#no matter if i never know about it. I'm trying to get better so i can get to Heaven. i want to see Jackson there too

[astrolook]

Sun in the houses:

Let's see what happens how sun behaves in all these houses, both positive and negative. Mind you that every planet in any house or sign can exhibit both positive and negative traits and can manifest in a person.

Sun in 1st House: I’m not saying I’m the center of the universe, but... I kinda am. 🌞🌍

You just get leadership. You don’t have to try; it’s in your blood. If afflicted, your leadership style might feel more like "dictatorship." You’re so sure of yourself that others don’t get a chance to voice their opinions.

Your positivity and belief in yourself make others think, “If they can do it, I can too!”. If Sun is afflicted, it can come off as "I'm better than you" rather than "I believe in myself."

You’re the life of the party! Your energy lifts the room and makes everyone feel involved. If afflicted, you might crave attention to the point where you overshadow others.

You set big goals, and you achieve them. There’s no stopping you once your mind is made up. If afflicted, friends and colleagues can feel like you’re so busy chasing success that you forget to check in on them.

Your dad probably instilled in you a sense of pride and self-worth that shaped who you are. If afflicted, your dad could be too demanding or proud of you, it can create some serious pressure. You might feel like you’re living for his approval rather than your own dreams, and that can lead to overcompensating or burning out.

Sun in the 2nd House: Money talks, but my self-worth yells! 💸🌟

You have a strong sense of self-worth, often tied to personal achievements. You know your value. If afflicted, You might tie your entire identity to material success, feeling inadequate or worthless without financial stability or possessions.

You are ambitious, striving to build financial security. Hard work often pays off. If afflicted, your financial instability may lead to insecurity or even an unhealthy obsession with money. You may be overly materialistic.

You’re usually careful with your resources but if afflicted, you could be prone to overspending or hoarding, unable to find a balanced approach to finances.

A father figure can be a source of inspiration and a role model in financial matters and work ethics. If afflicted, it could bring inheritance issues or you may feel that you never live up to his expectations.

Can exhibit workaholic tendencies, sacrificing personal happiness or family life for financial gain or status.

You have the potential to rise above financial challenges, but if afflicted, you could experience deep feelings of insecurity or even shame when you don't meet your own or others’ material expectations, possibly leading to cycles of self-doubt.

You might view love through the lens of material gestures or gifts, making it difficult to connect emotionally or romantically.

Sun in the 3rd House: Your ideas are shining bright, but good luck getting people to stop talking long enough to hear them!

You’re a natural communicator, your words carry weight. If afflicted, you might dominate conversations or struggle with listening, sometimes coming off as self-centered or dismissive of others' perspectives.

Close, possibly authoritative, relationship with siblings; they could be supportive, or you may take on a leadership role in your family. If afflicted, Conflicts with siblings or feeling misunderstood could arise, leading to tension and rivalry, sometimes even to the point of no contact.

Quick-witted and sharp but also can struggle with overthinking, becoming mentally scattered or overwhelmed by too many ideas at once.

You could excel as a teacher or mentor. If afflicted, a tendency to lecture or impose your ideas on others.

Enjoys frequent short trips. On the flip side, Travel may be more about running away from stress or distractions rather than meaningful exploration, leaving you feeling unsettled.

You naturally build connections with people in your immediate environment, making you very social and approachable. If afflicted, can come off as superficial or too eager to network.

You have a great sense of humor and can use wit to win people over in conversations. If afflicted, might use humor as a defense mechanism or to hide insecurities, sometimes crossing boundaries or coming across as insensitive.

Sun in the 4th House: Home is where your heart—and your ego—are, and good luck moving past your childhood room!

You deeply value your home and family, often finding identity in your roots and personal space. Sometimes, it can lead to clinging to the past or feeling stuck in old patterns.

Your self-esteem may become too tied to your home life, making you feel insecure or restless if things at home are unstable.

You may have a strong, nurturing relationship with your mother or a motherly figure, who plays a central role in your life. If afflicted, A dominant or overbearing mother could lead to conflicts or struggles with your own sense of self.

You have a deep appreciation for your heritage and traditions. If afflicted, You may be too focused on the past, unable to move forward or let go of old family patterns or unresolved issues.

You may find comfort and strength in your private life, but sometimes a strong need for privacy might lead to isolation or difficulty expressing yourself outside of your home or family setting.

Sun in the 5th House: You’re not just good at playing games—you’re good at being the star of them!

You have a strong need to express yourself creatively, often excelling in arts, hobbies, or self-expression. If afflicted, Can become too focused on being admired for your creativity, leading to vanity or insecurity when not recognized.

Life is a playground for you; you seek joy, excitement, and adventure in everything you do, but if afflicted, may seek too much pleasure, becoming careless or irresponsible, neglecting other important aspects of life.

You approach romance with confidence and passion but sometimes you might crave validation through romantic relationships, leading to drama or superficial connections.

If you become a parent, you’re likely to take pride in raising children and may have a natural ability to nurture and inspire them. If afflicted, can become overly focused on impressing your children or living through them, putting too much pressure on them or on yourself.

You are willing to take risks for excitement but on the flip side, A penchant for risk-taking could lead to reckless behavior or impulsive decisions, sometimes causing unnecessary harm to yourself or others and regrets.

Sun in the 6th House: You’re the go-to person for work, health, and making sure everything runs smoothly—unless you’re burnt out, of course!

You take pride in your work and have a strong sense of responsibility. You’re highly dedicated and reliable. If afflicted, it could be overburdening yourself with tasks and potentially leading to burnout.

You find fulfillment in helping others and often take on service-oriented roles where you can make a difference. Sometimes, you might feel taken for granted or unappreciated, especially if you put others' needs before your own, leading to frustration.

You are often very conscious of maintaining good health but sometimes you could become obsessed with health routines, leading to anxiety about perfection or overemphasis on minor health concerns.

You feel fulfilled by supporting or mentoring others, often excelling in roles that require service or care. You might struggle with self-worth if your efforts aren't appreciated or recognized, leading to resentment.

You possess strong mental and physical discipline and you may become overly critical of yourself or others if things don’t meet your high standards.

You’re excellent at identifying and solving problems but over-thinking or obsessing over problems can lead to anxiety or difficulty seeing the bigger picture, getting stuck in the minutiae.

Sun in the 7th House: You love being in the spotlight of relationships—just make sure you're not shining too brightly for your partner!

You thrive in close relationships and find your identity through your connections with others. If afflicted, you may become overly dependent on a partner for validation, losing sight of your individuality or putting too much pressure on the relationship.

You may take pride in your role as a partner or spouse and often invest deeply in committed relationships. If afflicted, You could place too much importance on marriage or partnerships, potentially attracting bad partners that are either possessive or just use you.

Your relationship with your father can have a significant impact on your views of partnerships. If your father was distant or authoritative, you may unconsciously seek partners who resemble him, leading to issues with power dynamics or unfulfilled needs.

You excel in negotiating and finding common ground in relationships but you may avoid confrontation or sacrifice your own needs to keep the peace, leading to resentment or unresolved issues.

Sun in the 8th House: You don’t just like to dive deep, you want to see what’s under the surface—and no, we’re not talking about the fridge!

You experience emotions deeply, with a strong ability to connect to others on an intimate level. beware, intense emotions can lead to emotional highs and lows, making it difficult to find balance or feel stable in your personal life.

You are fascinated by the unknown, with a natural curiosity about life’s deeper meanings, psychology, and even the occult. You may become obsessed with uncovering secrets, and sometimes, this can lead to unhealthy fixation or paranoia about what’s hidden.

You’re often able to emerge stronger from crises or difficult experiences but also you may become addicted to chaos or dramatic transformations, seeking out crises for the sense of power or transformation they bring.

You have an innate understanding of life's cyclical nature, and you often feel comfortable with the idea of death, allowing you to live more fully. This connection can turn into a preoccupation with mortality, possibly manifesting as anxiety or unhealthy fears surrounding death or loss.

If afflicted, a troubled relationship with your father, possibly marked by power struggles or emotional distance, could lead to unresolved issues or feelings of inadequacy that carry over into your relationships.

Sun in the 9th House: You're on a never-ending quest for truth, knowledge, and adventure—basically, a cosmic tourist with a PhD!

You are drawn to big ideas, philosophy, spirituality, and have a strong sense of purpose, often inspired by a higher calling or ideal. If the ideal is unattainable or unrealistic, you might feel disillusioned or disconnected from reality, leading to frustration or unrealistic expectations.

Travel, especially abroad, opens your mind and helps you grow as a person. If afflicted, leads to a feeling of being ungrounded or dissatisfied if you're unable to travel or explore as much as you’d like.

You might even study or work abroad. Your family could have mixed races.

You enjoy being a guide, especially when it comes to life’s big questions. If afflicted, can exhibit a tendency to be overly preachy or self-righteous could alienate others.

Sun in the 10th House: The spotlight is yours! You were born to be on stage—just don’t forget to thank your fans (or, you know, your boss)!

You’re highly motivated to achieve your professional goals and to be recognized for your efforts. If afflicted, you may become overly focused on career achievement, neglecting personal life or burning out from putting all your energy into work.

You care deeply about your reputation and public image, working hard to project a successful, competent, and reliable image. If afflicted, an excessive focus on public perception might lead to superficiality, a tendency to prioritize appearances over substance, or anxiety about how others view you.

Your career goals often play a significant role in shaping your sense of self. Achieving professional milestones boosts your confidence and sense of purpose. If your career is the only way you define yourself, failure or setbacks in your work life may cause a loss of self-worth or personal identity.

Your work is a vehicle for self-expression. You want your career to reflect your true talents and individuality. If your work doesn't align with your authentic self, you may feel you're not being true to who you are.

Your father may serve as a strong role model for career success, influencing your own professional aspirations and ambitions. If your relationship with your father was strained or critical, you may feel like you’re constantly trying to meet his expectations or prove yourself, which could cause you to chase success for the wrong reasons.

Sun in the 11th House: You’re the lonely butterfly with a mission— dreaming of changing the world one connection at a time!

You're that introvert in the extroverted setting. You could be surrounded by people all the time and still feel lonely. You prefer a one-to-one connection than a group setting.

You may become disillusioned or frustrated with the slow pace of change or people who don't share your level of commitment to causes, which could make you feel isolated or unsupported.

You likely to adopt kids or maybe you are the adopted kid. There is a possibility of having a step-father or divorced parent.

You're not one to conform easily and prefer to stay true to your unique self, even in social settings. Definitely, not a sheep.

You like to talk with strangers online and loves to spend time online. If afflicted, chronically online.

Sun in the 12th House: The spotlight is on you, but you’re hiding in the shadows—awkwardly shining in silence and doing some serious soul-searching!

You have a deep connection to your subconscious mind, offering insight into hidden aspects of yourself. This connection can bring about significant personal growth and spiritual awakening.

Could have had a relationship or a fling with a professor or teacher of some sort. Or was it just a crush?

You could shine by moving to other countries for studies or even work. You might feel like you don't belong here.

You could be working in a hospital, programmer, researcher, or just any "behind-the-scenes" jobs.

Have a tendency to avoid the spotlight. You might won't even show your face on social media.

Your father could be distant or could be that he is not there for you.

[ckret2]

due to stuff involving a goat, the only thing that can save the pines family is sticking bill cipher in a cute dress, doing weird 70's things to his hair, slapping makeup on him, and sending him to flirt with a government agent

and if that ain't a setup for a chapter i don't know what is

anyway here's chapter 86 of this thing.

####

"Something about this is just wrong," Stan said. "It isn't natural."

"Oh, I don't know," Ford said, grinning. "I think it's funny."

Without looking over, trying not to move his lips, Bill said, "I'd like to see you��do better."

It was still a few minutes until the Mystery Shack opened for the day, and he and Mabel were sitting in the kitchen, with Bill miserably wearing a mis-buttoned Hawaiian shirt so he wouldn't mess up his makeup when he changed into his flirting uniform. The makeup supplies Pacifica had sent them home with yesterday were spread out on the kitchen table, and they were collaboratively trying to remember how to recreate the look Pacifica had given Bill yesterday. Thus far, they'd managed moisturizer and foundation and were debating the finer points of concealer color theory.

"I didn't say it's bad," said Ford, whose opinions on makeup only fell into three categories: obviously hideous; fine, I guess; and potentially magical sigils for ritual purposes. "It's just bizarre watching you care about it."

Bill mumbled, "I'm blending in with the Nacirema." Ford barked a laugh. (About time somebody got it.)

Stan elbowed Ford. "What's a Nacirema?"

"It's— There's this phenomenon in anthropology— I'll explain it later."

Stan grumbled to himself about the nerds enabling each other, then said, "Hey. When you do the lipstick, don't make it look too good. If it looks too good, he'll assume you're out of his league and get suspicious when you start hitting on him. I never trust attention from a lady whose lipstick isn't at least a little cakey."

Offended, Mabel said, "Grunkle Stan, I'm an artiste! I can't do a bad job on purpose!"

Bill said, "It doesn't matter! Once I get my seduction hat on, he won't even glance at my face." He poked the top hat sitting on the kitchen table.

"Oh, no you don't," Stan said. "Hat's gotta go, it's too tall. Guys hate it when their dates are taller than them."

"What?!" Bill stared at Stan, aghast. "You've gotta be insane! The hat's essential—"

"Hold still!" Mabel poked his neck with the butt of a makeup brush.

He reluctantly gave up and turned to face her again, but not without muttering to himself, "Can't wear a seduction hat, can't stick my hand in a goat's stomach acid, god forbid women do anything."

Last night's hunt for Gompers had been an abysmal failure—Dipper and Mabel had never even glimpsed him. This morning, beneath the banter, there was a somber air in the room; the household was trying not to think about the fact that their collective safety was resting on Bill's ability to seem appealing to a normal man in spite of the fact that they were having a conversation, and he wasn't even able to convincingly pretend he had a plan.

