#we don’t have ages but this does help make it a lot less weird for sure

[r0semultiverse]

I fully welcome this new change tbh, they’re found family. Platonic siblings. Thank fuck.

SO THEYRE NOT SIBLINGS. OH THANK FUCK

[kimberbohwrites]

Rolan Headcanons

How Old is Rolan? (SFW)

Inspired by a conversation between the amazing and wonderful @darkurgetrash and I the other day that made me want to compile my thoughts in one place.

I believe that Rolan is anywhere between 27-35 years old. Why?

Thanks for asking! (lol)

-As someone who is (nearly) 36 years old and went through a traumatic upbringing, I have a lot of experience in this subject and I’m here to shed my weird expertise and light on this. (Also, as a side-note I believe that Rolan would have the most fire skincare routine if he was in a modern au situation)

-Let’s just start with the physical signs of aging. Like the dark circles under his eyes, people who are older get worsened dark circles under their eyes from stress, lack of sleep, etc. Now there are such a thing as hereditary dark circles in humans (I have them) but again, they worsen with age.

-His face shape is another very distinct sign of aging and a real difference to help you spot people in their 20s vs people in their 30s. While your face shape doesn’t necessarily change as you age, your features do become broader as your skin loses elasticity and that natural youthful glow.

-Rolan’s face looks to me like a more mature adult face in that respect and when you compare him to younger and older tieflings it seems to be consistent.

-I know the big topic of debate is the wrinkles, could he be prematurely aged by the stress he’s gone through? Absolutely, he does have some signs of premature aging around his eyes from a hard and stressful life (I also have these lines). I agree here.

-But take a look at Cal and Lia, they have also had hard lives but appear much younger than Rolan. However, they both seem to be adults, not youths, which makes me put them in their early to mid twenties. (In my mind: Cal is 23, Lia is 27, and Rolan is 32-33)

-Going into the less physical subject of debate that goes with this topic: The apprenticeship. I don’t think his apprenticeship necessarily means he’s young you can start an apprenticeship at any age and what we do know about Rolan’s background makes it all the more likely he got a late start in life. I sincerely think Rolan wouldn’t have wanted to leave Cal, Lia, and their mother before the Descent of Elturel and their mother’s subsequent death.

- I actually believe that her death was likely a catalyst for him wanting to 1. Get stronger to protect them and 2. Need to leave Elturel for it to actually make that happen.

-Furthermore, I think some of his prickly exterior and facade of bravado are a sign of age as well, not immaturity. Those both come from a place of shame, shame that he has likely felt over a long time which could be worsened by the perception that he hasn’t achieved more in life. (But I could just be yapping on this one lmao)

These are just my thoughts on this subject, let me know what you think as well. At the end of the day, we are all just making sh*t up, which is the true spirit of Dungeons and Dragons lmao (also falling deeply in love with a background NPC with no last name).

[my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction]

Hi Fen! Hope you're doing well <3

I've been having such a hard time going to sleep lately and I was wondering if the moon boys ever have that problem - when they're not trying to stay up that is. So what do you think? Do any of them have trouble falling asleep? What do they do when that happens? And how do you think they'd help a Reader who couldn't fall asleep?

I’m so sorry you’re having trouble sleeping! (And that it’s taken me so long to reply) I hope you're doing better now <3

Rating: PG  Masterlist | ao3 | want to be tagged?

Warnings: brief mention to sex

Steven

Doesn’t have trouble sleeping, and can go to sleep quite easily when he’s not fighting it AND when Marc isn’t co-fronting (Marc’s sleeping issues bleed over into Steven).

When you can’t sleep though Steven is more than happy to stay up with you.

“Spend most of my adult life on 2 hours of sleep a day, didn't I? Yes. So this isn’t even water off a duck’s back, this is air off a duck’s back, this is not even noticeable love.” 

Will suggest lots of different things to do: reading (he will read to you if you want to try to sleep), watch something, listen to music, go on a weird London at 3:30am walk, “the night tube is running and we could go to 24 hour karaoke in Soho?”, “did you know these libraries are open at 4am?”, “I know a 24 gym that has a pool, we could go swimming!”, “Beckenham Place Park actually has open water swimming, I bet we’d be the only ones there! But I’m gonna wear a nose clip because I don’t want possible brain-eating amoeba up my nose, do I? No.” Proceeds to tell you a documentary's worth of information about Naegleria fowleri and how it was found in 1978 in Bath, so “yes it is in the UK Marc.”

Basically he’s full of ideas about where to go in the middle of the night that’s open because that’s what he used to do when he was trying not to sleep. (Also it’s nice to do things when there’s not so many people about.) 

Will suggest driving to a spot he knows outside of London where there’s less light pollution to look at the stars. Will wake up Jake to do the driving. Will bully the hell out of Khonshu if the sky isn’t clear. (And will make him get rid of the cloud.) 

100% would ask if you would like him to fuck you to sleep.

Marc

He’s not asleep either. 

Usually gets Steven or Jake to fall asleep for him.

However, if they’re already asleep, or not available, he goes with the ‘I am laying down with my eyes closed, because it’s still resting’ philosophy. 

He tries not to toss and turn a lot, but he does bless him. 

Has tried to drink himself to sleep on several occasions. 

Doesn’t like to see you having trouble sleeping at all and spends ages fussing over you. 

Fluffs the pillows, gets extra blankets, gets less blankets, turns the heating on, gets the fan out, will run you a bath and put all the lavender stuff in and make you 500 herbal teas, then change the bed covers. 

Will offer to sleep on the sofa or the floor so he doesn’t disturb you while you’re trying to sleep. (Then apologies when you obviously hate the idea of him being away from you.)

Is giving ALL the cuddles, however you want them. Will lay in the most uncomfortable position for himself for you to be comfy (will not tell you the position is uncomfortable for him.)

Tells you the most outrageously made up stories in quiet hushed tones to help lull you to sleep and then acts mock offended if you doubt that anything he says didn’t really happen.

Makes you cum on his mouth repeatedly until you’re so exhausted you have no choice but to fall asleep.

Jake

Can actually fall asleep anywhere at any time. 

I still firmly believe that before Steven and Marc know about him he would front just to go to sleep because they are so bad at getting some shut eye and constantly run the body into the ground.

Has melatonin tablets and a whole pharmacy's worth of sleeping aids to share. 

Will 100% take you for a drive to try to get you to fall asleep (or just to take you somewhere if you want, or if Steven has woken him up to drive.)

“Jake, I need you to drive to-”

“Steven… It's bedtime, time for sleep. No driving.”

“Oh, but S/O is having trouble sleeping and-”

Jake is already out of bed with his car keys in hand.

Will offer to be your weighted blanket and lay all over you. 

Says he will threaten Khonshu to keep the sun down so you can rest if it takes you a while to get to sleep. 

Tries to (lovingly) bore you to sleep by counting sheep out loud and in detail. “This one is a Merino sheep, the ones that are very fluffy. Her name is Harold. She likes grass, but not clover. Which is unusual for a sheep. So that’s one so far, one sheep. Now this next one is…”

Doesn’t offer sexy times because he doesn’t want to be pushy, however if you suggest it he’s happily all over you.

____________________________________

Thank you for reading!

@raven-rk @campingwiththecharmings @alexxavicry @mystinky-butt @cocodiem @oscarisaacsspit @whatthefishh @mbakubabe @romanarose @pimosworld @jake-g-lockley @saturn-rings-writes @boredzillenial @lonelyisamyw-0love @melodygatesauthor @steven-grants-world  @eyelessfaces @angel-of-the-moons @minigirl87 @queerponcho

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[atopvisenyashill]

there’s a few potential sansa romantic endgames that i think have some textual basis and i think all of them come with a lot of issues wrt sansa being able to publically claim these relationships which is why i think sansa will say her children are “fathered by a wolf” because regardless of Who she’s with or even the legality of it, she’s going to be actively concealing their identity AND YET she needs to have children.

i think especially that even though arya’s love life is guaranteed to be less complicated, sansa will feel obligated to take this “burden” of ensuring their line onto herself; she wants arya to have the freedom to go where she pleases, be with who she pleases, and follow her passions and that is not easy to do if everyone is expecting you to come home and start popping out kids. I consider them a sort of reflection of ned and lyanna in this way in that sansa, second born and not meant to rule, uses her newfound power to let the wild, youngest girl (but not youngest child) in the family follow her passions wherever they may take her.

this is all kind of weird with the nixed time jump but considering that george has talked about writing stories from arya’s pov about her adventures, I think it’s going to be fairly important in story regardless of their ages that arya will attempt to offer to stay home and marry and have children as a way of helping to protect sansa’s very shaky claim on winterfell but that sansa encourages arya to do whatever she wants. to travel, to help shepherd the boatloads of refugees from the various wars to wherever they want to call home, to settle displaced northerners in other parts of westeros as well, to get involved in the lives of the people arya is helping and agree to help them liberate their own homes by using her skills (crucial here that arya is A leader but not the SOLE leader), or to go out into the woods and be a secret not-quite-an-outlaw (bc sansa isn’t outlawing anything that could hurt arya’s lil crusades, probably is helping bankroll arya) to bring justice to the smallfolk, like whatever it is arya wants to do with her life, the point is that she offers to give it up and sansa refuses to take the offer.

and then we have the idea that her kids are fathered by a wolf. not elizabeth-ing herself here exactly because she’s having children but never publicly acknowledging a father or a husband or even a lover.

i think the candidates most likely are jon snow and theon, with both brienne and podrick as like “i’m not saying he’s gonna do it but i am saying they make a lot of sense narratively” and aegon vi as a huge long shot but still undeniable contender. if briensa does go canon everyone owes me five bucks each tho. i think the options other people float are not just wildly unserious they also clearly don’t think sansa will be The Ruling Lady Of Winterfell, but some much more minor or less emotionally resonant title and i just do not vibe with that shit at all. harry the heir, sandor, sweetrobin, tyrion, littlefucker, like never mind sansa never once showing any real interest in these guys and NONE of these dudes being satisfied by the idea of being her secret husband, if sansa says to arya “yeah i’m marrying tyrion” arya is going “blink twice if you’re being held hostage and you need me to kill him” but it’s too late because jon snow is already unsheathing longclaw and bran is attacking with every raven in winterfell. it’s not fucking happening and imo it’s unserious to pretend like it could happen in canon. (and if it DOES happen in canon you will find me rocking up to george’s house in jersey and demanding to know why he’s so weird about teenage girls). i think margaery is a huge long shot here (and not just bc it would make them both canonically on screen gay) because i don’t think she’s gonna live to the ending, and jeyne poole is too traumatized at this point in time for me to feel confident in putting her in the same category as brienne and pod.

