#they are SO scared that everything on st is intentional

[chirpsythismorning]

Redditors are still in denial about the duffers 'forgetting' Will's birthday

[just-a-ghost00]

The skeletons hiding in their closet

Images from Pinterest. Each group consists of a total of 6 cards. Deck used : Tarot of the Velvet Moon.

Group 1 | page of wands, queen of cups, queen of swords, 8 of pentacles, Queen of pentacles, Judgement

This person used to be a player. They entertained a lot of relationships with no strings attached, especially work connections. This person enjoyed mixing business with pleasure. I'm picking up on someone having the habit of doing their work meetings in a bar or a club, having a couple drinks with their coworkers and flirting in the process. However, meeting you, this person realized that their behavior would be a problem eventually if they wanted your connection to grow and be fruitful. So this person is doing their very best to clean their past and bury it six feet deep. They're scared of karma coming to bite them in the ass. They did everything to clean their life and present to you the best version of themselves that they could : if this person used to drink a lot, they did everything in their power to get sober. If they used to get down with many people, they cut ties with them and made sure that these people would keep silent about their shady past. They likely bribed these people. That or they blocked them in every way they could so that they wouldn't be able to get to you and tell you about these skeletons. If they were in a connection before you met, even if it was just a situationship, they cleaned the slate by releasing this person. I'm picking up on someone using a lot of their energy to hide their tracks. They do not rest well knowing at any moment you could find out. Too bad for them, I spilled the tea. The only thing that can save this person and work in their favor is that their intentions are sincere and authentic. They did all of this because they knew you deserved better than that and they wanted to prove you that they could be serious and reliable. That they had more to give than just bread crumbs and empty promises. Your arrival in this person's life has changed the course of the game. I can't help but to laugh. Because I'm picking up on the expression "CHECKMATE". This person is surrendering to you and is less in control than they think.

Group 2 | Knight of cups, 10 of wands, the Chariot, knight of wands, ace of wands, Death, High priestess

This person tends to get scared when things get serious. They have good intentions, care deeply about people and wish to move forward but when they feel like things are getting too intimate they tend to self sabotage. In the past, this person was in love with someone else. The connection felt like a burden to them, yet they kept moving forward hoping that things would be better. Except that it didn't. The relationship was hidden. Either they or the other person was too ashamed of making it official. This relationship ended badly which lead to them being heartbroken. This is a part of their past that they would like to keep hidden because they're not proud about it. They feel like they've wronged someone badly and they can't forgive themselves for that. This is someone that can be very passionate and get attached to people very easily but if things get tough they have a hard time finding a way to release the tensions in the couple. This person is also very scared to get hurt. They don't want people to know that because it makes them vulnerable. They're also afraid of being a burden to other people. They also want to hide the fact that they can get pretty kinky because they used to be teased about it. They lack confidence and think that they can't be attractive to others. This is also someone that used to struggle with drepression. They're afraid that their darkness will rub on other people.

Group 3 | 2 of wands, 3 of swords, 7 of pentacles, king of swords, 7 of swords, 6 of swords, 2 of pentacles

For this group I am getting different scenarios so bear with me. Scenario A : this person left their family and friends for work or studies but the truth was that they wanted to run away from their home and cut ties with them. Their job/studies was the perfect opportunity to do that and the only way they could find to distance themselves from an authoritarian figure, like a dad or a grand father. Every day, they are struggling and when their family reaches out, they pretend that everything is okay. They may say things like "I want to go home but I can't because this thing still isn't working as I want, I would like to have more time". In reality they might not be as invested in their job as they say. They may purposefully bite their time. Scenario B : we're talking about a person that is already in a relationship. Things may not have been going well with their partner so they decided to momentarily break up and/or this person used their work as an excuse to get away from their partner. Which lead them to meeting you. This person is playing a double game. While they are getting to know you, trying to work on your connection and move on from their past, their "ex" partner is trying to come back into their life and make amends. Whatever the situation may be, this person is trying their best to keep this truth away from you because they know it could ruin your connection. Or at least, if we consider option A, they know it would completely change the image you have of them. In the case of option B, I'm not sure they are completely over their past partner. So they may be in a limbo state right now. Actually, in both cases, they're in a limbo state because they're torn between their past obligations and the present moment with you. Like maybe they swore their family they would come back home after a certain amount of time but every time they're pushing the deadline. Or maybe they swore their past partner that they would come back when they were ready and now their promises are coming back at them.

[cosmousee]

What Is Lunar Eclipse Bringing In For You!!🌜🌟

Hello everybody!!!

I'm back with another pick a pile🥰

I know I'm literally posting it on the DAY of the eclipse, but I got to writing it yesterday only, and with the last pile my laptop literally fell apart.

I completed writing it in class, because...who listens to lectures anyway🤪

ANYWHO! Enough chit chat!

Choose whatever pile resonates with you, whatever does not, remember to just pass it on🥰

Pile 1>>2>>3

Enjoy! (Posting it from phone, apologies if the formatting is bad😭)

Pile 1

Hey there loves! I hope lunar eclipse has treated you well!

For you I saw more of a building your own self sort of a thing. I saw an animation of you know sort of a stick figure thingy, and it was entirely made up of small paper bits, and you were rebuilding yourself again and again by replacing those bits with other bits. I think you guys are constantly figuring out which self is your most authentic self and the one where you are happiest being yourself. Ofcourse, this doesn’t come easy, which is why you are in a constant process.

For your oracle cards, we have

St. John’s Wort and Marigold: Against your will, there will not be; no entrance, no welcoming. Be Gone.

Witch’s Rosary: Craft your skills with intentions repeated, a practice of magick powered by purpose.

I’ll add your tarot cards here only, because I think they make more sense if I read them all together.

Your tarot cards are,

4 of Cups, 3 of Wands, The Fool and The Empress

For all of you, I believe you guys are free to choose, free to welcome whatever you want this lunar eclipse. It is your own decision, whatever path you want to choose, whether it may be your love life, your career, you focusing on your own self, focusing on forming a community for yourself.

I mean the list feels endless. Lunar eclipse is a fated time for things, and for you I feel like whatever you want this time, you’ll get it. Like it is up to you to focus on whatever and receive what you are focusing on. I have also heard that you shouldn’t manifest during lunar eclipse, or eclipses in general, but honestly, if you are feeling called to do so, you should listen to that calling.

The oracle cards are also saying that it you who is going to decide, nothing will happen if you don’t want that to happen. Everything is your will. And when you want something, be really really intentional and determined about it. Affirm about the things, sit and visualize those things, journal about them. Like keep that thing in your prayers and your thoughts sort of a thing.

Sit and reflect on what you think is the thing you need and want right now. Be determined but also be open about it like The Fool, open to the possibilities of it happening, especially if it feels like its something impossible. Be really fkn assured that whatever youre choosing to want is for your greatest good and you cannot, and will not fuck it up. Its such a fun energy to be in, because I am honestly extremely scared of eclipses, and I just spend the whole season crying my eyes out. I hope y’all are feeling well, because it seems to me that lunar eclipse isn’t forcing you to focus on one thing and deal with it. It letting you take the wheel and nudging you to take the steps this time, and the eclipse will help you achieve that thing and get that thing.

You might be confused as well, you know, that usually eclipses have a greater impact, but nothing is happening right now kinda thing. If you have something in mind that you wanna focus on, you can also ask for a hint, or even take this reading as a confirmation!

Okay! This is all I have for you today! Thanks for reading <3

Pile 2

Hey there loves! I hope lunar eclipse has treated you well!

For you, I saw a very barn type place, or like a farm-y place. It was very bright, sunny (not the kind where you’re all sweaty ugh), and there was a rainbow! I saw you being very very jolly, like literally sprinting and jumping with excitement and all the people you love, your friends and family were cheering you on from a distance.

Now, for your oracle cards, we have,

Harvest Witch: What sacrifices have you made for the greater vision of what is to be?

Adding your tarot cards here itself, because they give a better picture together,

The High Priestess, 10 of Pentacles, The World, 10 of Cups, 3 of Pentacles and The King of Pentacles

Now, the oracle card is talking about the chances you have taken to get out of your comfort zone, to get out of the habits of the current you, or the old you, in order to reach new heights. How much have you consciously put in the effort to grow and reach the highest of the heights you are supposed to achieve in this lifetime.

That’s the thing I saw when you were in that barn, that is such a happy version of you, and with the excitement that I saw, it really felt like either you were dreaming about it for a long time, or you just thought that this life was never possible for you.

Even with the tarot cards, they are telling you to follow your intuition, listen to it very closely. I think with the eclipse its calls would be getting louder by the minute, especially if you are missing the signs or outright ignoring the signs.

You are on a path to great success, you are yet to see the World and everything else that it offers, everything that you didn’t think it will offer.

I’m sure many of you might be content with where you are right now as well. But with this opportunity, you will feel content like never before. You know if you’ve got rose gold glasses on right now, pursuing this new path will give you ultra 4k HD rose gold glasses. There is a fulfilment you haven’t felt before, and it’s gonna come like fresh air to you, like you’ve breathed for the first time, like your lungs have felt the cleanest of the air in a long while.

Spirit might be showing you a collaboration or a partnership which is your ticket for this new world. You might be sitting frustrated about everything, and this opportunity will just drop in. Listen to your intuition, if its telling you to go for it, you better go for it. Don’t double guess it, listen to yourself and let your intuition get a breather because I think it’s been trying to get your attention for a while now!

Also, I think you might have to travel for this, like actually go some place far, which is why I saw your friends and family at a distance. But don’t worry, they are very happy for you and they are cheering you on, and obviously, you can always come back home for them!!

So get out there and you better enjoy the heck out of life!

Okay! This is all I have for you today! Thanks for reading <3

Pile 3

Hey there loves! I hope lunar eclipse has treated you well!

I saw you making snow angels!! Very happy, healing your inner child sort of a thing (I’ve never made a snow angel and I really really wanna). It also makes me think of leaving an impression, or a lasting imprint. Like you say something to someone and it really sticks with them, or you’ve done something that people always remember, even years down the line, they are like “Oh you remember [Name] did this amazing thing that time?” and you are fondly remembered.

It can be a really small act of kindness also that people remember, or you’ve helped someone and that memory is you know forever in their hearts kind of a thing.

Okay, so for your oracle cards we have,

Falling Leaves: Let go of the things that weigh heavily on you; you deserve to take up space.

Crow: Pay close attention to the winds; there’s a message making its way.

The first card again tells you to take up space, which is what you do essentially when you are making snow angels! (11:11 pm make a wish~) You take up space, you do your thing, and that is where you create your mark, your identity. It shows that you were there, you existed, you took up your space, you’ve marked it as your own.

I also think, because of the snow, that the winter season might be important for you.

Also, with the crow card, you might get an idea, an epiphany sort of a thing from someone else. You know when you are walking and you hear someone else say something and it just clicks for you, that yes! That message was definitely for me. You know literally wind coming up to you with a message, because..sound…carries through air.

Oh and crows are also related to ancestors, so it might be that they are contacting you, or telling you something important. Maybe they have some ideas for you to create an impact on this world.

Now for your tarot cards,

Death, 9 of Cups, Ace of Swords, 3 of Pentacles, King of Pentacles and 8 of Pentacles

With all of this pentacle energy, I feel like whatever the eclipse is bringing you right now, its gonna be long term, or its gonna unfold over a long period of time.

There's something you have to let go of, or remove from your life in order to have greater emotional fulfillment. In reference to the snow angel as well, you're healing your inner child by taking up space in the snow, so it's sort of like you have to let go of that part of yourself which inhibits you from pursuing those things, you know that part of you which thinks “no ew its cringey” because you feel like you'll he judged, but in reality if you go and do that thing, it's gonna literally feel like you're enjoying it from deep within your soul.

The Ace of Swords also tells you that you are going to get a new idea, some sort of epiphany, which can help you in your career and generate alot of wealth for you as well.

You may come up with this idea on your own, and then partner up with someone (King of Pentacles) who already has some expertise in the area, or they have the resources to take your idea to the next level. At this time you might be getting constant downloads of ideas, or you'll be getting opportunities or signs about collaborations or partnerships.

Grab these opportunities with full force, you're gonna have a lot of fun!!!

Okay! This is all I have for you today! Thanks for reading <3

[cavegirlpoems]

So we all hate DnD, but I am kinda curious what are the actually bad ttrpgs?

I know that 3,5e and pf got bloated even more than 5e did, FATAL is a meme, but what else?

I think Chronicles of Darkness tell you the system's gonna be a sleek, streamlined narrative system and then immediately bukakke's pointless fiddly complexity all over everything, to an extent that I never see most STs actually use half the subsystems (does anybody actually like the Doors mechanic?) but also you can utterly break the game if you combine the right merits and powers in a way that I really hope isn't intentional. WoD games all have slightly clunky, lame mechanics but at least in OWoD the mechanics take an extremely simulationist approach of simply modeling the fiction, balance be damned; CoD throws out the simulationism in favour of abstraction and narrativism, but perversely only makes the mechanics more complex, and deploys more weird dice tricks so eyeballing probabilities gets much harder. Everything is fiddly, everything has specific exceptions, and everything good is gated behind weird prerequisites and builds as if the devs thought they were making pathfinder. If you're some sort of weirdo who actually prefers the CoD settings, run them using OWoD mechanics for the love of god.

Shadowrun 6e's character generation is so complex that people have created third party apps that are basically mandatory in order to wrangle it into shape. It's notoriously complex in play with basically every action requiring multiple steps of calculation, to the extent that 'you need to do calculus if you set off a grenade next to a wall' is a meme; when I played we simply never used grenades because we were all to scared of trying to make sense of the mechanics. However, in play a slightly minmaxed mage can make every other party member obsolete by simply summoning an extremely powerful spirit to solve every task. I hated every minute of it.

Pokemon Tabletop Adventures uses d20-based mechanics for trainers, where you roll a d20 vs armour class to hit, and then roll some damage. It also recreates the mechanics of the pokemon video games largely verbatim. Its expected that trainers and pokemon can and will interact despite using totally different systems, and trainers can even learn pokemon moves. Some classes are good at things like 'capturing and training pokemons' while others are good at 'fighting pokemons themselves with martial arts' or 'winning contests' or 'being a film noir detective', but you only get XP or mechanical support for the first ones. Some classes get abilities like 'perfect mind-control, no save' while others get abilities like 'you're better at growing berries'. You are expected to calculate the stats of every pokemon individually, from scratch, for every encounter. Encounters typically feature 5-10 wild pokemons often of multiple species and levels, alongside 3-5 player characters and up to six pokemons per PC. Its a fractal spreadsheet nightmare. Unlike shadowrun, the app to make this insanity playable doesn't exist. Good god. Send help.

On the other end of the spectrum from stupid fiddly crunch, Ten Candles is responsible for the single most miserable ttrpg experience of my life. It claims to be a narrative game which gives players the ability to define the fiction as they go, but fails at this because the GM has secret knowledge that other players aren't privy to, meaning that it invites players to be creatively vulnerable when they have narrative authority, with a chance that they might get their contributions unilaterally overruled due to information they had no way of knowing. Since the game ends with everybody dying automatically, the game inherently leans on the GM to railroad in what's meant to be a colaberative narrative experience. And finally, on a purely practical level, the clever conciet of playing by candlelight and extinguishing candles as the game progresses means that by half-way in you can't read your fucking character sheets or dice, which is less spooky and more irritating. God I hate ten candles.

[moonsandmobilityaids]

The Flu Part 4

Pairings: Poly!marauders x disabled!reader Summary: You get the flu. But for someone with your immune system, the flu is never just the flu. Warnings: Flu Series Masterlist | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

You feel the cool, crisp air of the castle as you return from St. Mungo's, and it's a stark contrast to the warm, sterile environment of the hospital.

You'd spent a few days in isolation as you recovered from the flu, but despite being out of it, your body was still weak and tired from the lingering effects of the illness, and the strain it had put on your body. And even though you were now back at Hogwarts, you weren't yet ready to go back to classes.

“I want you here for a couple more days," Madam Pomfrey insists. "Just to make sure you're well enough to return."

It was frustrating; you were so close to the Gryffindor common room, yet you were still stuck under the watchful eyes of Madam Pomfrey. You roll your eyes, but ultimately nod; there would be no arguing with her, and she was technically right - your body was still weak, and you knew that your immune system would take longer to recover than most people, and that could mean another infection or worse if you went back too soon.

James, Sirius, and Remus are waiting for you when you arrive, and as soon as you're settled into bed once again, they come over. They'd been worried about you, and while they tried not to show it too much, you can see the relief in their eyes when they spot you sitting up in bed.

James is the first one to reach you, dropping down into the chair beside your bed and immediately taking your hand. His grip is almost tight enough to hurt, his hazel eyes showing just how scared he's really been.

Sirius and Remus aren't far behind James; Sirius leans against the foot of the bed, crossing his arms in an attempt to look relaxed, while Remus hangs back slightly. He gives you some space, but doesn't look away, watching you intently, the same worry etched into his face.

"I'm okay," you promise, your voice hoarse from not speaking for so long.

They don't pressure you with questions right away or fuss over you too much - they know better than to overwhelm you when you've just woken up. And yet, there's a tension in the air that suggests that while they're relieved you're awake and doing better, they aren't happy about what had happened.

"You missed out on everything," Sirius tells you after a moment of silence. "I mean, I thought I was going to fail Transfiguration without you, but then Evans gave me her notes, and she really doesn't like me, so I think we can all agree that you need to hurry up and get better."

You laugh softly, shaking your head at him. He was obviously trying to keep things light, and you were grateful for it - as much as you knew how serious this situation could have been, you couldn't handle the weight of it right now.

"Didn't realise my life would be so boring if you weren't around," James says, looking up at you. His hand is still holding onto yours, his thumb drawing patterns across your skin. "And I don't want to even think about what the common room will look like. You haven't been there to clean up our messes, after all."

"I didn't think I was that important," you admit, smiling slightly.

"You are to us," Remus points out, and you glance up at him. He seems to be studying your face, taking in every detail, as if he's searching for something.

There's a pause before he speaks again, clearly picking his words carefully. "How do you feel?"

He looks at you curiously, as if he knows that you might lie to avoid them worrying, and you hesitate for a moment, unsure of whether or not you should lie. But you'd promised yourself that you wouldn't hide anything anymore, so, despite the fact that you knew they were going to worry more because of it, you tell the truth.

"Tired," you confess. "Weak. Not ill, though."

It wasn't surprising that you felt weak; aside from being seriously ill, you hadn't eaten properly in days. Madam Pomfrey would likely force some soup down your throat later to help you regain your strength, but until then, you'd probably continue to feel fragile and shaky, as if you were made of glass.

