#we play this game as the good lord intended obviously

[mountainhaunt]

my favorite part of playing forewarned is my friend and i divvying up the david bowie and freddie mercury lines from 'under pressure' so we can yell/sing them at top volume to ward off that one mejai while he chases us, meanwhile our other friend is wandering in the distance panic-yelling the lyrics to 'money' by lisa

[feukt-42]

Elden ring + Shadow of the Erdtree lore thoughts

Alright, so, first off, obviously, spoilers ahead.

I've been thoroughly enjoying and getting my ass kicked by SotE and what ive seen of the lore so i wanted to ramble about it.

I specifically wanted to talk about how Elden Ring explores power and godhood.

In the base game, godhood isnt seen as inherently bad. Marika's golden order is fucked up six ways to sunday, but the blame mainly rests on Marika's shoulders it seems. She's a genocidal homewrecking war-mongerer who threw two of her children in the sewers bc of racism, she's not a good god, but it doesnt portray the problem as her being a god, just her being a mess. The game provides several "solutions" to unfuck everything :

Ranni's ending has you completely throw the system in the trash. She says, fuck it, godhood's the problem, im out of here. She is kinda right, but the lands remain fractured and the power vacuum left behind is going to be immense. We're on the right track but could be better.

The frenzied flame ending is just pure concentrated nihilism so i think we can move past it for this one.

The bunch of other endings are fairly similar : you beat Marika/Radagon's ass and you impose yourself as Elden Lord to keep her in check and fix the issues you see as most important. This doesnt fix anything long-term, the god in power is still the exact same fucking mess but with a chaperone now i guess.

None of these endings are very satisfying, they all leave you with a sense of "it could be worse i guess" (except the frenzied flame one but you get the point). This is where Miquella comes in :

Everything we hear about Miquella sounds great. He's kind, compassionate, against racism, doesnt like violence, etc etc. Cherry on top, he's even one of the characters with a direct shot at godhood, brilliant ! Why cant we just put him in charge, he'll do much better than the absolute wreck we have right now.

And thats where the base game leaves us, Marika is a fucked up mess of a person, and the obvious solution is to put the much better Miquella in her place.

Shadow of the erdtree, on the other hands, aims to set the record straight. The problem wasnt just Marika, the problem is inherent to godhood in and of itself.

In SotE, we see the land of shadow, the realm where Marika came from and ascended to godhood, and the realm where Miquella intends to do the same. And the more we hear about who Marika was before in snippets of lore, and the more we watch Miquella tread the road to godhood, we realise something :

There is no such thing as a good god

It doesnt matter how kind and compassionate you were, what your morals were, who you loved, who you loathed, none of it matters because you cannot grasp the power to become a god without sacrificing who you were before.

In the dlc we see Miquella shed more and more of himself, his flesh, his arms, his eye, his heart, his doubts, his fears and even his love. Miquella has shorn so much of who he was that he formed an entire new person (St Trina) from it. Some of him remains, he still wishes for a kinder world, but he cant sacrifice anymore of himself for it. Now he has to start sacrificing others.

Miquella was always blessed with the ability to charm others, and he sees it as the least painful path to make others do as he wishes. And so he charms his sister, he charms Mohg, he charms Radahn, his followers, Leda, Moore, Thiollier, Freyja, the hornsent, Ansbach, and everyone he can convince to give themselves up for his dream of a kinder world, regardless of the pain they might cause or feel by being enthralled by him.

And oh boy do they feel pain. Mohg is used and discarded like a ragdoll, and his followers and dynasty slowly crumble to nothing as the last pureblood knight watches helplessly, himself entranced by the one responsible after he failed to kill him. Radahn's soul is shoved in a corpse so that he can play consort to a god that is his antithesis, depriving him of his glory and honour as lord of the battlefield. Malenia is left alone to rot after Miquella has no use or help for her, and she endlessly waits for her brother to return. Every one of Miquella's followers has to grapple with those feelings of betrayal, manipulation, and lost memories returning all at once. It is by no means painless.

And so we end up with a god that is not much better than Marika was. On his path to godhood, Miquella has caused as much pain to those along the way as his mother once did, in this very same land that still feels the scars of Marika's ascension.

The only way to gain power is to take it from everyone else, and that cannot be achieved without pain.

[rowanthestrange]

So we know the main theme of the season is ‘you created the problem’:

Space Babies - Booger monster, story.

The Devil’s Chord - A human had to play the chord first, more broadly Fourteen gave the Pantheon ability to manifest.

Boom - The mudmen aren’t real and your ambulances are putting you down.

73 Yards - Dead Ruby becomes The Woman.

Dot & Bubble - You were so racist the robots chose genocide - person creates robot, robot creates or enables slugs.

Rogue - Depending on how surface level you are, anywhere from ‘the Doctor set the trap’ to ‘if you’d proposed to the Master before running away he would have given up being a Time Lord for you’.

The start of The Church On Ruby Road looks like Ruby dropping herself as a baby, so we’ve presumably got at least one layer covered. If it’s a Pantheon member behind it, two.

I was wondering for era-arc (we’re not dealing with the Pantheon once and for all now, no way, this is an introductory season), do you think we’re going to swing round to the Doctor getting the Pantheon to turn on their father/head of the family?

By the sound of it, the Toymaker has created legions of offspring. A terrible father who presumably made them for the sole reason of having someone to play against while being kept from the universes. He makes toys. And when they don’t amuse him anymore, he discards them.

Certainly the Maestro has a poor opinion of him, “Daddy was bad to me,” and yes, I can imagine. The basic literary (and life) dynamic that is the creative queer child of a competitive shit dad. Their specialty is music, and they are summoned as a set of rule-breaking ‘wrong’ notes. But they’re not about playing it and expressing it for everyone, they want it all for themselves. Which makes a lot of sense if your daddy is constantly playing with you, forcing you to bet, even though he wins he always wins. You don’t get to own anything. So you become the owner of the unownable. Playing but in a new way. Playing pianos and fiddles and drums and instruments, a playing you can’t win or lose.

And if Rogue is The Rogue, their specialty also fits. D&D is a roleplaying game. A thing you can play but there is no winning. It is structured, there are rules, as they would have been brought up with, not quite as loosey-goosey as Playing Pretend, but not so strict that creativity is punished. A DM has control but any bullshit moving the universe around to get what you intended is bad practice - perhaps tired of a dad that will literally make the floor lava ‘that’s not cheating that’s just the game’. They love roleplaying because it’s not about winning, but about the experience. And again, a queer offspring as per literary and life dynamic.

Is the Toymaker the root? Is there a worse parent above him? Possibly. Probably. We at least temporarily dispatched him at the start so he doesn’t hold much sway as the Biggest Bad. The Maestro refers to a he/him ‘The Oldest One’ though that could be the oldest sibling. The One Who Waits (it/its) could be that - but it seems included in a list of new players the Toymaker had access to, so perhaps not. (And if it’s something like Love, well, the Toymaker doesn’t play games with love perhaps? Too messy).

But Russell saying abused kids, queer kids, have a right over their shitty parents? That feels like a good and thematic way to end the Pantheon stuff.

(What else do you play? Well a play obviously - would fit either Susan Twist or Mrs Flood, acting-to-a-crowd. Musical same vibe. You can play with people’s minds. Sport would be funny - a child the Toymaker hated less until for some reason they couldn’t do it anymore. Literally play perhaps, the essence thereof, one with no goals, more silly, innocent, more abstract a creature than the rest with their humanoid forms - too esoteric for the Toymaker. If The One Who Waits isn’t Love, then Love who was raised to play games…but actually doesn’t want to...)

[jakowskis]

💖💙💜 owen harper bisexuality masterpost 💖💙💜

i've had this in my drafts for a minute but i figured i'd finish it up and post it today for bisexual visibility day :D

it hasn't cropped up recently, but i've seen a lot of people who've questioned owen's bisexuality over the years and i thought i'd compile all the 'evidence' (although it completely baffles me that we got a show with five canonical bisexual characters and people want to write two of them off as straight / "heterflexible" ?? there shouldn't have to be 'proof' of owen being bi, RTD said torchwood is about five bisexuals fighting aliens in cardiff which means they're all bi, full stop. also, bisexuals should never have to 'prove' they're bi, and in regards to fictional characters, i'm sick of people nit-picking who 'deserves' to be counted as rep and refusing to 'claim' certain characters if they're morally grey or if the fandom simply doesn't Like them as much-)

but i digress.

so without further ado, here's everything i've found that supports owen's status as a bicon :-)

explicit canon instances

➤➤ obviously, we have to start with his gay kiss in the first episode of the show. there's a lot to be said about that kiss, i'm not gonna get into all that here, but i've seen a lot of people say it's not proof of owen being attracted to men, and i wholeheartedly disagree. you can literally catch him smiling very happily after the kiss (and one of owen's few genuine smiles of the series, too). i don't think a straight man (or even a "heteroflexible" man) would beam at another guy who's just informed him that he wants to fuck him. a fair amount of people have also said they interpreted owen calling the taxi as him intending to get away from the couple, but i don't understand how they're getting that impression, because that smile makes it seem very much apparent to me that running away is the last thing he wants to do.

it's also, notably, the first time we see bisexuality IN the bisexual show, which i don't think should be discounted. like, we see owen do something gay before jack does, for fuck's sake. is it a good first impression of how torchwood portrays bisexuality? no. is setting owen up as a more sex-driven, opportunistic bisexual nicely contrasted against ianto & tosh's more romance-oriented brand of demisexual bi/pansexuality? in my opinion, yes. i love that the torchwood bisexuals all practice their bisexuality in different ways. that's very special to me. 'cause it's realistic! real bisexuals all experience bisexuality differently! obviously it'd be a different story if he was the only bi rep, because lord knows we've seen enough of that already, but torchwood makes an effort to show us five different brands of bisexuality, and five different bi stories that largely only exist in the subtext, that aren't the focus of the show, and it's fantastic. it's all i could ever want out of bi rep, honestly, even if it is a bit dated now.

➤➤ the other explicit moment in the show: asking tosh and ianto for an end-of-the-world threesome in sleeper (s2ep2). i've actually never seen owen bi-deniers (fhdskjf it's a conspiracy) even mention this scene. owen literally asks ianto if they can have sex with each other to his face, and he's dead serious when he asks it. that's... i mean you can't mistake that as anything else. like fhdsjkf??

➤➤ next we jump to some of the, i suppose, extended universe content. whether the books are canon or not is debated, but the novel 'another life' features owen playing an online simulation game, and it makes a point to depict owen flirting with someone with a male avatar + wondering to himself if the guy would be down for cyber-sex. [someone posted part of that scene here. for context, owen's also got a VR headset on during that bit.]

