#there are many names in history but none of them are ours

[sapphiresaphics]

I wanna talk about how DEEP the lore of League of Legends actually is. Because while some people might be confused by the events of some things that happened in Season 2 of Arcane, the series itself is less so pulling from our own earthly history, but instead that of the history of Runeterra.

Let me tell you about the tale of Azir:

“The youngest and least-favored son of the Shuriman emperor, Azir was never destined for greatness. He was a slender, studious boy who spent more time perusing the texts collected in the Great Library of Nasus than training to fight.”

Azir befriends a slave and the two of them bond over their love of ancient texts and magic. Eventually Azir is so enamored with his slave friend that he names him Xerath and appoints him to be his closest adviser.

After a series of cataclysmic events that resulted in Azir being in a position to become the new emperor, Xerath convinced him that “to stand as ruler over the entire world, Azir would need to be all but invincible, a god amongst men – an Ascended being.”

Azir agrees to undertake a dangerous ascension ritual, unaware that Xerath has actually been studying the dark arts and was seething with jealousy, hatred, and rage for being a slave.

“At the height of the ritual, the former slave unleashed his powers and Azir was blasted from his place on the dais. Without the protection of the runic circle, Azir was consumed by the sun’s fire as Xerath took his place. The light filled Xerath with power, and he roared as his mortal body began to transform.”

“But the magic of the ritual was not intended for Xerath, and such awesomely powerful celestial energies could not be diverted without dire consequence. The power of the Ascension ritual exploded outward, devastating Shurima and laying waste to the city. All that remained of Azir’s city were sunken ruins and echoes of its people’s screams on the night winds.”

“Azir saw none of this. For him, all was nothingness. His last memories were of pain and fire; he knew nothing of what befell him atop the temple, nor what became of his empire. He remained lost in timeless oblivion until, thousands of years after Shurima’s doom, the blood of his last descendant spilled onto the temple ruins and resurrected him. Azir was reborn, but was yet incomplete; his body little more than animate dust given form, held together by the last vestiges of his indomitable will.”

Azir comes across a woman who was stabbed. By using his powers he is able to resurrect her and heal her of her wounds.

“And with that act of selflessness, Azir was lifted up in a column of fire as the magic of Shurima renewed him, remaking him as the Ascended being he was meant to become. The sun’s immortal radiance poured into him, crafting his magnificent, hawk-armored form and granting him the power to command the very sand itself.”

“With the power and prescience of an Ascended being, Azir summoned an army of sand warriors to march alongside their reborn emperor saying; “I will reclaim my lands and take back what was mine!””

———

I had to edit a lot of that down and find respective screenshots that emulate the scenes that were being referenced… but I wanted to do this because I think it helps explain some of the stuff going on in Arcane.

Arcane is VERY MUCH drawing from its own lore and history of Runeterra. When you start digging into the lore you’ll start seeing these direct parallels and references, and some of the oddities start to make sense. I know we like to joke about Viktor being hextech Jesus, but his arc and storyline more closely resembles that of Azir than of Jesus.

League of Legends lore is FILLED with stories like this. Stories that are referenced by Arcane in many subtle ways that won’t be obvious to outsiders. This stuff runs DEEP, and the creators of Arcane know the lore enough to use it to tell their own stories with it as a guideline and reference.

Additionally it’s helpful to know that magic in League of Legends lore is a sentient thing that corrupts and WANTS to be used. This is why Heimerdinger hypothesizes that mages who use the Arcane magic often go astray and that this temptation to use the magic to commit world ending cataclysms “might be a property of the Arcane itself.”

As Rise says:

"Magic wants to be used, It is all around us, emanating from the first fragments of creation. It wants to be wielded. And that is the true challenge on the path we both walk. When you realize what the magic wants, how eager it is... Well, then the difficulty isn't how to begin wielding it. It's knowing when to stop."

Arcane tells the story of Viktor, a weak boy who makes a friend over their shared interest in studying and learning. Who goes through a metamorphosis after a cataclysmic event, saves people with his benevolence and newfound power, is ultimately betrayed and killed by his closest friend, and is resurrected through the use of (Warwick’s) determination and will to live, reborn into a godly figure who can control armies of his followers.

[glupblorbo]

holy fuck it's been a minute

STAR WARS REBELS SEASON 1 WAS RELEASED 9 YEARS AGO!

[bagheerita]

So I read A Stitch in Time and one result of that which I was certainly not expecting was that I feel so much sympathy for Enabran Tain. Garak's life is a tragedy, but Tain's is a fucking black comedy.

I mean, he's a terrible person and an absolute shitbag, but can you imagine? You have this kid. You go to all the trouble of arranging for him to be raised in a family situation where he won't be rejected from society for being your bastard. You get him into the nicest indoctrination school where he can hobnob with plenty of uppercrust kids. You get him a job in your Order and all the proper training. And he's actually, like, really good at it. But he has this fatal flaw of being completely incapable of not making stupid, short-sighted, emotional decisions.

A scene I imagine has to have happened just prior to Garak and Tain's confrontation at the end of part II:

Like goddamn. When Tain asked "what's your plan for getting rid of her husband?" and Garak's just like "plan what plan." Dude. I'M disappointed, I can only imagine the guy who's job it is to know and plan for everything isn't at least as disappointed.

I know he didn't actually, but do you think there was ever a time when Tain wanted to be like, You know what. Just go back to Tolan and become a gardener. Join that illegal hippie cult. It's fine.

[calamitoustide]

thinking about history fic james in the current timeline scribbling poetry on the edges of his papers for work after meeting regulus not knowing where that urge came from he never had it before

thinking about history fic regulus in the canon timeline hiding away in his room afraid to go outside and face the world dreaming up visions of brushstrokes and simple melodies not knowing where those good dreams come from he never had anything like that before

[inbabylontheywept]

by tradition, the first day of the camp was spent pranking the group next to us. our prank was ziptying the zippers on their sleeping bags together. we figured one of them would sleep with a knife, because we all slept with knives, because we were dangerous maniacs and half the danger of a dangerous maniac is that they tend to think that they are Actually Normal. so. obviously that didn't pan out, and instead they got stuck in their sleeping bags for like half an hour and because their scoutmaster slept in their car and couldn't hear them yelling, they actually only got out when one of them went full caged animal and chewed through the plastic. which meant they had time to make it to the axe throwing station, but they did miss breakfast.

the scale of our victory was impossible to understate. it was an epic prank. unrivaled. the best in years. we knew they were going to retaliate, and we both feared and craved it. maybe i'm still a maniac, but that feels like a common thing, right? do well adjusted people that are not maniacs crave Judgement?

(serious answers only please, from people who would never spoon a knife.)

anyway, the next day we got back to our camp, and the neighors had skipped dinner to just come back and fill all our tents with pinecones. which was like, a decent prank, i guess, but it probably took them an hour to fill all the tents up, and it took us like 15 minutes to tip the tents out, and as a return volley to the ziptie prank it was incredibly underwhelming. we felt a little cheated.

so our scouting group held a council, and we agreed, unanimously, that our prank was 100% better and theirs sucked and that there would be no escalating tensions because we were the clear victors. they'd had their chance to retaliate, and they failed, and so the war was over. that was it.

we agreed on this. we swore. but madness is a relative thing, and in our group of maniacs, we still had J. i have many, many J stories. too many. i biked up to school with him from 4th grade to 8th, and i saw him get hit by cars thrice. he'd just swerve into the road sometimes. one time on a rainy day in 4th grade, a car splashed me, and before i could even consider my response J yelled I GOT THIS and then he blitzed off after the car. i didn't see him the rest of the day. i was so anxious i barely slept that night. i saw him the next morning and he told me that he'd chased the car until it got to a gated community and then he'd climbed over the fence and looked in peoples garages until he found the one with the car, and then he'd ripped the hood ornament off and broke their window. then he gave me a hood ornament to a different brand of car from the one that splashed me and i didnt tell him because i didnt want him missing more school. i want you to mentally adjust your mental model of the things a 9 year old is capable of doing to include chasing a car for five miles, hopping a fence, breaking into a garage, and vandalizing a randos car.

and that's just the tip of my J stories iceberg.

the point of all this is just to say that J was so crazy that he made us knife spooners look like accountanting enthusiasts.

so we agreed the war was done, and we shook on it, and then J, in the name of friendship, in the name of honor, in the name of avenging our pinecone filled tents, snuck over to their camp that evening and fornicated with a watermelon that they'd been saving in their cooler.

i want to emphasize, again, that this was not the consensus of the group. that is not a prank. like i know it seems like we dont know what pranks are because of the whole ziptie thing, but even we knew that fucking someones food is not a prank, it is a crime, and a sin, the kind of weapon that had only been ethically used once in history by Horus in his battle against Set and none of us dumb assholes had owl heads.

so.

the next day went pretty well. we threw some more axes again, which is a valuable and important skill for children to learn i guess, and we learned how to tie knots, which is a skill that turned out to be far sexier than i ever expected, and i learned how to light fires with a magnifying glass, which was great. i'm looking back at this, and i am actually just now beginning to realize that the clear and obvious point of scouting is turning child sociopaths into apex predators.

and then the day ended, and we went back to our camps, except for our leaders, who had a sort of Scout Leader Meeting they were going to have for a few hours at least. it was built into the camp, that day was supposed to be our day to chill as a group, and make peach cobbler, and just be buddies.

except, as it turned out, our neighboring group's alternative to making peach cobbler was eating their watermelon. so at some point they opened their watermelon, and woo boy. oh man. you think catholics hated seedless watermelons? you should see how much mormons hate seeded ones.

so we were chilling by the fire, and then we heard screaming from the camp over, but we didn't pay much mind to that because there are many reasonable explanations for a group of 10ish children to scream simulanteoulsy, such as wasps, which are abundant in arizona, and then the screaming got closer, which did not bother us because there were many reasons for a group 10ish children to scream and run towards us, for example, wasps, which are abundant in arizona, and then we noticed they had large sticks on them, which we figured were perhaps being used to drive away the wasps, which are abundant in arizona, and then they arrived and they started beating the shit out of us, abundantly, in arizona.

so we ran into the woods.

now, at this point, we had no idea what was up. we knew that the camp next to us was out for blood, which was crazy, because we'd actually locked them in fartproof bags for 30 minutes and they'd barely done anything back, and were trying to figure out what could possibly have happened that could drive them to Terrible Violence when we realized that J was cackling like a witch that had learned how to order children off of ebay.

so we politely asked J what the hell he had done, and he politely explained that had "done" their watermelon, and we politely beat him with large sticks because life is nothing but endless cycles of violence.

we were still being chased by the other camp btw. so it was them, chasing us, chasing J, and then they got tired and went back to their camp, and we chased J a little longer because we were mad we'd all been walloped with sticks, and J did not care because he was a supernatural entity whose only weaknesses were Needles and Fire, and then we got tired and went back and J kept running, and we just kind of figured he would come back eventually.

he did not.

we went back to our tents, and we waited, and J did not come back. we stayed up all night, peering into the forest, worrying. our leader came back, and we did our best to hide our battlewounds, and he either genuinely did not notice or simply accepted this as part of Boyhood. then he went to bed, and we waited, and waited, and waited. And Waited. and did not sleep.

eventually, we convened again, and we agreed that if J was not back by after breakfast, we would have to tell the scoutleader about what exactly had transpired. and we really did not want to do that, because it would have meant that everyone would have gotten in a very large amount of trouble.

morning came around, and J still was not back. we went to breakfast, and we ate very, very slowly. we were afraid the other camp was going to continue their war with us, but they actually looked fairly frightened. one of them actually came to us and asked for a truce, and we agreed because we truly felt bad for them. like, yes, they did beat us with sticks, but J fucked their watermelon. we werent complicit in the watermelonfuckening but they didnt know that, and it was definitely the kind of crime that left one outside the bounds of the social contract.

and then when we could eat no more bits, when breakfast was almost done, right when i was getting pushed to go and tell the scoutleader that we needed to find J, he arrived. he was sleep deprived, and noticeably scraped and bloody, and tied to his belt was a blood squirrel tail.

and i asked him, J, where did you get that? and he said, don't worry man, it was already dead, which did not answer by question and gave me several more.

the camp ended that day, and the other groups avoided us like the plague, and it was not until some weeks later that we were able to piece together what happened.

