#part 2 of today's rotation shenanigans

[soriastrider]

fun date ideas: rotate repeatedly

[erstwhilesparrow]

hello it's time to make a list again, i like making lists about martyn 3rd life.

watched the beheading today. it's so good. i love that the in-game chat is crucial to what they're doing here, that ren goes "we need to send a serious message to everyone at once" and the message that they send is an in-game death message!! you cannot get away from death in this series!! you cannot get away from the fact that this is a video game!!

additionally really important to me that martyn: (1) clearly cuts from [other shenanigans] to the beheading and then also has a clear cut at the end of that scene, (2) turns off his facecam for the whole thing, and (3) keeps the grayscale filter on throughout. the deliberate separation of that moment from everything else!! he immediately goes back to being himself after -- he kind of doesn't ever stop being himself -- but Something Important Is Happening Here.

(although. also. facecam acting. i just generally think it's nice when they Use The Medium.)

and then IMMEDIATELY after the beheading ren makes like he's going to attack martyn and martyn bolts. yeah yeah test of loyalty, bonds between us forged in blood, what happens on this server will change us forever, but also. 3rd life martyn is fundamentally skittish and paranoid and a bit of a coward <3 (which also makes his unwavering dedication to getting the dogwarts banner back -- a thing even he is surprised he is doing in the moment! -- all the more compelling) (and additionally am Feeling A Way about ren admitting that after he punched martyn, he did think martyn might kill him; ren might have in martyn's position. they are not... sure of themselves yet. i am tender about this too.)

hey so i forgot that ren said the first dogwarts banner they made is red from the blood dripping down the fabric.

because i am a parody of myself, i did make a note of when skizz shows up shortly after the beheading and decides he's gonna trust martyn, because "you're [ren's] boy."

because i am a parody of myself part 2: martyn+ren visit jimmy+scott to 'demand tribute' and there's some Really crunchy green-red character dynamics. jimmy, crouched, holding his sword, approaches ren and scott immediately goes (paraphrased) "jimmy, jimmy, come back, don't go near him." martyn, meanwhile, says something, gets corrected by ren, and says something like "sorry, i won't speak out of line again." rotating at high speeds thoughts about who has who on a leash in each of the red-green alliances of 3rd life.

i don't know whether this is anything as far as parallels go, there are much more solid things to draw on if you really wanted to do this, but consider: (1) ren proposes the hobbits come to the blackheart alter to have ren+martyn swear allegiance to them, and martyn crouches close to jimmy and goes, approximately, "yeah no i had a scary time at the blackheart altar just now, you should not go." he says it in a way where he kind of sounds like he's joking but he is also saying it. it doesn't come up again. and (2) grian waving scar ahead and then turning to impulse and hissing, approximately, "do not trust scar, he is going to kill everyone," and then scar comes back to see where grian went. they walk away from impulse together and once they're out of prox range, scar says, "you're right, i will kill them all." (grian starts laughing.)

related to the above if you squint: shoutout to ren for trying to threaten/coerce scott, realizing scott will not be convinced by this, and switching to threatening jimmy <3

hey. hi. i regret to inform you i have a great softness in my heart. and i have this softness specifically for jimmy adamantly refusing to go to blackheart altar because, he claims, ren+martyn will force him to get up on the altar, look scott in the eyes, and sacrifice him.

i will probably have more to say about [scott insisting on continuing negotiations until he gets to come out of it having cemented a more positive reputation for himself] once i'm done his 3rd life pov, but for right now, thinking about scott offering tango a 'deal' re: who they will or won't tell about tango's cows well after tango has resigned himself to them just taking the cows, and also thinking about, while jimmy threatens/antagonizes martyn+ren, scott ends the talk with ren by saying that to honour their past friendship, he'll give ren back the rabbit foot like ren originally asked for. scott smajor. i have feelings about you.

and now for some desert duo: really charmed by grian noticing ren+martyn have the dogwarts shields and saying to scar, plaintively, "they've got matching shields! why don't we have matching shields?"

and now for some desert duo part 2: scar surrounded by dogwarts people when he tries to steal the banner. one of them saying, "Yeah, he's on his own," and Scar saying, "Am I on my own now, Grian?" (grian is in fact Right There.)

[sanguine-tenshi]

I just finished Inazuma and I have words

TL;DR: Hate the story, mixed on characters, love the design and tired of being treated like a 4-year-old with a learning disability.

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

Let’s start with what I like.

Inazuma is absolutely beautiful. I’ll admit Inazuma hits a lot of aesthetic points for me. All the islands are different enough to feel unique but they still look like they are a part of the same land. There are a lot of secrets to discover through just exploring. Each island has a world quest to help it (make it less hostile towards you) so it very much feels like you are saving Inazuma from itself.

.

The puzzles are alright.

I like the cubes that rotate, I always put in the effort to figure them out properly.

Hate the ones that don’t rotate, they just aren’t engaging enough for me, so I just hit them at random and hope for the best.

The glowing floor tiles were fun, once you actually realized what they wanted you to do. A little bit too easy if I’m honest.

The electro compass isn’t really much of a puzzle, more of a fetch the nearest electrograna quest.

Those little pillars that require an electro connection are kinda boring to me, again not much of a puzzle, the hardest part is finding both pillars.

I love the new electro seelie, kinda hard to follow the jittery thing in certain parts but they make a nice contrast to the regular seelies.

.

I’m very much mixed on characters.

Yoimiya is adorable. She is so bright and bubbly. What little game play we had with her was fun and I love her over the top style of fighting. Kinda disappointed she’s another pyro archer but I do admit it fits her character well. It was also wonderful seeing her just settle down and be quiet, just be a part of that moment that obviously meant a lot to her. It’s always nice to see that bubbly, energetic character have that one quiet thing, ya know. Kinda funny it’s fireworks, of all things, for her.

Gorou I like, from what little we’ve seen of him. My man killed a dude with his thighs so I’m down. I do find it kinda ridiculous that a resistance general has his whole damn belly exposed. There is also something about his voice that just does not fit. I cannot for the life of me put my finger on what exactly it is. Could be the tone itself, could be just voice acting. It sort of feels like the VA is trying to sound deeper than he actually does.

Sangonomiya Kokomi, mixed. I like her design, she looks like some sort of mystical priestess. Again something about the voice is jarring. I expected her to sound sort of airy, like she isn’t 100% present, like she’s seeing something we can’t. TBH she reminds me of Luna from HP for some reason. 

Yae Miko, I was interested because of her design. She sounds very arrogant and up her own ass, which would have been fine...if she hadn’t given us that god-awful line. “...I have high hopes for you, child. Don’t disappoint me.” Dear lord I wanted to punt her off the mountain. Or fucking what! Also she’s some bigshot priestess of the Sacred Sakura and yet she can’t do her damn job properly. Why couldn’t her arrogant ass come down from her high perch and cleanse the stupid roots? Why did the traveler have to do that shit?

Baal looks dead inside. Booba sword is overrated, get a life. I want a remach! And no cutscene shenanigans this time!

Kujou Sara seems like one of those ‘honor above all else’ characters. Those are either hit or miss with me. You have my attention for now. Also what are those shoes woman?! I’d rather you wear those leg-killing, needle point stilettoes instead of those Wish gag shoes. How in the name of all that is holy can you run in those?!

Thoma, I like him. At first I thought we were gonna get another Childe incident, but Thoma is too much of a innocent puppy to pull anything that horrible. To me he fits a fox a lot better than Childe does. Childe is a dingo and I stand behind that.

