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justagalwhowrites · 10 months ago

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TikTok Trend

Beautiful decides to take part in a TikTok Trend with Joel. A New in Town drabble.

^We're borrowing Mr. Ben for a late-40s Joel, OK? I desperately need more gifs of Pedro's Joel from that era, I'm too reliant on other characters and actual Pedro gifs for these fics GIVE ME SOMETHING PLEASE

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader from New in Town

Warnings: Not much! Age gap but not the focus of the fic (reader is 36, Joel is 48). No use of Y/N. Minors DNI 18+ only.

Length: 1.4k

A/N: I got stuck thinking earlier how Joel would react to the "call your boyfriend your husband" trend and this is how I think it'd go. This is set about 3 months before the last chapter of New in Town. This can be read as a stand alone fic with the understanding that reader is Sarah's best friend and Joel and Reader have an established relationship of about a year.

“So what’s this for again?” Joel asked as he sat down at the picnic table in the park.

“It’s a TikTok challenge,” you said, settling in beside him. Joel opened the paper bag the two of you had just gotten from a food truck and started taking out the tacos, putting some in front of you and him.

“Right,” he said. “And… I’m sorry, baby, but what’s the point?”

You laughed as you set your phone against your water bottle so it was propped up and ready to film.

“There isn’t really one, I guess,” you said. “It’s just a fun little video you make and then share. Those interns I have until May are all about it, they were showing me some of theirs the other day. Figure if I work in marketing, I gotta keep up with the trends!”

Joel smiled a little.

“So this is the kind of shit Sarah does, huh?”

“Yeah, she does,” you laughed again. “Her and the interns made one for the company social page the other day, actually.”

“Can I see?” He asked, interest suddenly piqued.

“Sure,” you picked your phone back up and found your company’s TikTok, scrolling to the video and handing it off to Joel.

“We work in marketing, of course we over analyze every ad we see,” Sarah said through your phone, a small smile on Joel’s face as he watched.

It made you smile, too. One of the fun parts about being in the strange middle ground between your boyfriend’s and best friend’s ages was serving as a bit of a translator between them. Joel still didn’t quite get TikTok. Sarah didn’t understand why her dad refused to go all in on streaming and still had cable. You, at least, could see both sides.

But this TikTok effort had nothing to do with Sarah. You did try to keep up with the trends on social media to better craft campaigns and content - capitalizing on trends meant that you had to move quick and you couldn’t afford to be out of touch - but your personal TikTok account was mostly empty. It was pretty private, anyway, shared with only a few close friends like Sarah and Maria. All it had were a few reposts of things you liked, some montages of video snippets from you and Joel’s first vacation together, that sort of thing.

“You should do some of the trends!” Jason, one of your interns, said earlier that day.

“Just being in the loop on trends is plenty for me,” you waved him off but smiled. “I don’t need to participate.”

“But it’s fun!” Kenzie, your other intern said. “They’re not all dances and stuff, you know…”

“I know,” you said. “But it’s just not what I want to spend a lot of time doing is all.”

“Some don’t take much time,” she said, opening her phone and scrolling for a second. “Here, this one’s easy. You said you have a boyfriend, right?”

“I do…”

“Cool,” she said. “So all you do is record yourself making a video where you call your boyfriend your husband, just to see how he reacts. No crazy edits or anything, it’s super easy.”

You caved after some light convincing and came up with a plan to get Joel in front of the camera. You told him it was a spicy food challenge, just to see which of you handled the heat better and, while you knew he wouldn’t really get the point, you knew he’d be supportive. He always was.

But there was something about this trend in particular that made you a little nervous. It’s not like the two of you hadn’t discussed marriage. You’d been together a year now, you’d just moved into his house. It had definitely come up. But it had come up in the way that far off things do, something that might happen some day if things fell into place in just the right way. You didn’t want to push it, didn’t want him to feel rushed or obligated, especially since you’d only been cohabitating about a month. Bringing up marriage - even like this - made you nervous.

“OK I think I get it,” Joel handed you your phone back after watching Sarah’s video twice. “But we’re not doin’ that same thing, right?”

“Nope,” you said. “We’re going to see who handles the spice better.”

“Think we both know which one of us is gonna win that one, Beautiful,” he teased, nuzzling his nose against your temple before kissing your cheek. “Us southern men are made of sterner stuff…”

“Yeah yeah,” you rolled your eyes but smiled, leaning close to him. “We’ll just see about that.”

You set your phone up to record again, propping it against your water bottle.

“Here, you gotta get in close because the TikTok format is vertical,” you said and Joel adjusted so you were half beside and half in front of him, his arm going around your waist, hand finding your hip, thumb slipping up below your shirt to find your bare flesh above the band of your pants and brushing you slowly, sensually there. You gave him a look.

“What?” He asked, brows raised, smile barely contained.

“Don’t act all innocent,” you shook your head. “You know exactly what you’re doing…”

“C’mon,” he said. “Let’s make your little TikTik video…”

“TikTok,” you rolled your eyes but adjusted yourself, your heart pounding.

“Whatever the kids are using now,” he said. “Because the sooner we’re done the sooner I can get you home…”

“Alright, I’m going to record,” you cut him off. “Behave yourself!”

“Always do, Beautiful.”

You rolled your eyes again but took a deep breath, leaned forward and pressed record.

“Hi everyone,” you smiled, watching the recording of you and Joel as it was made on the screen. “I’m here with my husband and we’re going to do the spicy food challenge…”

“Your what?” He cut you off and you turned so you could see him a little better.

“What?”

“Did…” he paused, looking at you like he wasn’t sure if you were losing it or he was. You weren’t sure if that was good or bad. “Did you just call me your husband?”

“Yeah,” you shrugged, turning back to the camera. “Anyway, my husband and I both really love spicy food and…”

You didn’t get a chance to finish your sentence. Joel grabbed your chin almost roughly, pulling you around to face him and all but crushed his lips against yours, clutching you close, kissing you deep and hard, like he couldn’t get enough of you. When he finally let you go, you looked at him and laughed a little, watching him.

“What was that for?” You asked.

“You wanna call me your husband?” He asked, a serious look on his face. “Beautiful, we will go to the courthouse right this damn second, don’t tempt me…”

“Joel, it’s 7 p.m.,” you laughed. “The courthouse is closed.”

“Don’t care,” he said, giving you a quicker kiss this time. “C’mon, we’ll grab Sarah on the way, see if Tommy wants to meet us…”

“That’s all it takes, hm?” You teased, heart pounding but for a good reason now. “Just me slipping up and calling you my husband and you’re ready to run down the aisle?”

“Baby, I’ve been ready to run down the aisle for about a year,” he pressed his forehead to yours. “Just been waitin’ on you to catch up.”

“Well,” you kissed him softly. “I’m more than caught up. But think I’m still gonna make you ask.”

“Good luck stopping me,” he said, kissing you again, longer this time, needier, until you pulled away with a groan. “Forget this food challenge, I gotta get you home and devour you. Let’s go, wife.”

You laughed and stopped the recording on your phone, saving the video to drafts as Joel gathered up the food. You made the mental note to edit out that last part before posting, no need for the interns or Sarah to know quite that much about your sex life.

“Sorry for ruining your little video,” he said as you started back toward the car. “We can try again later, promise to actually behave myself then…”

“That’s alright,” you smiled, lacing your fingers with his. “I already got everything I need.”

#fanfic #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x oc #new in town

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sophieinwonderland · 5 months ago

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The Plurality of... IF

Major spoilers for IF and Inside Out ahead. You have been warned.

Enter a world of IFs

IF is a movie about a young girl named Bea who lost her mom, and whose dad is going in for a life-threatening surgery. At the start of the movie, Bea has outgrown imaginary friends, and perhaps imagination in general.

Which makes it really inconvenient when she starts seeing other people's imaginary friends, which call themselves IFs, and finds a whole community of abandoned IFs whose children have outgrown them.

These IFs are desperate for attention and have been looking for new kids to connect with. Bea agrees to help them, and tries introducing them to a kid she knows.

When this doesn't work though, they realize that connecting the IFs to new kids may just be impossible. They instead decide they need to connect the IFs to their original children, even if said children are grown now.

A cool and unexpected theme to the movie is that you never fully outgrow your need for imaginary friends.

The rest of the movie is Bea trying to rekindle the connections of the IFs to their now-grown children by jogging their memories of the past.

The Plurality of IFs

Plurality: A state of multiple self-conscious agents, or "headmates," sharing a single body.

One thing about the movie is that a whole lot about how plural it is depends on you interpret the IFs. Are they separate entities entirely who were created by their children? Or are they connected directly to the minds and bodies of the their hosts? Are they even other children's imaginary friends as they claim, or are they just in Bea's head?

For what on the surface feels simple, the movie leaves a lot, pardon the pun, to the imagination.

What we know for certain is that each IF is self-conscious. And they are, according to the poster on the right of the billboard below, real.

They also at least appear connected to the host's body.

We know that, with the exception of Bea and other IFs, only their creators can see or interact with them.

It's also likely that when their host dies, they do too. Which yes, makes the poster on the left saying "you never really disappear" a bit misleading. But in the movie, we never see IFs of people who have passed. It's all just IFs whose children have outgrown them.

For example, while Bea finds the IFs of her grandma and her dad, she never meets her mom's IF.

With this in mind, I think regardless of the interpretation, there's undoubtedly some sort of plurality going on here.

To explore these different scenarios, we need to start asking the central question of the movie.

What if?

What if… the IFs are actually physical?

In the movie, we see multiple times that IFs interact with the physical world. They open doors. They pick things up. They move things around.

There's one scene in the movie where Blue, the big purple IF, hid in the clothes in a laundry cart in the hospital.

As Bea tries to pull him out, the cart physically rolls around the room.

There's also another scene where Bea faints after seeing an IF, and it's implied the IFs physically moved her inside.

If we're to interpret the IFs as being physical and everything we see in the movie as being completely real and to be taken at face value, this has some pretty huge implications for this universe. And Bea's story in a world of invisible creatures created by children who can physically interact with reality might be the least interesting story in this universe.

After all, if the IFs can do things like this, surely other people have noticed. One can imagine the CIA training children in a secret bunker somewhere to use their IFs in combat. Secret weapons that are invisible, can spy on anyone, can move objects around in the physical world, and can only be killed by finding and eliminating the host child.

It's a pretty awesome if terrifying thought.

IFs would be the ultimate spies and assassins.

But this also creates another issue. If the IFs are actually physical and can pick things up, why not just pick up a pen and let their host children know that they're still there. Why not type on a keyboard?

And it's for this reason that... I just don't think the movie wants us to believe the way the IFs are physically interacting with the world is actually happening.

Okay, but if they're not physical...

What if… the IFs are spiritual headmates?

This seems more reasonable. And while not the one I think is the most likely, this IS the explanation that I like the best. It's the most thematically satisfying.

In this, the IFs are spiritual thoughtforms created by the children. Because they're spiritual, it makes sense that somebody who has a special gift, as Bea does, can see them. And that they can see each other as well.

At the end of the movie, we get to see all these adults connecting with and being able to see their IFs again, and it's a really cool and satisfying way to end the film, seeing their work pay off and giving a happy ending to the story of all the characters we got to know over the course of the film.

I love that ending. I love seeing the heartwarming reunions of the IFs and their hosts after all of those years.

I just don't believe it... I want to believe... but I don't...

Which leads me to my final interpretation... That all of this is happening entirely in Bea's head.

What if… Bea has DID?

Wait, I know what you're thinking, why DID specifically? You don't need DID to be plural, after all.

I'm personally a tulpa, an imaginary friend of sorts given life. And I would naturally love a purely endogenic explanation. But as with the spiritual explanation, simply wanting something to be true doesn't make it so.