J, in his sojourn through the forest, managed to find (or, possibly, make) a dead squirrel. he then cut off the tail to keep on his belt, because he was a weird little freak like that. he also took the dead squirrel, and he skinned it, then he tied it to a little crucifix made of wood, and he left it in the other scouting group's camp. which is why they were so scared of us.

it was such an unhinged thing to do it actually sobered us up for a while. scouting became a scary thing for us. we'd found something dark and primal there, in the place where no adult could see, and our appreciation of J as a wild ride kind of changed into seeing him as something truly dangerous. we had a sense wherever he went, something terrible would follow, and the only way to escape it was to not be there when it arrived. and so piece by piece, the scout group dissolved. it wasnt until he moved out of that ward that the rest of us started daring to go back to scouts.

and for the final epilogue of the tale:

i have a little brother who was friends with a younger cousin of J's, and the two would go to parties together in highschool. and sometimes J, who was in his early 20's at that point, would show up at the parties, and it was unsettling in such a way that it just became a known risk at parties with the cousin. and at one party, they were playing truth or dare, and J wasn't even in the room, but someone asked him the Truth of how he always knew how to find the cousin, and J said the cousin's mom had mentioned she was worried about him and the parties so he'd put a tracker in his car. and when he saw that the cousin was out of the house on weekends, he'd made a visit by, just to make sure he was safe.

then he left. and every single person at that party went over that poor kid's car. they searched the wheel-wells, checked underneath it, the works, until they found the tracker. then because they were clever, they didnt break it, or throw it away, or anything that would've given away what they'd done. they just gave the tracker to the cousin, who put it in his glovebox. and on schooldays, he'd take it with him, so J could see him in the parking lot. and on weekends, he could leave it in the garage, so he could go to parties with out Hell coming with him. because everyone that met J - every single person - knew that the only way to be safe from him was to be far, far away.

[unsuredreamer]

Savior

Bridget Hearts 🩷 x fem reader

it's so shit I'm so sorry, but i feel like every idea just flees out of my head atm 🥲

"I will destroy you!" Uliana roared, preparing herself to run after Bridget. Eating too many flamingo feathers had its side effects, and it was about time she found out that when someone says 'don't do it' you simply listen.

It enraged you. She was so stupid, yet everyone feared her. How so? You'd never understand why they didn't stand up to her. What would she do? Run after you? It was all she was capable of, after all.

You needed to put a stop to her dumb frantics, so you stepped up with your dagger, holding it close to her neck.

"Oooo, we dont wanna do that, do we?" You grinned, basically threatening her with death. It was exciting, thrilling. Being just a step away from getting rid of someone, having that power over them. Being in a possession of their life thread, having the scissors steady in your hand. It was amusing to you. The goosebump on your skin shows from the rush you felt deep inside.

The dagger you held so close it was pinning her skin, making a slight dent. Her breath on hold. "I suggest you step away from our princess of hearts or you'll make an excellent sushi tonight, darling." You mirrored her peers' shocked expressions. None of them daring to step up to you. You were feared amongst them, being slightly older than the rest of the students, and kind of crazy too. It had its advantages having your twisted history behind.

"Marinated octopus. How does it sound?" Or would you like something last season? Shrimp pasta?" You smiled ominously, pricking the sharp end deeper in her neck, almost making it bleed. You could sense the blade cutting her first skin, making her immediately stumble back.

"You- You're mad!" She managed to yell out, holding her fresh wound before she took her turn, walking away, or should you say, basically running away. Your graceful dagger flew after her pinning itself right beside her head, trimming her friends hair in the process.

"Might be, just a little bit" you giggled, making the blade return to you with a swift wave of your hand. Turning yourself to the other group, you fixed your button-up shirt. Red and Chloe standing in awe at how well mannered you seemed even though you almost committed murder right in front of their eyes. Red thanking you internally for saving her mother. "But aren't we all?" You grinned, your cheshire cat-like smile making everyone around you blush. You were charming, to say the least, although it was not thanks to your name. "Look at that," you pouted, pointing at the shattered plate in front of you. "She wasted such good cupcakes. What a shame"

"Don't worry, Y/n, i think I have enough for everyone!" Bridget smiled brightly. "Thank you for your savior service" She bowed jokingly, giving you one of her famous smiles in return.

"And look at you cupcake, How could anyone not like you?" You waved your hands in the air, making her broken belongings whole again. Holding it our for her. "This plate was too pretty to be broken. Dont let yourself be broken, beautiful, " you winked before dissappearing into thin air. Red and Chloe blinking a couple of times to check if they saw right.

"Woah, who was that? Hot, sexy and amusing?" Red spoke up, getting a glare in return from both Bridget and Chloe. "I'm just saing" the girl threw her arms in the air in a defensive manner.

"That was Y/n. We don't really know much about her" Bridget dreamily explained, holding her beautifully decorated plate close to her chest.

"Only that she's done some horrible stuff. And she's kinda insane" Ella blabbered, rolling the cupcake trolley.

"It was for good!. And she's right, we're all mad here" Bridget butt in, snapping herself out of her daydreams.

" If you can call cutting someone's lim-"

"Ella, they don't have to know that" bridget laughed nervously, taking another plate from her trolley "She's not that bad how they make her out to be-here you go-" The pink haired princess walked around giving out more of her delicious cupcakes. "She is actually so nice-"

"She commits crime at least 3 times a week, and her go-to 'entertaining' hobby is watching people stumble and fall over this tree root" Ella butt in pointing at the object.

"But, she paints me pink roses and brings me many different ingredients for my sweets. Isn't that nice?" Bridget hummed, making red and chloe look at themselves

"Do you think what i think?" Red whispered to her fellow 'friend', the other just nodding her head.

-

"You know, I think you should ask Bridget out for castlecoming" Red blurted out while walking after/stalking you around the school.

"Yeah? Why is that so?" You giggled, holding a book about baking. You were currently at the library, just trying to make your way to the comfy corner made specifically for residents of the library. Unfortunately, you couldn't use it if you weren't reading a book of some sort. Hence why you took ahold of whatever, with intentions of taking a nap in the place.

"Well, you seem to be liking her, aaaand she seems to be liking you too" You laughed, you loved being in these kinds of situations.

"Well loves, what made you think I like this princess?" You looked up from your book, you let's be real, were not paying attention to. The question made them rethink everything.

"You-She-em" Chloe tried, but nothing made sense

"I guess she's alright" You grinned at their troubled expressions.

Princess of hearts was more than alright. She was everything and nothing at the same time. She was the air you breathed and the hard ground you walked on. She is like the ocean breeze early in the morning, the sunbeams lightly musking your face and the cold water splashing your body. She lit up the whole room with her bright eyes and cute smile. Like a walk through a rainy forest, she made you content and calm. Her delicate and soft features fairly contrast to your strong ones. It made you only more drawn to her.

"Wouldn't you want to take her out?"

"You're very persistent. interesting" you hummed "And why would I do that, Red my love?" You flew up from your comfortable place, spinning around doing flips. Red grimacing at the nickname, Chloe glaring at you "Chill Charming" The snort you let out made chloe burst out one of her own "I will take your mommy to the dance Red. Don't want her turning out evil, do we?"

"How do you-?"

"Well, I might have or have not overheard you twoooo, talking maybee" You flew circling them both, extra dragging your words making them annoyed "Aboouut an evil Queen who likes to behead people, whom also happened to be your mom and she sentenced your mom to death" You grinned spitting it all out in one breath "Crazy little woman"

"So now you know"

"Yeah, that's what I said. Are you deaf darling?" She was ready to jump you but got stopped by Chloe, thankfully. "I'm going, my children. I have to make a proposal for your mom now, do i?"

"Only my mom not hers!"

"Of course!" You laughed, dissappearing in the frame.

-

"Hello Bridget" You whispered into her ear appearing behind her. Your lips musking her skin. she stopped breathing for a hot second, staring intensively at her notebook. A beautiful yours heart shaped necklace with lots of cards and sweets drawn on the page. Her slender manicured fingers held onto a pencil, touching up some lines. "That is amazingly jaw-dropping." You kept on whispering

"Thank you" She whispered out herself, turning her head to the side. Her lips almost touching yours in the process. Her big brown eyes dropping down to your lips, then back up to your own enchanting ones.

"You know if you want to kiss me, you just have to ask" You leaned closer, bumping your noses together, giving her your biggest grin possible.

"What if i do?" Her sudden confidence made you stumble a bit back, but her quick grip on your collar dragged you in closer "...want to kiss you" she breathed out into your lips. you felt every bone in your body snap.

"Then we might just have to do that" You looked down on her lips, almost closing the blank space between you two if it weren't for the sudden yank of your shirt from the back.

"Please don't do that here" Red grimaced, secretly smirking when she saw you on the ground.

"Party pooper!" You floated up placing yourself between two girls. "Ohh, such a sunshine!" You threw your arm around Ella, the girl too stiff to shrug it off.

"Whatever"

"Sooooo, Ella tell me how's it going with little prince Charming" You grinned against her cheek, she blushed hard at the mention of him

"Did he ask you to the castle coming yet?" Bridget asked excitedly, almost pushing you off the bench.

"He did, but I'm not going. i think i made my point clear-"

"Oh c'monnnn. At least he asked you" Bridget pouted "I wish someone would ask me" the girl dragged, looking down on her drawing, popping her head on her palm. Red looked at you, raising her eyebrows.

"Cupcake" with just a single word everyone was looking at you, not a bit of your confidence faltering away. With a wave of your hand a pink rose appeared, well developed with only a single thorn and two leafs. "Could I take you to castle coming?" you asked in all seriousness, presenting her the rose. Her eyes widened at your gesture.

"Well, there weren't any roses for me, surely," Ella grinned, wiggling her eyebrows at the other girls.

"So what do you say, princess?" She threw her arms around your neck, engulfing you in a tight hug.

"Hell yes! I'd love it, actually. " She smiled widely, giving you a kiss on the cheek. You felt the blood rushing in you. You loved the feeling of her lips on you, her touch. She was so soft, like a pillow. So delicate. It made you want more.

You never thought about the princess of hearts that way. Actuallyy you did, once or twice. But before that, she was always just there. Just someone you'd defend before Uliana and her crew. Someone who did cool card tricks and someone who was so easily prank-able. But you wouldn't dare. She was good-hearted, almost perfect. No one was that pure, and still, here she was, pure as the driven snow. A pretty girl there was no denying. You've never imagined what her touch would feel like if it lingered on you a bit more than a few seconds. Or if she's keeping any secrets, she had to, right?

-

"You know Bridget, you look absolutely gorgeous" You smiled, not sarcastically, a true genuine smile you haven't done for years. It made her blush for the millionth time this evening.

Your hands were resting on her small waist, hers on your shoulders, making her fingers intertwine on your neck. Slowly swaying your bodies together in the rythm of the music. Not your thing completely, but her presence changed it entirely. It was probably the last song of the night, leaving only a few couples in the ballroom. But you both had such great fun you wouldn't wish on heavens to go home right now. Just being here with her was the right place, and you felt it deep inside.

"Thank you" Was all she made out "Thank you for taking me here" She laid her head on your chest, placing you both even closer.

"No worries. I could do it a million times if it meant getting to spend time with you. My heart" you swayed both of you slowly, the song never ending.

"I loved tonight, I'm glad im here with you. I hope we'll be able to spend more time together" She looked up at you, her big brown eyes staring closely and longingly. Your heart is beating rapidly in your chest. You placed your hand in her hair, grabbing the back of her head.

"Of course we will. I'm making sure of that" Her eyes lit up, brightening the whole room for you. You were absolutely in awe, speechless. She had never looked better. The dim lights only making her singular features pop more. No one will ever look better than her.. At least you won't be looking at them. You've got your only one star, your moon. She was not yours, but she will be. "Can I kiss you?" The sudden question did not startle her in fact she did not mutter a word. A single nod with a smile was all that it took.

You will be her savior forevermore

[a-very-tired-jew]

You're not as informed as you think, and age does play a factor.