Dipper was trying to get breakfast around Bill and Mabel. Once Mabel had puffed on a layer of setting powder, Bill twisted around to give Dipper an unnecessarily wide smile. "Hey! How do I look?"

He glanced up from pouring a bowl of cereal and grimaced. "Somehow even less like a real human than usual."

Bill laughed. "Yep, it's the lack of pores." He turned away to check his mirror as he applied his mascara.

Mabel said, "He'll look better once we get the lipstick on."

Soos ducked in from the living room. "Hey, uh, guys?" It was clear he'd been as distracted that morning as the rest of them; he'd misbuttoned his suit jacket. "I just saw the government dudes' car again. Like, in the parking lot this time, not lurking down the street."

The energy in the air changed, like a subtle electric current shooting through the room. "Okay, enough gawking at the freak show," Stan said. "Ford?"

"Right!" He grabbed up his coffee mug, re-thought it, and poured the mug back in the coffee pot and picked up the pot instead, then bolted from the kitchen. He returned a moment later with his arms loaded with his journal, several books, and a couple of guns that would definitely be illegal on Earth if Earth had ever heard they existed. "Basement."

Bill turned toward the doorway so fast Mabel almost smeared lipstick across his cheek. Basement? He hoped Ford meant his study. If they went all the way to the basement, and noticed that somebody had been moving around the rubble of the portal...

"Bill!" Mabel said.

"I know, I know." He turned back to her again.

A final line, and Mabel sighed in relief. "Okay, you're good."

Stan rummaged through the fridge for the first thing he could find to sustain himself and Ford for the day. "Hey, demon. Remember everything I taught you."

"Yeah, yeah," Bill sighed. "Don't claim I have a job he can fact-check, don't pretend I make more money than him unless I want him to invite me to a fancy restaurant and pretend he forgot his wallet, if he asks my age I'm fifteen years younger than him, my human family lives across the country, I don't have any sisters that might be prettier, and there's nothing I wanna hear about more than World War 2 battle tactics or vintage car repair or whatever hobby he's picked up to make himself feel more masculine."

"And?" Mabel prompted.

"And my favorite animal is cats, my favorite color is pink, my favorite flavor is chocolate, my favorite film genre is not slapstick snuff, my favorite time to get married is next week, and my favorite body part on a partner is their eyes still inside their sockets, but if I specify the socket part it'll worry him."

"Right! Gold star!" She smacked a sticker onto his shirt.

Stan clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Knock 'im dead," he said. "Not literally. Unless you're sure the other two won't catch you."

"I'll see what I can do," Bill said.

####

The three agents eyed the sign that had been set up outside the Mystery Shack's main door. It said, "Self-guided tour today! $15" and there was a cardboard box taped beneath with a slit cut in the lid.

Agent Dale said, "Do you think that's for us?"

"Probably not," Trigger said uncertainly. "We have a warrant."

"Huh." Dale reread the sign, then tentatively rummaged through his pocket for his wallet and pulled out three fives. Trigger pushed his hand back down.

Soos ran around the side of the shack, breathing heavily. "Oh, wow! What a... totally random coincidence... running into you guys again..." He put his hands on his knees, huffing. "Gimme a sec. I was... running pretty fast... for no reason."

"Mr. Ramirez," Powers said. He held out a search warrant. "We're here to search this building for missing government property."

"Oh, dude, that's crazy," Soos said. "Do you like, have evidence that this property is in the building? Like, I don't know, any kind of... signal that it's giving off, maybe? That confirms it's here?"

Powers turned to Dale. He pulled his tablet out to check. "Uhhh... negative, sir. We're nnnot detecting the signal we picked up yesterday."

Powers frowned. "Hmm."

Trigger said, "Maybe the signal's... on the fritz?"

"Good point," Powers said. "We'd better search anyway. Dale, you start in the museum; Trigger, come with me to the back. I'll interview Mr. Ramirez." He gave Soos a sharp look. "And I hope you'll have more to say today than that you don't know anything."

Soos swallowed hard.

####

From the living room couch, Soos called to Trigger, "Be careful with the stuff in here, okay? This old shack's full of priceless antiques and authentic exotic curios. I glued half of them together myself!"

"So." Powers took a seat in one of the armchairs, opened an unlabeled manila folder and propped it on his knee, and clicked out a retractable pen. "Jesús Ramirez, correct? You prefer 'Soos'?"

"Yep, that's right," Soos said. "When I started school, my cousin Reggie, he'd yell at me across the cafeteria to sit with him, like, 'Jesús!' But some of the kids in my grade thought he was saying, 'hey, Soos!' And it stuck."

Powers nodded slowly. "I... see. And, you're the head of the household."

"Yup! That's me!"

"Property records say that the house is owned by 'Stanford Pines'?"

"Uhhh, yeah," Soos said. "He kinda, stepped down as head of the house, unofficially, and I'm running the house now. Also the business."

"And where is Stanford Pines right now?"

"Oh, he's out." (They had agreed that under no circumstances could the agents talk to Stan, lest something from last summer come up; and they definitely couldn't talk to the real Stanford Pines, whom they already knew as a mysterious superior officer from Washington.)

"When will he be back?"

Soos hesitated. "Ooout of the country. World traveling. Yeah, haha, he's been doing that for the past year with his brother."

Powers flipped a couple pages forward in his file. "His brother Sherman? Who lives in New Jersey?"

"No no, his other brother."

His other brother who died thirty years ago?"

Soos paused. "Uhhh..."

Dale ducked into the living room. "Sirs—I've found something interesting. You have to come see this."

Powers got to his feet, closing his folder and tucking it under his arm. "Excuse me." He followed his agents.

Soos heaved a sigh of relief.

"Wow, Questiony,—you were this close to collapsing like a house of cards."

Bill sauntered down the stairs. He was in a dress covered in yellowy-orangey triangles that managed, for the first time all summer, to reveal that he did in fact have curves, and he'd grabbed a set of green triangular clip-on earrings from Mabel's jewelry. A gold star sticker had been stuck on one of the earrings. Soos thought it was kinda weird to look at him all dressed up, with hair and everything. Bill looked like if Bill had a sister.

"Man," Soos said, slumping back into the couch. "I don't know if I can take another round of that. They're using some kind of government interrogation mind tricks."

"Relax," Bill said. "I'll take it from here."

He shut one eye and shot Soos a pair of finger guns as he backed into the gift shop, and twirled around to go pursue his prey.

####

Dale jogged through the gift shop, nodding to a couple of tourists as he passed—"Morning, ladies"—and ducked through the "employees only" door. A moment later, all three agents jogged into the museum. An older woman asked, "Why are so many handsome men in suits running around?"

As Bill let himself into the gift shop, he said, "Secret government agents! They're here investigating a conspiracy."

"Oh my," the woman gushed. "Isn't that exciting!"

"They'll only be here today! See if you can get their autographs!" Bill leaned on the front counter. "Hey, nice to see you back. You were missed yesterday."

Melody gave him an irritated look from behind the register.

"Surprised you came in, after how you felt yesterday!" In part because Soos was attempting to get as many people away from the shack and out of the danger zone as possible. He'd told Wendy she could take the day off, he'd persuaded Abuelita to go visit Reggie and his wife, and he'd tried to talk the kids into hanging out somewhere else for the day and only relented when they argued that their plucky 13-year-old adventuring expertise could be useful if things took a turn for the worse. Surely, he'd asked his fiancée to stay home too; strange that she hadn't. "Word is you're having trouble sleeping. Bad dreams? If it is, I could help you out. I happen to be an expert on—"

"I don't want your help." Her voice was a lot more venomous than Bill had expected.

He blinked in surprise. He knew she wasn't his biggest fan, but that seemed unnecessarily hostile. "Whoa, just offering! Don't bite my head off. Those don't grow back."

Melody sighed. "Sorry," she said insincerely, looking away from him. "I just... This whole plan bothers me. Flirting with some poor guy just to distract him."

Don't lie to a liar, girl. Something else was bothering her. Still, Bill only said, "Do you have a better plan?"

"Yeah? Just don't do anything suspicious and make sure Gompers stays away from the shack until the agents get bored and leave."

Bill scoffed. "And if they don't get bored?"

"Why wouldn't they?"

"Why would they? This town's got gnomes, fairies, and a crashed spaceship."

"Well—yeah, but, that's not a reason to focus on the shack."

"Never underestimate what the government will chuck tax dollars at without a good reason!"

Melody huffed, "Okay, fine. I still don't like it."

Yeah, Bill bet she didn't. Especially with the Bureau of Covert Investigations here looking for someone dangerous.

Okay—he'd given the eagles enough of a head start for it to look natural when he casually bumped into them. He straightened up, stretched, and sauntered toward the museum's curtain. "I won't ask you to wish me luck—" he lifted one wrist toward Melody and shook the bracelet covered in evil eye beads that Mabel had given him, "—just don't wish me ill." And then he followed the agents into the museum.

####

"Here it is," Dale said, stopping. "What do you make of this?"

He was standing in front of the museum's taxidermy Sascrotch display.

Trigger covered his mouth, trying to hold back a snort of laughter.

Dale grinned. "It's pretty great, right?"

Powers looked the Sascrotch up and down. "I don't get it."

"Heeey, secret agent man!" Bill swept into the museum and leaned against the wall, head propped against his hand, other hand on his cocked hip. "Imagine meeting you three days in a row, what a coincidence! I'm starting to feel like you're following me around."

Powers looked at Bill—and then started a little. (Not used to seeing him with his eyes emphasized properly, no doubt.) His cheeks immediately turned pink. Flustered, he stammered awkwardly for a moment before getting out, "I—I—Pardon me, I can assure you, you're not under investigation—" Dale and Trigger exchanged a glance and tried not to grin.

"Hey, whoa! I didn't mean it in a bad way." He flashed Powers his best smile. (He'd practiced in the mirror. Mabel had given him tips on not making it too wide.) "Say, since I was lucky enough to see you again, I've got a question for you, secret agent man."

"Yes?"

Bill batted his long, gorgeous lashes at Powers. "Do you believe in love at first sight, or am I gonna have to arrange a fourth meeting?"

"Uhh." Powers's already stellar posture somehow found a way to straighten a little bit more. "The first three times were more than sufficient, ma'am."

"Haha, you charmer!" All right, maybe Mabel had had a point about not opening up with a line about eyeballs. Still, this would be a cinch. Bill had been manipulating humans for millennia, and flirting was no different. Slipping into this role felt natural. He was in his element. He was good at this. He'd have this guy eating out of his hand in an hour.

Dale and Trigger looked at each other again, and Dale said, "Sir, maybe Trigger and I should search the house. You can take the museum."

"Maybe you could interview the locals," Trigger threw in, before they beat a hasty retreat.

"Ho—hold on!" Powers said; but his agents had already abandoned him. What terrific wingmen. Not the best agents, maybe.

"Sooo," Bill said, "if you aren't here to see me, what brings you by this old dump of a tourist trap again? It can't be the displays." He tugged out the waistband of Sascrotch's briefs with a finger and let go, letting it snap back against its waist; a small cloud of dust puffed out of the fur. "Still looking for some dangerous character?"

"No, not at the moment. Nothing you need to worry about," Powers said. "We're here looking for some... sensitive objects?"

"Oh? What kind of sensitive objects?" Bill asked. "I've been to this little tourist trap a few times, maybe I can help find 'em?"

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say."

"What, you don't think you can trust me?" Bill batted his lashes. That had been working pretty well for him so far. (The mascara had to be helping. Man, was he glad to have mascara again.)

Powers avoided making eye contact. "I"m sure you're very trustworthy. But—it would be an embarrassment to the bureau, you understand."

"Sure! Sure." Billl's smile wilted slightly. "Well—I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I just watch, would you? I've never seen a real federal investigation in action—seems exciting."

Powers hesitated, his professionalism warring with his very obvious crush. "I... suppose I wouldn't mind." Sure, like he wasn't utterly flattered.

As Powers's inspection took him around the museum and back into the gift shop, he said, "You said your name was Goldie? I don't think I ever got your last name."

Oh he'd better not be planning on a background check. "It's Locke—and yes, I've already heard every comment about it you can imagine."

Powers gave him a quizzical look. "I believe you told us to inform Mr. Gleeful that a 'Mr. Locke' had recommended we purchase a car from him?"

He had said that, hadn't he. If he'd known two days ago he'd have to femme up for this guy... "Sure! I happen to be related to a lot of Mr. Lockes!" Before Powers could pry into this family Bill had just invented, he hurried on: "Say, I never got your name, did I!" Did he? Since he already knew it, he couldn't remember if he'd bothered to ask.

"Of course—I'm Agent Powers."

"Is 'Agent' your first name, handsome?"

Powers flushed a little more, and he mumbled, "Manny."

"Manny Powers?" Bill casually slid between Powers and the vending machine to keep him from looking too close at it. "Like, 'manpower'?"

"Precisely," Powers said. "Obviously, that's... not my real name, just my assigned codename for field assignments."

Bill laughed, "Hey, not bad! 'Manpower,' that's pretty funny."

"Is it?" Powers asked. "Hm. It isn't supposed to be. I'll have to speak with HQ about that."

Bill pressed his lips together. Tell him he's funny, Bill! Guys love it when you tell them how funny they are! Last time hetook advice from a human on anything. He shot an exasperated look toward Melody, who winced in what he hoped was sympathy.

Trigger ducked into the gift shop. "Sir? I think we've found something. Really, this time."

Powers's attention snapped to him. "Show me."

Bill maintained his position until the agents were gone; and then he let out a long, frustrated sigh. He glanced at Melody. "How are we doing?"

She grimaced. "I'd give it... three out of five stars?"

