#the amount of posts I’ve seen of these guys in some shape way or form is INSANE | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

crystallinestars · 7 months ago

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I agree with you, it does feel very fetish-y because it is a fetish. I would say the fandom has done it more than Hoyoverse themselves, but Haikaveh fans have 'heterosexualized' ( I am aware that is not a word, but I am unable to think of a better term.. ) a pairing that they insist is exclusively gay. I am alarmed by the amount of people who refer to Kaveh as Alhaitham's wife and the jokes about Kaveh being on maternity leave is getting old very quickly. There is no problem with a feminine and masculine same-sex duo, but this.. is stereotyping and downright sexist. Why is the more emotional one the 'woman' in the relationship? Why is there even a 'woman' in it at all if it doesn't involve an actual one?!?! Kaveh is, in my opinion, a perfect balance of your typical femininity and masculinity. I see him as rather high maintenance, but that does not equal femininity in any way, shape or form. I have seen people say that with both Aventurine and Kaveh are feminine / gay because they dress nicely... 😟 That's especially weird with Kaveh, considering some of it is cultural, and perhaps it's apart of Aventurine's facade due to his lore. It makes me laugh, actually. And in one of your previous asks, I forgot how much people were crapping themselves over the one (1) shot of Alhaitham and Kaveh.. standing next to each other. I saw someone say that the way Kaveh sat in the scene where they were at home was gay and they provided a photo (you could only see a little bit of his thighs, ankles and below that. I'm pretty sure his ankles were only slightly crossed.) Then I saw someone else post a picture of them and spamming the caption with the f slur. I audibly gasped at both of them. You couldn't even see Kaveh's legs, and how do you 'sit' gay?!?! Being masculine is when you do not care for your appearance and have a rock hard eight pack, are as tall as a skyscraper or something, and walk in the stiffest way possible.. I don't know.. That's what others make it sound like. Others were saying that they were getting along and that meant they were in love in Cyno's new story quest. Cyno's second story quest was very good and I am so disappointed to see people making it all about Haikaveh and not even enjoying the actual story! These people are dead serious about all of this, too. It absolutely baffles me. On a lighter note, I'd like to propose a potential pairing. I enjoy them regardless of whether they are romantic or not; but what are your thoughts on Kaveh and Kokomi? I find Kokomi to be easy to pair others with, and overall I think her personality would be good for him. I'd say she has a good balance between being logical and being in tune with her emotions, which, IMO, is precisely the type of person Kaveh needs. They're both very sweet and very pretty, too! 💗 I've been tempted to make a list of characters and what kind of personalities / types of people I think would be good for them, just for fun. Thank you for listening to all of our rambles! - 🪷🪽 ( To answer your question from before, I'll use both of these emojis, if that's all right ♡ )

Yes, you can be 🪷🪽!

I’ve already talked at length with another Anon about the feminization of Kaveh by fandom, and the heterosexual dynamics frequently applied to mlm pairings, so if you're curious, you can look at the post here.

I completely agree with your point that BL pairings get reduced to one guy being depicted as masculine, while the other as more feminine. It’s ironic since neither of them are women, but it’s something that happens A LOT. The pregnancy and Alhaitham’s wife jokes are straight up uncomfortable for me, and I really hate what fandom did to Kaveh.

Just because he dresses well and is more emotional, he gets painted as feminine because those traits are traditionally associated with women. I went into this more in-depth in the linked post, so I won’t repeat my points again, but in short: people need to stop associating certain traits with femininity and submission.

Kaveh is very masculine. He carries himself and behaves just like any other man, so it’s a massacre of his character to say he’s a feminine babygirl. He does have some feminine traits, but as you said, he has a nice balance between masculine and feminine. He’s what so many people in real life claim men should be.

Disappointed but not surprised they're using the most arbitrary examples to try and prove Kaveh's sexuality. They've done it before, and they'll do it again. Before you know it, they'll say breathing proves he's gay 😒 I'm curious, did they do such analyses for Alhaitham too? Not necessarily in your example, but some time in the past? I've never seen any for him, other than his color palette fitting the gay flag (which is such a strained argument).

Also nothing new about people focusing on their ship instead of the actual story. I've seen this behavior in other fandoms as well, and it's disappointing. It would be so much fun to see discussions about the story, lore, or character motivations instead of just ships.

Anon. I ADORE Kokomi. She is my favorite female Genshin character, and probably one of my favorite female characters overall! You better believe I thought about my favorite Genshin characters interacting!

Unlike you, I find it difficult to ship Kokomi (nobody feels good enough for my beloved Priestess 💔), so while I don't think a romance between them will work out, I am more than open to the concept and will entertain it for fun! They would indeed make the prettiest and sweetest couple in Teyvat ☺️ Kokomi would be a very calming influence for Kaveh. I can almost picture her guiding and helping him navigate his life for the better.

I also like the idea of Kaveh with Candace. Candace is gentle and caring, which is something I think Kaveh needs. Yet, she is firm and takes no nonsense, so she will chastise Kaveh when he needs it. I just think she would be great at keeping him on the right path. Alhaitham does it fairly well, but he's too abrasive with his wording, meanwhile Candace (and Kokomi!) would be more gentle. Plus, I can imagine Kaveh and Candace bonding over him designing the library for Aaru village.

It sounds like you're very into shipping? Or at least, character analysis. Kokomi and Kaveh is an idea I love a lot (though I may be biased since I love both characters to bits), so I'm curious about any other unconventional pairings you have. Are there any you want to share?

Anyways, sorry for replying so late. Hope you have a great day!

#Lunaria answers

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bestofbucky · 4 years ago

Text

Eavesdrop

Pairings: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 5.1k

Warnings: none really, enemies to ?

A/N: This is my first time posting something I have written. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much @tuiccim for your help, couldn’t have done it without you.

Being an Avenger is tough. Of course, there are the obvious missions and kicking ass that are exhausting, especially because you don’t have any sort of enhancements or powers. You are just a regular human being, fighting with and against some not so regular human beings. Naturally when you have downtime, you spend it doing things with the least amount of effort. Watching Netflix, listening to music, taking baths, etc, meaning that your social life outside of the compound was, to put it simply, non-existent.

You had just returned from the worst date of your life, well, one of the top five worst dates of your life. Over the past couple of months Steve and Natasha had grown tired of you whining about being single but not making any effort to change it and began sending you on blind dates. Somehow, they managed five different times to find five completely awful people. This time they had set you up with Arthur, a recruit for SHIELD and a good one at that. You wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the elite squad soon, but when it came to your date, he was really blunt and inappropriate, and you had cringed your way through the entire thing.

Once you got back to the compound, you first went to your room to get changed into gym clothes for training with Nat, then headed to her room. On your way you passed one of the common rooms and heard two voices. One familiar but one you didn’t recognise, you decided to check it out and found Steve and another man.

Steve called your name inviting you over to them as they both stood up. ‘This is Bucky. He’s moving in today to begin training.’ Steve explains. You nod and smile at Bucky, remembering Steve told you about him and that he would be living here and eventually joining the team.

You have to stop yourself from gasping out loud at the sight of him. He is a 6 ft something hunk of muscle and beauty and you can’t stop yourself from trying to take him all in with your eyes.

Steve then introduces you to Bucky who looks in your eyes for all of two seconds to say, ‘hi’ before looking down at his feet. He is probably really nervous. Even from that two second glance, you could tell he had one hell of a past. They had you hooked already, you wanted to stare into those eyes and let them tell you the stories of the lifetime they had seen.

‘You were just in Wakanda right? How was it? I have only ever seen it in pictures but I really want to go.’ You let your excitement show, hoping to relax him a bit.

‘Yeah, it was nice. I was frozen for most of it though’ Shit, he curses himself. He didn’t mean to come across so rude but he was really nervous, you are really pretty and it is messing with his head a little. It doesn’t help that he has had to meet a lot of different people today and he is all socialised out. He sees your face fall slightly before you quickly compose yourself, any normal person would have missed it but he has his past of being a trained assassin.

‘Well, Nat is probably waiting for me, she told me she would show me some new moves today.’ You say realising that Bucky had probably been under a lot of stress lately and most likely just wanted to be alone, or with Steve rather than chatting to you, a stranger. At least you hoped this was the reason and it wasn’t that he already disliked you. Saying goodbye to the two of them you head off to Natasha’s room.

Not even bothering to knock, you walk into her room leaving the door open behind you, since you’ll be heading down to the gym soon anyway. Natasha is sitting on the end of the bed braiding her hair. ‘You almost ready?’ You ask.

‘Yeah, just got to finish my hair then put my shoes on.’ She tells you so you take a seat on her bed while you wait.

Meanwhile, Bucky told Steve that he wanted to go get his room sorted. Really it was just an excuse to be alone for a little while. On the way there he walked past a room with the door open and heard two voices talking, recognising them to be you and Natasha. He was just about to carry on walking to his room when he heard Natasha ask, ‘did you meet him yet?’

Bucky assumed she was talking about him and wanted to hear what you had to say. He hoped you would be understanding of his reticence after his taxing morning.

‘Yeah, I met him today.’ You sigh and roll your eyes.

‘That bad?’ Nat asks, raising her eyebrows with a slight smirk on her face.

‘Yes, I tried to be as friendly as I could but he seemed like a jerk.’ You huff.

‘How so?’

‘He was so blunt he just came across really rude. I had high expectations, especially after hearing Steve say so many nice things about him.’

‘Maybe he was just having a bad day?’ She attempts a defence.

‘Bad day or not, he should have the courtesy to smile and be polite even if it is fake.’

Bucky was so hurt to hear this. Yes, he wasn’t the nicest to you but your reaction seemed a bit dramatic. He didn’t want to hear you say any more so he rushed off to his room.

‘So, I guess you aren’t going to go on a second date with him then?’ Nat asks.

‘No, I really appreciate you and Steve trying to set me up but seeing as this is the 5th time and none of them were any good, I think I’ll go back to my old methods.’ You smile at her.

‘What, never putting yourself out there and waiting for the right person to just fall into your lap?’ Nat teases and you both laugh when you nod. She finishes tying her shoelaces and you head off to the gym.

The next day you were leading a meeting of recruits who have the potential to be moved up into the squad that worked with the Avengers. The elite squad. Unfortunately for you, Arthur was in the group of recruits and was probably the next one to be promoted. You finally dismissed everyone and started getting your stuff together to leave as well when Arthur came up to you.

‘What’s the word on who is moving up next, dove?’ You look up in shock, surely, he didn’t just call you dove.

‘Excuse me?’ You look him dead in the eye.

‘I said what’s the word on who is moving up next? I think you might need to get your hearing checked.’ He laughs at his own joke so you fake laugh with him.

‘That’s confidential., we’ll let everyone know when we have made the decision.’ You say and go to walk past him but he grabs your arm.

‘Does someone need a little convincing. If it’s you, then I can think of some ways.’ He whispers seductively in your ear. You pull your arm out of his grasp and frown at him.

‘I’m only joking, dove, come on, you can’t even take a joke?’ He laughs again.

You put on your best fake smile and your customer service voice. ‘There will be no convincing necessary. You are a good agent but you also have good competition. We will inform you all of our decision when it is made.’ You say and quickly turn and walk out the door before he can say anything else. When you get into the lift you ask FRIDAY where Steve is.

‘Common room A, Agent Y/L/N’. You make your way there as quick as possible. Heading around the corner, you slam into a solid object. You hiss at the contact on your fresh bruises, a frown appearing on your face. As soon as you look up to see what or who you bumped into, the frown quickly fades into a smile when you see its Bucky. He is already looking at you.

‘Sorry I should have been watching where I was going.’ He mumbles quickly.

‘No, it’s just as much my fault as yours. I shouldn’t have been in such a hurry.’ You apologise to him. As much as you would love to stay and chat with Bucky, you need to get to Steve to explain what just happened with Arthur and hopefully you can get him kicked off the team.

Bucky had left his room to try and find someone to help him figure out a few things with FRIDAY but as soon as he bumped into you that completely left his mind. You were all that filled his mind ever since he met you. He stood in the hallway for a while before realising he should ask you to help. Maybe this would be a good excuse to make up for his poor first impression. He heads in the direction you went but stops short when he hears your voice.

‘I think he bruised me. The dick.’ You say and Steve frowns at you ‘Come on, Steve. I’m allowed to be angry. He has been nothing but a jerk to me,’ you explain and shift to get more comfortable.

‘What did you say to him when he did this?’ Steve asks, holding your arm and examining the newly formed bruises in the shapes of fingers.

‘I put on my best fake smile and pretended like everything was ok,’ You joke and Steve laughs, ‘as much as I hate the guy, I don’t have the confidence to actually show it.’ You sigh and Steve pulls your sleeve back down and leans back into the sofa. ‘Is there any way we can kick him off the team?’ You exaggerate batting your eyelashes at him.

‘He isn’t even on the team yet and you already want to kick him off?’ Steve questions.

‘Yes! I really don’t like him. I know he is your friend but I trust him about as far as I can throw him’ You explain and Steve nods.

Bucky had heard enough. He can’t believe you could be so horrible. You had the sweetest exterior and, from first impressions, you didn’t look like you could hurt a fly. But as he heard you say, you clearly put on a fake act to come across as polite and kind when really you are rude deep down. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop on you. Twice now. But he is so glad he did, because now he knows not to waste his energy on you. He knows what you think of him and he has formed his opinion of you. He hurries back to his room.

‘He’s not my friend Y/N, I only said that to you to make you go on the date with an open mind. I’ve only ever had one conversation with the guy,’ Steve jokes and you playfully push his arm, ‘All jokes aside, his behaviour breaks a lot of conduct rules and is a good enough reason to have him knocked down a few squads.’ Steve replies and you sigh with relief. You hug Steve and thank him for his help, he’s taken slightly off guard but hugs you back before you go your separate ways.

A few weeks later, you walk into the kitchen to find the whole team eating their breakfast. Sam is cooking and when he sees you, he makes a plate and hands it to you.

‘Thank you Sam.’ You hug him and take the plate, turning around at the sound of Bucky’s scoff. You haven’t had a conversation with Bucky since you bumped into each other in the hallway. You had tried to but he either completely ignored you or just rolled his eyes and left the room.

At first it hurt, you wondered if you had done something wrong. The team seemed just as confused by it as you. Bucky didn’t have a problem with anyone else. That wasn’t to say he was extremely friendly with them, he wasn’t there yet and nobody blamed him but he could hold conversation with the others. He even laughed at their jokes. You were starting to get fed up with it so after breakfast you headed to Bucky’s room to talk to him. You knocked on the door and it wasn’t long until he answered it. As soon as he saw you his face fell visibly.

‘Can we talk?’ You asked hoping he would let you into his room. He paused to consider it then stepped out of his room, closing the door behind him. He stood there with his arms crossed and waited for you to talk.

‘Is there something I did wrong?’ You ask him and he keeps a blank face.

‘Why do you care?’ He asks still arms crossed over his body.

‘I care because you are always scoffing or rolling your eyes at me whenever I try to talk to you.’

‘I’m not scoffing or rolling my eyes now.’ He points out.

‘No but you’re not exactly being very friendly.’

‘Would you prefer for me to fake it then? Just put on a smile and pretend to like you?’ He jabs. You take a moment to process what he just said. You didn’t realise he could be so mean.

‘No Bucky I would prefer for you to maybe make an effort to get to know me before making a judgement.’ You scowl at him.

‘I have a perfectly fine judgement of you. I am not going to fall for your fake smiles and fake friendships.’ Bucky snarls and walks back into his room closing his door in your face. You are left to stand there in shock.

On the other side of the door Bucky is leaning there conflicted. The shock on your face looked so genuine. No, he has to remember it is all an act with you.

From that day on you decided you weren’t going to make an effort with him. It wasn’t the most mature decision but you were tired. What used to be eye rolls and scoffs, now turned into snarky comments and you were no longer afraid to throw them right back at him.

Steve had tried a few times to talk to you about it but, when he couldn’t tell you why Bucky hated you, he realised there was nothing he could do to change how either of you felt about the other. What he could do was change up your schedules so the two of you were rarely ever in the same room together.

Unfortunately, instead of the arguments happening quite calmly but consistently over the course of the whole day. They were now much shorter, confined to just mealtimes, and much more heated and intense. None of the team knew which was worse.

You were sparring in the gym with Natasha trying to work off some steam from this morning’s argument with Bucky.

‘Your moves are sloppy, get whatever is making you emotional out of your head.’ She grunts at you but this only forces you further into your head.

You go hard at her, but she blocks every move so you go to defence. She smirks at you, ‘Has a certain super soldier got into your head?’

That causes a surge of anger to hit you and again you go hard at Natasha, but your anger only allows her to catch you off balance and you are pinned to the mat in a matter of seconds.

‘So it is Barnes.’ She pulls you up and you brush yourself off before getting back into a fighting stance.

‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ You grunt at her and start your attack. Your moves are still predictable and anger clouds your mind. You feel yourself getting more and more worked up with every hit she blocks.

You retreat to take a breather, you hear the door open and you glance over, the man of the hour has just entered and you roll your eyes but continue to spar with Natasha.

Out the corner of your eye, you see him make his way over to you both, watching as you take a lot of hits from her and barely manage to land any of your own.

‘I have seen toddlers fight better than you Y/N.’ You hear him chuckle.

‘I don’t need your opinion.’ You grunt, still trying to keep your focus on Natasha.

‘Fight like that on the field and you’ll be dead in two seconds.’

‘Keep talking and you’ll wish you were dead.’

He laughs ‘Is that a threat?’ You ignore him and continue sparring. ‘Your punches are so weak, how did you become an Avenger again?’ He is still smiling knowing exactly which buttons to push.

You stop and make your way over to him. ‘I became an Avenger because of my talent and my strength, that I worked hard to earn.’ You are right up in his face, almost chest to chest. You are breathing hard, partly from the exercise but mostly because of how riled up you are. You notice he is breathing hard as well, his breath fanning across your face.

Your mind can’t help but drift, is this what he would look like in bed, his chest rising and falling faster than normal. Small beads of sweat gathered at his hairline from his recent run. You suddenly realise how close the two of you are and force the inappropriate thoughts from your mind. You hate how seeing him so riled up is actually a huge turn on. How could you let yourself be attracted to such an asshole?

‘You wouldn’t stand a chance against me.’ His voice drops so low that in a different circumstance you would have happily dropped your panties.

‘You’re right. I wouldn’t stand a chance against you and your metal arm that you were given. Or you and the super soldier serum that you were given.’ You know they are cheap shots but you just couldn’t help how absolutely fuming he makes you. He had managed to get under your skin and the thought of him being successful only made you angrier.

He leans down even more, your noses almost touching ‘I don’t know how everyone else can’t see through your little nice act. You pretend to be so kind on the outside but deep down you’re a bitch.’ Ouch. You deserved that one for what you said to him but it didn’t make it hurt any less. Especially because if you were hooked up to a lie detector and asked to say those things again, it would flash up as a blatant lie. However, looking into his eyes there was not an ounce of regret for what he said.

Bucky knew he shouldn’t have said what he did, but you had hit a nerve and it was the only thing he could think to say back. He saw the hurt flash across your eyes but it was too late to take it back now. The only thing he could do was exit the situation before it got any worse. He turned on his heels and left the room, leaving you standing there in complete shock at your exchange.

Natasha calls your name but you quickly leave for your room before anyone can see you like this.

The team was split all across the base. This wasn’t how you would usually handle missions but as soon as you arrived the mission started to go sideways.

‘Target headed towards the west elevator. Anyone nearby copy?’ You hear Steve’s voice through comms.

‘I'm on it.’ You say back, your comms crackling more than usual.

‘Copy that.’ Bucky said, his comms crackling from the two of you talking at the same time.

The rest of the team had heard both of your voices but neither of you had heard the other. So it was a big shock when you were waiting for the elevator and you heard his voice behind you.

‘You have got to be kidding me.’ He sighs and slowly walks up to you to wait for the elevator as well. ‘Did you not hear me say I got it?’ He snaps at you.

‘No because I was the one that said I’m on it.’ You snap back and thankfully the elevator dings it’s arrival. Normally in creepy Hydra bases you would avoid elevators but seeing as there was no stairwell nearby, this was the only option.

‘Age before beauty.’ You say to him, gesturing to the elevator.

‘Very funny’ he says sarcastically before stepping inside. You follow after him and press the only floor button available.