Kamisato Ayaka...hate her. At first I was neutral on her. Nothing about her design really spoke to me, but I was willing to wait and see. But then miHoYo started to violently push her friendship at us. We are totally friends now, this is the first time you see my face, but we are so totally friends now. And during her story quest everyone was like “Ah, you are so good Ayaka. You are so nice Ayaka. You are so perfect Ayaka. We all love you so much Ayaka. And oh, how could a mere merchant like myself...” Ew, go away. This is the first time I’m actively not pulling on a character banner. Normally I pull even if I’m not particularly interested in a character, because you never know how good their gameplay is until you take them out in the map. But I think I’ll be skipping this one. No thanks.

.

And now, the worst part, the story.

We’ve been hearing about the situation in Inazuma for a long time. There has been also a lot of talk about how hard it is to get there. About the wall of thunderclouds that surround the islands. So to have it cut to black and then voila Inazuma, feel just so cheap.

I was expecting something. An animation. A struggle. A quest. A minigame. At least show us the horrible weather! Something! Anything!

Hell if they wanted to be assholes about it they could have made it so that if the player fails at this point the ship is damaged, you return to Liyue and have to wait until tomorrow for the ship to be repaired. No Inazuma for today. That sure as hell would have raised the stakes.

The next complaint I have is with Yurika, the 2 milion mora processing fee girl. Later on Thoma mentions that the agency people see the fees as easy money, so her attitude doesn’t make much sense. After all someone like her would want to extract as much money as she can, but you still want the people to be able to pay that.

So it would make more sense to me if she was overly friendly and asked way too many questions. She’d need to get a much information as she can and after all the previous hostility people would be very open with her. So she’d be able to quickly find out why someone is here, what they are selling and roughly how much money they’d be able to pay. A merchant selling expensive silk would have more many than a regular ore merchant. So she’d be able to extract as much money as she could.

“I know this is a lot of money, especially for something so simple, but there is nothing I can do about it. I’m so very sorry.” And people wouldn’t say anything bad to her because she’s the first friendly face they see in Inazuma.

The stealth mission was just god-awful and I hope we never have to do that nonsense again.

Getting off of Ritou was a bit janky at the end, Chisato should have had a better reason for coming along. But I’m honestly just glad we didn’t get out the usual way...getting stuffed in a crate and smuggled out.

As a side note, I’m getting really tired of characters overexplaining things to me, especially Paimon. Dear lord, not everything has to be said, you can leave me to come to my own conclusions and solutions. Just please, who cares if a few player struggle for a bit, you don’t have to hold my hand through the whole thing.

Ayaka’s three were...ugh. It was basic emotional manipulation. Oh no this guy forgot about the love of his life and he’s been waiting for decades. And oh how sad this guy was so good and he helped these people so much but now he can’t remember. And oh the tragedy this guy forgot his life goal and is now hunted by the demons of the past. Oh the humanity! 

And it did not work. Know why? Because I have no emotional investment in any of these people, in this land. What is happening to the vision bearers in Inazuma is tragic, true, but that doesn’t make me want to overthrow the government. I don’t live here. I just got here. I wanna ask a question or two and then move on. None of this concerns me.

I was so happy when the traveler just flat out refused to start a revolution. And then we had to go and meet some people and immediately I knew this was going to be some oh noes the tragedy moments and then we would agree to help them.

It’s so forced.

Wanna know what would have been better?

Just as we are leaving the Kamisato estate Thoma catches up with us. And he tells us he gets it. We are an outsider and this doesn’t concern us. He was hopeful but he expected the denial. We shouldn’t hold it against Ayaka.

He joins us as a guide because he knows of the people we have to meet.

And so as we help these three we also get to know Thoma. We find out he was an outsider too. He got in just before the worst of it started and then he was stuck in Inazuma. He lost someone to the Vision Hunt. They slowly lost their mind after loosing their vision, their ambition too closely tied to their personality to continue without it (what is happening to Domon hits a little too close to home and he has to walk away, this is where we hear the story of the one he lost). And the same would have happened to him if the Kamisatos hadn't taken him in. He owes them his vision, his sanity and his life.

So this rebellion is personal for him.

At the end of the three wishes the atmosphere is somber. We tell him we understand why Ayaka fights, why he fights. We know that this is all wrong, that it should be stopped...but not by us. We came here to get a lead on our brother. And rebellion isn’t an overnight affaire and we can’t loose so much time in Inazuma.

And yeah, he expected as much. He just asks that we let Ayaka down gently. It’d be a shame if someone as idealistic and hopeful as her lost their spark.

And so we are gentle but firm with Ayaka. She looks like she wants to argue with us but Thoma shakes his head at her. So she sighs and tells us that a promise is a promise. We should come to the Komore Teahouse in a few days and she’ll have a plan for us to meet with the Shogun.

Now we can still have a character story quest with Yoimiya and we can still somehow get involved with helping Master Masakatsu, but it’s through Yoimiya instead of Ayaka.

And instead of a character story quest with Ayaka we have one with Thoma. Hell, give him a whole damn hangout event even.

You can probably guess why I’m pushing the friendship with Thoma so much.

Because. He. Gets. Kidnapped. For. The. 100th. Vision. Ceremony. 

And that would have been the perfect emotional in to get us involved in the rebellion. After all we just saw what happens to people who have their visions taken away and we are not letting that happen to Thoma, someone we just got close to.

So Baal makes it personal for us as well.

.

I have a few more minor complaints.

Aoi is stupid for asking for compensation after she tells us everything we needed to know because, ya know, we could have just walked away. We should have.

The whole stupid misunderstanding about the value Kurosawa’s sword holds. Kinda obvious he meant emotional value instead of monetary.

The suspicious amount of visionless NPCs and by that I mean this is the first time we have NPCs with vision. This wouldn’t have been a problem if we’ve seen NPCs with visions in Mond and Liyue.

The whole rebellion camp bit feels incredibly rushed. We just sort of lollygag over there and then there is a fight (against Sara and her stupid shoes).

Don’t make us fight Baal just to force us to lose. It would have been better if we were forced to retreat, because Thoma was injured, because there are too many soldiers for us to handle on our own. Hell, you can have a funny scene where we straight up jump off a cliff with Thoma clinging onto us and screaming bloody murder until he realizes we are slowly gliding away and he’s not about to plummet to his death.

The Sakura cleansing quest should have been voice acted.

The Mirror Maiden and Pyro Agent are totally on a date, I will not be told otherwise.

[halzore]

Some Caf and a Commander Pt. 2

Commander Fox x OC ----- Part 1 Here

Welcome to Part 2 of this series, this time featuring Thorn in all of his brotherly goodness. Feedback/interaction always appreciated, let me know what you like, if there is something you want to see. My ask box is always open. If you would like to be tagged in future parts, let me know!

Word Count: 964

Contains: shenanigans, Fox being a grumpy shit, some cute moments -- Practically all one could want in a Fox fic.

Thorn didn’t get the rank of Commander by being blasé and it didn’t take a genius to notice the constant resignation oozing out of Fox’s office all day. That’s why Thorn double took as he passed a chirpy Fox in the hallway, clutching a pastel pink flimsi cup. Seeing Fox by the light of day was rare, seeing him with a spring in his step was even rarer.

Thorn didn’t get the rank of Commander by being blasé, but he definitely got the rank of being an annoying little brother by sticking his nose where it shouldn’t have been.

He wrapped lightly on Fox’s door.

“What is it?” Thorn took that as an invitation to wedge the door open and pop his head in.