"You're generous, I appreciate that." He nearly rubbed his eyelids in irritation, and only the sight of his red fingernails reminded him of his makeup in time to stop.

In his heart of hearts, Bill felt like he should have already won by now—but then, he'd always hated waiting for things. Usually he could force patience on himself by finding a peephole that would let him see further into the future so he could tell exactly when his latest plan would succeed. In this body, he couldn't see any farther than a few minutes, and he didn't have any eyes he could look through but his own. Like this, he didn't even know whether he'd succeed.

Except of course he would. Of course. He always did. He didn't need to check. He had until the agents left to make some real progress, and that was plenty of time. He'd figure this out.

He almost backed into the living room, remembered at the last second that he didn't want Melody to know about his door ignoring trick, and said flatly, "Door." Melody reluctantly left her station to help open it.

In the living room, Dale was standing on top of the table, which he'd dragged over in front of the TV, and attempting to pry a board out of the ceiling with a crowbar. He asked Soos, "You're sure you don't have a stepladder somewhere?"

"Uh-uh," Soos said. He was hovering in the doorway, wringing his hands together. "It's against the house rules."

"We picked up a faint radio signal," Trigger explained to Powers. "Like from a walkie-talkie with a dying battery, or..."

"Ah-ha!" Dale pulled a gray blocky object out of a space over the ceiling. It appeared to be a radio: it had an antenna, a speaker, a couple of glowing lights flickering on the brink of going out... and a large Bureau of Covert Investigations seal stamped on the front. The eagle peering through the magnifying glass seemed as surprised to see them as they were to see it. "Is... is this one of our transmitters?"

Powers blinked at it in amazement. "What in the Sam Hill is one of our transmitters doing in this building!" He directed the question toward Soos.

Soos flinched. "How should I know, I didn't know this place was bugged! I would've unbugged it if I knew." He paused. "Unless that's a federal crime or something. In which case forget I said that."

"We're the guys that oughta know about it," Dale said, shrugging cluelessly. "Since it's one of ours. Weird."

Powers held his hand out for the transmitter, examined it, and turned it over. On the back a strip of black label-maker tape read, "GOVERNMENT PROPERTY! IF LOST, PLEASE RETURN TO AGENT TRIGGER."

Powers and Dale turned to Trigger.

He looked between them, baffled. "Wh— Well, I didn't put it there! I would've remembered putting it there." He frowned. "I mean... I should remember putting it there."

Powers's lips were pressed so flat together they were almost invisible beneath his mustache. "Well. Obviously, we ought to take it back."

Tentatively, Dale asked, "And... place a new one with a fresh battery, sir?"

Powers's brows drew together in anger. Between gritted teeth, he said, "Not with the civilians listening to you say so..."

Soos was still standing in the doorway, and Dipper and Mabel were peering around him from the staircase. Melody had peeked in nervously from the gift shop. At the callout, the kids and Melody had the grace to withdraw again. But Powers wasn't looking at them. He was glancing sideways toward Bill, standing right by his side—and Bill's wide-eyed gaze never wavered from Powers's face.

This wasn't good—they did not need the agents trying to figure out why they might have left a bug in the shack. Damage control time. "Hey," Bill said. "if you forgot about it completely, must not have picked up anything interesting, right? Otherwise you'da remembered it!"

All three agents' faces immediately darkened and they exchanged meaningful looks. Bill didn't like it when people exchanged meaningful looks he didn't know the meaning of. "Apparently so," Powers muttered.

"I'll just... take this to the car," Trigger said.

Soos backed out of the way to give him room to leave, then trailed after him: "So, are there any other bugs in here we should probably know about...?"

Bill waited until Trigger was already out of the house before he said to Dale, "Hey, does he have the car keys?"

"Oh!" Dale patted his pockets, then hurried out. "Trigger, wait!"

Once his agents were gone, Powers grumbled to himself, "'Place a new one.' What happened to professionalism." He rubbed his forehead. "Find one bug that you mysteriously don't know about, and everyone forgets how to act like government agents..."

He trailed off, giving Bill an uneasy sideways glance. Bill was still staring full force at him. He cleared his throat. "You... have an incredibly penetrating gaze, ma'am."

"Thanks! Keep talking like that and maybe it'll penetrate you," Bill really wanted to say, but didn't; "flirtatious euphemisms that could be about stabbing" and "comments that put the fear of the cruel ever-watching All-Seeing Eye of God in you" were both on Bill's list of banned topics. Instead, he tried, "Thanks! You're incredibly easy to look at!"

"O-oh." Powers adjusted his tie self-consciously. Getting a little hot under the collar, huh. "Am I?"

"You bet! In fact, I was just thinking you really look like dad material."

"That's... kind of you to say," Powers said. "However, I've never liked children."

"Oh." Bill shut his eyes until the urge to turn somebody's bones into thumbtacks subsided. "Sure, that's fine. I can take 'em or leave 'em."

"Sir?" Trigger called from the doorway. "What's our next move?"

"Excuse me." Powers left Bill, heading out to join his agents on the porch.

Bill drifted out to the entryway. Mabel and Dipper were huddled on the stairs. Bill shot Mabel a pained look and hissed, "How could you have steered me so wrong?"

"Sorryyy," she whispered back. "I thought the dad one was a winner!"

"I trusted you, star girl." He slid outside behind Powers just before the door swung shut.

And just before Soos came back in, looking stricken. Dipper asked, "What happened?"

"The agent with the movie star face asked what days the museum's closed," Soos said. "I think they're thinking about searching it more? And, he told me not to leave town? I can't take this, dude." A wild look had entered his eyes. "I'm not cut out for prison. I'm too gentle-hearted!"

"Shhh." Melody took his arm and gently led him away from the door, rubbing his back. "It's gonna be all right, Soos. It sounds like the agents are distracted. Why don't we close the museum early for lunch and try looking for Gompers again, okay? Maybe he's ready to come home. And we can get some fresh air, yeah?"

"Yeah." Soos took a deep breath. "Okay. You're right." He turned toward Dipper and Mabel. "Can you dudes handle the gift shop while we're out?"

"Sure thing, Soos, no problem," Dipper said. "You go ahead."

The twins waited until they heard the sound of the gift shop exit door closing, then Dipper said, "Not it."

"Me neither," Mabel said.

"The gift shop customers can take care of themselves for a few minutes." Dipper opened the back door a crack, and they both crowded against it. Bill—leaning on the wall next to the door with his arms crossed—glanced at the kids through the crack, raised a couple fingers in acknowledgement, and then all three listened to the agents on the porch:

"Well, obviously the flash drive signal wasn't a fluke. They must have hidden it since yesterday."

"We can't leave until we find it and figure out what's happening here." (Bill made a mental note to lord that over Melody later.) "What are our next steps?"

"Should we request more sensitive equipment to scan for electronics? There might be other transmitters in the building with completely dead batteries we're not picking up." (That seemed like a fast way to discover the door hidden behind the vending machine.)

"Maybe we ought to run some more background checks on the rest of the people here. How many of them have we checked out?"

A jolt of fear shot up Bill's spine. And that seemed like a fast way to discover that "Goldie Locke" didn't legally exist. "All right," he muttered through the crack. "I tried this the human way. Now I'm doing it my way."

"Wait," Dipper hissed, "Bill, no! What are you planning?!"

Bill ignored him as he sidled up to Powers. "Not heading out already, are you?"

Powers said, "As soon as Trigger finishes updating HQ." Trigger had walked off the porch and was now making a phone call. Dale surreptitiously scooted to the other end of the porch to give Powers and Bill room to talk.

"Aww, too bad. I was enjoying watching a real investigation at work!"

"Hm. I'm afraid you didn't see us at our most competent," Powers muttered.

"Hey, everyone has an off day or two." Bill leaned closer, just near enough for his bare arm to brush Powers's suit sleeve, and murmured, "And, anyway—not to bad-mouth these rookies, but even on a bad day it's already pretty clear you're the smartest guy in the room. I can only imagine how fascinating it'd be to watch you at work when you're bringing your A game."

Powers cleared his throat, obviously trying not to look flustered. "Well. Yes. We'll no doubt be around a few more days. Perhaps we'll... cross paths again...?"

Not good. Too passive. By now, this sucker was supposed to be falling all over himself to ask out the mysterious blonde. Bill could probably ask him out and it'd go fine—but he wasn't sure how attached this guy was to traditional gender roles, there was a chance it could turn him off.

(That was the excuse he told himself. In truth, part of him was getting mad. He wanted to be the one who was asked out. He should be asked out. He was more than good enough to be asked out, and this over-evolved eukaryote had no right to deny him that.)

He pressed, "Still, I hate to see you go. Three times I've run into you, and I hardly know any more about you than I did on the beach! I get that being mysterious comes with the whole secret agent territory—but I've been going crazy, wondering all night about this handsome stranger in town." He put just the slightest emphasis on all night—and threw in a wink for good measure.

"H... have you?" Powers turned to face Bill fully. "Well... some of my personal information is classified, given the nature of my work, but—what do you want to know?"

"For starters, I think I'm overdue to ask you whether you're single!"

"I—Yes, I am."

"Whaddaya know—something we have in common!" Bill pretended he had to think a moment before saying, "Hmm... Hey, here's another fun little get-to-know-you question: what conspiracy would you most hate to be true?"

(Through the ajar crack in the door, he could hear Mabel loudly whisper, "Bill nooo...")

"That's a fascinating question. I've often wondered it myself." Powers stared off into the distance, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose... I think I'd most hate to find out the government has tried to brainwash its own citizens. Not just propaganda, mind—that's fine—I mean actual brainwashing."

No way. Bill had to pin his lips between his teeth to keep from bursting out laughing. Somebody had forgotten to tell this guy about MKUltra. Wow. Wow. He worked for the Bureau of Covert Investigations. How did he miss MKUltra. Bill had to grope behind himself for the porch sofa and sit before he lost his balance from fighting not to laugh. When he was sure he could manage a few words without a giggle escaping, he squeaked, "Yeah, that—sounds... pretty bad."

"What about yours?" Powers turned toward Bill.

He had to quickly prop his elbow on the armrest and prop his chin in his hand to hide his mouth, pretending to think. He hoped his amusement wasn't showing elsewhere on his face—human faces had too many muscles to keep track of. "Mm! Hmm." While he was trying to get his laughter under control, Bill tried to pick out one of the countless conspiracies in his repertoire that was obscure enough to be impressive but not obscure enough to be suspicious. (Or "obscure" enough Powers didn't know about it—hello, MKUltra.) "Wow, there's—there's a lot that'd be terrible. But hey, as long as we're talking politics—" (Mabel hissed "Bill NO!") "—I've heard a rumor in the area that there's a secret crazy president that was kicked out and covered up in the history books, ever heard about that one?" That oughta grab his attention.

But to Bill's surprise, Powers frowned thoughtfully and slowly shook his head. "No, it's unfamiliar. It must be a local theory," he said. "If the government were to cover up an entire presidency, I'm sure they would have a pressing reason for it—but I do see how the concept would be alarming."

Bill stared at him. Did this guy not know anything the government was up to?! He should have been going out of his mind trying to figure out how Bill knew about Trembley. Powers wasn't the kind of agent who could tell decent lies. If he did know something, he wouldn't play dumb like that; he'd just tell Bill it was "classified." Did he really not know? But the eagles' search for Trembley's remains should have nothing to do with the memories Ford wiped from the agents' minds.

The Bureau of Covert Investigations was so covert, agents usually weren't even told about other bureau investigations they weren't personally part of. So...

Was the bureau running two investigations in Gravity Falls?

Had Powers not been looped into the Trembley case?

"Uh..." Bill scrambled to think of another conspiracy that might catch Powers's interest. (He and Trigger had mentioned Hangar 618; no wonder they had time to work on cases across the country if they were only handling half the active investigations in Gravity Falls—no, focus, focus.) "How about Big Fashion, have you heard of that one? The theory that the fashion industry's teaming up to take down ways for people to get clothes other than buying new. Thrift shops, fabric stores, sewing pattern companies..."

Powers nodded. "I'm familiar with the theory." (Oh good—Bill would've been embarrassed for him if he hadn't known that one.) "I'm afraid I haven't paid close attention to the evidence for it. I already buy all my clothes new—I don't like the thought of another man's skin cells lingering on the inside of my shirts, it feels unsanitary."

It was no wonder this guy had been assigned to Gravity Falls. Bill doubted he was weird enough to really fit in here—but he was just odd enough to feel the town's pull. "For starters, there's the assassination of the president of Valhalla Sewing Machines a few years ago. Sewing machines are one of Big Fashion's top targets."

"Something definitely happened there," Powers agreed, "but all evidence points to the hit being ordered by Crooner Company over their rival line of sewing machines. They did acquire Valhalla just a few months later."

"And Crooner's been battling the bad PR ever since," Bill said dismissively. "Neither company came out of that mess looking good. It was an obvious false flag operation!"

Powers frowned, and for a moment Bill worried that he'd said too much—that Powers either thought Bill sounded like a crackpot, or thought Bill knew too much for some small town civilian... but he said, approvingly, "You know your stuff."

Jackpot. Time to go in for the kill. "I try to! I'm interested in how the gears of the universe turn. Reality, society, politics, business—what greases those wheels? Who winds the clock? There's a lot going on underneath the surface. And I like to keep my eye on all of it." He lowered his voice. "Actually, I'm glad to see you in town. I've also felt like something's going on under the surface of this town, but..." He left the sentence dangling.

Slowly, Power said, "Something... paranormal, perhaps?"

"Ha! Between the Mystery Shack here and that 'child psychic' in town, that's the reputation Gravity Falls has now," Bill said. "I'm not the kind of gullible dope to get spooked by ghost stories without proof. But—whatever's going on here... it does feel spooky."

Powers nodded slowly. "Whenever I'm in this town, I have the exact same thoughts."