Silence permeates the small space as you prepare for what’s to happen once the doors open. Instead, the elevator jerks to a stop.

‘No.’ You panic and start pressing the floor button over and over. ‘No no no no no.’ Nothing is working.

‘Let me try.’ Bucky says pushing you out of the way, you so badly want to say something but the only thing you can focus on is the fact you might be trapped. Bucky taps the button and looks around for anything else to press but there is nothing. You can feel yourself start to get light headed as claustrophobia takes hold and the thought of falling to your death in this metal box takes over your thoughts. You shrink down onto the floor and hold your head in your hands.

‘Do you always have to be so dramatic?’ Bucky huffs. You don’t answer him, the only thing you can think about is the pain starting in your chest and your breathing getting heavier.

‘Stop breathing so fast. You are going to make yourself pass out.’ Bucky grunts but when you don’t reply or make any effort to slow your breathing he gets worried. He kneels down in front of you ‘Hey? Doll? Can you hear me?’ You can’t answer him, you just feel the impending doom and the immense pressure on your chest. ‘I’m going to move your hands.’ He announces then you feel him take your hands and pull them away from your face. You look at him, tears in your eyes, a look of pure fear across your face. ‘Breathe with me, doll. Can you do that?’ He asks and you manage to nod. He speeds his breathing up to your pace then gradually slows it, you follow him as best as you can and eventually you get your breathing back to normal, with the occasional hiccup or sharp intake.

Once he sees you are ok, he lets go of your hands and sits on the floor as far away as he can. You both continue to sit in silence.

‘Thank you.’ You eventually manage to whisper, he nods without meeting your eye.

You can’t help but feel disappointed, you just got to see a caring side of Bucky and it felt amazing to be on the receiving end of it, but now you are back to him not giving a shit about you. You go back and forth wondering whether it is the right time to bring up the issues between you two. If not now, when?

‘Why do you hate me so much?’ He looks across at you and sighs before he answers.

‘I don’t hate you.’

‘Yes you do. It seems like you go out of your way to make me miserable.’ You push, making him lean his head back on the wall behind him.

‘I don’t hate you. I just don’t like how you formed opinions about me so early on. You wanted me off the team before I even got cleared to be on the team.’ Bucky explains. You stare at him in confusion.

‘How do you know what opinions I formed of you? I may have wanted you off the team but it was only because you were mean and that was after you were cleared.’ You could feel yourself starting to get angry.

‘Then how come I overheard you talking about the first time we met to Nat, you said I was blunt and rude. Then after I accidentally bumped into you, you told Steve you wanted me off the team.’ Bucky says agitatedly.

‘I never-‘ you think back to any conversations you had with Nat and Steve about Bucky. The only ones that came to mind were asking them if they knew why Bucky didn’t like you. Then it hits you, he had overheard you talking to Steve and Nat about Arthur. You sighed.

‘Let me guess, you overheard me and Nat talking not long after we first met. We were in Nat’s room getting ready to go train?’ You ask and he nods.

‘Then the conversation you overheard with Steve was straight after we bumped into each other. We were in the common room?’ Bucky looks confused but nods again.

‘You are such a prick. You eavesdrop but don’t even listen long enough to hear who we were talking about.’ You can’t help but chuckle at the situation, even though it’s not particularly funny.

‘What?’ Bucky looks more confused than ever.

‘Well, if you had listened properly to the whole conversation you would know I was talking about that asshat agent, Arthur.’ That came out more blunt than you intended.

‘The recruit that got bumped down a few squads even though he is really good?’

‘Yep. That’s the one’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Before you came Steve and Nat had been setting me up on blind dates with people. Arthur was the fifth one, I really didn’t want to go so Steve convinced me by saying they were friends and all this nice stuff about him.’ You pause to take a deep breath. ‘The day we met, I had just come from the date with him and it was awful. That's what me and Nat were talking about. Then when we bumped into each other in the hallway, I had just come from a meeting with the recruits. Arthur had been inappropriate and he hurt my arm, I was rushing to Steve to tell him and ask if he can be kicked off the team.’ You finally manage to say and Bucky just looks at you. You can see the cogs turning in his head as he is finally getting context to the snippets of conversation he overheard.

‘Shit. I am so sorry. I am such an idiot.’ He scolds himself and you can’t help but feel bad for him.

‘I am not going to disagree with you, but we have both said and done some pretty nasty stuff. I am sorry for any hurt I caused you.’ You say sincerely and he looks over to you and smiles.

‘So you didn’t think I was rude when we first met?’ He still holds your eye contact and you take a moment to look at him. You have never seen him look so vulnerable before, he almost looked scared.

‘No, Bucky, I thought you were probably nervous or tired from meeting loads of new people.’ You explain and his shoulders fall.

‘I feel like such a jerk.’ He sighs and you scoot yourself closer to him so he has to look at you.

‘I’m not all that innocent in this either. It was a misunderstanding. I am just glad we have cleared it up now.’ You say meaning it and he smiles earnestly back at you. It is something you have never experienced first-hand. You have seen him give those gorgeous, slightly lopsided, smiles to other people but seeing one directed at you causes a rush of heat to your cheeks and you find yourself blushing.

Bucky must have been thinking along the same lines ‘You’re cute when you blush. I have never seen this side of you before.’ He brushes some hair out of your face and behind your ear. ‘You know, part of the reason I was so nervous when I first met you was because I was taken off guard by how beautiful you are.’ His cheeks flush slightly at his confession.

Before you can say anything the elevator jerks again and starts moving, you and Bucky are quick on your feet, preparing yourself for the doors to open.

When they finally do you are met with a group of Hydra agents ready to attack. You and Bucky work in tandem, playing off each other’s strengths. When the Hydra agents realize this, they work to separate you. The majority of them are on Bucky but you are fighting four at once. You are onto the last one when he raises his gun to shoot but you force his arm down. Not quick enough, it fires and clips your calf causing you to cry out from the pain

It is not as bad as actually being shot in the leg but it still hurts like hell and you can’t put pressure on it. The room is pretty silent apart from footsteps you recognise to be Bucky approaching. You move quickly and uppercut the guy in the nose. The crack echoes throughout the room as the guy falls to the floor at your feet.

You turn to Bucky, his mouth agape and eyebrows raised in shock. ‘That was hot.’ He announces finally, making you laugh, you go to take a step towards him but realise too late that your injured leg won’t hold your weight. You would have fallen to the floor if Bucky hadn’t rushed to catch you.

‘Thanks.’ You chuckle, your faces are extremely close. Your eyes completely entranced in his. Your whole body warms at the safe feeling of being in his arms. You start to wonder what it would be like to fall asleep in these arms, to wake up the next morning still wrapped up in them. Protected.

You force yourself back to reality by clearing your throat. ‘We should probably get back to the team.’ You say and he nods. He puts his arm around your waist and you put yours over his shoulders to use him as a crutch.

The ride back up in the elevator goes smoothly this time and before you know it you are hobbling up to the quinjet where the rest of the team awaits. Natasha and Steve are both looking back and forth from you to Bucky in confusion.

‘What the hell happened?’ Steve asks not trying to hide how baffled he is that you and Bucky are holding onto each other and not arguing. Natasha simply smirks. Bucky helps you into a seat then sits opposite you with a wink as you smile at him.

‘No, this is too weird. Please argue, bicker, roll your eyes. Anything.’ Sam begs Bucky who doesn’t break his eye contact with you. Bucky simply laughs knowing his behaviour is unsettling Sam and enjoying the newfound comradery with you.

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nickywhoisi · 2 years ago

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My Thomas and Friends humanized robot ideas omg yes it is

YOOOOO IT’S FINALLY HERE, NEW RELEASE, GET HYPE GROOP

It’s been a stupidly long time coming, I know, and I wish I could include some new art with it, but eh what’re ya gonna do. Since first coming on to tumblr, I’ve been loving the whole fandom’s many versions of the cast, and it did not take long for me to throw my hat into the ring and join the fun! I already loved making designs on their own just for the sake of experimenting. But if I was gonna make my own human!Engines, then it was only inevitable that I give them a proper universe to reside in and give context if I wanted to make some original skits or comics (and lemme tell ya I have really wanted to make some comics wiTH ANTICS). And I hated having so much putting off my creativity! I had to focus on everything except what I really needed to make something really good, but there were a few lucky glimmers where I was able to settle down with my laptop and get some pieces churned out. So without further ado, insert drumroll, as I have just checked that I apparently have 30 +1 followers so far...which, considering what I have been posting so far...oh my god, I love you all. For real? I am amazed. You’re all troopers sticking around with me, through the pleasantness and the badness. I am so happy you guys put so much faith in me. Time for that to pay off. This is all for you guys first and foremost, along with the choo choo groop, the TTTE fandom.

-This rendition of Sodor Island has similar trappings to the TV series timeline, but with humanoids as the main focus, and with a very different overall trajectory. The entire island's culture is set in an amber-state of the 1910's-40's, but slowly there are some pieces of other decades that have made their way to the small country. In the most recent period, fluorescent lights have made their way to Sudrian homes, but the bulbs are made custom to have a warm glow of an old fashioned gas light, so it doesn't look too modern. Sometimes fashion trends of recent decades appear on the island, but these are mostly worn by foreigners or visitors to the island, and rarely are seen on locals. A lot of things like this are repurposed, or reconfigured in this way, as that is what the Island of Sodor seems to prefer best. -The entire land pulses with a giant amount of otherworldly energy, which the Sudrians know as "magic dust". It is shown to take on the form of powder carried on the winds most often. But unlike the movie's depiction of "gold dust", this universe's magic dust has an even more ethereal colour. It's prismatic, a "light rainbow" colouration, and gold is just one of the colours that it can display. Some say it is like watching a fog of powdered diamonds pass by, on occasion. It's always a delight for the engines to see wafts of magic dust come in, as they get to enjoy a special boost of energy that comes from it. -The main cast originate as normal, faceless trains when they are first built. With the intended use of being average trains, pulling passengers and cargo and all that. But due to the magic dust, most of them develop a soul/consciousness, and without mouths or faces, they come alive and start talking. The very first to be granted life, of course, is Lady. Proteus and all the rest come after her soon enough, though there are rare cases where an engine is unaffected by the magic dust, and never comes to life at all. It is otherwise a mystery how this occurs, but old Sudrian researchers have discovered that the engines have the magic dust that grants them life condensed right in the core of their chassis - they just opened a slot to take a peek; it wasn't a full dissection. They would not dare harm one of their trains, especially now that they were alive and could react to whatever they did! - This core essentially looks like a giant glowing column inside, the dust becoming a solid cylinder-esque shape that fills in whatever gaps inside the engine were empty. A large cylinder with branching points, to be more precise. Even more of a mystery is how exactly the engine's voices are heard at all; the only working, plausible theory at present is it's a mass psychic mental link of some kind, allowing the trains to speak, be heard, and be understood by humans on Sodor. When a living train was brought out of Sodor, as a speculative experiment, the core seemed to stay intact, yet it was impossible for a human outside of Sodor to ever hear the train. More alarmingly, the engine's core magic was decreasing in potency the longer they were kept off of Sudrian land. No changes within a person who worked with them were ever found, so it was considered ultimately benign, though somewhat harmful to the poor trains. The local Sudrians who remained by the train's side were still able to keep their mental connection to the magic engine, and were equally perplexed as to how this was possible while being off-island. In the beginning, the average humans who worked alongside their steamies and diesels were getting quite used to their new active connections with eachother, and were having a lot of fun bonding over nearly everything. From discussing work schedules and how to improve them, to tooting whistles and enjoying music together, to getting huffy over having food cooked in their fuelboxes sometimes, and so on. The passengers would also get to share special connections with the engines who were always delighted to greet them. Then...out of nowhere, a truck suddenly formed a face and voice of its own, and began to cause trouble for everyone. And just a short moment after that, an engine transformed and became humanoid; likely Proteus. There was almost an incident in which the drivers were caught in his very first transformation, or "morph" as it would later be dubbed, but they got out by the skin of their teeth before then. Ever since, the people got decidedly more nervous about boarding the engines, and some passengers were beginning to worry about the carriages; if it would be safe to use the railways at all if the trains themselves were transmogrifying without any warning. The stations needed to make sure this wouldn't become an economic crisis, or even worse...be the cause of bizarre casualties. So, Fat Controller I drummed up with the stations a haphazard plan of building tons of new cars and trucks for passengers and businesses to use. But they did so annually; after a week of use, the cart would be decommissioned for a while and replaced with a new, freshly built one to ensure there would be no sudden morphing on the job. The previous cart would be waited on for a month to see if it would decide to come to life. If it didn't, it would be considered "safe" and brought back into use again, but still only for a week. There would be a great amount of shifting cars around and checking carefully to make sure there would be nothing springing to life at the wrong time. This caused a lot of very difficult work for everyone, and there was still no assurance to be made about the trains, but the safety of the people was ensured to the best of their ability. Suddenly, though, it happened. Not only did a passenger car come to life, though thankfully it was not a harmful incident at all, a few rare vehicles were beginning to come to life as well! Entirely unaccounted for! It seemed as if nothing was safe from the magic dust! This was the cause of humans being less enthused about the magic dust fogs rolling in than the engines...as for them it means life and health, but for the average human means an unstable chance event of a device coming alive before any preparation can be made. It leaves the people in a certain state of anxiety for a long time, though they still need to use their vehicles and trains. It's been a miracle that nobody has gotten killed, yet there have indeed been accidents and daredevil moments caused by a car springing to life and not understanding where it is yet, or a train screeching to a halt and making the passengers lurch forward as it's frozen in confusion. Fat Controller I and his workforce, after many years of doing damage control, finally decide they're tired of fighting against the uncertainty and try to encourage the island to "go with the flow" a bit more. Over time, with Fat Controller II taking position as head of the Stations, they all acknowledge that this is just what will happen from here on out. They accept the risks however begrudgingly, and everyone starts learning and practicing what to do to minimize the risk however they can...and things turn out pretty alright from here on out. It's nobody's fault except that durn magic dust.

-Toby, Edward, Thomas and Gordon were the first four of the present period to be observed morphing from talking train forms to humanoid for the beginning of their individual “stories”. The human forms are not really considered by the humans as the same, for a number of reasons. A small, barely invasive surgery was once done on a past engine to dissect and understand the engine’s miraculous changes, and these findings applies to the whole cast; steamie, diesel, etc. The trains essentially have a complex system of innerworkings that are reminiscent of human anatomy, but the “organs” that they carry are closer to the systems of their original engine forms. Much of these are placed around to fit the humanoid casing in the best way, and much of it makes sense; the steam pipes are connected near exactly like a set of lungs, trachea and nasal passages for releasing pressure...but they are also connected to the ear holes and unique vent holes found passing down through their ankles, so not everything matches up as we might understand. The human forms seem to have a special compartment within the legs that store the most unique addition; retractable wheels that allow them to use their original tracks without any issue, though they can now step off the tracks and walk where they please. These wheels are connected by sturdy joints that bend in unobtrusive ways. Of course, there is also the colouration of their skin, which is a soft matted but still metallic grey. These are the most direct indicators that, though they look human, these “robots” have indisputably originated from the engines they were. The magic cylinder they have also appears to change shape with them, forming into a bust shape; the engine’s brains and “heart” appear to be located closely at the head and torso. It makes for very tough necks, certainly. But this would also mean that any blows to these areas too severe would be fatal to them, and if not treated in time, may lead to the poor engines death.

-Toby first morphed on his tracks, not in anyone’s way, with no passengers with him or anything. His driver was mentally ready each day for just this event. It was a very easygoing time, thank goodness.

Edward was next, and his morph was quite safe as well. Though he absentmindedly turned his new body before his cargo was uncoupled, which caused the load to get spilled. At least it was only one cart...

Thomas morphed at a pretty inopportune time, during a passenger ride on Tidmouth. He was so enamoured by his first beautiful sunny day that he drifted off to Toryreck, which was not on the proper path! He didn’t realize what had happened until everybody was practically yelling at him to get his attention, especially his drivers who had chased him down.

Gordon morphed at a fairly bad time too, but he handled it expertly for someone who only got used to having legs for a split second. He of course was on his expressline, going very fast down his track. And so when he morphed without expecting it, he had to think very quickly for the sake of his passengers and drivers’ safety, and get accustomed to having limbs even quicker. He did it, and everyone at the next station were pleasantly surprised, but he was frozen in discomfort. He probably needed some time to...register what happened, or fear what had almost happened. Immediately afterward, he studied the Sudrian Locomotive Owner’s Manuals which went over all known information about his new form. That way he would never be so thrown off again. Also, yes, he’s autistic headcannon’d. ;3

James’ first morph was expected by his drivers and himself, but sadly it did not go as James had planned it to. He considered it like a special “coming out at a debutante ball” sorta deal, and was always daydreaming about the ideal moment and how he would carry himself. When it actually happened, however, he was in the middle of dealing with the troublesome trucks. He has a brief moment to enjoy his new form, but the trucks decide to take advantage of the distraction and push James along towards the crash he suffers in canon. In this version, he’s all alone to suffer the crash, as the drivers had to leap off of James when morphing! And it seemed that James’ wheelframes and breaks were actually wooden instead of metal as well. Nobody was aware of what it would be like for a wooden-braked train to morph and be like that, but James’ brakes were already burned away in the incident. Luckily, just like in canon, Thomas is there to help James up and collect his separated wheelset. And this time, they can at least walk back without trouble. James is very depressed because his first morph was so cruelly disrupted, and he can barely remember the small moment he was happy about it...but he’s quickly cheered up by Thomas’ idea to cover James before everyone at Steamworks sees him yet...so he can still have his debutante entrance after all!

-Henry’s first morph was almost a really dangerous situation. Henry was in an awful condition in his engine form, and this made him and the rest of the station worried about how well he would function period. Henry was far too scared to ever look forward to morphing while like this, as he learned that once an engine morphs, they don’t go back. Ever. That would mean that whatever illness he had, he’d be keeping forever as a “human”. This left all of his actual human friends at the station frantically preparing a special reconstructive surgery for him, while they still had the chance. Retooling an entire train is hard enough engineering work on its own, but it’s even trickier to make sure the “patient” is put to sleep well enough to go through such a demanding process. Even worse still when the patient is essentially a ticking time bomb, with having no way to be sure if he would suddenly morph IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OPERATION. Then he would either be lost forever, or be in such a horrifying state that it would surely be better...to decomission him. Absolutely no one wanted that! And thank goodness nobody got that, as it took a few days to finish Henry’s new locomotive body but he was still finished in time, for when he did form within a few weeks. Henry was all better, and more than happy with how he was now.

And that’s what we’ve got so far! Had to edit Henry’s bit in post because my laptop almost ran out of battery. Oops XD But I hope you all enjoy the blurbs!

#not to toot my own horn too soon but...#I am very proud of myself for forming plausible transition points for the engine's transformations #and the ripple effects that come from it happening for the first time #I really got into thinking about how everybody would actually take to these happenings in a believable way #like how would sodor actually feel about this and this what would they do #this was super fun and I am gonna try to make more!#ttte #choo choo groop #my writings #this makes the happy

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twiceinadream · 3 years ago

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“Only you.”

Requested: Yup

Request: jeong getting insecure that alpha reader would want someone else cause of her little wait gain (she looks so good 🥺🥺🥺 i shall fight any hater) but R assuring her and kissing alog her thighs before soft sex

a/u: Hey, everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve last posted and that I’m starting to make it a habit, but life has been super busy and I try to write when I can. I want to thank you all for 2.9k+ followers, that’s insane! Thank you for all still sticking with me, I love you guys!

Category: NSFW and Fluff

Word Count: 3.1k (C/W: I just wanted to add a small disclaimer, this is in no way, shape, or form shaming Jeongyeon or her recovery. I just wanted to make a cute smut of her since her return. There are some mentions of body image self doubt, but there is also body worship in this fic as well. I hope you all enjoy!)

Three months. It had been three long months since you had seen your girlfriend, much to your disappointment. The company and Jeongyeon’s oldest sister, Seungyeon, thought it would be best for her to go through her healing process as fast as she could. And with guidelines around Korea still as strict as ever you thought it would be best for you to wait for her too.

And it turned out that patience was your virtue since you had gotten an email earlier that day confirming your mate would be going back to attend group activities, which was also code for: you could finally see her again.