This is going to ruffle some feathers, but it needs to be said. You're not as informed on the I/P Conflict and the history of the region as you think, and age plays a major factor. Hell, you're not as informed on a lot of topics as you think. I want you to think about what you were doing 5 years ago. Were you still running around on the playground? Were you making dioramas for a science class? Were you in high school worried about being a first year? Were you just starting to pick out colleges or deciding to even go? Did you ever call a teacher by their first name? Now, there is a line that we hear thrown about that people don't fully mature till they're 25. While this is bupkis and misrepresents the research, it is true that the brain does not stop developing till sometime in the mid to late 20s. In fact, the brains of undergraduates age 18-22 and their respective thought patterns more closely resemble high schoolers than they do mid 20s and above. So what does this mean in the course of the I/P conflict? For one thing, this is your first incident. Your first I/P war. Those of us in our 30s and above have seen a good number of them at this point. I even remember when the use of child suicide bombers became a standard method for Hamas and other terrorist groups during the Second Intifada. As such, many of us are used to the manipulation that we see in this particular region. We're used to seeing antisemitism be dismissed and well intentioned people be manipulated. Many of us are just tired because you're going through the same shit we did at your age and we look back and go "oh, we were severely misinformed". Because this is your first, you're super passionate about it, but that passion can be manipulated. Second, you're not as smart or well informed as you think you are. This has to do with the age and maturation thing mentioned above. While 25 is an arbitrary number, there are some milestones that happen by then. By 25 you have had enough life experience to really start piecing together your education, your life experiences, your world experiences, and your respective beliefs into a coherent way of approaching topics. Hopefully by that age you're less likely to have the emotional outburst in response to a subject (think about the stereotypical slamming the door teenager behavior, many of us did that and we cringe thinking about it) and more likely to approach something in a levelheaded and informed manner. Unfortunately there is some research that shows evidence that Gen Z and Millenials are susceptible to propaganda and misinformation, with the former exhibiting behavior akin to Boomers. So keep that in mind that none of us are safe for misinformation, but some generations are worse than others. Now, who am I to say this to you? Some of you are quite mad right at the moment. Some of you have strived to be seen as well informed young adults or to be taken seriously, and in some cases you are. However...

I'm in my 30s and I have been teaching at the college level for a decade and some change now. By no means am I an expert, but I have enough experience to say something. The ages I teach are 18+, meaning I've had students that are typical fresh high school grads and students that are in their 50s. Myself and my colleagues have heard repeatedly from students the "I'm an adult, I know what I'm doing" line to only watch that 18-22 y.o. student fail miserably or come crying to us later. I have personally watched students go through the stages of grief as they realized in my classes that their pet science activism is not what they thought, but they've wrapped so much of their identity around it. You're still learning, and thinking you know more just because you read something online is an issue. You're also still growing and developing as a person. Recognize that you can be manipulated. Recognize that you can be wrong. Recognize your own inherent biases. Then do better.

[queermasculine]

Maybe a stupid question but one I've asked myself, what's the difference in between a butch and a masc for you ? Is there one ?

not a stupid question! "butch" is an older word with more meanings across time. to straight people it's been a military style haircut, a male name (still a few old guys named butch in the US), and a fairly uncomplicated synonym for masculine. to lesbians, bisexuals and gay men, it's been all of the above, but it's also had a whole host of other connotations specific to us and our own ways of loving/performing masculinity. a lot of the different meanings of butch have faded or fallen out of fashion over the years, but the word has more or less kept its purpose among lesbians, giving it the lesbian tint it has today.

"masc" is a much newer term, and unlike butch, i don't believe it's ever been widely used by the straight mainstream. (not a lot of grandpas named masc out there.) it's my impression that masc first spread out from gay guys on grindr, or at least that played a big part in popularizing it, and it's been used pretty much exclusively in an lgbt context ever since. in that sense it's the word with the more explicitly queer origin, despite having a much shorter history. having risen to popularity in the age of social media, masc carries none of the historical baggage of butch, and as such it's a more open-ended term, implying very little about a person beyond their masculinity. you can see this difference exemplified in google search results: while looking up butch will primarily yield information about the word's significance to lesbians, masc will net you more neutral descriptions, like "a person whose gender identity is masculine, but who is not necessarily a man."

despite all that, masc and butch usually serve the same function (to express the masculinity of the subject) and are used pretty much interchangeably in many contexts. also worth noting is that the lesbian association of butch is not a rule, just an observation i've made about modern perceptions. bisexual women have always used butch (and femme) alongside lesbians, and to this day you'll still encounter gay men – usually older – who identify as butch. so in conclusion, if you're trying to pick what label to use for yourself, i wouldn't worry about it too much. both terms have room enough for you in them.

[sugarushwriting]

frat boy heeseung part two who can’t get you off his mind. he left you…somewhat disappointed after the hookup so you may or may not go after the muncher of the group

NSFW

part two of 👇🏽

kinda long, but didn’t want to make a part three, but i might make a part three anyway. not necessarily a happy or sad ending, just how the reader (you) recovers and how your crush came about.

please reblog, share, comment!

do not repost as your own or translate!!

not proof read

₍ᐢ. .ᐢ₎ ₊˚⊹♡

one week. seven days. it’s been that long since heeseung had you in bed and you…didn’t praise him like he thought you would. like other girls usually do. he can’t believe you just said, “thank you,” to him and walked out. didn’t ask for his number or beg him for another time.

sunghoon, jay, and jake could tell sometime was up with their frat brother. he was always cranky after sex which means, he wasn’t satisfied.

heeseung hasn’t been properly satisfied since the chi omicron party.

because of you.

you on the other hand was doing just fine. attending classes, hanging out with your “adoptive” brother ni-ki, hanging out with your roomie and studying.

since you were a criminal justice major, you didn’t have many classes with the boys. you had one class with jungwon, but that’s because that specific class was mixed with anyone second year and above.

you had always known you had an english class with jake and sunghoon, followed by a history class with jay and heeseung. you don’t know if the boys knew it, but now you definitely were hyper aware ever since the chi omicron party.

thankfully none of the guys brought up the night, which made you wonder if heeseung even told them he hooked up with you.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

“it’s a friday night and we’re here at the library instead of a party.” heeseung groaned, throwing his pencil down on his notebook.

“you don’t have to be here you know.” jake’s aussie accent spoke. “we booked this room for studying for midterms. you joined us because you’re not happy with getting laid lately.”

heeseung’s head whipped up with a scowl on his face. he huffed, and the other guys chuckled.

jake and sunghoon reserved a study room in the library due to midterms in a few days and needing to study for a chemistry exam.

it was true, but heeseung couldn’t argue. in the meantime he thought he might as well try and study even though his brain was clouded.

“it’ll teach you to focus on your studies, not a girls body anatomy.” sunghoon laughed.

unbeknown, you were at the library as well, on the same floor. you met with choi yeonjun, to work on a midterm project together for a class for your criminal justice major requirements.

jake was the first to notice you. “hey, it’s eunjin!” he smiled widely, like a puppy. sunghoon and heeseung’s heads whipped up, seeing you standing near their study room door, talking with yeonjun.

“wonder how she knows yeonjun?” sunghoon asked in no one particular. heeseung’s jaw clenched.

jake went to the study door and instead of opening it to say your name, he frantically waved in front of the door.

yeonjun noticed with a laugh, and pointed, “i think jake sim is trying to get your attention.”

you turned your head to see jake with a big smile on his face as he waved. you waved back, then held up a finger indicating ‘give me a minute.’

“how you know the chi omicron boys?” yeonjun asked, eyebrow raised.

“mainly because of ni-ki.” you answered. “he’s a close family friend, and ended up joining the fraternity.”

“well one day, i hope you stop by tau chi tau (TXT) for one of our parties.”

“i didn’t know you were in a frat?” you laughed.

“that’s surprising because everyone says i give off frat boy vibes, whatever that means.”

you bid goodbyes with yeonjun, planning to meet up again before the project’s due date of thursday next week.

when you entered the study room, you weren’t expecting to see heeseung. like the lee heeseung in a study room? rather than in some girl’s bed?

“hi jake. sunghoon. heeseung.” you greeted all the men.

“have a seat sweets!” jake smiled enthusiastically and pulled out the seat next to him.

“what were you doing with choi yeonjun.” heeseung asked never looking up from his notebook.

“he’s in one of my classes. we have a project together to complete.” you answered, not noticing the slight tone difference in heeseung. “he also invited me to one of his frat parities.”

“naur way!” jake said shaking his head. “tau chi tau parties suck!”

“how did you know he was in tau chi tau?” you questioned.

sunghoon answered, “heeseung is friends with beomgyu who’s in that frat.”

you looked up at heeseung who was now staring at you. “seems like you fraternize with many fraternity boys.” you joked.

jake added, “he’s also friends with jeongin in sigma kappa zeta (SKZ).”

quickly changing the subject, you ask, “what are you boys doing here?”

“sunghoon and i are studying for a chem midterm next week. we don’t know about heeseung. he’s been acting like a lost puppy.”

“shut up.” heeseung hissed to jake. “i need to pass a class for my scholarship requirements.” which wasn’t a total lie for him.

“are you good with anything science related?” jake asked from beside you.

you laughed. “absolutely not! english and math are my go to subjects.”

“it’s usually english and history, and math and science that are paired for people. math and english are completely different? one is abstract the other is not.” sunghoon said.

you shrugged. “history is boring, math is simple for me once i get a hand of it, and i rather write a paper than give a presentation.”

“aren’t you in a history class with jay?” jake asked. he got a snack out of his backpack.

“yeah, societal issues in history with jay and heeseung.” you pointed. “what are y’all majors? ni-ki is still undecided.”

“pre-med.” jake answered and your eyes nearly popped out of your head.

“pre-med?” you repeated.

“i love science and math.” jake shrugged with a shy smile.

“well i know who to come to when i need help in those types of classes.” you laughed.

“anytime sweets, i am here to help!”

you looked at sunghoon for his answer, “health sciences. hoping to go to graduate school for physical therapy.”

you nodded then looked at heeseung, “business administration.” he answered flatly. you noticed he seemed annoyed by your presence.

“well on that note, i will leave y’all be.” you stated and stood up reaching for your backpack.

“what about you?” heeseung asked.

jake added, “you mentioned criminal justice, what do you wanna do with that?”

“forensic interviewing or go to law school. i am really good at reading people.”

“and what have you read from us?” jake asks with a smile.

you smile back, “i will leave that for me to know only.”

suddenly, each boy was aching to find out what you thought of them.

“it’s getting late, do you want us to walk you to your dorm?”

“i should be okay, it’s just a little past 10 pm.”

“it’s still late, and on a friday. creeps could be lurking. let us walk you to your dorm.” jake insisted and he and the boys started packing up their things.

“i hate to make you all end your studying early, but thank you.”

“you should zip up, it’s kind of chilly outside.” heeseung stated.

you looked down to your outfit. uggs, black sweats, a black crop top (that barely showed your belly) and a black adidas jacket. instead of arguing, you just zipped up your jacket, and heeseung got a smile on his face.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

“oh heeseung baby, you feel so good.”

the girl underneath heeseung moaned. heeseung’s brows furrowed in concentration. he ended up shushing her with the excuse was so that no one heard her (even though he’s never cared about that before).

truth is, it wasn’t the voice he wanted to hear. either they were too loud, to quiet, too pitchy, or too breathy, so he would end up just telling them to be quiet all together.

“oh, im gonna—!” before she could finish her sentence, heeseung placed his hand over the girl’s mouth, and soon both she and him finished, quietly.

when he got up to throw the condom away, the girl stayed in bed—well, it was her bed—and smirked at him.

heeseung quickly got dressed. “so, can we do this again sometime?” the blonde asked, biting her lip.

“nope.” heeseung quickly replied, and gathered his things to leave the girl’s dorm. not bothered to stay and hear her release a list of profanities.

he got to the house he shared with the 3 other guys, and jake was the first to bombard him. “party starts at eight be there before ten!”

jay was in the kitchen cooking up greased food he knew the guys would need before the night of drinking.

“be sure you eat a lot!” jay scolded. “i’ll be sure ni-ki eats a lot too before drinking. i’ve already scolded at him for skipping meals, and he laughed saying i was sounding like eunjin.”

heeseung froze at the sound of your name, and jay continued on, “ni-ki even made the joke to say i was his father and eunjin was his mother.”

