#really set the tone for my year thus far

[short666bread]

[rochenn]

The year is 2034. Disney announces the production of the show "Resistance: Dooku of Serenno", set during the early days of the Empire, starring CG Christopher Lee.

We begin with a flashback to Revenge of the Sith. After Dooku is beheaded, we learn that he used the Force to supply his brain with blood and oxygen. The movie is visibly retconned - as Obi-Wan, Anakin and Palpatine flee the Invisible Hand, four human parts can be spotted stealthily floating after them.

Dooku, being Dooku, survives the crash and manages to steal away. His head is surgically reattached. Don't ask why nobody else ever stitched their lightsaber-chopped limbs back on. He ends up getting prosthetic hands, anyway. David Filoni said in a behind-the-scenes interview that he thought they were cool.

Previously established canon prevents Dooku from doing anything in-character until Order 66. He lets loose in Coruscant's undercity and becomes the local kooky old man who couldn't possibly be public enemy number one until Mace Windu, freshly fried and unhanded, crashes down in front of him. What a coincidence.

Mace is still played by Sam L. Jackson. He is So Old. He is only there for the paycheck. Disney didn't know how to recast him. He is acting alongside the shell of a man who has been dead for two decades.

After a joke about missing hands that is very funny, the two get along swimmingly. They don't really talk about Dooku's various war crimes. "My droid army would never traumatize a young child," Dooku says with a wink into the camera. Remember to buy your Mandalorian merch.

Mace and Dooku organize an underground resistance on Coruscant in the spirit of the Confederacy. Mace is okay with this. Choice aspects of this arc are compelling, like the fight against fascism under the yoke of cruel state suppression, but tone-deaf allusions to the work of Sophie Scholl cause controversy abroad. Andor did it better. Critics on YouTube who thus far lauded the return of fan favorites and 'faithful casting' tear into the show for pushing the woke agenda.

Nothing Mace and Dooku accomplish has any impact on the Original Trilogy. What were you expecting? The end of the show teases a second season with the arrival of a mysterious woman. Dooku's secret wife. You never knew of her because she was never relevant before. As the final credit music slowly creeps in, she says: "Don't you want to see your son?"

The music swells and we cut to Serenno. The planet has never been mentioned throughout all 15 episodes of the show. Standing in the ruins of Dooku's castle is Dooku's son: back turned to the viewer, gazing into the sunset. Dooku II of Serenno, proud heir, turns his head. He is played by Harry Styles.

Roll credits.

[juniperdugong]

hello! can i req for a short bf!shua fic wherein yn has been sick for days and shua takes care of her and it kinda overwhelms her bec it was her first time being taken care of like that by other person (she’s used to being alone & shua just love her so much huhu) thank you! 🤍

Here Now - Joshua Hong

WC: 1k || Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Angst (?) || Lover boy Joshua Hong is in the house!!

A/N: I'm not gonna tell y'all what to do but...you maybe totally should envision this to "Lean On Me" (aka my favoritest SVT song ever)

It's been days since you've gotten up from the comfy nest you created for yourself on your bed. Wrapped up in blankets and snuggling pillows like a newborn monkey.

You hadn't gotten sick like this in forever, it's very possible that you haven't been this sick in your entire life actually. You've been calling out of work for days and any movements made past the kitchen or the bathroom were futile attempts that would leave you hurling.

So all in all, you're extremely lucky to have Joshua by your side. Bringing you meals, making you meals, making sure you're taking medicine, he even took a few days off to make sure that if you needed him he was there.

Which, if you were being honest, made you feel even more sick.

It's not like the attention wasn't appreciated...no! You loved the way that Shua loved. You really truly did! It's rare that fights ever caused wedges between you because he was always so good with communication. He was always keen on making sure that you knew that he was yours and only yours, calling every single night on tour and planning dates like it was his job. Shua was - just as he's boasted about all these years - a gentleman.

But you'd be lying if you didn't acknowledge that this didn't feel right, that him taking care of you felt comfortable. It was anything but.

You can take care of yourself and you have for many many years. So when Shua started to bring over food, made sure to set alarms to remind you to take medicine, and spend nights at your place - it's fair to say that you felt suffocated? Or it's more like you didn't want to take up his time.

Joshua is busy. You've always known him to be extremely hard-working, not only in your relationship but also in his professional life. And it's not like you ever minded, in fact, you enjoy being alone. It's just how life has turned out for you thus far, in ways, being alone is much more comfortable than being surrounded by others constantly.

When you'd gotten together it was pretty out of the ordinary. It's not like you're polar opposites but Shua is so outgoing, friendly, and sociable - it astonished you how kind he was to everyone. To be able to call him your boyfriend seems a bit like a privilege. And it only made it that much harder to accept this kind of care.

"You don't have to do all this Shua."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" He stares at you from the edge of the best where he's sitting, the thermometer still in his hand as he had just checked your temperature.

"I mean take time off and stuff. You don't have to do this for me."

Utterly confused he keeps quiet, placing the thermometer on the nightstand. He's always been good about letting other people have the space to speak.

"I know you're trying to be nice...but I can do stuff myself. You don't have to dote on me." He's letting you finish your speech but as you look into his eyes you can see he's readying himself to refute. "I know you're busy-"

"No." His tone is so stern that it scares you.

"Josh-" You nervously rub your hands together but Shua is quick to hold your palms in his.

"I'm not busy, y/n. I'm not busy when it comes to you."

"That's the thing Shua! You really shouldn't feel like you need to do any of this just because I'm your partner or out of any obligations...." He sees the guilty look on your face as you stare down at your intertwined fingers.

He scoffs, "Yeah and you shouldn't feel like you're a burden to me because I'm your partner." He rolls his eyes with a smile but you're completely blown away by the statement. "Seriously...you act like we're not gonna recite the words "through sickness and health" one day."

"Yeah but you have so much going on- I've taken care of myself for forever so it's really okay for me to continue to do so. I haven't had the kind of support you do, y'know? I've grown accustomed to being alone and doing things alone..." You take a big breath and let it out, letting the weight glide off your shoulders. "I just don't want to be another thing you think you have to worry about."

He's looking at you with the biggest stupidest doe eyes, taking in every single word you say. It only makes your heart pound more and not in any sort of lovesick manner, but in embarrassment of the situation.

"You're so...frustrating sometimes y/n."

Dumbfounded at the jab your face screws up in disbelief of his words...it feels like your world could come crashing down right now. Maybe you just shouldn't have said anything-

"I know you've done things all on your own. You're literally one of the strongest people I know. It's one of my favorite qualities about you. You're independent, reliable, and so- Just- Ugh!" He facepalms. "I know all of this about you - you're so perfect and it breaks my heart that you would ever think you could be any sort of problem for me. I'm here for you. Yes, you've learned to go through it all alone and take care of yourself. But that doesn't mean that you have to do that...especially not anymore."

You don't know if it would be more appropriate to cry or smile in this situation so you resolve to just holding him as close as you can. You can feel as tears begin to gather but you hold yourself together -although, now you know that he wouldn't mind if you let it all go.

"It worries me so much that you feel like you can't lean on me." He rests in the crook of your neck and speaks against your skin.

"Just rest now, babe. Look your temp is already a lot better than yesterday." He separates from you and holds the thermometer up as proof, "Rest. I'm here now and I refuse to let you go through life alone!" That goofy smile that had you fallen head over heels for adorns his face.

*RING RING RING* "Medicine alarm..." He presses a kiss to your cheek. Yeah, you're really lucky to have Joshua.

A/N: Crying, I love him, Mom!! Also, I'm so sorry this took so much longer to write than I expected. I was out of ideasssss and dialogue was so rough to come up with for this one. (lowkey might wake up tmrw and feel so shit abt the dialogue ;-;) But thank you for requesting @honglynights !! I hope you enjoy! Please Reblog and Comment if you enjoyed ! (They act as power-ups for me)

Taglist (OPEN): @bemybabiibish @bath1lda

[railingsofsorrow]

summary: in which a phone call ruined your day.

... or not, because your boyfriend made sure to be there for you until you were okay again. pairing: s. reid x gn!reader

w.c: 2.1K

warnings/content: reader is reckless and puts themselves in danger (one time); angst; mentions of shutting people out; an argument happens but the fluff comes right after; case-related violence; reader is going through something but it isn't explained; mentions of past bad habits; be aware of spelling errors.

A/N: my finals aren't over but I forced myself to take a break for the night. thus, I'm posting this hurt/comfort blurb. hope you like it.

navi

masterpost

cm masterlist

would you like to enter my taglist?

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“you're mad.”

the day started good. you even got breakfast at home, which is something it almost never works out. but a case only arrived at around nine, so you had time to eat something before leaving.

spencer made toast, crispy, just the way you liked it. you sipped on your orange juice as he took his coffee, hand resting above yours in the comfortable morning silence you liked to partake in.

the day started good.

until things went south really quick.

it all begun with a phone call. not a work call, you were pretty used to those and when hotch called you up to the briefing room, everybody was already filling out paperwork in the bureau.

your mood went sour in a matter of seconds. you think you were able to desguise it from most of the team, though. except for spencer and maybe emily, because emily noticed every eyelash that was out of place, she couldn't even help it.

the news you got caused you to retract back to old habits, shutting people out and drowning in work to avoid thinking about it. you were numb, doing everything on autopilot, but you didn't let it compromise your professionalism. never. that fucking phone call wouldn't make you a bad profiler for a second. you wouldn't let it.

being numb lead you to be impulsive. and you took advantage of that. you'd jump straight into action just to avoid dealing with your problems. just to forget.

“i'm not mad.”

your boyfriend's tone was clipped, short. almost cold, but it didn't got that far yet. it took a lot to make spencer reid mad. but when it happened, and you were the reason, you were always conflicted on whether to let him cool off for himself, give him space, or beg for forgiveness right after you screwed up.

this time, you decided on the former. you don't think it worked that well.

the unsub had a gun pointing at a seven year old child. he was cornered in every way possible. police cars were still arriving at the scene, although five FBI agents aimed at the man, ready to shoot in case he so much as twitched a finger on that trigger.

anxiety ran along the bystanders as they watched it all happen in their neighborhood. you hadn't plan that, in fact, all of you had planned something else entirely. the profile was solid as well as the location and the unsub's endgame.

but people are unpredictable. no matter how hard you've studied the human brain. in certain circumstances, they would be capable of anything. including threatening children's lives.

your boss advised everyone to stay back. that they had it covered. it was only a matter of talking him down, carefully and with confidence.

but the second you heard the sob of that seven-year-old boy, you stopped focusing on the command reaching your earpiece. bulletproof vest and gun set aside, you marched forward, no ounce of hesitation. you knew what you were doing.

“spencer.” you followed him into your bedroom, a tired sigh leaving your lips as you felt your legs wobble slightly. you were exhausted. the day was hell both physically and mentally and you just wanted to take a good shower and sleep for forty eight hours. you wanted to forget it ever happened. you wanted to forget that phone call.

he didn't spared you a glance as he grabbed a pair of clothes to get into the bathroom. there was it. that coldness you hated. it was finally here. “spencer, please. can we talk?” you begged. if there was one thing that suffocated you was sleeping while upset. and your boyfriend was an elite grudge holder. you just couldn't do that tonight.