First, let's talk for a moment about DID's criteria in the most recent edition of the DSM, the DSM-5-TR

These are the boxes a clinician would need to check for a diagnosis. (Note: Simply checking the boxes isn't enough to diagnose. There are additional features that need considered. These are just a minimum. Basically, if you don't check the boxes, you can't have DID under the DSM.)

The big ones are criterion A and criterion B. The other three criteria are all exceptions, saying what DID isn't rather than what it is.

Criterion A

Later in the DSM, it's explained that the criterion A phenomena often presents as "independently acting imaginary companions."

To be clear, not all independent imaginary companions are indicative of dissociative identity disorder. That's the point of criterion C.

And studies have shown that as many as 29% of imaginary friends demonstrate consistent behavior indicative of acting outside of the host child's control, while another 35% appear mostly compliant but don't always do what the host child wants.

The participants were 89 preschool children who described their imaginary companions (46 invisible friends and 43 personified objects). The descriptions were coded for disobedient or otherwise difficult behaviour attributed to the imaginary companions. Thirty-six per cent of the children described their imaginary companions as consistently compliant and agreeable, 35 per cent gave some indication that the imaginary companions did not always do or say what the children wanted, although they were mostly friendly and compliant, and 29 per cent described their imaginary companions as noncompliant in ways that suggested the children experienced the companion to some extent as being out of their conscious control.

About two thirds of imaginary friends then demonstrate some level of independence from the host child. That doesn't mean DID on its own.

However...

Criterion B

Remember what I mentioned earlier about how Bea sees an IF and passes out, and it's implied that the IFs physically move her body to a new location?

This is something that stuck with me since the first viewing. I already went over why I don't believe the IFs are physical. But then, how does Bea pass out in one place and then wake up in another completely different place?

The easy solution to the conundrum is if they switched. That Bea experienced a complete blackout switch while someone else controlled her body. She doesn't know how she got there because of dissociative amnesia.

This dissociative amnesia fulfills the second criterion.

But it's even more than that.

HUGE MEGA SPOILER

Bea is accompanied through her journey by Cal. While Cal is originally presented as a human neighbor, he's later revealed to be Bea's former imaginary friend, who she forgot about. The entire time they interact, she has no memory of who Cal is or her adventures with him, despite Cal remembering and the other IFs being aware of Cal's connection to Bea.

The Other Criteria

Criterion C is a bit of a doozy. What constitutes "clinically significant" is up to the individual clinicians. But generally, experiencing random blackouts is probably going to be impairing.

(Ritual possession states also cause dissociative amnesia, but it's generally more controlled unlike Bea's episodes of memory loss.)

For criterion D, I would say the amnesia above couldn't be explained simply by imaginary playmates alone, even if her headmates are presenting as imaginary friends.

And for Criterion E, there is no substance abuse nor other medical conditions that we know of.

Trauma history

Trauma is not part of the diagnostic criteria, but chronic trauma does occur in upwards of 90% of DID cases.

In the opening, we see Bea's mother going in and out of the hospital.

Now, typically, the type of trauma that is associated with DID is some sort of neglect or abuse. And we don't see that in the flashbacks. But maybe we're just seeing the positive memories in what's meant to be a kid's movie. Maybe we're not seeing the times Bea is worried sick over her mother. The times her parents aren't there for her because there's more focus on her mom's condition. The times her dad couldn't be emotionally present because he was mourning the loss of his wife.

Could this be enough to cause DID? I genuinely have no idea. But since people process trauma in different ways, I think it could be traumatic enough for Bea.

And if this was tied to trauma from her mom, this explains too why this starts up only after Bea's father is in the hospital, bringing back that trauma she had from losing her mom.

In this scenario, all the imaginary friends are just Bea's own headmates, and the ending with them connecting with their hosts is just happening in their imagination/inner world.

All in all, I really love that the movie, despite its simplicity on the surface, opens itself up to so many interpretations.

But maybe this is all a distraction and we shouldn't actually focus too much on what's literally going on in the film.

What if… we focus instead on the message that you're never too old for imaginary friends?

As fun as these hypothetical are, I wonder if getting lost in them might be missing the point.

The core takeaway message of this movie is that you're never too old to have imaginary friends. And maybe more generally, to have fun and enjoy life. But let's focus on the imaginary friends thing because this blog is about plurality.

What's interesting is how this puts it in stark opposition to another plural-coded movie about a young girl with a forgotten imaginary friend: Inside Out.

In Inside Out, Bing Bong dies, giving his life to save Joy. And by extension, to save Riley. Symbolically, Bing Bong's death represented a popular view of imaginary friends needing to die so the host child can prosper.

And that view, despite permeating pop culture, isn't really based on anything but ableism and sanism. A centuries-old myth that imaginary friends are unhealthy without an ounce of data to actually back it up.

Studies actually tend to show children with imaginary friends to be pretty healthy. And the same goes for studies of adult tulpa systems who report mental health improvements due to their tulpas.

Bing Bong shouldn't have had to die, and I would argue that his death leaves Riley worse off than if he had survived or was brought back.

IF serves as a repudiation of Inside Out's stigmatization of imaginary friends, and it's portrayal of their death being necessary to growing up.

It did this by asking a simple question… what if?

What if how we've all been taught to think of imaginary friends is wrong?

What if more people wanted to reconnect with their old imaginary friends?

What would the world look like?

Like I said, my favorite interpretation is the spiritual one. Because then the movie ends by showing all these IFs get to reconnect with their hosts, and it's such a beautiful thing to see.

Even if I think the ending is a lie, I don't think the message is.

And it's a message that makes me, as a former imaginary friend myself, ask that same central question.

What if this movie could help lead to people re-valuating their own beliefs of imaginary friends and wanting to connect with their own from the past? How cool would that be?

If anyone out there is thinking back on their childhood imaginary friends and want to try to reconnect, my advice is to just do it. Because as the poster on the billboard says, I don't think imaginary friends ever truly disappear. They're somewhere inside as long as their memory remains.

For anyone out there who has imaginary friends right now that they think might be sentient like the ones in IF, you can check out my guide on how to know if your imaginary friend is sentient below:

And for anyone who never had a sentient IF of their own but wants one now, here is a huge collection of tulpamancy guides to get you started.

And as always, thank you all for reading! 💖

For more discussions about plurality in media, check out the Plurality of... Avatar The Last Airbender.

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mirai-e-jump · 9 months ago

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TV Guide Dan Vol.51, April 2024 Issue ft. Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger Cast Members Iuchi Haruhi x Hayama Yuki Interview (translations below)

Publication: April 5, 2024

PARTNER

"Please tell us about the other person's role in Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger."

Iuchi: Ishiro Meita, played by Yuki-kun, may look cool at first glance, but that's just him hiding his true character. Whenever I play the role of Taiya Hando, he's a character that makes me think, "Ishiro trusts Taiya." Going forward, we'll gradually get to see his cute side.

Hayama: It's true that Ishiro has a wide range of emotions (laughs). My impression of Taiya is that he values his intuition. So far, there aren't that many scenes in the show where the two of them talk together, so we don't know what led to their relationship of trusting each other, but I have a vague idea of what part of Taiya made Ishiro fall for him.

"Can you name some similarities between your roles and each other?"

Hayama: This isn't just me, as other cast members and Director Nakazawa Shojiro have also mentioned it, but Haruhi's personality is getting closer to Taiya's day after day. At first I thought I was the only one who thought that way, but when I told everyone, it seems like they think so too. I feel like he was chosen because he was the one meant to be Taiya.

Iuchi: That makes me happy (he's embarrassed). I didn't know you were talking about that.

Hayama: Taiya's a character who works quietly by himself, and Haruhi's the same way on set. During break time or when he's with the cast, he's always in a talkative mood, but before filming, he reads the script quietly by himself.

Iuchi: Now that you mention it, I think I may be like that. I like to spend time with others, but I'm also the type of person who values alone time. Yuki-kun is…

Hayama: (leaning towards him) I'm cool, just like Ishiro, right?

Iuchi: Uh, y-yeah (laughs). But, to tell you the truth, I feel that both Ishiro and Yuki-kun have a gap. They look cool at first glance, but in reality, they're cute…

Hayama: Isn't that just gap moe?! (*being attracted to the gap between one's appearance and personality)

Iuchi: That's right (laughs). In particular, I was amused by the fact that Yuki-kun recently won a figure and tote bag in a lottery for his favorite anime, and he's been carrying the tote bag with him all the time. He even takes it when moving from the waiting room, where you normally don't have to take anything with you. Seeing him do things like that, even though he's older, I think Yuki-kun is so cute that it's unfair.

"How did you become friends?"

Hayama: My hobbies are to go ramen hopping and going to saunas. When I mentioned this, Haruhi said, "I'm interested!" From there, we started going together for awhile.

Iuchi: Right! I was interested in both and wanted to get into them, but I had just moved to Tokyo and didn't know the city at all…Now, I've started to follow Yuki-kun's example, and made a photo folder with just ramen.

"What kind of ramen do you like?"

Hayama: Basically, I like everything, but I especially love Chinese soba with a soy sauce base. What kind of flavor do you like Haruhi?

Iuchi: Originally I was a soy sauce person, and liked thin, hard noodles, but recently, Yuki-kun took me to a restaurant similar to "Jiro" and I became addicted.

Hayama: It might've been a bad thing that I told you about it (laughs). The next time we have a day off from filming, us four guys, including Saito Ryu-kun and Soma Satoru-kun, should go together.

Iuchi: Yeah! It can be like alittle treat for us.

"To begin with, are you two outdoor or indoor people?"

Hayama: I'm a total indoor person. My hobbies are watching anime and reading manga.

Iuchi: We're the same. I also watch anime, movies, dramas, and have recently gotten into reading, I also play the guitar as a hobby.

Hayama: Well, if we were going to spend time together indoors, Haruhi should play the guitar as background music while I read manga. That way we can enjoy each other's hobbies.

Iuchi: Ah~ I see. But, if we were to spend time together, I'd like to go to Akihabara. I don't really go out if I'm alone, so I'd like to look around at the things we share a similar interest in.

Hayama: Alright! Come to think of it, it might be fun since we have so many things we like in common. The other three main cast members of Boonboomger are outdoor people, so it's good to have people like that by our side!

"What's something you'd like to ask each other?"

Iuchi: Ummm…when you were a student, were you smart?

Hayama: So suddenly?! why?

Iuchi: Yuki-kun, you seem like a smart guy. However, when I thought you were cool, you turned out to be surprisingly different.

Hayama: I see (laughs). I think my grade level was above half? It was alittle above the average score, but it wasn't really that high…wait, Haruhi! Are you trying to ruin my image with this interview?!

Iuchi: No, no! I'm not! (laughs).

Hayama: (laughs). This is going to be a serious question, but as I mentioned earlier, I feel that in a very short period of time, Haruhi has become more and more like Taiya, and that everyone views him as such. I read the script and make a certain plan before going to the set, but once I saw the way that Haruhi played Taiya after I got there, I changed my plans. When acting, do you do anything in addition to reading the script?

Iuchi: Hmmm…If I had to say so, I'd say that at random moments during my daily life, I think to myself, "Taiya would make a move like this right now." For example, I've always been the type of person who looks down while walking fast, but I think that Taiya would straighten his posture and walk slowly, so I've been trying to do that.

Hayama: Heh~. So, Taiya's character is taken from daily life?

Iuchi: Yeah. Otherwise, even though I'm playing the role of Taiya, I feel like I'd inadvertently come off as Iuchi Haruhi…As an extension of that, from the moment I read the script, I try to read it while keeping in mind that, "I'm Taiya Hando."

Hayama: Amazing. I'd love to learn from you!

