#rebecca irl :eyes:

[carlosshutupmygod]

rebecca teaches you how to make pilk i think (tagging with edgerunners bc rebecca images + i plan to comm my friend to draw rebecca doing this lol)

(true story i spilt pilk all over myself)

[carlosshutupmygod]

adhd pilar and rebecca hc is canon (i am literally rebecca n i have adhd and pilar told me himself this is real)

Random Cyberpunk: Edgerunners headcanons because I desperately miss my blorbos and was absolutely DEVASTATED by what the show did to them:

Maine tried to set up a swear jar but it never really caught on because every few weeks Rebecca would dump like 500 eddies in the jar at a time with the explanation of “I’m paying my monthly fuck allowance”

Kiwi and Dorio have a girls night every week where they get really drunk while getting mani-pedis and bitch about everything

David and Lucy are both autistic and hate fabric textures (hence the whole “walking around the apartment butt ass naked” thing)

Falco is terrible at cooking in every way conceivable BUT makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich

Rebecca and Pilar both have ADHD

Kiwi doesn’t save people’s names in her phone and has her friends memorized by number and it scares them

David and Rebecca will sometimes just start vocal stimming back and forth

Maine once walked in on the two of them going back and forth saying “beebus borbus” at each other over and over again

Maine and Dorio met when they were both in the army

Pilar has a ridiculous skincare routine

Rebecca once drank an entire container of Pilar’s lotion after he accused her of stealing it

David has sensory issues with carbonation and therefore absolutely DESPISES seltzers/fizzy drinks

He always gives Rebecca fizzy drinks that people buy for him and she gets absolutely wasted because of this

Maine snores insanely loudly. Dorio Hates It. She has banished Maine to the couch many times.

Lucy was a Warrior Cats kid

Maine liked to call his payments to Gloria “child support” even though he is in no way related to David

Pilar cries at those ASPCA commercials

Kiwi refuses to use the wrist strap on the Wii remote and has chucked it through the TV multiple times playing Wii bowling

Dorio adores children in theory but can’t tolerate them for more than 5 minutes

Lucy carries pepper spray and a taser at all times and uses them on people who annoy her

Falco used to wear a fedora but it got stolen and he never fully recovered

Maine wears socks with flip flops

[queerhydrangea]

.

[yumenosakiacademy]

oli but as dorian in this mv

[ameenvie]

I Think He Knows - Jamie Tartt x fem!Reader

masterlist | ao3 | ko-fi | fic recs

"his hands around a cold glass makes me wanna know that body like it's mine"

Word count: 4.6k Warnings: nsfw, smut, minors DNI! kind of angry sex, unprotected sex (wouldn't recommend irl), oral(male receiving), fingering, p in v sex, praise kink, dirty talk, slightly dom!Jamie(?), hickeys, possessiveness Tags: smut Prompt/Summary: You go out to get your mind off work and Jamie - but to your surprise he shows up at the same bar as you. Things happen. Put me in horny jail. A/N: This is the first smut I've written in a hot minute, and my first ever Jamie fic, so I just hope it doesn't suck! 😭❤ I still have to get the hang of how to write him. Maybe the intro/non-smut part is a bit too long, but idk I kept rewriting this so much. :') I hope you enjoy nevertheless! ❤❤❤

It felt like thousands of hammers were beating down onto your head. You were staring at your computer screen, trying to grasp what you were looking at, but the stress, the flickering office lights, and the constant noises of talking made it impossible.

“I need a break” you exclaimed as you promptly stood up from your desk. The conversation next to you came to a halt as Keeley gave you a worried look.

“Are you alright, babe?”

“Sure, I just need a little fresh air” you answered with a sweet smile. Even though Keeley was your boss, she was also one of your best friends, and you were thankful to the universe that you met her.

You were the social media manager at KJPR responsible for the AFC Richmond brand. And as fun and exciting as it was, there were moments when you just wanted to run away and never look back. Such as today.

The team had a new brand partnership deal, and few of the players had to post to their socials about certain products. It was really nothing extraordinary, but it was a big brand so it was crucial that everything was on schedule. Now you were in the reporting phase, and you haven’t received the necessary info from one of the players yet. As you stood outside the office building, leaning against the wall, you picked your phone out of your pocket and dialed him. It rang once, twice… and he hang up on you. You rolled your eyes and cursed under your breath as you headed back to your desk.

“Need any help?” Keeley asked with the sweetest, most concerned voice you’ve ever heard, but you just shook your head.

“Nothing I can’t handle! I’m headed to the dog track if that’s alright. I need to take care of something.”

“Give ‘em hell!” she replied and left you alone.

You jumped into your car and drove over to Nelson Road, where you knew the boys had their training at the moment. The man at the front desk recognized you and let you in, and you headed to Rebecca’s office first to say hello, then went to the stands and took a seat to wait until the team was finished with practice. When Ted noticed you, he gave you that huge moustachy smile of his and waved at you. You mirrored the gesture before your gaze wandered back to the players.

You sat close enough to the pitch to make out his facial expression when he saw you. First, he seemed annoyed, then he gave you the most dramatic eyeroll you’ve ever seen before he ran away laughing.

You weren’t sure what he expected your reaction to be, but you knew you just looked annoyed.

“Whistle! WHISTLE!” You heard coach Kent scream at the players, and you chuckled. The team gathered around the coaches then made a beeline towards the changing room. You knew this was your cue to follow them as well.

You leaned against the wall as you waited for Jamie, hugging your bag. Of course because he was aware that you were waiting for him, he’d be dead last to leave. You weren’t sure if it was against your person or just the fact that he hated to cooperate. Maybe both. A few of the players started to leave and they waved and smiled at you as hey passed.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally stepped out of the locker room – as you predicted – dead last. He stopped in the doorway with his hands in his pocket.