A sigh of relief passes through them, one that only you seem to see, and their bodies relax ever so slightly. They don't completely relax, however - you're not better yet, so why would they?

****

The boys stick close to you over the next few days, visiting between classes and bringing you news of what was happening in the outside world.

James manages to sneak some food out of the Great Hall for you, insisting that you eat something because even though your appetite had returned, it hadn't increased much.

"And this is why Y/N leaves us," Sirius says with a roll of his eyes, sitting down on the end of the bed. "You're being too fussy."

You shake your head at him, taking a bite of the apple James has held up to your mouth. He's clearly trying to get you to eat more by feeding you himself - and unfortunately, it seems to be working.

"I'm just looking after her," James retorts as he pulls away slightly, but not enough so that you can take the apple from him. "It's my job as her boyfriend."

Sirius shakes his head, scoffing softly under his breath, but doesn't respond, instead choosing to tell an exaggerated story about how Lily has been reigning hell on people while you were gone, making you giggle despite yourself.

Remus hangs back, saying very little unless spoken to directly. He hovers around, keeping a careful eye on you, watching every move you make to ensure you don't push yourself too hard. You'd noticed him doing it during their first visit, and while you found it annoying, you knew he was only doing it because he cared about you. And besides, Madam Pomfrey was hovering close-by, checking your vitals once every hour or two, and she wasn't shy when it came to telling them off if they got too boisterous.

You're relieved when Madam Pomfrey allows them to stay until curfew, completely ignoring her own rule for once, despite being hesitant on whether she should let them visit you again so soon. She's reluctant to allow them to do anything except sit there and talk with you, but they don't seem to mind too much, happy to just be near you after not knowing what would happen to you for almost a week.

James is ecstatic when he hears this, going straight for your hand which is under the covers and giving it a gentle squeeze. You can't return the gesture yet, still feeling weak and fragile, like you'd break if someone touched you wrong, but he doesn't seem to mind. He brings your knuckles up to his lips and presses a soft kiss against them, keeping his eyes on yours the entire time.

"I love you," he says quietly, smiling slightly but mostly looking serious. "And I'm glad you're okay."

The words feel heavy on your tongue, but you try anyway, managing to mumble, "love you too."

He smiles properly then, pressing another quick kiss to your hand before lowering it onto your stomach again, careful to keep it covered with the blankets so you wouldn't get cold.

****

You spend a few more days in the hospital wing, slowly but surely building your strength back up so that you could return to normal classes. It was boring and annoying and you couldn't wait to get out of there, no matter how much Madam Pomfrey insisted that you needed a lot of rest to recover.

Finally, after what felt like the longest week of your life, she agreed to discharge you from her care, but only on one condition: You had to take it easy for at least another week, not overexerting yourself or getting too tired, and report any signs of a relapse immediately - she'd given you a long list of what these could be, making sure you were aware of them all before letting you leave.

James, Sirius and Remus are already there when Madam Pomfrey makes the announcement, helping you pack up the small amount of belongings you'd accumulated while staying there. James is careful to keep an eye on you as he does this, though, clearly worried about you even if you weren't going far.

Remus takes charge of pushing your wheelchair, guiding you through the familiar halls of Hogwarts on the short but very slow journey back to Gryffindor Tower. The chair moved slower than you walked normally, which wasn't very fast as it was, but neither of you mind too much, taking your time because you don't have anywhere else to be right now.

The boys' presence is comforting, providing some silent support as you transitioned back into your regular surroundings, and you can't help but feel grateful for them.

The common room is warm and familiar, the fire crackling in its place on the other side of the room. The few people who are sitting there turn to look at you when you enter, but none of them say anything, instead just giving you a small smile before turning back to their conversations or work.

You’ve never been so relieved to see a room; it felt like coming home after being away for weeks, even though it hadn't quite been that long yet, despite how it felt.

"Welcome back," Remus murmurs as he pushes you towards your accessible bedroom, through the door which James had already opened. "We're glad you're okay."

You nod slightly, unable to speak without feeling choked up. James and Sirius help you into bed once Remus moves out of the way, moving slowly so that you can take your time. Sirius is careful, more than usual, making sure you're laying down comfortably before pulling the blankets up over you properly, tucking you in as if you were a child.

"Thanks, Siri," you say quietly, and he smiles sadly at you, pressing a quick kiss to your forehead before standing up again.

"Who gets the first hug?" Sirius asks, his grey eyes sparkling with mischief as he glances between James and Remus. There's a challenge in his voice, an invitation to contest this claim.

"I believe I should," James replies without missing a beat, his brow furrowing in thought. He steps forward, coming to a stop at the foot of your bed, and sits down near your feet. "I've been the most worried, after all."

"Says who?" Sirius scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the doorframe, every inch the picture of casual defiance.

Remus chuckles, shaking his head as if amused by their antics. Without a word, he lowers himself onto the edge of the bed, claiming the space beside you. His arm drapes gently across your waist, drawing you toward him until your sides are pressed together. You have another side, after all.

"Alright, enough," Remus murmurs, though there's a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "We're not here to argue about who gets to cuddle her."

There's a pause as they all look at one another, then back at you. You can see the concern etched in their faces, especially James's. He's always been the most protective out of the three, and now that he has an excuse to be even more so, he seems ready to use it.

"Yeah, let's figure this out," Sirius agrees after a moment. His voice is calmer than before, and when he sits down on your other side, he's careful not to jostle you too much.

They spend the next few minutes discussing what needs to be done for you. James insists that he'll help you catch up with your schoolwork once you feel better, promising to make sure you don't fall behind. Sirius counters by saying he'll carry your books to every class, wanting to lessen any physical strain on you.

"And I'll make sure she takes breaks when needed," Remus adds quietly from beside you. "Rest is important."

The words hang in the air between them, each sentence carefully constructed to show just how much they care about you.

****

As the days pass, they prove true to their word. Each of them becomes more protective over you, watching your every move like hawks, but never in a way that feels suffocating. Instead, it's comforting, knowing that they're there, ready to lend a hand or offer support whenever you need it.

You notice it in the little things—the way James's eyes flicker to you during meals, checking if you're eating enough; the subtle tightening of Sirius's jaw when someone jostles you in the hallway, ready to step in at a moment's notice; the quiet concern etched onto Remus's face as he watches you pour over your textbooks late into the night. You've never seen them quite so protective before, their usual playful banter tinged with an undercurrent of watchfulness that wasn't there before.

"Need anything else, sweetheart?" James asks for what must be the tenth time this evening. He leans against the doorway of your bedroom, arms crossed and brow slightly furrowed—a testament to his lingering worry.

"James, really, I'm fine," you assure him, trying not to let your smile waver even though you can feel the fatigue pulling at your bones. "You don’t need to check on me every half hour."

But despite your words, James doesn't seem entirely convinced. There's a tension in his shoulders that wasn't there before, one that only eases marginally when Sirius strides in, carrying a tray laden with sandwiches and pumpkin juice.

"I thought you could use a break," Sirius says, setting the tray down beside you. His grey eyes meet yours, reflecting a warmth that belies the casual shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, Prongs was driving me mad with his hovering."

A soft laugh escapes you, followed by a grateful nod towards Sirius. But as you reach for a sandwich, your hand trembles ever so slightly—a reminder of the strength you're yet to regain. It's a small thing, barely noticeable unless you're looking for it. And they are—always watching, always ready.

Remus catches it first, his gaze sharpening as he moves closer to you. "That's enough studying for tonight, Y/N," he declares softly, closing your textbook with a gentle push. "We promised Madam Pomfrey we'd make sure you rest."

His touch is light, almost hesitant, but it carries an unspoken promise—one that echoes through the silent room and settles in your heart. A vow made between friends, binding them together in the aftermath of a scare none of them had anticipated.

Days pass, and bit by bit, you regain the strength that had once slipped through your fingers like water. Each morning greets you with a little less pain and a little more energy, the dark circles under your eyes fading in time with the autumn leaves outside your window.

Madam Pomfrey insists on regular check-ins, her gaze sharp as she monitors your progress—a testament to the severity of your condition at St Mungo's. "Your immune system took quite a hit," she explains one afternoon while conjuring a small vial of potion for you. "It'll take some time before it fully recovers."

A sense of normalcy gradually returns to your life within Hogwarts' stone walls, but it's a new kind of normal—one tinged with caution and an awareness of your limitations. You resume attending classes, mindful not to push yourself too hard under the watchful eyes of your professors.

James, Sirius, and Remus are constant shadows by your side, their presence both comforting and grounding amidst the whispers that follow you down the corridors. They carry your books, shield you from the crowd during passing periods, and make sure you're eating enough—all subtle ways they've stepped up to support you without crossing boundaries.

"Slow down, Y/N," Remus chides gently when he catches you rushing to finish a Charms essay one evening. His hand covers yours, stilling the frantic movement of your quill. "There's no need to overwork yourself."

His voice is like a balm, soothing away the stress lines etching themselves across your forehead. You let out a breath you didn't realize you'd been holding, allowing your shoulders to sag against the backrest of your chair.

"Besides," James cuts in, his tone lighter as if trying to lift the weight off your chest, "Sirius here could use some help understanding the concept of 'expanding charms.' He thinks it's all about making his ego bigger."

The corners of Sirius's mouth twitch, a hint of a smirk playing at his lips even as he feigns offence. "Oi! I heard that, Prongs."

[aemiron-main]

I’m Not A (Violent) Dog, I Don’t Know Why I Bite: Henry Creel Vs Cujo

So, all of the references to dogs and rabies in Stranger Things got me thinking about the ST narrative (specifically Henward��s narrative) versus Cujo.

(Also, everything in this post as of right now applies to both Henry and Edward Creel (especially with how TFS “Henry” seems to not be Henry), but I’m just saying Henry for simplicity’s sake since that’s how they refer to him in TFS.)

So, we all know that on the very very surface level of things, Henry Creel is presented as evil and violent- just like Cujo.

But the reality for Cujo is that he was scared -a scared dog who contracted rabies and had no control over his actions.

And Henry, ESPECIALLY in TFS is the exact same way. A scared boy who contracted the shadow and can’t control his actions. Not an evil boy. Not a violent boy. A scared boy.

And while Cujo works as a fantastic way of explaining Henry’s story, I also think that the Henry-Cujo parallels are 100% intentional. Let’s go through some of them.

So, in TFS, it’s revealed that Henry was in a cave in Nevada when he contracted the shadow/when he changed- just like Cujo, who contracted rabies and changed when he was bitten by a bat in a cave:

And also, Cujo was chasing a rabbit into a cave, which has me staring at a.) all of Henry’s rabbit imagery, and b.) the fact that in TFS, Brenner mentions a pet Creel rabbit that Henry supposedly killed- but we don’t ever see this rabbit or get any other crumbs about it when the Creels are in Hawkins, which to me, implies that the rabbit died in Nevada.

Which makes me wonder if the family pet rabbit got loose, and Henry chased it into the cave, and ended up killing it after being flayed because it was afraid of him (and like I talked about in this post, fear seems to be what triggers the shadow into killing people/animals such as Prancer).

Also, in TFS, when Henry’s seizing, he begins to foam at the mouth- much like a rabid dog/like Cujo. And in ST, Henry talks about how his parents had hoped to cure him by moving to Hawkins, but it didn’t work- much like how there’s no cure for rabies.

And also in TFS, Henry has a line where he says “the monster doesn’t lie,” versus the line in the Cujo book that says “the monster never dies”

Also, when Cujo gets bitten, his only thought is hoping that his owners won’t scold him/call him a bad dog for getting bitten- which makes me think of Henry and how often Virginia scolds him throughout TFS (even for non-shadow related things, which implies that her scolding Henry predates the shadow/cave incident), and makes me wonder what Henry was thinking when he contracted the shadow. If he was just hoping that his mom wouldn’t scold him- hoping that she wouldn’t scold him for losing his Captain Midnight spyglass, perhaps (which was a birthday gift given to him & he lost it in that cave).

Especially with the footage from that ST VR game, where a shadow version of Virginia is scolding Henry & the vibe is that it’s a memory of when Henry just returned from somewhere (based on Alice yelling his name as if she’s searching for him), and I actually think that whole scene is Henry’s memories of when he reunited with his family after leaving the cave in Nevada, which tracks with Alice yelling his name as if she’s been searching for him (as he was missing for 12 hours) and Victor and Virginia both asking Henry what happened/Virginia scolding him.

And especially with how TFS Victor emphasizes that Henry is a “good boy,” it makes me wonder how often Virginia referred to Henry as bad, much like Cujo hoping that they won’t call him a bad dog for getting bitten.

Also, Cujo specifically didn’t want to go home after getting bitten because he was worried that he’d get called a “bad dog”- which makes me wonder how long it took Henry to go home. And if the shadow could’ve been “cured” or even just helped slightly if he had gone home, if even just a warm bath would’ve been enough to expel the shadow in its very early stages (after all, they got a fairly late-stage shadow out of Will with a few heaters and a fire- it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Henry could’ve expelled the shadow if he wasn’t afraid to go home/had gotten home & gotten help/gotten warmed up etc etc- JUST like how a rabies post-exposure prophylaxis only works before you start showing symptoms, so if they’d gotten Cujo a post-exposure prophylaxis before he started showing symptoms…)

Would a warm bath- a bath just like the one Joyce filled for Will in S2, too hot for the shadow but not physically too hot for Will’s skin (see: Joyce testing the temperature with her hand), have saved Henry?

It would explain why Virginia’s shown with the tub so much- if a simple bath could’ve saved him if he’d gone home sooner but he was afraid to go home because of Virginia.

And Brenner also says something during TFS that totally aligns with everything I’ve said here re: good dog/good boy vs bad dog/bad boy and not wanting to go home- TFS Brenner says “you think you can run back home to mommy and be a good boy again?” Much like how Cujo couldn’t run back home and be a good boy again.

It’s got that exact “Henry felt like he couldn’t go home to Virginia after the caves because she would scold him/tell him he was bad,” vibe. Especially since Brenner in TFS tends to pick at Henry’s already-existing insecurities/trauma.

Which ALSO reminds me of Joyce waiting at home for Will in S1/waiting in Will’s room with all of the lamps versus how Virginia in TFS waits in the attic for Henry so that she can scold Henry when he gets home- which would totally track with Virginia and Joyce being opposites/Joyce waiting for Will so that she can welcome him home vs Virginia waiting in the attic for Henry so that she can scold him AND Virginia waiting at home in Nevada when Henry went missing in the caves & waiting there to scold him.

Hell, Virginia during the “waiting in the attic”, scene in TFS even has a DIRECT dialogue parallel to Joyce when she’s waiting in Will’s room:

Also, jumping over to Victor, in Cujo, the father of the family is named Vic. And the son of the family, Tad, is literally described as “sensitive,” just like Henry is:

Henry seems to be what would happen if it had been Tad that went rabid in the Cujo story- if the boy and the dog had swapped places. Henry seems to be a combination of Tad and Cujo.

Which also has me staring directly at 7 year old Henry’s dog:

And how TFS Brenner mentions Henry killing dogs:

And how Henry’s dog looks eerily similar to Will’s dog, Chester, and how Chester was scared/barking at the door on the night Will vanished & how Chester may have started barking at Henry & being scared of him after Henry returned home flayed- and then awhile ago, James also brought up what I talked about in that previously linked post re: fear triggering the shadow & James tied it to the idea of Henry accidentally killing his dog because his dog was scared of him. Which, again, would be sort of like a reverse Cujo situation.

Hell, David Harbour even talks about how he suggested to the Duffers that they should kill pff Chester- which, they may have implemented a similar storyline with Henry having accidentally killed his dog:

And also, in the book, Tad dies of heat exhaustion (he ended up stuck in a hot car trying to get away from Cujo) right as Cujo is killed- which makes me think of how the shadow made Will sensitive to heat/heat was hurting/killing him and how TFS Henry says that he “likes it cold”- and just how both Tad and Cujo’s deaths are paralleled vs Henry being a mixture of Tad and Cujo.

And I’ve talked in this post and this post about the rabies references surrounding Henry, and so we already know that the rabies references are tied to him.

I also talked in this post about the whole “I’m not a dog,” line vs “you’re not a child,” and how that connects to Henry, which, again, demonstrates that Henry is connected to the dog references in ST just like how he’s connected to the rabies references.

Henry Creel isn’t a violent boy- in TFS Victor’s words, Henry’s a “good boy.”

And so, when it comes to analyzing Henry Creel, especially in TFS, it would perhaps not be amiss to point out that he had always tried to be a good boy. He had never wanted to kill anybody. He had been struck by something, possibly destiny, or fate, or only a degenerative disease. Free will was not a factor.

Just like Cujo.

They were both good boys.

[bylerspookie]

Certain lyrics that stand out to me in Mike’s Spotify playlist (Part 3)

When Love Breaks Down

Okay, so, here’s one where I think the album cover definitely was intentional when they chose to put this song on his playlist. The same with “A Real Hero”.

In “A Real Hero”s cover, it looks very similar to the scene where Mike and El hold hands while like skipping away from that field (I hope you know what I'm talking about lol)

And in this cover it’s VERY similar to the scene where Mike lets El ride on the back of his bike??? and there’s 4 people on the cover (probably representing Mike, El, Lucas and Dustin while they were looking for Will)

There’s a guy on a motorcycle and a woman is sitting on the same bike behind him with her arms around him and her face squished against his back. She’s wearing a similar outfit to Eleven in Season 1 (the pink dress with a blonde wig, the woman in this wears a pink jacket and she has blonde hair)

This leads to us thinking that maybe the song is from Mike’s point of view (because it’s his playlist duh) and about El. (some parts might still be aimed at Will though)

And guess what…it’s a break up song!! supriseeee!!

“My love and I, we work well together

But often we're apart”

they were apart for 6 months (as were Mike and Will)

“Absence makes the heart lose weight, yeah,”

Mike “the heart” Wheeler… (you are NOT slick we know what you are)

“Oh my, oh my, have you seen the weather

The sweet september rain

Rain on me like no other

Until I drown, until I drown”

ISTFG THE AMOUNT OF WATER IMAGRY AND MENTIONS OF WATER ON THEIR PLAYLISTS AND THE ACTUAL ST SOUNDTRACK KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT CAUSE WHAT DOES IT MEAN. HERE IF YOU WANNA SEE MORE ON THAT.

AND THIS ODDLY REMINDS ME OF THE BYLER FIGHT IN S3 IDK WHY

“When love breaks down

The things you do

To stop the truth from hurting you”

“The lies we tell,

They only serve to fool ourselves,”

I’M LOSING MY MIND. “cause what if they don’t like the truth?”

