#the editors have gotten to work apparently

[jannieanuary]

just saw a tiktok edit of sage and homelander to girl so confusing their mind!!!!

[drugs-and-daddyissues]

𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐀𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐀

𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎 You're the significant other (and editor) of Markiplier, and he notices that you've been overworking yourself

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 none, just Mark being a cutie patootie <3 no gendered pronouns used, reader is referred to as "you"

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 Markiplier x gn! reader

Eudaemonia: the state of being lucky

You were currently working on editting a video for your boyfriend, Markiplier. You had gotten the bulk of it done, but there was just a little more to do. You knew it was getting late, but what's the harm in wanted to finish your project?

Your boyfriend apparently, that was the harm. He gently knocked on the door before letting himself in, and when he saw that you were still working? Oh boy, he was not pleased.

"It's late, love", he said, cocking an eyebrow as he folded his arms across his muscular chest.

You sheepishly looked up from your laptop, before playing a small smile on your lips. "I know baby, I'm almost done, I promise" You said softly, rubbing your eyes and blinking.

However, he did not take that for an answer, simply walking over to you, closing your laptop, taking your headphones off, and picking you up like it was no big deal. "Well, you're done now. Take a break, will ya, doll?" He chuckled, carrying you to your shared bedroom.

And honestly, you were tired, so you didn't protest, just letting him place you on the soft mattress, pulling the blanket over you.

Eyes half closed, you felt his weight on the opposite side of the bed, and his arms were quickly around you. "You overwork yourself sometimes, just let yourself breathe once in a while. The work is gonna be there, but you know you don't perform your best when you're tired, or stressed. Just get some rest love, I promise you'll have time to edit that video, just not right now" He murmured in your ear, placing gently kisses on your cheek and jawline.

And you knew he was right, the video would be there tomorrow, and right now, it was important that your mind and body were well rested.

A/N: sorry it's short!! I have a bunch of ideas to write but I figured that I'd just get this one out first 😭😭

As always, likes, comments, follows, and reblogs are greatly appreciated 🫶 As school starts back up, remember to take breaks and remember that your mental health is more important! Take care of yourself, physically and emotionally. Your body does a lot for you, so treat it nicely 💋

☆ like what you've read? masterlist

[beyondspaceandstars]

valentine's day with matt

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day! This is a quick little headcanon/thoughts/scenario (?) I came up with. I’ve had a strong Daredevil fixation lately. But, anyway, this is just a silly little fun thing but I hope you enjoy it. I don’t know if it’s very good but it’s festive and sweet, I think :)

also apparently there is a limit to how many characters you can use in a bullet-point list so i apologize for the atrocious formatting, i can't figure out how to get around that dumbass rule with this text editor

There is no doubt in my mind that Matt is an absolute romantic when he’s in a real, stable relationship

He doesn’t let himself into them but when he finds a person and dedicates himself fully, there’s no holding him back from worshipping his partner

Matt met you in the late spring, way past Valentine’s Day for that year, and frankly, he wasn’t sure if you’d want to stick around past the summertime

He got nervous when you two started getting serious and when he eventually let you in on his nighttime activities he was sure you would run for the hills

But you hadn’t

And the next thing you both knew… it was the season of love. Valentine’s Day. Your first Valentine’s Day together was just around the corner.

You truly didn’t expect much. Maybe a nice dinner and flowers—the expectation of flowers would even be pushing it. In your past relationships, Valentine’s Day hadn’t been anything. You’d try to get your partners to do thing, go out on dates with you, but no one ever seemed very interested in it all.

“It’s a holiday to sell things,” your last boyfriend had said to you when you’d asked him if he wanted to have a nice dinner at your favorite steakhouse. It was then that you had simply assumed men just didn’t do Valentine’s Day.

Matt, on the other hand, was stressing—seriously stressing—over February 14th.

The man would be practically making himself sick trying to plan out the day. But he was very good at hiding his stress. At least, from you. Foggy wasn’t spared from witnessing Matt’s panic.

"What about that new Italian place around the corner? Does it look nice?"

"Matt, do you think you’re maybe overthinking all of it?"

Matt would never admit if he was but…yes, he was.

You were unaware of it all and tried not to think too hard about the holiday. You had gotten Matt a small gift and were going to suggest having a night in with a nice dinner and a bottle or two of wine…

But then he caught you off guard.

You were out for lunch with him the day before Valentine’s Day. You two didn’t work too far from one another and so lunch dates (depending on your schedules, of course) had become a pretty regular part of your weekly routine.

It was about halfway through your lunchtime when, out of nowhere, completely unprompted, Matt said, "I made us reservations for tomorrow night at an Italian restaurant not too far from here."

Your jaw went slack and your heartbeat shot up. The concern that fell on Matt’s face told you he noticed.

"If… If that’s okay with you," he stammered, trying to walk back on his words. "If you don’t want to do anything for Valentine’s Day, I understand, I’m sure I can cancel—,"

"No!" Your outburst took both of you by surprise. You almost start laughing out of nervousness. "I mean, I’d love to. It sounds amazing, I was just…surprised. No guy I’ve been with has ever really wanted to do anything on Valentine’s Day."

Matt frowned. A deep, serious frown. "You’ve never gone out for Valentine’s Day?"

"Not really." You felt your cheeks go warm. "I’m very excited." Your heartbeat hadn’t settled since he mentioned dinner plans.

The next day, you were giddy. You had stayed over at Matt’s place and decided to wake up early to make him a nice breakfast. He was speechless. You two would exchange "Happy Valentine’s Day" before swapping sweet kisses and going your separate ways for the day.

You’d assume you wouldn’t hear from Matt again until dinner time but then a giant — giant — bouquet of roses was delivered to your office. You were stunned. As were your coworkers. And then the flowers made you hopelessly tear up.

It was already the best Valentine’s Day you’ve ever had and you still had dinner to look forward to.

After work, you returned to your apartment and freshened up.

You were quite nervous for some reason. It didn’t make sense. You’d been going out with Matt for almost a year. You two had been on numerous dates. Hell — you two slept together regularly. But this? Valentine’s Day dinner? This was what was making you all jittery?

It was a mix between never really knowing what to expect for Valentine’s Day and wanting everything to go perfectly.

Matt was patiently waiting for you outside the restaurant when you arrived. You saw a smirk creep its way onto his lips, no doubt sensing your presence.

"Hi, honey," you said as you approached and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You made quite the ruckus at my office today with that garden of flowers you sent."

Matt chuckled. "Were they okay? I kind of had to trust the florist’s opinion and he could’ve scammed me for all I know."

You laughed. "They’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen."

"You clearly haven’t looked in the mirror lately."

"Matthew Murdock, you’re silly."

The restaurant he had chosen was stunning. Very fancy, very chic. A nice modern, clearly high-end, Italian restaurant. You gasped when you saw the array of artistic decor. It was just all so…romantic.

"Is it… Do you like it? Is this okay? I also had to trust Foggy for advice on this place—,"

"It’s wonderful, Matt. Everything is so wonderful."

He took your elbow and gave it a squeeze.

The hostess then escorted you two to your table, Matt continued holding onto your elbow and you had to keep yourself from laughing. No doubt he had already mapped out the place in his head.

Your table was in the back of the establishment, kind of hidden and private. You wondered if Matt had dropped some extra money to get something so intimate. You were tearing up at the thought.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked after you two took your seats.

"You make me feel so special."

Wordlessly, Matt found your hand and kissed the back of it. It was almost silly but it made your heart skip a beat. Seriously, you felt like a teenager on a first date.

You diverted your attention to the menu. You quickly realized Matt had the same one as you — a.k.a. a menu he couldn’t exactly read. It looked like Matt came to the same realization as you when he picked it up.

"Oh, should I see if they—,"

Matt shook his head. "Read it to me?" He leaned back in his seat, waiting, a little cocky or proud of himself.

You blushed. "Sure, I think I can manage that."

Dinner went by very nicely. You raved about the food and Matt looked relieved that you enjoyed it. You two even split a dessert. Matt "accidentally" got whipped cream on your cheek, which he just had to clean up himself. You teased him it was just a ploy to get close to you and he didn’t deny it.

Afterward, you two walked arm and arm back to his place. The night was peaceful and lovely and…perfect.

"I have a gift to give you later," you said, breaking the silence.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mhm," you sighed. "Well, maybe I have a couple of gifts."

"Oh?" Matt smirked.

"I gotta thank my lovely boyfriend properly. This was the best Valentine’s Day," you admitted.

Matt stopped on the sidewalk. The streets were quiet and empty. His arm untangled from yours, his hands grinding your waist with ease. "It’s not over yet," Matt said in a hushed tone. "Besides, I might have a couple of gifts for you as well."

And then he kissed you deeply. The world around you felt like it had stopped.

"Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetheart."

"Happy Valentine’s Day, honey."

[flightlessangelwings]

Modern Day Hero

Joel Miller x fem!reader

Word count-4.6k

Warnings- s.mut (18+ ONLY!), oral (f receiving), praise, riding, pre or no outbreak (can be read either way), single dad Joel with Sarah (no Ellie), neighbor!Joel, fluff, mutual pining, flirting, romance, only one bed, reader is a YA novelist, protective!Joel, reader is hinted to be more curvy but can be interpreted any way, happy ending, no use of y/n

Notes- Hi @miraclesabound it's your @pedrostories secret santa!!! I took a slightly different direction instead of full on fantasy au but I still incorporated some fantasy in here! I hope you like it cause this was very fun to write!

@flightlessangelwings-updates is my update blog so feel free to also follow that and turn on post notifs to stay up to date on when I post new things!

~

A knock at the door jolted you out of your thoughts. The screen looked like a bright blur in front of your eyes as you adjusted them to the world around you. You didn’t even realize it, but hours had gone by since you looked away from your screen, too engrossed with the story you were working on to notice the passage of time. Another knock called your attention and you stretched your neck and arms as you stood up from your desk.

“Coming,” you called out to the front door.

You groaned as you moved your legs for the first time in hours and you made a mental note to take a break for a bit once you finished with whoever was at your door. As you swung it open, your breath caught in your throat as you came face to face with your neighbor.

“Joel,” you breathed… Your handsome neighbor who you secretly had feelings for.

Joel gave you an apologetic smile, “Hey,” his exhaustion was apparent in his voice, “Sorry to ask ya so last minute,” he gestured to Sarah, who stood next to him, “Would you mind watching her for the afternoon?”

“Hey!” Sarah greeted you excitedly.