“I tried to call you.”

“I know” was all he said, and you raised your eyebrows at him. He was so cocky, you kind of wanted to punch him in the face, but that wouldn’t look too good on your resume.

“Alright, I guess you were busy then.”

“Nah, not really” he answered, and you saw a shit-eating grin spread on his face. God, Jamie.

“Look, I hope you don’t think I enjoy this, but I need the results of the campaign, okay? And you can only blame yourself, because you are the one who insisted that nobody can manage your account other than you. It would make all our lives much easier if I could just check the data myself.” You knew you were rambling and maybe talking a little too fast, showing how annoyed you were. You didn’t like giving people the satisfaction of knowing they got under your skin, but Jamie was world class at that.

“A’ight” he mumbled and started searching for his phone, then handed it to you. “If you want to check it so bad, go on, be my guest.”

You swore your eyes shot daggers at him. You grabbed his phone and took a seat on the bench next to you. He followed suit without a word, hands in his pockets.

You unlocked his phone and opened Instagram, but as you were navigating through it you saw a notification pop up from a girl with a text saying: “try me 😘”. Just a tiny glance at her profile picture was enough for you to conclude that she was gorgeous, and you felt your stomach do a flip. Were you… jealous? Of one of Jamie’s flings? C’mon.

You shook your head as if you could shake the thought out of it as you proceeded to check the necessary info. You didn’t realize, but while you were doing this, Jamie’s eyes searched your face like it held the answer to the universe’s biggest question.

You sent yourself a mail from his phone and shoved it back at him. He looked at you with a look you’ve never saw on his face before, and you could swear for a second that it was guilt sitting in his eyes.

“Thanks for nothing” you said as you grabbed your bag and left.

“Nice seeing you too!” he shouted as you slammed the door behind you. Your blood was boiling in your veins as you were walking back to your office. You dropped yourself onto your chair and buried your face in your palms. What a fucking day. He always finds a way to mess with your head. The sounds of Keeley knocking on your door snapped you out of it.

“Come in” you sighed as you looked at her with a defeated expression.

“Jamie again?” she asked sympathetically as she sat down in front of you.

“Always” you scoffed and started fiddling with a pen on your desk. He’s taking the piss out of me, always trying to get under my skin!” Keeley didn’t say anything, she just gave you a knowing look. “Stop looking at me like that, I know what you want to say!”

“I’m not saying anything” she replied and locked her mouth with an imaginary key and threw it away.

“That’s what I thought” you chuckled and took a deep breath. “I’ll be done with this by the end of the day, and then we can open your not-so-secret stash of champagne in your office, what do you say?”

“Sounds perfect, love!” As she left your office you delved into your work and tried not to think of Jamie. It was so silly – you thought. You felt like you were in school, arguing with yourself about your feelings, and having a crush on the guy who pulled on your ponytail. There was no way you were jealous right? Jamie was insufferable in general – cocky, arrogant, full of himself. Hard to work with. Attention seeking. But he had his moments where he was also funny. Caring. Honest. Compassionate. He was an amazing footballer.

You groaned out loud. You were wrapping up your day as you decided you’re going to put an end to this madness. You went home, picked out a nice dress – nothing too fancy, but it still made you feel like a million bucks. You called yourself an uber and asked them to bring you to one of your favourite bars. You were excited to finally grab a few drinks and let your hair down for a night, and maybe even go home with someone handsome to take your mind off your annoying feelings that started to bubble to the surface.

You took a seat at the bar and ordered your favourite drink. The bartender winked at you, and you chuckled. You propped yourself up on your elbow and started to look around. People were mingling, talking, laughing. Some couples were hiding in the more secluded corners of the room, whispering sweet nothings to each other.

You got your order but before you could thank the bartender for it, you heard a voice all too familiar.

“That’s on me. And another one, will ya’?” You turned around to face him as he was smiling down at you. Your heart skipped a beat as your eyes locked with his – you could never exactly pinpoint what colour they were, sometimes they seemed blue, sometimes grey, even green. You felt like you could stare at them forever. This wasn’t happening. You weren’t even sure if you ever saw him out and about like this. Instead of his usual tracksuit or puffy west he was wearing a white button-down shirt, with a few of its buttons unbuttoned, its sleeves rolled up, showing his tattoos. His hair was let loose, and a few strands fell into his eyes. You felt your heart drop into your stomach, and you were so shocked you couldn’t think of a single word to say, like your brain just short-circuited.

“Wow, Jamie, so nice to see you here, what a lovely coincidence! Come, join me for a drink!” he said, grounding you back to earth.

“Very funny. What are you doing here?” The words came out a little more accusatory than you meant, but you couldn’t help yourself. You came here to take your mind off him, and here he was, hotter than ever, standing so close to you that the scent of his cologne made you feel lightheaded. You wished the earth would just open up and swallow you whole.

“Just blowing off some steam. Celebrating my free weekend, I guess.” He shrugged.

“Alone?” Your question seemed to catch him off guard, as he raised his eyebrows. Your answer was just another shrug. “I see, I see, you don’t have to explain yourself to me, I know how this goes.” You waved with your hands in front of you, like you could shoo the image of him with other women out of your brain. You felt like you were going insane. In the meantime, he got his own drink, and he nursed it on the bar top with his left hand, the other in his pocket as he faced you. He looked even more gorgeous than usual, the way the shirt hugged his muscles ignited a flame in your body you never wanted to acknowledge.

“You know you’re being very judgmental now despite the fact, that you are alone as well.”

“I mean, it’s not my DMs that are full of gorgeous woman inviting me to tango” you scoffed, but immediately after you said the words out loud you scolded yourself internally for sounding so pathetic. Fucking hell.