Which was something you had been waiting for ever since you were informed that you would be barred from seeing her in the foreseeable future.

Until now.

—

You honestly couldn’t explain how you were feeling as you waited nervously outside of Jeongyeon’s sister’s apartment. Seungyeon had texted you saying she would be out for tonight so you and her baby sister could “make up for lost time”. The implications of her message had made you blush, but no amount of embarrassment could keep you from Jeong any longer.

So with a bouquet of fresh flowers and a firm knock on the door you waited for the long awaited sight of your mate to appear. And you’d be lying if the sound of the knob turning didn’t make your heart rate increase significantly as you could practically feel it try to beat out of your chest as it opened to reveal the long awaited sight of your girlfriend. A smile breaking out onto your face as the two of you just stared at each other, you noticed that she had grown out her hair and was a sleek almost pitch black. Her sweet scent brought you the most comfort you had felt since being away from her and you couldn’t help but bring her into your long awaited embrace.

Her nose buried in your neck as the two of you just stood there, holding each other like if either of you were to let go everything would fall apart. It was a good minute or two before you both pulled away from each other, nothing but love filling your eyes as you stood back a little to admire the wonderfulness that was your mate.

But the way your eyes traced over the Omega seemed to make her uncomfortable since she turned into herself and moved so that you could come inside. You raised an eyebrow in confusion but brushed it off as you toed off your shoes and strolled into the familiar apartment.

“I’m so happy to see you again Jeong.” You smiled softly as your girlfriend followed after you into the living room, “It’s been too long.”

The Omega rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, “It has, hasn’t it. I’ve missed you so much, but the company is so strict with its rules and all my treatments.”

You shook your head fondly as you reached out for her hand, warmth filling your chest as she took it, “I understand, all I wanted was for you to be healthy and recover. I’m in no place to jeopardize your health, but how’s the last few months without me been?”

Jeong smiled as she brought you down to sit on the couch, “Why don't we catch up for now.”

You nodded in agreement, “I have all night.”

—

You both exchanged stories from the past three months, recanting things from your day to day lives and how the company plans on reintroducing Jeongyeon after her hiatus. Her members had stopped by to see her here and there but even with how much she loved them, they weren’t you.

So one thing had led to another as you both found yourselves in Seungyeon’s guest bedroom that had practically become Jeongyeon’s in the past few months. Your lips help heavy as you place a string of broken kisses along your mate’s mouth. Soft moans left your throat as you felt the weight of your mate sink down onto you, but as soon as you felt yourself getting into the rhythm of things Jeong suddenly sat up. Breaking the kiss the two of you were sharing as she looked down at herself, a small frown present on her face caused you to sit up.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Your voice was soft as you looked at your girlfriend in concern.

“I…I know I’ve..changed, you haven’t said it. But I know you noticed.” She looked down at her body, and you didn’t miss the way she clutched at her loose fitting sweater. It finally clicked.

You looked at her in shock as you asked quietly, “Jeong, do you think just because you’ve gotten a little…plushier, I’m not gonna love you?” She only gave you a small nod in response as you shook your head softly, “Baby, why would you ever think that? Do I really seem that shallow to you?”

At the hurt inflection of your voice the Omega shook her head almost instantly, “No! I mean, no, of course not. It’s just, my company has always held us to this high standard that I thought if I ever changed no one would find me…attractive.”

She sounded so small that you couldn’t be mad at her, “I would never think that of you, I love you. I will always want you, only you Jeong.” You cupped her face gently as you placed a kiss on her forehead, “Now, will you give me a chance to show you?”

You watched as your girlfriend thought over it before nodding firmly, “Please.”

A small smile grew on your face once again as you reconnected your lips in a kiss, your hands trailing down to the hem of her sweatshirt as your thumbs moved underneath it to rub the soft skin there. You sat up more fully as you began turning onto your side so that you could pin Jeong underneath you.

The Omega whimpered as you gently lowered yourself on top of her. Her voice seemed to be caught in her throat as you placed a kiss along the column of her throat, you bared your teeth ever so slightly as it grazed her sensitive flesh. A small smile forming on your lips as you opted to press a kiss to her pulse point instead of biting her.

The sweater she was wearing became increasingly uncomfortable to wear as Jeongyeon’s body temperature rose with your ministrations. You granted her silent plea as you began pushing her sweatshirt over her head to reveal that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. A satisfied smirk growing on your face as you couldn’t resist teasing her, “Is it just me, does it look like someone was hoping tonight was heading in the same direction I hoped for too?”

Your girlfriend blushed brightly as you stole another kiss from her lips, “Use your imagination Y/N.”

You laughed lightly as you turned your attention back to her body. You felt her hand grip your forearm as you caressed the soft sides of her stomach, a small gasp left her throat as you continued to run your hand up and down her side. As she was momentarily distracted by your questing fingers, you moved down to take a stiff nipple between your lips, your tongue circling the hardened bud as the Omega let out a surprised gasp. Wetness surged from between her legs as you were hastily making up for the three month dry spell.

Your hands made its way to your girlfriend’s hips where they playfully dipped into the elastic of her shorts and panties. Skirting between innocent teasing and absolute cruelty as Jeongyeon’s underwear was probably, undoubtedly ruined by the steady stream of arousal that had caused her panties to stick to her. You looked up to take in the sight of your mate’s helplessness as you deprived her of losing herself in the pleasure as you continued to tease her.

“Do you want me to take these off you, Jeongie?” You quirked an eyebrow as you looked at her expectantly.

“Y…yes, pl..please.” The idol could practically feel herself clench around nothing as her body burned from the lack of stimulation you weren’t giving her.

You hummed in thought for a second, but it seemed to be a second too long as your mate let out a frustrated groan that you couldn’t help but take pity on her as you gave up the overly domineering persona, “Easy, baby, I’ll take care of you.” You smiled softly to reassure her, “Now, can I take these off?”

The gentleness in your tone made Jeong’s body relax again as she nodded, “Yes.”

You placed one last kiss to her cheek before you hooked your fingers into her shorts and underwear, pulling down the ruined garments to finally allow for the wetness to go somewhere other than soaking through her clothes.

The smell of an aroused Omega practically permeated the bedroom as Jeong squirmed under your attention, mewling as your kisses made a trail from the valley of her breasts down her naval then to the little patch of hair between her legs that barely covered her blossoming folds.

You felt your alpha-hood throb in your boxers as you came face-to-face with the prize you were after. But just before you leaned in to get a taste, your eyes drifted to your mate’s thighs. They were softer than you remembered and you couldn’t help but stare in awe, but it seemed to have the opposite on her. The Omega’s hands slowly crept down again in attempts to try and cover herself before you reached up to stop her, you held her hands softly in yours as you leaned down to place kisses along her finger tips. A silent reassurance at first as she looked down at you nervously.

“Trust me, Jeongie. I’ll take care of you.” Your voice was barely above a whisper as you leaned back down to place soft kisses along the inside of her right thigh. Taking your time to pour every ounce of love you could muster behind your actions as your arms wrapped underneath her knees and continued to stroke the outside of her legs to calm her. Eventually, you had finally teased a moan from her as you licked the junction between where her left leg ended and her most intimate places resided.

And if she hadn’t been wet before you started leaving her thighs full of kisses and nips, she was practically Niagara Falls by now. You could see the lines of wetness seeping out from her clenching core, her clit straining in the cool air of the room as you humped against the bed instinctively. Your erection was borderline painful since you had done your best to ignore it completely and save all your attention for your mate, but there was only so much you could do before your body began taking back control of itself.

So you did your best to keep yourself in control and leave your inner Alpha out of it as you blew softly against your girlfriend’s clit, the sudden stimulus made her hips jerk forwards as you leaned down to offer small kitten licks to the place she needed you most. The juices leaking out onto your tongue tasted almost too good to be true, it had to be some sort of aphrodisiac because you couldn’t help but go back for more. Your licks became bolder as you put more pressure behind your motions, this time you had momentarily sunk further inside of her which granted you with more of what you were after.

You couldn’t help but lose yourself in the moment as you drank straight from Jeongyeon’s honeypot, moaning into her as you savored her taste. Your tongue continued to tease the poor woman as one hand found itself gripping onto your shoulder and the other clumsily playing with one of her breasts. High pitched moans filled the room as you retracted from dipping into her entrance and moved up to suckle her clit instead.

A sudden yelp caused you to look up momentarily as you grazed your teeth against your mate’s love button. But you only found Jeong’s eyes squeezed tightly together as she pinched one of her nipples in time with the tongue lashings you were subjecting her overly sensitive nub to. You could sense her release was nearly on its way as she moved the hand on your shoulder to fist the sheets instead as you worked her to the edge, but just before you could tell she was going to be at the point of no return, you pulled away.

Her eyes flying open as she felt her body seize

momentarily in the ruined orgasm you had just gave her. An angry and frustrated moan pried itself from Jeongyeon’s lips as she gushed around nothing, a fire in her eyes as she glared down at you. “Wh..what the h..hell was that!?”

You smiled wickedly as you wiped your face clean of any of her juices with the back of your hand, “You didn’t think I’d make it that easy for you, did you?”

The Omega scowled, “You’re an ass L/N Y/N.”

You tutted, “Language, Jeongyeon-ssi. And calm your tits will you, I wanted to try something.”

The innocent lilt in your voice made your mate want to smack you but was far too turned on to really think of anything other than you making her cum till she couldn’t remember her own name. “And what would that be?”

You smirked, “Ride me.”

—

It had taken a good minute for the Omega to really understand what you had told her, neither of you had ever done something like this yet in your relationship so this would be a big step for the both of you.

You now laid back into the bed completely naked with your painfully hard alpha-hood proudly pointed up towards your stomach. Your eyes tracking your mate’s nervous pacing at the edge of the bed as she looked at you hesitantly before crawling back onto the mattress. She knelt beside you as she brought a hand down your shaft to the base of your cock where the beginnings of a knot had already begun to form due to the lack of attention you had ignored to give “Y/N-junior”.

Jeongyeon moved to cradle your balls in one of her hands as she played with them, giving an experimental squeeze that made you grunt and the tip of your cock dribble out beads of precum.

She was ready.

And the next thing you knew your girlfriend was on top of you, straddling your hips as she reached a hand down between your guy’s bodies to hold your shaft in place as she slowly sunk down. The feeling of her tight heat surrounding you made you feel lightheaded as your bodies were finally flush against each other. Her hips rocking ever so slightly to adjust to the stretch.

A low whimper escaped her throat as you bucked your hips up ever so slightly, causing a more delightful friction that she couldn’t seem to get enough of. The two of you shared the briefest of looks as she rose from your lap so that only a few inches of your cock still remained inside of her before she dropped down, eliciting deep moans from the both of you as she did it again.

She continued lifting up then impaling herself back onto you as your hands found purchase at her hips, guiding her movements ever so slightly as you felt your knot begin to swell at the base of your cock. The sounds of soft and passionate love making filled them room as you moved to a more sitting position, one of your hands removed itself from her hips to the back of her neck where you pulled her into a bruising kiss. Your tongue teasing her bottom lip for entrance before being allowed in as you plundered your prize. Your tongues moved in synch like a tango of passion had lit a fire in your belly as you pulled Jeongyeon down of top of you.

Your legs kicking out from beneath her as you planted your feet onto the bed, timing your upwards thrusts with each time your mate dropped back down onto you. Your scents mixed into a wonderful blend of desperation as you both sought out your long awaited releases. The pace the two you had established was quickly failing as you both began your desperate attempts to cross the threshold into bliss.

You couldn’t take it any longer as you suddenly flipped yours and Jeongyeon’s positions on the bed so that you were once again on top. A shocked look overtook her features at the sudden change as the last thing she saw was the hungry look in your eyes before your hips took off rutting into her like tomorrow depended on it. Her breaths came out in broken gasps as she was barely able to focus with the tremors of pleasure shooting up her spine with every thrust that brushed against the sensitive spot inside of her.

A high pitched whine falling from her lips as you snaked a hand down to rub hard and tight circles around her clit as you pulled your hips back one final time to sink your knot inside of her.

It slid in with an audible pop that was quickly drowned out by the scream of pleasure that ripped itself from the Omega’s throat as her inner walls fluttered helplessly around the sudden, large intrusion of your knot inside of her. A strangled grunt rumbled in your chest as you jogged your hips forward a few more times before your body caved into the inevitable.

You came.

Hard.

Your balls pulsed as you unloaded three months of pent up sexual frustration into your mate, in turn triggering a release of her own as her inner walls clamped down so hard it felt like a death grip on your alpha-hood. White, hot seed filled the Omega’s womb as you breathed a heated sigh into her ear. Your arms wrapped around her as you held her to your chest, “Love you.”

You mumbled sleepily as Jeongyeon rolled you on your side, one hand stroking your cheek as the other trailed down to her stomach feeling the small bulge your release left there for now until your knot shrank.

She couldn’t help but entertain the thought of her carrying your pups one day, but for now she felt content with herself for the first time in months. You had made her feel beautiful and restore her confidence again, a soft smile broke out onto her face as she kissed your forehead. “I love you too, Y/N.”

#fortwice #twice #twice imagines #twice prompts #twice scenarios #twice oneshot #twice smut #twice fluff #twice omegaverse #yoo jeongyeon #twice jeongyeon #yoo jeongyeon x reader #omega!jeongyeon x alpha!reader #anonymous #twiceinadream

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sourwormsaresour · 3 years ago

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idk if anyone has talked about this but I feel like no one has pointed this out yet.

So, this fucker right here:

Do you know why he’s named “chocolate” and how this food is associated with this character?

Let’s start with how chocolate is made. The cocoa tree that produces cocoa beans and ultimately chocolate is very finicky with the environment it needs to thrive in; you need a very warm, humid climate year-round where it can also be protected from strong weather like harsh sunlight and heavy winds. That’s easily done within the rainforest where the weather is naturally maintained and surrounding trees can protect the cocoa tree from weather or in farms where these trees will be grown with other trees that will provide them with the protection they need. Alternatively, you can create a warm and humid greenhouse instead where the tree can be under constant surveillance to maintain its environment. The greenhouse approach is often seen in research to find ways of growing chocolate in other places around the world and hopefully making the approach affordable and sustainable enough to use over traditional methods.

Here’s what the lab used to cultivate cocoa trees looks like. It’s called the “International Cocoa Quarantine Centre” and is based in Britain.

Another factor in growing a cocoa tree is elevation. Ideally, you should be between 30-300 meters (about 100 to 1000 feet) above sea level or at least under 600 meters (about 2000 feet), which is considered low elevation. In general farming, lower elevations will create sweeter fruits that can ripen faster; the downsides of farming at such a level is everything being prone to rot faster, including the plants that bear the fruits themselves (specifically their roots). Farmers in low elevation need to consider factors like lower ventilation and lack of natural drainage, which can cause rotting. Because of how complicated the conditions for cocoa trees are, it can get costly to grow and maintain them. One way to alleviate the cost of maintaining cocoa trees (besides exploitation of workers and unsustainable farming) is by tree grafting. This technique is commonly used in creating more trees in general and especially common in the chocolate industry. Grafting involves simply taking parts of a tree and attaching it to a tree that is genetically similar and doing so helps grow new cocoa trees, control the quality of the cocoa beans, and reduce cost of production overall.

Here are some of the things that can happen if you don’t grow your cocoa tree properly. Unfortunately, some of these issues are unavoidable; why they happen and how to prevent them remains unknown and researchers are still trying to find answers that can explain why it happens and how to prevent or resolve them.

After years of growing and waiting for the tree to mature and produce pods, we finally have cocoa beans to harvest and make chocolate. Creating chocolate itself involves a controlled form of rotting we know too well: fermentation. Disclaimer: some say fermentation is the opposite of rotting because it prevents decay but others say fermentation is defined as a controlled form of decay while rotting is defined as uncontrolled decay. For this post, I’ll stick with the latter definition. Fermentation allows us to get stuff like alcohol, yogurt, and kimchi by breaking down items, essentially making them decay and rot, to create new items by using microorganisms like bacteria and yeast to perform the process. Before cocoa beans turn into chocolate, they need to be fermented for a certain amount of days- no more and no less than necessary. It’s not going to be like wine such that aging the product will make the quality better. Over-fermenting leads to a waste product that’s just completely rotten, moldy, and just unusable in the end. And like any type of fruit, the cocoa pod will ultimately ripen and rot after it falls off the tree if it’s not used over time. Improper fermentation will also cause mold to occur, causing the beans to rot than ferment. Mold can also be caused by moisture coming in contact with the beans. Unlike cheese or meats, the mold on cocoa beans can cause long-term health issues if consumed. What we end up getting after fermenting, roasting, and grinding the beans is a pure cocoa paste or “pure chocolate.” Once the chocolate is made, it cannot get moldy; it can develop a mold-like appearance called bloom but that’s safe to eat and technically not mold. However, if you separate the cocoa powder from the paste, that can mold if it comes in contact with water.

Look at how moldy these cocoa beans can get:

Pure chocolate has health benefits like providing antioxidants, being a major ingredient in skincare as cocoa butter, and reduce health issues. However, the chocolate we’re all used to eating is some cocoa paste with added ingredients (milk, nuts, fillings, etc.), and these ingredients are the things that end up turning chocolate into unhealthy food. You can eat pure cocoa paste, but it wouldn’t be defined as chocolate and it won’t be as tasty; even bars labeled "70% cacao" have added ingredients to it. One particular ingredient in chocolate that is a great example of how it makes chocolate unhealthy is processed sugar. Sugar itself has addicting properties and is unhealthy for many reasons, yet it’s a huge part of why we love to eat chocolate. It’s also why we have to eat chocolate with added ingredients in small quantities despite the health benefits chocolate has- the benefits and the downsides cancel each other out (i.e. pure chocolate prevents tooth decay but sugar causes tooth decay, chocolate lowers blood pressure yet sugar contributes to health issues that can cause higher blood pressure). The development of chocolate as a sweet candy in today’s world rather than a healthy ingredient also plays into this.

Based on this info, we can see how chocolate shaped Cioccolata as a character and his Stand’s abilities. The mold and rot aspect of Green Day is easily explained with the fermentation process and how the process of chocolate is susceptible to mold up throughout. Green Day’s functionality working only when victims are underneath Cioccolata is because cocoa trees require lower elevations to thrive and how lower elevation increases chances of rot in produce. The constant surveillance and maintenance of cocoa trees in a laboratory setting can reference Cioccolata finding pleasure in recording his victims’ misery, his “research” in torturing their bodies, as well as the intense and detailed work that comes with studying and practicing medicine. The tree grafting in the chocolate industry connects to Green Day’s second ability that allows it to dismember and reassemble Cioccolata with mold. It also connects to Ciccolata’s sadistic nature when it comes to manipulating his victims’ bodies and the brutality of his Stand’s mold being able to break people’s limbs apart (think Sorbet’s 36 frames, Gelato’s possible taxidermy when he was discovered by Formaggio, and how bodies affected are easily snapped apart when mold gets on them). The dichotomy of chocolate as healthy food and junk food also relates to Cioccolata as a character who should have been good (because he’s a doctor) but does more harm instead. The role of sugar in chocolate plays into that as well, but it’s especially related to how sugar cubes are used to control Secco and Cioccolata full name in JORGE JOESTAR is Dolcio Cioccolata (literally “sweet chocolate”). Hell, I can go on about how Secco’s name has a connection to chocolate too.

I’ve seen how characters in VA are shaped by the food they’re named after, down to their Stand abilities, so it’s nice to see that Cioccolata follows this too. Let me know if you guys have other information that can add to Cioccolata’s characterization. :)

Btw this is based on some Googling I did, which involved reading a few papers that came up on search and a Chocolate tour that I did when I was in Guatemala last month, so please let me know if the information is incorrect or add with your findings to correct it.

#JJBA #JoJos Bizzare Adventure #Vento Aureo #jjba vento auero #Golden Wind #cioccolata jjba #cioccolata jojo #cioccolato #chocolate #naming conventions #secco #secco jojo #secco jjba #jorge joestar novel

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corpsedaydream · 4 years ago

Note

I just like the concept of the reader going on and on about something and him with his head in his palms, total heart eyes "listing" to the one sided conversation

i think by some of the things i’ve written before we all know this is a trope i loooooooove lets do it

edit before posting: this has lowkey become one of my favourite things i’ve written on this account! omg i am rly proud of it and i hope u guys like it too 🥺🥺🥺 pls let me know what u think of it!

word count: 1.5k

_______________________________

carrots

so maybe you were a little bit of a picky eater. but you’d never be caught admitting to that, to yourself, or to anyone. when someone happened to bring it up, you would just say something along the lines of that, you were just peculiar about what you ate.

you still remember the first moment corpse had said something about it.