“Hey Sarah,” you replied back with a sincere smile, “Come on in! My favorite houseguest is always welcome here,” you winked at her, “I’ve got some snacks in the kitchen, go help yourself.”

Sarah’s face lit up as she hugged her dad goodbye and skipped inside. Joel mumbled a soft, “Be good,” to her before he turned to you and let out a heavy breath, “I owe you one,” he sighed, “I hate to put ya out like this but this job came up and I need the money and…”

“It’s no problem, Joel. Really,” you cut him off, “Trust me, I understand,” you nudged his shoulder playfully, “Go make that money, big guy.”

That made him laugh and Joel’s eyes darted down to the ground for a moment, “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he met your gaze again, “I mean it, though. I owe ya, sweetheart.” With that he hurried over to his truck and drove off.

The nickname took your breath away and your mouth hung open as your brain short circuited for a moment. You stood in the doorway and waved him goodbye as you watched him drive off. Your heart fluttered in your chest as you imagined that you were more than just neighbors… friends. You imagined that he kissed you goodbye and promised he wouldn’t be home too late. You imagined that you would make him dinner and you and Sarah would wait until he came back home.

But he wasn’t yours to have. You and Joel had lived next to each other for a couple years now. Over time, you became friends and you were more than happy to watch Sarah any time. Some nights, you all would hang out together and watch movies, and you always stuck together at neighborhood block parties. But it was never more than that.

You let out a heavy sigh as you closed the door and went inside where you found Sarah on your couch with a manuscript in her hands.

“Is this the new one you’ve been working on?” she asked.

“Yeah,” you sat down next to her, “It's the rough draft. I haven’t gotten a chance to look at my editor’s notes yet.”

“Can I read it?” Sarah asked, batting her eyes like the way her dad sometimes did.

Grinning, you nodded, “How can I say no to that face?” you laughed softly, “Let me know what you think.”

Sarah’s face lit up as she buried herself in the book. Ever since she found out you were a young adult novelist, she always eagerly awaited the next book you had for her to read. Joel definitely appreciated that you made her so interested in books and reading too. Plus, it helped that Sarah seemed to enjoy the same fantasy stories you liked to write, so having a young perspective helped you. You were sure that your writing improved when she started reading your novels and giving you input on them too.

Yet another reason to be grateful for your neighbors.

“I’m gonna go fix us something to eat while you read. Make yourself at home, Sarah.”

She always did, kicking off her shoes at the door and settling onto your couch, “Thanks!” she replied from behind the book, which she was already clearly engrossed in.

“I’ll start with some hot chocolates I think,” you said, more to yourself than to her, as you busied yourself in the kitchen.

Hours passed and the sun set long ago, yet Joel still wasn’t back. You had made you and Sarah dinner and sat with her for a bit before you went back to working on your next novel, the sequel to the draft she was reading, in fact. It was well after midnight when a knock at the door startled you and made Sarah bolt awake from where she fell asleep on your couch.

“Must be your dad,” you told Sarah as you went to answer the door.

“Hey,” Joel sounded tired, “Sorry I’m so late.”

“I was starting to think you forgot about me,” Sarah teased as she gathered her things.

“Now that hurts,” Joel feigned heartbreak, “Let’s go, baby girl.”

You snorted softly as you bid Sarah goodnight.

“Can I finish your book tomorrow?” she asked before she left, “I think this is my favorite one you’ve ever written!”

The compliment genuinely warmed you, “Of course,” you told her, “And then you can read the second one when it’s done,” you winked at her.

Sarah’s face lit up as she hugged you and bounced over to her house.

“She really liked them books of yours,” Joel commented with a grin, “I’m glad she’s been reading so much, though.”

“She’s a good kid,” you said, “How was the job?” you asked.

“It’s money,” he replied.

“That good, huh?”

Joel scoffed. His frown furrowed his brows for a moment before he looked you in the eyes and his face softened, “Thanks again for watchin’ her so late.”

You smiled back at him, “It’s no problem,” you replied in a hushed tone.

“Goodnight, sweetheart,” Joel reached for you, as if he wanted to hug… or maybe even kiss you, but he stopped himself. Instead, he just nodded and patted your shoulder before he went home to his daughter, leaving you in your doorway dumbfounded.

*

It was the middle of the night a few days later. Feeling accomplished at finishing your edits for the novel you let Sarah read, you crashed fairly early. You had been working hard on this novel, and it was quickly becoming your pride and joy. So you let yourself rest for the first time in weeks. But, as fate would have it, you wouldn’t rest for long.

A loud crash jolted you awake with a gasp. You sat up in bed, listening if you could figure out what the sound was, when another hiss and pop startled you. Quickly, you got out of bed and ran towards the direction of the sound, which sounded like it came from your basement.

To your dismay, when you turned on the basement light, you saw what the commotion was. A pipe burst in your basement, and everything was flooding. Panic coursed through your veins as your hands shook. Nothing like this ever happened to you before, and between your overwhelming emotions and your panic, you had no idea what to do. And it was the middle of the night, who would you even call?

You grabbed your phone and dialed the only number you could think of.

Joel’s phone rang on his bedside table, causing him to wake with a start. He groaned for a moment before he realized it was a call, and he reached for it with dread as his first thought was of his daughter, “Hello?” he answered with a low gravelly voice.

“Joel?” your voice was on the other end, sounding meek and scared.

He breathed your name as he sat up, “Everything alright?”

“I’m sorry to call in the middle of the night,” you stumbled over your words, “My basement is flooding and I don’t know what to do…”

“Hang on, I’ll be right over,” Joel replied with no hesitation. 

He rushed over as fast as he could, and Joel was thankful you were right next door. He burst in your front door and immediately gathered you in his arms, “It’s alright,” he cooed, “I’ve got this.”

You stood in a daze, unsure what to do as Joel got to work. The first thing he did was turn off your water, stopping the rushing water. Then he called the emergency line and let them know what happened and got to work draining the standing water. When backup arrived, he helped them, taking the lead for you.

“Hey,” Joel was suddenly in front of you, his hands on your shoulders, “That’s all we can do for now,” he said, “The water’s all gone but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay here until it gets cleaned out,” he paused, “Why don’t you stay at my place tonight and I’ll help you finish this tomorrow.”

Your eyes went wide as your mind raced, but you also couldn’t turn him down, “Ok,” you whispered.

Joel kept you at his side as he led you back to his house. You were sure he was telling you more details about what happened and what he did to fix it, but you didn’t absorb any of what he said. All you could think about was his large, strong hands on you and how he jumped in to help with no hesitation. It made your heart pound in your chest that it took you a moment to realize you were standing in his bedroom.

“What?” you asked, realizing that he said something important to you.

Joel just smiled softly, “I said Sarah’s out at a sleepover tonight so it’s just us. But I don’t have a spare room, so you can take my bed and I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“No,” you replied quickly. When he looked at you confused, you clarified, “I mean… I don’t mind…” you felt your skin heat up and your head spun. 

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yeah,” you breathed. You paused for a moment, “Sorry to put you out like this…”

“Now don’t you start that on me, sweetheart,” Joel interrupted you, “You ain’t putin me out at all.”

The care in his voice made your heart melt. You swallowed hard and nodded before you looked at his bed, “What side can I take?” you joked to cover your nerves.

Joel grinned.

You settled in easier than you thought you would. You felt safe with Joel, there was no question there. But, after imagining what it would be like to be in his bed for so long, it made your heart pound to actually be here. Letting out a deep breath, you tried to calm your racing mind. The bed dipped as Joel got in on the other side, and you each laid with your back to the other.

The two of you laid together in silence before Joel broke it, “So,” he sighed, “Sarah told me about that new book you wrote…”

You pressed your lips together as your heart pounded in your chest, “Did she like it?” you asked in a hushed tone, suddenly nervous.

“She loved it,” Joel let out a soft laugh, “Where’d you get the idea for it?”

“Oh,” you breathed, “It just comes to me I guess.”

An unspoken question lingered in the air: “Who did you base the hero off of?” You were sure Sarah told Joel about each character, and you were sure that the hero would feel familiar to him…

Instead, Joel decided not to ask, as much as the question nagged at his mind. He let out a deep breath before he murmured, “Night, sweetheart.”

You felt a flutter in your chest before sleep took you. As you slept, you dreamt of the plot of your novel, only you were the main character. In your dream, you were a princess, the daughter of the king. You and your family were well respected and beloved by your people. You dreamt of the balcony in the castle that you described so vividly and you looked out over your kingdom on a beautiful, sunny day.

Then, you were out in the streets of your kingdom. In disguise, you loved to secretly mingle with the people as equals. Their craftsmanship always fascinated and inspired you, and you loved to wander the markets. That was where you met him: the blacksmith. Joel Miller. He worked diligently on the sword in his hands, and you watched him as he formed the most exquisite sword you had ever laid your eyes on. Even the knights in your royal guard didn’t have weapons this grand. 

Following the plot of your novel, you and the blacksmith with Joel’s face met and quickly fell in love. He soon discovered that you were the princess, but it didn’t change his feelings for you. Nor did his status mean anything when it came to your heart. As the two of you fell deeper in love, the novel’s villain, the evil wizard that worked for your father and secretly tried to steal his throne, tried to steal you away. The blacksmith Joel- your hero-  fought against all odds to rescue you, and the two of you rode away to your happily ever after in the sunset…

Suddenly, you woke up with a weight across your body, and for a moment you were confused. But a snore from Joel reminded you of your current situation. You held your breath as you fully opened your eyes and adjusted to the low light of the moon through the window. You still stayed on your side, but Joel had rolled over in his sleep and slung an arm around you.

Your heart pounded as you felt the warmth of his body against yours. He groaned in his sleep as he clutched you tighter, and it made you gasp. Not out of discomfort or fear, but from the yearning in your heart.

The noise you made must have woken Joel, who was accustomed to always listening for any sign that Sarah needed him, and he woke up with a low grumble. It took him a moment to realize what he did in his sleep, and once he did, Joel shot awake.

“Shit,” he muttered as he pushed himself off of you, “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s ok, Joel,” you whispered as you turned over and faced him. I don’t mind, you thought to yourself but didn’t voice out loud. 

He looked flustered, even as sleep clung to his features. As you took in the sight of him in the moonlight, you noticed the mess of his hair and the softness around his eyes. And it only made Joel more beautiful to you.

“I uhh,” he started, unsure of what to say to break the tension that hung between the two of you.

“Joel…” you started, also unsure of what to do. Part of you screamed to confess your feelings, but the other part was scared of what that would mean. “He was you.”

“What?” Joel asked as he shifted to sit up in bed.

