#there are polycules everywhere for those with eyes to see

[iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid]

the most heavily ingrained bit of muscle memory in gale's body is to sit with a book for hours on end while petting a cat tressym. karlach is immensely touch starved. do you see the vision

underrated bg3 ship, platonic or otherwise: karlach and gale. the two nicest people in our camp are attached at the hip and also we finally found someone the perfect height to bop gale on the head every time he gets Hubris Eyes. oh and they both have bombs in their chests. nbd

[multifanhoe99]

Permission Granted

Pairing- Chanyeol x Reader x Baekhyun x Sehun

This is pt. 2 to the Kinktober Day 2- Biting fic! Requested by @bangtan4everr

Warnings- Reader is afab and has female anatomy, nicknames/namecalling (baby, slut, good girl, whore, cock slut), oral m/f giving and receiving, more biting, orgasm denial, unprotected sex, hair pulling, creampie, lots of cum everywhere, shower together, implied beginnings of a polycule by the end?

=Let me know if I missed any.=

18+ MDNI

Chanyeol looks to his two friends. Both are staring back at him with wide eyes. They want to look at you, but they aren't sure they have permission, that is until Chanyeol speaks again this time to them.

"Come closer boys," he says, "You can look at her. I am sure this pretty little slut loves it anyways." At his words, you could feel yourself getting wetter by the second. You have never actually thought of being with anyone other than Chanyeol before, but now that he's opened this door just the thought of it has you clenching around nothing in anticipation. Baekhyun and Sehun inch closer, their eyes roaming over your body. Chanyeol's bite marks are becoming more visible now. Those are definitely going to bruise, you thought. You can see the hunger in their gazes, the way they lick their lips as they drink in every curve and dip. Your breath quickens, your chest rising and falling rapidly as excitement courses through you. Chanyeol's hand slides up your thigh, fingers teasing at the edge of your underwear.

"What do you think, boys? Should we give her what she wants?" Baekhyun nods eagerly, already palming himself through his jeans. Sehun looks to Chanyeol for permission before reaching out to trace a finger along your collarbone.

"Please," you whimper, arching into the touch. You're not even sure what you're begging for, just that you need more. Chanyeol chuckles darkly at your reaction.

“Already begging and we haven’t even started yet,” Chanyeol whispers into your ear, “What a greedy slut you are.” You shiver at Chanyeol's words, a soft moan escaping your lips. Sehun's finger continues its path down your chest, circling your nipple teasingly. Baekhyun moves closer, his hand joining Chanyeol's on your thigh.

"Can I taste her?" Baekhyun asks his voice husky with desire. Chanyeol nods, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

"Go ahead. Show her what that talented tongue of yours can do." Baekhyun doesn't hesitate, diving between your legs. His tongue laps at your core through your underwear, causing you to cry out in pleasure. Sehun takes the opportunity to capture your lips in a searing kiss, swallowing your moans. Chanyeol's hand tangles in your hair pulling your head back to expose your neck. His lips find your pulse point, sucking and biting as Sehun continues to devour your mouth. The dual sensation has you writhing between them, overwhelmed by pleasure. Baekhyun hooks his fingers into the waistband of your underwear, slowly dragging them down your legs. The cool air hits your heated core, making you shiver. He wastes no time, diving back in to lick a broad stripe up your slit. You cry out into Sehun's mouth, your hips bucking involuntarily.

"That's it, baby," Chanyeol murmurs against your skin, "Let them hear how good it feels." Sehun breaks the kiss, trailing his lips down to your breast. Lifting your shirt up and off he takes a nipple into his mouth and the feeling of having all three of them lavish you is euphoric. Your hands grasp desperately at anything you can reach. The sensations are overwhelming, pleasure building rapidly as Baekhyun's tongue works magic between your thighs. He sucks your clit into his mouth, causing your back to arch off the couch.

"She's close," Chanyeol observes, his voice low and husky, "Don't let her cum yet." Baekhyun immediately pulls back, earning a frustrated whine from you. Sehun releases your nipple with a wet pop, looking up at Chanyeol for further instruction.

"Strip," Chanyeol commands, and the other two quickly comply. You watch with hooded eyes as they follow your boyfriend’s instructions. Your mouth waters at the sight.

"On your knees for them, baby,” Chanyeol coos, “Show them how much you want them.” You do as Chanyeol says, getting on your knees in front of a now-bare Baekhyun and Sehun. A brief glance back at Chanyeol reveals him pulling out his own cock and slowly stroking himself while he watches you.

"Good girl," Chanyeol purrs, his eyes dark with lust as he watches you position yourself before his friends, "Now, why don't you show them how talented that pretty little mouth of yours is?" You don't need to be told twice. Eagerly, you lean forward, taking Baekhyun's length into your mouth. He hisses in pleasure, his hand immediately tangling in your hair. You swirl your tongue around the tip before taking him deeper, hollowing your cheeks as you begin to bob your head. Not wanting to neglect Sehun, you reach out to wrap your hand around his shaft, stroking him in time with your movements on Baekhyun. Sehun groans, his hips jerking involuntarily into your touch.

"That's it," Chanyeol encourages from behind you. You can feel Chanyeol's eyes on you as you work, alternating between Baekhyun and Sehun. The sounds of their pleasure fill the room - low groans and breathless curses. Your own arousal builds as you pleasure them, wetness pooling between your thighs. Suddenly, you feel Chanyeol's hands on your hips, pulling you back slightly. Without warning, he thrusts into you from behind, filling you completely in one smooth motion. You moan around Baekhyun's cock, the vibrations making him shudder.

"Don't stop," Chanyeol commands, setting a punishing pace. "Keep sucking them while I fuck you." You do your best to focus on pleasuring Baekhyun and Sehun as Chanyeol pounds into you relentlessly. The sensations overwhelm you as you struggle to concentrate. Chanyeol's powerful thrusts drive you forward, pushing Baekhyun's cock deeper into your throat with each movement. You gag slightly but quickly adjust, relaxing your jaw to take him fully. Your hand works frantically on Sehun's length, trying to match the frenzied pace Chanyeol has set.

"Fuck, her mouth feels amazing," Baekhyun groans, his fingers tightening in your hair. Sehun nods in agreement, his breath coming in short pants as he watches you work.

"So hot," he manages to choke out. Chanyeol's grip on your hips tightens, sure to leave bruises.

"You love this, don't you?" he growls, punctuating each word with a sharp thrust, "Being used like a good little whore.” You feel yourself getting closer but before you can cum Chanyeol pulls out of you and pulls you back away from the other two men.

“Sehun, why don’t you take a turn fucking her pretty little pussy,” Chanyeol asks while he helps you turn over. As Sehun positions himself behind you, Chanyeol grips your chin, tilting your face up to meet his intense gaze.

"Open wide, baby," he commands, his voice husky with desire. You obediently part your lips, letting out a muffled moan as Chanyeol slides his length into your mouth just as Sehun pushes into you from behind. The sensation of being filled from both ends is overwhelming. Sehun starts with slow, deep thrusts, allowing you to adjust to his size. Meanwhile, Chanyeol sets a leisurely pace, savoring the feeling of your tongue swirling around his cock as you taste yourself on him. Baekhyun guides your hand up and down his shaft, occasionally letting out soft groans of pleasure.

"That's it," he encourages, "Just like that." The room fills with a cacophony of moans, grunts, and the obscene sounds of flesh meeting flesh. You're lost in a haze of pleasure, overwhelmed by the sensations assaulting you from all sides. Sehun's pace quickens, his hips snapping against yours with increasing urgency. Each thrust pushes you further onto Chanyeol's cock, causing you to take him deeper into your throat. Chanyeol's hand tangles in your hair, guiding your movements as he fucks your mouth.

"Look at me," he commands, his voice rough with desire. You struggle to obey, your eyes fluttering open to meet his intense gaze. The raw hunger you see there sends a shiver down your spine.

"Such a good little slut," Chanyeol praises, "Taking all of us so well." Baekhyun's breathing grows ragged as your hand works his length.

"Fuck, I'm close," he groans, his hips jerking erratically.

"Not yet," Chanyeol commands. "Nobody cums until our pretty little slut takes all our cocks.” Chanyeol pulls out of your mouth, a string of saliva connecting your lips to the tip of his cock. He motions for Sehun to stop as well, leaving you whimpering at the sudden emptiness.

"On your back," Chanyeol orders. You comply eagerly, spreading your legs wide in invitation. Baekhyun wastes no time positioning himself between your thighs, sliding into you with a groan of pleasure.

"Fuck, she's so wet," he pants, setting a rapid pace. You cry out in ecstasy, overwhelmed by the feeling of yet another cock filling you. Sehun moves to straddle your chest, his length bobbing tantalizingly close to your face. You strain your neck, trying to reach him with your tongue.

"Patience," Chanyeol chuckles darkly. Chanyeol guides Sehun's cock to your waiting mouth, allowing you to wrap your lips around the tip. You moan around him as Baekhyun continues to pound into you relentlessly. The vibrations from your moans send shock waves of pleasure through Sehun, causing him to thrust deeper into your throat.

"That's it, take it all," Chanyeol encourages, his hand stroking your cheek as you struggle to accommodate Sehun's length. "Such a good little cock slut." Your mind is hazy with pleasure, overwhelmed by the feeling of being filled from both ends. Baekhyun's thrusts grow more erratic as he nears his peak. His fingers dig into your hips, sure to leave bruises.

"Fuck, I'm so close," he groans. Chanyeol begins rubbing your clit while he strokes himself. All four of you are lost in the overwhelming pleasure. The intensity builds to a fever pitch as Baekhyun's thrusts become frantic. Your muffled moans around Sehun's cock grow louder, vibrating through him. Chanyeol's skilled fingers on your clit push you closer and closer to the edge.