“that’s not a compliment.” heeseung stated to look a jay, but jay smirked.

“mhm, i’m not so sure about that. if i was his father, she was his mother, just means she and i made love—,”

“i’m taking a shower.” heeseung cut off jay and walked to his room. at this rate he knows for a fact the guys know he hooked up with you. how? sunoo. sunoo was gossip central, and you happened to be friends with him. heeseung over heard sunoo gossiping to jay about that night. wouldn’t take jay long to tell jake and sunghoon. thankfully keeping ni-ki and maybe even jungwon out of the gossip.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

exactly at 10, heeseung arrived to the party house a few houses down, going straight to the alcohol, then scanning the room for you. no luck, until 11 rolled around and you showed up in a short blue jean skirt and a white sheer top. he wanted to be between your legs, and have you screaming that he was the best fuck you ever had. he had something to prove to you (to himself).

he just didn’t do seconds. but this time he might.

around 11:30, you had loosened up with a drink, mingling with lara and her friends, and also occasionally speaking with ni-ki, jungwon, and sunoo. they brought their fourth roommate, kai, who was also a part of tau chi tau. you greeted jake and jay. the only two regular boys you hadn’t seen was sunghoon and heeseung.

lara had convinced you to go for the muncher of the group, aka jake. she convinced you he would be the best boy to be between your legs. you were apprehensive, because although jake was handsome and a good guy, you wondered how you both would interact afterwards. plus, you didn’t want the guys to think you were looking to sleep with each of them (although you definitely wouldn’t mind).

heeseung watched you interact with jake and jay with ease, laughing at their jokes, jay being the one to make you drinks.

“can you just fuck her again, bro? tired of you sulking!” sunghoon groaned.

heeseung looked to his left. “you know i don’t do seconds.”

“then stop pondering over her man! get over it, you didn’t go down on her! so what! i heard she’s planning to go after jake.”

heeseung’s neck nearly snapped to sunghoon hearing those words. he looked confused.

sunghoon sighed, “of course sunoo blabbed to jay and then jay blabbed to me. apparently eunjin is upset you didn’t go down on her, basically thinking you were looking for a quick fuck. although she is aware of your reputation she thought you’d at least return the favor. her roomie lara is trying to convince her to go after jake, since he’s known as the muncher of the group.” sunghoon explained. sunghoon drowned the rest of his drink, and frowned now that it was empty. he was gonna need another drink to deal with heeseung and his drama around you.

heeseung looked over to you, as you looked a little too comfy next to jake. jake had his arm around your shoulder, as you leaned into his touch. when you looked up to jake with those innocent eyes of yours, heeseung seethed.

at least heeseung knows he’s a whore. all he could think is how you played him. was you just looking to fuck all his frat brothers? did you even actually have a crush on him?

hours went by, and soon you needed to pee. this time you had more drinks than last time, and went upstairs to the bathroom. your heart raced, remembering the last time what happened when you left the bathroom.

this time when you opened the door, you saw him before you ran into him. heeseung towered over you, leaning in the bathroom door frame, eyes locked on you.

“excuse me,” you said, and tried to go around him but he blocked your exit. he leaned down to get nose to nose with you, one hand on the door knob, the other on the counter. “excuse you!”

heeseung smirked. you could definitely smell the alcohol on his breath, and you did notice he was drinking more than usual tonight. “don’t think i don’t know what you’re up to. i see right through you. pretending to have a crush on me, to get me to fuck you, just so you have an in with my frat brothers.” heeseung added, “or maybe you’re just using my brothers to make me jealous. too bad pretty, i don’t get jealous. and i never fuck the same girl twice. you’re nothing special to make me change that.”

you gasped, holding your tongue because you were not ready to fight tonight, especially with a man.

“if i wanted to fuck your frat brothers i wouldn’t have went to you first.” you sniped, and crossed your arms. “im sure your other brothers could at least make me come with their tongue.” you tsked, and heeseung gave a deep chuckle. oh he was seeing red, especially when you added, “maybe i should go ask jake.”

“you’re just a whore and trust me, none of the other guys would touch you”

you scoffed, blinking slowly to keep the tears at bay. how could you have ever had a crush on him? he may not remember but you do.

“move.” you stated and went to grab your phone which somehow ended up under his hand. you snatched it, and pushed past him easily, heeseung stumbling into the bathroom.

you dashed down the stairs finding lara, and without any words exchanged she knew sometime was wrong. she had been talking to jay in the corner, and when she got closer to soothe your shoulders, you leaned into her with heavy breaths trying not to cry at a frat party because of lee heeseung.

“what happened?” she asked when y’all pulled away and wiped your tears. jay had moved to your other side, to basically block anyone from seeing your crying face.

after you told both her and jay what happened, jay clenched his jaw and lara was ready to fight.

“can we just go back to the dorm?” you sniffled.

“sweets, why do you wanna leave so early!” jake had overheard you and he and sunghoon came up and saw the state of your face.

“what did the asshole do.” sunghoon mumbled.

you didn’t have time to answer, when heeseung sauntered into the kitchen with a smirk and a laugh. “oh and there she goes!” he stated loudly, “pretty, i already told you, my frat brothers wouldn’t fuck you, even if you were the last female on earth!”

the boys realized—heeseung was extremely drunk, but that didn’t excuse his behavior.

“i would and i would do it now.” jake taunted.

jay and sunghoon wanted to smack both of the guys. it wasn’t the time.

“it’s time for you to go home.” jay said to his older frat brother.

heeseung shook his head, nearly losing his balance, “mhm, no i don’t think so.”

“lee heeseung you’re going to regret your words!” lara said, not going to allow him to speak down on you.

and that he would regret his words. cause although he was drunk, spewing out hate, the one tiny bit of his rational brain also wanted to kick his ass. he didn’t want to talk down on you. he just wanted to rile you up and hopes you would say the words “make me” and he would fuck you again to prove himself. but of course, the conversation in his head didn’t turn out as planned and he ruined it for himself.

before heeseung could speak once again, he crouched over and threw up all he had on the floor.

time to go.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

the next afternoon, you were still angry at the words heeseung said to you.

even worse, you lost your damn student id. when you and lara got back to the dorm, you couldn’t find it in your usual spot that was in the back of your phone card holder. your regular id and cash was there, but not your student id. you had to rely on lara to let you in the dorms, and use your regular card for food.

the last time you saw it was at the party. so you lost it sometime between then and walking back home.

no more frat parties for the rest of the year.

lara agreed and yall made a pact to just enjoy a girls night every time there was a party at chi omicron or any other fraternity.

you had no time to think about it, as you agreed to meet yeonjun at a coffee shop on campus to discuss the final details on your midterm project.

meanwhile heeseung thought he was on the verge of death when he woke up at 4 pm the next day. when he creeped down the stairs of his shared house, ni-ki was playing video games with jake. heeseung greeted them, not even noticing both boys gave him side eyes and ignored his greeting. he walked into the kitchen to see jay already starting on dinner, sunoo, jungwon and sunghoon chatting at the dinting room table. but they all went quiet when heeseung arrived.

“i am never drinking again!” heeseung joked, his voice cracking. “i don’t even remember the night.”

all the guys stayed quiet. eventually jake and ni-ki came to the kitchen doorway, arms crossed, and heeseung has never seen ni-ki so angry.

“you good?” heeseung asked with a raised brow as he took a sip out of his cup of water.

ni-ki shook his head. “you better be glad the other boys are here cause i’d beat your ass talking to my sister like that. she may not be blood related, but i have known her long enough.” ni-ki spat.

he turned around grabbing the basketball on the chair in the living room, jake following him out.

heeseung turned to look at the other guys. “wha—what did i do to make him so angry?”

sunoo smiled, ready to see heeseung get his ass handed to him by jay and sunghoon. although jungwon was younger, he was also very levelheaded and kept the older ones in check when needed.

sunghoon and jay recalled to heeseung the entire night. heeseung’s heart dropped hearing the words he said to you in front of the guys. he wanted to punch himself for the words he told you by the bathroom as you had told jay and lara.

“you better make it right you asshat.”

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

the entire week of midterms seemed to go both by in a blur and slowly. at the beginning of the week you were nervous about your class with heeseung. he did try to catch your attention, multiple times but you ignored him. in class, in the coffee shop, in line at subway. you continued to ignore him, rightfully so, but when you would greet sunghoon or jay in front of him, it made him realize he really did fuck up.

thursday you finished your midterms, and yeonjun invited you to his fraternity party tau chi tau the next night, however you told him you and lara sworn off parties for the rest of the year.

friday night came and you and lara were comfy in the common area of your dorm, ready to watch a movie.

instead of chi omicron hosting, the boys went to tau chi tau. heeseung was babysat by his friends and sunghoon the entire night, but he hadn’t touched a drink since arriving. his eyes were glued to the door in hopes to see you. but you never walked in. then he remembered he had one thing you needed.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

you woke up the next morning, quite early for a saturday.

your phone read 7:57 am, and you were shocked to see a text from an unknown number that had texted you at 12:03 am.

unknown: i have your student id

you immediately sat up in bed to reply.

you: who is this?

unknown: sorry, it’s heeseung.

you gulped. could this be a trick? heeseung isn’t the one to be known to text girls, especially first. so may be he really did have your id. or he could be lying? your thoughts were answered with the next message.

unknown: imagine

he sent a picture of your id. he actually had it.

unknown: you can stop by the house to pick it up. i’ll be home

you: why can’t we meet somewhere?

unknown: don’t wanna leave my house

you: i’ll be there around 10

you wasted no time going to lara’s room and shoving your phone in her face. “i bet he took it at the party! that asshole is just now telling you?”

yes heeseung took it from your phone card holder at the party. specifically when he corned you in the bathroom. he had sneakily took it knowing he would use it later. it’s just—he forgot about it until last night. he had rummaged through his night stand looking for some tissues when his hand landed on the id card. when he saw it, his sticky hand forgetten, he realized this could be his way to talk to you.

he didn’t last long at the party, opting to go home way early. when he texted you around midnight, he was hoping to have you reply instantly, but you didn’t. either you ignored unknown numbers or you were asleep. either way, he was happy to see you reply this morning to come over to grab it.

like you said, you knocked on the door at 10:02 am and was greeted by an excited jake.

“eunjin! we’ve missed you sweets!” jake pulled you into a tight hug. jake invited you in, and you waved to jay and sunghoon who were on the couch in the living room.

“what brings you by? is ni-ki supposed to meet you here?” jay asked.

you shook your head, “no i’m actually here—,”

“she’s here for me.” heeseung snuck down the stairs. “your id is upstairs.”

you crossed your arms. “and you couldn’t bring it down, why?”

heeseung ignored you knowing you would follow. and you did.

“okay, this might turn into a screaming match either for the good or the bad. regardless i don’t want to be here.”

sunghoon sat up and grabbed his jacket draped over the couch. jake and jay agreed.

from upstairs you heard the front door open and close, and sighed internally knowing the boys must’ve left. “why did you wait this long to tell me you had my id?”

“i honestly forgot, until last night.” he said as he opened his night stand.

“what made you remember?”

heeseung swallowed. “it just randomly came to me.”

“when did you take it?”

“when i cornered you in the bathroom.” he signed and hung his head low. he turned to you, id in hand and word vomited apologies for his words, his actions, all of it.

“are you done?” you asked and he nodded. “can i have my id so i can go?”

he couldn’t let you leave still mad at him. “please let me make it up to you.”

“heeseung—,”

“please eunjin.” heeseung begged and stepped closer to you. your heart raced and he could notice it. his right hand came to your face, your cheek in his palm as his thumb traced your bottom lip. “what i should’ve said that night instead was i could make you come better than any of the other guys. especially jake.”

“prove it then.” you mumbled and those were the words heeseung wanted to hear from you.

heeseung turned you so you were sat on the edge of his bed. “i’m taking my time with you like the first time i should have.”

he grabbed your belongings placing it on his nightstand, before coming back to stand in front of you. at first you thought he was just gonna have you suck him off again, but he kneeled in front of you, spreading your legs.