“The hero of the story, the blacksmith that falls in love with the princess and saves her,” your voice was meek as you confessed, “I based him off of you,” slowly, your eyes turned to meet his. 

Joel whispered your name, “Listen I…”

You stared deep into his eyes as he struggled to find the right words. Joel’s gaze darted around the room until it landed in your face, and instead of voicing it with words, Joel turned to action. He scooted himself closer to you and cupped your face in his large hand. It was warm, and you let out a breath as you leaned into his touch.

Joel pulled your face close to his until his lips hovered over yours, “You know you can stop me, right?” his voice was low as he whispered against your skin.

“I know,” you replied in just as soft a voice as you made no move to stop him.

A smirk lit up his face for a moment before he closed the small space between your faces, taking your lips with his in a soft yet heated kiss. You leaned into him as you reached out and clung to his shoulders and parted your lips to deepen the kiss- an invitation he eagerly took.

Things quickly heated up from there as Joel groaned into you, kissing you passionately. All the tension from the unspoken emotions melted away as your tongues tangled together. Neither of you needed the words spoken out loud- the kiss told more than enough for both of you.

Joel gently pushed you down onto your back as he climbed over you, all the while never breaking away from your lips. You moaned into him as you let him take control. The feeling of Joel on top of you was even better than when he held you in his sleep. Before you even realized your movements, you bucked your hips into his, signaling you wanted… needed more. 

“I got you, baby,” Joel groaned softly into your ear as he kissed his way down your neck, tugging at your clothes as he did so.

“Joel…” you moaned as your eyes fluttered shut and inch after inch of your skin was exposed to him.

“Shit baby,” Joel growled as he slipped his own t-shirt off, “You’re gorgeous,” his tone was low as he pushed his sweat pants down, freeing his cock.

Your eyes snapped open as you saw Joel, bare before you. Your lips parted as a heavy breath escaped your lips and you drank in the sight of him. The moonlight highlighted his features perfectly, and he looked more handsome than ever.

“So are you, Joel,” you breathed as you tried to push yourself onto your elbows and reach for him.

He took your hands gently and guided you back down onto your back, “Let me, sweetheart.”

A whimper escaped your lips as he settled between your parted legs, wriggling himself down your body and kissing every inch of skin on the way. Joel took his time, gently kneading and kissing your breasts, worshiping your body as he made his way to your pussy.

You quickly turned into a moaning, whimpering mess as Joel’s tongue ran along your nipple while his rough hands cupped your breasts. Already, he made you feel so good, but the more he kissed your skin, the more your need grew. Thankfully, though Joel didn’t rush, he still knew what you wanted and he broke away from your breast with a pop before he knelt down between your legs.

He paused and looked back up at you for a moment, and his cock twitched with desire as he saw the lustful look on your face. Your mouth hung open to let the heavy breaths out, and laying naked in the moonlight you never looked more stunning to him.

“I’m gonna take care of you, baby,” he groaned before he dove into your body.

You couldn’t even answer when you felt his hot tongue on your folds, licking and sucking at your pussy with fervor. Any thoughts vanished and all you could think of was Joel and how good his tongue felt. Your head dropped back and you screamed with pleasure, your hands clinging and clawing on Joel’s bare shoulders. 

Joel slurped loudly as he let himself go. Any inhibition was gone the moment he tasted you, and instantly he was addicted. And the sounds you made only added to the moment. Joel only got harder and harder the louder you cried out. His hands grabbed onto your thighs, kneading your soft flesh as he kept them parted wide.

“Fuck… Joel…” tears filed your eyes as your body felt like it was floating. 

He groaned into you and only licked harder and faster at your clit, determined to send you over the edge. As much as Joel wanted to talk you through your climax, he couldn’t break away from you even if it were for his last gasp of air. No, Joel wasn’t going to break away until you came into his mouth.

Joel didn’t have to wait long, though, and with just a few more precise flicks of his tongue, you came hard, screaming loudly. One hand flew into his hair, tugging at the thick locks while your legs shook on either side of him. Joel’s hips bucked against the bed on their own, field by your moans and screams as you rode out your climax on his face.

With a loud gasp, Joel finally let go of your pussy. His hands stayed on your legs as he watched you come down from your high, his eyes blown dark and wide with need. Heavy breaths from both of you filled the room as Joel stared at you.

When you finally opened your eyes, you let out a sharp breath before you froze under his gaze. Joel never looked at you like that before, though you imagined that look on his face a hundred times before.

“Joel…”

He pounced forward, taking your lips with own, cutting off whatever you were going to say. Both of you moaned into each other as you clung to the other in your feverish kiss. Joel took the opportunity while you were lost in the kiss to flip your bodies over in one swift movement. You yelped into his mouth as you suddenly found yourself straddling him, looking down on his handsome face.

“Are you sure?” you asked in a whisper, feeling nervous about being on top of Joel.

“I’m sure, baby,” Joel groaned as his hands caressed up and down the sides of your body, “Let me see you ride me, baby.”

The twitch of his cock against your body made you whine, and any insecurities you had disappeared. Placing a hand on his chest, you leaned forward and took his cock with your free hand. Joel’s eyes went wide and he let out a low groan as he watched the moonlight highlight your pussy as you hovered over him.

Joel moaned your name as his hands went to your hips, giving them a squeeze before he helped guide you onto his length. Your eyes met his for a moment before you looked back down, watching as you slowly sank down on the thick length.

His eyes never left you, and he gritted his teeth as the tip of his cock entered your body. Your heat engulfed him, and he couldn’t help the groan he let out as more and more of you wrapped around his cock. You hissed as you adjusted to the stretch, but Joel murmured encouraging words in a low tone to help.

“Look at you, baby. Takin’ me so good like that,” Joel growled, “Fuck you’re so beatiful…”

As your hips met his, you let out a loud gasp as he filled you more than you had ever been filled before. “Fuck… Joel…” you moaned as your eyes fluttered shut as you slowly rocked your hips back and forth.

“Shit, sweetheart,” Joel’s grip tightened on your hips. Caressing your body, Joel’s hands moved back to your ass, squeezing it even harder and making you moan. “That’s it, baby.”

You blinked your eyes open for a moment before shutting them again. All you could do was moan; words failed you. Slowly at first, you lifted your hips a bit before lowering them again, causing you both to gasp. Joel grunted as you repealed the action.

“Fuck…” you moaned as you picked up your pace.

Leaning forward, your hands landed on Joel’s chest, gripping his pecs as you rode him faster and harder. Already sensitive from having cum once, it took you no time to feel the tingle build from the base of your spine as Joel’s cock entered you over and over again.

“Joel… I’m gonna…”

“Fuck… Me too, baby,” Joel’s hands ran up your sides to grab you and yank you down.

Crashing your lips together, Joel thrust his hips up into you from below, matching your rhythm as your climaxes quickly built until you both exploded at the same time. He swallowed the moan you let out as your body trembled overtop of him and your inner muscles squeezed his cock. Joel grunted as he gave one last harsh thrust and came right after you, spilling himself into you as he held you tightly. 

With one last heavy breath, both you and Joel flopped down onto the mattress in a heaving, sweaty mess. You rested on his broad chest, feeling his pounding heartbeat against your ear. Neither of you moved for several moments, just savoring the connection you still had as your breathing returned to normal.

“Hang on, baby,” Joel broke the silence as he wrapped his arms around you once more, “I got you.”

You whimpered as he slid out of you, but you never left Joel’s embrace. He settled you next to him, much like you were before. Only this time, you faced him, and Joel held you with intention. The two of you slipped into place as if you had been together for years. It just felt right… for both of you.

“Joel,” you whispered as sleep started to take you, “I…” you let out a soft snore before you could finish your thought.

Joel grinned as he kissed the top of your head and whispered to your sleeping form, “I know, baby,” he spoke lowly, “Me too.” 

*

Sarah let herself in with her key and bounced up the stairs. Fully expecting to find Joel alone, she burst his door open and loudly announced, “Dad, I’m home,” before she froze in her tracks. She was taken by surprise to find you in her father’s bed, snuggled close in his arms. 

Joel gasped awake and shot upright, “Sarah!” he glanced over and made sure you were covered as you too woke up with a gasp, “What are you doing home so early?”

“It’s noon,” she replied with a mischievous smirk, “It’s about time you two had your own sleepover.”

“Sarah…” Joel chastised her, but she already left the room.

Joel collapsed back down onto the bed with an exasperated sigh, “Shit,” he mumbled before he turned to you and met your gaze. The two of you stared at each other in silence for a moment before you both burst into laughter. He pulled you close and placed a soft kiss on your forehead before leaning you down onto his chest. 

“Guess we should get up, huh?” you asked with a soft giggle.

“Yeah,” Joel agreed as he reluctantly let you go.

As you both dressed with your back to each other, your glance over and your breath caught in your chest as you saw Joel’s bare back in the sunlight. He must have felt your eyes on him, or he wanted to sneak a glance at you too, because he looked over his shoulder right after you did. Smirks lit up both your faces as you went back to dressing.

“Hey Joel,” you broke the silence this time.

“Hmm?”

“Thanks,” you spoke in a hushed tone, “For everything.”

Joel finished dressing and walked around the foot of the bed to take you in his arms once more, “You aint never gotta thank me for anything, baby,” he murmured, “I’ve always got you.”

You smiled and closed your eyes contently, “I picked the right man for my hero then… blacksmith.” you snickered at your modern day hero. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Joel rolled his eyes playfully as you both took your first steps to the bright future. 

[geothewriter]

Tumblr, It's been a year.

A whole big freakin year! Man, it flew by pretty quickly.

Over the past year, I've met a bunch of incredibly talented folks who craft masterpieces that made me cry, laugh, and smile like an idiot about. Y'all are absolutely amazing!

Over the past year, I've helped some people by beta reading and editing, and all the same, had my own works edited by the very talented @achillmango.

All in all, this year has been FANTASTIC. I've gotten back into writing, something I hadn't expected to ever happen again, AND I've read SO MANY WORKS by SO MANY TALENTED AUTHORS. You guys are INCREDIBLE!

Now for an announcement: My asks are open for writing requests (short one-shot styled prompts). I will complete these requests as I have time, so long as they aren't of a subject that I deem uncomfortable to write about.

Speaking of my work, over the past year, I've apparently been pretty busy! Take a look:

WIPs on AO3:

Vermillion Seas Cardinal Skies 176,346 (~10,000 unposted) words An ATLA series rewrite that sets out to expand on the universe, its relationships, and the overall story. ZK

Completed on AO3:

Dark Revelations 1713 words An ATLA one-shot that focuses on Katara's rage after she finds out just how Zuko got his scar. No holding back here.