"That's it," Chanyeol growls, "Cum for us like the dirty little slut you are." His words are your undoing. Your orgasm crashes over you in waves, your body convulsing with pleasure. The pulsing of your walls around Baekhyun triggers his own release. He buries himself deep inside you with a guttural groan, spilling his seed. Sehun follows shortly after, the sight and sensation of your climax pushing him over the edge. He pulls out just in time, painting your flushed face and heaving chest with his hot cum. Chanyeol is the last to let go, his cum spilling out all over the three of you. As you all come down from your collective high, the room falls silent save for the sound of heavy breathing. Your body tingles with the aftershocks of your intense orgasm, every nerve ending still hyper-sensitive. Baekhyun slowly pulls out of you, causing you to whimper at the loss. Sehun climbs off your chest, collapsing onto the couch beside you. Chanyeol's eyes roam over your spent form, taking in the sight of you covered in cum, your chest heaving as you try to catch your breath. A satisfied smirk plays on his lips.

"Look at you," he murmurs, voice low and husky. "Such a perfect little mess." You preen under his praise, a lazy smile spreading across your face despite your exhaustion.

Chanyeol leans down and whispers, “You did so well, baby, are you okay?" You nod, still trying to process everything. Baekhyun and Sehun exchange glances, suddenly looking a bit uncertain now that the heat of the moment has passed. Chanyeol takes charge once again.

"Why don't we all go get cleaned up?" he suggests to his friends. They nod and help him lift and carry you to the bathroom. As the warm water cascades over your bodies in the spacious shower, you feel a mix of exhaustion and lingering arousal. Chanyeol's strong arms support you as Baekhyun and Sehun take turns gently washing your skin. Their touches are reverent now, a stark contrast to the frenzied passion from earlier.

"You were amazing," Chanyeol murmurs in your ear. "So perfect for us." His words soothe you, and you relax into his embrace. Baekhyun massages shampoo into your hair while Sehun runs a soft cloth over your skin. Chanyeol keeps a steadying arm around your waist, pressing occasional kisses to your temple. After all of you are thoroughly cleaned you’re wrapped in a fluffy towel and helped into bed. Chanyeol lays on one side of you, Baekhyun and Sehun on the other as you all settle in for the night.

“Hyung,” Sehun asks sleepily, “Is this going to be a regular thing?” Chanyeol chuckles softly, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on your skin.

"We'll see," he replies, his voice low and husky. "That's up to our little princess here." You feel a flutter of excitement in your stomach at his words. The thought of repeating this experience sends a thrill through you, despite your exhaustion.

"What do you think, baby?" Chanyeol asks, tilting your chin up to meet his gaze. "Would you like to play with them again sometime?" You bite your lip, considering. The memory of their hands on you, the overwhelming pleasure they brought you, makes your decision easy.

"Yes," you breathe out, "I'd like that." Baekhyun lets out a pleased hum, nuzzling into your neck.

"Good," he murmurs, "Because I can't wait to taste you again." With that, they cuddle closer to you and you all drift off to sleep.

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

A/N: Holy cow!! I think this is a good enough apology for sort of dropping off the face of the earth. I have really missed writing but, I had just been so busy with my new job and that new job requiring me to go back and do more school. I appreciate all the love my stories are still getting and I promise I will be more active now that I am settled into this new job. Thank you all for your continued support. Side note...should I try and do Kinktober again???

[borathae]

Stardust

" Taehyung, who is gazing at the endless galaxies in Jungkook’s deep brown eyes, answers him in whispers. “I love the stars as well.” Jungkook, unaware that Taehyung didn’t speak of nature's stars but those of his, looks up at Taehyung."

Pairing: Vampire!Jungkook x Vampire!Taehyung

Genre: established relationship!AU, polyamory!AU, Slice of Life Fluff

Warnings: Tae tries so hard and it's reciprocated!, they're actually so in love :(, idk man this entire polycule just hits so hard whenever i write for them, a cute date, and Tae being an excited bean, and Kook being a cutie, goodness this is so cute and romantic :(

Wordcount: 2.7k

a/n: i cry into my pillow each night. i love this family so much :(

Taehyung and the others have returned from The Plains two days ago. Life at the estate didn’t change during the days they spent far away in the other realm. The plants still grew, the rooms were still homely and the sun still felt the same on the skin. Jimin was already at home again after going on a trip with Hoseok where they visited Seokjin and Emma in Gordes. The entire family had dinner together on the first night reunited. Conversation was amazing and laughter was great.

But this story is neither about the wonderful dinner nor the reunion. This story is about Taehyung and his unbearable desire to see Jungkook. 

It has been five hours since he last saw him in the home gym and Taehyung is going mad without him. Such intense feelings are still unbelievably unfamiliar to him. Truly, Taehyung isn’t used to being so needy for a person. Not in a sexual way, but an emotional way. All Taehyung craves is to hear Jungkook’s laugh, to experience his scent, to gaze at his face and feel his hug. He also craves every story Jungkook could possibly tell and needs every single word this man could ever utter. Oh, he craves this man so very much.

The door to Jungkook’s wing is unlocked and Taehyung sees it as his consent to go in. He takes off his shoes by the door, using the audible cues as his guidance. He has music playing and judging by the pungent scent of paint in the air, he is repainting walls. 

It was very easy to return to his real self after coming home from The Plains. Being human was fun and a new experience, but Taehyung must admit that he prefers to be a vampire. He enjoys his heightened senses and how invincible his body is again. The only thing he misses is his pulse and how real his body warmth felt. It was so utterly exciting to feel both of these things rise whenever Taehyung found himself close to Jungkook.

Speaking of Jungkook, Taehyung finds him in his living room. Well, his living room to be. Jungkook is still in the midst of renovating the room. Taehyung knocks on the opened door. He was incorrect about the walls. Jungkook is actually painting the ceiling. He chose a dark blue to contrast with the white walls. 

Jungkook lowers the paint roller, studying Taehyung.

“Hello”, Taehyung says, waving his hand shyly.

“Hey there.”

“The, uhm, the ceiling is already looking very good.”

“Yeah, right? It’s coming along nicely. I’m really liking the colour.”

“Yes, it is a very beautiful colour.”

“At first I was worried that it would be too dark, but I like it now.”

“Indeed, it fits the room very well.”

Jungkook sinks the roller into new paint and spreads it on the ceiling. He thinks that Taehyung merely came here to chat, unaware that the vampire wants to ask him for a date. Taehyung doesn’t take it to heart, watching the younger vampire with a fluttering stomach. Now that he is in front of him, Taehyung forgot every single word he ever learned.

Jungkook manages to cover quite a lot before Taehyung finally feels courageous enough to ask.

“Jungkook, may I ask you something?”

“Hm? Yeah, sure. What’s up?” Jungkook says, placing the roller aside and climbing off the ladder to hurry to Taehyung. 

“You, uhm, you have paint on your face.”

“I do? Crap.” Jungkook wipes his face blindly. “It’s the position. It’s getting everywhere.” 

Taehyung takes the cloth from Jungkook’s overalls and licks a corner of it to wipe his face with it.

“May I?”

“Yeah.”

Jungkook lets him with bated breath, eyes racing over his features. He misses how much his heart raced in The Plains. Now it stays still eventhough Jungkook doesn’t feel calm. He feels giddy. Really, really giddy. Like a person who can’t believe that their crush likes them back.

“There. Now you are clean”, Taehyung finishes the job, stuffing the cloth back into Jungkook’s pocket.

“Thank you, chèri.”

Their eyes meet briefly. Jungkook grins. Taehyung flusters.

“How did that sound?”

“Nice”, Taehyung whispers and tugs Jungkook’s into a kiss by his hips.

“Mhm”, Jungkook lets out, keeping his hands away from Taehyung in order not to get him dirty.

The kiss breaks because Jungkook broke it, chuckling fondly as he does.

“Nice, it feels so nice”, Taehyung murmurs, snuggling into the crook of Jungkook’s neck.

“I’m dirty, you know.”

“I don’t care.”

“You’ll care when I accidentally put paint on your expensive shirt.”

Taehyung laughs with Jungkook, fingers playing with his belt loops mindlessly. 

“What’s up? You wanted to ask me something.”

“Ah yes! Do you perhaps want to come to my wing later? I want to show you my atelier.”

“Uh, atelier tour. Yeah, I’d like that. Am I gonna see your star painting then?”

“Yes, it will be the first thing I will show you.”

“Neat. Is it okay for you if I finish the ceiling first? I don’t want it to get patchy.”

“Of course, take your time. I shall wait for you in my wing. Please take your time.”

“I’ll be quick. Promise”, Jungkook says and turns to return to his task. 

Taehyung leaves his wing as well, bursting in giddy excitement. He will be able to show Jungkook his stars ceiling and his secret room. Jungkook will be the second person after you to know of the room’s existence (Taehyung isn’t aware that Yoongi knows the room as well after he once found you sulking in it a long time ago).

“Taehyung?”

Taehyung is in the atelier, doing the last finishing touches, when Jungkook calls out for him. The older vampire hurries outside, speeding up when his eyes fall upon Jungkook waiting by the front door. He dressed up, body hued in blue jeans and a red button up. Taehyung feels his stomach flutter. He is so beautiful.

“Look at you. You are so handsome”, he gushes, greeting Jungkook by taking both his hands and kissing his knuckles.

“You’re handsome too”, Jungkook says, gazing at him fondly. 

Taehyung straightens up, touching Jungkook’s waist. Truly, he cannot keep his hands to himself.

“Please, come in. I am so happy that you are finally here.”

“Sorry it took me a while. I had to shower and everything”, Jungkook excuses himself as he slips out of his house shoes. 

All of you mostly wear house shoes when you hurry around the estate, but take them off once you are in each other’s wings. It is cleaner this way and less cold on the feet.

“No worries, I told you to take your time and I meant it. I prepared wine and chocolate. I hope you like them.”

“I love wine and chocolate.”

They intertwine their hands as they wander to Taehyung’s atelier. Jungkook has already been in Taehyung’s wing before, having spent his time in his bedroom and bathroom, so he is familiar with the artful hallways the older vampire curated over the centuries.

“I am very happy to hear that. I find wine and chocolate to be a wonderful combination.”

“Yeah, right.” 

They reach the atelier. Taehyung stops and turns to take both of Jungkook’s hands.

