#which is what some news sites are focusing on right now

[mirandacaroll]

National Nakba Remembrance Day March, Amsterdam (May 11th)

[shuafiles]

w boyfriend [j.ww]

MDNI, 18+

SUMMARY | watching wonwoo play video games is so hot.

PAIRING | streamer gamer bf!wonwoo x afab!reader

CONTENT | smut with no plot (kinda), slight masturbation (f), oral (m receiving), unprotected sex (pls dont), light degradation, voyeurism? (listening in), big dick wonwoo

WORDS | 2.4k

A/N | typical wonwoo gamer smut, which im obsessed with. also valorant gamer wonwoo, and a lot of stream terms lol.

you were lying in bed with your phone in hand, scrolling through every social media app due to boredom, when a notification popped up reading, “jwonwoo is live!”. a smile forming on your lips, you clicked on it. your boyfriend–clad in a grey hoodie and his black glasses–was displayed on your phone screen. he was looking around his screen, making sure everything was perfect for the stream. you glanced at the chat, seeing people slowly start to come in and greet him.

you loved that wonwoo was a streamer. it was so on brand of him to play video games and to livestream them to people. you could tell he loved creating content, too, always raving about what new games he was excited to play for his viewers. he couldn’t have done it without you. before you and wonwoo decided to live together, he used to stream his games for you on discord. seeing how entertaining it is to watch him play, you convinced him to livestream his gameplay to people, and he did. now he has over 300,000 followers on his account, supporting himself with what he loves doing most.

“plant the spike, gyu!” wonwoo’s voice echoed from your phone. you were so deep in thought that you hadn’t even realized his game started. examining him through his camera, his brows were furrowed, gaze intent on his game while simultaneously making call outs to his teammates.

there was something about wonwoo playing video games that made him so hot. his fingers quickly hovering and pressing different keys on his keyboard, which you could slightly see through the hand cam he had attached below his face cam (it was requested by his viewers). you loved the sight of him playing, you think it’s one of his hottest moments. him being so focused on whatever game he had on for the night. the sleeves of his hoodie being pushed up against his arm, his muscles flexing every now and then. you felt your arousal gathering between your legs, gripping your pillow before deciding to get up and head toward his room.

“hold on, cheol, i’m smoked off, can’t get into the site.�� your boyfriend sat on his chair, facing his brightly lit monitor that you were sure was too close to his face. you leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed against your chest as you watched him. he muttered curse words when his agent died, leaning back on his chair as a spectator. the corner of his eye spotted you, head turning to face you fully, he flashed you a smile. he muted himself on discord, gesturing you to come close, which you did. “everyone, say hi to y/n! my lovely girlfriend is here.” he placed his hand on your hip as you leaned down to show yourself on camera.

“hi, chat!” you waved, smiling. your relationship with wonwoo was not hidden. his true fans knew he had a girlfriend, some were supportive, and some were haters. you did not really mind it, after all, they were only brave through the screen. you glanced at his second monitor where the chat was displayed, various people saying hi and complimenting you filled his stream. growing shy, you waved another goodbye before leaving the frame.

wonwoo quickly said he’d be right back before tapping the mic that was mounted on his desk to mute himself, pushing a button that turns his camera off. he slid one ear of his headphones off the side of his head. “hi, baby. what’s up?” he pulled you close to him, making you stand between his legs. his arms resting on your waist.

“nothing, just missed you.” you placed your arm on his shoulders, ruffling his hair lightly.

“wonwoo! buy a gun, man!” mingyu’s voice from his headphones. you leaned down to kiss his lips lightly before getting out of his grip.

“i’m sorry, baby. i’m just going to play a few games, then you have me, okay?” wonwoo assured you, placing his headphones on. taking a final look at you before he playfully patted your ass, making you yelp. “i love you!” he yelled out as you made your way out of his room.

an hour has passed, and you grew even more needy. wonwoo’s stream is still displayed on your phone, watching him intently and imagining him working on you instead of his keyboard. sprawled out on the bed, you closed your eyes, hands carefully caressing your own body. you wore a white tank top with lace on top and some pink and white striped lounge shorts. biting your lip, you slipped your hand under your shorts, not wearing any underwear. you swiped a finger from your entrance down to your clit, feeling your slick just from the thought of your boyfriend.

as if wonwoo could read your mind, you heard him groan from your phone. “fuck!” he sighed as he whiffed on an enemy. the sound traveling to your already throbbing core. you slipped a finger inside your pussy, not feeling content, you added another one. slowly pumping your fingers in and out of you, imagining his hands on you instead. groaning, it wasn’t enough; you needed more. pulling your fingers out from your shorts, and wiping them on the outside before marching over to wonwoo’s room.

wonwoo was practically in the same position you left him in. you walked near him but stopped when you were nearing his camera; you dropped to your knees, on all fours, and crawled under his desk. he was too focused on his game even to notice you were there. kneeling in front of him, you tapped his thigh with your hand, which made him jump and look down. you had a desperate look in your eyes, licking your lips. he smirked, he knew you like the back of his hand. he slid his chair closer to you before returning his gaze to his screen, your heart pounding from your chest as you pulled his boxers down enough to reveal his growing cock. he wasn’t that hard, which made you pout.

you grab hold of wonwoo’s cock, thumb sliding over the slit of his head while sliding your hand up and down. if he wasn’t hard before, he surely was now. his now perked-up cock was turning red from your touch. your mouth watered at his big cock pulsating. satisfied, you let go before grabbing the waistband of his boxers; he lightly lifted his lips as you pulled them down to his ankles.

“jesus.” you heard him grunt as you took his cock in your hand, darting your tongue out to his head. amused at his reaction, leaning down, you took your tongue out, licking the base of his cock all the way up to the head. he let out a groan, “i kicked the wall by accident.” he muttered against his mic, glancing at his chat to make sure no one could suspect what your naughty ass was up to. when he was in the clear, he glanced at you, pretending to reach for his foot, but he placed his hand on your cheek, caressing it softly. you leaned into his touch before you engulfed his cock in your mouth. tongue swirling around the base, moaning around his cock (thanking the heavens that he had noise cancellation on his mic). slowly pushing further down his length, lightly gagging when you felt the tip hit the back of your throat. you wrapped your fingers around the areas your mouth couldn’t reach. you continued to suck him off, hollowing your cheeks as you moved. tears brimming your eyes as you bobbed your head up and down.

wonwoo couldn’t focus on his game any longer, hearing his teammates curse at him for being shit, but he couldn’t care less, not when he had his hot girlfriend choking on his dick. so the minute his game ended (in which they lost) he clicked the “stream ending soon.” prompt displayed on his screen, and he muted his mic before gathering your hair with his hand, his other hand placing his headphones on his desk. his chat going crazy as to why he suddenly ended the stream.

“you’re such a naughty little slut, you know that?” wonwoo grunted, throwing his head back against his chair before guiding your head on his cock. you placed your hands flat against his thighs as he continued to thrust his cock in your mouth. his hips bucking upwards to bury his cock deeper into you. “needy princess couldn’t even wait for me to finish work, hm? you just want everyone to know what a dirty slut you are, don’t you, baby.” you looked at him through your lashes, he sighed at the sight of his cock deep in your mouth. “get up.” he let go of your hair, you unlatched yourself from his cock, a string of saliva forming.

wonwoo guided you onto his lap, your legs on either side of his thighs. his hand resting on your cheek before attaching his lips to yours. his lips were rough on yours as if he had been waiting to taste you all day. his tongue forcing its way into your mouth, making you moan. your hand flying to his hair, lightly gripping it.

“take these off.” pulling away from your lips, tugging at your shorts. you stood up before him, gripping your shorts before pulling them down. he leaned against his chair with his arms behind his head, shamelessly checking you out. “god, you’re so beautiful. take off your top for me, baby.” he gripped the hem of your shirt before pulling it off your body, he threw the shirt on his desk, hitting his mic, unknowingly causing it to unmute. he reached behind you to quickly press end stream, noticing his mic light was on. he glanced at his discord, seeing mingyu and seungcheol were still on the call. he decided to have fun. “come here, baby.” he gestured for you to climb on his lap, which you did immediately. making mingyu and seungcheol’s ears perk up on the other line.

“you’re wearing too much clothes.” you whined, gripping his hoodie, which he chuckled at, before reaching down and discarding the hoodie he had on.

“better?”

“god, yes.” you whimpered, fingers tracing his toned chest. you leaned forward, placing your lips on his neck, peppering him with soft kisses, and occasionally sucking on the spots you know he loves. you felt his hands rest on your ass, squeezing it, prompting you to grind your hips on his. your wetness transferring to his dick, a smirk forming on his face when he felt it.

“we barely even started, and you’re already dripping for me, princess.” wonwoo grabbed one of your breasts, placing his mouth near it. “what am i going to do with you?”

“please.” arching your back which made his mouth graze against your tits, you nearly cried at the contact. he hummed in amusement before swallowing your nipple with his mouth. you threw your head back, gripping his shoulders. he circled his tongue around the bud before pulling away and doing the same on your other boob. “wonwoo, please just fuck me already. been wanting you all night.” you begged.

“my poor girl, have you been waiting long?” he asked, to which you nodded. he lifted your hips before aligning his cock at your entrance, rubbing his tip along your folds, making you shiver. without warning, he gripped your body to sink down onto his cock, which made you yelp.

“oh god, your dick is so big!” you cried out, unaware that there were two people listening in on you.

mingyu groaned as he imagined you bouncing on his cock. it felt so wrong, but it was driving him insane. seungcheol, on the other hand, shamelessly already had his shorts down and his cock out, stroking it at every sound you made.

“fuck, how are you so tight every time?” wonwoo growled as you bounced on his cock. his hands lazily guided you, but you were too high on his cock that you were doing it all on your own. he watched as your boobs bounced along with your movement. the sound of skin slapping echoed throughout the room, beads of sweat forming on your forehead as you continued riding his cock. “look at you, you love fucking yourself on my cock, huh?” nodding at his words as you were too lightheaded to speak. your stomach forming knots as he talked you through it. you loved it when he talked dirty with you, his deep voice mumbling the words you wanted to hear driving you completely insane.

“love–” nails digging into his shoulder, “your cock inside me.” you gasped out. his grip on your hip tightened, holding you in place as he thrusts his hips instead. you cursed out his name as the tip of his cock kissed your cervix with every pound. your head falling on his shoulder, you planted sloppy kisses on his skin. he let out groans, breathing out as he felt your lips on him. “w-woo, i can’t.” closing your eyes, he quickened his pace.

“take my cock like the slut you are.” you clenched around him, as he repeatedly rammed into you. you pulled away from his neck and stared into his eyes. his eyes were dark, brows furrowed as he brought you over the edge.

“fuck, baby. i’m gonna cum.” you moaned as your hips met his.

“cum with me, princess.” with a few more thrusts, your orgasm came crashing down. your knees feeling weak as you felt wonwoo’s cum paint your walls white. your body gave up, curling up to his sweaty chest. trying to catch each other’s breaths.

“i love you.” mumbling against his chest.

“i love you, too, baby.” you felt wonwoo swivel his gaming chair around, speaking into his mic. “enjoyed the show, boys?” your eyes widened, pulling away from his chest. he grabbed the headphones to place them near your ears.

“jesus christ, didn’t know you guys were kinky as shit.” mingyu spoke out, your cheeks flushing.

“that was hot as fuck.” seungcheol admitted, his dick limp from jerking off. you slapped wonwoo’s chest, which he only laughed at. secretly finding it hot that they were listening in the entire time.

“keep it to your imagination. remember, she’s mine.” wonwoo sheepishly smiled at you before kissing you softly.

“w boyfriend.” you giggled against his lips.

[k1ngpin42]

POV: 𝘼𝙗𝙗𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙧r- (mini fic)

Warnings: Dating, public 18+, dominant Abby, fingering

You, Abby, Mel, Manny and Whitney are sitting at a table in the WLF base. You and Abby aren’t allowed to be paired together on patrols anymore after Mel snitched about the time she caught you two fucking while on duty. To be fair, though, the door of the room you two were in had been locked from the outside, it wasn’t your fault Mel didn’t knock. 

Anyway, not being able to see her throughout the day was fucking with you. Images of what you two would do the night and morning before you’d go on patrol, things you two used to do at any available moment on away missions. Against the wall when the other soldiers turned their back, on the floor, against an old car,  on the table where you and the others would plan routes around seraphite camps, one time you even fucked while in a room full of clickers. (It was the most terrifying orgasm you had ever experienced if you’re being honest with yourself. Still amazing though.)