Zutara Week 2023 - A series of one-shots covering 2023's Zutara week prompts!

Hath No Fury 918 words An ATLA - Agni Kai one-shot focused on giving this final encounter a bit of a reincarnation twist.

Songs of the City 12,764 2024's Zutara Big Bang entry! - How a chance encounter led two people searching in the night to find a (surprising) emotion, and how their story went on and on and on and on... Inspired by some power ballads <3

Any Other Way 2765 An Atla Book 4 (Book 2) AU that is a gift for my editor's birthday :D

Tumblr Posts/One Shots:

Risen from the Ashes Zuko-centric invasion one-shot inspired by Pompeii - Bastille

Spirit of the Season A quick holiday-themed one-shot from Zuko's POV - very warm and cozy

[roo-bastmoon]

IMPORTANT INFO: issues around Jimin’s album

I have an ARMY friend (who shall remain safely anonymous) who works in film production for the music and entertainment industry here in the US. They offered me some valuable insights today into production limitations and possible issues related to Jimin’s solo album.

Below the cut is a transcript of their messages to me. I share this in the hopes it better informs our discussions around fair treatment of BTS members’ releases. It is by no means a definitive account of Jimin’s situation—simply an insider’s ideas on what likely happened around a few things.

I understand there are very big feelings about this topic, especially with the apparent differences around JK’s single, and I appreciate everyone’s viewpoints. However, if you choose to interact with this post, you will be respectful to others (including members) or you will be blocked. You are always welcome to DM me privately if you need to vent—we are all human and we all need a bit of grace, so you’ll always have that with me.

Sending you guys so much love, Roo

Anonymous Insider

Some “light reading” while you’re resting up and recovering, lol. This is all just based on what I’ve been watching and seen. Of course, I don’t have access to their production budget sheet and Korea works very differently than the US when it comes to production, but this what I’ve been seeing when it comes to their videos and particularly the promotions for FACE.

(I’m sending in sections, lol)

Alrighty - I’m still like deep in edit-land (still am two days later 😭) but I started typing this on the train between meetings, ha ha. (And am still on the train doing this, lol.) Also this rambles a bit I’m sorry! So the first thing I did was go back to the interview where Jimin talked about the music videos — it was a Japanese TV show and he’s talking with a host in Korean.

He’s talking about “wanting to do it all,” laughs and says, “I wanted all the music videos” and that “they” (the company assuming) said “무리다” which has its roots in the word 무리 which means a herd, a party, a group — basically “it’s too much,” “it’s unreasonable,” and “it’s impossible” are decent translations as it refers to something or an idea being “too much” — then the host and Jimin burst out laughing and the host goes “서리와 무리다” which I read as “sorry (in konglish) but we can’t” and they continue to laugh. So based on that —it sounds very understandable.

We can imagine Jimin sitting down with his team and planning out SMFP2 and LC videos, with the 30 dancers and all the party scene extras, and then Jimin saying he wants to do the music shows with 6 different sets in rented locations so they could have total control. And if Jimin in that process went “what if we made official music videos for all of them?” the team would understandably go “that’s just not reasonable!” 1) because it would give Jimin a budget no other member had gotten and 2) there aren’t that many production houses in Korea. It’s a very small scene — it may just logistically not been possible. There aren’t enough DPs and crew and editors. Sometimes, as a producer, you have to tell your creative talent “I’m sorry, but no.” — I say it every week!

So what about the music videos? Well, here’s what I know from meticulously watching all the behind the scenes for BTS videos over the years. They work with a small team. They likely own a good deal of the gear — they shoot mainly on RED cameras and heavy expensive Cooke lenses (which you can’t get this stuff easily in Korea. I lost a lens cap for a Canon CINÉ Lens in Seoul and it was like this whole big deal because getting gear there is an import challenge but anyways) they use MOVI and Ronin gimbal stabilizers and Jimmy Rigs a lot.

Recently they’ve been using technocranes but I wonder how many technocranes there are in Seoul. As I said, they likely own a lot of this gear which can help with costs. But we’ve also been told — and I’ve heard through my industry friends — that Hybe PAYS. And in Korea there’s no unions in the entertainment world, and often the rates are shit (hence Netflix investing so much there - blerg) their standard work week is also already 12 hours longer than the US. It’s a whole thing. and they spend so much money on sets. It’s incredible.

They rent these huge spaces outside Seoul and BUILD — I mean the build out for SMFP2 was astounding. They easily dropped 1million on that video. The rigging, the build-out, the custom set and the custom camera rigs to achieve the 360 shots - the drone shots. They’re astounding videos. No US label is spending that money on videos these day. Absolutely none of them are — my friend recently produced a video for John Legend. They were trying to pull the whole thing off for $100K which is ridiculous. It’s really almost impossible.  

But on the Big videos they spend a lot of money, but they also produce a lot of other stuff too (and these are often looked at as Performance Videos vs all-caps MUSIC VIDEOS) -— like RM’s video shoot at DIA Beacon… that was a much smaller, fairly single camera shoot — all shot on drones or a MOVI handheld rig. No set, they also didn’t like pay for the set because DIA: Beacon is an art museum — and similar a little bit to Letter for Jimin, which was much smaller set and easy in-house gear.

(And it was also released on Bangtan TV channel vs Hybe Labels Channel, which is a good indicator of how they categorize these shoots.) But the big videos, they go for broke. I mean they spend so much money and again they may own a lot of the equipment but there’s still so much people-power and labor involved. Take the dancers’ rehearsals. You have to pay people for all that — you have to pay them for the weeks of rehearsal, you have to pay them to be in a video. It is so expensive — like, I would not be able to budget that video for under 1 million, that’s how much it costs.  

So then Jimin wanted to do music shows —- and so because he’s Jimin and it’s BTS, Hybe rented larger venues and locations for all of the shoots. None of them use the actual Broadcast spaces or were provided by the broadcast studios. The smaller companies do though — remember when BTS first started out they went to SBS to film on the day? — but they don’t do that anymore. They rent huge facilities so that they could be a mini concerts for ARMYs to visit with Jimin and see him.

They also have to do this kind of outside of the city and they built huge sets because they’re going to want to show off if they’re gonna be on TV but that is so expensive. (I don’t think you were an ARMY then, but when ON was released, at the time it was the “biggest broadcast performance ever” and they keep upping that ante for sure!) It’s possible the broadcast companies spend some money but what BTS is doing is so outside the usual budget and given the tension with the broadcasters and HYBE — they (Hybe) wants control of their products, and so I think they pay for that control.

I can’t imagine they got out of any of those days for under $500K; I mean, there were two different sets, all the crew; they’re paying for all of it. We add it up and they probably spent close to $3-5 million between Jimin’s music videos and his music show performances, and I would be understandably like: “That’s it!” Like, that’s the budget for an EP, you know.

I don’t think Jimin could have it all because that wasn’t the case for the other members. RM got to lead videos and J Hope had pyrotechnics, which definitely costs money and safety and insurance. You know he had visual effects his first video (a lotta visual effects) and again a lot of challenging technocrane work, but I haven’t really seen them build something on the scale of what they built for SMFP2 in a very long time (or ever?).

We heard from the Art Dept that Jimin did not want to shoot on blue screen, so they built the set for him. This cannot be the same label that is shafting him — that allows him to spend that amount of money just because the artist said “I want to shoot in a real space!” because I’m gonna be completely honest— he could’ve done that on a blue screen — I’m glad they built a real world because BTS almost always shoots on Blue/Green Screen. They build him a huge set like that. It’s absolutely incredible.

I was also reminded this morning that people are talking about radio for Like Crazy and not supporting the song — and I just keep thinking that they did exact rollout for Butter, Dynamite, and Permission to Dance. They released Like Crazy. It had both a Korean version and English version. (Obviously that wasn’t the case for the English BTS songs.) They released two additional remixes. Then they kept releasing, like, alternate cover versions — alternate covers of the main remix, alternate cover the other remix. They were trying to maximize the direct-to-consumer store and exact same way they had tried to maximize it with Dynamite and Butter and Permission to Dance.

The way you were buying Like Crazy was the same process I took on Dynamite. They did the exact same playbook. So the fact that they were unable to get the kind of radio play they wanted or maybe they weren’t prioritizing radio because they knew that they were gonna have a better chance at direct to consumer sales... Maybe they didn’t want to fight radio. Maybe Geffen was like “We don’t have the right ‘Ins’ yet!” — I’m not sure, but the fact that they got completely screwed over by Billboard doesn’t mean that they weren’t actually rolling it out in that way, because as soon as they started doing the whole alternate cover thing, I was like: “Well, they clearly want us to try to go for number one!” You know, “They clearly think that they are going to be able to get number one on the hot 100 and we’re gonna use these sales to do that!” And clearly that’s all changed now.

They keep changing the rules on us, so — with JK, they’re obviously trying to, you know, use whatever tools they have available to them at this point.

Finally, when it comes to restocking the digital single CD. There are still albums available in the store. So why would they manufacture and ship more (likely thrown away) plastic that’s just for one song, when those CD singles only serve to raise sales for the charts? All of the other member’s CD singles are out of stock except The Astronaut, which they treated more like a proper album a bit (kinda like the Butter CD releases). Because they still have both versions of his full albums in stock, so if I were Hybe, I’d be like “No,you need to buy the album, we still have albums, we’re not going to sell you a single song when you can buy the album!” That makes more sense to me. The albums cost more.

TL:DR, haha — so I feel like this narrative around Jimin’s release has been ramped up because, from my professional opinion, he’s had the most expensive release so far (by far) and if we want to compare him to, say, Beyoncé — well she owns her own production company (Parkwood Entertainment), so she can funnel her own money into a Visual Album, I don’t know if Jimin has considered that at this point in his career, but in the future, he might!

((Not including costs for Suga’s tour because that’s a whole other thing, and the tour probably made money I would expect to balance out the cost of the tour itself))

Anonymous Insider

This isn’t to say that the other things, the part where he didn’t get the cake celebration, or the posts, the issues with the linking and this general feeling that Jimin was short-changed in these things isn’t valid and understandable. I think Hybe relied too much on D2C sales and I don’t think they leveraged their might as much as could have for JM. They could have risked more for him.