Bill fought to keep the triumph off his face.

####

Dipper whispered, "I can't believe this is working."

He and Mabel were crammed against the door, one on top of each other, listening to Bill say, "This has been a fascinating conversation. I'd love to hear more about your work... wink."

Dipper said, "I can't believe this is working even though he says 'wink' out loud."

Mabels shushed him. "Bill's doing great!"

Powers said, "Unfortunately, I do have to go submit my own report to headquarters. But, I'm free this evening. If you'd like to see a movie, or...?"

Mabel gasped. "Idea!" She tapped on the door's window to catch Bill's attention, and, when he glanced her way, she pointed out toward the clearing beyond the porch.

Bill looked at the clearing and twitched in surprise. Through the crack in the door, Dipper tried to see what Bill was looking at. He couldn't see anything in the clearing.

Bill turned to Powers. "Howsabout dinner? There's a diner in town called Greasy's. I've heard good things about it! For starters, that the food is better than the name."

Dipper hissed between his teeth. "Wait, hold on—he's not allowed to go out, is he?" But Mabel didn't answer; she was sprinting full speed up the stairs.

From the far end of the porch, Dale said, "Oh, Greasy's is terrific, I went there yesterday for lunch. Makes a damn fine cup of coffee. And try the cherry pie."

"Very well," Power said. "When should I...?"

"I'll meet you at the diner. Let's say seven."

When the agents had left, Dipper yanked open the door. "What was that?! Nobody said you could actually leave to go on a date!"

Bill shrugged. "It wasn't my idea, it was your sister's."

"What?" Dipper frowned. "When did she say that?"

"She didn't. She's going to."

Mabel pounded down the stairs, counting the steps under her breath—"twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty eight"—carrying a neon yellow posterboard folded loosely in half. She ran out the door to the clearing behind the shack, held up the posterboard—she'd written "♡ INVITE HIM TO GREASY'S ��" in thick black marker—and announced, "Ta-da!"

"You're too late," Dipper said. "Bill already asked Powers and he already left."

Bill said, "I asked him because I saw her telling me to."

Dipper looked between Bill and the poster. "Ohhh. Hang on. This is a future sight thing?"

"Bingo."

"How long should I hold it up?" Mabel called.

"Just give it another ten seconds," Bill said. "That thing's fluorescent, I could probably see it from an hour away."

She bounced on the balls of her feet for a few more seconds, then said, "Okay!" and jogged back to the porch, beaming from ear to ear. "That was so cool."

"Hey, smart girl!" Bill caught Mabel's sleeve before she could run past him. "You know, I've been talking to humans for thousands of years, and you're the first who's ever sent a message backwards in time to me?"

"Really?" Her face lit up. "Shut up! There's no way I'm the first-first!"

"Hand on heart, Shooting Star, no other human's ever tried it," Bill said. "You can't even see the fourth dimension, but you still understand it well enough to send messages through it. I'm genuinely impressed!"

Mabel's delight reached a boiling over point. She cackled in glee, gave Bill a quick hug, and bounded into the living room, crowing, "I'M THE GREATEST!"

Bill watched Mabel zoom into the gift shop, grinning proudly; and then his eyes slid sideways to meet Dipper's. "What's that look for."

Dipper was leveling his best suspicious glare at Bill. "Oh, nothing," he said. "Just thinking about how, the last time I heard you say you were impressed, you were just manipulating me into letting you puppet my body."

"Hmm! Yeah! I did do that!" Bill said. "Did I say I was genuinely impressed?"

Dipper's scowl deepened.

Bill's smirk widened. "C'mon, kid, don't be jealous just because you're not the alpha twin. It'd make your sister feel terrible."

####

"You actually got a date?" Ford asked.

"Sure! As if it's hard!"

Stan smugly held out a hand, palm up. Ford shot him an exasperated look, but sighed, fished around in his pocket, pulled out five large one-dollar coins, and dropped them in Stan's hand.

Bill stared at Ford, brows raised. "I don't know what's more insulting: that you bet against me, or that you've stopped using paper currency." Ford didn't deign to respond.

When they had been absolutely sure the agents were gone—for now—Soos had gone downstairs to let the Stans know the coast was clear; and now the adults were gathered in the living room again to discuss their next moves. Or, rather, Bill's.

Stan said, "So there's still been no sign of Gompers?"

"Nope," Soos said. "He's really run off. Plus, me and Melo—" (at Ford's look, he corrected himself) "—Melody and I drove around earlier looking for him? You know, in case he came out of the woods somewhere? But one of the government guys started following me in a black car? Sooo we had to stop looking, and I guess we're still being watched."

"Which'll make it harder to sneak me out for my date without them noticing I live here," Bill said. Maybe they could sneak him out with the crystal flashlight trick he and Mabel had pulled before, but he'd rather not tell the other Pines how they'd pulled that off in case they ever had to do it again. "We might be able to split 'em up while we outnumber them, but if this goes on for long, they'll bring in reinforcements."

"Ford and I can't help distract them," Stan pointed out. "We've gotta stay inside. And Soos is the only one that can drive Bill to this date. With the kids' help, we've only just got enough people to split the agents up."

Ford muttered, "Meaning there's no one to keep a watch over Bill." He crossed his arms. "Letting Bill flirt with a government agent under our roof is one thing—but I don't like a plan that involves letting Bill out in public and trusting him not to throw us under the bus." (Bill had considered it, but decided it would just cause the government to seize his portal and Mabel to never speak to him again.)

"He wouldn't do that," Soos said hotly—to Bill's surprise. "He already had a chance to run away and he didn't! And if he wanted us to get in trouble, he could have just not helped at all!"

"I..." Ford looked for a moment like he wanted to protest—Bill expected him to protest—but then he grimaced, shut his mouth, and said nothing. There was an even bigger surprise. Bill wasn't actually making progress with Ford, was he? Bill stared at the side of his face, willing him to explain himself; but Ford avoided his gaze.

Stan said, "Listen, I don't like letting him out either, but I don't think we have a choice."

"All right, all right," Ford sighed. "Fine. I don't like it—but unless Gompers shows up in the next few hours, you're still our best hope of getting out of this mess." (Bill decided to pretend that was praise and spent a second basking in it.) "Which means you have to find out everything the agents currently know and suspect, keep them away from anything that could restore their memories, convince them to turn their attention away from our household without the flash drive, andmake sure no one gets arrested. And you've got one date to do it all in."

It was a tall order—but the way Ford said it like a challenge, like he thought maybe Bill couldn't do it, made Bill's blood boil. "Piece of cake! Don't forget it's taken me less time than that to convince you to do a lllot more than that." At Ford's scowl, Bill grinned viciously. "One date's all I need. By the end of the night, I'll have this whole thing figured out." If he said it like he believed it, it was basically true.

####

(The only bits of this that were changed in the wake of TBOB were adding in the discussion about the Seduction Hat; and adding a short section establishing that Powers's team is not involved with the Trembley investigation and briefly mentioning Hangar 618. In the original draft of this chapter, I'd said that a different government department was handling the Trembley case, until TBOB established otherwise. Establishing that Powers's team wasn't on the Trembley case is something that'll be important in future chapters.

From here on out the plot arc speeds up and turns increasingly into some kinda fusion between a spy drama and a reverse heist movie. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts so far and your thoughts on where it's gonna go!)

[mcflymemes]

AS SAID BY GALE DEKARIOS *  assorted dialogue from baldur's gate 3

is that... is that truly you? i thought i might never see you again.

i love you, more than i've ever loved anyone. and you've proven your love for me in more ways than even the greatest mathematicians would dare to count.

you licked a dead spider. dead spider. you licked it. that is something that happened.

i think we need to get you some air and perhaps have a long talk about unresolved childhood issues.

stop licking the damn thing!

i see the art of eloquence is alive and well.

i'm awed, impressed, and a little bit scared of you right now.

nothing like a brisk stroll through the forest to invigorate the spirit.

i've never wanted to kiss you more than i do now.

right now, i need nothing more than a kiss.

tell me you feel the same way. tell me you want what i want. please.

i'll always have you.

you really would prefer me as i am?

do you doubt me?

you put the stars to shame.

let's sit here another while - i want to drink you in.

there you are.

you led me down this path.

i don't know myself anymore.

all this... it's not who i am. around you, i'm not who i want to be.

you really are absolutely heartless, aren't you?

i was hoping you'd spare me a moment.

this seems as good a time as any for me to stop babbling on.

i think you're rather wonderful. and that's not a word i waste on anyone unworthy of it.

go. enjoy your evening.

i like that about you. it's one of your rarer qualities.

i promise we'll make it work, if you'll have me.

what are you doing? stand back! now!

i thought i meant more to you than a sacrificial lamb. clearly i was mistaken.

you've brought me right where i need to be. i have no right to ask more of you.

you're plotting something, aren't you?

i go where you go.

i'm telling you, this is a mistake.

don't worry too much. a handful of powerful spells go a long way.

hold on! it's not too late to settle this without bloodshed.

mercy is not your strong suit, is it?

well... so much for my previous sentiment.

the choice is yours. there's really no good decision to be made here.

i'll be delighted to see you try... from a safe distance.

how generous of you.

there has to be a way to stop this thing!

i have no desire to end your life. you know that.

i see the glint in your eyes. you've a strategy in mind. the same one as me, i'd wager.

well, now that we know what it is, i suggest we leave it well alone.

better be careful around here.

i'll miss you, friend. your companionship has been quite the education.

i won't lie. i miss our group.

don't worry, i'll handle matters from here.

i'm ready. are you?

we must discuss it privately.

have you lost your wits? you must not do this!

we can't afford to let that happen.

they say madness and genius are separated by but a hair's breadth. perhaps the same is true of madness and stupidity.

you make me sound like some preening peacock.

i'm taking notes. making observations.

you're adorable even when you're teasing me.

you know what, i think i've clearly had far too much wine. and you've had nowhere near enough.

don't worry about me. i'm quite content to enjoy the party from here.

don't let me drag you away.

that, my friend, must remain a secret.

i do hope you know what you're doing.

might be the wine talking.

why am i doing this?

i'm sorry it had to come to this.

i'm going to bed. perhaps this was all a mistake.

careful. you don't know what i'm about to ask.

kill me, and i'll destroy the city anyway.

i want it to be perfect.

stay with me a while, will you?

i'm in love with you.

i'm many things, but coy's not one of them.

listen, i need to speak to you.

i might need you to be more specific.

i regret many things in life.

we all have our burdens, one way or the other.

i am as honored as i am enamored.

i am not the only one who longs for you... yet you chose me.

my time is yours. what do you need?

tell me, what can i do for you?

you need me?

you look... comfortable.

[justleaveacommentfest]

Not an ask, but a story about leaving comments -- not long ago, I left a comment on a fic from almost 10 years ago where the author, in their end notes, discussed how proud they were to have finished this fic (it was an incredible fic that was over 100,000 words long because they're a god and I would also just be shaky in the knees if I accomplished something so long and profound); and they also talked in their author's note how strange it was to be the ages of 22-24 when they were writing this fic and how things weren't always easy, and that they hoped the future was bright for them.

I commented about my life, right now, how I came to find their fic a decade years later from when they finished (a little sheepishly, it feels weird to talk about yourself, but it felt important somehow) -- anyways, I also talked about how reading their author's note reminded me very much of how I felt right now, and how different the world is now from 2015, and how this fic made me feel all kinds of nostalgic and good and hopeful about growing older, and how my god they were this good at 22 and I hope they're still writing -- and even if not, I hope all these years later they really are in a better place.

They replied. They replied! I was so delighted! They are indeed in their thirties! and they are indeed still writing! Things haven't gone as expected, but they've got a healthier dose of perspective on life and how to cope with the hard times now. And it was just so heartwarming to hear and learn about them. And to know that they're still around!

Just seeing that, seeing these people who write about hard times nine years ago, and leaving a comment and getting a reply, it just brings so much hope. Because you never know! You never know if someone's still going to be here, and so when they are it's kind of a-- not a miracle, but it just feels like I'm suddenly so very aware of my existence in the world and theirs too and it just -- it MATTERS. And ao3 and fanfiction in general is so unique to most media where you stare at a television or read a book, you can engage with the creator of that thing you're reading RIGHT THEN AND THERE. And you may not get a reply, or you might get this touching response that lets you feel like you're less alone in the world. It's worth the chance, right? That's what building community and stuff is all about! You can make so many friends this way!

And even if they never reply, don't you want them to know how important their story was to you? And it doesn't matter if the story was finished a decade ago or just posted yesterday, there's still a person that's there that gets to see how their art made an impact on the world. I've made a couple of friends doing this -- and even if I'm not making a friend, I hope I make someone's day a little brighter. God knows I'm always delighted whenever someone comments on my fics.

I admit I'm not perfect -- I don't always comment on fics that I read. I'm trying to be better, I've got a list of fics that I definitely should have written a comment on that I've been going through and writing out how I feel about their writing because damn people are just so talented. This wasn't for just leave a comment fest, I admit, but I do love to see your blog and your drive because it is such an important thing for writers.

I didn't know you were doing a valentines day thing, but what a great idea! I wanted to share my experience, hopefully inspire some other people to go out and comment, and now I'm going to go check another fic off my list of ones that I'd like to comment on. Better late than never!

Have a great day! and Happy Valentine's Day Just Leave a Comment Mini Fest!

I AM HOOTING AND HOLLERING I AM PLAYING THE XYLOPHONE ON MY RIB CAGE WHAT A STORY!!!! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CONNECTION TO HAVE MADE THROUGH COMMENTS!!! WHAT A WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE TO HAVE HAD!!