(theon’s trauma is WHY i think he’s still a contender - post reek theon is going to struggle a lot with figuring out where he’s supposed to be, who he’s supposed to be, and who he can trust as he puts himself back together, and that lends itself nicely to the idea of a secret husband/lover imo. once again, we are talking extreme trauma bonding here - that’s just the only way i see sansa’s romances going).

if you’re asking “who do you think arya is winding up with” it’s gendry. i don’t doubt that there were some plans for edric dayne, arya, and gendry but i think gendry was always going to be her great love here, that she’s always going to turn down the idea of marriage to him but gendry doesn’t care so long as they are still together. there’s a neon blinking sign over gendry’s head that says “endgame material” and i think it’s unserious to pretend it’s not there too!!

[persistentplums]

More Venture bro future thoughts p2:

With the timeline as a factor in Venture bros I think Hank would ride the wave of 2000s reality tv and still be an adventurer. After somehow falling into trainings and becoming certified he would probably get the attention of someone who likes his moxy (how can you not) and get him a show.

He runs around the world with a camera guy, and it’s another person pulled into the whirlwind of Hank/ventures. I would like to think bc Dermont is OSI he shows up sometimes. In classic adventure movie fashion there’s always a woman who’s antagonistic (Hank has a type what can we say).

I believe Hank would have an impact culturally like his dad and Jonas but a larger scale. He would be closer to a wrestler/Gordon Ramsey Hell’s Kitchen etc (2000s tv I can’t remember reality tv), dabble in acting, movies, tv, music. Rise of the internet means Hank Nation is a real thing, kids would imitate his stunts, Halloween costumes would be made of him, etc.

Hank would be a bachelor for his life, Hank is great! It’s just he doesn’t slow down, always “on” and all the women he likes kinda want to kill him or he’s into women who aren’t compatible. I would like to think, in a sweet Disney tv show way, Dean kids are trying to set Hank up with someone. Kids can be sweet, and they would love Hank. Even when the kids get older, but whether or not Hank settles down I don’t know. Hank feels like he would grow old and be weird worldly old man in the neighbourhood who has stories upon stories that has loved every inch of the world.

Hank is suited to the quick entertainment output internet put a pedal on so I genuinely think Hank is set for a while. He would make enough to retire still doing everything he does but with the less flashy lifestyle of his career gave him.

Dean definitely hates the idea of being on reality tv so no go for him. Dean helps at Bobbi ranch also with Hank, I’m sure they visit her never officially calling her grandma but it’s the same in energy. Dean gets motivated to help the animals on the ranch, leaning harder into science+biology. Funny enough he ends up in school longer than any Venture but still graduates.

He has bureaucratic messes happening to him, again following timeline of the show we are leaving the classic ages of heroes and villains. 2000s comics were edge on edge, we have anti heroes, villains who do psychological damage (even more) and don’t draw the line. I would like to think Dean who’s already over it, is SUPER over it. A heckler of a “hero”, who weirdly in a Brock sense is a critic of what’s “classy” villainy and gets under a lot of people skin that way. If his Monday night is ruined then EVERYONE Monday night is ruined too.

I think the boys “team up” a lot Hank is never in the same place but his adventures end up crossing Dean’s a lot. If Dean is sent to the moon to examine the water, Hank is there because he heard there might be massive worms only for both to find a villain who is trying to destroy the moon by digging into parts of it with robot worms. Stuff like that!

Dean is the type of person who has a child with a woman who is his arch. Did he know? Nope. Does she love him? Hm. But I think it would be funny that’s how Dean has kids and how a real villain would ensure their spot as Dean Arch. Visitation and “going to moms” is the most elaborate and dramatic part of each week. The kids probably don’t care, mom has a flying lair they get snatched up by.

It’s a little funny to ME, the whole set up that Dean in an effort to ignore this life he’s in has kids with a person he saw the most of and still didn’t put two and two together. Mr and Ms smith esq except we never really know if Ms.Arch loves Dean or not.

They both love their kids deeply and in a weird way Dean is glad the arch who keeps taking his kids isn’t scary to them she’s incredibly harmless to the kids just dramatic. Unlike Myra or any arch/person that has kidnapped Dean, Hank, or even Doc as kids she makes sure the kids are taken very safely and in fun ways. Then cranks up the heat for Dean for seemingly no reason.

(It’s also against my personal belief that Dean is just straight but I want to believe Jared and Dean get together but I like to think Jared and Dean still have a thing going on even when they get older.)

Dean Arch having his kids was a move nobody would do but she committed to the whole thing with glee idk what he did to her but I think it’s a move Monarch would like so that’s my reasoning. Monarch was trying to fuck RobotDoc I think he would respect the underhanded approach of marrying your nemesis and having his kids but would 100% be so aghast.

Monarch obviously believes in love, the show is all about love so I think it would be a good problem of “modern villainy” mindset. How the game is changing and things don’t stay the same. (She isn’t devoid of love, but with every joke you gotta have a consequence ykwim) with that in mind OSI also has the problem with modernization.

Nobody respects the classics anymore but we can’t keep recycling them, things need to keep moving on and I would think this is a fun problem for all characters to deal with in some aspect. Hank leaning into reality tv, Dean technically married and divorced to his arch, the new wave of villains, what heroes exist organically anymore etc

That’s it! For now!

[beauspot]

The Berzatto Siblings

TW: Discussions of abuse and drug use

So rewatching Fishes I finally came to understand how each child plays a role in an abusive family. I already knew this but rewatching this it became so clear cut to me.

Mikey is the most like their mother and it makes sense he’s been with her the longest because he’s the oldest and because he was the oldest he didn’t have the luxury of relying on his other siblings who are considerably younger than he is (mikey was 44 when he passed away and i think sugar is in her 30s i believe since we don’t have confirmed ages).

That means for a good chunk of his childhood development he had to handle his moms shit alone. That’s why Mikey is the protector. It makes sense that she relies on him more than the others because he was the first and Mikey is so clearly her favorite because he let’s her do whatever she wants. He’s also the only one who can calm Donna down if Donna can be calm.

Understandably because that was probably the only way he could survive. All that being said Mikey never had a chance. Of course he turned to drugs it’s probably the only way he could escape. And he didn’t have anyone the way Sugar had him and Carmy had both of them.

Sugar is placed in a weird position as the middle child and only girl. She learned to placate her mother at a young age and became a nurturer. She spoke to her mother softly and tried to make sure she was ok because if she wasn’t ok then nobody was ok.

This in turn was also how she treated her brothers. Nat is constantly trying to make sure the people in her life are ok so much so that she barely has any time to think of herself. It’s why Pete is so good for her because he doesn’t expect that of her. He cares for her.

Since she’s the second child she has some separation and support from her brother that Mikey didn’t have, but it obviously didn’t save her from her mothers issues. Sugar still has some faith in their mother’s love for them even though she’s been neglected the most out of all of her siblings. Likely due to the fact that her mother was jealous of her.

Carmy was the youngest, the baby which means out of all of the fucked up people in his life he had the greatest support system. Since his siblings were there Carmy wasn’t taking on the brunt of his mothers anger on his own. I believe this is partly why Carmy dissociates more than his siblings.

Growing up I used to dissociate a lot, but as I got older it became more of a danger to myself than a safe retreat so it just sort of started to happen less. I think that’s why we don’t really see Mikey dissociate. Mikey can’t dissociate. His mother gets upset and drives cars through their house the only thing he could be was hypervigilant and constantly on attention. And also why Sugar does it less than Carmy.

Which is just so sad, but because of this Carmy was able to do the one thing his siblings couldn’t. He escaped. Carmy left and he has (as of right now) severed contact with his mother completely. With the help of his brother, turning him away so he wouldn’t get stuck and his sister, who pushed him to get help.

I feel so sorry for each of them because they were dealt a shit hand and are trying to make the best of it.

[allthatglittersisnotgoldrush]

I just finished watching Cold Mountain and re-reading “Yours Respectfully, Doegred.” We’re around 8 years from the start of the civil war (1861). What do you think would have happened to the Finweans if they had stayed in New York? Would some of them have joined up? Would they have paid someone to fight on their behalf? I don’t have solid opinions, except that if any of his brothers had gone off to war, then I have a sneaking suspicion Maedhros would’ve found a way to protect them. The average age of a Union soldier was 26, so I can see any of the boys signing up/getting drafted. Or maybe they make a business out of making firearms (aka Curufin gets rich off war). This is a “just for fun” question.

Hello again, friend! Sorry for the delay, we absolutely loved your question and—fun fact that will perhaps surprise you not at all—we have previously discussed how the Civil War will and/or would impact our Silmarillion AU characters. We have plotted out our adaptation’s timeline in its rough entirety, so I shan’t say if the American Civil War DOES feature at all but keep reading I guess to find out! ^_^

Without any spoilers, it is interesting to point out that our Fingon, blessed by his teaching from Dr. Olorin, practices medicine in a way very advanced for his time period (late 1840s-early 1850s, thus far). In fact, a lot of the rules of cleanliness, wound-care, etc that he implements developed in modern medicine as a result of the high casualty rate AND high amputation rate of the Civil War. That’s what a little extra Maia help will do for you, thanks Olorin 🙏🏻 As a rule, Fingon’s general approach to medicine is designed to be 10-15 years ahead of his time; no wonder folk like Celegorm are skeptical of his methods, at times.

(Tangentially related to this is that you may speculate—as we have—on how the sudden increase in limb amputations during the war will or would affect Maedhros’ own view of himself and his loss. Right now, he feels singled out and horribly conspicuous because of the missing hand. In ten years or more, during or after the War? The post-war new normal for the American general public might actually render him less notable. Furthermore, he would have had many years to adapt to his disability prior to the War, giving him a weird social edge—and that is even without any prosthetics Curufin might provide.)

