#especially when it comes to blocking folks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

flamingtouya · 2 months

Text

𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐩 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞) —

pairing: dabi + f!reader

word count: 4381

cw: getting to know each other (against your better intuition), flirting, bad flirting,some explicit language but nothing too bad, no quirk AU, dabi commits a crime or two

summary: In which Dabi meant to text Toga instead of a random stranger. But these things happen, and you were never one to shy away from troublesome men. This whole thing is told entirely through text messages.

a/n: check out my AO3 for different formatting! :)

Mar 02 10:07 PM

Unknown: Grab bleach while you’re out Unknown: And paper towels

You: who is this??

Unknown: So funny

You: u got the wrong number my guy

Unknown: Shit Unknown: You don’t happen to have some bleach at your disposal rn?

You: try the convenience store You: where’s the body at, anyways

Unknown: Ohara street by the fitness park, you should come check it out

You: sounds enticing You: i’ve always wanted to be on a true crime podcast

You: sort of expected myself to be the alive one though

Unknown: I was taught that women tend to be smart about stranger danger and stuff Unknown: You're out to prove me wrong

You: how’d you know i’m a woman? 🤨

Unknown: U sound cute Unknown: And men don’t listen to true crime

You: that’s so sexist You: and correct You: you'd do numbers on reddit

Mar 03 00:16 AM

You: hey don’t leave now

Mar 03 00:34 AM

Unknown: Had a body to take care of

You: you didn’t wait for me? :(

Unknown: … Unknown: Are u fr

You: ofc not You: i don’t hang out with edgelords

Unknown: Whatever u r probably boring anyways

You: entertaining enough for u to keep texting me

Unknown: We all have our moments of weakness

Mar 03 01:09 AM

Unknown: So wyd

You: you don’t have anybody else to bother?

Unknown: I do Unknown: I want to bother you tho

You: damn, what’d i do to deserve this

Unknown: Is that a complaint

You: i have uni tomorrow and ur buzzing keeps waking me up

Unknown: Mute your phone, stupid

You: can’t mute unknown numbers

Unknown: Save this one then Unknown: Or block me idc

You: what name should i put it under

Unknown: Dabi

You: lmao i knew you were an edgelord

Dabi: Stfu

You: good night to you too

Mar 03 07:58 AM

You: fuck

Mar 03 3:56 PM

Dabi: Did you miss me that bad

Mar 03 4:32 PM

You: i overslept and am blaming you entirely

Mar 03 5:19 PM

Dabi: Sucks to be a useful member to society

You: why what do you do

Dabi: I'm actually a bit of a part-time freelancer, you regular uni folk just wouldn't get it

You: freelancing around ohara at 1 in the morning sounds like the truly fulfilling purpose we all long for You: did you just get up

Dabi: Hey now Dabi: Yes Dabi: I’m still in bed technically, looking at the ceiling fan is so interesting when I don't want to move a muscle

You: you are everything I am jealous of

Dabi: I promise you it’s not that good

You: first time a guy’s been honest right away. i applaud u

Dabi: Omg no way

Mar 03 5:40 PM

You: no way what

Dabi: No way you said something witty

Dabi: Maybe you’re fun after all

You: i’ll have u know that deep down, i’m just a fragile being trying to make it thru this bitch of a world, running on fumes and caffeine all while chasing a childhood dream that i'll never be able to reach anyways because of my parents' expectations of me crushing my soul

Dabi: Damn, being vulnerable already

You: your turn

Dabi: I’m not sad. My life is great and my parents never expected anything of me

Dabi: That was a lie

You: so you’re a liar

Dabi: I suppose I might be

You: that counts as being vulnerable. i’m so proud of us. <3

Mar 03 9:12 PM

You: you probably have daddy issues

Mar 03 11:34 PM

Dabi: Mind your business

You: so i’m right

Dabi: Nosy sounds more like it

You: that’s a yes then

Dabi: When I tell you he SUCKS so bad

You: LMAO You: i’m guessing you don’t particularly like your family then

Dabi: It's not the type of stuff I'd tell anybody, especially not to some nosy individual whose number is one or two digits off

You: alright i’ll stop digging You: wait how old are you You: am i talking to some 50 y/o dude You: please no