{This is an end of Anonymous Insider’s messages to me. They noted that they are an intermediate non-native Korean speaker so please excuse any translation errors. They translated things themselves using Naver tools that aligned with the video subtitles.}

So, listen, I still don’t think Like Crazy was sent/promoted to radio (which was a mistake and still is a mistake) and I am furious at the shady articles and lack of celebration for Jimin…

But after reading the way the members approach their work in the Beyond the Story book and now hearing from someone who produces these works for a living, I have to wonder if the company was doing everything they knew how to do for Jimin, but the second it didn’t work out because of the western music industry culling streams and sales, they pulled back all their resources and pivoted for Yoongi and JK. (I also wonder if leadership shut up about it all due to liability issues, or not to cause bad blood with the music industry for future releases.)

Again, I’ll never forgive the lack of celebration and the split streams (not without a great explanation), but at least now I think there’s a good chance no one was actively trying to sabotage Jimin on purpose. They seemed to have wanted that #1 and then it all went to shit because Billboard and radio want to get paid. Maybe leadership decided not to put any more resources into Face but instead pivot for all the future music coming out (including PJM2.)

Perhaps I'm a cockeyed optimist. I’m just hoping like hell they never engage in payola. I want all our boys to win, but I want us to win fairly. And even if everyone cannot have the same investment every time on every project, I hope when they come back together in 2025 that everyone feels good about their solo works and each other. This is my prayer. Love, Roo

[ifearimaybeanamericanidiot]

Hidden Horns, a Devil Off The Ice

Hockey!Chris Sturniolo x reader

Summary: Your job is to write news reports on hockey games. Recently, you've been only given the stories revolving around one certain player, Chris Sturniolo. You just write what you see. It's not your fault he's pressed about it. Did you mention that you write under a pen name and his brothers begged you into going on a date with him? How did life get to complicated?

TW: "hate"/angry sex, SMUT, language

I burst into the editors' office. "Alright, dude, what the hell?! You can't keep giving me Sturniolo game stories! This is all I've gotten for almost two months!" I shout at my boss. Jim turn around in his office chair.

"I keep giving you those stories because it gets our numbers higher than ever. It's my job to do what I think is best for the paper. That's what I'm doing. You're going to keep writing about him, and you're going to keep it tension-filled!" Jim shouts right back. He stands up and shoos me out of the office. "Now, get to that game tonight!" I can not believe this man.

I never wanted to be a journalism writer. Creative writing has always been my forte, but here I am, writing for a major sporting news company. I also never thought I'd meet one of my best friends in a bar downtown after a job. Or that he'd be brothers with the man I'm being forced to write about.

I pick up my phone as I exit the office. "Hey Nick! What's up?"

"Chris is wanting me and Matt to go to the game tonight. You down?" Shit. Nick and Matt know that I work in journalism, but not about their brother. I've managed to get lucky the last few times. This is the first game they'll have gone to in a few months. The first game since I've been writing about Chris specifically. At first, it was just the team. Chris is such a star player though. The articles eventually just dissolved into being solely about him.

I've been told I sort of have a problem with separating my feelings with what I write. Meaning, I don't separate them. I started letting my frustration about being stuck with one topic out in the form of, well, of bashing Chris in my articles. But, I also tend to describe him in almost too much detail. Jim says that sex sells and therefore, I have to keep writing about him. Apparently, the audience seems to think that I'm fucking Chris behind the scenes.

"Oh?" I try to keep my cool with Nick.

"Would you mind coming with? We can get you a ticket-" I have to bite the bullet.

"Oh, I have a ticket actually! A gift from work." I look up at the sky. The color brings up an image of Chris's eyes. I drop my gaze. "Hey, how about I head your way? My editor sent me home for the day."

"Oh- yeah sure! I'm just chilling at home for now!"

"Okay babes. I'll be there in a bit." He tells me bye, and I hang up. I'm going to have to tell him about this, aren't I? I have to sit in the news section. Shit. I shake my head and walk to my car.

Traffic is god awful, but I get to Nick's unscathed. I get to his door, feeling around at the top for his spare key, and let myself in. "Honey! I'm home!" I yell out.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Nick calls back. I head that way.

"Hey." I hop up onto his counter. Matt pops his head into the room. "Oh, hey Matt! I didn't know you were here!" I say, a little surprised.

"Hey!" He smiles and waves, and takes a seat next to Nick.

"So, Nick- funny thing here. The ticket I have is in the news section of seats. I have to sit there." I give him my most award winning smile, hoping he won't put two and two together before I can explain.

"Oh?" He and Matt say in unison.

"Look, I haven't been completely honest. I need to come clean." I put my elbows on my thighs, resting my head in my hands.

"Hey, whatever it is, we won't be mad." Matt says comfortingly.

"You guys have seen the clips of Chris raging on and on about those articles about him, right?"

"Seen them? We have lived them." Nick rolls his eyes.

"I wrote them." I blurt it out. Now, it's out in the open and I can't take it back. Nick and Matt are both silent.

"So, I'm guessing you wouldn't go on a date with him?" Nick says, putting his hands in his lap.

"What." I demand.

"We think you should go on a date with Chris." Matt says.

"What? Why?" I ask, squinting at them.

"You're literally Chris's type." Matt says.

"And, he's been really focused on those articles. We thought it'd might do you both some good to just have fun with someone new." Nick adds. "Why do think he's always posed in the background of pictures I send you?" I snort at that.

"But, I'm the one writing the articles." I point out. "How would I help?"

"First, he doesn't know that it's you writing them. We sure as hell aren't going to tell him. And second, I think he's so pumped up about the articles because you say truer things than any girl he's ever been with." Nick says slowly.

"Honestly, I'm more scared for your ability to walk if he found out you wrote the articles." Matt says offhandedly.

"What?" I shout, jumping off the counter.

"Yeah, our version of the clips of his issues with the articles, is Chris shouting about how he'd like to bend whoever it is over a counter and show them 'who's head is smoking trying to think then.'" Matt shivers as he repeats what I assume are Chris's words. Of course, I recognize the words. They're my words. In one article, I responded to a clip of him being asked about a previous article. He didn't have anything to say, so I wrote 'I smell smoke. Thinking of a chirp, bud?' It's not my proudest moment.

"Ooooooo-" Nick claps his hands together. "Prank opportunity!" He stands up. "You can go to the game, write down your little notes, and go on a date with Chris before you publish the next article. You can make a more personal cut at him. Really wind him up, and then let him start to figure it out that it's you."

"That's a horrible idea." Matt says from his seat.

"I don't even like Chris." I point out.

"Bitch, that's a lie. Come on, please! It'll be so fun to see him get wound up. I never got him back for having a bird painted on my bathroom wall in the middle of the night." Maybe it's because I'm such a good friend, but I agree.

That was roughly three months ago. This "prank" of Nick's has been going on for like three months. I think Chris is finally starting to catch on though. Which sucks. I've actually started to enjoy being with him. We go on dates, and he's so sweet to me. I feel so bad every time I have to write an article. That's what I'm doing now. My computer is open on a fully finished and published article. I can't believe I wrote that Chris should be a Zamboni driver.

My apartment door swings open. There are heavy stomps coming down the hallway, towards the room I'm residing in. The door swings open, revealing Chris, still in his jersey, though he lacked any padding. It hug down a little amount, just enough for me to catch a glimpse of his collar bones. God, I love those. Don't get me started about his shoulders. Fuck.

"Hey, dollface." Chris greets me, his voice rough.

"Hey Chris. I'm sorry I couldn't stay for the whole game." He sets his bag down on my bedroom floor.

"It's okay ma, it seems like you got enough to write about before half time." I freeze. My entire body freezes. All I feel is panic. He looks at me, half turned around. "What? Did you think I wouldn't put two and two together?" I can't say anything.

He moves onto to the bed, pulling me flat onto my back, pushing his body over mine. "Really, ma. Did you think I wouldn't notice your pretty little speech patterns? You use literally, like, six times a day. I know you. I'm not stupid."

"I...I'm sorry, Chris." My voice trembles. "My boss won't stop giving me assignments about you." He stops.

"Sweetheart, we're okay." He reassures me. "I'm going to make sure you're real sorry though. Is that okay?" He runs his hand along my thigh. Oh. I nod. "Words, princess."

"Yes. Yes, that's okay." He grins, looking up at me from his position near my waist. God, he looks like a fucking angel. A sexy ass angel, a fucking demon.

"No more nice guy, for now." He pulls his jersey off with one arm. I can't help but let out a groan.

"You're so fucking pretty." I run my hands across his chest and shoulders, moving my hands to his neck. I pull him down, into a searing kiss. He fumbles with my blanket, which had pooled around my waist with all the movement. He pulls it back, breaking our kiss.

"No pants?" He slides his hand up to my ass. "No underwear? Dirty girl." My face warms. "You like that? Fucking good." He pulls my shirt off. "I'm going to fuck the shit out of you. Got that?"

"Yes-" I gasp. "Yes sir." He rests his forehead on mine, and lets out the sexiest moan I've ever heard. Abruptly, he gets up and off of me.

"Come here." He offers his hand. I take it without a second thought. He flips me around, bending me over my own bed. My face pressed into the sheets, his dick pressed against me through his pants, his hand over the back of my own. "Stay, just like this for me. Okay?"

His hand leaves me for a moment. When he comes back, his dick is pressed bare to my skin. "Fuck, Chris. I need it." His hand returns to its place on top of my own.

"Say it real nice." He whispers to me.

"Please, fuck me, Chris?" He groans, before lining himself up and sinking into me. The stretch aches so fucking good. "Yes-" His other hand finds my free one, grasping it firmly. He pulls his hips back, before sinks back into me. He goes slowly for a few thrusts.

"Hold on ma." This is the only warning I get before he begins fucking me into oblivion. I lose track of time. It feels like he goes on, molding my insides to his shape, for forever. Before I know it, I'm tightening around him and screaming, grasping the sheets for my life.

"That's right ma. Squeeze my dick so good." He lightly bite my shoulder, only adding to the amount of sensation. "Aw fuck, ma. You feel so fucking good." My orgasm finally finishes out. As the last waves of pleasure are receding, he pulls out, shooting his load between my thighs instead of in me. He rests his head on my back for a moment, breathing hard against my skin.

He pulls away. I can't muster the energy to move even an inch. Shit. Tears begin to well up in my eyes, I don't even know why I'm so fucking emotional.

"Hey baby. M gonna wipe you down." Chris whispers, wiping his cum off my thighs with a warm cloth. "You did so well, ma. Took me so well. I'm so proud of you. I love you." He adds it on at the end, like he wasn't sure he should say it or not. Then, he moves me completely onto the bed before climbing in next to me.

"I love you too." I tuck myself against his chest, resting my head on his shoulder. I lace my hand into his hair. "I love you so much."