“Are you jealous, love?” He grinned as he took a sip out of his drink. You rolled your eyes and stood up from your seat, but not before you managed to take a peek of how his lips touched the glass as he drank, and how perfect his jawline looked as he tilted his head slightly. FUCK.

“Maybe in your dreams, Tartt.”

“The lady doth protest too much” he laughed. You were quite shocked that Jamie Tartt out of all people would quote Shakespeare to you, but you were too angry to acknowledge that. You shook your head and turned your back on him, trying to get away, anywhere. You walked to the back of the big room and found yourself in a smaller conversation room – it was empty.

You took a deep breath, and you turned on your heels to head for another, more populated spot, but as you opened the door he stood there, one hand leaning against the doorframe, his drink in the other. He seemed like he was thinking.

“Jamie, I swear to God-” You couldn’t finish your sentence because he pushed himself into the room with you. You felt your heartbeat in your throat and heard it drumming loudly in your ears. He was so close. You closed the door behind him, and you only realized what that suggested after you saw his cocky smile. You didn’t immediately leave the room. You stayed there with him. It was painful to admit – even just to yourself -, but you wanted to be there with him.

He stepped closer, practically caging you between the door and his body. You felt your heart racing and your head spin as you looked up at his gorgeous face. Neither of you said anything, you were just searching his face, eyes darting between his gaze and his lips as you weren’t sure what to do. You didn’t realize he was looking at your lips as well, his breath fanning your face. He slowly leaned in; his lips were barely hovering above yours. Your heartbeat went into full overdrive, and you let his lips linger there for a second before you closed the gap and kissed him.

It all seemed to happen so fast you weren’t even sure it was real. You wrapped your arms around his neck and buried one of your hands in his hair as he was locking the door behind you. In any other circumstances he would be fuming about you ruining his hair, but not now. His hands were tracing your body as he pulled you into him – from your back to your sides, leaving goosebumps in their wake before they finally settled on your bottom as he pulled you even closer. Your nerves were on fire, and you felt waves of arousal wash over you.

When you broke away to get some air, he wasted no time and started to plant small kisses on your cheek, slowly moving to your throat before settling at the soft spot between your neck and clavicle. You moaned his name which made him smile against your skin. You couldn't help but smile too. Somewhere a tiny voice in the back of your mind scolded you for being so euphoric about this whole situation, but you didn’t care. All you cared about is Jamie’s lips on you and the way his hand sneaked under your dress and drew hot circles on your skin.

“My name never sounded so pretty before” he mused before he pushed the strap of your dress aside to kiss a mark onto your skin just above your breast. Your breath hitched as you tried to make him stop.

“Stop it, people will see” you whined, which just encouraged him even more. You felt the prickling sensation on your skin, you were sure he’s going to leave a mark. When he finished, he adored his masterpiece before planting a soft kiss on the red spot he left behind.

“Maybe I want that, love” he whispered against your ear as he caressed your thighs. “I want everyone to see that you’re my girl.”

The sudden possessiveness caught you off guard and you let out a small whimper. Your common sense was thrown out of the window a while ago and at that moment that was all you wanted as well – everyone to see that you were his girl. He stopped for a second to look into your eyes. He placed his hands on your cheeks and pulled you in for another kiss. You saw stars as he kissed you with the passion of a starved man, his tongue gently caressing your lips before he went all in.

You wrapped your arms around his neck, and in a second, he lifted you by your thighs. You wrapped your legs around his hips which caused one of your shoes to fall off as he started to back towards the sofa. While doing so, he bumped into the small table, knocking his drink over. You both chuckled before he finally sat down, with you straddling him.

Your dress was ridden all the way up your thighs, making your black lace panties visible, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Jamie. His gaze seemed hungry, like he was ready to devour you any second, and you felt the heat creeping up to your ears.

“I see someone was planning on getting laid tonight” he said teasingly.

“Oh, fuck off, Jamie!”

“C’mon love I’m just messing with ya” he smiled at you before he put his hand on the back of your head and pulled you in for another kiss. He was smiling into it, the bastard. In this position you couldn’t help but feel his bulge press against you, which made your blood boil in your veins. You wanted him so bad. You let out a shaky breath as you unconsciously started to grind yourself against his clothed length. Jamie moaned under you, and he furrowed his brows like he was trying to focus on the sensation, nothing else.

You slowly unbuttoned his shirt, leaving kisses on his chest as you progressed, and when you finished you slightly pushed it off his shoulders. You were mad for him, and even though you didn’t want to admit, you wanted nothing more than him fucking you right then and there. Little did you know that Jamie was feeling the same.

He looked at you with those gorgeous puppy eyes and you couldn’t help yourself anymore. You planted open mouthed kisses on his sharp jawline, neck, down his chest. You felt bold all of a sudden, and started to suck a mark onto his neck, which he rewarded with a groan. You took a second to examine the red mark you left on his skin before you licked it softly to ease the pain left in its wake. Jamie was a moaning mess under you, bucking his hips into you involuntarily, his hands gripping your thighs for dear life. You felt bold, wanted, sexy. Like a million bucks.

“Jamie, I want you to fuck me” you whispered into his ear, and you thought his soul left his body in that second.

“Fucking hell, angel” he answered and instantly one of his hands was in your hair, pulling you into another kiss, his other hand pushing your dress higher on your body, until your whole ass was exposed. “Such a greedy lil’ thing, aren’t ya?”

He looked at your dampened underwear as he hovered his finger over it, then swiped one big stroke from your entrance to your clit through the damp fabric. You shut your eyes and threw your head back from the sensation. Finally feeling his touch on you was like heaven. The flames of need were eating away at your body, and you weren’t sure how long you can stand the teasing.