“So… what’s going on.” The cheeky lilt in Thorn’s voice was not lost on Fox, who leant back in his chair, raising his eyebrows.

“Senatorial reports,” Fox technically wasn’t lying, he did have senatorial reports open on his data-pad, but his mind was elsewhere.

“Nothing else?” The question was dripping with presumption, Fox just stared his brother down.

“Someone else perhaps?” Thorn pressed. He was trying his best to hold back his chuckles, and was very close to failing miserably.

“Get out of my office before I assign you KP duty.” The classic Fox glare was back and Thorn couldn’t help but giggle.

“You can’t assign me KP duty, I’m a Commander.” He giggled as he withdrew his head from Fox’s office and shut the door behind him.

“I still outrank you dimwit.” Fox called through the door, clearly unimpressed with his brother’s antics.

Thorn continued his daily rounds, while he had lots of fun annoying his brother, Fox had managed to dodge telling Thorn anything.

~~~

Days rolled by, and Thorn was suspicious. Everyday, around mid-morning, Fox slipped out of his office onto the street. And on one occasion Thorn was tailing behind him. Thorn watched as Fox darted in and out of the morning bustle on the Courscanti streets, before watching him make a beeline to the right into a little bricked corner shop.

Thorn jogged to close the distance between him and the shop, to not lose visual on his brother. Fox was standing at the end of the counter, helmet off, talking to someone. Thorn walked into the store. The bell jingled behind him.

“Oh, Fox, you brought a friend today. I’m Fay” Fay smiled to the commander as she worked on her orders. Thorn slapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder, Fox grimaced.

“I’m Thorn, nice to meet you, Fox has told me all about you.” Thorn couldn’t help but smile, Fox shrivelled up and grimaced harder.

“Really? Hopefully good things.” Red was creeping up Fay’s neck as she spoke. “Have you got an order Thorn? On me.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t.” Thorn responded. “Fox here drinks enough caf for all of us.” Fox didn’t think he could ever hate Thorn, but here he was wishing he could catapult his brother into the lava pits of Mustafar. “And don’t worry, Fox always says good things.” Thorn winked at Fay, who quickly smiled and turned away.

Fay finished up her caf for Fox and then ran around to the other end of the counter, shoving something in a couple of bags. She handed the goods to Fox.

“Your caf Fox, and a Caramel Slice for the both of you.” She gave Fox a smile, a smile that Fox found himself thinking about during briefings when he was supposed to be focussed. “I’ll see you tomorrow? Thorn too?”

“Just me tomorrow.” Fox replied. “Thorn has had enough of an outing for the rest of the rotation. I’ll see you then Fay.” Fox began to walk out.

“Looking forward to it,” She called as they left.

The bell jingled as the two guardsmen crossed the threshold onto the street. Fox rounded on Thorn.

“Care to tell me what in the blazing hells you were doing following me?” Fox was furious, his voice always got extra careful when he was furious. Thorn had already taken a bite out of his caramel slice.

“You were happy, it was strange.” Shrugging, Thorn took another bite out of the dessert. Fox whacked him on the back of the head.

“Can you take this seriously?”

“What, it’s tasty.” Thorn gestured at the slice. “Plus, now I know its a girl and not an underground illegal Massiff-fighting ring, I don’t have to report you.”

Fox sighed. Why couldn’t he have one slice of peace away from it all, the senators, the chancellor and Thorn’s good-for-nothing nosiness.

“You don’t speak a word of this to anyone, or else. Got it?” He levelled at Thorn. Thorn nodded in agreement. They both wandered back to the Senate buildings in silence, both munching away at their sweet treats, Fox sipping his caf.

Fox tossed his cup in the bin at the entryway to the guard base. The pink cup sat on top of the rubbish revealing little black writing. Thorn whistled.

“Fox, you player.” Fox looked at his brother in confusion. Thorn gestured to the recently disposed cup. Fox retrieved the cup, rolling it in his hands so he could read the little black writing.

Fox, my comm channel is in with your caramel slice, feel free to use it. Love Fay.

Thorn was grinning, Fox was desperately rummaging inside the flimsi bag for whatever Fay had hidden. And he found it, a small white napkin with a number scribbled on it. Fox pocketed it, and glared daggers at Thorn.

“You tell no one.” He threatened.

“Only if you call her.” Thorn grinned. “If you don’t, I will.”

“Back off, she gave me her number, not you.” Fox said. “And fine, I’ll call it.”

Taglist: @peacefulwizardfox @leias-left-hair-bun @this-smh-turned-into-a-cw-site @chewychewyque @alderaani @marvel-starwars-nerd @thegoodbatch @a-lil-perspective (please let me know if you want to be taken off or put on this list :)

[duskoscrawl]

for the fanfic ask thing: Don't Touch The Marble and the questions 2, 5, 9 or whatever you feel like talking about :)

don't touch the marble (thank you, i love this one :))

2 - What scene did you first put down?

oh so this one is interesting! i usually write a fic from start to end, just as it ends up, but don't touch the marble started with a joke tumblr post:

it is a lovely day in zephrah and you are a horrible de rolo child. percy and vex needed a holiday, at least, that's what keyleth had gotten out of her most recent work meeting with vex. and keyleth is a level twenty druid, she is competent, she is a friend, she can give them a holiday by having their children to stay with her for a week.

five children should be fine for a week.

what could possibly go wrong?

it is grissen and her guards are despairing. five children is too many, they insist in the guardroom. orym is exhausted. it's not only that there are five of them. its that they are five children accustomed to living in a castle, each as smart as a whip and trained by vox machina.

orym is a young man, but in the space of a week he gains the permanent exhaustion of a father of five. his shift partner is threatening to quit if the voice of the tempest decides to babysit five children at once again

which i was then prodded into making into the full fic that it is today (ngl i do a lot of my writing in my head so i think i rotated a lot of scenes in my head before i began, and the pov switched a number of times - for a bit it was from the eyes of keyleth/or one of the kids, but orym works best)

5 - What part was hardest to write?

this was a one sitting fic - rather than one i worked on in separate sessions, so the writing process has blended a little together in my mind (although i definitely remember bothering the discord about it). i think getting everyone into the marble and keeping it interesting was quite a struggle, as was picking the magical item to trap them all in (in the end i stole the bubbles the greenseekers had and modified them)

9 - Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

oh definitely. every fic i write ends up a surprise. for a while it was going to be the full week with a whole range of shenanigans. for a bit, keyleth was going to get trapped in the marble too. i considered a bubble with a time limit, or having them fight their way out of the bubble. the writing process was all figuring out mechanics and character dynamics and different levels of social class between the characters. i think we'd only had Will for a couple of days when i wrote the fic (and he even hadn't been mentioned when i came up with the original concept), so i had to do a lot of character building for Will and figure out how he would fit with what we already knew about Orym and what we had just learned about the De Rolo children.

there are so many ways that this fic could have gone, especially as it has so much dialogue; when i write dialogue, i never know where it is going, i just find the correct character voices and follow where they go. i find out so much about the characters as i write them, i love it.

if i had written 'don't touch the marble' when i wrote the concept, it wouldn't contain will. it would likely be mostly about the de rolo children meeting orym, and getting to know 'mr orym' over the course of childhood, but when liam gave us will, i wanted to see how will and orym felt about children, about the future, about life, in the moments before it was all taken away

ask prompts from this list - ask me about my fics

[leelee10898]