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wistfulnightingale · 1 month ago

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Reflections and Divisions (or, Mirrors in the Show, Mirrors of Ourselves)

Mini-Meta Musing #11

Good Omens is a truly wonderful show. It's among the friendliest, healthiest fandoms out there, and has attracted multitudes of people from all over the world, across generations. We look at the lovably flawed characters and see people we can relate to. Nevermind that they are literally Angels and Demons -- we decide which we identify with, a little of this, a little of that, or all in! Am I more of an angel? Am I mostly demon? Do I ride out the waves, or create them? Am I sassy? Cool? Defiant? Awkward? Daring? Devoted?

For some of us, like me, we see Neurodivergent representation there, coded or otherwise. We ponder if fast-moving, book-tossing Crowley has ADHD traits like we do, or if Azriaphale's social naiveté and fixated earnestness is a cinnamon roll bundle like our own Autism. Even then, not everyone with neurodivergence sees themselves perfectly reflected there. But it's still comforting. (And Maggie herself, both the character and Maggie Service the actor, gives us an actually Autistic icon to smile about!)

The story within the show is structured on the compatibility and contrast of complementary opposites. Demon and Angel in our beloved Ineffables. Practical vs. Idealist in Nina and Maggie, who themselves are mirrors of Crowley and Aziraphale. Gabriel and Beelzebub, although when I look at that pair, I'm drawn to see their similarities more than their differences.

This structure creates interesting dynamics in the fandom itself. Not only do we find ourselves relating to the characters' identities, we are drawn to relate to their experiences. Their challenges and obstacles reflect our own. Many of us have dealt with ridiculous work bureaucracy, too much paperwork, isolation. We've dealt with social rejection and judgmentalism. For some of us, religious trauma. A lot of us have had to fight for independence, the right to live our lives as we wish and to be who we are, regardless of others' harsh opinions. We see that in Crowley and Aziraphale, and love them for it. We want them to fight for each other.

When each of us watch the Final Fifteen, we see ourselves reflected there too. Many of us have experienced at least one painful and complicated break-up in our lives. Rejection, or being incredibly misunderstood by someone you love and trust, can feel excruciating. Some of us have been fortunate enough to experience genuine acceptance in a loving relationship. If we're older folk, maybe it's been long-term. Or maybe not, but maybe we feel happy about the time we had that was good.

It's the one, singular part of the fandom I see division in. Maybe you've noticed it too. Most of the time it's handled with good grace and kindly disagreement. But it does make discussion of the Final Fifteen complicated sometimes, doesn't it? Whichever "side" you relate to, it seems so clear that THAT is the experience you see there. How can others NOT see it? The Ineffables are our mirrors.

It's like looking at clouds. Or the old Rorschach ink-blot test. We see what makes sense to us. And our Ineffables are so Wonderfully Human, like us, in all our glories and failings.

The Final Fifteen is agonizing to watch. Their pain and confusion is real and raw. For many of us, it sets off sympathetic echoes. We may ourselves feel angry, betrayed. We may feel heartbroken, tearful, even protective. It might make us want to take sides, like when a dear friend has been hurt in a relationship. If we blame Azi, we either condemn him entirely, or sympathize with how he seemed to misread the situation and communicated so poorly. We shake our heads and commiserate with Crowley at that desperate, ill-timed kiss.

For me, I was crushed after the first watch. And the second. But when I re-watched the series yet again, I saw a Love in Season 2 that (to me) was too solid to crumble with such ease. Most especially, I saw a Love that was acknowledged, a partnership that was real and established, not something that had never even occurred to Crowley before. "Our car..." "We both get plenty of use out of it [the bookshop]." "A sherry for Lady Bracknell" (who is a proper dowager from Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" btw). The self-aware embarassment and cautious contact was long gone. Instead, there are unmistakable looks of flirtation, and private jokes, and shared memories, and familiarity. An "Our Song!" They even fight with more openness and trust, secure that expressed anger and Apology Dances will lead to eventual resolution.

That's how "I Believe in Nightingales" came about. I believe that the relationship is indeed An Old Married Couple who has grown up a lot since Season 1. A bonded couple who have rhythms of their own, little looks and understandings. Who accept each other in all their flaws, and even find the differences attractive sometimes. Or ridiculous sometimes, but still love and accept those differences unconditionally. That the complementary opposites form a united whole.

It also put me on a quest to make sense of that belief. I started looking for clues, spending waaaaay too many hours scrutinizing details, looking at footage in slow motion, taking screenshot after screenshot. And loving every moment of it! Good Omens is, I believe, a superb piece of craftsmanship. That's why, 16 months later, we're still talking and posting and theorizing! I'll be posting some theories myself in a day or two.

The beauty of Good Omens is also that it's a home for the dreamers, the outcasts, the oddballs, the lovers. There's room for all of us.

Here's to us always making room for each other...

Here's to Our World!

(A shoutout to @kimberleyjean, whose beautiful posts, examining dualities and mirroring in Good Omens, inspired a metaphor to express the thoughts I've been pondering for months! And to @sendarya for her lovely video essay/discussion on YouTube from the IneffableCon 5, Exploring Belonging in Good Omens.)

#good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #good omens meta #final fifteen #to our world #a sherry for Lady Bracknell #bentley #aziracrow #aziraphale loves crowley #crowley loves aziraphale #a nightingale sang in berkeley square #i believe in nightingales #wistfulnightingale

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zippidi-dooda · 28 days ago

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Thwack,

Kachack,

Whack!

The sounds came one after another, followed by each of your peers falling down from a single blow.

Everyone was breathing heavily, clutching their aching sides.

Yet the match hadn't even lasted more than a second.

And the swordsman training you hadn't even broken a sweat.

For weeks you had been at it, gaining a stoic look and cold words in return. Your peers had just about given up hope, wanting someone to step up and tell the Hashira that the training was too hard, that he should be more considerate of your ranks.

But no one was brave enough.

Though the routine was rough, a small part of you couldn't help wishing to be stuck here longer.

Others may have called you crazy, but you couldn't help it with your budding attraction to the hashira in front of you.

He was cool, calm, and collected, each swing of his bokken hitting it's mark and with barely traceable speed. You could only imagine what seeing him fight a real demon was like.

You were awestruck.

Maybe you were just wasting your time, afterall, he hardly spoke a word to you outside of sparing and all he said then was,

"You're slow ... you would've been dead three times over now ... a demon won't give you time like that ... try harder ..."

It was a little discouraging to be honest, but that flutter of your heart each time his mint green eyes met yours was incredible.

Who knows when you'd next get a chance to meet him, you had to make the most of it.

Every day, you'd spend extra time training with him and every night you spent time wondering where he runs off to. It was difficult to not want to follow him, though if he decided to run you knew you'd lose him quickly, so you stuck to staying back and dreaming of him.

You thought you were content with that, but then, a new pupil came in.

Kamado Tanjiro.

There had been a buzz about him among the slayers for some time now, but you never thought that you'd get to meet him either.

He was sweet and especially skilled, you enjoyed getting to train alongside him.

But that wasn't the only reason you were glad he had come.

See, things changed when he was here. It was the first time you had seen the hashira smile.

And such a beautiful one at that.

You could hardly focus on anything from then on, too busy committing the image to memory. You could spend all day gazing at him like that.

But, that smile vanished the second his attention returned to the rest of you.

Since that observation, you were determined to figure out every way to make him smile.

At some point, your group was able to convince training to end early.

Tired and spent, but you wasted no time catching your breath and tailed the young man out the door.

"Muichiro! W-wait up!" You called out.

He turned to you, face expressionless as ever, "hm? Do you need something?"

Steadying your breathing, you smiled at him, "just wanted to say it was nice training today. I think we're gonna get some real improvement moving forward."

"You all were scared stiff." He stated blunty.

You flinched, but waved it off, beginning to walk beside him, "w-well, you did bring real swords in for the first time. And you're really good at this, it's normal for people like us to get nervous."

"Mmm, I suppose so. That being said, you guys are not doing as bad as you think. Not moving in recklessly is a good start."

The two of you walked aimlessly, following the other assuming they had taken the lead.

"Thanks! It means a lot coming from a guy like you, you're so cool and-"

"Not giving it your all, like you do, is a stupid mistake."

You paused your steps. "Huh?"

"You stopped trying." Muichiro turned to fully face you now, hand on the hilt of his sword, "A while ago actually. Tell me, why is that? Do I bore you? Or do you want to get eaten? Why after all the extra time you put in, more than the others, are you still not able to advance? Is there something wrong with you? Am I wasting my time?"

Panicked, you quickly shook your head. "No! That's not it at all!"

He stepped forward. "It's alright to not want this path, but you need to make that decision quick before wasting anyone's time," he adjusted his grip on his sword, "A lackadaisical attitude in battle will get you and many others killed. You can't waste time. So tell me now, why do you keep slacking off?"

With each step closer, you took one back, hands raised defensively. "Now, hold on Muichiro, let's not jump the gun here-"

"Speak. Or else I'll have to make the decision to end your training here completely." He drew his sword.

You stiffened, eyes fixed on the shining blue blade. He wouldn't actually attack you while you were unarmed, would he?

"Muichiro ...?"

"Fine. This is your last chance to prove yourself."

And with those brief words, he was gone.

Left, right, up, down, where was he? If he did plan to fight you here, you could only assume he'd mimick the moves he made during training.

You needed to dodge. Quickly!

"Too slow." His soft voice whispered by your ear before you were kicked forward and sent rolling in the dust.

"Same as usual. I could conclude this early-mm?"

You were quick to activate your breathing, darting towards him with the only plan being to knock him down or block him at the very least.

The tips of your fingers had nearly ghosted over his billowy uniform, but he was quickly behind you again, knocking you down with the hilt of his sword.

"A demon could pick up on your intentions easily. You're too open."

He vanished again as you rolled onto your back and swiped at his legs. Then his blade struck the dirt beside your face narrowly missing you as you turned away.

"You're a bit faster. Are you sensing the danger now? Was a blade the only incentive you needed?"

Swp!

Clang!

You jumped and dodged, trying to trip him up, but to no avail. Each attack came faster than the last and bloody nicks began to litter your skin.

You couldn't touch him and without a weapon of your own there were few ways to counter his attacks, you were down on options.

What did you do? You didn't want end your Corp training here, nor did you want to lose any hope of seeing this guy again. Do you run for it?

As you racked your mind for ideas, Muichiro attack you from the front, blade drawn up by his cheek, and you were met with a beautiful sight.

His light eyes were narrowed with focus, thin lips set in a firm line, long dark hair flowing like a river around him, the turquoise tips complimenting the blue of his blade.

If this was what the demons got to see in their final moments, they must have been as greatful as you were.

You sighed deeply, subconsciously raising a hand to block his strike.

The sharp sting of the sword cutting into your palm broke you out of your reverie.

You grit your teeth, gripping the blade tighter to prevent him getting away and lunged forward, quick to butt you head against his.

Your stunt had stunned him slightly and you had a brief opening to disarm him.

The impromptu match ended with Muichiro rubbing his head and you holding onto his blade.

A nervous smile grew on your face as you clenched your bleeding palm. "Haha ow ...."

"You disarmed me." The boy murmured stepping closer to you. "Looks like you'll be able to continue your training."

You exhaled with relief, handing back his sword. "Ah, thank goodness. I wasn't ready to leave quite yet."

"You will be leaving. You're ready to train with the next Hashira." He swiped the blood off his sword. "And you should bandage that wound up."

The beating of your heart picked up. You didn't want to leave yet.

"Wait-"

"If you remember there are no chances to hold back, you'll be fine. Don't quit trying halfway through."

He continued walking, ready to head out to wherever he usually disappears to. You wouldn't see him till tomorrow if he got out the door.

It was now or never.

"Muichiro ...," with a gulp, you ran up to him once more, gripping his sleeve.

"Hm? What is it?"

Your gut churned nervously as you began to answer. "Muichiro ... I-I like you. I don't want this to be the last time I see you."