ANON THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS HAS MADE THIS SKELETON'S DAY

[mono-dot-jpeg]

focus and study - viktor

summary; in which viktor gives you a proper incentive to study hard and even helps you relieve some stress

genre/extra tags; small one shot, modern college au, smut, fluff, half baked smut, established relationship, this could be considered a prequel to my jayvik reader smut, viktor and reader were together first and jayce joined in not long after, OR jayce thought they were dating already and viktor reader thought too hard about the relationship, silly shit at the end, jayvik freak agenda, OOC viktor????, open ended

word count; 1.1k

[nsfw] [gender neutral reader]

[warnings; sex toys, dom! vik my beloved, written by a sex neutral asexual, orgasm denial/edging, overstimulation?, voyeurism?, implied dacryphyilia, degradation???, vik call you a slut, whore, dumbification?? idk how to spell that one how fitting, riding, slight oral, a small step up from mean viktor compared to my other fic]

a/n; umm... no notes. written in January, finished for valentines. this world will never give me viktor league for valentines. this is so half baked. im so sorry viktor nation.

studying was the worst. at least for you. you, who usually had a good sense of confidence when it came to your classes, felt like screaming into the void with every curse you knew.

nothing just seemed to be clicking in your mind. no matter how many times you went over it yourself, how you asked the teacher, how you asked some classmates. nothing worked.

but then viktor had this genius idea.

"hah... viktor.. i don't- i don't kn-know.." you gasped between words as you feel how sticky your lower half has become as you sat at your desk. you've never been more thankful to only afford a cheap chair because you just know that any leather seat would have you riding on it like it's viktor's own dick. "i don't know- the- the answer-! ngh!" your body trembles as the stupid hot red dildo stuck in you vibrated gently. it was enough to feel but not enough to satisfy. it wasn't even big enough to hit any good spots, too.

"dear.. you can do better than this. i don't date a dumb whore.. do i?" he said sitting on your bed as he fiddled and twisted with the setting on your vibrator. his smirk is subtle every time he gains a whine out of you when he turns the settings higher or lower.

you shook your head, intensely disagreeing with him as you try to hold back from touching yourself. "n-no.. i'm not dumb.." you whined into your hand that did nothing to cover your moans.

"we have 5 more questions, pretty. can you do them for me?" he asked. you can hear him stand up, and you see his figure at your vanity mirror as he approaches you. you can see how hard he is with his pants tightening by his dick. "i'd be very happy if i could give you a reward."

you look at your written notes, but everything seems to blur and mesh together. you shift in your seat, and the vibrator just grazes your sweet spot. you crumble and whine loudly at the absolute lack of satisfaction you just felt. so close but so far. you don't even realize you're crying.

"is my poor love too much of a dumb slut to handle some math assignments? you can't even think, right? you can't even answer my questions anymore.." he said, his hand resting on your cheek as he turns you to face him. "what will i ever do with you?" he turns the settings higher, leaving your legs twitching and shaking for more.

"v-viktor.. please.." you cried out. "i want- want you so b-badly.." you can't help your hand traveling down to your heated area to start touching yourself for any sense of satisfaction. but viktor stops you from doing too much.

"now, now, what did i say about touching yourself? i should teach you how to behave properly. i'd say i could fuck you stupid but that wouldn't be so right for this scenario, would it?"

you start getting desperate, your hands grip at his pants tugging at them and looking up at him with glazed eyes for a chance to have him in you. "v-vik- ah.. please.." your body is only turned to him now, your face covered in tears as the vibrator is only grazing and brushing at your sweet spot.

"my pretty dumb slut, is that what you are now?" he asked, holding your face by your chin. his thumb rubs at your tears. "you listen to me so well, and yet you can't even finish reviewing your notes as i told you to." he shook his head in feign disappointment before moving back to the bed. you follow him, your bodily fluids drip down your legs in a way that makes you feel so pathetic, but you don't even care at this point. you need him so bad.

"please- viktor- i want to- i want-" you can't even speak right. not when he's unbuckling his belt and unzipping his pants. you almost drool at the sight of him.

"you should be good enough to not cum until i tell you, yes?" you nodded eagerly at his words. "look at you, you're drooling over me." he commented, but most of your sense is thrown out the window as you start licking at his dick. your warm mouth starts to suck and hollow your cheeks as you blow him. you can see how much he enjoys it, but he stops you from doing too much. he grabs a condom to put on, and your body shivers in excitement.

you both move to a more comfortable position, resting fully on the bed rather than on the edge of it. he takes the vibrator out of you, leaving you whining from the emptiness. "no whining, dear." he said as he sat on the bed, pants tossed to the side, boxers somewhere on the floor, and his white button-up open and loose. "ride." he gives the one command, and you go for it. you keep it careful so as not to disturb his hurt leg too much.

you line yourself with his cock and slowly sink, moaning at him filling you so well. you start riding not long after once you get used to the feeling of him. but you're so close to cumming due to the vibrator simply torturing you earlier that your body shivers and shakes from you holding back. "let- let me cum, v-viktor!" you gasp between pumps. his hands on your hips guide the pace.

"you couldn't even answer 5 questions for your notes. are you sure you're not my dumb slut? you can't even think about anything but my cock, right now? nothing but my pretty whore."

"please, please, please!" you repeated, your eyes unfocused and blown out as your mind draws blanks. "wanna cum! please!"

"you're asking so nicely. perhaps you're not that dumb." he hummed. "you can cum now, dear." he purred before holding your face to his, to kiss you stupid. you instinctively respond to his kisses and the last thrust that hits your sweet spot, leaving you to moan his name out. "that wasn't a great plan, but we learned a lot, didn't we?" you would be mad at him for being so composed and calm this whole time if you weren't so fuzzy brained right now. he slowly guides you to pull out and tosses the condom in the nearby trash bin. you move slowly and lean down to finish him off.

"you don't have to do that, dear."

your response is muffled, and you don't even pull away. you refuse to leave your man unsatisfied, but his next words have you pausing, "jayce can do that for you. isn't that right, jayce?" you pause to look over at the door and see a heaving jayce with a hard rock cock stuffed in his pants and a guilty puppy look on his warm face.

[kitsunexgari]

Summary: You have been dating In-ho for quite awhile, and though things are amazing, there’s one fantasy you’ve always wanted to try. Something a bit darker than usual. One night he surprises you with your darkest desires. Tags: Edge Play, Torture, Fear play, Dom/Sub, Restraints, Consensual but pretty insane. Knife play, spanking, fingering, face fucking, orgasm denial, forced orgasms, humiliation, degradation, dirty talk, Read with Caution. Notes: This story is definitely not for everyone and may contain elements that people aren’t entirely happy with. Please read with caution. This story is for adult entertainment only. 

You have been dating In-ho for quite a long time now and both of you get along amazingly. Luckily when it all started you were both into the same things, wanted to explore the same concepts and eventually went from normal BDSM into edge play. Your sex life was anything but boring or vanilla but there was something in the back of your mind you always wanted to try. 

He always seemed kind of hesitant telling you that you wouldn't like it, that the fantasy was better than the reality. Not that he was really being dismissive or rude, just concerned that it could be too intense and scare you a bit too much. You reminded him that you had a safe word so if it got that way then it wouldn't matter but he didn't seem too keen on it. You figured that maybe he was right and you could live without that fantasy at least for now.

Still every time you entered the house alone it was on your mind. The thought of some intruder grabbing you, taking you somewhere “against your will” and forcing you into submission. Of course, the fantasy was for In-ho to do this while pretending to be someone else, and also, you knew he could because of who he was. You could see how it may not interest him, basically asking for him to “work” and also have sex with you but it never left the back of your mind.

In-ho had been out of town for a bit for work and you were returning from your own job. As you head into the kitchen to heat up some leftover food from the night before you are grabbed from behind. A knife presses into your throat as a hand covers your mouth. You scream and struggle until you realize you recognize this hold, you recognize this scent, you know exactly what and who this is even if you never expected it in a million years. Your heart is still pounding because he doesn't seem very keen on breaking the immersion of this fantasy despite your reaction.

"All alone?" He growls in your ear. 

"Yes I-" 

"SHUT UP!" he snarls, the knife pressing into your skin sharply cutting it just a bit. You hiss with pain but your body shivers with pleasure, completely stunned he's using a real knife but you have no complaints. He's done things like this before and you've always loved the little marks he's left to signify how much he owns you. "I know exactly what I'm going to do with you, little girl." 

You can feel him as he rubs against you a bit, how aroused he is already. You are a bit stunned as he always made it seem as if this scenario didn't interest him in the slightest but it is now clear that he'd been lying to you about it. He leans in and bites at your neck roughly, on the other side, as he keeps the knife pressed where it's already being held before he reaches up and grabs you by the hair yanking your head back so you are forced to look up at him at a nearly impossible angle.

"We are going to have a lot of fun," He grins. The switchblade he's holding is pocketed and you are pulled by your hair into the next room where he quickly pins you face first into a wall. "Such a pretty little cocktease you know I've been watching you for awhile." He grabs your ass, squeezing it painfully hard before yanking your arms behind your back and tying them at the wrists with some annoyingly rough and irritating rope but that just adds to the rest of the sensations that he is providing you. 

"Please-" 

"Please what? Do you think I fucking care what a little fuck toy like you wants? No...you're mine now and I will do what ever I please and you will do what I fucking say...got it?" He snaps though he doesn't give you any actual time to answer before he lifts you and throws you over his shoulder roughly. You squeal, not expecting that at all but he pays no attention to it. You are far too small and powerless to fight him, even if you actually wanted to, and now your arms are restrained behind your back making any effort futile. You kick your legs a bit which really only earns you a slap to your ass. Then another, then another. He's not being gentle either, in fact, he's using as much force as possible and it's harder than it's ever been. You are sure it will bruise but the idea of that only makes you wet. 

"Please...sir I don't want-" 

"The fuck did I just say about what you want?" He snarls and heads up the stairs with you. "Who's even gonna stop me, that weak little boyfriend of yours? Yes...I know." 

"He's-" 

"Oh no bitch...I'm your Daddy tonight." He cuts you off. You enter the bedroom and he throws you onto the bed with very little regard for your feelings, almost as if you are just a sex doll there for his pleasure. He looks you over with a gleam in his eye. The switchblade is once again removed from his back pocket. You whine and back up on the bed but there isn't much you can do with your hands tied like they are. The blade pops up and he joins you, crawling over you to hold the knife right where you can see it. Your eyes naturally focus on the weapon in his hand. "Going to be a good girl?" 

"Y-Yes..." You breathe but he slaps you roughly and then grabs your chin forcing you to look right back at him. 

"YES. WHAT?" He demands. 

"Y-Yes...Daddy." You whimper. 

"That's a good girl," He replies in a voice that is as sinister as it is soothing. He runs his tongue over the knife lewdly before he moves the blade down to your blouse, using it to slowly and meticulously pop off each button until he has it open. His strange grin gets even bigger when your breasts are partially exposed but he wastes no time cutting the bra open from the front to release them. "Fuck..." He leans in, starting to lick over your chest, seemingly making sure to leave behind as much saliva as he possibly can. 

"Please!" You beg pathetically, though what you really want is his cock you also don't know what kind of punishment you will get for not cooperating or what he'll do to you if you start begging like a pathetic little whore. 

"PLEASE! PLEASE HELP ME!" He taunts in a mocking voice before using the knife to make a cut across the top of your breasts, nothing that will scar or bleed too much but enough to sting. You cry out in pain and look away from him before he grabs your hair and turns your head back to look at him, roughly, and spits in your eyes. "You better start acting like the whore you are for him, you think I don't know huh? Bet you suck his cock real good little girl." 

"I...I don't-" 

"You don't what? I know what girls like you do...what you want...you fucking whore." He accuses moving the blade he's been using to your lips. "Give it a kiss...for Daddy." You whine and try to shy away but he persists until you have no choice but to kiss the blade. He laughs before violently stabbing the knife into the wall right by your head. Not expecting that you scream loudly, that seemed like a close call. 

"FUCK!" You yell then shy away from him as you notice that he didn't like a scream that loud in his face. 

"Fuck? Is that what you want? Thought you did, glad to see you're coming around on this." He grins. He pats your face roughly as if you are some sort of idiot lap dog before running his hand roughly up your thigh and under your skirt to your panties. "Looks like someone's hot and wet for Daddy..." He teases. You thrust up towards his hand and can't help but moan. He growls, shoving your panties aside to get two fingers in there roughly. You moan again and he leans in, capturing your mouth in a sloppy wet kiss. It seems he's intentionally being awful at this which only really makes it better.

"You think I'm really going to let you cum like this huh? Before me? Before DADDY?" He asks. You look at him, dumbfounded, then shake your head no slightly. He laughs, removes the fingers from your cunt and jams them into your mouth roughly, making you choke and gag, his other hand holding the back of your head in place so you can't possibly get away from this. "Think again...Daddy cums first and then maybe if you make it real good he'll let you cum too. Got that?" He pulls his fingers from your mouth and you gasp and cough trying to get your breath back. 

"Y-es Daddy...of course..." You pant. 

"Now...show me how you suck his cock." He tells you. He grabs your ankle and slides you down until you are on your back. Getting over you he unbuttons then unzips his pants, getting them down only far enough to get his cock out. He straddles you so he's right over your face, stroking himself a few times but he's already incredibly hard. Dripping precum. HIs hand moves to your jaw to pry it open before he jams himself in there angling his body in just the right way that he slips into your throat if you like it or not. "Oh yeah...fuck...that's a good little girl bet you don't ever let Daddy do this do you? No, you're too fucking good for that shit...stuck up little spoiled princess..." He's panting and even growling like an animal as he starts to fuck your throat almost as brutally as he'd fuck your cunt. It's restrained, of course, but it's still pretty rough. Not that you care, he hasn't ever done this before and you are in absolute heaven being used in such a fashion. 