Kinky cards

Pairing: Leo & Aria (mc)

Rating:NSFW/18+

Warning: This series is full of NSFW content, graphic sex, and lots of KINK! If you have asked to be tagged, you acknowledge that you are over the age of 18.

Rules: Each player must write a One shot according to the card they are assigned. Each player must include a character from The Royal Romance in their pairing/threesome/ foursome Etc... OC’s are allowed so long as they are paired with a TRR character. Once you are tagged you must complete the fic, chose a card and tag another player. 

The game will continue until each player as written their fic! Anyone can play, if you want tagged or to play please let @speedyoperarascalparty know!!! 

** This is a time jump 2 years from where my series For You is right now**

Aria walked into their bedroom with several bags in hand, after a long day of shopping with Annabelle. “Have fun with Belle today love?” He looked up from his laptop. “Oh yeah, spent way to much money, but it was a good day.” She leaned in placing a kiss on his lips. Leo shifted the computer from his lap, he pulled her down onto him, wrapping his arms around her. Aria giggled as she straddled him, Leo’s hands grabbed her ass and gave it a rough squeeze. His lips trailed down her jaw line to her neck. “Mmmm Leo, wait!” She sat up. Leo groaned in annoyance as she climbed off his lap and grabbed her purse. “Annabelle gave me something today.” She tossed the pack of cards at Leo.

 “Kinky challenge?” He examined the cards eyeing Aria. “Yeah, Belle said they really spiced up their Sex life.” She twirled her hair. “Hmm I can’t see Drake agreeing to half of these.” Leo chuckled as he sorted through the various challenges. “So, what do you think? Are you up to it?” She bit her lip.

“When have you ever known me to pass up on sex with my beautiful wife? Like right now, you know what that does to me.” He motioned to her lips. “Fair point, so are you game?” She questioned. Leo fanned the cards out and held them towards her to pick. She approached the deck selecting one of the cards.

“Always ready.

For 3 full days (of your partners choice) you can not refuse sex from your partner.” She read the card

A large grin formed on Leo’s face “oh no of all cards.” She covered her face. Leo pulled her hands back “oh yes love, anytime, anyplace, If I want it, you must comply. Are you up for the challenge?” He mischievously eyed his wife. She took a deep breath “yes, I’ll do it.”

“Well since it is night time, we will start tomorrow.” He picked her up slinging her legs to the side, he placed her on the bed. “Tonight, is a preview.” He said through kisses.

The next morning Aria awoke to the feeling of Leo’s lips pressed against her neck, his hand roamed her sides. “Mmm good morning.” She stretched. “Good morning love, today is day one and I want to start the day off right.” he kissed her throat and roamed his lips lower down her chest. His fingers found her center as they parted her folds and grazed her clit. She arched her body into his touch. Leo looked at her through lust blown eyes, as he rolled on top of her grabbing her thighs pulling her closer. He lined his hard cock up with her entrance and shoved himself into her, he pulled her legs up over his shoulders allowing himself deeper access as he pounded into her with delicious force. “Oh fuck. Yes oh my God Leo harder.” She screamed.

“As you wish Love.” He picked up the pace slamming into her with painfully pleasurable force. Leo felt her walls flutter around him. “That’s right love cum with me.” He grunted. “Yes, yes Leo fuck yes.” She screamed her juices crashed up against his thigh length. He thrust into her expelling his milky seed deep into her. He collapsed onto her, both trying to catch their breath. “Well that’s a damn good way to start the day. Good morning Mr Rhys.” She giggled. “Good morning Mrs Rhys."he kissed her ” you are right Love, that was just the start.“ He kissed her again rolling off the bed. 

The next few days flew by in a flash. Leo was definitely taking advantage of this challenge. As Aria adjusted the hem of her dress and fixed her lipstick she couldn’t help but smile. They had just got done having sex in the limo, but she thought back to the many other times over the past two days. The shower, twice. the movie theater, in the middle of a meeting with the other dukes and duchesses from Duchy’s across Cordonia. She remembered Olivia’s smirk when Aria had to abruptly announce her and Leo needed a moment because "they got a call from the nanny” and needed to check on the twins. Leo drug her into Liam’s office and took her right on the desk. In the kitchen in the middle of the night when she crept down for a drink. She made a mental note to give her employees a nice holiday bonus this year, as she thought back to the sounds of their moans echoing thought the estate. The lake underneath the stars when the decided to take a night time swim. 

The limo rolled to a stop in front of the Beaumont estate. “We are here love.” He excited the limo and extended his hand, she took his and they walk inside. The party was lovely. A nice dinner followed by the normal Beaumont shenanigans. She looked around at her friends celebrating Ellie and Maxwell’s engagement. Leo strides up with two glasses of champagne in his hands. “There is my smokin hot wife.” He hands her a flute and takes a seat next to her. “Thank you my sexy Husband.” She smiles at him. 

“I cant believe we have been married a year already. And the twins are 2.” Aria beamed. “Yes, it’s been a wonderful two years love. Do you remember our honeymoon?” He grinned as she felt his hand slide up her leg slipping under her dress. “Mmhmm, I think anyone in a 10 mile radius remembers. ” she giggled. His fingers toyed with her panties as two digits slipped between her folds as he rubbed circles on her clit. She jumped at the sensation. “Keep a straight face love. And dont cum.” He ordered. “Fff fuck.” She softly moaned. He continued his sensual assault on her sensitive nub until he could feel her legs shake. He leaned in towards her his voice low and husky “Are you ready for me to fuck you now love?” “Yes. Leo NOW.” She tried to stand but her legs were like Jello. Leo toss her over his shoulder Aria squealed, as he rushed through the halls of the Beaumont estate before he found a vacant room.

 He lowered her onto the floor quickly removing her dress. He yanked off her underwear and popped her bra off. He peppered kisses down her jaw, to her neck, his lips settled on her breast as he tweaked each of her nipples with his tongue. His touch was like fire burning her flesh with a searing pleasure. He lowered her onto the bed, he quickly discarded his clothes as he kissed up her leg from her ankle to her wanting wet center. His tongue darted between her folds as he flicked her clit with his tongue and pumped two fingers into her. Her body writhed from the pleasure. “Oh God, oh my God.” She moaned as she felt her climax coming to a head. She screamed his name as she finally gave into her orgasm. 

Leo grinned as he snaked up her body, his lips met hers in a searing kiss. He thrust his cock into her without warning. “mmmmmm” she breathed out as Leo stroked her dripping wet pussy. “Fuck baby, you’re so fucking wet. Oh God you feel amazing.” Leo moaned. He pulled out and flipped her over. “On fours love.” He ordered as he pulled her ass closer and thrust himself back into her. His strokes were short and hard as he slapped her ass watching it jiggle around his length. “Oh fuck Leo.” She screamed out as he pounded into her hitting her sweet spot with each stroke, “Leo fuck, oh my God, yes, yes yes.” Her walls contracted around him as her juices exploded around his cock. “Mmm Leo.” She breathed as she came down from her climax.

 “I’m not done with you yet Love, climb on top.” He pulled out of her and laid on the bed. She lowered herself down on his thick length and started to rotate her hips, she picked up the pace as Leo started to buck his hips into her harder. “Fuck Leo. Oh fuck.” Leo grabbed a hold of her her hips slamming her onto him harder, her hands found the top of the headboard as she braced herself for the wild ride. One of Leo’s hands slid down letting his finger trace circles on her clit. She felt the fire ignite inside as she screamed his name, her walls tightened as she flooded his cock with her sweet nectar. “Oh fuck baby, Jesus Christ, fuck Aria.” Leo pumped two more deep thrust coating her walls with his creamy white seed.