“of course.” he leaned back from the door just before entering the bathroom. an impassive expression across his featured as he turned to you. you wanted to scream at him. “you've been avoiding me all day, but you want to talk now? of course.”

okay. you deserved that.

did you though? why couldn't he make your life a little easier?

“sorry I was rude to you,” you said, holding back the petty comment wanting to slip out of your tongue. sorry I'm going through something and you're being an idiot about it. “i didn't mean to. I shouldn't have treated you that way.”

spencer's tongue poked around his cheek and you braced yourself for what was about to happen. an argument. in the middle of the night — morning, it must have been past two am.

“i don't care that you were rude the entire day.” spencer clarified as if that would make things better. “i care that you threw yourself in front of a psychopath with a gun, without a bulletproof vest and only your hands to work as a shield.”

“you had my back.” you insisted, recalling the moment the whole team started to shout at both you and the unsub. they were behind you, you had good coverage. “someone needed to talk him down.”

he didn't seem to be on the verge of snapping anymore. his shoulders were slumped. he was tired too. he was exhausted. it has been a long day and you needed to rest. you needed to sleep. you needed to forget.

it had started as a good day.

“we were doing that.” spencer mumbled, softly. he eyed your bitten cuticules, the bandage in your arm and your far away gaze. spencer wasn't stupid. he noticed things. he noticed you. he knew something was wrong from the moment you excused yourself to take a phone call in the middle of the case briefing. you came back into the room a different person. contained. robotic. strictly professional. “why couldn't you wait?”

“it was a child. he was scared.” you snapped, flinching away from him. “he didn't have time to wait.”

spencer pressed his brows together, deciding to not mention the time you did have to do what you had to do. statistics wouldn't help now. “you could have gotten shot in the chest.”

“it barely grazed my arm.”

“that's not the point!”

“and what is?” you yelled back, turning to him, fuming. “there is no point. the boy was in danger. you decided to wait. I decided to act. he's alive. I'm barely hurt. the case is over.”

spencer faltered, seeking something in you that he wasn't able to find. his gaze travelled accross yours in a desperate attempt to make you realise how stupid that single sentence was. one mistake. one wrong move. and you could have been somewhere else instead of in your shared apartment.

a bodybag.

“who called you?” you blinked at him, taken aback by the question. you expected him to blame you further. you even expected him to ignore you for the rest of the night. you would not back down. “i know something happened. someone happened. you're not... you wouldn't do that if you were thinking.”

“so because I'm impulsive one time, you're questioning my judgement?”

“when your judgement makes me almost lose you, yes. I am.” he crossed his arms, licking his lips as he studied you. profiled you. you fucking hated him right now. you wanted to rip his brains out.

“there was an entire team aiming at the guy, spencer.” you scoffed, pressing a thumb against your forehead, a headache brewing. your will to argue has vanished. you just wanted to sleep.

“you were blocking our aim.”

“can you stop?”

“no.”

you no longer had control of your emotions as your sight begins to be blurred by tears. fuck, I can't do this.

the room became silent. as if hearing your inner turmoils, spencer paused. he thought it through, any possibility that might have caused your sudden mood change. your impulsiveness. he thought he had done something, but by your reaction it wasn't that. it wasn't him.

it all shifted after that phone call.

you didn't retract when he approached. you didn't reject his touch or pushed him away. but you remained frozen, locked up in your own cage.

“do you want to talk about it?”

it had started as a good day.

you stood up, brushing your strands behind your ears and swallowing up the feeling of something permanently lodged in your throat.

you didn't turn to watch his expression faltering in disappointment. you didn't had the guts to see it.

“no.” you said. “i'm fine. I'm going to take a shower. I'm tired.” you left to your shared bedroom without a goodnight, knowing it would be pointless since you'd be sleeping alone tonight.

sleeping was a strong word. you closed your eyes, pressing your eyelids so tight that you're seeing stars. tossing and turning for around one hour in an empty bed was enough to leave you upset. the weight of the day and the argument you had with your boyfriend taking a toll on you.

maybe you hadn't been fair to spencer. it's not like he did anything to force your sudden mood change; he had absolutely nothing to do with it, actually. he wasn't responsible for that phone call, he wasn't the person at the other line whose voice you didn't want to hear ever again. he was just the one at the receiving end of your irritability.

your boyfriend, he wasn't one to pry. to force you to speak of things that made you uncomfortable. things you weren't ready to discuss yet. he was the kind of person who would ask if everything was alright and he would make sure you knew you had a shoulder to cry on and a ear to vent if necessary.

spencer was caring and respectful. he knew you needed space just as he did at some moments. so much so that he wasn't sleeping on the couch because he was mad at you — though you had been rude for that to be case — but because being around him, or anyone for that matter, would only set you off.

his curled up frame on the couch, half covered by the blanket and half uncovered to the night air. curls splattered around the pillow he stole from your bedroom when you were still in the bathroom. you wanted to bury yourself into his arms and never leave him again. you wanted his warmth all over you.

standing on the entrance of the living room, you watched his eyelids move incessantly. it was what told you he wasn't in a deep sleep.

he was pretending to be sleeping and you knew he was aware of your watchful eyes.

“i'm sorry.”

you mumbled into the uncomfortable silence, scratching your arm beneath the bandage in nervousness. shifting into your feet, you contemplated approaching him, but remained in the spot.

he peaked at you as his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the room. he moved to a sitting position, outstretching a hand in your direction. an invitation.

“c'me here.”

you didn't need to be told twice.

“i'm sorry I was rude to you, I didn't mean it. you were just there and I—” he shushed your ramble with a kiss to your temple, arms squeezing you against him the way you craved in bed a few minutes ago. “i'm sorry, spencer. please don't be mad at me.” the last part you let out in a soft whisper but it only made him pull you closer as a form of comfort, to erase the pain you were feeling.

spencer cupped your cheeks so you would look at him “i'm not mad.” he promised, thumb grazing your face lovingly. “i just thought you needed space, but I promise I'm not mad, okay?”

you nodded with your lips trembling slightly. you were fairly certain that if you were to speak anything right now you'd burst into tears immediately.

you did manage to let out i don't want space, I want you. because it was all that you needed right now. always.

he kissed every teardrop that slipped out after that, bringing you closer to lay on his chest as he rested his back against the arm of the couch.

“i'm here, baby.” he whispered, fingers dancing across your arms. “always.”

you turned on his hold to be face to face with him, lifting one hand to touch the side of his face, caressing his jaw where you felt the growing stubble on his chin.

“thank you.” you said, smiling faintly when he pecked the tip of your nose.

he ended up covering the both of you with the spare blanket.

he breathed out as if pretty satisfacted with your current position, even though you both will most certainly be complaining of backache as soon as you wake up tomorrow. “i love you.” he let out, not minding about the pain in his joints in the morning. the only thing that mattered was you in his arms, safe and sound.

the day started good, until a phone call ruined it completely.

or not. because spencer was there and he kind of made things bearable. and if he could just make you feel better for a little while, that's what he would do.

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taglist: @lilyviolets

[little-emerald-snake]

Blackmail - Ominis Gaunt X F!MC

🔥 NSFW 🔞 MDNI

scene is f!mc during the shadow of friendship quest where she needs to talk Ominis out of telling on Sebastian to be committed to Azkaban BUT instead of the soft reaction we get in-game what if Ominis has actually harbored deep desires for the mc until now and since he's aware that she has feelings for Sebastian instead, uses this opportunity to "blackmail" the mc into convincing him to not put Sebastian away. so really a non-con scene of dark!ominis x f!mc if you will requested by @moongurl95 via dms

Genuinely so sorry this took me like three weeks but my life is in shambles literally setting this up to post while sheltering from a tornado 💀 but don’t worry I’m fine. Anyway I hope this is what you’re looking for 🫶🏻

Warnings: blackmail, threats, dirty talk, non-con, Dominis, stolen virginity, unprotected sex, creampie

2.4k words

She stood beside Sebastian who paced the stone floor beside his blonde companion. The air in the undercroft hung heavier than ever around them. Ominis was being brutally honest, telling Sebastian that his twin, Anne, couldn’t bear the thought of turning him in. Sebastian was a bit shocked, pacing back and forth while trying to defend himself before Ominis finally gave a sigh, saying he’d give Sebastian some time to think.

As he walked away Sebastian resumed his nervous pacing and she approached him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I can’t believe he’s gone. How did things go so wrong? I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean to-“ He shook his head in dismay. “Oh Anne. I was only trying to help. I can’t leave now. Anne needs me more than ever.”

She nodded, her head felt full of confusion and worry but she’d grown to care for Sebastian and couldn’t imagine that he’d truly wanted to hurt anyone. She knew the lengths he was willing to go for Anne. That kind of love and devotion spoke to her. “Don't worry Sebastian. I shall speak with Ominis.”

Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. You’re a real friend, truly. No matter what happens from here, I’m glad we met.” With that he turned and walked to the exit of the Undercroft. She waited till the doors chimed and she heard him exit before she turned with a sigh toward Ominis.

She could practically sense the dark cloud looming over the other side of the undercroft and a sort of unease rolled over her. This wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. Ominis had sensed her approach and decided to tell her what had happened after they’d spoken last. He’d run back to Hogwarts and before he’d been able to speak to the headmaster Anne had contacted him. He’d rushed to Feldcroft and found Anne with Solomon’s body. How deeply stricken with grief she was. “I don’t want to lose Sebastian but I don’t think we have a choice.”

She chewed her bottom lip with a worried expression. “Ominis…we do have a choice. What good would it do now to turn him in? He clearly regrets everything. He’s not going to do anything like this again.”

Ominis’ eyes darkened. “What makes you so sure? You’ve said that about nearly everything else thus far? You said letting him into the scriptorium wasn’t going to end badly yet he casted Crucio on you without a moment's hesitation. You promised the relic wouldn't cause harm yet he was ready to throw our entire friendship away just to take it with him.”

She looked down. He was right. Everything he’d said had been true. Yet she had grown fond of Sebastian both as a friend and maybe more over the span of their year. “Ominis I know how this seems but Sebastian isn’t like this. He made a mistake…it was for Anne’s life.”

Ominis’ tone turned angry, the same scowl that first day she’d come from the Undercroft painted his features as he took a step toward her. “He’s got you wrapped around his finger…he used you…and you don’t even seem to care?! You’d rather blindly ignore the damage he’d caused to make him the hero in your book because you’ve begun to harbor feelings for him haven’t you?”

She was about to deny it but what was the point? Ominis had so clearly seen through everything and while she hated to admit it, he wasn’t wrong. “I…suppose I have. I just want the best for him and Anne…it makes no sense to send him away now when Anne will be needing her brother the most.”

Ominis’ scowl darkened. “I see. So are you willing to accept the punishment for his actions? You’re an accomplice to murder if you choose to continue down this path. If he continues on the way he is I will not hesitate to turn you both in for these crimes.”

She blinked, honestly shocked about what he’d said. But she truly believed that Sebastian was good deep down. He just let this get away from him. “Yes. I understand. I promise. He won’t cause anymore trouble. Just don’t take him from Anne.”

He agreed begrudgingly, taking another step forward. She backed up a step, bumping into a stack of crates with a gasp. His voice came out dark and low. “So you are the kind of girl who falls for the villain then?”

Her eyes widened in surprise as her head whipped back around, his tone dark and a bit husky. His palm came up to rest on the crate right beside her face, his body pushing closer. “What are you willing to give up to ensure I don’t turn you and Sebastian in? What price would you pay for a life that’s already been stained in blood?”