Mar 04 00:02 AM

Dabi: Chill I’m 48

Mar 04 00:06 AM

You: say sike right now You: if u rly are then i’m half your age

Dabi: You thought Dabi: Are you actually 24 tho

You: give or take a few days lol

Dabi: When’s your birthday

You: do you want my social and tax numbers while we’re at it

Dabi: Stfu I wanna see if I’m older

You: 🤨 You: it’s at the end of this month

Dabi: Baby

You: are u flirting with me or insulting me

Dabi: Can’t I be doing both

Mar 04 06:30 AM

You: love me a guy who can multitask You: did you ever get your bleach and paper towels

Mar 04 11:11 AM

You: it’s 11:11 make a wish

Mar 04 2:02 PM

You: my wish is that you’d commit to a humane sleeping schedule

Mar 04 2:59 PM

Dabi: Anybody hear sum

You: i heard you’re a lazy bitch You: who doesn’t even do his own grocery shopping

Dabi: Maybe I do. Maybe I got the bleach all on my own like a big boy

You: X

Dabi: What's that mean

You: X for doubt You: it’s a meme

Dabi: Here I thought we were about to get spicy 😔

You: ew

Dabi: I was joking Dabi: …unless

You: has anybody ever told you that your flirting is immaculate

Mar 04 7:10 PM

Dabi: What do you study

You: are you trying to find out my location

Dabi: Let it be known I’m terrible at geography and if I wanted to stalk you I'd already be on it

You: that’s a consolation You: forensic science You: i actually can’t wait for the semester to be over bc my professor is one of the most annoying individuals i have ever had the displeasure of meeting

Dabi: So you do have bleach

You: never said i didn’t

Dabi: What do I have to do to make the list of annoying individuals. What's my current score

You: we haven’t met You: and i’m not sure if i’d survive u

Dabi: You have a point, I'm super nice tho

You: bet You: are you handsome You: asking for a friend You: the handsome ones are usually more annoying

Dabi: I'll say I’m frighteningly unique-looking

You: ...well played

Mar 04 10:09 PM

Dabi: My boss is making me do errand work in the morning like I'm some kind of functioning human being with principles Dabi: The next piercing I’m getting is a lobotomy

You: thought you were “freelancing”

Dabi: Freelancing only gets you so far. You'll understand when you're my age

You: can't imagine what the back pain must be like You: do you have a tongue piercing 👀

Dabi: Perhaps I do

You: u r so mysterious You: tell me an opinion

Dabi: Mint ice cream makes my teeth feel weird

You: that’s not an opinion

Dabi: Alright, more foods should have mint in them. And coriander. I want to make things inedible for 80% of the human population

You: nvm keep your opinions to yourself

Mar 05 02:26 AM

Dabi: I've gotta burn this number. Txt u in a few

Mar 05 05:16 AM

You: what are you, some kind of druglord This message could not be delivered.

You: I knew it This message could not be delivered.

Mar 0512:03 PM

You: ayo are you still there This message could not be delivered.

You: this is only funny if you come clean right now This message could not be delivered.

Mar 05 4:16 PM

You: "text you in a few" minutes? hours? days? This message could not be delivered.

You: just know that if it takes to long i'll forget about u This message could not be delivered.

You: won't even miss u This message could not be delivered.

Mar 06 09:00 AM

You: hello is this thing on This message could not be delivered.

Mar 07 3:15 PM

You: my social security number is 6007 0023 6799 0324 This message could not be delivered.

Mar 07 8:46 PM

You: eggs, vinegar, panko, sprite, sliced ham, parmesan, deodorant sencha if they have the good one ground pepper, lemon juice This message could not be delivered.

Mar 08 04:44 AM

Unknown: Am I still the man of ur dreams

You: I'm killing you You: violently

Unknown: I was hoping softly Unknown: With your song

You: are these messages being monitored You: am i a suspect

Unknown: If they were, could I write that I'm a ruthless baby killer anti-government fuck the police pro abortion the prime minister is an idiot bomb. bomb at the airport, terrorism, detonate Unknown: I guess now they are

Dabi was added as a contact.