“Please, Jamie”

“You’re fucking cute when you beg” he said, a cocky grin on his face, but before you could say anything, he hooked one of his fingers into your panties, and pulled them aside, exposing you completely. You felt flustered, your confidence wavered. He didn’t leave you time to overthink, because he pushed one of his fingers into you without any difficulty. You let out a moan which he mirrored before he spoke. “Shit, all this for me? I don’t deserve you.”

“You’re damn right you don’t” you chuckled as he started to pump his finger into you, before quickly adding another one. He smiled at you as you rested your forehead against his, slowly riding on his fingers. With his free hand he managed to pull down the strap of your dress enough to free your breast and he started to kiss and nib on your sensitive skin, leaving another hickey just above your nipple.

You hissed at the sensation and bucked your hip a bit harder, making him press into you deeper. Jamie’s fingers felt like they were made for you, and he damn well knew how to use them. As you started to ride him a bit harder, he started to curl his fingers inside you to press against your sweet spot and started circling his thumb against your clit with just the right amount of pressure, it made you see stars. You were a moaning, whimpering mess as his fingers fucked you senseless, pushing deeper and deeper with every movement.

“I know, love” he whispered between kisses. You bit down on his lower lip before you tongues started to dance around each other, and he moved his free hand to cradle your breast and caress your hardened nipple. It was all too much – his lips on yours, his hand on your tit and his fingers fucking you like there was no tomorrow.

You felt tension build in your body, your nerves wind up, ready to be released any second. You started riding his fingers harder and faster, chasing that high you felt was so close.

“C’mon angel, come for me, that’s it. That’s my good girl” he whispered against your lips, and just after a few more pumps of his fingers you came crashing hard with Jamie’s name falling from your lips like a prayer, your veins filled with fire as your vision turned white.

He wrapped you in his arms and started to draw circles on your bare back as you came down from your high while he placed small kisses into the crook of your neck and on your temple. After a minute of collecting yourself, you sat up and kissed him again as you started to undo his belt. You definitely weren’t unaware of the huge bulge in his pants, and you wanted to ease his suffering.

He just watched you do it, with one of his arms spread across the back of the sofa. He looked mesmerized by how beautiful you were. After you finished with his belt you undid the buttons of his slacks and pulled them down with his underwear. He just watched you and you could swear he was holding his breath.

You bit your lip as you took the view in, before you started slowly stroking his hard member. He threw his head back and he moved his hand to caress your cheek. You continued to slowly jerk him off, but you couldn’t help yourself. You licked the tip of his dick, and you made it a show. It was slow, sensual, and you looked at him for the whole time. When he caught your eyes he let out a shaky breath and involuntarily bucked his hips towards your face.

You swiped your tongue against his shaft before you took him fully into your mouth and started bobbing your head. His hand moved to tangle in your hair as he guided your rhythm slowly. He moaned under your touch, loving the way your lips felt around him. You started to pick up your pace a little and he rolled his hips against your face. His hand started to push you deeper onto his cock, and the feeling of his length in your throat made your eyes swell up, and you moaned around him.

“C’mon love” he said and guided you away from him, back onto his lap. You straddled him again, his now bare dick pressed against your wet pussy, and you saw stars from the sensation. “Maybe next time we’ll finish that, yeah? But now I want all of you” he said as he aligned himself to your entrance.

Next time was all you heard in your head. You leaned down to kiss him before you slowly lowered yourself onto him. You relished in the sensation of his cock filling and stretching you inch by inch, it was delicious. Jamie’s lips parted slightly as he threw his head back, enjoying the moment just as much as you did. As he bottomed out, you kept still for a second, barely moving before starting to roll your hips, slowly lifting yourself before coming down again.

“Jamie” you whined, and you held onto his shoulders for dear life as you rode him. His fingers dug into your skin at your hips where he held you. You moved so perfectly in sync it was like you were made for each other, the way he rolled his hips into you made you see stars.

“So good for me, love. Taking me so well, my good girl” he whispered against your lips after he sat up, wrapped you into a tight hug and kissed you. He swiped his tongue against your swollen lips, and you bit down on his. You dug your fingers into his hair as you started moving faster and faster, getting overwhelmed by the sensation.

Jamie moved his hand from your hair to your cheek, swiping your lips with his thumb before pushing it into your mouth. You licked it slowly before he pulled it away and moved it to your swollen clit. You gasped at the perfect feeling of his finger being on you again, before he started to circle his thumb around the sensitive bud. You felt your walls tighten around him, which ripped a moan from his lungs. He never stopped his movements, he fucked into you like he never wanted anything else.

“Taking me so well, babe. So tight for me” he whispered against your burning skin. His words poisoned your mind, and they ran through your veins, igniting everything inside you. You buried your head into his shoulder as you felt your climax approaching. He was filling you up so perfectly, his dick hitting your sweet spot with every thrust. He was gripping your thigh so hard you wondered if it’s going to leave a mark. You kind of hoped it would. You felt the knot in your stomach tighten, and his name fell from your lips like a prayer.

“Jamie, I-“ you gasped and you dug your nails into his shoulders.

“That’s it, angel. Come for me” he moaned against your ear and you knew he held himself back. You rolled your hips against him once, twice, all your nerves wind up before they inevitably snapped, and another orgasm washed over you. You moaned into Jamie’s mouth – your vision went white, your muscles clenched around him as you came, which gave him what he needed to reach his own high as well, hugging you tightly onto him. The silence in the room felt deafening all of a sudden. You nuzzled your face into the crook of Jamie’s neck, and he started to slowly caress your hair as he hugged you close.

After your nerves calmed down a bit you started to collect yourself and he helped you to clean up the mess. He took your hand and kissed you, before looking into your eyes.

“So… do you want to get out of here?” His grin was the widest you’ve ever seen and you laughed.