Now, for the purely speculative part of your question: what if the Feanorians had stayed in the East? I think that Celegorm would be first to leap to enlist for the Union; once Celegorm went Curufin would go; once Curufin went Ambarussa would go. Maedhros would have instantly known how all of this would go down, and spurred by the need to protect his brothers as well as his own sense of right and wrong (inflamed by Feanor’s own abolitionist convictions) he would have enlisted also. Maglor, of course, would go only once Maedhros went.

The odd one out, actually, is Caranthir. I think that before he leaves for war, Maedhros would talk to Caranthir and impress upon him the importance of remaining at Formenos. Someone needs to stay out of the army to protect the family land, to manage the household accounts, and to be there for Nerdanel. Maedhros would have known Caranthir is best suited for this role, and it would have eased his mind greatly to know that even one of his brothers is “safe,” whatever that means in wartime.

(Once in the military, I do agree that Curufin would have, if given opportunity, set to work at the armories and improving the poor muskets and cannons that were available at the time. The big caveat is if he would have had the chance.)

As an aside, it is worth bringing up Finrod, who would be an interesting study during the War. Ten years or so more mature, he would perhaps be a little more settled into what contemporaries might call Wisdom. He would be intensely devoted to the Union’s cause on the basis of fighting for emancipation; being still distrustful of Government and Nationalism, however, he would not be overly fond of the popular idea of fighting for the Union itself. Political cause will never move our Finrod as deeply as moral cause, however he interprets moral right and wrong to be. In his mind (correctly, of course) slavery is a supreme evil, thus the South must be defeated. Any talk of Keeping the Union Whole, or of the pragmatic necessity of retaining the wealth of the South for the Country, would be distasteful to Finrod as a distraction from the True Goal. Perhaps he would have been a writer of Pamphlets, in his spare time, which Maedhros would read with great interest whenever he had opportunity to possess one out at the front.

One last note! Folk in California, although on the opposite side of the continent, were deeply involved with the Civil War, in a wide variety of ways. Some sent back funds to help with their respective side of the war effort. Some put together volunteer militias who journeyed back East to join the front line. Some traveled back independently to join already established units. There was even some fighting in California, as the abolitionist, pro-Union citizens of California coordinated to thwart any attempts by secessionists to either provide aid to the South or to seize control of state government outright. One can easily imagine how our various cast of characters would behave in such a crisis, for good or for ill!

Thanks for the question, keep them coming!

[tanadrin]

Rarely do we predict the end of the world two or three generations hence; it’s always “this generation will not pass away before all these things have come to pass.” And I’m sure there are a lot of reasons for this—if you’re running a genuine doomsday cult, for instance, you don’t want to put the doomsday too far off. And I *think* part of the driving force there is that it’s really hard for us to imagine that the world will continue once we are gone, more or less intact. Like, it’s really weird to look at small children and know that, if everything goes right, they will see and do and think things you will never share in. That your life before they came along will be nothing more than the thinly imagined world beyond the borders of photographs that your parents’ or grandparents’ was before you. That however important and accomplished you are, the world will continue to spin when you have died.

That’s a hard fact to get your head around! And it’s sort of the inverse of the way we ofte treat our childhood as cosmogonic, as the default state against which all else rises and falls. We are prone to a solipsism where the bounds of the word are the bounds of our lives. That’s not a novel idea, but it does make me very skeptical of any eschatology positive or negative. The world has, so far, an extremely good track record of zero transformative catastrophes or eucatastrophes that take place with the sound of trumpets in the twinkling of an eye. Sure, it has lots of moments of *change.* Whole ages of them—dramatic sometimes, but always continuous. Differentiable, you might say, in that however rapidly the status quo is in flux you can see there is one, and how we got here from a previous state.

And not only do doomsayers have a pretty lousy track record, they frequently exhibit telltale signs that their doomsaying is based in something other than careful deduction—like Paul Ehrlich not only missing the Green Revolution (a forgivable error perhaps) but digging in even further the more reality continued to drift from his apocalyptic forecasts. One cannot help but think of Harold Camping, continually reissuing his predictions for the Second Coming. But also—peak oil was wrong; climate change has been bad but looks like it will not be “the end of industrial civilization” bad; a NATO/Warsaw Pact nuclear war never came to pass, (although arguably that’s the one that was in a lot of ways the most rational, and where we got luckiest). The non-doomsday-prophet types look at these fortunate turns and go “thank God that never happened!” But some people seem truly disappointed—after all, if the word will outlast you, how special can you or your era really be?

[bengiyo]

So I’ve got some thoughts wracking around my brain and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Apologies ahead of time because this is long.

Some background: I’ve been watching BL for about 2 years, consuming content from BL fandom on Tumblr for about a year, and listened to you & Nini’s pod since it came out. So I know a big trend and exciting push is workplace BL and more adult BL characters and relationships. I think it’s really interesting that so many in the fandom favor this trend because I struggle with the presence of the typical BL tropes in stories with queer adults because I see many of the tropes as inherently childish I guess? I mean I think as we all watch BL we have to hold a suspension of disbelief watching two adolescent or fully grown men live out these silly tropes (e.g white towel bath, tripping and falling, etc. (we all know’em by now)). I think that’s why I typically lean toward high school and even college settings because it’s easier to imagine characters in that age range engaging with these types of tropes.

I think the same goes for certain genres too. For example: I had a hard time enjoying KinnPorsche because tonally it was hard to reconcile one scene of rampant violence/death and the next scene Kinn & Porsche walking in the park engaging in all the silly tropes. The romance orientation of BL (to me) does not mix well with Mafia or horror genres because the presence of these tropes create such a weird tonal shift throughout the narrative.

I think I primarily have this trouble with Thai BLs (maybe also Taiwan they just don’t produce nearly as many shows so less to compare) because 1) the specific campy thai style of acting and 2) the fact that Thai BLs pack so many of the same tropes in their shows.

Now all that being said: I’m loving Law of Attraction and I’ve been thinking a lot about why it works for me. So far I don’t think there have been nearly as many tropes as some shows but I also think the melodrama of it all helps too. I mean both Charn and Tinn are very archetypal and Charn is almost a caricature of the archetype. It’s ridiculous and highly entertaining and still works as a BL for me.

Ok all that being said (I’m sorry this is so long) specifically with workplace/adult Thai BL: I see it going one of two main ways to continue to work (for me at least) while they also try to explore different settings, genres, and stories. Either 1) LoA route where it’s very dramatic and the characters are more caricatures and it’s not to be taken too seriously (but it’s still fun and entertaining and has some good themes) or 2) they phase out a lot of the tropes and depict more realistic queer characters in adult relationships. If they go route #2 wouldn’t that just lead to inherently more queer shows? From what I understand many define BL by the inclusion of these tropes and centering the romance in the narrative but I just can’t see how these aspects can continue to exist in more adult oriented stories? Do you think new tropes will emerge in these “office BLs” that will make it continue to “feel” BL without it feeling queer? Don’t get me wrong I’m queer and I love that it seems to be going in that direction but I’m also interested in the history/origins of the Thai BL industry and how they will likely try to continue to please their original base (cis het women) with more mature stories and settings without losing the essence of BL and moving more toward queer shows. Would love to hear any and all your thoughts. I’m thinking so much more about these topics hearing you and Nini on the pod so thank you for fostering these conversations!!

There's a lot going on here, so I'm going to try to pull out some specific things to interrogate.

I know a big trend and exciting push is workplace BL and more adult BL characters and relationships. I think it’s really interesting that so many in the fandom favor this trend because I struggle with the presence of the typical BL tropes in stories with queer adults because I see many of the tropes as inherently childish I guess? I mean I think as we all watch BL we have to hold a suspension of disbelief watching two adolescent or fully grown men live out these silly tropes (e.g white towel bath, tripping and falling, etc. (we all know’em by now)). I think that’s why I typically lean toward high school and even college settings because it’s easier to imagine characters in that age range engaging with these types of tropes.

I'm entering my mid-30s. I'm a bit burnt out on the high school and college stuff. I also work in an office tower as part of a large bureacracy. You'd be surprised how much petty office drama looks like the same shit you dealt with in schools. I also like the notion that even adults can enjoy some of the silly first moments. I dont' like the idea that either we settle down with the first boy we met in high school or college or we just don't exist.

Also, there are lots of tropes entering BL from the genre-blending that I think some viewers just don't recognize. Part of why Korean BL is so important is because quite a few viewers are versed in the narrative structures and story beats of a typical kdrama, and their commentary has been interesting as we get more Korean offerings. I often find that people miss out on the cues in Japanese shows because they didn't grow up on Japanese media like I did.

For example, I was commenting to NiNi last night when we were recording for Tokyo in April is... that one of the things I like so much about second chance romance in BL is the different built-in presumptions compared to straight people. When straight people have a second chance, it's usually because one of them broke up with the other. The relationship ended because of their internal problems. In gay second chance, the relationship was often taken from them by homophobia. In Our Dating Sim, internalized homophobia made Wan run away. Same in Individual Circumstances or The Promise. In Tokyo in April is... the boys are separated by their parents. Their relationship ended against their own wills, so the reunion and second chance is different because of their queer context.

Re: KinnPorsche: The romance orientation of BL (to me) does not mix well with Mafia or horror genres because the presence of these tropes create such a weird tonal shift throughout the narrative.

I don't know. History3: Trapped exists. Tropes are storytelling tools built upon familiar beats that audiences recognize. The pinky touch doesn't belong to BL. It grew out of queer media as a way for boys to privately have a moment of intimacy. Tropes are not inherently good or bad. What matters is how they're used. Do they support the narrative and themes, or do they get in the way?

A lot of folks do not like the Blushing Maiden trope. I am variable. It matters how it's used. I think it makes sense for Pharm in Until We Meet Again. I think it makes some sense for Minato in Minato's Laundromat. I don't really like it in Heartstopper 2. Elle gets a Heel Pop in Heartstopper 2, and it's what she deserves!