You: just when i thought i'd have to find another witty asshole with a tongue piercing

Dabi: Aw you missed me Dabi: Does my tongue piercing make me hot be honest

You: what are my chances of getting an explanation for the past few days You: are u a murderer fr, that would be so cool You: i totally didn't use our abandoned chat as a grocery list btw

Dabi: The only thing I slay is pussy 😎

You: somehow i have doubts about that statement You: animal abuse is no joke

Dabi: I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100, if you guess it correctly I'll tell u everything

You: 69

Mar 08 08:21 AM

Dabi: It was 72 Dabi: Because you were so close I'll give u one free question. But I want another one in return

You: you're a dirty little gremlin who plays dirty little games You:: do i get to ask a follow-up question

Dabi: No

You: in that case You: which of the following activities did you partake in? 1.) vandalism 2.) drug dealing 3.) drug trafficking 4.) violent crimes 5.) violent crimes that resulted in the death of one or more individuals 6.) assisting someone in a violent crime 7.) assisting someone in a non-violent crime 8.) theft 9.) robbery 10.) hate crimes against a minority 11.) politically motivated acts of defiance 12.) consumption of illegal substances 13.) running and/or hiding from law enforcement 14.) domestic terrorism 15.) human trafficking 16.) money laundering 17.) having a good time

Dabi: What the fuck Dabi: What is this, a multiple choice? Dabi: 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 13 Dabi: My turn Dabi: What's your favourite food

You: fr, just like that You: that's your one question out of everything you could ask? am i really that boring

Dabi: I ask what I ask

You: spicy miso ramen with minced pork You: can we go back to the part where you ran from law enforcement

Dabi: Don't we all have demons that we run from Dabi: Mine are just a bit more persistent

Mar 08 10:52 AM

You: i want another question

Dabi: If you come up with one that's not related to the past few days, go ahead

You: fine i'll take it You: have you ever been caught and gotten in legal trouble for one of your… dubious activities

Dabi: Yeah

You: …and?

Dabi: That's another question. Gonna trade?

You: fine

Dabi: When I was 16, two Officers Of The Law 🐷 caught me dumpster diving behind a 7/11 Dabi: The dumpster diving wasn't the crime but because it was on private property they charged me with trespassing

You: damn, that's a lot of truth from u in just two sentences You: i wanna know ur tragic backstory so bad

Dabi: You could try to get me all sentimental for the 6 minutes after really good sex before the post nut clarity sets in

You: uh huh, taking notes You: anyway. you get one question. think hard

Dabi: If you couldn't have minced pork on your ramen, what would your second topping choice be

You: you're impossible

Mar 08 1:27 PM

You: tori karaage or extra ni-tamago i guess

Mar 08 2:23 PM

Dabi: Doesn't the Karaage lose its crispiness if it's in the broth for too long Dabi: I wouldn't know

You: please let me recommend you a good ramen place, you seem like you'd need it

Dabi: You have no idea. Take me out

You: like romantically? or are you asking me to murder you

Dabi: I love surprises

You: i just laughed out loud in the middle of my lecture

Mar 08 7:18 PM

Dabi: Need your forensic expertise for a sec

You: …oh no

Dabi: It's a purely hypothetical scenario

You: alright lay it on me big boy

Dabi: If a 176 cm tall and 67 kg heavy person were to climb over a 4,60 meter high fence that has electrical wiring on it Dabi: What would the most likely way for them to die be?

You: this is not forensic at all You: how strong is the electricity You: is there a way to shut it off You: where would you hold onto the fence You: can it be damaged

Dabi: Not me, a 176 cm tall and 67 kg heavy person

You: where would THE 176 CM TALL AND 67 KG HEAVY PERSON HOLD ONTO THE FENCE

Dabi: The only points that provide decent grip surface are the hooks holding the wires in place

You: so the most likely way to die would be electrocution You: will that be all

Dabi: How would one determine whether the electricity has been properly shut off Dabi: In the theoretical scenario that you couldn't get close enough to hear

You: the 176 cm tall and 67 kg heavy person should tap the wiring from the bottom with the back of their hand You: that way their fingers curl downwards and not around the wire You: so the person won't DIE from ELECTROCUTION

Mar 09 00:08 AM

Dabi: Excellent Dabi: Gonna do some field research Dabi: Will report back in maybe a day

Mar 09 08:01 AM

You: i'm gonna be so mad if you die before you've had decent karaage This message could not be delivered.