➤➤ another instance is on the website, which some also don't regard as canon, but, i mean, i don't know who worked on the things we see on that site, but obviously they got their information from somewhere. they probably consulted with the writers on the show, or at the very least got notes on what things to touch on. anyway, there's a portion of the site where you can find a 'background check' on owen, and it's just a collection of messages from some ex-lovers of his. one of them is a man.

again, some people disregard the canon validity of the website, but the way i see it, the information on this site was released while the show was airing for fans to look at and to gain further insight on the characters. one of the things they felt a need to tell us about owen, important enough to be featured in his background (wayyy before the katie plot was developed), was that he wasn't just interested in women. personally, i regard that as canon. you can find this here. and even if you wanna say fragments jossed this background, it doesn't joss his, like... identity.

next we have things said by russell t. davies himself + by burn gorman (owen's actor)

➤➤ again, RTD (who's torchwood's creator, but i'm assuming everyone reading this knows that) explicitly described torchwood as "a bunch of bisexuals living under cardiff and fighting aliens". that's not ambiguous. [i don't have a direct source for this quote, it was apparently said on the dvd extras.]

burn's comments on owen's sexuality include...

➤➤ (when asked who owen fancies) "Owen's pretty cocky, he'll try it on with whoever comes along." [x] and yes, this is vague, but vagueness is often interpreted as proof of bisexuality. (for example, in the pacific rim dvd features, newt's bio stating he was interested in "whoever will take him" was widely interpreted by the fandom as him being bi.)

➤➤ (in regards to owen's "let's all have sex" line) "I don't think he [...] thinks about the implications, or whether it's with a man or a woman." [x]

(ok i have to admit, although i absolutely adore burn, i'm not super fond of the way his 2006-08 self would talk about how torchwood handled sexuality*. however! he kind of hit the nail on the head in saying that, even if it's in the context of owen wanting end-of-the-world sex, because my take on how owen sees his own sexuality has always essentially boiled down to thinking he'd be like, "well, why wouldn't men also be an option?" (well, with sexual attraction anyway; i think owen's relationship with romantic attraction is far more complex.) i think he resembles jack in that way; anyone's a prospective sexual partner, if they're attractive and interesting and he decides he wants them, and he's also impulsive as hell, so he doesn't think too hard about gender in the moment if he decides he's into someone. there's not really any hang-ups.)

➤➤ and ofc...

(out of context this could look like he's just jokingly calling owen an alien-fucker, although owen makes his thoughts on alien-fucking pretty clear in countrycide lol, but it was said in the context of owen/andy as a ship [x].)

*if you're wondering what i'm referring to, it's a comment here [x] about how the torchwood team's bisexuality is a result of being in a pressure cooker environment and having a 'wartime mentality', and they just kind of 'take what they can get'. the implication that bisexuality is out of desperation/accessibility rather than attraction is pretty damn icky, BUT i love him lots and he generally seems to be pretty woke these days (+ otherwise has always seemed to grasp why torchwood's rep was so unique and groundbreaking and important) so i'll go ahead and hope that was just, y'know, simple 'being a straight guy in 2008' ignorance. fifteen years is a long time and i have faith his opinions have evolved by now, esp considering he used the word 'pansexual' at a 2016 con [x]. (actually, ok, you caught me, that last bit wasn't super relevant and i didn't need to bring it up, but i just wanted to gush about him doing it because how often do you hear that word out of celebs, especially older and presumably straight ones. and in 2016, too. kinda slay of him, ngl)

aaand finally, some random, non-explicit little things that i think support him being a bisexy king (several of these are goofy and half-serious)

➤➤ in episode 2, they make a point to cut to owen smiling after jack's line about "you people and your quaint little labels". one might argue he's smiling at gwen & carys on the screen, but cutting to him immediately after jack says it very much implies he's reacting to jack's words, and i think it's particularly poignant after, again, we saw him kiss a man the episode prior. (which, another thing - owen's literal introduction features him kissing a man, like that's gotta count for something. if the literal third thing i ever see a male character do ever is kiss a guy, that means something.)

➤➤ and of course, in the same episode, we get "period military is not the dress code of a straight man" .... owen's the only one of them with working gaydar. also what a fruity thing to say

➤➤ speaking of fruity things to say, in s2e10 when they're all watching the old film, owen goes "look at the state of them 💅" and he says it SO cunty for no reason it always kills me fhsdkjfd

➤➤ combat.

➤➤ no, really.

➤➤ bonus: in the combat commentary, it's mentioned that when RTD saw the above scene between mark & owen, he said it was "the gayest thing he'd ever seen".

➤➤ in the three monkeys, a big finish audio featuring owen & andy, owen flirts with andy repeatedly. even if he just does it to be annoying, it's still pretty damn gay. also the pet names... (he calls him sweetheart, sunshine, and tiger. it's half-mocking, sure, especially because it's owen, but there's also a domesticity to it.)

➤➤ and then there's the hope's "you're alive again and you want crisps?!" "be glad that's all i'm asking for" (owen was like 'i will not use this as an excuse to try to sleep w andy i will not use this as an excuse to try to sleep w andy i will not use th') these are the only two audios i've heard with this duo, i'm sure there's more examples in the other two. i know gooseberry literally has owen sabotaging andy's relationship with his gf and that is... woohoohoo.... i'll update this once i get through those.

➤➤ …. this is my personal opinion but i lowkey think he kinda wants john hart a bit when they all first meet him in kkbb hdskjfds. gwen & tosh both seem very charmed by him and they're meant to, it's supposed to be like 'oh, look at jack's ex waltzing in and charming the pants off everyone (ha), and only ianto and jack see through him' - owen isn't given a flirty line of dialogue or even a close-up shot of him eyeing john like the girls get, but if you watch him closely he certainly looks… intrigued by him. i think owen's more of a bi disaster than he lets on.

➤➤ in episode 10, diane notes that owen has "beauty products" in his bathroom. obviously this shouldn't be indicative of sexuality, but how many Straight Men in 2006 were moisturizing lmao. hell, how many do nowadays 😭

➤➤ gwen & owen's dynamic settles into a lovely little friendship in s2 and owen lowkey gives gbf vibes <3 them making fun of the movie in s2e10 together + the cheek-kissing at the end of s2e9… bi besties!!

➤➤ the peace sign he throws up in meat when he meets rhys fdsjk i don't even believe in some of the silly internet jokes abt bi culture but c'mon

➤➤ have you seen his taste in women. diane is soo butch and gwen's a total tomboy in s1. that's bi culture babey!!!! i too like girls when they're boys

➤➤ i already talked about it but the aforementioned scene where he asks tosh and ianto for a threesome... he asks them, like, immediately after they team up and bully him for not comprehending that there's "no phones. phones all broken. anyone there? no, 'cause the phones aren't working." that was suuuch a disaster bi owen moment for me. i too would get a little revved up if tosh and ianto both bullied me at once <3

aaand finally... the biggest Evidence of all....

➤➤ he's a leather jacket bisexual. need i say more

and that's all! thanks for reading!

[credit for the dividers used in this. didn't tumblr used to have built-in dividers? i miss that.]

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

1, 20, 39 for Downey and 9, 16 for Krennic?

Ooooh yes, Downey and Krennic!!

1. Canon I outright reject

Downey is a hard one because there's relatively little with him. However, there are scenes intending to paint him as an absolute idiot and that I reject. (They can be read as being refuted by other scenes. Pratchett was never good at consistency in side characters)

I can see him being blind to certain things - since he is the epitome of privilege. But which of us doesn't have massive blind spots? But to survive Snapcase, while living in Ankh-Morpork, is no small feat.

(As I always point out, Vetinari got to leave during this horrid time. To the best of canonical knowledge, we don't know if Downey left! He might have! But it's equally valid to assume he didn't. It's a literal "who knows" moment. What we do know is that he is a "jumped up" lord according to Venturii/Selachi. So he's a class climber. He is the utmost Gentleman. He is doing Class Drag and has been since he was ten. We know Downey comes from a rich family, but what kind of richness are we talking about? Ramkin wealth that could sink the Disc with gold or average wealthy merchant who can propel their son into the lordly class sort of wealth? One of these has no limits, the other has finite limits that are clear cut. I hedge bets on Downey being part of the latter option.)

Then, having survived Snapcase, he was savvy enough to climb the ladder to position himself as the head of the Assassins' Guild once Cruces' carked it. And he's remained head of the Guild for years? I recognize falling upwards as a thing, but it just doesn't fit for the Assassin's Guild. Especially as TP has drawn Ankh-Morpork and Vetinari's very evident iron-tight grip over City institutions. Which includes the Guilds.

Vetinari is a relatively ruthless dictator with standards. If you don't meet them, you're fucked. If you do meet them, you're fine.

Essentially, I reject Pratchett's crappy world building in favour of consistency and what Makes Sense. (since there are scenes when we're shown he's not a fool. Pratchett is just a bad writer at times and it shows when you look too closely.)

20. scars

I have a head canon that Downey has quite a few on his hands and forearms from a mix of accidents over the course of his life (who doesn't have scars on their hands from Life Happening?) and also defensive/job-related wounds.

I am sure he has a few scars here and there on legs as well - again from Life Happening and also due to his job. Nothing major, though. Because he's always written as physically able-bodied, and with no clear aches/pains/favouring one side over the other etc., I presume he's been lucky/skilled enough to avoid major injury.

39. favourite game

Lacross. I know TP didn't incorporate lacrosse into Ankh-Morpork games but since he never did racial minorities terribly well, it's probably a blessing we don't see him attempting to explain how a First Nations game came to the city.

However, I've decided through colonization and other sordid aspects of Ankh-Morpork's past, all of which are canon, the city has lacrosse and it is now been appropriated into being a posh white person sport. So, Downey plays it.

As it stands, it is the perfect combination of true technical skill with men being idiots and hitting each other with sticks. Downey embodies both of these things perfectly.

----

ooooh now on to Krennic!!

9. Scene that first made me love (or hate) the character

I mean, the first time he walked onto screen as a flamboyant, evil villain come to give great zingers and one-liners to all and sundry in his presence. Amazing.

This was cemented by his work-place drama with Tarkin over who gets custody of the Death Star. (Krennic was robbed, obviously.)

Overall, I prefer Krennic in the books to what they did with him on screen. He's a much more competent and a worthy adversary for the rebels and a credible rival to Tarkin in the books than what we saw in Rogue One. But still, he Worked It on screen and I love him for it.

16. Deepest darkest secret they won’t even admit to themselves

oooh God I don't know. I think part of him did want something like a relationship - however that might have looked - with Galen and was truly devastated when Galen betrayed the empire. Which Krennic read as a personal betrayal of him rather than Galen jumping ship whole-hog ideologically.

Mostly because I don't believe Krennic has ideology outside of belief in himself and his work. Therefore, a full betrayal must be personal and cannot be understood in the broader context of Empire.

Like, I know we get Krennic giving some good lines that are, to great ironic effect, echoes of Tarkin's own views, about the role of Empire in creating a sense of calm and peace and control and stability etc. But he happily would have said as much for the Republic, or whoever was footing the bills for his projects. He obsessively wants to create, create, create. Empire is incidental.

Therefore, I understand him as a person who does take things in a weirdly personal manner.