“She'll never crowd me out

Fall be free as old confetti”

and the use of the word free? again, more on that here. (same post as earlier lol)

(if you’re not comfortable with discussions about sex you should skip to the next song <3)

“You join the wrecks

Who leave their hearts for easy sex”

see, I’m not 100% sure about this part but I’m trying to analyse everything okay

firstly, let’s talk about labyrinth and Romeo and Juliet.

Labyrinth is a movie in which the main character is paralleled to Mike SO much that it’s scary. He even has a poster of it in his room. Go to @connect-dots7 to see more on this. In short, connecting to this particular lyric, Sarah, the main character in labyrinth and she has a big scene where she discovers herself and her sexuality and they’re not even slightly subtle about it with the sexual imagry. The exact same sexual imagery is used with Mike (and some other characters).

Romeo and Juliet is a couple that is paralleled to Mike and El in the way that they were doomed at the start. For example, they fell in love at first sight. Shakespeare used this trope as a joke because he didn’t believe in love at first sight and it’s the same with the Duffers. They also mistook lust for love. Also I’m pretty sure Romeo was sort of using Juliet to get over someone that he actually loved but correct me if I’m wrong.

All I’m saying is, I think this lyric is very important, especially with the mention of “heart”. He’s not following his heart, basically.

(I know discussion of sex is very taboo in the byler community and I don’t understand why? Obviously, sexualising them is different, but just discussing the sexual imagry isn’t bad because it IS there and the Duffers aren’t scared of it. @henrysglock explains it here in a better way than I ever could lol. It’s the double standards between heterosexual couples and homosexual couples. )

anyway

Love Is a Stranger

the album cover is a man holding a heart in his palm? do with that as you will

“Love is a stranger

In an open car

To tempt you in

And drive you far away”

VAN SCENE VAN SCENE VAN SCENE VAN SCENE VAN SCENE

“Love is a danger

Of a different kind”

being different…

“And love love love

Is a dangerous drug

You have to receive it

And you still can't

Get enough of the stuff”

The way “White Rabbit” (the first song to play in st) is about Mike because he’s literally the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (again, you can read more about it on @connect-dots7 s page) and the song is about drugs????

“Comes in like the flood

And it seems like religion”

MORE MENTIONS IF WATER??

And Mike has too much religious imagery around him it’s insane…

“And you're left like a zombie”

There’s a lot of zombie imagery in st too? Wtf is going on help

“It's guilt edged”

Who’s going to be the one to tell him that he doesn’t have to feel guilty for feeling the way he feels about Will?

“You know it's jealous by nature”

Airport scene I’m looking at you…

“False and unkind”

“And I want you

And I want you

And I want you so

It's an obsession”

Mike it’s okay we’re all obsessed with Will Byers

Beta Girl Lost in Forever

Literally couldn’t find anything about this song lol it’s suspicious...

please tell me if you guys know anything about this song!!

[traumadumpwriter]

Heavy trigger warning! This story includes heavy themes of ab*se, r*pe, self h*rm, mental illness and violence.

You can check out the other chapters by going on the Freedom tag on my page!

All likes and comments are massively appreciated

Freedom: A John Shelby mini fic

Chapter Seven: 5217 words

Alice had stayed leant into John's side for the whole walk home, his arm on her waist making her feel safe in the dark Birmingham streets. They were both still covered in blood, illuminated in the occasional fire or streetlamp - but of course no passerby dared to question them.

John felt extremely protective of Alice, wanting to get her home as soon as possible and away from the preying eyes of men. He was hardly surprised that David was stupid enough to have attempted the vile act - having an intense dislike for the man instantly upon first glance - but with him, Tommy and Arthur in the building; that was incredibly stupid.

"He's lucky he's still fucking alive. Should've bloody killed him. Shouldn't have let Alice get her hands dirty. Should've taken her into the back room and then shot the cunt myself." His thoughts began to fester and he started to feel irritation and self doubt until Alice's voice broke the still air.

"You know, one of the first nights I came back, I had a dream about you." She sounded amused; like she was telling a joke rather than admitting a deep subconscious desire. "I only ever really had nightmares, so I took it as a sign."

He wanted to tease her, to ask if it were dirty. But he found himself unable to talk as her rapid mood swings once again left him temporarily dumbfounded. He didn't know wether to comfort her or be scared of her.

Alice on the other hand, was just happy to be in John's arms; the nightmare of that day quickly fading from her mind as she focused on the handsome man, unaware of his stress.

"I was in the caravan, dark and alone. Then I was falling, like the floor just disappeared or something, and suddenly I was on the high street, surrounded by all these people... I was trying to get through the crowd, away from my husband. He was chasing me and I was shouting out for someone to help me, but no one did." John's eyes flicked from her lips to the pavement ahead as she spoke, intently listening to each word but also paranoid of any man who drew too near.

"Then you were there.. And you took my hand. And everything was okay." She playfully scoffed before looking up at John. "Do you ever dream?"

He sighed. On any other day the realisation that he'd seeped into her subconscious as a knight in shining armour would surely give him quite the kick, but today was a bad day. He was tired and stressed out; his mind going from one bad place to another. And her question didn't help, it seemed tedious compared to the real troubles on his mind.

"Yeah. I dream." He replied bluntly. "Bad ones usually."

His annoyance was clear in his tone and Alice immediately stopped walking, crossing her arms.

"Why are you angry? Is it me? Did you lie?"

He turned to her with an equally annoyed look. "Lie about what?"

"About being okay with what I just did."

Another sigh escaped his mouth although this one was more of a groan as he looked down at her subtly insecure face.

"No, I'm not exactly feeling fine and dandy about you doing Blinder work, nor you slitting your wrist in front of us like it were nothing.. But I didn't lie, the cunt had it coming." He answered.

"So why the mood then?" It was almost like she hadn't heard anything that had come out his mouth other than 'I didn't lie' - it was all she'd asked for after all.

"Because of what I just said. You shouldn't be doing blinder work, it ain't right." His voice got louder before going quiet again as he started to rant more to the sky than to Alice. "I should've gutted him that first night he was in there giving you hassle. Then he would've never had the chance to bother you tonight. And I should've taken that bloody knife out of your hand before you did anything stupid."

"You shouldn't blame yourself." She cut off his ramble and stepped towards him, gesturing to continue their walk home. "I liked it."

He hesitated before putting his arm back around her; feeling almost uncontrollably submissive to her gaze. But he did it nonetheless and started to walk again. The house was only a minute away.

"Yeah I could see that." He let out an awkward tut. "And that's not the point."

"So, what is the point?"

There were a million and one points. All of which he knew would fall onto deaf ears. Alice clearly wasn't feeling particularly receptive that night and she could be hard to get a point across to on her good days. The only thing that really, truly mattered in that moment was that he had her in his arms and she was safe.

"It doesn't matter." He grumbled before sliding the key into the front door. "Just don't fucking cut yourself again, you could've hit a vein or artery or something."

He didn't look at her, instead choosing to focus on the door when he spoke those words. It made him feel awkward, giving an instruction like that to her as if she were a child.

"It's not like she'll listen anyway." He thought sourly but then she suddenly stood up on her toes and planted a short kiss on his lips, changing his tone instantly.

"If it makes you feel better I won't cut my arms." Looking up through her thick lashes with genuine, palpable care, John let the knot in his stomach loosen slightly and a smile tug at the corners of his lips.

"Or just don't cut anywhere." He said with another sigh before softly planting a kiss on her forehead.

This kiss was longer as he held her for a moment, taking in all that had happened that day from start to finish; it had been a blood soaked one and he needn't think of anymore.

"I suppose you'll be boiling the water for a bath." He said once he pulled away. "Given the state of you and all."

Alice would've usually scoffed or rolled her eyes at such a comment but she could tell that John was feeling sensitive so she refrained from it, instead smiling up at him with star filled eyes. There were a few spots of blood on his face - light splash back from David or herself - but mostly it was his hands and shirt that were stained red.

"Yeah I was gonna. You too I'm guessing?"

"Yeah. I'd invite you to join me if you weren't such a danger to knobs."

This did earn an eye roll, playful though as they finally stepped in the front door.

"Yeah yeah. Count yourself lucky."

—————

A few weeks later and that incident had put some more pep in Alice's step. It had made her feel stronger and prouder - more back to her old self.

She'd even bragged about it to Ada, about how she could've killed the man in a swift move if she'd wanted but had shown the restraint to not do so. Her friend had mixed feelings about the whole situation, as did Polly who'd heard of it through Arthur.

The matron of course said nothing about it to Alice; mostly stewing silently on her worries for the girl and the guilt it brought. There had been one time she'd discussed it with Tommy in his dimly lit office.

"You three just let her cut her wrist, then you didn't even kill the bastard who tried force himself on her. What if she'd gone too deep and bloody died?" She hissed, watching Thomas take a deep drag of his cigarette as he thought over her words, his face devoid of emotion as per.

Finally he replied "But she didn't" earning an irritated tut from his aunt.

"Do you even care? You know that your brother is completely in love with her and is no doubt going to ask to marry her. Does that mean nothing to you?"

Another sharp inhale of smoke before he spoke, meeting Polly's intense gaze.

"You're not the only one who made a promise, Pol."

"But I'm the only one who seems to bloody care about keeping it!"

Ada on the other hand had expressed direct concern to Alice but it fell upon deaf ears as she insisted she was fine and that her self inflicted injury was "no big deal."

When Alice wouldn't listen, she vented to her husband instead. He'd been around more as the summer ended and autumn drew near, buying Karl and Ada new warm hats and gloves and it almost made Ada forget how much she hated him when he was away. It wasn't until she told him about light details of the David incident that she remembered why she hated him so.

"At least she can defend herself." She had protested to Freddie, after ranting and shortly regretting it as he called Alice a litany of insults.

"The girl is a fucking psycho. You need to stay away from her. And keep her away from Karl!" He'd demanded, causing a huge fight between the two.

Meanwhile, John had been trying not to worry about her but struggling not to. The image of the woman slicing her wrist with no apprehension, no fear, no reaction, had embedded itself in his brain and with it a litany of new fears.

He always knew that she was unpredictable and he always knew that she'd done things like that as a kid, he'd seen it for gods sake.

But seeing it now was different. It wasn't a distant shock anymore; something that could be ignored and left for someone else to deal with. Instead it was at the forefront of his mind as everyday he realised more and more that he really loved this woman, she wasn't just some fantasy anymore - and as much as he wanted to hurt any man who dare even approach her - she was her own biggest threat.

"I just don't bloody get it." He sighed to Arthur after a long day at the shop. Alice was still serving pints from the bar and chatting merrily to customers whilst the two spoke in their booth.

"Why the fuck would you want to do that shit to yourself? It's like she don't care if she dies or not!"

Arthur also sighed, wanting to comfort his brother but having no good answers.

"I don't bloody understand it either." He muttered before taking a big gulp of his drink. "Maybe one day it'll make sense."

"Nah." John quickly protested with a scoff, his eyes remaining fixed on the wooden hatch in the wall, like she would reappear through it at any moment with a fresh drink. "She hides things. I don't even wanna know what she does to the rest of her body-"

Arthur let out a rude chuckle to interrupt him, banging his drink down on the table before proclaiming "What, you mean you're this soft for a bird and you ain't even fucked her?" with a typical manly leer.

John shot him a sharp glare, tutting and nodding sarcastically as he started to feel a defensive anger rush to his head like air to a balloon.

"Look, don't fucking talk about her like that, alright?" He aggressively raised his voice, much to the somewhat surprise of his brother.

Then all of the air was gone. He was at a loss for words again, as too often seemed to be the case with Alice.

"She ain't like that.. she- she-" John started to stammer and then paused for a moment, trying to condense all his thoughts into one sentence. It was through scouring his mind that he suddenly remembered the rage he'd had for Jones and how he was the one who made her like this. He was the one to be blamed.

"The fucking scum bag who took her.. he did some real rotten stuff that I don't think she's ever gonna forget." John finally finished with a bitter sneer before downing his drink.

"Well why haven't we bloody blinded the cunt?" Arthur retorted.

Another frustrated sigh fell from his brothers lips.

"I fucking sent Johnny Dogs on the trail. Can't bloody find him." He answered shortly. "And if Johnny can't find him, how are we gonna?"

"Bloody ask her mate."

"She don't talk about none of that.. but I wanna make things serious. I think she's my one." His demeanour became more solemn as he confessed to his brother.

Whilst their conversation got more intense, Alice was on the other side of the wall blissfully unaware. It had been fifteen days since the incident with David and John had spent most nights with her since. When the clock hit eleven and Alice was closing the pub, he'd turn up at The Garrison to make sure she was walked home safe. Or if the path was clear, they'd end up talking for hours between free liquor and passionate kisses.

She hoped that tonight would be one of those nights, daydreaming amongst pouring drinks. But alas, John kept ordering and ordering yet never inviting her in which struck her as peculiar, especially as the night drew to a close.

"Are him and Arthur really just getting wankered by themselves on a Tuesday?" She thought, slightly amused despite her disappointment.

John answered her internal question by suddenly slamming open the cubby door, drawing all attention to the brothers for a second before everyone meekly returned to their conversations. His eyes instantly went to Alice's and a smug smirk crossed his lips once he saw that she too was intensely watching him.

It was like she could read his mind, a blush forming on her face as she realised he'd caught her staring. Not that it really mattered, but his smirk made her feel like it might.

He stepped over to her with a drunken swagger, going straight behind the bar and grabbing her hand.

"John! What are you-" She started to ask but he leant in close and moved his other hand to the small of her back.

"Arthur will close up. Come with me." He whispered in her ear, sending a quick wave of shivers down her spine. The smell of liquor on his breath almost sent her into a panic as a reel of bad memories flashed before her eyes, but that panic was quickly subsided by John's comforting, tobacco and cinnamon laced scent swinging her back into reality.

"Okay." She nodded and squeezed his hand to which he immediately grinned and pulled her away, swiftly leading her through the front door and out into the street.

There was an apparent gleam of excitement across John's face - something that made Alice giggle and her stomach flip.

"Where are we going?" She called to him from behind as he pulled her forward.

He carried on pacing through the road without a word until they reached his automobile and he smirked "We're going to go dance."

"I've not got a dancing dress, shoes nor any makeup! You've given me no time to prepare." She tutted, although a smile did remain on her face.

"You don't need none of that looking lovely as you are."

After slight persuasion, John swung the car around to Ada's so that Alice could borrow something more appropriate to wear, impatiently beeping outside as he waited.

Inside, Ada was rummaging through her wardrobe and chatting excitedly to Alice as she held Karl - much to the silent displeasure of Freddie who was just laid on the bed listening to their gossip, knowing an argument would later ensue.

When Alice finally stepped out of the house clad in a black, sequinned dress that rested a few inches above her knees, John's jaw almost dropped and the beeping immediately halted.

"I've not got anything on my face, done nothing to my hair." She complained, placing her work plimsoles in the backseat before sliding into the passenger side. "I look a bloody mess."

The man didn't immediately respond, mentally noting her statement as ridiculous and becoming distracted by the vision before him. His eyes ran down her legs slowly and sweetly like sticky toffee, a smirk twinging at the corners of his lips when he finally reached her borrowed shoes and saw the three inch heels attached to them. It was then that his eyes went back to hers and he finally replied with a smug expression.

"You look fucking gorgeous.. and I'm the one who gets to show you off tonight, how lucky am I?" He grinned, making Alice blush and giggle.

"You're such a gentleman John. It's a wonder no one else got to you before me." She doted and he almost drunkenly said the same back to her before quickly closing his mouth, remembering 'someone did get to her before me.'

He tried to laugh it off and think of something else to say but Alice noticed his awkward change up and it only took her a few seconds to suss out what words he'd stopped himself from saying.

"You're gonna have to show me the ropes of this dancing business-"

"You were going to say the same to me until you remembered my husband, weren't you?" She cut him off plainly, once again earning an awkward silence from John as he scraped his brain for what to say back.

"It's okay. I know I'm damaged goods." She continued with a scoff before a playful smile sprung from her lips and she lightly tapped John "I was just kidding. What's the sour face for?"

He was annoyed now. Why did she have to say stuff like that? And then have the nerve to expect anyone to be okay about it?

"But you weren't kidding and even if you were, it ain't funny Alice. And why do you still call him your husband? Ain't like he earned that." John hissed but Alice still remained amused.

"Does it make you jealous?" She teased.

John tutted and pulled a disgusted face. "Of that cunt? Are you fucking serious?" His volume raised slightly and his eyes sent daggers, sending a sudden pang of anxiety through the previously cocky woman.

Still though, she had to keep up a facade so she stayed cool, staring back at John with an equally intense gaze.

"What's it matter if I was?" She raised an eyebrow.

That visibly annoyed him more.

"Stop fucking doing this, Alice! You can't just say shit like that and expect me to say nout about it! And then all of these fucking bullshit answers and riddles when I ask you anything! I'm trying to help you, I wanna help-"

"Well I didn't ask for help!" She interrupted him sharply. "And it's not like you tell me anything about how you're feeling or what you've gone through!"

John was visibly taken aback by that.

"See. You think I don't know, but I do. I see it. The war in your eyes. The war you've carried on fighting even after coming home. Why don't we talk about that? Why don't you tell me how you truly feel right now?"

Thick silence filled the car, Alice brewing with irritation whilst John sat motionless in thought, trying to compile the right sentence from the many words jumping around his head.

"Not so easy when it's about you, is it?" The woman broke the silence snidely, crossing her arms.

John instantly replied this time, an answer finally coming to him and leaving no space for quiet as he plainly said "So you wanna know how I feel right now then?"

All of the hope that had been sucked from Alice in the moments prior was now making a slow return. His eyes locked onto hers were showing a vulnerability he'd never shown, so she almost smiled as she quietly responded "Yes. Tell me."

"I feel like, I want to take things further.. but you've still got secrets and a husband... and I feel like he still owns you." The words struggled to come out, feeling as bad to say as they were to hear.

Alice's heart had been lifted and then crushed all within a few seconds.

"John.. I... He's dead to me." She stammered, feeling stupid and rejected, trying to hold back a wave of emotions.

"Say his name then. Or the name he gave to you."

Another thick silence.

"Exactly. He ain't dead to me. You can't even say his name it scares you that bloody much. I-I've got to kill him Alice." John's tone was intimidatingly serious but went soft towards the end as he saw her demeanour crumble.