“Do you trust me?”

“I do.”

“Close your eyes.”

Jungkook follows with a giggle, squeezing Taehyung’s hands in excited anticipation.

Taehyung leans in and steals a kiss, eliciting another giggle from Jungkook. Only once the kiss was stolen and Jungkook properly charmed, does Taehyung finally lead him inside. 

“Keep them closed.”

“I am.”

Taehyung places Jungkook in the middle of his atelier, right underneath the moon and endless stars. He lets go of his hands and steps aside.

“Open them.”

Jungkook opens his eyes, gasping in delighted surprise.

“Wow, it’s beautiful here”, he says softly, looking around the room. The artful murals, the countless canvases, the scattered art supplies and well-preserved antiques. The love Taehyung has for this room and which he also poured into his art in this room is felt greatly by Jungkook. 

“This is the most beautiful studio ever. I love it so much” he gushes, “is the stars painting one of those paintings?” he asks and steps closer to the huge canvases Taehyung keeps leaned against the wall.

“Look up”, Taehyung tells him, almost bursting in excitement.

Jungkook lifts his head. His face falls, his eyes widen.

“Holy fuck.”

Taehyung giggles and cackles, bouncing on the spot as his face contorts into the brightest smile.

“Woah. Yo, holy shit. Wow.”

Taehyung grabs Jungkook’s arm, shaking it in excitement. The latter looks at him, unable to hide his true bafflement.

“This is blowing my mind. This is the most beautiful ceiling I have ever seen.”

“I, I painted it myself.”

“You did what?!”

Taehyung steps closer, shaking Jungkook’s arm harder. He might burst in giddiness.

“I painted it. I spent three years of my life watching the sky and painting what I saw.”

“Holy fuck, Tae. This is the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen. Wow”, Jungkook says, looking up at the ceiling again to take in the beauty of it, “wow…”

“I had hoped that you would like it.”

“I love it. It’s seriously baffling to me. You painted that, like, holy fuck.”

Taehyung giggles and cuddles Jungkook from the side.

“You make me so giddy.”

Jungkook chuckles, wrapping his arm around him. He cranes his neck to kiss the crown of Taehyung’s head.

“You’re cute and fucking talented. Wow, I can’t stop staring. Wow.”

“Do you want to know how I was able to watch the sky?”

“Of course. Did you go outside on the balcony?” 

“No, better.”

“Better?” 

Taehyung tugs Jungkook with him by his hands.

“Follow me. I want to show you something very special. It is my place of tranquillity. Only ___ knows of it.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Really.”

“Wow Tae, seriously this room is amazing. Did you paint the murals too?”

“I did.”

“Damn Tae, just wow.”

Jungkook has to exclaim yet another round of “wow”s, when Taehyung shows him the entrance to his secret room. He follows him with even more exclaims of wonder on his lips, meeting his crescendo when he finally stands in the octagon shaped library. Taehyung, bursting in giddiness, lies him down on the mattress and tells him to keep his eyes on the ceiling. Then he hurries to the lever, opening it with his eyes not once leaving Jungkook’s face. He wants to take in his first reaction.

“Wow!” Jungkook gasps and then becomes silent as the view steals his words. All he can do is stare and gaze in wonder as the ceiling moves aside to make space for the endless night sky.

Taehyung hurries to him, lying down beside him. He cuddles into him in a way which still allows him to look at his face.

“What are you thinking?”

“This is so beautiful”, Jungkook whispers, tearing up, “I love the stars so much.”

Taehyung, who is gazing at the endless galaxies in Jungkook’s deep brown eyes, answers him in whispers.

“I love the stars as well.”

Jungkook, unaware that Taehyung didn’t speak of nature’s stars but those of his’, looks up at Taehyung.

“I can’t believe that I lived here all these months without knowing that this room exists.”

“I keep it well hidden. I find great healing in this room and only people most special to me get to know of its existence.”

Jungkook blinks away tears, “thank you so much for trusting me.”

Taehyung kisses his lips. Softly and with love.

“I will always trust you”, he whispers, caressing his cheek slowly.

Jungkook flusters, lowering his eyes shyly. He might still be far away from perfect control, but at least with Taehyung, he can experience gentle love already. Jungkook feels at peace in his presence. And uncontrollably giddy. He lifts his eyes again so he could look at the face which makes his stomach flutter so very much. Jungkook thinks that he is even more beautiful with the stars as his backdrop.

“Do you want to see something else? And then we can finally enjoy the wine and chocolate under the stars”, Taehyung asks with sparkling eyes.

“Of course, show me”, Jungkook whispers. 

“Follow me”, Taehyung drags Jungkook to one of the shelves.

“Is it by the books?” the younger follows with a fond smile.

“Indeed, yes indeed. I have books you could enjoy. I, I gathered them here for you”, Taehyung says and takes out a big heap of books, putting them on the floor. 

He and Jungkook sit down cross legged and while Taehyung stares at him in anticipation, Jungkook takes one of the books. 

“Really?” he gasps, eyes lighting up and racing over the other books as well, “all of these books are about the stars and the universe and, and astronomy!”

“Indeed. Yes, indeed”, Taehyung giggles, bouncing on the spot, “do you know any of them already?”

“No. I don’t know any of them yet. Oh my god, this one! I wanted to read this for so long, but I could never find it anywhere!”

“It is first edition. I knew the author and they gave me a copy when it was first released.”

“Wow, oh wow this is so cool, wow”, Jungkook wipes his eyes quickly, giggling, “I can’t believe I’m holding these books.”

“You can have them.”

“What?” 

Their eyes meet. Jungkook has widened his eyes so immensely that they appear almost round. 

“You can have them. I want to give them to you.”

“But. No. No, I can’t take them. They’re yours and they’re expensive and, and valuable.”

“And I want them to be yours”, Taehyung assures him, “they would catch dust up here with me. Knowing that they could find a worthy home with you, would mean so much more to me.”

“I can’t take them, no.”

“Yes, you can. They are yours. Truly.”

“But-”

“No buts. I insist”, Taehyung shoves them closer to Jungkook, “they are yours.”

“Are you really sure?”

“I am. So very sure.”

“Oh god. Thank you”, Jungkook falls around Taehyung’s neck, “thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Taehyung smiles, hugging him as tightly as possible. The sweet scent of true happiness radiates off of Jungkook. His squeaky giggles are yet another indicator of the immense happiness Taehyung makes him feel.

“Thank you so much. Thank you so, so much.”

“I’m so happy to know that they found a new home. They will be well taken care of.”

“They will, oh god”, Jungkook sits back on his heels, beaming at Taehyung with glassy eyes, “you have no idea how much I dreamed of having more astronomy books. I, I only have a few and, and they are either very modern or really ruined already. I, I read all of them so many times already and, and now I have new things to go through, oh god. I want to cry, oh god”, Jungkook hides his face in his hands and sobs a little.

“Goodness, don’t cry”, Taehyung gasps, rubbing his arms soothingly.

“I’m just feeling overwhelmed. I appreciate this so much. How did you know I would like all of this?”

“I truly hoped that you would. You told me about your love for astronomy and so I wished for all of this to be of your liking.”

“It is. All of it. Oh god”, Jungkook sobs softly. He is being seen and therefore loved. If this is what dating a man feels like, Jungkook is so glad that he can finally experience it. It feels so good to be treated so well.

“Are these happy tears? I cannot tell anymore.”

Jungkook nods his head, “I’m happy.”

“Yes? Oh, mon amour I’m happy to know”, Taehyung gushes, dropping his hands to Jungkook’s thighs. 

Jungkook lowers his hands to hold Taehyung’s, smiling at him even if he sniffles. 

“I’m so happy. I’m so, so happy.”

Taehyung smiles, feeling incredibly warm in his chest.

“This means more to me than you might think. All I want is your happiness, my north star.”

“Oh god”, Jungkook giggles, falling around Taehyung’s neck again, “oh god, Tae. I love you.”

“I love you too, mon bel amour.”

[liesmyth]

hello could you explain the hockey rpf edmonton polycule thing pls I don’t go here but im so curious

ok I don't go here either for now (will probably go here soon) so I don't have a grasp of the full lore. this post was my intro. I'm gonna page @tungpin who got me into it and explained it in a tldr that I'm just copypasting

Lauren (connormcdavid wife) and Celeste (leondraisaitl fiance) are best friends high school and Lauren MAY have set Leon and Celeste up. so they have an excuse to be together forever. edmonton polycule is REAL

and also this post by @kritischetheologie who's been singlehandedly converting me just by putting stuff like this on my dash. I am but a lesbian. there are cathedrals everywhere for those with eyes to see. I am seeing the cathedrals and they're soooo gay.

[phoebesbridgers]

polycule is everywhere for those with eyes to see it

[quinntessentiant]

It's that time of week again!!

Previously on The Rising (ie The Mutant Campaign; ie The Mutant Polycule):

The gang left London to go to Cambridge to give Ripley a chance to talk to his mum about how tf he managed to become a literal alien if he was born and raised as a human, and ask about discrepancies in his memories. Namely those related to his childhood as well as finding out who put the barrier in his mind to separate him from The Hive Mind.

Of course we had to take a train there but seeing as we were currently being hunted down by an American government-run superhero team we had to take some careful measures, like casting Seeming on our group. (I made sure to give Ripley a hat that says "Women love me, Fish fear me, I am Fish" Because his alien features are aquatic and because I'm hilarious.)

We had, at this point, expected cops. and as predicted, they were everywhere at the train station. But worse than that, was the fact that there was one of the superheroes at the station. The one who "has a nack for finding people" and also happens to be Anatolia's cousin. who was the whole reason there was a manhunt against us.

Then, of course, there were these floating surveillance balls that were reminiscent of Sentinel's eyes. We just had to avoid them at all costs and hope that they didn't know that magic exists. Because if they saw through Seeming, we were fucked.

Thankfully, we successfully made it through to buy tickets and get on the train to Cambridge.