Mar 11 6:10 PM

Unknown: So it turns out that the person did not have to climb the fence after all. Pliers are such useful tools Unknown: Thanks for the electricity tip tho

Mar 11 6:39 PM

Dabi was added as a contact.

You: you're so hot when you're alive

Mar 11 9:14 PM

Dabi: Do u think I'm a catch 😏

You: judging by the way law enforcement is trying to get their hands on you, i'd say you're pretty slippery

Dabi: The slipperiest Dabi: You couldn't handle me

You: i'd trap you using cheese and a paper box You: put you in a jar and turn you into spicy miso broth

Dabi: Would you hold the jar tight at night and tell me everything's going to be okay

You: of course

Dabi: I'm liking this scenario

Mar 12 01:07 AM

Dabi: Ever thought about what Mint Karaage would taste like

Mar 12 01:23 AM

You: i need u

Dabi: Tell me more

You: to shut your mouth

Dabi: Are you trying to romance me

Mar 12 07:15 AM

You: i'm actually so upset right now You: can i vent

Mar 12 07:27 AM

Dabi: Listening Dabi: Am I gonna have to get the tissues out

You: you're not empathetic enough for that

Dabi: How would you know

You: call it a woman's intuition You: i just need someone to bother about my hot girl troubles

Dabi: Let's hear it girl Dabi: Men ain't shit 💅

You: damn right they aren't You: but unrelated to that You: i ran out of my medication a few days ago and thought if i stretched the remaining 3 pills to last me 6 days i'd be able to make it till the end of the week You: now my doctor's office is closed and i can't seem to get an appointment anywhere You: and i'm super jittery and on edge and almost had a panic attack just trying to make coffee

Dabi: What type of medication

You: Ativan You: it's prescription only

Dabi: Nothing is ever "prescription only"

You: i'm not gonna try some experimential backalley drug You: just feel like dying rn

Dabi: Who said anything about backalley? You actually came to the right guy for this Dabi: What's the name of the nearest druggery

You: ...fukuju pharmacy

Dabi: So I've been talking to a Setagaya girl

You: only moved here for uni, hate to disappoint if ur expecting a wealthy maiden

Mar 12 10:02 AM

Dabi: Don't you feel like getting a snack from the vending machine Dabi: Specifically the one next to the pharmacy Dabi: A bag of skittles sounds nice, doesn't it?

You: ? ? ?

Mar 12 10:34 AM

You: did you commit a crime for me You: how did you get your hands on actual fucking Ativan this fast

Dabi: I don't kiss and tell

You: did you follow me home You: is this how i die

Dabi: You make it so hard to be nice to you Dabi: What do you think I am, a creep

You: if you were here i'd suck you off so good rn

Dabi: Whore Dabi: (Respectfully)

You: lmao ur right You: thank you for real though

Dabi: Stfu

Mar 12 1:33 PM

Dabi: Do u like cats

You: yes

Dabi sent an image.

Dabi: Noodle thieving menace

You: 🥹 You: that has got to be the fattest street cat i’ve ever seen

Dabi: He’s hella fast

You: how does it feel to be the one chasing the culprit for once

Dabi: Not nearly as thrilling as being the one committing the crime

Mar 13 00:00 AM

Unknown: Congratulations! You have been selected as an eligible member for a free trial of Osaka Daily Post. Unknown: If you would like information about your benefits, reply 'BENEFIT' Unknown: If you would like to stop receiving these messages, reply 'STOP'

You: i know it's you shithead

Unknown: Your message could not be processed.

You: this is the unfunniest you've ever been ngl

Unknown: Your message could not be processed.

You: you're truly one of the most annoying individuals in my life

Unknown: Your message could not be processed.

You: STOP

Unknown: LMAO you thought

Dabi was saved as a contact.