“Yeah, sure” you chuckled as he wrapped his arm around you.

***

The next morning you woke up to your phone ringing. It was Keeley.

“Yeah?” you asked in a sleepy voice, looking over at Jamie who was laying next to you, his arm wrapped around your waist. You were in his bed. He was already awake, looking at you with a sheepish smile.

“So, I know you don’t want to talk about this” Keeley started, her energy through the roof, she spoke so fast you barely had time to acknowledge her words, “but I think you should talk to Jamie. You should tell him you’re into him!” A very telling laugh found its way past your lips before you spoke and you heard an audible gasp on the other side of the line.

“I think he knows” you said to Keeley while looking at Jamie, who was now chuckling next to you as he kissed your free hand.

[lunamond]

In keeping with my recommendation of Cruel Beauty, an actual good YA book, instead of 🔥hotfire garbage🔥, aka Acotar, I thought I'd recommend another favourite of mine.

So, this time, I'm going to give an alternative recommendation to Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. This post is definitely not inspired by the release of Iron Flame.

Instead please try:

Fireborne by Rosaria Munda❤️‍🔥

This recommendation is especially for anyone who fell for the advertising when FW first came out, and it was sold as a YA adjacent military dragon fantasy with a slow burn romance.

So if that sounds interesting to you and you want to read an actually well written story, go check out Fireborne.

Fireborne is a YA fantasy, the 1st book of the Aurelian Cycle (a completed trilogy).

It follows its two main characters in a military academy through their training to become dragon riders.

I personally have pitched this series to irl friends as a genderswapped Anastasia (animated movie) with dragons.

The story takes place right after a big revolution. The people overthrew the dragon riding aristocracy.

Our main characters meet up in an orphanage, where they grow up together and end up joining the military academy to become dragon riders.

A lot of the story revolves around the questions that come up when a newly formed government is put through crisis.

All seen through the eyes of the protagonists, who as teenagers are old enough to know what life was like before the revolution, but young enough to have grown up in the new system.

The story does a great job of dealing with the struggles that come with uprooting old deeply ingrained systems of oppression while trying to build a newer fairer system.

The dragons are an integral part of this theme. Unlike FW, in which magical abilities and creatures are added without regard for how they might impact the world or themes, in Fireborne, the dragons are the embodiment of political and military power.

When the aristocracy ruled their oppressive regime, they were the only ones allowed to own and ride dragons. After their fall, the new regime allowed regular people the opportunity to become riders.

However, the number of dragons is still limited, and the new regime, comprised of former revolutionary leaders, want to keep the new riders under their control.

So, in the end, they still come up with a system that allows for abuse and oppression because access to power remains restricted to a chosen few, the dragon riders and those who control them, the newly established government.

These themes make for really complicated and nuanced conflicts without easy solutions. The sequels make a great job with further expanding on these themes.

The military elements also all make sense in this series, and they employ logical means to train their most valuable military assets, their dragon riders unlike FW.

It also features one of my favourite slow burn romances (at least in YA), the relationship has actually depth and tension, while also providing believable reasons why the characters can't just get together.

I'm actually really salty that Fourth Wing took off practically overnight, while Fireborne has been out for ages and has consistently remained underhyped. But I guess it isn’t spicy... 😒

So, for anyone who picked FW up without realising that it is actually just a very trashy smutty romance mascarading as a high fantasy, I highly recommend reading Fireborne which comes with the added perk of not being written by a known zionist.

[nakedmonkey]

i knew night country wasn’t gay but based on the gifs i saw i definitely thought the leads were exes lol even when i finished the show i never bought either woman as straight tbh. not just because the actresses are lesbian/bi irl the energy and chemistry between them screamed dyke drama lmao. anyway i watched the first ep of under the bridge expecting something similar but the main story and real life case are so harrowing and devastating i can’t finish. i almost wish cam and becca’s storyline was in a different show because based on the gifs the chemistry is wild.

oh man....Night Country...will keep this strictly a UTB post, but, yeah...

Re UTB, I get where you're coming from. I personally didn't know it was based on a real case until after the first episode when I started pulling up interviews etc. and I don't know why they made the creative choices they did with creating Cam for this adaptation and pairing her up with Becca, but they did! And they're here, having all kinds of on-screen moments, so i understand why people are gravitating toward them. They're very compelling!

I mean, look, add this to the endless list of tv shows and films based on real life cases with, some might say unnecessary, love stories and even graphic sex scenes, more graphic than what we've seen in UTB tbh, that have nothing to do with the actual case. I think we also have to keep in mind that the narrative this show is basing itself on is Rebecca Godfrey's, and her book. So, this show is a fictionalized account of HER life and her experience writing this book and yeah, True Crime adaptations can be sleazy, but I think the UTB team is (so far) taking great care in also propelling the story of Reena Virk's horrendous murder forward, and not just her murder, but the events leading up to it, of her family, her home life, the racism that lead to her murder, and I think that's great and necessary.

In my opinion, there are worse ways to get eyes on a show that is doing a great job at telling a story that could easily be overlooked.

All this to say, I get where you're coming from. It might be hard for some people to enjoy Rebecca and Cam, when we are also watching the events leading to Reena's death unravel, but the Rebecca x Cam of it all is just tumblr fodder. Reena's story is being told respectfully and with the backing of her family as far as I know, and i think it's still worth watching for that alone. If you ever decide to revisit it, at least up to episode 3, they're doing a great job.

[lazarettobrat]

Remember Ciel in Wonderland? (u better dont)

March Hare and Jack of Hearts at your service

In canon, the Jack of Hearts stole cookies made by the Red Queen herself. And when he was caught and brought to trial, the March Hare was a witness in case.

I got a lobotomy and cerebellar liquefaction and did terrible things to the freaky Kuro OVA dont blame me.