The knot in her throat solidified and it felt like she had mouthfuls of sawdust she had to swallow in order to form words. “Ominis, w-what are you talking about…we don’t have to give up anything…we just don’t tell anyone…”

Ominis chuckled darkly, shaking his head. “I’m well aware darling. I asked what you were willing to give up in order to keep me quiet. This deal has nothing in it for me. You and Sebastian get away with murder and I’m stuck holding the truth for nothing while you both run off and fall in love. Hardly fair if you ask me.”

Her eyes widened and she suddenly understood what was happening. She moved to run but his hand, much stronger than she’d imagined, came up to hold her wrist, wrenching and pinning it above her head, shortly joined by her other. “Now now, no running away from your problems anymore. You need to come up with a solution I’ll accept or you won’t be leaving here. You better get thinking before I decide for you.”

Her mind reeled over what she could offer him. What did he want? She thought and thought but nothing came to mind. He grinned darkly. “My choice then. I can work with that.”

He moved quickly, spinning her and bending her over a crate. She gasped, surprised by the suddenness as the wood bit into her hip bones. His surprisingly strong body pinned her down with ease, one hand holding her wrists above her head while the other worked at pulling up her school skirts. “Tell me darling, are you currently taking contraceptive potions?”

Her heart pounded in her chest. Her body had the choice of fight or flight and for some bloody reason it had chosen to freeze. “I-I no…why would I-?”

He’d laughed, cutting her off while pulling her underwear to the side. “Well you better start my dear. Because if you manage to conceive I’ll ruin your pathetic life. As a Gaunt I refuse to carry forward the bloodline.”

She listened to the sound of his belt being undone and blood whooshed in her ears. She knew the time to speak up was now but she was still at a loss for words. She couldn’t very well deny him after he’d made the threat to turn her and Sebastian in. She had to stay quiet and take it, if not for herself and Sebastian’s innocence than for Anne still having a relative to care for her.

She pressed her face to the crate, tears welling in her eyes. “O-okay. I-I won’t let that happen.” She listened to him as he hummed in satisfaction and she listened to the shuffle of his pants as he pushed them down. She felt the blunt tip of him at her opening and she sniffled, stiffening up with nerves wound tight.

Ominis huffed, trying to push forward but her tense body wouldn’t allow his entrance. “For Merlin’s sake you need to relax. Just imagine it’s Sebastian like always and it’ll be over before you know it.”

She sniffled again as he released her hands and they immediately went to the edge of the crate, gripping so tightly her knuckles turned white. “S-Sebastian has never…I’ve never…”

His eyes widened in recognition and he pulled back, voice coming a bit softer this time. “You’ve never…not once?”

She nodded and his hand came to swipe away the tears, his other hand coming to slide her hair behind her ear. “It feels good after the initial bit you know…if you could survive the pain of Crucio you can make it through this and it’ll start to feel good. You don’t even have to imagine it’s me...”

She sniffled and nodded carefully, he brushed her cheek and his other hand dipped between them to rub the blunt tip up and down between her slit. The sensations were all new but the feel of him stimulating that bundle of nerves between her legs had small spikes of pleasure shooting up through her. She hated it.

She tried to fight it, her body may be wanting this but he was good at pushing the right buttons. She didn’t want Ominis. She was still stuck, she had to do this for Anne and Sebastian to be a family. She sucked in a shaky breath that turned into a whimper as he slid over her clit again.

His warm breath ghosted over her neck. His chest, which was pressed against her back, rumbled. “That’s right dear. Relax and let your body take over. Turn that brilliant brain off for a bit and put yourself somewhere happy. It’ll be over soon.”

He notched himself at her entrance and she let another few tears slip, rolling down her cheeks. She tried to imagine that this was Sebastian above her, that it was after the ball and he’d asked her to go somewhere private. Just then, slim fingers slid between her folds and rubbed small circles around that bundle of nerves.

She moaned out softly and his hips slid forward, his tip kissing that barrier within her that she knew would end this pleasure. She pushed the thought away, trying to imagine those fingers a bit thicker and rougher against her body. She tried to imagine what breathy sounds he’d make or what encouragement he’d whisper against her skin.

A moan from between her lips and Ominis’ body sank forward, pushing past that barrier and sending spikes of discomfort through her body. But as quickly as the discomfort started his fingers redoubled with the pleasurable circles and she was arching into it and whimpering in pleasure. His breath came gently across the back of her neck as he slid her hair out of the way. “That’s right Darling, just like that.”

She moaned low as he praised her, his hips slowly moving back and forth inside of her but he focused most of his intentions on her clit. She was at the very least thankful he didn’t want her to be in pain.

She tried to force herself to think about Sebastian again but the way Ominis’ breathing picked up and his slender body slid against hers as he began to thrust deeper dragged her out of the daydream. She hated how her body reacted, her stomach flipping and swirling and tightening as she listened to the small puffs of air and panting that left his lips.

The pinching discomfort between her legs slowly morphed into hot pleasure that rippled through her in waves. She gripped the crate tighter and his thrusts grew longer and deeper. “Great Merlin you’re so fucking tight, I’ve never had a witch who was a sweet little virgin. I don’t think I can go back after this. Or if this is all just you we may have to convince Sebastian to share your brilliant little body.”

His words sent shocks of pleasure through her and she moaned, pushing her hips back. This felt so good, she struggled to maintain her fantasy of Sebastian ravaging her when Ominis was the one here making her feel so incredible. Pleasure swirled deep in her stomach and she tightened, forcing him to groan behind her. “You better be careful squeezing around me like that. Might just get the idea you actually like this with me or something.”

She whimpered, unable to hold another ripple of pleasure from surging through her. His fingers moved faster, making her arch into his touch for more. “Fuck yes, darling. That’s it. Make me cum, pretty girl.”

His hips slammed deeper till their bodies had no space between, his thrusts growing faster. Her poor hips were going to be bruised and sore from being slammed forward into the crate. The head of him nudged against a spot inside of her that had her seeing stars. She hadn’t even realized how loudly she’d cried out.

He chuckled darkly, angling her hips so he’d hit that spot with every single thrust. “That’s it, come on love, you know you want to cum all over my cock after I took your sweet innocence.”

She made a pitiful sound, the pleasure was too much and the emotions swirling inside of her caused tears to form in the corner of her eyes. His fingers rolling deft circles and him nudging into that spot was all too much for her.

She heard him groan in what sounded like sweet agony as her body stilled, her traitorous body tightening around him. He tensed, holding onto her hips for deer life as he pumped into her. She grew slick and sticky between her legs and she pressed her forehead against the crate, letting her tears fall as she composed her breathing.

Instead of staying to comfort her, he pulled out, casting a cleansing charm on himself before tucking himself away and fixing his attire. She stayed there, quietly crying as his seed and her blood mixed and dripped down her thighs.

He cleared his throat and she finally stood up, not bothering with a cleaning charm and just righting her clothing. She wouldn’t feel clean till she soaked in a boiling hot bath for several hours. But she turned to find him standing there as if nothing had ever happened. “I’ll take this into consideration when I talk to Anne about how best to break the news to the Headmaster. For now you can tell Sebastian I’ve chosen not to turn you both in. But this only lasts as long as you both stay away from the Dark Arts. Understood?”

She nodded, quickly feeling like an idiot before giving him a shaky verbal response. She wouldn’t let her sacrifice be for nothing. She’d make sure the fluffy haired brunette would stay in line no matter the cost.

[pointlesschairjokes]

A Needlessly In depth Analysis of the Hypnos Subplot thus far

So, the new update is out and my sleepy boy has gotten his own story moment. I have... concerns. Going purely off of dialog I'm worried the subplot is going to simply be comic relief. The joke set-up has been obvious. Mel thinks Hypnos is wise and powerful, everyone else is being sarcastic because they know he's a lazy goof. Hypnos wakes up, Mel's image of him is shattered, cue laughter. On the one hand, I would personally find that resolution disappointing because I'd like to see more done with his character, but on the other, I hold out hope because a purely comedic subplot just wouldn't make sense. I've seen comments here and there saying Hypnos must just be conked out cause Hades and Nyx aren't there to scold him, and if this were to be pure comedy that'd probably be the case. But, if there is one thing Hades 1 makes clear, even if you interpret Hypos' character in the shallowest possible way, he cares very deeply for those he loves. When he drops his cheerful tone to ask Than to spend more time with him, it is distinct, and he nearly tears up calling Zag his best friend. I simply do not buy that he would choose to sleep for years when it means being separated from his friends and family. But then again, the first games treatment of him was just a bit odd. The only time him being the god of sleep is relevant is a single line of flashback narration where we learn he's able to put the entire house, including Hades, to sleep. For the rest of the game no character acknowledges that it makes sense for the god of sleep to be sleepy, and his keepsake, the coin purse, has nothing to do with his aspect or his character. I really hope the subplot goes in a direction of addressing that disconnect. So as to what we actually have so far: the dream scene. A lot of what we see is fairly easy to interpret, Than is there resting close to Hypnos, Hypnos is surrounded by massive stacks of work with an angry Hades looming in the background. Now this is a bit interesting, as in the first game Hypnos appears oblivious to Hades anger in his interactions with him. Perhaps this is evidence that some of that cheeriness is a defense mechanism, its hard to say, but its clear that Hypnos feels overworked. I feel its also important that Mel remarks how unusual it is that he is still asleep inside the dream. Given that, and given that there's a craftable item involved, I suspect that the scenery of the dream is going to be different each time Mel uses the dream vapors. There may even be a puzzle involving the character cutouts. As for why Hypnos is asleep, its still unclear. Could it be exhaustion due to overwork? Possibly, although it wouldn't be the most satisfying answer. I'm actually a bit reluctant to say its Chronos' doing. None of his magic seems to operate in a way that would make sense in Hypnos' case. I'll throw out one wild theory though, that its actually the Fates who have put him to sleep. We know from the prophecy list that Mel is going to locate them at some point in the story, and thus far its completely unclear how. If she can communicate with them in dreams however... What could be a better ace in the hole than a god who not only is underestimated by everyone, but who's also in an 'eternal' slumber?

[retro-with-a-twist]

¡WARNING!: VERY long post ahead!

I was recently asked to do a tutorial for two friends, and I figured I’d share it here! It’s on how I personally use markers and colored pencils for portraits, so if that’s something you’re interested in then this is for you!

I must preface by saying this is my first tutorial/guide thingy and I’m no professional, but hopefully it helps some! This is only one way of going about it, don’t worry if it’s not your way!

Without further ado, let’s do this! And remember: Trust the process!!!

First, the angelic (😏) reference:

Now, we all see tones differently. I also am using the Art Alternatives Portrait Set, which is limited in tones. So, this won’t be completely picture accurate- which is okay! Essence over accuracy!

Alright! Here we go!

Step One: the sketch!

Typically I do the sketch in the person’s undertone, usually pinks or purples. However, for whatever reason I was compelled to try blue on this one, and hey- what is art if not random attempts at creating beauty?

And just like the color scheme, the sketch isn’t 100% accurate. But again, it’s all good!

But anyways, the reason I do my sketches in colored pencil is because it doesn’t smudge like graphite does, and it actually blends into the marker. I feel it’s smoother, and it provides some undertones as you start layering with marker.

