#submitted a&s entry

[jortschronicles]

Hey sexy, you baptized?

By Áshildr Inn Hárfagri, 2024

Presented at Kingdom Arts & Sciences

The History of Tam Lin

Tam Lin is the 39th of the Child Ballads, a collection of ballads first published by Francis James Child in 1882 with the volume containing Tam Lin and its variants published in Volume I Part II in 1884. The earliest mention of this ballad is in 1549 in Vedderburn’s Complaint of Scotland, where "The Tayl of the Ȝong Tamlene" ('The Tale of the Young Tamelene') is “spoken of as told among a company of shepherds.”[1] A dance named “Thom of Lyn” is mentioned at the same party. “A ballett of Thomalyn” was licensed in 1558. 

Child notes a diverse family tree of this story. A Scottish ballad, which he does not name, regards a farmer desperate to save his wife from the fairy court. He was told to wait for the procession of the fairies on Halloween, but “at the ringing of the fairy bridles…his heart failed him,” and he did not manage to rescue his wife from the fairy. A Danish ballad from 1721 regards a maiden transformed into a nightingale by an angry stepmother and the solution to her curse is a knight containing her in a bower as she turns into “all the marvelous beasts one ever heard of…a lion, a bear, a variety of small snakes, and at last to a loathsome lind-worm.” A Cretan fairy tale recorded in 1820 mirrors the tale of Thetis and Peleus, in which an old mentor instructs a protege to “lay hands on the nereid and keep his hold through whatever metamorphosis she might make.” His final point of reference is the 12th century medieval romance Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, in which the titular character cannot turn a serpent back into a woman merely by kissing her, but by also bathing her in a spring. This introduces “immersion in a liquid” as a “process requisite for passing from a non-human shape, produced by enchantment, back into human.”

As Child says, “Whether it has come down to our time from mouth to mouth through twenty-five centuries or more, or whether, having died out of the popular memory, it was reintroduced through literature, is a question that cannot be decided with certainty; but there will be nothing unlikely in the former supposition to those who bear in mind the tenacity of tradition among people who have never known books.”

What is it about?

Tam Lin opens with a warning that all maidens who go to the woods of Carterhaugh will be met by the titular character and be required to pay him something–most often, their maidenhead. Our heroine known sometimes as Janet and sometimes as Margaret, hearing this, drops what she’s doing (in some cases literally dropping her sewing in her haste) to run to Carterhaugh as fast as she can go. As she pulls a mysterious double rose, Tam Lin appears and asks her to stop. She insists he is not the owner of Carterhaugh and she can do as she pleases, and notably does not offer him any form of material tribute. Therefore, his collected toll is her maidenhead, all according to her apparent plan.[2]

Janet returns to her father’s hall visibly pregnant enough to worry an elderly knight, who’s concerned all the knights will be blamed for her condition. Her father notices her pregnancy, and she admits she’s in love with an elfin knight and that she wouldn’t give him up for any of the gentlemen of her father’s court. Apparently deciding, though, that being a single mother to a half-fae child isn’t an exciting prospect, she runs back to Carterhaugh to pluck double rose to use to abort her pregnancy. Tam Lin confronts her, and asks why she wants to end the pregnancy. She asks if he was ever even human, and Tam Lin relates his tale. 

When Tam Lin was young he went hunting with his grandfather and fell from his horse. The Fairy Queen caught him and trapped him forever in Carterhaugh as part of her retinue. It isn’t that bad of a gig, but every seven years on Halloween the Fairy Queen pays a tithe to hell, and Tam Lin worries that he’s the next payment. He explains a plan to Janet to free him from the fairies, which will consist of stealing him from a procession of riders on horseback and holding him while he is changed into a variety of fearsome creatures. He’ll then be turned into a red hot iron in hopes of forcing her to drop him, then a red hot coal, at which point she needs to throw him into a well and he will emerge human once more. At this point, he will be able to join Janet and be a father to the child. 

The successful execution of the plan infuriates the Fairy Queen who hates whoever took away the handsomest member of her company and curses the thief. She declares if she knew what would happen she would have taken away his eyes, which can see the fairies when they are invisible, and replace them with wood, taking away his fairy-sight and mundane sight alike.

Tam Lin is about a young noblewoman who decides what she wants and seeks it out herself at every opportunity and does not allow anybody to decide her fate for her. It is a fascinating tale that has been adapted again and again through the centuries across genres and mediums. The most well known modern adaptation of Tam Lin, though adaptation is a strong word for a loosely-inspired work, is A Court of Thorns and Roses. 

Performance notes

This selection of verses has been largely pulled from Child Ballad 39A, as one of the more narratively complete versions, with additions from 39I and some adjustments from the period language to better scan to an audience speaking modern English. As a performer, I believe the period thing to do is perform in a way my audience can understand the story and therefore value the comprehension more than the archaic language. These ballads were long performances, frequently series of performances, for the entertainment of groups of people in a world before the radio drama. Where these adjustments and additions are made, they are noted with footnotes. 

I have not yet found notation indicating a period or near-period tune for this piece. However, the tune commonly associated (and performed here) with this piece seems to fairly match “the vibe” of the extant ballad tunes we do have. The reconstruction of period melodies is not my primary area of interest or study, but modern listeners should note differences between the songs with which we are familiar today and this piece. For instance, there is no verse/chorus verse/chorus bridge chorus structure as we are used to. Every verse is a verse and has approximately the same tune. The song does not always explicitly indicate who is speaking. The song frequently makes use of parallel structure and repetition (see verses 29-32). Unlike many modern songs, this does not seem to be written to showcase a wide vocal range or particular talent, but to simply provide a tune to aid the memory of the storyteller, the storytelling itself, and potentially a sick beat to dance to.

As is the case in many (but not all) of the Child Ballads, the subject matter is sensitive but is skirted with a “fade to black” which is not present in all versions but has been maintained for the listener’s discretion.

Tam Lin – Child Ballad 39

As Communicated by Áshildr Inn Hárfagri

O I forbid you, maidens a', That wear gowd on your hair, To come or gae by Carterhaugh, For young Tam Lin is there.

There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh But they leave him a pledge,[3] Either their rings, or mantles green,[4] Or else their maidenhead.

Janet tied her kirtle green, A little aboon her knee, And she has gaen for Carterhaugh,[5] As fast as she can hie,[6,7]

She had na pu'd a double rose, A rose but only twa, Till upon then started young Tam Lin, Says, Lady, thou's pu nae mae.

Why pu's thou the rose, Janet, And why breaks thou the wand? Or why comes thou to Carterhaugh Withoutten my command?

"Carterhaugh, it is my own, My daddy gave it me, I'll come and gang by Carterhaugh, And ask nae leave at thee."

He’s aen her by the milk-white hand, Among the leaves sae green, And what they did I cannot tell, The green leaves were between

He’s taen her by the milk white hand, Among the roses red, And what they did I cannot say, She neer returnd a maid,[8,9]

Four and twenty ladies fair Were playing at the ba, And out then came the fair Janet, The flower among them a'.

Four and twenty ladies fair Were playing at the chess, And out then came the fair Janet, As green as onie glass.

Out then spake an auld grey knight, Lay oer the castle wa, And says, Alas, fair Janet, for thee, But we'll be blaméd a'.[10]

"Haud your tongue, ye auld fac'd knight, Some ill death may ye die! Father my bairn on whom I will, I'll father none on thee."

Out then spak her father dear, And he spak meek and mild, "And ever alas, sweet Janet," he says, "I think thou gaest wi child."

Oh father if I go with child,[11] Mysel maun bear the blame, There's neer a laird about your ha, Shall give the babe his name[12]

"If my love were an earthly knight, As he's an elfin grey, I wad na gie my ain true-love For nae lord that ye hae.[13]

Janet tied her kirtle green, A little aboon her knee, And she has gaen for Carterhaugh,[14] As fast as she can hie,[15,16]

She had na pu'd a double rose, A rose but only twa, Till up then started young Tam Lin, Says, Lady, thou pu's nae mae.

"Why pu's thou the rose, Janet, Amang the groves sae green, And a' to kill the bonny babe That we gat us between?"

"O tell me, tell me, Tam Lin," she says, "For's sake that died on tree, If eer ye was in holy chapel, Or christendom did see?"

"Roxbrugh he was my grandfather, Took me with him to bide And ance it fell upon a day That wae did me betide.

"And ance it fell upon a day A cauld day and a snell, When we were frae the hunting come, That frae my horse I fell, The Queen o' Fairies she caught me, In yon green hill do dwell.

"And pleasant is the fairy land, But, an eerie tale to tell, Ay at the end of seven years, We pay a tiend to hell, I am sae fair and fu o flesh, I'm feard it be mysel.

"But the night is Halloween, lady, The morn is Hallowday, Then win me, win me, an ye will, For weel I wat ye may.

"Just at the mirk and midnight hour The fairy folk will ride, And they that wad their true-love win, At Miles Cross they maun bide."

"But how shall I thee ken, Tam Lin, Or how my true-love know, Amang sa mony unco knights, The like I never saw?"

"O first let pass the black, lady, And syne let pass the brown, But quickly run to the milk-white steed, Pu ye his rider down.

"For I'll ride on the milk-white steed, And ay nearest the town, Because I was an earthly knight They gie me that renown.

"My right hand will be gloved, lady, My left hand will be bare And thae's the takens I gie thee, Nae doubt I will be there.[17]

"They'll turn me in your arms, lady, Into an esk and adder, But hold me fast, and fear me not, I am your bairn's father.

"They'll turn me to a bear sae grim, And then a lion bold, But hold me fast, and fear me not, And ye shall love your child.

"Again they'll turn me in your arms To a red het gand of airn, But hold me fast, and fear me not, I'll do to you nae harm.

"And last they'll turn me in your arms Into the burning gleed,[18] Then throw me into well water, O throw me in with speed.

"And then I'll be your ain true-love, I'll turn a naked knight, Then cover me wi your green mantle, And hide me out o sight."

Gloomy, gloomy was the night, And eerie was the way, As fair Jenny in her green mantle To Miles Cross she did gae.

At the mirk and midnight hour She heard the bridles sing, She was as glad at that As any earthly thing.

First she let the black pass by, And syne she let the brown, But quickly she ran to the milk-white steed, And pu'd the rider down.

Sae weel she minded what he did say, And young Tam Lin did win, Syne covered him wi her green mantle, As blythe's a bird in spring

Out then spak the Queen o Fairies, Out of a bush o broom, "Them that has gotten young Tam Lin Has gotten a stately-groom."

Out then spak the Queen o Fairies, And an angry woman was she, "Shame betide her ill-far'd face, And an ill death may she die, For she's taen awa the bonniest knight In a' my companie.

"But had I kend, Tam Lin," said she, "What now this night I see, I wad hae taen out thy twa grey een, And put in twa een o tree."[19]

FOOTNOTES

[1] All quotes from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol I by Francis James Child [2]  We stan a girls’ girl who knows what she wants. Happy Hot Girl Summer. [3] 39A.2 - originally “but they leave him a wad,” changed for modern rhyme schemes [4] 39A.2 - originally “either their rings, or green mantles” changed for modern rhyme schemes [5] Chorus line drawn form 39B.3 [6] 39A.3 - originally a 6 line chorus changed for modern rhyme scheme and understandability. “Janet has kilted her green kirtle / A little aboon her knee, / And she has broded her yellow hair / A little aboon her bree, / And she's awa to Carterhaugh / As fast as she can hie.” [7]  39A.4 - verse skipped for time [8] 39I.10 and 39I.11 better provide context on why Janet went to Carterhaugh [9] 39A.8 - verse skipped for time [10] Accent added to “blamed” to better scan in modern prosody [11] 39A.14 originally "If that I gae wi child, father,” to better scan in modern prosody [12] 39A.14 originally “Shall get the bairn's name.” changed for modern understandability [13] 39A.16 - verse skipped for time [14] Chorus line drawn form 39B.3 [15]  Refer to verse 3 [16] 39A.18 - verse skipped for time [17] 39A.30 exchanged for 39B.28 [18] Gleed” is a word for hot coal [19] “Mortals whose eyes have been touched with fairies’ salve can see them when they are to others invisible” (Child)

[the-red-butterfly]

Hi dear! I recently came across this art piece of yours and I am absolutely taken aback by it! The concept honestly has my heart in a chokehold and I'm here to kindly ask permission in writing a small oneshot about it? I'll give you full credit ✨

If not, that's totally fine as well! I just really wanted to show my appreciation for it because it's been on my mind all day 💕

Oh I'm so touched! Please go ahead, I'm super honored 🥺 I love the idea too honestly and if I didn't have so many things to do (and if I had energy to spare lol) I'd draw a continuation for it.

And because you're so terribly nice, here, a Manwë I haven't posted yet, because again, where is my spare time? (,:

Btw, I absolutely adored all your screaming and tags in the reblog, my God. 😂😭 (,:

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Social Issues that Help with Understanding Buddy Daddies

Here are some political, social, and cultural aspects of Japanese culture that I think is important to keep in mind when watching Buddy Daddies. Please note: this is a super long post, with lots of pictures. 

1. Human Trafficking - Slave Labor

In Episode One, we learn that Miri’s birth father was involved in labor based human trafficking involving Southeast Asian individuals. This is currently a very big issue in Japan, since Southeast Asian immigrants (among others) are viewed as a cheap labor option and usually experience slave labor like conditions.

From The United States Department of State website:

Men, women, and children from Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa travel to Japan for employment or fraudulent marriage and are subjected to sex trafficking. Traffickers use fraudulent marriages between foreign women and Japanese men to facilitate the entry of women into Japan for sex trafficking in bars, clubs, brothels, and massage parlors. Traffickers keep victims in forced labor or commercial sex using debt-based coercion, threats of violence or deportation, blackmail, confiscation of passports and other documents, and other psychologically coercive methods.

2. Drugs in Japan

When I was living and working as an ALT in Japan, two ALTs (in a different district, but within the same company of my own), got caught with drugs. It was a big deal and ended up in the newspapers. The company I worked for had to do a lot of PR work with the elementary and junior high schools that they had contracts with, to ensure that the contracts would remain. As for me and the other ALTs? We had to sit through like five separate meetings within like two months about drugs and drug laws in Japan. 