"you’re picky, aren’t you?” he’d asked and your eyes snapped up. he’d been watching and listening to you closely as your eyes scanned the menu. the first time he’d been witness to it. you had been babbling out loud about what sounded best to you, but then you would also mention things you would want to switch out and add in to make it even better. you were moreso talking to yourself, but corpse had been so zoned in on you. things between the both you were still so recent, he was still learning you and he liked to pay attention.

“i’m what?” you sounded offended. and corpse had to try really hard not to crack a smirk.

“you’re a little picky, right?” he also tried keeping his tone from becoming too teasing, yet.

“no.” your response was very quick, you were on the defence. and he couldn’t help but to smile then. he knew he was right.

“there’s nothing wrong if you are, i’m just wondering.”

“well stop wondering and figure out what you’re ordering and not worry about what i’m getting.” you were a little hangry at this point, too. another fact corpse had come to learn about you. if you didn’t eat when you announced you were hungry, it would only be a short amount of time until that hangry monster in you emerged.

“i already know what i’m getting.” he counteracted.

“well, good.”

“because i’m not picky.” he couldn’t help himself but to tease you.

“i’m not picky! i just like what i like.”

ever since then, whenever the two of you had found yourselves in a situation where it involved reading a menu, he loved to watch you do it. you always took a lot longer than corpse to order, but he never minded. each time, you studied it like you were studying for an important exam and you would mumble audibly, lost in a quiet conversation between you and yourself. and how he loved to listen in, like it was exclusive information and corpse was a fly on the wall. he had made a habit of deciding on his food very quickly so he could give you his full attention for these moments.

still to this day, you weren’t aware he did this. you would be so caught up in reading the menu, figuring out how you were going to satisfy your picky eating habits that you’d never looked up to find your boyfriend looking so lovingly at you.

he then, would even love to see how you interacted with the staff when you did finally make up your mind and were ready to order. you always spoke to everyone as if they were a friend you hadn’t seen in a while. you were like no one else, so warm, so bright, so inviting. in world where social interaction could be so awkward, you thrived instead. you’d smile and make jokes, you were a social butterfly. sometimes, though, he’d catch himself feeling slightly jealous if the person working was getting a little too caught up in your words and getting a little too lost in your eyes. your words were for him to get caught up in, a soundtrack he’d play over and over if he could. and your eyes were for him to peer into, for him to wonder if the brain inside your head was made of something different to make you this enchanting.

but then you’d always look back to corpse and you’d give him a smile that was reserved for only him. a smile that no one else was lucky enough to witness. it was a smile that was made out of the genuine love you felt only for him. one that said, it’s okay, i’m with you, i’m yours. and he’d feel better. how could he not when that sunshine you radiated made it’s way into him and made him feel brighter.

"what’d you decide on?” he always asked you this. even though he’d just heard your thoughts leading up to your final decision. but he still liked to hear you answer him at a normal level, when you were actually engaging in conversation with him and he wasn’t just overhearing your spoken thoughts with yourself.

he wasn’t often surprised when you told him of your order, because of how much he already had listened to you. but tonight you did say something that surprised him.

“it comes with cooked carrots, but i just won’t eat them.”

“you love carrots?” he questioned, because he thought he was so sure of this. it was often a snack you had some days during sometime in the mid afternoon to tie you over until dinner. and you wouldn’t just eat one either, you’d eat about three or four. in fact, there’d been multiple times he’d told you if you ate that many carrots you wouldn’t be hungry for dinner.

“i do, but only fresh.” you answered him. “i hate cooked carrots.”

“are they not the same-”

“no!” immediately you cut him off, and instantly he was entertained. he knew right away this was going to turn into you going off on a tangent. you often would get oh so passionate about topics that didn’t require any actual level of passion, but oh how he loved to sit and listen when your words ran off with your fire fuelled personality.

you continued on, “don’t even finish that sentence! they are not the same thing at all.”

corpse remained silent, instead, he moved to place his elbows on the top of the table to rest his head in his hand, to really show he was paying attention. this was for both you and him, he knew your love language was quality time and that meant you wanting undivided attention and for him, he was too excited to learn this new found information about you.

“first of all, i would like to know who was the first person who even decided to cook a carrot.” and so you began. “they’re literally perfect with how they are already.” you took a deep breath in and corpse had to fight off a laugh. “they’re the perfect amount of crunch, the perfect amount of fresh, the perfect shape to hold as you eat it, the perfect size to go in your mouth, it’s always satisfying to chomp through a carrot.” you were talking with your hands, lifting a finger each time you mentioned something you loved about carrots. then you paused, holding your hand up to signal you were going to continue after you took a quick sip of water.

apparently you really meant business about carrots. and as he watched you drink the water, he wondered how on earth could he have missed this breaking update that you didn’t like cooked carrots? he wondered why he hadn’t picked up on it during all of his time of watching you read through menus.

“like, who ate a carrot in its natural and best form and thought, this is so great, i love carrots, now i’m going to try and ruin it!”

“ruin it?”

“yes, ruin it, corpse!”

“i don’t think they intended to ruin it.”

“well they did! and for what?” you questioned out loud, but corpse knew it wasn’t for him to answer, you were questioning the universe. “what was the point of ruining carrots? a food that was already so perfect, it’s so dumb.”

for a second, he thought you might have finished right there, but you didn’t.

“and the fact that it gets cooked in so many different ways? like, stop! no one asked you to do that.” you huffed, and he smiled. you were talking about carrots of all things, but he was going to listen to every word you said. “like, find me one person who prefers cooked carrots over normal carrots? you can’t!”

“i bet i could.” corpse only said this to will you on further.

“no you couldn’t!” how easily you argued against his words and he did laugh that time, but you still weren’t finished talking about carrots. “and if you ever do, you better run for your life because that person would be a serial killer.”

he continued to laugh and you knew you were being overdramatic, but you had accepted a long time ago, that, that was a very definitive part of your personality. it was a part of you that corpse had come to adore when it came out like this.

“carrots are perfect, like, truly an ideal food. and i will never forgive whoever was the first person who ever cooked a carrot.”

“what if it was me?” he couldn’t help but to say, his tone a little teasing.

and there it was that again, that smile of yours. “maybe i’d consider, but it would be a hard battle to win me over.”

#corpse #corpse husband #corpse x reader #corpse husband x reader #corpse imagine #writing #mine #request #Anonymous #answered

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xmint-conditionx · 4 years ago

Text

art on exhibit | myg + jhs feat. knj

pairing: sugardaddy!hoseok x fem!reader, ceo!yoongi x fem!reader, brat!reader, sub!reader, dom!hoseok, dom!yoongi w/c: 5k but i feel like it should be so much longer for some reason smh summary: you and your sugar daddy, hoseok, are big fans of exhibitionism, but this is the craziest you’ve ever taken it. most of his prestigious party guests are jumping to get to get their hands on you. will you be able to handle it? tags/cw: 18+ please, smut, exhibitionism, voyeurism, remote controlled vibrator, almost reaching limits, spanking, marking, biting, ball gag, degradation (slut), praise, punishment, crying, light oral (f recieving), public humiliation, rope play, shibari, suspension, almost like being pimped out but u like it?, open relationship, hoseok is sort of protective tho, overstimulation, subspace, the orgasm nearly kills you, this one is real nasty, namjoon is just a guest appearance tbh but maybe later he doesn't have to be???

a/n: this thing has given me so much trouble by not appearing in tags. it didn't the first time i posted it on the old blog, and it hasn't been showing up this time either, so please feel free to give this one some extra love. also, honestly, i was sitting on this idea for a long! time! before i actually wrote it out. if i was spaced out in my last class of the day, i was probably thinking about this. i am almost proud and almost ashamed to share this with you all, lmao cause it's honestly a huge fantasy of mine. i’ve been really wanting to do a sugardaddy!hoseok thing for a while, and if you guys like this, then i think i can add more to the story. alright, y’all stay nasty. enjoy!

The ropes dig into the skin of your thighs ever so gently, and you close your eyes to listen to the din of the party that surrounds you. Guests only arrived 30 minutes ago, and you’re already dripping wet. This isn’t the first time you and Hoseok have done exhibitionism, but this is the farthest it’s ever been taken. Men and women in their best black tie attire surround you, glasses of his most expensive champagne in their hands. Not all of them are looking at you; some are too bashful to acknowledge your existence. Some only sneak glances when they think nobody else is looking. Few have come up and examined your entire naked frame, suspended from Hoseok’s ceiling in the middle of his entertainment space.

They’re examining you as if you were a piece of fine art; just another pretty and peculiar object that Hoseok has collected. You’re placed among some of his other art pieces - some Pollocks, some Dalis, some Picassos, and one O’Keefe - and somehow, you feel like you fit. That’s what Hoseok had said anyway. That since you were one of the most beautiful things he’s ever seen in his life, he wanted to feature you as the work of art you are. He chose to display you in his favorite way.

Red shibari rope surrounds each of your legs like a cage before confining your hands behind your back. The rope trails over your torso and is twisted and knotted around your exposed breasts, but not tightly. Just enough to accentuate your natural shape. Your legs are tied so that they remain apart, one held higher than the other to leave you fully exposed. Your stomach is facing the floor, but not entirely; Hoseok has tied you so that you’re almost lounging comfortably there, suspended in midair. The lines of rope flow with the form of your body, and even though all of your weight is pressed down onto them, the ropes are the soft and luxurious kind - no doubt expensive - that make you feel as though you could be floating instead.

Just then, your attention is jolted to your cunt, where his favorite black remote control vibrator has just been triggered. You clench around it, and your moan is muffled by the ball gag that is secured over your lips. When you open your eyes, he is standing solidly in front of you.

His black button up shirt and jacket combination is draped over his shoulders beautifully, and his shiny brown hair is parted in the middle. He looks incredible. Radiant. Sinful.

“You looked bored,” he says with a little smirk as he continues to let the vibrator run inside of you, “and we can’t have that… Perhaps I should turn it up.”

He twists a small knob on the remote and the vibrations steadily rise in frequency until they’re as high as they can go. A semblance of a scream escapes your lips behind the gag. You begin rocketing toward climax, but Hoseok knows you and your body too well. Just as you begin to feel the tingles spread over your body, he shuts it off, and your muscles immediately go lax from being tensed up and ready to come.

He laughs softly as you pant, and then takes a quick look around the room.

“You seem to have gathered some attention. That’s my good girl.”

Without another word, he pockets the remote, and you watch how his ringed fingers delicately pick up a flute of champagne from one of the server’s tray tables. Then he simply walks away. His immaculately shiny black shoes gently thud on the marble floor as he makes his way through the crowd, to presumably some other obscenely rich friend of his.

You feel a small amount of saliva about to peak over your bottom lip. You’ve been good about swallowing everything but it seems your denied orgasm has made you forgetful. Moments later, a small thread of your own spit runs out of your mouth and onto the floor. You know that you have been dripping from the other end too, and you wonder if any of the guests have just seen you drool on yourself.

As if to answer, Hoseok comes back from behind you and grabs you by the jaw. His face lights up when he confirms that you have made a mess of yourself. He turns to one of his guests and speaks.

“See, Namjoon?” he says, tilting your head up toward his guest so that he can see, “She’s incredible.”

You meet eyes with the guest, and put on your best innocent look. You love how a blush starts to creep up into his cheeks, and how his pillowy lips part slightly. Even though you’re bound from head to toe and easily the poorest person here, you feel like you’re the most powerful person in the room. The guest clears his throat and turns his attention back to Hoseok.

“How much was your price?” he asks.

Hoseok looks down at you, and a smirk begins to form on his plush lips.

“1,000 US Dollars. Per second,” he says, “Which charity will it be, then?”

You’d been the one to come up with the idea for the proceeds from the charity fundraiser to be benefitted by getting to control the vibrator. Hoseok loved it.

“Your education charity,” he says, “and I’ll take 30 seconds.”

Hoseok nods, “Do you want to go ahead and write the check now or do you want me to keep a tab running and let you know at the end of the evening?”

The tall man considers this, and looks back at you for a moment before answering, “keep it open, will you?”

“Alright, Mr. Kim. All yours,” Hoseok says as he fishes out the device from his suit pocket before turning to you, “Be good, you hear me? Don’t come until you have been given permission by either Mr. Kim or myself. Understood?”

You nod frantically as you watch the remote being transferred from Hoseok’s hands to Namjoon’s. The earlier flustered man turned more confident once he held the little black fob in his palm - quite a large palm now that you look at it closely. It would look so nice trailing up your thigh, you think. You look up at Namjoon and convey a pleading look, one that silently asks for mercy.

He does not give it.

With a small grin, he turns on the vibrator, and you scream (or try to) at the suddenness of the sensation. He spends his entire 30 seconds with the device in your pussy at full speed, and you can’t hold back your groaning. You clench around the bullet, and when his time is up, you feel beads of sweat starting to form on your brow from the exertion. You’re left a panting mess in front of him, Hoseok, and every other guest that has turned to watch you squirm.

Namjoon’s satisfied smile and nod encourages others in the room to have a turn. Before long, you see a few more guests make their way over to where you are hanging. This time it is a group of women.

“Hye-jin!” Namjoon exclaims, before he hugs the woman and offers a short to the three others that come over with her. She’s dressed in the most beautiful black form fitting dress you’ve ever seen. Her hourglass figure sways captivatingly in the gown, and you’re momentarily mesmerized by her figure. You look up at her and she’s smirking down at you; you were too distracted at the way the large jewels on her necklace fell over her collarbones to realize that they were already discussing you.

“I should have known it would be you to break the ice,” she says playfully to Namjoon, who just presses his lips together in resignation as he puts his hand to the back of his neck.

“How’s the comeback?” he asks casually, as if there isn’t a fully naked and exposed woman suspended in front of him. His ability to be so casual while you’re at the edge of your sanity shoots a ping of arousal through your body. You shiver slightly, and you catch Hoseok looking at you out of the corner of his eyes. He’d never admit it, but he cares about you a lot. You can tell he’s checking to make sure you aren’t getting ready to start snapping your fingers- the safe action you’d both agreed on to release you from the ropes and send you into his master suite. Even when he had walked over to find Namjoon, you know even then he wasn’t out of sight or earshot from you.

He had a clean and plush robe stowed away in the closet nearby, and was always ready to release you should you want to be. You’d worked together before the event to set up a space in his suite to go should you need to retire for the evening, and you caught him setting a hoodie of his on the side of the bed where you typically sleep. You’d always playfully taken them, either to flirt or to wear it (and only it) to encourage a round two. But he had never deliberately set one of them aside for your use. He knows you won’t be using it to flirt or to rouse him into more sex, so his little efforts to bring you as much comfort as possible had set alight something in your heart.

He really did take pride in taking good care of you. As a good sugar daddy should.

You’re yanked back to reality when the vibrator starts up again. You clench around it and feel a gush of wetness surge out at the sensation of it going at full blast. Just when you become used to the speed and lower your whining, you open your eyes to see the woman holding the remote this time, grinning down at you with full lips. She meets your gaze and turns it up all the way, which makes you tense up every last one of your muscles. The woman next to her with long, light hair and a wicked gaze, whispers something to her while eyeing you up and down. It then occurs to you that you weren’t paying attention and don’t know how much time she purchased.

As the seconds tick by, they feel like hours. With the device at full speed, you feel yourself closing in on a climax, and so you squeeze your eyes shut and brace yourself for the orgasm that is about to rip through your body…

She turns it down to the lowest setting and watches as you groan at the second denial crushes you. More saliva drips down your chin as she switches it off, leaving you with only the beads of sweat that cling to your skin.

“Thank you, Hoseok. Worth every penny,” Hye-jin says, handing the remote back to him.

Hoseok beams his thousand-watt smile at her, and congratulates her on both the success of Maria, her solo album, and then thanks her for her donation.

She thanks him in return, and both women walk back into the crowd. Namjoon has also gone, which just leaves you with Hoseok again. His eyes meet yours for a moment, and you see a fire in them that you’ve never seen before. You’re dangling about waist height, and you can’t help but to look down from his face to try to see if you can make out a bulge. You don’t get time to really look, because as soon as you break eye contact, he moves to your back and smacks your ass cheek hard. A loud thwack echoes throughout the large space, over the din of the partygoers. You inhale sharply at the sting, and let your breath back out in a long groan, drawing the attention of more guests. You knew that the champagne would loosen inhibitions eventually.

You hear the footsteps of a couple other guests walking toward you from behind where Hoseok stands. You crane your head to try to see over your shoulder, but they stand just out of your peripheral vision. They’re talking in low voices, and you can’t make out what they’re saying. You wish you could swing yourself around and look at them, but knowing that the only thing they can see of you is your dripping cunt, you’re not so mad.

You feel a hand on your thigh, a touch you’re familiar with. You know it’s Hoseok’s hand, as he gently trails up your inner thigh, purposefully teasing you. An involuntary shiver runs through your body and you can’t help but to whimper slightly. You hear a man’s chuckle, and then he’s speaking, again too low for you to hear.

Hoseok uses his grip on your inner thigh to spin you around so that you’re facing the group of men. Namjoon has come back, this time with what appears to be a friend in tow.

“Baby girl,” Hoseok’s voice says gently, and you look up to meet his gaze, “Yoongi here has just asked if he may touch you.” Your eyes widen at the thought, remembering how just Hoseok’s hand trailing up your thigh had your toes curling. You look up at the new guest, and see only a cold and stone-like expression. His eyes seem to bore right through you, and directly into your cunt. You’re momentarily mesmerized under his heavy stare, before you slowly nod your head.

“Yoongi here has just generously donated one million dollars to one of my charities, so do you know what that means?” he asks you, not expecting an answer, “How long is one thousand seconds?”

“Sixteen minutes and 40 seconds,” Yoongi says, not breaking eye contact from you, “If I’m correct.”

If your mouth could drop, it would. Namjoon, looking up from his phone, just nods nonchalantly.

Hoseok asks the man what he has asked everyone else: if they would like to keep a running tab or if they would like to write a check now. Yoongi reaches into his back pocket and pulls out what you assume to be his checkbook. With rings glittering in the lighting of the room, his hand swiftly fills it out. He rips it out and extends it to Hoseok.

“I won’t be needing more time.”

His cool confidence in saying this small phrase makes your stomach drop.

Hoseok grips your chin and tilts your head up. “Remember, baby girl, don’t come until you’re told to. You want to be on your best behavior for Mr. Min. Trust me.”

He speaks sternly and then releases your jaw, trailing his hand back to stroke your messy hair, before settling on your two hands secured behind your back and giving them a light squeeze. A silent reminder of your out, should you need it.

This Yoongi must be… a force to be reckoned with.

“Your time starts now,” Hoseok says, tapping his phone screen. You squeeze shut your eyes and brace yourself for the abrupt shock of the vibrations, but seconds pass, and they don’t come. You gingerly open your eyes and look up at the man standing above you, toying with the remote. He regards it with vague interest, and then he flicks up his eyes to look at you. Your heart stops for a moment, as he begins to rake his onyx eyes over your body. He purses his lips slightly and begins walking around you, all too slowly.

Even though he has disappeared from your view, you can feel his eyes on you. Your anxiousness grows as he remains out of your sight longer, and this is no doubt intentional. It seems as if he picked up your unease earlier when he first approached.

This guy is good.

You’re so on edge, that the light vibrations that begin in your cunt still surprise you. He turned the vibrator on to its lowest setting, but these low and slow vibrations still make you have a sharp intake of breath. He finally arrives back to your front and seems pleased at your reaction. He squats down so that his face is level with yours.

“What a good girl you are,” he muses, lips parted, tongue playing with the inside of his cheek, “I hope Hoseok here treats you well. You seem… pent up.”

At those last two words, he revs up the vibrations slightly, causing you to let out a small moan. He stands and puts the remote in his pocket. You watch as he gently rolls up his sleeves to the elbow, his forearm flexing as he fixes them. Your hungry stare betrays you.