We went to Yippee Noodle Bar to regroup and watch the Press Conference thingy where they showed our pictures and explained that the people the American hero team was searching for were not dangerous. They named all of us except for one. Which is weird because Marion is the one who is literally (falsely) wanted by the American Government for being a terrorist.

Once again falsely. The one on the team who made that announcement, Justice/Caroline, was supposed to be our friend.

We suspect that she was very much getting brainwashed and experimented on by her evil psychopath mother, Blanche. (All my homies hate Blanche)

Aaannyway

We get to cambridge, watch the conference, then we decide to let Ripley talk to his mum alone at first. Ash, Ana, and Marion head to a nearby park while Ottie waits outside the house within mind/emotion reading range in case Ripley needs us to gtfo or come inside.

Here's the thing: Riplye hasn't seen or spoken to his mum in years. Its all very complicated and traumatic mostly because of his dad. Just... so much about his dad. Bottom line, he was a piece of shit.

Ripley also looks insanely different from how he used to at the start of the campaign. He used to look human with purple hair and now he's got black sclera eyes, greyed-out skin, white hair, gills, and when he wants to, tentacles. He's rad as hell. (also obviously I dropped Seeming at this point. Our lovely DM let me drop it only for Ripley so the rest of us were still disguised until I dropped it completely. Thanks Charley!! <3)

He's let inside and the place is wrecked. Turns out, Justice (ie Caroline as we know her), has already paid her a little visit. the coffee table was bisected via laser eyes and the floor was singed and shit and she apparently even decided to rummage through Ripley's room, threatening Ripley's mum and demanding to know where he is. (they hadn't spoken in years at this point so thankfully she wasn't lying when she said she didn't know.)

And yet, his mum still let him in, knowing that she'd be even less safe now.

His mum turns out to be rad as hell. She did not immediately call the police on us. (We were worried that was going to happen) The Alien aspect was an experimental parasite thing that was split in 1/2 by some wacked out scientists (one of which is dead but we definitely talked to him a couple days ago so fuck) and then given to Ripley, who was terminally ill. His mum just wanted to save her baby and she was desperate.

We all came into the house after getting the Okay from Ripley and Ottie (Ottie absolutely watched as Marion was pushing Ash on the swing and Ash decided to jump off at the wrong moment and promptly face-planted into the grass.)

We all talk to his mum some more, she makes us tea, we tall her a bit about what we've been up to, tell her she should probably think about leaving this area for a bit since Justice had already found her, and then we learn about a childhood friend who had been erased from Rilpey's memories who lives a few doors down.

Obviously Ripley was curious about her since there had to have been a reason she was erased in the first place so he was going to talk to her. Went so far as to stand outside the house to see if she was even home and then-

A voice spoke.

"Are you sure you want to ruin that girl's life?"

And it was the bitch who erased her from his memory.

Who turned out to be Loki, who we've definitely met and interacted with before.

Who is also responsible for Ottie's memory loss as well as the disappearance of her mum who is lost somewhere in time.

We pick up today's session right there. With Loki revealed, and standing in Ripley's mum's doorway.

[monochromer0ses]

Okaeri

requested: no

group: loona

pairing: ot12 x thirteenth member; ryuu

genre: fluff, slight angst

contents: idol!au, kind of polycule loona?, crying loona

warnings: crying, mentions of anxiety and broken bones

synopsis: the girls welcome back their girlfriend/member after she's been gone for a few months due to health issues

a/n: the format of this is thanks to sevlgi!! this isn't really polycule Loona but it implied. the main ship I guess would be Ryuu x Chaewon but it isn't the center of the fic. stream Loona's second round performance!!!

Ryuu sighed as she stared out of van's window. Building's were rapidly passing by and so were the people. It was odd how different being in the city was again.

For the most part all of her surroundings were wide open spaces with nothing but trees for miles, as well as a few lonely businesses here and there, for a good six months. Nothing like the crowded spaces, car's everywhere, loud noises every other second, and stores anywhere and everywhere.

Ryuu could already feel the small tightening of her stomach. At this point she thought she was used to the feeling, but the shakiness in her hands told a different story.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Ryuu's head snapped over to the driver; her older sister Ren. The older one had offered to drive her back from the airport knowing Ryuu would only feel uncomfortable around her managers at this time.

"At first I thought maybe it was too soon...But the more I started to miss them, it became harder being so far away from them," Ryuu sighed as she thought about all the times Haseul had messaged her about Yeojin and Hyunjin crying after she had left.

(And the not-so-secret calls from Jungeun at one in the morning when she couldn't sleep without Ryuu cuddling with her.)

"But also...can't get better if I never experience it again right? If I never go back then it'll just get worse," It seemed so simple saying it, so much so that no one would believe that Ryuu had the hardest time of her life saying such words.

"...I guess. Anyways, we're almost there so...prepare yourself. But also know that you can take all the time you want to yourself before okay?" Ren smile and gently ran her hand over Ryuu's shoulder.

"Okay...Thanks Ren-chan," Ryuu smiled gently, leaning her head towards her sisters shoulder.

"Anytime, anywhere in the world little sister," Ren smiled sadly as she tightened her grip around the steering wheel.

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

As Ryuu's foot falls onto the last step she can hear the chaos that goes on inside of the dorm. She can vividly imagine the surprise on each of the girls faces when they see her.

Ryuu hadn't exactly told them that she was coming back. She wanted it to be a nice surprise, but she also felt the slightest bit of pressure whenever she thought of telling them beforehand.

It is quite funny imagining the expressions on their faces as well.

Ryuu takes a second to look back at the van that is waiting for her to head inside. She knows that Ren is only looking out for her, but she feels a little nervous knowing her older sisters eyes are on her.

'I need to do this though. I miss them too much to leave forever.'

With a deep breath and a shaky hand, Ryuu lands a few heavy knocks onto the door that always just sounded like...home.

The loud noises coming from the girls quickly stops, them most likely staring at the door with those same dopey looks Ryuu sees every night when she closes her eyes.

She can hear someone approaching the door and closes her eyes in fear. Fear of what exactly? She doesn't really know. But she guesses that's why all of this has happened.

The door slowly creaks open and timidly Ryuu lifts her head and catches Sooyoung's surprised expression staring up at her.

"Sooyoung-unnie! Who is it?" Ryuu hears Jiwoo's voice and looks over as she runs up to the door.

Ryuu's breath catches as she see's both Sooyoung and Jiwoo after months of not seeing them at all. She suddenly remembers the saddened faces of them the day she left. Remembers how hard Sooyoung tried to keep her tears at bay only to fail when Yeojin broke down in her arms.

Remembers how Jiwoo's sad face and the trembling of her lip made Ryuu want to forget all about the pain that constantly shot through her leg and the nauseous feeling whenever she sensed a camera around her.

But she also remembers the promise she made to all of them at one point or another; to never leave them. To never be the one who would make them cry. She failed both of those all in the same day and she feels herself wanting to curl down into herself and beg for forgiveness. But she knows that isn't what they want. They just want to be with her. Ryuu knows that because that's all she's ever wanted as well.

"Uh, hi?" She smiles shyly and lifts her hand up in an awkward wave. Sooyoung inhales sharply and smiles back just as shy, while Jiwoo smiles almost as bright as the sun.

"RYUU!" Jiwoo rushed forward into Ryuu's arms with tears of joy forming in her eyes.

"Oof! Hey Jiwoo-unnie..." Ryuu hesitantly raised her arms to wrap around Jiwoo's waist.

"Ryuu..." Sooyoung was still looking up at with a small smile and Ryuu now noticed the slight hesitance in her expression.

"Sooyoung-unnie, I'm back. For good," Ryuu gave her the best smile she could muster, but it was sort of hard with Jiwoo sniffling and squeezing the life out of her.

"Oh! Ryuu-unnie!" Before Ryuu could tell what was happening, a small figure was rushing forward and hanging onto her neck, placing kisses all over her cheeks and lips.

"Yeojin-ah! At least let her get inside!" Sooyoung scolded Yeojin as she tried to pull the youngest down off of Ryuu.

"Yeah Yeojin-ah! I can't believe you!" Jiwoo let go Ryuu and quickly turned to point at Yeojin.

"Wha- but you were doing the same thing..." Yeojin pouted and leaned into Ryuu's side.

"Are talking back now!?" Jiwoo furrowed her brows and pouted back at Yeojin, doing her best to look angry but failing horribly.

Ryuu chuckled and pulled them into the dorm, the tight knot in her stomach slowly easing itself out.

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

Haseul nervously glanced towards the hallway, waiting for the person she had wanted to see the most for the past six months. Basically longer considering she hadn't even had time to see Ryuu after she herself got back from her own hiatus.

She was glad that the other girls hadn't noticed what was going on because she knew once they did chaos would it the thousand and they had gotten enough noise complaints for one...month.

Her body tensed as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching from the hallway. Haseul could see that the older members had also noticed what was going on and had their gazes focused towards the direction of the footsteps.

Haseul could feel tears welling up as Ryuu finally stepped into the living room, timidly walking further in so everyone could notice.

Ryuu opened her mouth so as to say something but was interrupted by multiple bodies crashing into her. From what she could tell from the hair; Yerim, Jungeun, and Heejin.

Ryuu smiled widely and wrapped her arms around the three shorter girls.

Kahei and Jinsol were sat down, looking over a practically new Ryuu. Her hair was (much) longer to the point it reached her lower back and a small portion was tied up. She had on a long coat which seemed to make her look even taller. It looked as though she was tanner as well, most likely from being in the country for so long.

Ryuu looked over to the two and smiled, gently waving for them and Hyunjin and Hyeju to come over.

Chaewon inhaled sharply as she marched over after the long hug was over, pulling her arm back with all of her might and landing a hard punch to Ryuu's side.

"Ow! What the hell Chae!?" Ryuu held onto her side and looked down at the girl who, despite the angry look, was desperately trying to fight off the tears.

A strangled sob left Chaewon's throat and Ryuu could feel all the previous happiness in her leave at the sight.

"Chae..." Ryuu walked closer to Chaewon, and when she was sure Chaewon wouldn't hit her again she brought the shorter girl into a tight hug.