The barebones takeaway is that, in Japan, weed is viewed as being on the same level as hardcore drugs. Charges can be steep and strict. Even just knowing that someone has drugs, and you don’t say anything to law enforcement about it, can get you in trouble. There is a grey area with drugs, which is stuff like bath salts and the like. Since the selling of things like that cannot be prohibited, so they are easily accessible to the public. 

Japan still has a very “90′s D.A.R.E.” approach to drugs. It’s catchphrase is 「ダメ。ゼッタイ。」or “No! Never.”

(Image from a Web Magazine called Nagasaki Press.)

When celebrities are caught with (what’s usually) weed, it can basically be the end of their careers, since recreational drug use of any kind (excluding alcohol, of course), is still negatively looked down upon in Japanese society. This is why it is still heavily left in the hands of the yakuza and drug kingpins, etc. Though there has been a recent increase in protests and ideology surrounding the idea of legalizing weed. Still, not much acceptance for recreational use is likely to come yet. However...

There may soon be some revision to the laws, which will allow for medical use:

Legislation changes scheduled for 2023

In 2021, the MHLW established an expert committee to review the Cannabis Control Act, and it is expected revisions will be proposed in a bill to be submitted in 2023. This will most likely allow for the use of medical cannabis. 2022/12/02

From: Euromonitor

So, something to keep in mind when Kazuki talks about a drug kingpin here is that this drug kingpin is likely not just dealing with super, hardcore drugs, but also softer ones too, like weed.

3. Child Protection Squad

There is this misconception in Japan that really young kids, like Miri’s age, can just roam free all around Japan and no one will find it odd. In Episode 1, we do see Miri roaming around the city without anyone really taking notice, but she also wasn’t in an area where there would be people that are trained to take notice.

In the above image she is at a park, which is likely close to a school somewhere. The man that approaches her here has a band around his jacket sleeve that says こども見守り隊 (kodomo mimamori-tai), which gets translated to “Child Protection Squad.” Basically, these are like crossing guards, in a way, because they do play a similar role to that, but they also do more than that as well:

(Image from the Japanese website: Nice Senior).

This people basically ensure that kids stay on the right paths on their way to school. Most of the time, when elementary school children head off to school, they will go in groups (with the 5th or 6th graders being the leaders) and there will often be older people outside their houses on their way in, keeping an eye on the children to make sure they get to school okay. 

And that’s talking about elementary school aged kids. For ones that are around Miri’s age, usually the parents (mostly mothers) will bring them by bike:

Or they will get picked up by a bus:

This one looks pretty boring in comparison to some others you might see though, like these:

(Image from the Hiyoshidai School Website)

Sometimes the daycare workers will also take them on little excursions outside using big strollers for the kids to travel around in:

(The image is obviously from a stock photo site called fotostock, but yeah, I’ve seen these before when I lived in Japan).

But a little toddler just sitting on her own at a mostly empty park with just a guy sitting at a park bench nearby watching her? That would raise attention and an eyebrow from someone who is essentially a crossing guard and whose job is to ensure the safety of kids as they travel to and from school. 

The rest is under a Read More.

4. Police in Japan

I saw a comment somewhere (maybe it was over on Youtube) about how the cops are portrayed here in Buddy Daddies. The comment was basically that Japanese cops wouldn’t be that aggressive with a child. But, well, cops in Japan have issues like everywhere. Though, the main issue with cops recently has more so been with racial profiling:

(Excerpt is from a Japan Times article entitled:  60% of people with foreign roots questioned by Japanese police, survey finds).

Of course, this situation is different from the one we see happening with Miri, but the Japanese police have issues with corruption too. So this happening wouldn’t seem too out of the realm of possibilities to me. The anime Tiger & Bunny 2 Part 2 also recently had some moments in the season where there was some anti-cop (ACAB-type) sentiments expressed by a character (though that series is also meant to take place in a city based on NYC).

5. Issues Surrounding Reproductive Rights, Contraception, and Abortion

“Took advantage of me” is fairly vague wording, but considering the type of guy he was, and the fact that Miri’s mother is caught in another abusive relationship, it wouldn’t surprise me if Miri’s conception wasn’t fully consensual one. People like to talk about how safe Japan is, but Japan has a lot of sexual violence that goes unreported: 

(From an article entitled:  Many sexual violence victims in Japan do not report assaults to police, support groups: survey - The article was posted on November 24, 2020 over on The Mainichi news website).

There is a lot of societal pressure in Japan, that can cause a lot of judgement as well. Especially around issues of reproductive rights. From a Japan Times articles entitled:  Pandemic provides an opportunity to improve access to contraception, posted on January 30th, 2022, we can get a little insight into the issues surrounding contraceptives:

The article also talked about the judgement that can come with contraceptives. The last line also talks about abortion, which comes with its own set of issues in Japan:

(From The Japan Times article: Abortion legal and apolitical in Japan, but cost and consent present barriers)

So abortion was likely an option that Miri’s mother didn’t think was really viable, especially in her situation.

7. Being a Single Mother in Japan, Adoption

In Ep.3 we hear Kazuki parroting a lot of the stuff you usually hear when it comes to women in children, like it is meant to be a natural and innate thing. There is a societal pressure for a woman to give birth and care for the child, even when they aren’t in the best situations to do so. Miri’s mother was, for all intents and purposes, a single mother. Since I doubt the abusive man she is currently with had any hand in helping Miri.

Being a single mother anywhere can be a big challenge, but especially so in Japan. Some issues that single mother’s face in Japan, according to the article “Why Most Families with Single Mothers in Japan are Living in Poverty” from a site called The Borgen Project: 

From that same article, we learn that joint-custody and child support doesn’t exist in Japan. So Miri’s mother was likely under a lot of societal and financial stress, along with possible Post-Partum Depression, and (also probable) burnout. This doesn’t mean that her behavior or attitudes are okay, but that they are likely a result of a failed system. 

I’ve seen some people bring up adoption, but adoption doesn’t automatically mean that a child will have a better life either. My grandfather’s mother was force to give her children up to the state, so my grandfather spent a good chunk of his life in an orphanage. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. And the probability that Miri would have been adopted had her mother gone through the actual system is, sadly, extremely low. From an article entitled: “The state of orphans in Japan and how to help” found on the site Zenbird.Media is this bit of information:

And even if Miri had been in an orphanage, Misaki (Miri’s mother) would still be her legal guardian. 

So an option like that would be unappealing for Misaki, because she doesn’t want anything to do with Miri. 

7. LGBT+ Individuals Being Viewed as “Not Productive”

Finally, we have the last thing I briefly want to talk about. The main backbone of Buddy Daddies, which is these two hitmen taking care of a child. Last year, a Japanese politician was in the news because she retracted some previous statements she made in 2016 and 2018. We are going to focus on her 2018 statements, which were:

Her comment received a lot of backlash and was big news. Her retracting her statements also brought a lot of news and talk too. The above information comes from The Japan Times article: “ Japanese lawmaker retracts past remarks on LGBTQ and other minorities.” Her other comments are awful too, but it should be noted that her one about sexual-minority couples stems from the issue of Japan’s declining birthrate. Even though many people in Japan are supportive of LGBT+ rights, there are people that hold a similar viewpoint as this. 

Buddy Daddies is pretty directly challenging this ideology, especially with how they have been handling things. So that’s pretty cool and revolutionary in its own way. It makes me interested in seeing how this continued topic as well as any future social issue topics will be handled or touched upon in Buddy Daddies.

If you read this all until the end: thank you so much! I put a lot of work into this write up and I hope it can help (I learned some things too while researching!).

[muwapsturniolo]

✯CYBER SEX 2✯

THEE MUWAPGUCCI COLLAB

IN WHICH… Matt and Chris Sturniolo are just two inexperienced losers.

Trust me when I meet him, I'm fucking him on sight

Warnings: NSFW CONTENT AHEAD! NO ACTUAL SMUT BUT MENTION OF PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL AND BODY PARTS.

MPT 1, GPT1, GPT2

"Next...Next...Nex-Oh he's cute!" Y/n gives Mika a dirty look. The two girls were currently in Y/n's apartment, going through the submissions for the contest. The contest ended two days ago and the girl had gotten around 1k submissions. She had already gone through 10 submissions alone, now she has her friend with her and they are trying to go through the rest together.

Mika didn't want to go through the submissions with her, but with the promise of free food and one hundred dollars, Mika caved.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because you know he's ugly." She points to her laptop which has a picture of a guy. "Come on he's not that bad! Ok let's look at his entry form!" Mika snatches the laptop and starts reading things out. everything about him seems normal until they get to his sexual interests.

"Ok, so it looks like he enjoys bondage, roleplay, sla- WHAT THE FUCK!" Y/n looks at Mika with crossed arms and a raised brow.

"He's into weird shit isn't he?"

"What the hell is a slave kink?! Like does he want you to call him Massa and tell you to take his conservative dick?!" Y/n falls out in laughter at Mika's disturbing words. "Yeah immediate no! I'm deleting this submission, fuck that!" Mika does just as she said, and deletes the entry, closing the laptop right after.

"That's enough for today, let's go get something to eat." Y/n groans and shakes her head, "Mika come on! I have to get this done!"

"And we will! But you promised me food and after that slave shit, I need some food. Let's go to Randy's and get a burger or something!"

The two girls leave the apartment, making their way to Randy's. The diner wasn't that far from her apartment, with it being a college town and all it was easy to travel on foot.

They make it to the diner pretty quick and walk to their usual seat. As they are walking, Y/n gets a phone call from her mom. “Hold on, I have to take this.” She walks back towards the door, completely missing Mika accidentally bumping into someone, "oh shit my-Matt?" Matt smiles awkwardly seeing the girl from the library.

"H-Hey Mika, how are you?" He adjusts his glasses and his backpack, putting more of his weight on his right foot rather than his left. "I'm good! Hey, did you ever send that girl the picture? you never updated me and everyone else on it." He laughs shyly, rubbing his neck.

"I uh yeah I did…I actually sent a video." Mika claps excitedly.

“That’s great! What did she say?! Are you guys going out now!? Did you have sex!?” A few people give them weird looks making Matt’s cheeks burn a bright red. He gives the guests of the diner an apologetic smile before turning back to Mika, “I-umm. Y-yeah she liked it… and no we haven’t gone out yet but s-she did like it.”

He does his best to make his lie believable. It’s not like he could tell the girl that he submitted a video of him drunk and jerking off to a cam girl. She would probably call him a weird loser…or maybe even an incel.

“Well, at least she liked it! Hopefully, you get a girl soon!” She playfully nudges him making him laugh.

“Sorry, it was my mom asking me how school is going.” Y/n walks up attempting to put her phone back in her purse. Matt’s eyes widen seeing the girl approaching them. He feels his body run cold and he quickly looks down, “S-sorry Mika I-I have t-to go!” He rushes past the two, bumping shoulders with Y/n as he darts out of the diner.

"Well, he was weird." Y/n mumbles, eyeing the boy through the windows. She watches as he climbs into a sleek black car. Mika gently hits her arm, "Shut up! He's not weird he's just really shy. He's actually a really nice guy. He's supposed to go out with me and the girls soon." Mika explains as they sit down.

They order their food and it’s soon brought to them.

"What were you talking about with Matt anyway?" Mika finishes chewing before answering the question.

"Sasha had asked him randomly if he ever took a dick pick after Jordan sent her one-Wait Jordan sent her a dick pic? Even after he cheated on her?-Yeah and it was a shitty one too! Made up for nothing! Anyway, Matt said he never took one but he had the opportunity to send one to a girl. So we decided to help him, teach him the best way to take the best picture."

Y/n scrunches her face up, "Wait, you had to help him take a picture of his junk? Is he like a virgin or something?'' Mika shrugs and dips her fry into her shake.

"I'm pretty sure, I mean don't get me wrong, he's cute, but he's super shy and awkward. I'm surprised he even wanted to send a dick pic considering he seemed really interested in his studies." Y/n hums and plays around with her food, her mind stuck on the boy with glasses.

Y/n huffs for what seems like the thousandth time. She's been home for about two hours now since going out with Mika. Her time was spent still going through all the submissions. She found a few people she would choose so she wrote their names down before continuing.

"Why did I do this to myself?" She mutters as she fixes the blue light glasses on her face. She feels her mouth getting dry, so she exits her room to grab a glass of water. When she walks back, she sees her cat walking along the keyboard of her laptop.

“You’re so annoying,” she grumbles walking to her bed. She sets her cup down on her nightstand before moving the brown cat. She goes to close her laptop, wanting to deal with the entries tomorrow, but stops in her tracks seeing a familiar face on her screen.

“There’s no way.” She thinks to herself.

She snatches the laptop and stares at the entry infront of her.

There’s no way that’s him…Right?

She sits down on her bed, analyzing the picture. It looks just like the boy from the diner, glasses and all. Granted she wasn’t able to get a good look at him due to him rushing past her with his head down but she had to admit,

He was attractive.

He had a bit of a beard, not a burly one but one that enhanced his jawline. He had brown hair that looked as if he ran his fingers through it multiple times. His face was adorned by a pair of oval brown glasses, complimenting his facial features well. His eyes were a dull blue, looking as if he was tired when taking the picture.

If Mika’s claims are true with him being into his studies, it was most likely he was studying when taking the picture.

She opens up his application and begins to read his answers.

She finds herself smiling when she reads about his hobbies, finding it interesting that he’s majoring in film. She begins to wonder what his favorite movies are. She reads that he loves Lego sets and looks over to the unopened boxes of Legos on her desk.

Wanting to know more about him, she continues.

“Triplet? Jesus Christ his mom had her hands full.” Her curiosity is peaked and she grabs her phone and opens up Instagram.

She searches for his name and clicks on the first profile. Sure enough, it’s his account.

He only has 100 followers, most of them being family and the few people he met in school. She scrolls through his pictures and comes to the conclusion that he has a simple life.

Lots of pictures of him and his brothers, some of him and his parents, and some with a dog.

She throws her phone down and goes back to his form.

She gets to his sexual interests and to her surprise, she finds that he doesn’t have any, stating that he doesn’t know of his interests but is open to almost anything.