“Is she always like this?” he asks Hoseok, almost laughing at you. “God, she’s desperate.” He looks at you. “Does Hobi not fuck you enough, little girl?”

Your eyes widen at the implications, and you furiously shake your head no, trying to convey as much as you can with your eyes alone. He just chuckles.

“Loyal,” he says, “I like that.” He looks back up at Hoseok. “Is your agreement exclusive, or is there room in her life for a second... benefactor?” You look up at your sugar daddy, eyes wide with what he might say. He’s just standing there, arms folded over his chest, as if he were discussing the weather or the stock market.

“I’m afraid she’s all booked up for the foreseeable future, unfortunately,” he says cooly but firmly, a little bit of edge to his voice.

“Pity,” Yoongi says, taking a step toward you, “I could think of a million good ways to take up her time.”

“You’ve got 14 minutes left,” is all Hoseok says in response, a definite sharpness to his tone. You’ve only heard this type of voice from him when you’re being particularly bratty. You rarely hear him this stern.

The vibrations quicken slightly, and you can tell from your frequent use that the device is at about its medium speed.

Yoongi takes his hand and reaches out to your back, and with a featherlight touch, begins to trace next to where the ropes lie. He keeps working down your back, and gently trails down your bare ass cheek and ghosts against your pussy. You can feel the heat from his hand, impossibly close to touching you. You hold your head back and try to look at him as you whine out a plea.

“Eyes straight ahead, little girl,” he says, and you comply reluctantly, flopping your head forward dramatically as you sigh. His hand grabs hold of your thigh, and squeezes it so hard you’re sure you’ll find a bruise there in the morning. “And lose the attitude.”

You whimper as he releases your thigh, and goes back to delicately running his fingertips up to your core. He stops just short of your cunt, and you desperately want him to just touch you. You flex your back and buck your hips in order to push yourself onto where you know his hand is. Your clit makes contact with his hand, and as soon as you feel it connect, you feel it missing. Not even a moment later, a sharp sting spreads across your ass, and you clench around the vibe.

“What a greedy little slut you are. Do you always misbehave this much?”

You turn your head back to look at him, and as you meet his eyes, you can see he begins to fume.

“Namjoon, keep her head straight. Someone's not listening.”

You turn your head back around and Namjoon is quickly grabbing your jaw firmly in his hand. Your eyes meet his, and his earlier show of no mercy seems to still be intact. You feel Yoongi’s hand soothe the soreness he just created, only to once again reel back and give the same spot another firm smack, just as hard as the first one.

You cry into the ball gag and the shockwave from his hit sends you slightly swinging forward into Namjoon’s belt. Even though the vibrator is only at medium speed, you feel yourself beginning to get close to a climax. Your moans get longer and higher, and your body tenses to prepare for it. You hear Yoongi behind you.

“Don’t.”

You know exactly what he means. You focus on your breathing and furrow your brow in an attempt to stave off your orgasm. It’s working, but barely. He turns up the vibrations and you cry out again, your head shaking as much as Namjoon’s firm grip will allow.

“Don’t.”

You distance yourself from the situation, distracting yourself with thinking about schoolwork. The essay you’re currently writing. How the rough draft needs to be done by tomorrow night. You need three more in-text citations to make --

His hand is against your clit, and he’s rubbing at an agonizingly slow pace, with just enough pressure for you to want more. You inhale sharply and work harder to distract yourself.

You have two of the quotes picked out, but you need to finalize the third one to really hammer in your point. Maybe you can spend tomorrow morning reading --

His lips graze over the ass cheek he tortured earlier, your smarting skin responding sharply to the gentle contact. He gives you a soft kiss, and then you feel a sharp pain as he sinks his teeth into your already ruined ass.

Your eyes fly open and you make desperate eye contact with Namjoon, trying to show him that you can’t last much longer. Thankfully, this Namjoon is a perceptive man, and he looks from you to Yoongi.

“She can’t take much more, Yoongi.”

“Good,” he says, breath grazing over where he just bit as he speaks. “Come, slut.”

For the first time tonight, your orgasm peaks and rips out of you. Your whole body trembles with the sensation, and you feel his pressure on your clit increase to see you through. The orgasm is hard, and long, and it leaves you with tears streaming down your cheeks, mascara running wildly. You’re coming down slowly, and you feel his hand pull away. Before you realize it, he is standing in front of you again. Namjoon releases you, and your head hangs lifelessly as you pant.

Yoongi stands directly in front of you again, and you find yourself staring at his expensive shoes. You’re completely spent. Post orgasm bliss spreads throughout your muscles, and then, a slight discomfort. You realize what it is: the vibrator is still going.

You squirm lazily and whine at the sensation, it being too much. Yoongi squats down and gently lifts up your head by the chin. Your exhausted eyes meet his, and he clicks his tongue.

“Aw, are you all sensitive now?” he asks gently, in an almost patronizing tone. You don’t care. You nod sleepily.

“Is the vibrator too much, little girl?” You nod once more, eyes fluttering shut.

“Then use your safeword gesture,” he says, almost as if it’s a dare. "Go on. Snap."

If he’s not done with you, then you’re not done. You open your eyes and look directly at him as if to say “challenged accepted.”

Without moving his eyes from yours, he cranks up the vibrations until you’re whimpering again.

“Six more minutes,” you hear Hoseok say from beside you.

“Plenty of time,” Yoongi replies without skipping a beat. “I think we can get three more in. One every two minutes? Surely a slut like you will have no problem with that, since you wanted to come so badly earlier.”

You groan at the ache in your cunt, and at the slight displeasure the vibrator is causing. Yoongi stands again and walks back behind you, and this time you know better than to move your head to look.

Soon the vibrations begin to feel pleasurable again, and you’re having a hard time keeping your moans quiet.

“Atta girl,” you hear Yoongi say from behind you, “Your next one’s already coming isn’t it? You greedy little thing. You’re going to ruin Hoseok’s nice floors with your slick. And in front of all these people?”

Just like that, you’re reminded that you have an audience. Quite a large one. You open your eyes to see just about every guest’s gaze glued to your straining form. The heat bubbles in your abdomen as your next climax rushes toward you.

“You may come again,” is all Yoongi says as you’re thrown off the edge again. As soon as you begin to recover from this one, he ups the vibrator to full speed. You scream into the ball gag at the overstimulation, and cry out as tears spill out of your eyes. It’s entirely too much, but you love it. Before you realize it, another orgasm rips through your body, almost as if it were a continuation of the last one.

He doesn’t miss this though, and spreads your ass cheeks apart so he can get a better view. At this point, you’re not sure if you can do another one. You feel as though you might pass out if you come again. But the overstimulation is so overwhelming that you can only think of reaching one more high. You tense your entire body and try to get another one, but your muscles are so spent that you can’t stay tense for long. After a few more tries, you just sigh and hang limply, your limbs heavy and tired. You hang on the edge of climax, being able to see the other side, but not being able to go there.

Mascara tears stain your cheeks from exertion, and you are well and truly spent. You give up.

But you don’t snap your fingers.

Yoongi fastens his lips over your aching clit, and sucks. Just like that, you feel your orgasm building again so you clench, desperately trying to claim it; this time, you reach it.

It tears through you like a slow strike of lightning. You feel yourself shaking as it takes its time fracturing within you. It grows white hot in your belly, and it’s as if every cell in your body has been burned alive. All of the energy you have left is spent thrashing in the ecstasy of your orgasm, and for a few seconds, you know nothing else but the pleasure.

You find yourself deep in subspace, practically dead to the world. You don’t even have the energy to open your eyes. You barely register Hoseok as he begins untying the ropes around your hands, getting assistance from both Namjoon and Yoongi. You feel his hands as he releases your ball gag and caresses your face as he asks if you’re okay. You give the tiniest nod, and he wraps your limp form tightly in his arms as the two men finish unwrapping your legs. He swoops down and sweeps your legs up to carry you bridal style away from the party.

The next thing you know is the soft and cool silk of his sheets enveloping you as he lays you down. You exist there for a time, every nerve ending in your body tingling as you drift off.

You wake some time later to hear quiet chatting. You inhale and breathe in the musky scent of Hoseok’s favorite cologne. You find yourself curled around the hoodie he left for you. As you slowly open your eyes, you can just make out the time on the nightstand clock. It’s almost 3 AM; the fundraiser had to have ended over four hours ago. You breathe slowly and close your eyes again so you can focus on the voices in the room.

You hear Hoseok straight away; his tone is forever instantly familiar to you. The way his normal speaking rhythm is a little sloppy with alcohol. In reply is a voice you more recently became acquainted with. The voice who you last heard giving you permission to come. It’s a little bit more rough now, a Daegu accent slipping out in his intoxication. The third one takes you by surprise. A low and calm voice. Lower than you’d ever suspected possible, from hearing him speak this evening. Even still, Namjoon’s even tone is a rumble you can make out.

You sit up slowly, not wanting the blood to rush to your head. You were sleeping hard. Your dry mouth guarantees that. At your movement, the three men stop their talking and look over at you. Hoseok is the first to set down his glass and walk over to you. His black tie is gone and so is his jacket. His collar is wide open, showing off his tanned chest behind the many unfastened buttons. He gets on his knees next to the bed and reaches for your hands. Once he finds them, his brow is creased with worry, as he brings your hands up to his lips.

“Are you alright, baby girl?” he asks into your hands. You still have the weight of sleep over you, so you don’t respond right away.

“She had her gesture, Hoseok. She could have used it,” you hear Yoongi say, and you look in his direction. He sits with his legs spread, glass of whiskey hanging off of his fingers. Your eyes meet, and even though he’s trying to seem impertinent and uncaring, there’s a tinge of worry and guilt in his eyes. You glance to Namjoon and see that his worry is more plainly stated.

Hoseok caresses your cheek and turns you back to facing him. His eyes plead for an answer. So you give it.

“Yes,” you say, voice raspy, “I’m alright. I feel great, actually.” Hoseok visibly relaxes and you hear Yoongi across the room mutter an “I told you so” to Namjoon.

“He didn’t push you too hard?” Hoseok asks.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” you reply smugly, meeting Yoongi’s eyes, “But he did well and truly wear me out... Clearly."

You chuckle as Hoseok covers your hands in a million tiny kisses.

“Perhaps I do need to step my game up,” he teases, “I’ve never seen you so fucked out.”

“Nothing a good nap can’t fix,” you tease back. He smiles up at you, and you once again get lost in his brightness and warmth. “Mind if I join you all for a drink?”

“Of course not, baby girl,” Hoseok says, “I’ll go get your robe--”

“Don’t bother,” you say, wiggling into his hoodie and pulling the hood up and over your hair, “but you can go get me a glass.”

#bts smut #hoseok smut #yoongi smut #namjoon smut #yoongi x you #hoseok x you #namjoon x you #xmint-conditionx

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kyidyl · 4 years ago

Text

Kyidyl Explains Bones - Part 4.2

(These are all collected in the KyidylBones tag. Additionally, this is the second half of part four - please read the first half here, especially if you have questions or comments about the ethics of what I’m talking about here. I’m going to be leaving that out as this is a continuation of that post.)

Since I’m skipping the talking and ethical statements in this one, let’s just get right into the bones. As a reminder, this is about race determination in skeletal remains.

White/Caucasoid.

Female, front view. (Source)

Male, profile view (Source)

So let’s break this down in an orderly way (I will put the comparisons and stuff at the bottom in an orderly table for easy reference. Hell, this is partially for my own reference too bc I never remember this stuff off the top of my head.):

Eye shape and sharpness - This is easiest to see in the front view, obviously. White skulls that have stereotypically white features will have eye orbits that are technically called “square with rounded edges” (or as we call them in the nail world....sqoval.), but they sit at kind of an angle where they’re higher in the middle and lower at the lateral sides so most of us just refer to them as “aviator glasses” which I think is pretty funny of us. And although you obviously can’t feel it with your fingers, the borders of the eye sockets will be sharper.

Prognathism - As you can see from the bottom image, on a caucasian skull there is a low amount of prognathism. The chin is often behind the spine of the nose rather than protruding. European skulls have flatter faces, basically. Although this male has a bit of an overbite so the curve around his teeth is more severe than it otherwise might be. Generally speaking though, you’ll be able to draw a line from the nasal spine to the chin and not much will stick out past the line and the line will be straight. The “muzzle” area of the face is less pronounced.

Nasal Shape - This is actually mathematically determined by a measurement called the nasal index. It is the ratio of the height to the width multiplied by 100. European skulls have thin, tall noses, and you can see that illustrated pretty well in the woman above.

Nasal Sill - On caucasians, the nasal spine aka sticky-outy-bit at the bottom of the opening that you can see in profile is more pronounced. It sticks out further. This means that a caucasian skull will also have more guttering behind the edge of the sill. IE, if you stick your finger in its nose and run it along the bottom of the nasal passage, you will feel a distinct dip. Europeans have a distinct nasal sill.

Nasal Bridge - White have shorter nasal bones, and so the bridge of their nose is shorter in profile. It also usually has a more extreme curve in the area inferior to the browbone. This male actually isn’t a good example of that, because his nasal bones are long for a caucasian skull. Basically, our noses stick out further.

Unique skull features - None. Caucasian skulls are kinda boring TBH.

Next, we have black/African skulls. In the US especially this can be a lot harder to determine because of centuries of admixture with the white population:

This is a front and profile view of the same male, african individual. (Source)

Something you’ll start to notice as we go through this is that Black skulls and white skulls usually have opposite features and asian skulls are between these two extremes (Except for eye orbit shape. Here it’s Asian on one end and African on the other, with European inbetween.). If you think about geography here, it kinda makes sense. Anyway, the skull features:

Eye orbit shape and sharpness - African skulls tend to have eye orbits that are more square in shape, and often aren’t angled the way they are in whites. This individual’s are angled though so they’re not super stereotypical of what would be considered characteristic of African eye orbits. His are fairly square though. The edges of the orbits tend to be softer and less distinct.

Prognathism - African skulls are prognathic, meaning that they stick out the furthest. In this individual, you’ll notice that it isn’t just his teeth that stick out past the line because of an overbite, the entire upper part of the maxilla is curved outwards. African faces are much less flat than white ones. The “muzzle” area is more pronounced.

Nasal Shape - As you might expect, African nasal shapes are much wider and shorter than European ones. They appear a lot rounder, and this is something that’s fairly unique to them, especially if the individual has very stereotypically African features.

Nasal Sill - The nasal spine sticks out much less in an African skull - I’ve seen individuals who barely had one at all. Between that and the prognathism, the bone almost seems as if it stretches, and you see very little silling. So if you stick your finger up its nose you won’t have a sharp edge with a dip behind it in the nasal passage. Sometimes there won’t even be a sill at all. I actually found a really good image of this, but I don’t want to mess up tumblr’s list ordering, so I’ll stick it in below the list.

Nasal Bridge - Africans have flatter noses, and to accommodate this their nasal bones are longer and the curve that’s inferior to the browbones is much less acute. Their noses stick out less than that of Europeans’, and it’s something that is fairly consistent in their skeletal remains.

Unique racial features - Not many, but Africans do have something called a “bushman’s canine”. Now, I’m gonna be honest with you guys and tell you that I STILL have problems identifying this feature. This is despite the fact that I was taught dental anthropology by one of the dudes who basically came up with these guidelines. So on the bottom of the upper canines there is a bump of tooth enamel that is more pronounced on Africans than it is on other races. There’s a grading scale and stuff. You can read about it here. Now I found that by just googling Bushman’s canine, but one of the authors (Joel Irish) was my prof, lol. Here’s a picture of it, but actually the drawing in that paper above is better at illustrating the two opposite ends of the scale. I added the lines:

(Source)

In addition, here’s the image showing the nose shape:

(Source)

African skulls will also sometimes have stronger muscle attachment sites, but honestly there’s a lot of that part of anatomy that’s social so it’s not something you can use to ID them unless you know what they should be for the society you’re looking into.

Ok, so that’s African skulls done. Next up, Asian. As a reminder, Asian and Native American skulls are *extremely* similar. This is because they share common ancestors. This is also confirmed by their genetics (Native American genetics are super interesting, but that’s a whole other thing.).

(Source)

This is an Asian male.

Eye Shape/Sharpness - Asians and Natives have round eye sockets, and the edge of the socket is of middling sharpness. In addition, their cheekbones tend to be flatter and wider, so the combination of these things makes their skull shape pretty distinctive. Personally I find Asian and Native American skulls to be the easiest to ID, and a lot of these features persist through admixture, too.

Prognathism - Asian/NA skulls have a middling amount of protrusion. This individual has a distinct prognathism, but it’s honestly hit or miss. They can have it either way. Asian cheekbones tend to mitigate the visual effect though so it’s a bit harder to see without specifically looking for it in profile with a straightedge.

Nasal Shape - As you can see from this individual, the nasal opening is neither as tall as caucasians nor as wide as Africans. Again, this correlates to what you might expect given their phenotypes in life. Theirs are the most heart shaped, too.

Nasal Sill - This is another area where they fall between the “very pronounced” of whites and the “not at all pronounced” of Africans. This individual barely has a nasal spine at all, but does appear to have something of a sill that would be present if you felt inside the nasal passage for it.

Nasal Bridge - Same as above, it falls in between the two extremes in shape and length.

Unique Racial Features - This is why I think Asian and Native Skulls are the easiest to ID. They have some really interesting racial quirks i their skull anatomy. First off, they have what’s called a persistent metopic suture. When we’re all babies our forehead (frontal) bone is in two pieces, and then they fuse. The suture between the two is then obliterated, IE, completely healed and smoothed over. In Asians and Native Americans, this suture fuses but you can still see it:

(Source)

It’s a completely harmless genetic variant that runs in those racial groups. The second easy to identify feature is shoveling. On the back of the upper (Maxillary) incisors. It’s basically just a difference in shape; a border around the back of the tooth. It looks like this:

(Source)

And here is the scale we use to grade it:

(Source - heheh there’s Joel again.)

It’s found on the lower incisors as well, but it’s easiest to see on the maxillary ones.

The last easy indicator is found along the sutures along the top and back of the skull. The coronal (arc along the front like a crown), sagittal (top center) and lambdoid (where the parietals fuse to the occipital. It’s like a downward V on the back of your skull.) sutures can be what’s called simple or complex. In Africans and whites, the sutures are mostly simple. In Asians and Native Americans, it’s complex. What that means is that the wiggly line is so wiggly that it loops back on itself and forms extra small bones called wormian bones. Sometimes these bones can actually be very large and have names. Here’s what a skull with small wormian bones looks like:

(Source)

The bones with the star are the wormian bones, although there are other, smaller ones. Very large ones are called Inca Bones, after the population they were first identified in. They look like this:

(Source)

A and B are examples of Inca bones. They’re generally a harmless genetic variant.

Lastly, we’ll address aborigonal features:

(Source)

This is an aboriginal man. Aboriginal is a generalized term for any indigenous group, but in anthropology - and from what I can see most places - we use it to describe people indigenous to Australia and the surrounding islands. The reason why it is only sometimes considered a separate category is that it’s pretty localized, and the differences really come down to some special features. So here are the main differences you can look for to tell if a skull is aboriginal:

Large teeth. Aboriginal people have really big teeth. There’s no other way to put this, they just...they’re large.

Very pronounced browbone. As you can see above, the browbone is MUCH heavier on an aboriginal skull than on any other kind of skull. This is especially true for males.

Flatter chin. It’s called the mental protuberance, and on an aboriginal individual it is less prominent than on other individuals.

Large occipital bun. The occipital bun is the bit at the bottom back of your skull where your neck muscles attach. You can see it in the profile picture in the far right sticking out of the bottom of the skull. It’s especially pronounced in aboriginal people.

Ok, so there is one more important characteristic for judging race that I totally forgot to include yesterday, and that’s palatine shape. The dental arcade is the area of the maxilla that houses the teeth. Basically the top of your mouth. And as you, a human person, knows - it’s in the shape of an arch. But that arch varies in shape from race to race. And, what your probably don’t know from not seeing a bunch of skulls, is that there are sutures in there. Between 2-4, but even when you have two they bisect each other and look like 4. The shape of these sutures also varies from race to race. Again, it’s a harmless genetic variant that runs in various geographic areas. However, I’m going to elect to skip it because there’s already a LOT of info in this post and going into it with the depth it deserves would be a lot. Instead, I’m going to just summarize here for you all WRT the characteristics I’ve listed:

Eye sockets: White - Aviator glasses, rounded square, sharp edge. Black - square/rectangle, blunt edge. Asian & Native - Round, middling sharp edges.