"That's right...you're nothing but a dirty little bitch huh? I know you’re nice and fucking ready for me aren't you? But you aren't getting this cock...no you're just getting my cum going to take it like a good girl and like it." He pants and speeds up a bit. You know the best thing to do here is just relax and take it but luckily at this angle it makes it much easier for him to do what he's doing and keeps the gagging and choking to the minimum. You are already an expert at deep throating so that was never a problem but he's never attempted to literally fuck your throat. His groans are loud, coupled with angry almost feral growls as he continues his assault. Every so often he pulls back just enough to make sure you can get in a few gasps of air before going back to it until his hand grips at your hair tightly, yanking it back. 

He lets out an almost glorious roar as he cums but he makes sure to move back to get it in your mouth and then stroke the rest of it over your face and hair. You swallow when you get the chance, gasping loudly as you don't expect the rest of it. He smiles and sits back, admiring his work before he grabs your throat and shoves you until you are sitting up and looking him in the eyes as much as you can through the cum he left on your face.

"You pretend like you don't know what you're doing but you fucking know...I know all about girls like you. Get up." He snaps. All you can do is nod and scramble to your feet the moment he releases you. He gets up as well, tucking his cock away as you feel a sad pang that you won't be getting fucked with that tonight and yet, it'll still all be worth it, you are sure whatever he's about to do will make up for that. Grabbing your hair again he forces you down to bend over the bed. You struggle with your restraints and he shoves your skirt up over your hips to expose you from behind. He pulls the belt from his pants easily enough and lashes you a few times roughly. 

"Such a pretty little cunt...nice ass too...bet he loves that." He snarls and strikes you again causing another scream. "FUCKING THANK YOUR DADDY FOR TEACHING YOU A LESSON BITCH!" 

"T-Thank...Thank you Daddy! I deserve this!" You yell back without thinking. 

"Deserve it...for...what?" He demands punctuating the last two words with the most brutal slaps yet. You are sure he has broken the skin there and you become more positive as the belt drops and he grabs your ass again, squeezing it tightly. You scream.

"Thank you Daddy! I...I deserve this for being such a horrible...cockteasing...slut!" You sob, mostly because you are so desperate to cum it's painful and he's only denying you the pleasure you seek. He chuckles and slaps your cunt with his hand next as it is in the perfect position for that with how you are bent over the bed. For whatever reason, that's enough to send you over the edge to your climax. You squeal and writhe against the bed, pulling at the restraints around your wrists roughly. 

"Oh....no no little girl no one gave you permission to do that, you cum when Daddy tells you to cum," He breathes in a deliciously evil voice. His fingers penetrate you again, roughly but knowing exactly what you like. You squeal, as you are hypersensitive right now but he doesn't show any signs of relenting. He starts to use his thumb to stimulate your clit. You scream in pleasure and in pain almost unable to catch your breath, struggling to get away from him just as much as you struggle for more stimulation your body doesn't really know what it wants. "Aww is the poor little slut tired of cumming already?" 

"DADDY!" You screech but it doesn't matter, a moment later you a climaxing again and again, against your will but fuck...is it amazing. Pain, ecstasy, everything combined into one until you are certain you will pass out. Seemingly only after he's milked your body for every last orgasm it can possibly get he stops and removes his hand. He pats your ass gently and picks you up in his arms kissing your forehead. 

"You okay?" He asks softly. You glance up at him lazily, noticing his playful grin despite all his protests about not wanting to do this before you can see how proud he is of his own performance, and yours as well. 

"Yes," You whisper, "Thank you." 

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." He says, then carries you towards the bathroom. You don't think you've ever experienced anything so intense with him before and you are grateful that this is the type of thing you two can share and enjoy together. 

[shineon3]

A little something I wrote for the lovely @33max :3 (set in my wip mafia au)

Max hasn't seen his husband in a week.

One whole week.

A year ago, it wouldn't have mattered for him. He wouldn't have cared about Daniel's work or about being left alone for too long, would’ve probably been happy about it, even.

But that was a year ago.

Now, Max acutely feels the absence of his husband, feels the emptiness the older’s laugh usually fills, and even Jimmy and Sassy notice something is off after a while.

So he spends his days glued on the sim, the comforting, familiar routine of online races helping him clear his mind - and forget about the way Daniel had cupped his cock through his shorts and whispered sweetly “No coming while I'm away, baby, capiche?” in his ear before leaving for his trip.

Max groans, narrowly avoiding a collision. He can feel his cock twitching, hardening in his shorts, and he barely resists the urge to sneak a hand down to give it a small squeeze, because he knows Daniel will probably be watching through the house's numerous cameras, and Max wasn't ready to face the consequences of being a brat. He shudders, thinking about the last time Daniel had to punish him. It had been absolute torture. Daniel had put a cock cage on him, and Max hadn't been allowed to come for so long he felt insane by the time Daniel allowed him to.

Anyways.

Max spends the rest of his day like this, on the sim, trying to forget about how good it feels when his cock rubs against the soft material of his boxers, how much better it would feel if he was rubbing against one of their soft, expensive pillows instead, how-

It's tough, to say the least, but he manages to last another day, and he only had to change his underwear once, when the precum soaking it became a bit too sticky to be enjoyable.

Around ten pm, he decides he should probably make some dinner for himself. Jimmy and Sassy follow him to the kitchen, playfully running around his feet while he tries to cook some pasta and making him giggle. He's standing at the stove, slowly stirring the sauce, when he feels a warm weight press against his back. Arms wrap tightly around his waist, a firm thigh presses between his legs, and Max immediately relaxes, letting a soft moan out.

There’s only one other person able to get in their home, after all.

“Hi, baby,” Daniel’s voice is a low rumble whispered right against his ear, sending a shiver down Max’s spine. “Did you miss me, hm?”

Max makes sure to turn off the stove before he does something stupid, like leaving the sauce to burn while he rides Daniel right here on the kitchen floor. He turns around, finally, finally facing his husband, and grins so wide his cheeks start to hurt before leaning in to kiss Daniel senseless. They slot perfectly against each other, like two puzzle pieces, the brunette’s tongue immediately invading Max’s mouth as he melts in the older’s embrace. Daniel’s body is caging him against the kitchen counter, his thigh between Max’s legs providing the perfect amount of friction, and Max can feel his cock harden, leaking like a tap in his boxers. They make out for what seems like an eternity, until Daniel pulls away, hands tightening around Max, effectively stopping the blonde’s rabbiting hips, making him whine.

“Nuh-uh, sweetheart,” Daniel croons, tucking his face in the crook of Max’s neck and peppering kisses there. “I want to properly take care of you tonight. You deserve it, my good boy.”

And then, Daniel does something that will never not be obscenely hot for Max. The brunette picks him up, just like that, as if he weighs absolutely nothing, and sets him up on the kitchen island, practically spreading him all over it. Max moans, his whole face feeling flushed, and he hooks his thighs around Daniel, pulling him closer. It feels like an out of the body experience, that he gets to have Daniel like this, and it makes Max a bit dizzy every time he remembers that this man, this handsome, dangerous man is his, just as much as Max is Daniel’s in all the ways possible.

“Daniel, Danny, please- I was good, promise, I was-!”

“I know you were, darling. You were so good for me, and I’m gonna give you your reward now.”

Daniel pushes Max’s thighs open, and Max lets him, all pliant for his husband. He doesn’t know what the older has in mind, doesn’t realise it until Daniel kneels in front of him, right in front of Max’s clothed cock. He mouths at the little bulge through the fabric of Max’s shorts, getting it slightly damp, and Max shakes on the counter, moaning so loudly he would feel bad for their neighbours if they had any.

And then.

Then, Max feels his cock twitch in the safe confines of his underwear, kick kick kicking until it blurts out rope after rope of cum, soaking the soft cotton with all he had saved for Daniel. He whines, embarrassed, his hands flying up to hide his face. He can hear Daniel getting up, the older’s hand brushing against his hip before carefully pulling Max’s hands out of his face.

“Baby, fuck- That was so hot. You couldn’t keep it in, could you, sweetheart?”

Max whines again, heat spreading through him at his husband’s words.

“That’s okay, darling. Daddy’s gonna take care of you now, ‘kay?”

Daniel scoops him up in his arms, making his way to their bedroom, and Max curls up against his chest, looking forward to the rest of what the brunette had planned for them.

[11queensupreme11]

Do you have the personalities for any of the Secy kids yet?

you're in luck cuz i do!!!!!!

i'll start with cearbhall, the eldest and only son:

he's a bitch 💩

no seriously, he's a cocky, arrogant, loud-mouthed, snarky, and rude piece of SHIT. he is literally just like his father, minus the raping and not as much of a misogynist thanks to percy's intervention (bless her because omg you do NOT want a second cú chulainn walking around the universe ����)

a womanizer just like his daddy but percy at least taught him about safe sex and consent so after sex he always makes sure the girls he sleep with take some magic tea or whatever to prevent pregnancies (something his stupid dad didn't think he'd need to learn about smh)

still has a bit of a sexist mindset, but it's really leagues better compared to cú chulainn or the average god tbh 😭😭 it's complicated for him cuz on one hand you've got his mother telling him "you should always treat women with respect, sweetie! let them live their life and don't ever try to take away their freedom! 💖" and then there's his dad saying "lmao fuck whichever whore you want. oh and also make sure you never let your mother and sisters out of the palace when i'm gone and keep all men away from them 😃👍"

😭😭😭 yeah you get the point 💀

so thx to his dad's stupid paranoia, he's grown to become very overprotective of his younger sisters and mother 😭

now luisne:

she has the physically young appearance of a 10 year old girl and she pretty much acts like a brat 😂

i plan on making her a goddess of wealth and riches, gemstones, minerals, and luxury so OBVIOUSLY you can see why she's bit of a brat lmao 😭😭

demanding and bossy and very temperamental. she pretty much inherited cú chulainn's famous anger issues 😭

she's extremely spoiled however there is one thing she adores more than any precious stone and it's anything that her mother makes herself. homemade blue cookies, knitted sweaters, jewelry, etc. no matter how basic, she'll love it because she knows her mother made it with love; no magic or anything just genuine skill 💖💖💖

and then there's cú chulainn's untalented ass. can't cook, can't bake, can't knit, or make anything cute or pretty with his bare hands 💀 he conjures up lavish dollhouses and intricate looking dolls, orders the best jewelry to be made for her etc. she LOVES it ofc, but she also loves bullying her talentless daddy and demanding more stuff from him because he caves so quickly 😭😭

does not bully or demand stuff from her mommy tho cuz she knows mommy can actually put her foot down when it comes to her 😂

and now ponyo, the youngest sécy baby:

a mix of ariel and ponyo tbh! she's got ariel's curiosity and fascination with humans, and ponyo's reckless nature.

because of her reckless and curious nature, she's the one most likely to disregard her father's rules and TRY to sneak out of the house 💀 keyword being "try"

she has an overprotective and vigilant father, an equally as overprotective older brother, and a mom who at least understands but still wants her to be safe.

idk how i'm gonna have her fascination and curiosity for humans come from, but i'm planning on maybe having ponyo and percy have some bonding down in midgard? ponyo will be a sea deity so percy'll want to show her the atlantean empire down in midgard. maybe there's a shipwreck accident up above and she helps her mom save some humans and gets enthralled by them... idk yet, but i think that's what i'll go with!

and that's pretty much what i have for the sécy babies so far! i'll think of more for the rest later, but honestly, the ideas just come to me randomly 😅

and btw, no incest freaks here! the sécy kids will pretty much be incest free lmao. as for yans...... idk yet. i think i'll have cearbhall be a platonic yan and maybe another daughter (fiachra maybe) but this is what i have so far!

[cherryblossompink303]

Patience *Bonus Chapter*: ~degrees of seperation~

➼ pairing: Kyoya Ootori x Reader ➼ summary: Oceans apart can be very far away, and Kyoya never expected how far it would actually feel ➼ what to expect:  "If i didn't know better Kyoya Ootori I would think that you miss me" ➼ warnings: n/a

A/n: when someone comments that the next chapter will be y/n and Kyoya being masterminds and I already had this chapter written T-T

You had to admit that the flutter that you felt in your chest when you heard the familiar jingle of the video call on your computer. The summer is going incredibly since you left Japan for an internship in Italy, you found yourself counting down the hours for Kyoya to call.

"Hello?" it is already dark for Kyoya when you answer, a symptom of the time difference. "Hi" you smile, still unpacking your bag as you had only just got in from work that day. "How did talking with that competator of your father go?"

Kyoya takes a sharp inhale at the mention of the meeting "As well as we could hope. I've sworn them to secracy even if they do not accept our offer" you nod "Good, I'm sure they will, they've been looking for a way to get back at the ootori group for years" Kyoya laughs through a hum "Very true"

"How was work?"

"Alright, in full honesty if they were paying me I probably could have fixed half their issues by now, but I also don't want to work for them long term so what would be the point?" Kyoya smirks "Sounds about right"

A comfortable silence overcomes the two of you as you both basque in your combined success. "Are you being well looked after?" you roll your eyes "Yes, you know that I am" Kyoya had insisted in you staying in one of his families properties while you were in Italy.

"Do you have enough money?" you laugh "I don't think money has ever been an issue" it is kyoya's turn to roll his eyes. "I am just making sure, the less you have to rely on your parents money the better”

You huff “yes Kyoya I am fine”

“Good.”

You shake your head at kyoyas expression “what’s got you so worried?”

“Your father called today.”

Oh.

You try to seem unbothered, looking away “oh really?” Kyoya hummed, leaning back in his seat “he’s wondering why you haven’t gone home”

You raise an eyebrow “and he called you?”

“He thinks I’ve kidnapped you” you laugh at the reply “in a way he’s not fully wrong” Kyoya scoffed “like you didn’t leap to stay at the villa instead of with your nonna”

“What did you say?”

“That you are extremely busy with work placements”

“Good”

Kyoya cleared his throat “he also mentioned something else”

“Hmm?”