"I love you more. Now, let's nap. Fucking you that hard took it out of me." He lays a kiss on my hairline and cuddles in closer. In his arms, I let myself drift off.

@bethsturn here you go!! sorry if it's not great :,)

[dokidokisadness]

Werewolf training - log 2

summary: A werewolf hunter adopts a werewolf pup in order to make a living weapon out of him.

[btw this is losely based on WoD and werewolf the apocalypse - mostly bc I don't have any of the books yet and honestly never played it, but I really like the concepts and the world. Oh and... I guess it takes place on the early 90's]

Tw: minor wump, dehumanization, ableism, religious themes, living weapon.

prologue | log 1| Notes

There was a reason why the nuns thought this was a case of demonic possession. I thought maybe it had been an overreaction, however, I’m beginning to understand their assumptions.

Moss is already an agitated creature. It screams and flaps its arms around constantly for no real reason. It wasn’t able to stand back when I picked him up, probably because it was kept in that straight jacket all the time. But once it managed to balance itself in both feet, running was a constant. Always making some type of noise and constantly bumping into furniture. It was so careless and desperate with each move, I started to worry there was something wrong with it’s sight. Needless to say, I decide to get it to be more patient. The cage was an option, sure, but I don’t want it to think of the situation as punishment, rather correction. I need it to stay still and wait for my orders, not because there are silver bars preventing from leaving, I’ll need it to stay still in open environments. Oh and no straight jackets either, since I need it to be aware of it’s surroundings and for it to feel able to move, yet also feel the need to wait for my orders.

I checked the book for instruction on it, but it seems to have been written with a much more well-behaved subject in mind. I mean, I could try to “explain the rules and punishment for braking them”, but I don’t think Moss is the type to listen.

In the end, I decided to keep it chained outside, not too far from the house. It tried tugging on the chain occasionally, but after a week it was calmer.

Our schedule has become significantly easier.

5 AM – moss wakes up.

it sleeps very few hours and wakes up by itself. I notice It is up because it starts pacing around by this time. I leave it be for about an hour, it hits the mattress and the walls then paces around a little more for a while.

6 AM – I feed It.

Usually oatmeal or tuna paste.

6:05 AM – I leave it outside.

I usually do some house chores and fix some breakfast for myself, sometimes I train him on the basic commands before leaving to work.

7 AM – I’m usually getting to work by that time.

I think I mentioned before, but you must have gotten it wrong. I’m not an author, only an editor and occasionally translator. I don’t blame you, though. Office work just feels empty when you deal with the supernatural. I would quit, but hunting abominations doesn’t pay the bills. Also, I don’t think anyone expects an editor to double as a vigilante, so I guess it’s a good alibi.

4:30 PM – I leave work.

I usually take some stuff to finish at home later, they mostly don’t care as long as it’s ready by the deadline.

5 PM – I’m home and start training Moss.

For now, I’m focusing in having it know basic commands and basic English, for more detailed instructions.

The book mentions not following through with the second part if your goal is a more dependent wolf intended for simpler missions and tasks or if the beast doesn’t seem capable of developing a further understanding on language (apparently that is common enough to be on the guide) – stay; attack; stop; are probably the only things it should understand. However, I don’t have the budget to take moss in a cage to every mission and dragging him in chains to specific places. I need it to be able to carry itself in a “normal” way, as normal as possible. I need an intelligent weapon.

7PM – I have dinner.

If moss behaved during training, it may have food as well.

7:30 PM – I have Moss work out.

Mostly running exercises, recently I’ve been getting it to learn to fetch, bring it back or kill.

Suddenly near the woods has its perks. I’ve been working on having it sniff a dead rat, identify it and kill others alike it. I just need to get something bigger to try those fighting skills.

8:30 PM – I get Moss on the basement for sleep time.

It doesn’t usually sleep at that time, I want it to understand I’m no longer interacting with it for the day, so I just ignore it. If it is too noisy, I keep it in the cage with a muzzle.

I occasionally get him up in the middle of the night and take him outside for a running exercise, I want it to be used to the setting of a mission. At some point I’ll need it to wake up and help me hunt.

Ok so, that was a very tight version of our schedule, you see… Moss is often unpredictable and very suborn. A defiant wolf as I mentioned previously, sometimes it just wakes up and is calm, but often times it wakes up and is aggressive. It’s small and does little damage for now, but I need it to be fully under control. Because of that I end up wasting time punishing it for little things every day, especially weekends. Having said all of that, it’s been difficult, but I guarantee, you’ll like the final product.

PS: a small question: how is werewolf maturing documented? I mean, the book mentions height, weight and sizes, but rarely mentions age and , well, Moss is getting taller each week… not much, but it’s noticeable. I worry I have less time than I expected.

I managed a picture of it last night. Oh and a little sketch I made... this thing never leaves my mind, I guess.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for finally telling the truth?

I (26 M) work as the editor of a local paper. The owner (40 M) is basically useless and also has a bit of a short temper, so I have to both run everything and try to meditate between him and the rest of the staff. I'm also being paid just enough to get by but, you know, we're struggling. I'm willing to do what I can to keep us afloat.

A few weeks ago, my best friend (27 M) tried pitching a story to our boss that he and his twin sister (27 F) wrote together. However, it was fiction and the owner wasn't happy about that-- he ripped up my friend's notebook and even fired him, despite my best efforts. I was able to gather up the remains of my friend's notebook and returned them to him, and asked about the story, since I saw the first few lines and thought it looked promising.

They told me the story, and it was amazing. It was written as if they were journal entries by a famous astronomer (27 M) claiming to have discovered life on the moon-- pretty fantastical stuff, but if you didn't know the truth it would honestly seem believable. They wanted me to sneak the story into the paper but I was hesitant. Not only would I be lying to hundreds of people, but I'd be the one taking a risk here-- my best friend was already fired, and he and his sister have a secondary source of income, while the paper is pretty much all I have. They convinced me to print it anyway, saying that the astronomer is literally on the other side of the world and the paper could fold at any minute anyway, so I did it.

The story exploded-- everyone believed it, and we sold more copies of that issue than we had the whole of the previous year. The owner was initially furious, but once he realized how much money this would make him he was suddenly fine with it. He even hired my best friend back, since he had future "journal entries" already written.

Then things started going downhill. I found out my best friend was given a raise, and I wasn't, even though I was working just as much if not more than before. I brought this up to my boss, and he said that I had betrayed him by printing the story, and that he can't reward someone he can't trust-- but it was only because of me that we printed the story that lead to him reaping the rewards!

To make things worse, I never even get to talk to my friend and his sister outside of matters relating to getting the next article printed. There are so many people who want to meet and talk with them, they've even became close friends with this very rich and influential local figure (27 F) and while I'm happy for them, I wish they would at least make a bit of time for me.

Last night things came to a head. My friend's sister and I were preparing the next article, and I left the room for a few minutes. When I came back, the astronomer we were lying about was there, unconscious. Apparently he came all the way across the world to demand an explanation, and my friend's sister panicked and knocked him out. If that wasn't bad enough, she then decided we needed to bring him to MY apartment until she figures out what to do next. He's in my spare bedroom right now.

This has all gotten so out of control. I never asked to get wrapped up in something like this, I was just trying to help my friends and save our jobs. Now so many people are believing a bunch of lies that we attributed to a man I just helped assault and kidnap! And through everything, everyone else seems to be doing better while I just keep doing worse-- I feel like I've been used and left behind.

This is where I'm wondering if I'm the asshole or not. After the first article was published, I was approached by someone who works for our main competitor, and he offered me money to expose the story as a hoax, a lot of money. I turned him down at the time, but after last night, I contacted him and said I was willing to prove it was fake if he was still willing to pay. He'll be here soon, and I'm going to tell him everything.

I know that this would be terrible for the reputations of my friend and his sister, and the paper I work for will definitely go under. But I'm tired of lying to people, and I feel guilty for that and everything we've done to the astronomer; we'll have damaged his reputation as well, not to mention how he quite possibly has a brain injury now. And, frankly, I'm tired of putting in all this effort and getting nothing in return. The truth will come out eventually, would it really be so bad if it came out just a little sooner and I could have a bit of financial stability because of it?

So, am I the asshole?

[kaija-rayne-author]

9th review in series of Dragon Age Veilguard

70 hours in, 68 actual playtime.

I'm not an asshole disclaimer, if you've read it you can skip to the cut.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard

Section 8 here.

Did I say I didn't hate this game? I lied. I hate it so much it has become a vendetta just to finish it.

With three long games, 14 years of history, so much Lore there really never feels an end to it, 5 books. 6 comics, two or more coffee table books and probably stuff I don't know about to use for inspiration... this game is terrible.

They've stripped it down to the most banal, most puerile, most boring concepts they could possibly find in all of that to use in this travesty of a role playing game.

I'll finish it so I can see just how bad it is and how exactly they'll fuck over Solas some more. And here I was feeling comfy that since Weekes loves Solas that they wouldn't utterly fuck him over?

Whoooo boy, was I wrong. I wanted memories of his time before he woke up in Inquisition. I did not want memories of every cruel thing he'd ever been forced to do to protect tens of thousands of innocents. War is horrible. Those leading wars, regardless of the justified reasons (or not) get their hands bloody. They have to make hard decisions that cost pieces of their souls because no one else will.

I wanted memories of what Arlathan and Elvhen culture was like before everything went went to hell. What did we get? Memories painting Solas as the worst possible version of himself.

And the way they discuss and treat the topic of Mythal... I wonder if it's nice and cozy so far up Mythal's arsehole?

It's revolting when you know everything FleMythal has done, and if you read between the lines of all the lore about Arlathan era Mythal.

I've been told that the third act is the best. Though how anyone even gets to the third act is beyond me. Other than sheer cussedness and a desire to escape politics and the side effects of a pulmonary embolism. Cause that's the only way I've gotten this far.

Did I remember to say that they apparently forgot what aggro was and how that's supposed to work with a multi-player team? My rogue is not a tank. (Nor a rogue because rogues pick fucking locks.) Yet for some reason, he always has aggro. Especially the bigger and harder the enemy is to beat.

Aggro, in case you're reading my ramblings and don't know, stands for aggression/attention of whatever your team is fighting. Whoever did the most damage last is the one who should have aggro. In any decent video game, that's the tank, who is built to take it. They're supposed to keep the bad guys attention so the archers and mages can get it from behind/beside.

But since your side characters don't get skill points at the same rate your player characters do, (fantastic idea that, what utter dipshit came up with that?) Your character, whether they're a DPS or not, always has fucking Aggro.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to fight as a Legolas wannabe when you have several tons of dragon crashing into you because you do the most damage because of an outright shitty levelling system?