Prognathism: White - little to no prognathism. Black - most pronounced prognathism. Asian & Native - varies between these two extremes.

Nasal Shape: White - tall and thin. Black - short and round. Asian & Native - in-between these two.

Nasal Sill: White - sharp nasal spine, deep well behind a sharp wall. Black - Little or no spine, smooth sill. Asian & Native - Varies between these two.

Nasal Bridge: White - short nasal bones, more extreme curve. Black - longer, flatter nasals, a much less extreme curve. Asian & Native - you guessed it...between these two extremes.

Unique racial features: White - None. Black - Bushman’s canine. Asian & Native - tooth shoveling, persistent metopic suture, wormian/Inca bones.

And that is it! The rest of this series shouldn’t be quite this sensitive with respect to the subject matter. Tomorrow is gonna be the archaeology of graves AKA how to dig up dead people. =D After that will be (in no specific order) age determination, height determination, and teeth. Maybe other things if I feel like it. If you have questions or requests, don’t hesitate to ask!

#KyidylBones #science #race #forensic anthropology #bioarchaeology #human remains #human anatomy #archaeology #anthropology #skeleton

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bro-ken-spoon · 3 years ago

Text

Finished Commission!

Hey guys! I did a commission for @maximum-ride featuring their OC's, which I'm posting here! If you like this and you'd like to commission me yourself, you can message me here or on Discord! I've been low on money while trying to find a second job, so I'd really appreciate it if you would consider commissioning me if you like this work! You can find my rates here! Even if you can't commission, taking the time to let me know you liked this or any of my works is so appreciated!

This was really fun to write, Avi and Lee my favorite of Marki's OC's, so I'm so happy they gave me the chance to write for them! Content Warning for medical whump, blood and gore, and implied death.

(Read the full story under the cut!)

Avi sort of recognized the figure that was appearing out of the haze before her. It was a figure she hadn’t seen in years, a familiar and comforting presence she hadn’t allowed herself to think about in...well, years.

Her mom. Then, behind her mom, taking shape as Avi’s eyes focused, her dad and brother followed. A feeling of excitement burst through Avi, better than she’d felt in a long time. She didn’t think she’d ever see her family again, and now they were right in front of her.

Avi reveled in that joy for a minute before her brain caught up with her. Why would her family be here now? Had they even looked for her when she’d been missing for years? She missed them, but even if they wanted her, she’d be a danger to them, wouldn’t she?

As soon as she had that thought, all three of them fell limp, blood seeping from matching holes in their foreheads.

Avi took off running. As she ran, the lab corridor took shape around her. The bodies of her family littered the ground around her. She could feel the hot tears on her face, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop running. She had to get out of the lab, she had to be free. She couldn’t take another second of it. Sounds and screams filled her head, but she didn’t focus on them. She burst through the door at the end of the hallway and-

She fell right onto an examination table. That wasn’t possible, how did the door lead there? She turned to look behind her, but she couldn’t move her head. It was strapped to the table, as were her arms and legs.

She didn’t recognize the faces of the people in lab coats. They seemed to blur as she looked at them. The only thing she could make out with utter clarity were their smiles, far too wide for their faces as they cut into her body. She tried to scream, but she knew it was futile. She hadn’t been able to scream in so long, but her muscles still remembered the movements for it. If she wasn’t in so much pain, she would have thought about the way her muscles remembered what her brain no longer let her.

But she was in pain. She watched as her intestines were outside of her body again. The amount of times her insides had seen the light of day amounted to a number higher than the amount of years Avi had lived a normal life.

She squinted her eyes, letting the remaining tears hit her cheeks. When she opened them again, she was alone. She didn’t really recognize her surroundings. Maybe she would have, but she couldn’t focus on them for long.

A familiar sound filled her ears. It was the loudest noise she’d ever heard. A bell. That bell. It continued to ring in her ears long after the initial sound, and she could feel every muscle in her body tense up. Sisko towered over her, dangling the bell over her head. It was bigger than Avi’s entire body. With a second, ear-splitting ring, Avi not only tensed up, but she felt the pain coursing through her entire body. It was emanating from her ribs, but it reverberated up and down her spine, leaving her unsteady on her feet. She collapsed.

Or, she should have collapsed, except the floor caved in beneath her, and she was just falling, falling, falling. Her stomach rose up to her chest and she gulped it back down. She tried to open her wings, but as she did, the feathers were falling from it. It started slowly, just one or two feathers floating above her, but then it was hundreds, flying up above her as she rapidly approached the ground. She started to panic, shaking her wings more and more until they finally fully opened, saving her just seconds before she hit the ground.

She flew right up to the edge of a cage. She turned around, frantically looking for a way out, when she came face-to-face with Verr.

Anger boiled through her. The betrayal she’d faced was still fresh in Avi’s mind, and Verr was just about the last person she wanted to see. Verr didn’t seem to care. She didn’t say anything, just reached into Avi’s chest (Avi hadn’t even realized her chest was open) and pulled out her heart, crushing it right in front of Avi’s eyes.

Everything went black.

------------

Avi woke up. She sat bolt upright in bed, panting heavily. The light of dawn was coming in slivers through the curtain in the bedroom. She looked over to find Lee, asleep on his side of the room. She was a little glad she couldn’t scream. It wouldn’t wake him up that way.

She dragged herself to the kitchen. Her hands were shaking badly, but it helped to see the outside world, to know she wasn’t trapped anymore. She tried to put on a pot of coffee, but she couldn’t move very well. Instead, she plopped down on the floor of the kitchen, letting her head droop down in front of her.

She didn’t know how long she was there before Lee stumbled his way into the kitchen.

“Avi?” he asked, the fear evident in his voice. Avi looked up quickly. She didn’t want him to be too concerned. “Are you alright?” She wondered why he was asking that, but quickly realized there were tears streaming from her eyes.

Her hands were shaking too badly for her signs to be legible, so she reached to the table and pulled down a notebook instead.

Nightmare

Her handwriting wasn’t the worst it had ever been, but it was barely legible. Thankfully, Lee could read it.

“Bad one, huh? I get those, too, sometimes.” He sympathized. He sat on the floor next to her and leaned against her. It was more comforting than Avi was expecting.

Fun fact about me: I can feel pain in dreams, apparently.

“Really? I haven’t had one that bad,” Lee said, and Avi could hear the worry in his voice, “Do you want to walk me through it? Would that help?”

Avi thought for a minute. Images from the dream flashed through her mind, but they were already fading. It was the memories she really had to worry about. She shook her head.

I just need to forget

Lee was silent for a moment. For a second, Avi thought she had hurt him somehow, but he took a deep breath instead.

“I wish I could forget, too. I sometimes wonder who I’d be if...y’know.”

Avi felt a pang in her chest. Hearing Lee say exactly what she was thinking really got to her. She didn’t want to live with this constant pain anymore. She didn’t want to never be able to speak again. She didn’t want to have nightmares every night that left her hands shaking and her chest tight.

“But I can’t dwell on that. And neither can you. Where would that get us, huh?”

Avi took a deep breath. She’d rarely heard Lee speak with such sincerity.

Lee, I shouldn’t be alive. I should’ve been one of the kids who didn’t make it. I should’ve

Lee, who was reading over her shoulder, stopped her before she could keep writing.

“And leave me all alone? You survived because we need each other, Avi. It’s never again going to be like it was when we were kids, but the only way we’re going to get through this and be okay again is if we stick together.”

How can I do that if I can’t even tell what’s real and what’s fake?

“You’ve got me for that. And when I need it, I’ve got you.” Lee said.

He paused as Avi looked at him, trying to search his eyes for any sign that he was lying or going to betray her. She didn’t find one. There was silence for a second.

Avi barely remembered what it felt like to be a kid. She wondered how her brother was doing and if he still liked to play video games late at night when he should be sleeping. She wondered if he ever found a new person to play with, or if her controllers were still stacked up in her room, untouched. She wondered if she and Lee would have been friends if they’d gone to the same elementary school, or if Will would have sat with them at lunch. If they’d been allowed to be kids, what kind of trouble would they have gotten into?

“Right now,” Lee said after a moment, “I can tell you that all of this is real. Our apartment, our stupid cat posters on the wall. I can tell you that I’m here for you. I can tell you that it’s 5:24 am, and that you and I are going to go grocery shopping tonight with no way the lab can catch up to us. I can tell you that at the grocery store, we can buy some nerf guns and a board game and act like kids as much as we want to tonight. And you know why I can tell you that?” Avi shook her head, “Because it’s all true. I don’t know what the future holds, Avi, but it’s not going to be like the past. The lab may have stolen our childhoods, but it doesn’t get to take our lives, too.”

Those last few words reverberated through Avi’s head. Lee was right. That kind of talk, the survivor’s guilt kind where she wished for her own death, wouldn’t get her anywhere. With that kind of talk, she was as good as dead.

Thanks, she signed after a moment, though her hands still shook slightly, I really needed that.

“No problem. I know you’ll do it for me, too.” Lee smiled at her, and it was a more genuine smile than she’d seen in years, on anyone. And Lee was right again. She would do it for him.

Could I get some help making some coffee? I don’t think I’ll be getting back to sleep. Avi asked after another pause. Lee nodded, standing up. He held out his hand to help up Avi as well. She took it, letting him pull her in a hug.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he said again, and Avi could feel tears forming in her eyes again, so she just nodded and took a deep breath, shaking the morning’s events from her head.

Avi tried to help out with the coffee, but she wasn’t helping much with her shaking hands. After a minute, Lee instructed her to sit down and he’d bring it to her. She didn’t need much convincing.

She sat down in the living room and began watching some TV. She didn’t pay attention to much of it. None of them had had access to a television in years, so they really didn’t know what was going on with any of it or who any of the stars were. Still, it was comforting to watch with the volume turned low, like a friend was in the room. If you don’t think you’re alone, you can’t flashback to being alone in a room with a dead person, Avi had figured out rather quickly. She spread a blanket over her and felt more relaxed than she had in a long time.

She was asleep before Lee brought the coffee back to her.

Lee sat the coffee on the side table next to her. The plain black coffee would be cold by the time she woke up, but Lee figured it was better to just let her sleep. He sat down next to her, hoping to offer her comfort for a minute before going back to bed, but before he knew it a wing wrapped around him sleepily, pulling him in for a tight hug. He was thoroughly stuck there.

Avi shifted slightly, opening her eyes just a bit.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Are any of us?

“No, but we will be.” Lee said, though Avi wasn’t awake to hear it, “We will be.”

It was the best sleep either of them had had in years.

#whump #lab whump #medical whump #OCs (not mine)#nightmares #hurt/comfort #my writing #seriously guys thanks for reading

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Blog Updates: New Patreon Stretch Goals, Patreon Exclusive Reviews, New Story Arcs and Other Stuff

MHello everyone. For those of you seeing this through other tags my name is Jake. I do reviews on here that are usually full sumaries of an episode of a tv show or comic, with jokes and analsyis throughout. I’m doing this post as i’ve recently revamped by patreon a bit, check out VIA THIS LINK if your curious. I also have some other stuff going on with the blog that I thought might intrest the general public and especially you lovely followers. Thank you guys so much. Your support means a lot and feel free to interact with this post and any of the reviews. it’s always a pleasure. Leave your comments whatever. So let’s start with the patreon stuff

You Decide the Next Patreon Exclusive Review!:

Yes YOU will decide the Patreon Exclusive review for May. How? It’s simple: i’m currently reviewing the Lilo and Stitch crossover episodes, the first two this week with the American Dragon Jake Long crossover “Morpholomew” done yesterday, the Proud Family episode “Spats” coming later this week, and “Rufus” (Kim Possible) and “Lax” (Recess) coming next week and the week after that respectively.

As a way to gage intrest in the shows crossed over, and if I should review some of them on their own, i’m going to be watching the notes, and after the first week i’ll record how many a review got. This way the first review dosen’t get an advantage over the last and so on. Whichever episode gets the most votes wins and it’s show will get two reviews: One exclusive to Patreon in may you can check out for just a buck, and one for all of ya in June. So if you want to dragon up, get louder and prouder, check out what the sitch is, or have some recess, keep an eye on my blog and check out the review. Like it reblog, it, both. This is all in your hands. And if this little contest works out I may do another one like it in the future.

New Patreon Stretch Goals!:

For those unfamiliar with Patreon it’s a site that helps creators like me get paid for their work, used by such luminaries as Linkara, Pushing Up Roses and greatest of all Rifftrax.

Stretch Goals are an amount of money I get a month from patreons, that’s readers like you paying me. Even a buck a month would help a lot and help me put out a reviews and LIVE off doing this. But it’s a two way street so in order to entice you lovely people into paying me for doing my job and my passion with these reviews, i’ve updated the tiers, adding a wider and better range of rewards. I’m currenntly up to 15 dollars a month, or close enough that i’ve acitivated those rewards. And if you help me hit these tiers EVEYRONE gets PUBLIC, on here, for free reviews. Thanks to my lovely patreons Emma and Kevin you all are getting reviews of the first 5 Ducktales episode, aka Legend of the Golden Suns, with the second coming as soon as I finish this post. Even a buck helps us reach closer and for your dollar you get access to the discord, exclusive reviews, and to pick a short any time I review a bunch of shorts. And with Goofy’s birthday coming up next montha nd Donald’s after that, now is the best time for that. 5 dollar patreons also get one review as month, with 10 dollar ones getting two. You’ve already probably seen some of these: Kev has used one of his a month to have me review a house of mouse episode every month, and newest patreon and longtime friend Emma is using them to have me review the netflix dr. seuss adaptation “Green Eggs and Ham”. So whatever YOU want me to review I will and you’l lhelp unlock even MORE great reviews. So what do you get if you hit the goals? I’m glad you asked.

We’re up to 15 so next is...

20 Dollar Tier: Ducktales 87 Season 2 Mini Series!: Yes indeedy. Already on the Docket was the Super Ducktales Arc, which introducices the OG GIZMODUCCCKKKKK. But since that apparenlty wasn’t enough i’ve also added the OTHER mini series. While i’ll do super first since that’s the one with higher fan intrest once tha’ts done i’ll also review Time is Money, the time travel arc bringing in everyone’s faviroite scrappy Bubba. So if you want a buncha cruncha retro Ducktales pony up. But that’s not all the disney afternoon I got for this tier.

A Darkwing Duck Episode A MOnth: This one has also been promoted every time I could and still stands. If you like that mind behind the shadow disguise, that daring duck of mystery, that champion of right, then you’ll get one review a month about him, as voted on by you patreons.

Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy: And since neither of these have helped me so far and stepping back into Amity Park made me realize how much I love the series, even if it’s creator is a 80 tons of smug asshole packed into a t-shirt he thinks is cooler than it is. So it only felt right to add the ghost boy to the tier and the best way to kick that off is with it’s second best, and only barely second behind Reign Storm, episode: The Ultimate Enemy! Danny finds his future is imperfect and must battle his own evil self! If you want my thoughts on one of the series finest hours, then help me hit 20 bucks a month to keep making content.

25 Dollar Tier:

I removed the Tail Spin content, though rest assured I will be covering Plunder and Lightning sometime this year. But what I replaced it with is even better.

One Danny Phantom Review a Month: YOu like teen superheros? you like ghosts? you like me slagigng off about butch hartman and trying to make it crystal clear his creation dosen’t wholly belong to him? Then you’ll like me reviewing Danny Phantom. And while i’m already doing that, this goal gaurantees one episode a month, and said episode will be voted on by my patreons. So if you pay for this you’ll not only get your monthly dose of going ghost.. but you’ll get a chance to PICK what it is.

Disney Shows To Movies Trilogy : I’ve decided to make it a tradition for my 15 dollar stretch goals to do a bunch of disney movies. And like with my last batch, which you’ll be seeing in may, i’m doing tv shows that got their own movies, theatrical or otherwise. And this time we’re doing MY generatoin: Kim Possible: So The Drama, the best story in the show’s histroy and the best movie in the Disney Channels! Recess: Schools Out! The suprisingly bonkers unsurprisingly awesome finale to an awesome show! and The Proud Family Movie, another UTTERLY BATSHIT finish to a great show. Lost at Sea and Seconds: This one’s for my scottaholics, fourth part of my Scott Pilgrim retrospective coming this week!. If you like me taking a look at Scott’s quest to punch the fuck out of his girlfriends exes while growing up a little, then if you help me get to the 30 dollar tier, i’ll also take a look at O’Malley’s other graphic novels Lost at Sea, which follows a girl who lost her soul and her boyfriend on a trip with what may be Young Neil’s older sister, and Seconds, the story of a woman with issues growing up who finds the ablitlity to travel through time.. or is it space? And some of you savvier readers my know he has nother comic. Where’s that one? wellllll

30 Dollar Tier:

Snotgirl: I’m saving this one for this tier. Reviews of each collected volume of snotgirl, Bryan’s first ongoing series, all three so far and any more to come about, unsuprisingly, a hot mess of a person, this time who might’ve done a murder. You know instead of defintely did a murder but in self defnese and with a longsword.

Gravity Falls Season 1!: One of Disney’s finest finally on this blog. All season 1 episodes reviewed in some way in some shape in some form. Star Vs Finale Arc!: You’ve heard me bitch about the problems in Tom’s story, and wil lcontinue to. Now see the terrible way everyone elses ends! From an amazing build up to an awful finish, see reviews of Every story relevant season 4 episode from Butterfly Follies to Cleaved that won’t already be covered in my tom retrospective. It’s a road to crushing disapointment, come on inside!

35 Dollar Tier: More Disney TV Adaptations!: Doug’s First Movie! See Doug get really fucking weird in his sea monster based movie with a punch line of a name! Teachers Pet, a great movie out of a show I barely saw! Kim Possible Live action! it’s suprisingly okay! and Recess Taking the Fifth: a compliation movie for a season we sadly never got.

Gravity Falls Season 2: Buillding on the first reward Gravity Falls Reviews will go beyond the first season and finish the job. From zombies, to dipcifica, to ford to weirdmageddon, I’m doin it all.

40 Dollar Tier:

Two HUGE Disney Focused Comics Retrospectives!

Darkwing Duck: In addition to the show, i’ll start reviewing the awesome follow up comic that got me into it. From the start to both finishes: the unathorized crossover finale and the sadly short lived sequel series from joe books, the worst mistake disney ever made that wasn’t racist, before Artemis Fowl said hold my beer. Also the short lived Ducktlaes series because why not.

The Incredibles!: The Family Dynamic! A comprehensive retrospective featuring reviews of the movie, the Mark Waid followup, the sequel that ignores said followup and the incomparable Christos Gage’s followup to THAT movie. Also that wonderfuly awful failed tv pilot bob made that he and lucius did a mst3k of.

45 Dollar Tier:

Disney Flims Lilo and Stitch a Thon: All four lilo and stitch movies, Lilo and Stitch, Lilo and Sitch 2, Stitch and Leroy and Stitch! All the hawaii, aliens and sequels you can handle!

Amphibia Season 1: I’ve done Season 2 as it comes out, i’ll be doing the same for season 3, so help me get here to see the start at least once a month, but two at a time!

50 Dollar Tier: The last one for now. I’ll probably go to 10 dollar tiers after this.

The Owl House Season 1: While I wait for the second season to start so I can cover it, have me do the rest of season 1! The only exceptions are the already covered Enchanted Grom Fright and the earmarked for pride month wing it like witches!

The Two Loves and 87 Mistakes of Mordecai: A regular show romancetrospective, as we go through the downs, ups, higher ups and crushing lows of Modercai’s romantic arcs from regular show. His crush on margert, making his move, moving on, moving on to cj, and then the horrible cluster fuck I’ve talked about nonstop and will again and again as one of the worst romantic arcs in memory as they shot the relationship in the foot head and groin! Force me to relive it all!

So yeah I’ll add more tiers, again probably 10 dollars apart if I get to 50, but given I barely got to 15 i’m not optimistic. PROVE ME WRONG. HELP ME HIT 50.

Other Stuff:

Finally outisde of Patreon, that was the main reason for this, I have news on my various arcs. For one thing i’ll be trying to keep the pace better, so expect at least one entry a month for ones i’m doing on my own time like the tom retrospective, life and times and Scott pilgrims. Ones kev does will be done weekly to keep my wallet afloat.