“Now that we’re going into third year…he said that the l/n and ootori group are going to release a joint statement confirming our engagement by the end of the year”

“What?”

This was a strange move, even for your fathers of all people.

“I would have thought that they would have waited until we graduated to announce….why move it up?”

Kyoya hums in agreement “something must have prompted them”

You wrack your brain for any idea on what would trigger them to hasten the arrangement. “Well if my father is the one that is moving it up…possibly he is sensing that your father is getting cold feet?”

He raises an eyebrow “I mean possibly but I don’t know where he would get that idea, I must admit I haven’t really spoken to my father on the matter”

It is only now that is hits you exactly what you had just been told. “Wait Kyoya, if the engagement is announced what about the host club-“

“I’ll handle that, don’t worry”

You sigh, leaning back, shaking your head “I mean…I guess if it’s moved up then it’s still happening…that’s good right?”

“I suppose, it does mean that you won’t be with them for as long after we graduate” Kyoya sighed, taking out his notebook and scribbling something down that you can't see onscreen.

You keep forgetting somehow that this engagement is actually going to end in marriage despite that being the entire point. It makes you wonder actually what life being married to Kyoya would even look like.

You always used to picture it as being cold, that the two of you would just live in the same house and for the most part mind your own business. But that was before you actually started talking to each other now you have no idea.

"How are the host club?" Kyoya groans, leaning back in his seat "As infuriating as ever, they're even harder to handle without you here to keep them in check"

You laugh "It is still the summer I am sure that they haven't been that bad" you shake your head, taking a sip of your coffee. "Tamaki's delusions ae unfortunately not seasonal i'm afraid"

"I can imagine"

"That does remind me however, our said great leader has asked for your proposed events calendar for the next semester" You have to restrain yourself from laughing midsip at kyoya's newfound nickname.

"Ok, I'll have to get started on it then, I've been a bit busy planning corperate sabotage to work on it"

"It will work out, I am sure of it"

You pause. "There is...still one more thing that we still don't know"

"Hm?"

"What exactly my father is covering up for the ootori group"

Kyoya sighs "yeah, I've been trying to look into that, the problem is trying to investigate within the ootori group without exposing our plans"

you hum in agreement "true, it is just concerning that if the group is so desperate to cover something up that your father would arrange a marriage with the head of a media empire for his daughter then it is serious, the ootori group is in medical..."

"I dread to think aswell"

Things were just going to get messy this next year, you just knew it.

"When....are you returning to Japan?"

You're head shoots up at the question, surely he already knows, a detail like that does not slip under Kyoya's radar.

"I...my placement ends on the nineteenth, you know that"

"I know...I just...thought I have may have gotten my dates wrong"

"Why would you think that? your notes as meticulous I know that much"

"I know it's just, it feels like you've been gone for a long time so..."

You raise an eyebrow "If i didn't know better Kyoya Ootori I would think that you miss me"

"More like I need someone else to deal with tamaki and the twins" You roll your eyes "You love them don't be so mean"

"If you say so"

You roll your eyes "Okay well if they are that unbearable it will be one more week until I am returning to Japan, and then your torment will be over don't worry"

Kyoya lets out a small chuckle "Good"

"Goodnight Kyoya"

"Goodnight y/n"

The room all of a sudden feels all too quiet as the call ends. One more week.

Next time on patience 'Kyoya's reluctant day out!'

Tag list (reply to be added): @skottch @cgmajor @rebirthbunbun @bbybubbles @blueberry19000 @katgirl05 @smellslikelovinglies @veras-fanfic-reblogs @sadprimrose @mirtalikesdr @sleeplesssskeleton @ritzes28 @crackpeole @rory-cakes @renjunniex @II-kita-san-II @angelicwillows @missbrebre1012 @sleep-7372 @strawberrbitch @reticent-writer @eternal-dokja @meme848 @mistyhydrangeagarden

[hazel-tanthamore22]

Meeting the Kats

Megan Skeindel x baemon!8thmember!freader

Sypnosis: Since the kats are doing promotions in korea, theyre currently at the hybe building and Megan wants you to meet the kats, despite it feeling absolutely never wracking, you'll do anything for your girl.

A/n: gonna miss ginger Megan. Reader is 18. Barely proofread, bear with me pls

You sigh heavily before getting up from the couch and turning to Ruka and Pharita, who were sitting on the floor doing God knows what.

"Unnies, I'm going out" You say as you walk towards the door to wear you shoes, grabbing your hoodie and keys from the kitchen island and caot rack.

Pharita nods and Ruka hums, signifying they've heard you. You exit the dorm, going down to the car. The drive to the hybe building is gut wrenching, your nerves feeling like they're about to short curcuiting.

You pull up to the building, tapping your foot nervously on the break as you reconsider your desicion. You eventually gather some courage and step out of the car and stepping into the building.

"Hi im here for katseye" you say to the lady at tge front desk. "Floor 16 door 12" she replies, barely looking up from her documents, she knows its you tho because you have a very distinct voice. Maneuvering through the building was easy, seeing as you've been here multiple times for dance challenges with the hybe artists.

The elevator ride up is spent evaluating what you would say, second guessing yourself and overall think so much you don't even remember walking to the door and knocking, till you're faced with a straight faced Filipina eyeing you up and down as if judging you.

"Oh hello" you quickly stutter out and bow. "Sophia stop scaring her" you hear the familiar voice of your girlfriend as she nudges Sophia out of the door way and hugs you. You quickly hug back, burying your face in the older's neck.

She pulls away from you and looks you in your eyes. "Don't let them intimidate you ok, you'll be fine" she whisper before placing a kiss on your cheek. Someone clearing their throat interrupts your moment with her.

She pulls away from you before she turns around, holding your hand and practically drags you into the dorm. "Y/n the girls, girl, Y/n" she points at each respective person when introducing you guys. "Hello it's nice to finally meet you" you say nervously as you bow.

You stand straight keeping your eyes on you and Megan's interlocked hands. "What are your intentions with Megan" Sophia asks as she looks solely at you. "My intentions are totally pure, to shower uer with love and gifts and whatever meets her standards nothing less" you say genuinely as you meet her eyes.

"What makes you think you deserve her" Yoonchae asks, being her usual sassy self. "Yoonchae" Megan warns. "It's fine love" You assure her, squeezing her hand. "I don't think I deserve, but she believes I deserve her, so thats what ill go by" you reply to Yoonchae and she let's out, what seems to be a satisfied hum.

"Alright you've proved yourself, but if you hurt Megan, you'll be hearing from all of us" Lara, who's been uncharacteristically quiet, says. Manon and Dani just nod along with the others.

You let out a breath you didn't even know you were holding and nod. "I promise I'll treat her right" You reply with a small smile. "You better" Manon and Dani say at the same time, causing a few giggles.

Day turns into Night as the kats keep interrogating you, bit it's less tense, as the Kats try to get to know you better. After some more questions, Megan drags you to her room. Laying down with you and cuddling you.

"I told you you'd be fine" she mumbles as she places a gentle kiss to your collarbone. You hum in response, threading your fingers through her hair. "They were still scary" you mumble into her hair.

She pulls away and looks up at you with her signature smile and places a lingering kiss on you lips. You reciprocate before she pulls away with a smile. "No matter what they would've said I would've still loved you" she says pecking you before cuddling up to you chest. "I love you too " you murmur as you both fall asleep.

[mushysquashythingamajig]

Bucktommy Fluffebruary

DAY 16: AU: DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE DATING

@bucktommyfluffebruary

"So, you're gonna hang out Tommy again today?" Maddie asked him while feeding her daughter her breakfast.

"Yeah, we're gonna grab some breakfast then head out to the gym." Buck picked up Jee's scattered toys, throwing them all into the hamper in the corner.

"Oh, so a date?" Maddie teased.

"Haha, funny." Evan spoke with a deadpan expression.

They had been like this ever since he and Tommy had started hanging out. Never mind that her husband was gayer for Tommy than him. Hell, every man he'd met was gay for Tommy. Well, who wouldn't be? Tommy was like the epitome of masculinity.

Him and Tommy had decided to meet at their favourite coffee spot, Buck LOVED their coffee and Tommy was addicted to their cupcakes. When he reached the cafe, Tommy was their already, waiting for him. And, aw how adorable, he ordered a coffee for both of them.

"Thanks Tommy." He sat in the chair in front of him.

"You're late." Tommy said, matter-of-factly.

"I got held up by Maddie."

"Oh, how's her pregnancy coming along?"

"So far, everything's healthy on all fronts. Both Maddie and the baby."

"Thank goodness." Tommy breathed a sigh of relief.

"So you forgive me."

"Has you ever seen your puppy dog eyes? No one is able to stay mad at you."

"One of the many special things about me."

"Right." Tommy's nose scrunched and Buck felt something warm bloom in his chest. Probably the coffee.

They went to the gym, getting a vigorous workout in, Tommy more than Evan. Evan had a shift and Tommy was on a ;eave and trying to get back into fighting shape. Fire fighting shape that is. Every so often, someone would come up to Tommy to compliment him and Evan had to resist a sneer. It felt weird, but hey, people came up to him too. He did revel in the attention after all. He did catch Tommy glaring at him once. Weird.

After the workout, Tommy and Buck said their goodbyes and Evan went to the fire house. It was a particularly slow day, and Evan was grateful. They didn't many of those nowadays.

"So, Evan. Heard you were with Tommy this morning?" Chimney slid next to Buck.

As soon as Buck saw himself get surrounded, he knew he was in trouble.

"Yeah?" He said, cautiously.

He ignored the money being exchanged.

"Again?" This time it was Hen who spoke up.

"Yeah? Okay, I'm getting uncomfortable." He moved to get up only to be grabbed by Eddie and forcefully sat back back.

"Okay, we gotta know. What exactly are you and Tommy?" Hen continued.

"We're really good friends."

"No, we're really good friends. You and Tommy have some secret third thing going on that none of us really understand." Eddie argued.

"What do you mean?"

"You go on dates."

"Hangouts." Buck corrected.

"You two are joined at the hip whenever you two are together."

"That was a coincidence." It really was not.

"YOU TWO KISSED!!" Chimney screamed.

There was a beat of silence in the entire station before everyone went back into their businesses

"That was a game of spin the bottle." This time, Buck didn't sound convinced himself because when that had happened, when Tommy's spin made the bottle land on him, when Tommy started crawling towards Buck, it felt good. It felt awesome to have Tommy's attention all to himself at that moment. And he wrote this off thinking he was drunk, but the kiss felt better than anything he had ever had before.

"Oh, you guys are idiots." As soon as Hen said that, the bell rung and they had to scatter. Save by the bell. Until he was pulled aside by Bobby who just told him,

"Don't listen to them. Walk at your own pace, okay?" And clapped him on the shoulder.

That day, after his shift, Tommy had messaged him if he wanted to get dinner together. Obviously Buck agreed. But as they were eating together, the usually comfortable silence was a bit weird. Maybe the conversation had finally gotten to him.

"You okay?" A deep voice snapped him out of his head.

Of course Tommy had noticed. That man noticed everything. He really was perfect. Buck wouldn't mind if he fell for him. Woah there Buckley, where the heck did that come from?

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Buck contemplated for a second before thinking, screw it. "Did you know our friends think were dating?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Tommy had an incredulous look on his face.

"Yeah, apparently we've been hanging out so much recently, they thought that there was no other explanation." Evan chuckled out.

"Well, that's obviously not the case. I enjoy hanging out with you."

"I enjoy hanging out with you too."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

They nodded and continued having their dinner that Evan prepared. Truth be told, Evan was a little disappointed. He didn't really know why, but he was.

"Not that dating you would be bad or anything." Tommy suddenly blurted out.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Dating you would be a wonderful experience, I'm sure of it. You've got an awesome job. You are an amazing cook. And not to mention, incredibly hot."

"You too. I mean, you're a literal pilot and fly for fun. You have the uncanny ability to turn straight men gay by your sheer masculinity and you've been on the firefighter calendar like several times in a row."

Oh. Oh.

"We've been dating this whole time haven't we?" Tommy finally spoke after a long time.

"I guess." Buck shrugged.

"Evan, can I kiss you?" The flashback from the spin the bottle night started and suddenly all Buck could think about was Tommy's lips on his.

"Yes, please."

If Evan thought the first kiss was great, this was better. This was so much better. Tommy gently used two fingers to push up his chin and met his lips gently. Their foreheads almost met and when Tommy excruciatingly pulled away, his eyes remained closed for a second, savoring the feeling.

Evan wanted to more but Tommy refused, 'not the kind of person to put out on the first date' so currently they just cuddled on the couch. When Tommy fell asleep, he took a picture of his and Tommy's joined hands and uploaded it to the 118 group chat, only to met with one message from Bobby.

"50 bucks."

[not-poignant]

Hi,

I'm not sure how to approach this without sounding like an ignorant asshole, but I'll give it a go.

I'm from a country where the Trans movement isn’t very visible, and most of what I know about it comes from the internet. I’ve never truly understood gender dysphoria. I’ve tried to listen and put myself in others' shoes, but I struggled to be genuinely empathetic. Instead, I just tried to be supportive because it was expected of me, without really getting it.

It might sound silly, but reading Underline the Black made me stop and think… Wait, is this what I think it is? Reading Efnisien’s internal monologues and introspection made me feel something—maybe not from the same circumstances, but in a way that something inside my brain clicked, and I finally saw where the pain was coming from.

I guess what I really want to say is thank you. Thank you for helping me begin to understand and for broadening my perspective. It might sound small, but it’s something I deeply appreciate. I’ve been trying for a long time.

I do feel a bit foolish realizing that it took an ABO fanfic for me to get it… but at the same time, I was also reading about your real-life experiences. Or at least, that’s how it seemed to me. Forgive me if I’m wrong.