Step Two: base tones

This is where you wonder if you just destroyed the entire drawing. I promise you that you didn’t! Basically what I do here is I put pinks down wherever I see pinks in the reference and lay down where the skin is the darkest. I find that it blends better when it’s underneath the base layer.

Step Three: the base layer

Here, all you do is throw down the skintone over the entirety of where it goes, in this case the face. I typically try to leave out highlights, but sometimes the marker bleeds and covers things I didn’t ask it to. In this case, that was the eyes. Oh well!

One thing to notice here is how you can still see the colored pencil beneath the sketch. That’s a very useful guide for when you begin detailing.

Step 3.5: uh

This isn’t necessarily a marker step, it’s just me letting the ink dry and working on other spots with pen and colored pencil. Also, I do like to go over the pink areas a few times to make them less stark.

Step Four: beginning detailing

Now, black is a tricky color on the face, because it can either smudge on everything and turn it gray, or work really well. I used a colored pencil here, and began going over the blue colored pencil spots and lines that were visible under the marked, which started to bring out his face. I also covered the highlight on the nose that had been left alone thus far.

Step Five: THE™️ details

If there’s anything I’ve learned in my five years of drawing, it’s that the highlights and darkest points are what really make the piece. Pure white, bright highlights (like the ones in the eyes) are awesome, but lately I like smudging them out a little bit so that they’re gentler.

If there’s anything you want to hit, it’s the whites of the eyes with the white gel pen, and the pupils + nostrils with the black fineliner.

I have shaky hands, but I use them to my advantage in stippling the darkest part of the eyebrows and in the line of the lips with the fineliner- it just adds a little bit more depth :)

Hair is its own thing, I just sort of wing it. Black hair especially is not the easiest for me, just because I find it difficult to bring out the shades in it. It’s not done at this step as I was trying to figure out how I was going to finish it.

I will also blend things out with both the skintone marker and a pink colored pencil just to get stuff to be smoother. If you’re going for semi realism/realism like me, I highly recommend taking a reddish brown to do some freckles/skin texture with. You can’t see it too much in this picture, and I didn’t want to overdo it since Cas/Misha doesn’t have that many freckles as far as I can see, but it does make a difference.

Step Six: everything else

I did the jacket in colored pencil as well as the fake id!

If you have any questions let me know, I’m happy to help!

Hope this is a decent guide :)

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]

TOP 10 personal Favorite Manga.

Here's just a couple of manga that I love & just think are top-notch.

NUMBER: 1 : TOKYO GHOUL

A series that means a lot to me in many ways. When I first got into Tokyo Ghoul it was by the very first season of the anime during 2014 and upon hearing the opening theme of Unravel and seeing the first episode, I was hooked and went into the manga series right after. A nuanced morally compelling storytelling with an array of so many cool and great characters and narratives, incredible art progression from Ishida Sui, and overall just a satisfyingly great conclusion to boot.

NUMBER: 2 : J NO SUBETE

On the surface, looks like a regular BL series, but underneath an emotional-roller-coaster and pretty heavy story about a transwoman named J. Set in the 40s /50s, you fellow J childhood and the awful, rough bullshit she deals with in life as well as her love & massive admiration of Marilyn Monroe. Really such a good story that deals with some real heavy shit...but still so good.

NUMBER: 3 : MONSTER

Not only one of my favorite anime adaptations but also equally as wonderfully engaging & just as well done as a manga as well. Monster is such a captivating, intense story and truly one of my favorites from Urasawa's works. Following Dr. Tenma, a talented neurosurgeon who has grips with the moral dilemma of either saving the Mayor or saving a young boy who was shot in a murder. Tenma chose to save the boy instead and while it costs him being demoted he still believes he did the right thing. Unfortunately years later discovering the boy he saves...turns out to be a killer. This series is such a banger from its storytelling to the characters and just one of the best from Urasawa's.

NUMBER: 4 : GOODNIGHT PUNPUN

At first glance of this manga, you might think of it as something of a cute slice-of-life story about a cute cartoony bird. But actually when reading it...IT'S WAY MORE DARKER and GETS A LOT MORE FUCK UP! For real Goodnight Punpun is one of those series that's start-up pretty light-hearted and a little bit goofy with Punpun being a cartoony-drawn bird amongst very average-looking humans as a young kid in the first volumes of the series. But as things move forward within the story as Punpun gets older and his family situation gets more unstable as well as his life, the tone gets more depressing as a whole. Love the dark psychological storytelling, although it definitely the type of story you can only read once in awhile or in a good headspace because it definitely can be a hard read.

NUMBER: 5 : BERSERK

Seriously, what can I say about Berserk that already hasn't been said on some level. But this manga is seriously, I feel one of the most top iconic series within manga as well as one of the most engaging, moving, fantastic, epic storyline I've read thus far. I know the series itself is still ongoing, and I've been keeping up-to-date with this story since reading the very first chapter. Hearing about Kentaro Miura death....was tough, I knew he had serious health issues, which is why volumes would tend to go on pretty long hatiuses... but man. Another influential iconic figure in manga gone, Berserk is definitely a series any manga-lover or anime fan should read once in awhile.

NUMBER: 6 : SHOUWA GENROKU RAKUGO SHINJUU

Not only one of the most beautifully mature, well-written, compelling storytelling I've seen thus far in an anime series. But as a manga, even more so, a well-crafted story on the life and times of a sad, burden-ridden, slightly bitter, depressed, old man known as Yakumo Yurakutei, who is a highly skilled and experienced master of Rakugo, which for those who don't know is an traditional Japanese verbal form of entertainment. Think of it as something like a form of Improv done by only one person playing different characters to tell a story, This series has many layers to its storytelling that's is done so well dealing with Yakumo and those in his life that has impacted him as to the type of pained almost broken old man he is within the present time. Just a overall good & bittersweet but fantastic story that's deserves to be check out more.

NUMBER: 7 : INNOCENT

It is one of the most beautifully drawn manga series that I have read so far while also being equally gruesome as well. Innocent is a fictionalized historical manga set during 18th century France about the story and legacy of Charles Henri Sanson (actual real historical figure), who is the fourth generation of a family of Executioners known as the Sanson family who are the royal Executioners of Paris. The story follows Charles rough journey towards his path of becoming the Monsieur De Paris. This absolutely such a fantastic piece of work, both in terms of the visually amazing stunning artwork and along with the historical storytelling of Charles coming to terms with his hated lineage and becoming Executioner of Paris but also showcasing the societal/political chaotic changes and upheaval of France slowly leading up to the French revolution. Although some historical aspects are obviously fictionalized, but still such a good series.

NUMBER: 8 : THE PROMISED NEVERLAND

While my feelings on the anime are highly mixed due to really, really, really not caring for the way they handled parts of the storytelling from season 2 of the anime series. But the manga, on the other hand, is a totally different story. Seriously, reading this series was a blast and just an enjoyable experience from beginning to end, as well as seeing Emma and Ray also Norman grow & and develop throughout each arc was great to witness including seeing the rest of the kids thrive and survive the outside world. For this manga was a great read, and definitely, I'll say at least personally to me was done far better then the second season flimsy adaptation.

NUMBER: 9 : HOMUNCULUS

Truly an mindfuck of a manga in more ways than one. But still a pretty damned good and wild story, Homunculus is a story about a homeless man named Susumu Nakoshi who ends up meeting a seemingly antagonistic young medical student named Itoh Manabu to do a little experiment on him by drilling a actual hole in his skull for a total of 700,000 ¥en. Itoh, who is very fascinated with studying the human minds and amongst other things such as ghosts and the occult, but ultimately he thinks he can unlock the hidden psychic potential of Susumu brain. Nakoshi goes through the process, and at first, nothing seems to happen after going through the the operation. Until he closes his right eye and starts seeing otherworldly nightmarish monsters and shapes with his left eye when he looks at other people. This series is truly a weird but also such a highly intriguing and fascinating psychological read while at the same time being a bit of a downer, but still an excellent but messed-up good story.

NUMBER : 10 : ATELIER OF WITCH HAT

Okay, so I just recently started reading this manga series not that long ago, about a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm so freaking hooked. Atelier of Witch hat has truly captured my heart and mind with its engaging and creatively fascinating world-building involving witches and magic to the just as highly interesting characters and storytelling. Which centers around our young protagonist Coco ( the girl on the cover) who is this super adorably passionate girl who has such a huge love for all things magical /witches and deeply wishes she could become one as well, but unfortunately normal people or "outsiders" can't become witches, you have to be born into it, but that's doesn't stop Coco from trying her hardest to still wanting to be a witch. One of the things I love most about this world and how it handles dealing with magic and witches is that magic is really normal within this world and how witches tend to uses it to help and serve regular people in need or even for lighting up a cobblestone pathway also I really like how the magic system is structured in this series, such as instead of casting spells or any from of magic with words or a phrase, magic is casted by drawing, Coco here ends up in a pickle with accidentally casting magic that ends up turning her mom into stone & thus Coco journey towards witchood begins.

Seriously, even though I've just recently gotten into this manga & and its ongoing tale it's already has captivated me on so many levels and I just can't get enough of it so far wonderful storytelling and amazingly beautiful drawn artsy apart of it which really adds a lot of this series fantastical elements. Definitely a must to check out!!

Wanted to do a list of a couple of some of my most top favorite manga series and ones were I feel other's should give them a shot at checking out if there into any of these stories. (^ _ ^)

[bisamwilson]

hey honey! 💖 sambucky and 25. things you said in front of other people!

thanks for the ask, sweetheart <3 does something over 1k words count as a snippet oops (from this list)

"I just wasn't really feelin' it, y'know?" Sam laments to the circle of older ladies around him, sighing while they all nod along knowingly.

It's the first Thursday of the month, which means the local older women's book club is meeting in a small room off the church building where Sam's daddy had preached for twenty years, and, just like every first Thursday of the month that Sam's been in Delacroix since he was fourteen years old, Sam came by to help them set up tables and chairs for all the potluck food they bring with them.

And just like every first Thursday of the last six months since Sam and Bucky had rented a little house down here for when the world isn't on fire--last month excluded, given New York City, at least, was actually on fire--the first fifteen minutes of the local older women's book club is spent lightly interrogating Sam about his love life.

"How many of these dating app first dates have you been on, Sam?" Ms. Sheryl asks from beside him, her arms crossed over her chest.

Sam looks up at the ceiling and counts them in his head, each disappointing match after disappointing match. "Twelve in the last two months, Ms. Sheryl. Thirteen if you count the woman from NOLA I met at a jazz bar and had to leave after five minutes because an emergency mission came up. She unmatched me after that."

Ms. Sheryl nods, her lips pursed, and Sam thinks he might've accidentally just proved a point he didn't know she was making yet. "And how many of those got second dates?"

Sam's saved from having to answer that disheartening, kind-of-a-rhetorical question from the late arrival of Ms. Josephine, newcomer to both the book club and to Delacroix.

She'd moved here about a month and a half ago, about half a year after her husband had passed away, looking for a new start. Every interaction Sam's had with her thus far has been honestly lovely, and he already knows she's got a soft spot for Bucky given how much of her house he'd come over to help fix since she'd moved in. Sam's had his fair share of her "thank you" cooking, and knows full well she's as wonderful a cook as she is a lady.

"Evenin', ladies," she says, holding some kind of dish in her hand that smells downright heavenly. "And Sam," she adds with a wink, smiling when Sam takes the dish from her and sets it over on the table with the rest of the food. "What'd I miss?"