As for a mafia story, putting a romance story in a crime drama often is used to ramp up the sense of tragedy because the romance can't succeed inside the rules of the crime world.

specifically with workplace/adult Thai BL: I see it going one of two main ways to continue to work (for me at least) while they also try to explore different settings, genres, and stories. Either 1) LoA route where it’s very dramatic and the characters are more caricatures and it’s not to be taken too seriously (but it’s still fun and entertaining and has some good themes) or 2) they phase out a lot of the tropes and depict more realistic queer characters in adult relationships.

I don't like binaries like this. If you had asked me at 15 when I started watching Degrassi and then sneaking around to watch other gay shit if we'd have what we call BL now, I would not have believed you.

As for Laws of Attraction, I don't know that calling the characters caricatures is accurate either. They're behaving under the surreal rules of a lakorn, a telenovela, or a soap opera. There are exaggerations in the characters, but they all make sense and are obeying the rules of their world.

As for the question about BL getting more gay, @absolutebl has covered this already. Audiences do not care about gay people. Some of the conventions of surreal BL or the bubble are why they signed up. People did not watch POSE, they do not watch stuff like For the Boys, I haven't seen anyone on Tumblr talk about Sort Of, we didn't get an explosion of new gay shit after Moonlight or Call Me By Your Name. All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us.

I think there is room for BL to genre blend and play with broader romance or dramatic themes, à la La Pluie or Moonlight Chicken. However, I'll remind you that folks don't always like that (see I Promised You The Moon).

I think the biggest thing to recognize is that, while BL does have some of its own tropes from origin yaoi or modern Thai BL, BL shares a lot of DNA with romance as a whole. Don't get lost in the sauce of the classification war. Watching BL to check off boxes about what's recognized or not as the primary goal feels like a distraction.

Besides, if you're enjoying Laws of Attraction, that show has done nothing new. It's literally just using familiar lakorn and romance beats. Humans have been telling stories for at least 20,000 years. It doesn't have to be new to be good. It just needs to be done well.

[downforthegas]

Fart kink asks (all 25 bc why not)

Woah uhhhh damn thank you so much!!! I'm glad I can finally answer the questions I've always wanted to!!! Here we go:

When did you realize you were into farts? Age 16 when I first learned how to touch myself

How did you figure out you were into farts? Probably fart jokes in shows, you know how it goes (live action scooby doo movie ruined a generation lol)

What’s your favorite type of fart? Quite a lot. Bubbly, wet, bassy, rumbly, silent, squeaky, etc. The kind that smell awful, like rotten cheese, milk, or eggs

Are there any types of fart you don’t like? Of course not. Farts are farts. Even the short, quiet ones have their charm

What about farting do you find most appealing? Probably the smell but sound is really hot too. As for the types of farter, I'm a big fan of embarrassment, but confidence is also suuuuper hot depending on what I'm in the mood for

Do you have a preferred length or volume for farts? I mean not really but I find myself fantasizing about long farts. Even hyperfarts that last for hours maybe even days on end (i guess I do have a preferred length lol). As for volume, any is fine, but if it's long, its extra hot if its bubbly and quiet or silent

Does farting turn you on on its own or do you need to already be in the mood? Farting can turn me on in an instant like a switch

Do you have any other digestion-related kinks? Ooh so many. Burps, piss (I think that counts), scat, and vomit (but not for real, just in my head). Even general stomach issues like bloating and indigestion and even heart burn are hot

Do you have any other kinks that you enjoy being paired with farting? Farts and burps, farts and bloating, farts and scat, farts and spanking, farts and tying up, ugh the possibilities are endless

Is farting a must in sexual situations or is it more of a bonus? It's sort of a must but I don't want it to be. I try to get off to regular stuff with my partners (we still do farts stuff too), and I do but its hard bc its always been farts I've touched myself to. But I'm willing to change. Besides, not using farts helps me last longer

Have you ever acted on your desires IRL in an explicitly kinky manner? With myself? Yes. Not yet with my partners though

Is having a partner who can fart well important to you? Not really but it's nice when you have it, like I do right now hehe

Does anyone you personally know know about your kink? Two of my friends, one I still talk to. They're both really accepting. I think I told my sister but she was probably so traumatized, she forgot lol

Has anyone ever noticed/suspected your kink without you telling them about it? Not yet. Thank god though. Maybe my sis is getting suspicious but I'm not sure (if she really did forget)

Is there any media that you enjoy specifically for farts in it? Not a specific media in particular (I imagine my faves farting more if they're from medias with no fart jokes) but I do like looking at fart comps on youtube, mostly from cartoons

Do you have a favorite farting-related content creator (on tumblr or otherwise)? For fart models, I love Love Rachelle, Selena Loca, Santana Redd, Emma Ink, and Natasha F. For artists, there's too many to list but I love a lot of twitter artists like Carafalsa, ProButtonMasher, GasTank, and Solloros. For people on Tumblr, I love @sweetbubblies for their ocs. They include a lot of hyperfart stuff and I think they got me into diaper stuff. @grossgeck is awesome too. They're extra weird like me and it makes me feel less alone in this community

Would you ever consider recording your farts? Oh I recorded SO MANY of my farts and posted some here.

Are you a shy farter or do you fart freely? Depends who I'm around. Around fam? Strangers? Friends? no. Best friends and lovers? Yes but I get a little hesitant with best friends hehe

Are you good at farting? Uhhh well my farts smell bad and some can be like 5 seconds so I guess I'm good. But I'm EXCELLENT at pumped farts. I can fart on command and I can suck in a lot of air

Do you prefer farting yourself or hearing others fart? Either way I'm happy lol

Have you ever gotten into trouble for farting in a place or situation where you shouldn’t have? Ooh not yet but I have fantasized about trying that in a public setting somewhere. I am into humiliation after all

Have you ever gotten turned on by farting in an inconvenient place or situation? Again, no, but it turns me on to think about

Have you ever tried to make yourself gassy in order to fart? Oh I kinda do it all the time! Whether it's with food, chocolate milk (my love) and pumping air in me

Do you have any favorite foods or drinks for encouraging farting? Spicy foods, leafy green veggies, super greasy foods, and chocolate milk/regular milk

What’s your biggest fantasy involving farting? Me and both my current partners are gassy and they can both fart freely around me, but I have to have a plug in me until they say I'm allowed to pull it out. If we're having sex, I'm not allowed to take it out until I cum. Maybe they make me take it out in public so I'm forced to fart in front of a bunch of people. Or they need to be in the hot tub after sex. But there's no hot tub. But hey, there's enough bubbles in my system to make it one

[mari-lair]

in the age swap au that the minobros interage/relacions with akane,yashiro,aoi, lemon, hanako,etc?

uyguyiyu that’s a lot of people to go over! I tried to keep it short, simplify every dynamic, but it still got long.

Teru likes how genuine and passionate Nene is, her daydreams and gushing amuse him. She makes his more childish side shine, listening attentively when she tells him prince charming daydreams and sharing his own wishes for vacation, though he is very condescending at times: There is no malice to it, but Nene can act very naive and Teru is one arrogant little brat.

Nene has a big crush on Kou, and she actively tries to woo him instead of admiring in silence, plenty of reasons why, but mostly these three:Kou doesn’t have “someone else he likes”, when he rejects people he kindly says that he isn’t interested. Kou is not the “school prince” he may be considered a hot guy in school but he isn’t put on a pedestal, and that makes him feel more human and ‘attainable’. Kou is super sweet and blunt with Nene, when she is down, he tries to cheer her up, and he is so genuinely confused when she feels insecure, telling Nene she has a cute smile and she looks prettier than Aoi when she is happy. She is down bad.

Kou has a soft spot for Nene, he thinks she is a very sweet girl with a bright smile, and is sad she will die soon. He really appreciates that she is friends with Teru, even if a lot of her actions confuse him (he has no idea she has a crush on him), and when she bluntly praises him, he gets shy/have no idea how to react.

Hanako hates her crush on Kou so much, but he can’t genuinely hate Kou, he is the closest thing to a friend Hanako had before Nene summoned him. He still grows passive-aggressive with Kou and super clingy with Nene when she gets too lovey-dovey.

Teru wants Hanako exorcised and Hanako is scared of Teru, they try to convince Nene to abandon the other constantly. Most of the time Nene go “Play nice or I’m not staying with either!!” so they tolerate each other's presence.

They get very competitive at games, and it takes a lot of time, but their mutual care for Nene, and the traumatizing realization they share a lot in common make them slowly go from “Enemies that will go out of their way to hit where it hurts and drive the other to tears” to “Rivals that don’t respect each other in the slightest but can easily fall into friendly banter. It is a mystery if they care about each other cause they would rather swallow needles than say anything positive about the other.”

After Teru got attached to Nene, he always runs to her class to greet her with a sweet smile and a “Hey, we should ditch Hanako today! ”. This habit makes him meet Aoi relatively quick. Once she is introduced as Nene’s best friend, he tries to convince Nene to hang out with Aoi instead of Hanako, sure if she is already nene’s friend she’ll help Teru keep her away from Hanako.

His attempts usually fail, and Nene drags him to the bathroom with Hanako, but on the occasion he can convince Nene that “today is such a beautiful day to waste cleaning bathrooms” Aoi follows them.

He gets a crush on Aoi after a week or less of hanging out, and he isn’t fully aware it's a crush so he doesn’t hide it very well: he is sweeter with Aoi than with Nene and he asks a lot of questions about her, it makes Nene want to cry cause she knows Teru have a crush and it makes her get into her depressed “haha, all the boys really love her, I must be a radish in comparison :´)” moods.

Aoi is unsure and a bit overwhelmed by Teru at first but she warms up to him with time, realizing he does say a lot of weird things, acting as if ghosts exist, but he is not as unpredictable as he appears, and his questions seem to be born out of simple curiosity, so she eventually chalks him as a ‘sweet kouhai’.

Teru avoids any of Aoi and Nene's love talks like it's the plague, and Aoi finds that amusing, assuming it's because Teru doesn't want to hear Nene go over his big brother's dreamy smile, not because Teru is emotionally constipated and doesn't want to talk about his feelings, which is unavoidable if he lingers.