She sits down and the tension is immediate, you’d let her take you right here and now if she asked.

“Hey love, how were your assignments today?” She asks. Fuck. You didn’t know what was up with you today cause you were fucking wet at the site of her.

“What? Oh, yeah, it was alright…” You say, eyes scanning her body. You hear the others talk indistinctly and your gaze immediately drops to her hands.

“Did you really have to invite the game nerd?” You hear Mel whisper. You roll your eyes.

“Whitney’s my friend, Mel, don’t be a dick.” You tell her bluntly, and Whitney looks up at this. Mel looks at her with a guilty expression.

“Whitney I didn’t mean….”

“Oh it’s okay Mel. I can just sit by myself like I usually do.”

“Nonsense, you’re with us.” Manny reassures.

Once this drama clears up, Abby and Mel start telling the others stories about their mission today. Various jokes and exaggerations. None of this was relevant to you, though, cause for the love of everything holy, you couldn’t focus.

You watched as she enhanced her story with hand movements, her laugh was a melody in your ears, her voice a chorus. The veins on her hands were still prominent, she must have had to beat up some form of enemy, usually runners. Or maybe she had been lifting something heavy.

A smile smile pressed your lips at the thought of that. The thought of her big arms straining, she would groan slightly before the metal crate behind a door would move and she’d let out another satisfied sigh. Fuck. Those arms, those hands, you needed them inside you, on you, you didn’t care which. 

“He grabs the EMPTY gun and points it at the woman. She’s got a fuckin club or something and he says….well, something in Spanish.” Abby explains to the group who have been intently listening, making you feel slightly bad for zoning out.

“ Estás acabado, cabron. You are finished, asshole.” 

“Haha…nice.” Abby replies, taking a bite of her food. She looks over at you, who is still too focused on the way the vein on her right hand is more prominent than on her left. When she notices this, she smirks. That same cocky fucking smirk when she knows that, once again, she’s read you like a book.

“Hey so, that new training manual you read, what was it again?” She asks you as she slips a hand on your thigh. You’re wearing baggy blue jeans and even with them on you feel heat trickle down your spine.

“Oh the one about long guns? Well…the main premise is about rounds.” She moves her hand so it’s cupping your cunt through the fabric. 

“I-“ You clear your throat. “Each gun has a unique gear that allows the rounds to move more fl-“ Abby cautiously unzips the jeans. “Fluidly.” You explain. She starts teasing your pussy with her index fingers and painting your clit with slick.

“Have you tested it out on a gun? The upgrade?” Abby asks, watching you with an amused expression as she increases the pace.

“Wh-at…oh um, yeah.” You stumble over your words.

“Ah well you can come improve my weapon, do you know how many times this gun has been stepped on? I’m surprised I can put new rounds in at all.” Manny laughs. Your eyelids flutter as she puts her two middle fingers inside you and circles your clit with her thumb. She does all this with her left hand, not even taking her eyes off of the group, she doesn’t have to. 

How does this not make her uncomfortable? How does the fact that our whole friend group will watch you cum work for her in any way?

“Only if you gi-mm~” You stifle your moan with your hand.

“You okay?” Mel asks you. You nod.

“Just tired, I was gonna say, only if you give me a….ah~ a good gun too since he always hogs them all.”

“I do not.” He laughs. 

Fuck, Abby’s hands rubbing you feels fucking insatiable but you need to be alone with her, you can’t stand how embarrassing this feels. You want her to fuck you till you can’t breathe, not tease you in front of people you have to interact with on the regular.

“I might go to bed early.” You say, attempting to push Abbys hands away. She grabs your arm tightly and gives you a warning look.

“Aw don’t be silly, we’ll go when you’re finished.” She pauses. “…Eating.” Abby adds, increasing her pace as well as the pressure on your clit. Fuck, you could scream at how good it feels. You want to scream. 

“Who were you with today baby?” Abby asks. Fuck you could kick her right now. She’s clearly doing this on purpose to hear you make a fool of yourself in front of her your friends. It won’t work, you try to convince yourself.

“Um, I don’t know, it was me, two guys and a girl. The girl was dating one of the guys so me and the other guy did most of the patrolling while they probably, I don’t even know, did each other or something.” You explain, enjoying the feeling of her thick, warm fingers. Fuuuuuuck.

Mel looked guilty again. She always did, maybe this is just her resting face?

“I’m sorry that you and Abby can’t go on patrols anymore.” Mel utters, quietly. You roll your eyes but before you can even think to be annoyed at her, Abby pushes just the right place and you let out a gush of satisfied air.

“Agh~ all good.” You say, keeping your composure fairly well. Abby rewards this by easing up slightly and you instinctively buck your hips forward. 

“Do you prefer hot places or cold?” Abby asked, and at this point you’re forcing your eyes open. 

“What?” You ask, bitterly. Fuck you’re painfully close, you’re so gonna hit her when this is over. 

“Abby…” You whisper to her, her smirk widens, cocky prick.

“Did you say something baby?” You sigh and poke at some of the food on your plate. 

“Hot. I don’t like the cold or the rain, snow’s the only…f��.um, exception.” You breathe out. Abby can tell by the look on your face that you’re cumming and she tilts her head, admiring you.

“I prefer the heat too. It’s always hot in Mexico.” Manny says, his voice just a murmer as you see colours through your eyelids. Holy fuck, you’d give anything to let out a loud moan right now. 

“I’m actually pretty tired too, I think we’re gonna turn in early.” Abby explains to the others. Mel nods and Manny looks mildly disappointed, but doesn’t say anything. 

“Have a good night.” Whitney says with a warm smile. You nod and Abby helps pull you up. You bite back a wince at how sensitive it feels to have your legs together and you hurry with Abby out of the hall.

“Abigail fucking Anderson.” You warn, simply. She smiles, kissing you playfully on the cheek.

“Yeah?” She asks. You punch her arm lightly. 

“Do you like making a fool of me? All our friends saw-“

“Did you like it?” She asks, that seductive and almost arrogant smirk still evident on her pretty fucking face. You roll your eyes. She kisses your neck and leans in to your ear.

“I bet you were thinking about it. My hands, my fingers, I was just giving you what you want.” 

“Yeah but…I mean at dinner? That’s just torture.” 

“Aw.” She says with fake sympathy. “Want me to make it up to you?”

°..·°¯°·._.· 🎀 >.¸.·°¯°·.¸.·°🎀 >-.¸.·°¯°·.¸.·°¯

[unoislazy]

Promises

Vi x Reader (Part Three)

Childhood Friends to…?

————————————————————

You weren’t going to lose her again.

Before you could act, the sound of a gunshot echoed through the air, followed by another and another, all expertly aimed and managing to not hit Sevika in any real damaging way. Eventually these shots scared Sevika away. Once she had fled the scene, and against your better judgment, you hopped through the rubble wall and sprinted towards Vi.

“Vi?” You whispered again, as you kneeled to the side of the woman. She looked up at you, a smile graced her face slightly through the pain as she tried to almost play off her clearly awful wound.

“Hey Sunshine.” She greeted quietly, a short exhale leaving her as she tried to move up against the wall behind her. You gently grabbed her arm to attempt to help her up against it as you stared at her, taking in every new feature.

“You came back, You really came back.” You mumbled slightly, still unable to believe that she was truly sitting right in front of you.

“I promised, didn't I?” She answered through her pain clouded vision as she continued to hold her torso.

“I- I thought you had died or-“ Before you continued, you looked down at her hand, remembering that she had been stabbed. Luckily you knew just where to take her to get help. You shook your head of all the thoughts that flew every which way in your mind, all the questions you wanted to ask. Right now, the most important thing was Vi’s safety. You quickly stood up, offering your hand, a slight smile on your face.

“Let’s get you fixed up, you are not showing your face just to disappear again.” You offered lightheartedly as you kept your eyes on her. She looked up at you, appreciating your attempt at a joke as she took your hand allowing you to hoist her up and helping her lean on your shoulders.

Just as you were going to begin walking you heard the sound of someone else walking up behind you. You turned slightly and noticed a tall woman walking your way as she folded up a gun before storing it on her back.

“Right, Sunshine, this is Cupcake, Cupcake, Sunshine.” Vi very haphazardly introduced, clearly her mind was focused on other things which you couldn’t blame her for. You looked towards the woman with a questioning gaze, she was wearing clothes of someone who lived in Zaun but… clearly she didn’t actually live here. You could tell with one look that she was from topside.

“Nice to meet you, Cupcake.” You said with a smile, not bothering to ask any questions. Perhaps she was just a friend of Vi’s?

“Caitlyn, my name is Caitlyn.” She corrected quickly, clearly unhappy with being called such stupid nickname. You snickered a bit as you turned away, Vi still using you as support.

“Well then, nice shooting Caitlyn.” You complimented as you began to walk towards the place you needed to get Vi back to the way she was. Growing up Vi often needed some sort of medical help, whether it be just regular patching up or several days to recover. It became a running joke that she blocked with her face and you honestly had a hard time arguing with that sentiment even now. Caitlyn followed alongside you both as she looked about at the different sites around you as you made your way to your destination.

“So, what… happened to you?” You finally spoke up after a long bout of silence between the three of you. You looked to Vi who was still holding on strong as she limped against you.

“Oh you know, big explosion, got arrested, then I got let out by Cupcake here, the usual.” She answered sarcastically which caused you to roll your eyes a little before facing back forward. You figured it was for the best, her bleeding out was probably not the best time to talk about traumatic backstories.

After a little time you finally reached the edge of a cliff which just barely supported a tower that seemed to be held up with concepts of stability and a dream. A sign stuck on the front blared a bright purple that was only just bright enough to barely illuminate the surface of the ground. You looked a bit over the edge, seeing how far down it went you turned to Vi.

“I know you think you can parkour your way down there but I seriously think we could just-“ You tried to reason with her, already knowing her thought process. “There’s no time.” She cut you off before pushing off of you and making her way to the edge. Before either you or Cait could manage to stop her she jumped and managed to do more damage to herself then if she had just…

been a little more patient. You swore the words ‘A little pain never hurt’ would be etched on her grave with the way she threw herself about.

You sighed as you made your own way down and made your way over to Vi. You were concerned for her well-being but she kinda did this one to herself. Once again you prop her up against a wall as you waited for the topside girl to catch up.

“Caitlyn, could you go to that shack over there and tell her that she’s been stabbed, she’ll give you exactly what you need.” You instructed to which she nodded, clearly ready to help out in whatever way she could. As she walked away you had forgotten to mention that she would need to make a trade for the serum but you had other issues to focus on.

You moved back up, closer to Vi as you looked over her once again. It was then she finally spoke up.

“What were you doing… in that alleyway with Sevika?” She said quietly as she tried to conserve her energy.

You felt your heart drop. You knew if you told Vi the truth, if you told her you had been willingly working under Silco, she’d lose her mind.

“I was just… out gambling.” You lied, your eyes focused specifically on Vi’s wound. Even though you weren’t looking her directly at her face you could tell she had raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“You? Gambling? I guess everything has changed.” She muttered sarcastically before wincing slightly.

“You know, you’ve never been all that good at lying, Sunshine.” She said as she continued to apply pressure to her wound.

“Here, let me.” You offered quietly as you then moved to move her hand so you could apply pressure instead to at least give her some sort of rest. A quiet groan of pain left the woman’s lips as you pressed down, immediately causing you to ease up completely.

“I’m sorry, did I-“ Before you could finish your question, she quickly grabbed your arm and lightly pushed down on your hand.

“No, keep it there.” She instructed through the pain. You stared at her, watching as her face cycled through expressions of pain and relief before her eyes fluttered back open and looked just a bit past you. You turned back and realized it was Caitlyn.

“Did you get it?” You asked to which she nodded and tossed you the vial. Without a second thought you turned back to Vi and popped the vial open.

“What exactly… is it?” Cait asked as you tilted the vial towards Vi 's lips with intense concentration.

“No one really knows. Some sort of shimmer concoction.” You responded before pouring just enough into Vi’s mouth and tilting her head to make her swallow it. Your mind would’ve been flooded with thousands of other thoughts had you not been so worried about your friends wellbeing.

It didn’t take much time at all for the concoction to take effect, causing Vi to writhe in pain and pant as it took every ounce of energy out of her.

You continued to hold her face as she went through this, trying to offer any comfort you could manage as you waited for the effect to finish. Once it was done, you let your hands leave her face as you searched her face for any other signs of pain or lasting shimmer effects but she seemed fine.

“You okay?” You asked, watching as she propped herself back up, almost as if she had never gotten stabbed.