"Sam was just lamenting to us about his dating woes," Ms. Jackie replies, with a tone full of sympathy but a playful twinkle in her eye, taking Sam's hand and patting it soothingly when he comes to stand next to her, leaving his previous seat open for Ms. Josephine.

Sam laughs and squeezes Ms. Jackie's hand. "You've got a son about my age, right, Ms. Josephine? Is he single?"

All the other ladies in the room chuckle along at Sam's joke, but Ms. Josephine just looks confused. "Did something happen with you and Bucky?" she asks, concerned. "He didn't mention it when he came by to fix one of my hinges this morning."

Sam's eyebrows furrow this time around. "Not that I know of? Not unless something has happened in the last thirty minutes since I checked my phone, anyway, but he's not generally the type to call in any case."

Ms. Josephine's face morphs from confusion to contemplation, and she crosses her legs at her ankles and crosses her hands over her lap. "So are y'all in one of those relationships where you can date other people then? I saw some article about that a few weeks ago. Must have some real good communication between the two of you to make both that and all your superheroing work."

She sounds almost impressed, but Sam doesn't really have the mental capacity to acknowledge that right now, not when his brain got stuck on the word "relationships" applied to Bucky and himself.

He looks around the rest of the group to see if any of them are gonna correct her while he's still stuck in his state of shock, but finds all of them just looking vaguely amused.

He shakes his head minutely. "Ms. Josephine, Bucky and I aren't dating."

Her eyes go more than a little wide. "Wait, so you did call it off?"

Sam shakes his head again, a little more vigorously. "No, ma'am. We weren't ever dating in the first place. Did Bucky tell you we were?"

Ms. Josephine shakes her head right back. "Never explicitly, Sam, but it ain't exactly hard to tell when somebody's head over heels. He talks about you like you went and hung the moon for him. Just yesterday he came by and asked if I'd seen one of the recent news segments about you, gushing about how amazin' you look flyin' up there. 'He's so fast, and nimble, Ms. Josephine,' he said to me, all moony eyed. 'It's like nothing you've ever seen before. Sometimes I swear he looks like an angel when he's got his wings spread out.'

"And that's not even countin' the things he says about you when you've been home for a bit. He's always talkin' about whatever fishin' you've done recently, or charity work you've been doin' around here or in NOLA, or how excited you were to buy new cat toys the week before. Every time I ask him if he's got any special requests for thank you meals, he always asks for something with a spice level I'm still not sure he can handle, tellin' me all about how it's been one of your favorites since you were a kid. Bucky's spent at least four days a week at my house pretty much since I've moved in, Sam, and I'm pretty sure I know more about you than I do about him, given how much he talks about you."

Sam's world is starting to tilt on an axis, but he's saved from having to speak up by Ms. Jackie throwing in her two cents. "You know he hates the smell of the flowers he buys from me for y'all's table every week," she says, tone full of faux nonchalance. "Says they're a little too fragrant for his nose because of the serum, but he buys 'em anyway because you always smile when you see he's brought home fresh ones."

Ms. Sheryl's lips quirk up. "You know he replaced damn near every faucet in my house as payment for me helping him with some of the most complicated bits of that sweater he knit you for Christmas. Said it had to be perfect because he knew how cold you always get any time you have to go north of here."

Ms. Maybelle comes in with the final blow, and it hits Sam like the steel chair in all the WWE shows AJ insists on watching every week. "And it ain't like you don't do the same things neither, Sam. Every time I see you it's, 'Hey, Ms. Maybelle, how you been? You wanna see this cute picture I got of Bucky and the cats earlier? They fell asleep on the porch swing he built for us.' You spent the first five minutes of the book club session two months ago debating whether or not Bucky should grow his hair out because he wanted new opinions that weren't yours, and at least half of that was you trying to explain how nice he looked before with the long hair even though it was greasy, but how you like the way the short hair feels when he has his head in your lap on movie night."

Sam doesn't really know how he can defend himself here, but he's got some argument on the tip of his tongue about how their couch was just a little too small for the both of them and their cats, so the head in the lap was the obvious solution. He doesn't think it'll do much damage control, but he thinks he should at least make the attempt.

Instead, he turns back to Ms. Josephine kind of on autopilot. "He called me an angel?" he asks, his heart a little fluttery, and Ms. Josephine just smiles.

"I'll, uh, see you all here same time next month?" he asks as a kind of permission to leave. "I think I might need to go see what my roommate is up to."

"Bring your boy with you next time, Sam," Ms. Sheryl replies, nodding him towards the door. "It's much more fun to tease you both together."

[visualtaehyun]

Hey, I just wanna know from where did you start learning thai? Also, what advice do you give to those who wanna start learning it

Hiya anon ✨

I'm not sure how much help I can be, considering I'm not doing a course or following an app or anything people usually do for language learning 🥴 I've been learning mostly by immersion tbh - I've been almost exclusively watching Thai series for over a year now, plus interviews, variety shows, youtube content, songs, so many songs lol, tweets, etc.

My personal learning approach is pretty loose and chaotic lmao but here goes:

1) The biggest hurdle for me was the script. Apart from already having started to notice recurring words being said in the Thai BLs I was watching at the time, I also wanted to be able to read people's tweets! In the end, it was a combination of 1) an app I happened to find (Pocket Thai Master for Android, it's free on the Play store!) and 2) the Wikipedia article on the Thai script that both helped me to understand and start reading and writing. Coming from a non-tonal mother tongue, learning the script early on really helps to understand the tones in Thai so it's something I would for sure recommend!

2) I started keeping a lil vocabulary notebook (you know those two-column ones?) shortly before my Bangkok vacation earlier this year. It not only helped with new vocabulary but also kept me practicing writing! Anytime I encounter a new word, I look it up on either or all of the following online dictionaries: thai-language.com, thai2english, Longdo Dictionary (which I literally just now realized can be set to English in the upper right corner, I've just been using it in Thai ever since I found it djsjdh), Wiktionary in Thai, or if all else fails I google it and might find an old forum entry or maybe an article if it's a slang word or idiom. I recall having dinner in a Bonchon in Bangkok and brokenly asking the waitress for chopsticks so, while waiting, I looked up and took down the word's spelling and pronunciation and when she came back and saw me copying all the info into my little notebook liKE A NERD she laughed and complimented me for the effort haha

3) If I hear a Thai word I'm unfamiliar with that I can't look up because I don't know the spelling, there's a few approaches. If I have context for its meaning, for example subtitles, then I look up the translation instead and hope I find it. If I don't, then there's the option of using thai-language.com's Reverse Phonemic Transcription function (this site in general is my holy grail tbh, it's why I mostly stick to its romanization style for any of my #local woman harps on about linguistics posts). Another option is using the papago app's speech-to-text function. Yes, you read that right. A Korean translation app, that I previously used when I was learning Korean and thus still had on my phone, proved to be useful for me to make sense of the spelling or pronunciation of Thai words. At the beginning, I only used it to read me homonyms out loud so I could parse the difference in tones lol but then I realized it wasn't half bad at rendering an accurate transcription! Sometimes I use that feature to check my own pronunciation or remind myself of the spelling of a word.

4) I always like to recommend @lurkingteapot's comprehensive Thai language learning resources post (it's far more coherent than my post here lol). And shoutout to @recentadultburnout for posting about Thai language and culture as a native speaker (both on tumblr and on ao3)! 🙏

5) This might be minor or self-evident but ya know- install the Thai keyboard for your devices! You're gonna need it sooner or later anyway if you wanna actually use the language. And if you're a keycap and keyboard nerd like me and happen to fall in love with a keyboard in a Siam Discovery store ehem then I do recommend getting a Thai layout keyboard (or keyboard stickers!) because that has proven to help me a lot in terms of ease of learning on desktop and familiarizing myself with letters I don't often encounter. Throwback to that one time I was on the train, revising consonants and their tone classes, and indignantly texted a very confused yet amused family member a photo of my hand-written copy of the Thai consonant table, asking how I'm ever supposed to differentiate between ฎ and ฏ!! Even now, I have to lean in and squint like an old lady to see the difference on desktop. 😭

I hope at least some of this proves to be helpful in your quest to learn Thai! In any case, you're not alone on tumblr or in our little BL/GL/QL fandom bubble - I know of several users who are learning Thai, like @airenyah and @philologique and the aforementioned @lurkingteapot, just to name a few I personally follow and who I'm sure all have their own advice to give if you shoot them an ask~

สู้ ๆ นะ :) /suu suu na/

[lisbeth-kk]

May 9 prompt: home

Thanks for the tag @notjustamumj

Finding purpose

John’s lived many places due to his fatber’s military career. As a child it was sometimes devastating. Once a friendship had formed, they were always forced to move again. Harry made a fuss every time, driving their mother to despair and their father to fury. John decided early on to take another approach. When the date of depature was set, John was particularly fierce and aggressive at the rugby field, and came home looking ragged, but satisfied as if he’d won a battle.

The only place John felt quite familiar with was his birth place, London. He didn’t remember anything from the first two years he lived there of course, but they’ve lived near the city a few times since then. He’d always felt drawn to the city for some reason, although he knew no one there. Learning his lesson to try to form friendships during his childhood, he kept his distance through medical school. He dated, but it was never serious on his part. If he’d left some broken hearts behind, he wasn’t aware.

Reaching captain’s position in the army, John could keep distant even more effectively. He was the men’s superior officer, and it was frowned upon to make friends with his men. The years as a soldier and doctor were his best years thus far. He’d found a purpose, and he was bloody good at what he was doing.

And then John’s world collapsed. He was shot, and for a long while it was all pain, agony and despair. He felt alone and abandoned, and when he was sent back to England, his bland bedsit did nothing to improve his mood. His only comfort was his gun, which turned more appealing for each day that passed. Something unknown made him hesitate, though. A feeling that there would be an end to this depressive time in his life.

The day when John Watson’s life changed, was just an ordinary one. He’d told his therapist that nothing ever happened to him, and, no, he didn’t have the urge to write about this miserable life, thank you very much!

John was pleasantly surprised when Mike called his name on his way through the park. He’d always considered Mike a nice bloke, and John knew he himself was to blame for the loss of contact.

Meeting Sherlock Holmes was something John never could’ve envisioned. Instead of greeting him, the enigmatic man asked him a question John was totally unprepared for.

«Afghanistan or Iraq?»

From that moment, John knew he’d found what, or rather who he’d been looking for all his life. This man rescued him from a life of boredom or suicide, and in return John saved Sherlock’s life from that dreadful cabby the very next day.

***

«You, alright?» the familiar baritone murmurs.

John kisses Sherlock’s shoulder and nuzzles closer.

«Yeah, I was just thinking of how you saved me that day at Bart’s,» John says softly.

«I found a proper home the day I walked into this flat, for the first time in my life. But now the flat doesn’t really matter,» John concludes.

«What do you mean, John?» Sherlock asks in a puzzled tone.

John rises his head from Sherlock’s chest and looks down on his face, stroking a finger over a cheekbone.

«Because now, my precious, home is where you are.»

The amount of writing I get done as a passenger is quite satisfying.