“fuck i wish you had on a skirt.” heeseung groaned hating the extra layer of clothing. from his kneeled spot on the floor, he reached up to unbutton your jeans and easily slid them along with your underwear down your legs. you balanced yourself on your forearms, and heeseung stared right into your eyes as he pulled the clothing off of your bottom half.

he took his time kissing up your legs, your thighs, nibbling on the flesh. his lips soon attached themselves to the part you most craved.

he first licked between your lips, with a groan from himself before he latched on using his tongue, lips and teeth. he ate you out like it was his last. he should’ve done this the first night he got with you.

you fell on your back, arching, one hand reaching to grab onto his head, the other hand grabbing on his sheets. he bit your clit, and mumbled, “let me hear you.”

his tongue lapped up everything you had to offer, his nose hitting perfectly against your clit.

your low moans and hair pulling is what encouraged him further. his hands gripped your thighs, more than likely leaving a hand mark, burying himself deeper in between your legs if possible.

you cried out when he added two of his fingers, and they easily hit the spot most important inside of you. “fuck!” you moaned out, trying to move but with heeseung’s grip on one of your thighs you didn’t get far, and his mouth just followed where you moved.

with his fingers rocking in and out, his lips sucking on your clit, your walls clamped down around his fingers as you felt your orgasm coming. your breathing picked up, and your grip moved from his head to the sheets, gripping harshly, a list of profanities leaving your mouth.

“that’s right pretty, im making you come on my tongue.” heeseung sighed into your pussy. “come for me pretty.”

it didn’t take long for you to come on his tongue and fingers after he bit once more on your clit. he was a fucking biter. you came hard, daring to shut your legs, but heeseung kept them open, watching your face as you came down from your high.

when you caught your breathing, you looked up at him, he stood up, licking his lips. “im not done with you.” he groaned and quickly took off his shirt. he hovered over you on the bed, your toes close to the edge. he straddled you, both his legs covered in grey sweats on either side of your own legs. he pinched one of your nipples through your shirt, then grabbed both your boobs in his hands.

“you’re gonna be bare for me this time, pretty.” he lifted your shirt off of you, then his hand went behind your back to unclip your bra with ease, and tossed that over his shoulder as well.

“when i’m done with you, my tongue and cock will be the only one you think about.”

his lips attached to your lips for a quick, messy make out session, as his fingers went back down to lazily play with your pussy. you were still soaked from him and your orgasm. his lips moved from yours, to the sensitive spot behind your ear, down your neck, to your collarbone, licking down your chest, stomach, and leaving a kiss on your hip.

heeseung being skilled as he is, he had already taken off pants, boxers, and had a condom ready in his hand. he got back down on his knees to give you a few licks while he easily put on the condom. he wanted you to come for a second time on his tongue, and you were damn close to it. when his tongue curved upward, his fingers gripping both nipples, and his nose buried against your clit, you came for the second time. “my goodness!” you yelled out gripping the sheets.

heeseung quickly kissed your stomach and then hovered over you, aligning with your entrance. “i don’t want you quiet.”

you nodded and whimpered when his tip rubbed against your clit, and he slowly inched into you. once he was all the way in, his thrust began, slow and steady. but he wasn’t happy with the lack of noise coming from you, so he began to pick up the pace and the moans started flowing out .

“that’s it pretty, i’m making you feel good again.” heeseung said with a smirk.

with ease, he flipped you over, ass up, head in the sheets, both his palms landed a smack to each ass cheek, but you wasn’t expecting him to literally bite one of those said ass cheeks.

you yelped, heeseung chuckled as he pulled you by the hips closer to him. he entered you from behind and was mad at himself he didn’t do this as well from the start. backshots, with your ass? he licked his lips, gripping your waist harder as he continued his assault while fucking you.

you couldn’t even make proper words at the moment with how good heeseung felt.

“that’s right pretty, i make you go dumb on my cock, huh?” you hummed in response. heeseung used his right hand to grip your chin and jaw as he leaned down, so his chest was to your back.

his harder thrusts did not falter. “no one, and i mean no one can make your pussy clamp as tightly as it is now, got it? i’m the only one who can make you feel this way. i am the only one who gets to fuck you, to feast on you, to hear those pretty moans of yours. no one else. that includes my fraternity brothers. you want your pussy ate? you come to me. want your pussy fucked? you come to me. want your ass fucked? you. come. to. me.”

he enunciated each of the words in the last sentence with hard thrusts. you were too lost in the feeling to even reply, but heeseung didn’t like that. he sat up and slapped your ass, hard, then bit the other cheek. “ahh!” you yelled, ��yes hee, you’re the only one allowed to make me feel this way, i promise.” you moaned out, in between breaths.

he pulled out, just as you were about to come for the third time. you literally whined, and heeseung deeply laughed, “don’t worry, you’ll come.”

he laid on his back and pulled you on top. “ride me.”

you nodded tiredlessly, but aligned yourself and just sat all the way down. “fuck i was expecting you to ease into it.”

heeseung’s hands planted themselves on your waist helping you bounce on his dick. you soon leaned forward, so you were chest to chest, and your clit hit his body perfectly. you sloppily started to ride and move, heeseung helping. his hands gripped every where he could, your butt, thighs, back, neck.

your walls gripped together, your breathing shallowed and heeseung knew you were close to your third. he wanted to look you in the eyes while you came, so without disturbing the thrusts, he changed positions, you on your back once again. with your legs wrapped around his waist, the endless hard thrusts continued, his finger rubbing circles on your clit. if even possible, you gripped him harder, your nails scraping his back, for sure to leave marks.

“that’s right pretty, mark me. mark me as yours. you’ll have my teeth marks embedded in your ass, your thighs. fuck im about to mark you up.”

for some reason, that was all it took, to have you come for the third time of the night. your body literally shook, and heeseung soon came as well in condom, buried deep in you. he groaned into your neck, riding out both of your highs with slow thrusts.

as you took deep breaths to catch up, heeseung peppered your neck, chest, and stomach with kisses, licks, making sure to give you a bite with more licks and kisses. heeseung really just wanted you to cockwarm him for a while, and when you made no move to get up, he stayed buried inside of you, but moved so he was on his back, and you were sort of on top of him, your leg over his lower half.

after a while you mentioned you had to pee. reluctantly he pulled out, and when you rolled over to get up from the bed, you had to grip the nightstand.

your legs were actually numb. “shit.” you mumbled.

heeseung looked over at you. “you okay?”

“yeah, fine.” you reached for his shirt as it was the closest thing to you on the floor. you pulled it on shakily, and when you went to take a step towards his ensuite, your legs barely moved, as you bit your lip to hide your groan.

the bed on the other side moved, and heeseung came to stand in front of you moments later. at least he put on his sweats.

“you look great in my shirt by the way.” he said and helped you towards the bathroom.

“im sure i also told you, you weren’t gonna be able to think of anyone else’s tongue or cock but mine. and i think i exceeded that.”

₍ᐢ. .ᐢ₎ ₊˚⊹♡

[theealbatross]

Sebastian x Reader: come one, come all (One Shot)

Plot | Five years after graduating, two kindred spirits are finally getting married and their friends reminisce on their brilliant histories.

or, Lucas Brattleby interviews their friends on their memories and opinions of the future Mr. and Mrs. Sallow as a little gift for the couple.

Tags | None, fluff, overuse of the name Merlin, mentions of slight torture (hexes), lowkey bullying, lowkey codependency if you squint, obsessive behavior (but it's okay cause theyre in love), cursing, Lucas lowkey has a crush on Sebastian lol

[A/N: A line from this story is not made by me, "I would follow him to hell but I wish he wouldn't go there" so to whoever wrote that first just know your quote is the inspiration for this story!!]

“What is this again?”

The brat, Lucas Brattleby, had grown obscenely taller the last time Imelda had seen him, which was about 3 years ago when he was a rookie reporter covering her latest game. She heard he is now a publisher in his own right but didn’t seem to brush off that annoying lint in his voice back when he was still a Gryffindor matching illegal unsanctioned duels in the Clock Tower.

“A small gift of mine for the couple,” he grinned (still as irritating, she’s seen that grin enough times before she got her ass handed to her so forgive her for not being enamored), pushing the pen (recorder?) to her that she reflexively pushed him by his face. “Sorry.”

“And why should I do this?”

“Oh come on, Imelda. It’s just harmless questions to take us back down memory lane. It’ll be played at the reception and I promise I’ll send you everything before I finalize it just so you can make sure –”

“Alright!” She stopped walking, rolling her eyes when Lucas quickly assembled his camera, even quickly conjuring a chair and putting it at the center of the frame. Clearly, he knew she could change her mind at any moment.

“My lady,” he bowed dramatically, pointing a palm to the seat.

“Don’t call me that. You have 10 minutes before warm-ups start.” Lucas raised both of his hands in the air before quickly running behind the camera and clicking the button to start recording.

“I’ll be out of here in 5.” Lucas flipped a paper in front of him. “Let’s start with your name, a little something about yourself and where did you meet them.”

She took a deep breath, putting on the poker face she usually plasters on her face when talking to the media before her many games instinctively. “Imelda Reyes, Vice-Captain of Puddlemere United, and I had the misfortune of being in the same boat as Sebastian Sallow during our first year. She, however, was a little late to the party and wreaked havoc on my life when I was a fifth year.”

Lucas was meticulously writing notes in his fancy notebook.

“What’s the fondest memory you have of the couple?”

She scoffed, not even needing to think about it. “Sebastian? Definitely when he caught a bludger … with his face.” The memory of the cry he emitted pulled a real smile on Imelda’s face. “We almost lost and I would’ve killed him for it but oh was it glorious.”

He remembers this game.

“Didn’t he fall off his broom midair?”

Imelda waved a nonchalant hand in front of her face. “That girlfriend of his caught him with an Arresto Momentum so no harm done – well, except the crooked nose he sported for a week.”

Lucas chuckled with her, “And for the future Mrs. Sallow?”

“Nothing much, most conversation we’ve had was her beating me – beating me in a race, beating me in a duel, Merlin, she even beat me with the class ranking on her first year in Hogwarts. I had a five-year head start how was that possible?!”

Lucas smiled, reading that as bitter her words were she truly held no grudge over it. He was caught off guard, however, when Imelda suddenly had a small, serene smile on her face, her voice when she spoke softer. “She was … it was like I was always chasing after her. We all were, Sebastian always first in the race but … it was fun. I had fun. She made Hogwarts fun. A true competition, yknow? Didn’t have much at that point in my life.”

“Competition?”

“A friend.”

Lucas couldn’t help but be surprised – not everyone can be considered as Imelda Reyes’ friend as picky as she is, though he quickly fixed his face when she shot him a look that told him not to probe. “Did you ever think they would both get married?”

Imelda scoffed out a laugh, crossing her arms. “I knew the only way they wouldn’t get married is if Sallow got assassinated by one of her many admirers and even then I wouldn’t put it past him to somehow turn into an Inferi just so he can still be the one to marry her. I’m honestly surprised he held on for this long, pretty sure he would’ve popped the question the moment we graduated.”

“Technically, he did. They just decided to get married this year.”

That one made her laugh out loud, shaking her head at her old friend’s antics. Of course, she knew those two would get married, basically tied to the hip, always getting in and out of trouble with each other and for each other. Bloody hell, they’d been married since fifth-year and just didn’t know it.

“Typical Sallow,” she caught herself. “Well, Sallows now, Merlin help us all.”

Lucas rechecked everything on his notes, making sure to mark any and all important details of the words his enchanted pen has written for him as he spoke with his former Senior, Garreth Weasley, who was once a thorn on the side of Professor Sharp but was now a renowned Potions Master actively getting scouted by Hogwarts, his blends sought upon by the most respectable wizards and witches all over the world.

“Did I think they would get married? Mate, Sebastian almost bit my head off when I tried to ask her if she would like to be partners for one potion class. One! And we were sitting next to each other! I’m sorry if I thought I was being friendly?!”

Lucas has heard and has unfortunately been a victim of Sebastian’s … tendencies. You, despite being the top duelist in Hogwarts was always, more often than not, partnered with Sebastian in every duel. The one time Lucas had agreed in a quiet solo duel without letting Sebastian know his senior had caught him on his way to his potion's class and nailed him to the wall by his cloak while threatening him to never let it happen again or he will turn him into a pretty outline in the walls of Hogwarts with Bombarda.