Like for Krennic it's very, "Yeah, sure, ok Galen fuck the Empire, Whatever. Who cares. But how dare you betray me and my work? The work we did together? How dare you seek to destroy what we created?"

And he is hurt by it! He'll never admit it. He'll never look it in the face and call it by its proper name: griefanger.

(The two words are supposed to be super-glued together there. Griefanger is what Krennic feels and will never, ever admit it. At least, he'll not admit the grief part. Anger he can work with. Grief? That speaks to vulnerability and emotions and stars, hasn't Krennic said, he does Do Any of That.

----

Oh man my friend, you caught me in a Spicy Mood(tm)! Just letting it rip out here lol

Anyway - thank you so, so much! :D :D

[veilkeeper]

i've been documenting how shafted the lords of fortune get, both with faction content and reactivity for your background. while i haven't played veil jumper yet and can't properly compare, i think lords of fortune probably just beat them for worst reactivity in the game. as far as i can tell from what others have said, thorne, mercar, de riva, and ingellvar all have good reactivity or at least interesting unique dialogue.

it really is a shame that bioware so obviously played favourites. why make these factions part of the game or available as backgrounds if the writers had no idea how to make them feel like they mattered? the veil jumpers and lords both suffer from such an obvious lack of direction and cohesive concept that its almost funny.

they marketed the veil jumpers as daring dalish adventurers going into the fade for the sake of exploration, and then you get into the game and they awkwardly try to get around the fact that you dont have to be dalish to be part of the obviously intended to be dalish faction, and the jumpers mostly just stumble around the woods and die trying to stabilize ancient artifacts.

likewise, the lords are supposed to be pirates/mercenaries who are chasing gold and/or glory at any cost, but bioware was unwilling to have a major faction be morally ambiguous so they pasted on a "but we don't steal and we ethically repatriate cultural artifacts!" on top. and then didn't know how to write dialogue or quests for """good guy pirates,""" or whatever, so laidir ends up being this like... vague blank slate with almost no references to their background even inside the hall of valor, lest they accidentally imply rook stole something once.

Listen i'm a big fan of Veilguard. Feel like I gotta start with that.

But can I just say not all origins are created equal?

My first playthrough I did Veil Jumpers. It was cool but there was really no mention or connection to the other Veil Jumpers. You haven't been gone long and yet Bellara doesn't know you? And besides a few little lines theres no real mention of you interacting with the other Jumpers.

Compare that to Crow Rook. Teia missed you, Viago missed you. You hear from gossip with the other crows how Viago is worse when you aren't there. You have fun little conversations with Lucanis. You have a letter from Viago where he calls you Idiot. You matter and were important, only sent away because you had to be but people missed you.

Now i'm not too far in yet but Warden Rook gets fun bits with Davrin. The First Warden hates you even more. Antoine and Evka talk about how you fucked up but they still love you and know you did good.

I haven't done the other factions yet, so I don't know if its the same for them. But the fact that the Veil Jumpers are so lacking makes me sad. Its like you had no impact on that faction. Oh you lost an important map? Well shit. We aren’t going to mention it. Its dumb and I wish there was something for them.

[emma-radfemcanu]

Time for my final 'I am sad because of tennis' post of the year x (putting this below the 'read more' because it's a bit of an essay and nobody else cares lol, I just want to get this off my chest)

This week is the tour finals in Turin, where the top 8 players of the year compete against each other. I was a bit worried that Stef wouldn't make it there, he's had a rough year, but he did. But then he ended two practices early and just didn't look right, it's something to do with his back- I hope nothing serious, he's suffered enough

You play 3 matches in the round robin, he lost to Jannik Sinner on Sunday (who I loathe, not him personally but his fans are just insufferable) and was playing Holger Rune today. He retired 3 games in, it was clear he was struggling, and god I know people don't like him but an entire arena booing someone who was very obviously in pain :(

The online comments were worse (yes I know I need to stop looking lol). So many people going on about how selfish Stef was for playing knowing he was hurt, because it's unfair to the audience who paid to watch a good match? Also unfair to Hubi who was the alternate player, apparently Stef should not played and given Hubi that chance- sorry but Stef earned that spot, he isn't obliged to make decisions based on what would be nice for other people

Before the Sunday match there were a few Sinner fans (including this one awful woman on reddit who is so annoying that she is honestly the main reason I don't like him) who were accusing Stef of faking it, either as an excuse for his inevitable losses or to get in Jannik's head- funnily enough they have piped down now 🙄 Stef very rarely withdraws, he'd hardly be the first to try and push through on adrenaline and painkillers, but as usual he is getting far more shit than anyone else

We all have our likes and dislikes, there are several players I have an irrational hatred for, and there are definitely valid reasons to dislike Stef. But most of the criticism he gets is just because people find him weird and annoying, there are far worse people (Zverev, Kyrgios etc) who don't get anywhere near the amount of personal insults that Stef does. IDK, picking on someone who is likely autistic (this isn't an armchair diagnosis, Stef's dad basically admitted it) for being weird and awkward leaves a very bad taste in my mouth

Even the other players were making fun of him earlier in the week :( Alcaraz was asked in their press conference who the funniest person was, before he could answer Rublev jumped in and said 'Stefanos' in a clearly mocking way- in itself it isn't that deep, but making someone who isn't even there (and quite frankly gets enough shit already) the butt of a joke, especially when said joke was intended to make two people who really don't like him (Medvedev and Zverev) laugh... it just felt very mean spirited

Usually I am in the camp that if that many people don't like you there's probably a reason. But like I say, I get why people don't like Stef, but it's never 'I don't like his opinion on XYZ' or any other valid criticism, it's 'lol what a weirdo' (or 'autistic freak' as I saw today). There are plenty of people who genuinely hate him but I think most of the time it's more that he's just an easy target. He is weird and awkward and shy but those are some of the reasons why I like him so much

It's been a rough year for my boys- Felix at least perked up towards the end of the season, lord knows about Shapo and Matteo :( I just hope 2024 is a bit kinder to them all

[mylordshesacactus]

7, 14, 32 and 37 for the dnd ask game :)

How do you go about making a character or NPC?

I wrote a post about this here actually! Basically, my default approach is to choose an archetype, shake it upside down, and then find a way to make the apparent contradictions work. Or, alternatively, choose to play it straight--but play it straight with intent, rather than just because I didn't consider any other options.

That's why my Captain of the Suncrest City Guard is a disabled centaur, why she serves the Goddess of Death rather than a more traditional martial or law-based deity, and why she's also every inch the archetypal paladin and Reasonable Authority Figure. I wasn't trying to make a contradiction, I just didn't want her to be EVERY overdone stereotype. Archetypes are effective! It's just not fun to be lazy.

Have you ever had a romance with an NPC or another PC?

I have not! Not because I'm opposed to it, actually, it's just never come up. Romancing another PC is something I'd only be interested in doing in a long-form campaign with people I know well and trust. A DM-controlled NPC would be a bit of a lower barrier of entry, as long as (obviously) we talked about it and everyone was comfortable.

That being said, I subscribe enthusiastically to the school of thought that it's better to play PCs with living families (by blood or choice) and close connections, and even PCs with--gasp--happy backstories. That way, they have ties in the world, reason to trust others, and they get traumatized DURING the campaign where you can react to it in real time! But also, it gives the DM opportunities for quest hooks, grounds your character firmly in the world and the narrative, and gives YOU options for bringing in help or interesting opportunities for split-obligations roleplaying.

(By which I mean--my paladin, Rinda Broadstone, is married and has five kids, NOT counting her wife's daughter OR the teenage daughter's girlfriend OR the young clerk she rescued from an abusive situation when he was fourteen and whom she openly thinks of as a son. You bet your ass that if she's ever in a long-form campaign, and the world is at risk, she's gonna be in AGONY having to go off to face the BBEG without knowing whether her family is safe. She'll do it, but it creates the possibility for really in-depth social interactions with other players.)

So obviously if I have a character who's canonically happily married, and the DM brings them into the plot--something which would require immense trust and good communication between us, honestly, because there ARE DMs who view PC family as cannon fodder for cheap angst--then that would require some romantic social roleplaying between me and an NPC. But I think there's a subtle but important distinction between "the DM is playing my character's pre-existing spouse" and "I am romancing an NPC".

Obviously, if you're interested in romancing either an NPC or another PC, discuss it out of character and away from the game table first with whoever is playing the other character!

Most memorable NPC you've encountered in a game you played in.

Oh lmao. My poor first GM. This was in our Classic Who-themed Gallifreyan politics CIA campaign a thousand years ago. She created this pair of characters--an elderly Time Lord and her shobogan "servant" (actually a phenomenally gifted engineer and lowkey secretly her girlfriend) --who were intended to be like, the sympathetic and tragic antagonists that we would defeat for the good of civilization but have compassion for. Unfortunately the party latched onto them instantly, sympathized entirely with their motivations, rolled really high on some persuasion checks, and then uh.

Started a Gallifreyan civil war? Over it?

We went a little bit completely 100% renegade because we liked them so much.

What is the most recent PC or NPC you've created?

Well, that would be telling, wouldn't it?

But without spoilers, at the moment their names are Shasta and Elaea.

[mingying]

[spoilers] hospital playlist s2 ep 11; ikjun/songhwa

I can’t believe this finally happened. And it happened in arguably the best ways possible for us IkSong shippers. As usual, this post is just basically my own thoughts and opinion of the episode and my interpretation of things - feel free to disagree, and I hope you enjoy reading this musing of mine!

22 years later, finally they found each other again <3

TL;DR: Everything happens for a reason and we have finally reached the rainbow end <3

Let’s begin by addressing the ER scene, but before that, I would like to point out that since Ep 10, Songhwa has been shown to be somewhat forgetful and a klutz - in Ep 10, she was searching for her socks and insisted that she wore them for her rounds. She also seemed to have forgotten to take off her surgical cap until Seonbin pointed it out to her.

In Ep 11, the episode starts off with Songhwa leaving her handbag in Ikjun’s office, and subsequently her handphone, followed by her handbag in the car again. This is not a dementia arc, guys (haha) but I genuinely think that this is her mind being occupied by her newly realised feelings for Ikjun that her normally composed self had started to crumble (and that’s entirely ok!). Another interpretation of this scene could be that unintentionally and subconsciously, she just wanted to remain in the hospital knowing Ikjun may return to collect his gift later.

Can I also point out her sixth sense in this scene? When she peered out of her window and heard the sound of ambulance, followed immediately by Dr Bong calling, she looked disturbed. Normally, she would have answered her calls immediately without hesitation but this time you could tell that she frowned and waited for maybe 2 seconds before answering Dr Bong. Well, never messed with a woman’s intuition I guess!

The ER Scene. Gosh. I actually have a lot of things to say about this. I know some people do not like this trope and that it is a typical trigger for characters to realise their feelings. But, I’d have to say that ShinLee did not intend for this scene to be a trigger of Songhwa realising that she likes Ikjun.