Here (let's call it AU) William T. Spears aka the March Hare works in court as a prosecutor. The Hare was cursed, possibly by the White Queen or by someone he sent to prison (nevermind), so at certain times he completely loses his mind (like hares in March irl), one of his eyes turns white, and he becomes a danger to society. In his calm form he is canonically stern and emotionless. He was locked up, took to the doctor, but all the help he got was the doctor's advice (in Wonderland everyone is a little crazy, remember that) to start smoking weed to calm down. Of course he didnt believe this bullshit at all. In one of these incidents, he was randomly walking wherever his eyes looked and came across a clearing with a table set for a tea ceremony. Then he met the Dormouse (Ronald) and the Mad Hatter (Undertaker), where the latter casually mentioned that a light joint really could calm him down considerably.

Rebecca aka Jack of Hearts. She is unsociable and almost never attends royal events, cant stand the Queen, but at the same time serves her faithfully. If she goes out somewhere, she looks like a victim of a BDSM party cause has no sense of style, but the Queen likes it and approves thats why she considers Jack sa favorite among her inner circle. In Wonderland, Rebecca and Ron are not related, and she is literally called Jack Ofhearts, and no one understands joke is this or her real name. She met and became friends with the Hatter when he was still sane and is very sad that he has gone crazy, but rarely still comes to him for tea and brings something sweet. One day she was very late for his tea ceremony (the trope of being late is apparently something all-encompassing for them), so she blindly stole fresh cookies from the royal kitchen, and then it turned out that the queen had baked them herself. She came for tea after all, saw a Hare for the first time, treated everyone to cookies, and had a nice time with friends. And then it suddenly turned out that her new acquaintance whom she had a spark was actually a prosecutor and wanted to do his job properly, that is put the thief behind bars/off his head.

And since the Hare loses some of his memories from the roof flying off phase, he doesnt remember how they hung out at the table (or maybe under the table who knows...) and doesnt know that Jack stole the cookies, so he interrogates her and several other suspects with all the severity, simultaneously starting to go crazy with the new moon (or with some other sign, i didnt think about how often the fucking should occur)

There might be a sequel and some sketches, i liked the setting too much

[cerenemuxse]

Have some 2x5, 4x22, and MollyxDuck!

Tried out something I've been wanting to do with the eyes for a while but I kept forgetting :p the final push was a really cool artist on IG, @/mino_4rtx. you should totally check them out btw, especially if ya like Sonic 👀 Eating up his art ajsdfhaslkj It's gorgeous

Closeups/separate sketches, along with the references, are below the cut /nwn/

SEPARATE SKETCHES

REFERENCES

4x22 sketch is based on this:

I used refs for the MollyxDuck sketch because I've been having trouble drawing those two in general, so here are the ones I used! (each image as a link embedded)

Thomas' Color Book (what's linked is the full image. the cropped image can be found in Molly's gallery)

used for Molly's eyebrows

Molly's Special Special (Promos) - Season 9 Episode 3

For posing and Molly's face. I also used it to reference Duck's height with the next one (left)

Best Friends - Season 12 Episode 20

Used for posing and height reference

Excellent Emily - Season 12 Episode 8

Used as a guide for his face (while also using a couple sketches I did as references too)

Because I'm trying to stick to their IRL basis as close as possible, I did some referencing on Rebecca, Gordon, Molly, and Duck (Edward and James are pretty much custom engines [somewhat])

For Duck, I referenced GWR 4612. I used the header image of this engine's "biography".

For Gordon, I referenced the Flying Scotsman. References came from that same place, as well as the blueprints on the GNR Gresley A3s.

For Molly, I referenced the preserved B12/3, LNER 8572, as she gets rebuilt into one by the time she meets Duck. (She's a B12/4 when she arrived, aka the sub-class designated to Scotland under the LNER.) I also used the blueprints of the B12/3.

For Rebecca, I used her IRL basis, BR 34102 Lapford. I just did a Google Search for this one as Lapford was not preserved BUT didn't get withdrawn until 1970, which led me to find full color pictures.

[itsclydebitches]

When Trent asks about writing the book and everyone is frantically getting Ted to say no literally behind Trent's back, do you think Trent knew what they were doing?

I do! On both a textual and a "realistic" level.

Meaning, if this were an irl scenario their reactions would be pretty hard to miss. Not only are Rebecca, Higgins, and Keeley saying 'No' with gestures grand enough to draw any eye, but Ted keeps shooting them very obvious "I'm uncomfortable with what they're doing over there" looks. As much as the Tedependent lizard part of my brain likes to read Trent's stare in this moment as heart eyes and heart eyes alone—why would he want to look at anything other than Ted??—I think, under the circumstances, it reads more like him deliberately staring to give Ted as much agency as he can in the moment. If Trent catches the others in their lies + insulting "Get him out of here" display, that puts him in the position of the victim, for lack of a better word. Ted then feels super guilty and he says "Yes" to Trent as a way to try and smooth things over. Trent doesn't want that. He wants to be here because Ted wants him here and though he can't control the others potentially influencing him, he can control his own reaction to the events: keep calm, open expression, non-judgmental, don't beg for it... just let Ted decide on his own.