Teru used to be huffy with Akane since he is a half supernatural whom Kou treat as fully human, (Teru tied Akane up when they first met and tried to show off to Kou, expecting him to be proud he defeated a school wonder, but instead he was scowled for bullying a senpai) and he feels awkward every time Akane declares his love for Aoi. Still, no matter how cringe he acts, Akane is nice to people, easy to tease, very observant, blunt, competent and yet easy to trick, which makes him so cool to Teru. He really wants to be his friend.

Even though Akane is older, and the student council president, Teru still bullies him: It is common knowledge at school that Akane has beef with a 14 years old. He mostly ignores Teru but he did almost snapped when Teru says he will try to get into the student council so they can play more often.

Kou doesn't interact much with Akane, just checks on him from time to time, a bit worried about him since he knows how hard it can be to see supernaturals in a world where everyone else is blind to it.

Both don’t really interact with Lemon. Though Lemon does vaguely think Teru is weird in a funny way and Kou seems like a cool dude.

Teru is overly attached to Kou, for a long time Kou was the only person he ever trusted. Kou is his cool big brother/ best friend/ caretaker all in one and whenever he gets lonely or has a problem it is an instinct to go to Kou. He put Kou on a pedestal while simultaneously being protective of him: He has noticed Kou’s hero complex, and he doesn’t want to be an added reason as to why Kou looks so tired, he doesn’t want to be just a ‘dead weight’ Kou takes care of.

When Kou says he is “so smart, you’re far better at this than when I was your age!” or “So strong! You took that big supernatural all on your own! I'm proud of you” Teru takes it to heart, so he is very arrogant.

Teru does his best with house chores that don't involve cooking, such as cleaning and babysitting Tiara, to help out but he is more confident he is of help when it comes to protecting Kou's back on patrol. When Kou is stressed by school exams he tries to understand what Kou is studying to help him as well (much to Kou’s surprise, despite their three years difference, when he is in the red and Teru spends the day trying very hard to go over his school books, he is usually able to grasp the basic and help simplify things.)

Teru is aware he is not as 'heroic' as Kou, and he grows more and more resentful of supernaturals the more Kou's attempt to understand them hurts his big brother. He is scared if they talk about his real view on their job Kou will be disappointed in him, or, on particularly bad days, consider Teru a bad person.

Kou is very protective and fond of Teru, and will exhaust himself to spoil him.

Kou is scared by the idea of not being needed. He is genuinely proud that Teru is a prodigy but feeling more and more lacking by the year: Teru stopped asking for his advice in exorcism or how to vacuum or how to use a washing machine, and he never needed Kou’s help with school.

Kou got a mini-crisis when Teru started spending time with Nene and Hanako or Aoi and Akane every day instead of with him. He is very happy his little bro isn’t so lonely anymore, but he is so used to Teru’s visits during his school break, it takes time to get used to not see him for a whole day and not immediately assume something is wrong and Teru must be in danger. He is also far too used to being the only person Teru trusts, and it does make him jumpy and hurt when Teru starts to hide some things from him, or go to his friends instead of Kou to vent.

More info on it can be found Here

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Wesley Crusher

By Ames

Grab your favorite hideous sweater! It’s time to talk about Wesley Crusher. He’s one of the most polarizing characters on TNG, with a lot of hate directed his way, but he also has a number of great Trek moments which we on A Star to Steer Her By are going to sort through today!

We can probably blame Gene Roddenberry for making this character so insufferable, especially in the first season when he seemed to have the easy solution for the engineering problem of any given episode. Gene designed him to characterize a person’s infinite potential and then slapdashedly shoehorned him into every place he could, and you’ll notice that right after the big writers room turnover, the child prodigy started feeling more like a character and less like a cheat code. Scroll on for the list below and listen to our chatter on this week’s podcast episode (warp over to timestamp 57:36) for all the dirt. Just unplug your nanite experiment first.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Don’t shut up, Wesley While I’ll give Wesley the deserved scrutiny in a moment for the absurd number of times in season one of TNG that he saved the day, we do have to give him some credit for figuring out that Lore was impersonating Data in “Datalore.” Even while pretty much everyone on the crew was telling him to shut up, Wes had it all figured out and topped it off by beaming Lore into space.

Double dumbass on you! Wesley actually does get to shine during “Coming of Age,” an episode that really uses his youth to its advantage by having him take the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. And he gets pretty far! He even figures out that Rondon is a Zaldan, so Wesley realizes that apologizing for getting run into himself is the wrong reaction for that culture and comes away looking like a badass.

Teamwork makes the dream work Speaking of “Coming of Age,” Wesley is also this close to solving the dynamics relationships test first when he helps Mordock figure it out too. Wesley’s natural affinity for helping his crewmates is more important to him than getting the top score, which TAC Officer Chang takes into consideration in the final results. I’m not sure it helped much, but it’s a good character moment.

You never forget your first “I'm never going to feel this way about anyone else,” Wesley says to Guinan after watching his first crush leave in “The Dauphin.” Strangely, it’s a very mature little conversation considering Wesley was ready to write Salia off as some kind of alien monster earlier in the episode. But he learns to accept her differences, score some relationship experience points, and get his first smooch.

The minute you walk through that door they’re your team Slowly, the show starts putting Wesley in more age-appropriate situations in which he isn’t just saving the day, so it’s fitting for him to be overwhelmed when leading his first committee in “Pen Pals.” His team member Davies effectively takes over because Wes initially lacks confidence, but he soon takes charge and they work together to save Drema IV. Go team!

You told me to improvise During the war games in “Peak Performance,” Wesley thinks outside the box and retrieves one of his many, many experiments from the Enterprise to use on the less advantaged Hathaway. While Riker initially accuses young Crusher of cheating, no one said he couldn’t sneak tools off the other ship, and it’s that kind of ingenuity that could be useful in a fight.

Begin by letting go of your guilt, Wesley His mother Beverly may be on full display in “Remember Me” as we discussed last week, but Wesley also gets some interesting development. Back in “Where No One Has Gone Before” the Traveler saw potential in the child prodigy, and when the two of them use their special powers here to open the door for Dr. Crusher to return from the warp bubble, we witness some of that weird potential get unlocked.

I’ve done it all because I want you to be proud of me We joke a lot on the podcast that Picard is secretly Wesley’s father, and it’s mostly for laughs. But when we get touching scenes between the two of them like the one in “Final Mission,” we think we may be onto something. Stranded on a planet without water, Wesley keeps an injured Picard alive (can’t say the same for Dirgo, but whatever), fueling paternity theories for years to come.

I just lost the game After Wesley leaves the crew after “Final Mission,” his appearances are more methodical, and thus his character feels more and more appropriate each time. In “The Game,” he’s just visiting but his tendency to see how things work helps him and Lefler to discover that the video game everyone’s playing is actually harmful before the whole crew turns on them.

I would like to add something to my testimony We get even more glimpses of how far Wesley has come when he’s attending Starfleet Academy in “The First Duty.” All of Nova Squadron has lied about the circumstances of Josh Albert’s flight accident, and it’s Wesley who comes clean in the end because he can’t bear the guilt and the dishonesty of covering up their nefarious actions. Take that, Locarno!

These people deserve better than to be removed from their homes We found Picard’s actions inexcusable and entirely out of character in “Journey’s End” but you know who was actually on point? Wesley freakin’ Crusher. How on earth the boy was the only Starfleet-adjacent person to actually try to defend the colonists on Dorvan V is beyond us. It strikes us as opposing Federation ideals to force the colonists to move, and Wes knows that.

I had to find my own path Finally, it is a fabulous resolution to the Wesley Crusher character for him to decide on his own to leave Starfleet and go with the Traveler to discover his true potential in “Journey’s End.” For too many kids, it’s the parents who put pressure on them to walk certain paths, and we celebrate Wes for finding his own. Ya know, until he’s randomly back in Starfleet for that cut scene from Nemesis for some reason.

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Worst moments

Wesley Saves the Day! Okay, I’m gonna lump all the obnoxious “Wesley Saves the Day!” instances into one blurb because it’s so damn repetitive. Every single time, Wesley – a child amidst some of Starfleet’s best of the best – figures out some impossible engineering problem before any of the adults in the room can, and we got so tired of it. 

Whether it’s by getting drunk and taking over engineering only to use his reverse tractor beam in “The Naked Now,” or saving the day with the Traveler in “Where No One Has Gone Before,” or spotting Picard’s brain scan from across the room and deducing there are Ferengi shenanigans afoot in “The Battle,” or cracking the lock on the holodeck door while La Forge had already admitted defeat in “The Big Goodbye,” or seeing through Lore’s disguise as we mentioned above while all the adults in the room tell him to shut up in “Datalore,” or probably a ton of others all from the first season, it was clear no one knew how to write him except as some kind of magical prodigy. Alakazam!

Keep off the grass It’s all the more clear that having a child character on the crew is just a cringey idea in “Justice.” Sure, it could have been anyone who broke the stringent rules of the Edo, but just the fact that it’s Wesley gallumphing through a flower bed like an uncoordinated doofus, destroying it utterly, makes us roll our eyes and seriously wish they’d let them execute the brat. 

Frosty the no-no man Let us not forget that it was Wesley who hit the captain with a snowball in “Angel One,” an immature and obnoxious little scene that seems to prove Picard’s point that letting children run roughshod all over the ship is an inconvenience at best and a liability at worst. And it happens to be the latter in this episode, because he ends up getting the whole ship sick with some disease!

Drug Abuse Resistance Education is futile! While we can go on about Wesley’s whole exchange with Tasha about drug addiction in “Symbiosis,” what’s most egregious is how sheltered and clueless Wesley (normally some kind of child genius) has to be to not understand how narcotics work in the first place. It’s such a forced scene that we can just feel the Reagan Era war on drugs sentimentality written all over.

I guess leaving’s gotten easy for you It’s easy to find fault with “The Outrageous Okona” – it is my least favorite TNG episode, after all. Literally everyone in this episode is annoying, and as usual, that includes Wesley who first idolizes the charming rogue, then seems really judgey of his independent and carefree lifestyle, and finally he sasses the guy into making him conclude the soap opera plot of the episode.