“Never better.” She replied before sitting up fully, she then looked back towards you and repeated,

“What were you doing in that alleyway with Sevika?”

“Vi, you just got stabbed and that’s what you're worried about?” You asked, rolling your eyes before she quickly replied,

“Well when you were with the person who stabbed me, yeah I think I deserve to be a little worried.”

You sighed knowing she wasn’t going to let it go. You closed your eyes as you braced for her reaction as you spoke your next words,

“I work with her… sort of.” You admitted, now hesitantly opening your eyes once again to see Vi who’s face shifted from shock to pure anger.

“So you’re working for Silco?” She practically hissed as she quickly stood up. She kept her eyes locked on to yours as she stood above you.

“Yeah but-“

“What do you mean, ‘but’? Do you understand what he’s done? What he’s continuing to do to people and you’re working with him?”

“Vi it’s not like-“

“All this time away and I come back to find you went to stand by the man who stood against Vander. Did he mean nothing to you?”

“I didn’t have a choice, okay?” You finally managed to speak up which got Vi to finally take pause and stop her angry rant at you. You continued,

“You all were all I had. I had no one else to go to, everyone I Cared about disappeared in a day, a night even, and I had nothing to keep me alive. I needed money, and can you guess who happens to be in charge of every job from one side of Zaun to the other?” You asked in a sarcastically angry tone as you looked at Vi, expecting her to answer.

“Silco.” She said quietly

“Ding, ding, ding, that is correct!” You said in an equally sarcastic tone as before.

“You seriously think I would work with him without a second thought? You think it doesn’t eat at me every single day that I go into work that everything I once found comfort in is gone?” You spoke, now finally standing as well as you looked towards Vi once again.

“I often thought I saw you running through the halls or hearing you laugh, sometimes I even heard Vander when I’d be cleaning up peoples dishes.” You admitted, thinking back to the times where you fully paused during your work to do a double take wondering if you truly did see Vi or hear Vander. It was painful but it slowly just became a part of your life and now that one of them was actually standing before you was still a serrai feeling you hadn’t yet quite grasped.

“I’m not stupid Vi. I was just trying to survive.” You said, as you looked over from her to the topside girl who was just standing and taking in every ounce of your little argument. You knew she could never understand the extent of what you as a Zaunite had to go through, but you could tell there was good in her. How much good was a different question in its own right.

Before Vi could speak up, a noise came from outside the area the three of you had been hiding out in. Vi was the first to walk out followed by you and Caitlyn. As you walked out, you laid your eyes upon none other than Silco in all his glory.

“Ah, I see you’ve met my friend.” Silco said in a dangerously jolly voice as he looked towards you. It was clear he didn’t think that highly of you, he was just using you to taunt Vi.

“Sevika informed me of the stunt you pulled.” He said as his hands dangled the coals of fluorescent shimmer in front of the addicted victims that surrounded him.

“It’s a shame really, Jinx had a soft spot for you but, I guess that won’t matter now.” He spoke which caused Vi to turn to you,

“You know where my sister is? How much shit are you keeping from me?” She asked, bewildered and almost… disgusted that it seemed you were more on Silco’s side than hers.

“I was getting there but you kind of interrupted me.” You argued, turning back to face Silco.

“Oh how secrets can destroy that of which we hold dear to us.” Silco taunted, his hands still teasing the shimmer to the people around him before he finally let them loose and let them have what they had been pleading for.

“So sad to see something so precious be destroyed so easily. It’s a shame you won’t have time to fix it back up.” He noted confidently as the people around him began to mutant and shift into bigger, more deformed versions of themselves. You subconsciously took a step back as you looked at the creatures before you. Sure you had heard about what shimmer did to people but you had never once seen it in person.

You looked from Silco to Caitlyn who had already begun trying to hit the unstable tower behind you all down, but her shoulder slams just weren’t enough. You then looked to Vi who seemed to have already gotten the message as she squared up to fight.

“You talk too much.”

[torialefay]

hello! can i please request hyunjin + #11? ♥️ shy reader x bad boy (with soft spot for reader) hyunjin? 🫠

here you are baby <3

🍭 Don't Cry, I Thought You Liked It 🍭

• you didn't know what to expect... it was your first time after all.

• in the 2 months that you'd officially been dating hyunjin, your world had become completely different

• every week, he introduced you to something new. you knew how kissing worked, how blowjobs worked, and how sex worked, but they weren't things you'd actually TRIED before. and sometimes, that change can be scary.

• from looking at hyunjin on the outside, you'd have thought he'd make it even more scary.

• his face was always stone cold and you could barely get him to crack a laugh at anything. he was just so. fucking. cool.

• effortlessly cool.

• which is why when you found out that he was interested in you- inexperienced and unassuming- you thought it was a joke.

• but here you are, a few months later, with your now boyfriend about to bury his face in between your legs.

• "alright my love, you've got to tell me what feels good for you, okay?" he said, taking your hands in his.

• "okay jinnie, i will do my best," you took a deep breath. all of this was so new to you. you didn't know at all what to expect.

• "look down at me so i can watch and make sure you're enjoying yourself, baby" he said sweetly. once your eyes locked onto his, he sent a sweet smile to you.

• hyunjin slowly started working his way with kisses up your thighs, alternating back and forth between which one.

• when he got to your pussy, he licked softly at first, up and down. nothing too specific. he just wanted to gage your reaction.

• it felt different. not BAD, just different.

• his eyes locked with yours in a questioning look, as if asking "is this okay?"

• you nodded, wishing so badly you could close your eyes to focus, but then again... this view.

• you honed in on your boyfriends face as he started to move from licking up and down you to focusing his attention more around the clit.

• you almost jumped off the bed when he found the sensitive spot and sucked it into his mouth.

• god he looked so FUCKING HOT.

• still holding both of your hands in his, he sucked in on your clit and held it there, rubbing his tongue around it in a circle.

• "mmmm" you let out a soft moan, trying to keep your eyes focused on him. his blonde hair had fallen down in his face slightly, highlighting all the way down to where his mouth rest on top of you.

• "ahhh so that's how my girl likes it," hyunjin smiled and said as he popped off. "tell me how more pressure feels now baby. get ready for me, okay?"

• you braced yourself as he brought his pretty lips back down to the same spot, but sucked even harder to the point that.... was- was he biting?

• you couldn't tell, but the pressure was overwhelming to the point that it just felt too fucking good.

• you felt your stomach bunch up as hyunjin started flicking his tongue on your clit, letting out a few deep chuckles and how much it made you writhe.

• you tried to pull your hands away from his, just to be able to control some form of your body. but he wouldn't let go. instead, he grabbed them tighter and held them down by your side, pinning you down so that he could finish you off.

• "uhhhh right there," you said, about to cry from the pleasure. it was too much. it was too intense.

• you began to buck your hips up into his face as best you could. you needed ANY amount of friction you could get.

• hyunjin wasn't having it though. he could have giggled at the site of you. his perfect girl starting to get so naughty for him. maybe he was getting to be a bit of a bad influence.

• "jinnie. i think i'm gonna cum," you whispered, as you felt a jolt run up one leg, then the other.

• he still didn't let up, he just continued to suck and suck and rub with his tongue until you were completely gone.

• you couldn't help yourself anymore.

• "jinnie-" you cried out. "i'm cumming, oh fuck," you cried just a little louder.

• your back contorted up in pleasure, your legs splayed out in every direction before trying to kick hyunjin to get him off of you. of course he was determined to stay latched on though. to lick and suck and kiss until you were a crying mess.

• you kicked yourself around every way you could think of, but he wasn't letting you go. tears built up in your eyes again as you felt another wave of orgasm come over you.

• it crashed hard as you felt your body violently shake and your mind go blank. your clit was so sensitive at this point that you didn't know what to do.

• big tears started to come out now as you came down from your second high. there was nothing else you could do.

• hyunjin pulled off of you, finally satisfied with his work.

• "don't cry pretty baby," he smirked. "i thought you liked it."

[heavenlee773]

Fairly Odd Parents; A New Wish finale spoilers!!

Okay so am I the only one who didn’t like the fact that Hazel’s friends now know about the fairies?

Because like, how do you go on from that? Maybe it’s because I never really got attached to her friends the same way I did with Dev, but it’s just racking my mind over how the episodes in season two will go.

It kind of feels like them knowing about the fairies will only cause troublesome situations like “oh it’s fine! Hazel can just wish us out of this mess” or “Hazel can you wish this for us please?” Which will probably cause a lot of problems, and there’s no going back from that.

It could be because on every site I watched FOPANW for free, it’s missing “The Wellsington Hotellsington” episode which I’m pretty sure is the episode where Winn gets formally introduced, and the trio’s friendship cements. I’ll probably have to buy that episode since websites don’t want to add it for some reason…

But now Season 2 most likely will be focused more on the trio and their shenanigans, so I don’t knowww… I’m really biased though, I love Dev as a character and I love his and Hazel’s dynamic (before the whole taking over fairy world thing)☹️

I like Jasmine and Winn but I just don’t care for them, you know?

And onto Hazel’s brother Antony, he’s cool and all but why does he need to know about the fairies?

Like I know this makes it SO much easier for Hazel, and it’s basically a huge weight lifted off of her, but story wise?? Eughhh I don’t know😖

I mean, if they explore his and Deja’s relationshipppp hmmm okayyyy😋😋 But I just know how they’d segue way into that, and thinking about it makes me uncomfortableeee!!

Basically what I’m saying is, I CAN’T WAIT FOR SEASON TWO AND I HOPE THERE IS MORE DEV CONTENT!!!

PLEASEE don’t have Dev just be a one off antagonist☹️☹️

The theory that Dev keeps his memories because of his shades (and also his similarities to some other rich kid that was in the original series of whom I forgot his name) is cool, but also awkwarddd— because what does he do with that information?? Like okay buddy, you remember. Now what? He never had the best relationship with Peri in the first place!! I’d prefer if maybe season one went on WITHOUT Irep interfering or at least appearing but not appearing again until the next season, because THEN Dev and Peri could’ve connected at least a little, and Dev could have more realizations about “maybe I don’t need my father’s approval” or something— then in season two when Dev goes on a spiral or something, let’s say his dad ticks him off;

Dev tries to have a heart to heart with his dad after Hazel and Peri push him to,

“I feel like you don’t care about me, and all I want is for you to be proud of me—“

And his dad is like,

“Come back to me when you do something I can be proud of.”

SO THEN he becomes bitter at Hazel and Peri for “making” him go do that, and turns to Irep to take over Fairy World.

Eughhhh but this is a kid’s show after all, and they want to cater to their attention spans so a show that takes a while to fully flesh out their characters would probably go right over some kid’s heads (or not, they could probably become smarter.)

I still love the show, and fanfiction exists for this exact reason—

I guess that’s enough of my Ramb-Lee’s for now, if anyone wants to talk about FOPANW, I’m here😝.

(Dev looks so CUTE in this scene🥺)

Peace!!

-🤍

[chaos-in-deepspace]

Love and Deepspace 2.0 Live Overview

Okay so the live ended about 20 minutes ago and I watched (and recorded) the entire thing! We have confirmation that this will be released on July 15...so we have a little over a week! So here's the biggest highlights of the live...however first the new codes!

DEEPSPACE2 - 200 Diamonds, 20,000 Gold, 200 Energy

20240715 - 10 Empyrean Wishes

Portrait Mode

We're getting a new photo mode over in the Photobooth! Portrait Mode will be featuring:

Ability to move the camera around out characters. We can finally have more angles and full body shots.

We can move the posed characters around the screen so they're not right next to one another. This means we get to make cute little scenes guys and I am so hyped over this one.

Dynamic lighting and clothes! Not only can we choose were the light source in the photo is as well as the tones of it, we also have clothes that move with the wind directions that we can choose from!

More backgrounds, and from the looks of it the backgrounds will also be dynamic and move!

Premade photo templates will be available in case you're not super creative or good with photo booth modes, and we can also make our own templates to use later.

Abyssal Chaos

We're going to be getting an entirely new mode over in the "battle" section and oh boy does this one look super interesting (and a little complex to explain for me). This is word for word how the kitties explained the premises of it:

"The Abyssal Chaos is a site hidden in the corners of the internet, it focuses on selling information and commissioning bounties. It's the most secretive and anonymous trading platform on the dark web right now!"

Selectable Companions - So unlike the other battle modes where we pick and choose from several of our cards, we choose one of the companions we have available to go through the battles with. Memories in the Abyssal Chaos will use virtual data so the companions will be Level 80. You'll also only be able to choose one companions per period to team up with, as well as the weapon for these trials.