Most guys his age would know their kinks and what they prefer in bed by now.

“Maybe he only has had vanilla sex.” She looks at her cat, waiting for the animal to answer.

When the cat doesn’t answer, she looks back at the screen.

There’s no way he’s a virgin…Right? He watches her streams, he couldn’t be a virgin.

She wants to text Mika and tell her about Matt's entry, but she doesn’t want to put Matt’s business out there, especially if he’s as shy and closed off as Mika makes him out to be.

She reads the rest of his entry before getting to the first video.

She adjusts the way she’s sitting and takes a sip of water before pressing play.

“Take five,” she giggles hearing the annoyance in his voice.

She watches the video and is surprised to hear his words. Most of the entry videos have been people saying that the reason they should win is because they have money, or they will give her the best dick of her life. They were cocky and Y/n found that unattractive.

She didn’t grow up with a lot of money, so people flaunting it and spending it like crazy rubbed her in all the wrong ways.

Matt on the other end was a bit more soft spoken and actually treating her like she was human, admitting that none of the other contenders should be able to take her out due to her being too good for them. He also didn't flaunt his money, granted he was a college student so he was probably broke anyway but,

It was a change of pace that she loved.

She knew what she was getting into when becoming a cam girl, being treated like she was an object rather than a human. His words made her feel,

Good.

The video ends and her heart races when she scrolls down. She was expecting to see a picture of his dick, not a video that’s 10 minutes long.

The thumbnail is of Matt in bed, getting ready to pull his pants down.

She hesitates as she presses play.

The video starts with shuffling being heard before Matt’s body clumsily falls onto the bed.

She notices the only sources of light are purple LED's and a sunlamp casting a warm glow onto the bed.

She finds herself attracted to the setting, it was almost cinematic. The way the lights cast a spotlight on him, an aura of orange, yellow, and purple covering his body.

She watches his tattooed arm pull his laptop closer, noticing an old stream of hers being pulled up. He hooks his fingers into his sweats, before releasing his hard and aching cock.

Y/n’s mouth waters.

He seemed to be about a good 7 inches, having a mushroom top. It wasn’t that girthy, but she knew that it would feel mind-blowing, especially with the thick vein running up the side.

He presses play on the video and begins to jerk himself off, spitting on his own cock.

She feels that familiar ache in between her legs.

His moans and whimpers sound like music to Y/n.

“Fuck Y/n.” She clenches her legs hearing him moan her name, loving the way it rolls off his tongue, piercing her ears and making her slick worse.

She quickly pauses the video and grabs her cat, setting the animal outside of her room and closing the door. She rushes back over to her bed and grabs the vibrator from her nightstand, quickly stripping herself of her clothes.

Usually, she would do a bit of foreplay, but she couldn’t wait. She could feel the slick between her folds, the mound between her legs aching and pleading to be touched.

She lays back on the bed and presses play on the video, immediately pushing her vibrator in between her wet folds.

Her eyes roll back at the relief, letting out a deep sigh.

She looks back at her laptop and sees Matt’s head is thrown back, his hand working hard to chase his impending orgasm.

“F-fuck Matt!” She moans hearing him moan her name once again.

“P-please let me cum m-mommy, I’ll be a good boy!” His submissive pleas do something to Y/n, unlocking a part of her that she didn’t even know was there.

She never found herself interested in guys calling her mommy, thinking they had some type of mommy issues and wanting her to baby them. But for some reason, she loved hearing Matt call her mommy and beg.

She could tell that he was close by the way he sped up his hand and the way his chest moved up and down quickly. She’s close as well, the urge to “pee” only getting stronger as the vibrations go on.

“Fuck fuck fu-“ she watches as his head hangs low biting his lip, his stomach clenching as white ribbons spurt out, some landing on his chest and face.

She yelps and arches her back as she makes a mess on her sheets. She swipes the vibrator back and forth, prolonging the orgasm as her body shakes.

She closes her eyes and swallows harshly as she tries to catch her breath, turning the vibrator off and throwing it to the side.

She opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling her mind fuzzy and filled with images of her and Matt and what a night together would look like.

After a few moments she sits up and grabs her laptop, drafting and email.

Y/e/h@gmail.com: hello Matt, I wanted to email you personally instead of through Chaturbate! This email is letting you know that you are the winner of the competition 💕 If you would no longer like to participate and would like me to choose another winner, please respond to the email stating so. Otherwise, respond to this email with the days you are free, and where you would like to meet for our date.

Can’t wait to see you again, maybe this time you won’t be as shy and you will actually look at me 💕

Xoxo, Y/n

She sends the email and smiles to herself, standing up and throwing on her robe.

She opens the door and sees her cat looking at her, “sorry miss lady, momma had to handle business. Let’s get dinner started.”

She walks into the kitchen and begins cooking dinner, her mind still on Matt.

PT 2 BABYYYYYYY!!!! IM SO SORRY THAT IT'S SHORT BUT I COULDN'T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE TO WRITE😭 MAKE SURE YOU READ MY POOKIE @guccifrog POSTS AND GET CAUGHT UP CUZ NEXT WEEK IS THE LAST PART OF THE COLLAB!!!

XOXO PEACHES🍑

TAGLIST 🍑

@bernardsgf @bernardsleftbootycheek @blahbel668 @mattfrfr @gdsvhtwa @sturniolo-aali @lily-loves-struniolos @kynda-avery @causeidontlikeagoldrush

@st7rnioioss @carolinalikesthings @mattslolita @suyqa @xxloveralways14 @pepsiimaxx @judespoision

@ivonchetooo1239 @imaslut4kehlani @that-general-simp @m4stermindd @itzdarling @gigisworldsstuff @adoreindie @braindead4l @pettydollie @chrissgirlsstuff @alexis007 @ratatioulle @yamamasjumpercables @luv4kozume @sturnioloslurps @kqyslyho3 @j3tblackt3ars @ilovestarz @lustfulslxt @soimightlikeoldmen69 @tastesousweet @slut4sebastiansallow @whicked-hazlatwhore @stasiesturn @loljackwasfat @nicksmainbitch @ninacutebee16 @mayhem-72 @sturniolosmind @breeloveschris @mattslolita @mattsivy @guccifrog @hysteria-things @mrssturnioloo @teenagetrash00 @koris_009 @patscorner @mayhem-72 @worldlxvlys @nickuniversity @luverboychris @thenickgirl @riasturns @imwetforyourmom @junnniiieee07 @realuvrrr @milasturniolo @fwskullz @hearts4tatemcrae @mattandchrismakemewett @chrissystur @canthelpit0 @strnilo @demistyles @junovrsmp4 @heartsforchrisandmatt @maryx2xx @vecnasnose0 @freshsturns @xxsturnxx @pettydollie @crimsoncorpse @sturnssmuts @sturniolovoid

[if-whats-new]

What's New In IF? Issue 12 (2024)

By Erika, Marjorie, Axelle, and Noi

Now Available!

Due to the early release of this issue, any release or update during June 28th unmentioned here will be included in next week's issue.

Itch.io. - Keep Reading below

Due to Internal things, the June and July issues will only update on events and games. We hope to resume regular activities and include more pages by August. Note: while Axelle is mentioned, they are currently on a break.

~ ENDED ~

The Rayuela (Spanish IFComp) released the ranking for this edition. Congratulations to the winners!

Both the Otome Jam and the Josei jam have ended this week, totaling almost 200 new VNs intended for female audiences.

Love/Violence also recently ended, with a dozen entries about love… and violence!

Eleven entries were submitted to the French jam Nouvim3000, with less then 3000 words!

Thanks to the record breaking submission count, the Neo-Twiny Jam managed to raise over $600 this year!

~ ONGOING (VOTING) ~

The 17 entries of the ParserComp are ready to be played and judged! Until the end of July, you can cast your votes!

~ ONGOING (SUBMITTING) ~

Like every July, the IFComp has opened once more their website for intent of submission, a required step to submit your game! You have until August 1st for the intent, then August 28th for the game! They are also looking for an artist to design their yearly logo! (paid)

While it is not IF-focused, the Anti-Romance Jam is once again looking for anti-romance submissions!

Did you submit an intent to the IntroComp? The deadline to submit your prototype is coming up! Don't forget, on July 31st!

The deadline for the Fix the Worst Visual Novels (Jam) has been extended until July 15th!

Are you a fan of Bluebeard? A jam focusing on the tale and its interpretations is ending this weekend!

Thinking of trying to make a Visual Novel? Try your hand at the O2A2 Jam, where you can only have one asset (of each type) and 1.000 words!

For the francophones, the French IF community is organizing a summer-long camp to create parsers. Join the Confiture de Parser if you're interested!

Until the end of July, a chill IF (text-only) game jam is happening on itch, from the Interactive Fiction Club.

~ OTHER ~

The Interactive Fiction Showcase is still running! If you have completed an IF piece this year, consider submitting it! It is happening only on itch!

~ NEW RELEASE ~

The Siren's Bet (Twine) is a short fantasy text game, where your path crosses a siren's. @kessielrg

Summer Night (Twine) is a short slice-of-life game about meeting friends. @lokeloski

Don't forget to check the events mentioned in previous pages! There were a lot of really cool entries!

~ NEW RELEASE (WIP) ~

Secunda Reforge (RenP’y) is a highly stylistic dark-fantasy and gothic visual novel. @secundareforged

Hubris (Twine) is a dark-fantasy project where you incarnate the Champion of the Gods. @hubris-the-if-game

Dragon Kin (CScript) is a high-fantasy project about struggled and power.

The Devils Privilege (CScript) is a young adult modern-fantasy project with twists.

Prismatic (CScript) is a personality-based death game with a focus on horror.

Wake to weep (CScript) is a mature mystery project with sci-fi tones.

Eschaton: The Rebirth (CScript) is a high-fantasy project with a battle for good and evil.

Phantasmagoria (CScript) is an extension project of a previous short game based on Greek Mythology.

~ GAMES UPDATES ~

A Shriek of Ash and Fire (CScript) has updated, doubling its word count, over 100k. @krogpile

Path of Martial Arts (CScript) has updated their Patreon's demo.

Drink Your Villain Juice (CScript) has made the last major update public. @drinkyourvillainjuice

Oh Mother, Where Art Thou? (CScript) has added extra content to the demo.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (CScript)'s Patreon demo has been updated. @doriana-gray-games

Luuckey United F.C. (CScript) has doubled its wordcount.

Scarlet Sorceress (CScript) has updated the demo.

Citadel (CScript)'s last update is now available to everyone. @bouncyballcitadel

Agents of Lucifer (CScript)'s demo now includes chapter 8 and 9. @aprismaticodyssey

One Knight Stand (CScript) has added the second part of Chapter 2 to the demo. @oneknightstand-if

The Bar of the Abyss (CScript) has been updated with extra content. @thebarontheabyss

The Thousand of Us (CScript) updated both the Patreon and public demo. @ivanwm-05

Honor Bound (CScript) has released Chapter 7 for the public demo. @hpowellsmith

Attollo (Twine) has released the Pariah's route for the Patreon's demo. @attollogame

Honor Among Thieves (CScript) made a quick update to the demo. @leoneliterary

The Story of Sin (Twine) added two full chapters to the demo. @devilishmango

The Abyssal Song (Twine) added Chapter 3 to the demo. @ri-writes-if

A Sun Asunder (CScript) almost doubled the wordcount of the demo. @asapostapocalypseif

The Curse of Cassandra (Twine)'s demo has been updated with more content. @thecurseofcassandra-if

~ OTHER ~

The Queer Games Bundle (@queergamesbundle) is still available on itch.io for another week! Support a bunch of queer creators (including Interactive Fiction authors!) by purchasing the bundle!

The new issue of the Amare Fortnightly Bulletin is out! Check it out here! @amaregames

Tears of Tianchao (Twine) is looking for beta testers. @redbeanbunsworld-if

The Dragon's Flagon (CScript) is looking for beta testers.

Let's Make IF is back for a second season of tutorials on how to make Inform 7 games. @golmac

We apologize if we missed an update or a release. We are but volunteers trying to find as much info as possible, but sometimes news pass through the cracks.

Please, let us know if something should have been added to the zine, and we will shout it out next week!

ERIKA, MARJORIE, AXELLE, AND NOI

WHAT'S NEW IN IF? 2024-ISSUE 12

[shidouryusm]

One new notification from Reddit

・❥・Toji x f!reader

・❥・content -> nsfw, minors dni, sugar daddy-sugar baby dynamic, ceo!Toji, explicit smut, lore and lore, manipulation kinda, roleplay, kinda voice kink if you squint, spanking, blowjob, cunnilingu$, t!tplay, p -> v penetration, m@ting press, kinda mirror sex(?) , a liddol plot around megumi, creampie, lmk what I missed

・❥・word count -> 5.5k (mwuah mwuah)

・❥・a.n: here’s my first take on @k9nto ‘s reddit collaboration (Tal baby Im so sorry it took like half our lifespan to submit lol). Entries are open, participate! and find the masterlist here . It took so long than I expected it to be sobs. I got into a massive toji brainrot and just poured every rotting thought in my brain in this. dividers by @/cafekitsune . Hope y'all like it

“Weren’t you supposed to be in Sweden today for a business meeting or something?” Megumi’s drawling voice was what broke the layer of silence on the breakfast table. Toji peeks from the shield of newspaper, eyebrows raised in a gesture of mulling over the question before he spoke out.

“Ahh yes. I cancelled the flight.”, his tone nonchalant as if he was explaining why he skipped breakfast. The words, simple as they might sound, held a sense of power and unbending authority as if mere words of his are capable of turning the tide. Which is true considering most businesses in vicinity are under the palm of his hand ;therefore, cancelling such meeting, losing few million yens of deal here and there isn’t gonna bother him in the slightest.

The board is majorly his and what he says goes around that circular mahogany table. Besides, staying at home today was more of his priority than listening to some mind numbing presentation of a business which earns meagre profit to live by. 

No, he had something important on his mind. 

“Are you sure? Last time I heard, this meeting seemed important for the merger or something”, Megumi’s inquisitive voice once again drew Toji’s attention. His dark teal eyes twinkles with amusement at his son’s newfound curiosity. 