Ryuu could feel Chaewon shaking as she whispered apologies over and over again.

"Ryuu..." Ryuu looked up and met Haseul's eyes.

"Welcome home."

[thiswasinevitableid]

3. Sweets for OT4 because Barclay making sweet things for his polycule is the soft that I need! Sfw, with mer Duck and Joseph?

Here it is! Joseph’s design is based on a Spotted Drum, Duck’s on a Mahi-Mahi.

Most days, Barclay’s house resembles a cookbook library. Today, it looks like a cookbook library that got hit by a catastrophic earthquake.

His goal is to find three perfect recipes to bring to the beach with him tonight, but he keeps changing his mind; whenever he settles on a menu, he turns the page or turns around and finds another contender staring at him from its glossy photo.

Indrid is the simplest; he likes sweet food in all his forms, though he’ll make concessions to the rest of the tastes from time to time. It was one such concession (to sour) that first introduced them. Indrid was shooting a fashion spread in town and came into Amnesty Lodge, where Barclay was working the counter at their little coffee bar. 

“I suppose I should get a slice of the key lime pie, since we’re in the keys.”

Barclay cut him a generous slice because he liked the curve of his smile. Indrid sat at the counter, took a bite, took a second bite, and then ate so fast his fork was a silver blur. He licked his plate clean when he thought Barclay wasn’t looking. There was a dot of whipped cream on his nose that Barclay almost offered to kiss off. But he exercised restraint and gave him a napkin instead.

Indrid came back the next day, and the next, and the day after that too. When Barclay asked how long the shoot was, Indrid admitted it was done three days ago.

“I, ah, I’ve been coming down from the city just for your food.”

“That’s the best compliment anyone’s ever given me.” Barclay leans across the counter, smiling when he spots Indrid’s eyes giving him a once over from behind his red-lensed glasses.

“May I have the chance to pay you some more? Perhaps tonight if you’re free? 

He was, and Indrid complimented him before, after, and during the night they spent together. Barclay would have been fine with a one-night stand, let the memory of Indrid’s tan, angular body under his hands carry him for the next few months. But the photographer came back at least three times a week and took Barclay out as much as possible. He learned Indrid was a big enough deal that he could pick and choose assignments and that he traveled often, but the longer they were together, the more he talked about moving his headquarters to Kepler.

Two years later, his office and studio are ten minutes from the apartment he and Barclay share. When he’s in town, he’s glued to Barclays side.When he travels, Barclay gets postcards signed with hearts or filled with sketches of what Indrid’s seen (and he always comes home laden with local delicacies for Barclay to try).

Wait, what were those hard candies he brought back and then ate all of? Yeah, that will work. Barclay checks to be sure he has heavy cream and makes a note to get pineapple from the grocery store. He’d hoped to avoid a trip out, but Indrid is worth it. Indrid is one of the best things to ever happen to him. 

He’s also the reason Barclay has to find three recipes and not just one.

A year ago Indrid was location scouting for a dramatic oceanside shoot. On a remote outcropping, waves splashing around him, a man popped up from the water to ask what the hell he was doing so far out and didn’t he know the tide overtook this rock real quick?

Indrid, a little strange himself, recovered quickly from being scolded  by a merman. And promptly asked if merman would like to pose for a portrait. If not, would he be able to show Indrid some good locations for photographing rays?

Duck, green-finned and strong, became Indrid’s guide to the reef. It didn’t take long before Barclay noticed Indrid getting dreamy-eyed when he recounted their adventures. Maybe he should have been jealous, but he was just happy his boyfriend found a hunky merman to show him the wonders of the sea.

These days, he considers Duck one of his best friends, a friend who also happens to make Indrid’s face light up like the Vegas strip whenever he smiles at him. 

Duck’s palate tends towards the savory side, and on days when he needs a pick-me-up Barclay will bring him a travel bowl of french onion soup and a hard seltzer, the two of them sitting on the sand and comparing notes on troublesome customers (or, in Duck’s case, park guests in the aquatic campground on the far edge of the reef. 

Actually, that gives Barclay an idea. He grabs the flour from the cupboard, sets it next to the jar of yeast and a bottle of wheat beer. They may be metamours and not partners but, as Barclay often jokes, he owes Duck big time. 

See, shortly after meeting Duck, Indrid guided Barclay down to a hidden patch of beach. 

“I want Duck to meet you, dearest. He also has someone he wishes to introduce to us.”

Duck barely had time to emerge before another merman pulled himself onto the beach and began asking questions. 

“See, this is why I asked him to come. Joe’s fascinated by the human world. Even swam under a glass bottom boat tryin to get a look at some tourists. Which was real dangerous.”

“You didn’t seem to mind  disciplining me for it” Joseph shoots a smile at the other mer, then continues his examination of Indrid’s camera.

With black hair, blue eyes, and a stunning white and black tail, Joseph is the most handsome man Barclay’d ever seen. Later, when he had to explain the fact he was attracted to both him and Indrid, he’d say that the difference in his boyfriends was like the difference between being fed by a classically trained French chef and Spanish chef pushing the boundaries of molecular gastronomy; radically different, but equally amazing.

Joseph, inquisitive and clever, began asking to see them whenever he could. Barclay started bringing food down for Joseph to try, played him movies on his phone, and fell harder for him whenever he laughed or smiled or made a bad pun. 

Some nights Duck, Indrid, or both joined them. Other nights it was just the two of them and water, Joseph lazily waving his tail back and forth as they talked. One evening, he dragged it across Barclay’s legs by accident and the human wasn’t quick enough in hiding his reaction.

“Should I do that again?”

“S-sure.” 

“Can I kiss you at the same time?”

“Yes! No, fuck, wait we, we need to talk to Indrid and Duck about this.”

“I suspect they won’t mind, but you’re right. We’ll take a rain check, big guy. And please pass me that cake.”

In addition to his other good qualities, Joseph has the most sophisticated palates of anyone, mer or human, Barclay knows. As in he can taste the notes of blackberry or chocolate that a wine label insists are there but Barclay can only sort of get a hint of. Barclay once bought him a sampler box of expensive wines, cooked oysters over a driftwood fire, and hand fed both to Joseph as he moaned and wiggled with delight, outlining in no uncertain terms what he’d do for Barclay as a thank you.

(He still can’t look at a bottle of white wine without blushing)

That means Barclay has to make something that's as sweet and sophisticated as the mer himself. Ripe peaches tickle his nose. He grabs his copy of Dessert for All Seasons, flipping to summer with a smile. 

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

“Okay, so” Barclay sets the bags down on the picnic blanket, “I, uh, I decided making one sweet thing wasn’t enough. I know that’s kinda silly but you three are so fucking important to me I wanted to do this right.”

“Doubt you’ll get any complaints from mr. sweet tooth.” Duck smirks. Indrid, lounging in linen shorts a moth patterned Hawaiin shirt, sticks his tongue out. The mer just blows him a kiss in response. 

“And there’s no need to apologize for being thoughtful.” Joseph drapes his tail over Ducks, “it’s one of your best traits.”

“Thanks, babe. Uh, so, Indrid, this is for you.” He lifts the pie plate from the ice chest, “it’s pineapple cream with vanilla whipped cream on top.”

“I love you.” Indrid takes the dish with wide-eyed appreciation. 

“Duck, these are for you.”

“Oh hell yeah, pretzels. Wait, is this-”

“French onion soup dip? Yep.”

“I’m gonna eat the hell outta this.”

“And, uh” he slides the cake carrier towards Joseph, “I found a recipe for a peaches and cream Prosecco cake. Hope you like it.” 

Joseph lifts the lid, licks his lips, then pushes the carrier into the center of blanket so he can roll and put his head in Barclay’s lap.

“You’re the best.”

“Indeed. Which is why we have something for you as well.” Indrid stands, stepping over Duck and then eeping when the mer gently whacks his ass with his tail. When he returns (stopping to bend down a pinch the sensitive upper back of said tail), it’s with the cake carrier Barclay looked everywhere for earlier today.

Beneath the pink plastic lid is a cake coated in milk chocolate frosting.

“‘Drid said this was the one you made yourself for your birthday.” 

“Oh fuck, the chocolate malt one?”

“The very same. We had to get a bit creative cooking it; Joseph suggested making the layers  in cast iron over a fire, which worked well. After all, we didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

The frosting message of “happy one year anniversary” gets a little blurry, and he wipes his eyes, “this is so fucking sweet, you guys.”

“You deserve it.” Joseph kisses his hand as Indrid rests his head on his shoulder, Duck scooching over to lay across Indrid’s lap. 

Barclay smiles, “We all do.”