Wontony - The Admin AI the Abyssal Chaos features that gives us these commissions. It'll show us the algorithms and maps to complete the commission.

Gameplay - This mode seems to have more than just combat in it. There will be a series of events and obstacles for the hunters to go through with their companions. From the looks of it there are mazes and memory games, but who knows what else we're going to be getting. These will most likely just work as mini games, in the preview it shows Zayne in a box after getting trapped and our hunter having to run to little boxes on the ground in a certain order for a memory game to free him.

Randomly Generated Nodes - Ya, you saw right...it's going to have randomly generated settings so we're going to be going through different things every single time we play (hopefully). Even the maps are randomly generated it seems. There's also three nodes (similar to branches that we're used to seeing in choice based games) that leads to different outcomes. It's a rougelike gameplay mode where after you make a decision you can't go back during that run, you live with the choices and consequences.

Node Refresh - When you complete the current node according to the map, the system will randomly refresh a few branching nodes and give you new options. They also correspond to different follow up missions. The situation will be different for every option you make. Which means who freaking knows what's going to happen during your playthrough.

Chats with Characters - From what you can see in the video itself, it looks like during these missions you'll have little pop up chat windows where our companions will be speaking with us. If we're lucky it might give us some lore, but most likely it'll just be random conversations about the Abyssal Chaos and possibly their suggestions on how to go about it?

Deduction - I'm not entirely sure about this one but I think the "deduction" is the space in between the battles were you chat with characters, get enhancement items, and choose which node to go to next.

Mission Rewards (Codes) - After completing a mission we'll be getting 'codes' which are basically just item enhancements that (from the looks of it) we get to keep. Looks like they're separated in categories as well: HP, Dodge, Summon, Shield, Negative, Combo, Charged, Active. There's also exclusive ones for your companions as well. There's a total of 9 types of codes right now. If it's all confusing then thankfully Wontony will be willing to tell you which codes he'd recommend you use.

Enhance Codes - As you work your way through this mode you'll be getting Enhance Codes and Special Items in order to enhance the power of your team. Since the characters will default to Level 80 these will be important since it's set levels. Aka it's all catered towards based 80 characters so we need these items if we want to stand a chance getting through these. Of course they're randomly given though so they can either be useless or super helpful. From what they're implying these items are only good for that round in the Abyss Chaos and the next playthrough you do you'll be starting from scratch, giving the mode more playability!

Combo Codes - It looks like by mixing and matching the codes you put on your companions you can unlock even more combos and just overall cool combat specials with your companions! We're going to be getting a major boost in power if we're allowed to move these codes over to Deepspace Trials, however from what I saw it's not 100% confirmed if we will be able to, or if codes are exclusive for Abyssal Chaos' Battle Mode.

Chaos Keys - This is like currency during the mode were you can buy or enhance your codes to help progress through the current deduction you're going through.

Factors - After each deduction you'll be getting things known as factors. There's general factors and companion factors. General Factors will increase the power of your team, while Companion Factors will strengthen just your companion's ability to fight in the Abyssal Chaos.

Reward Exchange - After completing deductions we'll earn points which can be exchanged for a lot of diamonds. Which means we might have another method of farming for diamonds before events, which is a very good thing judging by how the banners are increasing how many pulls you need to do in order to get a guarantee of the card you want (our last event was a whopping 200 Pulls for a reward box).

Sylus Available - Looks like from the start we'll also be able to use Sylus as a companion. He appeared in the exclusive category of the code section.

Sylus + Game Updates

As we all know, Sylus was revealed earlier in June, and went against the wishes of the team for Love and Deepspace. At the end of their livestream they went into detail about the regrets they had since today's livestream was supposed to be his introduction, and how such a reveal was stolen from us as an audience from people leaking information. However I personally think that in today's livestream they will did an amazing job in showcasing Sylus. They gave him a video and song to go with it, and it was honestly amazing. Not to mention we heard his voice for the first time (okay I know there were leaks on that too but still)

Sylus has still been officially revealed to us! After the update on July 15'th he's going to be unlocked as a roman cable candidate which means all the normal interactions will be available! Which means we get to have Sylus get us plushies and poke in Destiny Cafe! From what we're seeing he's not a totally evil guy (one of the livestream kitties mentioned seeing him on a roof and was picked up by his scruff. Sylus jumped off the building then gently places him on the ground. What a sweetie).

Now with Sylus' release here's what we have Story Wise:

New Story Chapter - Long Awaited Revelry will be unlocked soon

Main Story Branches - From September to December we'll be having main story branches for our love interests! Looks like those who said we'd have branching storylines for the boys were correct. So strap in and see how MC is gonna be when actually romancing these men in each of their branches (damn can't have a polyamorous relationship with all these boys RIP). Hopefully this will make the cards and memories easier to understand because main story MC barely knows these men, but all of us are seeing memories of MC tossing them on beds and tables. So we finally get to see how we got to that point.

Free Cards - After the update there will obviously be an event. In that we will be getting a 5-Star Memory of Sylus, as well as a 4-Star memory...for free. During the event we'll also be able to get about 20 Empyrean Wish Tickets, so if you pair that up with the free code, we're getting about 30 free wish tickets to help us collect cards on Sylus! There will also be a log in event for another 4-Star memory of Sylus so make sure you log in for those 10 days.

New Outfits: Do you guys recall those cards that we all looked at like "Where tf are these outfits?" You know, the one where Zayne is staring sexily on a chair, or Rafayel in that suit with like petals around him? Those outfits? Ya we get those during the events...for free!

5-Star Memory Event for Rafayel - We'll be getting a new 5-Star Card for Rafayel at the end of July, Heartfelt Gift, will be available as well as apparently another free 5-Star card for Raffie (or maybe the Heartfelt Gift Card is the free, their wording in the stream was a bit confusing). During the event we get a 10 pulls, 2,000 diamonds, and tons of materials for free.

Wish Update: We're getting an update on the normal wishes. We'll be able to choose 3 of the 5-Star cards in the wish pool to get a rate up boost for them (so we can finally start getting 5-star memories we don't have easier). You can also change the three cards at any time you wish.

Illusio: A new feature called Illusio will be available for kindled memories for a limited time (July 15th - July 31st). You can select different outfits for the characters the click the kindled version of a 5-star memory to see them in that particular outfit (and I am expecting all you guys who have the towel outfits to record ever kindled memory with them wearing it. I ain't playin frfr).

There will also of course be new events popping up in the series, one of them being over in August that's being called "Embroidered Silk Ball". So we have so much content coming our way with the 2.0 version!

Well I think that about covers it all! We have a lot of funs tuff happening in L&DS and I can't wait to see it all! I do apologize for any typos, I wrote this before going to work as fast as I could!

[mariacallous]

Why disinformation experts say the Israel-Hamas war is a nightmare to investigate

The Israel-Hamas conflict has been a minefield of confusing counter-arguments and controversies—and an information environment that experts investigating mis- and disinformation say is among the worst they’ve ever experienced.

In the time since Hamas launched its terror attack against Israel last month—and Israel has responded with a weekslong counterattack—social media has been full of comments, pictures, and video from both sides of the conflict putting forward their case. But alongside real images of the battles going on in the region, plenty of disinformation has been sown by bad actors.

“What is new this time, especially with Twitter, is the clutter of information that the platform has created, or has given a space for people to create, with the way verification is handled,” says Pooja Chaudhuri, a researcher and trainer at Bellingcat, which has been working to verify or debunk claims from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the conflict, from confirming that Israel Defense Forces struck the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza to debunking the idea that the IDF has blown up some of Gaza’s most sacred sites.

Bellingcat has found plenty of claims and counterclaims to investigate, but convincing people of the truth has proven more difficult than in previous situations because of the firmly entrenched views on either side, says Chaudhuri’s colleague Eliot Higgins, the site’s founder.

“People are thinking in terms of, ‘Whose side are you on?’ rather than ‘What’s real,’” Higgins says. “And if you’re saying something that doesn’t agree with my side, then it has to mean you’re on the other side. That makes it very difficult to be involved in the discourse around this stuff, because it’s so divided.”

For Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), there have only been two moments prior to this that have proved as difficult for his organization to monitor and track: One was the disinformation-fueled 2020 U.S. presidential election, and the other was the hotly contested space around the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I can’t remember a comparable time. You’ve got this completely chaotic information ecosystem,” Ahmed says, adding that in the weeks since Hamas’s October 7 terror attack social media has become the opposite of a “useful or healthy environment to be in”—in stark contrast to what it used to be, which was a source of reputable, timely information about global events as they happened.

The CCDH has focused its attention on X (formerly Twitter), in particular, and is currently involved in a lawsuit with the social media company, but Ahmed says the problem runs much deeper.

“It’s fundamental at this point,” he says. “It’s not a failure of any one platform or individual. It’s a failure of legislators and regulators, particularly in the United States, to get to grips with this.” (An X spokesperson has previously disputed the CCDH’s findings to Fast Company, taking issue with the organization’s research methodology. “According to what we know, the CCDH will claim that posts are not ‘actioned’ unless the accounts posting them are suspended,” the spokesperson said. “The majority of actions that X takes are on individual posts, for example by restricting the reach of a post.”)

Ahmed contends that inertia among regulators has allowed antisemitic conspiracy theories to fester online to the extent that many people believe and buy into those concepts. Further, he says it has prevented organizations like the CCDH from properly analyzing the spread of disinformation and those beliefs on social media platforms. “As a result of the chaos created by the American legislative system, we have no transparency legislation. Doing research on these platforms right now is near impossible,” he says.

It doesn’t help when social media companies are throttling access to their application programming interfaces, through which many organizations like the CCDH do research. “We can’t tell if there’s more Islamophobia than antisemitism or vice versa,” he admits. “But my gut tells me this is a moment in which we are seeing a radical increase in mobilization against Jewish people.”

Right at the time when the most insight is needed into how platforms are managing the torrent of dis- and misinformation flooding their apps, there’s the least possible transparency.

The issue isn’t limited to private organizations. Governments are also struggling to get a handle on how disinformation, misinformation, hate speech, and conspiracy theories are spreading on social media. Some have reached out to the CCDH to try and get clarity.

“In the last few days and weeks, I’ve briefed governments all around the world,” says Ahmed, who declines to name those governments—though Fast Company understands that they may include the U.K. and European Union representatives. Advertisers, too, have been calling on the CCDH to get information about which platforms are safest for them to advertise on.

Deeply divided viewpoints are exacerbated not only by platforms tamping down on their transparency but also by technological advances that make it easier than ever to produce convincing content that can be passed off as authentic. “The use of AI images has been used to show support,” Chaudhuri says. This isn’t necessarily a problem for trained open-source investigators like those working for Bellingcat, but it is for rank-and-file users who can be hoodwinked into believing generative-AI-created content is real.

And even if those AI-generated images don’t sway minds, they can offer another weapon in the armory of those supporting one side or the other—a slur, similar to the use of “fake news” to describe factual claims that don’t chime with your beliefs, that can be deployed to discredit legitimate images or video of events.

“What is most interesting is anything that you don’t agree with, you can just say that it’s AI and try to discredit information that may also be genuine,” Choudhury says, pointing to users who have claimed an image of a dead baby shared by Israel’s account on X was AI—when in fact it was real—as an example of weaponizing claims of AI tampering. “The use of AI in this case,” she says, “has been quite problematic.”

[fuckingrecipes]

How does one actually build a useful repository of recipes for different cuisines? Like, I have the Silver Spoon which is a pretty good cross section of Italian cooking. I know more than enough variations of the typical french mother sauces to get the principles without a need for a recipe. I know from various Euro cuisines particular flavors that pair well I could build a dish around (like, I could make a goat cheese and caramelized onion soup without the need of someone telling me a recipe). I don't have any such data sets for other cuisines, and you know the recipe website world is a hell scape.

Tried and true method is: Cook often, try new things, and save it if you like it.

Get a blank notebook (or a 3-ring binder) and collect recipes yourself as you try them. You can write recipes in by hand, or print them off & punch for the 3-ring binder.

Go to restaurants which serve food you want to explore, and take a picture of the food, record the name of it on the menu, and note some of the ingredients that you can identify in it.

If you live in a small town with not many places that serve 'foreign' food nearby, get off google. Use DuckDuckGo or Brave as a search engine. They have very few ads and the search algorithm prefers when you get to the point in your recipe blog, rather than dicking around with your life story.