How do you tell each other apart? It’s a pretty cheap joke when Wesley meets Mendon in “A Matter of Honor” and mistakes him for Mordock, whom we met in “Coming of Age.” I can’t tell if the writers were trying to make a racist “you people all look alike” kind of gag, but regardless, it makes Wesley look like an idiot for not knowing anything about Benzites and Benzite culture.

Klingons hate surprise parties Everything Wesley does in “The Icarus Factor” is annoying. He blathers like a maniac at the impatient Klingon, but then takes that impatience to assume something greater is going on than just being fed up with an obnoxious tween like anyone else would be. But to make things more exasperating, the little twerp is right, as he always is, and throws Worf an Age of Ascension party. Ugh.

I think that everything that’s been going wrong might be my fault It’s not until season three that, instead of saving the day as he did so many times already, Wesley actually screws up big by releasing the nanites in “Evolution.” While it’s refreshing to see Wes finally admit to some kind of flaw, his escaped nanites end up taking over the ship and start attacking people. And what’s worse is that he tries to lie about it until Guinan catches him!

Broccoli on the side You’ll remember this from La Forge’s spotlight as well, but Geordi reveals in “Hollow Pursuits” that it was Wesley who initiated the cruel nickname “Broccoli” for Lt. Barclay. Wes, you might still be a child, but you’re in a room with adults so stop acting like one! I don’t know what’s worse: being such a dick to one of your coworkers, or all the adults in the room condoning it.

I’m the one trapped in the bubble As if his misadventure in “Evolution” weren’t enough, Wesley botches another science experiment in “Remember Me” and nearly gets his mother killed in a pocket dimension! I know we just gave him some credit for bringing her back (though I mostly give that credit to the Traveler), someone’s got to stop letting Wes hook shit up to the warp core just because he’s the CMO’s kid! Nepotism much?

The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth Here’s another Wesley moment that ended up on both lists because as much as we can see the character growth and lesson learned when he comes clean in “The First Duty,” it also needs to be said that he is fully prepared to follow Nick Locarno like a little sheep. Wesley almost certainly wouldn’t have done the right thing in the end if Picard hadn’t basically threatened him first!

You are out! Auf wiedersehen! Finally, we would be remiss if we didn’t poopoo Wesley’s fashion choices. Again. It’s a trainwreck of a fashion show. Sweater after sweater – all oversized, hideously patterned, and monstrously ugly. Ames has the full write up in an early blogpost: Wesley's Sweaters: An Unfashionable Collection, but this coral nightmare from “Where No One Has Gone Before” might take the cake.

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Well, we’re off to go exploring with the Traveler, so that’s gonna wrap things up for this one. We’re back next week with more characters to spotlight and also more Enterprise to watch over on the podcast, which you can find on SoundCloud or wherever you listen. You can also get our help on your Academy entrance exams over on Facebook and Twitter, and watch out for those flowers!

[flowering-darkness]

1 - 5 from the f/ovember useless info ask meme for Aqua and/or Clio! ( @dzvagabond )

Aqua: “I can take these ones, if that’s fine with you!”

(question source: "F/Ovember ask meme: useless info version" by simonlynch)

what’s the weirdest petname Aria has ever called you? what’s the weirdest petname you’ve ever called her? - "Weirdest? Hmm.. Oh! There was one time on a mission when she stumbled in the middle of saying “darling”, so it instead came out as “darkling”, which- even if she hadn’t been in the middle of falling over, I think would’ve made us both stop and be confused! From what she’s told me of what Darklings are, she’s the one who’s closer to them anyway, so it really wouldn’t fit me at all..! We laughed about that a lot together, hehe. Then, for the other way around, uh.. I didn’t think it was that weird, but I used the phrase “oh, you’re a star” once about her when she did something, and- she just looked at me like it made no sense to her for a moment. Or that it was wrong to say for some reason. I know that stars are worlds and not people, but even then, it stood out a lot at the time.. I wonder.. Could it have had something to do with Lina?”

how easy is it for you to get her to laugh? - "Well.. that depends on the type of laugh, I would say. She’ll often use a little one to react to something or lead in to what she’s saying, especially if she has her mask on. But it’s rare for her to really burst out laughing - it’s only really when we’re talking together that I’ve heard her do it, especially about something funny rather than when she's taking down a villain. She’s just not really the type of person to be so.. overzealous? With her emotions. But they are in there, somewhere!”

who folds the laundry and who unloads the dishwasher? - "Oh, we do those things together! To use your examples, I fold the clothes once they’re out of the dryer, but then I pile them up next to me so that Aria can put them all away as I’m folding them. Then, I’m the one who takes things out of the dishwasher because sometimes they drip, but then I just put them on a towel on the countertop next to me, so she goes back and forth between that and wherever things live. I don’t mind doing that kind of thing all by myself, but Aria finds it more of a chore, so.. whenever I realise things need doing, she makes an effort to help me out “to make up for that”, in her own words.”

what’s your second favourite memory of Aria? - "My second-favourite instead of my favourite.. Hmm.. I think that would have to be her bequeathing. You see, after Aria was able to move into her Replica body, she wasn't sure whether she'd still be able to wield a Keyblade. It was.. also rather broken by that point in time, anyway. So, instead, we realised I could hold a bequeathing ceremony for her, since I'm a Keyblade Master and she also never went through one back in the past. I said the words a little differently to how they're meant to go, but that part didn't matter - making it something special to the both of us, and seeing the apprehension on her face turn into pride as she called forth a brand-new Keyblade that was truly hers.. It was really so special."

what’s Aria’s pet peeve and does it apply to you? - "Oh, uh, she has quite a few of them, to be honest. She has a lot less patience with people than I do, for instance.. And she also gets more annoyed by sounds, even if there are some I find annoying too. I think the main pet peeve I can think of for her, though, would be when people put themselves in charge without having earned their position properly. Aria is not the type of person to automatically listen to someone just because they have a certain role or title - they need to have demonstrated that they actually know what they're talking about, otherwise she won't take demands from them at all. She said it used to get her in trouble with her party leader back in the age of fairytales.. but, whether because there aren't those kinds of authority figures around us as much now or what, it at least isn't something that comes up too much!

I hope that all those answers were okay - thank you so much for sending them all in!"

[atopvisenyashill]

So I came upon your blog while looking through the asoiaf tag and explored it a bit. Would you please explain to me how are you against Targaryen incest, but find Jonsa fine? I’m genuinely curious, as I’ve just started reading the books (I’m half-way through a storm of swords) and find nothing fine about any form of incest, whether it is or not considered as such in-universe. I also find little to no Jonsa moments. Could you help me? Thank you!

okay so first of all i got sent an ask forever ago about what the appeal of jonsa is and i’ve been working on explaining basically where i see the plot going and why it’s thematically relevant and is2g i’m still actually putting it together it’s just doing that in a middle of a reread is tough bc my ideas are kinda all over the place lmao (just like this ask is about to be sorry!) (also once again, sorry if my tone comes across very weird, i swear i reread like twelve times to make sure i don’t sound too snarky and wasn't just vomitting up a thousand words of nonsense lmao!!).

BUT. Well there’s three points to this: what the characters may feel, what i feel about jonsa, and what i feel about targ incest. so first the characters:

I think it’s important to point out that first cousin marriage (and auncle/nibling marriage, esp if it’s a “half” relation) are not considered true incest in westeros and in many parts of our world. rickard and lyra, ned’s parents, are cousins. joanna and tywin lannister are first cousins. jonnel and sansa and edric and serena are uncle/nieces, and you’ll note that when alys karstark comes to jon for help, he is disgusted that her uncle is trying to steal her inheritance and not that he’s her uncle attempting to marry her. i point this out because not only is there nothing legally stopping a jonsa marriage, the characters themselves may also see it that way (as not incest). and if your next point is “well they grew up thinking they’re siblings” my answer is - yes and? One of the influences on this series is Mervyn Peake, who wrote gothic medieval stories, and both incest and pseudo-incest is very much a big part of gothic stories! A lot of the storylines in this world are dedicated to exploring incest as a force of socialization and romanticism, from Naerys pleading to live “as brother and sister” and Aegon insisting “we already are” to Alysanne’s “Alyssa is meant for Baelon” to Jaime’s “he heard none of it" in the sept. I don’t think it’s that far of a stretch to posit that two characters we have POVs for will fall in love and grapple with what that love says about them, about society, about their role in the world - and in fact, about half of Jon’s most popular ships are between him and a female relative. Sansa makes more sense to me because she’s closer to his age than Arya, has a more troubled relationship with him, is involved in the political aspects of the story just as much as he is, and isn’t likely to immediately start setting people on fire after they meet.

Now as for me, basically - i think both types of incest are the result of socialization + extreme trauma, and I fully expect that if Jonsa goes canon it will have a tragic ending. I think Jonsa takes some of the inherent misogyny of targ incest and plays around with it - Jon having significantly less societal privilege than basically every other Targaryen and what that means for Sansa as an heiress - but just because I think an exploration of that dynamic will be interesting, doesn’t mean I don’t expect it to be rife with problems.

because the problem with incest is the power dynamic ultimately, and you cannot escape that power dynamic bc people don’t exist in a vacuum. For all the Starks have some fucked up skeletons in their closet, Lyanna doesn’t show up in Ned’s bed naked and ask him to stop her betrothal to Robert, does she? This is the fundamental difference between targ incest and Jonsa or even Lannicest; Lannicest is rampant with toxicity from both of those deranged weirdos but they feel entitled to each other's bodies because of their own trauma surrounding their tumultuous childhoods (and probably some normalization of incest from their parents and proximity to Aerys/Rhaella/Rhaegar), but no one is saying "Jaime you are owed Cersei's body" or "Cersei your womb belongs to your brother and your brother alone." So I don't feel the need to sit here and go "Lannicest is toxic" like yeah? Clearly, lmao, these two feel like they are so damaged, and made so special by that damage, that they can only love one another, that's not what anyone would call healthy. I don't think it's necessary to sit here and explain that dynamic has abuse problems; it's right there in the text!