However, to get back to the point about realistic scenarios, this is a comedy-drama where the characters often don't engage in realistic reactions. Emotions and responses are often deliberately exaggerated for the sake of comedic effect, so they definitely could have made Trent an Oblivious™ character who somehow misses the three people losing their minds right beside him and isn't that funny to watch? But I personally don't think Trent is that character. The show has never shied away from acknowledging what an ass he's been (see: his entire relationship with Roy) and Trent is more than aware of that reputation. He's cultivated it. There's really no version of these circumstances in which a very intelligent, emotionally aware Trent Crimm goes, "Hmm. I'm going to try and write a book about Richmond, the team made up of footballers who have avoided and cursed me out for years, a gaffer I threw to the proverbial wolves, and an owner who once hired me BECAUSE she knew I tear people to shreds in print. Besides, everyone loves having the press dog their steps for a season and then judge them in a permanent medium! Everyone's gonna be thrilled about this offer." Uh huh. Trent knows. He's not stupid. He's actually lucky that Rebecca went the polite route and passed the responsibility onto Ted Forgiveness Lasso. Ted's superhuman optimism was the very opening Trent needed.

Plus, I think Trent's knowledge of how he's really being received is shown throughout his first few weeks there. It's telling that Trent engages in a reversal of what's just been done to him, wherein he calls Rebecca out on why she really wants Zava: he can tell when she's lying and he knows when others in the room—this time Keeley, Higgins, and Ted—are trying to sway someone. Trent is already nervous when he walks into the changing room (you can see his fingers fluttering in his pocket) and he's a little shocked, but not surprised when Roy puts a ban on anyone speaking to him. We have that running joke of people going, "Don't put that in the book," the first instance of which is in Rebecca's office right after he's hired, yet again, there's no surprise along the lines of, "You're concerned about what I'm including? This is making you nervous, Rebecca? Why? I thought you wanted me here and the only thing keeping you from saying yes on the spot was respect for Ted and a belief that he should have the final call? 🤔" This girl was under NO delusions about how everyone was really receiving him. This is the face of a man who is very deliberately NOT looking behind him.

[carlosshutupmygod]

julio is so silly i love him

[samantha-and-nellie]

2, 3, 4 for the ask game! (My sideblog is beautifulwillfulldead btw, I changed my name)

2. which american girl looks the most like you?

honestly, none of them. just like you #57 with the bobbed hair is probably the closest, but the shade of brown hair is wrong and so is the eye color. from the historical line, if you gave rebecca or ruthie a bob, we’d be in the general realm of what i look like. but yeah, no great match for me!

3. which girl do you think you’d get along the best with and why?

well, only working from the historical line here, i am pretty similar to sam, so i’d hope that i’d get along with nellie! and based on the type of people i’m friends with irl, kit, kirsten, addy and julie seem like strong contenders.

4. which girl is your least favorite and why?

still thinking just about the historical line, there’s nothing that endears me to the twins, but i also haven’t read their books so i feel like that answer doesn’t fully count. probably controversial, but molly (while someone i liked as a kid) is a character that really grates on me now. there’s just so much in her that needs to be the center of attention, and i simply don’t find her the most interesting character. that being said, she’s still a child and has a lot of growing to do, so this is not me calling her evil or something.

[four2andnew]

I shared this with my IRL peeps, but I'm gonna add on the fanfic stats here with my cult fellow fanfic enthusiasts

167 (Kindle) books, 9 DNFs, twenty-five 5 ⭐s, and my average rating for the year was a 3.6

I couldn't narrow it down to one fav book, so here's some categories:

Fav Fantasy (Romantasy): Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (Tairn carries this series, I love him)

Fav Sports Romance: Icebreaker by Hannah Grace ("Shut up, Anastasia. You're not even half my warm-up weight" SIR!)

Fav Cowboy Romance: Heartless by Elsie Silver (Cade Eaton can spit on me any day of the week)

Fav Small Town Mystery (still a romance): Indigo Ridge by Devon Perry (literally could not put this one down)

Fav Dark/Mafia Romance: I Stop Somewhere Waiting for You by Amanda Jones (Thank god for unhinged men hopelessly in love with their women)

Fav Military Romance: Full Measures by Rebecca Yarros (the number of times I cried...)

Fav Arranged/Forced Marriage: Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O'Connell (I love me some good ol' western romances and this one was just **chef's kiss**)

And last but not least - Fav WTF Romance: Rowe by Dylan Page (I've never been so attracted to cave men in my life)

And now for the fanfic stats

I have roughly 40 pages of AO3 history for the year 2023, assuming 20 fic per page, that's roughly 800 fanfics I visited this past year. Here are some of my favorites (that I read in 2023, not necessarily published in 2023):

Ultimate Fav fic: Quidditch is for Losers by @fizzyginfizz

Fav re-read: Come Stay for the Summer by @ashotofogdensoldfirewhiskey

Fav Jily fic: The Reckless Now by @mppmaraudergirl

Fav Series: Moments in Time by @seriouslysam8

(Also I posted 8 fics of my own for a total of 49,807 words)

[the-badger-mole]

In Defense of Mrs. van Hopper

It is once again time for my periodic revisit to the novel Rebecca, and I have some thoughts. For such a famous book, with such a great film adaptation, I don't see a lot of discussion about it. So as I do with other random things that I don't have anyone to talk to about IRL, I'm going to post here. I'll be quick, I promise. Please join me in picking apart this nearly century old book about pathological jealousy, set in a society that doesn't exist anymore and featuring a main character who has no name.

Mrs. van Hopper wasn't a bad person. I know that the narrator and the Alfred Hitchcock adaptation wanted the audience to not like her, but honestly, aside from being a bit of a busybody, and a little overly dramatic she doesn't seem like a terrible employer. Had she picked someone a bit less intensely neurotic, she would've been a really good employer, I think. Nothing she asks the narrator to do is that difficult- arrange meals, pick up toiletries, play cards with Mrs. van Hopper and her friends. The narrator seems to have plenty of down time, even before Mrs. van Hopper gets sick and needs to be cared for by a nurse instead of her travel companion. Mrs. van Hopper herself encourages the narrator to get out and meet people her own age.