Do a little tour on your world map. Focus on countries, search for food from that country, then search for specific kinds of food from that country. Search for things like "Authentic Turkish Stewed Chicken" "Traditional Brazillian Goat Recipe" "Hong Kong Street Food Recipe" "Collection of Taiwan Recipes" "25 amazing Korean dishes" "10 best Cajun Soul Food Recipes" "Dominican Republic Cuisine Recipes"

Go watch cooking tiktoks that aren't european-centric; go out of your way to find them.

Go down a list of spices and pick one you've never tried before. Look up where it's traditionally used, and try to find some dishes that use that spice!

Go to your Local Library and dig into their cookbook section. Every library has one! Look for cookbooks focused on cuisines you don't know yet, and try those recipes!

If you're cool spending money on this, go to Half Price Books or other book-reselling stores where you can find cook books at really low prices. Again, explore the cuisines you're not familiar with.

If you have grocery stores for other cultures near you, go into their grocery! Check out what spices have a shitload of different brands on display, and pick one at random. Seek out a recipe that uses that new spice you just bought.

And remember: Write that shit down!

You can always have a little guide at the front or back of your recipe collection that explains different spice blends, or explains key sauces, or anything else!

You can keep a little guide on how roasting spices changes them, and your experiments with that.

You can keep a list of bread recipes, or cooking hacks like how to make really good naan without a woodfire grill.

---

Personally, I'm forgetful. I forget sites exist, forget logins, and lose passwords all the time. I have about a hundred recipe collections across about as many websites, and I know where like, 3 of them are right now. Many of those websites have gone down, and my lists are lost forever.

The book of recipe & food-tips collection I've kept & used the longest - my Food Grimoire - is a physical item that I can misplace in my house but never truly lose. It can't have its server crash or website maintenance suddenly be abandoned and blip out of existence.

[waywardxrhea]

Tuna-Tober Day 16 - Din Djarin

pairing: Din Djarin x fem!mechanic!reader

prompt: against a window

word count: 2,252

content: smut! MINORS DNI 18+ ONLY! nipple play, choking (not in great detail, just a mention), fingering, unprotected PIV sex, language (in Mando'a that i found on here so who knows if its correct lmao). some cute FLUFF that had me kicking my feet it was so cute lol

dividers by: @saradika-graphics

tuna-tober masterlist / main masterlist

mando'a translations

mesh'la - beautiful Osi’kyr - oh shit

Moons ago… 

You were walking to a drop site where you were going to get some parts for a ship you were fixing when you passed by something that had you doing a double-take. After rubbing your strained and tired eyes, you blinked hard as you focused on the ship across from you. It couldn’t be! Looking at the time, you noted that if you did just a quick look around the craft, you would still be able to make the meeting with your parts dealer, so you headed toward the vintage ship. 

The ship in question was an ST-70 class Razor Crest M-111. This type of ship was used during the days of the Empire, and you hadn’t seen one since you were a child. Your father had worked on a few now and again over the years, but they got more scarce as time went on after the Empire fell. The broken ships that people commandeered in the chaos were how your dad taught you how to repair them into better condition than even new. 

It was how you ended up on this far-off planet in the Outer Rim. Your shop was mobile, on a souped up ship of your own that was able to accommodate you and your clients’ ever-changing ship repair needs. This time, you were on Florrum for someone who needed a tune-up on a freighter, and what should have been an easy fix turned out to be more complicated than they let on in their original consultation. Nevertheless, you were able to get into contact with the people who had the parts you needed to make the necessary repairs. 

Which is what had taken you to admiring the Razor Crest in front of you. Doing a quick walk around, you noticed that whoever the owner was had added some upgrades of their own. The original laser guns were replaced with more powerful ones for starters. It made you wary of being around the ship because heavy firepower could mean that the owner wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with. You knew how important peoples’ ships were to them. 

As you stood looking at one of the side panels that had some wires poking out from what looked like where a deflector shield had failed, you heard heavy footsteps approaching. The unmistakable sound of a blaster being pulled from a holster met your ears before you heard a modulated voice say, “Step away from the ship.”

Putting your hands in the air, you slowly turned around to face the voice as you said, “I didn’t touch anything. Just admiring. And looking at this panel that needs repair.” When you turned around, you were face-to-face with a Mandalorian in shiny silver beskar who was hauling what looked to be a passed out man. “I-I see that you’re quite busy though, and I have to meet with someone for some repair parts for a Questor. Forget I was here,” you said quickly, not wanting him to pull the trigger on the blaster aimed right at your forehead. 

The man didn’t say anything nor did he move a muscle, but he also didn’t react to you turning and quickly making your exit, so you thanked the Maker as you tried to blow off the anxiety that had filled your entire body because of the encounter. Sure, there had been blasters pointed at you in the past over one thing or another, but the commanding presence of the Mandalorian had shaken you. Maybe it was the inability to see the face of the person pointing the blaster at you or the glint of the light off of the armor. Maybe it was the rifle poking out from over his shoulder or the many rounds of ammunition and explosives he had ready to use at a moment’s notice. Maybe it was the uncertainty of what happened to that man he was dragging along with him. 

Whatever it was though drove you to the nearest cantina after making more progress on the Questor you were tasked with fixing. The atmosphere inside was electric. It was the most lively place you had stepped into since being on this planet, and you knew lively and fun was just what you needed to relax. 

After a couple of drinks, you were finally starting to shake your anxiety when you heard from beside you the same voice from before saying, “I hear you’re the person to go to for ship repairs.” You tensed up for a moment upon hearing the voice, but the drinks in your system dulled the usually sharp edge of the guard you shielded yourself with. Looking over to the Mandalorian, you nodded silently. “Well, like you saw earlier, my ship’s in need of repair. There’s more than just cosmetic damage that I won’t discuss here. You’d earn more than your fair wages if you could fix it.”

And that was how you ended up traveling with the Mandalorian. Din Djarin. You learned quickly that he wasn’t all weapons and armor and intimidation. When he wasn’t in bounty hunter mode, he was a sweet and accommodating man who was fiercely protective of those close to him. Din had made space on his ship for all of your work supplies, and when he was gathering up bounties, you repaired ships in whatever area you were stationed at that day. 

Repairing the Crest was an almost daily occurrence and the main reason Din found himself tracking you down to another planet to ask you to travel with him. You thought the request odd at first, but after seeing the ship after one battle, you knew you needed to help the man out. On top of repairing the Crest as needed, you also helped take care of the spirited child Din found himself in charge of. Grogu. He tended to mess with things he shouldn’t, but it wasn’t usually anything a quick modification couldn’t fix. 

Living and working with someone on a daily basis had its way of pulling people close together, and no matter how much you and Din tried to keep things professional, your escalating feelings were inevitable. At first things started off physically when he found you in a compromising position in your bunk, thinking you had been hurt judging by the quiet noises he heard coming from the area. From there, things got more intimate. You noticed him ghosting his gloved hands over your arms as you worked around the ship, how he would put his hand gently on your lower back to guide you when you were both in the market for supplies, but especially in the way he called you mesh’la. You didn’t know how to speak Mando’a and Din never told you what the word meant, but even the modulator in his helmet couldn’t mask the fondness in his voice as he said the word. 

One night, the three of you were traveling on your ship to get parts you needed to fix the Crest. The dealer was clear across the galaxy though, so you were all in for a long trip. After getting Grogu to sleep and closing the door that held the bunks, you took a quick turn in the refresher. 

You came out with a towel wrapped around your body, having forgotten to grab your night clothes before heading in, but didn’t get too far before you felt supple leather caressing your skin as the towel was gently taken off of your body. The chill in the air made the hair on your arms stand on edge, and your nipples began to pebble, not only because of the cold, but because Din’s fingers were instantly on them the second they were revealed to him. 

A deep sigh left your chest as he began toying with your chest and a lazy smile made its way onto your lips as he began his ministrations. Because of the Creed, Din couldn’t take off his helmet around you, so you had never felt the pleasures of his mouth either for a simple kiss or more, further down your body. He learned how to get you riled up with his hands alone though. A few gentle caresses over your thighs, a gentle tweak of your nipples, and then a surprisingly light and sensual hand around your throat had your center begging to be filled in only the way he could. 

As your hands began making their way to the belt of his flight pants, Din began leading you to the front of the ship where you had a bay window that revealed the beautiful majesty of space flying past the ship. You gasped and arched your back as it hit the cold glass, and that gasp turned into a moan as Din slipped two now ungloved fingers into your core with ease. The smirk in his voice was audible as he commented, “Someone’s excited.”

“I have you giving me pleasure, of course I am,” you breathed, a quiet moan slipping past your lips before you began pushing at the waistband of his flight pants. 

Before either of you knew it, Din had you hiked up and held against the window as his powerful hips thrusted into you, the angle something completely different and unfamiliar to you. It had your head rolling back and your jaw falling open in pleasure and your chest heaved as you let out sinful sighs and moans. As the blue and white lights of hyperspace flickered over your body, Din was suddenly filled with a feeling he had been fighting off since he met you and you began traveling together. Love. 

Without a second thought crossing his mind, Din whispered, “Keep your eyes closed.” 

“D-Din, what-?” you began to ask as he slowed down to a stop, keeping you pinned against the glass as you clung to his body. 

“Please. Just trust me,” he said. 

You nodded and kept your eyes closed as the sound of his helmet disengaging filled your ears. A quiet gasp left your lips before you asked, “Din, did you just…? The Creed-”

“Keep your eyes shut and you won’t have seen my face,” he said quietly, his true voice filling your ears. It was beautiful. Rich and sweet like a warm breeze washing over you. The words he said next hit you square in the chest and for a few moments you were lost for words. “Mesh’la. Beautiful. I love you,” he said in a breathless whisper before your lips were met with the gentlest of kisses. 

“I love you too,” you whispered against his surprisingly soft lips before deepening the kiss just a bit to test the waters. 

You were met with enthusiasm as Din kissed you back with fervor, finally starting to rock his hips into yours once more. When he did, you loosed a moan into his mouth as the added pleasure of kissing him completely heightened the pleasure he was giving you. “Osi’kyr! You feel so good,” he grunted out, his hand gripping tighter on your ass as he pounded into you. 

Any words you had to say in reply died on your tongue as Din switched from kissing your lips to your neck in a sloppy, open mouthed manner. The sensitive area getting attention was stimulating enough and had the coil in your core starting to tighten, but you began barrelling toward your high when Din latched onto your neck and sucked, surely with the intent of leaving a mark in his wake. He wanted to leave love bites all over you. They were something that would mark you as his. He wanted to be able to see the evidence of your intimacy throughout the week. For others to know that you were taken. 

He got so carried away in his mission to mark your neck, and only realized that you had hit your peak when the vibrations of a loud moan and a shout of his name were on his lips. The feeling of your core pulsing around him combined with the beautiful sounds, now unfiltered by his helmet got Din impossibly closer to his own high as you desperately coaxed his lips back up to yours so you could kiss him again. Your wanton moans on his lips drove him to his climax, and with a deep sigh, he filled you up, the pleasure sparking through his body unlike anything he had ever felt before. 

After a few moments of keeping you pressed up against the cool glass, Din lowered you down gently, your unsteady feet hitting the floor with a quiet thud. He began reaching for his helmet to don once again, but as if you could sense him doing so, you pulled him into another kiss before resting your forehead on his as you told him, “It can wait. I’ll keep my eyes closed. I just wanna kiss you. Please.”

And so he did. For hours, the two of you got lost in each other's lips. By the end of the night, you had been marked on practically every intimate area Din could reach, and you both learned how talented he was with his tongue. For that night, you kept your eyes closed, but soon after, you had found a suitable covering that Din approved of that you could wear when the two of you got intimate. You both had become addicted to the taste of one another, and you were way too far in love with Din Djarin to never kiss him again.

a/n: this turned out a lot fluffier than i intended, but you know what? it's kinda sorta very adorable! the words just kinda flowed out, but like...the hand on her lower back at the market?? i want it to be me! 🥰😭 i also didn't originally plan the love confession, but that just kinda came out too, whoopsie.

ps: yes, nearly half of this was plot, but to me, Din smut has to have some sort of plot leading up to it. i simply could not write it without a little background as to how we got here!

anyways! likes and comments are appreciated as always! xo, brooke <3

[star-anise]

now, hold still—

I'd kill for some resources on body image in the context of disability, chronic pain, and having grown up with a complicated and intense medical history. I think I've exhausted my local library's offerings. Yes, I'm seeing a counsellor who focuses on this, and he's probably got recs, but I'm pacing my cage and lashing my tail in between sessions.

"Body image" has a particular connotation most of the time, because it comes out of the field that deals with eating disorders. Which is great and I'm glad for the people it works for, but its basic principles and assumptions are for completely different problems than the one I have.