“Showing interest in business, Megumi? How about you go instead of me, what say?” His teasing, booming voice flustering Megumi as he ignored the comment, suddenly being ten times more interested in his breakfast. 

“You usually don’t cancel meetings like these, that’s why.” he mumbles, earning a gruff laughter and a pat on the back from his father.

“The managing director can handle it well enough. Besides, I get to sit with you for breakfast after so long. I’d say it’s much better than some boring meeting, isn’t it?” Megumi nods, a tight smile on his lips at the silky warmth of his Toji’s voice.

Toji folded the newspaper, setting it aside and concentrating on the breakfast table for the first time ever since he sat down. Tsumiki’s chair is empty, indicating she already left for her work. Megumi stalls his breakfast, seemingly waiting for something. He fiddles the spoon around the soup bowl, silent engulfing them once again before a ping of his phone reverberates through the dining hall.Toji flickers his eyes at his son, who answered his phone quite eagerly, but no sooner than that, his face was crestfallen.

“Anything on mind, Megumi?” his voice is soft yet carrying. Megumi shakes his head quickly, denying any disturbance that ever flashed across his face. 

“Nothing…’m off to college. See you later.” his voice ebbs away even before he finishes his sentence as he steps out of the house in one go, leaving the older man in his extravagant dining all by himself. 

Megumi has always been a little inside his shell, not wearing emotions on his sleeve so such behaviour wasn’t new for Toji. However, seeing that flicker of sadness in his eyes sparked curiousity in the elder Fushiguro’s mind and he almost guesses what piqued that reaction off him. Toji finishes up the leftover tea before a sharp shrill of the doorbell rang through the house as the househelp scutters toward the door to open it. 

Moments later, Toji’s eyes catches the sight of a girl, around Megumi’s age, wandering around the vast space in living room right across. A face anyone would call exceedingly gorgeous and beautiful eyes which are zooming, scanning for something or someone, a thin line peaking between her brows. She is gorgeous, not to mention the way Toji’s eyes wandered all over her figure, one of the very few instances in his life where a woman captivated his attention for longer than a minute. Toji prods closer towards the girl, who still hasn’t noticed his presence; or rather is pretending not to. 

The woman being Megumi’s one and only bestfriend throughout his sad 21 years of life – you. 

Meanwhile, your eyes drank the expanse of the house. High ceilings connected with neutral coloured walls gave an aura of extravagance yet not too flashy. The grandeur of it catching you off guard. Your heart leaps with faith and hope.

“May I help you?” a deep cough followed by this question startles you as you turn around. Your eyes level with a broad expanse of chest before you trail them upwards, a small scar slashing the lip coming into view before finally meeting the set of dark, emerald teal eyes. 

“Ummm…is Megumi at home?”, your voice is laced with timidness which intrigues as well as entertains Toji. He steps closer, invading your space, your eyes widen at his closeness but you stay silent. 

“No, he left just now. You might be?” If voices could be measured in depth, this would surpass Mariana Trench. It seeps down the skin, melting with every fiber of your being, the resonance of his voice almost soothing your body, reaching into parts where it shouldn’t. 

You give out your introduction, voice shaky from the arm’s distance Toji is at. He hums at your reply, “Well Megumi left not so long ago, if you want I can give him a call and–”.

“WAIT! NO.”, your cried out, not noticing you grabbed Toji’s forearm on the pretext. “I…I actually hoped he’d be out. I wanted to talk to you.” you mumble, voice not rising over few decibels, stark contrast to his abysmal apmplitude. Toji quirks an eyebrow, not pointing that you are still holding on to his arm. Tight. 

“And what that might be, sweets?” you squirm a little at the petname. A little apprehensive on how to address the situation, “Actually…”

You attempt to cower yourself by rubbing your arm with your left hand. Toji notices the tension that is radiating off you, your eyes darting everywhere but on him, your legs are pressed against each other, covered with a pleated skirt barely covering till your mid-thighs. You lick your lips a few times, an action that sets Toji’s mind into a drive of inappropriate train of thoughts. You look so diffident, like a turtle without its shell desperately finding a shelter to mask itself. And he’d be happy to provide you that.

He wanted to pause you there, catch your lips in between his slightly chapped ones. Hands that itched to roam and explore around your body, surely that baggy hoodie is hiding an exquisite piece of art underneath. 

Yet, he stops himself from swaying out of conversation, listening to your pleas of despair. 

“Y’know, college fees are due by this month…and it’s pretty expensive too. I-I thought I'd apply for some financial scholarship but it got rejected.” you mumble. Toji has an inkling of what your issue might be and solving it with a snap of his finger wouldn’t be of any issue. But the devil on his left was at its peak, enveloping Toji’s mind with an idea that could only be called sinister.

“I-I really tried to apply again but I keep getting rejected. Plus there’s my house rent and a debt I took-” your voice was breaking off in the middle, trying hard to suppress the sobs that threatened to spill out. Toji understood your dilemma. 

“If you could grant me any well paying job, I’d take it. No matter how hard it might be. Just please, anything works. I will be homeless otherwise. I could even work here as a househelp. Megumi wouldn’t know, I’d come when he got classes-” you were rambling, desperation dripping out of syllables. 

Toji felt a little pinch in his heart. You were in dire need of money. He could help if he wanted, any intern job would put your issues at ease but having a girl as pretty as you slave around anywhere, under anyone (but him) was blasphemous for him. You look like you were meant to be taken care of, to be spoiled with the riches there is. Your trembling lips needed love and it looked nothing less than an enticing invite for the older man. Your tears and soft sniffles shot a wave of arousal directly down his cock. 

Fuck. who looks this hot while crying.

Toji is an influential man. His sense of leadership and commands in a rich baritone forced anyone to comply with no rebuttal. His shrewd mind knew all sorts of cards in a dirty business and his ability to play them and naturally bring the ball in his court made him what he is today. And like the cunning businessman he is, Toji knew when to make the best of the situation. Just like now.

“Well, you say you could work any job but any high paying job requires expertise. Are you sure you can cope with the little experience of a retail store you have? I can only appoint you somewhere but who says you wouldn’t be fired within the first week”, your eyes flew open in panic, heart dropping like free fall. Facing rejection at his hands was like the last nail on the coffin. 

“n-no no no, please, please! I promise I won’t. I told you even helping around your house would do. Surely it will suffice.” Toji could only laugh. Oh how naive you are, readily walking towards the trap Toji is discretely luring you in. 

Toji contemplates with closed eyes for a while. A deep hum leaving his throat as if he’s actually pondering over how to help you. He opens his eyes. A layer of darkness now shrouding his orbs. His face scrunches into a smirk as he leans in even more close.

“Come to my room. There might be something of your interest.” your face lightens with hope. Fuck. Anything will interest you as long as you can pay your bills and repay that loan. You follow suit, mindlessly getting yourself into the fox’s burrow. 

Toji’s bedroom is vast. Long white curtains frame the window, sunlight dancing through them, giving the room a warm golden hue. A massive bed is placed in the middle, opposite to a wall length mirror, reflecting both you and Toji. You notice how small you look compared to his muscled back donned in just a cashmere grandma sweater. Still, he looks ridiculously handsome and enticing. 

You swallow a gulp, his presence is as alluring as he is, taking up every air in the room, leaving you breathing heavily for the lack of it.

Your sea of thoughts are so deep that you don’t notice how Toji is just inches away from you now, his hands rest on your shoulders, jolting you back to the reality of your predicament. You glance at him, his eyes are were blazed with a newfound passion. 

“You know that you are extremely beautiful? Probably one of the hottest women I’ve seen so far.” his voice is low, a whisper that swirls around your ear.

 You feel goosebumps flesh out all over your neck. His hands on your shoulder still firm, thumb rubbing over the junction of skin where your clavicle ends. The pads of his thumb is calloused yet glides smoothly across your skin. 

 “Sir?” you tilt your head, not understanding where he is going. He doesn’t reply, rather dips down his head, bringing his face closer to you, directly underneath your ears. Meanwhile, his hands trail back, the tips of his finger ticking the skin of your back until it rests over your tailbone. He pulls you closer, flush against him. You squeak out of surprise yet don’t act against it. 

“A pretty girl like you slaving away? Tsk tsk tsk”, he teases, “lemme take care of you the way you need, princess.” his murmurs were salacious. words dipped in a pot of sins. 

“B-but-”

“Sshh..” Toji presses a feathered kiss over your jaw. A small whimper escapes your lips as you felt his lips gloss over your skin. He is so close, you can see every detail of the side of his skin. The hint of his cologne tickling your nose. The scent is subtle, not noticeable until he came this close. It’s woody – with a hint of burnt caramel and notes of amber and spice blends in with it perfectly. The perfume complements him like perfection, as if the flavours were hand-picked and specially concocted for him. Toji continues pressing light kisses over your jaw, till he reaches upwards, hovering beside your right ear. 

“You know, I can and I will pay your full tuition fees till the end of your graduation as well as repay whatever that stupid loan was”  his sudden offer dropped you off a height, a choked out gasp leaves your lips and Toji couldn’t conceal his amusement. His hand coming up to your cheek, cupping it gently. 

“Wha-, sir? What’s going on?” you were falling short on words. Hearing his offer, you think he might be some sort of guardian angel, offering to banish every financial barriers you had in your life. Who does that?

Toji laughs under his breath, one of his hand cups your cheek while the other snakes down your waist. “But…” he trails off.

“But?”

“Don’t I deserve something in return as well? See, I am only just a man. A man with riches way bigger than I expected myself to have. I provide my kids with all the comfort they need but a man like me also needs some loving, what say?” Toji nips at your earlobe, wanting some sort of response from you. you nod. 

He’s right. Toji has always been somewhat of a star in your eyes, as heard from Megumi. He had taken up the role of a father as well as a professional businessman with effortless ease ever since the demise of toji’s mom when Megumi merely joined middle-school. Such multitask would sure wear anyone out and considering this man never involved himself in relationships or such. He also must crave love, some desires, some unfulfilled wants.

“So…I propose you a transaction of being my whatever that term is – sugar baby or something. Main thing is, I’ll give you whatever you want or need anytime and in return, you provide me of my desires.”

To say you were flabbergasted would be an understatement. Having a sugar daddy who pays for every worldly desires there is was almost like a fairytale to you. Never in your wildest dreams you thought such an incident would ever occur in your life. Such a transaction that woud not only free you from your debt shackles but also indulge you in every brands you’ve only seen from the other side of the glass. Every set of clothing that a mannequin dons on can now be fitted in your body. 

“There’s win for you too, princess. You’ll get to know how a real man treats a woman. Especially a woman like you deserves it just as much as I. Do you agree?” Toji cajoles you silkily. His honeyed words fucking with the second voice in your head. Your heart melts at his compliments, almost coaxing yourself into the offer.

But, it comes with a price of your body, of your chastity. Then again, a man like Toji, with hands such burly and veiny. Back toned with muscles that are even prominent with loose clothing, such confident aura and sweet words, could only have a gifted member down below, right?. 

A man you could only imagine participating in the lecherous acts with you. But would you let yourself participate? Did you have it in you?

Fate plays different. Fate plays dirty because here you are, on your knees, engulfing the entirety of his cock down your throat. Morales flying right across his large window.

Toji watches you from the mirror, sitting on the edge of his bed. Your head bobs up and down asyou smear spit all over his shaft. Your lips wraps around his cock while your brows furrow together as you concentrate on relaxing your muscles to fit more of him. The curve of his vein hits your tongue and you let out a gargled sound, almost relishing the taste.

 Toji is well blessed down there, with equal measures of girth and length, ending with a fat mushroom tip. The tip which occasionally imprints on your throat while you deepthroat him. A gag leaves your mouth as you feel his cock drives past your uvula. 

Your skirt is hiked up from behind and Toji notices the peek of red underneath. His hands were stretched behind his back, to buck his hips up towards your face. They now go down towards your skirt, flipping it upright to expose the flesh of your ass in the mirror. The rounded mound was laced with a red thong that barely ran across the crack, hiding the pretty pussy underneath it.

“F-fuck…baby your mouth feels like heaven on my dick. You suck like a slut.” Toji groans, burying himself deeper into you as he feels you move faster on his length. 

Hands pawed his balls, which were heavy with his load. You release his cock with a pop, a string of spit connecting you with his tip, oozing out pre-cum. 

You gather a glob of spit on your mouth before dropping it right across his shaft. Your hands work along his length as you pump ferociously. Switching your roles, your mouth takes over his balls, giving each of them a long suck, tongue flicking out to kitten lick across the skin. You hear Toji hiss, his hands finds your hair, grabbing a handful of your locks in his palm. 

“You were sent for me, angel. Look at your mouth and hand fitting my cock so well. God, I wanna dump my load inside your mouth.” the room was filled with the occasional gags and moans while you generously sucked from his tip to base. Nose tickling with the little tufts of pubes when you bottom out. Hands that never stopped to either stroke his length or fondle his balls. 

Toji could feel himself busting anytime, hips raised more against your face, his hands grab both the sides your face, taking charge. He thrusts inside your face with a pace that was animalistic. His own eyes rolls at the scrape of your teeth, the sensation doubling up his orgasm that was already rushing. Tears pooled at your waterline but the sensation of his dick imprinted on your mouth was heavenly. Your panties were drenched around your slit as you try to rub your heels against your cunt for some added friction. You look up at him, sweater raised over his chest to expose the skin of the stomach, taut with the tension.

With one final thrust, he shoots his warm load inside your mouth, spilling inside your cavern with ropes of milk. Your lips and chin is painted white while some shoots right down your throat as you feel the taste of his cum – salty with a bitter aftertaste. But it wasn’t unpleasant, rather there was a pleasurable sensation. Something raw and unforbidden but still so rousing. 

Toji releases your head. His hands dips down under your sticky chin, thumb tracing your lower lip as he pulls it down, urging you to open your mouth. You do as instructed, showing him the lewd view of your cum filled mouth before he orders you to swallow, which once again you do wordlessly. Toji hikes you up from your seating position, hands resting on your ass while he kneads your flesh. He turns your around, with you facing the bed. He pushes you against the pillowy mattress. You fall face first, head hitting the cloudy pillows. You feel Toji behind you, not doing anything but staring at your lace clad ass that was bared open. 