"..."

He blinked owlishly at you.

Your hands began to shake and your mouth felt dry. "Um ... y-you're really cool and I admire you as a hashira. But ... I also think you're cute and I want to keep in touch ... it's kinda why I've been holding back and stuff."

There was a moment of deathly awkward silence and you were ready to just run away and pretend this never happened.

But then, it happened.

The stoic boy began to laugh. Maybe it should have been embarrassing, he could be laughing at you for saying something so childish. But instead you felt giddy, smiling with him as you watched his grin rosey up his cheeks.

"That's why you've been here so long? How silly. You shouldn't hinder yourself for such reasons. I don't know what to make of you now."

You shuffled nervously. "Is that good or bad?"

He shrugged, laughter subsiding, but smile still glowing. "I'm not sure. I feel strange. I haven't felt this way before. But still, you should focus on your training and getting stronger."

"Okay ...," Hoping you were reading the clues correctly, you stepped closer. "That was the plan. But ... does this mean I can send you letters now?"

He hummed before nodding. "I wouldn't mind."

You sighed, smiling more confidently. "Alright then, Murichiro. Let's keep in touch."

He nodded politely, watching as you turned to start packing your stuff.

As you paused and turned back to him, he tilted his head to the side.

Thinking it was all or nothing, you ran up to him, pausing momentarily before pressing a kiss to the soft plush of his cheek.

Face burning, you wave goodbye and run to get your things, too embarrassed to look back and see as the stunned boy cupped his warm cheek, and the steady smile that graced his lips as he watched after you.

#demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #x reader #muichiro tokito #kny muichiro #muichiro x reader #kny

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orqheuss · 2 years ago

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Seven new ways that you can eat your young

(Ominis Gaunt/Sebastian Sallow/F!Reader SMUT)

Summary:

I'm starvin', darlin', let me put my lips to something, let me wrap my teeth around the world. *** In the midst of the end-of-the-year Slytherin party for the graduating seventh years, Ominis hears something that makes his blood boil. *** Smut based on the Hozier song, "Eat Your Young."

word count: 6.4K

AN: I'm reposting all of my fics from ao3 on to here for easier access! We're starting with the smut.

Slytherin’s always threw the best parties. That’s what everyone said, at least. It was the eve of the last week before the seventh-year’s graduated. All of the older students gathered in the Slytherin common room, ready to shake off any stress they had about the inevitable future. The merriment flowed like the goblets filled with firewhiskey and butterbeer sloshing in their hands. The room smelled heavily like sweat, alcohol, and sex. Some couples had already retired to their respective common rooms, leaving the main living area filled with green-colored horny teenagers and a few singletons still floating around.

Ominis stood off to the side of the party, back leaning against the cool wall of the common room. The glow of the black lake through the large cathedral style windows danced across his face, making him look ethereal. He wasn’t a fan of parties— much too loud for him. But, he promised Sebastian that he would try to have fun at the last party of their school career. Many people have approached to ask him for a dance, but he declined each time. He did not dance, even with his closest friends. His limbs were too long, too gangly to move smoothly. While he had filled out some since he was a newly minted young adult, he was still made out of all bony angles. From his vantage point in the room, he could hear absolutely everything that was happening. With his enhanced hearing, he could even go as far as pinpoint exactly where his companions were and what they were doing. He had memorized their sounds long ago— their distinct walking pattern, their strong heartbeats, their melodic voices. It was like recognizing his favorite song coming out of a gramophone across the room from him.

Sebastian was in the far corner of the room, over by the fireplace. There were multiple, feminine shaped forms around him. Ominis could hear him laugh at something one of them said, or maybe at a joke that came out of his mouth. Either way, the man was most definitely trying to have some unseemly fun with one of his many admirers that night. His heart was beating at a steady pace in his chest; the alcohol definitely calmed his nerves. Sebastian may have been a ladies man, but he fumbled around like the best of them when he thought too hard. There was something so drawing, so enticing about him. Maybe it was the cadence that he held himself with, how he was so confident in himself but still so humble about his achievements. Or maybe it was his charismatic voice— he could charm the pants off of the Minister of Magic. Either way, Sebastian Sallow was attractive. To anyone else in the common room, it would just seem like the brunette was just using his charm on the ladies of Slytherin house. But, Ominis knew the truth; Sebastian always liked to tease him about his jealous tendencies. Even if they weren’t together, not unless they were drunk, of course, the brunette knew that it bothered the blond to his very core that he was so irresistible to the rest of the student body. Any other time of the day, or other level of sobriety, it probably would bother the Gaunt man, but he knew that once this night was over and all of the others had gone to bed, he would be in the Undercroft absolutely pounding the brattiness out of his best friend. The blond smirked to himself, looking down at his foaming drink and taking a long sip to hide his smugness. Images of the last Slytherin party filled his mind, like when Sebastian danced into their shared room and took his hand before eagerly dragging him to their secret hideaway. He remembered the feeling of his smooth skin against his fingertips as he shoved him over the arm of the settee he had conjured up and lined up with his entrance; the mental image caused the slight bulge in his trousers to jump. He was pleasantly tipsy, the alcoholic concoction that Imelda made him sending little shivers of warmth through his system and making his thoughts disapparate into a lovely fog. Oh yes, he knew that he would have a good night tonight. What he hadn’t expected was for his other best friend to be a part of it, as well.

Ominis’ ears twitched in the direction of his female companion, hearing your twinkling giggle coming from the dance floor. He could sense the shape of your body dancing against the pelvis of someone else, someone much taller and much more muscular. The soft curves of your body were visible for once to the boy— the sound waves from the thumping music cascaded around you and formed a distinct shape in his mind. You were truly captivating, each sound you made jumped from his ears directly to his heart and more private places. A new feeling of jealousy bubbled under the surface of his skin at the idea of someone else touching you. The man’s hands were on your hips, pressing your behind into his front in a raunchy show of lust. A deep chuckle filled his ears, his eyebrows stitching together in annoyance. Weasley. That rat had his hands on his best friend, drawing those delicious mewls from your throat. He could hear your harsh breathing from his post; you were absolutely panting in need. Your hips gyrated on the redhead’s lap, swinging back and forth in captivating circles that caused Ominis’ mind to go to some dark places. He could see the shadow of the Gryffindor’s pinky enter the band of your skirt, his head tip towards your stretched taut neck, and his vision filled with red. Jealousy flooded his body at the thought of Garreth Weasley, of all people, touching something that was rightfully his . He didn’t know when his subconscious had taken ownership of you, but in that moment it was singing for revenge.

Absolutely not. Fuck that.

Downing the rest of his drink, the blond slammed his goblet on the nearest bookshelf and stalked towards the pair grinding on each other. Steam seemed to come out of his nose in anger like a charging bull. Grasping you by her shoulder in a strong grip, he spun you away from the redhead and pressed your backside against his front, a protective arm wrapped around the top of your chest. Ominis glowered at the startled Gryffindor, shoving a finger against his chest and sending him stumbling back slightly.

“No Gryffindor’s allowed, get out.”

Garreth stuttered in confusion and outrage, gesturing with his hands to the people around him. “What, who said that?”

Ominis growled, “I did. Now leave, Weaselby, before I make you.”

With a huff, the redhead stalked off of the dance floor, mumbling about how he didn’t even want to be there anyway. The blond smirked triumphantly in his direction, raising his hand from his side and twiddling his fingers in a snarky goodbye. The woman he had taken wiggled against his chest slightly, turning your head towards his arm and looking up at his face.

“Ominis, what was that—”

He squeezed the arm across your chest tighter, pressing you back further into his chest. It was now or never, he supposed. He leaned down towards your ear, his hot breath fanning against your pulse point with captivating warmth. He nosed at the base of your throat, dragging the tip up, up, up and behind your ear, slightly nibbling at the cuff before pulling away and hovering his lips over your ear canal.

“Saucy thing, you are, thinking you could dance with someone else when you belong to Sebastian and I.”

Your breathing caught in your throat, a warmth spreading down your chest and straight down to what was between your legs at his tone of voice. You had never heard Ominis sound so hot and bothered before.

He chuckled at how tense you had gotten, licking the edge of your ear and whispering, “Only we are allowed to touch you like that, darling.”

Ominis had never thought these words about his companion, never once considered the idea of them being together, but something about it felt so damned right. Your heartbeat stuttered against his arm, speeding up to a rapid rate. You gasped a small sigh, your breath fluttering out of your chest in captivated bliss.

“Ominis, I—”

“Shh, pet.” He leaned down once again and pressed his lips to the part where your shoulder met your throat, leaving a bruising kiss on the skin. “Just let me worship you.”

He didn’t think that your heart could beat any faster— the organ thumping against your rib cage at the speed of a hummingbird's wings. Ominis smiled against your skin, lightly biting where he had kissed and beginning to move his hips against your plump rear. His hot breath fluttered over your neck and down your chest, a soft “fuck,” leaving his mouth at the new friction. The crassness of his language sent another burst of warmth to your most intimate place; the blond very rarely swore, and the taboo-ness of it sent a shiver down your spine in pleasure. You slowly began to rotate your hips against the lithe man, pressing further into his pelvic bone and feeling his prominent arousal against your lower back. Soft moans of pleasure drifted out of your parted lips, your eyes shut in ecstasy as a hand reached up and buried itself into the man’s silken hair. His other arm stretched around your waist, gripping your skin there with enough pressure to leave fingerprints on you tomorrow. If you were to die here, on that dance floor, you would consider it a blessing.

In your state of bliss, you did not notice the second man approaching the pair of you from the front. Another pair of strong arms wrapped around your form, one hand resting on the small of your back and the other pressing the blond closer by his rear. A familiar, gruff voice filled the ears of the two.

“Please, don’t let me stop you both from enjoying yourself.” Sebastian laughed breathily against the other side of your neck, releasing you from his grip, pulling the collar of your shirt down slightly further, and pressing a hot, open mouthed kiss on your newly exposed shoulder. You were now sandwiched between your two best friends, and Merlin, you loved every second of it. Sebastian grinded his hard-on against the front of your clothed center, drawing a startled whimper from your throat and a buck of your hips against his. He groaned softly, his hand trailing to your neck and closing around it, slightly cutting off your air supply. Ominis grasped the brunette by the scruff of his neck, pulling him slightly further into the throes of your hot bodies and pushing him to mouth at his pulse point. A near silent moan rumbled against your back, his voice bleeding into your sensitive skin and lighting your nerves on fire.

Visions filled your mind of the two boys and what you wanted them to do to you.

You were on your back, stripped of your clothes and your legs spread and pressed up near your ears. The brunette pounded into you with the strength of ten men, sending pleasurable shock waves through your entire body and causing a cascade of moans to leave your open throat. Ominis soon joined you both in the sweet sin, crawling towards the pair of students on his hands and knees with a look of hunger decorating his face. He leaned up and whispered something in Sebastian’s ear, grinning in delighted villainy. Sebastian smirked down at you, grasping you by the hips and flipping you quickly over onto your stomach, pulling your rear towards his awaiting cock and sliding in once again. You mewled at the new angle that his hot member could reach inside you. Ominis made his way to your face, his cock swinging in your eyesight and causing your mouth to water. He lifted your chin, gently rubbing his thumb against your cheekbone and smiling down at you. He pressed the tip of his dick against your slightly parted lips, dragging it along your bottom lip and wetting it with his excitement.

He swore at the feeling, whispering, “Be a good girl and pleasure me with your mouth. I want to feel your moans around my hard cock. Let me know how much you’re enjoying us.”

Your jaw went slack at his words, eyes rolling into the back of your head at the dirty words that flowed from his kiss-bruised lips. He took your hair into his hand, gathering it up into a ponytail at the base of your skull before pulling you gently forward and letting your lips wrap around his head. You stuck your tongue out and ran it along the prominent vein on the underside, drawing a stuttered moan from the boy above you. The one behind you gave you a particularly harsh thrust, pressing your soft behind roughly against his crotch. You groaned at the feeling, sending vibrations around the swollen member filling your mouth and throat.