"well what about the power dynamic between jon and sansa?" YES WHAT ABOUT IT. that's the point! i'm interested in how a dynamic that is inherently abusive will play out between two people who were raised to believe some types of incest are okay but not others, who are victims of abuse and societal alienation themselves. because at the same time that i condemn targ incest, there are obviously real feelings and genuine care in these relationships and in these people, because again, people don't exist in a vacuum. daemon backs rhaenyra into this corner and then crucially does not kill any of her children because he realizes that's a step too far, she'd never forgive it, perhaps even because he grew to love them (i mean, Lucerys and Joffrey likely barely remember any other father but Daemon!). maegor is a monster who very specifically never harms rhaena's daughters! aemon is a useless pos but it seems likely he had a hand in raising naerys' son to be better than aegon because he could see the harm he and his brother were doing to naerys even if aemon was too much of a coward to actually stop that harm in any meaningful way! the difference, to me, is that jon will see that this relationship built on trauma and grief may be the only love he and sansa will ever allow themselves to feel but it is not healthy for them, and jon will leave! and sansa will realize she is not the impassive, frozen, detached symbol that the men around her want her to be, but a living, breathing person with her own wants and desires and agency, and will let him go!

Ultimately, while i think romanticizing and sexualizing the taboo is fine and even healthy, for me, there has to be some acknowledgement that you are in fact romanticizing the taboo. This is why the shitty dudes in asoiaf work for me in a way shitty dudes outside of asoiaf don’t usually - my general bitching about parts of the narrative that don’t click for me aside, there’s firm condemnation of the people engaging in these behaviors, from cersei sexually abusing lancel to sandor creeping on sansa. just because the narrative also shows us and wants us to feel empathy for sandor and cersei and why they’ve become bad people doesn’t mean what they’re doing isn’t bad. that’s what i like! i don’t want a story that holds my hand and drags me to the moral nor do i want a story that presents a god awful person who is supposed to be morally upright and not mean for us to dig deeper into them!

(this is why i like the pt but not the st of star wars, if you want an example - for all the prequels are um. flawed. lucas has an overreaching story about the effects of war, slavery, and interpersonal abuse that he’s dedicated to, and we are meant to be horrified by anakin choking padme just as surely as we’re meant to mourn their relationship and love for each other when palpatine gleefully tells anakin she’s dead and ani destroys the room in grief. vs like. what were the sequels even fucking doing man).

So the thing here is that I actually do in fact find Targaryen incest interesting while being morally repugnant as a practice, and I'm positive Jonsa will play around with both the morality of incest and the romanticism of it in a way that I find just as interesting, varied, romantic, and fulfilling as like, the Jaime/Cersei(/Brienne/Tyrion) mess or the Daemon/Rhaenyra/Laena/Harwin debacle! I like incest and I also hate it! I contain multitudes!

[sxcret-garden]

Keonhee ღ Solitude [M]

ღ Oneus Keonhee x fem-bodied!reader ღ words: ~3.2k ღ genre: friends to lovers but not really, smut (soft dom!Keonhee, unprotected sex, fingering, marking, nipple play, choking, multiple orgasms) ღ warnings: alcohol consumption & they’re implied to be tipsy while having sex

Desc.: It’s when his love interest suddenly begins to distance herself that your close friend Keonhee finds himself feeling unbearably lonely. You decide to visit him eventually, and that visit turns out quite different from what you had expected.

It shouldn’t have come to this. You know what you’re doing is wrong, but then why does it feel so right when his lips are pressed against yours, his hand resting at the back of your neck to keep you in place? You both withdraw as slowly as he had leaned in, but the distance you bring between your faces remains small, just enough so your eyes can focus on the other’s. The reflection in his pupils has changed - they’re not dull and lonely anymore, but filled with flaming desire.

“We shouldn’t-” you protest, but you do nothing to escape him when he presses another kiss on your lips. 

You and Keonhee have known each other for ages - not long enough to call yourselves childhood friends, but definitely long enough to know the other like the back of your hand. Or so you thought. You always knew what he’s like - a bit weird, friendly, occasionally a menace, easily startled, and always there when you need an open ear to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. And you did cry on his shoulder quite a lot over the years - like when you messed up an important exam or when your first boyfriend broke up with you. Time and time again the roles get reversed too, and it’s him crying on your shoulder - though he tends to cry over less impactful events than you do (like when the main guy in a drama he watched finally confessed to his love interest). Ever since you two met, he’s always been there in some way or form, and one day you realized that somewhere along the way he must’ve grown up and sometimes he made your heart beat just a little faster. And then came the day you had to admit to yourself that maybe you might have a tiny bit of a crush on him. And from then on he had been nothing but a menace to you, because you hated the way he made your heart race.

That’s why you’re even more surprised that he was the one who kissed you first. It’s not that you’re not aware of how stupid this is, especially without having a proper conversation about it first. But you also don’t want to tell him to stop, not after he already cut you off once. 

Originally, you were simply here to visit him. You know he’s been talking to a girl for a while, and they had gone on a few dates before she suddenly distanced herself. She stopped replying to his messages immediately, she would call off dates with him to meet up with her friends instead, and in general she’s trying to keep him at an arm’s length. So naturally, he came to you. Keonhee would tell you about how lonely it’s making him feel, how not even meeting up with his other friends helps ease that feeling a bit, and he’d whine quite a bit too. You try not to blame him for that - you know he’s the type to whine about unfortunate circumstances, at least when he’s with you. But it does annoy you a little bit that you keep hearing the guy you unfortunately have a crush on talk about how much he misses a girl who’s obviously making an effort to erase him from her life. Either way, you felt like you had to do something to help him, and so you decided to surprise him by simply showing up at his doorstep. He let you in with an expression of relief, and you felt bad for him when you saw how much this whole situation seems to be eating away at him really.

You did what you always do then - you talked, you watched a movie, you got snacks and some soju, and you talked some more, until he suddenly kissed you out of a drunken fervour - or so you tell yourself. Or maybe it wasn’t all that sudden, because he talked about the girl prior to that, and about how he missed having that kind of relationship with someone. Though the two of them aren’t officially dating and it’s not looking too good for your friend, there’s still a tiny voice at the back of your head telling you that it’s not right of him to kiss someone else.

“Keonhee, what are we doing?” You manage to pose the question before he can shut you up again.

“…kissing?” he answers bluntly, a certain kind of innocence reflecting in his gaze, as if he didn’t know why that might be wrong.

“Friends don’t do that,” you say. “Also, what about the girl you’re talking to?”

“Friends can do that,” he argues, ignoring your question.

“But-”

“I’m lonely,” he says, interrupting your complaint again as he sits back, retreating from your personal space, and why does a part of you not like that? You’re positioned on his bed - conveniently, considering what just happened, and what your hormones are telling you to make happen, despite your logic screaming at you not to. “Like… I’ve been lonely even before this whole situation…”

“But I thought… shouldn’t you still be like… loyal to that girl?” you ask, because you think it’s the right thing you should be saying, while also being a bit afraid of his response.

“She hasn’t replied to my messages in five days,” Keonhee answers, looking quite unimpressed and a little sulky. “But I guess that’s okay. If she keeps ignoring me then at least I can pretend I never liked her to begin with.”

“Huh?” His words come as a surprise to you, but the way he apologetically smiles more at himself and then at you tells you that he must really be over her attitude by now. “But you shouldn’t give up so easily!” you answer nevertheless. 

“If she’s given up on me, then why would I keep hoping for more?” he counters with a question. “I guess I miss the feeling of liking someone more than I miss her…” Your friend turns his head to the side to look at you, and he draws closer again. “So… I guess I wanted to kiss you because I’m lonely,” he explains, his gaze wandering to your mouth. Subconsciously, you lick your bottom lip in response, before starting to sweat in fear he might’ve taken that as a sign.

But why are you so afraid of him finding out about your crush anyway?

“That means… it meant nothing?” you dare to ask. “The kiss.” He meets your gaze now, and your heart skips a beat. You hope he didn’t notice you sucking in a breath, but then the next second he cups your face with his hand again, and blood rushes to your cheeks.

“Does that matter?” He sounds very unlike himself right now, but you’re not sure how to reply to him in your current position. When you make no efforts to shake him off, he kisses you again. You hate yourself a little for the way you enjoy feeling his lips on yours, but when his kiss becomes more demanding, you lose your train of thought and simply give in to the butterflies rushing through your entire body. You’re breathless when he releases you, and you feel yourself becoming weak in the knees when he shows you a different expression that you’ve never seen before. It tells you that he wants more, that he’s not done here, just like you aren’t - even though the voice of reason is still trying to convince you otherwise.

“You’re not usually like this,” you breathe, and you earn yourself a smirk from him.

“You like it?” His bold question leaves you speechless. You wait for the next kiss in suspense, until he moves away from you, frowning. “No?” Unsure what has suddenly come over you, you move forward without thinking, and your lips crash against his. You throw your arms around his shoulders as the kiss grows deeper, and eventually you part to give him a verbal response as well.

“I like it.” You merely whisper the words, and the grin he gives you makes it clear that he already knew the answer. 

“Then we can keep going, can’t we?” he mutters the words against your mouth, and once he’s done speaking, he immediately kisses you again. You find a faint taste of the sweet alcohol still lingering on his lips. As your open mouthed kisses become more heated, he reaches behind his shoulders to take a hold of your wrists, and when he pushes you backwards to pin your hands to the bed above your head, your lips are torn apart for but a second. Now hovering above you, he keeps kissing you, leaving you unable to process the position you’re in right away.

“Keonhee…” you call out his name when you part for a moment, but you fail to form any coherent sentence to follow that up with.

“Hmm?” he hums, smiling as his lips meet yours. 

“Just…” You don’t know what to say. You sure as hell aren’t going to tell him about the only thing that's on your mind right now - that you’ve been wanting this for so long. So you stay silent, and you merely shoot him a pleading look, to which he responds with yet another kiss on your lips, before burying his face in your neck and starting to leave kisses there. His soft lips against the sensitive skin give you chills, and when he unexpectedly starts to nibble just below your earlobe, you let out a tiny moan.

“If you give me a hickey I’ll kill you,” you manage to complain, and you hear your friend chuckle.

“Nobody will see it. You can stay at my place until it fades,” he retorts. You don’t say anything to that, and if you’re completely honest you don’t even want to think about if that is because you can’t argue with him, or because you don’t want to. Keonhee goes back to nibbling on your skin, and you bite your lower lip to keep any more moans from escaping you.

