#not slept. I mean

[theloveinc]

Almost everything Giulio Gandini does is methodical—

The way he brews his tea, when you’re together and he insists upon a pot of hot water and his own sachet of loose leaves for steeping.

The way he makes your bed, with fluffed pillows and crisp sheets, the edges always cut where he’s folded the linen into the mattress to keep it secure…

And the way he finger fucks you, every night before bed, with your legs splayed open on top of clean, white sheets, and his warm body nestled into your side, mahogany hair loose around his face, hot against his neck.

He near cradles you in his lap, thick fingers (always his own flesh, never the prosthetic) rubbing warmth into your core, making sure you’re sopping before ever trying to enter you. Giulio seems to know your pussy better than you do, as by the time he’s two fingers deep, your thighs are already aching, strained from taking the shock of the two, three orgasms he was already able to glean from you with such little sweat on his behalf.

By now, this night time activity is routine, as is so much of the way your household with him is run, which is why you still scold yourself for not lasting longer at his behest, even if it is all for the sake of you—

(Never is he trying to torture you, more so just show love to you in ways much more specific than words can get, and maybe tire you out for a better night’s rest, at the same time—)

But every time you think you’ve become immune to the curl of his fingers, the press of his thumb against your clit, he manages another something else to have you writhing—first it was the scissoring of his fingers, then the addition of a third digit, and then the heel of his palm smashing into you, the list goes on—though his skill is methodical, well practiced and deliberately timed, Giulio is far from afraid of surprising you, especially if it ends in such a sweet reward.

(Often the wetting of the front of his boxers, from his own cum or the overzealous release of yours—you’ve never quite squirted with other partners the way Giulio can make you, and still manage to stop most of it from hitting your sheets, either by catching it with his tongue or letting it seep into his own clothing.)

He never lets you finish, finally, knuckles deep, without a kiss. Deep and guided, he kisses you until you’re left panting into his mouth, kisses you until you can’t reciprocate any longer, and kisses you until he’s left to do the work up kissing up your tears, instead.

By then, you’re much too caught up in the aftershocks of him, cunt still throbbing in his hands, to do anything more than let him soothe the white numbness of your near overstimulation in any which way he pleases. Sometimes that means running you both a bath (he could never not join you in the tub after such intimacy), soothing your aching body with a hot washcloth and a pot of fresh tea, or cuddling you until the sun rises.

Regardless, in such afterglow, you let him hold you until your breathing is back to normal and you can look him in the eye again and smile that tired little smile, the one he loves so much. All before he slips into bed beside you; a dutiful servant, giving til his last breath.

[hinamie]

sidelong

[mxmarsbars]

pride month is temporary clock duo is forever

here’s the goofy ref ^_^

[midoristeashop]

Long car trips mean hunch over my ipad and film dumb stupid videos in restaurants at 11pm 😍 (future me screw u idk if it’s shaky also do not perceive me)

(That one vine)

Also have the things

[myiliterallyhavenolifegoals]

i'm unwell!!! because in stede's eyes, ned low was right!! ned says "he [ed] only likes you because of your bumbling amateur status" and calls stede blackbeard's "pet" just like izzy did in series 1

so stede steps up as a captain, kills the man who harmed his crew, and suddenly, for once in stede's life, he isn't a joke! the gentleman pirate is taken seriously and welcomed into the pirate community!

and what happens less than 24 hours later? ed calls their night together a mistake, AND LEAVES.

yes, obviously the situation is more nuanced, and these old men are once again struggling to communicate, but i 100% understand why stede went a bit of the rails at the end of episode 7. stede's been so focused on trying to help ed, that he's completely ignored his own ongoing identity crisis and trauma, and after the incident at the academy in series 1, this meltdown was long overdue.

[meyhew]

with every passing hour i get more angry. and part of that anger is really selfish. yes the industry killed liam and it fractured a family and it stole a lifelong friend from people etc. all of that comes first obviously because i didn’t know liam but my god. he played such an integral part in defining my teenage years and the industry killed a part of my childhood. i can’t ever look back at one direction photos or videos or listen to their music without knowing that liam is dead. he is part of the reason i met my bestest friends in the whole world and he’s dead now because of a system that was supposed to protect him. and i do feel childish selfish anger about it because now an entire decade+ of my life is altered. i’m angry on liam’s behalf but i’m also angry for all the versions of me who thought i’d have one direction until i’m old and grey

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 4.5: Morning Period.