[shadowhunterspolycule]

the first major snowfall in ages finally hit nyc recently and all im imaging is the Polycule attaching snowboards and the such to the back of simons van and them just being happy with snow day activities

oof, this ask is from so many months ago, i'm so sorry. i was very busy. i'm also not sure how great my answer will be because i'm a whole ass brazilian so i have no idea what snow day activies are, but i will try anyway

so, major advantages: meliorn has magic and maia is a werewolf and if i'm not mistaken it's said or implied that werewolves have a higher core body temperature than humans. or maybe i made that up, but it's canon for me

major disadvantages: raphael and simon are vampires, which means that technically they are kind of "cold-blooded" creatures? i mean they would still have other important temperature regulating mechanisms such as mitochrondrial heat production and muscle contraction, but they basically don't have a heartbeat/blood flow/arguably blood at all, which is a major way of regulating core temperature, and canonically their skin feels pretty cold, so like. they probably are more suscetible to temperature changes is what i'm saying (i'm mostly going off this source [link] for this. i'm already overthinking this answer good job me)

plus i am once again saying that raphael is from guadalajara which means that like me he is used to Worm Temperchoores, like, WAY warmer than NYC's, and he grew up without pretty much any kind of snow at all. and sure he's lived in NYC for years so he's SOMEWHAT used to the cold but he still spent his formative years in guadalajara, so like. he fucking hates the cold, is my point

but back to major advantages: meliorn and magic! which means they can do something about it. don't ask me what, but i'm sure they can do Something. i mean i'm sure to some extent the downworld has already figured out a solution to this problem cuz while it might not kill them (since they're immortal) it is very uncomfortable and probably makes them slower, which is a disadvantage to say the least. plus raphael has magnus who knows that raphael is a grumpy ass in the cold. also i think java is similarly hot so magnus Gets It, but idk what the temperatures usually are in jakarta

anyway my point is that magnus probably got some coats/vests/blankets spelled for his boy so they can keep him toasty (since they are otherwise kinda useless for vampires since they rely on trapping body heat and vampires don't have any) and vampires in general probably have access to that kinda stuff, but still, rapha gets grumpy and his face is still cold and everything is just awful and he doesn't understand how gringos do it. his complaints fly for about 2 days before the New Yorker Squad™ (particularly simon and maia, who drag clary and inevitably everyone else is there) decides that they've had enough of this and that raphael will learn how to enjoy the snow

he is like "i am not willingly going into the snow! you don't understand, i'm a vampire, i won't get back my body heat the way you do". simon: "i literally am also a vampire". raphael: "you're just a fledgeling, you wouldn't understand" "i've been a vampire for like, ten years!" "seven" "same thing" "it's so not the-" "i have gone through enough winters to be able to understand, and you, sir, are going to learn to enjoy the snow. have you EVER even made a snow angel?" "no" "well this changes today"

he literally has no excuse because meliorn has this super sweet spell that keeps him from losing heat so like. he doesn't even need a coat (he's still wearing it and preferably also a scarf and gloves because he is, first and foremost, dramatic) so he is forced to have a day off and go play in the snow, woe is him

(he tells the clan that should they need anything they should ring him, but they're like "nah simon has promised us pictures of you in the snow, we can handle ourselves" and it's not like raphael is too busy these days, really)

anyway! they have fun. simon strikes me as the winter lover kind of person altho really i think he enjoys all seasons in their own way, but like... hot chocolate and scarves and snow fights, yes? and while i think maia might prefer warmer temperatures she can double enjoy herself in the snow now that she's a werewolf because she gets less cold and like, damn, tell me that being a wolf and jumping headfirst into a pile of snow wouldn't be fun. you can't, unless you're a bad taste bitch

i also think maia is the building snow forts kind of gal because, idk, she just looks that way. and sure she's excited about kicking everyone's asses during snowball fight but FIRST she needs to have a full fort complete with towers and windows for her to throw snowballs from and shit

rapha is the one that helps her build it the most cuz he likes the motions and besides it is a little less energetic than whatever it is that the rest of these wackos are doing. again izzy didn't get any chances to play in the snow either so naturally clary is dragging her around from snow activity to snow activity and running around everywhere and holy shit they have so much energy. simon is there as well naturally and eventually they make it their goal in life to ruin maia's and rapha's fort, which ends up kickstarting the mandatory snowball fight. even tho maia only has a half complete fort

(eventually when everyone has left maia and rapha will come back and finish the fort. it's the principle of the thing. raphael also wants to build an igloo or some shit and maia rolls her eyes but actually i can see him being into building snow things? it's just soothing and nice and quiet and he can pretend there's Elegance and Finesse to it)

and meliorn is just watching them curiously the whole time because of course they know snow but they dont really know about Snow Activities these funky little non-seelies dedicate themselves too. i feel like the seelies have their own snow activities, maybe like, festivals? dances with the snowfall and games to welcome the change in the environment, that sort of thing. but they are nothing like snow angels ("it doesn't look like an angel in the slightest, just like you kept moving your legs and arms in the snow" "thats what it is" "right, so...?") or snowmen ("also doesn't look like a man" "meliorn we aren't exactly artists") or snow fights (altho that one they can appreciate) and they're really interested in like participating even though they dont understand and everyone has to keep telling them that it's Not That Deep and izzy is so amused she just kisses them one billion times

eventually they start doing it just to get more of those laugh-filled kisses of hers

also at least one of them, probably izzy of rapha or meliorn since they are the snow ignorant ones of the group, is absolutely horrible at making snowmen. probably izzy tbh because shadowhunters dont exactly have a knack for these things. like clary's snowman is all artistic and simon's is fun and creative, maia's is pretty, raphael's and meliorn's look like the Platonic Ideal Of A Snowman, and izzy's looks like A Pile Of Dirt. clary giggles at it for an embarrassing amount of time, which inevitably leads to izzy taking the snow from her snowman to throw snowballs at clary and triggering a new snowfight

and then they have some soup inside and cuddle under a blanket as they fight over what they should watch and all is well with the world

[chaos-burst]

any combination of that polycule you wrote about involving the guest ladies with number 8, 14 or 33? thanks!!

8. Laying a gentle kiss to the back of the other’s hand.

“Stealing is bad, but those people are also bad, so... stealing from them will be... good?”

“They will use those goods to finance their slave trade operation. So taking away from them means...”

“Means... working against their slave trade... and that’s good!”

“Exactly. And we will use those goods to give them to people who need them to survive.”

“Which is also good!”

“Yes! See, you’re getting really good at this.”

Keg doesn’t understand how Calliope can be so fucking patient. Reani is great without question, but damn, those long and winding and repeating discussions about what counts as good and bad make her nerves grind against each other like sand thrown into a well oiled-machine. 

Calianna is listening intently, as if she’s taking mental notes on Calliope’s teachings. Keg, meanwhile, scowls at the dinner she’s trying to make. It’s very hard to concentrate on anything though. 

Keg doesn’t think that Calliope likes her much. She doesn’t spend as much time talking to Keg as she does with Calianna or Reani. Maybe she doesn’t want to be Keg’s moral compass because Keg is a lost cause in her eyes. Maybe she likes happy, flowery, feminine girls. 

Keg gets that. She also likes flowery, feminine girls. Namely the two who have similar morality issues to hers. But then again, Keg likes all sorts of ladies and she doesn’t like to think too much about it, but Calliope is very tall. And soft. But also buff as fuck. And her voice is deep and soothing. And she looks badass in a fight. And. 

Ok, so maybe--maybe. Keg is aroused. Just a little bit. But it’s not like she has feelings. Feelings are for losers. And for people who have too much time on their hands. Obviously. 

Keg stirs the stew a little too forcefully and some carrots and pieces of leek fall into the fire and make a loud hissing noise as they fill the air with the smell of burnt vegetables. 

Reani, Calianna and Calliope all turn to look at her. 

Fuck. 

Fuck this. 

Fuck being surrounded by three very different and yet equally hot and strong and talented and endearing women. 

Having feelings definitely makes you a loser and Keg might be the biggest loser of them all. 

At least Reani and Calianna like her back. In some way. Probably. Reani and Keg sneak away from time to time to have some fun. Calianna has shyly admitted that she “likes you an awful amount, Ms Keg” before hastily stumbling away. 

Calliope usually just looks at her. 

She looks while Keg smokes. And while she cooks. And while she trains. And when she sneaks off with Reani. And when she talks to Cali. And when she fights a whole bunch of gnolls and is all sweaty and bloody and full of mud and--

Keg is not good at reading people and Calliope is even harder to read than other people. 

Curse her tall, muscular body and her long, ridiculously pink hair and her soft, grey fur and her dumb voice that Keg totally wouldn’t want to hear while going down on her to find out if her hair is pink everywhere and--

“It smells very good.”

Keg blinks. 

She looks up from her stew and right into a pair of bright green eyes. Calliope has bent down to smell Keg’s creation and they’re suddenly very much on eye level with each other. 

“Huh?”, Keg says. Like a fucking idiot. She wonders if Calliope likes it if people touch her pink her. As far as Keg knows neither Reani nor Calianna have made out with Calliope. Maybe Calliope doesn’t like making out. 

Keg starts sweating. 

“I said it smells very good”, Calliope says with her deep, soothing voice and straightens up. 

“Uh--thanks.”

“I really appreciate you cooking for us every day. I’m very bad at cooking”, Calliope says and sits down right next to her. 

Keg feels like her brain has frozen. 

“Sure. Yeah, I mean--no problem. Not good at much else, so--”

A long, warm finger is pressed to her lips and Keg drops the ladle into the stew. Fuckshitfuckfuck.

“You’re good at many things. Don’t talk down on yourself”, Calliope says quietly and Keg is pretty sure those green eyes are drilling into her very soul. She is so thoroughly fucked. 

The finger is pulled away and Keg swallows heavily. 

“So, I’ll try that again”, Calliope says with a small smile on her face and she reaches her big hand out, takes Keg’s hand into her own and lifts it up to her mouth before pressing a very soft kiss to the back of Keg’s hand. 

“Thank you for taking such good care of us.”

Keg stares at her for way too long. The skin on the back of her hand tingles. 

“Sure. Yes. I’ll take care of you whenever you want--I mean. The food. No problem.”

Calliope laughs quietly and lets go of Keg’s hand. 

“Hm. Good to know”, she says with a smile on her face. 

Fuck. 