I now get to go fight another fucking dragon. That's gonna be fun. (It's my third today) and that'll have me into act 3.

Oh, and the much advertised 'dragon slayer' is a good character, but they're shit at actually killing dragons. I never, ever, thought I would miss Cassandra Inquisition. Because I utterly loathe her as a character, but I miss having competently designed dragon fighters in a game with so many fucking dragons to fight.

...

Make that two dragons.

Section 10.1 here.

[sarcasticbabywhispererjess]

Not everyone should write...

At some point last year my half-sister apparently decided to become an author. She announced to the family group chat when she self-published her first book on Kindle Unlimited in January. I avoided even looking it up because I just didn't want to know. Well, last month she self-published her 6th book. Yes, you read that right... six books in a year.

Finally curiosity got the better of me and I looked into her books. I was shocked and a bit appalled at the truly atrocious writing just in the overviews. Hoping that these summaries were written by AI or something I downloaded the first book and guess what? It's worse than I even anticipated. There was no way she had an editor. I'm not sure she even had someone read it before it got published and released to the masses. If someone did read it, they are either not a very smart person or they were not honest with her. It is very clear the writing is well below that of traditionally published authors.

On a post about her most recent book on FB she commented that she is now working on the 7th book and has ideas for at least four more books. She is truly going with quantity over quality. At this point I don't know if it is even worth confronting her with my critiques. It isn't just a few small tweaks. The whole thing needs to be scrapped and rewritten. Doing my due diligence I did download a sample of her latest book, the writing has not improved.

If you're wondering, the books are all Omegaverse... this being Tumblr, I'd bet you know what that is without me having to explain. I have not gotten to any mating scenes yet, but I am very much hoping they're fade to black or closed door. Reading a sex scene written in what I can only guess is written for about a 4-6th grade reading level sounds like it would be absolutely cringe inducing.

Things my sister needs before writing any more books...

a writing class... or 10

a thesaurus

a baby name book (most of her characters in this first book are named after friends and family members, with several of the same names being used for multiple characters)

an editor

honest, intelligent beta readers

I feel a tiny bit bad for ragging on this book so hard, but it is just SO BAD. So bad. I know I'm being a hater, but my coworkers are enjoying it. They think I could have a whole standup special just about my critiques of this literary disaster.

[shitpostingperidot]

Kamala Khan’s bookshelves

Kamala’s room in The Marvels is an absolute treasure trove of little details to zoom in on, and I’ve identified so many books on her shelves!

Shelf 1, top to bottom:

1. Landmark Experiments in Twentieth Century Physics by George L. Trigg

College-level book about experiments that helped us learn about x-rays, lasers, isotopes, superconductors, and all kinds of other things I don’t understand. Meant to be more practical than theoretical since it talks about the actual methodologies of these experiments. Could be for school, or for Kamala and Bruno to run their own tests of Kamala’s powers. The first of many books in the Khan house that come from Dover Publications.

2. Space Time Matter by Hermann Weyl

“An esoteric initiation into space time physics” -Amazon reviewer. I’m gonna be real, I don’t understand half the words in this book description, but apparently it’s famous for introducing gauge theory, which was later reborn as phase transformations in quantum theory. I can see this being something Kamala reads to try and understand the bangle transporting her to the Partition. Also from Dover.

3. A Map to the Sun by Sloane Leong

A graphic novel about a high school girl’s basketball team learning to work together despite their many differences and conflicts. Also it has a gorgeous color palette. Seems fairly self explanatory why it’s in this movie. I’ll definitely be borrowing this from my library! Like my friend Kamala recommended a book to me herself.

4. The Good Immigrant anthology edited by Nikesh Shukla

21 essays from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people in the UK about their experiences. It was crowdfunded initially, extremely critically acclaimed, and has gotten spinoffs and sequels. Riz Ahmed, who is British Pakistani, is one contributor, and a fun fact is that Rish Shah (Kamran from Ms. Marvel) worked with Riz Ahmed in an Oscar winning short called The Long Goodbye. Also, the editor, Nikesh Shukla, is currently writing the Spider-Man India comics series!

5. Bright Lines by Tanwi Nandini Islam

A coming-of-age story about 3 young adults with complicated family, friend, and romantic relationships between them. They have to travel from Brooklyn to Bangladesh together one summer and thereby discover a lot about themselves. I haven’t read it, but there seems to be a ton of complex representation of LGBTQ, POC, immigrant, and Muslim characters. I wonder how much the three main characters can be compared with our three characters with complex relationships in The Marvels, and I wonder which character Kamala most relates to!

6. I can’t tell! The font is bugging the hell out of me because theoretically, with that amount of contrast, I should be able to read a word when I get two inches from the TV and mess with the settings. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

7. I also can’t tell, but I’m being easier on myself because the title is written in white on a yellow background. It’s not the only book I know off the top of my head with this color scheme (Yellowface by RF Kuang) because the title is definitely multiple words. Help!

Shelf 2, right to left:

1. One Night that Changes Everything by Lauren Barnholdt

A YA romance where, through a convoluted series of events, a teenager must face all of her insecurities in one night. I can see Kamala devouring this as brain candy after wrestling with those advanced science books, or using it as fic inspiration!

2. Can’t tell, but love the color scheme!

This next one is a weird one, because I am 100% sure of what book it is, but I cannot find a picture of a matching edition.

3. Wizard at Large by Terry Brooks

It’s definitely, without a doubt, this book (where a character and a magical medallion are accidentally transported to Earth from another realm and switches places with an evil genie). Like those are the words on the spine and the plot of the book is an obvious choice for this movie. The fonts match on the audiobook, the ebook, and the next two books in the series. But try as I might, I cannot find any proof on the internet that the physical book that appears in Kamala’s room, that uses those two fonts and that spine formatting, exists. This is haunting me…

4. (On the other side of the box) It’s not The Twilight Saga Eclipse, but I definitely thought it was before I could watch in high definition. I think it’s a journal or sketchbook of Kamala’s; there are a bunch scattered throughout the room.

Shelf 3:

I’ve only identified the bottom book, which is Einstein’s Theory of Relativity by Max Born (Dover Publications). The third one up is HAUNTING me, it looks SO identifiable and yet!

Living Room Side Table:

1. Amateur Astronomer’s Handbook by JB Sidgwick (from Dover Publications)

2. Cosmology by Hermann Bondi (also Dover)

Both of these seem less difficult than the science books in Kamala’s room, but reviewers note that it helps to know calculus when reading Cosmology. Idk which member of the Khan family is reading these, but I love their family’s connection to the stars 💫

Tbh I’m having so much fun doing this! And I really wish we got to see Monica’s living space so I can analyze her books 😭

[manhandlememando]

The Alcott Ch. 2

Chapter 2: right where you left me

jay halstead x f!reader, frank castle x f!reader

tw: lil bit of angst, mentions of murder, descriptions of violence and bodily injuries, blood mention, 3rd person POV (she/ her)

chicago pd x the punisher crossover

(series is ongoing)

She couldn’t let it go. Every fiber of her being begged her to let the whole situation lie, but she couldn’t. Being an investigative reporter by trade she was too curious for her own good. Having gotten a job reporting for a news broadcasting company in downtown Chicago, her first instinct was to write about the incident. However, she knew that by coming to her editors with a story about a murderous vigilante having risen from the dead, she would be fired instantaneously.

Her curiosity ate away at her as the days passed after her encounter with the vigilante. How was he alive? She thought to herself. She had seen firsthand the explosion that was supposed to kill him, and it didn’t seem like someone would have been able to survive it. There was also a body found in the wreckage that matched his descriptors and with that the case had been closed. It had been over a year since then and now suddenly he had resurfaced in Chicago. She had to know why?

She was still stuck, frozen and staring into that dark alley. Her breath hitching at the memory of seeing that flash of his face. The hood he was wearing covered most of his face but the street lamp at the very edge of the alley provided her with a flash of light to his face as he stalked towards her.

She couldn’t forget the way his arms encased her with pressure but not force, it was clear he didn’t want to hurt her in any way. That is what puzzled her the most; how could a serial murderer not want to kill someone?

Unless he wasn’t one.

Looking at his mugshot staring back at her from her computer screen, she only had one thought; who was the real Frank Castle?

————————————————

Frank’s P.O.V

Blow after blow echoed throughout the skeletal body of the building, the unfinished walls causing the sounds of the hammer to bounce between them. His roars did the same. Growling animalistically as he brought the hammer down onto concrete over, and over, and over again.

Working construction was the only way Frank could make a living now that his identity had to be stripped. He was now known as “Pete Castillone” and all he had to the name was a construction job and a one bedroom apartment. After his very timely death on the East Coast, he decided to use his newfound anonymity to his advantage. Traveling the country in search of more of those who were responsible for his family’s murder. However, since coming to Chicago, the life that “Pete” lived was very simple and very quiet. Frank needed that, after everything that had happened he needed the quiet. Although, “quiet” is typically synonymous with “alone”, and that’s NOT what Frank needed and he feared it had become something of a curse for him.

About a week ago, Frank had picked up some chatter about a local Chicago gang having had something to do with a family massacre in New York. Rival gang war had gone national apparently. Frank knew that the cartels in New York City were responsible, however he didn’t know which cartel, or whom within them actually had anything to do with it. However, having tracked down one of the members of the local gang, Frank found his opportunity to get the information he needed with whatever means necessary.

A harsh yell escapes his lips as he brings the sledgehammer down again onto the concrete. With each impact of the hammer he began to relive the other night all over again.

The tire iron in his hand coming down onto the man’s chest, over and over again.

“Who gave the FUCKING ORDER?!” Frank screamed as the man lies silently, gurgling blood from his mouth.

Having come to Chicago with the sole intention of finally avenging his murdered wife, son, and daughter, Frank thought his mission would be simpler than it was turning out to be. The more people he found, the more secrets he uncovered on the true identity of the person who ordered the execution of his family.

As the man laid on the ground, breathing his last breaths, he sighed the name of the person Frank was really looking for: “Agent Orange”.

Frank dissipates back into reality, holding the hammer limply in his fist. Looking around for a second, taking in his surroundings, Frank breathes a deep sigh and takes a seat on the dusty concrete floor. As he continues to relive the other night, his mind then falls on the young woman who had mistakenly stumbled upon the scenario. A pang of guilt runs down Franks spine, she had looked so terrified of him.