He thinks that was the closest thing he had been to peeing his pants.

“Yeah, Sebastian doesn’t have the best track record with friendly males around his girlfriend.”

“They weren’t even courting by then how would I bloody know that –”

“Ready, Poppy?”

Surprisingly, the sweet woman in front of him has been the most difficult to track down. Amongst their mutual friends she was the one he had no idea where to start, especially after his only lead, her grandmother, had no other information to give him aside that the last she heard Sweet Poppy was down South Clagmar Coast ‘doing Merlin knows what’.

Thankfully, the citizens of Cragcroft were a bit more helpful and he was able to send her an owl about his little project.

“Where should we start?”

Lucas made sure she was framed perfectly in the shot before nodding to himself. “Nothing complicated Poppy, just first impressions or any memory you have of the young couple.”

She pursed her lips in thought, nodding to herself, “The two of them have always been terrifyingly intimidating, especially for someone like me. Seemed to just attract attention and trouble on their own – I mean, killing a troll in Hogsmeade on the first day – just a bunch of troublemakers they were. Brilliant troublemakers – which only made them scarier in my eyes.”

Lucas nodded in total agreement but he couldn’t help but squint at her.

“You aren’t exactly innocent, Ms. Hid-a-Hippogriff.”

Her eyes widened, blushing at the accusation. “In my defense, future Mrs. Sallow helped me take care of Highwing.”

Poppy recounted the memories with a smile on her face.  Her dainty smile grew bigger as she recapped happy memories she had with her classmates.

“But they’ve always been lovely. Lovely people and an even lovelier couple. Sebastian has always been bright and charming and surprisingly kind for a Slytherin and she … she’s always been unapologetic of who she was. It also meant she never judged anybody for who they are either.”

The woman paused, the smile on her face remained frozen as if she was in deep reflection.

“A true friend – one of the truest I had.”

Lucas was never in their circle, hell, aside from each other and maybe Ominis nobody was truly ever in their innermost circle despite their popularity. At every explosive trouble the two were always caught in he couldn’t help but wonder just what they get up to when they weren’t caught. Even back then he knew he would’ve risked his life and followed them no question asked if it meant his young self got to go to one of their death-defying adventures with them.

But being two years younger was a barrier he could never overcome.

It is refreshing to hear of stories from their friend’s perspective and not in passing in the Central Hall in Hogwarts where it’s all half-true, fabricated, or painfully hyperbolic. Maybe that’s why he had thought to do this, a reporter’s disease of needing to know the truth, the dark side of the coin they hid with their secrets and anonymities passed only in hushed whispers and clandestine meetings with each other.

“Are you excited about the wedding?”

Poppy nodded eagerly. “Oh, I’m extremely happy for my friends! It’s not every day two souls find each other and just not let go. I’m glad they didn’t. After all they’ve been through, they deserve to have each other.”

He couldn’t have agreed more.

“That they do.”

Mr. Lucas Brattleby,

I have received your owl, unfortunately, I will not be able to go back there till the night before the wedding as I still have a business to wrap up here in America. For the questions you sent, I shall send this Howler and you may record it.

I have nothing good to say about Mr. Sebastian Sallow, that boy had done nothing but torment me in my youth. It’s a bloody miracle he had managed to snag the Hero of Hogwarts as his girlfriend – terrible lack of judgment on her part I must say, we all have our flaws – much less agree to be his wife. If there’s one good thing he did do, it was willingly become a lowly servant to such a lovely witch. Least he could do, really.

However, despite their blatant differences and unfortunate similarities I, for one, knew immediately that not even Death could sever such a connection – not if Sebastian Sallow had anything to say about it, and trust me I speak from experience. They’ve fought through detentions, goblins, dark wizards, and a damned troll – I’m sure marriage will be a breeze in a park.

Well, if I’m wrong, then let the future Mrs. Sallow know I would be more than willing to offer a comforting shoulder.

Leander Prewitt Department of International Magical Cooperation

PS. To my darling wife Leonora, light of my life, the last part was a joke and If I somehow disappear it was Sebastian Sallow who did it.

“They give Sebastian too much credit when my dear friend was equally as obsessed about him. Do you remember Allia?”

Lucas snapped his fingers when he finally put a face to the name he hadn’t heard in a while but made sure to look around lest one of the younger students managed to hear such … delicate matters in the DADA classroom. “Didn’t she transfer during your 6th year? Something about personal … complications?”

Natty laughed out loud, doubling over with tears in her eyes. “Oh, that excuse was all thanks to Ominis swinging around his name. Our dear witch hexed poor Allia while she was asleep for trying to poison Sebastian with Amortentia! Sneaked straight into the Ravenclaw tower and cursed her to grow the features of a rat every time she even thought about Sebastian! The only way Ominis could convince our friend to take back the curse and avoid expulsion was at the condition of her transferring and never letting the couple see even her shadow again.”

He never even noticed that his jaw was hanging off his face.

“Oh, if everyone only knew that fights I had prevented if a Junior so much as fluttered their lashes at Sebastian,” she shook her head, still laughing to herself.

Now all the pieces he hadn’t realized were part of the same puzzle clicked on his head. The flat smile on her face that never quite reached her eyes every time they were surrounded by strangers, the grip she always held on Sebastian’s arms no matter where they were going, the ‘promise ring’ Sebastian also wore when traditionally it was just the girl who had it, and the absolute absence of Sebastian’s name when girls talked about boys they fancied in the common room when he was undoubtedly better looking than most students in Hogwarts.

“A jealous witch she was, thinks she’s good at hiding it,” Natty chuckled.

Lucas realized in horror that she had scared off the entire female student body.

“But by the gods was she better at hexes.”

When Lucas had heard that Ominis Gaunt had been working closely with the Minister for Magic and was undoubtedly being groomed to be his successor, he wasn’t exactly surprised. Everyone knew he would be someone important someday so Lucas had damn near lost all hope as he sent an owl to the man.

When he received a reply in a fortnight brought by a regal-looking owl, Lucas thought he must have some soft spot for his fellow alumni. But it would seem the man just had a lot to let out of his chest.

“Oh, the stories I could tell! If I had a knut for every time I had to rescue one of those idiots out of a horrific situation they found themselves in I would be richer than the Blacks!”

He’d never seen his hair this undone in the 7 years they had been on the same campus. Maybe Lucas was just that good of a journalist or maybe it was the half-empty bottle of expensive whiskey that was the reason for his loose lips.

“I mean, Sebastian was bad enough, but once he found someone who would willingly dive with him to whatever dangerous expeditions he found interest in and I was outnumbered it was a bloody nightmare.”

For the first time in his life, he felt pity for the man. It was never really a secret why Sebastian didn’t serve half the detention he deserved nor why neither of them had ever been expelled when a trail of evidence led to the both of them red-handed and always at the scene of the crime. But he has to give it to Ominis … a lesser man would’ve cracked at their mischiefs.

“And Sebastian … everybody knows he would’ve willing let himself be target practice for all sorts of curses if she had asked.”

Lucas can’t even defend his childhood hero. Especially, of the things he had learned from his previous subjects. It would seem even the mightiest of men would always buckle in the face of their true love.

“I-I’m sure they’ve done the same for you,” Lucas winced.

“Oh, they better, with the flaming hoops I had to jump through to make sure we graduated alive,” Ominis waved him off indifferently. “They are my best friends. I would follow them to hell but I just wish they would stop going there for one damn semester.”

Lucas snickered, unfortunately unable to hold it in with just how stressed the memory of the mischiefs his favorite couple got up to has brought Ominis. He was sure the older man would choke him but he just sighed out a laugh until the two of them were laughing to each other.

“I guess they have always been the perfect person for each other.”

Ominis nodded, leaning his head on his fist. “Yeah …”

He threw Lucas a look.

“Do you think they won’t make me their children’s godfather if I begged?”

Lucas bit his lips. “My money is on the eldest getting named after you so …”

Ominis groaned.

Lucas refilled his glass.

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

There's definitely a conversation to be had about the presentation of real historical figures in historical fiction, I think. As both a professional historian (PhD student 🤘🏾😔) and a man of color, I'm a bit more sensitive to this than a lot of people, and for me it always comes down to the question - what real harm is being done here?

And that's where I think OFMD does well enough for me to be comfortable. If you look at the fact that the show is based on real-life terrible people who did awful things and participated in the slave trade and you don't wanna fuck with the show, that's completely understandable, but I find it so much more palatable than (for the easy comparison) a piece of media like Black Sails (I actually like Black Sails, believe it or not, but there are a lot of things about how it treats many of these same figures that make me uncomfortable).

Now, yes, OFMD is hand-wavey with the slave trade in the Caribbean. None of our main characters own slaves or directly reference the slave trade (again, this is a romcom, I'd be shocked if they did). For me, this works alright for two big reasons. First, there are things that I think you can include in a romcom and have it still be a romcom, and a thoughtful, respectful depiction of the slave trade would take the show firmly out of romcom territory. Second, the show doesn't pretend racism doesn't exist, it treats its characters of color as three-dimensional people, and we always get the last laugh when racism is depicted. The very first episode sets the scene by having racist English Navy officers demean and call a Black character "slave" and they immediately get their asses kicked for it. Compare this to a show like Black Sails, where one of my main criticisms is how we're expected to sympathize with characters who actively participate in the slave trade and own slaves.

My other thing here is the people OFMD is working with are both heavily mythologized and not treated with any degree of historical accuracy. Many of our characters who are famous pirate names you might know are nothing like their real-world counterparts (take pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao, who wasn't even born yet when the show takes place). We know so little about any of the real people, anyway, that OFMD doesn't even bother trying to get anything right.

Like I said, I'm a professional historian and I love working with the golden age of piracy. That's a big reason I was drawn to this show in the first place! And if there's one thing I know, it's that pirates have been made into legends. We know very little about the real people, and in pop culture they're just myths.

The characters in OFMD are basically fictional characters working with the loose mythology based around the real people.

Now, back to my big thesis here: are the real, awful people benefitting in any way from OFMD taking these characters and making them into the good guys? Realistically, no, I'd argue. Most people with any critical thinking skills know that real pirates were not good people. Many people think Blackbeard is a made-up generic pirate character as it is. I've been to the real-life Stede Bonnet's grave site (NOT for the show, this was years before it aired and I was visiting the archives there to see the trial documents for a research project), and the historic marker there says he was "brought to justice." No one is wataching this show and thinking "oh those real guys must have been pretty great dudes!" because it's not about those real people.

This show isn't trying to change your perception of the real people, it's showing you fictional characters with the same names. One of our characters is runnig around in crocs, this show isn't trying to teach you about history or the real people and it's obvious.

If you're put off by the premise, I get it! But I just don't buy the idea that OFMD is putting anything harmful into the world just by existing.

[daman19942]

TSR CC Recommendations: TS2 Lot Builders

Nobody asked for this but I have a little time on my hands and I said I might do it, so here is a list of some TSR lot builders who I recommend checking out. A few notes under the cut before we get started (all details under the cut, as well, in case you aren't interested in my preamble):

This is not meant to be paid promotion for TSR. I believe TSR asking users to pay for their CC is ridiculous, especially for a 19 year old game they haven't supported in 7 years. But I spent many years uploading there during the peak-TS2 / pre-TS3 era and know there is great CC in their archives that newer players may not know about. And unlike TheSims2.com, which has sadly shuffled off this mortal coil, TSR's content is still available to freely download (assuming you can stomach the pop-ups and wait times)

This post will only be about lot builders because that was what I was primarily uploading and downloading in this era. I was friendly with some of the creators I am about to list, but none of them are still active members of the TS2 community.

The preview pics might be a little rough and the architecture styles will likely feel very dated compared to the most popular styles these days, which are more colorful, cluttered, and use 3t2 and 4t2 conversions. Re: the previews: too many of us were using free trials of PaintShopPro back then, and TSR limited us to 2 previews, so we did our best. Re: the styles: unlike pre-2010's CAS CC, which was full of hand painted and "realistic" textures (LOL), these are the same objects you can find in the game today, just being used in different ways! Sometimes for the first time! And, yes, while some of these creators used CC, it was mostly Homecrafter walls and floors, as you'll see below.