Because she already knows and had realised, somewhere around Ep 8-9 but more obviously 9, that she does like him as a man (all over again). If anything, this ER scene was meant to give Songhwa that one last push to confess, otherwise she may end up regretting not to. Another reason why I felt this scene was necessary was that Songhwa has been too comfortable in Ikjun’s constant presence by her side -- perhaps she has been wanting to confess but still lack the courage to and she didn’t think she needed to act on it rightaway because Ikjun would always be there by her side.

Gosh, the way she rushed to Ikjun and didn’t even hear Dr Bong trying to report to her that he actually wasn’t in such a terrible state. The way she slipped her hand in his and was so gentle in her questions - you can really just tell that she was trying her best not to crumble.

(side note: Jeon Mido, your acting was truly stellar during this scene. That suppressed professionalism vs personal feelings. I really felt her worry and regret in this entire scene. I loved it so much)

Now, why do I firmly believe that Songhwa already intends to confess to Ikjun eventually? Other than the fact that Songhwa herself confirmed during her confession that “I should have told you that I liked you”, it’s because of the Gift that she has given him for his birthday. It’s a cap, and initially we don’t think much of it until the flashback sequence showed and we realised that, a cap was what 99z Songhwa wanted to give to Ikjun but never did because he had turned her down for dinner and lied that he has a blind date.

Present day Songhwa gifting Ikjun a cap can be interpreted as her having let go of the hurt he had caused her in the past and that she was willing to try, again.

Interestingly, I’d like to also point out that the 99z flashback in this episode was truly necessary for us to understand Songhwa’s aversion to ‘Sad Sea’ and why she has rejected Ikjun in the first episode. 99z Songhwa didn’t give up when Ikjun stood her up for her birthday but mustered the courage to confess to him - she tried twice too, asking if he really has to go on that blind date that evening and couldn’t he go another time? Ikjun, in that scene, was playing Sad Sea. 

I would like to apologise to Ep 7 Songhwa because I had been frustrated with her then, but now that everything has been rolled out beautifully, I do not blame her at all for her hesitancy and year long passiveness. Ikjun kinda deserved it after breaking her heart twice (HA!) and remember this shot of Ikjun in Ep 7? 

I now interpret this scene as him realising that he knew Songhwa’s reasons of rejecting him. Because there was no way he didn’t know that Songhwa had liked him in the 99z, and he was perhaps regretting turning her down for dinner that day during his birthday. He knew he had a chance with her then but blew it, and that is perhaps why he never faltered in making Songhwa happy now. Not that he expects anything in return, but perhaps he wanted to make up for the indirect hurt he had caused her.

Bab Meokja had been something initiated by Songhwa back then. And now, it is a treat he gives himself -- I really do think that is the reason why he keeps asking Songhwa out for meals in the present time, because Ikjun probably wanted to indrectly make up for what happened in 99z.

Let’s move on to another great scene! The card game scene!

For some, it may seem to be a random scene but for me, I saw it in a different way and I’m glad Kfans and some users on Twitter pointed out this theory as well. 

As you all know, the card game IkSong was playing was “Bluff/Cheat”. Here, you could see that Ikjun could read Songhwa so well that he knows when she would lie. But Songhwa on the other hand, could not read Ikjun as well -- and this is further affirmed by Songhwa’s confession when she said “If your feelings for me haven’t changed,”. This is beautiful because it makes Ikjun’s expression during the confession scene even more sense -- a user on reddit pointed out that his expression at that time wasn’t more of a “omg she likes me after all”, it was more of a “she has realised her feelings for me,” and I think that’s absolutely beautiful. He even nodded subtlely a few times as Songhwa struggled to get her confession out, as if encouraging her and saying “you can do it, just a bit more”. 

Back to the card game - Ikjun even threw down a 9 Hearts - which I believe is a metaphor of his feelings for her, steady and still unwavering. 

(Bonus note: I absolutely love how Iksun caught on to them being lovey dovey at once and Junwan’s expression catching them was HILARIOUS)

On to my next scene which was absolute favourite.

Songhwa had finished a difficult/challenging surgery, and out of excitement (she even skipped omg whipped girlie), she called Ikjun first to convey the good news to him. Her tone here really depicts a difference in how she talks to Ikjun before. This scene alone tells you that Songhwa has pretty much fallen for Ikjun again and I love love love that finally she has someone she would want to immediately call to share her good news with! 

And the best part? Our best boy Lee Ikjun never went to Changwon. Instead, he waited for her for probably hours (it was bright day when they said goodbye, but night when Songhwa returned to her office) and even told her straight that he has to see her before he leaves because of how worried she had been before. Good lord find me a man like Ikjun please? 

image cr: iksongarchives @ twitter

This entire shot, with I Knew I Love playing in the background pretty much hits. It is in this exact moment that Songhwa has probably made up her mind to confess for real, that she wasn’t going to waste another second because I am sooo sure she would have ran to hug him if not because of their status at that moment. I love this scene so much. It is the personification of the lyrics of I Knew I Love, which goes “I called you out of habit today and you answered warmly, you make me the happiest in the whole wide world, I love you so much”.

And finally. 

Finally.

*takes a deep breath*

SONGHWA CONFESSED!!!!!!!!

AND THEY KISSED!!!! UNDER THE RAIN!!! 

The whole directing of this scene, with the slow camera panning into them - Ikjun was restless, probably breaking into cold sweats (he commented it was cold) while Songhwa was nervous and trying to muster enough courage to confess (she commented it was really hot). I held my breath for so long I felt like I was about to faint I swear to god.

Songhwa looked legit terrified that Ikjun was going to reject her man, and it all makes sense why after we got the 99z flashback this episode. 

And Ikjun, he really waited for her cues. Even after she was done confessing, he looked at her and waited for her to look at him back before he went “I’ll give you my answer”. And it was only after Songhwa nodded in fear and anticipation, that he swooped in to kiss her!!!!!

Songhwa definitely also leaned in first before Ikjun pulled her closer. She wanted this just as much as he did and it showed through their first kiss. Gosh I’m still shaking just thinking about how perfect that entire sequence and kiss was. They really went all out for it (yes I believe there was tongue involved) rather than soft and gentle. 22 years of suppressed yearning and feelings really popped out in that kiss alone and I am so blessed to have been a part of their beautiful journey.

And now, with only one episode left, we are finally able to see IkSong as a couple and on dates. I have a feeling Songhwa would be the clingy gf man, judging from the Preview keke. I cannot wait to see the rest of the boys finding out, and for sure, I cannot wait to see how their dynamics would change now as lovers rather than just best friends. I do think their transition would be seamless, only that now, they get to do what other lovers could.

This post is so long but I felt the need to address another matter that I have seen roaming around the internet. Apparently, some people are annoyed that Songhwa was ‘forced to change her mind’ and that we cannot accept her ‘No’ in ep 1. I would humbly and respectfully disagree on this point. Songhwa’s ‘No’ in ep 1 was not a “I don’t like you therefore I am rejecting you”. It was more of a “I do not know how to sort out my feelings yet, and am not ready to revisit the past, so it is best not to tamper with it”. 

Songhwa did not change her mind overnight or weeks. It took her one year and a few months. She has had all that time to weighs her decisions again and properly thought out how she wanted to bring forward her relationship with Ikjun. She was not forced.

She may have said that she liked being single in S1, but she has never been averse to love. In fact, she is always encouraging other people to go for it. I for one, am single and absolutely enjoying it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to ever change my mind if I find someone worthy enough to share my space and happiness with. I like being single now because guys around me are idiots and I’d rather save myself that headache LOL.

Her conscious decision to accept Ikjun now does not and will never invalidate her decision to reject him back then - in fact, it goes to show that as human beings, we constantly undergo character growth and our minds are often changed to suit the present circumstances. 

ShinLee did not portray Songhwa in that light where ‘women needs to say yes if a guy treats her right’. Ikjun did all of those things for her without expecting anything in return. He never once crossed the line and never once forced Songhwa into accepting his love for her. Songhwa said yes because she likes Ikjun and is now ready to move their relationship to that of romantic. It is as simple as that.

And one last point to make is that Songhwa being in a relationship does not in any way invalidate that she is a strong and independent woman. Please do not associate the relationship status of a woman to her being ‘strong/independent’. A woman in a relationship and a woman not being a relationship are still BOTH strong AND independent. Love is a universal element in life, why deprive a person of it simply because she’s portrayed to be a “strong” female character? If that love brings her greater joy and ardent happiness, why stop her from enriching her life further?

Anyway. I digress. 

If you made it until the end of this ridiculously long post, thank you. I hope it was an enjoyable read! Till Ep 12!

[pupmkincake2000]

You have just witnessed that people lie. HankCon was indeed the most popular ship back than, before the world suddenly decided age gap is a problem (which it is not if we talk about two consenting adults). Yet, I'll say all the haters are just jealous of hankcon's canonicity, because it is the only ship (except norkus and luthara) that has the most of a canon proof.

And it is also himophibia. I mean, obviously not EVERY single person is gonna be homophobic, some queer people dislike HankCon too, but I'm mainly referring to the cishet girls who openly talk about how "disgusting" HankCon is and go hard on the fact players MUST see them as father/son. Even if they do hardcore stan any other gay ships in this fandom they can absolutely still be homophobic. It's VERY homophobic to ONLY accept hot/skinny/young gay men, because by that point, you're just using them as eye-candy and fetishizing them. Which, I genuinely believe many of the hardcore anti-HankCon stans are doing. HankCon, in my opinion, has more canonical proof than any other gay ship in this fandom, yet they reject it because... YEP. Hank is not young, hot, or a twink. So they call it gross, disgusting, and throw all this ridiculous incestuous and pedophilic claims at it. That is EXTREMELY homophobic, and I hope to those who are teenagers grow out of it, but yeah. That's why I believe a good amount of Ant-HankCon ideaology is just plain homophobia, veiled as fandom opinions.

The most interesting part is also that people who are usually against HankCon, seem like the ones who are applying their personal feelings and issues to the characters.

Although I'm still sure that good old stereotypes are to blame, because if Hank was younger or at least looked younger, no one would think of him as a father figure. If people are only doing this because of his age and looks (and I suspect that's the case... in most cases), it's largely the fault of the fandom itself that forces Hank into this stereotypical role. Because a lot of people who played the game, but have never been part of the fandom, have no problems seeing Hank and Connor as a potential couple or just who they are accrotding the plot - friends), it just shows how incapable they are of analyzing characters. Because according to this perspective, any human being, if they are not a child or a teenager, will be more experienced in life than any android. Shouldn't androids view all humans who are over 20 as their potential parents or parental figures then? But for some reason, if a human being looks young, no one assigns them such a role, although from such a point of view this is exactly how it should be. So either people accept that Connor is an adult, capable of making adult decisions (while remembering that he is not human), or they accept that any android is infantile by the very fact of their existence and needs a parental figure, even if humans who the androids interact with, look young.