A sharp tug at your hair brought you back to reality, both boys harshly grinding against you at the same time sending a moan rocketing out of your lips. Ominis laughed behind you, leaning down and whispering in your ear, “Dirty girl! Thinking those crass things about us and what we could do to you. Were those thoughts just for me to see?”

Fuck. You forgot he was a legilimens.

He laughed even more when you stiffened against him in embarrassed shock. He leaned away from you, instead slightly craning his neck towards the other boy you were sandwiched between.

“Sebastian, if only you could see the things going through her mind right now. It’s downright filthy.”

The boy groaned at the sharp thrust the blond made against you, sending your clothed heat directly into his waiting, throbbing bulge, before humming in thought against the side of your neck.

“I suppose we should go fulfill her dreams, then.”

The men detached themselves from you, both grabbing a hand and pulling you towards the direction of the exit. Hoots and hollers could be heard at their back, their fellow Slytherin’s cheering them on for the show. Ominis could hear Imelda amongst the masses, cheering alongside them and shouting, “About bloody time, ya bastards!”

You three stumbled out of the common room exit and spilled into the castle dungeon hallway, giggles wracking your frames as the warmth of firewhiskey and pure arousal burned through your bodies. Sebastian quickly turned towards you, wrapping an arm around your waist and heaving you over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. You laughed hysterically, hands playing bongos against his peachy rump. He swatted yours in return, before turning towards the Grand Staircase and sprinting off towards the Undercroft, Ominis on his heels and laughing into the wind.

The three of you bounded down the abandoned castle halls, laughter bouncing off the tall ceilings and echoing into the beautiful night sky. Ghosts watched as you all passed by, before turning their heads back towards each other and shrugging, softly smiling at the feeling of young love shedding off of the trio in waves.

Sebastian did not place you back on the ground until you crossed the threshold of the secret hideaway. As soon as your feet touched stone once again, he quickly pulled you against his chest and brought your lips to his, teeth clashing together in his rush and desire to feel your kiss for the first time. Ominis listened to both of your sounds, his cock pulsing once again and threatening to burst through the zipper of his trousers. He quickly transformed three of the crates lined up next to each other into a large, four poster bed. He ran towards the cushioned surface, leaping into the air and body slamming on to the linen quilt adorning the top. He laughed heartily into the blanket before turning on to his back and leaning against the bed frame, his legs crossed elegantly in front of him and his arms raising to cross behind his head in relaxation.

The brunette released you from the bruising kiss, looking over to his companion across the room and feeling a large smile stretch across his cheeks. He grasped your hand in his, pulling you towards the large bed and lifting you up, setting you down right on the edge and pushing his way between your thighs. His arms caged you on either side of your hips as his lips found yours again, tongue tracing your bottom lip and asking for access to your awaiting mouth. You laughed against his soft lips before opening yours, deepening the kiss and drawing a growl from his chest. You felt the blond behind you push your hair to the side, leaning down and nibbling at your pulse point once again. His teeth nipped at your skin before smoothing away the slight pain with his tongue, doing this all the way up your neck and stopping just below your jawbone where he sucked a dark hickey into your skin. His hands trailed down your shoulders and over your chest, slowly undoing the laces of your corset and throwing it over the side of the bed before grabbing your collared shirt by the top and pulling it apart. Buttons broke away from the fabric and scattered along the stone ground, but you couldn’t care less if they suddenly came to life and started doing a tap dance routine— you would tell them to fuck right off and leave you to the absolute pleasure you were about to experience.

Sebastian hungrily grasped at the skin of your waist, now exposed to the cooling air of the Undercroft and littering you with goosebumps. He slid his palms up your sides before brushing his thumbs gently against the band of your brassiere, his mouth still ravishing yours. You nodded your head minutely against his lips, and he slid his fingers carefully under the fabric, tracing your rib cage and sending a shudder down your spine. Ominis put his nimble fingers to use once again, unhooking the stays at the front and sliding the straps down your shoulders before tossing the undergarment in the same direction of your shirt.

You shifted on the bed, bringing your body to kneel in the middle of the mattress. Your chest was heaving in lust, a rouge color spreading from your cheeks to your collarbones. Sebastian stood enraptured by the rise and fall of your breasts, your nipples standing at attention in arousal. He quickly made his way fully onto the bed, kicking off his boots and yanking the tie around his neck undone before kneeling at your side, each thigh pressed on either side of yours and his hardness rubbing against the area where your thigh met your hip. He grasped at one of your breasts, shoving his face back into your neck and biting . He could hear the other man do the same on the other side of you before assuming the same position as the brunette. Ominis pawed at your other breast, taking your nipple between his pointer finger and thumb and pinching it while capturing your lips with his. Both boys kissed you with a bruising strength, biting at your bottom lip in ownership and sending fire to your loins. Sebastian reached around your hips, undoing the button at the side of your skirt and shucking it from your body, leaving you just in your knickers. Moans and whimpers filled the space around you, the three of you deep in the throes of pleasure.

Ominis pulled away, your lips chasing his in a desperate attempt to keep the kiss going. He grabbed ahold of your throat, gently squeezing your windpipe and turning your head in his direction. He spoke directly to you, his voice flushed with absolute debauchery and seriousness. "Say the word and this stops right now. I need your explicit consent before this goes any farther."

He released your neck so you could reply to his demand. Your heart fluttered slightly at his concern for your well being; you didn't need to think hard about your decision at all. "Yes, I want this, Ominis. From the both of you." You grinned cheekily at his predatory gaze, meeting it in a silent challenge. You were nothing if not competitive. You giggled at his shift in demeanor, whispering teasingly against his lips, "My safe word is Graphorn."

The blond barked a laugh, before grasping you by the neck once again and pulling you back in for a searing kiss.

With your consent still fresh in the air, Sebastian leaned back against the plush pillows, dragging your body down with him and twisting you so your back was against his chest and his feet held your legs apart. Ominis could smell your arousal, similar to your normal scent but more musky, more primal. He licked his lips hungrily, his pupils blowing up to twice their size. He felt around the bed, finding first the brunette’s leg and then one of yours. He slotted himself between your supple thighs, elbows bent and pushing down further on both sides while his fingertips dug into the meat of your hips. He breathed hotly against your clothed sex, mouthing at the damp cloth and drawing a loud gasp from your open lips. Sebastian continued to fondle at your chest, taking turns twisting each nipple between his two fingers and squeezing at the soft flesh. Ominis turned towards your left inner thigh, placing open mouthed kisses at the burning flesh and sucking hickeys into your skin before turning to the other thigh and doing the same. More lust filled mewls spilled from your lips and were swallowed by the plush comforter below. The blond grasped at the sides of your panties, silently asking for permission to fully expose yourself to the both of them. You went to nod your head, but thought better and instead stretched your hand towards the boy, running your fingers through his hair and pulling lightly. He nipped at your hip in warning before pulling the cloth down your legs— you raising your hips slightly to help him get them all the way off. He was the one in charge tonight, not you, with your increasingly strong ancient magic and domineering personality. The hums that slid from your throat filled the blond with pride, his ego expanding tenfold. He was doing this to you; he was the one reducing your once boisterous energy to complete putty at his hands and mouth.

You were now completely nude before your best friends. Sebastian choked on his inhale at the sight of your glistening lips, absolutely dripping with arousal and emitting enough heat to keep them warm all winter. Ominis stretched his lips in a wide, toothy smile, looking very similar to the Cheshire cat, and whispered against your dripping cunt.

“You smell so wonderful. I am going to devour you.”

He then dove into your sweet paradise, lapping at your folds like a starving dog and drawing loud groans from your chest. Each flick of his tongue sent a shock wave of pleasure through your stomach, the knot in your lower abdomen beginning to form and tighten. Sebastian continued his assault on your breasts, but you craved even more. Grasping at the ends of his tie still dangling loosely around his neck, you pulled him roughly under your arm and brought his mouth level with your heaving chest. The boy got the message quickly, taking your nipple between his teeth and lightly biting— his other hand reaching around and tweaking the other once again. You cried out in pleasure, their names flowing into the air and disappearing like a puff of smoke. Ominis moved up towards your throbbing clit, taking it in his mouth and sucking it. Your cries got louder, your orgasm teetering at the very edge of the precipice. Each wiggle of your hips rubbed against the straining bulge in Sebastian’s pants, causing him to groan and rut against you in desire. Ominis couldn’t take the sounds of both of your moans, his composure completely dissolving around him and leaving him panting and thrusting his hips against the silk sheets. Each of his groans sent a vibration through your clit, heightening your pleasure and sending more whimpers from your lips.

"Fuck! Ominis, Sebastian."

You distantly remembered a conversation you had with Imelda a few days ago about his particularly long fingers when he ran his middle finger along your opening before slowly entering your pussy. Absolutely abhorrent sounds flowed from where your opening met his hand, wet noises filling the room and permeating the air with the smell of sex. He listened to your arousal spiking in captivated awe, pushing in a second finger and curling them against the spot that made you see stars. It became a competition about who would cum first, you, Sebastian, or Ominis. Both boys continued to rut against you and the bed respectively while also providing you immense amounts of pleasure. Your legs shook, an inhuman strength ripping them away from their confinement, and clamping around the face of the handsome blond. Ominis grasped onto your thigh with his free hand, shoving you deeper into his awaiting mouth. If this was where he died, he would go out a happy man. The knot in your stomach pulled taut, threatening to snap at any moment. Your hips were moving against your will, circling and bucking into the air while you chased the orgasm just out of your reach. You pulled harder at the blond’s hair, a loud grunt leaving him and causing a harsh thrust against the mattress below him. One particularly hard bump downwards and against Sebastian’s cock made him exhale harshly out of his nose and roughly bite at the skin of your side to muffle his shout. You felt his teeth sink into you and draw blood, and with that little taste of pain, the knot inside you snapped and you were launched into sweet oblivion.

Ominis happily helped you through your orgasm, gently licking the slick from your leaking cunt and cleaning up the cum that spilled out of you. You whined from over-stimulation, and with a chuckle he detached his lips from your dripping pussy and leaned up on his elbows, resting his chin against your pubic bone and listening to the sweet sounds that flowed from your throat; your drippings coated his mouth and chin, glittering in the low lamplight.

In your blissed-out state, you decided that your boys were wearing far too many pieces of clothing. You tugged at their sleeves, hoping that they would get the message without you having to say anything. You did not trust your voice at the moment, your bones feeling like jelly inside your skin. Luckily they did, and Ominis stood up from the bed and began to quickly disrobe. Sebastian followed soon after, gently moving you from his chest and resting you against the soft pillows as you continued to hopelessly try and catch your breath. You turn to the side and gaze at your best friends, their hands fumbling uselessly around the other’s body and pulling at the cloth like it’ll come off on its own. Their mouths clashed together, uncouth moans spilling from their mouths only to be swallowed by the other. Ominis reached his hands down frantically towards Sebastian’s belt, threading the leather through the buckle and unlatching it, quickly pulling it from his belt loops and tossing it to the ground with a loud clang. Sebastian undid the buttons of the Gaunt boy’s shirt, throwing it off of his shoulders and chucking it to the ground like it affronted him. He mouthed hotly against the blond's collarbone, causing Ominis to throw his head back and whine . Pure burning heat shot down to your pussy at the sound and made your clit throb. The boy threaded his fingers through the brunette’s curly hair, gliding up the back and stopping just at the back of his skull before yanking as hard as he could. It was Sebastian’s turn to whine, and you had never heard a more beautiful, more filthy sound. Ominis let go of his hair and clasped his hand around his throat, squeezing slightly like the brunette had done to you in the common room. With his other hand, he undid the buttons of his companion’s shirt, tossing it unceremoniously somewhere in the vast cavern below Hogwarts, before shoving his trousers and pants down his toned thighs, leaving him bare and ready. Ominis then grabbed at his burning cock, giving it a sharp stroke. The brunette’s head fell back in pleasure, a silent moan leaving his open, smiling mouth.