Soon, you feel his textured palm on your ass and before you know it, his hand leaves and connects against you again, followed by a resounding smack filling the air mixed with your loud squeak.

“Ahh..mr.fushigu-” . another smack. You fall silent as the impact of his hand hits you again. But why was this so titilating? Why, with each of his smack, you could feel more arousal drooling out of your pussy lips? 

“It’s daddy for you, princess.” He rubs the area where he just spanked you earlier, massaging the skin for some comfort. His hands work slow, tantalising, that makes you whine. Like a game of push and pull. He pushes away while you pull for him.His hands reach your thin panties, tracing over the fabric and reaching towards your pussy lips. His hands carress you through the fabric, two fingers dips down on each side while his middle finger prods in your slit, right over the damp lace. 

His hands fit perfectly against your hips as he grabs your sides, harshly hiking your ass up in the air, back arched in the most posture ever. The position causes your hoodie to slip up, showing the same shade of bra. It didn’t take him more than two second to snap open the hook, baring the entirety of your back and causing the straps to slip down your shoulders. Your lower back dimples greet him and he couldn’t help but place kisses all over your lower back, gradually gliding down. He removes the skirt that obstructed his ministrations in one go, finally facing your pussy from behind. His warm breath falls over your inner thigh as you feel his finger hook around the thin cloth, putting it in a side to face your clenching cunt. 

Toji nuzzles his face against your cunt, his nose hitting right against your clit as he once again blows breath, this time right over your aching slit. You let out a moan, feeling him slowly place kisses all over from the gaping hole to your hood, smothering his face with your juices.

You head tips back from the numbing sensation of his mouth on you. His tongue laps up every drop of arousal that seeps out of you, and diving inside your cunt, thrusting in your gummy walls. His hands continues to massage the globes of your ass mixed with soft smack over the mounds. 

Your whines were bouncing off the walls, the euphoric feeling of his tongue was keeping you afloat. You try your best to not cross your eyes from the overwhelming actions. Toji also ensures to give equal attention to your clit, the buttoned nub swollen and aching for some release. He wraps his lips around the hood, his tongue circling around the bundle of nerve endings, releasing a hundred sparks inside your body. You moan wantonly, teeth digging inside your lips to leave it red. Your hands grip the sheets like death, grounding yourself. 

Toji keeps on flicking his tongue over the clit, adding the work of his middle finger to dive right into your pussy. The dance of his tongue, lips and fingers create the perfect dance of debauchery. The sensation being too much for you as you try to scutter away before the harsh tug of his hands brings you closer. His mouth not leaving your cunt. 

“Don’t run, princess. You signed up for this.” words ending with a smirk right against your skin, he releases your clit before getting at your inner thighs. He nips at the flesh, sucking the skin for a while before a dark purple splotch brands itself on your skin. 

You whimper in pain and pleasure as you hear his gravelly voice, vibrating right against your skin. “This is for trying to run away, princess. Don’t do it, ‘kay?” 

You knew you were close, his fingers were relentlessly pumping inside you, bringing more and more closer to the edge. His mouth was doing wonders all over the thighs and along the flesh of your cunt, replacing his fingers once in a while to prod his tongue against your squishy walls. His pace was chronic, increasing with every passing moment, and before you knew it, the tug on your stomach snapped and your whole body shook to release the built up orgasm that Toji artistically brought to action.

Your juices sprayed in his mouth while Toji shamelessly laps at it, his tongue working you through your orgasm, bordering overstimulation. His other hand smoothes your thighs from the shaking. Your head dips down to hide yourself from the embarrassment but Toji couldn’t give a damn. To him, you were never any more beautiful than now, all spent under him. For him. By him.

Toji flips you on your back, your tongue lolls out when you breathe heavily, bringing yourself back to this Earth which you were sure you left momentarily. Toji leans down to capture your lips between his, feeling both his and your taste on his tongue. His hands comes to massage every crevice of your waist and hips. He tugs at your hoodie, breaking the kiss for a while to remove this material off of you. 

Your already opened bra follows suit, leaving your breasts to spill out in front of the man, who feels his cock stirring. His head dips down to take one nipple in his mouth, sucking the bud harshly while his other hand plays with the other breast, fondling the mass and tugging the nipple between his thick fingers. Slapping the fleshy mound to watch it jiggle. Making his exposed cock twitch. He alternates his treatment on other tit, leaving the nipples to form hard, swollen buds. 

“Some pretty pair you got, darling.” Toji smothers his spit all over your breasts, leaving it glistening under the golden light of the day that veils his room. His hardened length grinds against your cunt, the tip smacking your clit at times. 

“D-daddy…put…put it in.please.” you whine, yearning for something to fill up your walls again. Toji smirks, hooking his hand under the band of your underwear before he tugs it out of your hips. The bunched up fabric curled in his hand as he shamelessly gawks at them.

“These are some expensive lingerie, princess. This is where you blew money off? Being a little slut?” Toji bunches the panties before stuffing them in his pant pockets. You turn your head to the side, from sheer embarrassment. A scene of beautiful vulgarity unfolds itself in front of you.

Toji separates your legs by your knees, your slick covered pussy clenching at the sudden wave of air that brushes past them. Toji’s cock jumps at the sight, his thick length sliding against your lips, drenching itself with pre-cum and remnants of your previous orgasm. He nudges the tip into your slit, slowly pushing the head inside.

You throws your head back against the sheet as you moan, the intrusion of his head alone stuffing your cunt. You clench around him, hips subconsciously bucking to add the extra pressure.

Toji hisses at you squeezing him, bullying more of his girth into your walls. He has half the wish to ram the whole cock in you, till the tip bruises your cervix but he goes steady, closing his eyes and moving painfully slow to stretch the time. He grabs you by the under of your knees, propping both legs on each of his arms to get more leverage as he pushes inside. Bottoming out to the hilt.

Once he feels himself completely sheathed inside you, he opens his eyes, meeting your already fucked face, his mouth hangs open while your left arm drapes over your eyes, head tipping back to expose the dainty collarbone, he bends down to press kisses over the clavicle just as his cock nudges more inside of you, making you whine. 

“You sucked me in right like a champ, princess. Too eager for this cock. Well, can’t deny the feeling of this pretty pussy either. Making me bust a nut right now.” Toji groans, talking you through it while he begins to rock himself against you, pulling out completely till the tip before fucking inside of you with one thrust. 

His thrusts were slow and powerful, making your body jerk from top to bottom. Your tits lurched and bounced from the intensity and Toji wanted to burn this image in his mind. He increases his pace, letting you feel the veiny shaft of his cock all over your cushiony walls. He adjust himself in the middle, angling the tip in a way which made you drawl a precarious moan. His cockhead settles right against a bundle of muscle sending sparks of shockwave to your brain before it moves away again. Only to assault there again. 

“you feel so good inside me….ahhh…” moans fills the air along with the lewd slick sounds of skin slapping against each other. You could feel his balls hitting your ass as he bends you in half, knees squashed against your tits to get a better look at his cock slipping right inside you. Your arm splays over your head, eyes squeezed shut just as you feel the familiar tug building up inside your stomach. Is he gonna make you squirt again? 

Toji sloppily thrusts in you, your insides clenching down on his dick causing his orgasm to roll down as well. His thrusts are erratic, constantly hitting on that sweet spot inside. You mewl loudly, craving and craving for more. Your body turning limp under the burly weight of his as he turns your brain into a puddle of mush with his long strokes.

“Wanna cum, daddy…hnnghh.” Toji goes at an animalistic pace, wanting to make you squirt again, “whatever angel says”, he husks. You feel your insides almost bruise, firstly for how thick he is already and secondly, from the power at which he slams himself inside you. His tip brushing your cervix at the position he had you in.

You feel your body shake from the pleasure as one last thrust of his snaps every rope inside you and lets your orgams flow like a dam breaking down. You squirt for the second time, not long after the previous one. You finish right on him as he languidly fucks you, coming at the same time. Warm ropes of cum paint your insides white. 

Toji could feel his body shake from the amount of cum he releases inside you. Gripping the back of your thighs with enough force to leave marks and dips. A myriad of whines and whimpers and moans fill the room as you feel him filling your insides with white. Toji gently plants your feet down on the bed, watching as pools of his cum dribble out of you, staining your thighs and sheets. He takes two of his fingers, scooping them out to push it back inside you, the feel of his fingers overstimulating. 

“Got plan b, baby?” you nod, words unable to escape from your throat as you try to bring yourself down from the fervour. Toji rolls off you, laying by your side as his chest heaves with the strenuous workout he had in a while. Once you feel composed, you prop your arm on your elbow, one hand gently tracing the ridges and contours of his abs with your finger.

“Didn’t know you were that good at acting,darling.Should have landed into acting.” you giggle, pressing a small kiss to the side of his lips, right above his scar. Toji breathily chuckles, grabbing you by the waist to pull your upper body flush on top of him, “Says you. “Something of your interest?” Almost tearing the lingerie that you brought me in the first place. Which porn did you watch before?”

“I don’t know. Maybe our first ever endeavour 8 months ago. Didn’t it eerily go like this?” your chortles fills the room as Toji lazily joins in, a gentle kiss placed right on your temple. Comfortable silence blankets you both before Toji speaks up,

“Was it you who texted Megumi at that time?” he inquires as you gently hum and nod. 

“I told him I won’t be coming to class today. Why?” you nuzzle on his chest as his hand rubs circle on your bare back as he continues, “he looked quite down with your text, I had half the mind to let him know you would be here.” 

You lift your head to meet his gaze, “Thought you didn’t kiss and tell?” you quip yet deep down a tinge of sadness peeked at your heart as you had a slight idea about how Megumi actually feels about you. Capitalising off you best friend’s dad, especially when the said bestfriend might have some sort of feelings for you isn’t exactly an ideal situation. 

Likewise, Toji ponders over this whole setting, without a clue on how, out of everyone, his son’s bestfriend ended up being his sugar baby after years of almost zero sexual endeavours. And simultaneously catching slight feelings over the girl he knows his son has a slight pining for. The whole situation is as fucked up as it can without any conclusions that isn’t ugly.

Yet, the bodily desire. One of the seven deadly sins- lust, becomes too powerful to cloud him of any moral judgement as he pulls you over to his lap. Straddling you right over his crotch, he grabs one of your tits, “Oh honey, I do a lot more than kiss.”, you smirk, indulging for the second round before a familiar voice rang through the house and through both your ears like an alarm.

“I’m home.” 

a.n-> as long as you get the bag girl 🫡🤚🏽

event -> @k9nto’s reddit collaboration.

comments, likes, reblogs are appreciated

[timdoubleyou]

i found jay’s black jacket (an ID guide)

This black jacket is worn by Jay about 9 times throughout Marble Hornets, including his final appearance. And after some weeks of on-and-off research, I think I know the exact make and model.

This post will detail exactly how I found it, and serve as a guide for anyone that wants to find the jacket, whether that's for cosplay purposes, or if you're just keen on collecting items related to MH.

Main post under the cut

Intro

The first step to identifying the jacket was to gather as many references as possible.

I went back to the web series and took screenshots from any entries the jacket makes an appearance. (shoutout to mg549′s very comprehensive MH wardrobe guide, without it this would’ve been much more of a pain)

Jay's jacket is, for the most part, very plain. It's a solid color, full-zip jacket, without any particularly eye-catching logos or other details. I had to look for moments where even the slightest distinction appeared clear on camera, at least as distinct as it can be. Even if it was just close-ups to get the shape of a zipper, or how many buttons are on a sleeve, it was the best I got. While I did manage to find a decent amount of these, there was just one crucial detail that would've made finding it near-impossible; the brand is never shown. Thankfully, I had another resource.

In 2018 Troy Sold a Lot of Stuff

In early 2018, Troy officially announced that MH would be continued in a comic series. To fund the first issue, he held a number of auctions for production items used during the web series on Ebay.

These included items such as Jay’s camera, Brian’s hoodie, A Masky mask, and Jay’s black jacket.

Lo and behold, the jacket listing includes a picture with the brand in clear view. It's from Gap.

Ebay does not archive sold listings older than 90 days. However, Worthpoint, a website for valuing and pricing collectibles, does. Using Worthpoint I was able to find all of these items, (and a lot more, which can be found in this doc I submitted to Archive Hornets)

Identification

With the picture from the listing and the series screencaps, I had a complete ID list.

(Top image is from the Ebay listing, with the contrast adjusted a little for easier viewing. The bottom two images are from Entry #79)

The Gap logo (This specific logo dates the jacket being made anywhere between 1986 and 2009, when it first appears).

Front Zipper (Note the shape)

The two front pockets

The two buttons and pointed cuffs on each sleeve (Second one is a little hard to see but it's jusstt peeping out at the side)

The blue piping in the inner lining

The zipper in the right side inner lining

The gray mesh inner lining

With these in mind, I could now go to the next and longest step-

Finding the Jacket

I combed three resell sites; Ebay, Depop, and Poshmark. My main goal wasn't to actually purchase the jacket, (although, I would like to at some point) but to find a jacket listing that had every identifier, and have a more definite baseline for finding others. I needed to be sure what I had was enough to properly ID the jacket. The references I had stitched together were decent enough, but I wanted to see if there was something better out there.

After tons of page scrolling and tab-switching and comparing and contrasting, I finally got lucky.

(first two images are from crashthecloset's listing on poshmark, last six are from shannfo-76 on ebay)

I haven't bought one myself as of posting, but I feel pretty confident this is it. The jackets were already sold, but every marker seemed to be accounted for. It also revealed new ones, like the reflective pattern and pockets on the inner lining, (zipper on the right side pocket, button on the left pocket) and the materials tag.

With that, here's some final notes that may be helpful if you try looking for the jacket yourself:

Online sellers often describe it as a light jacket, a windbreaker, a 2-in-1, or 3-in-1.

"Gap Mens Black Jacket" is the search phrase I used the most since it yielded a (very) broad result pool.

Most of the jackets I found came from Poshmark or Ebay.

The exact size of Jay’s jacket is unclear. My best guesses are either a US Men’s S or M, since Jay was pretty skinny and of average height. I’ve only been able to find maybe 2 jackets that are a size M, one of which is the first pic in the photoset above.

