#they're all horrible and make terrible life decisions

[unfotp]

As a scum villain main I have no choice but to stan Jiang Cheng.

(Also considering mxtx wrote the three books, mdzs really does feel like a fandom-in-law. Specifically a mother-in-law, you know the type whose constantly complaining.)

[waokevale]

Introducing Follower gang!

There. Finally did all the Bishops follower designs!

The 7 deadly sins

And some other follower gang, done with lineart this time because the other 2 pieces made me lose my soul for how long they took.

(Also a small HC if I may: Dr. Sozonius is trapped inside the mushroom on Sozos head, while the actual mushroom is controlling his body)

+ some more doodles

Info about the 7 Sins and more doodles below:

Jeg represents Greed - he was one of the first of Lamb's followers. (At first, it was very difficult for Lambert to indoctrinate people, due to their inexperience, this guy was like the 5th or so) Jeg has...a very specific personality to say the least, yet the Lamb can't help but be fond of him. They eventually nominate him the Tax enforcer role and...That might've been the worst decision of their life. But they did not take the role away. Jeg acts smug 24/7 and relishes in his new power, but deep down, dudes pretty insecure, ( but don't tell anyone!) He used to have a huge crush on the lamb, but then Narinder and eventually the other bishops came, and since their leader was for some reason head over heels for the ex god of death, Jeg grew bitter and often got into fights with Nari, as well as charging him and his other siblings more than the average follower. Though he's mostly mellowed out since then.

Brash represents Gluttony They despise Helob, since they used to fight for "food" a lot, and eventually Brash got really injured and was found by the Lamb. She tried to eat them, but was quickly disarmed. Despite this, they decided to spare him and bring his sorry ass back to the cult to indoctrinate. They were very cunning and didn't trust the lamb either, but eventually they cooled off and accepted the new life. She still eats people tho, just not from the cult, otherwise jail or *worse*

Yara represents Pride She is one of the core followers. She's very strict and somewhat self-centered, she likes things done her way, or if not her way, the lambs way. Period. No one else can boss her around or even give a helpful advice. She's actually a pretty stand up deer, and despite being incredibly stubborn still makes a good friend. She gets along with most people though Brash annoys her, since he keeps snatching body parts off corpses. She has always been extremely devoted to the lamb and will be annoyed if any follower dissents and tries to preach against them. She wasn't surprised in the slightest when they eventually took down all the bishops.

Thorn represents Envy He had a pretty terrible life before the cult. When he was brought in, she was bitter about her newfound situation. He wasn't very trusting of the lamb and thought they expected something out of her (which technically they did, but it's just work). He envies the fools who are so oblivious and just do everything as they're told and let their lives be guided by some amateur god. Similar to the other two, he puts on a mask, He often acts overly saccharine to hide his true feelings, but doesn't have any bad intentions. (Most of the time) She does genuinely like some people, but others, he only pretends to like to appease the lamb or to blackmail them. He hates when the people he actually cares about are threatened.

Jermo represents Wrath Jermo absolutely does not trust anyone. Similar to Thorn, and most other followers tbh, their life was absolutely horrible prior to the cult. They trusted some people, they got betrayed, and almost died several times because of it. It was extremely difficult for the lamb to make them stop dissenting. They legit had to give them the loyalty necklace in order for them to finally stop dissenting. Jermo keeps getting into fights with other followers, because they feel as though everyone is always against them or is constantly judging them. (They're technically not wrong) They've died 5 times, because they keep getting into fights with other followers. Lamb strongly considered keeping them dead, but decided to challenge themself with them (also they're too cuddly to just be killed off) Despite their many, *many* flaws, Thorn has a huge crush on them, since he's one of the people who managed to see their soft side. Jermo, deep, deep, deep down actually cares a lot, but they've been hurt too much by everyone, so they retaliate for the same stuff to not repeat.

Herett represents Lust At some point, she passingly heard about the cult and since it seemed like a peaceful place from the rumors (and also had hot people in it) she eagerly joined in. She's usually in the kitchen area, if not hanging around the love tent or babysitting some kids. She crushes on almost everyone, but for some reason she hates Kallamar (legit in my actual game she rejected him so hard, despite having the lustful trait and not caring prior)

Mateo represents Sloth Is perhaps the 1st or 2nd of Lambs followers, so they're absolutely not letting go of him, dudes lived 4 long lives and is tired of it, he keeps switching jobs since with age he's been slacking off more. He's currently stuck as a janitor (he hates it) He's also one of the few people who managed to befriend Jermo, his mellow, don't care attitude is somewhat comforting to them. Aside that, he gets along with almost everyone, as best as he can at least.

Not much else to say about the gang in the third pic but Riley and Dannie are platonic bffs and were forced to babysit kids when the lamb was crusading. The lamb was a little incompetent here to give carnivores children to take care of, but thankfully they actually managed to be good with them and got used to being on nanny duty.

The capybara (Beige) is a retired teacher and adopted a little owlet to take care of (Chip)

While Femur is our below yellow cat, and that's my HC name for him. He's a gatherer here.

[notthestarwar]

God I'm legit screaming thinking about my reply to this comment again tho

Like. Such an interesting aspect of the clones is that they did have their childhoods taken from them. It isn't the same as a species that develops at double the speed of humans! Cause they ARE humans. Which absolutely does not mean that they are adult sized children. They are adults. They think like adults. They are developmentally, physically and psychologically adults: but they are not the people they would have been, people with a whole well adjusted childhood behind them.

Which I think is frankly a fascinating thing to explore. It's a great metaphor. When looking at things like: if anyone bothered to ask, could they have consented to their place in the army? Which. Yes. On an individual basis they absolutely could. They are adults, they deserve the autonomy to make that decision and have it accepted, even if the choice they make isn't necessarily the one that another sentient with a different childhood might have made in their position. They can consent. But is it informed consent? Well no. They've kinda been brainwashed. Ethically, you're on unsteady territory there in asking them to choose when you know what their answer is going to be. Does that mean you shouldn't ask? Hell no! Of course you should ask. Does that mean you shouldn't accept their decision? Of course not! They're adults and it's their life.

The only way to approach this ethically would be to give them all the information beforehand and hope that they're as informed as possible. But really. Whatever you do, it isn't really right. The ethical thing is for noone to be in this position in the first place. This isn't ethical unless the clones did have childhoods and were not programmed to WANT to die for the republic and you don't have to ask them under those circumstances, because you've conscripted your army in a normal way.

Anyway my comment (and the fic) kinda went about this in looking at things from a Jedi perspective. Mace is asking. What the fuck do you do in that circumstance? Army has been raised and created in a horrible way, you had no idea and couldn't stop it and now they're being delivered to you. How do you do right by them? You can't! Certainly not as Jedi. Theyre in a ethical trap. They can only try their best but whatever they do, they are promoting the fucked up system that put these men in that position in the first place. Even if they could walk away from the republic (highly debatable) You either leave them to fend for themselves knowing there will be a huge loss of life, or you go in to war alongside them, hoping that in doing so you can smooth the way for them. Hoping that you'll figure out how to free them soon. Hoping that you can save as many of their lives as possible.

Like wow. Terrible situation to be in for anyone. No way you're getting out of that one without betraying them in some way. But for the jedi? Who rely on a philosophy that promotes the importance of all sentient life, to stop them falling and pretty much losing themselves to a mystic power that's gonna do all it can to turn them in to a time bomb, destroying themselves and hurting as many ppl as possible on the way out. Like I can't think of a less conflicting ethical dilemma for them to find themselves in. The war destroys the Jedi. If Palpatine was patient he wouldn't have needed order 66. They were never getting out of that alive. The war broke them, it was in complete opposition to their philosophy and they were tearing themselves apart from the inside.

Anyway this is my comment:

"It is!!! I think this is such a key way that its really hard for anyone to do right by them and be fair. They are adults, it wouldn't be fair to force them in to the life of a child. Or to patronise them. But in the same hand, they shouldn't be adults, something was taken from them and it's not fair to just ignore the fact that their childhoods were stolen from them. They aren't the people they'd be if they got to live those childhoods, but they aren't children either. They think like adults, they feel like adults; but adults that grew in to adults without the learning potential that a proper childhood provides.

It's an extreme, but it's an extreme of an issue that's unfortunately common irl. As an adult whose childhood didn't give you what what you needed, you are innately aware that you lost something that you can never get back. You can make the most out of who you are now, but without a time machine, you'll never have the childhood you should have had. And that, I think is something that Jaster himself is very aware of. When Mace tells him this, he knows the weight of it and he immediately knows that for the clones, it's so much worse.

Like I don't think it should be understated that the whole situation with the clones and the Jedi being asked to lead them was like perfect Jedi torture. It's a complete moral quandary and every way betrays their philosophy. The clones were slaves. They were born to be soldiers, trained from birth, their entire lives built around this war they didn't choose. But it was all they knew. They were indoctrinated in to that life from birth. Had the Jedi found a way to free them, I honestly think the vast majority of the clones would have been offended. They had been raised to believe their life's meaning was to fight for the jedi. They wanted to. It may not have been an informed decision, but, they did want it.

And that's when you really come in to difficulty with, these are adults that should be children. Because it isn't fair to tell another adult that they are wrong to want what they want and that they only want that because they don't have the experience to realise its a bad option. You can't be like 'I know what's best for you'. They are just as much of an adult as you. They are just as capable of thinking things through as you are. But in the same hand, had the clones been born in to a different life, would they still want to be soldiers? Probably not! But they are already adults by this point, their brains are developed, they can't get that childhood back. So to say 'I know that's what you want but it's only because your lack of childhood made you incapable of seeing what's right for you' would be humongously fucked up. There really isn't a way for the Jedi on the council to approach them that doesn't betray at least a part of what the clones are and I think that's important to address."

I do think it's a really interesting thing to chew on and a lot of the debate I see around it in my eyes misses the point completely. There isn't a right answer. There was never going to be a right answer. This didn't happen accidentally. Palpatine set it up to cause as much damage as possible. The clones were born betrayed and the Jedi, were fated to play a part in that, whatever they did. There was no way out.

[onlyseokmins]

show and tell • l.s.m.

Pairing: lee seokmin x afab!reader Genres: smut (minors dni!), best friends/idiots to lovers!au Warnings: swearing, lotssss of teasing/switch dynamics, tickling, reader is obsessed w/ seokmin's body, they're idiots your honor and they're a lil bit in L-word 🤮, mingyu thrown under the bus as always, ONE BAD PUN BC I THINK I'M FUNNY, sex is as silly as me, BIG COCK SEOK 🗣️ like he's fucking huge okay, oral (both rec. kind of), attempt at 69 but seok's a menace the entire time, fingering, CRYING/TEARS, possession, biting, marking, multiple orgasms, squirting, lil bit of cumplay ig?, mentions of prev partners, overstim... i think that's it lmk if i missed smth 🥵😰 WC: 6.5k A/N: um so this is the most self-indulgent thing i dared to post you're WELCOME i shall now go die in a hole to never be seen ever again... happy belated birthday to the loml ugh ty to all the frens that let me sob in their dms and to @onlymingyus for helping me with a damn title 💖

The commonly shared belief among your friend group was that Seokmin is abnormally soft when it comes to you.