[normal-thoughts-official]

Polycule ask: who gives who flowers? Besides Mel ofc giving their partners really lovely and meaningful ones. I’m mostly saying this bc I adore the idea of Maia’s partners just... showering her in beautiful and lively things. Also because I feel in my heart of hearts that Simon’s train of thought about Raphael is: hm. He’s old fashioned and likes nice things, but I wouldn’t know what to buy him. I want to court him (someone, mb Izzy or Maia: court?? Why are you talking like that)... flowers! :)

POLYCULE ASK! POLYCULE ASK! POLYCULE ASK! god i’ve missed those!! it’s been a while aaaaaaaaa and i lOVE this one im so excited!!! YES!!

ok so first of all yes meliorn like u said always gives them flowers, and they always get meliorn flowers as well because they know this means a lot in seelie culture so it’s always a nice gife/expression of love for her :)

i also have the headcanon that meliorn gets some flowers for taki’s, which idk if counts as Giving Her Partners Flowers, but i think it’s a cute touch that helps her be a part of taki’s considering she’s less in their realm than the others and doesn’t visit as much. also, she gets the most beautiful, sunny, wonderful flowers for them and they always fit the ambiance so well and it’s really nice :) they aso always have faint but good smells that both maia and raphael can appreciate and that won’t get in the way of their sensory issues and that are also allergy-proof because MAGIC okay. like it’s just :’) wonderful

and you are CORRECT, all the flowers for maia!!! i have particularly soft images of izzy getting maia flowers kind of awkwardly because this is not something she’s really done before except for meliorn, which was easier because she knows seelie flower language so all she had to do was put together a meaning and BAM! done. but for maia she has to make a Pretty Arrangement without having a sorta... meaning chart to go by or something, so that feels weirder somehow?? and she’s kind of lost and probably gets to maia’s all sheepish in a way that’s very uncharacteristic of her with roses and shit (she went to alec for help because they are that kind of siblings and alec is a traditional man so roses it was. also she will be teased FOREVER because of that, which is only fair considering how much she got on his ass). the bouquet is probably too big and maia laughs when she sees it but izzy has that huge smile and looks at her with those big imploring eyes of her like “do you like it?” tilting her head you know, and maia smiles and is like “yeah, i like it, you nerd” and izzy absolutely beams at her

but also!!!!!! simon!!!!!!! and i’ll get to simon getting raphael flowers in a second because boy i do love that image but SIMON GETTING MAIA FLOWERS okay. it’s probably a spur of the moment thing like he went past a flower shop and saw something pretty (im picturing yellow flowers just because...... maia in yellow.... the way it would POP on her and she would look so amazing and gorgeous and lively and just PERFECT ugh) and bought it on impulse so now he’s seeing her in their date that was probably like a movie date or something, you know, definitely not customary to bring flowers to those, and maia laughs and is like “what is this? we came here to watch the new star wars” and he’s like “yeah i know but i saw those on the way and just... thought of you” and she smiles and says “that’s pretty cute” and they kiss and it’s SOFT

also picturing he takes it to her at taki’s or something and raphael teases him like “what, none for me?” and he gets all flustered you know like “sorry i just uh i just saw those and i thought of maia, you know, because yellow suits her so well, and i didn’t think that uh, i didn’t stop to look at others for you, but i probably should have-” and raphael laughs like “simon, relax, you can save the flowers for another time” and simon is like “so you do want flowers! okay good!” and maia just giggles as she places her flowers somewhere safe at their anticts. GOD I LOVE SAIAPHAEL SO MUCH IT’S UNREAL

and of course raphael!!! raphael gets them all flowers. he is that guy. absolutely. he likes to Court. personalized bouquet arrangements he puts a lot of thought into, honestly. i mean of course with meliorn there’s flower language for even for maia and simon he just... he likes to pick something that he thinks suits/represents them even if he’s just going by Vibe. he is that guy who gets them flowers and gets behind them and shows them the petals and shit and like

for maia i’m picturing daylilies so he’s just... he gets behind her and she’s already touching the petals delicately kind of in awe because daylilies are pretty and he’s like “see this? they are fiery. vibrant. intense, but delicate. like you” and she smiles and he goes, “but you know what i like the most about daylilies? they attract butterflies.” and he pauses as she turns around to look at him, surprised, and he smiles at her before taking a breath and going, “you see, daylilies, they are beautiful, and they spread that beauty around. they grow together, and they help all the other flowers around them. they build a family. they care for others. just like you do. everywhere you go, you make things better, and maybe you don’t even realize it” because LOOK im a sap and hes a sap and maia has seen herself as lonely most of her life but the way she cares for her pack and everyone she sees who’s struggling is fierce and beautiful and i just!! it really suits her!! and maia is speechless and she ends up kind of nuzzling his neck and giving him a little kiss on the cheek and he’s like “i take it you like it” and she goes “of course i liked it” and aaa

and for simon... i picture sunflowers. idk i just think simon is a sunflower kinda guy. also you know haha daylighter and shit. but really tho it’s an intense attention-calling sort of flower without meaning to, but it’s also beautiful and vibrant and livens up the place, and it also has a delicate, kind of lonely side? like idk you don’t see sunflower bouquets a lot, usually it’s a single sunflower. and the literal Dark Part you know the black part in the centre that’s swallowed up by the vibrant yellow and that people tend to ignore but that’s also there? not in the sense that simon has a Dark Side, but he hides his sorrows and there’s so much more depth to him. i also like to picture he says something like... “you know, the sunflower turns during the day, trying to always keep close to the sun. but i don’t think it realizes that it has so much beauty of its own” and simon is so very pleased and a little speechless and raphael smiles at him and teases him all like “oh, so now you have nothing to say?”

but he gets his revenge when HE gets RAPHAEL flowers cuz no i didn’t forget!! and i know i wrote that paragraph but i like to think that the first time simon got raphael flowers, that had never been mentioned before and it was a complete surprise. that time was afterwards and he was just teasing him (and maybe fishing to get more flowers because look he’s only human). but the FIRST time they weren’t dating but they were.... getting there and simon was like “HOW can i woo raphael” and everyone else is like “stop saying woo for starters” and simon is like “whatever meliorn how did you woo raphael” and meliorn tells him about the whole flower language thing and how he used that to ask raphael out and simon is like FLOWERS! GREAT! and essentially runs off to get raphael some

so next time him and raphael have a not-date simon shows up with this probably massive and very extra bouquet with many many kinds of flowers and raphael’s eyes widen absurdly and he’s like “simon, what is this?” and simon’s all like “flowers! i didn’t know which flowers you liked, so i just got a bunch, i guess.” and he starts rambling about all the kinds of flowers that he got and their names and why he thought they might like it and is all like “but then i thought, maybe he’d be more into something smaller, so i figured i’d also get-” and raphael interrupts him all like “simon. what is this?” and simon stops for a second like he’s almost panicking and raphael softens all like “i like them all. i just want to understand” and he’s softly touching the petals because this is only the second time in his life that someone got him flowers and for meliorn it had slightly different connotations as it was a cultural thing - not that it’s less special or meaningful, just like, different - and he has this little bashful smile and he’s so pleased and simon kind of goes “i wanted to ask you to go out with me” y’know and it’s SWEET okay aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa i can’t BELIEVE i’m saphael trash

in short THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ASK

[deeperforme]

Tips for Going to Hypnocons for People Who Are Almost Exactly Like Me

I have been to 4 NEEHUs, 1 Entranced, 1 Charmed, a Deepmind Darkwood, 3 Fetish Fleamarkets, 2 London Hypnosis workshops, and a number of one-off hypno things in Europe. (I bet my colleagues at work would be surprised to hear this!). Most of them I went to unpartnered, all as a shy introvert.

I'm not good at going to hypnocons. But I'm better than I was. So here are my tips, customized for me and people like me. So not stuff that I hope came naturally to me, like "be polite and don't treat people like objects", and also not stuff that is literally impossible for me, like "don't compare yourself to other people." But maybe you need to be told a whole different set of things. Also, I don't necessarily have great insight into what I'm doing right, or what I'm doing wrong. But I hope these help anyway!

Emotional and physiological chaos is normal. FOMO, envy, social anxiety, jealousy, disappointment, having to see exes, having to see people who creeped on you. If you think everyone else is having a perfect time and you're the only one in distress, you are very wrong. Also, they will lie about it, by omission, in their blog posts afterwards (I do!) so for god's sake don't compare yourself to that. Physiologically, I've caught a cold for so many of these cons, and sleep deprivation, travel stress, sugar crashes and other things will give your body a nonsexy pounding. And folks with disabilities or chronic illnesses have even more to deal with. There's no way to avoid some chaos, so just know that you can make wonderful memories in the midst of chaos! ALL IS NOT LOST. And take it easy on people, eh?

There's a role for the new person. The hypno community is incredibly cliquey. It's a natural consequence of hypno being a very rare kink, and one that requires a huge amount of trust. It takes years to build that trust. So be patient with yourself. If you do any pickup play with new people at all on your first con - and you're not a young woman - you're doing very well. But if you're positive, genuinely interested in people, and obviously eager to learn, people will be extremely kind.

Learning to ask while not being gross is everything. There are many, many great guides to this online, as well as cautionary tales about what not to do, so all I'll say here is look at it all as practice; be as bold as you are respectful; amazing things can happen just by asking in the right place at the right time; and as the great wristbands at Charmed said, "Ask first. Respect the answer."

The greatness of your con is decided long before you hit the registration desk. The upside to my pitiful addiction to hypnotumblr is that I could put faces to tumblr names at the con. "Ah yes! I have enjoyed your pornography! And your curation of animated gif pornography!"  This time was very aware that most people - flying in from everywhere from Vancouver Island to Manchester, England - are beginning and maintaining their relationships online between cons. At the moment the thing is Skype, Dischord and Snapchat groups, in addition to tumblr and fetlife. You don’t actually have to do any of that, but it helps – see, cliquyness, trust. And preparation in general: I half-assed Charmed and NEEHU this year, since I only decided to go to each at the last minute, and as a result they were a little flat (except for the presence of @khatsha at Charmed!) Actually read the schedule, make plans with people you know, check out other people's wishlists and make plans with them, give yourself missions or sidequests.

Think about how to help other people have a great con. It's a great way to take your mind off yourself and how you're doing, and to be visible in the best possible way. If people are bored, have something for them to participate in. If something needs to get done, be the one to do it. I know two people who brought their cars just to ferry people around at two different cons, and made tons of friends, including sexy friends. Teaching or demoing for a class is best of course, but if not, volunteer, bring treats, join in activities. Get involved in every way you can.

Figure out who's sleeping with who. For "sleeping with" substitute hypnotizing, playing with, or living with in a polycule in a creaky old mansion. And also, who used to be sleeping with who, who wants to be sleeping with who, who wishes they were still sleeping with who (don’t go around creepily asking these things of course). Otherwise much public behaviour will be baffling.

Figure out who's assaulted or creeped on who. For the same reason.