@totallysilvergirl @calaisreno @raina-at @topsyturvy-turtely @meetinginsamarra

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how the Jak and Daxter series was able to survive having a sequel that was drastically different from the first game. For most series, I think they wouldn’t be able to survive having a sequel that went against the prior installment, especially if the execution was bad. Yet Jak II didn’t sink the franchise. In fact, I’ve noticed that the 2nd Jak game has received better reception in the years since it was released.

As a kid, even though it took some getting used to since I loved the 1st game, I wasn’t put off by Jak II being this cyberpunk GTA title. But I never understood why.

After revisiting the game (I watched a playthrough on YouTube), I think I have a working theory:

1) Jak and Daxter only had 1 game out at the time.

So, the expectations for how the characters would be portrayed wasn’t that strict. Think of it like this; Nintendo wouldn’t get away with turning Link into an unhinged, smartass killer who openly flirts with Zelda. Neither would Sega with Sonic, that’s why Shadow exists. Link and Sonic are too well-known and established that people have expectations on how they should be portrayed, thus not a ton of room for experimentation/deviation. Naughty Dog had some leeway since Jak and Daxter weren’t really household names.

2) Turning Jak into an unhinged, bloodthirsty killer who openly flirts with Keira and has serious anger issues wasn’t that drastic.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. You start off as innocent Jak, then he got pumped full of Dark Eco. Also, he was tortured for several years, so it’s not hard to see why his character turned out the way he did.

3) The game still feels like the 1st Jak and Daxter, even with the change in tone.

It controls the same. It looks the same (as in the artwork still feels like it was made by the same team). You’re still doing puzzles. And, aside from Jak, the other Jak 1 characters are pretty much the same. I think it’s Daxter and his obnoxiousness that really makes Jak II feel like it’s not a completely different franchise. Without Daxter, I think players would notice the dissonance from the 1st to the 2nd game a lot more.

4) Continuing from point 3, the new gameplay elements only build on from the 1st game rather than take away.

Sure, you get guns, a hoverboard, vehicles, and Dark Jak. However, everything else is still the same. If you remember the controls from the 1st game, you shouldn’t have any problem jumping into the 2nd game, which I feel helps in easing veteran players in with the new tone and setting.

5) Even with the change in tone and setting, the game doesn’t really deviate too far from how Jak was in Jak 1.

Even though Jak is unhinged, angry, and hellbent on revenge in Jak II, he’s still an overall good dude who goes around helping people. Jak still feels like Jak, albeit traumatized and angrier for valid reasons. It helps that Jak was sort of a blank slate in the first game. Because he was a blank slate, there was more room for Naughty Dog to develop his character in Jak II.

Jak is also a bit of a meathead dudebro in Jak II, which isn’t really how he was portrayed in Jak 1. But Jak being a dudebro isn’t that crazy when you consider his best friend is Daxter. And the open flirting isn’t that crazy since Jak already had a crush on Keira.

6) Jak II commits to its dark and edgy tone without going too dark or too cartoonish. It feels like a genuine attempt to take the first game and just “edge” it up.

What my point says. Jak II feels like a genuine continuation of the first game, but darker and edgier. But the game doesn’t go too edgy to the point that it takes you out of the story. It’s not like Jak is going around dropping f-bombs and chopping people’s heads off. It’s a solid balance, that’s what I’m trying to get at.

[thebroccolination]

I'm curious about something! In your opinion, which Between Us Specials are BounPrem and which are WinTeam? You mentioned on your last post staff and SWS were very mich aware of the mix, so 🤔🤔 Curious Stephh 🤭

Oooooohohoho, this is a fun ask!

THE BETWEEN US SPECIALS BOUNPREM vs. WINTEAM

Week 1

90% WinTeam

I'd call this one pretty solidly in character. Team moves around in his sleep a lot, Win grumbles a bit, gives Team a kiss on the cheek before he gets out of bed, and Team has an emotional meltdown because he was awake. I think Prem's just a tiiiny bit giddier than Team would be.

70% WinTeam

I think they both borrowed a little too much from their own personalities for this one, Boun more than Prem. Like, Boun's smile and laugh when he realizes Team wants a kiss goodbye are very much his own.

100% WinTeam

And thus, my overall favorite! Win pretends to be exasperated for three seconds, Team is a coddled baby, and Win is smitten. I'm pretty sure these are supposed to be set in the future, like Win's fourth year and Team's second, so this matches up perfectly with how they'd be down the road.

Week 2

30% WinTeam

This is very, very BounPrem to me. Boun just seems to be having fun with the goofy setup, and Prem's reaction at the end is a little too cartoonish. (Also, If I'm remembering right, the original skit Sheep wrote had them eating actual ice cream, so it melted faster and the tone was a little more ~erotic~. The popsicle they got for this scene wasn't really melting, though, so I think it made the scene a lot goofier than it was supposed to be.)

20% WinTeam

This one really drives home a comment Boun made about these special episodes: he found laughing as Win especially challenging because Win didn't really laugh in UWMA. He was fairly collected and calm for most of his scenes, so these lighthearted episodes where he laughs quite a bit are when Boun shines through most obviously. Like, this is just Boun being silly with Prem.

20% WinTeam

Again, this is mostly BounPrem goofing off and being cute. I remember Thai fans were very, "lol so this is a BounPrem week," when these three aired. It was cute, it just wasn't WinTeam Cute.

Week 3

0% WinTeam, 0% BounPrem

This was based on a short social media skit Sheep wrote in 2020. If I'm remembering correctly, Team pokes at his stomach and whines because the pool is closed during lockdown, so Win basically suggests sex as exercise instead. So it's another skit that was originally hinting at an erotic ending aaand turned goofy in the special episode. I honestly pretend this one doesn't exist. I didn't like the weight-shaming in UWMA and I liked it even less in the special episodes. But to give credit where it's due, when fans reached out to Paaty and Dao (BP's managers) about, they said they'd talked to New about it and he said they'd discuss the issue in more detail. So far, there hasn't been anything like it in BU, so it seems like they took the criticism seriously. (And considering one of their favorite sponsors is a plastic surgery clinic that specializes in weight loss, I'm impressed. Fingers crossed it lasts for the rest of BU.) Anyway, Win wouldn't weight-shame his boyfriend. NOT MY WINTEAM.

Note: Weight's a common topic in Asia, I know. When I lived in Japan, it was fairly common to get a cheerful, "You're skinnier/you got fat!" as a greeting from people I hadn't seen in a while. Still, it's one of those cultural things I don't think should be excused just because it's cultural. It just think it's universally unnecessary to comment on other people's bodies, y'know? You don't know what they're going through, it's not yours to comment on, etc. Plus I really don't like the position it puts Prem in.

5% WinTeam

Pffft. I'm remembering how much I disliked Week 3. This week was the one that really worried me about Between Us and how they'd portray Team. Like, why would he be this averse to sex in the special episodes, which are meant to be set when they've been dating for a while…? It just gave me those old-school BL vibes where the ~bottom~ is all "nooOoOOOoOoo I'm pure and I don't like sex" and I want to stab myself in the eye.

30% WinTeam

I think Boun channels the exasperation Win would feel, but Prem plays Team slightly too much like a caricature of Team for me. And then the whole second half is just playful Boun being playful Boun. And again, the "NOOOO NOT SEEEEX" thing.

Note: The locker room scene in BU damn near made me cry. I had almost no hope of them showing Team that enthusiastic about sex after the special episodes.

Week 4

90% WinTeam

Team's asleep throughout the scene, so this was all up to Boun, and he did well, I think! He's a little softer on the ABC gang than I think Win would be, but otherwise I think it's solid. Also, Team reaching for Win in his sleep is my second-favorite moment in these.

Note: N'aw, first introduction of the alphabet! (Minus Art, who was cast later as A.)

90% WinTeam

I was enormously relieved when this one aired because it actually had Team initiating sex. Yay! And the music is ridiculous, but I also really liked Prem's initial frustration/anxiety. He plays it a little too over the top, but in general this is probably my third-favorite scene.

Week 5

0% WinTeam

This is 100% BounPrem. The feet-kicking from Boun, the teasing from Prem, etc. This is WinTeam cosplaying BounPrem.

50% WinTeam

This is very cute, absolutely, but I don't see Win being this taken aback by a cheek kiss after they've been dating for months or possibly a year. Prem did fine though! This feels very much like Team.

60% WinTeam

Especially when you compare this to the horror movie scene in the main series, it's very, very clear that Boun's reaction here is zero percent Win and all himself. BUT there he tells Team he'll stay until it ends felt like Win. I can't decide where I fall on Team telling Win he's cute: it feels like Prem, but it's got Team's sass, so I'll lean in Team's favor for this one.

Week 6

50% WinTeam

This is EXTREMELY FUNNY but it's also EXTREMELY BOUNPREM. In fairness, I think Prem managed to stay mostly in character, but just look at that expression up there. That's 100% my gentle chaotic son Boun. <3

60% WinTeam

It's a little more in-character than the last one but it's still a little caricature-y.

BASICALLY, there's a reason why they put a "we're just fucking around, don't take this seriously" disclaimer at the start of every episode. I saw someone on here call the special episodes extended character workshops, which is genius and probably true.

Regardless of whether they'e more WinTeam or BounPrem, they're very cute and they kept us fed while we waited. <3

And it shows how much they've grown!

[loveroftoomanyfandoms]

Angel of God, My Guardian Dear Chapter 2: Reader

Rating: Explicit (18+, MINORS DNI)

Pairing: Matt Murdock x F!Reader

Story Summary: While speaking at a local school for visually impaired youth, Matt runs into his childhood best friend, with whom he lost touch almost 20 years prior.

Warnings/Tags: no real warnings thus far.

Word Count: ~2,300

A/N: None.

I still can't believe it's really him.

Matthew Murdock -- Y/N's childhood best friend, the boy she had never stopped loving since the moment she had realized what the butterflies in her stomach when she was around him were being caused by, the one person in the whole world that she had never wanted to live without but had been unwillingly forced to do so for the past 19 years -- was not only sitting on her sofa, but also reciprocated Y/N's feelings that she had carried for so long.

Y/N had honestly forgotten about the contents of that last letter she had written to Matt -- she had written it as a means of catharsis during a bout of self-pity fueled by her breakup with Alex and had only vaguely remembered writing Matt a goodbye letter when she had awoken the next morning, all cried out over the loss of not only her relationship, but also the renewed pain of never knowing what possibly could have transpired between her and Matt, had Y/N been given the chance to tell him how she felt. 

It had taken every ounce of courage she'd had to finish reading her letter out loud to Matt, and after she had finished and seen the stunned look on his face all she had wanted to do was to go crawl into a hole and hide for the next 19 years.

Instead she had picked up her drink and drank it as fast as she could, hoping the alcohol would numb the sting of rejection she had surely been about to face.

"You were in love with me?" Matt had asked.

Y/N had squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the look of scorn or, worse, pity , that Matt's face was sure to have worn.

She had been about to get up and pour herself another shot of amaretto when Matt had gently taken her glass and set it on her coffee table, then took her hand in his. "Y/N? Please, angel, talk to me."

Y/N's eyes had snapped back open in surprise at the undisguised plea in Matt's tone. There had been no mistaking his expression, either -- there was hope written plainly on his face.

Fueled by liquid courage and her own tentative hope, Y/N had taken a deep breath and told Matt the truth, that she was still in love with him. 

Her heart had leapt for joy when Matt had told her that he not only had, but also still reciprocated her feelings, then he had pulled the cross necklace she had given him right before she had left for Florida out from under his shirt. I've always kept you close to my heart.