You thought they were full of shit. 

The bestest buddy in the world was also the softest ray of morning sunshine to ever exist in general. You could barely count on one hand the number of people he genuinely ever showed disdain towards or didn't get along with. All in all — it was extremely hilarious in your opinion because Seokmin's fluffy personality greatly contrasted with his lean, sharp physique. 

Ironically, the main reason you ended up in this position.

Just moments before, you were on his bed and caged between his arms. The dog tag necklace you'd gifted, engraved with his birth date and initials, swinging in the same rhythm that your heart rapidly beats with the small space separating your bodies. A sly grin raises the corners of his lips, the long fingers of his left-hand creeping up to trail lightly at your sides.

"I know you have abs."

Seokmin's hands fly up to wrap defensively around his body, though all in good jest. "You can't just ask a dude how many abs he has!"

"And you can't lie to me by saying you don't have any! Do you know how many of your dude-bros have blabbed about your crazy gym routine to me? Can you even guess how many girls bitched at me 'cause you weren't shirtless at my pool party? As if that's my fault?"

"But it's mine?"

"No, all I have to do is prove them wrong. So, show me the goods!"

You sucked at making up your mind — what to eat, what to wear, what to watch, what to do — okay, but who doesn't? It's something Seokmin was very familiar with, hence him always having to pick up wherever you left off. He also knows just as well that once you've settled on something, you'll see it through to the very end. Eventually. 

Which normally works out in his favor except in moments like now. So he resorts to a different preventative measure — tickling the decisiveness right out of you.

Like hell you'll let him do what he wants.

Maybe the whispers about him being soft for you were right. After all, it's to your utter benefit when you push at his shoulder. Only a bit unbalanced, he easily falls onto his side and you scramble to climb on top of him at record speed, one arm pinning Seokmin's wrists against the pillow beneath his head. 

Unfortunately, this looks like one of your 3,718,493,842 very bad choices in life. Once again, something you didn't think all the way through. Sure, you've bested Seokmin at light wrestling and play-fighting before — back when you were toddlers and all he did was cry.

Now, at adult ages, it seems like a horrible, terrible, very bad idea to have him beneath you. Your fingers play with the hem of his black t-shirt that's ridden up ever so slightly, unbearablely close to the leather band of his silver belt buckle. 

Seokmin's pupils are blown wide as he looks up at you with a strange, almost starry-eyed look of surprise. Black bangs flipped up across the dark gray of his blanket, silver chain askew shining against his collarbones, mouth slightly ajar.

Suddenly you're hyper-aware of sitting right on top of him, completely obliterating the distance between your bodies earlier, and leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination from what you can feel nestled in between your legs. 

"Would it be inappropriate of me to take your shirt off right now?" you can't help but ask.

He laughs, all breathless and high-pitched like he does when he's nervous. "You're asking for permission?"

"Seokmin," you whine and shift your hips in protest without thinking. Another bad move. Oops. "I'm trying to be polite."

"You have me pinned to my bed with the intent to strip me and you're worried about being polite?"

"Oh, please, you could easily break free."

It's true. His wrists twitch a bit under your grasp, almost like he's attempting to do just that but you're faster once more. Or he's just letting you have your way with him. Whatever the case, your other hand firmly holds both of his down which only brings your faces closer together.

"Don't move."

"Okay," Seokmin agrees and licks his lips, "at least you know what consent means."

"Are you consenting?"

"Depends on what to."

"Me taking off your shirt."

"… Should I be flattered?"

"Very."

Brown eyes close, his brow furrowing. For a minute, you think you've accidentally taken things too far and are about to quickly apologize and backpedal before things backfire until his lips quirk up and Seokmin snorts.

"Never imagined you'd be stripping me like this."

You would agree because what the hell? All this for some abs? But the way he says it makes you pause.

"Have you imagined this before?"

Expecting him to panic or something, you're even more taken aback when he bites his lip like he's holding back more laughter. 

"And what if I have? You'll be offended even if I lie." 

You narrow your eyes challengingly while his sparkle. "Are you… flirting with me?" 

"That is not how I flirt but okay." 

"You're being weird. Weird weird. Like super-duper weird." 

"Says the one soaking my jeans, right now." 

You want to scream. Instead, you let out a scandalized gasp, eyes widening. The effort it takes to bolt away means you must release Seokmin. Something that doesn't even cross your mind with the shame heating up your cheeks, mortification setting off every sirening alarm in your nervous system.

Your first mistake.

Countless other mistakes will be made after this, but looking back — could they really be watered down to just a mistake after the end results? Why you're even so embarrassed in the first place is beyond you. And your best friend has zero intentions of letting you get away from him.

The minute Seokmin's hands are freed, one flies to keep your hips pressed against his while the other gently braces your back. Lifting his torso up with insane core strength he clearly was lying about not having, you have no choice but to wrap an arm instinctively around his neck like a koala. Your other hand curls into a fist, clinging against the fabric straining with the flex of his chest muscles while simultaneously attempting to push him back in a futile effort.

"Breathe," Seokmin murmurs in mild concern. His eyes crinkle as he smiles encouragingly. "Breathe for me, babe."

You hadn't even realized you were holding your breath. If you inched any closer forward, your nose would brush against his, and leaning too far back would end up with him on top of you again.

"This is all your fault, babe."

"You're the one that started this in the first place, babe."

"All I wanted was to see your abs," your voice drops to a pathetic whisper, "babe."

"All you had to do was ask, silly."

"I did!"

To your horror, he leans in even closer with a devious smirk so his nose brushes tenderly against yours. "For yourself. Not others."

"What… what are you playing at Seokmin?"

"It's like you misinterpret everything I do on purpose."

"I — "

"If you think I'm just playing around you're sorely mistaken."

A beat of silence. "Then what are you doing?"

"Nothing," he says innocently even though the hand on your back trails upwards and not-so-innocently unclasps the bra underneath your shirt. 

Your jaw drops. Of course, your modest top is still on and the shoulder straps keep your undergarment in place. Yet, you feel naked with the way Seokmin shamelessly ogles your covered chest and lets out a satisfied groan, pleased that you weren't wearing a sports bra. After all, it's not the first time he's done that for you — but it is under this strange context.

"Seokmin — "

"I'll do whatever you want me to do. Tell me." His voice is low, rougher than you've ever heard, causing tingles to shoot down your spine at the way he says your name. "I should take full responsibility for whatever happens."

His last sentence echoes over and over inside your head because yeah, what the hell is going to happen? — until you blurt out, "You find me attractive?"

Finally, Seokmin acts the way you expect and are familiar with, his shy demeanor coming out like sun rays peeking through overcast clouds. Bowing his head, forehead flopping on your shoulder, he admits defeat. 

"As if that's even a question, goofball."

"No way — there's no way! My bestie, you, find me, your bestie, like. Hot?"

"Look, I know it's cliché to fall for your friend and all that stupid shit," he grumbles, "but you don't have to sound so shocked. I already know thanks to Mingyu."

You freeze. "Know what?"

"… You're really going to make me say it?" he laughs in disbelief and shakes his head against your shoulder, causing your loose strap to slide down. "When my pride's already in tatters?"

Urging Seokmin to pick up his head and look at you, you face his brown eyes straight-on and cup his flushed cheek. "What did Mingyu say that crushed your pride?"

He sighs. "He told you I liked you before I ever got the chance to say it myself to you."

Your eyebrows raise. "He did?"

"Yeah. And I thought you just. Well. I don't know, I thought you were just ignoring it out of consideration or something. Obviously. Since you didn't say anything."

"… All 'cause I was pretty sure he blabbered about accidentally spilling the beans to you about me liking you."

The both of you pause, silently cursing poor Mingyu. He did mean well. Somehow.

"You're joking right," Seokmin whispers, "is this real?"

"What makes you think it's not."

"Because you've only ever returned my feelings in my dreams."

Your pride swells at that, wrapping your arms around his neck daringly. "Dream about me often?"

He falls backward on the bed, taking you down with him with your bodies pressed tightly together. You admire his handsome features with renewed thirst while he shuts his eyes, no longer forcing yourself to view him through the platonic lenses you'd kept on for so long.

Then his eyes flash back open and you flinch at the burning desire blazing within them. He's never looked at you like that, at least not directly and it ignites the equal yearning you feel for him like a match.

"Yeah," he answers your teasing question, "I do."

Just the thought alone makes you dizzy. Your best friend, your sweet and lovely Seokmin who puts up with all your bullshit, laying here on this exact bed with thoughts of you consuming his mind. Pining for you. Wanting you. Shit, you think he deserves to have all his fantasies come true. And you're more than happy to help him out. 

"What do we do in your dreams?"

"Everything. Anything."

An iron-clad grip will probably leave bruises behind but it's not enough to stop you from a slow, lazy grind of your hips. You sit up for more leverage, hands on his broad shoulders for support, watching with smugness oozing out of your smile as he struggles to continue his wholesome thoughts.

"Holding hands, cute dates, buying you pretty things… "

"C'mon babe," you tease, "what else?"

"Ah… " Seokmin sighs, throwing an arm over his face to hide his eyes though it can't hide the flush creeping up his neck, to his cheeks, and coloring his cute ears. "You know… "

"Nah, I don't. Not unless you tell me." 

"… Just gets lonely in bed. At night. Cold."

"We've slept together before when I've stayed the night and vice versa."

"Mhm, but never with my dick inside of you."

You coo, trying to keep up your unbothered façade as though the quickening pace of your hips isn't making an insane mess of his lap. 

"Poor little Seokminnie had to jerk off all by himself." Leaning down to whisper maliciously in the ear that isn't shielded by his elbow, "Or did you do it while I was laying next to you because you were so frustrated?"

"As if," he scoffs, "and I'm not sure what you mean by little."

Like a switch has flipped, two hands return and grip your hips, keeping them stationary. To prove his point hard, it's Seokmin's turn to grind his pelvis up into the moist heat of your covered cunt while holding you still to feel every agonizingly delicious drag of his cock. The way he can feel you pulse against him even through your thin shorts, the devastating whimper that leaves your mouth when the rough fabric manages to catch your clit just right make up for the mildly gross stickiness of precum inside of his jeans.

A sadistic grin leers at you, almost a snarl. Such a jarring contrast to the normally soft, fond looks you're used to and a shudder runs through your body at the shock, another rush of heated arousal dripping from your pussy.

It's cute, Seokmin thinks to himself, how you put up this act and think you're the one in control when it's really me, the one whose lap you're on.

"Can you even blame me?" he growls, not waiting nor expecting any answer as he sits back up, jostling your body in the process. "I was so good, so well-behaved in front of you. And yet you waltz around me with barely anything on all the damn time, flirting with all my friends in that skimpy bathing suit without a care in the world… "

You don't even know when you ended up on your back. Staring wide-eyed into Seokmin's narrowed ones, his eyelids fluttering as he recalls these memories, fist clenched and arms tense as he towers on top of you once again. He's panting, lower body still pressed against yours.