I also have two more retrospectives incoming! The first is paid for by Kev: I’l lbe tackling ALL THREE SEASON 2 ARCS OF DUCKTALES 2017. After the headache of trying to cram the della arc into three weeks to keep up with the lena one, I decided i’td be better for pacing if I did all three at once and kev agreed to it, if using his patreon reviews to cushion the blows. So starting next month i’ll be covering the Louie, Della and Glomgold/Owlson arcs, swapping between them in episode order. With that I should be FAR closer to having covered every ducktales episode. Granted i’ll still have 17 to cover, but it’ll make that much more managable.

The second comes in June specifically timed for Pride Month. With Scott Pilgrim Wrapping up in August just in time for the movie’s anniversary, I decided to start covering another one of my faviorite comics of all time. It’s time to transform, roll out and make this precoius it’s Transformers More than Meets the Eye! For those of you unfamiliar it’s an idw comic that follows a rag tag group of transformers, about half of them gay or gay coded, on a mission to find the lost knights of cybertron and bring ballance to a post war cybertron.. which quickly devloves into hyjinnks with a side order of heartrending deaths and charcter development... and references to dexy’s midnight runners.

So that’s all for now. thank you for reading, please support my patreon as the next pay term is at the start of next month, so if you want me to start on any of those stretch goals, nows the time. Please help me earn a living and until all are one, i’ll see you at the next rainbow.

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peachyteabuck · 4 years ago

Text

under cover of darkness

summary: a 24-hour convenience store, the night shift, and the man who gets you through day.

a commission for @lovelycarose

pairing: eliot spencer x reader

words: 5510

trigger warnings: mentions of a break-in with canon-level violence, fluff, mentions of an unspecified chronic pain disorder

ask box / masterlist / commission info / ko-fi

There are some good things about the night shift. It’s easier to balance classes and your precarious mental health, plus the pay wasn’t terrible – a few extra bucks per hour were thrown your way after eleven and before five.

So you kept with it, one earbud in so you could listen to music while the hours ticked by at a pace so slow it felt like some supervillain had not only completely frozen time – but was also determined to thaw is at room temperature.

That was another thing about the night shift – the customers. It was mostly regulars, or tourists who forgot something at home but didn’t want to spend airport prices for a travel sized container of deodorant. None of them really stick out, none interesting enough to stick in your brain for long as you mindlessly pack their various items into white plastic bags.

That is, until he starts coming in. Tall and impossible big – it’s hard not to marvel at him as if he was a breathtaking skyscraper, like you had never seen something so magnificent. His flowing dark brown hair, his tight jeans…it’s all nearly too much for eleven-at-night-you. (Also for “I haven’t had sex in so long and I think I’ve eroded the ridges on my vibrator from using it so often and holy shit I would do anything to have that man under/above me” you, a you only made stronger and more desperate by how late it was and tired you were.)

He walks around with the confidence not often seen in newcomers, your eye used to college students too drunk to stand up perfectly straight. You’re used to people stumbling around with eyes-half closed, rubbing their temples as the bright white lights feel like cheese graters shaped like ice picks against their already hurting brains. You’re used to watching them stumble around, using some Neolithic instinct to find the cool fridges where they’ll rest their faces against the glass for an oddly long amount of time before opening it up to grab as many Gatorades as they could hold before attempting to grab one or two (or five) frozen pizzas, never able to access the higher order thinking necessary to understand that maybe grabbing one of the baskets by the entrance is important.

Or, on the other end of the spectrum you’ve come to know as normal: soccer moms searching for alcohol for their husband’s post-game barbecue. Moms with large dark circles under their eyes who probably read (and watched) the Fifty Shades movie unironically but still feels weird when their husbands suggest having sex in any position besides missionary with the lights off. Moms who went to college just to meet some mediocre-looking frat boy who votes Republican just because his father did and thinks thirty seconds of oral is enough foreplay.

They don’t spend as much time in the store as the drunk/high students, but it’s still just as entertaining watching them grab the food and drink – but not before lingering in the makeup aisle, staring at bold shades of red and waterproof mascara and the bright hair dye whose advertisements have terribly applied photoshop.

No matter the type – no matter the customer – they were nothing like the man who stood on the other side of the store, staring intently at your soft drink selection. None of them were beefy men with crumpled grocery lists, permanently furrowed brows, and the most beautiful five o’clock shadow you’ve ever seen. None of them wear thick black work boots that make not a single sound as they walk around the store, none of them wear jeans that are so criminally tight around a perfect ass.

Not even a perfect ass – the perfect ass. It’s symmetrical, looking as if it was drawn by a pin-up artist in the 50’s whose specialty involves drawing super buff men in poses meant for petite, slender women with perfect curves. As he walks you half expect sparks to form on his backside as if you were in some kind of Anime, or for each individual cheek to bounce up and down on their own asynchronous accord. Normally you’d be terrified of being caught staring – of him turning around and catching your eye and mocking someone like you for having the nerve to be attracted to him.

But that doesn’t happen, because for once in your life the universe is kind to you. For once in your life you’re allowed to listen to music and stare dreamily at the hot guy who checks the ingredients on every snack dip option you have available before choosing three different ones with a small, disappointed huff.

You watch him with that same silent intensity as he fills the bright red carrier he grabbed without a sound when he first strutted in, the packaging of the items crinkling being the only way to track his location when he steps out of your eyeline. If your boss wasn’t the one on security cameras you’d be angling all of them to follow him around the store, your eyes hungry for another look at him at whatever angle and whichever quality you could get. You feel like a fangirl obsessed with some boyband, your heart rate determined by the amount of the mountain of a man you can see between displays of holiday-themed candy and cheap make up.

You’re not sure how long it is before he’s approaching your counter (time appears to have lost all meaning the second he stepped into the store), but whether it had been five minutes or five years, he still takes your breath away. As he steps closer you realize he’s fucking massive – something your grandmother (a wonderful woman, but one lacking when social situations called for, among other things, any kind of brain-to-mouth filter) would call a “shit brickhouse.” He doesn’t even need one of the baskets as he prowls the aisles – scanning every item like a lion watches the Sahara through tall grass. It’s hard to look away, to go back to the book you’ve been trying to read the same page from since long before the little automated bell above the door had announced the man’s arrival – but the only distraction before had been the tiny, exhausted voice in the back of your mind that was shaming at you for not sleeping before the night’s shift.

Now, though, the voice has quieted to allow your tired eyes to follow him, pupils tracing along every inch of him.

The man checks out without a word; shaking his head when you ask if he has a rewards card and paying in cash. When you give him $7.26 in change, your hands touch for a brief moment and you nearly stop breathing – lungs suddenly void of their capacity to hold air as sparks fly from his callous fingertips to the bottom of your spine. He pulls away, eventually, because he has to – depositing the totality of the meager amount of money you’d just handed him into the donation box plastered with facts about victims of domestic violence right next to your register.

The box is made of an opaque deep purple plastic, the coins making a loud clink sound as they crash into the near-empty container. The man stares at it for a moment, swallowing an apparent lump in his throat as his eyes go blank for a fraction of a second before he digs into his pockets and fishes out a thick wad of perfectly folded five dollar bills before stuffing them into the hastily cut slot at the top.

Neither of you say anything as he does so, you too stunned by his generosity and him too occupied with making sure he had no more money hidden in his pockets to try and muster some vague capacity for speech. Still, as he turns and leaves, you cough to clear your throat and call out a loud and slightly hoarse “thank you!” to which he just turns and gives you a small smile in return.

The moment between the pair of you is fleeting but still makes your heart beat rapidly in your chest, swelling until your lungs feel tight against your ribs as you struggle to breathe. Fuck, you think. You haven’t felt like this since middle school when Jamie told you that your Katniss braid was adorable and you followed him around for two weeks until he agreed to take you on a “date” during lunch. You don’t even know this man’s name and you’re fawning over him as if you have another girlhood crush.

God, you need to learn his name.

Luckily, you find out the next time that his name is Eliot, even though the name embroidered in red above the right pocket of his dirtied coveralls says “Evan” in a fancy looped script (whatever, you don’t question it. You regularly wore your roommate’s sweatshirt from her alma mater even though you didn’t attend the university – must be the same thing, right?). That time all he buys is hair ties and chapstick – lots of hair ties and chapstick, just another thing you don’t question – but stays to talk with you about the Robert Frost poem you were annotating.

“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening?” he reads aloud, smiling a little as he does so. “Is that for class, or…”

“It’s for class, but I’m liking it a lot more than the other obligatory readings for my degree,” you tell him a small laugh. “Do you enjoy poetry?”

Eliot shrugs as he grabs the full bags. “Oh, ya know. Just the occasional piece. You have a good day now.”

You smile as he walks toward the exit, butterflies pounding in your stomach once more. “You too!”

God, you think as he disappears from eyeshot. You’ve got it bad, girl.

He comes in again, irregular in each way except for the fact he arrives. Sometimes he’s clean cut, standing straight as he takes his sweet time wandering the store – as if he has nowhere to be, no need to rush around.

On those days, he buys a lot of things. Duct tape, orange soda, hair ties, sour candy in all shapes and colors. He makes conversation, asking about the book you’re reading or what you’re listening to, asking about your classes when you wear a jacket embroidered with your university’s logo on the front. On those days, he waits a little – even when all his items are bagged and there’s no real reason for him to stay – picking up on anything that would give him another thread of conversation to pull at.

“Something new?” he asks when you dogear one of the first few pages of a poetry book your friend had lent you.

“Yup!” you perk up just at the sight of him, cheery now more than you had been the entirety of the day now that he’s arrived. “Told a friend of mine about the assignment I was working on the last time you were here, and she shoved this anthology into my hands.”

You like those days – you look forward to them each time you step through the large door marked “EMPLOYEES ONLY” in large white letters that stand out against the incredibly depressing brown that’s been peeling since the day you interviewed here, spots covered sparsely by the maintenance guy who you’ve never seen. Those days are good, fun – they make you smile hours after he leaves and occupy your thoughts until you go to bed, sometimes even making it into the margins of your notebook when you’re zoning out in class.

Sometimes, though, he comes in nearly limping – at least one eye blackened and dark navy baseball cap pulled as far down his forehead as he can.

It scared you the first time, watching as he grunted with each step, every item he grabs from the shelves seeming like it pained him, his face scrunching into a wince each time he raises an arm above his ribs. You checked his items (bandages, ice packs, gauze, antifungal cream, a few first aid kits) with bated breath, terrified of making his mood worse.

It isn’t until you tell him the total, until you finally look up from your hands – that you finally look him in the eyes. They’re always warm like plate of freshly baked macaroni and cheese (and always make you feel just as gooey), but now appear to be clouded with a type of pain you can’t pin down. He doesn’t say much – or anything – as you bag his items, placing them gingerly into the paper bag as if it was an extension of him.

You try to keep a happy face throughout the entire ordeal, not wanting to push him in case what happened was particularly bad. Eliot gives you a similarly small, but earnest one in return – even if he barely hides the wince in his side as he does so.

But that was the first time things seemed a little off – your first time, specifically – and the others get easier as time passes.

At first, “easier” meant a return to days similar to the good ones – telling him things about your day as you ring up all his first-aid related items. He doesn’t respond with as much enthusiasm, doesn’t have the same witty banter – but gives you a small smile that you recognize nonetheless. But then, as the weeks bleed into months, you learn how to handle both the terrible days, the bad days, and the good days all the same.

It’s on one of the good days that he buys tampons, a piece of every kind of chocolate item you sell, and enough Acetaminophen to knock out a horse.

“Your girlfriend is very lucky,” you tell him, blushing as you bag the items. For a minute you think you’ve embarrassed him, crossed some line as a sickening silence grows between you two like mold on two-week old leftovers in a fridge that was turned off. It’s just as disgusting, too, which is why you’re so happy that he still gives you a small smile when you dare look up from where your scanner’s red line centers on the barcode of one of the tampon boxes.

“Nah, just,” Eliot’s plump lips look so kissable it makes your heart pick up. “A roommate, uh. She needs this. Her boyfriend is doing some game night thing and couldn’t pick it up. So I, uh. I got drafted.”

You give a little snort as you grab the receipt, smiling wide as you place it in the bag. “Well, your roommate is very lucky to have you.”

Eliot laughs as he grabs his stuff, cheeks heating up as he blushes. “Can I kidnap you for a little while so you can come remind her of that?”

In a rare moment of confidence, you lean forward and grin. “Is it kidnapping if I want it?”

The blush rages as he sputters a response, eyes downcast as he turns to leave. You get no witty response back, but the way he turns to wink at you as the automatic doors part is enough of a rebuttal for you to feel satisfied with your quip.

No matter what kind of mood Eliot is in, you look forward to his visits, watching and talking with him. Each evening you get ready for work you wondered if he would come in that night, if you would be able to tell him about the dumb thing this guy in one of your seminars said, or how you won an argument during bar crawl over the weekend using some of the random things he had taught you during the very conversations you now wish to have with him. It’s nice, the nicest thing you have in a long time – and somehow that doesn’t scare you, and somehow that makes you feel even better each time you see him.

But then “The Day” happens, and it changes everything.

The evening of “The Day” you woke up from your pre-work nap with this unexplainable feeling that something was going to go wrong. This feeling deep in the bottom of your stomach that you can’t quite place, one that makes the back of your knees sweat and where your ribs feel just a little tighter. Each and every sound – the cars that drive way too fast down your street, the creaking in your house, the dogs that bark obnoxiously – seem loudly, harsher than usual. When you sit up in bed when your alarm goes off it’s like you can feel the muscles in your back contract, feel the bones in your joints grind against each other. There’s some electricity in the air like when it’s right before a storm – only the sky is clear and your weather app doesn’t predict any rain until next week (and, even then, it’s only a drizzle).

At first you think it’s just a bad pain day; not bad enough to keep you home, or make you forget even the idea of doing anything besides groaning in pain in your bed and taking as many pain medications as your doctor says you’re able to. Still, it’s quite noticeable, and occupies your thoughts as you go through each part of your pre-work routine. Even as you shower, turn on your coffee pot, do the minimal make up required to make it look like you didn’t just roll out of bed or are some Victorian orphan plagued by tuberculosis and possibly a deep sadness embodied by the terrible weather that crashes outside their overcrowded London orphanage – you can’t seem to get rid of the proverbial dark cloud that settles itself between your brain and skull, clouding your thoughts and making your stomach hurt just a little.

It doesn’t get better when you get into work, either. There’s a tenseness in the air you can practically taste – electricity in the air that settles over your skin and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up straighter than the carefully constructed sales display of some B-list celebrity’s nail polish collection, the one you spent hours fussing over during one of your very rare day shifts. It somehow only gets worse when Eliot arrives, whistling some tune that normally would be wistful and happy, but given the context sounds like something straight from a horror movie trailer that invades your otherwise-sweet daydreams for weeks to come; one of those songs that everyone knows but no one knows the name of that sounds really creepy when played slowly over a clip of some old, beat-up doll being held by an adorable little blonde girl with black-out contacts in.

You don’t tell him to stop, but the tune does slow when he notices your tense state when he passes to get to the soft drink aisle. When he gives you a questioning look you just shrug, hoping he forgets (or finds it in himself not to ask) about it by the time he finds what he needs. Judging by the song, lack of list, and spring in his step – it’s a good day, one where he intends to meander around the store and grab whatever it is catches his attention. Today that appears to be anything with sugar, most notably soda in every color but orange.

At some point he finds his way closer to you – more specifically he finds his way to the chocolate aisle, which faces your register – and strikes up a conversation. It’s just small talk, and doesn’t do much to distract you from the twisting in your gut, but you appreciate his efforts nonetheless. The small talk just feels like a dead-end – a polite road to nowhere that feels pointless to engage in. Still, it’s Eliot, so you give half-hearted answers and ask half-hearted questions and hope he doesn’t press you too hard on your slightly-sour mood.

And, because it’s Eliot, he draws a few small laughs and a couple of tiny smiles and it’s…nice. It’s not the usual “Good Day,” but it’s not a bad one, either.

But then it happens. And it happens quick – all of it.

Three men, dressed head to toe in black, enter guns a blazing as if they own the place. They’re wearing masks over everywhere but their eyes, the thick, black material likely silencing their voices if they weren’t screaming at the top of their lungs.

They enter in an oddly-triangular formation – one you’d describe akin to the Charlie’s Angel’s post if you weren’t scared out of your fucking mind. One of them runs to the aisle where you keep cold medicine, the other ransacking the liquor aisle and shoving heavy glass bottles of your most expensive bottles of alcohol into the black duffel bag slung around his shoulder. The last one – the one you think is the leader – keeps his eye on you as he steps closer to where you are at the register.

It’s the scariest fucking thing to ever happen to you, and what occurs next happens too fast for you to describe.

You blink once and find that you’re staring down the barrel of a handgun that’s definitely loaded and definitely has the safety off. The end shakes just a little, as if the robber is nervous, and you wonder why he’s the one scared. Both of your hands are up in the air, elbow bent at a ninety-degree angle while sweat pools at your brow and your bottom lip trembles. It’s the most terrified you’ve ever been in your entire life, and if you had enough in your stomach you throw up, you totally would’ve.

But then – Eliot.

You’re screaming at him to stop, to get away and hide and what are you doing? They’ve got a gun! Get away! You could be hurt! Eliot!

But then you realize that, holy shit, he’s actually taking the guy down. Holy shit, Eliot just punched that dude in the face. Holy shit, Eliot just punched that dude in the gut. Holy shit, Eliot just disarmed that dude while punching him.

It’s only when the guy that targeted you is screaming in pain from a dislocated shoulder that the other two realize something’s up and come rushing towards the man that stands just in front of your register. You’d scream if you weren’t stunned – eyes not sure where to look as Eliot disarms them with the grace of a professional ballet dancer at the same fucking time. He’s fierce but controlled – not breaking any bones but definitely leaving some bruises as he knocks them to the ground and kicks their guns across the carpet.

It’s then – when the inferior robbers are writhing in pain on the ground – that he grabs the leader by the collar of his black hoodie and pulls the teenager’s wincing face close to Eliot’s raging one.

“I will give you one warning,” he hisses, teeth bared like an angered wolf as he spits. “one warning to leave this place and never come back. If this,” his left hand raises to gesture to you in all your petrified glory. “Nice lady tells me that you have returned to so much as buy a single stick of gum, I will track you down and find you and make sure you pay for the damage you’ve done here today. You got that?”

The still-masked teenager immediately nods furiously, eyes wide with terror and legs already kicking at the ground to leave.

Eliot gives a small, faux smile, and shoves the kid back down onto the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of him. “Good, now get the Hell out of here and don’t come back.”

Without hesitation, the would-be robbers scatter as fast as their damaged legs can carry them, clutching their bags to their chests as they rush to their crappy getaway van.

If you weren’t scared shitless you’d admit you’re a little turned on at the feat, especially as Eliot flips his hair from his face as he watches them speed away.

Your boss appears a few seconds later, apparently one more to watch from his safe room in the back than to interfere. Thank Heavens Eliot was here, you think. Facing those three kids on your own – even if they were, indeed, kids – makes your blood pressure spike once more.

“Should I call the cops?” he asks, looking at the wreckage around the store. The only silent alarm is located under the counter where the register is and, given your petrified state, you weren’t one to trip it.

Eliot just sighs and shakes his head, kicking a broken bottle of whiskey that for sure was going to stain the carpet. “No, they can’t do much – those kids probably don’t have a record and I don’t think you’ll get much out of ‘em if they do find the bastards. They’re young, broke, and I don’t know how much priority your case will be given.”

Your boss sighs, rubbing his face. It’s not as if they stole more than a few hundred dollars’ worth of merchandise, but being the victim of a robbery is still both tiring and rage-inducing – especially when someone like him has gone so long without incident. “But, I, what am I supposed to do? I just-“

Eliot grabs his wallet from his back pocket, reaching into it to fish out a small, professional-looking business card that he hands to your boss. “Call the number there come sun rise and tell them Eliot referred you. They’ll help you out with whatever you need.”

The man who signs your paychecks furrows his brow and reads the block print allowed. “Leverage, Incorporated? They can help me replace what I lost?”

Eliot nods, placing a comforting hand on your boss’ shoulder. “Everything.”

Immediately the man nods and steps away to go out the back exit, leaving you and Eliot in the center of it all.