For some reason, tears started to fall from her eyes upon hearing that. Maybe it was the fact that John cared that much about her; the intense realness of his emotion, or maybe it was the overwhelming fear of the man they were speaking of. Either way, she was more embarrassed than ever and quickly turned to open the car door but John stopped her, lightly grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him.

"Stop it John, I'm a bloody stupid disgrace and I need to go. Find another girl to dance with." She quietly cried, looking down to avoid meeting his gaze as she gave his pull no resistance.

It pained him so much to see her like this; full of self hatred and suffering because of something done to her by an evil person. The conversation had sobered him up and he'd lost most of the confidence that he'd been building up with each bottle in the hours prior.

However, he knew he still needed to say it - he still needed to tell her the truth. Arthur's earlier words rang through his head; "Tell her before it's too late, before she leaves again or does something unfixable to herself!"

He took a deep breath, placing his hand on her shoulder and squeezing it.

"Look at me, darling." He said quietly and she slowly lifted her head, her glistening eyes meeting his steely ones.

"You're none of those nasty things you say about yourself... I fucking love you, Alice. I've been dreaming of you ever since you left and I don't wanna dance with no one else... I recon I want you to be my wife someday-"

Her heart jumped into her throat and the world felt frozen. Did he really just say that? She was too shocked to even smile, instead interrupting him with a wide eyed "Really?"

"Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't I?" He grinned before nervously adding "Is that not what you want?"

Finally, she was able to relax and grin, her tears quickly drying up "Of course that's what I want" moving her hand to cradle John's face.

In the dim light, they shared a slow and passionate kiss, fingers intertwining and heartbeats racing. The romantic atmosphere was cut short though by John pulling away and sighing "But as I said before; it's all someday. There's some things I need to do first and killing that bastard is one of those."

Alice scoffed.

"Why? Because he's still my husband in the eyes of some questionable God? Or because he took a part of my body? 'Cus if that's why, you've got a long list." She was regaining her confidence and talking nonchalantly, unintentionally sending a dagger into John's gut.

"It's because I fucking love you Alice, didn't you hear me? And I'm gonna kill every fucking bastard who ever laid a finger on you. You understand?" His irritation was bubbling again despite his straight face and it suddenly began to make sense to Alice; John's desire to kill Jones.

Was this love? The real love that she'd only ever dreamed of or read about? Was she really lucky enough to have a man care for her this much?

And It's not like she didn't also have a deep desire to see Jones dead. But she never expected anyone else to care, let alone this much.

There were so many worries racing through her mind though, the fear of seeing Jones again, the worry that they wouldn't find him and therefore John might refuse to be with her. The pressure was immense.

But with a sharp inhale and quick dab of her eyes, the brunette nodded and declared "I'll help you find them, but I want to be the one to kill him."

—————

Despite the earlier intense conversation, by the time they reached the club, the mood was cheery and playful again. Both felt completely enamoured by each other, hands constantly intertwined or roaming further onto their bodies - especially as they danced. The club was quite busy; small and cosy with warm lighting and yet having an air of snobbery, like it were a secret club that the pair shouldn't have stumbled into. They didn't mind though, ignoring the whispers and looks as they laughed the night away.

John's words kept repeating in her head, giving her butterflies as she looked into his eyes and pictured being his wife. His protective arm and gentle patience had finally made her feel unconditionally safe with the man- along with a couple drinks - and she found herself uncontrollably lustful for him; even more so than she'd been before.

Now she felt ready. He'd said he loved her for goodness sake. There's no way he'd hurt her.

With a grin, she removed her arms which were draped loosely around his shoulders and grabbed his hand - this time being the one to lead him out of the building.

"Why we leaving beautiful? I's about to get us another drink." John mumbled in her ear, planting kisses to her neck between each word.

"Because I love you. And I want you." She replied, looking straight ahead as they headed towards the automobile.

John's steps almost halted. It had slightly upset him earlier that she didn't say it back, but he'd managed to keep it hidden as her emotions felt more important than his. Even as they'd danced and kissed, he'd secretly been worrying that he'd confessed too soon and she didn't really feel the same way.

A satisfied smirk set across his face once her statement had fully settled in; the spark in his belly now a full fire. He beamed and span Alice to face him, planting a big kiss on her lips before they climbed into the car.

"Where are we going?" He swallowed, Alice's hand teasingly trailing along his thigh.

"Yours, I guess." She smirked confidently, taking her hand away from him to grab a cigarette from the small compartment in the car.

He instantly missed her touch and craved to feel it again, almost feeling like he was being deprived of oxygen. It only took a second for him to put the keys in and start speeding down the road.

Upon reaching John's house, the two were attached to each other even before opening the front door; one of John's hands running down Alice's back whilst the other fiddled with his key.

Once the large door was open, Alice practically shoved him inside; giggling before lacing her fingers through his as he lead her to his bedroom.

The house was small and quiet, only the sounds of their footsteps being heard until they reached the bedroom. She'd passed out on his sofa after talking into the late hours on a few occasions now, but she'd never gone upstairs.

Alice looked around the room slowly, it wasn't much less bare than the room he had at the family house - beige walls and a wooden floor with aged furniture, decorated by the occasional photograph or doily.

"You like it?" John spoke from his sat position on the edge of the bed, snapping her attention back to him.

When their eyes connected she felt her stomach flip and the butterflies she had return tenfold.

"It's okay." She laughed slightly "Could do with some more things on the wall."

"What kind of things?" He replied, his eyes hungrily running up and down her body but his tone suddenly becoming awkward.

Alice realised that she was going to have to initiate whatever happened next - John was obviously either too intimidated or trying to be a gentleman. In truth, it was a mix of both.

"You don't care about that. Let's fuck." She shortly answered with a smirk, shocking John for a second before a heavy wave of relief rushed through him and a grin crossed his face.

She quickly moved to straddle him and his hands instantly started to roam her body, small moans escaping his mouth as their crotches started to grind against each others.

"Take off the dress." He mumbled after a minute, releasing his hands from her arse and his lips from her neck.

"You have to get undressed too. I don't want to be the only one exposing myself." She insecurely returned, earning a smirk from John.

He undid his shirt and pulled off his trousers with no issue, whilst Alice stood awkwardly beside the bed - still fully clothed.

Once he noticed her seeming uncomfortableness, his smirk dropped into a concerned frown and he asked "What's up with you?.. If you want to stop we can stop."

"No. It's not that." Alice quickly replied, swallowing at the sight of his chiseled chest leading all the way down to the bulge in his underwear. "I- I, I just don't know if I'm going to look good."

It made him sad to see the beautiful woman so full of self doubt.

"I wish you could see what I see" He tutted "cus' you're the most gorgeous woman I ever known."

The sincerity in his eyes and voice made her blush and she looked away before starting to unzip her dress, mentally building herself up again. Every second she took to pull it down felt like a minute for John and when the fabric finally dropped he couldn't tear his eyes away.

Her body was as heavenly as he'd imagined, especially as she slowly removed her bra. But his fears were true; she was covered in brutal, angry scars and not all of them looked self inflicted. There were also relatively fresh red lines marking her thighs.

Those weren't things that needed addressing in that moment though, in fact he'd expected it, so he quickly pushed the thoughts away and focused back on her beauty. His hands and lips quickly found themselves back on her body as she moved to straddle him again.

"Fucking hell Alice, you are fucking beautiful." He looked up from her breasts to her face, planting a long kiss on her neck and moving a hand to kneed one of her breasts whilst the other held her waist.

A quiet moan escaped her mouth and she giggled slightly as she started to grind against him. Her mind was focused on nothing but John and his on her. She too felt enamoured by his body, impressed by his skills in the bedroom and the way he made her feel at ease - even as he finally penetrated her.

The night lasted a while until they eventually fell asleep in each others arms, completely exhausted, comfortable and happy.

[weebsinstash]

*sighs as I add the yandere Batfam to my Blorbo list* do y'all ever have such a genuinely unsatisfying life and childhood you start for whatever reason vicariously living through age regression ideas where you're literally raised by other people

Like imagine you're a superhero/vigilante but you're fairly small time and you've actually bumped into Batman a handful of times and, he actually likes you, your heart is in the right place, and through some wacky villain shenanigans or some Lazarus Pit fuckery, you get zapped by a ray gun or hit wirh a spell or "resurrected wrong" and suddenly Bruce has to deal with a de-aged you, a teenager without their adult memories and aged back to before you developed your skills or your metagene that gave you your powers

And here's Batman already shoving adopted children into his pockets like breadsticks at olive garden "oh no, ANOTHER orphan/kid with a horrible childhood in need of a home? Whatever shall we do. Oh no my hand slipped and I already texted Alfred to prepare a room to stay and oh no my Waynazon shopping list is suddenly full of new furniture and gifts and clothes and i already emailed Dick and Barabaras university so you can get a better education and oh wow just what is going on this is so weird"

Alfred standing by with his dry wit whenever Reader gets hormonal or does typical teenager things "ah yes, yelling 'I hate you' and slamming doors, I definitely didn't have enough of this experience raising you, Master Wayne" but like he adores it really, we all know this man is a caretaker at heart and as someone who 'knew you before' st least through what Bruce has told him, he's happy to help give you a better life

Of course then complications arise whenever Reader gets her memory back (and potentially extremely pissed she was kept as a child and literally no attempts, none, zero, nada, zilch attempts were made to turn her back to normal) and she's like "ok well I'm mentally an adult again but I'm still in a kids body, let's try and turn me back and then I can be a real adult again" and the entire batfamily is just "OR, hear me out, OR. You could stay here though? And if you wanna be a crimefighter you should at least stay with us but like its jusr ao dangerous though what if you got hurt 🥺" IF they let you return to hero work at all but let's be real, if you did, I think Bruce would be so proud to put a little bat symbol or R or whatever on your uniform cause it's like, awwww bonding, everyone's gonna know you're his lil protege 🥰

And imagine Reader goes to confront Bruce about this whole thing and you just start bawling because "was I just such a pathetic loser before that you wanted to change everything about me" and like he did the whole thing with good intentions but, YEAH he did absolutely lie to you and kind of shape you a little for the few years you were "raised" by him and you're standing there with your new clothes and your new haircut and all the hobbies he's paid for and the education he's paid for and all the new things you've learned and can do because he had the resources to give them to you and you're wondering what was so unlikable about you before that he doesnt want you to be that person again, to be the person you've always known and lived your life as

Suffice to say he isn't going to turn you back at all and if you have to "return to your old self" by literally naturally aging back to your "original age" then so be it. You've got an entire mansion filled with your loving 'family' and you're happy and you're healthy and really, maybe you're just being anxious and scared and all it will take is time for you to adjust and see that all of them know what's best. Amd if you never do adjust and you're just kept around anyways, well, it doesn't make much of a difference to them. Hell, maybe they'll find a hero or villain or magic user who can, you know, maybe make you forget all about the life you had before, completely wipe your head until only the Wayne family, your family, is left

Really, Bruce would consider it just to hear you call him 'Dad' again

[wheylost]

jimbo bimbo bread

broooo jimmy fuckin' succkss

he had me in the first half, though ngl

i thought at the beginning, curly had some sort of breakdown and crashed the ship thanks to it

that's why the crew was themselves:

. anya being scared of everything

. jimmy being all tense and bitter

. swansea being a typical grumpy ol' man

. and daisuke being... daisuke lol

turns out my expectations wasn't at all to what I thought it was: a whodunit game with five people stuck on a ship

nope. turns out jimmy was the culprit. the impulsive, undisciplined, 🍇st jimmy himself

jesus, at first i thought jimmy was snarky and uptight to everyone 'cause curly tried to take himself out --- and accidentally his crewmates, as well. i deadass thought he had good intentions with a sharp exterior

yet...nah, jimmy was just avoiding the consequences of his actions. not only from anya's pregnancy, but to causing the ship crash itself

now, it's not cool to be grateful for someone's death, but him going out in the end was the most satisfying after understanding the flipflop lore

he trolled me in the first half, thinking curly was the main screwup and we have to watch the crewmates suffer somewhere in space (with no possible chance of getting back to earth)

jimmy went from a tough love protagonist to just the epitome of a bruh moment in my eyes

sucks that everyone died due to jimmy's actions besides curly

...speaking of curly, i wonder what happens after the ending? does he get discovered? freeze to death?

so many questions, yet so little hints of the possible outcome!

TL;DR: jimmy sucks lmfao

[midnightmusicmadness]

“H-nnng Holy shit Stiles,” my breath caught in my throat as I noticed him standing in the corner of my bedroom. Eyes dark and filled with…something, something very un-stiles like. He stayed there, staring at me silently.

“S-stiles?” Something was off but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. He had been weird since the pack meeting last night but when I tried to corner him later in the day to talk about it he always seemed to just be leaving the room.

“Why are you acting weird?” I hoped my voice didn’t betray how nervous I felt. I had never felt this way around him before. We had been friends for years. But the person standing in the corner of my room was not the Stiles I had been friends with for years. I reached into the pocket of my jeans for my phone, hoping to play off that I got a text but knowing that this would trigger movement. He stepped forward towards me, his arms tense under his tight mauve t shirt.

“Stiles please, you’re scaring me,” my voice was barely above a whisper but I started to feel something knot and twist in my stomach. He stepped forward again and my nose reacted instantly, he smelled different. He still smelt like Stiles but with an overpowering note of….sex?

I swallowed deeply as he took another step towards me. Taking a leap of faith and throwing my phone on my bed side table. Clearly the fertility ritual we performed last night as a favour to Deaton was having residual effects we hadn’t accounted for. Including the almost singularly horny Stiles in front of me. And clearly I was feeling the effects as well as I could feel every muscle in my body tighten with every step closer he came. I mean I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t been attracted to the guy for literal years but it’s Stiles, how do you even make a move on a Stiles?

Stiles suddenly closed the distance between us, his face diving into the crook of my deck as though he were scenting me. Every nerve ending I had caught on fire and I found myself arching into him with a gasp.

“Nng- you smell so fucking good,” he all but growled, placing his arms on either side of me, effectively trapping me against the wall. I hadn’t even realised it but I was breathing him in like a fucking oxygen mask. Okay definitely didn’t expect my first time fucking Stiles to be this kinky but clearly both of us are feeling a little wrapped up in this moment.

“St-Stiles,” I gasped as I felt his mouth brush against my pulse point. My entire body freezing as though the contact was too much to bare. I was arched so far into him it was as though I was trying to morph us into one body.

My eyes slipped closed as he rubbed his lips lightly up and down my neck, my hands curling into fists at my sides as I held myself back from gripping onto his arms. I felt him smile against my neck and was startled as he grabbed my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“I know you want this, you were practically vibrating all day.” I avoided his eyes trying to look anywhere but into the dark brown lusty orbs in front of me, trying to find any semblance of control I had left as my brain kept screaming BAD IDEA, BAD IDEA, BAD IDEA at me.

He gripped my chin tighter and I felt myself like a magnet attracted back to his gaze. “Why are you holding back.” Each word was forceful, spoken with intention and with every expectation for me to respond.

And fuck me I’d love to respond but everything was coming up blank, my body and mind apparently hyper fixated on every inch of skin I could feel connecting with his. I was getting lost in his eyes and tried to open my mouth and speak but all that came out was a soft moan. I watched as his eyes became impossibly darker and he clenched his jaw, releasing mine and moving his hands to intertwine with mine. I jolted at the intimate contact, weirdly enough being mores timulated by our fingers connecting than when his entire face was pressed into my neck.

His forehead pressed against mine and I felt my eyes close, “Breathe,” he all but commanded and against my will I followed. I felt my chest rise and fall deeply, every breath feeling like a pant. My eyes fluttered open to see his filled not only with that dark lust but also something else, something far more powerful.

A small smile graced his face and before I could process what was happening our lips connected. I felt every breath I had just taken leave my body, people usually say fireworks but this, this felt like something else entirely. It was like the fire in my body that was already burning hot erupted into wave of flames, crashing uncontrollably in my body. I trembled and gasped, allowing for his tongue to pass and I felt myself meeting him halfway. A deep throbbing started in my core and I pulled my hands out from his, moving them to grib into his soft hair.

I felt his energy shift as he growled at the back of his throat and gripped my back roughly, exploring with his hands as we continued kissing deeply. I was completely taken by him, barely registering anything but the wave of sensations that came with every touch. My breath caught in the back of my throat and I threw my head back as his hand found it’s way to my already too sensitive nipples. Teasing and twisting them until I was all but writhing in his arms.

“Please Stiles,” I groaned not even really knowing what I was asking for. All I knew was I needed more. I faltered as his hands disappeared from their place, my nipples aching from the attention but yearning for more. He reached his hands under my thin t shirt and pulled it over my head, thank you past me for choosing today not to wear a bra. I desperately followed suit, pushing his tshirt over his muscles and feeling conflicted between wanting to leave lingering touches and wanting to remove his clothing as soon as possible.

“Fuck!” All my thoughts were interrupted as he twisted us around all of a sudden I was lying on my bed. Before I could even register what was happening Stiles dove down and took my left nipple in his mouth. In what I can only describe as magic his other hand disappeared down my jeans and instantly found it’s target, my underwear already completely soaked. My mouth opened in a silent cry as I felt his fingers start stimulating my clit and his tongue flicking at my nipple.

Every part of my body was caught in a war, the sensations were too much but I needed to be closer. I wanted to make him feel good but I was completely lost in a haze of pleasure, already close to climaxing and we had only just taken our tops off.

He moved his stimulations to my other tit as finger continued circling slowly and deliberately around my clit. I could feel the wave coming, it was too much, too fast, too good.

“Oh my god,” my eyes shut tight as my entire body erupted into wave after wave of pleasure. I arched against Stiles and barely registered the hard bulge pressing against my body as I came harded than I had ever come in my entire life. Coloured circles bubbled in my shut vision as it felt like every neuron in my brain exploded.

As I slowly came down from my high and my brain started functioning again I registered Stiles pressing soft kisses against my skin as he slowly pulled my jeans down my legs. Being sure to brush gently down the entire length of them, every tough jolting me into a spasm as my still all too sensitive nerve endings struggled to compute. Somehow his pants were already gone and I could now make out his incredibly strained member barely covered by his black briefs.

I reached for it blindly, wanting to make him feel good, wanting to gain some semblance of control back but he moved himself away, continuing to softly graze his hands up and down my body as my shivers slowly died down. I locked eyes with him and saw the restraint there, he was ready to burst but was holding everything back to ensure that had enough time to recover, to make sure I was okay. Fuck that.