"Batting your eyelashes at me, giggling, grinding that sweet ass all over me on the dancefloor and then skipping away even though I wanted to touch you so badly… and if that's not torturing enough, constantly showing up in my dreams, always out of reach… So yeah, I'm just a little frustrated, sorry."

"I'm… I'm… I-I didn't know — "

"I know that. I know that and that's why I felt like utter trash. You didn't mean any of it and here I am throwing my disgusting fantasies on you."

"Don't say that," you plead and cup the side of his face, running your thumb repeatedly across his mole. "You're not trash, Seokmin. I wasn't thinking — I mean I didn't realize… I just — "

"Please," he interrupts suddenly, desperately begging. "Please tell me… if this… if this is going to be a spur of the moment, out of pity, and a one-time thing… please tell me you don't want this. That you don't want me — "

"I want to kiss you." 

You watch his body tremble before he takes a deep breath, smiling up at him as his eyes gradually open. They blink owlishly at you, nearly crossing in his attempt to scan your face if he really heard you correctly as you guide him by the jawline close to your lips.

"I want you, Seokmin."

To be honest, you've never really imagined what it'd feel like to kiss your best friend. The movies you've watched make it out to be magical, enchanting, and something out of a fairy tale. Sure, maybe they're not wrong but the majority of entertainment is the bad boy turning sweet or a soft boy remaining a gentleman.

Nothing's prepared you for awakening the beast in a good boy.

He kisses you with a ferocity that steals your breath from the get-go. A sensual clash of teeth, tongue, spit, love bites, and nips. Seokmin always had an enjoyable, pleasing tone to his voice and it sounds even better when he's grunting and groaning in the laidback battle for dominance.

Somehow, your clothes are merely disheveled and not ripped off despite continual tangling and grabbing at each other. Once again, you find yourself back on top as you gasp for air — having to push him away when he chases after you for more kisses. If you thought he was pretty before, he's even lovelier with shiny, swollen lips and a dazed, hungry look in his eyes.

Despite pouting at the sudden distance, the man astonishingly looks at you like you've hung the stars in the sky. As if he's never seen the ugly sides of you, your lowest and most embarrassing moments. His gaze trails from where you sit on his thighs to the rise and fall of your heaving chest to your blown-out pupils with such appreciation and awe that your cheeks are set aflame.

Although maybe you're just seeing a reflection of your own adoration. Running your hand down the toned length of one of his arms, you intertwine your fingers together. A smirk returns to your face as he squeezes back, distracted.

"So, can I see your abs now?"

Seokmin groans your name and chews on his lip, uncertain. You shrug and toy with the hem of your own shirt before decisively pulling it over your head. A blissed-out sigh escapes his mouth at the reveal.

Your bra is undone — thanks to his earlier mischief — and barely covers your breasts. Threatening to fall off at the slightest move, you pretend to protect what little modesty you might have and keep it in place with a free hand. 

"Tit for tat?" you tease.

He audibly gulps and you watch his Adam's apple bob. You wait patiently, letting him go at his own pace and back out if he wants. Though he does relent because he feels at comfort with you, revealing his gorgeous tan skin and upper body you hadn't seen in what feels like years.

"Omigod…" you gasp out and he cringes, upper body taut with nerves. "You've been hiding a six-pack away from the public for so long?"

"I — "

"I want to touch them."

"Why are you so obsessed with my abs?"

"'cause they're mythical. Like unicorns or… or Bigfoot."

"You're comparing me to a yeti?"

"Not yet…i!"

He rolls his eyes at the ridiculous pun. "I thought I was getting a 'tit for tat'?"

"Yeah," you nonchalantly slide off your loose bra and toss it somewhere on his bedroom floor. Seokmin doesn't even get to relish the bare sight of your tits for his own enjoyment because you're grumbling, "can't even show his best friend his fine ass abs," and he has to correct you.

"Maybe if I was your boyfriend, I'd show them to you all the time."

"Oh? Is that a promise? A threat? A distraction?"

"An offer. A suggestion even."

"It's pretty tempting," you play coy, "can I touch you if I say yes?"

"Only if I can touch you too."

"Then yes." Your pointer finger travels down the flexed crease of his skin to right above his belly button. "Can I see your dick now?"

"But I want… I'd like to… taste you."

"Later," you assure and daringly place a kiss above his waistband. Your hands tug at the belt when his hips stutter upwards. "Please?"

He's gone the moment you flutter your eyelashes at him and so are his ruined jeans. Discarded on the floor to join the growing number of other clothing when he says yes. 

Even Seokmin himself would admit he is indeed too soft for you but his cock certainly isn't. Your eyes nearly bug out when it flops against his stomach, angry red and leaking tears of precum. He grits his teeth at how much it aches, perfect jawline even more prominent. 

His self-esteem would have been dashed to pieces at the devastating frown on your pretty face but it's greatly inflated when all you can do is whimper out, "You're so big… "

"Yeah?"

Your best friend — no, now your boyfriend, you suppose — hisses when you blink at him. 

"There's no way you're gonna fit."

"Hah, 's never been a problem before." Nails dig into his thigh, the little show of possession at the mention of his previous partners wickedly giving Seokmin another ego boost. He's quick to try and appease you though by saying, "don't worry, babe… let me prep and taste you, I'll make it fit I promise and you'll feel good."

"Fuckin' sweet talker." You feel a hand reach out to temptingly slip under the band of your shorts. "Everything about you is always so sweet."

"'m sure you taste even sweeter." 

"Seokmin…" 

"Hm?" His touch grows bolder at the moan of his name, squeezing at the plumpness of your ass. "Will you please let me have a taste? Just wanna help you out." 

You won't be thinking I'm so sweet after this. 

Eager to touch him, you nod and start to take off your shorts but Seokmin is faster. Nearly tearing them off your body in excitement and somehow managing to position your bare lower body right where he wants it. 

Luckily, you're able to face his neglected cock. A shriek leaves your mouth, though, because the hardened tip of his tongue is searching for your clit, lathing and suckling on it when he does find it. 

You try to focus on your prize but it's difficult with the vigor he's attacking your throbbing, needy pussy. Seokmin holds you up high enough that he can leave occasional nips on the inner crease of your hips before harshly licking and sucking up your messy arousal. Shaking his head back and forth with an animalistic growl, all you can do is resort to pitiful kitten licks and slobbering mindlessly on just the side of his cock. 

The more you attempt to wrap your lips fully around the tip, the further down he brings you to his mouth until you're almost suffocating him. A brutal assault where you can only twitch your hips to which he agreeably grunts, gliding you across his open mouth ever so slightly. Unable to escape the throes of pleasure, not that you would want to — you give up and give in. 

Tears fill your eyes as your body convulses and shakes, staring longingly at his cock through bleary eyes. Seokmin's muffled moans as he gladly helps you ride out your orgasm with your fluttering hole clamping around his tongue barely registering in your ears. You feel like you're floating while underwater in the most delicious of ways. 

Seokmin manages to nudge you enough so he can catch his breath while waiting for you to come back to him. A fond smile on his lips when you're finally able to move and he helps you flop by his side. 

"Why on earth are you a pussy-eating pro?" 

"You keep complaining about things most people don't find fault in." 

"I wanted to suck the life out of you, not the opposite." You reach for his cock again but he stops you — again — and rubs the back of your hand consolingly while he wipes the wet mess you'd left on his face with a smirk like a badge of honor he takes pride in. "Lee Seokmin!" 

"Shhh, don't whine, baby. Almost there, I'll let you have my dick soon. Give it to you real good. Now that I've confirmed what a tight, good little pussy you have for myself, gotta make sure you're stretched out enough. Don't wanna hurt you." 

"It already hurts, 'm so empty, 'min." 

"Greedy," he snickers, knowing you're full of shit, and sits up. "After I just stuffed you with my tongue so well that you complained about it, now you want me again?" 

"Always want you. Always have. Didn't realize it before but it's true. 'm sorry, Seokkie, need you so bad though." 

"Lucky I like you so much. Now turn around, let me see that lovely ass of yours." 

You do as he says, clambering up on all fours and arching your back prettily, looking over your shoulder to see what he'll do next. 

The sight alone is a wet dream. He's licking his lips, brown eyes honed in on your puffy, seeping cunt until he's snapped out of the trance when he realizes you're watching him. He sticks out his tongue to pull a silly face and you shake your head in disbelief. 

A finger traces up your spine before it turns into his palm pushing down between your shoulder blades so your cheek is pressed into the pillows. You can just feel the heavy heat of his cock but he pulls away before you can savor it for too long. A constant tease that leaves you whining again in frustration and wiggling your hips enticingly, a futile effort. 

"I know you're desperate. 'm sorry, don't wanna cum too fast and disappoint you though." 

"You won't disappoint me." 

"Nope, I'll make it worthwhile. Promise. We can do whatever positions you want after this. I'd like to see you riding me like you do in my dreams, personally." Watching how you clench at his words, he chuckles. "Knew you'd like that too. Now, let's see…" 

He slips a digit inside your hole muttering, "There we go," and adds another. And another. Three fingers explore your gummy inner walls and he hums in contemplating tones before he begins scissoring motions to get your pussy to further open up. 

Your moans are muffled by the bed and Seokmin simply increases his pace to make them louder with a sneer of satisfaction you don't see. You do feel him kissing down the length of your spine, more love bites that make you squeal at each pinch. 

"So cute and perfect. What 'm I gonna do with you?" he asks and pretends to understand the unintelligible garble to his rhetorical question. "Yeah, that's right, babe. Fuck you even more stupid than you are now 'cause it's what you deserve." 

Retracting his fingers, licking them clean, and mumbling how pretty you are — then he's finally wrapping a veined hand around his even veinier cock to tease at your entrance. 

He plays with your wetness, coating his tip with it and making both your mouth and pussy drool. And god, does Seokmin relish the vision before him. 

You're everything to him and that thought alone makes him bite down on his lower lip, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. He doesn't want to fuck this up. Every muscle in his body tenses when he takes a deep breath and eases himself inside, enraptured with the way your soft pussy lips part and cling around his length to welcome him. 

When he glances up to check how you're doing, he has to reign himself back from exploding or thrusting insensitively all the way in. The way your eyes roll up, a stain of drool left on his blanket, and the feeble thank you's followed by a filthy series of moans — he lets out a string of curses that would make even a depraved whore blush out of shyness. 

"S'big, s'full," you hiccup, clenching and unclenching in rapid successions that has Seokmin wheezing, though he tries to comfort you. 

"'m not even all the way inside, sweetheart. Bear with me, babe. Breathe. I've got you." 

"Got me… hella fuckin' full."

"You can take it. I know you can." He pushes his hips forward a bit more. "There you go, sweetheart. Relax just a tiny bit… Yeah, that's it…" 

Praises fall from his lips and you sob at both the goddamn stretch and unfathomable pleasure. You already feel him buried in your gut reaching spots you didn't even know existed by the time he's almost bottomed out for his pelvis to press temptingly against your ass — you're pretty sure you can feel him in your lungs at this point.