It’s then – just as you’re alone – where the sun’s just coming up and the large windows in the shop allow its warm light to bath the both of you in a beautiful soft orange. There are no other customers there, and with your boss preoccupied with calming himself down, it really does feel like it’s just you and Eliot – just the two of you with the whole world still asleep around you. It’s nice, perfect.

He’s the one to break the silence, voice gruff as he flashes you a small, shy grin. “So, uh…you want to go for coffee?”

Your heart rams in your chest even louder than when you were staring the possibility of a gunshot wound to the face, the poor organ exhausted as your brain screams at you to accept his generous offer. It takes what feels like an eternity to muster up the courage to do so, but before you can Eliot’s already speaking once more.

“Not that you, uh,” he clears his throat. “Not that you should feel, uh, pressured, or anything. I just mean like, hey, you worked all night and just went through a pretty rough event, and you’re probably tired, and probably pretty hungry as well, and a coffee place just opened up a street away that I’ve heard good things about. I’ve wanted to try it out, for a while actually, and I wanted to, uh, see if I’d have the honor of you joining me…”

“Eliot,” you laugh as you step closer, placing your hand on his face to guide his eyes to yours. “Don’t be stupid. I’d love to go with you,” he smiles and it warms every bit of you. “Just let me grab my bag and clock out, I’ll meet you outside in a moment.”

He sputters through an “okay, sure, yeah,” before you both turn to leave – him out the front doors and you behind the large one your boss had just been hidden behind. Your hands shake just a little as you insert the little card into the dinosaur of a machine, the loud noise and sputtering sound it makes now white noise as you grab your purse and rejoin him outside.

When you arrive at the coffee shop (aptly named “The Bean Spot”) you order a caramel latte with a cheese Danish, Eliot getting a simple black coffee with cream along with a walnut muffin. You wait for your breakfast in relative silence, neither you nor Eliot sure what to say after such an event. When the food and drink are handed over to you, you find a spot tucked in the back with an excellent view of the whole place.

The coffee shop is nearly empty since it’s still so early in the morning – the only patrons coming in, getting their coffee, and zipping off to the next part of their day. It’s nice to be the only inert thing, the movements of the people around you providing a nice cover as they zip past, locking you and Eliot in your own little world as the world stretches its arms and prepares for another day of hustle and bustle.

By contrast, you and Eliot are wide awake, laughing as you swap horrible roommate stories and whatever else comes to mind. He asks about your degree but has enough class not to ask you about your graduation year (a rare feature of conversations these days), talking to you about all the books you’ve read and professors you’ve liked.

It’s odd – not bad, per say – but odd nonetheless, to be able to talk freely and openly and having him in front of you, within arm’s length as your knees barely touch under the small table. Seeing him in this space, a space more conducive to conversation and watching his hands as they pick at his blueberry scone and watching his mouth as the corners of his lips twist into a smile every so often and watching –

You blush at your own serial-killer-like thoughts, trying to suppress them with another sip of way too expensive but totally worth it coffee.

Eliot notices, because of course he does. “Hey, you alright?”

You nod, trying to calm your racing heartbeat. “Y-yeah, just-“

He smiles warmly, one hand moving to cradle your chin – to guide your downcast eyes to his. “It’s weird, seeing me in a new place, isn’t it?”

Once again, you nod. “It’s not that I don’t-“

“It’s okay,” his smile widens even as he now avoids your gaze, his hands moving to his lap as he fiddles with them. “It’s…I understand. Trust me, I get it.”

You exhale deeply, your shoulders falling a little. “I’ve thought a lot about this moment for, like, since you walked into the store for the first time…to have you here,” you gestured vaguely to the rest of the coffee shop, to the very few customers and baristas chatting about something you can’t hear and don’t care to pay attention to. “It’s…I don’t know. It’s not as if you’ve fallen short of expectations-“

Eliot gives a little chuckle, mumbling an “I sure hope so” with a glimmer in his eye that makes you want to jump on his lap and kiss him right there. Somehow, you find it in you to continue.

“It’s just super, super weird,” you tell him honestly. “And I don’t like it.”

The man in front of you leans forward, placing a hand over yours to calm you down.

“How about we get out of here,” Eliot murmurs, voice warm and thick like the caramel drizzle over your latte. “I have an espresso machine at my place, and could make you homemade baked goods a million times better than whatever you bought, and we can continue this in a space where the baristas don’t misspell my name on overpriced coffee.”

He gestures to the cup labeled Elliott, wincing as he does so. It makes you laugh, and you nod in agreement. Together you down the coffee and throw the empty cups along with the wrapping for your pastry away. It’s natural – the way the two of you move – as if you’ve known each other for a millennia, as if whatever it is between you two that’s formed is already as strong and sturdy as an oak tree.

Eliot places one of his large hands on the small of your back as you exit the cafe, thumbing at the fabric of your sweater as you wait to cross the street. It’s comforting – just a flash of the fire that he started for you back at the store a mere hours earlier, heat warming your blood from your toes and up your spine. As he guides you to his apartment his hand finds yours, his fingers fitting neatly next to yours as he points out parts of the city you’ve never slowed down enough to see.

You may not have known Eliot for very long, but even within that short amount of time (and even shorter conversations) he had become a safe house for you, one that you could easily make a home.

And, unbeknownst to the other person, the both of you intended on doing just that.

#eliot spencer x reader #eliot spencer/reader #eliot spencer fanfiction #eliot spencer #leverage #lukis does commissions #lukis writes stuff

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laceyeb · 3 years ago

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Because I’m determined to be excited about this season of DWTS (and I genuinely am!), I’m going to try to post much more about this season than I did last season and start sharing my opinions now! Starting with the cast thus far of course, with my excitement ranking out of 10 because I do what I want.

Jojo Siwa and Jenna - 1000/10

As soon as I heard about Jojo being with a female pro, I started manifesting Jenna with all my heart and I am sooooo excited!!!! I’m not saying that ANY female pro on this show is even remotely homophobic in any way shape or form because I do NOT believe any of them are. HOWEVER... If I had to pick one female pro who I feel like would be most “onboard,” it would be Jenna. (Or Sharna, but I’d prefer Jojo with Jenna just because Jenna is younger.) If this sentiment/how I expressed it comes off problematic, please let me know because that is absolutely not what I intended and I hope you understand what I’m trying to say. Anyways... I don’t know if I’m anxious, excited, terrified, curious, overjoyed, etc. etc. etc. Perhaps all at once. I can’t wait to see how this goes and how it is received. I’ve already had a small rant about the target demographic of this show, but I’m choosing to be optimistic. I would definitely prefer that they don’t spend the ENTIRE season talking about the ground-breakingness. First episode, yes. Very important, very groundbreaking, etc. Then I’d like this to just be normalized. I don’t want them to be treated any different than any other couple. I just want them to be like everyone else. I don’t expect them to change the entire world, but this is still very very important and I am very very excited. And anxious. (Also not my anxiety acting up when I sent my mom the rumored list so far and her response was “I’m disgusted.” She’s apparently “disgusted” by the fact that there are people on the cast she’s never heard of. As if we haven’t been doing this for 30 seasons now.)

Sunisa Lee and Sasha - 8/10

I did not pay any attention to gymnastics during the Olympics (aside from the general news I stumbled upon on the internets) because all my waking hours were focused on soccer, but she’ll obviously be great. I would not say that Sasha is my favorite pro, but they’ll likely be a great match. I need to find some interviews of her or something to get a sense of her personality. I’m excited though because I’m sure they’ll be fun to watch.

Kenya Moore and Brandon - 2.5/10

I’ve never heard of her, so I have no opinion. I do have a soft spot for Brandon though. Is she like well known? Popular? Likable? Dancingly inclined?

Amanda Kloots and Alan - 6.5/10

You know I love Alan with my whole heart, so that automatically gives them some points. I recognize her name and that’s about all I’ve got for her. In the little bit I see (I’m just using the Kristyn Burtt article for this), she seems very excited to be there. Dream come true and all that. I will always give anyone a chance if they come in with such a good attitude.

Olivia Jade and Val - 5/10

Right in the middle 5/10 for this because I just don’t know what to expect. Like are they going to edit her packages sympathetically or actually sympathetic AND convincing? Do I feel any excitement for her to be in the spotlight like this? Not really. But she might surprise me. Val can really do no wrong, though, at the risk of starting an uprising, I’ve kinda lost interest in him as a pro as of late. No real reason. Just feel like there’s other pros I care more about/am more invested in.

Matt James and Lindsay - 5.5/10

I’m very excited to have Lindsay back, so let’s start there! It feels like it’s been about 27 years since we’ve seen her, despite the fact that she posts about 4 hours of IG stories a day and I happily watch every second. I don’t know a whole lot about Matt aside from the fact that he’s a Bachelor guy. I don’t think I’m exactly thrilled about what little I’ve seen and I don’t know what he’s like personality-wise. But at least Lindsay is back and seems happy so far.

Iman Shumpert and Daniella - 2/10

I’ve never heard of this guy and could not care less about basketball, so I don’t even have a reason to get excited. I’ve got nothing against Daniella at all, we just don’t know her that well yet. Is he well-known/likable/have a likelihood of dancing skills?

Jimmie Allen and Emma - 9/10

I don’t know a great deal about him personality-wise either, but I’m already excited! I love Emma, I love a country singer on DWTS, I love getting to see someone on the show who I already know. Very excited all around! Can he dance? Who knows! But I look forward to finding out! He’s got a few great songs that I absolutely adore and I need to make a playlist! I think they are going to make a good pair and I’m glad he’s with a pro I really like (aka not Cheryl I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️).

Brian and Sharna - 11/10

Sharna. Sharna’s man. Sharna in love. Sharna happy. What else could I possibly ask for?! I wondered if they would partner them together or not. In a non-pandemic world, maybe not. What with married pros living apart from each other for the season, they would have to too if they weren’t partnered together. Not that they deserve any special treatment. But if they don’t HAVE to be apart, why have them be apart you know? It’s going to be really entertaining to watch Sharna post about her “partner” for the next two weeks when we all know it’s him. Believe it or not, I have not followed their relationship really super close and they also don’t post an excessive amount together (which I have no problem with because people are entitled to their privacy and what not), so I’m excited to get to see so much more of them together! If Sharna’s happy, I’m happy. Can he dance do we think?!

Christine Chiu and Pasha - 1/10

Uninterested. No idea who she is and like with Daniella, I just don’t know Pasha enough to get that excited. Again: Is she likable/popular/dance-inclined? Beats me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Mel C. And Gleb - 4/10

I like Gleb more than most do, but I’m not obsessed by any means. (I mean, he’s not Sharna.) Nothing against any Spice Girls, but I’m fairly neutral on the whole. She will likely be pretty good and probably fairly popular. I look forward to seeing how she does, but I’m pretty much take it or leave it with them. It’s entirely possible she could be the dark horse I fall in love with by like week 3 and then decide she’s my favorite of the season.

Melora Hardin and Artem - 10/10

I’m VERY excited. I’ve already posted about her a bit, but oh boy I’m excited! I’ve seen exactly ZERO episodes of The Office, but I know her and LOVE her from The Bold Type aka one of my most important Gay Awakenings™️. (There were several...) I love me some Artem and he will be a great match with her as well. She’s definitely going to be one of the older pros this season (though I think she’s in her 50s which is decidedly not OLD old), but I know she has Broadway experience. I would love a week 1 foxtrot to put her solidly in a 3 way tie for third place with 4 7s and then coming in week 2 with like a samba that she absolutely nails (8,7,7,8) to prove she really can do it all. (It’s possible I’ve been watching this show for too damn long.)

Mike Mizanin - 1.5/10

I will not call him “The Miz.” I do not know this man and I do not care. Put him with Cheryl and send them home week 1. Ok wait. I’ll be nice. I definitely know NOTHING about him, but maybe he’s a fun and pleasant person. We’ll see. And if he is, I might entertain the possibility of calling him “The Miz.” (Whenever they have anyone from like WWE, UFC, boxing, or anything like that, I just do not care because I don’t know anything about them. But Paige VanZant was my actual Gay Awakening™️, so I try to keep an open mind.)

#dwts30 #will update when the last ones are announced!

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poisonheadcrabsalesman · 4 years ago

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More therapy thoughts part 1/?

Behavior Theory Frameworks/Conditioning and What the fuck does Master Chief talk about in therapy?

Ramblings below - like a lot, like I spent too much time writing this and you should not read this

Behavioral Theory could work well as a framework with rehabilitating Spartan IIs if the case worker focused on Operant Conditioning Theory and Cognitive Social Learning Theory, which I talked about in this ask because I think I’m funny and this blog is an archive of me applying human behavior theories to video games.

Spartans have always been taught the mission comes first! Always! The 2s are indoctrinated from age 6-14 and then have that reinforced the rest of their lives. From the beginning they are taught to push themselves to the limits, earn their food by winning, form bonds with teammates but be ready to sacrifice them for the mission. The whole lives wasted vs spent conversation between John and Mendez after the augmentation surgery!

What the UNSC/ONI wants comes before their lives, the lives of other soldiers, civilians, AI etc. This constant conditioning of expectations and rewards has created the norms cemented in their minds. This becomes standard operating procedure.

Spartans are also an entirely separated social group, other people have made really great posts on how they are Othered and have their own way of communicating with body language. ODSTs hate Spartans, marines see them as cyborgs or saviors, and while they’re allies, Spartans are not seen or treated as human, by literally everyone. They are a means to an end, with the original goal being to maintain the UNSC’s position of power and crush the insurrectionists in the outer colonies, but uh oh Aliens!

Maybe the 2s aren’t as expendable as the 3s but the mindset and reinforcement of “mission first, people second” being repeated their entire lives is going to stick. So is the constant mistreatment and abuse from their fellow soldiers and handlers.

Addressing the cognitive distortions that come from their upbringing while also balancing the fact that Spartans are so fundamentally different from the way they developed to survive would be so much work, especially considering how much information on them is given to their therapist. The main distortion I would apply is minimization, making large problems small and not properly dealing with them, and specifically for John, personification, accepting blame for negative events without sufficient evidence.

Like these are grown ass super soldiers who can kill you in less than a second and calculate the amount of gravity in a room on the fly but then also can flounder when trying to comfort civilians or make small talk because their experiences and values are so alien to adults who had more developmentally “normal” lives.

Literally applying therapy to Spartans would be like, what was done to you was wrong, the ends do not justify the means, you were children and the adults in your life failed to protect you. You are a human person who is fallible and did the best you could with what you had. And the Spartan would say, “sounds fake but okay, can I pass my psych eval and go back to war now please?”

Jumping back to Behavior Theory

Different approaches to therapy under the Behavior Theory umbrella help modify negative behaviors with treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical behavior therapy that teach individuals adaptive coping like emotional regulation, distress tolerance, cognitive distortions, and interpersonal communication. And that’s just one framework under the umbrella of human behavior theories.

Social work therapy is different from psych as it approaches individuals with heavily researched, evidence-based theories and frameworks in a holistic viewing of person-in-environment, instead of a strong focus on internal psychology.

Social work looks at all the interacting systems, environment, history, and internal and external factors affecting an individual. One of the most useful frameworks is the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Frameworks (BPSS) when helping a client. It helps with identifying all the intersecting factors, both risk and protective, that shapes a client’s lived experiences. The most important thing to remember is that the individual is an expert in their own life, they know their experiences best.

The hardest part is applying this to Spartans because they Are So Fucked, their lived experiences, their environments and systems and institutions interacting with them, and the amount of their personal information that is probably so classified.

BPSS is a tool to help social workers assess individuals and their situations by collecting info that is related to the presenting issues and current and past circumstances. Info like medical history, hospitalizations, substance abuse, mental illness, personal relationships, family history and background, culture and norms, education, legal history, spirituality and participation etc. is all under this framework.

For Spartan 2s most of this info is lost or classified and helping someone who has repressed every negative emotion they've had for the sake of the mission would be so much to unpack but that’s also why you’re reading the mad ramblings over an over caffeinated nerd on the internet.

Life Course Theory which looks at developmental milestones and the individual’s experiences versus the socially expected markers, how do you apply that to children who were taken and have lived such different lives?

While early adolescence is when “normal” development of thoughts of self and identity take place alongside the physical changes of puberty, Spartans were being turned into emotionless calculating weapons. Sorry John, no forming a sense of identity and peer bonds for you, go kill that Watts guy who betrayed us and joined the insurrectionists.

And now that I’ve gone this insane and opened 2 whole textbooks up, let’s get to Master Chief thoughts. If you’ve read this far thank you, I swear I’m normal, 2020 has just been a weird year.

Why the fuck did I think I could write a therapy fic on a guy with 20 minutes of actual dialogue across almost 2 decades of games?

I make fun of him and call him a himbo, but he’s smart, he knows he’s being used and there is resentment there that’s been building for years.

There’s also decades of trauma and combat experience, physical, and emotional abuse, the lack of a support network, lack of an identity, the biological factors and aftermath of the augmentations and injuries he’s received, a whole lot of grief and self-inflicted guilt.

The loss of a third of his peer group with the augmentation surgery, Sam’s death, the loss of Reach (the only place he’s considered home), Keyes, the Pillar of Autumn crew, Miranda Keyes, Johnson, Cortana. He cares about the marines who fight with him!!!

He just stands there and takes it and rarely snaps, and even then it’s just small cracks on the surface with fissures running deep. The few details I will pull from Halo 5 are Blue Team’s reactions to John pushing himself so hard from the beginning of the game, and the literal crack in his armor from the fight with Locke. Like dude.

John’s a leader and will get the mission done but he tugs on the leash. He’s earned enough of a reputation and uses it to get his way.

Halo 2’s “Permission to leave the station” with Mr. “I’m going to hand deliver a bomb to the fusion reactor of a covenant supercarrier and hope my friends catch me”.

Halo 4 is when we see him say no to a superior officer and then 5 is him going AWOL. Palmer literally points out that no one is going to stop him.

Halo 5 kills me for many reasons but John bringing up Halsey and what she did to him and also pointing out that he knows Halo 5 Cortana is trying to manipulate him with psychological tactics hurts.

He knows what’s been done to him!

I cannot remember which book it was but John isn’t used to working alone. He literally takes fire because he was expecting someone to have his back!

He’s lost without Cortana! She was in his brain! Y’all! I played Halo Combat Evolved on the original xbox when I was like 8 and I knew these two were meant to be together. From the moment they met they had great chemistry and relied on each other! Cortana literally goes after people who have it out for John! John wants her approval and shows off for her in one of the books.

I’ve already written too much here but like all of the games have John showing off for Cortana, making dry jokes, jumping out of things he shouldn’t.

The whole point of this rambling is to try and get my thoughts about how to approach John’s character under control.

And that’s the thing. He’s lost control. He’s lost people, he’s losing his position and being phased out as an aging spartan, a relic. John’s used to following orders and making some decisions on the battlefield but it was always short term.

He has no identity beyond being a weapon. Complete the mission, clear the LZ, get put in cryo. Rinse, repeat.

The timeline of the games are what I'm most familiar with but with the comics and books too it’s one long run from Halo 2 to Halo 4. Cairo station to the Dreadnought to the crash landing to Forward Unto Dawn to Requiem to “The Didact is Dead but not really but we’ll deal with him off-screen”.

I know Hood apparently gave John R&R orders before Halo 5 that he ignored and kept running himself into the ground. This is a man who has to keep moving and keep being useful.

I imagine him giving in and seeking help as a last resort to fix any problems he has with performing his duties rather than helping himself be healthier.

Any professional he sees is going to have to approach him like they’re approaching a self sacrificing feral cat, with lunch meat and quiet. This man needs to have his support network closer, set up long term goals, and do some serious, and most likely incredibly painful, self reflection on where he’s come from and where he wants to go. Get him out of that tin can and into therapy. I don’t have a nice neat ending because this was a ramble and also therapy is not neat and tidy. Thanks for reading my words about mr halo

#this is not coherent but it needs out of my brain #John - has different characterizations based on what media he's in #Me - my writing must be in character or I Will Die #also me - we don't talk about halo 5 but i will loot its corpse for bits of lore I like #im sorry for being like this #my writing #Therapy time #John 117 #this is not a halo blog #haha this was peer reviewed nonsense #thanks yall for enabling me #i have even more ideas for the infinity sitcom folder now

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