I can't track down who said it first, but in my reading I keep coming across this narrative of, "I saw my body as something to be disciplined and controlled, an object only seen by external eyes. Now I've learned to take joy in what my body can do and experience, and to see it as a site of pleasure."

...Sounds fake, but okay.

My body is a site of pain. It cannot do or bear the experience of many things. I have to exercise a huge amount of discipline and control just to get out of bed every day. I can't imagine my body being a visible object that other people might find pleasing; it's incredibly hard to look up from my continual tooth-and-nail fight getting my body to let me live to imagine what someone who doesn't live with all this shit might see.

When I was a child, I learned to hold myself very still. For a hairdresser, or photographer, or a dentist, or someone who wanted to measure my height, or an injection, or a doctor who wanted a demonstration of how one of my joints looked, or an X-ray, or an IV inserted, or a CAT scan, or to have a cast taken off, or a PET scan, or to have a wound treated, or an MRI, or to have a pin pulled out.

And you know, I got proud of that. I felt like a brave warrior in a fantasy novel. I learned to take deep breaths, and take myself in my mind away from the anxiety and unpleasantness, until I could shut down my reaction to it. So that I didn't flinch or scream or cry. Because there was something wrong with my body, and doctors knew how to fix it.

When I was getting assessed for fibromyalgia, this new doctor told me he was going palpate areas in my back, arms, and knees. I get a lot of massage; I knew what was coming. I slowed my breathing, concentrating on the long outbreath. I took myself away from my reactions and thought continually, obsessively, about letting my body droop, weightless, like the moment when your aching limbs meet a solid surface and fresh cool sheets.

"Hm, I dunno," he said. "A lot of this checks out, but your trigger point exam was totally negative. Most people, when I touch those points, they have a big reaction. Some people even scream and jump off the table."

"Well, no," I think I said. "If I'd done that, it would have hurt way more, for like, hours." And I was polite about it, because you have to be polite to doctors; doctors know how to make you feel better. But what I felt at the time, and still feel today, is a kind of outrage I labelled was unreasonable the moment it was born: You wanted to hurt me, and it's my fault for not letting you?

How do you learn how to ask for things, when you've taught yourself to lie still and cry quietly because the nurse who said they'd be right back is helping someone who suddenly needs the help more? How do you express yourself, when you've spent your whole life gritting your teeth?

The problems I have about my body are not about being attractive or thin. They are, however, about being small. Learning to cry less, scream less, and ask for less. About feeling like my body is a burden to anyone who comes to know it, and like that's a burden I can't ask other people to take on unless I'm staggering under the weight of it.

Right now, what I've got is this:

Remember, you weren’t the one who made you ashamed, but you are the one who can make you proud. Just practice, practice until you get proud, and once you are proud, keep practicing so you won’t forget. You get proud by practicing.

[20dollarlolita]

My friend is getting some crap on instagram about perceived classism in the lolita community, and as someone who runs a budget-focused lolita fashion blog, I'm going to rehash some of the old "but I can't afford burando!" conversation.

For some background reading, here's where I bought three "lolita" "dresses" off ebay, and what I actually received for my money. And here's a breakdown of one of those specifically. I'm linking to these because I want everyone to remember that the pictures on ebay, amazon, wish, etc do not represent what the actual piece you receive will look like.

Lolita fashion can be expensive, but the less expensive end of legitimate lolita fashion is not actually as expensive as many people think it is. It's not all $300 for a dress and $60 for a pair of socks. There are options that bring the price down to other fashions. It cannot compete with the hyper-fast fashion of Shein and H&M and other places where the clothing is designed to be disposable. This is because lolita clothing is not disposable. Even modified or damaged, lolita fashion pieces have resell value. It's very common for people to be wearing garments that are over ten years old. There's also a lot of documentation about how hyper-fast fashion is damaging to the environments where it's made and the people who made it.

Okay, so that's all very fine and well, but it's true that recognizing that something is worth the money doesn't actually get you the money to buy it. There's a lot of things that I recognize are worth the money it costs to buy them, but that I don't have the money for. I don't drive a high-end electric car, even though I think it would be a better choice for me, because I don't have the money for a high-end electric car. So I do, very distinctly, understand that. I'm not about to tell someone "just save up for it!"

But, when someone tells you that you cannot buy lolita fashion on wish dot com, they're not actually saying "you won't be accepted in a wish dot com dress." They're saying, "any money you spend on a wish dot com dress will be wasted, because you will not receive a usable garment." Let's play pretend for a second. You come up to me with $20 and say, "I'd like to buy clothes." I say, "Good. I'll sell you some clothes." I then take your $20 bill, rip it into small pieces, eat all of the pieces, and say, "that's your clothes." Now, you didn't actually get any clothes from that, and there's no way you're getting your $20 back because I have consumed it. Your friend comes up to me and says, "Hi, I'd like to buy clothes." You say, "Don't give her that $20! It will be a waste of money!" Your friend says, "That's classism, because I only have $20." That's the conversation that's happening right now on my friend's instagram.

Classism does exist in the lolita fashion community. It can even come from people with good intentions. But, when it comes to buying on Ebay and Amazon and Walmart.com, people who are saying, "you can't buy lolita fashion on walmart dot com," aren't saying, "we won't accept your walmart dot com dress, because it was cheap." What they're saying is, "the thing that the site is telling you that you're buying and the thing that you will receive are going to be two different things. The thing you will receive will barely be a garment." There's a reason why, when I say "lolita dress from ebay," I have to typeset it as "'lolita' 'dress' from ebay," because it will probably be neither lolita nor a dress.

If you're new to the fashion and want a good shopping resource, 42lolita is a reseller/shopping service that will tell you what the shipping will be up front. Many other resellers will send you the shipping costs after you make the purchase, which makes it harder to predict what you'll be paying. You won't be getting a dress for $20 on 42lolita or anywhere else, but the prices they charge are more in line with shopping at a department store, rather than shopping at a big name designer store. There's a lot of other ways to purchase lolita fashion, and I just used 42lolita as one example.

The number of people who genuinely want the fashion to be as expensive as possible is not all that big. Even people who occasionally buy a $300 dress enjoy finding inexpensive accessories and support pieces. Finding lolita-usable jewelry on the Walmart clearance rack is a thing that's exciting to most people in the fashion. If there was a secret to buying $20 dresses on ebay and getting something that could be used in the fashion, people in the fashion would absolutely already be doing that.

So anyway, yeah, there's classism in the lolita community, but telling someone that they should not give me $20 for clothes when experience shows that I'm just going to rip it up and eat is not classism. Friends don't let friends spend money on badly made replicas on aliexpress.

[wirewitchviolet]

It is absolutely ridiculous that I have no way to contact people I care about in 2023.

So I got up today, and saw a big announcement about a certain particularly large company in the games industry did an absolutely massive round of layoffs despite an amazingly good year. You know, as they do. As it so happens, this is a company that, last I checked, employs several people I consider to be pretty good friends, and I feel compelled to toss them a quick message asking if that affected them, ask if poke around on their behalf for freelance work or slap a project of my own real quick they can collaborate on, or whatever.

And it's suddenly sinking in to me that I can't actually do that.

Tabletop game work is writing work, and that means 90% of the networking for most of the past decade or so happened over Twitter. Someone announces they're working on a thing, you message them, e-mails get traded to formally send stuff around. I was on there until I wasn't, so normally, that'd be where I'd be doing my checking in. But that of course is off the table. And like, I don't even have read-access to the site to check if anyone's announcing anything there.

Well, we've traded e-mails, right? We absolutely have. Back when everyone I'm worried about was at this other company, which let this same pile of people I care about and then some go several years ago now. So... those e-mails are no longer valid.

Well, what else is there? Oh right, the one friend has a discord server. It's been super dead for years now since he stopped doing the big weekly social thing it was there for, but it's still - oh, no. It's actually closed out. Same with the one for this freelance artist in that same general orbit... and oh Discord redid usernames and forced everyone to pick new ones. Damn.

Well, there's tumblr here, maybe? Like, there isn't really practically any direct messaging on here but... no, no wait, none of them have posted anything on here since bad policies drove a bunch of people out years back.

There's Facebook? But no, I don't have an account, they're all real legal name focused, and for personal security reasons, I never actually use my legal name anywhere even if I could make one (see, they also insist my name "sounds fake" over at Facebook). Well surely I can just find people's personal websites and send an e-mail but... no, people just don't have personal e-mails anymore, and spam got so bad decades ago now that I can't remember the last time I saw ANYONE post a personal e-mail address anywhere visible. Used to be phonebooks, but I don't think they really adapted to everyone just having a cellphone, and even if they did, they're a local thing.

So yeah. I've got nothing here. Uh... on the off chance anyone's reading this who I'm concerned about, hey, I hope you're OK? I'm still at least periodically checking the e-mails you last used to send things to me? Feel free to reach out and let me know how things are going?

But yeah this just sucks.

[becauseimanicequeen]

A Short Note About the Timelines/Realities Bleeding Through in 4 Minutes

I opened up my dash around midnight last night (for the first time since the Olympics started) and saw general confusion around the Tonkla/timelines situation. I didn't have the time (or energy) to write about it then, but I do have some time right now. So, I thought I would give my 2 cents about it.

I've written my thoughts on the timelines/realities showing up in the first 3 episodes in a previous post (I'll expand on that post in reblogs as new episodes are released). What so many reacted to in this episode were, to me, the different timelines/realities bleeding through into each other.

This isn't the first time we've seen timelines bleed through. One of them is clearly revealed in this week's episode (Tonkla seeing his dead black cat in ep 1). But there have been other occasions as well.

Every time Great experiences his 4-minute phenomenon (which Den calls it in his research), Great's present situation (which I believe is the patient having a cardiac arrest in the ICU at the beginning of ep 1) is bleeding through:

The first time he has his 4MP (the hit-and-run in ep 1), there's a shot sounding as he "leaves his body" and is sent back in time. I think that sound is the sound of the defibrillator used on him in the present.

The second time (at the hospital in ep 1), there were blinking lights behind him, which could indicate the lights flashing in the ICU at the beginning of ep 1 where the patient (Great) was flatlining.

During his 3rd 4MP (where Title beats the shit out of Dome in ep 2), we can hear a sound that sounds like a heart monitor when a heart flatlines.

During his 4th 4MP (at the basketball court with Tyme in ep 3), there's another shot that sounds and Great's body visibly jerks as if he was hit, so, probably another shot of the defibrillator.

The 5th time (when he argues with Tyme at the hospital in ep 4) is the most interesting and confusing to me, at this point, because they focused so much on the train (which might have some other significance). I'm not sure about this one, but some images flashed white, which might be "the light at the end of the tunnel"?

During the 6th time (when Nan was shot in ep 4), there was another sound that sounded like a heart monitor when a heart flatlines and then we got a mix of shots, electrical sparks, and some of his images flashing in white, which feels like a mix of it all.

There's also the first time Great feels iffy in the elevator in the 1st episode (which isn't a 4MP). There's a shot and a brief sound of a heart flatlining.

But it doesn't just bleed through for Great or Tonkla either. We also have Tyme.

As we saw in the 1st episode, Tyme is dying at an abandoned site where there's a thunderstorm. As far as I can remember, thunder (and lightning) shows up:

When Tyme is in Manee's room in the 2nd episode, specifically when she talks about her son being in debt and taking his life and when Tyme realizes the flowers are from Great.

When he and Great get out of the car on the bridge in the 4th episode, especially when Great screams excitedly.

I think we'll see more thunder/lightning in the coming episodes if this truly is his present bleeding through and not just a coincidence.

Now, what does all this mean?

I have no fucking idea. (Well, it might depend on which character has the point-of-view, which I mentioned in my long-ass timelines/realities post, but I'm not sure...)

It will be fun to try and figure it out, though.

[hugsandchaos]

Where Do Stars Come From?

Summary: While getting to know their new member better, Wind decides to ask Danny what he thinks stars are. To his surprise, Danny’s surprisingly prepared. (Fair warning, a good portion of it is dialogue. Then again, this is a chapter where they start talking and getting to know the newest member a little.)

Word Count: 3,493

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“Alright, everyone take a break.” Time said. At those words, everyone, including the speaker, sat down around the camp they’d just set up. They’d spent the whole day walking with much fewer breaks than usual, but it was for good reason. Well, reasons. They’d been looking for the portal first, which itself had two reasons. First was to find the black lizalfos, or whatever monster it had taken the form of this time.