Gap has sold other black jackets that look remarkably similar to Jay’s, and they do pop up on resell sites. One of these was so similar, the only discernible difference was the style of the logo. I highly recommend making sure it matches the exact one Jay had before purchasing. (It's also more than fine to ask/msg me if you have any doubts!) As long as you know what to look for, you shouldn’t have a problem finding at least one.

One detail that confounded me was this sleeve poking out of Jay's jacket. At first I thought he was wearing a long sleeve underneath, making this shot a continuity error since he appeared to Only be wearing the green short sleeve under the jacket.

@hivemite pointed out that this might be a two-in-one jacket, which has multiple layers for different types of weather. While I have not been able to see the sleeve outside of two shots in entry #79 and #80, one listing I found did describe it as a 3-in-1.

that's about it! hope this helps :)

[fictional-library-tournament]

Hello! Because fuck it, I might as well, I'm running a tournament to find out what Tumblr's favourite fictional library/archive is!

Submit your favourite library/ies and archive/s here!

Submissions are open until 11:00am GMT on 2nd December (so you have just over three weeks to get them in).

Rules:

You can submit as many as you like.

Any library with over 3 entries will go through automatically. Anything with less may have to go through preliminaries, depending on how many entries there are in total.

I especially encourage propaganda! Please give me propaganda! But positive stuff, please. Lift your entry up, don't put down the others.

I will try my best to seed the libraries by number of entries. I've never run a tournament before, so we'll see how well that part goes.

Timeline:

Submissions: 10/11-02/12

Polls open: 03/12 (hopefully - if there's not enough submissions I'll extend that part)

I'm planning to do two polls a day for the first round, and have them last a day. And then we'll see.

Restrictions:

You can submit any library or archive that's fictional! Including things that aren't traditional libraries or archives but are counted as such in the media (can't think of any rn but I'm sure there are some. Star Trek comes to mind maybe? Honestly I'm half asleep rn)

Not librarians. If this goes well I'll do a tournament for them later

Published media, not OCs (can be webcomics, a book you've published, etc, but not 'just' like a fanfiction or OCs you've only written about on here. They're less likely to stand a chance anyway, tbh)

Tournaments who I think might be interested or at the very least share (please please share!): @tournament-announcer @best-book-siblings @best-childhood-book @best-childrens-books-hq-blog @tournamentcorner @librariesinvideogames @iamlibrarian @roguelibrarian @awesomearchives @haveyoureadthiscomic-poll @haveyoureadthisbook-poll @digitalnewberry @houghtonlib @badass-queer-couples-battle @jstor @mysterythemematch

[jortschronicles]

The Malevolent Sheep

Embroidered Livestock Who Hate Everyone, But Me Most of All For Bringing Them Into This World

By Doña Ashildr inn Harfagri, 2023

Presented at Castellan

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is not to document a perfect and period reproduction, but to document my thought process and learning process as I attempt to add to an impression of a 14th century English peasant designed for the casual eye.

I play an English shepherdess in 1360 in the fictional town of Avalon for the Medieval Fair of Norman. Due to the timing of this event, weather can be unpredictable, and occasionally very cold and wet. I am in possession of a wool hood from Hobbitronics featuring the crossed trumpets badge of heralds. While this is a delightful hood and definitely one of my warmest pieces, the costuming director and myself have determined the crossed trumpets are not appropriate for the character of Margery Arkewright and more importantly, do not add to the air of perceived authenticity for the visiting patrons. An important note is that certain concessions of historicity are made in order to create a more coherent and easily understandable experience for the patrons of the fair. For example, we restrict all uses of true (not rusty) red to the King and his immediate family to add visual cohesion and allow patrons to more easily identify King Edward III, Queen Philippa, their children, and their children’s spouses. 

With that in mind, I began to research decorative motifs and patterns appropriate to the time. Two documents referenced early on were The Luttrell Psalter (approx 1320-1340) and the 

Belleville Breviary, a prayer book owned by Captain Jeanne de Clisson, Lioness of Brittany. The latter was particularly intriguing as an inspiration, as the Captain is portrayed as a cast member though she had died in 1359. However, both of these resources are ink on parchment, rather than decoration on fabric. Lady Asa in Blindi pointed out that though aesthetics may be similar, motifs likely differ. 

Thus, the Bayeux Tapestry was chosen for inspiration. Though the date of the Tapestry’s completion is murky with the earliest written reference to it dating to a 1476 inventory of the Bayeux Cathedral, it was likely completed in the 11th century, three centuries prior to the date of the Norman Medieval Fair. However, the popularity of the Bayeux Tapestry in online meme culture with an apparent peak around 2018 (Know Your Meme) in conjunction with the popularity of “bardcore” remixes of popular modern songs starting around 2020 with album art featuring images from the Bayeux Tapestry is hoped to have made the imagery of the tapestry more familiar to the average person. For this reason, even though the tapestry predates the target period by approximately three centuries, the design was based on that of the tapestry.

The sheep were designed to mimic the style of animals portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry and other contemporary pieces, particularly with the near-heraldic postures in what should otherwise be normal scenes. 

Below the sheep is a straight line and added grass hillocks inspired by Scene 51, as seen below. Above the sheep is another decorative strip, with a straight line in the same color again, above which there are two pairs of diagonal bars leaning towards each other as seen in Scene 35 (also below) of the tapestry. On either side of these diagonal bars are the 10 point mullets of Ansteorra and between them are two bendwise, stylized shepherds crooks leaning towards each other. Though there is no evidence in the tapestry of either mullets of 5 lesser and 5 greater points or shepherds crooks, they were selected for recognizability and for keeping in theme. Margery Arkewright is recognizable as “The Sheep Lady” of the Fair, so the shepherds crooks were chosen.

The sheep have been lovingly nicknamed “Bonald the Devourer” (left) and “John Wick” (right) through the course of the design.

Materials

Approx 11”x9” dark brown linen, pre washed 

J&P Coats cotton embroidery floss, various colors

Chalk Pencil

Concessions of authenticity in materials are made due to supply availability and cost restrictions. I frankly do not have the money to make and dye embroidery floss, yarn, or linen fabric for an experimental piece I expect to see a lot of wear. The actual Bayeux Tapestry is embroidered onto a base fabric of a tabby-woven linen that appears to be undyed, and is embroidered with wool yarn dyed in various colors. In my Bayeux Tapestry themed patch for this hood, I used a commercially dyed brown linen in a tabby weave, and performed the embroidery with embroidery floss also in various commercially dyed colors.

Methods

First the design was sketched out on scratch paper. The fabric then selected was a scrap of dark brown linen. This was chosen because in part earth tones read to the casual audience as “medieval,” “rustic,” and “peasant,” and because in the target decade green and brown were taking off as the most fashionable colors a person could wear. Rather than using modern pattern transfer methods, the design was transferred to the fabric by gridding, using a piece of string as the straight edge and measure. The sheep are outlined in stem stitch as are most of the figures in the tapestry, though they are embroidered in black for visibility on the dark brown fabric.

Then the laid stitch found throughout the tapestry was first tested on the head of Bonald (left sheep) before being applied to the rest of the body. The laid stitch consists of first setting down satin stitch across an area, then applying slightly more spaced out stitches covering the full length of the area perpendicular to the satin stitches, which are then tacked down as seen below. After first application, I compared again to the laid work of the tapestry and added several more columns to better reflect the density seen in the Bayeux Tapestry. The same direction was maintained for the satin stitch across almost the entire body of this sheep aside from the tail, belly tufts, and ears. On the next sheep I experimented with a little more directionality and texture which is also found in the tapestry, which prevented me from having to make a single satin stitch cover quite as much area. Upon trying both methods, I can see the appeal of the variety of directions reducing the overall length of any one satin stitch, which can become unwieldy and tangle or pull the piece taut.

On the horns of each sheep, I experimented using surface couching, which was used in the 14th century. I chose to do this because at first pass, surface couching and laid work appear very similar, and at least to have similar results. At this time, I had finished the first sheep and not started the body on the second, so I was dissatisfied with the density of stitches in the white body of the sheep and was investigating new ways to increase my coverage. Upon finishing the horns, I determined that surface couching produces a very different overall effect to laid work, with denser stitches, but a much less economical use of thread.

After the horns and bodies were done, I added detail to the sheep in stem stitch to better define the fluffy wool. The folds in the fabric on several figures in the tapestry were done in what appears to be stem stitch and act as break points in many cases for the direction of the laid work. Due to the clarity of the folds and details, I had assumed they were applied after the fill color, but after having finished my piece I believe the internal details were applied prior to the fill color.

Following the completion of the sheep, I began embroidering the borders of the top section, the bottom line, and the borders of the diagonals in a soft orange color that reminded me of madder-dyed wool. This also seemed a close match to the color used on said borders in various sections of the tapestry. It was when I started working on the diagonals that I realized I was not, in fact, sewing a stem stitch as I’d thought, but sewing a split stitch. This realization explained several discrepancies I’d noticed in the visual texture of my linework and the linework in the tapestry. The diagonals are sewn in a stem stitch.

The next stage I sewed was the Ansteorran stars, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. As my chalk lines kept rubbing off before I could get to the stars, I free handed the stars themselves. The first attempt to outline then fill the star like the sheep went sideways as the star did not come out with 5 even points. I eventually settled on sewing the 5 greater points with laid work and the 5 lesser points with satin stitch.

What would I change?

If I were to do this again, I would seek out a more densely woven linen and use either wool yarn as was used in the tapestry itself or the full 6 strands of my embroidery floss for visual density. I believe the fullness and volume of wool yarn will better mimic the appearance of the period piece. I would add more internal detail to break up the longer sections of satin stitch, and I would lay down the detail before adding the fill color. This seems to be the method used in the tapestry, shown in the detail from Scene 51 below.

In the transition from the neck to the spaces of the neck between sections of mane, and in the crook of the horse’s shoulder, the direction and angles of the laid work change. This seems to indicate that the internal detail (horse’s shoulder) was applied before the fill color, and that the particular direction of the laid work can be broken up to better fill a space.

Overall, I believe this project was a success. The goal was not perfect periodicity or reproduction, but to better make a useful piece of garb fit the ambiance designed for the casual (non-medievalist) patron. The patch covers the obtrusively modern machine embroidery and in doing so, helps create the Magic and the Dream for those visiting the Medieval Fair of Norman. I learned a new stitch that I have gone on to use in other hand embroidery projects for the security and economy of materials. I made several mistakes that gave me a better firsthand understanding of this historical piece and have improved and expanded my embroidery skills. 

Navigate Bayeux Tapestry scene by scene https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/discover-the-bayeux-tapestry/explore-online/ 

Bayeux Tapestry Meme Generator https://htck.github.io/bayeux/#!/

Bardcore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardcore

Hobbitronics Hood Listing - https://www.hobbitronics.com/hoods.html

Referenced https://cottesimple.com/articles/medieval-embroidery-on-clothing/ for stitching methods

History of Medieval Tapestry Memes https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/medieval-tapestry-edits

Appendix

[green-with-envy-phandom-event]

The Final Scores are in!

(lines by @ovytia-art, @jamiethebeeart, @maebird-melody, @hannahmanderr, @dashing-through-ecto, @minnowmarsh, @dashing-through-ecto)

Congratulations Red Team for filling some very big shoes and taking home the gold!

We did it, Guys~! Green With Envy 2024 is now officially over! Thank you so much to everyone who participated!

@echo-does-art, @half-deadmagicperson, @goodfish-bowl, @ectoblastfromthepast, @furiarossa, @fuyuthefoxwriter, @brothebro, amazing work!

You managed to submit 219 colors in one month!

Pre-Bonus Points Scores

Red - 1832 Blue - 1409 Yellow - 1524 Brown - 703 Green - 109 Purple - 307 Pink - 304

Orange - 347 Black - 297 White - 191

Post-Bonus Points Scores

Red - 2507 Blue - 1920 Yellow - 2145 Brown - 830 Green - 154 Purple - 444 Pink - 434 Orange - 457 Black - 387 White - 256

--------

If anyone wants to color line art from the 2024 event, these lines are now open for anyone to color, just make sure to read the notes the line artists left you and credit them when you post a color! Last year's (2023's) stuff can also be found here.

MVP’s for Bonus Points Across All Teams Under the Cut!

The top 3 bonus point earners overall were:

@jamiethebeeart from yellow team with 230 points

@ecto-stone from blue team with 194 points

@half-deadmagicperson from red team with 164 points

Here's how well colorists scored with the Mods for slower, but more detailed colors! Each color of this type that we could spot earned that participant 5 additional points!

These people all did Palette Challenges, earning them 3 additional points per entry!

@lavendarlily x9, @craftybookworms x6, and @half-deadmagicperson x1

These people colored in bulk, with every 25 pieces netting them an additional 10 points!

@nanaarchy x2, @fuyuthefoxwriter x2, @half-deadmagicperson x2, @reading-wanderer x2, @jamiethebeeart x2, @balshumetsbaragouin x1, @echo-does-art x1, @furiarossa x1, @ecto-stone x1, @marzfartz x1, @moonfoxgazer x1, @audaciousanonj x1, and @sherry-a-h x1

These 11 people successfully poached points!

Yellow Team @reading-wanderer got x4, @moonfoxgazer got x2, and @marzfartz got x2 For a total of 8 Poaches and 160 points Red Team @half-deadmagicperson got x3, @goodfish-bowl got x1, @echo-does-art got x1, and @brothebro got x1 For a total of 6 Poaches and 120 points Blue Team @ecto-stone got x2, and @sherry-a-h got x1 For a total of 3 Poaches and 60 points Brown Team @audaciousanonj got x1 For 20 points Orange Team @craftybookworms got x1 For 20 points

These people had some extra creative colors, which each earned 5 additional points!