 Aria collapsed onto Leo, her breath ragged. Their bodies heaved together as they came off their lust filled high. They lay in the bed, Leo stroking her hair as he held her tight. “Maybe that challenge wasn’t a bad thing huh love?” Leo chuckled. “Not at all, I am glad we did it.” She giggled “but I think we should pass the cards along to another couple, and I know who I am giving them too.”

I am tagging @bobasheebaby - Your card is The short stick. Thak you partner to a swinger club or order an escort and watch him/her have sex with a stranger. you may join in if/when the partner allows it.

Players: @boneandfur @bobasheebaby @drakewalkerwhipped @fullbeaumonty @agent-bossypants @viktoriapetit @darley1101 @riseandshinelittleblossom @callmetippytumbles @jadedpixiescribbles @hellospunkiebrewster @tmarie82 @walkerismychoice @hopefulmoonobject @xxrainbowprincessxx @debramcg1106 @choicesbyjade @katurrade @silviasutton1989 @blackcatkita @blackwidow2721 @itsstillnotwhatyouthink @andy-loves-corgis

Tagging: @scarlettedragon @annekebbphotography @speedyoperarascalparty @greyeyedsmile14 @stopforamoment @mind-reader1 @alicars @indiacater @bella-ca @blznbaby @liamxs-world @simsvetements @furiousherringoperatortoad @choicesfannatalie @crookedslimecreatorpasta @llholloway @museofbooks @syltti78 @ao719 @3pawandme @blubutterflyy @liam-rhys @lodberg @brightpinkpeppercorn @mynameiskaylabella @barbaravalentino @thatspicegirlssong @zaffrenotes @coldcollectornight08

[monstress]

any korean variety show recs?

alright so saddle up because this is long

 for new watchers who know next to nothing about the korean entertainmentindustry, wants to learn more abt culture:

abnormal summit, esp s1. group of semi-diverse expat panel discussculture/issues and how it pertains/compares to south korea and their owncountries. also ngl some of the panels are hot so shoutout to sam oykere anddaniel from australia.

first time in korea. changing guest of long-time expats bring their friendsover to south korea to experience the culture for the first time. you getrambunctious friend shenanigans and crash course of interesting places to visit+ eat.

korean food table. long-ass running, well-beloved food show. im hungry.

for new watchers who want to get into it because of the hallyu wave:

x-man. the start of it all. fixed members and guests play games and try tofigure out who is the spy among them. the precursor to running man. it endedyears ago but it’s LEGENDARY. i can’t tell u how many clips from some eps thatare still being played on other shows today. see your favorite stars at theirmost humble of beginnings. introduction to the dominating MCs of today: yoojaesuk and kang hodong.

happy together s3 (the sauna version). the only talk show of its kind withequal number of male and female mcs (sad ik). funny as hell, even withnon-celebs guests. way back when even jun hyun moo, the MC with the most showson his belt right now, was a nobody and made his bread and butter dancing toshinee’s Lucifer. great talking segments which i’m sad they got rid off in thelater iterations.

strong heart. a talk show where celebs share interesting stories from theirlives. if you can manage through kang hodong’s overly boisterous MC style,there are some absolute gems from this show but imo just watch based on theguests. also lee seunggi!

knowing brothers. popular talk show with a school-like setting. imo watch it based on the guests, again if you can manage through kang hodong lmao

i can see your voice. celebrity guests try to guess if a person is a good singer or tonedeaf.already multiple versions in asian countries. honestly surprised americansdon’t get in on this.

masked singer. a panel try to guess who the voice from an unknown, masked singer belongsto. i don’t know why they made an american version since the formula is onlythrilling with a tight-knit industry but ok!

weekly idol. if you’re into kpop, surely you’ve seen random dancing segmentsby now. watch it based on who you stan i guess.

doesn’t care about idols, just want to have fun:

new journey to the west. cast travels to a country and needs to win gamesfor food/sleeping place/dragon balls. fuckinnnn??? hilarious?? established cast and production team chemistry (from their previous show, 1night2days) so even the pilot doesn’t have new cast awkwardness. stellar editingand ingeniously entertaining yet simple games. they’re not afraid to rip eachother apart (some of the members’ have some…interesting past which is fun tobring up).

i live alone. a clip show of an average day of celebs who live alone. while it does haverotating celeb guests, the major draw of the show is the permanent panelmembers established in 2017, esp park narae (who is a legitimately talentedentertainer and tbh deserves better! you’ll get what i mean when u watch theshow!!).

omniscient interfering interview. clips of daily lives of celebs and their managers (who in the industry arealways in the shadows but now it’s their time to shine). wildly popular thateven most of their managers have shot for commercials. watch for the fooddescriptions from lee youngja which was a career-defining talent for her thatshe won the channel’s top entertainment award. the first woman to have everdone so across all three major channels.

infinite challenge. this show has a LOT of episodes but imo watch these specials: the ballroom dance eps, the summer music festivals, bobsleigh challenge, calender model challenge, extreme part-time job, history x hip-hop, the jack black eps, saturday saturday i am a singer, and the (very incredible, very powerful) express delivery special. iconique.

running man. i’m amazed that this show is still airing. the choi minsoo eps and sherlockeps are one of the show’s stand-out. again, if you’re into the cast chemistry,check this out.

2 days 1 night (s1, skip to s4). where the new journey to the west’s cast chemistry and production team isfortified! season 1 was very popular but it ended because the director wantedto pursue his studies. season 2 and season 3 tried to capture its magic with new casts and directors but it just wasn’t the same. when season 4 came ploddingalong, people thought it’ll be canceled soon enough. the newest director was amentee of the original director though and with great luck in the new cast, season 4was herald as the show’s comeback. the ‘no smoking’ episode was brilliant. edit post chatroom scandal: from the bottom of my heart, don’t watch s4 because of one member who is an honest-to-god piece of shit.

what on earth??. an underrated show! a limited series of four men who embarks in a dangerouscross country trip. the first few eps was set in a Qatar desert, the next inthe wetlands of Scotland. educational, good chemistry btwn the members, sharpediting. also not gonna lie part of the reason i did watch this was for ji jinhee. sue me i was in a jtbc misty withdrawal! shares the same director as 2d1n season 4!

sister’s slam dunk. a rare show with an all-female cast with the premise of fulfilling eachmember’s dream with the help of the other members. honestly just watch seasonone for min hyorin’s dream of debuting as an idol (hence dragging in the othermembers too, much to the chagrin of the older members). if you like thechemistry between members enough, stick around! the cast is funny andcharismatic and it’s just (sniffs) i love women! i still bop to the songs onthe regular too.

doesn’t care about guests, just want to relax (my fave kind):

lee hyori’s bed and breakfast. popstar lee hyori and husband opens up their home as a bread and breakfast. depression? cured! streamit on netflix!

little house in the forest. this show is glacial…in the best waypossible. it’s like an ingmar bergman film. honestly best to watch when you’rein bed ready to sleep

youn’s kitchen. legendary actress youn yeo jung opens a restaurant in a foreigncountry with season one in indonesia, season two in italy. idyllic af.

hodong’s kitchen. a spinoff show with the cast from new journey to thewest (they won a bet that if they win a game, their wish is to shoot a showlike youn’s kitchen since they share the same director). if you like the njttwcast and want to see them run a small restaurant, here’s your show!

blind date cafe. what it says on the can. blind dates are done in a cafe withwaitservice that consist of musician lee juck, actress yoo inna,comedian yang sehyung and sf9 member rowoon. it’s very…cishet lmao buti love yoo inna and will watch her wait for paint to dry. some of the couplesare EXTREMELY valid tho (if anything, watch for the webtoon artist andchildrens horror book author! i STAN their love!)