The other reason was in hopes that it would leads straight to Danny’s world and he’d finally be back after three days, but it turned out to be Wild’s world. Not the best outcome, but at least they didn’t appear in the middle of a monster camp. Then, since it was already getting close to dusk, they had to look for an ideal camping site with enough time to actually set it up. It was a bit of a rush, but they managed. No one wanted to admit it, especially Sky, but they all sat down a bit more tired than the night before.

On that note, Twilight was a little surprised that Danny had seemed alright walking that much. He and Hyrule let him know that he can speak up if he needed a break, but throughout the day, he just remained pretty quiet and enjoyed the scenery or stared blankly as if so deep in thought that he wasn’t even there anymore. The second one was more worrying, but expected. The ranch hand was also surprised that Danny had seemed a little disappointed at the thought that “Wolfie” wouldn’t come with them before they went through the portal.

The rest of the group had taken a while to trust his wolf form, but Danny was comfortable enough to come close to putting his hand in his mouth! He did it almost subconsciously, focused on getting the piece of metal that had been bothering him since a bokoblin encounter when he went for the arm, but accidentally bit the blade in its hand instead. It bent and squeaked in his jaws, but by some miracle, he hadn’t cut his mouth.

It was honestly a relief when Danny pulled it out.

That didn’t make standing with his mouth open like that any less awkward, though. He could hear Four making fun of him already.

Still, it was odd, worrying, and a bit of a good thing all at once that if anything, Danny seemed a bit more comfortable with him when he’s a wolf rather than a hylian. Maybe a part of the in the back of his mind still only recognized him as a husky, or maybe he was just more okay with animals than people for whatever reason. Tonight, Twilight was going to test that theory. Or at least try.

At dusk, right after he’d eaten, he went off to check out the sunset and came back a while later as Wolfie. Most of the members were now in their bedrolls, and Danny was laying a bit outside the edge of the imaginary circle they all agreed on before he came along. An act of hesitation. On the bright side, he was closer than when he first made his spot. Not to mention that they all did it at first. Calling it out would be hypocritical.

He was talking with Hyrule and Wind, albeit with some distance between them, but it was probably because Hyrule was already comfortable in their bedrolls. Danny didn’t seem uncomfortable and was smiling, which was a good sign in Twilight’s eyes.

He noticed Twilight coming closer and gave him a small wave as he stopped next to Wind.“Hey, Wolfie.” Danny greeted. He brightened up a little when he saw him and extended a hand towards him. Twilight paused for a brief moment, surprised by that unfamiliar energy again, then came closer to sniff his hand.

Every time he got close to the kid in wolf form, he got an… odd feeling. It reminded a small part of him of poes. That unnatural lingering energy, spreading a dreadful gut feeling of something horrific nearby, something that doesn’t obey the laws that were rooted in life itself. And it was out to get him. He didn’t know what would happen if they ever did, and the awful gut feeling told him that he never wanted to know.

At the same time, it was the opposite. Instead of whatever dark, dreadful energy that either followed the ghostly enemies everywhere or was part of it, Danny felt… safe. That was the best word for it. No dreading what would happen if the human got his hands on him, but rather an inviting warmth that put his mind at ease. Urging him closer into some protecting embrace. Twilight didn’t like to think of his wolf form being a separate being, but if he did, he’d say that “the wolf” trusted Danny with every part of its being.

He had no idea why. It didn’t feel like divine magic. He knew what that was like, being around Hyrule and the light spirits in his world. It wasn’t dark magic, either. He knew that well, too. So what was it?

Danny moved his hand to pet his neck, running his hand up and down through his fur.”Did you have a good day?” He asked, speaking as if he was a person. Twilight moved his head up and down in a nod. So far, so good.”Good to hear.” Danny said. He gave him a few friendly pats on the head and turned back to Hyrule and Wind.

Hyrule had his arms crossed and with one of his hands pointing at Danny, a small smile plastered across his face.”Hey, Wolfie. We were just talking about stuff. Wanna join?” Wind asked.

“He thinks that peanut butter and strawberry cream doesn’t sound delicious.” Hyrule interrupted.

“I don’t.” Danny said. Twilight glanced between them, then moved to stand facing Hyrule and nodded to show his stance on the matter.”I guess he agrees with me.” Danny said.

Hyrule squinted at Twilight.”Traitor.” He said. Twilight huffed and walked to be at equal distance between them, then laid down. There’s been a change of plans.”So if you don’t like that, what kind of sandwiches do you like?” Hyrule asked.

Danny shrugged and leaned against a nearby tree.”I like mayo, chicken, and lettuce. That’s a nice combination.” He said.

“Mayo? I’ve never heard of that.” Hyrule said.

“Me neither.” Wind added.”Oh, do you like spicy food? A lot of the spicy foods Wild gives us is pretty good, but the rest of these guys can’t handle it.” He asked.

Hyrule looked at him both offended and a little horrified.”That food was like eating fire!” He said. Wind laughed at him, and Danny almost did too. Almost.

He seemed to think about it for a moment.”Well, I guess on a scale of one to ten, the best I’ve been able to tolerate is… I’d say maybe a seven or a six. Anywhere between one and five is good with me, though.” He replied. Twilight heard a few sounds from the sheika slate. Wild was taking notes, no doubt.

It seemed like a habit of his to make notes of their preferences. Not that he was complaining, though, he thought it was a good thing. It was nice of Wild to be considerate of their different tastes.

“I’d say my highest spice tolerance level is an eight.” Wind said.

“Definitely a two.” Hyrule admitted.

Twilight gave them a shake of his head when their eyes fell on him. He didn’t like spice at all. He opened his mouth and let out a yawn, then looked up at the sky. The stars were shining. People would start getting sleepy soon, if they already weren’t.

“Alright, who’s taking the first shift?” Time asked. A moment of silence followed.

“I’ll do it.” Wild said.

“I’ll take the second.” Four offered.

“I guess I get third, then.” Legend added.

With that decision made, Danny glanced between the three of them.”Shift?” He questioned.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed by now. We need to keep watch for monsters, so one person stays awake. We take turns throughout the night.” Wind explained. For some reason, that made Danny perk up a bit.

“Oh, I can help if you guys want.” He offered. Twilight couldn’t help but smile a little. It was nice seeing people offering their help, no matter how normal it was for him growing up in Ordon Village.

“Maybe once you learn to use a sword. The point is to let others rest, and if you can’t protect yourself or us, you’ll have to wake one of us up.” Warriors spoke up from across the camp. Wind, Hyrule, and Twilight all briefly turned to look at him getting under his blanket, then back at Danny.

“We appreciate the offer, though.” Hyrule added.

Danny looked a little disappointed hearing that.”Still doesn’t seem fair to me that you guys are taking shifts and not me.” He said.

Wind shrugged and got underneath his blanket as well.“All the more reason for you to rest and let yourself heal so we can hopefully start your training tomorrow.” He said.”It might be fun being the one teaching.” He added.

Danny suddenly sat up straight.”Oh, thanks for reminding me. I should probably go in a few minutes to check on it. Doesn’t hurt so much now.” He said.

Twilight noticed something change in Hyrule’s expression when Wind brought up Danny’s injury. It was there one second, then gone the next. Everyone in the group, except maybe their newest member, knew that Hyrule cared deeply about the well-being of the group, just like anyone, and he’s overworked himself a few times to help someone’s injuries heal faster. Especially in dire circumstances. Like that incident a while back. At least he didn’t pass out.

Knowing he couldn’t do much to help their human member probably hurt. Especially when they first met, when Danny pulled away from the healer’s hand and said he’d do it himself. He didn’t trust them at the time, but he was coming around now.

Suddenly, Hyrule perked up a little. It wasn’t exactly a happy perk, but he still raised his head up right after setting it down on his pillow.”Oh, I almost forgot! Where’s your blanket?” He asked. That was actually a good question. The last two nights, he hadn’t seen Danny sleep with a blanket. Only the jacket. He remembered offering his to Danny the first and second night, but he’d refused saying that the weather was pretty warm so he didn’t need or wasn’t one. Maybe it was in his bag?

“Oh, I don’t have one on me.” Danny replied, still smiling for some reason. Twilight didn’t see how someone would smile about that. He could hear Sky making another small wood carving nearby suddenly stop.”Honestly, though, I don’t think that’s much of a bad thing. It’s pretty warm here.” He said.

Twilight felt like an idiot for not noticing sooner. Then again, Danny was almost a little protective of his bag and didn’t want people touching it, so he couldn’t have looked inside.

“…You don’t have one in your bag?” Four asked.

Danny looked around as if just now noticing them. His face shifted in discomfort and his shoulders tensed up a little.”Um, no? Why are you guys looking at me like that?” He asked, clearly unhappy with being the center of attention.

Twilight looked towards the purple bag next to Danny. It had looked big enough to fit one, so what was inside it? It couldn’t all be that second red bag and books, right? As the ranch hand stared at it for a moment, he found himself asking the same question, but for a different reason. Something was in the bag. Something else. Whatever was said next, it was forgotten before it was even processed as he slowly stood up, eyes fixated on the purple bag.

It was faint, but it felt similar to sending some unnatural presence, but this time, it was worried. Worried about something. Worried about what, though?

“Alright, that’s a no.”

Twilight hadn’t realized he’d come closer to the bag until he felt a hand grab his scruff. He shot his head up as he was lightly pulled back. He gave no resistance from the sheer surprise that someone had just grabbed his scruff. He turned to see who it was, and he shouldn’t have been surprised to see it was Danny.“Sorry, but I have some stuff in there I really don’t want you getting into. I mean, a wolf drinking one of my energy drinks? Imagine the chaos. If it wouldn’t make you sick, that is.” He said.

He let go of Twilight and looked towards the others.��Anyways, is this conversation really necessary right now? It’s warmer than the last few nights, I don’t think I’ll even need the jacket.” He said. Twilight turned to see what had happened while he suddenly started getting suspicious of the bag. Maybe it was nothing. Still…

“It may be warm tonight, but tomorrow we might be freezing. Wild, see if we can stop by a market tomorrow.” Time said. He was using that tone when he was done talking, and Danny stopped and closed his mouth defeated. Defeated, and unhappy.

Silence stretched on for a moment before Wind decided to speak up again and change the subject.”So, Danny, I’ve got a question for you before we all go to bed. The night before you arrived, we were talking about what stars could actually be. What do you think they are?” He asked.

“It might sound funny, but my world doesn’t actually know too much about them because of resources. Maybe they’re giant fireflies.” Sky added from where he was.

“A star is a massive, self-luminous celestial body that shines by radiation diverged from its internal source.” Danny said, a smile quickly growing on his face again. He said it in a manner that gave the impression that he’d repeated that same phrase several times before.”Giant fireflies don’t seem that likely to me from a logical perspective, anyways.” He added.

Twilight was now curious. Was this a fact? How did the kid know for sure? Did he learn it in school? Twilight knew that school taught things like magic, history, and such to those who went, like Sky and Shad. He tilted his head at Danny in hopes that he’d understand the curious gesture.“You sound pretty confident. If you have any cool cosmic knowledge to back it up, please, do tell.” Legend said from somewhere behind Twilight, half encouragingly and half sarcastic. Twilight was just excited for them all to go to sleep already.

All of a sudden, Danny paused. He glanced over where Twilighg assumed Legend was and looked at him strangely. Did his comment rub him the wrong way?

No, it didn’t. He was making sure of what he heard. Twilight was sure because that smile quickly returned and Twilight swore his eyes briefly twinkled like the stars themselves in sheer excitement. A reflection of the embers floating from the fire? Anyways, Twilight had seen this look before. That was the look of “You just asked me about my favorite thing and now I’m really happy to talk about it”.

Twilight shifted to make himself more comfortable and lean in closer to show that he wanted to listen, too.“Well, I’m not an expert or anything, but it’s a bit of an explanation.” Danny started.“It all starts with a nebula, which is a sort of cloud full of gases, dust, and debris from other cosmic events, namely the aftermath of another star’s death. They typically swirl around undisturbed for a long time.”

“In the beginning stages of a star’s formation, many occurrences in space can cause a nebula to warp and change its structure. As a result, it will collapse on its own gravity, shrink, and spin faster until it leaves a hot and bright core called a protostar. After the young star is formed, it cannot be seen immediately due to debris surrounding it. Thousands of years later, the star will be able to gather enough heat to engulf anything around it.”

“Finally, when temperatures reach about 27 million degrees, the atoms at the core stick together to emit huge amounts of energy and we have ourselves a proper star!” Danny finished. He reached for his backpack and grabbed one of the straps to pick it up. He stood and lifted the bag off the ground.“I’ll be right back, going to see if I should take the stitches out. Oh! Also, shooting stars are actually just pieces of rock and dust that are moving at such a high speed that they heat up to the point where they start glowing like that. They’re not actual stars.” He said.