@lavendarlily for their animated lightning @craftybookworms for their creative use of the empty countertop @minnowmarsh for their 3D papercraft @raaorqtpbpdy for spending a very long time adding in sheen effects and using multiple types of coloring tools @raaorqtpbpdy for their elaborate mixed media background with the main art as a 3d floating element @echo-does-art drew and colored all the additional knives @brothebro for their creative punchline to the meme @ecto-stone for trying the hidden transparency trick for first time @ecto-stone for another transparency trick @ecto-stone for this lovely gif worm @moonfoxgazer for the outrageously cursed and elaborate OC Slackjaw born of Susi's lines @moonfoxgazer for their creative punchline to the meme @furiarossa for the above and beyond body and fur texture added to Susi's lines, paired with an amazing background @furiarossa for coloring the lines to look like a statue, and adding a ficlet inspired by the color @ventisettestars for this time intensive Hades coloring style @dreamwraith's VERY time-intensive traditional oil painting @marzfartz for their traditional watercolor with a really nice background @marzfartz for another lovely watercolor @ectoblastfromthepast for their super nice digital piece that took them 3 days of intense focus @summerssixecho for their scanned magazine digital collage @jamiethebeeart for this stunning digital piece that has such a lovely added background @jamiethebeeart for adding basically a whole story to the background of their color @jamiethebeeart for adding a background that just really fit the vibes of the line art perfectly @jamiethebeeart for their portal accident animation @pokerust for their papercraft @goodfish-bowl for their amazing paint pour background @sherry-a-h for their diamond painted furby

Thanks so much everyone for all your hard work to make this such a successful event and we hope to see you again next year~!

Looking for the 2024 Masterpost? Looking for links to last year's stuff? 2023 Free-To-Color Line Art 2023 Event Decal 2023 Masterpost

[gatheredfates]

Hi! My name is Sea, and I like to collect things. 🌿

Specifically, as of February this year, I have made it my mission to collect as many resources for the Final Fantasy community as I can; including, but not limited to: Communities, Events, Free Companies, How-To Guides, Lore, Tools and more! I have compiled them into Sea's Community Compendium for FFXIV Creatives, a venture I hope will service as a directory for new and old FFXIV players alike to find places and things they might not otherwise know about, and I'm proud to say that the Compendium has over a hundred individual entries!

...But I want more.

Specifically, as much as this is a call to introduce new people to the Compendium, it is a call for anyone who might know of specific resources/communities that not in the document to take a moment's time out of their day to let me know about them. You can submit specific resources via:

My tumblr dm's.

This handy google form.

Or SEAFLOOR, my support and social community for the Compendium and adjacent projects.

You do not need to be a resource/server owner to submit; there just needs to be a publicly accessible link. ✨

Projects like mine equally cannot survive without the support of the community. If you like what I do, please reblog this post or share it with your friends; post it in your community servers or link it on your social media(s). The more visibility I get, the larger the Compendium becomes and the more likely you are to find a resource or community to suit your needs.

Okay, but really, Is my space suitable for the Compendium? Most of the time, yes! Below the read more is some more information/stipulations. This is all publicly available on the document.

Below are the following things I do not accept on the Compendium:

Personal/Single-Character LFC ads. (Though these get posted to the SEAFLOOR Tumblr Community when I find them!)

Content intended for or can be used for bullying, harassment and OOC gossip. E.g. ‘Secrets’ blogs, receipts, callout posts, etc. This does not include IC tabloid blogs or other ventures used to generate roleplay.

Communities that do not have an RP/writing element (large-scale exempt).

Anything I find personally distasteful or goes against the spirit of this project.

Common-sense rule applies.

I want to put my community on the Compendium but we have an application process. Is this okay?

Yes! Just note somewhere in your application that's a requirement. The only thing that is mandatory for the Compendium is that you must be open to new members or have a public-facing/accessible facet. There's no point advertising a community if no one can join it in some way!

I want to put my Community on the compendium but I only have x number of members —

Also totally okay! People don't start with large communities. Activity is a must but, whether your server has two or two thousand members, if you're looking for new people to join, I'd love to help you find people.

I want to put my community/resource on the Compendium but I worry its too niche?

Okay, and? If your Eorzean Fishing Alliance has four members but you roleplay every second weekend, I still want to know about it. The same goes for resources; if it's relevant to the game, it'll be useful to someone.

How active does a community need to be?

If you find a community has not been active in about two/three months, send me a message and I'll take a look at it. Communities have ebbs and flows, especially event spaces that may take hiatuses depending on member interest/life events. I'm not strict in my implementation provided a space isn't dead. If a link or anything is broken, contact me asap!

I have [insert a question not stated here]?

No drama! Send me an ask or use the #Compendium channel in my Discord!

[lady-loveluck]

Inspired by the hatchetfieldsmutweek,I bring you Hatchetfield Sextember Week, which will run for the last week of September! 

WHAT IS THIS?

Hatchetfield Sextember Week is a week long event for smut artists, writers and supporters to celebrate Sextember with the characters of Hatchetfield.

CAN I PARTICIPATE ON JUST ONE SPECIFIC DAY?

Sure! Is just an event to have fun, nothing is forced! So long as the entry or entries you submit follow the prompt/s for the day/s you selected, any form of participation is welcome.

ARE THERE ANY RULES?

Rules are as follows; NO MINORS, no harassment, no kink-shaming, ship hate or discourse. Don't like, don't read. And of course: ALL WORKS MUST BE TAGGED APPROPRIATELY. Works without proper tags will not be accepted.

Event starts on Monday 23 of this month, and ends Sunday 29! Happy writing/drawing! Hope to see ya all there!

[ace-disgrace-on-the-case]

GUYS I THINK I FIGURED OUT THE FILING SYSTEM FOR THE STATEMENTS IN FR3-D1

Ok so. so. As I am rapidly beginning to figure out the ARG stuff might just be important to our understanding of the overall story of TMAGP. And so I started digging through all the wonderful detective work the folks who participated did (their data and thus a decent bit of the ARG are still preserved). I'd like to draw your attention to one file in particular (I might make more posts with more ramblings as I think about more stuff but for right now):

klaus.xls is an excel sheet that they were able to dig up in the ARG which seems to contain partially corrupted data regarding, to my best guess, incidents. I was particularly interested in this file because that name came up in episode 4's transcript as the name of the person Lena had a disagreement with/seemed to be threatening. I have thoughts about this as well but it will be a separate post.

This data might actually be internal to the OIAR, and if what I'm guessing is correct, then this data actually corresponds to FR3-D1 entries! Using this, I think I've been able to dissect the case names (for example, we're going to use episode 1's magnus institute case)

CAT23RAB2155-10042022-09012024

A lot of the information on the leftmost data cluster seems to correspond to what's in the table, so:

CAT23: Category 23. There were only a few categories in the Klaus data that weren't 1, 2, or 3 so I'm guessing inputting multiple numbers means this incident could either be category 2 or category 3 (or someone thought this case needed a very very high category shared by almost nothing else).

RAB: Rank A/B. This we know means the ranking is either A or ranking B. I have not, however, managed to determine what the difference between Category and Rank is, so if someone else has thoughts on that I'd love to hear them. Based on other case titles the R is not always part of this section, only in cases where multiple rankings are specified. This also places this case very high in the ranking system, as most cases in the Klaus data appear to be rank C or B (with only a single S and two As, one of which is a dual A/B).

2155: This section is always a four digit code. It corresponds to the TSHU column of the Klaus data, which is also always a four digit code. If I had to speculate, I believe this is the internal code for the case category (which are all laid out in that giant binder on Sam's desk). I wish I knew specifically what each one meant but I figure we'll have to watch the numbers and see.

10042022: It took me a minute on these number strings, I'll be honest. There's nothing approximating them in the Klaus data, but then I noticed that the second string contains "2024" at the very end in every statement thus far recorded. Then it dawned on me: these are dates. This first string corresponds to report submission date, I think: this report was submitted to the OIAR on the 10th of April 2022. This then means that:

09012024: Corresponds to the date of filing. Sam filed this case on the 9th of January, 2024. This also allows us to go through and see that the episodes seem to be following the time passing between episodes for us almost 1:1, with most cases being a few days before when we receive them.

[host-club-hq]

heyyy !!! can i submit a request ? thanks !!! feel free to reject/deny this if u want to tho !!!

reader who’s from a middle to upper middle range family and they’re like in their 20’s or so and they just seem to have a lot of time and money on their hands but their family doesn’t know what they exactly do in terms of work so they confront her and ask if they’re doing drugs or nsfw work and turns out they have a bf (kyoya) who’s just really rich

thanks !!! 🫶

➼ pairing: kyoya ootori x fem!reader (slice of life!AU)

➼ summary: you come from a middle class family and all of a sudden you’ve been spending considerably large amounts of money… and your family is wondering what exactly it is you do for a living nowadays? are you in with the wrong sort of people?

➼ word count: 2.7k

➼ what to expect: "It's worth nothing if you aren't wearing it."

➼ warnings: none :) unless an excessive amount of fluff causes you to have severe heart issues (me too babe)

➼ i literally saw this request and was like oh my god i have to write it, then since i wasn't at my laptop, proceeded to write the fic in my beta reader's dms. thank u so much for this request it actually helped me get out of a writing rut :)

You never thought you would be sitting in your apartment for a living.

Well, technically, that's not what you do for a living, but it might as well be.

You work from home, with extremely short hours and a paycheck that's nothing to write home about. You could do your job from an office, but why bother? Most of the 8 hours you would work, you'd be sitting at your desk with nothing to do, your brain going numb from lack of stimulation.

Although you don't enjoy having virtual meetings with strangers, that's basically your entire job — you are a virtual history tutor, after all.

You never wanted to be a teacher but you still wanted to pass your extensive knowledge on to other generations, so you figured either being a substitute teacher or a tutor would suffice. And when the school you applied to mentioned an online tutor position, you snatched it up and ran with it.

Of course, you had a job before this. And it definitely wasn't your dream job. Before your passion for teaching arose, you took one of the first jobs you found available that called you for an interview. The secretary of a prestigious CEO of... a company that you're not quite sure what they did (you called it your Devil Wears Prada moment). You vaguely remember copying data and putting things in color-coded folders, but the position was brutal. You were set with impossible tasks and goals that your immediate superiors struggled to reach (truly, your Devil Wears Prada moment). You contemplated swerving your car into oncoming traffic every day on your way to work at 6:30 in the morning (obviously you didn't, too many innocent lives would have been put in danger).

But, at least, that's where you met-

Knock, knock, knock-knock-knock... knock, knock

Your ears immediately perk up and you turn your head toward the front door from your position on the sofa in the living room. There's only one soul alive that would knock on your door in that fashion.

You shut your laptop rather hastily and leap up to answer the door, sliding through the kitchen and the entry foyer in your socks to get there. Honestly, the distance from the front door to your workspace could have been considered a 5k marathon (no it's not, you're just out of shape).

You don't even have to glance at the peephole before you open the door to reveal-

"y/n! Oh, my dear, how are you?" You're immediately pulled into a crushing embrace and a comforting scent surrounds you.

"Mom?" You gawk, slowly encircling your arms around her to return the hug.

"I know I probably should have called but when I thought about doing it, I was already at your door. And I have to say, this is quite the upgrade!" Your mother wanders in without an invite, in awe of the clean, neat appearance of your apartment.

Well, penthouse. You take up the entire 58th floor at the top of your building. The elevator requires a reading of your house key-card to even press the button. It opens up right in front of your door.

... how did she get up here?

"How on earth did you get up here?" You voice your thoughts as her mother discards her walking shoes beside your own, slipping on a pair of guest slippers.

"I told the man in the lobby I was your mother and you would not believe the convincing I had to do to get him to let me up. He even needed my ID!"

"Well, yeah, because you don't live here-"

"Would you look at this place! My god, y/n, how do you keep it so clean? Not a speck of dust!" Your mother, true to her nature, swipes a finger across a nearby decorative table and it comes up absolutely spotless.

"Thanks, I mean it's not-"

"You even have a foyer! And a kitchen that doesn't double as the dining room!" Your mother wanders into the next room faster than you can process her presence.

"Mom, what are-" You try to best to follow her, slipping and sliding over the wooden floors in your fluffy socks.

"Really, y/n, I never pegged you to like modern furniture! I thought you liked a little character in your possessions. But, I must say, it's much better than I imagined your living situation to be." She strolls into the living room next, gawking at the mere size.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" You frown, relieved that she seems to have finally picked a room to settle in. She sets her enormous bag on the sofa.

"What are you even doing here? Not that I don't appreciate the surprise visit..." You save quickly, smiling sheepishly at the glare she briefly sends your way.

"I wanted to see you of course. But..." She digs through her purse and pulls out a Macbook. "I came for an explanation for this." She all but waves it around. You wince.

"Careful. Why do you need an explanation for that? You mentioned you needed a better laptop and your birthday was coming up so I thought-"

"Exactly! It's perfect, it's everything I could have ever dreamed of in a laptop!" Your mother scolds. You tilt your head.

"... is that a problem?" You blink owlishly.

"First it was the watch for your father's birthday, then the mountain of stuffed animals for your little sister for Christmas, and now this!" Your mother sighs, crossing her arms after setting the Macbook on the coffee table.

"Wha- I'm sorry, I think I'm missing what the fuss is about. I tell you guys to send me your lists and you never do, so I'm sorry if it's not what you wanted-"

"It is what we wanted, that's why I'm here!" She retaliates.

"Okay, Mom, you're going to have to calm down and tell me what the problem is because I am clearly missing something here." You lead her to the coffee table, where you both lower yourselves to the floor, cross your legs, and sit beneath it.

She takes a deep, calming breath, "I'm just concerned is all. Your last job was enough for you to live and have a fair amount of money to spare, but you don't even work there anymore." Your mother places both hands on the table, avoiding your eye.

"You're right, I don't work for them anymore." You quirk a brow, curious as to where this is going.

"And now you're an online tutor who barely works more than a few hours per day, sometimes a week! So... I'm just curious..." She sighs, shaking her head.

"How are you getting the money for all of this? This is a multimillion dollar penthouse, you sent your father a 7,000 dollar watch, and you sent me a laptop worth at least a few thousand dollars." Your mother finally meets your eyes.

Before you can respond, she reaches across the table and grabs you by the shoulders.

"Just tell me the truth. Are you selling drugs? Are you stripping? Are you doing drugs? Because whatever it is, I'm sure I can talk my way into gaining your innocence in a courtroom but you have to come clean-"

"Mom! I'm not doing anything illegal!" You exclaim adamantly, shrugging her grip off your shoulders.