coffee friends. actors set up a cafe. fulfill your coffee shop au daydreamwith yoo yoon seok here!

may food bless you. a team of close female friends that consist of actress hwayeong and comedian lee youngja, song euni, and kim sook gives advice and suggest food to aid for submitted concerns while having a meal. a great show to watch while having dinner.

note: these shows…aren’t perfect. lemme be upfront that there can be elements of casual -isms in them (the relaxing shows are generally okay tho) and i’m just gonna leave it at that.

[alliswell21]

Wilderness Log, day 2

Shenanigans afoot! Not betaed.

KPKPKPKPKPKPKPKP

Wilderness Log

Day 2

Haymitch Abernathy, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen are three of the most suspect, twitchy, jumpy people I’ve seen.

Neither of them slept a wink last night judging by how bleary eyed they are now. At least their insomnia was useful. They set up watches through the night, like a game of tag… one sat there and stared into the dark until another one clapped the first on the back for their rotation.

Neither Mrs. Everdeen nor Prim seemed particularly surprised by the trio’s antics though. In fact, they seemed relieved or something. I wonder why?

Mrs. Everdeen had me move all the liquor bottles to the big tent, except for one, and the one left out was dry as a bone by dawn. I wonder if I should tell Catnip that I left a box with about 12 more bottles of liquor by the fence? I didn’t think Abernathy would be drinking a bottle a day! If he wanted provisions, he should’ve haul the box himself. Heck, even Posy carried a rucksack full of her clothes and her two dollies.

Either way, I kind of slept better knowing there was someone watching out for the rest of us, even though the watchers are unreliable at best. I mean, how good at guarding can a drunk be? Not that I have much more faith on a guy that smiles so much (how can somebody smile that much all day long?) Even wielding that machete I wouldn’t see Peeta “smiley” Mellark as a threat. I guess we will have to toughen him up a bit.

Anywho. I was too tired after a day of moving all ten of us through the woods to also stay up all night on guard duty. Catnip made me thank the other two, although nobody thanked me for taking them safely this far. I figured it wasn’t a big deal since I was refreshed and ready for a full day of hunting and recognizance missions. I can be grateful if it’s important to Catnip.

Hunting Log:

Weather conditions were excellent for hunting today.

Katniss bagged a wild turkey, while I got three squirrels.

The snare line I set up last night yielded an enraged raccoon. Since the thing was still alive and hardly injured, we cut it loose. A shame. I’m sure he would’ve make a nice hat with the fluffy tail.

We called it a day after exploring the known land beyond the shack for a couple of hours. So far, the terrain is mostly hilly, very green and full of game. We will go further in tomorrow. By my calculations we can move out from here after tomorrow. I’m feeling optimistic for the first time in years.

Upon return to the camp, Vick was throwing a tantrum and Posy latched on it as well. My Ma looked haggard, so I took the two little ones and brought them with me to the water, to show them the lake.

They’ve never seen anything like before. To be honest, neither had I until a few months ago. It truly is a sight to behold. I’m trying to explain to them all about the lake but my knowledge is limited, which annoys me. Stupid Capitol! Keeping Panem dumb is how they keep themselves in power.

In the shack somebody gathered wood and sticks and Mellark has a nice fire going on the hearth, ready to roast the game we brought in. I already knew he could coax a fire from nothing from his games, what I didn’t know was that he used to help his Pa skin and gut the squirrels we sold to them. I guess everyone is useful at something sometimes, I just wished the guy would stop gushing about Catnip’s hunting abilities. We already know she’s an amazing markswoman.

So far, there’s been no indication of Peacekeepers combing the woods, searching for us. Very strange, considering all 3 of D12’s Victors are on the run. Who knows what’s really going on? Better not think too much about it. I feel guilty for leaving my district behind as it is, but my priority is keeping my loved ones safe.

There’s also what Catnip said about if we were away and safe, she could be different. She could get out of her head and go back to being her old self from before the games. We could finally get a chance at more. I’m not sure how we’re swinging that last part though, with her dragging Mellark and Abernathy around. Ideally it’d be just the 2 of us and our families, but Katniss is attached to her fellow victors and wouldn’t move without them.

Talking about Catnip’s anchors... Abernathy keeps hinting that we should bear north. I’m not sure why we wanna do that. If we stay our course south, we will have warmer weather for longer, making things easier on everyone.

The only thing up north is the crumbling remains of D13. A dead, radioactive graveyard. Nothing for us awaiting there other than illness and death. Hopefully the old drunk will go back to blackout flat on his back like he used to before Catnip and Mellark came into his picture. If he does though, Abernathy will be Mellark’s problem. I heard Catnip hissed at the old man that she’d make Mellark literally carry his dead weight up if he didn’t walk of his own free will. Mellark only sighed, so I know he’ll do whatever Catnip says. Don’t know why he still does that. Follow her blindly. Is not like she needs him to. Meh! Not my business!

So, supplies stand at:

-Bottles of white liquor (9) Redacted- 8 ½… Damn, that man can drink!

-Wild turkey (1)

-Squirrels (3)

-cooked chicken (1)

-pies (2 out of 3) (Rory suggested I noted the flavors so: apple and rhubarb) (what the heck is a rhubarb doing in pie? I thought it was a vegetable.)

-cookies (2 ¼ dozen)

-potatoes (5 out of 8)

-carrots (6 out of 10)

Everything else stays the same from yesterday.

Additional note:

Katniss announced that since we have enough food for the next two or three days, she’s going to teach everyone to swim tomorrow. Abernathy said he rather drown. Catnip was aggravated with the old man and yelled at him for a bit. Mellark stepped in and calmed them both down. For people Catnip swore she couldn’t bear to leave behind, they sure seemed to get in each other’s nerves a lot.

Additional note #2:

After supper, before the sunlight was completely out, Catnip and Mellark sat under a tree with that leather bound book of hers. She scribbled on it for a while, then passed it over to him and he colored it. She smiled down at the book fondly. The only times I’ve seen that expression in her face is when Prim would blow kisses at her playfully. I wonder what’s so great about that book? Gotta find out.

[shell-senji]

Gajevy Week 2017: A Surreptitious Suitor, Chapter 6

Home stretch... Chapter 6 of my Gajevy week story! (Chapter 5 is here.)  Thanks for sticking around! There’ll be an epilogue to follow shortly.

Read HERE on fanfiction.net.

                                 Day 7 Prompt: Marriage/Living Together

Levy hummed tunelessly as she worked, Gale-Force reading glasses in place, lips curved in a self-satisfied grin.

Rather than sorting books to be reshelved, today she was seated in one of the offices behind circulation, adding new acquisitions to their collection, entering the data into their catalog, and then labeling each spine carefully.

Those that had been donated by patrons got special acid-free, archival-quality bookplates on the inside cover indicating the date and name of the donor.

Levy loved doing this because she got a sneak peek at both newly published books as well as content not previously part of their inventory.

It was a book lover’s paradise.

Oh, how pretty, she thought, enjoying the images in The Bride’s Bouquet Guide. She indulged herself momentarily, allowing her mind to wander and picture her and Gajeel marrying.

Setting it aside once she’d shaken off her daydream, Levy reached for the next book and rolled her eyes.

Caring for Cocks.

About raising roosters.

It had been donated by Bickslow.

She sighed. I suppose I should admire his creativity. But I don’t even want to know how he knew I’d be working on newly acquired books.