The worst thing Mrs. van Hopper ever did to the narrator was tell her the truth. Or at least the truth as she saw it. She told the narrator that Maxim de Winter, a man that the narrator had a 2 week long quasi friendship with- a man who was twice the narrator's age, mind you- had only asked her to marry him because he didn't want to go back to his big ol' mansion alone. I think the first few times I read this novel, I was mostly on the narrator's side about Mrs. van Hopper. Now, though, I think Mrs. van Hopper was genuinely trying to look out for the narrator. In any other novel, her warning would've been right. This 21 year old girl with abandonment issues, no self-esteem and who can barely manage making a declarative statement marrying a rich, powerful 42 year old man who hasn't shown any sort of real affection for her after knowing him for 2 weeks is a set up for disaster.

I can't find much on Mrs. van Hopper on my latest read of the novel to really dislike about her. Maybe I wouldn't want to be her friend, but she's not a monster. Even du Maurier's worst criticism is that she's vulgar and blunt, and yeah, Mrs. van Hopper is blunt, but she's a New Yorker. That's just how we roll. We are seeing Mrs. van Hopper through the narrator's eyes, and the narrator is not the most objective person. Frankly, the narrator's telling of the story leaves me thinking she was a terrible employee rather than Mrs. van Hopper being a terrible employer. I feel bad for Mrs. van Hopper. Well...I mean as bad as I can feel for someone who is rich enough to be able to afford to pay someone to be a travel companion.

[bi-wizard-queen]

My personal experience with Lily Orchard (as a viewer, I have never actually spoken to her)

I was a fan of Lily Orchard from 2014 until 2020 (an on-off fan I guess, like I watched her casually but I have, y’know, other things going on).

I was 17 when I started watching her (I was really into MLP: FiM at the time and she was one of many Brony Analysts I watched) but I will admit she was engaging in a way the others weren’t for me so I kept watching her. I even followed her on Tumblr

I remember back in 2016/17 I stopped watching/following her for a while because I was upset with her very blasé opinion on Palestine and her general liberal politics (I’m a socialist btw) but I came back (most people I like to watch don’t have political views as left wing as mine, that’s something I just accept) but stayed off her Tumblr.

That changed when the ToonKritic stuff happened in 2018 (TL:DR a Brony Analyst was exposed as a sex predator) and I was drawn to Lily’s very angry and cathartic video on it and so I followed her on Tumblr again for more of her takes.

Since I followed HER I took her side in any of her fallouts even if I was initially surprised by them. I also adopted some of her views (not on everything but I was massively on the “Queer should never be used by LGBT+ people” and “Rebecca Sugar is a Nazi sympathiser” views back in 2018/19) despite still being more left wing than her.

I never agreed with her disdain for Bernie Sanders for example even when I was a big fan - ironically I now don’t really like Sanders but that’s due to him not being left wing ENOUGH

I remember when Lizzy broke up with her I was MASSIVELY on Lily’s side. She is very good at framing things in a way that makes her the most sympathetic. I believed EVERYTHING she said about Lizzy and I even retroactively made Lizzy seem worse in my head.

I really need to emphasise that I thought Lizzy was this flaky, transphobic, racist and abusive bitch who relies on daddy’s credit card. I even took Lily’s opinion that Lizzy making her OC Elethyn asexual was her actually being homophobic.

I’ll be honest at this point I sort of stopped watching her as often, that was mainly because 2019 was my final year of uni so I was sorting out moving and getting a job. I also stopped using Tumblr as often for the same reason.

But when lockdown started in March 2020 I was bored and started getting back into a bunch of YouTubers I hadn’t really watched in a while. It was mostly a pleasant experience tbh and even with Lily I enjoyed her Disney recaps that she did in 2019 (though her incest jokes made me uncomfortable)

And then I watched her 2020 update video which was basically her “I hate my fans” video. Like she spent 15 minutes talking about how much she hates her fans and I remember thinking “oh wow this is awful, I’ll go check her Tumblr to see if she’s okay”

There I found some posts about someone called “Opal”. After looking this up, I found the post about Opal’s fanart and Lily’s absolutely horrific reaction to it. This is where my eyes were opened — I’d had these little doubts over the years that I’d pushed aside but this was crystal clear. She had yelled at a minor who had done nothing wrong and refused to back down.

It made me realise, “oh wow she’s always been like this”.

It made me want to look more into her, I think the blog thassabadtake existed at that point so I looked through there and others came later. I also went on Twitter to find info on Opal and then Patch and Lizzy who I realised weren’t the cartoonish villains Lily made them out to but her victims.

(I didn’t bother with Josh since he always rubbed me the wrong way and even without Lily I would dislike him for being a conservative)

But I was always just lurking. I’ve sent some anonymous messages to some of the blogs but I never posted anything on my Tumblr. Because I didn’t want to “corrupt” it (and also people I know IRL follow me and I don’t really want them seeing anything about her).

I again sort of forgot about her for another year or so until I got curious a few months ago and found that things had gotten a LOT worse and that her sister (who I remember her shit talking in vague terms for YEARS).

But since I had a policy of not reblogging anything about her on my blog I was still just lurking so I decided to finally make a side blog just to get my thoughts out a bit

[coiled-dragon]

So weird seeing reviews and peoe irl talk about renfield and not mention how gay it is, like they talk about enjoying it and everything and im all WASNT IT SO GAY? and get blank stares. Like the homoeroticism was huge to me and then other ppl dont notice and im just flabbergasted.

NO I KNOW Its like... Its straight up people being unable to read into media unless its spelled out for them one letter at a time. Even when its sort of obvious and cheeky people just. See Rebecca and Renfields little hero worship eyes and get so mad about the 'forced romance' (which was actually way more of a thing in the original script, they like changed it completely) and just ignore the hints that like. There was so much more going on between Renfield and Dracula,,,