Rightfully so, he thinks to himself. His brutality scared even him at times, but seeing that same feeling reflected back at him on such a beautiful face shifted something in him. In a moment of pure inhuman rage, he was reminded of the fragility of the human spirit as he looked up to see her face.

“You’ll kill him!” He remembers her shouting, as if the man wasn’t already dead. He remembers her shaking hands and the gun she clutched for dear life but couldn’t bring herself to fire. It was incredibly courageous when he thought about it, having every opportunity to run and yet she chose to try and protect her fellow man. He knew in that moment he couldn’t hurt her, not that he wanted to, but he’s had to bury secrets in unmarked graves before.

In the split second he had, his mind landed on the only option available to him; neutralize the situation. He towered over her, his frame encompassing hers in an instant, clutching a hand over her mouth to silence her screams.

“Shh, shh, shh,” he quietly coos in her ear, “ain’t gonna hurt ya,” he assured her. Having disarmed her before capturing her in his hold, he didn’t know how to proceed. The threat was minimized and he had gotten her to quiet down, so his only logical choice was to release her.

“I swear to God I won’t hurt ya, but if I let you go, will you scream?” He speaks gruffly in her ear, hand still over her mouth. He remembers how she was shaking against him, he can’t get it out of his head. The way she was repulsed by him, it made him look back on the memory with shame.

When he did let her go a small fist came flying up instantly and landed on the bridge of his nose, breaking it. Clutching his face, he groans and falls back against the brick wall. As he looks up he sees her vanishing into the night, a small glimpse of the blood-covered blouse is the last thing he saw before she was out of sight.

He’s still stuck in that alley holding her shaking, terrified form, hearing her whimpers and seeing the fear in her eyes.

He can’t be anywhere else.

—————————————

Jay’s P.O.V

“Hey there space cadet, which planet are you visiting now?” Jay’s voice comes from behind her, standing in the doorway to her room, watching as she stares blankly out her bedroom window. Turning her head to meet his gaze, her demeanor softens instantly and she gets up to greet him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t even hear you come in,” she says as her boyfriend pulls her into his strong chest, placing a kiss to her forehead as he cradles the back of her head.

“Hey baby, you doing okay?” He says after a moment of comfortable silence between them. Shifting her face to look up at him, she smiles innocently.

“Yeah, of course, why?” She reassures him, but he knows her too well.

“You just seem… off, ever since the other night,” he says, dipping his head to catch her eyes, trying to break this barrier she had built up over the last several days.

“Jay, I’m fine, I swear. Just preoccupied with this new article I’m writing,” she lies, placing a hand to the side of his face as she brings it down to hers, kissing him deeply. He pulls away, shaking his head slightly and gently cupping her face in his palms.

“I know you better than that, baby. Come on, let me into your golden thinking,” he speaks as he moves a piece of hair from her face.

“Everything’s fine, Jay,” she says flatly, clearly not wanting to let him in.

He sighs as she pushes past him into the hall, pinching the bridge of his nose he takes a deep breath. Something was wrong, he knew it. But she wouldn’t put her shields down long enough for him to see the real issue. Something happened that night to make her this way, a shift was apparent in her behavior and all he wanted was a reason why. The last thing he wanted was for her to shut him out completely, but it seemed that was the first thing she was doing.

Swallowing the lump forming in his throat, he turns and makes his way into the main living space of her tiny apartment. He finds her lost in thought again, just staring blankly into space as she stands in front of the sink. The water continued to run as she stood unmoving, the glass in her hand overflowing with water.

Where was she? He thought, brow knitting together as he watched her disappear into her own mind. All he wanted was for her to come back, to be with him again in the present. But he had a feeling there was an unseen gap between them now, her in a completely different place and him standing right in front of her trying to understand where she’s gone.

Come back, baby, he thinks to himself as he continues to watch her from afar. Come back, I’m right where you left me.

[aroaceleovaldez]

idk how you can say it’s not also mark’s fault when a lot of the issues stem from the actual writing - it didn’t feel like rick’s writing and it’s more similar to mark’s work. rick has his issues but he doesn’t write like this. plotwise and consistency issues yes that’s def rick. and it doesn’t make sense that mark apparently did research about details but didn’t say anything about the details with biana or Hypnos. both of them including the editor failed on that. Also when the preview first came out, people said was bad. that was all mark, they told us. mark also confirmed that in the least, the first 10,000 words of tsats were all him too, with minimal editing. also a lot of the complaints/negativity are just on tumblr i highly doubt publishers will look at it or that their career will be ruined lol

I'm not saying that Oshiro is blameless - I'll admit, I'm not familiar with their other work, and yeah there's definitely too much within the book all over the place that feels messy and disjointed. I'm more used to being very clearly able to pick out Rick's writing so I was definitely able to see parts that were him, but there were also some details that very much told who was writing that portion very clearly (One actually kind of interesting one is every time you see use of s's versus s' in the case of like, something belonging to [noun/pronoun ending in S], the s's is Oshiro and s' is Rick, because throughout the entirety of the Riordanverse, Rick always uses s' and this book is the first time we see s's as well.). And there are absolutely plenty of scenes in the book that I know for a fact were written by Mark because they've explicitly said they wrote them and I do think those scenes are bad!

But I have said since the book was announced that I was very afraid people were gonna try to pin all the blame on the queer/nonbinary author just because they're new. I'm very used to Rick's writing at this point and how it's progressed, and a lot of the particular failings I noticed in TSATS are particularly consistent with recent series. I'm saying Oshiro is not the sole reason this book is bad, which is something I have had people attempt to argue to me already. I definitely don't think co-authoring this book improved it's condition much at all though. It probably did only make things worse, particularly in terms of how inconsistent everything is within it. Even if it was just Rick though I doubt we would have avoided how wildly out of character everything felt or the huge timeline changes/errors and incorrect details.

And you have entirely valid point I fully agree with as well - the editors should have totally stopped this mess WAY early on. It's honestly wild to me how little this book seems to have been run by an editorial team, because there's so many even just structurally wonky sentences or inconsistencies (again, switching s's and s' between writers) that you would normally expect to be caught and fixed very early on. It feels like the editing team didn't bother at all to catch awkward places where there is no bridging the gap between who's writing what, or do any kind of consistency checking even within details of the same sentence (Nemesis giving Nico the pomegranate seeds, and him apparently already having some?) or chapters (Will and Nico separately use the same exact simile at different times, seemingly unrelated to the other having used it), let alone multiple books. It makes me wonder if the Riordanverse has a series bible at all? That's writing a series 101.

And I agree that so many of the inconsistencies don't make sense if Oshiro did so thoroughly read through the series making notes, because then those inconsistencies should have been pointed out and corrected during the writing process. I really wish Oshiro had been able to smooth out detail inconsistencies, and given how Oshiro works as well as a sensitivity reader I would have really hoped we wouldn't have gotten stuff like the troglodytes again, or some of the general scenes that felt so viscerally bad like nobody considered any of the other implications within them.

Basically, yes, absolutely, it's everybody's fault and it's everybody's fault equally. But I have already seen people claim it was solely Mark Oshiro's fault, which it was not. It was just as equally the fault of Rick and the editing team.

[beebooks]

just finished the chapter on lesbian encoding and i began to really take notice of the fact that there were no still living (at the time) writers included, which really became apparent as the year of death crept up on the year the book was published. but it makes sense though, that if a writer is closeted (professionally if not privately,) they would not consent to having their work included in an anthology of lesbian literature

though! as is made clear when the editor (editor? author?) mentions in the introduction to the chapter that she was not allowed to include poems by edna st vincent millay because millay supposedly did not write lesbian poetry, someone has consented to having these writers' work included in the anthology, presumably with the exception of any work that has entered the public domain. i know the laws around copyright and public domain shifted throughout the 1900s so i can't say which writers one would need permission to include at the time this anthology was put together, but seeing as millay had to be excluded, i would think she has gotten that permission for many writers. most of the closeted writers from the encoded section did seem to have been pretty much out of the closet privately, so maybe that factors into why they could be included

it does make me think there must have been writers who fit the bill but weren't included because they were still alive and did not want to be "outed" in that way, or because whoever controls the rights to their work rejected the request to include their work

[grimoirefate]

#grimoirefate. An independent & selective Morrigan from Bioware's Dragon Age franchise. While I'm canon strict, some parts may be sculpted to personal RP experience and headcanons taken from canon actions and psychological reactions.

This blog uses beta editor only. It is 21+ and has darker themes presents such as: gore, blood, violence, & heavily themed around fantasy religion. Do not follow if you are sensitive. Written by Melody, 30+

where else is melody? neve gallus: @coldjustness

HAVE PATIENCE. This blog is still a work in progress,

RULES. READ THEM.

Writer/Disclaimer. I'm Melody, I'm in my 30s and I was born and raised in the United States, I am in the MDT and I am proud of my heritage for many reasons. I will not state what that is here because this is a fantasy writing blog, not a personal blog. To start things off, I am absolutely capable of being an asshole. My experience in life has gotten me to bear a fair bit of unpopular opinions that will likely ruffle some feathers around these parts of Tumblr, but I have worked on my own temperament to reflect the extreme importance of respect, civility and communication, and so I practice them all commonly. When I reach the limits of 'old and tired', I may sound harsh and incredibly salty, but I promise that I am always open to discussion. It's a healthy thing, after all.

Forget all about fanon. Before anything else, I cannot iterate how desperately I urge you to forget any and all fanon takes tied to the character that I write. I do not adhere to 98% of the fandom's takes on any of them. But it's important to reiterate that I am exceedingly canon-strict, which means that, well, apparently fanon and I are simply meant to disagree on the daily. It's a common enough thing with me it seems. If there's anything that tickles your curiosity, then please know that I'm always more than happy to answer any questions, even on anonymous as I fully intend to leave the option open.

Shipping/Romance. Morrigan is straight, plain and simple. While I am here for the ships I do enjoy they are not a priority.

Exclusivity. I do not practice it. the best I can do is mains.

Social Politics/etc. This is incredibly simple: your mess is your mess and it is not mine. Take it to the dashboard and I will unfollow you. I'm too old and too tired for this, I don't do and have never done call-out culture, I don't do anon-hate, I don't do pettiness, I don’t do DNIs, or guilt-tripping and quite frankly, I have zero interest in seeing people take advantage of having an audience of followers to air any kind of dirty laundry in front of. I'm simply not here for it. In other words, I will unfollow you. And also, as it's happened in the past— I do not and will not engage in white-knighting of any kind whatsoever, and this rule counts, again, regardless of my connection with you.

PORTRAYAL NOTES TBD.