Truly an obscure title, to be sure, but Levy supposed someday it might come in handy for some fowl-loving individual.

As she’d suspected, the next book was donated by him as well.

Dick’s Fairy.1

Contrary to any prepubescent thinking, it was merely a very dated anthology of juvenile fiction.

She made a mental note to, in spite of her better judgment, ask Bickslow where he’d found it, given her love for antique and out-of-print works.

Levy counted her blessings that these two had simply been cases of innuendo. Unfortunately, she’d been a bit premature in doing so.

Roughly an hour later, having put Bickslow and his shenanigans out of her mind, Levy picked up the last newly donated book.

And promptly dropped it, a small squeak of surprise forcing its way past her lips.

Intercourse in Elysium: Coitus Once You Kick the Bucket.2

What very likely qualified as hysterical laughter bubbled up out of her, and she doubled over in her chair.

When she’d regained a modicum of control and wiped the tears from her eyes, she sat back up.

And found herself face-to-face with Gajeel.

Who stared at her as though she’d lost her mind.

It’s a distinct possibility.

By way of explanation, Levy picked up and then held up the source of her hilarity.

“Dead people. Having sex, Gajeel! Corpse copulation! Well, okay, more like their spirits, but…” She trailed off.

He paused, seeming to search for appropriate words. Finally, in utter bafflement, he said, “What the actual fuck?”

Biting her lip to stave off further laughter, but failing as a snicker escaped, Levy simply said, “You have no idea.”

Eager to spend time with Gajeel rather than working, she finished cataloging this final book and placed the bookplate naming Bickslow as the donor inside the front cover.

Then, she stood up, brushed off her dress, and smiled at Gajeel. “So what brings you to the library?”

“Oh, I, uh, was just on this side of town and, uh, thought I’d walk home with ya. If you’re done?”

Levy nodded, and then felt her cheeks warm when he threaded his fingers through hers and tugged her gently toward the exit.

As they wandered through the Magnolia streets, she glanced over at Gajeel.

“You know, that author might not be completely nuts,” she said, referring to the afterlife sex manual.

Gajeel snorted. “Think he’s on to somethin’?”

“Well, who knows what happens after we die. I will say one thing, though. If he’s right, it sure puts the romance back in necromancy,” she deadpanned.

Gajeel barked a laugh. “Shrimp, that’s bad. Really, really bad.” He paused thoughtfully, and then said, “gives a whole new meaning to stiff.”

Levy dissolved into a fit of giggles, and Gajeel accompanied her with his signature “gi hi.”

Ignoring the stares they drew as they walked toward Fairy Hills, they cracked one bad pun after another and laughed like a pair of hyenas.

Upon arrival, Gajeel turned to Levy and spoke seriously, “So that book donation thing…”

Levy nodded and waited for him to continue.

“You, uh, ever take donations to your personal library? For safekeeping of rare items?” he asked quietly.

She grinned. “But of course! I’ve even worked with Freed to enchant my collection against damages like water, fire… You know, potential threats all too plausible given our guild mates. Why?”

He fidgeted a bit with the hem of his shirt before answering, “I, uh, got somethin’ I’d like to donate, so to speak… If you don’t mind, ’course.”

Levy stared at Gajeel momentarily, transfixed by the hint of pink dusted across his cheekbones. He looks so cute when he blushes.

Giving herself a mental shake, she replied, “I’d love to! What is it?”

He handed her a slender paperback. “Only one like it in Earthland. It’s an anthology of Edo-Gajeel’s articles, stuff he considered his best work or simply his favorites. He gave me a copy when we met.”

Levy’s mouth dropped open, and she shoved the book back toward him. “I-I… I can’t take this!”

“Oh really? Mmm…that’s a damn shame, Shorty. I was hopin’ you’d keep it safe for me. What with you bein’ a book expert and all.” He tweaked her nose playfully, and she swatted his hand away.

“Oh, you… Fine. I won’t lie—I would love to add such a one-of-a-kind book to my inventory. And you’re right about it being safer with me.” She smiled when he handed it back to her, and she tucked it carefully under her arm. “Thank you, Gajeel.”

“For what?”

“For trusting me with something so important to you! It means a lot.” Levy rose up on her tiptoes and touched her lips to his in a featherlight kiss, noticing that his cheeks had become markedly more pink than before.

Gajeel mumbled, half to himself, “Killin’ my self-control, Shrimp.” He coughed and said more audibly, “I, uh, gotta go meet Lily. Thanks for looking after my book. See ya later!”

And then the iron dragon slayer fled Fairy Hills, leaving a giggling Levy in his wake.

She shook her head, partly wishing he would lose some of his self-control and partly amused at his awkwardness.

When she entered her apartment, going to find a place for Edo-Gajeel’s book, she spotted an unfamiliar book on her desk.

The small older-looking leather-bound tome had a title in gold script that caused her to clench her teeth angrily. On the Matings of Dragons.

Oh, that perverted Seith son of a bitch.

I’m going to kill Bickslow. Slowly and painfully.

When she shoved the book out of the way, it rotated, and she saw a bookmark barely sticking out of the pages.

Unable to resist her curiosity, even irritated, she opened to the marked page.

The bookmark was, in fact, a note.

Since he doesn’t seem to realize or remember that you’re neither a dragon nor a dragon slayer, I thought you might need some help. ~Lily

Her anger faded at the Exceed’s thoughtfulness, and she mentally granted Bickslow a stay of execution.

Then, Levy began reading the pages faintly yellowed with age, and what she read made her heart race.

“When male dragons become interested in a female, they will often leave gifts for her covertly in her den. The female, using scent, will determine which of the males she likes best and consent to courtship. Following this courting period, once a male finds her sufficiently invested, he will offer her an invaluable piece of his treasure. Not only does this signify he wishes to make her his mate, permanently, but it also is symbolic—he is trusting her with a prized possession. His heart.

“To accept the mateship, the female will return his gesture, surreptitiously leaving a gift for him.”

The following day, Gajeel came home to find a surprise.

On his kitchen table was a small solid script “iron” like Levy had made for him so many times in the past.

Attached to it was a tiny post-it with one word written on it.

Yes!

Author’s Note: ’Twas sappy fluff, I readily admit it. Oh, and as to where Pantherlily found that book? A cat never reveals his secret.

Footnotes:

1. An actual book. Published in 1883 by Silas K. Hocking.

2. Though this title is entirely fictional, similar works exist. *shudder* Anyone interested may find them on their own.

[witches-and-thieves-blog]

Another Day in the Pits

"One more day, another 50 zergling stows away to drag away to the Pits" thinks Barney Rhodes as he introduces the morning startup arrangement for his SCV. The "Pits" are what Barney Rhodes and whatever remains of the Terran Dominion's SCV Corps call the offices where butchered zerg are brought for transfer. Consistent with their name, the Pits are pretty much cavities produced using Battlecruiser or Siege Tank barrage, and once loaded with zerg can be burned by a demo group. Prior that week, a forceful Terran push into the crawl drenched gorge of the Thralian Moon left more than 3,000 burned, nuked and totally damaged zerg bodies for Barney's outfit to tidy up. Barney will be making his 32nd excursion to the Pits this week and can just anticipate more as his outfit infiltrates further into zerg domain. Barney's employment was to make the Pits full the main way that could be available: get, convey, dump, return, rehash. The dullness of the occupation combined with the unbelievably disturbing, smelly and despicable rotting of zerg bodies sent 3 of his kindred SCV pilots doled out to the Pits straight to the hospital from injury instigated regurgitating and mental meltdowns.