"Are you in credit card debt? Your father warned you about things like this, and I always thought you were a modest spender but-"

"Mom, listen to me, okay? I'm not in debt. I'm not stripping. I'm not doing drugs." You take both of her hands in yours and speak calmly. She nods, still looking a little confused.

"Then how are you getting all of the money for this?" She asks.

You chew your lip, "Well... it's not really my money-"

Just as you begin your explanation, the front door opens and shuts loudly, the sound of dress shoes click loudly against the wooden floors.

"Honey, there's someone in your house." Your mom steadies herself, reaching for her purse like she's got some sort of weapon.

"Mom? Mom!" You hiss quietly as she starts to get up.

"I'm home, darling! Are you in the living room?"

Your mother blinks at the voice calling from the foyer.

"Yeah, I'm in here!" You reply in a trembling voice, your brain trying to decide whether or not you should greet your boyfriend or calm your mother first.

Before either of you can open your mouths again, the body attached to the voice calling for you appears in the doorway.

Kyoya sheds his blazer, leaving him clad in his button up shirt tucked into his dress pants as he tosses it onto the coat rack beside him.

"I was- oh." Kyoya finally looks up, meeting your eyes first, then the worried, albeit confused, eyes of your mother.

"I'm sorry, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Kyoya bows politely at the presence of someone unfamiliar to him.

Your mother's instincts cause her to return the bow where she's sitting, still completely lost.

"You're not, darling." You get up from your place at the table to greet him.

Kyoya welcomes you eagerly, pressing a chaste kiss to your lips, bewildering your mother further, before making eye contact with her again.

"This must be your mother. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. l/n. I've heard so much about you." Kyoya bows once more, a bit more deeply.

Your mother blinks, eyes glancing between you and Kyoya with haste.

"Mom, this is Kyoya Ootori... my boyfriend." You allow Kyoya to place a respectful arm around your back.

"Your what?" She blurts. You grimace. You knew you'd have to tell her sooner or later, but most of your high school boyfriends were intimidated by her and her doting nature.

And the fact that your father threatened to end their lives if they ever laid a finger on you.

"My boyfriend..." You sigh, almost like a scolded child.

"Ah, that reminds me. A flower for you, my dear." Kyoya sets down the shopping bag he was holding and his briefcase, handing you a rose.

"Oh, it's so pretty. Thank you." You'd rather Kyoya brought you individual flowers than an expensive bouquet since you're god-awful at keeping them alive. You peck his cheek.

"Oh, and before I forget. I saw this in a store window on my way home and I couldn't help but imagine how well it would paired with that black dress you know I like so much. I thought you could wear it to dinner." Kyoya pulls out a large, black velvet box from the shopping bag and turns toward you.

"Kyoya, we've talked about this-"

"I know. You don't like when I spend money on you but I just couldn't help myself." He opens the box to reveal a necklace glittering with diamonds, more than you can count. It glimmers in the light and you're afraid to even touch it, let alone wear it.

"Oh, my god, this must have cost a fortune." Your jaw goes slack. Your mother nosily peers over your shoulder and gasps loudly.

"It's worth nothing if you aren't wearing it." Kyoya smiles. A pretty pink hue dusts your cheeks at the compliment as your heart flutters.

"Thank you, my love. It's breathtaking." You gently take the box from him so he can gather his own things.

"Would your mother like to join us for dinner? I'm sure they won't mind moving us to a different table." Kyoya inquires innocently.

Your mother in question is still completely baffled by all of this.

"So... so you're dating my daughter? And... you're rich?" Your mother blurts.

"Mom!" You scold.

Kyoya chuckles, "I'm under the impression you hadn't been told about me. My apologies."

"Kyoya!" You scold him next.

"And... and this is... your house?" Your mother gestures to your surroundings.

"Yes, ma'am." Kyoya nods affirmatively.

"I moved in about... I want to say two months ago or so." You shrug. Kyoya nods.

"And how long have you been dating exactly?" She quirks a brow.

You nearly cringe at your answer, "... a year."

"A YEAR?" Your mother all but shrieks, earning a wince from you.

"Mom, it's not a big deal-" You reach for her to calm her down.

"It is a big deal! You've been seeing this gorgeous man with a mansion behind my back!" She gestures wildly to Kyoya, who blinks at her, brows raised at her reaction.

"Not behind your back! You never asked!" You insist.

"That's because you swore off men in high school after that boy stood you up-"

"WE don't have to talk about that." You want to shove your hands over her mouth. Kyoya quirks a brow quietly from behind you.

You sigh, "I met him while I was a secretary. He owns a portion of his father's company and was scheduled to meet with my boss."

That's the only thing you're thankful to that secretary position for. Your boss had buzzed for you to prepare two cups of tea for him and his guest. Once you brought them their tea, your attention was stolen by the man sitting across from your superior. Luckily, you didn't drop any of the china on your way in once you caught sight of him. After Kyoya was finished meeting with your boss, he struck up a light conversation with you that had your heart soaring. Simply basking in his beauty and powerful nature made you swoon.

Kyoya returned to your boss's office far more often than he ever needed to after his first interaction with you. He appeared at your desk, asking for your boss when these types of things could have definitely been handled over the phone. At first he didn't understand why he did it, but he soon realized his feelings for you when he caught himself asking you to dinner on his way out one day.

"I still don't understand why you didn't tell me you were dating this man. Let alone living with him." Your mother finally calms down enough to have your heart aching with guilt.

"I meant to, Mom, but I just... I guess I was afraid of how you'd react." You admit finally, fidgeting with your fingers.

"Kyoya helps me pay for you gifts because I want the best for you. But honestly, he can get you much nicer things than I pick out... I'm pretty sure he can buy you a house." You mutter your last sentence.

Your mother laughs, "If my daughter likes him, I like him. Come here, Kyoya." She strides forward and pulls Kyoya down for a tight embrace.

Kyoya nearly chokes, clearly rendered speechless by her sudden show of affection. He manages to reciprocate despite his shock.

"Thank you. I can assure you, I only want the best for your daughter. I'm sorry we haven't met sooner." Kyoya grins.

He has contemplated reaching out to your mother by himself despite your adamant disapproval. But he hated the idea of going behind your back to do anything at all, so he kept to himself.

"It's alright, dear. I'd love to get to know you better. Are you sure I wouldn't be a bother at dinner?" Your mother returns to the woman you know and love.

"Not at all." You shake your head, a wide grin spreading to your lips.

"I'll call the the driver, tell him to bring around the SUV rather than the Benz." Kyoya pulls out his cellphone.

"A driver?" Your mother gasps, placing a hand over her chest and glancing to you for confirmation. You nod, biting your lip eagerly.

Once Kyoya's sent the short message, your mother slots herself beside him and curls her arm around his.

"So, Kyoya, you own your father's company?" The two of them walk in the direction of your shared bedroom, side by side. You watch as they leave you standing in the living room.

"Just a portion of it, yes. We're in the medical business, you see, managing hospitals and..." Kyoya's voice fades off into the house. He doesn't seem to mind your mother's sudden attention in the slightest, even switching his jacket to his other arm to accommodate her like the gentleman he is.

You purse your lips, glancing down once more to the velvet box in your hands and you're reminded that you need to start getting ready for dinner. You follow them, rolling your eyes as you hear your mother start to ask about just how well Kyoya's been treating you.

This is going to be the longest dinner of your life.

want to read more? here's my ouran masterlist 🌹

and here's my bts blog💜

want me to write something you want to see? request something💌

have any questions? talk to my characters!🙏🏻

Adieu~ 🌹🌹🌹

[strawbaby-jelly]

I got a rather exciting piece of Star Trek history in the mail that I wanted to share!

Note: I am far from a Star Trek historian. What I say here is going based off of mostly old blog posts and fan forums. Apologies in advance if I get information incorrect and feel free to correct me!

“Killing Time”

“Killing Time” by Della Van Hise is #24 of the Star Trek pocketbooks. Published in 1985 the first edition of this book was recalled after a bit of an outcry, apparently in part from Roddenberry himself, as it seemed to imply that Kirk and Spock had something more than a friendship between them. Editions after this remove and replace the “offending” passages.

Though the novel is rather infamous it is sought after by collectors and fans of the Kirk and Spock relationship (like myself.) And though it’s infamous, shunned by Roddenberry and IP holder there are accusations that the plot of the first alternate original series movie was at the least inspired by the novel.

Who is Della Van Hise?

Della Van Hise had an extensive history of writing fanfiction on an old typewriter from a young age. Along with that experience she was known amongst fans that traded their stories back and forth as a rather prolific K/S writer, often publishing fic under pseudonyms. It is apparently fans of these works that encouraged her to submit Killing Time to be officially published. Della went on to have original works published such as poems and novels like “Quantum Shaman.”

According to a Facebook from Della’s wife, Wendy, she passed in March of 2021 after repeated health issues.

At the beginning of “Killing Time” there is a series of acknowledgements. The first of which is to a Wendy.

Just How Rare is this Thing?

The true rarity of this novel is a bit hard to parse in my opinion. There are Star Trek books out there far more expensive, such as “Stitch in Time” by Andrew Robinson. Sources say around 250,000 of copies of the first edition were produced, with 100,000+ having already been shipped before the recall. Copies that were swept up into the recall were destroyed but according to some fan forums many copies did end up on store shelves and were sold. It’s unclear just how many copies of the first edition are left but there are plenty of stories of fans stumbling across the first edition on second-hand bookstore shelves, in thrift stores or even in EBay lots of Star Trek novels sold by people who apparently didn’t know what they had.

As of now this book isn’t worth $100+ and I don’t believe you should buy it for that much if you see a listing for that price. My copy I bought for $60 which $60-70 seems to be the standard accepted value going off past eBay listings. This of course isn’t inexpensive, especially for pocketbooks when you can usually find them for less than $10 in stores and even less online. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a way for fans to enjoy an uncensored copy online if they can’t afford a physical copy. The most I was able to find is this.

A journal entry which compares the uncensored to censored parts of the book.

How do You Know if it’s the First Edition?

So say you’ve run into a copy of this book out in the wild or you’re looking at listings online and are unsure if it’s the recalled edition or not. There are luckily a few quick and easy ways you can figure out if it’s legit.

1. An Embossed Title

Now this way is not always a guarantee if you have a 1st edition copy. Apparently there was some copies that were printed with flat lettering but all first editions I’ve seen of this book through listings and blog posts do always seem to have the raised lettering on the title.

2. Publishing Date

The first edition was published in 1985. If you have a copy or are looking at one that has a publish date past 1985 then it’s not first edition.

3. Page 41 Uncensored

Now this is a guaranteed way to find out if you have a first edition copy. There is a sentence that is only included in the uncensored version on page 41.

“I understand that you were probably playing with dolls and wearing lipstick until you were twenty!”

If you have or have found a copy of “Killing Time” with all these things included then congratulations you’ve got the recalled first edition!

My Thoughts

I am *very* excited to own a copy of this book. It’s been a dream, I know silly, to own it for many years. I’ve avoided spoilers or even having the second edition of this book with the hopes that I would one day own it. I am a K/S fan of course but also as a lesbian I am curious to see if the book is truly as bad in its uncensored state as some claim. Homophobes have a way of blowing up the smallest moments. Some blog posts from the early to mid 2000s claim the book is disgusting and should’ve never been published for its content, others say it’s exaggerated and it’s mostly blink and you miss it moments. I can’t wait to see for myself!

I may leave a review of this novel after reading it. 🖖💖

[beneathsakurashade]

The stage is set, the actors are in place,

"Come, let's begin. The story of Seven Sins and Punishments."

Kanae's 100+ follower event (format based off of @theolivetree123's Welcome to Halloween Town event ^^) The Evil’s Theater, a small theater, in the Queendom of Roses, is hosting their first musical of Seven Sins and Punishments. Originally, the theater was created by a man known as the Collector, he only screened a single film. After he passed the theater fell into disarray, but luckily, it was brought back to life by some very generous donations. And now they have reached out to NRC to extend an invitation for its students to be the leads of their first musical! The lucky students will take on the roles of the Sinners in a fantastical story of life, death and rebirth. There will be seven students to fill the roles of the main Sinners, and a raffle to be held to pick the crucial role of the Servant, a hidden eighth Sinner. And the lead roles are… Superbia - Kanae (The Daughter) Invidia - Riddle (The Tailor) Ira - Jade (The Nemesis) Acedia - Epel (The Princess) Avaritia - Idia (The Judge) Gula - Deuce (The Eater) Luxuria - Silver (The Duke)

After the musical, there's going to be an after party, Waltz of the Departed. Feel free to partake in the snacks and drinks, dance or not to your hearts content. How you enjoy the party is up to you!

Raffle!!

The raffle for the Servant will be held from Sep 8th to Sept 29th. The Servant is a very important role, you can't have the tale of the Daughter without her loyal servant! I will use a wheel picker to choose the lucky character, and will draw Kanae and the chosen character 𑁍

Raffle Rules

Only 1 entry per person ᡣ𐭩.

This raffle is followers only please!!

Create your entry and tag it with 8thsinnerraffle

This base is for the raffle only :>

Dress Code

The leads will have their attire provided by the Theater. Guests will attend in formal wear. The Sinner's are all from different times and places, thus their attire will all be different, feel free to put your own spin on it!!

Card background!! (this is for the general event only ^^)

Rules!!

No NSFW Ocs, canon characters, and staff can join. Aka, you can have ur oc play the role of a Sinner ^^. You don’t have to make a card, fics and art is fine too! When you submit your entry, please tag it with #SevenSins&Punishments and @ me!! Multiple people can have characters that share the same role, aka two ocs can play the Tailor.

Event is from today, Sep 8th - Sep 29th.

Can't wait to see what you all come up with ^^

Current Sinners

Yuhua Wei - @distant-velleity

thank you all again for 100+ followers (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ₊˚⊹✩´- I deeply appreciate each and every one of you!! I never thought I'd get this popular, I'm so happy that I got the chance to meet all of you wonderful people (๑>ᴗ<๑).

if the format n such is a bit wonky, my apologies, this is my first time organizing a twst fan event lol feel free to ask if you're confused abt anything ^^ also dividers by me!!