“Why are you holding back?” I grinned at him devilishly as his eyes switched to almost black. A guttural sound came from the back of his throat and before I could process he had ripped, yes ripped, my underwear off, leaving me completely exposed. Before I could register what was happening his entire body was above me with my legs on either side of him. Completely open, completely exposed, my leftover cum from my previous orgasm leaking between us. His underwear disappeared and I watched him hungrily, waiting for more, wanting for more.

My eyes moved down and I gasped at the sheer size of his dick. I didn’t think it would fit but fuck me was I up for the challenge. Precum was dribbling down the side and I licked my lips, completely mesmerised and wanting nothing more than to stuff the entiere thing down my throat.

“Your fucking killing me, stop that,” my eyes lifted to meet his and I smiled sheepishly, realising I was just caught staring hungrily at his dick like it was the last pizza slice. He moved his body closer, my legs moving higher and my knees being almost in line with my shoulders. Fuck this position left no room for hiding, he was going to split me in two.

“Ready?” he all but growled. A vein throbbing in his neck with the sheer force of his restraint from thrusting the entire length straight into my pussy. I nodded dumbly, not able to find words as he slowed began moving inside me, inch by inch.

His movement was painstakingly slow and I felt his member stretch my hole to it’s limits and beyond. A deep pleasure instantly filling me matched with a sharp pain. Stiles was breathing heavily, his gaze firmly fixed on my face as I whimpered and wriggled to accomodate his size. I furrowed my brow, back in the space of no control, feeling every feeling starting to build up inside me again when I had just come down from my highest high.

“You okay?” he whispered and I felt myself at a loss on how to answer. My brain was completely gone so I surprised myself when I responded, “Feels..so…good.” I didn’t even recognise my own voice, a combination of a groan and a whisper. All of a sudden Stiles pulled out completely, leaving me feeling empty and void, my eyes shot open in time to see him smirk as he slammed back into me hard.

“FUCK!” I all but screamed. Writhing under him as he set a hard but slow pace. I felt my nails drag against his skin as I gripped and scratched at his back, trying to find anything to ground me in this moment of sensation. I was so so full, every edge of my being felt like it was being touched with every movement he made, the dragging still hitching and causing pain to my adjusting tight passage but the pain intensifying the pleasure ten fold.

“Please Stiles,” I panted underneath him, needing more, feeling like something was just out of my reach.

“Please what?” he teased, forcing me to engage, refusing to let up his thrusts.

“Please!” I repeated. My brain foggy and becoming more distant with every dive into my core his dick made.

Stiles captured my lips with his own, my mouth exploding in the mingling taste of sweat, stiles and me. He pulled away all too quickly and I found myself whimpering again, my body following him before realising he was out of reach and collapsing back onto the pillow.

He leaned down again and placed his mouth next to my ear, “Come on baby girl, tell me what you want.” It was all too much, I needed more from him, I need everything from him, I felt like I was about to explode.

“FUCK ME STILES! PLEASE, FUCK ME HARDER! FUCK ME FASTER!” I lost it and he quickly followed suit, gripping me and lifting so he we were both on our knees without him skipping a beat. His pace became relentless and his thrusts more powerful. The new angle unlocked a space in me I didn’t know existed and every plunge hit deep into my core where I saw stars. I had never felt anything like it, he was drilling into me at an ungodly pace and every part of my body felt like a livewire about to explode. I couldn’t tell if I had just hit an endless constant orgasm or I was teetering on the edge of something supersonic.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous, you’re mine, no one else’s, mine,” Stiles rambled in my ear as I completely lost myself to the sensations, unable to form words. I could tell he was close, his movements becoming more erratic and his hips stuttering with every second thrust. I grabbed the last remnant of my will and lunged to him, grabbing his mouth and a deep kissing and nipping at his bottom lip hard, the metallic taste of blood hitting my tongue.

“F-uck.” Stiles was sent over the edge, his warmth exploding within me with one final thrust and with that I was gone. My entire body wen rigid and my eyes scrunched shut as explosion after explosion of pleasure ran through me. I spasmed wildy and felt Stiles groan and hold me tightly as I was off in space, my eyes rolling back in head and my mind completely blank from everything except the feeling of Stiles within me. Tears formed at the corners of my eyes as my hands found Stiles’ arms, gripping tightly as I rode the wave. It went for what felt like forever but I eventually came back to earth, Stiles was back to pressing soft kisses all over my face and body as my spasms became fewer and further between. I was strung out and exhausted and I could tell from his panting and his mix of sweat on me and mine on his that he was equally spent. Carefully he cradled me and moved me back against his chest as he lay down against the pillow. Whispering sweet nothings in my ear as I fell asleep, him still being nestled deep inside me.

***************

the next morning

I awoke slowly to a deep rise and fall below me, warmth completely enveloping my being. My eyes fluttered open and I was met with Stiles’ angelic face, framed by the golden morning light coming in through the window. He was smiling softly at me, clearly having been watching me sleep for some time. I giggled and nestled into his chest, the giddy feeling within me bubbling as the love we had all but admitted to each other the night before settled around us. I shifted, realising he was still inside me, slowly and carefully I moved away, wincing at both the emptiness and slight pain I had from embracing him at such a size. He lazily stroked my hair and I smiled at him, sitting up and reaching for my phone, 15 notifications flashed on my screen and laughed as each popped up before throwing the phone to Stiles to take a look and going to the bathroom, knowing he would follow.

Lydia to PackShit: Ummmm guys, not to be tmi but did anyone else feel EXTREMELY horny after the Fertility Ritual. I all but ripped Jackson’s dick off.

Jackson to PackShit: Can confirm

Derek to PackShit: Definitely not what I made this chat for

Isaac to PackShit: I will neither confirm nor deny ;)

Scott to PackShit: I agree can we please not talk about this shit in the pack chat

Lydia to PackShit: I KNEW IT! That fertility ritual totally got us all laid last night

Lydia to Biatches: Guys fucking spill, immediately

Allison to Biatches: Ummmmmm, yehhh, you weren’t alone haha

Lydia to Biatches: Omg but it was fucking brilliant right, best sex of my damn life

Isaac to Packshit: Haven’t heard or seen Stiles or Aisha since yesterday….interesting

Derek to Packshit: I’m going to remove you from this chat Isaac

Lydia to Biatches: AISHA! WHERE ARE YOU? DID YOU AND STILES FINALLY DO IT! COFFEE IN 30. IF YOU’RE NOT THERE I WILL PERSONALLY BEAT YOUR DOOR DOWN AND SEND PICS OF YOU TWO TO THE PACKCHAT!

Allison to Biatches: I wouldn’t play with her haha, see you guys soon

[shirzan140102]

Mahsa Amini: One Year Later

I don't know if this post will have any value. Since I wasn't on here in a long time, I don't know if other users have already posted about this matter. Even if I'm the first person to write about these matters, I expect that I'll hardly get any interaction with this post as usual... which fucking sucks when the goal raising as much awareness as possible and finding more supporters. But I'll still say what I have to say, because it's important. As a heads-up, this post is on the longer side, but please read it in its entirety and reblog it so that as many people as possible can read it. I promise that it's worth it.

This past year has been marked by protests - which contrary to what you might have been led to believe, never actually ended - thousands of protesters being arrested, hundreds of innocent people randomly being killed, countless protesters losing an eye after being shot at by regime forces, a record high number of executions, stronger repression (especially of ethnic and religious minorities), schoolgirls being poisoned simply for wanting an education, several... interesting... scandals of Islamic Republic officials, desperate efforts by Iranian diaspora and opposition leaders to get the help of Western governments and organizations, and meaningless, hollow gestures and statements from these governments and organizations. But what's changed since last year when people first took to the streets? Everything and yet, nothing.

Even if the protests decreased in frequency, many people have engaged in acts of civil disobedience. The people of Iran have become much harder to contain for many reasons, and the Islamic Republic is scared. They may have the resources for violent suppression, but they know they're losing when it comes to numbers and determination. On top of that, more and more cracks are starting to appear and grow in their seemingly strong and impenetrable system. Every move they make is destined to be met with backlash and to backfire on them somehow. By all accounts, the conditions are there for this to be the beginning of its end. So, then, what's preventing the people of Iran from delivering the final blow?

Well, there are two main obstacles on the path to victory:

The people of Iran aren't armed. Without weapons, it's impossible to push through. If lower ranks in the military can somehow be won over, of course, then that'll give a much-needed boost.

Western governments, organizations, and media.

I'll spend most of the remainder of this post elaborating on point 2.

Now, allow me to preface this by saying that I'm a Democrat/liberal. My views align with the Democratic Party's platform, and, at times, I even think it's not strong enough to address certain issues. I also want to make it clear that although I'm referring to the regime in Iran by its name (i.e., the Islamic Republic), it's solely with the purpose of distinguishing it from the people of Iran; my intent is not to disrespect or even criticize Islam (or any other religion for that matter). (In fact, like many, I believe that the Islamic Republic is an affront to Islam.) In short, this post is not being written in bad faith or with the intent to cause trouble. I just want everyone to understand where I'm coming from and my mentality in trying to expose some things.

Also, while I haven't had the chance to provide links to sources because it'd take too much time to find all of them once again, I strongly encourage you all to Google the contents of this post on your own to verify my claims.

Contradictory Actions and Complacency

Ever since the beginning of the revolution last year, the behaviors of the Western governments and organizations have been very contradictory. While they claim to be horrified at the atrocities taking place in Iran, they have hardly changed their approach to dealing with the Islamic Republic and have even, at times, taken steps that actually benefit them. These actions make no sense.

Take the strange politics of the UN, for example. Last December, in an unprecedented move, the Islamic Republic was expelled from the UN Commission on the Status of Women as an alleged show of solidarity with the revolution, but now, it's been announced that a representative of the Islamic Republic will chair the 2023 United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Social Forum this coming November. Let it sink in: 11 months after being punished for violating the rights of women, Iran will be taking on a prominent position in discussions about human rights. On top of that, they allowed the Islamic Republic to host an exhibition about the history of clothing in Iran (or something like that), which just gave them another platform to completely misrepresent everything going on. They had an opportunity to completely rewrite history (i.e., spread the falsehood that women in Iran have always worn the hijab or analogous clothing) and, in turn, minimize one aspect of the revolution.

In addition to all of this, the UN's so-called fact-finding mission on the human rights abuses in Iran has hardly been better than a joke. From asking regular people to send evidence of these abuses (even though they can be easily found on any social media network or news site) and having a very lax schedule for meetings (even though time is of the essence when many lives are at stake), it's clear that they do not take their mandate seriously. Now, in all fairness, I understand the need for concrete, valid evidence, especially when dealing with something as serious as crimes against humanity, but this approach just borders on nonchalance. This is just reinforced by their social media activity. Take this tweet from about 4 months ago as an example:

The wording of the tweet (ALLEGED?!?! human rights violations) and simply saying they're "deeply alarmed" do not indicate genuine concern or sympathy. It does not show any willingness to work faster to bring the regime to justice for its many crimes as soon as possible and, thus, give the people of Iran some long overdue justice. It's hard to think of this "fact-finding mission" as anything more than just a superficial formality. Its clear that they are content to let the Islamic Republic continue its reign of terror with impunity.

The actions of the US, the UK, the EU, and individual EU member countries similarly belie their supposed concerns and expressions of solidarity with the people of Iran. The most notable example of this is the failure of the UK and EU to add the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to their respective terrorist lists (also known as proscribing it). It is odd that despite many alleged concerns about the dangers posed by the Islamic Republic, the parliament of the UK still hasn't moved to take the one very powerful course of action (i.e., proscribing the IRGC) that would help address this matter (and also help further weaken the Islamic Republic, thereby allowing the revolution to succeed). In fact, James Cleverly - the current Foreign Secretary of the UK - recently claimed [not-so-cleverly] that they haven't proscribed the IRGC, because it's not yet in the UK's interest. Let's just reflect on the absurdity of this statement: Cleverly's claiming that it ISN'T in the UK's interest to protect its own citizens from credible threats from the IR, although they acknowledge their existence. One has to wonder what interests would make the UK drag its feet on taking strong, decisive action despite these valid concerns (and despite it being the right thing to also do for the people of Iran). (I'll talk about the problem with the EU later in the post.)

Despite the acknowledgement that the Islamic Republic is a threat to its own people and other countries, the US, the UK, the EU, individual EU member countries, and Canada are happy to let the Islamic Republic act as it pleases in their countries. Regime agents notorious for horrific crimes against humanity are allowed to freely wander around in the US and Canada, and at times, they are even rewarded with positions of power that can continue to affect relations with Iran in ways that benefit the Islamic Republic. Oberlin College and Princeton University have hired two such criminals as professors, and despite strong backlash, they have done nothing to remedy this. (In fact, Oberlin claims that it conducted an internal investigation and concluded that there was no such issue. Yes, really...) Several institutions in the US and the UK (including THE Cambridge University) were exposed to be collaborating with institutions in the Islamic Republic. (The case of Cambridge University is the most egregious, since it has helped with the drones that Russia has used to attack Ukraine.) Many people have called attention to the fact that so-called Islamic Centers built by the Islamic Republic throughout Canada and Europe are actually places for espionage and radicalization, not for practicing religion and building religious community, and yet, to the best of my knowledge, only a few have been closed by now. (It was recently exposed that similar institutions have also been built in 4 US states, and I don't believe this matter has been properly addressed yet.)

Regime officials are essentially given warm welcomes to these countries. Recently, the same Princeton professor whom I briefly discussed above was given an opportunity to speak at USSTRATCOM. President Raisi is due to speak at the UN this coming Tuesday. Besides all this, the children and relatives of people affiliated with the regime live the most luxurious lives at the expense of the people of Iran. Rather than respecting the teachings of Islam and showing the same modesty that their relatives preach at home, life is one never-ending party for them here in the West. Mahsa Amini was brutalized to the point of death because of her allegedly improper hijab, but the daughters of these people proudly show on social media that they are wearing the most revealing clothes and drinking the best alcohol money can buy. (The regime's problems with financial corruption are best saved for another post.)

Another side of the problem is that many companies based in the West happily do business with or somehow involve people with ties to the regime in their ventures. Recently, it was revealed that the German company Bosch supplied the Islamic Republic with spy technology that's been used to target protesters. It has also been revealed that a major reason why the voices of protesters are often suppressed on social media is that people affiliated with the regime have ties to the groups or companies dealing with their content moderation/enforcement; with the ability to control who can post and how much, they can easily bury the voices of revolutionaries. And yet, none of these companies have taken responsibility for this, nor have western governments done anyhing to hold these companies accountable.

And now, let's talk about the most recent development between the US and the Islamic Republic and why it's nothing to celebrate, contrary to what many Democratic/liberal influencers would want you to believe. It was recently announced that the US would release $6 billion in frozen assets to the Islamic Republic in a prisoner exchange in which both governments would free 5 prisoners. Qatar would be responsible for overseeing the disbursement and use of the freed-up money to ensure that it's only used for humanitarian purposes. The problem is, however, that besides being a totally nonreciprocal deal (they get money and 5 people while the US only gets 5 people):

Qatar, in addition to having its own problems with human rights abuses, has been shown to be in the league wit. the Islamic Republic. For instance, at the behest of the Islamic Republic, they barred protesters from wearing or bringing anything related to the revolution in the stadium at last year's FIFA World Cup. Now, I can already anticipate some responses to the effect that they were just trying to keep the match apolitical, but that's simply not the case, as evidenced by the fact that people were allowed to protest for Palestine without any problem. (This isn't a dig at Palestine, btw; I'm simply pointing out the double standard.) With Qatar doing the Islamic Republic's bidding, who's to say that they will honestly report why any money has been released and make sure that it has been used for the declared reasons?

Money is fungible. Assuming that the $6 billion that's been freed up will be used for humanitarian purposes, the Islamic Republic has an additional $6 billion at its disposal that can be used for anything, including getting extra equipment for suppressing protests... or providing Russia with more supplies with which to terrorize Ukraine.

The prisoners being released allegedly aren't actually prisoners, but rather agents of the Islamic Republic who are based in America. (Read this article about the family of Siamak Namazi, one of the prisoners who's due to return home.) The fact is that the Islamic Republic has dominated the Iranian/Iranian-American lobby here in the US, most notably through the National Iranian American Council (NIAC). Any activism from these groups or people affiliated with them often ends up repeating regime talking points and pushing for policies that will benefit the regime. (While it's beyond the scope of this post, just know that NIAC, the Quincy Institute, and J Street should all be avoided. Anyone affiliated with any of these groups or repeating their talking points is bad news.)

Not all US nationals have been freed, and the Biden administration is lying about it. By law, all US nationals (both citizens and permanent residents) should receive the US government's protection in hostage/prisoner exchange situations. One of the prisoners left behind is Jamshid "Jimmy" Sharmahd, who has unfairly been sentenced to death and can be executed at any moment. (More on this later.)

Many Iranian-Americans have pointed out that this goes against the philosophy of not negotiating with terrorists. All this does is encourage further hostage diplomacy, which only benefits the Islamic Republic and allows it to stay in power. Several officials from the Islamic Republic are on camera promoting this as a business model of sorts. In fact, as luck would have it, before these "prisoners" have even been cleared to return to America, more prisoners with ties to the West have already been kidnapped.

While we'll only know in hindsight the reason for this deal, it's likely that this is part of an attempt to return to the JCPOA or to replace it with a similar agreement. Biden's secrecy and use of flimsy technicalities have made these acts a violation of INARA. (Yes, the Republicans are actually correct here.) Ultimately, this would continue to legitimize the Islamic Republic and help it remain in power, and it would be free to do as it pleases, which means that it can oppress the people of Iran even more brutally and continue to embed itself in other countries (see the Tanzania espionage incident). (There's some speculation that this is some sort of money laundering scheme with some financial benefits for Biden, and while I can't speak to that, one must also consider this possibility.)

In general, the Biden administration has been more lenient in enforcing sanctions, which has allowed the Islamic Republic to get away with things that normally should not slide under these policies. He's renewed sanction waivers. (Yes, the Republicans, sadly, are correct here, too.) One can only speculate at the desired outcomes for such dealings, but it will not be pretty for anyone anywhere in the world. (Yes, this will come to have worldwide consequences.)

Ultimately, from all of these instances, it's possible to glean the extent of the hypocrisy and betrayal on the part of these Western countries and groups. If anything, one can make the case that these governments want to keep the Islamic Republic in power, and the people of Iran are completely alone in this revolution.

New Friends from Unexpected Places

As I stated at the beginning of this post, I'm a lifelong Democrat. Their platform appealed to me for being progressive and for purportedly advocating for human rights. However, several events since the beginning of the Biden administration already made me wary of them (namely the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan) and alert to a more problematic side of them, and these dealings with Iran collectively became the breaking point for me. Now, I'm not saying that I'm going to become a Republican, but I no longer want to associate myself with them and support them. At this point, I'm a politically homeless liberal, and I currently believe that rather than going by party and platform and voting, I'm better off fighting for issues on an individual basis.

