’s not my fault you can’t keep your hands to yourself.”

“Watch it, sunshine,” he grumbles, half-heatedly. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

“I think you’re the one who needs to worry about finishing, Harrington,” you joke and giggle when he shoves you.

You would’ve helped him, if he wanted you to. You know it’s uncomfortable and that it’s partially your fault. You also know that all of those are just excuses to cover up the fact that you’ve always wondered what his cock looks like.

He’d need only ask you, but you know that he won’t.

Even if he did like you in that way, it’d just make things all complicated. And that was totally the opposite of the effortless relationship you’ve developed with him. The kind of effortless where he can be rock hard next to you, and you’ve both decided to just move on from it.

Steve, meanwhile, spends the rest of the movie not watching a single damn minute of it. He’s too busy trying to calm himself down like a teenage boy and figuring out he can get you on top of him again without being too obvious about the whole thing.

He decides he might just start swallowing his pride and let you win sometimes.

[writerjayne]

When the first bottle appeared, Stiles almost didn't notice. He was grabbing his backpack and running out the door of the loft, shouting his goodbyes to an amused Derek and Peter, who didn't bother to remind him he didn't need to shout. It wasn't until Stiles was halfway home that it occurred to him that werewolves can't get drunk. But Peter is weird, maybe he just likes the flavor and happened to leave it at Derek's place. Odd but quickly forgotten. 

Stiles noticed the second bottle weeks later. The loft was finally finished being renovated and there were two bottles on some shelves that Derek had installed behind the kitchen island. The first bottle was still there, the second beside it but again Stiles didn't have time to ask. He was too busy trying to convince Erica to team up with him so they could take over the monopoly board. 

By the third bottle Stiles was not the only one noticing. Isaac had asked and gotten a shrug. Erica had inspected the bottles and confirmed they were human alcohol so there was no way Derek was getting drunk. Boyd pointed out that Derek wasn't drinking them anyway, all of the bottles were sealed. The pack continued to puzzle over the bottles together, while a very amused Peter refused to contribute and Derek refused to answer questions. 

Bottles four, five and six were added without any answers. There was no pattern to when they arrived, no pattern to the brands or sizes, even the shapes of the bottles were different. Most of the pack had given up, more interested in the other changes in the loft (new furniture, with lots of pillows and flannel blankets, a chess set on the table, the shelves full of books both old and new, and the smaller shelf full of movies) but Stiles was aware of every new bottle. 

It was after bottle eight that Stiles finally cracked and asked. 

"What's the deal with the whiskey?" 

Derek looked up from his book to study Stiles, who was studying the shelves of alcohol. It was just the two of them today, Stiles doing some kind of research while Derek simply enjoyed the younger man's presence. 

"I don't know what you mean," Derek said mildly, dropping his eyes to his book when Stiles turned back towards him. 

"Oh, come on, Derek. You don't drink! I mean, you can if you want, but it won't do anything and not a single bottle has been opened. So what's up?" 

"It's nothing," Derek sighed, and if Stiles didn't know the werewolf, he would have thought nothing more. 

But Stiles did know Derek and unless he was very mistaken Derek was blushing! It was faint but Derek's cheeks were pinkening as were the tip of his ears. 

"It's something," Stiles slowly smiled. "You just wont to tell me!" Stiles shifted how he was sitting, scooting closer to Derek. "C'mon Der, what is it?" 

Stiles leaned in and Derek closed his eyes taking a breath. 

"It's...." Derek said more but it was mumbled and Stiles wasn't sure what it was. 

"What?" Stiles asked again, leaving even closer. 

"It's the color of your eyes. The whiskey." Derek finally blurted, his cheeks warm and pink. 

"Huh?" Stiles mouth fell open as he sat stunned. 

"Well almost. None of them are quite right but whenever I see amber whiskey I think of your eyes and I always end up buying a bottle," Derek kept his eyes on his lap as he explained. 

"My eyes," Stiles repeated. 

"Yeah," Derek glanced up. "In the sunlight your eyes aren't just brown, theyre like warm amber whiskey." 

"So you bought eight bottles??" Stiles almost shrieked, his brain finally catching up with what was happening. "Because it reminded you of my eyes?! Alcohol is expensive!" 

"This is why I didn't want to tell you," Derek looked away, his shoulders dropping in defeat. "It's so weird and probably creepy. I'm sorry I'll take them down tonight-" 

"Derek!" Stiles interrupted and Derek looked up startled. Stiles was smiling and before Derek could realize it was happening Stiles was kissing him. 