The blond leaned closer, whispering at the column of his neck, “You go get her ready, I’ll be there in a moment.”

Sebastian turned towards you once again, hunger still burning in his irises, and began to climb back up the bed. He positioned himself between your spread thighs, leaning down and capturing your lips in a searing kiss. His hard cock rubbed against your slick folds, sending moans out of both of your lips only to be swallowed by the other. The tip of his dick found your entrance, slightly pushing in before pausing. A hiss left his clenched teeth as he clutched at the pillows on either side of your head with his fists.

“I am going to ruin that pretty pussy of yours. Please, can I feel you?” He begged against your lips.

“Yes, Merlin, please, yes,” you cooed at him, lashes fluttering at the sweet taste of fullness.

Slowly, he began to stretch you out, the both of you releasing relieved groans in tandem. Slight pain knit your eyebrows together, and the boy inside you kissed at the wrinkles until it disapparated into sweet pleasure. You could feel every ridge of him inside you, he filled you up so well. Needy whines left your throat at each thrust, the heat of his member absolutely setting your insides on fire. You had never been so happy to burn. You grasped at the comforter under you, your knuckles turning white in the strength of your grip.

Just like your dream, Ominis crawled onto the bed and smiled at you like a predator hunting his prey. You were suddenly on your stomach, and Sebastian was pounding into you from behind with the greediest grip on your hips. The blond boy tilted your head up, his weeping cock inches from your mouth.

He chuckled at your fucked-out expression. “Let’s make that dream of yours a reality, hmm?”

You nodded, opening your mouth and allowing him to slide into your throat. He groaned at the sweet, wet feeling of your mouth around him, gathering your hair and holding it gently as he rocked his hips against you. You stuck your tongue out, letting him slide even deeper and vibrating his entire member with your moans. He gripped at your hair harder, fully fucking your face.

His eyes shut tightly in raptured pleasure, his mouth falling open and moans leaving his throat at a volume that would make a nun blush. He groaned, whispering from his very soul, “This is so much better than I ever imagined. Take my cock just like that, my darling. You’re doing so good, sweet girl.”

You nearly came on the spot from his filthy words. Sebastian growled behind you, thrusting faster into your boiling heat. You felt his hips stutter— he was getting close. You reached your hand down in between your legs in ecstasy, finding your button and circling it with your middle finger. Moans poured from your mouth like a leaking faucet, each vocalization sending Ominis closer to his own release. He heard the sound of you playing with yourself and he bit his lip, running his fingers through your hair in a strange moment of gentleness.

“Yes, my darling, pleasure yourself. Make yourself cum on his delicious cock. Show us exactly what we do to you— how we make you feel.”

Your steadily creeping second orgasm hit its all time spike at his direction. You circle your bud even faster, rocking back and meeting the brunette’s thrusts. He swore, grabbing your hips with a bruising strength as he felt you clench around him as your release tore through you. Ominis groaned at your sounds, quickly pulling his leaking member out of your mouth and edging off his orgasm.

"Shit,” he whispered, “I have to feel your hot cunt. I need to be inside you.”

He felt around the bed, sliding down underneath you and lining up with your bruised pussy. Sebastian stilled in his movements, pulling out and causing you to whine at the sudden emptiness inside you. He leaned back on his hands, closing his eyes and trying to steady his rapid breathing. Ominis shifted under you until he was in the perfect spot, tapping you lightly on the thigh and grabbing at your waist.

“Slide down on me, my darling. I crave you. I want your heat wrapped around me.”

You quickly complied, spreading your shaking knees further apart and slowly lowering yourself onto his swollen cock with little assistance. Ominis’ mouth dropped open in a silent moan, the warmth and tightness around him sending stars behind his eyes.

You groan above him, giving in to the dirty talk flowing around the room and gathering in the air, “You feel so good inside me. You both do, fuck.”

That was enough for the blond boy to lose his last shred of composure. With renewed strength, he grabbed you by the rear and began pounding into you like an animal in heat. Both of your voices blended together in sweet, blissful harmony.

Sebastian watched the show before him like it was the last thing he would ever see. He leaned back up on his knees behind you, spreading your cheeks and gently thumbing at your other hole. A startled gasp escaped out of your mouth and you pushed back lightly on his finger. He groaned in agony, wetting his thumb in your juices and slowly stretching you out. He didn’t know that you could get louder. If the room wasn’t so far below the school, he was sure they would somehow get caught. He carefully pumped in and out of you, feeling the other man thrusting into you through your skin. He slowly eased in two more fingers, stretching you out enough so he could fit himself inside. Once satisfied with his job, he took his still throbbing member and rubbed it along your wetness, gathering enough to serve as lube.

He leaned down over you, the head of his cock pressing lightly against your ass, and kissed a freckle on the back of your shoulder before groaning against your skin.

“May I please enter you again, my love? Do you think you can handle the both of us at once? You dirty girl, I know these pretty holes of yours can take it.”

You nodded your head rapidly, nearly giving yourself whiplash in your aroused excitement— a sound very similar to the word “please” made its way out of your mewling throat. Sebastian slowly pushed in, his teeth biting into your shoulder, drawing blood once again at the tightness surrounding him, before gently thrusting in and out. You were filled to the brim with pleasure, rocking back and forth against both of your boys and matching their rhythms. The feeling of their members rubbing against each other inside of you sent both boys rocketing close to their orgasms.

Sebastian panted against your shoulder, echoing an earlier statement from the blond below the both of you, “Merlin, you're beautiful. Touch yourself, pretty girl. Cum around our cocks.”

You brought your hand back down to where you and Ominis were connected, rubbing frantically against your clit and speeding yourself closer to your orgasm. No words were said from the three friends, each lost in their own personal raptures.

Stars danced behind your closed eyelids, your third orgasm crashing over you like a sudden wave, thrice as strong as the other two. You cry out both of your friend’s names, clenching around their throbbing members and sending them both into a state of pure bliss. You felt them release inside of both of your holes, their delicious cum painting your inner walls white. Your legs gave out, sending you sprawling across the chest of the blond boy under you and bringing down the brunette at your back with you. The three of you lied there for a moment, panting as the breath desperately tried to enter your lungs once again, before the blond began to struggle under the combined weight of you both.

Now on your sides, your head resting on Ominis’ chest and Sebastian’s arm strewn across your waist, you let your eyes shut into the beginnings of a blissful sleep. The brunette took a deep breath, preparing to speak and inevitably ask what all of this means now— he was always the more anxious of the three— when the blond patted around his cheek with his hand before eventually landing across his mouth. He quietly shushed the brown eyed Slytherin, smiling in happiness and whispering against the tuft of your hair tickling his nose.

“Quiet, we’ll talk about it tomorrow. Just sleep now.”

Sebastian thought for a moment before shrugging against your back, tucking himself closer to his two best friends and digging deeper under the soft covers, a soft smile dancing at the corners of his mouth. Ominis closed his eyes, a fullness filling his chest and sending butterflies into his stomach. Yes, they would all talk about it tomorrow, and inevitably admit the feelings that they had been most definitely harboring for the others in their trio for a long while. But for now, the three students were lulled into a gentle sleep, the sounds of each other's heartbeats filling their ears and becoming the sweetest lullaby each of you had ever heard.

***

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kalinysu · 2 years ago

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so; imagine lower moon reader taking a big interest in gyutaros physique and ever since they got the chance/luck to watch him at his work, lower moon reader draws his body structure, different poses/posture and movement when he battles/rests!

one day they didnt pay enough attention/mind to notice him sneaking up on them since they we're to drowned in their doodles.. and he snatches it 'nd reader gets embarrassed and tries to clarify since they never really had interaction

𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐌𝐄? — Gyutaro x F!Reader

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: None.

𝐍𝗼𝐭𝐞𝐬: Cute idea, and so sorry i took so long! I’ve been pretty busy and may not be able to write again as soon as i’d like to.

You had always been an artist, even in your human years. Now up until you became a lower moon. You stayed dedicated to your job as a 12 kizuki of course, but you couldn’t help but draw everytime you got the chance. Especially now that you’ve discovered the existence of upper six. At first, you didn’t know that they were two demons. You thought there was only one, the girl. But soon after you came to find out she had a brother, Gyutaro.

And sooner or later, you took an interest in his physique, and just the way he looked. You were quick to make sketches of his battle stances and even just the way he sits. You had never seen anyone like him, of course. So naturally you were very curious about him. You admired his build, and the markings on his face. Even his hair, you took a special interest in. One day, you were sitting alone in the infinity castle, scribbling away in your notebook.

You didn’t speak much to the other demons unless absolutely necessary, so nobody really approached you. You figured you were safe to draw the demon once again since you supposed nobody would come near you.

You shifted to a more comfortable position to sit in, until you noticed a shadow over you. You had been so focused on drawing you didn’t even realize. You hesitated for a moment, before looking up, only to be met face to face with the very man who was filling up all the pages in your sketchbook. Your eyes widened, and before you could react your journal was gone, and Gyutaro was faced away from you, looking through it. “—W-wait, give that back!” You said, jumping to your feet to try and retrieve it. He simply shoved you away, his face buried in the book.

You couldn’t tell how he’d react, but you were afraid he might not appreciate you drawing him. “Is this me?” He asked with an amused chuckle, his palm pressed against your forehead to keep you from getting close to the book. You froze, no longer trying to get it back. It was far too late. “U-uh.. Y-yes but—“ You stutter, clearing your throat a bit. “I-I just thought you looked cool and.. thought I would draw you..” You said, your cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

He didn’t say anything, continuing to flip through the pages. Honestly, he was impressed. Nobody had ever drawn him before, and on top of that you thought he was cool? That’s something he’s never heard in his life. “Can I have these?” He asked, looking down at you. You stared in shock. Have them? He wasn’t mad? “U-uh—Of course!” You said, feeling a little more confident. He handed you the book, not wanting to rip any of the drawing with taking them out. You carefully took a few pages out and handed them to him. “How come your only drawing me? Am I that weird looking?” He asked, using his free hand to scratch at his skin.

“N-no!! Not at all! It’s just.. Your.. Really, really cool..” You mumbled. He was shocked, really. He leaned down to look at your face, tilting his head. “You mean that..?” He asked. You nodded, looking away from him. Your cheeks flushed pink from the sudden closeness. “That’s.. Intriguing.” He said with a small grin, followed by a chuckle.

“Do you think you can draw me more?” He asked. You looked back at him, feeling your heart skip a beat. “M-more?” He nodded. “Yeah, can you do that?” He questioned. “Y-yeah! I can!” You said, moving back to where you were sitting before on top of a cushioned platform. He followed, sitting slightly behind you. You were a little nervous, having the person you were drawing for so long watching you. You picked up your pen and began to draw, eventually, you felt his head resting on your shoulder.

He still couldn’t believe that someone like you would want to draw someone like him, and actually took an interest him. He was always labeled as ugly so naturally he didn’t understand. “Why me?” He suddenly asked, causing you to look at him from the corner of your eye, turning your head a little. You smiled. “Why not?” You said. “Why would you want to draw someone as displeasing as me?” He asked once more, genuinely curious. “I don’t think your displeasing at all.”

“Man, you’re a weird one.” He said with a chuckle, before focusing back onto your drawing.

#demon slayer #kny #gyutaro #gyutaro fluff #gyutaro x reader

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coldgoldlazarus · 6 months ago

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Okay, mostly done screeching in excitement, now it's analysis time.