A strange mix of happiness and anger had flooded her system and while she was still fighting the urge to march down to St. Agnes to give Sister Bernadette a piece of her mind, her anger had admittedly been somewhat abated when Matt had kissed her a few moments ago and asked her out to dinner for the following evening. 

Matt was currently looking at her somewhat nervously. "So? What do you say, angel? Go on a date with me?"

Y/N nodded. "Of course, Matty. I'd love to."

Matt grinned. "What time do you usually get off work? I'm thinking maybe you can come to my place? I'll cook."

"I get off at 5, but I'll want to come home to shower and change first, so is 6:30 okay?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, that's perfect."

"Okay, awesome."

Matt's expression grew serious. "There's something I should probably tell you though."

Y/N's brows furrowed. "Okay."

Her mind began to race. What the hell could he possibly be talking about? "You didn't lie about being married, did you?"

Matt's face twisted into confusion. "What? No, I've never even been engaged."

"Then are you in the mob? On the run from the law? Joined some sort of weird sex cult?"

Matt laughed. "None of the above, actually."

"Then what is it? Because I honestly don't know what could be worse than you being in a sex cult, except maybe if you're a serial killer or something. Oh my God, you're not a serial killer, are you?"

Matt shook his head. "No, angel, it's nothing like that. Quite the opposite, in fact."

He took a deep breath. "You've heard of Daredevil, right?"

"That vigilante dude?"

"Yeah. Well, you see -- the thing is…" Matt trailed off.

Suddenly the lightbulb in Y/N's head went off. "It's you."

"Yeah." Matt nodded. "I'm him. I'm Daredevil."

It honestly made sense once Y/N thought about it. She had known about Matt's heightened senses as a kid and his training sessions with Stick, and the fighting style had seemed familiar in the few grainy videos of Daredevil that Y/N had seen on the news. Thinking about it now though, she figured that deep down she had kind of always known that the Devil of Hell's Kitchen had to have been the same person that had taught her self-defense as a teenager.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I can deal with that. Just… just don't do anything too reckless or stupid and get yourself killed though, okay? I just got you back, I can't lose you again."

Matt took her hand and raised it to his mouth for a kiss, visible relief on his face. "I'll try my best, I promise. Thank you for being so understanding."

"Thank you for still trusting me even after all these years." Y/N bit her lip. "Any other secrets you want to tell me?"

Matt shook his head with a smile. "Nope, the fact that I'm secretly a vigilante crime-fighter is the only big secret I got. Oh, no, wait-- there is one more. You remember Sister Maggie from the orphanage?"

"Oh, yeah, of course. She was always nice. I liked her."

"She's my mother."

"She's your -- you're kidding, right?"

Matt shrugged. "Afraid not."

"Oh my God."

"Yeah."

Y/N huffed out a breath. "Did you know that when we were kids?"

Matt shook his head. "No, I just found out fairly recently. Needless to say I wasn't too happy about it at first, but I've made peace with it now."

"Well that's good."

"She asked about you, you know."

Y/N was taken aback. "She did?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, she asked me how you were doing and seemed genuinely surprised that we hadn't spoken since you left St. Agnes, especially considering we had always been pretty much attached at the hip as kids."

Y/N sighed. "I'm assuming she wasn't in on Sister Bernadette's plan to separate us then."

Matt grinned and shook his head. "Actually I'm pretty sure she thought we'd be married with a bunch of kids by now."

Y/N huffed out a laugh. "Sister Maggie's your mom. Wow. Any other bombs you wanna drop?"

Matt shook his head. "Nope, that's all of them."

"Ok good, because I have a secret of my own."

Matt raised an eyebrow and grinned. "You're also secretly a crime-fighting vigilante?"

Y/N giggled. "No, nor am I actually married, running from the law, in the mob, or in a weird sex cult either. Oh, nor am I a serial killer, I promise."

"Then what is it?"

Y/N leaned in to whisper in Matt's ear. "You weren't the only hormonal teenager who occasionally had dirty thoughts about their best friend."

Matt hummed playfully, wrapping his arms around her. "Well now… Pot, meet kettle."

Y/N trailed a finger down Matt's torso. "I'll tell you about mine if you tell me about yours."

Matt smirked. "You really want to know what I would think about?"

Y/N nodded. "Mmhmm." 

"Well, by the time my thoughts had gotten to that point I'd already been wanting to kiss you for years, so first off I would think about finally being able to know if your lips would taste like that coconut lip balm I always smelled on you."

Y/N licked her lips reflexively. "And did you think they would?"

"Mmhmm. I bet your lips would've tasted amazing , angel. Had to fight the urge to kiss you that last day just so I could find out once and for all."

Y/N swallowed. "What else would you think about?"

"I'd think about kissing your neck. I knew if I ever got the chance to feel your pulse fluttering under my lips that I would have to be extra careful not to leave any marks, although I'd want to so I could show everyone that you were mine."

Y/N sucked in a breath. Holy shit. She had never known that Matt had a possessive streak but Christ, that turned her on.

Matt licked his lips and smirked. "Oh, you like that, don't you, angel? You like the thought of me marking you up for everyone to see?"

Y/N huffed out a breathless laugh. "Sister Bernadette probably would've shipped me off to a convent overseas instead of my aunt's house in Florida had you ever given me a hickey, although I probably wouldn't have minded you leaving some in more… inconspicuous places."

"Oh really? Wanted to feel my mouth on you, sweetheart?"

God, yes. Y/N took a shaky breath and nodded. "I used to think about your lips a lot, Matty, used to think about -- about kissing you, be it sweet, innocent pecks or full-on makeout sessions leading to those aforementioned inconspicuous hickies."

"What else?" 

"I also used to think about your hands. Wanted you to touch me, wondered what it would feel like to have those long fingers of yours tracing more than just my face."

Matt groaned. "I used to think about that too, what it'd feel like if I'd been allowed to touch you outside of the platonic cuddles and chaste hugs we used to share."

Y/N shivered with desire, the gruff tone in Matt's voice sending lightning straight to her core. 

Matt made a vague gesture towards Y/N's face. "Speaking of me tracing your face though, may I? I'm still picturing teenage you and to be honest, it's kind of freaking me out -- all things considered."

Y/N chuckled. Matt had mapped out her face a couple of times as they were growing up, and she still remembered the look of concentration on his face as he had put together a mental picture of her. "Yeah, of course."

"Okay. Good. Great." Matt shifted to face Y/N more fully and tentatively reached out to touch her. "You ready?"

Y/N nodded and closed her eyes. "Yeah. Go for it."

She fought to not lean into Matt's touch as he took his time tracing her features, his fingertips slowly gliding over her forehead, eyes, cheeks, nose, lips, and finally jawline.

Y/N opened her eyes as Matt leaned back. "I know I got older, but do I still somewhat look like what you remember?"

Matt shook his head solemnly, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Actually… no."

Y/N blinked in surprise. " No ? Have I really changed that much?"

A smile spread on Matt's face. "You're even more beautiful now than you were back then."

Y/N huffed out a laugh even as her face heated. "Matthew."

Matt shrugged, his smile widening into a grin. "What? It's true."

Y/N shook her head fondly. "Actually as attractive as I thought you were when we were kids, I think you're even more handsome now."

Matt chuckled. "That's nice to hear."

Y/N licked her lips, the lust and alcohol coursing through her veins emboldening her. "Matty?"

"Yeah, angel?"

"Enough talking."

Matt grinned and cupped the sides of Y/N's neck with his hands, then pressed his lips to hers once more.

Y/N relaxed into Matt and willingly opened up to him as he deepened the kiss, the flavor of Matt himself even more intoxicating than the whiskey Y/N could taste on his tongue. 

Matt slid one hand down to her waist and pulled her closer to him, his other hand sliding up to tangle in her hair.

Y/N pressed her hands to Matt's chest to stabilize herself, marveling at just how solid he was under her touch. 

Matt groaned, trailing his lips down Y/N's jawline to her neck. "Used to dream about being with you like this, Y/N," he murmured against her skin. "Wanted you so much."

Y/N gasped as Matt placed a kiss just under her jawbone. "Wanted you too, Matt. Still do."

Matt let out a soft growl against her pulse point. "As much as I want to make love to you, the first time I take you to bed I want both of us to be clear-headed." 

Y/N nodded. As much as she wanted Matt and as amazing as his five o'clock shadow felt scratching against her skin, she knew it wasn't a wise decision to jump into bed with him right then. "Yeah. Yeah, me too."

Matt sighed and nuzzled Y/N's neck before leaning back. "Actually, I should probably get going. It's getting late." 

He pointed to the letters that were still on Y/N's coffee table. "May I have those?"

Y/N nodded again. "Yeah, of course."

They gathered the letters and put them back in the box, then stood. 

Y/N wrapped her arms around Matt in a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow night?"

Matt nodded and pressed a kiss to Y/N's forehead. "Can't wait."

Y/N tilted her face up to him and smiled. "Me either."

Matt reached up and caressed Y/N's cheek with his thumb, then gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "I'm really happy I ran into you today. I've missed you."

Y/N nodded, her heart fluttering. "I've missed you too."

"Good night, angel."

"'Night, Matty."

Y/N let Matt out and locked the door behind him, then let out a happy sigh. Never had she imagined that her day would turn out like it did, but she couldn't have been happier that it had. 

[boysplanetrecaps]

Build Up Episode 0: Getting to Know the Boys Part 3: Team Power

Hey, friends! Welcome back to this crazy project I set out for myself -- writing up a bit about each of the 40 contestants on MNET’s Build Up before I dive into the recaps. Last post, I covered Team Soul. This post will be about Team Power. Let’s do it!

Same caveats apply: 1) I’m pressed for time, so proofreading will suffer; please be kind! 2) screencaps will be awkward due to technological issues and 3) All of these guys are amazing vocalists; my critique is splitting hairs and just my opinion at the end of the day. 

Choi Haram

I also have almost no information about Haram, except that he’s a musical actor. In his teaser, V08, I Want to Fall in Love  by Johan Kim, he sings in that classical “musical actor” way, which is just not my favorite style of singing. That doesn’t make it bad! He also is singing a ballad. Which does mean it’s bad! Ha ha, jk.

I'll do my best to evaluate him even though the song is a ballad. I'm a hero, right? His soft tone he uses in the verses is just too breathy and nasal for my taste. But I do like the belt on the chorus part -- nice work. This guy definitely knows how to sing. I wonder what he’ll sound like singing more of a pop song. 

Kim Minseo

This is Kim Minseo, 21, who also appeared on a show I’d never heard of called “The Origin - A, B, or What?” It “was a new type of survival program that combines balance games along with K-pop,” whatever THAT means, and it created the group ATBO. On the Wikipedia page for that show, it says that he was born in January of 2003, making him 21 now, and it also says that he lived in China for ten years and can speak Chinese. I wonder if he and Wumuti will ever speak some Chinese together? 

I really, really liked his teaser performance of Rolling in the Deep by Adele (V39), slight pronunciation issues aside. It was actually kind of cute how he sort of just gave up on pronouncing ‘underestimate’ halfway. He has a distinct, real voice that shows some training but also some rough edges. For me, he’s one to watch. Watch? Listen to? Whatever. 