With all of that having been said, for once, I actually have to say that the Republicans have been on the right side of history. They're the ones actually trying to hold President Biden accountable for going about things the wrong way. I've even called several of their offices to bring up my concerns about his actions, and they were completely lovely and understanding. In addition to this, Republicans brought the MAHSA Act to the House floor. Again, this doesn't mean I'm a Republican, since I take issue with essentially the rest of their positions, but this whole case has renewed my faith in bipartisanship. I believe in complete fairness, and that means whoever resorts to underhanded methods to achieve their goals, even if we have the same beliefs, should be held accountable, just like that means anyone who does the right things needs to have their good deeds acknowledged, even if we are normally at odds with one another.

Suffice it to say, this whole ideal has left me disillusioned with the Democratic party, and I now have no place in the American political system - at least for the foreseeable future. Many other Iranian-Americans who lean left seem to share in this sentiment.

A Mini-Burn Book

There are many people who deserve to be called out, and I could honestly write a novel detailing everything they've done wrong, but I'll format my grievances with them as a brief list for brevity. In addition to the individuals and groups I've named throughout this post and the Islamic Republic, the following individuals need to be especially called out:

President Carter - For his role in helping the Islamic Republic come to power and in so doing doomed not only the people of Iran but also the people of America and arguably even the whole world. (Yes, really. While it's really complex, there's quite a bit of evidence out there supporting this. And I'll be happy to elaborate on my claim that his failures as a president have effectively doomed the entire world.)

President Obama - For originating the JCPOA and, by his own admission, not standing by the Green movement in 2009 to help the people of Iran get their freedom back then.

Robert Malley - The allegedly former Special Envoy to Iran. He clearly has ties to the Islamic Republic, and his son allegedly has ties to NIAC. When it was announced that he had been suspended from his position for accessing sensitive information despite having his security clearance revoked, the Tehran Times, a state-run paper in Iran, had suspiciously way too much information about the circumstances surrounding his ouster from his position. They also had access to documents that allegedly pertained to this problem. (These documents have yet to be authenticated, but they're suspiciously convincing.) Despite this controversy, he has managed to gain employment at Princeton University and some engagements at Yale University.

Princeton University - Not only for its questionable hiring decisions, but also for allowing two of its graduate students to be kidnapped by the Islamic Republic and showing no concern for them beyond a few empty statements that were clearly written begrudingly. (They also have yet to address everyone's complaints about these problematic employees.)

Josep Borrell - High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. He's clearly in the Islamic Republic's pocket. He has sabotaged attempts to proscribe the IRGC with some bullshit technicalities. It's on record that before some major events, such as the votes to proscribe the IRGC, he was on the phone with the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic to provide some reassurance. He's also an example of someone who mischaracterizes the revolution and deliberately wants to help the Islamic Republic stay in power. In a tweet from a few days ago about the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death, he talked about making Iran change its behavior... Take note: The people of Iran are openly calling for revolution, not reform, and the Islamic Republic has proven time and time again that it has no intention of changing its behavior. However, Borrell's put it in these terms, completely disregarding what we Iranians want and effectively insulting all the death and trauma that people have suffered in the fight for their freedom and dignity.

Antony Blinken, John Kirby, Matthew Miller, Vedant Patel - For their lies and equivocations. While I can't exactly remember who said what, they all have shown the same dishonesty and nonchalance towards the people of America and the people of Iran. Between the four of them, they have denied knowing about Jamshid Sharmahd and another US national excluded from the upcoming prisoner exchange, dismissed Jamshid Sharmahd as Germany's concern (due to his also having German citizenship) and not America's (though as a legal resident, he is indeed also America's concern), justified the deal as being the only way to get what Biden wants, and when pressed about the prospect of the Islamic Republic using the released money for something other than humanitarian purposes - President Raisi openly claimed in his recent interview with Lester Holt that they are free to do whatever they want with the money. - flippantly saying they don't want to speculate.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut - For disrespectfully attacking Iranian-Americans who simply were sharing their concerns. He's thrown temper tantrums on Twitter when talking about this prisoner exchange that are completely unbefitting of his position, accused us of being "Iran hawks," and claimed that any criticisms about the deal are unfair, bad faith attacks against President Biden. (No, sir, we just want what's best for both of our countries.) It's been said that he's secretly met with NIAC and thus may be under the regime's influence, which is completely credible, considering his demeanor.

Everyone from NIAC and other IR-affiliated lobbying groups, but especially Barbara Slavin - In addition to whitewashing the regime's crimes, a video from a meeting earlier this year emerged with Slavin proposing a course of action that is very, very close to the final prisoner exchange deal we're seeing now. Years ago, she had the gall to callously flip off people protesting an event featuring a regime official. Overally, Slavin seems to be oddly enamored of the Islamic Republic.

The New York Times - For disregarding people's concerns that some of their Iranian writers (i.e., Negar Mortazavi and Farnaz Fassihi) are affiliated with the Islamic Republic. Previously, they dismissed people's concerns about these individuals' employment as racist, bad faith attacks against these writers. Last year, they falsely reported that the "morality police" in Iran had been disbanded and to this day haven't retracted or apologized for this, despite pressure from Iranian-Americans.

NPR - For having a presenter/host (Mary Louise Kelly) who's also clearly a regime puppet and allowing her to bring other NIAC/NIAC-adjacent people (including Robert Malley) on her show. Several months ago, after the protests had already started, she randomly shared a picture of peanut butter she found in a store in Tehran on her social media in a clear stunt to distract from what's really going on. With this stupid, childish post, she pretty much said, "Yes, people are dying in the streets fighting for freedom and being raped and tortured in prison, but hey, look, peanut butter!"

Various social media companies (including Tumblr) - For not listening to us when we talk about how are voices are being suppressed and allowing it to continue to happen and for not giving us the attention we deserve. (@staff, Iran deserves to be on the "Things We Care About" page!)

Celebrities and show-off activists - For only making posts or stories to claim that they care and act like they're good people and then quickly moving on with their lives. I get that compassion fatigue is a thing and that you can't go too deep into everything, but the speed with which they forgot is most likely due to them only putting up appearances. I'm sorry, but there's no way most celebrities don't know a single person of Iranian descent when they live in a place with a large Iranian-American population (i.e., Los Angeles) and, in turn, haven't heard some additional things about what's going on in Iran from these acquaintances (or maybe even friends).

There are probably plenty of people whom I've forgotten, but these are the worst offenders at the moment, imo. In particular, there's a congressman whose name I've forgotten who had the gall to dismiss Iranian-American activists because they're "being too emotional." (Yes, in the year 2023, a man actually dared say this to someone affiliated with a movement that started with women.)

The Role of the Media

The media has also played a huge role in suppressing news of what's going on in Iran. For instance, tonight's episode of NBC Nightly News did not mention that today was the one-year anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death. Media attention waned after the first few weeks of protests, and it's very, very rare to see any mention of Iran on tv nowadays. I understand that there are still plenty of online articles and think pieces, but discussing these major issues on televised news or in primetime tv programs is a very effective way of raising awareness. And we're being deprived of that.

When someone is brought to comment on something related to Iran, it's highly likely that they are affiliated with the regime (i.e., have ties to NIAC), and it's very rare to see legitimate opposition leaders have an opportunity to set the record straight. Even in these cases, there's no guarantee that their story will be given the attention it deserves. Going back to the horrible prisoner exchange deal, Ghazale "Gazelle" Sharmahd, Jamshid Sharmahd's daughter, has been doing everything she can to bring attention to her father's situation and save his life. She recently shared that at a sit in with the families of other "prisoners," she managed to finally get interviewed by MSNBC of all networks, but her story never made it to the final cut. Only the material with the families of "rescued" prisoners (i.e., people who probably have ties to the Islamic Republic) were broadcast.

Now, I'm not saying that we live in a country where our news is 100% controlled by the government. We fortunately have nowhere near the amount of issues they do in Iran, Russia, or North Korea with state-sponsored media, propaganda, and information control. However, it is very suspicious that only certain voices are being promoted over others and that certain things are overlooked or misrepresented. There's no way that media outlets haven't gotten tips from Iranian-Americans; people have been so active and vocal that they've certainly heard our concerns. One is left to conclude that there is something or someone controlling how certain narratives are told. (This also explains the prevalence of the fake-intellectual history about the 1953 "coup" and why hardly anyone believes that America, France, and the UK had a role in the 1979 revolution, although the evidence is there.) While I agree with a lot of criticisms against them, I still think it's very interesting that Project Veritas managed to get believable behind-the-scenes footage of an ABC employee complaining about how they knew about Prince Andrew's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein years before the story broke but they were prevented from exposing it by the royal family. If this footage is legit, it definitely hints at a shockingly insidious trend of governmental/elite control of the information we receive from the media. I do think we mostly have a free press here - Or, at least, I'd still like to believe that this is the case. - and I don't buy into the Republican narrative about the mainstream media, but there are suspicious signs of interference with the news and facts that are provided to the general public.

Dear Reader

If you've managed to make it this far in this post, thank you for sticking with me. I promise that we've reached the end, but I have a few things that I'd like to leave with you... and a few requests. As I've hopefully made clear throughout this post, the people of Iran are up against insurmountable obstacles due to Western powers ostensibly wanting to keep the Islamic Republic in power. They say all the right things to play the role of the leaders of the free world, but then they take actions that are a slap in the face to all of us fighting for a free Iran. If they keep getting in the way like this, we'll be doomed to live under the shadow of the Islamic Republic forever. In fact, even we diaspora aren't completely safe.

And this is where you, dear reader, come in. When it's just our voices as the minority, it's easy for people in positions of power or with larger platforms to ignore us. However, when people from other groups show up with us, then it'll be harder to disregard what we have to say. And the cool thing is that, in this case, even if you aren't Iranian, this still does concern you too. The Islamic Republic is becoming a worldwide threat, and gradually nobody anywhere will be safe from their clutches. For instance, do you think they won't get around to attacking Israel or the US? I'm not trying to manipulate anyone or exaggerating when I'm saying they're after worldwide domination; it's a fact. They don't care that they're destroying their own people and their own land and that they've tainted the name of Islam. Nothing is sacred to these people except power and their own interests. And there will be a time where you, too, can become their victim. Do NOT let that happen.

This is why I'm assigning non-Iranian people the following action items:

If you live in America, contact your senator and ask them to vote in favor of the MAHSA Act.

If you live in the UK or EU, push your parliament to proscribe the IRGC.

If you live in America, call out President Biden for his actions (most especially the prisoner exchange). This is especially important if you're a Democrat, since any underhanded claims that you're acting in bad faith will have no merit.

Boycott any companies that still do business with the Islamic Republic, and push the governments where their bases of operations are located to punish them.

Hold the media accountable for their selective, biased reporting on matters in Iran. Tell them that you're interested in hearing about Iran and ask them why they haven't discussed it in televised programs much. If it's just Iranian people asking, then they can dismiss it as the interest of a niche group and claim it's of no value to their program, but if a wider demographic argues that there's a need for it, that would arguably put more pressure on them. Also, bring to their attention that certain individuals are NIAC members (or NIAC-adjacent) and that they shouldn't be given a platform. If they do get involved with someone from NIAC (or a NIAC-adjacent group), hold their feet to their fire; make them cut ties with them and issue a retraction and apology.

If you're on stan Twitter or Instagram, nag your fave to post about Iran, especially if they've acknowledged or interacted with you before.

Pressure social media companies to look into the suppression of Iranian voices, especially if you're employed at one of these companies.

Find a way to bring Iran into any discussion as long as it's relevant. If issues such as LGBTQ+ rights or environmental justice are being discussed, for instance, talk about how these matters are under attack in Iran.

Also, if there's any debate about whether someone is affiliated with the Islamic Republic and associated organizations, please follow the lead of Iranians and Iranian-Americans. Take care to not make assumptions on your own, and just help us expose whoever we've identified.

I know this post has been very long, but this is an extremely important issue. Please stand with the people of Iran. We can't do this alone. We can't stand anymore tragedy and destruction, and we want to rebuild and thrive. Amplify our voices and be our friends in our time of need.

Thank you!

[f0xysthings]

Panthro x reader

language: English

Panthro is a serious man and when you joined the thundercats he was certainly the one who least trusted you, so much so that he would sometimes watch you while you were distracted in an attempt to find any sign that indicated his true intentions, the thundercats were already betrayed once and he won't allow it to happen again, fortunately he soon realized that you had no bad intentions and soon calmed down, he stopped observing and judging you from afar, but he still didn't trust you completely because you still has not proven that he deserves your trust. A few weeks later the thundercats went on a trip in search of supplies and new lands to explore, but unfortunately for Panthro, the thundertank had problems, Panthro spent hours trying to solve the thundertank's problem, but without success, seeing that it was getting worse.

increasingly stressed and frustrated, you decided to talk to him. You didn't exchange many words, you just asked what the problem was and he replied, saying that there had been a problem with the engine, you looked at him and went through your bag, handing him a chocolate bar, only to then leave without saying no more words leaving the general very confused and even a little less stressed, after all, he liked chocolate. At dusk on the same day, you found yourself awake at dawn wondering about your choices, until suddenly you heard heavy footsteps coming towards your tent, when you looked better you saw that it was Panthro, you remained silent staring at the huge cat in front of you waiting for him to speak, but nothing came out of his mouth, so you had to find the courage to ask him what he wanted, he looks at you for a few more seconds and says a simple thank you and turns his back to you and walks towards the thundertank. After a few weeks, the thundercats decided to stop in the middle of a forest to rest, while the thundercats were talking happily in the middle of the fire, you noticed Panthro a little distant from the others, and so you decided to try and talk to the old general. The beginning of the conversation was horrible, with just him answering your questions dryly, at that moment you thought about putting your head in a hole because of so much shame, after several failed attempts at communication you finally asked Panthro about the story of his scars and soon he He smiled and began to tell all the stories, without any exceptions. Every minute that passed, Panthro became more excited, finally having someone interested in his stories. When you asked him how he got the thundertank his ruby ​​eyes lit up like the eyes of a child who just saw a candy store, he excitedly and excitedly told you everything that happened the day he got the thundertank.

After that you and Panthro became a little closer, he started to respect you a lot, after all you were one of the only people who really listened to him when he wasn't feeling well, it didn't take long for him to realize that he fell in love with you. It took a while for him to finally accept this feeling, he already tried to ignore this feeling, but it was simply no use, you managed to win his heart like no one had ever done before, he had been slightly scared for years since the last time he fell in love with someone, so much so that he had forgotten how dominant and mesmerizing the feeling of love was. He spent months wondering whether or not to declare it to you, his heart ached for having to hide this feeling for so long, he believed he had no chance with you, after all he was getting old, it was obvious that you, someone young like you, wouldn't want someone like him.

After a lot of thinking, the general finally found the courage to talk to you, while the other thundercats were talking he called you to a more isolated place and here he told you everything he felt, everything, that was a real shock for you, you had never imagined that he had such deep feelings for you, you opened a nervous smile and through stutters you said that you also felt the same way about him, which left the old general in complete shock as well.

You then started dating, at first everything was a bit strange, you didn't know what to do and he didn't know what to do either, but as time went by he started to be more affectionate with you, sometimes giving you flowers when no one else He was looking, and sometimes exchanging caresses with you. When you finally told the thundercats that you were in a relationship, everyone was in complete shock, they didn't know what to say, they would never have imagined that old Panthro would date anyone. The thundercats took a while to accept your relationship, it was something very unexpected for all of them, but as time went by they began to accept it.

Headcannons!

Panthro is a closed man and reported saying what he feels, so sometimes you had to insist that he say what was wrong.

Panthro is a man who is romantic when he wants to, giving you flowers and small gifts.

At night he asks you to sleep with him, and when you accept, he sleeps cuddling with you all night.

After starting a relationship with you, it's clear that Panthro started to take better care of himself, he no longer stinks as much as he used to.

Panthro really likes it when you cuddle him and kiss his entire face, aah Panthro loves it when you kiss him, regardless of where, he loves it, the old general is simply unable to resist your touch.

He would do absolutely anything to save you, if he needed to he would even give his soul to the gods just so that you would have a better chance of living.

When he is very busy with his general duties, he always gives you a letter when no one is looking, sometimes this letter has a small demonstration of love, sometimes romantic poems and sometimes asking how you are.

If you are someone weak, who doesn't use a sword, doesn't know how to fight, doesn't know anything about battle strategy, know that he will make a point of teaching you everything he knows.

A fact that Panthro became a much more patient and less grumpy man after you met him, with you he had to have a lot of patience because you were a little younger than him so you will certainly do stupid things and he can't hurt you because of futile things, the best he can do is support and give advice.

[obey-only-me]

Movie Night with Diavolo By: Akuzondelivery

How Do You Date?

Short little scenario that made me giggle. Thinking about a nervous Diavolo makes me 404 Error.

“So I can’t just have them show up? I have to say it’s a date?”

“How else will they know your romantic intentions?” Barbatos sighed for the millionth time.

He sat with Diavolo in his office. A student council meeting was going to start soon and today was the day he was going to do it! Diavolo was going to ask you out on a date! Maybe. If he can get it right. Barbatos tried his best to lay things out as simple as possible. But the prince’s desire to hide his feelings was too strong.

“...what if they still say no? What if everything I’ve been thinking and stressing about isn’t going to pay off.”

His thoughts were loud, but Barbatos didn’t need to hear them. The worried, furrowed expression he wore as he looked out the window.

“Really, My Lord. I’ve never seen you so afraid of a human before.”

“You know that’s not what it is...”

“Yes it is. You’re afraid of a human rejecting you and honestly...” Barbatos laughed a little, much to Diavolo’s dismay.

“Don’t laugh! It could happen...”

After seeing his young master so distraught, Barbatos of course sought out Lucifer. Explaining the issue, Diavolo wants to take MC on a date, but is too scared to ask; Lucifer chuckled himself. The prince of Hell is afraid of one human rejecting him.

“Perhaps we should give them a helping hand?” Barbatos suggested.

The two only took a moment to come up with a plan.

“Well, St. Valentine would definitely be proud. Demons in favor of love.” Lucifer shook his head. “I’ll take care of MC. Just make sure Diavolo arrives late.”

Diavolo excitedly got ready for a trip to town. Lucifer was taking everyone to the movies! And the theater was reserved for a private showing of your favorite movie. Now he only needed to meet his three favorite people at the entrance. He was running on time, and now that he was dressed he made his way to you.