This was also the hey-day of CFE lot building, which has certainly fallen out of favor to more traditional builds (in part because graphics cards have improved and these types of builds don't look as good in 2024, and also because the great CFE experimenters, builders, and tutorial writers are no longer part of the community and their original discoveries are gone as well - I am happy to go down a massive rabbit hole on this piece of TS2 history if anyone else cares, but trust me, you don't have to care).

Alright that is enough caveating, here are some recs! (Links are in the creator's names and they take you to their Lots, though many of them have other creations, too).

Lord Tiko Speaking of great CFE builders! Lord Tiko built spaceships, boats, pagodas, domes, windmills and bridges, oh so many bridges before retiring mid-TS2 because of health issues. He was one of the first builders to take Daihtnaoz7's single and double bridge tutorials and apply them to really big lots. I'm still not sure how he built the Venice Rialto Bridge, or his other European water lots. Overall, a massive inspiration to me when I was prioritizing CFE builds.

Hatshepsut My favorite "traditional" home builder, and someone I considered a friend. She specialized in English and American builds, and I had many of Hat's houses in my old saves and was impressed by her range and decorating style which was (for the time) more varied than many of her peers. Knew how to take great preview pics of her houses, too.

Tigerblue Another builder I corresponded with, Tigerblue was probably the least prolific uploader on this list for sheer number of uploads, but she also crossed a range of styles. Her builds leaned way into specific styles (see the previews, these were all part of consistent sets of 3,4, or even 10 lots), but this was also what happened when a new EP dropped and everyone raced to uploaded builds using as many of the new objects and styles as possible. Tigerblue just happened to be better at it than most of us.

Cyclonesue Do current TS2 players know Cyclonesue? Because it's hard to think of someone who had a bigger impact on building and decorating of the era, first with her English and Tudor builds and later with her extremely distinct grunge creations. Seriously, check out her Urban Renewal series and the corresponding objects. Iconic stuff that surely now feels frozen in time. I probably only played 20% of her lots that I downloaded, but they still make for great hood decor. Like Tiko, someone who happily experimented with CFE.

Illiana The creator who inspired me to make this list is, ironically, the one on it who I know the least about (she is a Featured Artist but not in the Hall of Fame, whatever that means). I just started playing her Tri-Annyas fraternity house and have a few other lots floating around my game. She built in a range of styles, from classical to modern to Twikki Island to grunge. Revisiting some of them in-game, the TSR previews do not do them justice.

*EXHALES* If you made it to this point, kudos to you. I'm sure there are creators I've forgotten, and houses I haven't linked to, but this is a good starting point for digging into some of the eclectic builds the TSR(chives) have to offer (I just coined that, is it clever? It is not). Maybe I'll do a Part 2 if people like this.

If you have any favorites of your own, let me know what I missed! And as I do with my old Exchange re-uploads, I am tagging @sims2packrat and @oldasscustomcontent for general TS2 history awareness!

[greynatomy]

the one that got away

alessia russo x reader

second part to regret. had a lot of fun writing this and might do more polls if i can’t choose for myself again. also, ignore how many times rory’s age is asked. didn’t realize how many times i wrote it in.

part 1

———

“Gather ‘round girls!” Jonas’ voice brings Leah back to the present.

Everyone comes together at the middle of the gym, waiting for what Jonas is gonna say.

“Just wanna welcome everyone who was in Australia back and also our ACL squad. We’re all glad to see you all up and running.” Everyone cheers and claps. “Now, I wanna welcome our new signing, Alessia Russo.” Alessia walks towards the group awkwardly, not wanting to trip.

“Hi.” She gives a small wave.

“Don’t be shy Lessi. We’re all friendly.”

“Yeah! We don’t bite!”

Over the course of the week, Alessia gets situated with the team and the dynamics, learning how to play with her new team.

“Mrs. Russo, someone’s been calling your phone. It’s says there’s ten missed calls.”

“From who?”

“Amore Mio.”

Everyone’s attention is now on Alessia, all curios about the girl’s significant other, judging from the name that the trainer said that was shown on her phone.

“Hi, love. What happened? So, she’s fine. Yeah. Okay. Thanks for letting me know. I love you. See you later.”

She gives her phone back to one of the trainers, telling them to inform her if you were to call again.

“What was that all about?” Katie asks in her usual loud voice.

“Oh, sorry. My daughter got hurt at preschool.”

“Wait. Hold up! Daughter? You have a daughter?” She didn’t know who asked, but saw the rest of the team walking closer to her.

“Uh, yeah.”

“How old is she?”

“She’s three now.”

“And I’m guessing you didn’t carry cause you’ve not really took a break from football.”

“Nope. Won’t be carrying any babies in me. Freaks me out a bit, but my wife happily did it.”

“So you have a kid and a wife and none of us knew about it?”

“No one really knows. We wanted to keep it to ourselves. I didn’t want the public knowing and plastering their face in the media yet, and we like our little bubble.”

“Not even Tooney knew?”

“Oh, Tooney knew. She had to give the best friend talk and all that. Wanted to know her opinion before anything turned serious and now we’re four years strong, three of them married.”

“So, when do you think we’ll meet ‘em?”

———

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“Not really, but have to be. I’ll be seeing a lot of her more since you’ve transferred.”

“It’s been five years too, she’d probably moved on, yeah?”

“Don’t know Lessi. I hope so. Now let’s get little princess dressed.”

“I’ve already dressed her, babe. Just waiting on you.”

You looked at her skeptically.

“You? Dressed Rory?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alessia asked, offense written on her face.

“Nothing bad, Less. Just, you turn her into a mini me every time.”

“And she loves it every time. I love when the two of you match. My favorite girls.

“And when this baby pops out of me, no doubt he’ll be a mini you.”

“I won’t be outnumbered this time.”

———

“Sorry, I’m late. Kid ran away while I tried getting her in the car.” Alessia explained, walking to where everyone was gathered in the backyard.

“You’re fine. Now, who is this little one?”

“Wanna say your name bubs?”

“I Rory. I dis many.” She says holding up three fingers.

“Woah. That’s a lot of fingers.” Your daughter giggles.

“Did that wife of yours come?”

“Yeah, she probably went to the—”

“—Sorry. I had to go to the washroom. It’s nice to meet you all. Name’s—”

“—Y/n.” Leah finishes, shocked, voice shaking.

“…Hi, Leah.”

“You two know each other.” Katie asks, intrigued how the skipper knew you.

“Uh, yeah. We used to be close friends.”

“No. She was my wife.” You could’ve heard a pin drop from how silent everyone was.

“Okay. Woah. There is a lot to unpack here.”

“And they can do it privately.” Alessia intervened.

“You know about our history.” Leah turns to Alessia, hurt all over her face. She was close to the girl, being on the national team together and the whole time she was in a relationship with her ex-wife.

“Of course I do. She’s my wife.”

The dinner was pretty awkward for a bit after the interaction. Rory have been playing with some of the other girls, you staying by your wife’s side getting to know her teammates.

Eventually, Leah got the courage to go up to you.

“Hey, uh, do you think we could talk?”

You look up at her, seeing the nervous look on her face.

“Sure. Honey, help me up.” Alessia grabs ahold of your hand and the other on your arm to stabilize you. “Let’s go inside.”

You go to little sitting area in the corner of the living room, away from everyone, but not out of sight. There was a couple seconds of silence, very awkward silence.

“Are you just not gonna say anything?”

Leah apologizes. “Uh, how’ve you been?”

“Doing pretty good.”

Another awkward silence.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really know what to say. I’ve had five years to practice what I was gonna say to you if I ever would run into you, but it just slipped my mind. But I guess I wanted to apologize and say that I took you for granted. I don’t deserve your forgiveness at all for being distant, lying to you about where I’ve been doing or going… for, uh, cheating on you. I’ve hated myself the second it happened.”

“Why’d you do it?”

“What?”

“Why’d you do it? Was it something I did that made you go to another that you should’ve gone to me for or—”

“—No! God, no! You did nothing wrong, it was all on me. I don’t really have an explanation as shitty as it sounds.”

“It’s been five years and I do forgive you. I think I forgave you the moment I met my wife. I needed to close the door on our relationship to be able to truly love her how she should be loved, so I forgive you. Doesn’t mean that I’ll ever forget. But you are forgiven.”

“Thank you.”

Before anyone can say anything else, your daughter runs to you, climbing into your lap.

“Hi, Mommy.”

“Hi, baby. You having fun?”

“Yeah! Stephy and Kya (Kyra) pway with me.”

“That’s so sweet of them.”

Leah watches your interaction with your daughter, a sad smile on her face.

“How old is she?”

“Hey, Rory. This is Mama’s teammate Leah. Can you tell her how old you are?”

“I free!” She holds up three fingers towards Leah.

“Woah! You’re so big! And you have a little sibling on the way. Can I ask how far along you are?” The question directed towards you.

“I’m five months along. It’s a boy.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you! Well, it’s been great catching up with you Leah. I’m glad you’re doing well.”

Leah watches you walk away, your daughter on your hip, towards your wife who was chatting up with a few teammates. She watches Alessia grab Aurora from you, giving you a smile and a kiss, seeing the love you two have.

Maybe in another life, one she hadn’t screwed up on , that could’ve been you and her, but she was just glad that you have someone who lived you the way you deserve to be loved.

Now, that she got everything out of her chest, she would be able to move on, but you’ll always be the one that got away.

[qqueenofhades]

what's been particularly vile to me is this group of white online leftists who insist that anyone who cares about more than this one issue for the election is a bad person, like, as if us black and brown people are making up reasons to be afraid and not.....believing the gop when they say they are coming for us. believing trump who has said previously that he does not bluff, that he will do the things he's said he will do (i hate what social media has gone to the word gaslighting but it feels like gaslighting. we lived through four years of trump. we saw the damage. stop treating us like we're being dramatic). it must be great to not have to worry about that i guess? "life won't change under trump" is such a telling admission because maybe theirs won't but mine will. and so many others' will.

and it is often again these (white) online leftists that love to call anyone who disagrees with them a white liberal (derogatory) because they know it would be racist (bad) to be this shitty and condescending to poc but they don't want to actually listen to anything black and brown voters are saying. it's easier to just call us white liberals and throw our opinions out, to ignore the work of black people for decades to gain the right to vote, to disregard the weight of telling them to not do that. it's genuinely appalling. they care so much about racism until it's time to engage with poc who have different opinions than their online echo chambers, then we're just stupid liberals with terrible opinions like..... wanting to live. not wanting four more years of trump. so sorry for that.

sorry for this vent in your inbox, i'm just so fucking tired of white people trying to rewrite history as if trump wasn't that bad. he was for my family and countless others and i am terrified for what's to come if he wins.

The thing about (the often-white) Online Leftists is that they have become just as much as a radicalized death cult as the diehard Trumpists. If you don't want to die for The Revolution and/or sacrifice your life, friends, family, the rest of the country, etc., then you're Insufficiently Pure and must be Purged. (Which I think is just complete BS, as none of them could actually handle sacrificing anything, but it's increasingly the only kind of performative rhetoric that is acceptable in leftist-identified discourse spaces.) This is functionally identical to "if you aren't willing to lay down your life for our Lord and Savior Donald Trump and the Great White Christian Nationalist Dictatorship, you're a liberal cuck," but with the names and justification changed. It doesn't change the underlying radicalization, nihilism, and insanity of the premise.

Another thing the Trumpists and the Online Leftists have in common is that they are busily rewriting just how bad Trump was in order to serve their Ideology. Ever since January 6, 2021, the Republicans have thrown everything they have at revising and whitewashing any suggestion that it was an "insurrection," and the Online Leftists have done the same, in an attempt to "prove" their insane point that Trump "would be better" than Biden. This is embodied in the recent ultimate-brainworm-nonsense maximalist-online take that "Biden has to lose so the rest of the world will see that the US rejects genocide!!!" That's right, the message that the rest of the world would take from Biden losing to Trump is that the US rejects genocide. Never mind if Trump literally wants to commit all the genocide possible and to install himself as a fascist theocratic dictator. In the deeply twisted minds of the Online Leftists, this is the only possible interpretation of Biden's loss, so they'll push for it as hard as they can! The Trumpists and the Online Leftists, at this point, are working pretty much in concert to damage Biden for similar insane reasons and get Trump elected. Etc etc., one Nazi and ten people at the same table is eleven Nazis.