Also, newcommers usually didn't even play the game so they listen to what fandom says, and fandom usually says crap like that (not to mention that this usually comes from other ships' shippers) which is also a lie

Nice time to remind that only canon we have is friends. Or two characters brutally killing each other. And the devs never intended to make them father and son. The devs is not only David Cage and even if they did, well, there's still the game itself where we never get this type of relationships. And OH MY LORD Hank calling Connor son is nothing special, somehow I doubt people know their own language well enough to remember why older people calling youger people "son" is for. The same way as cop in Kara's chapter called Adam a son. And Connor cannot take Cole's role because Cole is a 6yo boy while Connor is modelled after a man in his 30's. And saying their names are similar and using it as a proof is just too funny. If people think that the only way to get past the grief is to project a dead child onto an adult looking robot is okay... I dunno what to say.

And I can't even get it HOW other shippers who wanna see Hank and Connor as lovers can be influenced by those. Because I often see people saying they are afraid of shipping hankcon since they get hated. Because these haters never get good points, everything is built on some stupid headcanons.

But basically, canon is still friends, not father&son, and everyone who hates hankcon is not only delusional but lacks of arguments.

I didn't play Detroit: Become Human, but I saw fanart everywhere and I was under the impression that the main ship was Hank and Connor. I even thought it was cute so I ship them too.

Many years have passed and recently I discovered that, apparently, Hank always saw Connor as his son, and their relationship was meant to be fraternal??? And people actually don't really ship them because of that reason?? Im??????

[joonie-beanie]

The Undateables + playing the Pocky Game with you

[The Demon Brothers’s Reactions]

Diavolo:

Is immediately intrigued when he finds you in the RAD library, munching on the human world snack.

It’s past school hours, so you’re alone--eyes droned on the text book in front of you as you mindlessly reach for another of the thin, chocolate covered crackers.

“What’s that?” he asks, catching your attention, and you nearly jump. Fuck, you hadn’t even heard him approach.

You turn up to the demon with a smile, trying to calm the quickened beat of your heart. He’s staring at the snack with obvious interest--his golden glaze flicking up to you like a curious puppy.

“It’s called pocky,” you say, immediately reaching into the pack and pulling out another stick. You offer it to him, and his face brightens. He takes the snack from you, sniffing it, before finally taking a small bite.

“Hmm~ not too sweet, but it’s good!”

You laugh, taking a stick for yourself. However, once the pocky is caught between your lips, you remember something.

“Ah, you know--there was this game a while ago too, the “Pocky Game”. The whole point was to share a stick of pocky together with someone, and see who backs out first. In the end, a lot of people just end up k--”

“We should try it!” Diavolo says before allowing you to finish. He’s quick to pull out a chair and take a seat in front of you.

He grabs a fresh stick of pocky from the box, places it between his lips, and stares at you patiently. Shocked, you feel your face begin to heat up.

“Lord Diavo--”

“It’ll be fun!” he says, mumbling around the pocky, and you sigh. Here goes nothing.

You lean in and take the other end of the pocky into your mouth--inching forward. Diavolo quickly follows suit, and before you know it, your noses are touching. You half expect him to pull back, but instead he angles his head, and presses closer.

You freeze, surprised at the Demon Prince’s actions, and Diavolo takes that chance to close any remaining space between you.

Finally, your lips touch. Your cheeks flush pink, and you feel the Demon Prince laugh.

“Shall I back out first, or you?” he whispers against your lips, a playful look in his golden eyes, and you think you may pass out.

Diavolo is not as innocent as he seems

Barbatos:

The demon butler happens upon you while you’re writing a report in the student council room of RAD

It’s your free period, and Diavolo has asked both you and Solomon to write a brief paper on recent human trends. Nothing that will take too much time--but the Prince is interested in hearing more about the differences between the human world, and the Devildom.

“Y/N,” Barbatos greets as he approaches you, smiling politely as always.

You glance up at his voice, returning his smile. “Hi Barbatos.”

“Are you working on the paper Lord Diavolo requested?” he asks, placing himself at your side. He glances down to the screen of your laptop, his eyes scanning the words you’ve written.

He’s quick to focus in on the paragraph surrounding the “Pocky Game”, and his eyes fall to the red box of snacks near your hand, labeled with the word “Pocky”.

“There’s a game in the human world involving a snack?” he questions, and you notice where he’s looking. Picking up the box, you pull a stick of pocky from the packaging.

“Yeah! It was popular for a while.”

“Shall we try?” he asks, tilting his head to the side innocently. You wonder if he managed to read your explanation on how the game works in that short amount of time.

“It...involves us getting close,” you warn him, a little embarrassed. “We share the same snack.”

“Of course if you’re uncomfortable we don’t have to,” he responds, polite as ever. “I simply thought it may be fun.”

You hesitate for a moment, cheeks feeling warm, but eventually lift the stick of pocky between your lips. You then turn your head towards him, and Barbatos smiles a little wider--his fingers lifting to gently grasp your chin as he leans in and bites the other end. 

Slowly, you both make your way to the middle, and you feel your lips brush together. Barbatos pauses, glancing up at you, and you hear him chuckle quietly. You can only assume that he’s spotted your tomato-like cheeks.

Suddenly, the butler closes the small gap--giving you the quickest of pecks--before he pulls back.

“What an entertaining game,” he remarks, lifting a gloved hand to wipe the crumbs at his lips. You can only stare--awed by the fact that he’d actually just kissed you.

Solomon:

The sorcerer is aware of what the pocky game is, considering he’s a human like you.

At the time of it’s popularity, he’d found it to have been quiet foolish--an obvious ploy at getting a kiss and making someone flustered. But now?

Now, he watches you as you lay across his bed--class notes in one hand, and a stick of pocky in the other. Despite himself, and his past opinions, he can’t stop thinking about that damn game.

“I can feel you staring,” you mumble, breaking him out of his thoughts. Guilty, Solomon can only laugh. He presses himself from his desk chair, and makes his way over to your side--seating himself against the edge of the bed.

You cock an eyebrow. “What’s on your mind, wizard boy?”

Solomon resists the urge to pinch you. “Remember the pocky game?”

Immediately, your eyes fall to the red box of pocky beside you. Then, you glance back up to him, eyebrow raised curiously. “You want to play the pocky game?”

He shrugs. “I never got to play it before. Would you be willing?”

You consider him for a moment, but eventually shrug. Why not?

Sitting up, you cross your legs and turn to face him. Solomon scoots closer, snatching a stick of pocky from the box. He places it against your lips, grinning a little.

“What?” you question, your teeth gently biting into the chocolate end of the stick. Solomon only hums, taking the plain end into his own mouth.

He moves forward slowly, being sure to keep eye contact with you, and you hate the way your heart starts racing. You can feel the blush that has spread across your cheeks, and by the way Solomon’s lips twitch, you’re sure that he’s noticed too.

However, you refuse to let him win. You move forward along the stick as well, noting the way Solomon pauses in surprise--his eyes widening. Then, he chuckles.

He devours the remainder of the pocky--his lips pressing flush against yours for a few long beats before he finally sits back.

“That’s funner than I imagined,” he remarks, laughing when you reach forward and punch him in the side. Your face has gone red, and Solomon can’t lie--he loves seeing you flustered.

“I hate you,” you grumble, flopping back onto his mattress.

“Well, if that’s the case--,” Solomon suddenly is leaning over you, another stick of pocky held in his lips. “Maybe we should do it again.”

Simeon:

You invite the angel over to do homework together--or rather, for him to tutor you.

Simeon is quite well verse in history--Devildom history included--so he always come to help you study when you’re struggling.

Today, as the two of you work, you just so happen to be munching on pocky. The angel is quick to notice the foreign red box, but it takes him a while to ask about it.

“Is that a human world snack?” he eventually asks, pointing at the box. You pause.

“Ah! Yeah, it’s just a chocolate covered cracker. Do you want to try one?” You hold up the box and offer it to him. Simeon smiles, taking one from inside the silver wrapper.

“It’s...hm, sweet,” he remarks, smiling a little when you giggle at his reaction. As you watch him eat, you suddenly remember something.

“You know, there’s a game up in the human realm that’s played with this food,” you start, recalling the Pocky Game and how popular it had been. You intend to explain said game, but Simeon is already hooked.

“Oh! Show me how it goes!” He grabs another stick and innocently holds it in front of him. You freeze, regarding him hesitantly. You can practically see the innocence radiating from him. Why is he so nice??

“Are you sure?” you question while grabbing his hand--directing the stick of pocky between his lips. “It...involves us getting close.”

“I trust you,” he remarks before securing his lips around the cracker. You feel your heart flutter, and after mentally preparing yourself, lean in. Your lips secure around the other end of the pocky, and you begin working your way towards Simeon.

The Angel blinks in surprise, but doesn’t retreat. You’re getting closer and closer--small sections of the cracker being bitten off by your teeth. It’s not until you’re nearing the center of the stick of pocky that Simeon has an...ephiphany.

Obviously, the game is about who can get to the center first!

Without warning, Simeon suddenly lurches forward--your lips pressing together. You both freeze, wide eyes staring at one another.

“Oh!” Simeon jumps back, fingers raising to press against his lips, as if he doesn’t believe he’s just kissed you. “I’m sorry--! I...”

“No! It’s fine! You just surprised me!” you reassure him, laughing a little. “Um...usually the game ends with the players kissing anyway, so...”

“Oh! Good then!” Simeon laughs at himself, placing a hand over his heart. He’s quiet for a beat, and then -- “Because I certainly enjoyed the outcome.” 

(Bonus!) Luke

He hears about the pocky game from Simeon and approaches you about playing

Before he even asks, there’s already a brilliant blush on his face, and it makes you giggle. Unfortunately--

“I’m all out of pocky, Luke.”

The angel’s face falls, and you lean down, placing your hand on his hair.

“Why did you want to play anyway?”

“Well...,” he mumbles, glancing away. “I heard that Simeon got a kiss, so...”

“You want a kiss?” you ask, blinking in surprise. That’s not what you had expected. You’d just thought he’d been jealous about you and Simeon leaving him out of a game.

“N-NO!” he immediately denies. “W-Why would I want a kiss from you? T-T-That’s--!”

Before he can continue lying to himself, you quickly lean in and press a soft kiss to his cheek. The angel immediately goes silent--his hand lifting to press against his cheek where the skin is left tingling.

You smile at him sweetly.

“Satisfied?”

He grumbles under his breath about how he still hadn’t needed a kiss, but when you turn away, you see him smile. 

[kellyvela]

Has GRRM ever said in any interview or on his blog that he hates Sansa's complete storyline after 4th season? I dont really follow all of his fan/media interactions but from what I can recall he has spoken abt how LF in books wont give sansa to ramsay or how noone had issue when Jeyne was given the Ramsay storyline in books etc. Asking this question to you bcs you rightly point out how ppl misunderstood his interviews/posts ( sansans/targ stans etc) & I cant recall him ever saying he 'hates' sansa's story in the later seasons of the show ( not s5 in particular but even s6 to s8).