"S'deep…!" 

"Feel so fucking good… d'ya need me to pull out a little, baby? You still with me?" 

You answer him by bravely using whatever strength — or more like the urge for him to split you open and take it all because you want to be as good as he's telling you that you are for him — and push yourself back so he's fully seated within your tight cunt. 

You're probably screaming if your raspy throat and ringing ears are anything to go by. He's panting and rubbing his forehead with a groan. 

"Fuck, what are you so hot for?" 

The air feels like it's been punched out of his lungs, the same way his cock is being suctioned and squeezed. In an effort to wrangle whatever control is left within himself, Seokmin focuses on your body and how it reacts. Laying over your arched back to press your bare bodies close together in an intimate fashion. 

You can feel his necklace and its cool touch on your burning skin. The recollection of never seeing him without it since gifting it to him reignites a possessive streak in you and has your pussy pulsing around him more fervently. Suddenly you long to have his mark engraved on you permanently, etched into your body and soul just like the inanimate object. 

It's almost a shame when he pauses to tug it free so it doesn't break and let it hang over your shoulder instead. Not that it matters much, for you'd only have a temporary imprint of a dog tag shape on your back. 

As if he can read your muddled mind (he probably can), Seokmin makes up for it in his concentration to delay his dizzy cloud of absolute unbridled lust. He's already left many physical reminders of his touch where you'll definitely be sore later scattered around your body and as a bonus — bites down where your neck meets your shoulder. 

(You have no idea how you'll explain the obvious teeth marks to your friends the next day but you know they'll know. Especially when Seokmin — the little shit that he is — shamelessly shows off the various marks you'll leave all over him later tonight.)

But you don't think about that right now, any and all thoughts consumed of him, him, and him. You're full. So full. Oh, how you ache to run your fingers across his gorgeous body the same way he's able to yours, sneaking a hand underneath to fondle at your breasts and tug at your nipples. You suppose that can wait, already inching toward another crashing orgasm when he's unable to stay still anymore and starts shallow, cautious thrusts.

"Mm, ah, 'min… Seok… min… "

"'m here baby, you're gonna cum for me already, aren't ya?" He pulls his dick out far enough to see the way your essence glistens and coats his length and then smoothly stuffs you full again. "Go on and cream on my cock, make me yours."

Shockingly you shake your head. "No, too soon!"

"S'kay, I know you can give me another one after. If you let go now, it'll feel even better after. You're still so tight, I can barely move."

You really can't believe you're about to climax so soon again. There's not really a choice to hold it off anyways, especially when his hand moves away from your tits and mercilessly rubs your clit. He could've just fucked your throat raw with how hoarse your voice is now with all the sounds he's drawn out of you.

As you recover from the fuzziness of a second orgasm, he'd taken out his cock that's basically gone numb at this point (he's not sure if that's a good thing or not), and appreciates the delectable view of how your hole has been stretched out perfectly in the shape of his cock to accommodate him so sweetly. It all screams I am Seokmin's and he fucking adores it. And you.

There's only one thing left to do. Paint you with the color white.

"You ready for me?" 

You breathlessly huff out a yes but honestly, you're unsure if you will be able to handle another peak without passing out. Seokmin soothes you, whispering that this will be the last one for this round accompanied by two chaste kisses on each of your shoulder blades. So wonderful and perfect, he reminds and suddenly you can do anything he asked of you.

Which is good because he's finally snapping his hips hard and fast with better ability, drilling into your warm, wet pussy he calls his that confirms that ownership itself with filthy noises of agreement and gushes of more arousal. You moan out a mix of yes, yours, and his name — growing so fucked out that when he asks you where you want him to cum, all you do is feebly bounce your asscheeks against his abs when he refuses to move.

"Shit, you gotta tell me now or I'll… fuck, I'll do it inside. I-I know you're on the pill but… "

"Please…"

"You'd look pretty with it all over your back but also spilling out of your pussy… "

"If you don't cum right now anywhere… I'll cry."

"You're already crying." His thumb brushes at the trail of tears that spilled over your eyelids.

"Seokmin…!"

"'m sorry, let me give you what you want."

His hips resume slamming at a rapid pace, hitting deep within that magic bundle of nerves without fail. Stars swim in your vision and the mind-numbing pressure twisting in your lower gut builds up without warning.

It's a silent scream this time and a peak that doesn't seem to end. As your body violently shudders and shakes for what feels like hours at its intensity, Seokmin's release is triggered. Gently thrusting as you spasm around him, milking his cock as it starts to fill you up with a comforting warmth. In a daze, he's forced out by the end of your explosive orgasm and watches with a slack jaw in awe.

He's managed to leave beautiful lines of white across your ass and back as intended. Though the bit he'd left inside of you is mostly expelled by you squirting and coating his thighs with your release, if he looks close enough, there are still globs of cream left around the outer lips of your cunt that has him groaning.

"This is better than what I've dreamt about."

"Of course. Real thing is always better."

"In this case, yes." 

"… Do you still think I'm sweet?"

"… Somehow, yes."

Seokmin laughs as you collapse flat against the bed. You need to clean up but both of you can afford to rest a little first. He lays down next to you on his side, bringing you into his arms and you immediately snuggle your face into his chest before fixing him with a serious gaze.

"I don't get it."

He stiffens in fear. "Wh-what?"

"You fucked your previous partners, right?"

"Um… most… of them… "

"Like this?"

"Uh… " he narrows his eyes. "What… what do you mean?"

"There's no way they would've wanted to let you go if you got a stroke game and stamina this good. Unless you were just too much of a beast in the sheets — which I could understand."

His arms tighten around you. "I'm sorry, did I go too hard on you? I just didn't wanna cum too fast."

"No, you're insane but it was… incredible. You're the unreal one here."

"Didn't expect that when you harassed me about my abs, huh?"

"I did not harass you and of course not, did you?"

"No, but… I'm glad it did. You… don't…  you don't regret it, do you?"

"No, why would I?" He breathes out a tiny sigh of relief which has you raising an eyebrow but you continue on. "I don't get why they didn't try harder to stick around. I mean you're perfect. In all aspects. I one-hundred-percent mean that."

"They weren't you, though. I'm sincere when I say you've always been the one. I was just afraid…" 

"You're a damn good actor, you know that. I had no idea."

Your favorite smile beams at you. "I did major in theater. And we're both kinda idiots."

You slap at his chest playfully and he covers your hand with his. "I like you too, you know that? Like really mean it when I say I do. Even if you just obliterated my fucking vagina out of existence."

"There's no way, I most certainly did not." He kisses your forehead. "'cause you still have to ride me like promised."

"I don't think I'll be able to."

Your eyes close, ignoring Seokmin's gasp of shock and protests about cleaning up. He can tell you're pretty exhausted and acquiesces, shifting you into a position more comfortable for you to be able to doze off for a bit.

But you take that opportunity to spring to life, sucking the nastiest hickey on his neck right above his silver chain. One that will take weeks to heal. He lets out a moan as you do it and when you back away, the atmosphere has heated up again.

"You're giving me a hard time," he points out with an eyebrow wiggle and you giggle. 

Urging him to roll over, you lug your aching limbs up and over so you can straddle his upper body. Adding more and more love marks and bites on his chest, neck, and arms. It's your turn to stake a hushed claim of mine whispered into his ears that you nip at. And he giggles, loving the attention you're showering him with.

His cock is stirring to life under your ministrations as is another pool of arousal swirling in your gut. Despite the hiss of oversensitivity and slight pain you both feel, you ease his length back inside. Nearly crying out because this new angle means he's stuffed in you even more, you don't know if he can fit until you're gasping in relief once you're successful.

He tentatively brushes his fingers against the bulge that appears in your lower tummy, wanton moans erupting from both of you at the gesture. It sends chills down your spine and you shiver.

"Gonna have to help me move, dunno if I have enough strength to make your dreams come true."

"S'kay, we have forever to act them out again and again," he reassures you which erases your pout. "You'll get used to me with enough practice."

"You think so?"

"Well, we can only test that theory to make sure."

You giggle as he pulls you in for a tender kiss by the back of your neck. "You're naughtier than I could've ever imagined."

"But you love it. You love me." His smug look only grows at your agreeing hum and when he flexes his abs. "Now, shall we see if all the work I put into my abs is worth it, babe?"

onlyseokmins: February 2023 ©

Taglist: @joshibambi @junhui-recs @pandorashbox @rubyscoups @woozluv @darlingvernon @charcharfairy @httpswonwoosglasses @yeosayang @buffhoshi @horanghae8star @noraehey @misssugarlips @tinkerbell460 @aceofvernons @dejavernon

[shallowrambles]

It's fascinating to me how much I've changed my mind about Dean in The Trap. I'm waaaaay more sympathetic to the whole Cas-being-forgiven aspect of it, because yes, Cas apologized initially, but the root of the issue was Cas's painful withdrawal of his partnership and his withholding of critical information. Full stop. He and Dean are NOT equally culpable in this one.

It's not just about Mary and Jack, and yet Cas keeps pivoting to "Dean blaming him for Mary." Which oversimplifies the whole thing in a terrible way. Yes, they're all culpable, and yes they all saw that things were wrong with Jack, but next to Donatello, Cas is THE authority on souls and physically the strongest of TFW. To make matters worse, he all but demanded Dean to parent Jack and take care of Jack's emotions, even though Dean expressed discomfort over his memories of soulless Sam. Dean has repeatedly expressed how he wants Cas to be open and honest with him, especially now that they're co-parenting, and although Cas demanded Dean parent Jack, he then turned around and hid Big Parenting Stuff from him and went off to meet Anael.

Barring Cas's one feeble and poorly-timed, "I tried to fix it on my own because I was afraid of losing this family," he doesn't really spell out his part in the communication failures or apologize very well for withdrawing from Dean, specifically. He sorts of sulls up and say, "I already apologized and I'm not doing it again." Yet, Cas has a continued, longstanding pattern of withdrawal from the partnership. I'm floored that my Cas goggles kept me from seeing it before, and maybe I'm a little embarrassed, too. I mean, honestly, it's amazing that Dean takes him back at all. :/ Once you look past, "Oh no! Dean said mean things!" anyway.

I think by The Trap, Dean has given up trying to get Cas to change or hold him accountable for his lack of communication. Cas sort of gave Dean ultimatums over it, if you squint, and Dean rolled over. And Dean wants to get back together. He needs Cas's support and Cas need his. He looks at everything Cas is and decides that Cas's avoidance and want to protect the family is just woven into the fabric of him, and Dean decides to accept that. It's something he loves about him as much as he resents it. Cas's chivalry is a feature and a bug. Dean loves him for it. It makes his life a Hell sometimes.