First point: That purple blast of the turret getting taken out looks great.

Looks like we're opening hot, a lot like Corruption's beginning. Hopefully won't be quite as protracted as the Norion battle, though, lol.

Also, I've seen some jokes already about how this section will end with Samus getting depowered like the openings of Prime and Echoes, but given how barebones her arsenal seems to be here, (missiles and morph ball, which sometimes she just starts with and keeps, maybe bombs too) I don't expect that to happen.

The HUD and helmet edges are a lot more dialed back this time, pushed as far into the corners as they can go. Probably better for visibility this way, but I am gonna miss the more wraparound feel of the previous setup, with the missile count and hazard meter along the sides. But this isn't a bad look by any means, and we still have a fair few items here.

A & B: My bet is this is the replacement for the old hazard meter. In addition to keeping it out of the way, putting it right next to the motion tracker is a good move. I may actually remember to use that more this way.

C: Health bar is obvious, of course, but I really like the move of tucking it away into the notch on the top of the Echoes/Corruption/Beyond(!) helmet visor. The lines around it suggest an empty row above, undoubtedly for the energy tank pips once those are picked up.

D & E: Minimap is present as usual, not really much to say there, but I love the addition of a compass direction scroll beneath it, which should be helpful for putting places in context of the broader map. (Tallon IV's elevator label system, anyone?)

F: Missile count has been shunted down from the side to the bottom corner. I'm interested to see if it will grow upward, or just stay in its present spot and scale accordingly, as you collect more expansions.

G: This is the one everyone's already pointed out, but it seems that we won't have a visor OR beam swap readout.

Scan Visor is still an option as shown in the next bit, but based on the lack of an indicator in the hud, it's probably just going to be a toggle between that and combat, without anything else like X-Ray or Thermal or Echo or what have you. (Or it could be that that would only get added to the HUD after picking up a third visor, but I won't hold my breath for it.) Kinda disappointing to deemphasize one of the cool new mechanics the Prime subseries brought to the table, on one hand, but I'm still grateful to have the Scanner, and the extra ones always did struggle a bit to see much use.

Similarly, a bit disappointed this means we're probably looking at a stacking beam like in Corruption and the 2D games, (unless of course beam swapping is still there and just being left off the HUD until relevant for the sake of cleanliness #copium) but not entirely surprising; I'll live.

But what is interesting is what's there instead. The D-Pad seems to be tied to non-Beam weapons or tools instead, with the missile launcher as the only one available at present. I'm really curious to see what the other items will be; I imagine this is going to be Prime 4's unique spin on things. I saw someone suggest affinity weapons like in Hunters, but given those all function like Beams, it feels weird to me to set them against Missiles instead, ammunition requirements notwithstanding. I'm not going to rule those out, of course, but I could see this being something completely different entirely.

Again, I am very glad to see the Scan Visor is still here at least. Even better is that it uses the full-body highlighting of objects like Echoes and Corruption instead of Prime 1's icons. Pretty minimalistic layout, all told; I like that the scanning bar is a ring now. And it doesn't reflect Samus's face by default like in Corruption, which makes sense since we're not liable to have the same kind of mutation shenaniganry happening here.

I forgot to snag a screencap of this bit on my computer, so forgive the lower quality, but this scene is interesting for a few reasons.

The Pirates' breaching charges letting them into this room just as Samus passes through a gap in the wall overhead is a nice touch, and also remniscent of some sequences from early on in Corruption.

The Federation guys in here seem to be wheeling away someone or something on a stretcher in a hurry. That could be important.

Energy tank up in the rail section, but blocked by a box. Are we just going to bomb through to get it right away, or will we drop down into the room, and have to come back from the other direction to pick it up? (Please be the other direction)

Samus looking spiffy here, even at a distance. And as some have pointed out, looks like she's walking out of a portal instead of a door, pointing to either more dimension-hopping shenanigans like in Echoes, or possibly the time travel elements I recall hearing Tanabe wanted to play with at some point. (This plus the black hole look of the logo makes me think this could be more likely.)

Whatever the nature of the portal, though, the interesting thing to me is the sort of circular structure in the rock around it, suggesting a doorframe almost. A lot of the portals on Aether seemed to actively cut into the environment at random, the rock carved out in perfect spheres with fucked-up edges, and interrupting the pre-existing architecture or geology. In contrast, this looks like it was put here on purpose, implying a more controlled creation. Potentially really fascinating implications in that.

I also kinda wonder if these portals will be replacing elevators as a way to get between regions.

Ignoring the big numbers in the middle, (though they do kinda mess with my prediction that Prime 4 was going to be a 2024 holiday title to avoid getting eaten by Switch 2's inevitable 3D Mario launch title,) a couple things stand out to me here.

Giant tree in the background is giant, and I love it for that. Also looks like it's not the only giant tree here, even if still probably the biggest. I hope we get to go there later.

But in addition, we have a bridge in the middle distance, and a tunnel opening in the foreground. I will eat my hat if we don't get to cross that bridge, and my bet is that they're going to pull a similar trick here as with Skytown, letting low-poly versions of other "rooms" be visible from the current one, but dividing them with interior sections for optimization reasons, allowing for amazing landscapes of all traversible terrain. I loved that there, it looks great here, I can't wait to go explore all this myself next year.

#not a reblog #metroid #metroid prime 4 #metroid prime 4 beyond #metroid prime beyond #HOW COOL IS IT TO HAVE AN ACTUAL TITLE NOW #AAAAAAAAA

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islayhawkin · 8 months ago

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Coming home

Simon "Ghost" riley x f!asexual!reader

Request: Hello! I saw you're cool with writing fics for ace readers and I was wondering if you'd like to write something for either Ghost from COD or V from Devil May Cry? Something like they're reassuring the reader that they're okay with them being ace? If it's not possible, that's completely fine! I'm just so happy to see someone including us in fanfiction 🖤💜🤍Thank you, and have a good day/night! :) Warnings!: mention of sexual themes, making out, human body reaction, swearing ooc simon ( bc it's kinda unrealistic that he'd even be in a relationship but we can do in fanfiction what we want so we're gonna ignore that. In my head he's just a lost puppy ) Hurt/comfort, fluff A/N: I did my reasearch in form of fanfiction too and literally almost every fic on tumblr under ghost x reader is smut so I'm starting the counter-revolution for aces. Hope anon will find this again. Bc I've been on hiatus for some time.

The 141 had gone to a bar at friday night after a long mission. They had the weekend off for the first time in a while. They all had a hard time adjusting to the civilian life again but most of them did have a life to return to outside of work. For ghost, well rather simon, this life contained you. His civilian life was practically you. It was all he cared about outside of work really.

The group sat around the table with glasses in their hands conversing about nonsense really but for them it was pretious to be this careless for a moment. Simon sometimes contributed dry comments which earned some laughter from soap beside him.

Simon had invited you. Though he was at first hesitant to bring you together with the 141 however that changed quickly when he heard that you'd be walking home alone in the darkness than. And as if you didn't do that every day he seemed adamant to not let you do that when he was around.

The bar they were at was relatively quiet as you entered and spotted the team on the other side of the room. A small smile formed on your lips when you saw the back of his head.

Unfortunately for you the men had settled on the topic of sex when you joined them.

"Can't wait to get that stress of the last months sorted out." Gaz chuckled. The others laughed while adding comments of their own. "I bet riley's gonna have a blast tonight when he gets home." Soap laughed with a teasing look to his commrade.

There was a small grin on Simon's lips at the teasing but he quickly shut them down. "Shut up johnny."

You made intentionally loud noices when walking the last few steps to make yourself known to the group and also not to startle simon. He turned around in his chair and immediately stood up to greet you. When he stood up his figure towered over you.

"Hey."

"Hey. I'm glad you're back." You smiled and gave his arm a small squeeze. You were still quite distant from eachother due to your knowlege about him, were you aware what he was comfortable with. You were sure he didn't even feel your soft touch through all that cloth and muscles though.

He made a quick introduction to the team before everyone rearranged themselves so you were able to get a seat beside simon.

The evening was great. You got along really well with everyone especially with soap. There were laughs here and there sometimes teasing comments towards you and ghost, which he quickly shut down. But they still lingered in the back of your mind when you came home to your shared apartment.

It's not like you minded their comments. You all were adults and it was their way to chill after weeks of just living in life-death situations. Some jokes were actually quite funny you had to admit. These men who normally went around threatening people were actually really hilarious.

You clicked the lights on in your apartment and threw your shoes off. Ghost stood for a while at the entrance hall watching your every move as you moved around the apartment, changing your clothes into something comfortable.

When you realised he didn't follow you inside you took a cautious step back into the entrance hall and tried to read his emotions through his mask and gear. "Are you okay?" You asked softly as you approached him. Your hands slowly moving around his waist.

"Hm." He nodded.

"Your home." You whispered with a smile and moved your hand up to remove his mask. He didn't stop you from doing so.

His hair sprang out from under it and you were able to fully take in his state. He looked incredibly tired and worn out.

"Home..." he repeated lowly. The sound vibrating through his body.

You traced a scar on his face tenderly. "Let's get you to bed hm? You look exhausted."

"I'm fine."

"I'm sure you're fine. Just let me take care of you. I'll give you a massage or something..."

The side of his mouth quirked up at that thought. "Alright."

You stood on your toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving for the bedroom again. This time ghost followed you.

His sweatpants and a pair of handmade socks were already neatly folded on his side of the bed. He made quick work of removing his vest and shirt at the sight, leaving his muscled upper body exposed. You had already moved to his side to help him unclasped his belt for him with quick fingers.

"You want to take a shower?"

You unsipped his trousers and he stepped out of them.

"Not now. Tommorow."

You threw the pyjamas pants to him and handed the socks over after he had his pants on.

"You made these for me?" He asked quietly. His eyebrows rose with surprise.

"Yep." You smiled shyly. "We got a matching set now." You showed the socks on your feet. A proud look showing on your face.

One of his rare genuine smiles took over his face. "You're adorable." He chuckled and fastly took his big arm around your waist to pull you flush against him.

"I missed you." The words only a low rumble vibrating through his throat. His eyes switched from your eyes to your lips before he cupped your cheek and leaned into a kiss. His touch was always surprisingly tender with you, almost cautious. As if afraid he'd crush you under his strenght.

The first few times you slept in the same bed with him you even needed to reassure him that he wouldn't crush you beneath him while he slept with you in his arms.

His kiss on the other hand now showed a bit of force behind it as he pushed you slowly against the wall behind you. You both gasped for air when he finally pulled his lips from yours.

A smile tucked at your lips and you stroked your hand through his tousled hair. "I missed you too love."

He didn't give you a long time before pushing his lips to yours again. His free arm resting besides you against the wall. You felt his body react to you as he pulled himself as close to you as he possible could. One of your leg was positioned between his thick thights making it impossible for you not to notice.

The next time simon pulled away he muttered a breathy "sorry. I didn't mean to-" before leaning his forehead against yours. "I'm just- it was much the last few weeks. I've felt bloody alone without you."

"I know." You caressed the side of his head. "Let's go to bed okay? You can cuddle with me all night."

He nodded and cautiously disconnected his body from yours. "I didn't make you uncomfortable did I?" There was a dark shadow over his eyes, which gave you a glimpse of the eyes his enemies saw.

"No. It's alright..." you faltered for a moment. "Are you content this way?"

He looked almost betrayed. "What do you mean? Of course I'm content. I couldn't think of anything better to come home to. You're the bloody best thing that happened in my shit life."

You smiled sadly at his words and took his big hands in your smaller ones. "I mean with me being asexual. I know you said it was okay but I can't help but think I'm depriving you of it when you actually want it. The others made these comments and it got me thinking that you can't have these experiences and advantages of having a partner."