You’d arrived about 10 minutes early, unaware that you would really be waiting 20. Lucifer and Barbatos still weren’t there, but around the corner watching you closely so you were safe. You couldn’t help fidgeting with your phone as you waited. You were excited, but nervous.

“MC!”

You turned to see Diavolo approaching with a wide smile. The prince was just as nervous as you, but showed no sign of it as he confidently strolled over.

“Lord Diavolo! Are you ready for the movie?”

“Of course! I’m even more excited to spend time with you. And B-Barbatos and Lucifer.”

“I wonder where they are.”

As the two spoke, Barbatos and Lucifer hit send on their DDDs and walked away.

“Oh. Looks like there was an emergency at the castle. Barbatos has to stay for something.”

“Yeah, Lucifer said he has to do something about Mammon...did they ditch us?”

“What does that mean?”

Diavolo gave you a curious look as you pouted. Having already bought tickets for you and Lucifer, the sudden abandonment made you a little angry. But since Diavolo was here, maybe he’d...still go with you?

“Do you...want to see the movie still? Just the two of us?” The heat on your cheek told you how awkward that must have sounded.

Diavolo chuckled. Barbatos and Lucifer set this up. He’ll have to thank him later. But knew he should still keep his advice in mind.

“I would very much like to.” He cleared his throat. “MC, would you mind if I...made this a date?”

[katefiction]

Those eyes II: Chapter 1-3 by @a-lifelessface [English]

Thank you so much to @clmarelich0824 for the translation!

Chapter 1

“A year and a few months later, Catherine can say about the question: How good it is to be in love, isn't it?”

Chelsea, London

London can get quite cold in winter, but nothing that a good cup of tea and wool socks does not soften the feeling, while the flames in the fireplace crackled, the warm and quiet air spread through Catherine's cozy apartment, who was sitting in front of the huge window facing Old Church St Street, she scribbled a sketchbook, she was finishing a paradisiacal landscape. Laying the pencil on the table, she admires her work while taking a sip of her hot tea.

“Love?” his voice sounded low and calm, just like that afternoon. Love. It had been some time since she had made a commitment, with the one who had always been her Love, everything seemed fine and Catherine still felt butterflies in her stomach every time she heard him call her that way. It was so good, so right.

“Yes?” said Catherine, smiling with the feeling of hearing William's voice.

“Have you finished your drawing?” he asked.

“I just finished... Look!” she got up from the chair, heading towards the couch, where William was lying. William wore gray sweatpants and a dark blue sweater, his eyes shone, his expression was sweet and gentle. He had just woken up from a nap.

“It's beautiful, simply beautiful!” he said, kindly. Catherine smiled, and he completed it. “It's just not more beautiful than you.”

“Don't you get tired?” she asked, laughing.

“Of what?” William questioned, at the same time that his right hand skirted the thin waist of the woman standing in front of him.

“To keep praising me.” Catherine felt a tight waist.

“Never... Come here, lie here with me.” he gently pulled Catherine's body and in a quick movement nestled her in his arms, Catherine quickly threw the sketchbook on the floor, producing a muffled sound through the fluffy carpet. His arms went up around William's head.

“I don't want you to leave...” said Catherine, her hands caressing between William's chin and ears.

“Don't think about it now, let's enjoy the time we have together, it's still early, beautiful...” William kisses the top of Catherine's head. “Do you want to watch a series?”

“Okay...” Catherine raises her head to look into William's eyes. ― Love, if I tell you something, do you promise not to be angry?” he looked at her intrigued.

“What is it?

“Promise or not?” she asked again. He nodded, swallowing it dry.

“I finished watching the new episodes of Game Of Thrones without you.” she spoke softly. William smiled relieved.

“Ah, Kate! Thank God! I was scared to death that you would be mad at me for watching without you.”

“WHAT? DID YOU WATCH IT WITHOUT ME?!” she hit his chest, making him laugh.

“But love, you also watched, we're even.” William held Catherine's body immobilizing her, so that she could no longer hit her chest. The laughter of both mixing and filling the whole room.

“Okay, now what? Shall we watch it together? Maybe my attention will turn to something else...” said Catherine, looking at him suggestively. William immediately understood the message and released it for her to take control, while he pulled the red blanket to cover Catherine's body.

“Ahhh, how I love watching series with you.” William spoke smiling, while Catherine was already nesting in his chest again.

A year and a few months ago, William had given Catherine a ring, in an attempt to show everything he felt, not that it was necessary, because everyone around William knew that he was completely in love with Catherine, just as she was with him. In addition to the ring, William always tried to make clear all the intentions he had with her. William wanted to build a life with Catherine and the relationship of the two gradually matured day after day.

Catherine gave up her teaching position at Richmond The American International University, by her own choice. When her relationship with William came to the public, it was at the end of the school year and it was already chaos, she was afraid of not being able to exercise her role as she should because it was in a place with a lot of people and she took the art of teaching very seriously, so she decided to leave the classes aside and focus only on her work at the National Gallery. Fortunately her boss was a kind gentleman named Newton, who always recognized Catherine's professionalism and qualities and offered her a promotion, now Catherine worked only internally with something that really Liked it, having its own office, away from prying eyes. Catherine is very grateful to have a good boss and great co-workers, because everyone is always very discreet and respects the privacy of the Prince of Wales when they meet him in the parking lot or through the corridors of the National Gallery, whenever he picks up Catherine at the end of the day or at lunchtime.

Everything in the National Gallery follows as in the past, John left as mysteriously as he entered, no one else talks about him, it's as if for other people he had never existed, but it's not like that for Catherine, even after everything that passed into his hands, it's hard to forget, but not even she talks about John, with anyone.

After everything you've been through with John, having a healthy relationship with someone like William is something new. William with Catherine is just a man... Beautiful, attentive, funny and very passionate, but William is a public person. A prince, an heir, a future King and it is not easy to date someone from royalty and no matter how much William makes no effort to protect Catherine, every now and then things get out of hand.

The media does everything to get information about Catherine and her relationship with William, but so far they have been cautious, their relationship although public, still remains very private, and they hope it will remain so.

“I hate Sunday nights.” said Catherine, discouraged. “Do you really have to go?” she pouted for him.

“Don't look at me like that, if not, I won't be able to get out that door.” he framed her face with both hands. “I really need it. Very early tomorrow, I have a meeting with my father. You know how he is, he likes to schedule things early in the morning and then I have another meeting with Rob, it will be very busy if I have to get out of here and then stop by KP.”

“I know, I know... I hope this week passes quickly.” said Catherine, trying to sound confident.

“Me too, love.” he kissed the tip of her nose. “Now I need to go... Not before I give you a kiss, of course... How could I go without kissing you?” he said smiling, his gaze interspersing between her eyes and her mouth. Catherine was smiling at him, noticing his intense look in her mouth, without thinking twice, she moistens her lips with the tip of her tongue, already waiting for him to approach.

William starts a sweet and calm kiss, making Catherine sigh on his lips, he releases his face to wrap his waist, Catherine's hands make a home on the back of his neck.

“I love you.” Catherine whispers, between the kiss.

“I love you more.” he smiles, putting several kisses in his mouth. With his left hand he gently squeezes her waist and with his other hand, he takes Catherine's right hand and takes her to his lips, depositing a kiss where his rose gold ring shone.

William slowly moves away from the brunette, taking the helmet from the table, opens the door and with a smile leaves his girlfriend's apartment closing the door behind him, leaving Catherine with butterflies in her stomach and a smile stamped on her face on a cold Sunday night.

Another week started in London, everything was fine... What else could happen?Chapter 2

“Did things get out of hand?  The answer is no... Not yet.”

The National Gallery

One of the advantages of the promotion in her work was her new office, Catherine received the right to have her own room and decorate the environment the way she wanted, she asked Mr. Newton to use the old room she used to catalog the works of the Museum. For some reason, Catherine loved that room, maybe it was because of the large window that makes the room well lit or the light wooden floor that makes everything look comfortable or maybe it's the good old cream sofa that was the scene of many conversations between Catherine and August and of course... Her first official meeting with William was sitting on this couch where she ate her favorite dish in the company of William, where she felt very good next to him, it was also where they talked about various subjects from the most banal to the most serious. The first kiss did not happen there in that room, no matter how much they both wanted it very much, but of course he was the scene of countless kisses from the couple. The whole room witnessed several moments of Catherine, as many good moments as bad moments, since she started working in the National Gallery. Now the room that was seen by many as ''abandoned'', has a sign on its door with the name of Catherine Middleton, written in bold letters.

The fine drizzle made the air outside even colder, but Catherine was not feeling any of that, her pink cheeks smiled gently at Matt, while they drank a cup of tea. Matt was the employee who took John's place. As soon as he entered to work at the National Gallery, he made friends with all the other employees, especially Catherine and August, although he is younger than them, the connection between the three was immediate.

“Kate, your mouth is dirty” he gently wiped the corner of her mouth with the napkin. “right here...”

“Thank you, Matt. ― Catherine smiled disconcerted at the boy's proximity. ― Well, uh... Will we continue to talk about the new exhibition this winter?” completed Catherine, and felt August's confused look on her. At the time, she gave him another look of censorship. Matt didn't notice anything.

The three started a long conversation about the exhibition, Catherine occasionally made some notes. They were so inert at work that that moment was easily forgotten, they only stopped when the sound of Catherine's cell phone alarm went off, indicating that it was lunchtime.

August was the first to practically run out of the room, claiming ''intense starve'', but everyone knew that he did it every time he had the opportunity to have lunch with his husband. Matt left slower, wishing Catherine a good lunch and closed the door behind him. Maybe it was the cold, but that day Catherine did not feel hungry, with slow steps she went to the cafeteria while dialed William's number, by the time he should have finished the two meetings.

The call went straight to the mailbox. Well, maybe William hadn't finished yet.

Catherine decided to have a meal at the Museum's cafeteria, after removing her plate, she located the black-haired man.

“Can I sit with you? ― she said pointing to the vacant seat next to Matt.

“Of course you can!” Matt exclaimed, smiling. “I thought you were going to have lunch with William, if I had known I would have waited for you.”

“We are full of work here and William is also busy, he would be very busy.” she replied, starting to eat.

For a while, they were both silent just next to each other. Without any strange weather.

“After you finish lunch, shall we go to that new candy store around the corner?” Matt asked, making Catherine look in his direction. Matt can witness his face light up and something inside him woke up. Matt noticed that he loved to make Catherine smile.

“But of course yes! I've been wanting to go there for days.” she put the cutlery on the plate, moving the tray away a little, got up. “I've already finished, shall we?” Matt got up promptly and involuntarily took his and Catherine's tray, she just whispered a thank you.

Leaving the trays on the counter, they went walking and talking excitedly to the candy store, the fine drizzle kept falling over the city, the icy wind hitting their face, they left distracted that they didn't even remember to take an umbrella, Matt put on the hood of the sweater and Catherine wrapped herself in the scarf, as they entered the store they were taken by the hot and sweet air, a mixture of cocoa and hazelnut penetrated their nostrils, it was so wonderful and cozy that Catherine didn't even notice her phone ringing non-stop. Matt and the sweets were the only things that held her attention at that moment.

Buckingham Palace

A typical cold winter morning, the fine drizzle making everything even colder, he held a black umbrella, his well-illustrated black shoes being sprinkled with light drops, produced a trail on the sidewalk of Buckingham Palace. William took 10 minutes by car to get there, leaving the car in the parking lot, went alone to the office of his father, King Charles III. When his father scheduled this meeting, he did not say what the subject would be, William even questioned Rob, Natalie and even his father's secretary, but no one knew the reason, leaving William intrigued to know what all that was about.

Entering the Palace, soon an employee took his umbrella and William greeted everyone as he walked to the room where his father was already.

“Good morning, father.” greeted William, upon hearing his voice Charles got up from the chair and went to meet his son to give him a hug.

“Good morning, son.” said Charles, after placing a kiss on William's cheek. “Sit here.” he completed pointing to the couch. “Would you like some tea?”

“ No, dad... Thank you... How are you? What about Camilla?” he asked as he sat down.

“We're fine, we're fine... Camilla left early for an appointment in a hospital.” the king said kindly.

“Oh, that's great. So... Did you want to see me?” asked William.

“Yes, of course... I always want to see my children... Are you sure you don't want some tea? ― said Charles. William looked at him confused. Your father was always so direct and today he was acting in a strange way.

“Dad? Did something happen?” released William. Charles looked at him scared and denied it.

“No, no, no... It's no big deal... it's, uh... William... how are things with Catherine?” Charles wore a lower tone of voice than normal.

“They're great, dad...” William was still very confused, I didn't understand anything about that conversation. ― What is all this? ― Charles looked closely at William, as if he had tried to read his mind.

“Your brother... Your brother came to me, telling a story about a supposed photo in a bar, a brunette in Kenya, something about dancing... I was confused.” Charles spoke quietly and William turned pale. “William?”

“It's been over a year. Yeah, no, no, no... Is that in the media? Why didn't Harry talk to me?” William put his hands on his head, trying to think clearly.

“So it's true?” Charles questioned him.

“No, I mean... Yes, but that's not what you're thinking.” William got up to get a glass of water.

“Do you want to tell me?”

“Of course, I have nothing to hide.” said William, with some disdain.

“When I went to Jecca's house to visit Greater Kruger National Park, Kate and I were taking a break, it was a complicated period that we went through... Anyway, I went with Jecca to Jonah's bar and there I danced with this girl... That's all, a dance. Nothing much happened and I never had contact with her again.

“Well, does Catherine know?”

“Of what?”

“The existence of this girl.”

“I never thought it was relevant to tell, there was no big deal... How could I imagine that there would be a despicable worm taking pictures of me in an establishment that in theory should be better attended?” said William angrily. “I don't understand... Why the hell, did this come to light now?” William took the glass of water in one sip.

“I don't know the details, I just know what your brother told me... Jecca told him that she's circulating there, and they thought it best to warn you before it goes viral all over the world.

“I'm sure this won't affect my relationship with Catherine at all. She'll understand, she's mature.” said William looking away from his father.

“William.” called Charles, making William look into his eyes. “Catherine is an intelligent woman, she will understand.”

For some reason, William hated hearing this from his father.

“Do you believe me?” he asked.

“William, I said that Catherine is an intelligent and understanding woman, because she knows that you would not make the same mistake as your parents.” Charles sustained William's gaze, who sighed tired. William chose not to answer, he just nodded sitting down again.

It wasn't even past ten in the morning and William and only thought about his warm bed, his body was tired as if he had run all day, but the hours passed slowly. The meeting with his father was something he never imagined: a nightmare. And now he needed to find a way to solve this situation.

William hurried out of Buckingham Palace, towards Kensington Palace, where he would have the meeting with Rob and the rest of his team... The day was just beginning.

On the way back, the prince tried to soften the bad mood by listening to music, he knew that Catherine would be busy at work, so he didn't even send messages... Thinking about her at that moment caused her a certain fear. Things couldn't go wrong... Not now, for God's sake. After everything she went through, the last thing he wanted was to be another person hurting Catherine's feelings. No. That was nothing. A simple photo that means nothing, can't ruin a relationship. While pressing the steering wheel tightly, he decided that he would tell everything to Catherine and was confident that she would understand the situation.

William parked at Kensington Palace, the bad mood still predominated, but he would never dare to take it out on his team, went through the kitchen in search of an apple and went straight to the second meeting of the day.

The whole team was already prepared to wait for the Prince of Wales, Natalie was one of the most organized people William knew, he simply loved the way she organized her life, so as the topics of the meeting passed, William's bad mood dissipated. When the issues discussed end, William had to open the game and tell about the reason for the meeting with his father and his team would help him in whatever was necessary to clarify this misunderstanding. William noticed Natalie's look at Rob, and knew that she had been annoyed that he didn't go to the bar with him that day, not that it would make any difference.

As soon as the meeting is over, everyone is leaving the room. Natalie is saving some folders, so he takes advantage of the situation.

“Nat, don't be so hard on him, it's entirely my fault.”  William says sincerely.

“I know it's not his fault, nor are you, actually.” Natalie speaks looking at him and with a sad smile leaves the office, leaving William alone with his thoughts.

It was lunchtime and William even thought about going to the National Gallery, but he thought it was better to have lunch at home, probably Mary had already prepared everything.

Mary was one of William's favorite people and of one thing he was sure: it was practically impossible to be sad next to her.

When he went down the stairs you can already feel the wonderful smell of homemade food coming from the kitchen and when passing through the door he saw that everything was ready waiting for him, Mary wore an apron and smiled maternally at him.

“Mary from heaven, what a delicious smell. That's why I love you, you know? Come, sit down,” William pulled the chair so that she would sit next to you. “let's have lunch.”

And in the midst of jokes, jokes and banal conversations, William had lunch completely forgetting the phone in the office upstairs.

Chelsea, London

The day went by so fast, that Catherine was only feeling tired when she closed the door of her apartment, threw her bag on the couch and was taking off her coat when the phone rang.

The day was so busy that they barely exchanged messages, but seeing the picture of William shining on his cell phone screen was a relief. She ran to answer and threw herself on the couch, looking at a clearly bathed William lying on her bed, smiling at her.

“Hi, my love.” Catherine was the first to speak.

“Hi, my beautiful.” his smile lit up even more. “How are you? Wow... your cheeks are so pink, are you just from work?”

“Yes, I just entered the house...” she sighed relieved. “I'm fine, and you? How was the meeting with your father? I tried to call you at lunchtime and then I saw that you got back to me... But as I told you in the message, with the new exhibition, we are very busy organizing everything... It was very busy today, I only stopped at lunchtime.”

“I thought I was running, my love. I hope things get organized...” William looked different. Insecure. Catherine noticed this and tried to cheer him up, got up from the couch and went towards the room.

“Is everything okay, William?” she looked at the cell phone screen, intrigued.

“Yes, it is, better now... Looking at you.” William was being sincere and Catherine smiled kindly at him.

“Don't you want to tell me how the conversation with your father went?” she said calmly.

“Love...” said William, swallowing it dry. “I didn't want to tell you that, so... By phone, but I want you to know from me.”  Catherine was taken by surprise and stopped walking, held her cell phone with both hands and looked at William confused.

“You're scaring me, what happened?”