Occasionally, I still see people harping on how horrible Dean was for "forgiving" Cas, like Cas doesn't need to be forgiven. And with some distance and clarity, I find that pretty baffling now, but I also remember feeling that way when I wasn't looking at their partnership equally and giving Cas too much leeway on his continued absence from the partnership. I almost...respected Cas more. That thought makes me wince. But his bad decisions I was way more likely to stamp as protective or tactically genius, at least compared to some of Dean's similar decisions. Dean's things I tended to group as "too angry/emotional/irrational." :(

I guess I've come a long way when it comes to holding Sam and Cas accountable for their actions, too. Much of the time, my issues with Dean devolved to unfortunate tone policing or not liking him to express his anger and be angry at his boundaries being breached over and over, even when he was taking his anger out on inanimate objects. I balked just because it made a loud sound that made Sam wince (oh noes, not the wincing).

///

On the other hand, I'm quite impressed that Dean and Cas were finding their way back to each other after the Death of a Child. That's about the hardest thing a marriage can go through, and they were getting back together and trying to heal even before Jack reappeared. Clearly, it's a stress-tested relationship. WAY more stress-tested than your everyday marriages; they've been through multiple apocalypses. On the whole, they often have good communication, even when they disagree, they knew where they stood (like with Donatello). It's just these huge, incredibly unusual horrible earth-shatteringly terrible things that throw them. Chuck's grooming is such a bitch.

[raconteur-wanpi]

One Piece 1130

Here comes another review / reaction!

Starting with the Yamato cover stories again, it seems whoever is the suspicious kidnapper is also trying to steal Yamato's katana! Or at least, I'm assuming it's the same person. I feel like this means we're going to find out who it is rather soon. Is my bet on Perospero going to be completely and utterly debunked? We'll just wait and see.

Franky and the rest of the strawhats remaining on the giants' ship seem to have decided to call off the search! It's certainly the right decision, because as we'll see later, the rest of the crew is indeed already on Elbaf. It's interesting to see Franky specifically showcasing determination and speaking out the decision, I kinda love it. You have to remember he was the leader of the Franky Family for a long while, nice seeing that element of his again.

The rest of the New Giant Pirates are starting to show up! I remember both Gerd and Goldberg, but getting more dialogue from them is nice, they seem like genuinely charming characters and I love both their designs. They even showed up in Vegapunk's flashback, helping out Saul pick up all the books in Ohara. They seem to not like Rodo very much, which is kinda funny but makes total sense. It's also worth mentioning that apparently, according to Linlin's childhood flashback, Loki, Rodo and Goldberg were all born on the same day, or at least very close to each other! (From chapter 866)

The strawhats unfortunately don't recognize these two, who are certainly their allies, so instead they hide away from them.

This panel of all of them making their escape from Rodo's weird creepy dungeon is pretty cute, I always love seeing the strawhats casually interact. Sanji saying he used to cross a rope bridge like this is very interesting to me, surely there was one in Germa, right?

* Edit: oops, turns out that's Chopper saying it! Big thanks for the corrections in the replies. It's really hard to tell, but that makes more sense, we do see that in Drum Island.

Anyway, Luffy seems to spot something that catches his interest during this walk-away.

Meanwhile, back on the ship with the Giant Warrior Pirates....

Dorry and Broggy have been framed for the Egghead incident by Morgans also! Well, they did go against the government, so it's to be expected. Their bounties increasing to such numbers seems to actually align with real life inflation rates, Oda did his research.

Aaaandd here it is, one of the biggest things in this chapter. Vivi left a message to the strawhats!!!!!!! Being with Morgans, she was obviously able to draw the marking on the photo before it started getting reproduced for publishing. Everyone predicting Vivi joining the strawhats this arc is probably correct, hopefully! Please let it happen. Go get your girl kids!!!!!!

OK, this is the other huge (pun unintended) thing revealed this chapter. More information on Loki and, well.... the revelation Harjudin might be his brother!? They're both the King's sons, right? They both get referred to as princes here, aren't they!?

King Harold is referred to as Loki's father here, so it's safe to assume he was Harjudin's father also. If this is the case, Harjudin going after the Flame Flame Fruit in Dressrosa makes more sense.

Hmm, this narrative is pretty interesting, Loki getting called things like "cursed", "the shame of Elbaf" "not right in the head" etc, it feels like pretty cruel words. Even if he is indeed a horrible and dangerous person, something tells me we're meant to be wary of people being spoken about that way, so it might be a case of the people of Elbaf taking their measures against this guy too far and pushing him into what he eventually turned into.

One Piece loves this narrative, when you have things like Wano's unjust treatment of the Kurozumi Clan or Doflamingo's treatment when he was a child. Yes, Orochi and Doffy did turn out into terrible, horrible people, but the implication of those narratives is that it's the systems that failed them that created those monsters. It's not to feel sympathy towards them or anything, they really don't deserve that at this point, but rather to understand how they were created, and that the people who unwittingly turned them into such dangers were in many ways in the wrong as well. After all, Tama is also a Kurozumi, for example, and Wano needed to get over their treatment of entire clans for the crimes of a few. We even see that with Yamato being hazed for his father being Kaidou in the cover stories, only for Denjiro to scold the younger generation for this behavior. Not to mention, "the shame of Elbaf" does immediately make me think of "the failure of Germa" and such similar things. In fact, if we wanna push that parallel further, Loki being almost married off to the Charlottes' in a similar way, might have in fact been an attempt at "getting rid of the failure" and letting someone else deal with him, rather than an attempt at making amends with Linlin. I do think it's most likely that Loki will be a bad guy, but I think there will also be a narrative on how cruelty breeds more cruelty. Oda's favorite!

And here he is, the "accursed prince". Wow, what a panel! This is such a good drawing in sense of scale and danger. Incredible artistic work. Immediately leaves such a strong impression on who this character is, it's quite the introduction!

[effy-writes]

Stolas x Fem! Reader: Different Transaction?

requested from wattpad

You met Stolas about three years ago whenever you drunkly stumbled upon his front door. Didn't know why or how you ended up there, hell you barely knew the guy.

But as months went on and you guys talking, you two made it official. His daughter, Octavia, was not sure about you. You guessed it was because she whiteness her parents rocky relationship. Within a year of you and Stolas dating, she became closer to you, as well as talking for hours on end.

Although you had a great relationship with Stolas' daughter, you had a horrible relationship with his and Blitz's.

You knew from the very beginning that they have this sexual exchange once a month for this book. Stolas told you from the beginning of your friendship about it.

You were fine with it up until you two started dating. Stolas has asked you multiple times if it was okay for him to do that, and you always said the same thing, "I'm fine with it, I know it's a transaction and I know you love me." However, it pained you to know that once a month they were in your guy’s room fucking their brains out. You’d never expressed your true feelings about it.

Part of the reason was because you didn't want to be seen as a jealous partner. Sure, Stolas always asked you if it was okay, but you were afraid if you say it wasn’t okay then he'll be fed up with you and be turned off by the fact you’re jealous over a business transaction.

During those nights, you would stay in an extra bedroom and practically cry your eyes out, wishing that this would all end (not your life, just the situation.)

The year after, you and Stolas got married. You felt ecstatic marrying the love of your life, and Octavia was relieved that she has a good motherly figure in her life.

But the transaction never stopped. You were pretty pissed off that Stolas was still fucking Blitz. Was Blitz dick that good?

You were too afraid of confrontation. At first you wasn't planning on saying anything in fear of Stolas being mad (thanks to your past relationship), but tonight was the full moon, and you know they're fucking in there.

Tonight was the night you were gonna say something and end it for good.

You kept biting my nails as you walked to yours and Stolas’ room, which felt like a long walk. You don't ever remember it being this far away, but you guessed your depth precipitated is bad because of how nervous you are.

Your hand was on the doorknob and you pressed your ear to the door to see if you can hear anything.

Nothing.

Once you opened the door you saw your husband making out with the Imp. The two noticed you and jumped off of each other, Stolas looking concerned, and Blitz feeling awkward.

"I should leave you two alone." He tried to escape through the window but you stopped him.

"Blitz, you're staying."

"Ah shit." He mumbled.

"What is it dear? Are you feeling alright?" He put the back of his hand against your forehead but you gently took his hand off.

"I think we should all talk about this whole situation."

"Ah shit you wanna join?" Blitz smirked.

"Uh no. Is there anyway where you guys can have a different transaction? I don't mean to sound insecure and jealous but...it hurts. It really does. Knowing that you two are fucking in the bed that Stolas and I sleep and fuck on really messes with me."

"Oh Starshine I didn't know." Stolas took you in his arms, then let go, his hands rested tightly on your shoulders. "How long have you been feeling this?"

"If I'm being honest, the moment we started dating. I should've told you sooner but...I didn't want to sound jealous or clingy or insecure and shit. I'm sorry." 

"No need to apologize, I'm terribly sorry that you're feeling like this. Blitz, let's come up with a different transaction."

"Oh thank god." He mumbled. "What's the new transaction?"

Stolas looked at you for some ideas. "How about we get 5% of your earnings?" You suggested.

"What!? FUCK no."

"Blitz, respect my wife's decision. You still get to use the book."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Deal."

"Thanks guys. I really appreciate it." I smiled at Stolas. He ruffled my hair and pulled me closer to him. "Blitz, I still need it during the full moon."

"Yeah that's fine." He crossed his arms. "Bye." He swung his legs over the window, but he ended up missing and falling, we could hear him land on the ground followed by a groan.

"Thanks again for compromising with me."

"No need to thank me, and I'm deeply sorry that I let this transaction continued throughout our relationship. I should've put a stop to it. But just know that I was always thinking about you, and I'm so thankful that you're in mine and Octavia's life. I truly love you, Y/n." Stolas pulled you into a tight hug, "I love you so much."