You: i'm reconsidering if the tongue piercing is really worth it 😤

Mar 13 04:55 AM

Dabi: Any particular reason why you chose forensics

Mar 13 06:09 AM

You: i've always admired criminals but been to scared to become one You: and if i know about psychotic assholes it might help me to steer clear of them, or so i thought

Dabi: Is it working

You: evidently not

Dabi: Use me in ur thesis Dabi: I'll be your lab rat

You: nah you're more beneficial to me when you're not stuck behind bars You: what do you have me saved as in your phone

Dabi: I don't save contacts Dabi: Especially not yours Dabi: You mean nothing to me

You: aww do you know my number by heart, that's adorable You: i'm kinda genuinely impressed at how persistent you are at bothering me, it's almost like you like me or smth

Dabi: No fr though lmao if anybody finds my phone you'd be on a list

You: do u delete these chats

Dabi: Always

You: that's so romantic You: admit it you're actually a softie

Dabi: Would that make you more interested in me Dabi: Then I'm the softest

You: what do i need to do to make you the hardest

Dabi: ... Dabi: There's absolutely no correct way for me to respond to that Dabi: You've left me speechless

You: 🥵🥵

Dabi: What's your worst quality Dabi: Besides being an irresistible smartass Dabi: *irritating

You: was that a freudian slip You: you're so obsessed with me it's adorable

Dabi: Proving my point so diligently

You: you don't seem like the kind of person who would use words like 'diligently' You: i'm rather talkative at times You: to the point where it gets unbearable to listen to me

Dabi: I never would've guessed

You: what's yours? You: besides the obvious

Dabi: Still putting up with you

Mar 13 7:45 PM

Dabi: Wyd

You: i burned my rice a little You: but it's edible

Dabi: Don't you have a rice cooker? Who raised you

You: my very strict but sweet and committed grandmother who made the best teriyaki salmon in the whole world You: i'd kill another human being to eat her home cooked food one more time

Dabi: So your parents ain't shit either

You: eh, they're alright You: they're Business People overseas and aren't around a whole lot, means i get my own place though You: so i can have visitors at any desired hour 😏

Dabi: Omg sick Dabi: Me next

You: it was implied

Mar 13 11:11 PM

Dabi: Ok but do u actually wanna meet up sometime Dabi: No strings attached ofc

You: i'm down

Dabi: What if I'm a creep after all

You: if anything, it means i won't have to attend my lecture about carbon dots tmrw

Dabi: I can't tomorrow Dabi: What about the day after Dabi: I'll give u my credit card info if it makes you feel more safe, don't bother trying to buy anything with it tho, you'll be disappointed

You: you may not show it a whole lot, but are you actually a considerate person? You: the day after sounds good

Dabi: Preem

You: oreryu shio ramen, right by harajuku station You: about time you had some good karaage You: my treat You: unless that's too far away for u

Dabi: I would fly across the world for u Dabi: Yes Harajuku works fine

Mar 14 08:49 AM

You: how will i recognise u You: what do u look like

Dabi: As my dad once said. I'm impossible to miss

You: i laughed

Dabi: Guess it was all worth it then Dabi: Do tattoos scare you

You: i was gonna ask cause there's no way you got only a tongue piercing and nothing else You: stand there with your tongue out

Dabi: Shouldn't we at least get to know each other before 😳

You: don't get any ideas You: i don't intend to fuck u You: ...for now

Dabi: That's a relief, I thought I might have to file a restraining order afterwards

Mar 14 1:42 PM

Dabi sent an image.

Dabi: If u see this guy u can still run the other way

You: hhh fuck You: are u trying to intimidate me You: how do you have so many tattoos but no bedframe

Dabi: Cut me some slack, I just moved into this place

You: fair warning i'm not as hot as u

Dabi: Bet

You sent an image.