Make your interests specific and public. I learned this from @khatsha, who asked for, and got, two incredibly intricate gender-bending interrogation scenes at her second ever hypnocon. She also wants to be hypnotized to be a raccoon, and I have no doubt, some day that will happen. (Maybe I’ll do it on our anniversary) At Entranced Dreamelf carried around an adorable decorated printout of her wishlist, and I believe she checked off every one. And one of those things was copied off my published wishlist, and I got to do it with her! It's paradoxical, but being specific can be much more attractive than just wanting "any type of hypnosis with anyone". As long as you're unattached to any outcome, and sharing your fantasies rather imposing them, only good things can result.

Ask people what classes to go to. Some classes are way better than others, and it connects you with folks at least twice, once when you ask and once when you tell them how great it was.

Take a break before you absolutely have to. No class is unmissable, and recharging is often the most important thing you could be doing.

You don't have to bring it style-wise, but it pays off if you do. A nice thing about hypno cons is that you can totally wear jeans and a t-shirt and it's never a big deal. But ever since I got turned away at a Dublin kink club for not having a dungeon outfit, I've been determined to level up. I've been slowly collecting party clothes that are progress towards my vision of Hypnowave. (the coming overwhelming trendiness of erotic hypnosis, in music, fashion, art and pop culture, that we will ride until it spectacularly burns out and becomes a dated joke even faster than Vaporwave) Not only did I get a lot of compliments at Entranced, but everyone wanted to grope my shiny fuzzy blazer. If you are saying, I can't find or afford party clothes, that blazer was $80 on Amazon. Last argument: I've noticed that on average the women are making more of an effort. If you have ambitions to trance with women who are in pretty corsets and great boots, shouldn't you rise to the occasion?

Reject control, embrace chance and happenstance. Think of it as an improvisation, and say yes as often as you safely can. Many of the best memories will come from totally spontaneous group occurrences, often nothing to do with hypnosis. I remember being on an elevator at Charmed that was very full and someone started groaning sexually about how very full it was, and other people took it up, until we all orgasmed together as the doors opened on the con floor. A real “you had to be there“ moment I see as I type this, but I was there! On the flipside, plans fall through, unforeseen stuff comes up. Nothing is a sure thing.

Listen to emotions like curiousity, enthusiasm, affection, and lust.

Ignore emotions like lust for status, or desire for approval or acceptance.

Take a buffer day or three if you possibly can. See: above point about emotional and physiological chaos. I had to go back to work the day after Entranced, and it was horrible.

Stay in the game. Don't bail. You might find yourself deep in your head, and ready to throw a pity party for yourself lasting till the end of the con. But things can turn around so fast! And even if they don't, there will still be many beautiful little moments, of friendship and humour and sexiness and "this could only happen at a hypno con". You can be ready for these moments if you keep your eyes open and your head up.

PS As I drafted this, two people have beat me to the punch with excellent advice sparked by Entranced 2017, and I highly recommend reading those too! Dommestic and dommesticpet

[somewhere-in-the-dungeon]

Genre

In regards to this post, I got some questions ( @proudly-arrogant, @dataandphilosophy) about what I’d read that fit them and what recommendations I had. Since the fact that something is in these genres is itself a spoiler, be aware that the following list should be read with caution. I’m going to write one list that has stories which fit at least one of the genres, and then under a cut I’m going to specify which genre they fit if you’re only interested in some of them and are willing to get spoiled a little.

Mainstays

Worm, by Wildbow.

Twig, by Wildbow

The Gods are Bastards, by D. D. Web.

Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne, by Brian Stavely.

The Reckoners, by Brandon Sanderson.

Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson.

Prince of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence.

Lightbringer, by Brent Weeks.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams.

Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card

Ra, by Sam Hughes

The Starlight Crystal, by Christopher Pike

The Girl Who Poked God With a Stick, by Scott Alexander

The Shannara books, by Terry Brooks

Professor Incognito Apologizes, by Austin Grossman

Honourable Mentions:

Artemis Fowl, be Eion Colfer

The Dark Tower, by Stephen King

Unsong, by Scott Alexander.

The Metropolitan Man, by Alexander Wales  

Animorphs, by K.A. Applegate

The Lies of Locke Lemora, by Scott Lynch

Gunner’s Apprentice, by Brent Weeks

Dragonlance: Legends, by Weis and Hickman

Breakers, by Edward Robertson

The Craft Sequence, by Max Gladstone

The Mayflower Project, by K. A. Applegate.

Homecoming, by Orson Scott Card

Hard spoilers beyond here.

Worm is dead centre for 1, and 3. Scion is an omniscient, omnipotent being who could reasonably be said to have ‘created’ all of the capes, and they kick his ass, and you would not have guessed that “all out war against an elder god” was where that story was going. the interludes occasionally give me 2 though not as often as I’d like, and Assault and Battery are appreciated as a nod towards 4.

Twig is a solid 2 and is great for 4 shipping. Sylvester Lamsbridge is a serious contender for the character I felt the most kinship with in any story I’ve read. It gets a nod for 1 on the grounds they Sy does slit the throat of his creator. (Ask me some about Sy/Mauer if you want to hear me laugh my ass off. Ask me about that chapter if you want an unstable gush of feelings.)

The Gods are Bastards had 1 happen in the background, and I’m kinda hoping that the main student group (Triss, Gabe, Teal, etc) winds up ascending to become new gods. I just got to the part where this is all a science experiment and the elder gods had ceremonial guards with lightsabers just for the hell of it. A+, good genre sneakyness. The sexist thief dude makes an appreciated stab at 2, and I gotta be honest I’m shipping Triss and Gabe so far. (Actually I want the whole class to devolve into a hot poly mess (possibly with Teal, Shaeine, and Vadge off in a disconnected polycule) but I’ll take Triss and Gabe if I can’t get that.)

Unhewn Throne is grand fantasy with incarnated gods walking the earth, a great founding myth of immortal emotionless beings who play with the lives of men like toys, and do not misunderstand me when I say I loved the ending of Skullsworn. Really though, this makes the list on the strength of 4. Huutsuu and Valyn are my fucking ship. The fact that I find them as hot as I do should probably put me on some kind of watchlist tbh.

The Reckoners and Mistborn constitute a pattern, frankly. Sanderson just loves to do 1, so I forgive him for his tragic inability to write 2. However, if you take the time to read the first three Mistborn books and then read Ars Arcanum, you get to see the rule of three employed around a conman punching god in the face. I heartily approve. Plus, we get a heist novel shift into deicide, and then get to see it shift into a western. Word of the Author says we might get a space version someday.

Prince of Thorns is some high quality 2, a bastard son carving a bloody path through his father’s kingdom in his quest to take power. Plus, band of mercenary swordsmen find what are pretty clearly nuclear warheads, so that’s awesome. (Upon seeing the destruction one causes, and finding out of the horrors of fallout that have been imposed on the surrounding territory, our hero goes “I know where to get more of those if anyone questions me again.”)

Lightbringer so far is looking like it might be a home run on 1 and 2. It’s a fantasy story that opens with two viewpoint characters- the emperor/archmage/pope, and the fat bastard son of a whore in a shitty little town. The Guile family are truly an inspiration to power hungry assholes everywhere, and I honestly want to give it some points towards 3 just for the number of fakeouts and misdirections involved in their twisted family tree. The emperor and his bodyguard make an okay 4.

HP:MoR gets mentioned here mostly for Professor Q.  being such a wonderful 2. It dances on the line of 3 a bit, but this will always have a place in my heart for the joys of a character who tried out being a hero, found it not to his liking, and went to do something else.

Dirk Gently is a delightful example of 3. It’s the best sci-fi fantasy comedy mystery novel built around a poem I’ve ever read?

Ender’s Game gives us Peter Wiggin, aka my childhood role model. It also gives us Petra Arkanian, my first fictional crush. ‘Nuff said.

Ra offers an explanation of magic that is as structured and ordered as electrical engineering, then starts hinting at deeper, less orderly magic, then goes full out “anything can happen” and then starts swerving hard. “Ra” of course is the name of a sun god, and when that penny drops it’s a pretty good moment. I would also like to point out that the main character scoops her boyfriend’s soul out of his body and sends it to hell in order to test a hypothesis.

The Starlight Crystal is like what happens if you cross All You Zombies and Unsong. As is The Girl Who Poked God With a Stick actually. Um. Huh. These are both great stories and someone should write it again actually, I’d read as many copies of this formula as people can churn out. 

I remember the Big Secret of a lot of pulp fantasy I read as a kid was “secretly, you were on post-apocalypse earth the whole time!” but the only example I think I remember the title of was the Shannara books.

Professor Incognito Apologizes brings a smile to my face. If any woman ever pulls off that, I’m probably going to propose to her on the spot. (The ring will, of course, be coated in contact poison.)

Artemis Fowl (the first book) is a good 2. Shame he turns into a good guy. 

The Dark Tower weaves fantasy, horror, and sci-fi together nicely. 

I probably should have seen the ending of Unsong coming, but I did not. 

The Metropolitan Man is a great example of forethought being put into how to kill the unkillable. 

The Animorphs fanfic I truly want is the one where the animorphs murder Crayak. The Ellimist Chronicles remains my second favourite Animorphs book. (My favourite is The illusion. Third would be The Attack.) 

Lies of Locke Lemora involves a heist novel turning into a vendetta, and also has the murder of a reality warping magi by a pair of angry guys with knives. Republic of Thieves is a worse heist novel, but I still ship Locke and Sabetha.

Gunner’s Apprentice is Weeks being an asshole, and I will not spoil his grand design :) Read it after you finish book 3 I think.

Dragonlance is, to me, the story of one man trying to become a god by eliminating a previous member of the pantheon. People who have played Tabletop RPGs with me are probably rolling their eyes right now.

Breakers gets props from me for misdirection. I kinda thought we were going to be doing a zombie novel, but no, it’s aliens. Gets a mild nod towards 1 for taking out a flying saucer with a hot air balloon.

The Craft Sequence opens with the tagline “God is dead. Bring in the necromancers and the estate lawyers.” Good stuff.

The Mayflower Project is full of terrible people.

Homecoming has people praying to what turns out to be a satellite. I can dig it.