~~

[mixelation]

i will also share with u the absurd toxicity (reborn au au (tm)) rpf lore developed with @waffliesinyoface

point one: obito would not be naturally drawn to fandom, but he IS a troll who likes absurd things, and it's important to him to know what's up with the people in his life. he has read the entirety of icha icha (more than once!) for the simple pleasure of sniping kakashi with a well-placed reference. when tori gets fixated on ninja rpf, he also obviously starts reading it so he can have fuel to tease her.

unlike kakashi's brand of obsession (which is PRIVATE, obito, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS), tori's obsessions crave interaction. you want to talk rpf with her? she is going to drag you down into a terrible vortex of rpf fixations

obviously "driven to making insane decisions for petty reasons" tori is obito's favorite tori. he is SO supportive of her ongoing war against the sasori girls.

obvious outcome of point one: obito becomes a kakashi girl

tori is SO supportive of his psychosexual kakashi obsession. she thinks him working through his feelings like this is good for him. also she likes reading fic

obito is not well-liked in kakashi fan circles when he's writing in under a pen name because he keeps writing kakashi as a damsel in distress in constant need of rescuing due to chakra exhaustion. fangirls hate this because kakashi should be cool and badass all of the time???

point two (horrible realization): in this au, obito retains his uchiha pretty privilege. he's also the infamous loose canon of the yellow flash's students. there's ABSOLUTELY insane fic about him

obito's favorite ship is obviously him/kakashi, but NO ONE writes it right???

yes he and tori are dating. no she doesn't care he keeps looking up kakashi/him. she knows what she signed up for.

in fact, tori inspires him!! if tori can go hunt down a random sasori rpf writer to argue with her, OBVIOUSLY he can go have a converastion with some obito writers and gently push them in the right direction!!

but he has to do it cool and mysterious, see, so they get him. he shows up in the dead of night in his super dramatic madara personality. he just wants to talk. he gives a dramatic speech and throws in some killing intent for Effect

obvious outcome of point two: everyone stops writing obito fic because they're terrified.

tori: realizes there's still READERS for obito fic but no writers

tori: that's free real estate

she's converting. she's an obito girl now. (obito: babe that's SO sweet of you)

NO ONE likes her obito fics either because she writes him as a deeply pathetic whackjob who cries during sex. she gets multiple replies that are like "when will obito show up to murder THIS writer"

instead of being normal she's like "FYI he DID show up in my bedroom but that won't stop me because I AM NOT A COWARD"

third, miscellaneous point: obito is shunned by fandom when he's a faceless person writing in. at in person meet-ups, people love him despite his rancid opinions because he is hot. :'(

tori: PUT THE MASK BACK ON I HATE THIS

obito in kakashi cosplay??? with kakashi's real clothes he stole???

i thought about writing a joke about them going to an in-person fic exchange and people not realizing they're together to mirror the ANBU Party Debacle. however i do not think this is the mood for Torito because they cannot physically resist bothering each other for more than 90 seconds at a time. obito shows up holding her hand so he can swing their arms like literal children. if he doesn't pay attention to her for long enough, tori WILL tug his hair/loose clothing/etc. he attempts to sit in her lap at least twice. they're both super into the other person's rancid headcanons. they are so fucking obnoxious

no one ever matches obito-in-person with obito-showing-up-to-harass-fic-writers because of the insanely different personalities

people are okay with obito in person despite his personality because he is. hot. and a man. and they're a group of mostly women who are attracted to men. do you see? but they still fucking hate tori

a rumor starts that the reason tori can write bonkers obito fic without him murdering her is that when he showed up to threaten her over it, she slept with him. so not only is she annoying, but she cheated on her hot boyfriend (obito) with famous ninja uchiha obito! she doesn't deserve either of them!!!

(obito: that's exactly what happened tho. i gave you my super cool and scary "write better fanfic" speech and you slept with me. <3 / tori, who will never EVER admit she found his stupid "madara" personality kind of hot: (tea kettle noises))

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

I think season 2 of OFMD has some really interesting things to say about forgiveness with Ed's arc. Yes, there's stuff there with how Ed needs to make amends to the crew, but I think the biggest thing there is this: when you're trying to heal, it helps if you make a start towards forgiving yourself.

With Ed's mutiny, there's a tremendous amount of guilt on both sides. The crew love Ed and they didn't want to hurt him, but he made them beat him to death. It sucks, for everyone. The crew are horribly riddled by guilt, scrubbing at blood only they can see. Ed is 100% convinced no one loves him.

Part of Ed starting to feel better about himself is earning the trust of the crew back. Lucius is a harder one, because he was holding on so hard to hate that he forgot he still had a life to live. But Ed's apology and working to make amends do wonders for the rest of the crew. He has a great time having a heart-to-heart with fang. Jim and the others clearly feel miles better after Ed's apology, willing to see through the lousy speech to how Ed's wearing the sack and the bell and trying - "I thought it was pretty good, for him," Jim says. Public apologies are always a bit shit, but Ed's trying, and that's good enough for them. In eps 5 and 6, Ed is lighter and at ease with himself.

But that could only ever be the first step. Ed was perfectly willing to do what he had to and make things up to the crew, and by ep 6, they're feeling much better with him. In a way, despite how horrible the whole mutiny thing was for everyone, though, and despite how Ed needed to earn the crew's trust back, forgiveness was a bit easy in that case, on all sides. I'm not saying Ed's actions to get the crew to mutiny on him were right, I'm saying there's a point where people can't fully be held accountable for their actions, and in the middle of a suicide attempt is one of those times. Yes, it was wrong, yes he needed to make amends, but he was in such a terrible place he wasn't acting like himself or making rational decisions. All factors considered, it was probably pretty easy for both Ed and the crew to reach a place of forgiveness once Ed was back on the ship, feeling more stable, and working to make things right.

Ed throwing his Blackbeard outfit overboard feels, to me, like he's trying to run away from that part of himself. With good reason, too, he's hated being Blackbeard for a long time. But Blackbeard began in living tissue, it wasn't entirely a myth, and Ed needed to be able to make a start at forgiving those parts of himself, too.

Pulling his Blackbeard outfit out of the ocean, Ed makes a return to the parts of himself he's convinced are completely unlovable, and he does it for love. He does it so he can avenge Stede, first, and then so he can fight to protect the man he loves and their crew. He's making a start towards forgiving himself and finding something valuable in the parts of himself he hates the most.

Ed's been trying to do this since he got back on the ship. Fixing the latch, personifying it - "it's not your fault you're broken, you didn't break you." Finding the Blackbeard outfit and using it as a tool to protect others. Ed is starting to see that not everything that happened to him was because he was fundamentally broken, and he can start to come to terms with himself. It'll be slow, but he can forgive himself and meet himself where he's at.

[topazadine]

How to Avoid Purple Prose

This is one of the easiest criticisms to throw at someone: "Purple prose, almost unreadable, horrible, make it simpler."

The problem is that some critics don't understand the difference between elegant prose and purple prose. It's easy to sneer that someone has purple prose because they added a few extra adjectives if you're being very uncharitable. I see this a lot from pretentious first-year college students who believe that one Creative Writing class makes them a master.

However, there is a time and place for elegant, beautiful, ornate prose ... and times where it's just stupid and pretentious.

As with everything in writing, we need balance. That balance will look a little different to everyone, but many writing critics don't have the skills necessary to understand what each piece's balance point is. Hence, they accuse everything of being purple prose when it's not.

But purple prose is, unfortunately, very real, and we can all fall into its clutches. Let's look at what makes purple prose so terrible and what we can do instead.

Why is purple prose so bad?

Purple prose increases the cognitive load on your reader. It makes them work much harder to understand what you're saying because it hides important details in a wall of mostly irrelevant text.

You want to show off how cool you are and you forget that other people are meant to read this for their own enjoyment. It's self-important and disrespectful to the reader. Focusing on your ego and your need for praise will, paradoxically, wreck your writing.

Clear writing is good writing. People reading for entertainment (ie, people reading fiction outside of school) do not want to devote all of their brainpower to your work; they've got a million other, way more important things to focus on.

Your work is entertainment, and so it needs to be entertaining. Books that force you to translate them into Normal Human English are not entertainment - they are torture.

So what is purple prose, exactly?

It's easier to look at an example and dissect it. Here's an example from one of the most derided books of all time, Irene Iddesleigh by Amanda McKittrick Ros:

Arose the seeming deadly creature to that standard of joy and gladness which should mark his noble path! Endow him with the dewdrops of affection; cast from him the pangs of the dull past, and stamp them for ever beneath the waves of troubled waters; brighten his life as thou wouldst that of a faded flower; and when the hottest ray of that heavenly orb shall shoot its cheerful charge against the window panes of Dunfern Mansion, the worthy owner can receive it with true and profound thankfulness. Three weeks had scarcely passed ere Sir John was made the recipient of another invitation to Dilworth Castle. This second effusion of cordiality required neither anxious thought nor prolonged decision how to act, knowing as he did that it would again serve to bring his present thoughts into practice by affording him another opportunity of sharing in the loving looks of one for whom he feared there dwelt a strong inclination on his part to advance his affection.

What the fuck is this saying? Basically, that Sir John is happy that he's being invited back to Dilworth Castle, and he accepted the invitation immediately. Ok. We didn't need all that shit.

Hallmarks of purple prose

This isn't an exhaustive list, but it'll give you an idea.

Long, complex, yet insubstantial sentences. With purple prose, every single sentence has multiple clauses and goes on for three or four lines. But somehow it says absolutely nothing. That example from Irene Iddesleigh has a sentence that is SEVEN LINES LONG. And tells us nothing whatsoever. No action. Purple prose is annoying because no one's doing anything - they're just talking about doing things. Half of the above paragraph has no action in it whatsoever. The next part just tells us that he accepted the invitation because he's excited. That's it.

Excessive description. With purple prose, someone may take a full page to describe a room in excruciating detail before anyone even talks or does anything. You do not need to explain every facet of a place.

Double-describing things. In the above passage, Ros explains exactly how Sir John feels five different ways before she even tells us what he is excited about. If you describe something twice in a row, you are doing too much.

Explaining every facet of a human's state. Tell us once and then use action to support the point. Over-reliance on unique words. It's fine to use one or two highbrow words in a passage. English is such a fun language because we have so many synonyms for damn near everything. However, when every other word needs a reader to crack out a thesaurus, you have a problem.

Too many adjectives and adverbs. With purple prose, every single thing needs an adjective, and every action has an adverb. This is overwhelming and annoying; there's just too many details. Sometimes a table is just a table. Sometimes someone just does something. Too many metaphors and similes. This is a common issue with purple prose because it can't just tell you how someone feels: it has to define it in 10000 different ways. It's easy to get lost in a tangle of metaphors and have no idea what's actually going on.

Essentially, purple prose is too much of a good thing. Everything is set to 100 and there's no way for the reader to remember all of that.

What purple prose is not

To fix purple prose, we need to understand the difference between purple prose and good, normal, nice prose.

A few unique words sprinkled in here or there. If you've got one word per page that someone may need to look up, you don't have purple prose. The problem with purple prose isn't necessarily the vocabulary itself; it's the density.

Pretty prose that serves a purpose. If you have plenty of action and dialogue, you likely do not have purple prose.

Small instances of alliteration. People whine that using alliteration at all is a big no-no, but that is not true. It can add a certain melody to your writing, as long as you use it sparingly.

One or two long sentences per page. We want to use a variety of sentence structures, which will naturally mean some of our sentences are longer than others. If you intersperse some long lines with shorter ones, then you are doing just fine.

Any adjectives or adverbs. Sometimes you do need precision because you want to paint a picture. It's okay to have an ornately carved wooden table, or a red glowing candle, or dappled snowflakes fluttering from the sky. The issue is when every single noun has an adjective and every single verb has an adverb.

Description. There are people who genuinely believe you shouldn't explain anything and that everything should read like a movie script. That's dumb. It's fine to have glowing descriptions of things as long as they aren't overtaking the action and dialogue.

You'll notice a theme here: good prose has balance. It uses long sentences and short sentences; it allows for complex vocabulary without losing the point. There is proportionate description, action, and dialogue. There's a bit of wordplay, but that's not the primary focus of the scene.

Options to fix purple prose

If I were in charge of fixing Irene Iddesleigh into something humans would actually read, I would first down a full bottle of whisky. Then I'd do something like this.