Capclave 2013:

A change that has repercussions for season 4 is Marillion’s tongue removal from the first season. Martin said that the change was made (from an anonymous singer being the victim of a de-tonguing) because they wanted Joffrey to maim someone the audience would recognize. He believes this is an issue because of the part the singer plays in Sansa’s storyline, how he affects her interactions with others in the book, and he doesn’t believe another character will be fulfilling that role on Game of Thrones.

—GRRM talks season 4 & beyond - Winter is Coming - October 13, 2013

2014 Fan Reports about Capclave 2013 (*):

In a convention panel this year, George said on the record that he had no idea what they were doing with Sansa or where they’re taking her storyline, which now makes sense perhaps. He was not pleased when he was talking about it, so who knows what’s going to happen with her! Knowing GRRM, that could mean they’re going off the canon reservation, and/or that they’re going to be making a lot of shit up

I have notes I’ll be responding to (thanks!) but enough people commented about Sansa that I thought I’d share that tidbit, since it happened back in September iirc (was the same panel where he criticized the exclusion of Tyrell brothers)

—starkalypse - June 3, 2014

GRRM’s comments at capclave about Sansa (which I was in the third row for, for those asking about legitimacy) were among others during the panel that had a general theme of dissatisfaction with show changes. He was not in good spirits for that con and didn’t really have anything positive to say regarding the show. So take it with a grain of salt; there are deviations away from the books in the episodes he gets writers credit for, so maybe they’re doing something stupid or they really don’t have a gameplan!

—starkalypse - June 4, 2014

(*) These reports were posted in June 2014, during the airing of Game of Thrones Season 4, about Capclave 2013 that happened in October 2013.

Just after the rape episode:

How many children did Scarlett O’Hara have? Three, in the novel. One, in the movie. None, in real life: she was a fictional character, she never existed. The show is the show, the books are the books; two different tellings of the same story.

There have been differences between the novels and the television show since the first episode of season one. And for just as long, I have been talking about the butterfly effect. Small changes lead to larger changes lead to huge changes. HBO is more than forty hours into the impossible and demanding task of adapting my lengthy (extremely) and complex (exceedingly) novels, with their layers of plots and subplots, their twists and contradictions and unreliable narrators, viewpoint shifts and ambiguities, and a cast of characters in the hundreds.

There has seldom been any TV series as faithful to its source material, by and large (if you doubt that, talk to the Harry Dresden fans, or readers of the Sookie Stackhouse novels, or the fans of the original WALKING DEAD comic books)… but the longer the show goes on, the bigger the butterflies become. And now we have reached the point where the beat of butterfly wings is stirring up storms, like the one presently engulfing my email.

Prose and television have different strengths, different weaknesses, different requirements.

David and Dan and Bryan and HBO are trying to make the best television series that they can.

And over here I am trying to write the best novels that I can.

And yes, more and more, they differ. Two roads diverging in the dark of the woods, I suppose… but all of us are still intending that at the end we will arrive at the same place.

In the meantime, we hope that the readers and viewers both enjoy the journey. Or journeys, as the case may be. Sometimes butterflies grow into dragons.

—The Show, the Books - Not A Blog - May 18, 2015

Report about the last Game of Thrones Script that GRRM wrote:

No Wedding for Sansa and Ramsay: Without question, one of the most controversial changes the show made in trying to streamline the books was by slotting Sansa into the role of Ramsay’s wife and rape victim in Season 5. In the books, Ramsay marries and assaults Sansa’s best childhood friend, Jeyne Poole—who is being forced to impersonate Arya—instead. (You can actually see Jeyne briefly sitting next to Sansa in the show’s pilot.)

At the time Martin wrote this script, though, substituting Sansa for Jeyne was not yet the plan. Martin has Roose Bolton tell his bastard son: “We have a much better match in mind for you. A match to help House Bolton hold the north. Arya Stark.” It should be noted, however, that in Martin’s script, Sansa isn’t free from menace either. At his own wedding-day breakfast, Joffrey still threatens to rape the older Stark sister—once he’s “gotten Margaery with child.”)

—Game of Thrones: The Secrets of George R.R. Martin’s Final Script - Vanity Fair - December 7, 2018

A month before the Game of Throne S8 Finale:

Sansa’s story, in particular, has really deviated from the books. Ramsay Bolton — that marriage obviously was with a different character. When they start deviating like that, did you initially have any emotional reaction, even though you worked in Hollywood for many years yourself?

GRRM: Well, yeah — of course you have an emotional reaction. I mean, would I prefer they do it exactly the way I did it? Sure. But I’ve been on the other side of it, too. I’ve adapted work by other people, and I didn’t do it exactly the way they did it, so ….

Some of the deviation, of course, is because I’ve been so slow with these books. I really should’ve finished this thing four years ago — and if I had, maybe it would be telling a different story here. It’s two variations of the same story, or a similar story, and you get that whenever anything is adapted. The analogy I’ve often used is, to ask how many children did Scarlett O’Hara have? Do you know the answer to that?

I know it’s different in the book and the movie …

GRRM: Three children in the book, one by each husband. She had one child in the movie. And in real life, of course, Scarlett O’Hara had no children, because she never existed. Margaret Mitchell made her up. The book is there. You can pick it up and read Mitchell’s version of it, or you can see the movie and see David Selznick’s version of it. I think they’re both true to the spirit of the work, and hopefully that’s also true of Game of Thrones on one hand, and A Song of Ice and Fire on the other hand.

—George R.R. Martin on the Stark Sisters and Ending ‘Game of Thrones’ - RollingStone - April 22, 2019

James Hibberd’s Book:

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: Jeyne Poole was included in the pilot—she’s shown giggling next to Sansa—but she’s never seen or referred to again. I actually wrote Jeyne into “The Pointy End,” my first script, when Arya killed the stableboy. I had some stuff with Jeyne running to Sansa being all hysterical and dialogue in the council chamber with Littlefinger saying, “Give her to me, I’ll make sure she doesn’t cause any trouble.” That was dropped.

DAVID BENIOFF: Sansa is a character we care about almost more than any other. We really wanted Sansa to play a major part in that season. If we were going to stay absolutely faithful to the book, it was going to be very hard to do that. There was a subplot we loved from the books, but it was a character not involved in the show.

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: I was trying to set up Jeyne for her future role as the false Arya. The real Arya has escaped and is presumed dead. But this girl has been in Littlefinger’s control for years, and he’s been training her. She knows Winterfell, has the proper northern accent, and can pose as Arya. Who the hell knows what a little girl you met two years ago looks like? When you’re a lord visiting Winterfell, are you going to pay attention to the little kids running around? So she can pull off the impersonation. Not having Jeyne, they used Sansa for that. Is that better or worse? You can make your decision there. Oddly, I never got pushback for that in the book because nobody cared about Jeyne Poole that much. They care about Sansa.

—Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Official Untold Story of the Epic Series by James Hibberd - October 6, 2020

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: My Littlefinger would have never turned Sansa over to Ramsay. Never. He’s obsessed with her. Half the time he thinks she’s the daughter he never had—that he wishes he had, if he’d married Catelyn. And half the time he thinks she is Catelyn, and he wants her for himself. He’s not going to give her to somebody who would do bad things to her. That’s going to be very different in the books.

—Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon: Game of Thrones and the Official Untold Story of the Epic Series by James Hibberd - October 6, 2020

I hope it helps you.

Thanks for your message.

[diavolosthots]

DARK DECEPTION CHAPTER 9

READ CHAPTER 8 HERE

Authors Note: whats popping I'm back. Sorry it took so long. 😅 I have no clue if that's the same gif i used before whoops. Also I hope you enjoy "Brain-Wrecker3002" the best console in the Devildom. So bare with me and Mario kart. Just do it for the sake of the story.

Warnings: none

Pairing(s): Diavolo x Reader, Leviathan, Barbatos

Diavolo wasn’t kidding when he said he had set up a gaming room. You had yet to know all of the castle’s layout, but you were certain that this was one of the biggest ones. “For me?” You questioned, not necessarily intending for it to be said out loud. “For everyone, but I imagine you will be spending quite a lot of time here, My Lady.” Barbatos seemed too nice, as always, but you didn’t have time to worry about it. You were staring at a gigantic screen half the size of the wall. Red cushioned floor beds were made into seating areas with snacks and drinks right beside each one. Consoles for days, both from the human realm and the Devildom itself, along with games that you both loved and couldn’t wait to try, “this is amazing.” Honestly, your jaw was on the floor and you had to look around the room one more time to make sure it was real. Barbatos chuckled behind you, but excused himself for duties soon after, and for a while, you just stood there in the massive room. 

Although amazement seethed through your body, you had to take this opportunity and realize that you were finally alone and not locked up in his room. You weren’t going to be completely alone, no, but you were going to be with an outsider, and Leviathan nonetheless. Of course, none of this meant the coast was clear, and you were almost certain that Barbatos, and or Diavolo, were watching you, somehow, someway. You needed to be smarter than them. You needed to find a way to tell Leviathan something without them noticing, or at least noticing right away. 

“(Y/N)?” You jumped at the voice, turning to see Levi standing there with Barbatos, who was still smiling way too casually. “Levi!” Happiness ran through you and you immediately ran toward him, engulfing him in a humongous hug that had him stumbling back before he caught you. Of course, it was very awkward, for him anyway, but especially with Barbatos just standing there and it took every fiber in your being to pull away and not stick to him like glue. “I missed you.” It was an honest sentence; you did miss him. Actually, you missed everyone, and even if it was Mammon coming to visit, you really wouldn’t have minded at this point. “I… missed you too…” Awkward as ever. You laughed softly, nudging his arm when his cheeks started to become darker than the seating area of the room. “I will leave you two alone, then.” Barbatos bowed, slowly exiting the room. 

Both of you stood there for a moment, staring at each other but keeping silent in fear of Barbatos coming back. “So… what do you think of this room?” Honestly, it wasn’t until now that the so called hardcore Otaku third-born has had a chance to really look at it, but just like you, his jaw dropped in amazement and he immediately ran around looking at everything, “You have this?! And you didn’t invite me sooner?!” “W-Well---!” “Oh my Lord Diavolo, you have the new brain-wrecker3002!! Why didn’t you tell me?!” you tried to explain several more times that you only found out about this room today, but Levi was more excited than a little kid and honestly who are you to deny him these simple pleasures? “If you ask nicely, I’m sure Diavolo would let you take it.” 

A loud gasp erupted from within him, his hands immediately holding onto your shoulders, “You think?!” You couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction; he was more excited than a little boy during Christmas and yes, it was cute. “Yes. Maybe. I’m sure he can get another one. Doubt he would miss it. But come on! As much as I love to hear you nerd out, let’s actually play something.” Of course, that was the keyword he looked for; play. You still pondered how you were going to tell Leviathan anything without it being too obvious, or at least in a way that took anyone else a while to figure out. “Levi… Let’s play Mario Kart.” Confusion strung across his face, “what? You have all these amazing games and you want to play Mario Kart?” You nodded, smiling softly as to hide the seriousness of why you would want to play it. In your mind, it made sense. In your mind, it would work out. And in your mind, Leviathan would catch on sooner or later, hopefully at least. “Yes. I want to play Mario Kart, you know? Take a trip down memory lane.” Leviathan frowned but he also knew that he was in no position to fight you. If you were unhappy, he had to take it up with Diavolo and that’s something he doesn’t necessarily want to deal with, “Okay…But we’ll play other things too, right?” You chuckled.