Like. Sure. Four years ago, when Trump was president and people were dying by the thousands because he didn't want to wear a mask because it smeared his bronzer, just to name literally one of the terrible things he did every single day (and not even mentioning how much worse a second term would be) we were absolutely better off. Super-duper great. (Sarcasm.) Either that or "there is suffering and evil in the world and the only solution is to drastically increase the suffering and evil for everyone and to destroy what progress we have managed to make because It Does Not Fix Everything Now" is an absolute moral imperative, and either way, yeah. I'm calling bullshit.

[marzipanandminutiae]

I have this wild headcanon that, at some point in a Crimson Peak OT3 Everyone Lives AU, Lucille accidentally becomes a pioneering patron of women's mental healthcare in England

like. that ends up being her legacy in history

maybe it starts small. once they've rebuilt some degree of fortune and can think about other things, Our Lady of Horrific Abuse Charity AsylumTM burns down mysteriously. none of the patients are hurt, and a noble benefactress purchases a nearby former stately home to convert into a new hospital

("I put your name on the cheque," Edith says, carefully casual.

Lucille looks up sharply from scrubbing soot out of Thomas' trousers, a line of smudgy black where she'd had to cuff them in order to move as quietly as possible. "You did what?")

and Lucille was going to correct the mistake, really she was. that's why she went by new hospital to begin with. but there are little girls there, confused and frightened behind the hard places she can see already spreading in their eyes. and some of the temporary nurses are kind, they're actually trying

and she just. keeps sending money. with strict stipulations about exactly what sort of doctors are to be hired and what courses of treatment are to be followed, of course. maybe she ends up chairing the board of the place, upon discovering that she can handle being around that many Strangers for an hour or so quite well when she has a purpose to focus on

it doesn't hurt that Her Home is slowly regrowing its skin and bone, and there are twice as many embraces waiting for her when she returns

this doesn't quite feel fair to her, she thinks, when she receives the umpteenth official accolade for her work at age sixty-something. she's a murderess, an incestuous bigamist, a monster without remorse for her actions. at the very least, she supposes, there's an ironic humor in it

being the monster that saves

[gwainesmay]

'A FAVOUR' short pt2

pairing: anthony lockwood x fem! reader

SYNOPSIS: lucy notices the phone number on the back of lockwood’s hand

THEMES: slowburn, enemies to lovers

REQUESTED BY: @that-choir-girl

WARNINGS: lockwood’s isn’t very nice, sort of similar to his relationship with kipps in the series. reminder that this is purely fictional, so if you don’t like how he is portrayed just don’t read it :)

NOTES: a very short part two to a series. i’m so endlessly sorry to the person who requested this for taking so long, i’m drowning in work at the moment. I’ve written a VERY long remainder to the series but for now i’m just posting this tiny segment so to help my own conscious lol.

here’s my masterlist not proofread yet || leave a comment below to join my taglist! requests are currently open but it may take a while for me to get around to them

My work is not to be reposted, copied, translated or used in any form without explicit permission from myself.

“Why’s there a number written on your hand?”

It was one of those rare nights where the house was quiet, bar the distant rumble of traffic from the main roads, or the buzz of the kettle every so often in the kitchen. The living room was littered with papers, books, and an array of pens, some laid out across the rug, and others strewn on the sofas. Lockwood sat closest to the door, sifting through a pile of forms. In opposite armchairs sat Lucy and George, each searching through works of their own. It had been a long few days, filled with endless research and trips to the archives in search of any hints about their latest case—a huge home in the countryside with a rather disturbing history in far too many ways. They’d been recommended to the owner through a mutual friend—and Lockwood was determined to prove his agency’s worth. After all, the local newspapers were doing anything but.

The question had sounded so absurd, so out of place that Lockwood hadn’t even realised it was directed at him at first. He continued, tapping his pen rhythmically against the table as he read through a newspaper cutting, pausing only when George called his name. He looked up.

Lucy’s brows were raised, her hand paused mid-motion as she reached for something across the battered brown coffee table. George’s dark eyes were narrowed, his face unreadable.

“What?” Lockwood’s response came out as a sort of croak, and could feel his face burning up as he recalled the question.

“The number,” repeated Lucy, and her lips tugged upwards slightly. “On your hand.”

Lockwood paused, and suddenly the collar of his shirt was painfully tight. He looked down at the pen tattooed on his hand, forcing his brows up in mild surprise in a desperate attempt to mask the embarrassment he just knew was visible on his face.

“It’s nothing,” he told them far too quickly, and mentally facepalmed. “It’s for a case.”

“For a case?” repeated Lucy with an air of incredulity.

“For a case, yes.” He tugged at his tie, loosening it in a bid to ease the discomfort he found himself facing. “Would you pass me that jug off the side, George?”

George wasn’t so easily distracted. He shuffled in his seat, pushing the frames of his glasses further up his nose.

“For a case…as in a client’s number? On your hand?” He glanced in Lucy’s direction, as if searching for some sort of support from her. “That isn’t hugely appropriate, Lockwood–you do know we have an entire book to store these things?”

This got a snicker out of Lucy, but Lockwood didn’t look as amused. His lips pursed, gaze falling as he shook his head, spinning his pen between his fingers as nonchalantly as he could manage, despite the eyes he could feel boring into him. “It’s nothing like that.”

Lucy exhaled loudly, sitting back in her chair too with a teasing smile. “None of our business, George!” She exclaimed airily, shooting the boy a grin. “It must be private.”

Lockwood tutted. “It’s not—“

“You’re right, Lucy,” agreed George, with an upward tug of his lips. “We wouldn’t want to pry.”

“I’ve just told you it’s nothing like that!” exclaimed Lockwood with an air of outrage.

The nerve of it! To associate him with her, romantically at that, was suffocating, as unbearable as the girl herself. He wanted nothing more than to elaborate, to tell them exactly who the number belonged to, exactly why on earth it was sprawled across his hand—but he knew Lucy and George well enough to know that it would only make them worse. How on earth would he describe what had happened, how he’d been booted out of a cafe, doused in coffee and to add to injury, held out his hand for the girl’s number—it was absurd, yes, but it was exactly what Lucy needed to tease him even more. He wasn’t going to give them that opening. He reached to loosen his tie yet again as George nodded with a tiny smile, returning his gaze to the book before him.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Lockwood.”

Lockwood cursed under his breath, throwing down his pen and rising from his seat with a sigh. Perhaps they’d both looked up again, no, they had definitely watched but all he cared for now was a cup of tea. He’d barely shut the door and crossed the hallway when he heard a fit of giggles, no doubt Lucy’s, from inside the living room. Lockwood huffed, rubbing at his temples in exasperation when his gaze fell upon the phone sitting on the stand in the hallway. He looked down at the phone number again.

Was this really necessary?

Or was he just going to look like a fool?

No. Lucy had been the one to bring up her name when he had mentioned that he couldn’t get them an extra set of hands. This was her idea. Not his own. He was doing what she had asked, right? Even if she didn’t expect him to actually follow through.

Yet he was the one who was going to make all the phone calls. How desperate, how pathetic he must look, going to the most jarring girl he had ever had the distaste of meeting, simply because he had no other choice. Was she sitting somewhere right now, smug, waiting to ruin his case when the time would finally come? It disgusted him to think of it, to know he’d have to endure her accursed presence, that judging, distasteful nose in the air, that quick mouth that jumped on his every fault. It was a death wish, if anything, to be willingly cooped up with her, but unfortunately, he was in desperate need of money.

It was the world’s way, perhaps, of getting back at him after he’d laughed, practically celebrated her sacking from Fittes. He had invited around anyone he knew, anyone willing to come—God, even Arif had popped in for a while— filled with a sudden sense of festivity, and he knew exactly why. Drinks, food- he’d planned it all over a number of hours. That day had felt as though Christmas itself had come early, like he had been successful without truly trying.

Yet here he was. Lingering by the phone in the hallway, debating how desperately he did need the money, and the reputation. It wasn’t even a question, and he knew it. Lockwood reached for the phone, and began to dial shakily the numbers on the back of his hand.

He raised the phone hesitantly to his right ear, his heart drumming a fast beat similar to the ringing of the phone line. Every moment of waiting only seemed to trigger his thoughts more and more.

Why on earth was she taking so long to pick up? It felt like the phone had been ringing for a lifetime! A surge of outrage shot through him; had she given him a fake number? Had he been made a joke of?

Oh, he was going to kill the damn girl.

“Hello?” Sang a voice in his ear.

Nevermind, he wasn’t going to kill her yet. Perhaps after the case itself, he’d have a fleeting chance to grab her, shove her down a set of stairs and bolt. Or maybe he wouldn’t need to- maybe she’d rusted over the months working as a freelancer. The thought spread a grin across his face.

“Hello?” The voice repeated again, time with an air of slight impatience. Typical. Lockwood cleared his throat. “It’s Anthony Lockwood…of Lockwood and Co.”

Oh God. He slapped a hand to his forehead, his eyes clenched shut, and there was an awkward silence on the other end. When it didn’t cease, Lockwood cleared his throat, recollecting himself. “You’re still up for the case I asked you about?”

There was a pause. “Yes.” Her voice had lost all the initial emotion, suddenly void of any feeling, monotonous.

Lockwood hummed in response. “Well then, two days time. Mapelwood Manor, just off Kent.” He waited for a response, but it didn’t come. “Be there by curfew. Don’t make us late.”

She scoffed sharply. “You’ve got nerve. Don’t set the place alight before I get there.”

It was Lockwood’s turn to feel disrespected.

“You know, L/n, you—“

Lockwood paused, cut off by a muffled, distant voice in the background. The voice was slightly louder this time, indistinguishable but certainly calling her name.

“If that’s all?” She spoke again, with an air of hurriedness.

“Yes.” Lockwood lowered the phone slightly, debating how to end the call. A farewell?

But the buzz told him she had already put down the phone.

“Did you say L/n?”

Lockwood jumped at the sudden voice of Lucy. He turned, and there she stood by the door of the living room , leaning against the frame in a way that suggested she’d had time to make herself comfortable. Lockwood scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “I did, yeah. She’s, er—“ he tried to manage a casual smile “She’s coming with us to Mapelwood.”

Suddenly, his face was burning again. He headed into the kitchen for that cup of tea, but the footsteps behind him said she was close in pursuit.

“What?” Lucy asked, incredulous. “How?”

Lockwood didn’t reply, turning away to fill the kettle—or to hide his face.

“You asked her to come?”

“Didn’t really have much of a choice, Luce.” He said, jaw tight. “And besides, you’re the one who told me to do it.”

“Told you?” He could practically hear her grinning. “I didn’t tell you to do anything, Lockwood, I mentioned her name in passing.”

Lockwood leaned back with a sharp exhale, recognising the look on her face. “Don’t even–“

“You’ve been telling us for years that you hate this girl…” She smirked. “Yet you’ve gone and asked her to join our case.”

“Don’t make it weird,” he warned, brows raised. “We’ve got no one else, and we need the cash.”

Lucy raised her hands in mock innocence. “Of course. Nothing more.”

“Lucy Carlyle.” Lockwood straightened up, meeting her gaze seriously. “This is one case. Once it’s over, we never see her again. She can go back to whatever she does when she isn’t pissing us off.”

“Now that’s mean,” interrupted Lucy. “And she doesn’t piss us off.“

“Well, she’s mean.” Lockwood sat back again, crossing his arms. “And she pisses me off. Let’s just hope she doesn’t mess anything up for us.”

“She wouldn’t, Lockwood. Not everyone is as petty as you.”

“It’s not about being petty.” Lockwood shook his head. “She’s argumentative. Thinks she knows it all. Can’t follow orders either. I think she’s got issues, if i’m honest.”

“Reminds me of someone.”

Lockwood heard the door click shut behind him.

This wasn’t going to end well.