It was warm and Stiles smelled amazing. Derek had initially froze but he quickly melted into the kiss, pulling Stiles closer. One of Stiles' hands rested on Derek's chest but the other slid up to cradle the back of Derek's head, fingers threading through the werewolf's hair. After pulling Stiles against him Derek's hands had slid down to rest on Stiles' hips. 

When Stiles pulled back, he stayed close, studying Derek's face, a faint smile on his lips. 

"So... Not weird then?" Derek asked a little sheepishly. 

"Oh totally weird dude but also probably the most romantic this anyone has ever done for me," Stiles grinned as Derek rolled his eyes. 

"We just kissed and you're calling me dude?" Derek complaint lightly and Stiles laughed, his eyes crinkling. 

"Seems like it, Sourwolf." 

Still laughing Stiles leaned in to kiss Derek again and Derek was more than happy to let him.

~This was inspired by a line from the song 'Heather on the Hill' by Nathan Evans: "She's as warm as amber whiskey"

[anim-ttrpgs]

A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club: Triangle Ageny

We are gearing up to play Triangle Agency in the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club! If you have ever wanted to check out Triangle Agency but haven't had the time or a group to do it with, join our book club! Signups are running from now until September 30th. Target date for the first session is around October 17th, 2024, but scheduling is super flexible, and also you don't have to buy the game to join, even though we encourage you to support the developers (we have made them an estimated $180 in sales already at the time of writing this)

If you want to support us and our mission to save the TTRPG hobby from total monopoly domination, you can join the book club through the link above even if you aren't signing up to play, you can support us on patreon, buy (or just freely download) the beta of our debute TTRPG Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, or just send us a tip on ko-fi!

[shortcakesturns]

you should write a fic where the reader asks chris (or matt) to try something new and he’s like “what do you have in mind?” and she asks him to titty fuck her, so he does and he cums on her boobs, all the way up to her mouth and face

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒

𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐎 𝐗 𝐅𝐄𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑

𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐑: 𝟏𝟔+, 𝐍𝐒𝐅𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐂𝐔𝐓

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟏 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐱 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰

𝐀/𝐧: 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭 😩😩

Matt sat across from me, we were playing monopoly with Nick and Chris. I could feel Matt eye fucking me the whole time. When Nick ended up winning the game, and Chris and Nick went to their rooms. Matt wasted no time pulling me into his room and pinning me up against the wall.

“Your such a tease ma.” He says aggressively grabbing my neck and kissing my lips. His tongue intruding into my mouth, our tongues fighting for dominance. He pulls away smirking. “My fucking slut.” He starts attacking my neck with his lips.

“baby..I have a question.” I gasp, as Matt pulls away.

“Hm?” He looks slightly concerned, tilting his head but look into my eyes.

“Can we try something new?” I ask.

“What do you have in mind my love?”

I take control pushing Matt on the bed, his eyes widen and a smirk paints his face at the sudden dominance taking over me. I get on top of him, making out with him. Grabbing his jaw to further the kiss. Suddenly I pull away, Matt whines at the sudden loss.

“Fuck ma, what has gotten into you.”

I grind on his dick, throwing my head back in pleasure. “just wanna switch it up babyyy.”

“f-fuckkkk good girl baby good girl.”

I move down so my face is by his hard on, I pull his pants down. Slightly freeing his dick, fully freeing his dick by pulling his underwear down. “daddy your so big” I take my hand stroking his dick, licking from the base of his dick to the tip. “fuck baby don’t tease me” I take him into my mouth his dick hitting the back of my throat. “o-oh s-shit y/n baby holy fuck”

I speed up my pace hearing the moans fall out of his mouth, his hand grabbing my hair. I pull away, he whines at the sudden loss.

I spit on his dick taking my hand and stroking it, “what are you doing baby??” he asks confused panting. “You’ll see matty.” I push my boobs together taking him in between my tits moving up and down.

opening my mouth, sticking my tongue out letting spit fall onto his cock and I start moving faster, matt’s panting and moaning slipping out faster.

“ngh, fuck ma, i’m g-gonna”

his cum interrupts me, shooting onto my tongue and face and my tits. “holy shit ma, I love you.”

“Now it’s your turn ma.” he says flipping so he’s on top, kissing down my body tugging my pants down and spreading my legs open. He licks his lips before lapping and sucking on my clit.

Inserting two fingers at a fast pace, “oh my fucking god Matt” grabbing a fistful of his hair, grunting at the pressure. “yeah you fucking like that ma?” He says before going back to aggressively eating me out.

“fuck i’m gonna cum Matt, Matt fuck”

I release, as Matt pulls away sticking one finger down my throat. pulling one finger out and putting the other in his mouth.

“you taste so good ma.” he says kissing me.

———

i’m officially out of requests now 🤕 sorry it was so short I really want mac and cheese