It took you a while to figure out exactly how you wanted to do this. You knew you could turn and mess yourself up in pretty much any way, but you needed it to be discreet. That’s where you were grateful for Levi’s competitiveness and his quick thinking on banana peels. Every time he threw one at you, you barely dodged it, and every once in a while you would hit a few back to back, four back to back to be specific. Instead of just spinning out of control and moving on, though, you somehow managed to pull through with your plan. H. E. L. P. The last letter was the hardest one but after doing the same pattern twice, Levi caught on. No one can say again he’s just a dumb Otaku. He side-eyed you, giving you a raised eyebrow, but all you could really do was discreetly nod and hope he believed you. After that, you continued to mess up a few more times so as to not draw suspicion. “Let’s… change the game. This might be a trip down memory lane for you, but it’s boring to me if you’re so terrible at it and I keep beating you.” 

You pouted, nudging him again, “fine… I had fun though.” Levi chuckled this time, obviously nervous, “I did too… let’s maybe try and play---!” “Leviathan!” A cold shiver ran down your spine and from the looks of it, it ran down Levi’s too. The poor demon didn’t even have time to turn around before Diavolo engulfed him in a hug, “hghn…!!! T-too tight, Lord...Diavolo…” Diavolo let go of him with a laugh, turning to you and reaching out his hand. Of course, you took it so he could pull you up. “Did you have fun?” You could feel Leviathan’s nervousness mingle with your own, but you smiled up at him nonetheless, “Yes! Levi beat me pretty much every game, but I’m just glad we got to hang out.” Levi chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck, “You tried your best… It’s just hard to beat the best.” You looked at Levi with disbelief before sticking your tongue out at him, a gesture which he returned. “Whatever. Keep telling yourself that. I let you win.” “Hah!” He genuinely laughed at you, and for a moment you debated on taking offense, but he was your only hope so you let it slide.

“Well, I’m glad you two had fun. Please do tell me anytime you two want to do it again. I hate to leave my darling all by herself, and seeing as you two are such good friends, I think you should come around more often.” It seemed too nice. He was being too nice. A facade he put up in front of others, but you knew all too well what lied beneath. “O-Of course! Thank you, Lord Diavolo.” It was awkward after that, with the two only smiling at each other, Diavolo’s grip on your hand tightening ever so slightly. Barbatos cleared his throat, “My Lord, I will be escorting Leviathan back to his house now.” You quickly let go of Diavolo’s hand to hug Levi one more time, which he returned almost too stiffly. “It was good to see you… “ You mumbled, before letting go and watching him walk off with Barbatos, hoping that he could deliver the message. 

[kakakakashi]

Hokage’s Office: Under the Desk

100 Follower Celebration - Day 4

Kakashi Hatake x Reader || NSFW

Warnings: porn without plot, lots of oral, Kotetsu & Izumo are clueless, Yamato isn’t as clueless as Kakashi thinks he is, cursing, you know how these go

Word count: 2,007

A/N: I’m really glad y’all are enjoying these. I feel like it’s just the same story over and over, but like... Also, MY TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES ARE SOLVED! 

- 

Making out in the Hokage’s office was always a fun game. Making out in the Hokage’s office with the door still unlocked was playing with fire. You had no idea how you ended up grinding atop Kakashi in his desk chair, a mix of limbs tangled around each other, groping at any flesh you could reach. Your mixed panting the only real sound in the room other than your muffled groans against each others lips. Sweat began to gather on your brow while you swiveled your hips against the front of Kakashi’s pants, making him grow harder with each passing moment.

You had both been humping each other to the point where you’d begun to feel the beginning heat of orgasm, but that quickly changed when Kakashi’s eyes flew open. His heightened hearing had detected footsteps approaching the door. With catlike reflexes, his large hands grabbed you by the waist. He hoisted you off of him and placed you on the floor below his desk before he scooted his chair in to hide you. He’d just finished adjusting his mask over his nose when Kotetsu and Izumo entered the office.

From beneath the Hokage’s desk, you knew exactly who had entered the second you heard Kotetsu’s voice speak from the doorway. “Lord Sixth, we finished our shift and wanted to give you our border patrol report.”

You smirked to yourself when an idea popped into your head, your gaze landing in front of you on the tented fabric between Kakashi’s legs. Wasting no time, you unfastened his pants and freed his painfully hard erection. When he realized what you were about to do, despite present company, Kakashi couldn’t deny the arousal stirring in his gut. His member twitched slightly at the thought of your mouth around him in front of his subordinates, causing you to smirk below his desk. 

“Very well,” Kakashi hastily decided, “I’ll take the scroll, and you’re both dismissed!”

You chuckled internally when you positioned your lips just close enough to his pinkened, leaking head to make him feel your breath fanning across the sensitive tip. He should have come up with a more convincing dismissal, but at that moment, Kakashi’s brain was consumed in an aroused haze, well aware of what you were about to do.

“Lord Sixth, shouldn’t we review it before you dismiss us?” Izumo suggested after sharing a confused glance with Kotetsu.

In that exact moment, Kakashi felt the tip of your tongue place a kitten lick across his sensitive tip. His chest tightened when you repeated the action before your tongue switched to stroke along the vein beneath his hard, throbbing length. The sensation left him drawing in a slow inhale of breath. He tried to play it off to the pair of chunin as a sigh in agreement. However, in his mind, he was silently cursing the situation. Kakashi was tempted to scream, “You’re kidding me! They choose now to be thorough!”

You wrapped your lips around Kakashi and slid your awaiting mouth down his cock, relishing in the salty taste of every inch he offered your hollowed cheeks. Kakashi’s whole body twitched a bit when Izumo held out the scroll for the Hokage to receive, but neither of the chunin seemed to notice.

Pulling back your mouth from under the desk, you sucked Kakashi in again, now working your hand over what you couldn’t fit. You made sure to flatten your tongue when he filled you, and when you retreated, you flicked it against the tip the way that made his head spin.

As your pace gradually accelerated, Kakashi found himself staring at the now unrolled scroll before his eyes. The faster you bobbed your head, the closer he got to his release, and he couldn’t read the text in front of him even if he tried. Instead, he found himself simply pretending to read it while he tried to keep himself from bucking into your warm, wet mouth that left him spiraling towards his release.

Even though he hadn’t been staring at the scroll for long, the second Kakashi felt your nails scrape against the skin of his balls, he closed the paper and looked directly at Kotetsu and Izumo, stating, “Very well. Good job. You’re dismissed.”

His veins were filled with electricity, and he was sure he was going to blow while Kotetsu and Izumo bowed and exited the room. The second the door clicked shut, Kakashi leaned back enough to see you sucking his dick like your life depended on it, and a long groan escaped his throat at the sight. His hands tossed the scroll somewhere to the side before one of them took hold of your hair, shoving your face down on his cock so you were gagging.

You let out a whimper at the heavy feeling of Kakashi on your tongue and your throat, but you gladly took what he gave you.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” You could hear the smirk in his voice while his hips bucked into your awaiting mouth. Tears prickled in your eyes, but you attempted to fight them back while you choked on Kakashi’s dick.

However, your gag reflex came out once more, and that was the end for Kakashi. His balls tightened, and his cock twitched in your mouth, grunts and curses spilling from him while he emptied himself into your mouth.

You tried to swallow everything he gave you, but a little bit did dribble down your chin because of how messy he was. However, once he rode out his high, and you released his cock with a small pop, his thumb quickly wiped up the drop and patiently waited for you to part your lips again for him. When you did, he shoved his thumb in your mouth and you sucked it clean, moaning around the digit before releasing it like his cock.

“You’re gonna be the death of me,” he panted before a look filled his gaze, “Now… let me have a turn.”

“Kakashi, you don’t have t–”

“Just sit in the chair and shut up. I want my revenge.” He stood from his Hokage chair, fondly shaking his head at your antics. You rose from beneath his desk with a smirk to match his, and you plopped in his chair with a roll of your eyes.

Kakashi was on his knees before you could even retort, and he glanced up at you while his hands worked you out of your pants. You were a bit taken aback, but he quickly explained, “You know I can smell you, right? You’re fucking dripping, doll.”

You blushed a little at his words, but he had already moved on to shucking your pants to your ankles along with your underwear. He was gazing at your soaking folds like he’d just found heaven. Pulling down his mask to reveal flushed cheeks, he immediately spread you out to press a kiss against your cunt.

“Mine.” You barely managed to hear him growl it out, but it sent a shiver of pleasure straight to your core.

Your breath caught in your throat when he dove in between your legs, immediately licking a long stripe from your entrance to your clit, flattening his tongue at first until it flicked against your clit to circle the throbbing bud. You quickly grabbed the armrest on the chair, trying to keep yourself from gasping out at the sensation of Kakashi’s tongue.

He worked you just the way he knew you liked, first sucking on your clit and running his tongue everywhere he could, licking up everything you had to offer. The sensation was becoming too much, and you tried to back away, but he pulled you to the edge of the chair by your thighs, so his face was flush with your cunt. However, he decided to switch it up, moving from your clit, down to your entrance, circling the slick opening before his tongue caught in the center. He thrust his tongue inside you, causing you to let out a soft yelp.

It was short lived, though because just as quickly as he acted, he retreated. Just when you were about to ask what he was doing, he retreated under his desk, pulling the chair by the arms, so you were in the same position as before, but now the roles were reversed. Just in time too because the click of the door alerted you to another presence entering the room right as Kakashi resumed his task of slipping his tongue in your entrance.

Now, Yamato stepped into the room. “Lord Si– Oh, hello, Y/N.” He was obviously surprised to find you sitting in the Hokage’s chair. “Have you seen Kakashi senpai anywhere?”

“Nope! I was just waiting for him to get back.” Your high pitched voice came out more desperate than you’d intended, but you couldn’t help it with the way Kakashi’s tongue dragged in and out of you so deliciously that you were tempted to start humping his mouth. As soon as the excuse left your mouth, you knew it was a mistake. What if Yamato decided to stay and wait for Kakashi too?. He’d definitely catch on to your current predicament, and you’d never be able to look him in the eye again. Covering your tracks, your last shred of logic suggested, “He’s probably helping Naruto with something.”

That sounded better, and it was the best excuse you could come up with while Kakashi’s mouth was between your legs. He’d decided to switch his ministrations too, flattening his tongue across as much expanse as he could while dragging it back and forth.

The sensation had you gripping composure with white knuckles. Kakashi was truly pulling out all the stops to make you writhe. The blood pumping in your veins had you flushed and desperate. The heat of your orgasm growing with each stroke of the skilled tongue on your folds, well aware of how to abuse all of your weak spots.