You’re supposed to be against this. Instead, you find yourself craving more. When you throw your head back into the pillow, stretching your neck to give him better access, you can hear him hum against your skin. One hand still keeping your wrists in place above your head, he brings the other down to cup your face as he lifts his head to look at you. Half-lidded eyes are scanning the mark on your throat, before his gaze finds yours. Your lips quiver as he runs his thumb over your mouth, and he speaks up.

“Is it okay if we keep going?” The question catches you off guard, and for a second all you can do is blink at him blankly.

“I-… You’re asking that now?!” He shoots you an apologetic grin - it’s that innocent expression he usually gives you after making a minor mistake, or when he feels awkward about something, and you immediately feel your heart melt a little at the sight. The look you give him grows soft, and you nod. Not wasting even a second, Keonhee leans in again, his lips brushing against yours. You lose yourself in a surprisingly gentle kiss, and when your tongues meet, a moan slips past your lips and you feel the heat growing at your core. His hand glides from your jaw to your chest, cupping your boob through your shirt and bra. Frustration hits you once his lips part from yours.

“Let me take it off,” you say, voice soft but stern. He lets go of your wrists and he sits up to make space for you to do the same. You don’t miss the way he takes in the sight of you after peeling off your shirt, and the way he licks his lips as he lets his eyes scan your features. You’d known each other for so long, but he’s never really seen you change your clothes, and even when you were in a bikini, you never saw him stare. Maybe he did in secret, but right now he relishes in the sight before him. Pupils growing dark, he shoots you a demanding look, and you slowly let your fingertips travel to your back. Holding eye contact with him, as if to challenge him, you take your sweet time with unclasping your bra, and when you finally toss it to the floor, you see him immediately looking at your breasts.

“Boys just can’t not look at boobs, huh?” you tease him, and you don’t expect him to crash his mouth against yours in response but that’s exactly what happens anyway, while he pushes you back against the mattress with one hand already fondling your chest. You throw your head back with a moan, resulting in breaking your kiss when he starts to knead, but he has his lips reattached to your skin right away. He kisses the corner of your mouth, and then he leaves a trail of lingering kisses down your jaw and along your pulse. When his mouth reaches your chest, you throw your arms around him. Fingers tangled in his hair, you tug at the strands when he starts nibbling and biting the tender flesh in an effort to leave you with yet another hickey. You don’t protest this time - you’re too drunk on his touch and on the way you feel yourself getting more and more turned on. And maybe it’s the soju too, that makes you unwilling to attempt to change anything about this situation.

He finishes his second mark on you and comes back up to share another open mouthed kiss with you, before he sits up for a moment to slip out of his shirt. And though you’ve seen him with a bare upper body before, you’ve never allowed yourself to feel the urge to touch him, and to run your hands all over his pale skin. But now, that you clearly feel the desire to explore his body, you reach out, and when your fingertips come in contact with his abdomen, he flinches.

“They’re cold,” he explains with a smile when he crawls on top of you again. He takes one of your hands into his, and he brings it up to his lips to brush a kiss onto your knuckles. You’re suddenly very aware of how small your hand looks in his - and how big his hands really are. Without thinking, you take a hold of his wrist, and you bring it up to your throat, allowing his fingers to wrap around you. 

“They’re hot,” you breathe, even though his fingertips could never be as warm as the heat that rushes through your body at the thought of having them pressed against your pulse. Keonhee understands, and as he leans in to nibble on your lower lip, he applies just a bit of pressure. You let out a breathy moan at the sensation that lasts for but the blink of an eye, and you whine when you feel his bulge pressing against you as he grinds his hips into yours. A sense of deprivation overcomes you as his hand leaves your throat to travel south instead, but it is soon replaced by a shiver running down your spine when he tugs at the hem of your pants.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he mutters. “I want to touch you already.” Another wave of heat rushes to your lower stomach, and you watch as he discards your pants and underwear in one go. You’re not surprised when his fingers slip inside you with ease, and they come back out coated in your arousal only to push back in to make you throw your head back with a moan of his name. You whine as his long digits pump in and out of you, and when his thumb presses against your clit, drawing circles onto it, you dig your nails into the bedsheets. You look up at him, and you find him drinking up every single one of your reactions and noises as his movements speed up steadily, until he reaches a tempo that you think might just drive you mad if he were to keep going.

“Like that…” you moan. “Exactly like that… fuck…” You find yourself moaning his name over and over again, until your orgasm hits you. Your walls contract around his fingers and you squeeze your eyes tightly shut as you cum hard and he helps you ride out your high. Then he pulls out, licking your juices off his hand, before kissing you to give yourself a taste as well. 

“I never knew you could be this sexy,” he mutters against your lips. “You’re driving me crazy.” He rolls his hips into yours, and the friction of his bulge covered in the rough fabric of his pants makes you whimper and squirm. 

“Y/N,” Keonhee calls out your name, his voice filled with lust, and it causes hot blood to rush through your entire body. “Can I fuck you?”

“I’ve never heard you talk like that before…” you comment, still a bit breathless in the afterglow of your orgasm. “Of course. Please…” He’s quick to take off the remainder of his own clothes, and you unconsciously lick your lips as you watch him wrapping his slender fingers around his length to give himself a few strokes. Then, he aligns himself with your entrance, and after taking both your hands to pin them against the bed next to your head, fingers intertwined, he pushes in. A feeling of pure bliss overcomes you at the way he fills you up so perfectly, and you can’t help but moan his name. He groans, clenching his teeth at the pleasure of finally being inside you.

“Let me know if you’re uncomfortable,” he says, and after you give him a quick nod, he starts thrusting. He goes slow at first, keeping his pace steady, but the more you whine for him to give you more, the faster his movements become. 

“Fuck… feels so good…” you sputter in ecstasy. And then one of his hands suddenly leaves yours, only to wrap around your neck in the next moment, and when you feel him starting to apply pressure, you think you’re gonna cum again on the spot. You feel yourself unable to do anything but submit yourself to him, and so you let him fuck you in a chokehold. Before you know it, your second orgasm takes you by surprise, and you feel your walls clenching around his cock. It doesn’t take long for him to reach his high as well, and with a desperate groan he releases inside you.

The first thing he does after crawling off you is to check if your throat is okay, and to scatter kisses all over just in case. You lie flat on your backs next to each other after that, listening to nothing but the faint sound of the cars outside and each other’s breathing, until you finally break the silence.

“This isn’t what friends do… or is it?” you ask.

“Friends can help each other out sometimes, or not?” Keonhee answers, and you hear a tiny bit of insecurity in his voice.

“I guess, yeah,” you say, and you reach out to take his hand and to give it an encouraging squeeze. “Friends do that.”

[gurugirl]

Hi this is the same anon that about bounty ago asked about being 23 and a virgin and going travelling.

My friend has just got engaged and the friend that I was planning to go travelling with a started saying things that make me think she doesn’t want go travelling next year and has also got a boyfriend and two of my other friends have now got boyfriends.

I feel so weird about it bc I don’t want anyone bc I want to go away and travel but at the same time I’m so scared I’ll never meet anyone. How do I even talk to boys?

Should I just lose my virginity to get it over with? I don’t know how I’ll go travelling- does anyone have tips? I just feel so weird about it all. I hate my skin and my hair and my weight so much, I think that’s a real reason I’m so awkward bc I feel so insecure about my weight.

Idk your advice really helped me for a but but I’ve started overthink again

Hi, hon! First of all, I hope that your friend who wanted to travel with you doesn't flake out for some guy. I feel like sometimes when people (especially girls for various reasons) get into relationships it changes their plans to some extent which is a shame. Staying back for a guy when she could have seen new places and things and met new people is something she will absolutely regret when she gets older. Those are the kinds of experiences you cannot replace. I'm gonna keep positive for you that she'll still want to go.

I'm also wondering if you'd still want to go if you didn't have a travel companion? Depending on where you go and how well you've planned it could still be possible for you. So consider what can be done so you can go regardless if your friend joins or not - okay? I promise you that you'll get a lot more satisfaction doing something like traveling and experiencing new places than you would if you just stayed home and hoped to meet someone. What if you meet someone on your travels? What if you don't? Either way, you'll not regret traveling - but you might regret staying back.

Now to your worries about being a virgin... I think you're focusing on that part too much. You're still young and you're supposed to be awkward and all that! There are probably other people your age that you'd never know were feeling insecure and awkward but have it just like you. We gotta stop rushing these timelines and try and relax a little. Your virginity and ability to travel are not connected. You can be a virgin and travel. You do not have to "get it over with". Have sex with someone you trust and like (when the time comes) but don't put too much stock in it or him.

As for your insecurity about your appearance - that's also something most of us deal with. I've seen the most attractive people feel insecure and less than which is wild but everyone deals with it. Sometimes you gotta fake your confidence, tell yourself you look good, smile at yourself in the mirror, and do your best not to give a fuck about what some stranger might think about you (they probably don't think anything bad anyway, most of this stuff is just in our heads). But try and turn your thoughts around by tricking yourself a little. Eventually, you'll start to believe it too. It'll change your attitude about things. When we're too insecure about ourselves we wind up being a bit selfish bc we're so focused on ourselves, what we look like, what others think of us... It's wonderful to focus on yourself but when it's through the lens of insecurity you're looking at the wrong things and it's all superficial. The more confident you are (even if you're just pretending) the more others will be drawn to you and find that you're someone they want to know bc you'll seem so much warmer suddenly.

It starts little - just you telling yourself you look good and that you're not going to worry about what someone else thinks about your body that day. Remind yourself throughout the day. Do it again the next day. After some time, your posture will get better, your smile will be more natural, and your confidence will start to seep out naturally and people will notice how nice you are and how engaging you've become.

You're never not gonna deal with insecurity so you might as well learn how to feel better about yourself despite it all.

I hope you can still travel no matter if your friend can go with you or not. Do a little research on the areas you are planning on visiting and figure out if it's safe to be a single woman going there and if not, alter the plans if you can. The only thing I can guarantee in all this is that traveling will be life-changing for you and will be worth it absolutely.

Good luck sweetie!

xoxo