Yoon Inhwan

Yoon In-Hwan, V23, is one of the enigmas of the show -- I have no information about him. For me, his mini audition showed an unpleasantly throaty, nasal, thick vocal color that I didn’t exactly love. He sounded like he had just drunk a whole gallon of milk or something. I don’t know if that’s how he always sings, or if he just was feeling unwell that day or what. As promised, he did have a lot of power, and he also had a good sense of pitch. Hopefully he’ll do better going forward!

Jo Hwanji

I haven’t been able to get a decent screengrab thus far, but Hwanji is the guy in the uniform in episode 1. He’s only 24 -- isn’t that surprising? Before this, he went on other shows called Phantom Singer 3 and Fantastic Duo 2.

He’s another musical actor, but in his teaser song V26 he breaks the musical actor mold by singing an upbeat retro swing song by JYP -- yes, that JYP -- called Swing Baby. I like the song, and I also like the way he sings it. Clean but full, with fun little growls to brighten things up, varied dynamics, impeccable pitch, and the power he promised. Good stuff! He’s also so hilariously square. I mean it literally. He looks like a Pixar character. It’s cute. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him.

Lim Junhyeok

Junhyeok, age 30, debuted as part of the JYP-based k-band Day6 in September 2015, singing and playing keyboards. In late 2015, it was revealed that he’d been chatting with a female fan online, and that they might have been dating. The controversy built, and he felt obligated to leave the group in February 2016, getting to enjoy less than six months with the group. God, that must have been just heart wrenching for him. I can’t imagine.

Afterward, he joined another band called Be Blossom, but stayed only about a year. Since then, he was on a survival show called The Unit, which was about rebooting debuted idols’ careers. (A few other contestants of Build Up also went on The Unit, too.) He also continues to compose music, which I think is actually his first love. 

His teaser song performance, V05,  was I Love You by Shin Hyo Bum, and you can see in the silhouette that he’s playing the keyboards as he sings. I didn’t love his performance, unfortunately. It felt a little shrieky to me at times, and his softer notes were a little too breathy for my taste. He definitely belongs in the Power group, though. He can sure belt when he wants to -- it’s the softer segments that challenge him. Maybe it’s just my bias against ballads acting up, as well. 

It’s kind of a bummer, because for whatever reason, I like him. I can’t help but cheer for a guy who (a) was kicked out of his group after six months for dating, like, omg, how dare a young person want to date! (b) is a bit on the older side (c) composes music and plays instruments and most importantly (d) shows up to a survival show in a goddamn hoodie. Like, yes, king. So I hope that I grow to like his vocals better as I hear more from him. 

Side note: The Korean family name “Lim” is often transliterated as “Im” since that’s actually closer to how it’s pronounced. So if you see his family name written as “Im,” that’s why. (Nayeon from Twice has the family name of Lim/Im -- hence her album name.)

Park Jeup

Park Jeup makes himself known by wearing an enormous bow on the first day. It’s just such a choice, when he’s so masculine looking. Own it! Yes!

Anyway, he’s 30, and is a member of IMFACT. He’s been on a bunch of singing shows, as well as The Unit, which would have put him in company with Lim Junhyuk (former Day6) and Hyukjin from Fave1.

His group IMFACT debuted in January 2016 and put out several albums and singles, but none of their songs have even one million views on Youtube. Most of them don’t even break 500,000 views. In 2022, all the members of IMFACT left their agency (Star Empire). The group hasn’t officially disbanded, but the members are listing themselves as soloists. They really weren’t a bad group, and it’s a shame that they never caught on, but it’s just such a crowded landscape. Their song Only You spent some time on my playlist a few years back, and Jeup’s voice in that song is really sweet. 

I tried my best to give his teaser song a try -- he was V34 --  but I just dislike ballads so much that I can’t judge him fairly. Vocally, though, he sounds well trained. He has a surprisingly high pitched timbre considering his appearance. 

Here is a performance he did in 2018, in which he made the MNET reaction editors play the instant replay buttons like a xylophone. I think there was some sort of gas leak in the studio that day, because, yeah, his voice is nice but people are having spasms in their excitement and it’s a bit much. Also, he's singing another ballad so it's kind of a no from me.

A song that’s a bit more palatable for me is this cover of Exo’s Monster on The Unit. 

Jeup doesn’t seem to be the main vocal, but he is the one who sings “I’m sorry…. You make me… so crazy, you know you do.” He also does the higher harmony line/descant/whatever it is over the “Come here girl, you… call… me… monster” line. And he pulls it off!

I recognize Jeup’s skill, technique, and passion for the art. I’m not as sure that I love his timbre for whatever reason. I hope his voice grows on me, in part because I always have a soft spot for hard working nugu idols, and in part because I always gravitate toward the older, more broad shouldered idol types, like Baekho from NU’EST and Wyatt from ONF. Jeup, fighting!

Hyukjin

Hyukjin is 30 and is from a group called Fave1, where he’s lead vocal and lead dancer. He also appeared on The Unit, so he may also know Park Jeup and Lim Junhyuk.

Ok, so his background is kind of sad, fam.

His first group, 100%, debuted in 2012, so he’s been at this a while. There were originally seven members, but two quit, and then one member, the leader Minwoo, passed away in 2018. That had to be so hard on Hyukjin and the rest of the team, to lose not just their friend and teammate but also their leader. The group disbanded in 2021, and three of the four remaining members formed Fave1 at a new agency. So they’re kind of like Loosemble or Vivez that way. 

100% started off doing ok -- their older songs had 1 or 2 million views, good for the time period -- but their more recent songs max out at around 400,000 views. Fave1, unfortunately, is really not doing nearly as well as even 100%. Their songs usually have views measured in the thousands, and their videos look like they were shot on someone’s iPhone. Really, the whole thing is kind of heartbreaking. 

In his teaser, Hyukjin was V22 , and sang a quasi-heavy metal song -- think Dreamcatcher style -- called Lazenca, Save Us. It was a unique choice, that’s for sure! I think he was hoping that it might make a splash for being the guy who did THIS song. I’m not sure how I feel about his performance. I think I need to hear more of him to make up my mind. But I mean, gotta respect someone who comes out of the gate with that! I think his natural voice is not quite as deep and rich as it should be to successfully pull off this kind of thing, but he displays strong sense of pitch and a lot of power. It does gets a bit shrieky and it sounds like he’s hurting his throat. I’m looking forward to seeing what else he can do because I just want to see him succeed.

Ok, that's about it for this post! Sorry if it was a bit of a bummer. So many sad stories in this industry. In the next post, we'll be visiting with Team Unique, and then we'll finally get into the recaps! See you soon.

xoxo

BPR Noona

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

Today is the equinox, which means time to rotate the altar mats from summer to autumn and rearrange things as well. If ants were such a problem in this house, I would also leave food offerings, but keeping food out of my sewing room keeps things the ants out. Don't bother offering options and ideas for keeping ants away. I've got cinnamon sprinkled along the baseboards and use a peppermint oil spray throughout the house. It works, yes, but I don't fancy testing to see if it's enough when there's a yummy thing on the other side of the fragrant border. No, I think I'll get something to represent the food. At some point, there will be a shrine set up outside, but not anytime soon.

As for traditions on the equinox...not much. I rotate the altar mats, rearrange things, leave an offering of tea and wine (when I have any in the house; my husband and I don't drink), light a few candles, and if I have the energy, a tarot reading as well. Oh, and lots of housecleaning and opening windows to get fresh air in. This is pretty much all holidays, btw. I will be working on making decorations!

Holidays have never really be a big thing for me. I grew up in a christian household, but got kicked out of church when I was nine because I kept interrupting sermons with questions and couldn't fathom "blind faith." Still can't. The only holidays we actually did things for was Halloween (because three children who love costumes and a mother who can sew said costumes), xmas (not real focus on the jesus stuff, just gifts and food), easter (mostly just food; I was kicked out of church and my parents couldn't be bothered to get me into the jesus stuff at home without me challenging them with questions), thanksgiving (I nearly always got sick and now we know why, the men would spend the day watching football while the rest of us worked in the kitchen except my husband was also in the kitchen because he's a professional cook), and independence day (I fucking hate all holidays that involve explosions and flashy lights).

My hope is to create traditions for my home. Clean the house, make it fresh and open by ridding it of what was to make space for what may come. Decorate it and make it feel like a holiday rather than a passing moment. My husband and I already have a tradition for Feast Day and Yuletide, which is trying a new food for the first time. If said food turns out to be something one or both of us enjoys, it gets added to the cookbook. Thus far, I haven't been disappointed. He, on the other hand, favors the children's menu. Yuletide is also spent watching a new movie while we enjoy new food. My husband is Buddhist and celebrates no holidays except for what I do, and he enjoys it. I want to get into the habit of decorating the outside of the house, like the yard, but that won't be for awhile yet.

Here are the holidays I celebrate, and no, I do not follow the "wheel of the year."

Spring Equinox - housecleaning a few days prior, altar mat rotation, new altar arrangement, bouquet of flowers, light some candles, offer a cup of tea and glass of wine, do some casting if I feel the need to, tarot reading if I have the energy and focus, open windows in the dining room, sewing room, and kitchen. When I have some devotional wallhangings, which I need to make, those will be rotated as well. Oh, and I need to make some decorations to set up around the house.

Summer Solstice - same as above, but spring is lighter colors where summer is bright and bold. If there isn't too much smoke outside and if isn't too hot, the windows are opened.

Autumnal Equinox - same as above, but earth tones.

Halloween - same as above, but with a few additions that are very personal and private for me. Halloween also begins two weeks prior and continues for two weeks after.

Feast Day - no new setup, but instead a day of spending time together, enjoy a new movie, try new food, and maybe open windows. It's cold and wet at this time of year, and the neighbors use woodburning fireplaces to heat their homes. This puts a lot of smoke in the air, which means windows are rarely opened. Feast Day is also a day of remembrance and reflection and, if we have the money, we'll purchase items from the local Indigenous People, like food or clothing, or make a donation to the fundraisers they have set up. My ancestors were among the Puritans, the first colonizers, and they did horrific things to the people and the land.

Yuletide - this is the winter solstice and more or less the same as the first three listed here with the addition of gift giving, watching a new movie, trying new food, and cuddling on the couch. It's too cold to open the windows, and the humidity from the rain (it's the wet season here) makes the cold sink into your bones. That means cuddling on the couch with a quilt and our cat.

Now that we're homeowners, I can well and truly do as I damn well please with holiday decorations and celebration. Without the need to move when the rent goes up, I can actually make things and not worry about having to pack them up. This means lots of decorations! Were it not for the financial emergencies we had this year, I would've focused on making things for my home. When I'm able to make things for the fun of it rather than with the hope of selling, my home will have wallhangings I can rotate for the holidays, things to hang along the ceiling, yard decorations, window decorations, just full Martha Stewart. Because I can.

Do you have any particular tradition that may be unique to you, your family, or your culture? I'm a pagan witch, devotee of Cernunnos, and I work with/pray to The Morrigan, Hela, Frigg, Freyja, Freyr, and Thor, as well as ancestors, spirits, and the Good Folk (the last two are what I've been doing for over 30 years, the deities for the last 25 years, and ancestors for the last six years). My husband has no traditions for the holidays and has explained he doesn't actually celebrate any. He used to visit family when we lived near them, and we would visit mine because hey, they were nearby too (I would end up hiding in the basement because Too Much Is Happening Upstairs). We moved across the country and have only each other, which is perfectly fine for us.