“Okay,” Yamato drew you out of your pleasured haze when he spoke, “in that case, if you see him, please let me know. If you tell him I’m looking for him, he’ll hide.”

You would have laughed at the irony of the situation had the very man you spoke of not been pleasuring you beneath his very own desk. Besides, you were getting close, and if you had tried to laugh, it would have turned into a moan.

Instead, you opted to hiss out, “Will do!”

You thought you were in the clear, and you were extremely grateful. You could feel the quaking of your orgasm swelling deep inside you, your hearing partially blocked out with how good Kakashi was making you feel, but you fought your release since Yamato decided to speak again.

“By the way, are you alright? You look like you just ran a mile.”

You took a second to get ahold of your body, white hot pleasure burning you because of how close it was.

“Yeah, I’m fine! I just got back from training!” You overenthusiasticly explained before shooing him out with a hand, “Alright, see ya!”

Yamato took the hint and turned on his heel. As soon as his back was to you, your hand flew under the desk to grip at Kakashi’s silver hair, working your hips gently against his mouth that was now sucking hard on your clit while you writhed.

Just when the door closed behind Yamato, you finally allowed your release to consume you, your legs clamping around Kakashi while your body practically collapsed on itself. You back arched while your high hit you like a train, igniting every nerve in your body until you were burning with the white hot pleasure of your high. You couldn’t help the broken cry that escaped your lips while Kakashi continued abusing your throbbing cunt, working you through the ripples of bliss until your hips were twitching with overstimulation.

He pulled away with a wicked smile on his face while you panted, frantically trying to catch your breath.

[jerseydeanne]

William is quietly winning the battle of the royal brothers - Their responses to Bashir revelations are as different as they are as people, but we knew they would be

It must frustrate Prince Harry that his own popularity has become so obviously inversely proportional to his brother’s. They had a highly competitive relationship before Harry and Meghan decided to throw a grenade under the Queen and the Royal family in favour of earning Kardashian cash in the US. It often appeared that a large part of the Sussexes’ beef with the monarchy was that they constantly felt in the Cambridges’ shadow. Yet their bid to seek “financial independence” in California has cast them completely in the shade in the minds of the majority of Brits, many of whom would prefer it if they disappeared from view altogether. The more they have accused the “racist” Royal family of “total neglect”, the more they have succeeded in encouraging the British public to throw their support behind the institution – as shown by a YouGov poll last week finding six in 10 people want them to be stripped of their titles or to stop using them. The better William and Kate perform, the worse Harry and Meghan look for breaking up the Fab Four in the first place. The Yanks might not see it like this, but we do because, unlike naive Americans prone to endless psychobabble, we were never under any illusions about the dysfunctionality at the heart of the Royal family (or any family, for that matter). In his latest outpouring for his new Apple TV documentary series, Harry voiced his resentment at being told to “play the game” to make life easier in the House of Windsor. “I’ve got a hell of a lot of my mum in me,” he boasted. “The only way to free yourself and break out is to tell the truth. ”Yet, ironically, the one person in The Firm who “played the game” better than anyone else was Diana, Princess of Wales. That was until she took the disastrous decision to pour her heart out to deceitful Martin Bashir – albeit under what we now know were false pretences. By continuing to stoke the flames of publicity with his smug, self-pitying and at times, spiteful rhetoric, Harry shows he has actually learned nothing from his mother’s experience. For in trying to emulate her doe-eyed confessionals to speak his “truth”, he is repeating her mistake of squandering popularity for the sake of evening the score. While there’s no doubting Harry’s noble intentions in wanting to raise awareness of mental health issues – let’s make no mistake here, like Diana deciding to air her dirty linen on the BBC, this is a man out for vengeance. With his team of officious LA-based PRs and unwillingness to appear on any platform that actually offers a right of reply to the people he trashes, he’s hypocritically playing his own, one-sided games. Exactly like his mother at her lowest ebb, Harry seems to think the world is out to get him. Yet far from it being personal, there is a word for what has happened to him over the years. It’s called “life”. While he was a 12-year-old walking behind his mother’s coffin in 1997, there were literally hundreds and thousands of other children also coming to terms with the loss of a parent. Around the same time, I was a teenager, scraping my alcoholic mother off the pavement. As any therapist worth their salt will tell him – you can either hold onto the past and let it dictate your future, or let go and truly “find your freedom”. William has had to endure exactly the same fate as Harry. In fact, as the elder brother and “heir” rather than “spare” it has arguably been even more difficult for him. As his dignified statement on Thursday night made clear, he vividly remembers “the fear, paranoia and isolation” of his mother’s final years. It was his shoulder upon which she cried about the breakdown of her marriage. It was he who promised her, after she lost the HRH style, that he would “give it back to you one day when I am king. ”As the child of divorced parents myself, I know all too well that while every child is adversely affected, the oldest is often at the coalface, shouldering most of the burden. Despite this, and having to come to terms with being tethered to a life mapped out at birth,

William

has borrowed from the best of his mother’s playbook. He has resolved to serve others, rather than himself. Instead of growing up to resent the rules of the game, he has used them to his advantage, realising – as all the best royals do – that it is never really about “them”, but about “us”. Unlike Harry, who has misinterpreted the Queen’s “never complain, never explain” mantra as a gagging clause – William has used it as it was intended, as a protection order to ensure the lines between the professional and the personal do not become too blurred. Like the mute button on Twitter, he has silenced his critics not by taking them on, but keeping calm and carrying on regardless. And in stark contrast to his brother, William has shown he understands the press as well as Diana did. By actually reading the newspapers (rather than obsessing over the online comments like Harry), the second-in-line to the throne has come to the sensible conclusion that the media, while imperfect, can be used as a considerable force for good. While his brother was using Lord Dyson’s report as a stick with which to once again beat the tabloid press, William was mature enough to acknowledge that if it wasn’t for the newspapers, Bashir would have got away with his rogue reporting for even longer. “Public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important,” he magnanimously declared. Harry’s nonsense claim that “practices like these – and even worse – are still widespread today” only serves to highlight just how unqualified he is to act as referee on matters as serious as the First Amendment, which he described as “bonkers” on a recent podcast. Both these royal brothers are playing a game – but only one of them is winning.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/21/william-quietly-winning-battle-royal-brothers/

[causeiwanttoandican]

The Telegraph - Camilla Tominey

William is quietly winning the battle of the royal brothers

Their responses to Bashir revelations are as different as they are as people, but we knew they would be

Camilla Tominey21 May 2021 • 8:00pm

It must frustrate Prince Harry that his own popularity has become so obviously inversely proportional to his brother’s. They had a highly competitive relationship before Harry and Meghan decided to throw a grenade under the Queen and the Royal family in favour of earning Kardashian cash in the US. It often appeared that a large part of the Sussexes’ beef with the monarchy was that they constantly felt in the Cambridges’ shadow.

Yet their bid to seek “financial independence” in California has cast them completely in the shade in the minds of the majority of Brits, many of whom would prefer it if they disappeared from view altogether.

The more they have accused the “racist” Royal family of “total neglect”, the more they have succeeded in encouraging the British public to throw their support behind the institution – as shown by a YouGov poll last week finding six in 10 people want them to be stripped of their titles or to stop using them.

The better William and Kate perform, the worse Harry and Meghan look for breaking up the Fab Four in the first place. The Yanks might not see it like this, but we do because, unlike naive Americans prone to endless psychobabble, we were never under any illusions about the dysfunctionality at the heart of the Royal family (or any family, for that matter).

In his latest outpouring for his new Apple TV documentary series, Harry voiced his resentment at being told to “play the game” to make life easier in the House of Windsor.

“I’ve got a hell of a lot of my mum in me,” he boasted. “The only way to free yourself and break out is to tell the truth.”

Yet, ironically, the one person in The Firm who “played the game” better than anyone else was Diana, Princess of Wales. That was until she took the disastrous decision to pour her heart out to deceitful Martin Bashir – albeit under what we now know were false pretences.

By continuing to stoke the flames of publicity with his smug, self-pitying and at times, spiteful rhetoric, Harry shows he has actually learned nothing from his mother’s experience.

For in trying to emulate her doe-eyed confessionals to speak his “truth”, he is repeating her mistake of squandering popularity for the sake of evening the score. While there’s no doubting Harry’s noble intentions in wanting to raise awareness of mental health issues – let’s make no mistake here, like Diana deciding to air her dirty linen on the BBC, this is a man out for vengeance.

With his team of officious LA-based PRs and unwillingness to appear on any platform that actually offers a right of reply to the people he trashes, he’s hypocritically playing his own, one-sided games.

Exactly like his mother at her lowest ebb, Harry seems to think the world is out to get him.

Yet far from it being personal, there is a word for what has happened to him over the years. It’s called “life”.

While he was a 12-year-old walking behind his mother’s coffin in 1997, there were literally hundreds and thousands of other children also coming to terms with the loss of a parent.

Around the same time, I was a teenager, scraping my alcoholic mother off the pavement. As any therapist worth their salt will tell him – you can either hold onto the past and let it dictate your future, or let go and truly “find your freedom”.

William has had to endure exactly the same fate as Harry. In fact, as the elder brother and “heir” rather than “spare” it has arguably been even more difficult for him.

As his dignified statement on Thursday night made clear, he vividly remembers “the fear, paranoia and isolation” of his mother’s final years. It was his shoulder upon which she cried about the breakdown of her marriage.

It was he who promised her, after she lost the HRH style, that he would “give it back to you one day when I am king.”

As the child of divorced parents myself, I know all too well that while every child is adversely affected, the oldest is often at the coalface, shouldering most of the burden.

Despite this, and having to come to terms with being tethered to a life mapped out at birth, William has borrowed from the best of his mother’s playbook.

He has resolved to serve others, rather than himself. Instead of growing up to resent the rules of the game, he has used them to his advantage, realising – as all the best royals do – that it is never really about “them”, but about “us”.

Unlike Harry, who has misinterpreted the Queen’s “never complain, never explain” mantra as a gagging clause – William has used it as it was intended, as a protection order to ensure the lines between the professional and the personal do not become too blurred.

Like the mute button on Twitter, he has silenced his critics not by taking them on, but keeping calm and carrying on regardless. And in stark contrast to his brother, William has shown he understands the press as well as Diana did.

By actually reading the newspapers (rather than obsessing over the online comments like Harry), the second-in-line to the throne has come to the sensible conclusion that the media, while imperfect, can be used as a considerable force for good.

While his brother was using Lord Dyson’s report as a stick with which to once again beat the tabloid press, William was mature enough to acknowledge that if it wasn’t for the newspapers, Bashir would have got away with his rogue reporting for even longer.

“Public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important,” he magnanimously declared. Harry’s nonsense claim that “practices like these – and even worse – are still widespread today” only serves to highlight just how unqualified he is to act as referee on matters as serious as the First Amendment, which he described as “bonkers” on a recent podcast.

Both these royal brothers are playing a game – but only one of them is winning.