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Jason keeps accidentally drawing parallels between his running away to Ethiopia and getting killed.

He leaves a note saying he‘ll be back soon? Three terrified bats AND a supe crashing through the roof of a 7/11.

Casually mentioning he‘ll be going overseas to check up on a lead? Surprise! Nightwing‘s going the same way! What a coincidence!

Jason pushes someone off the roof? “Don’t worry Jaylad, I know it was an accident!!!!”

The next gig takes place at an abandoned warehouse? “Explosives whomst?? No, Jason, of course I didn’t scout the area beforehand. Don’t be absurd. Your bombs?? Oh, those were yours?”

Look, it’s not that Jason doesn’t appreciate a demonstration of how much they care. But he’s getting seriously fed up with the level of overprotectiveness everyone’s displaying.

Although, in retrospect, he could have handled this whole thing better than having an open spat with Bruce and then disappearing on them for two months straight. Oops.

(In his defense, Kori got them cards for a once-in-life-time-space-opera.)

[itslilacokay]

oh would you look at that

part 1!

[bisclavret]

which could mean nothing

[spooky-somewhere]

girl idk

[bottle-of-harpoons]

Dadow in a nutshell

[3new]

bloodlust

[keithbutgay]

What do you mean the irl Edogawa Ranpo was gay. What do you mean he traveled with his boyfriend researching the history of homosexuality in Japan. What do you mean they had a competition on who could find the most books about gay sex. WHAT DO YOU MEAN-

[fulcrum-art-fox]

Still thinking about the fact that Vi and Caitlyn both nearly get executed by Ambessa, but Vi nearly gets executed privately, clandestinely, underhand, amidst dark and dirty dealings, all the manipulation that underpins an occupation, an attempt to dispose of her like she’d never been, and Caitlyn nearly gets executed publicly, in an attempt to defeat and degrade her in front of her soldiers, her people, enclose her in the jaws of the trap that was always silently around her, to punish her, to demoralise, to send the city a message that won’t be forgotten. but they survive, defy those fates, those narratives

[burningcheese-merchant]

A Thought About Shadow Milk Cookie

I actually meant to make this post months ago, but I sort of let it fall to the wayside for the sake of other things. Now Blue Gatorade Cookie is coming out tomorrow and I'm like "ahhh shit I'm late" lol. Consider this a sequel/accompanying piece to the Burning Spice Cookie post

Shadow Milk always gave me a bit of the impression of being a Victor Frankenstein type. If you haven't read the book (please do, it's fantastic), then this quote sums up both the character, the story, and my perception of Shadow Milk pretty well:

"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow."

Knowledge is power. Knowledge is freedom. Equally so, perhaps even MORE so, knowledge is fun. It's fun to learn new things. And with all of this in mind, Shadow Milk did his best to pursue the knowledge he so championed, and share it with the world, whatever it was. You give a man a fish and he eats for a day; you teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. So Shadow Milk made it his mission to teach all men to fish. To teach them to read, to cook, to sew. To teach them magic, to teach them science, to teach them whatever filled the gap between. Perhaps he even went so far as to become a close associate of a certain academy, if not outright being its founder (Blueberry Yogurt Academy theorists, where you at lol). Anything to achieve the ultimate goal of inspiring others to learn and thrive as he does.

But as I said, knowledge is fun. There doesn't necessarily need to be a reason for it. Maybe Shadow Milk never actually needed one; even if there was no one left to teach, he could always teach himself, for he was always his own greatest student. And so whenever he had time, he read every book he could get his hands on. Practiced every spell. Sang every song, recited every poem, memorized every bit of meaningless trivia. Anything and everything to feed his endless hunger for more knowledge. Because it was... fun. It was freeing, to have those little burdens of doubt lifted from his shoulders, however inconsequential they actually were. And - however much he was able to admit it, to himself or to others - it made him feel powerful.

Until he started learning things no one else had before. That no one else could. That no one else should.

Maybe he learned how to peek into people's minds, and saw exactly how vapid, selfish, stupid and cruel so many of us really are beneath the façades we wear. Maybe he uncovered secrets that accidentally tore apart families, scandals that threw governments into chaos, acts of betrayal that may have started wars. Maybe one day, he learned the ultimate truth of the world; who and what cookies were really supposed to be, and what their makers really thought of them. (Not too far off from White Lily, really.)