Three weeks had scarcely passed ere Sir John received a sacred gift: a second invitation to Dilworth Castle. The very sun seemed to shine with fiercer glory as he regarded the succinct missive, penned on cream paper in soft-shining violet ink. He vacillated not; before he knew his own thoughts, he had rummaged in his drawer for the tools of love. With shaking hand, he dashed off his eager agreement, adding a flourishing signature below the ten lines of text. This he handed to his butler, who gave a smile adorned with sly glee. All who met him must see the fascination stamped on his face, Sir John was sure. Gone were the pangs of a dull past, washed away with the dewdrops of affection - so fleeting, yet essential to his sustained happiness. His very essence had bloomed like a faded flower reintroduced to the nourishing soil, ready to be plucked by that worthy maiden's delicate hand.

I've tried to replicate Ros's more late-Victorian style here, which does mean it's more purple than I, personally, would do. However, it retains the spirit of her thoughts and preserves some of her more interesting similes. They're more connected now into a larger metaphor of Sir John being like a sad, drooping flower that has now perked up and forgotten how miserable he was.

I also added more concrete details about where he is, what the invitation looks like, and what he does with it instead of just rambling on about how happy he is about being noticed by Irene-sempai.

Now, if I were doing this in a more modern style, I might write something like this:

Sir John looked up from his book when the butler entered, holding a small envelope with a weighty wax seal. Assuming it just another demand from his parents, he waved his old caretaker away, but the butler shook his head and came forward, smiling now. "You might wish to read it first, my lord." "Probably some gala nonsense." Frowning, he picked up his penknife and accepted the letter, then paused. Dust motes, floating in the golden sunlight, appeared like fairies encircling a script he had already come to love. There could be no mistaking that handwriting: painstakingly delicate cursive, with elegant whirls as underline. Nor had he ever seen anyone else use violet ink for their messages. It could only be her. Did he dare? Of course. Sir John pried off the wax seal of Dilworth Castle - a lion encircling a lamb - and scanned the invitation with jittering eyes that made the letters dance. An invitation, only three weeks after the last: his chest felt full of flowers, his eyes turning dewy by the morning sun. How could he ever refuse? "Get me my finest paper," Sir John demanded of the butler waiting at a respectful distance. "And good blue ink. The nice Mont-Blanc fountain pen - none of that gel nonsense."

How to prevent purple prose

Why do the above passages work better? Why are they more enjoyable to read? Here's why.

Use shorter sentences. One of the fastest ways to fix purple prose is just to chunk up your sentences better. It's hard to create super ornate and overwrought sentences in under two lines, so forcing yourself to keep every sentence less than three lines will naturally cut out a lot of the bullshit.

Ask yourself what you are really trying to show. What should a reader get out of this sentence? What information are you sharing with them? Then explain that.

Run your text through a grade estimator. It sucks, I know, but if we want to have highly engaging content, we do need to dumb it down just a bit. If you're writing above like a 9th grade level, you know you might be too purply. A lot of this does come from sentence structure, so fixing your syntax can help drop the grade level.

Keep weird words to a minimum. I give myself a goal to only use one strange and archaic word per page. Sometimes two if I really need it. But I space them out throughout the text and use ample context clues so someone shouldn't have to go look it up if they're reading carefully.

Put action first, then description. Tell us what to focus on before you elaborate with flowery metaphors. Both the fixed passages give us the details upfront. The second one starts with an action and adds some tension so we don't quite know what's happening before the big reveal, while the first one tells us immediately and then expands on it (a more Victorian thing).

Focus on small movements to tell a bigger story. Things like someone's hands shaking or their eyes watering will explain their emotional state without you having to tell us.

Include sensory details. In the fixed passages, we see dust motes dancing in the air, we see the colorful ink, we feel its weight. This is much more engaging without being purply.

Keep metaphors to a minimum. Metaphors work when they are interspersed with more action-oriented text; otherwise, it's not even clear what you're trying to describe. Pick a strong one and stick with it rather than cramming a bunch in at once.

Use dialogue. Dialogue is more engaging and allows you to tell us things without just stating it outright in the text.

If you'd like to read more of my work, consider buying my book!

9 Years Yearning is a gay coming-of-age romance set in a fantasy world. It follows Uileac Korviridi, a young soldier training at the War Academy. His primary motivations are honoring the memory of his late parents, protecting his little sister Cerie, and becoming a top-notch soldier.

However, there's a problem: Orrinir Relickim, a rough and tough fellow pupil who just can't seem to leave Uileac alone.

The book features poetry, descriptions of a beautiful country inspired by Mongolia, and a whole lot of tsundere vibes.

You can also check it out on Goodreads for a list of expanded distribution.

Be sure to preorder Pride Before a Fall, arriving January 1, 2025!

If you do purchase my book, don't forget to leave a review!

Reviews are vital for visibility on Amazon and help to support indie authors like me. Whenever you love a book, be sure to let the author know! It's much appreciated.

I've also created a masterlist of writing resources that you can peruse at your leisure, all for free.

Enjoy!

[sailorsol]

Have some inspiration in these trying times.

Princess Leia, The original badass anti-fascist space princess. Looked Darth Vader in the face and lied her ass off, then did the same to Admiral Tarkin.

What we should learn from her: Chin up, even in the very worst of circumstances.

OG Mon Mothma and the other rebel leaders. Gave up their cushy lives to support the Rebellion.

What we should learn from her: It doesn't matter how rich you are or even if you're a senator, there comes a point where you're going to have to make a decision to stand up for what you believe in and give up the comfortable life you've always known.

Wedge Badass Antilles. Stole a TIE fighter from the Imperial flight academy. Only person to survive a frontal attack on the Death Star twice.

What we should learn from him: Fight. Keep fighting. Even when you're old and gray, you can still fight.

#1 Space Dad who looked the Empire down head on. Risked his and his family's lives to protect people who couldn't protect themselves.

What we can learn from him: Help people who can't help themselves. Drive your speeder right up to the steps of the burning Temple and try to save a padawan. They don't have to be Your People for you to try and protect them.

Bodhi Rook, who realized he had been led astray and ended up on the wrong side and fixed that.

What we can learn from him: It's easy to fall into a bad place, especially when you don't have a good support system. But there are people who will help you get out if you just ask.

Galen Erso, who did what he had to in order to protect his daughter but still risked his life to sabotage the Empire from within.

What we can learn from him: Don't always take someone at face value. Just because they look like they're working for the enemy doesn't mean they aren't doing what they can to help.

Finn, raised his entire life as a stormtrooper, who finally said enough was enough.

What we can learn from him: It doesn't matter how you were raised or who you were raised by, you can still choose to stand up and do the right thing.

Aleksandr Kallus, who bought into the Empire 10000% from the start. Did horrible things, including being responsible/complicit in genocide. Eventually realized that he had seriously fucked up and tried to make reparations.

What we can learn from him: Anyone can change. Anyone. No matter how many terrible things a person has done in the past, it all comes down to the choices they make moving forward.

[11queensupreme11]

im a senior in high school and after i graduate, i'm gonna move out for college and while i was rereading, i just realized how badly this whole thing has ruined percy's life. it just dawned on me how horribly uprooted she was from everything she knows. she was still in high school, probably needed to prep for psat/sat, get ready to move out etc, only for all that to go away cuz now she's been isekai-ed to a new world and has a bunch of yanderes after her, she will NEVER get that normalcy back 😭

EXACTLY!!!!

percy's not much of a planner like anthonius, but she did have SOME sort of idea of what to do in her future (especially now that the war's over and she regained the hope that she could actually make it to adulthood-)

she had all these hopes and dreams! she was still in tenth grade (a sophomore in high school)! she just passed her driver's test! she got her first actual part-time job that wasn't exploiting her for being a child! she needed to prep for her psat! she wanted to graduate high school and attend a community college for the first two years to save up on money, then transfer to a university that would hopefully take her and her shitty record! she was still a little tenth grader who didn't quite know what to major in, but that was fine cuz she still had years to go until she needed to make her decision! 😭

THERE WAS SO MUCH SHE WANTED TO DO BUT NOW IT'S BEEN SNATCHED AWAY FROM HER 😭😭

there's no way she's ever gonna get that normalcy back even after poseidon starts to care for her. there's no way he's gonna let his precious daughter attend a mortal high school. moving out for college? absolutely not! moving out in general cuz she's older now and it's about time she left the nest? NEVER HAPPENING! getting a job? don't be ridiculous!

what is she gonna do now? her plans for the future won't happen. is she just gonna remain with her father forever? get forced to marry someone and have kids? she had so many options back in the pjo verse, but now they're all GONE.

and the worst part? it's when she gets yoinked back to the pjo verse. you'd think that's a good thing but by then she had already accepted her place in the ror verse and started to make a life for herself there, only for it to be snatched away AGAIN. after she regains her memories, she's gonna be devastated cuz it's like starting all over again. she missed her friends and family, but she misses her loved ones back in ror verse too!

plus, she's been gone for two years now. she should be in her senior year of high school, ready to graduate, but she can't because she missed so much. there's no point in starting over, she'd have to settle for a GED but that'd make her chances of getting into college harder because she has no diploma, AND she has a terrible school record and super suspicious background. she could always attend new rome university, but she's kinda getting sick of the gods ruining her life at this point. maybe she should just run away to alaska??

of course, she's not aware that the yanderes are plotting to get her back and they're not afraid to kill the people she loves too, which again, only ruins her life even MORE than it already has been 💀

[i-heart-hxh]

Hi I hope you are well! For a while now I've been wondering why Gon used nakama ao instead of tomodaichi to refer to Killua at their farewell, I've been thinking about this a lot but I haven't been able to get answers😭

Hello! I'm feeling great now that Togashi is back!

Here are two posts on the topic that I think are insightful, both from @telehxhtrash: Post 1, Post 2

The first post gives more thorough definitions of these words for context. I more-or-less agree with the second post in that the use of the word nakama may have been unintentionally hurtful to Killua because he had been so concerned about the delineation between whether they're friends (友達, tomodachi) or comrades (仲間, nakama).

I think there's one important piece that gets left out of discussions on this topic a lot, and that's that Gon was quoting Kite when he used that word. It makes sense Kite would use a less-strong word because he has a different relationship to Gon and Killua than Gon and Killua have to each other. Gon may have been trying to reassure Killlua that everything's fine now in a larger sense--Kite isn't upset about what happened, and the three of them can still consider themselves part of the same group.

I think Gon chose to quote Kite here rather than use his own words because he knows what he did hurt Killua deeply, he knows Killua is leaving him to pursue his own newfound purpose, and he doesn't want to push his feelings or ideas about what role they have in each others' life on Killua at this time because everything is so complicated and delicate. He's trying to be considerate and let Killua go because he blames himself for what happened between them, and pushing strong friendship words on Killua right now might backfire: Killua might refute them and make their parting hurt even worse, or it may make Killua change his mind about what he's steeled himself to do (leaving him). Gon doesn't want to interfere with Killua's decision.

Killua isn't shown reacting negatively at all to the use of the word nakama when it's initially used. (I'm not a big fan of the way it was translated, but anyway.) Of course he looks terribly sad when he turns away from Gon when they're leaving each other, but whether that's primarily because they're separating or also because of the use of that word, it's hard to say. I do think it's a factor, Togashi is smart and careful about wording and I doubt it's a coincidence that Killua happened to have a crisis about exactly that word and then Gon happened to use that word when they were separating--even though it was a quote rather than his own personal appraisal of their relationship.