Barney Rhodes, Class-B affirmed SCV pilot, has been in the utilize of the Terran Dominion military since he was pulled off of his Bhrexian family's regular citizen miner business amid the alleged Brood War. Simply out of secondary school, Barney and whatever remains of his associates in his local Planera would be sent a long way from home with no thought when or on the off chance that he would return. At first appointed to gem collecting, at that point development, and after that vehicle repair and hack shop obligation, Barney in the end turned into a lasting expansion to the 101st Marauder Battalion, Fido Company's assigned Pits Duty SCV move. He was a junk jockey for a regiment whose resume incorporates visits on 10 zerg plagued frameworks, 35 gleam zones and just required Battlecruiser bolster twice. The contingent was likewise known for purposefully jeopardizing the lives of its SCV pilots and Barney brushed with death more circumstances that he might want to have risked to.

Regardless of the undesirable parts of Pits Duty, or PD, for Barney Rhodes, it really has made his existence with the 101st moderately unwinding as it is most likely the most secure occupation of any SCV move in this piece of space. After a position has been cleared and secured, the PDs make room for new structures and material to be raised to supply the progress of the cutting edge powers - as it were, his work is vital to the calculated strength of the brigade - and for this he was glad for, in any event as pleased as he could be tidying up another person's chaos.

As the Thralian dawn washed the Pits in red light, Barney's SCV's cockpit com speaker sizzled to life, "Testin'! Testin'! One, two, four! PD Alpha-One to PD Alpha-Two, read me in the event that you see me! This beyond any doubt beats the helloutta precious stone pickin' under flame don't it?!" "PD Alpha-Two, understands you Five-by-Five! Furthermore, right you are, Gums!" returned Barney in affirmation. Gums Manson was the main other SCV move that comprehended the significance and pride of being appointed to PD, and survived similarly as long as Barney regardless of the brigade's shenanigans. Likewise, in light of the fact that like Barney Gums wasn't one of the 3 volunteers to be taken off dynamic obligation because of "PD Syndrome" and furthermore on the grounds that both Barney's and Gums' folks were miners, they had a considerable measure in like manner and they rapidly moved toward becoming companions.

It was the seventh and last PD pull of the day that changed all that eternity.

"...(crack)...(shhh)...(zap)...wirrrr..." Barney's com collector whimpered. "Gums! We got any amateurs joinin' us today?" Gums answered, "Not on the list - why ya askin'?"

"Appears we got somebody over here b'sides us! A' they got no sign how's to function the com!" answered Barney. "I'm gon' git to higher ground t'see if somebody's meandering where they ain't assume to. Will you be a'right here by yer' desolate?"

Gums' answer, covered with static broken out "Ro(shh)ger that!...(crackle)...don't take too long now, ya listen? We still gotta cut up that Ultralisk'er 'fore we head back!" "Alpha-2 duplicates! Be back 'fore you can state Mengsk's momma wears armed force boots! O'er n' out!" consoled Barney. Gums' laugh resounded on the speaker as Barney punched in the directions of a summit 1.5 klicks only outside of the gorge.

Most of the way to his goal, Barney's cockpit was again loaded with static sizzling over the com. "There unquestionably be somethin' out 'ere b'sides us," thought Barney as his closeness goal HUD moved toward 1.2 km.

After five minutes Barney Rhodes, pilot of PD SCV Alpha-two achieved the summit. Billows of Tharlian moondust, burned earth and zergling scales blew surrounding him in awesome blasts as the summit finished in a precarious drop-off ignoring the PD zone establishment. The impacts from the 101st Marauder Battalion's strategic nukes flagging new pushes into the neighborhood zerg hive bunch can be found out yonder, with murshrooming mists still thick as Cirian microscopic fish crest in its half-yearly summer. Barney flipped each switch he could perceive and soon every bit of reconnaissance hardware his SCV had - acoustic indicators, CT analyzers and a couple of others he had no idea in the matter of what they were implied for - all sprang to existence with startling movement. There were such a large number of instruments gleaming with screen after screen of frequencies and dynamic continuous diagrams that within his SCV was similar to a Tarsonian Night Club on the Emperor's birthday.

The excellence of the SCV was its shoddy cost however outrageous flexibility. It was configuration to withstand the most exceedingly awful territory known to humankind and needn't much else besides a Vulture permit to work, which prompted its allure among private miners, mass-excavator societies and even the most intense of Terran military groups all through the Koprulu area. In Barney's SCV he incorporated a best in class suite of finely tuned instruments that would complete him the most work at all measure of distress. Each instrument's show indicated information about the quick five kilometer range of the SCV, which included substance recognizable proof, topical height mapping, radar and underground impressions, air thickness and radiation samplers. From what Barney could tell, everything was peachy - no oddities recognized and unquestionably nobody else out there.

Barney got himself in thought at that occasion. "Nobody else?"

"Alpha-Two to Alpha-One, I've achieved my directions. I've finished my prelim'nary contact check and soon going to be goin' daze." Expecting to hear Gums' laugh over the com, there was just hush. Barney went to full quality dynamic hunt and-get. Nothing.

"Gums! You duplicate?!" Barney rehashed. As yet nothing. Not even a squeak on the com, and just the same old thing new distinguished after achieving the summit.

"Damn it, now I've lost contact with Gums" thought Barney, yet he kept after standard SCV exploring convention and addressing nobody specifically, "Alpha-Two here. I think my instruments 'r broke! Switchin' to visual affirmation!" Barney anxiously sat tight for some affirmation from Gums, however when none came, he continued to shut down his SCV's observation suite. The HUDs and watchers squinted off one by one and at the end of the day Barney came to perceive the singed landscape of the once peach shaded soil of the Thralian Moon.

The summit where Barney's SCV now remained upon disregarded a ten broad gorge which was assigned the ideal scene for Pits Duty. Barney began to rotate his SCV 180-degrees so as to get an eyeful of the gorge where he and Gums were working, and position him on an arrival vector.

Barney's SCV turned around and was met by a tornado of neighborhood moondust, covering his shelter and blinding him for a half-second. Another half-second later, Barney's SCV turned around once more, yet this time a blood-souring shout resounded from the cockpit and tumbled into the gorge beneath. The last considerations to race through Barney's head before vanishing into the profundities of the Thralian Moon were of his family back on Bhrexia and how they may never find what happened to their child.

Moving gradually and ceasing at the summit's deadly edge, Gums Manson's SCV groaned and sat. Its shelter soaking with buildup and steam sprung open and the climate of the Thralian Moon streamed in.

"The Queen directed it," sputtered from Gums' cut and immaterial jugular, past his recently split and agape mandible with a sound that would make any developed Terran man upchuck. A couple of spindly appendages crisply burst from his expanded and emptied rib confine helped his exit from the SCV cockpit onto the moon's surface.

Presently standing where his "accomplice" once did, Gums looks past the gorge towards what used to be the forefronts of the 101st Maruaders, now in full and pointless withdraw from their sporadic progress into the core of zerg domain hours earlier. Once surging billows of the exploded Terran atomic weapons appeared to disperse and break down into a large number of airborne zerg of various types and strains. Gums thought, smiling as just a pervaded Terran zerg could smile having no longer any lips, "From the Swarm, there will be no escape via arrive or by sky, keeping in mind that one discovers salvation in the half-filled Pits of my own craftsmanship."

So finished the Terran progress on the Thralian Moon thus finished one more typical day for the plagued Terran Gums Manson as he discarded a disposer-of-zerg. The one string of human interest left inside him considers what the following day will bring. Maybe the Queen will allot him another errand in the round of butcher and genocide against the Terran danger.