In his desperation for solutions as well as some semblance of self-comfort, Shadow Milk just kept on learning. Kept searching for answers. Kept acquiring more and more knowledge. Because it was all he ever knew how to do. It was all he believed himself to be good for. But it was never enough. Not only did he never truly find the answers he sought - whether it be because they never existed in the first place, or because whatever he found only made him ask even more questions than before - but he just kept going down more and more rabbit holes. And he couldn't stop himself-

No. That's not true. Of course he could. He just didn't want to. Because knowledge is power, and deep down inside, he was always power-hungry. And besides that, he was just so curious. Morbid curiosity can be a terrible sin. Perhaps a small part of him, one he never wanted to give credence to, relished in being smarter than everyone else. And maybe that same part of him was also hubristic enough to believe he could learn whatever he wanted to, whenever he wanted to, just because he could.

Perhaps Shadow Milk tried to sound the alarm, so to speak. Share those great and terrible truths he uncovered with the world. But nobody listened, no matter how much they believed in and respected him otherwise. Because the truth is stranger than fiction, more often than not, and there's only so much strangeness people can tolerate. Knowing this - knowing how foolish people can really be, how quick they are to shun the truth to protect their own feelings - he looked for another answer, like he always does. Shadow Milk always had a fondness for theatrics; he wasn't just a scholar, he was a poet, a playwright, an artist. And thus, it was with these talents and loves of his that he tried to teach people what he knew. He wrote stageplays that became famous. Fantasy novels that became bestsellers. Poems and essays that were read aloud in classrooms. Everything he could throw at the wall with as much panache as possible. Because that's who he is, and that's what people are more likely to listen to. People like bread and circuses, so he gave them a whole bakery and performed every circus act himself.

But it was never enough. Those threads of truth he so carefully wove into the tapestries of his work; no one felt them. Those easter eggs he hid; no one found them. Nobody ever saw what he saw, whether he snuck it into the picture or plastered it right in the center. And so Shadow Milk came to realize that no one ever actually wanted to know the truth, no one ever actually wanted to learn anything, no one ever actually valued knowledge. All people cared about was what they could personally gain from it and nothing more. No higher purpose of any kind. Just what conveniences and inconveniences them.

And what's the point in helping people like that? How do you teach the unteachable?

Shadow Milk likely became bitter (or sour, because lol milk). Maybe he slowly began turning truths against people. Hoarding people's secrets and spilling them randomly, just out of spite (and discreetly, because he wasn't looking to be caught, and nobody was smart enough to catch him anyway). Making puppets and plays depicting people at their absolute worst, and watching them all smile and clap because they fell for it. They fell for his jokes. For his ruse. They didn't notice he was mocking them without a shred of irony or remorse. The only art Shadow Milk became interested in after he succumbed to despair was telling cruel jokes at others' expense and painting pictures for all the Dorian Grays of the world so they can keep lying and pretending they're good and that they're worth something. Because lies are all people really want to hear, right? Because it makes them feel better about their miserable lives?

I'm sure Shadow Milk tried to turn back, even if only once, for just a minute. He's smart, he's wise, he knew what the end of that road looked like. Maybe he sat up all night just arguing with himself about it. About the nature of his work. The meaning of the knowledge he acquired. The meaning of knowledge itself. What was he doing this for, really? What has he EVER done this for? Was it really for others, or for himself? What if he gained all the knowledge in the universe, then what? What would he do after that? What if he did manage to convince people, what then? What if they panic? Turn on each other? Turn on him? Were they really better off not knowing?

Was he just slowly talking himself through that door until it was closed and locked? Did he do so knowingly? Did he delay the inevitable for... for what? Did he even know that?

All the knowledge in the world didn't save Shadow Milk from falling to darkness, nor did it save anyone from the chaos he chose to wreak afterwards. Maybe knowledge never saved anyone from anything. What is knowledge, anyway? What is truth? What is deceit? The more you know, the more you realize you don't know anything at all. Maybe truth and deceit are one and the same. Maybe reality is only what you perceive it to be. Maybe life is a joke. Maybe people should just have fun. Lie all you want. Tell truths just to drive wedges and shatter hopes and dreams. It doesn't matter. It's all the same. There's no way out.

TL;DR: Knowledge is power, but power corrupts. Perhaps not all truths are worth knowing, after all. Be careful with what you learn, and what you know. And be careful not to believe yourself to be smart enough to dictate what truth and lies and knowledge are to others, for no one truly is. That kind of hubris will only lead to disaster.

(I'm sorry if some of this sounds weird or doesn't make full sense. I wanted to get my thoughts out before the update to see if it turns out that anything I say has official merit lol)