He was already turning around and walking off into the dark when Warriors spoke.”By yourself in the dark?” He asked. He sounded almost a little condescending when he questioned Danny’s actions, but he was just worried about it like the rest of them. Danny really shouldn’t do that, especially without a weapon. Danny kept walking. Twilight stood up, but resisted chasing after him.

“Stay close to the camp.” Time said. Both Twilight and Warriors turned to look at him. He was already in his bedroll, probably hoping it all to be quiet soon. They both heard Danny stop and make a small noise of frustration, but he set his bag down somewhere nearby. Twilight knew better than to look back. If the kid wanted privacy, he could’ve just asked, but no complaining about it now. Twilight decided now would be a good time to go shift back.

He stood up and began walking away, in the opposite direction of where Danny went. Thirty minutes later, he made his return, yawning and almost walking into a tree.

Danny was now back by the boulder, using his bag as a pillow again. He wasn’t wearing his jacket this time, probably meant it when he said that it was warm. He was stargazing again, so he hadn’t noticed the hero yet. Twilight looked around the camp. Everyone was finally ready for sleep, except Wild. He quietly went over to where his bedroll was and made himself comfortable. As soon as his head hit the pillow, his eyes closed and he was out like a light.

~~~~~(Time Skip)~~~~~

Twilight was woken up by Wild shaking him. It wasn’t a frantic shaking, luckily. At first, the ranch hand groaned in irritation, then mentally took a deep breath and forced his eyes open to look up. The cook looked disturbed. That worried him.

“What’s going on, cub? What time is it?” Twilight asked as he sat up. A few bones popped in his back. He wasn’t getting old, was he?

“It’s morning. Legend just laid down for a quick nap.” Wild replied.

Twilight smiled a little hearing that.“Oh, are we making breakfast then?” He asked tiredly. His cub’s woken him up to try to see if he wanted to help him make breakfast before. If this was the case, then everything was alright. But why did he look upset about something?

Wild nodded.“Yeah, but before that, I want to show you something.” He said. He reached into the satchel in which he carried the sheika slate and pulled it out. The light illuminated his face as he turned it on.”I got a picture of everyone while Danny was talking about the stars, but…” Wild seemed to struggle to find the words. He rubbed his thumb against his other fingers, something he often did when he searched mentally for the right phrase, but quickly stopped.”Just--just look.” He said.

Twilight did as he was asked and moved next to his cub to look at the picture. It was… weird. The image was distorted and messed up in a way Twilight had never seen before, and judging by how he’d acted, Wild hadn’t either. It was like there were thousands — no, millions — of little colorful dots. They were all over the place, and yet at the same time, they were confined in two rows on the screen. One at the top and one at the bottom. They also covered part of one of the members in the picture.

Two eyes, one glowing green and the other a familiar blue, looked right at the camera. It looked as if they were looking through it and at the two heroes. A few streaks of bright glowing white stood out in the otherwise black hair. It was unmistakable, yet so unfamiliar compared to the boy they’d been with for almost the past three days. Wild and Twilight glanced at each other, then at the sleeping figure now wearing his jacket.

For a moment, he wasn’t moving. Then he was, his body expanding and deflating a little as he breathed in and out. Then he wasn’t.

(I hope the wait isn’t too bad for y’all, because I got back to this after doing all the human things and remembered I have two oneshots to write after this chapter, and my brain just froze for a second. Fair warning; I’m going to focus on those oneshots (and probably a reopened hyperfixtation) before the next chapter, so it might be a bit more of a wait. Also, writing the bonding part is actually tougher than I thought. That might sound weird, but it is what it is. I hope it doesn’t look rushed or all over the place because of it. I’m posting it here first before Ao3, so please tell me what you think because if it’s bad, I’d like to know so I can fix it. Alright, time to fall face first onto the floor.)

[eljeebee]

Trigger Warning: Mentions of Homophobia

Vanderburg Twin seen Cheating from His Commoner Boyfriend

These are the words sitting in front of Dowager Duchess Margaux.

On her screen, a picture of her son, chatting with a woman on a pub probably around Foxbury. They were quite close in the photograph. She thinks they were about to hug, or had just hugged, but she could see the body language–none of them had tense shoulders, and none of them wore an awkward smile.

She rubbed her temple. What gave her a pounding headache was the tabloid’s assumptions of her son dating a commoner boyfriend–Louie Davis, the twins’ friend.

Every showbiz news network, news site–whatever–speculated that he and Louie were dating, as the paparazzi had taken quite a few pictures of them together when their friend group were out, when they were still at high school. Her private secretaries spent a lot of time giving the networks kill orders to kill every picture of the children, especially the photographs of Louie and Seamus “together”, on a reason stating that they were minors, and scared the networks that they could be sued by the parents for taking their photos without their consent. They made sure they never mentioned Mousse’s relationship status.

She even sent a peace offering to Louie’s parents, some new set of high-quality pots and pans for the father, a new handbag for the mother, and a new dress for Sidera Harper–Louie’s girlfriend.

Louie has a girlfriend, for Watcher’s sake.

Bernie entered the room, slamming the door. She could see him stressed. Obviously.

“This is why I told him to release a statement!” He almost growled. “The family never batted an eye when they said he’s gay. But I know the Queen Mother was disappointed.”

“Didn’t stop her from showing her favoritism to the twins, though,” Penny pointed out.

“Yes, Penny,” Bernie exasperatedly sighed. “But the disappointment is there. Did you see how she’s preferring Julie more than her brother?”

“Or maybe,” Penny rolled her eyes, “Julie is the Duchess so she’s more focused on her?”

Bernie exhaled. His heated glare targeted the ceiling, “Look,” he looked back at her, “the family is giving me shit right now–excuse me, Your Grace–they don’t like the cheating allegations. They can leave the boy be and be gay than see him as a cheater. He is considered his father’s spitting image, and they would hate it if he’s painted as an adulterer!”

Penny scoffed, “What, you’d rather have the family be homophobic than give you shit about a cheating scandal?” “What? No!” Bernie let out a noise of frustration. “Look at Prince Gerard and Mr. Simon, since when did the family release their disappointment?”

“Obviously not publicly. Prince Gerard and his husband stepping down from royal duties, retiring from his senior royal work, and moving to Starlight Shores is very telling. And don’t reason with me with Milo and Ramon Perez. The family doesn’t mind them– don’t care even –they’re distant relatives of the household. They’re far away from the throne, Bernie. As long as it’s not the main family, not from the line of King Pierce, they’re fine with it, because it doesn’t steal the show, doesn’t steal the limelight, doesn’t tamper royal values.”

Penny pointed a finger to Bernie. If he was near, Margaux knew the younger secretary would shove him with it, “That’s how homophobic they are.”

“Enough, you two!” Margaux raised her voice. “Let’s not put the blame on my son here.”

“That’s not what I – ”

She held her hand as she stood up from her seat. Bernie closed his mouth.

“What we’re going to do is fix this. You will drive to Foxbury, get my twins, their friends, including this girl, and we will debrief them. From there, we will ask Mousse to release a statement, which includes clarification on why he never spoke before–force him if need be, and then we will have Julie release a statement that shows support,” she motioned to Penny, “which includes a picture of their friend group, with Louie and Sidera together– take note of this –and my son and this girl sitting beside each other. Stage them to be as intimate as possible, have him sling an arm around her waist–anything. That will shut them up.”

“Excellent idea, my lady.”

“And if this doesn’t work?”

“Then we face the wrath of the Queen Mother.”

Seamus spared a quick glance to Bea, who stood beside him, helping him with his presentation.

Lou? He recalled the conversation he and Louie had. How did you know you…liked…Sid?

Louie had whipped his head to face him so fast Seamus had almost laughed. Dude…

He had sighed. I don’t know Louie. I thought of Bea as a friend, but I’m starting to see something more. I can no longer see her as a friend. Every night I think about her, her voice, her laughs, the way she speaks. The way she smartly answers our professors, the way she handles her fans inside the campus, telling them to move their asses away and not disturb her education…I always look forward to seeing her, Lou, but I’m also nervous when I’m about to see her. I was never the one to look conscious about my appearance because everyone finds me handsome anyway –

– Woooow. You sounded like a prick there. Louie had laughed at him.

Seamus had chuckled at this, and then continued, When I’m with her, I always find myself worrying about how I look. Do I look good? I’ve asked the girls about it. Julie always says yes, and Sid just gave me a thumbs up. My confidence spikes–until I see her.

Yeah, and you buy the magazine that has her at the cover, Louie had teased him by adding another thing that he’s so embarrassed to admit.

Seamus remembered giving him a look. He also remembered Louie stuck his tongue out to tease him more.

Anyway, his friend had patted him on the back firmly. You’ve fallen in love, my boy.

And back to the present. This is why she’s here. He invited her under the pretense of asking her help. Honestly, he can breeze through this presentation with how inspired he is.

He’s going to confess to Bea. Right here. Right now.

“Bea– ”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

He tried not to click his tongue. Smiling at Bea, he said, “I’ll get it.”

As soon as he opened the door, in came Louie, pushing Seamus back into his room, and kicking the door closed. He looks worried.

“Nobody freak out,” Louie said, but it looked like he said that for himself.

Worry etched on Bea’s face. “What’s going on?”

“Girl, I said, don’t freak out!” Louie let out a sound that made Seamus almost laugh.

“No one’s freaking out but you, Lou. What’s up?” Seamus chuckled.

“There’s…” Louie gulped. “There’s paparazzi outside our door!”

They jogged down the stairs, and when the paparazzi noticed them through the glass windows of their door, they pounded, demanding them to step outside. It was locked, luckily, and Seamus is sure they wouldn’t break the window–no one really liked to pay property damage.

“Juls,” Louie said to his phone, “lock your front door. Do not go out. Your brother and I will handle this.”

Seamus heard him. What his sister said, he doesn’t know, as Louie had immediately dropped the call.

“What should we do?” his friend asked. “Should we call Mr. Braxton?”

Seamus thought for a moment. He’d hate to have Bernie here. He’s going to give him one hell of a lecture. You should’ve released a statement a long time ago!

“I’ll go out and talk,” he finally said. “Just a quick announcement…”

“I’ll go with you,” Louie firmly nodded.

“Then I’ll go as well,” Bea added.

“Are you sure?” Louie asked, worried. “I think it’s safe for you to stay inside.”

Bea looked at Seamus. He sighed and gave her a small smile. “Okay, but if it gets too much, Louie will bring you inside, alright?”

“Lord Seamus! Is it true you’re cheating with your boyfriend?”

“Mr. Davis, how do you feel that he’s cheating with that girl right beside you?”

“Seriously? I have a girlfriend!” Louie scowled.

Seamus whispered back to him, “That’s the first and last reaction you’ll give them. Let me handle this.”

Louie shared a glance with Bea. She nodded at him, before looking down at her feet to avoid the paparazzi. Louie rubbed the back of his neck.

Seamus saw his sister and Sid watching through the windows of their door. He knows what she’s thinking. Don’t. He looked away.

“I’m here to confirm one thing,” Seamus started, and the commotion stopped. The journalists waited. He continued, “Bea and I…” he glanced at her. I’ll have to confess this way. I’m sorry.

“We’re dating. The cheating allegations are not true–never is, never was. No relationship before Bea. My sister and I are dear friends of Louie, and his girlfriend, Ms. Harper. I have been silent to the media for many years, even when you assumed my orientation, as I believed that leaving you be is enough, and not engaging with your behavior will keep my family safe. As I’m seeing right now, it’s not. You’re putting my friends at risk. Now, I suggest you leave, before we call the campus security.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the journalists started speaking over each other. A cacophony of more questions. Seamus turned on his heel, pulling Bea with him, and on cue, Louie followed suit, shielding them as they went back inside. He elbowed some journalists away, then quickly closed the door behind him, locking it.

“I’ll call Bernie,” Seamus said, exhaling. “Call security, please.”

Louie nodded.

Seamus looked at Bea. He doesn’t know what to make of her expression. He understood why she was angry. She should be. He should’ve confessed to her first before publicizing that they’re dating.

“We’ll talk after this,” Bea finally said.

There goes my confession.

I've asked some friends to beta read the first part of the update, namely Margaux and her conversation with her private secretaries, so I'd like to thank: @systsim, @novac2281, @plasmadaze, @authorspirit, and @changingplumbob. Thank you for your feedback 🩷