I'm torn with this because the separation is complicated: I don't see it in an entirely negative light, I don't think it's a doom and gloom thing where things are horrible between them when they part, but the separation has a bunch of complicated emotional things going on between them and Gon's use of nakama (not intended to be hurtful but unintentionally hurtful) is one of those things.

As usual, I want to reiterate that my belief is in time they will reunite and make things right in their relationship. My only caveat to that is Togashi's ability to reach that point in the manga, but aside from that I remain optimistic about where their relationship is headed even though there are a lot of painful and difficult miscommunications between them currently.

[hylianengineer]

Slightly longer Percy Jackson ficlet from the depths of my drafts! In which the Hunters of Artemis are mostly arospec and the author is projecting.

he committed platonic relationships of the Hunters of Artemis. Cuddles. Sleeping together literally. Patching up each other's scrapes and bruises, tending to each other when they're sick. A hunter with horrible period cramps, curled up in her sleeping bag and afraid of appearing weak. Her friends bringing heat pads and ice cream and soft fuzzy blankets, settling in to keep her company. Thalia being empathetic and giving them all the day off to rest.  

The hunters seeing their friends at the camps dating and having typical aro reactions - wait people actually do that? Ew, why do people like kissing? I thought the butterflies in your stomach were a metaphor, you people actually feel that? That sounds like a panic attack, honestly. Politely turning down a guy flirting with them, but he doesn’t take no for an answer, so he gets an arrow two inches from his hand next time. Groaning about the stupidity of romcoms and how every story thinks it needs a romance arc. Bemoaning a lack of aro protagonists. Not all the hunters are aro, some just choose not to date, but plenty of them are aro or arospec or acespec. Thalia actually does experience attraction semi-normally, so she often translates for the others. 

“It’s like when they make you nervous and happy at the same time, and you just want to be around them as much as possible.” 

“That’s weird,” Phoebe insists.  

“I didn’t say it wasn’t.” 

“Do you miss it?” 

“Sometimes, but I still think joining the Hunt was worth it. I have to admit, it makes life a lot simpler.” 

“I don’t wanna fall in love,” says Izzy. “People are dumb when they’re in love.” 

“Don’t worry, kiddo,” Thalia chuckles, “you don’t have to.” 

“Mortals do make terrible decisions for love,” Phoebe agrees. “Our oath protects us from that.” 

“I never needed an oath to avoid love,” Michelle chimes in. “I think I might’ve been born immune to it.” 

“Some people are,” Thalia agrees. “Mortals have a word for it: aromantic.” 

“Cool. I wanna be aromantic,” Izzy mutters. 

Michelle nods. “I think most of us are. Thalia’s the only one here who’s had a crush.” 

“I fell in love once,” Phoebe says, “but it was long ago. I don’t expect it will happen again. Do mortals have a word for that?” 

“Well, being aromantic is a spectrum. Maybe you’re just on a different part of the spectrum from the rest of us.” 

“That is acceptable. It is… reassuring, to think that my experience is not unique.” 

“It’s nice to have words for it,” Michelle agrees. “I thought for a long time I was just a weirdo.” 

Thalia snorts. “You are a weirdo. Just not for that reason.” 

“Hey! Rude!” 

“You like broccoli,” Izzy points out seriously. “That’s why you’re weird.” 

“Isabelle is correct. You also tend to fall asleep in trees.” 

“That was one time!” 

[cipheramnesia]

The Rob Zombie Halloween movies are not exactly good, but they have this little chestnut of an idea that's intriguing.

The original two Halloween movies hinge on the core premise that Michael Meyers is a kind of empty vessel which embodies evil. You have to buy into the idea a little, because if you don't, not only do the movies not work as well, but also the character of Dr. Loomis comes of as an unhinged, abusive monster of a doctor. Which feels like something Rob Zombie intentionally wanted his version to consider. Ultimately the movies are not successful, likely in some measure through studio interference, but this explains a good deal of decisions which put Zombie's Halloween at loggerheads with the original movies and the fandom.

The thing about Rob Zombie is that his fans are his worst critics, in that they don't want him to make anything except a carbon copy of House of 1000 Corpses or Devil's Rejects, and when he tries to do more interesting (and in the case of Lords of Salem, significantly better) movies, they piss all over themselves in outrage. When you combine his unusual take on Halloween with a stylistic departure as well, the movies has no chance.

The funny thing is, in retrospect, Zombie's changes are actually the better choice compared to the slavishly accurate recent Halloweens, or any of the sequels following Halloween 2. He gave Michael Meyers a voice, and a more complex history, and a human connection, and all these details which fans mostly hated, but which repositioned Michael from hollow monster to a person who was deeply failed by the world. And the thing of it is, there's nothing left to explore after Halloween 2, which means the only place to go if you want to be interesting about the character is a radically different direction.

That's what Rob Zombie did, his version wasn't supposed to be scary as a remorseless killing machine, but scary as someone who was formed into a terrible creature by the world deciding for him that he is a monster. You can see this most of all with how Malcolm McDowell portrays his version of Loomis as self centered, malicious, and incompetent by varying degrees. It's stating as loudly as possible to the audience hey, this person is terrible at helping people, he is awful and his characterization of Michael Meyers as "evil" is self serving and horrible. It's meant to make the audience step back and realize, no matter how terrible the things Michael does, he's a child and locking him up for his entire life is a fucked up thing to do.

Now, ultimately the films are a mess, and this little idea doesn't really hold together or develop. I believe it's intentional still, but winds up being incompatible with what, I assume through studio pressure, is a movie too close to the original Halloween to make room for a different approach. I couldn't necessarily recommend watching them, but as failures they're still interesting.

[dwellordream]

thoughts on HOTD, episode 7, season 2 (spoilers below)

I like the point that Aemond's advisors fear him, to everyone's detriment- they're so terrified of his rages that no one wants to tell him the Blacks are gathering dragonseeds. Aegon was a terrible king, but the courtiers ran roughshod over him because while he could be cruel, he wasn't very intimidating to anyone save servants and smallfolk. Aemond is a terrible king because he impulsively makes decisions based on fear- either his own terror of being seen as weak and ineffectual, or to make other people fear and respect him- or both.

Daemon and Oscar Tully's dynamic is that of a bitter, washed-up middle-aged substitute teacher who hates kids, and the overachieving, humorless star student who has zero respect for him. I love it. Also, I think the actor playing Oscar would make a great Robb Stark. I can dream. I do think it's good that the show delves into the ramifications of the Blackwoods' war-criming it up on Bracken lands at Daemon's encouragement- now the river lords have nothing but contempt for Daemon, and the Blackwoods are reviled as honorless thugs. It really gets across Daemon's inherent scumminess- he used Willem Blackwood as a violent pawn, and is perfectly willing to throw him under the bus after the fact.

At this point I think Daemon's Harrenhal hallucinations have run their course. The show could milk it for 3/4 episodes, and I was fine with that, but they're overused by the penultimate episode of this season, and not revealing anything we didn't already know about Daemon. I'm not entirely against Daemon's Riverlands arc the way some fans are- like it or not, at this point during the canonical Dance, he's not doing much. But I think the fever dreams are much more effective in smaller doses. There's nothing else to explore in regards to the Daemon/Viserys relationship. Daemon craves power but has no interest in the mundane reality of ruling. We all know this by now.

I don't get why Rhaenyra's children are depicted being shunted off with so few guards in the Vale- are we supposed to intuit that Jeyne Arryn literally does not give a shit what happens to them, or is this foreshadowing that they will be attacked on the road? It's not clear whether the show is going to do the canonical Battle of the Gullet or not, but again, I wouldn't be surprised if they depict Joffrey dying in it instead of Jacaerys, in order to give his character more screen time and development in Season 3.

I don't agree with the fans calling Jace hypocritical. Yes, he was all-for recruiting other legitimately born nobles of vague Targaryen descent to become dragon riders a few episodes ago. But empowering the actual smallfolk is another matter, and Jace is naturally insecure about the rumors regarding his birth and parentage. If any commoner bastard can tame a dragon, what does that say about him? He's right that Rhaenyra's succession will in all likelihood be challenged, even if she wins the war. Being a dragonrider no longer makes Jace special. And he is perfectly entitled to be angry with Rhaenyra for the legacy she left him. No, she didn't deserve to be forced into a marriage against her will, and she didn't 'owe' anyone legitimate children. But her choices have consequences and they've made Jace's life very difficult.

I actually enjoy Ulf's character here. He's a braggart and an arrogant idiot, but he's not delusional, and I think his back-and-forth with his friends about whether he has what it takes to claim a dragon is fucking hysterical. He's the typical burn-out former party boy, now in his late 30s, who's beginning to realize nothing great is coming around the bend for him.

I also enjoy their take on Hugh. It's debatable whether Hugh is implying that his mother was literally Saera Targaryen, or rather a bastard daughter of Jaehaerys, but either way, what a way to stick it the Conciliator, who was by all accounts a horrible father and husband who treated his wife like a broodmare and his daughters like shit. Hugh is mourning the loss of his daughter and has nothing left to lose. He wants revenge for the basic rights he was denied as a commoner. He's arguably one of the most heroic characters in the show.

I think the issue with Alicent in this episode is that despite this season being so slow-moving, they've sped-run her disillusionment so quickly that now that she's clearly regretful of encouraging Aegon to take the throne and disgusted by Aemond, the writers don't know what to do with her except have her brood. I think it would have been wiser to actually let her express some anger and grief over the loss of Jaehaerys- even if she wasn't close with her grandchildren- rather than to have her floating around nihilistically. At least give her something to motivate herself beyond 'my life is ruined'.

I do enjoy them showing that the dragonkeepers have developed their own ideology and politics. They idolize old Valyria to such a degree that they cannot tolerate the idea of even letting dragonseeds approach dragons, and it's foreshadowing of how the Targaryen legacy is doomed to cannibalize itself. Rhaenyra has to loosen the 'standards' of what makes an ideal dragon rider to gain support for the war- but at the same time, she can't stretch too far, or risk open rebellion from any lowborn dragonrider. If dragons are what makes a king or queen, then does being of noble blood really matter?

I wish they'd had Rhaenyra go down the self-righteous 'the gods will it so' route sooner, but I think it's a good contrast with Alicent to show Rhaenyra becoming inspired by the thought that all is preordained and that her own destiny is to be a great queen, while Alicent has lost faith in her religion, her family, and her own choices. I don't think Rhaenyra is insane or deluded here, but she is able to justify greater and greater sacrifices because she now truly believes she is fated to rule and that Westeros will crumble existentially without stable Targaryen leadership. She believes it to such a degree that she risks her own life with Vermithor in order to show her power before the smallfolk.

I think the ending scene was very well done, Ulf's gleeful flight over King's Landing and Aemond's genuine panic when he realizes he is no longer in control of the dragon power in Westeros was perfect. Overall, I enjoyed this episode more than episode 6, since shit actually happened. I'd give it a 7.5/10.