You have an incredible talent for expression.

Anon, until you know otherwise, everyone has to start somewhere. This applies to unlearning our biases and prejudices, which we all have for something, or many things, until we unlearn them. The fact that you've even tried to be supportive of something you don't really understand is still important, and still matters. It's a step into understanding, even if you don't have it yet.

I don't think it's foolish that it took you a story to realise what you've realised! This is actually exactly why representation of diversity (in gender, sexuality, culture, race, etc.) is so important in fiction. Because it's in fiction we can be free to explore concepts that are different to our own, or that challenge us, or make us see the world differently. This is why it's so important to know it's possible to identify with a trans character, or a POC character, or a character from a different culture to ours etc. Because that's when we humanise what we previously saw as like, different, Other, hard to understand. We go 'oh that's...really relatable actually, I think I'd feel the same way if that was my experience of life' or 'I don't know if I'd feel the same way but I really understand where that person is coming from.'

Gender dysphoria is complex, and different for different people. Being able to write it metaphorically through Efnisien's journey has been really interesting for me personally, because I've been able to depict both the inner conflict of knowing that your being is not...automatically going to be accepted as normal no matter what, unless you stifle or suffocate yourself, alongside the true euphoria and joy that can come with living as your best life, or your very self.

I have once seen a good analogy which is simply: Imagine from tomorrow onwards, everyone uses the pronouns you don't associate with yourself. You are bullied and mocked unless you wear clothing that is opposite to how you want to appear to others. You are put down and treated as psychologically abnormal for finding joy in true expression, even when that expression doesn't actually hurt anyone else at all. And now tell yourself that even your loved ones, when you desperately try to explain how wrong it all feels to be treated as so different to your true self, they explain that it's just mental illness, or that you're just confused, or that you don't understand yourself, and condescend to you, and treat you like they somehow have always known you better than you know yourself. And that's when you realise you might have to choose between your true self, and your family and loved ones who don't understand, or worse, hate you.

And then imagine that's the rest of your life, but it could change in an instant, if all of society just accepted that you are who you say you are! That all of your depression, and oppression, and suffocation could literally just vanish, if everyone was like 'oh sure actually, you want those pronouns? Cool! You want to wear this clothing? I like it!!'

And that journey is very tough in the real world, even in more accepting places (the US is clear evidence of this). In Underline the Black, I get to put Efnisien in a very specific space, and show the journey in a kind of specific way that isolates it and speaks through metaphor.

My experiences are different to Efnisien's, though I am trans, I never actually started out wanting to write a 1:1 trans narrative. Like, in this universe, "conventionally" trans people exist too. Efnisien's experience is a new thing, and a separate thing, but still - as we can see - a very good metaphor as well. I like telling parts of my story, but only small parts. I am more interested in...telling healing stories where I can watch a character heal and go 'oh I would like more of that for myself, as well.'

(Also, it's better to just say omegaverse, or AOB, etc. because a/b/o without the dashes is a slur in Australia, and while I know most people don't live here! We try to avoid slurs from other countries when we can. And we can only know to do that once someone tells us!)

But yeah, no, you don't sound like an ignorant asshole at all. You sound like someone who has learned something, and has gained more understanding, and was open to doing that, and honestly anon if more people came to something they didn't understand from your perspective, acceptance and love would be a lot easier to teach people.

It's so important to read stories about characters who aren't quite like us, or aren't like us at all, because that's when we realise just how much we actually do share so many similarities, and why our differences matter too.

Anyway thank you for sharing your message with me! I really appreciated it.

[utilitycaster]

My friend has shared with me his dropout and i'm thinking of getting into the dimension 20s; do you have any ranking for them or recommendations? Any notes on the pitfalls or really cool things on any given series/dm's styles? I have to admit i've been a little hesitant to jump in, not just bc i was watching c3 but bc some of the d20 fandom discourse trickled onto my dash and for lack of a better term i "got the ick." I've resolved to myself that it shouldn't matter since i don't engage with dropout fandom anyway, and so we're currently watching mentopolis

Hey anon! So some quick thoughts:

You are correct to simply avoid the fandom, but also...the bad is very, very dumb and obnoxious, but the worst of that fandom skips half the series anyway. if it's not D&D they aren't showing up.

Mentopolis is a great series, great pick.

Of the Intrepid Heroes campaigns (Brennan GMing, cast of Emily Axford, Ally Beardsley, Siobhan Thompson, Lou Wilson, Zac Oyama, Brian Murphy) the only one I didn't care for was Neverafter. A loose ranking is that A Crown of Candy is I think the strongest, and then Fantasy High (3 seasons) vs. The Unsleeping City (2 seasons) are both good and it's just a matter of taste (i think fantasy high is a stronger story, unsleeping city is a stronger and more consistent world, characters are all great, and it mostly comes down to whether you do or do not want to watch a narrative about high schoolers, which is valid). I do like Starstruck Odyssey but it gets VERY chaotic, and I think it's only ranked lower than the previous two because it doesn't have as much time.

Of the sidequests run by Brennan, I am a huge fan of Escape from the Bloodkeep, Pirates of Leviathan and the Seven (both set in the same universe as Fantasy High but you can watch as standalone if you don't mind Fantasy High spoilers), Never Stop Blowing Up, and I haven't seen the latest Dungeons & Drag Queens but I did like the first one a lot.

Of the sidequests run by other GMs: Aabria Iyengar's A Court of Fey and Flowers, Jasmine Bhullar's Coffin Run, and Matt Mercer's Ravening War (ACOC universe prequel) are the strongest ones. I enjoyed Shriek Week at the time but unfortunately the GM turned out to not be a great guy. For more Aabria, Misfits and Magic season 1 was good but it did make me go "you know, I think I'm over the whole Harry Potter pastiche thing, even if this one is done very well" and so I didn't check out the second, but definitely give the first a try if you are interested! I did not personally like Burrow's End but it has a fantastic cast.

Similarly: wasn't a huge fan of Tiny Heist just bc D&D was not a good system for it; it is also a great cast. I feel similarly about Mice and Murder. I have not watched Time Quangle but that's a series of one-shots I think all with Intrepid Heroes characters.

[novelconcepts]

i'm the same anon who asked abt the tattoo, so. you can be as controversial as you want, but could i ask why taivan is not as prominent/noticeable in comparison to shaunahat, or fanon ships? like, your opinion. because, genuinely, as much as i see their scenes and ppl cheering for them, idk, it's not as HARD and LOUD if that makes sense. thank you in advance!

I dunno about controversial--I'm never actively trying to be a shit-starter, I just. My honest take is twofold. One, people are definitely being steered by racism. I mean, I see that just in the way Jasmin is constantly under fire no matter what she does or says. This is a biracial Black queer person (noticed recently she's operating with she/they pronouns, playing in the gender sandbox, and good for them) who is clearly always working so hard to better their world and be a voice for the various minority groups she inhabits, and I feel like I'm just constantly seeing people be awful to and about them. Like, constantly finding excuses to set her aside, or send her the worst messages in the world, and I'm just like. Let this person live, for the love of Christ. The inability to not take unearned ownership of someone else's journey is...insane to me, but I feel like I see it constantly with her. So to have Taissa be this incredibly complex Black woman who is not always likeable, not soft and sweet and constantly striving for other people's approval--yeah, I'm not surprised the fandom ignores her. Furious! Always furious about it! But not surprised.

Van, too, gets set aside an awful lot, and that's obviously not about racism (although the interracial couple aspect is there). I think people are...so volatile about Van in ways that will never make sense to me. Half the time people are calling her a villain, the other half they're calling her boring, and in both cases, those people are just not watching the same show I am. Liv's performance is so nuanced and so carefully escalated, and Lauren is following suit; there is so much going on with this character, with Taissa's character, with their growth together and apart, and...yeah, I dunno, man. I think it's a lot of what Tai says onscreen in season one. They're not what people expect, or what people want them to be, so they get written off as "boring" or less appealing than the noncanon ships. Some of it is the racism, some is the complicated nature of gender and Van's butch qualities, and none of it makes sense to me because those aspects are so much of what I love about Taivan as a ship. Like. They are so real, so multifaceted, so good and so toxic for one another at the same time, and they are played by 3/4ths (at least, I don't know Ambrose's life) openly, proudly queer actors. DUDE. For me, that's the fucking dream.

THAT SAID. My other thought is a lot simpler. And that's just: what happens in canon belongs to the writers, and we get to share it. What happens in fanon belongs solely to fandom. The fanon interpretations of characters can be worlds away from the actuality of those characters onscreen, and I think there's a freedom there that a lot of people really love. Subtext has been the bread and butter of queer audiences for so long that I think a lot of viewers just naturally feel more comfortable in that space, reading between lines and making up the necessary filler as they go. It doesn't hurt that a lot of these characters are white and/or conventionally attractive, but I think it's more to do with...not needing to put the canon of it all at the forefront. Like I love Jackie/Shauna, I love Lottie/Nat, I live for Shauna/Lottie--but they're all subtextual relationships, to various degrees, and so I can just sort of...do whatever with them in stories, so long as I'm feeling the characters out. I personally have a preference for writing fic as close as I can to existing character profile/voice, but that's not for everyone, and I've noticed a lot of the fanon-born ships are...not simpler, necessarily, but simplified. Which, in turn, makes them more palatable. I dunno. I get it! I do. But I will never understand throwing aside the canon queer ship in favor of subtext. That just...ain't my bag.

And then I guess there's a third, less prominent idea of like. Who's the main character of the show? If you had to boil it all down, it's Shauna. She's the POV character, if we have one, from the start. So not only do you have the freedom of fan interpretation, but she's front and center a lot of the time just by the nature of the narrative. And then Natalie is probably the next "main" character, so...that speaks for a lot of the louder ships, I suppose. I'd really love to see more attention on Taissa for the same reason, since she's been at the front from the beginning, but...see above, i guess.

[lunasanguismusic]

Offering some safety tips in these atrocious times. Because fuck this shit!!!

For those who don't know me from my past, I am a survivor of an attempted murder/hate crime. I trusted the wrong person because he was my brother's friend. He was kind of weird, but I didn't think he was that much of a bigot until it was too late. I also assumed he wouldn't ever be dumb enough to do anything crazy at my job. Assumptions can get you killed.

The first time I turned my back on him he attacked and smashed my brains in pretty badly for quite some time, before strangling me near death. I had a gun in the office but it would not have saved me. In fact, if it was on me like it usually was, I feel he would have used it on me and I wouldn't be here today. Having my friend there did save me though. She scared him off right as I was about to die. Without her I would be dead.

While arming yourself is extremely important, please don't forget or take for granted the single most important safety tool a trans person has available. Don't go out alone if you're trans. Always have backup if you can. If you have no friends, find someone to be your backup as soon as possible. Two or more sets of eyes is so much better than one.

Never turn your back on a person you don't know exceptionally well either. Most people are loving, kind, caring souls, but trust me I've run into quite a few monsters who I didn't think were threats at first. Always be aware of your situation. Keep an eye on exit paths. Be prepared. Never go to a strangers house on a first date.

Arm yourself while you still can legally. Build a community. Join trans support groups. Take safety lessons. Triple down on vetting strangers and confirming they are a real person before meeting them. Talk to them for months if you need to. If they won't put up with your vetting, that is a red flag. Most people know or can at least understand the shit we are dealing with and will gladly make us feel safe. Pressure to meet quickly is a red flag.

I can't stress enough that most people, even conservatives are not usually bigots. Be nice to people and build strong ties. Most people just haven't met a trans person yet. The cops even, were the kindest most loving people and one stayed with me most of the night to make me feel safe that day. I don't know if he realizes how much of a difference that made in my life that day. Don't judge a book by it's cover.

Someone misgendering you repeatedly? Let it go. Give them a compliment to try and deescalate the situation. Doesn't matter how right you are, or how wrong they are. I've seen crowds turn on us. Just go home and enjoy your life. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Most trans people get murdered or harmed by someone they know. If you're in an abusive relationship, just please get out of it. Walk away. It's not worth it. Someone will love you unconditionally. You deserve better. Don't become a tragedy.

Lastly, if shit hits the fan, don't go down without a fight because you could end up tortured like our beautiful brother Sam here. They will probably add more charges later btw. That's typically how this works at this stage. Rip brother, you didn't deserve this. Hope everyone who did you wrong in life burns in hell. I'm so fucking angry you had to go through this.

Sam's go fund me. Please consider helping his family out.

A transgender man was held, tortured for MONTHS, assaulted, murdered and dumped in a field in the state of New York. The suspects are being held and charged with SECOND DEGREE MURDER (aka intentional but not premeditated.) As someone who lives in the North Eastern US I am disgusted by the depravity of this crime. The motive has not been identified and a hate crime has not been ruled out, but the justice system is historically not favorable of transgender individuals and it is possible that justice will not be served. Do what you can, tell someone about this case. Say his name: Sam Nordquist.

Transgender people: please stay safe, do what you need to do to be safe, carry weapons, be aware of your surroundings, and always tell someone where you are.

Horrible people are everywhere, the best we can do is be here and be heard.

[dootznbootz]

Odypen definitely and equivalently adore each other BUT I weirdly can't see them as the type to actually say "I Love you".

They still definitely vocalize their love for each other but it's more so in "My Joy", and "Extraordinary Woman", "Strange Woman/Man", etc. And very cheesy lines (both say some cheesy shit in the Odyssey, and he definitely does in the Iliad as well. "Joy like a drowning sailor seeing land" bit???)

I could see "I adore you" but even then, that's probably during very specific moments but the actual "I love you"??? I just typed it just now for fic shit and... It weirdly just didn't feel right and I don't know why. 😅

Idk maybe it's kind of because I see them as over the top in ways, they love wordplay and riddles and I think they'd almost think "...That's not good enough >:( " about it??? I don't know???😂