You could see how he was taken aback by your words. As if he never even considered it this way. "I'm not coming home every time again just so I can fuck you. When I'm all alone out there, with the possibility of dying everyday I'm always thinking about you. You're the one that keeps me alive. And you give me so much more that I could ever have asked for. I don't care if I want to have sex. I can't stop wanting it but I can live without it, I can't live without you."

There was silence in the room except for the small breathes.

You smiled tearfully. "Who would've known you could be such a poet." You chuckled.

He grinned. "I'm just stating the truth."

You kissed his crooked nose. "God I love you."

...

You snuggled up against his bare chest. His arms engulfing you in them. It was a comfortable silence between the two of you. But simon was still in his head. You thought he was trying to process the events of the past weeks.

"I don't want you to think of us like this ever again." He muttered.

"What?" You raised your head.

"I don't want you to think that I'm unhappy with you. That you are depriving me of something. I'm sorry for not showing it more often what you mean to me."

"That's alright. I know how you struggle..." you caressed his side with your palm.

"No it's not alright. You always do this. You're so sweet and understandable of me but I never give you enough back. So please don't think that I think any less of you because of your asexuality. For me you are the best person."

You smiled softly against his chest. "Thank you. I'll try not to."

"good." He squeezed you against him.

It was some time before you spoke up again. "You think about me when you're out there?"

"All the time. You're the reason I'm still alive and come back to you every damn time."

#asexual #asexuality #asexual fanfiction #Ghost x asexual!reader #asexual!reader #simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley #ace representation #hurt/comfort

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sheepheadfred · 3 months ago

Text

Ectoberhaunt Day 7: Bury/Unearth

Summary: Three young kids bury a time capsule together. Years later they dig it back up as teens.

AO3 link

(Bury: Years in the past with an eight year old and two six year olds)

"Jazzy! Jazzy Jazzy Jazzy Jazzy!"

A young child with fluffy black hair and the brightest blue eyes excitedly pulls his sister to their backyard, where his best friend is waiting.

"Danny, what do you want? I'm trying to read my big kid books."

"But Jazzy, me and Tucker saw some older kids do something cool and you say to make sure you know what we're doing if we need tools!"

Taking a bit to respond, the big sister goes "Why do you even need tools? Cause I'm not giving you the stuff mom and dad use in the lab."

"Nuh uh! Some big kids had a box full of cool stuff and buried it, they were talking about coming back for it in the future! We only wanted a shovel because our plastic ones weren't working!"

Tucker quickly nods his head, equally excited to do this with his best friend and needing Jazz's approval.

"Of course you don't know what a time capsule is," Jazz acts annoyed with them but the boys could see her starting to smile, "Only if I can put stuff in it, too."

"YES!"

"Permission acquired!"

The three kids quickly found an unused small box, Jazz made sure it was plastic and could seal so it could last, and grabbed some things they don't mind parting with for the time being that still hold meaning.

"OK, the last step probably isn't required but we should leave a message to our future selves!" Jazz proclaimed, as excited as the two younger kids now that they are almost done. Having a blast alongside them.

Messages written and placed in individual envelopes, all promising not to read each other's, everything was set to encase their capsule in the earth until further notice. They hoped maybe ten years but none of them ever put a year on it, just a promise that it will happen when they are grown.

It took all day and a bit past dinner, after Tucker called his parents to stay over, and the deed had been completed. It was the closest they have ever felt until now.

---------

(Unearth: Present day: ten years later. Parents are gone for the day and the kids goof off as Jazz enjoys a rare day to relax.)

A rare day with no parents and a light amount of ghost attacks finds Team Phantom a chance to chill together. Cujo runs around the Fenton backyard in puppy form, adorable as ever.

Suddenly, Cujo comes to a dead stop. As if possessed, ironic right, and starts to dig up one small section of the yard. Only stopping once he reached his goal.

"What do you have there, buddy?" Sam, asked the currently small dog. He had a dirty, plastic container in his mouth. Or at least the corner of it. The thing was as big as his small body as a whole box.

Covered by ghostly dog slobber. Ewww.

Sam may not have recognized the box, but three others did. They forgot about all of that but now, seeing their time capsule, has it all come rushing back.

"Is that our time capsule?!" Jazz broke the stunned silence.

"Totally forgot about that thing!" Danny laughed in disbelief.

"Dude, we need to see what we put in there!" Was shouted by Tucker in childlike glee.

All three voices overlapped in shouts but each were understood. Not helping with the noise level was Cujo, yapping alongside them to be included.

Sam, now frustrated and annoyed at being out of the loop, interrupts the noise.

"Alright, already! C'mon, just open the thing up if you're this excited over a piece of nostalgia."

She acts like she doesn't care but they can see her smile and the way her eyes zero in on the box, curious to what was put inside.

"Yeah, Sam's right. That and we don't want to summon you know who just by holding a cubic container." Danny says with an eye roll.

Danny makes the move to take the box from Sam and be the first to unseal it. A plastic container with the word 'Fenton' on it, made to contain even the most wryly of ectoplasmic movement inside. He is now grateful they did not get in trouble, or noticed, for taking an easy to reach one. Their parents always stored things all over the house and not just in the lab, after all.

Reaching in, he felt the trinkets and pulled them out one at a time. Showing them for the whole group to see.

First thing he touched was a book of some kind, must have been Jazz's contribution.

'Dragonology'.

"Forgot you were once into dragons..."

Face beat red, Jazz snatches the book from his hands. "Don't you start, Danny. I was eight! If dinosaurs could exist, why couldn't dragons?!"

"Y'know, she has a point," Sam piped in," We now know ghosts exist and we can't forget that Dora and Aragon have those amulets that turn anyone who wears them into dragons. There were several historical sources of them alive wearing those amulets. It even transformed me to a dragon before, too!"

"Fair enough," the boys both get it and there isn't really a point in arguing when she backs it up like that."

"Forgot that you were able to research Dora and that amulet the night of the dance. A lot has happened since then. Had to keep you from killing Paulina as a dragon for one." Danny recalls.

"Can I borrow this, later?" Sam asked Jazz after giving Danny a nod for that, heard and understood.

"Sure Sam," Jazz allows and passes the book to her, a bit fond and glad they can bond over something.

Sam, currently holding the book noticed something white and rectangular peaking out from behind the cover. "What's this?"

"Oh yeah, we wrote letters to our future selves! This one is clearly mine. Hand it over, please."

"Read it?"

"Yeah! Read it Jazz!" The boys both echo Sam's request.

"Ok, ok! I will," she looks at the trio in fond exasperation as she opens the letter. "Let's see..."

"Dear Future Jazz,

How are you? Do you get to accomplish our dreams? We are still super smart and helpful, right? Do I get any close friends like Danny has Tucker? Maybe when I'm your age, mom and dad will find spending time with us more interesting than ghosts and playing with their loud invenshuns that scare me and Danny!

P.S.

I hope you still take good care of bearburt!"

"Hey, what else is in there?" Jazz redirects the focus to the time capsule from her teary gaze, making a move to see for herself before Danny's hand went back in. He's the one holding it so she cant just take it!

"Up next is...." Danny pauses for dramatic effect as he grasps an object blindly, "Oh wow! Look at this blast from the past! Does it still work?"

An original game boy in all its glory.

"So that's where i put it! It was my dad's and i used to play that thing all the time before this. I forgot about it completely when my parents got me that game boy color when it was new." Tucker informs everyone as he remembers it all while inspecting it for its condition. "Good thing Jazz convinced me to take the batteries out! Hehe!"

Another envelope taped to the game boy containing another message from the past. This one went unnoticed until Danny was already reaching for what past Danny left for him, Tucker taking it and putting it in his pocket.

For once he doesn't mind not being noticed. But alas, none of them forgot that 'we' and that it wasn't just Jazz who wrote one.

Sighing and preparing for future embarrassment that he's sure something he wrote when he was little would bring him, he begins.

"Hey future me,

I guess if you're getting this, we remembered to dig this up. HA HA! How much has technology advanced since this great year of 1996? Bet me an' Danny are still super close, right? Can't wait to see what kind of empire we create together. Best of luck future me, your past self."

None of them were surprised to hear that message.

'Huh, that was actually pretty sweet.'

Tucker fears were not met at all and he was greatly relieved.

"Maybe I should show my dad I found it when I get home. He was pretty heartbroken when he found out I lost it. We could even pop some batteries back in this bad boy and see how it plays!"

The group laughs at his statement, having fun reminiscing.

The last thing was unsurprisingly a toy rocket, paint still crisp while in the box. Like it literally blasted off to meet him again. Danny's breath caught seeing it here.

"This was my special rocket, I used to play with this all the time. I even slept with it." Danny was able to identify his childhood toy he forgot about in an instant. A hidden pang of sadness hit him over the memories, hidden from the rest, as he recalls his favorite toy. A small, sad smile playing on his lips.

"If it was your favorite, why did you bury that one?"

To him it didn't matter who asked, he can tell they were all thinking it.

"To be honest, I don't fully remember the reason why." He begins, "I think it was a combination of dad's penchant for careless destruction around the house where anything could be a victim of it as well as our continuously reanimated dinners. I was scared it would get broken and when we came to Jazz for help with the project, this was the most special thing i could think of to seal away for my future I guess."

His words hang for a minute before Cujo starts to yap up a storm. Trying to get Danny's attention and praise for finding his toy like he once did for the pup, Cujo runs around and through everyone's feet. It even still smelled a little like him somewhat and he is a good boy, he found the box he couldn't phase through and now Danny has his toy back!

The perfect distraction from his own letter. Danny picks Cujo up as the group heads inside to watch some movies, everyone wanting to chill after these memories were shared.

Danny glanced at his own letter while everyone heads inside, sucking in a deep breath, and shouts.

"First one in gets to choose!"

And all four teens book it, lauhghing.

Intangibility forgotten.

Or more accurately, ignored.

Danny lagged behind, opting to read his letter sent from the past. Bittersweet and full of innocence.

Dear Future Danny,

Will you take this rocket with you when you are an astronaut? I'll miss it, but it will be safer with you. So please take good care of it.

Are mommy and daddy right about ghosts? Are they evil like they say or can they be nice? They say they are evil and that if the ghosties say otherwise then they are trying to hurt me. That doesn't make much sense but mommy and daddy just want to protect me, right? Even if they get loud and yell-y when they think a ghost is here. Or during Christmas please tell me they stopped

Are you still friends with Tucker? Is he still our bestest friend? Do we get lots and lots of friends? Other kids like to be mean to me because their parents want to be mean about mommy and daddy. At least that's what Jazzy said.

Do we ever get a pet? Maybe other kids will like me more if I had a dog or something? That and I just like dogs. Maybe it could even be friendly and cuddly and protective and never is too busy for me.

Please think of me when you reach the stars as an astronaut. Maybe one day we could even live up there! Wouldn't that be cool? I'd never want to come back down from space. Earth has bullies and mean kids and attacking dinner.

P.S.

Jazzy helped me write this. She an' Tucker finished fast but I had a lot to say to you. I love you future me!

Movie sounds and laughing ahead as he is stuck, standing there reading these innocently hopeful words while his friends start without him. For all his past self's hopes, not many came true. He technically did get a dog but not many can know about it. Tucker is still his closest and truest bro. But the things that didn't change for the better hurt, reminding him how cruel fate feels sometimes for circumstances not theirs to control.

Fresh tear stains hit a blank part under the paragraphs of things his younger self wanted him to know and possibly answer next to dried, years old water stains that look identical.

Wiping his eyes and hiding the letter, he rejoins the group with an excuse of sorts and the kids continue to enjoy their day.

#danny phantom #ectoberhaunt #ectoberhaunt24 #eh past #eh future #day 7 #bury #unearth #fanfic #my fic #danny fenton #jazz fenton #tucker foley #sam manson #dp cujo #cujo #long post #time capsule

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