“So,” he coughed, to create courage. “remember that time I got everything wrong and advanced my trip to Kenya?”  Catherine nodded. “I was very sad because I thought I had lost you and I went with Jecca to the bar there... From a friend, Jonah... I've already told you about Jonah, haven't I? And there, um... I ended up dancing with a girl.”  Catherine's shocked look was clear, but she didn't interrupt, she just looked at him waiting for him to finish talking. “And love, I swear to God that we just talked, she advised me about you and it was just a dance, a little dance of nothing, which meant nothing.” William finished speaking and kept looking at Catherine's face, waiting for an answer.

“If it didn't mean anything, why are you telling me that today?” Catherine was shocked and confused.

“It seems that someone, um... took a picture and is now circulating there, Jecca told Harry and he told my father, so he scheduled a meeting with me. It hasn't gone viral yet, but it can, uh... become news here... You know how the press is... They're going to make my life hell.

“Is that why you're so nervous?” she asked, making William look perplexed.

“I'm nervous for you... I don't want to hurt you, I didn't tell you before because I didn't think it was relevant, it didn't mean anything. Nothing happened.”

“All right, William. I believe in you.” said Catherine and William sighed relieved.

“My team is already seeing what can be done. I don't want them to tell lies about you in the media and Kate, I'm sorry... I'm really sorry. All I wanted was to protect you.

“William, we're going to go through this together, aren't we?”

“Yes, my love. Absolutely.” William felt as if they had taken a huge weight off his back. “Kate, talking about good things... What are you going to do now?” he settled down, lying on his side on the bed.

“I'm going to take a shower.” she said laughing.

“What a delicious thing, so you can take off your clothes now.”  he said laughing, making Catherine laugh.

“I'll call you in 15 minutes, okay?” she said smiling.

“Oh no, take off your clothes first...” protested William.

“You don't waste time, do you?” she said, watching William deny it with his head, while biting his lips looking glazed at the cell phone screen.

Later that night, after a long FaceTime conversation with William, Catherine was talking to herself.

“Is everything okay? Isn't it?” he whispered softly. And he added mentally: ''Maybe it's the cold, I don't know. At least I have candy.''  and he took out of his bag, a bag full of chocolates that he bought at the new candy store together with Matt.

While the TV was on in any movie, Catherine ate a chocolate and the rain fell torrentially outside.

Chapter 3

“Friends, news, distractions and tranquility.”

Catherine's desire came true, because fulfilling the demands of her work with August and Matt, the week passed so fast and her days seemed to have shortened, fortunately the exhibitions were all perfectly prepared and in the following weeks everything would return to the normality of a quiet day at work for Catherine.

Since Matt started working at the National Gallery, he has always been very friendly with Catherine, but the proximity was much greater with August and also with Elisa, Mr. Newton's secretary. Elisa was a short girl with long, very straight blonde hair and blue eyes, she was a sweet and very quiet girl, she rarely talked to the other employees of the Museum, except with Matt.

But during that week, Catherine began to talk even more with Matt, for some reason the level of intimacy between the two increased and they became even more comfortable in each other's presence, she began to trust him much more. Catherine thought she would feel strange for developing this friendly relationship with him, but on the contrary, she felt very good next to Matt, who is a great professional, making it very easy to work with him. Catherine felt that Matt was always available to her, and due to the last organizations of the exhibition he practically moved to her room and they had lunch together every day in the cafeteria and not even the cold or drizzle prevented them from walking the streets around the National Gallery, August accompanied them only at work, because during the break he left stealthily to meet her husband Arthur.

William had a busy week, but very different from Catherine, while she was surrounded by papers and working inside a comfortable room, away from prying eyes, only with his co-workers, William was surrounded by real photographers and correspondents, the only part he really liked was being close to the people. William loved meeting new people, listening to their story and somehow connecting with the "real world". William's best quality was knowing how to recognize that he was a privileged person, so he did everything to use this privilege and help the people who needed it most.

The Prince of Wales is the patron of Centrepoint, which is the UK's leading charity for young homeless people. On one of the days of this busy week, William spent the afternoon talking about fatherhood with his young and new father Joe, this made him think of Catherine and the life he planned to build with her. He also spent time observing some filming techniques from Becky, who was learning new video editing skills in the hope of finding a career in the media industry.

So were William's favorite commitments, to be close to people, as he once said to Catherine, he liked to be useful. And before leaving that institution, he pledged again that he would always help in whatever was necessary to draw attention to these solvable issues not only that day, but in the coming months and years. William believed that using his image and visibility would help, drawing attention to the action in helping those who are struggling.

William and Catherine did not see each other in person on any of those days, they only exchanged a few messages during the day and at night they always talked on FaceTime, where they always told what they had done during the day at work and also about any banal subject. William never got tired of flirting with her and making her smile and Catherine loved this affection coming from him.

It was finally Friday and August invited them to go to his house, both accepted the invitation, so now William was sitting on Catherine's bed with his back resting on the head of the bed and his legs stretched under the quilt, where more than seven pairs of clothes were scattered. Catherine went in and out of the closet, had already changed her clothes countless times and finally seemed to have found the one she liked the most. William had dressed up in his own apartment and went to Catherine's to pick him up about 45 minutes ago, but he did not dare to rush her, after all they had scheduled it at eight in the evening.

“What did you think?” said Catherine, opening her arms to show the chosen outfit. Catherine wore black tights, a dark green dress with a coat of the same tone on top, wore a pair of black boots. The fabric of the dress looked so soft and the pieces fit perfectly on her body.

“You look wonderful!” said William, getting up from the bed to surround her waist. “How lucky I am.”

“Thank you, Wills. ― said Catherine, staying on her toes, because even in heels she was shorter than him, she put a long kiss on her lips. “Shall we go?”

“Let's go!” William checked if his wallet and car key were in his pocket and then took Catherine's hand and went towards the car.

August's apartment was nearby, about 10 minutes later William parked in front of Catherine's friend's residence. The icy air was almost not even noticed, because as soon as they got out of the car, William took Catherine's hand and put it inside his own coat, she smiled at him as they walked to August's door. Earlier that day, August was very excited about this dinner, Catherine spent the whole afternoon trying to get information from him, but it was in vain.

August and Arthur welcomed them with great affection at their home, Arthur loved to cook and prepared a delicious dinner for them, William felt very comfortable with Catherine's friends. August was a very fun person, who spoke non-stop, Arthur was more reserved and always laughed at everything August said, they had been together for 8 years, but those who see from the outside think they are newly married. The house was so welcoming, the atmosphere exuded love and complicity, it was great to be in their company. After dinner, Arthur invited them to sit in the living room, while drinking wine, August was a little agitated than usual.

“For God's sake, August... Are you trying to kill me with anxiety?” said Catherine laughing. She was holding a glass of wine and William was sitting next to her, also enjoying the taste of a delicious Italian wine. Arthur laughed and looked at his husband.

“I still can't believe you could hold the news even for her. I have to confess, I'm so proud, I thought you wouldn't be able to keep it a secret.” Arthur laughed and took a sip of wine.

“Well, it was very very very very difficult, there were moments that I almost couldn't stand, I thought I was going to die...” said August, laughing and making everyone laugh. He put the cup on the coffee table. “Shall we tell you, love?”Arthur got up and went towards August, he was sitting in the armchair to the left of the sofa where William and Catherine were sitting, the man touched the armchair while caressing his husband's back. Catherine shook William's hand and they both looked closely at them.

“Kate... William... finally! We're going to be parents! We found our son, we found our boy.” exclaimed August, the joy was palpable.

“OH MY GOD!” Catherine screamed, pushing the cup to the coffee table and lifting in a jump. “What wonderful news, Augus!” two steps were enough for her to get to her friends, Catherine hugged August who had also gotten up with her scream. “I'm so happy for you.” she joined Arthur in the hug. William remained seated, but the smile was stamped on his face.

Catherine separated from their embrace with watery eyes.

William got up and congratulated Arthur with a warm hug, then hugged August as well.

“And then... Can you tell us how this happened?” William asked, while pulling Catherine to sit on his lap.

“So, it's been a while since we entered the documentation, Kate knows that we always wanted this...” he smiled at her who nodded. “and you know it's something very complicated, I honestly was almost discouraged, but Augus never let me lose hope. And then, three months ago, the updates started. First we got a call and then we went there to meet him.”Arthur and August's face lit up even more. “And it was perfect, he's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.”

“Our boy's name is Luke, and he is 1 year and 9 months old. He's wonderful, do you want to see a picture of him?”completed August.

“Of course!” said William and Catherine.  August unlocked the cell phone, looking in the photo gallery, handed the cell phone into the hands of Catherine, who can't help but smile when looking at the photo. A boy with brown hair and big and bright eyes of the color of jabuticaba, a round nose and a shy smile, he was sitting under a carpet and wore a blue jacket. “Oh my God, he is so beautiful!” said Catherine, delighted.

“He's charming, look at that naughty face. Congratulations, guys. Your son is beautiful.” said William, smiling, as he caressed Catherine's arm. When they looked at the baby's photo, something inside them warmed up even more.

“This needs to be celebrated! Let's toast!” suggested Catherine. Everyone agreed.

When they went to toast, Arthur also said that he had been promoted in his work, he said that he had not told him before because the news of the approval of the adoption was much more important than a promotion, nothing would be match for this wonderful news.

Amid laughter, wine and joy, August told more details of the whole adoption process to Catherine and when Luke would come home with them, while William started a conversation with Arthur about his work.

“Kate, there's something I need to tell you...” August said, holding his shoulder.

“What is it?” asked Catherine.

“Arthur will be transferred to the York Unit, where he will lead the branch there, we are looking for houses, we want a bigger place than our apartment. We are in contact with a broker who showed us some.”

“So you're going to leave the Gallery?” she asked and he nodded. “I'm so happy for you, that I can't even be sad about not having my best friend with me every day.”

“Ah, Kate!” he exclaimed and hugged the brunette again. “I'm so relieved to finally tell you! I've wanted to have contact for a long time, but I was afraid things would go wrong and you would be one more person to be sad with us, and you know... I hate to see you sad.”

“I also hate to see you sad, I've noticed that you were more distant, always leaving in the breaks, and I'm so relieved to know that everything worked out and soon Luke will be with you and I can't wait to meet you.”

“I already talked to Mr. Newton and he gave me a letter of recommendation, next week is my last week. We want to fix everything before Luke arrives, so I'm leaving right away.”

“I'm so happy for you, but I'll miss you so much at work.”pondered Catherine.

“At least now you have Matt.” August replied. At that moment, William looked at Catherine. Arthur had gone to the room to get a piece to show William and he ended up paying attention to the conversation of the two while waiting for his friend's return.

“Oh, but it's not the same thing.” said Catherine and her cheeks blushed involuntarily. For some reason hearing Matt's name and receiving a curious look from William made her embarrassed.

“Matt? That guy who came in recently?” asked William. He knew exactly who it was, but he asked anyway.

“Yes, himself.” replied August.

“Ah.” that's what William just said. And he thanked God that Arthur returned, because he didn't like to hear the phrase "At least you have Matt." What did he mean by that? Catherine didn't talk about Matt, she rarely mentioned his name in conversations about work. William knew that he had no right to think like that, much less make a scene at his friends' house because of a phrase, even more so on a day like today when everyone is very happy.

“Look at that!” exclaimed Arthur and William turned his attention to him.

Catherine tried to disguise the embarrassment and started asking about baby things, so she and August started a long conversation about children's clothes, furniture and room decoration.

The night passed practically in the blink of an eye, it was past eleven thirty at night when they said goodbye to the couple of friends and went straight to Catherine's apartment, while talking about the news of August and Arthur.

“Kate,” said William, while taking off his shirt. “what did August mean by "at least now you have Matt"?”

“Oh, it's just that now Matt and I are getting closer, because of the exhibition, he's in front.” Catherine replied, she went into the closet to change her clothes. Leaving William alone in the room.

“You rarely talk about him and the way Augus spoke, it seems that you are more than co-workers...” said William.

“Will, will you want to talk about it?” Catherine came out of the closet wearing William's favorite sweater. “He's just my friend and we got a little closer because of work.” she approached slowly. “I don't want to talk about it,” stopping in front of him, she touched the tip of her finger on William's naked abdomen. “do you want to talk about it?” he denied, his eyes were fixed on Catherine's body and the subject Matt had been completely forgotten.

“I missed you so much this week.” said William, his hands grabbed her waist. He put a kiss on his right shoulder.  “I love this sweater.” her kisses went up to her neck, who sighed as she felt his touch.

“I missed you every day and it's so cold outside, I'll need you to warm me up today.” Catherine said softly, her hands went up and down William's torso.

William held her chin with his fingertips, his face slowly approached hers and Catherine can feel his breath in her mouth. Catherine wanted to kiss him and as he approached, William retreated a little and smiled.

“Why did you do that?” she asked laughing, approaching again.

“Just to see how much you want.” he whispered in her ear, making Catherine shiver at the tone of her voice and kissed her.

Catherine returned the kiss immediately and on an impulse William squeezed her waist, she climbed on her lap, crossing her legs on his back who carried her to bed, without separating her mouth from hers. When Catherine felt her back hitting the soft quilt, she stopped the kiss to leave a slight bite on William's lips who smiled with her eyes closed because she felt her hands around her body, she slowly caressed her skin towards the south, stopping at the waistband of her pants, as she unbuttoned and opening the zipper the fabric was sliding down his thick legs, William nibbled his neck.

The prince got up quickly to finish taking off his pants and lay down again, his body glued to Catherine's.

“Five days without feeling you like this,” William pushed her legs away, hovering over her body. Your intimacies separated only by the fabric of the sweater and the box underwear. “can I warm you up like that?” Catherine looked at him in amaze, biting her lips.

“That's just how I want it, love.” Catherine trapped William between her legs, pushing his body into hers.

“Fuck, Kate...” his hands walked through her body. “how hot you are.” Catherine breathed with difficulty, feeling his hardness and her skin burned with desire.

“Your...” she whispered and he looked into her eyes. “I'm your hottie.”

Upon hearing this, something inside William exploded, he advanced against Catherine starting a voracious kiss, his agile hands pulling the fabric of the sweater, William wanted to feel her skin even more, separating the kiss just to pass the piece of clothing through her head. His blue eyes shone brightly as he contemplated her body that was covered only by the small panties that were soon taken off, as well as his underwear. William ran a finger through the intimacy of Catherine who moaned loudly. With his hand he stimulated Catherine's center and with his lips he licked and nibbled her breasts, making her shiver, moan and beg for him.

William made a trail of kisses through the brunette's body, until he reached her intimacy, when Catherine felt his tongue could not avoid the loud moan that came out of her mouth, her restless body was firmly held by William's hands, she on the other hand, clung to the quilt while feeling William's tongue giving her pleasure, the waves of orgasm invading her body.

Catherine's panting breath returned to normal and the prince affectionately massaged her thighs, while kissing her flat belly, in order to calm the spasms of her body. Catherine wasted no time and pulled him for a kiss, where she can feel her own taste mixed in his tongue.

Catherine grabbed William's back and his member slid into his hot and receptive entrance, he moaned in his mouth as he felt his penis being swallowed by her tight pussy. William started slow and firm lunges. Catherine moaned his name, seducing him, driving him crazy, making him reach the limit. William knew where Catherine's sensitive points were and encouraged her to reach the apex together, while whispering nonsense in her ear. Feeling that she was close, she increased the thrusts even more, the sound of their bodies colliding in a sensual and hot way. She exploded into an overwhelming orgasm and three lunges after William followed him pouring inside her while moaning her name. Before leaving her, William kissed her affectionately.

“I love you, my hottie.” he laughed and put another kiss on his lips. William got off her, and brought her to his chest. Catherine had her head resting on him and with her right index finger drew small circles on her bare chest.

“I love you,” she said laughing too. “you're hot too, you know? And very, very mine.”

“That I am yours, I have no doubts!” he completed and pressed against him. William and Catherine lay under the covers and talked until they fell asleep, not caring about wearing any clothes and having no idea what was to come.

[fandsart]

If Nancy really treated Steve's essay as garbage because she started to resent him or thought their relationship was meaningless, that's such a cruel thing to do. Obviously the essay meant much to Steve, it's very important for his future, Nancy fucking that up leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like why would she want to sabotage Steve in that way, especially after he told her how much she means to him and how he wants to build a life with her. It always bugs me when people claim Steve was terrible to her, meanwhile he always made sure to tell her how much he loves her.

I still think Nancy exaggerated with criticism because her own writing is more bland and direct. Like she's a calculated and cool person, which would reflect in her writing, she gets straight to the point. Where Steve used a metaphor and was not direct at all. (I also am still a believer that the basketball game itself was a metaphor for him fighting the demogorgon a year prior, but he obviously can't write about that). And you know sometimes direct straight to the point writing is great especially for reporting. But still it shows there is a lack of skills there, which the ST narrative would never touch on because Nancy is perfect in everything.

I don't think Nancy intentionally sabotaged him or anything. I just think that we were given that scene for narrative reasons, to show certain incompatibilities subtly. I suggested the idea that she was looking for things to critique about it, but it would be all subconscious. Especially when she views him as kind of dumb, she'd be going in with the preconception that there are mistakes to be corrected

Nancy saying she doesn't know how the two subjects Steve wrote about connect could be a parallel to Steve and Nancy not connecting, though I don't think that's intentional

But I do think it shows that Nancy doesn't have much ability to analyze nuance. The conversation is really interesting. Nancy is a very straightforward person, so she doesn't understand where Steve was coming from in his essay, but Steve isn't, which is why he couldn't explain his point concisely. Of course by the nature of the characters and how they perceive themselves and each other it leaves them both feeling like Steve is just The Dumb One of the relationship. It's a really good scene for expressing the blatant incompatibility between them

And yes, I'm very aware of the whole thing about him using the basketball game as a stand in to express his experience with the demogorgon the previous year. I thought about bringing that up in one of my previous answers but my responses kept getting really long without it

This is one thing I think is interesting about the whole "Steve pretends to be normal as a coping mechanism" thing that the fandom believes. I'm honestly not sure that's his only coping mechanism, just the one he uses if any other option would result in the government coming after him. But his using metaphor here is an expression of his feelings and possibly intentional. I like the idea that he assumes Nancy would have picked up on it, but still does need to critique it as a school essay, so doesn't really bring it up, but really Nancy's straight forward nature and inability to pick up on nuance had it going completely over her head

Especially given her view of those events, where it was a big scary thing that Steve showed up for at the last minute. I don't think she really realizes that it affected him much at all. He couldn't have been that scared if he showed back up again, and he won, so he's tough, and he hasn't been there for all of the really scary things, so why would he need to express his feelings about the situation. Nothing even happened to him. Which would probably also add to her whole perspective of him being bullshit, because she doesn't register his emotions about everything as being as valid as hers because she experienced more of the situation than him