Dabi: Why do women always lie. I thought you were better. I thought you were different

You: 😳 You: i'm actually worse

Dabi: We're such a good match

You: don't get ahead of urself. u r still a guy with no bedframe

Dabi: Please shut up

Mar 14 4:16 PM

Dabi: To be clear I'm not bringing flowers or anything Dabi: And I'm actually willing to let you pay this time lol

You: you have such a unique way with words

Dabi: A bit tight on money rn but I'll pay u back some other way

You: can we make that the first line in our sextape You: dw i said it's my treat and i mean it You: does that make you feel emasculated

Dabi: Who would I be to say no to free food tf Dabi: If there's a next time I can take you out for drinks Dabi: Nothing fancy but an old friend of mine owns a bar downtown and his girlfriend mixes a killer mule

You: if you're gonna poison me after gaining my trust over my favourite food i will be incredibly sad

Dabi: Give me some credit here. I'm trusting u to not rat me out to law enforcement

You: you're giving me ideas You: is there a bounty on your head

Dabi: I'm not that important

Mar 14 9:44 PM

You: so you're just too good to get caught

Dabi: Both flattering and factually correct Dabi: For the record I've never harmed anybody that didn't deserve it

You: thanks for clarifying You: i feel so safe now

Dabi: Anytime Dabi: If you're having second thoughts lmk before 10 am so I won't spend time getting ready for nothing

You: 10 am is crazy You: u r so vain

Dabi: Alright then I won't 😔

You: i take it back You: be pretty for me

Mar 15 5:30 AM

You: can't sleep

Mar 15 7:12 AM

Dabi: How the turntables Dabi: Are you alright

You: yes You: it's the good kind of sleepless

Dabi: It's fine if you're having second thoughts, I won't hold it against you at all Dabi: Just texting like this is nice too

You: fuck no i wanna meet the man behind the screen You: the myth, the legend, the crimelord himself

Dabi: I'm never showing consideration for ur wellbeing ever again

You: should've ghosted me before i got attached

Mar 15 9:54 AM

Dabi: Last chance to bail gracefully

You: you make it so tempting

Dabi: Getting out of bed then

You: it's not a bed if it doesn't have a bedframe

Dabi: Shut, and I mean this in the gentlest way possible, the hell your mouth

Mar 15 12:08 PM

Dabi sent a location pin.

Dabi: Is this the place

You: that's the one You: be there in a few minutes

Dabi: I'm waiting outside

Mar 15 12:13 PM

You: omg i think i see u You: im shy

Dabi: U literally have so much blackmail material on me

You: give me a second You: alright I'm coming over This message could not be delivered.

#dabi #dabi x reader #touya todoroki #touya c reader #todoroki touca #bnha #dabi x you #touya x you #bnha x reader #todoroki touya x reader #todoroki toya x reader #league of villains #league of villains x reader #bnha x you #i hate that there are so many tags #my writing #(sort of?)#this was honestly super fun :>#x

409 notes · View notes

chaoticharrington · 5 months

Text

Early Morning Surprise

Pairing: Mike Schmidt x afab!reader

WARNINGS: SMUT!!!, MINORS THIS IS NOT FOR YOU PLEASE DNI(AGELESS AND BLANK BLOGS WILL BE BLOCKED), spit kink, slight overstimulation, thigh job, pet names, somnophilia, bdsm themes, praise, oral (f receiving), face riding, squirting, cum play, porn without plot, needy Mike 😵‍💫(if you squint slightly subby Mike)

Summary: Mike comes home from work and surprises you while you’re sleeping

Authors Note: Enjoy folks :) <3 I have three more fics lined up so stay tuned!

Word Count: 2.3k

When Mike works nights you always try your best to stay up and wait for him to come home, especially with this new job that seems to drain him so much after a shift. Always looking slightly horrified and even more tired than he already looks.

You were doing really good in the beginning, getting Abby all snuggled in bed, doing some laundry, making some dinner for yourself and even watching some tv on the couch. Where you started to go wrong was when you decided to migrate to your shared bedroom and lay in bed and read your favorite book. Your eyes start growing heavier and heavier with each page you read until your book is tipping forward onto your chest and your eyes are mostly closed. You drift to sleep and your book falls somewhere onto the floor losing your spot as you get more cozy in your sleep. Laying comfortably on your side, dreaming of an easier life for you, Abby, and Mike.

Until you feel yourself being pulled from your sleep, feeling little pecks on your neck and shoulder. You don’t think much of it, shifting onto your back to get more comfy. You feel the blankets gently pulled from your semi sleeping body and your legs softly pulled apart. You groan at the sudden chill that coats your body leaving goosebumps in its wake. Despite the cold your body starts to adjust and you begin drifting back to sleep.

Being pulled again from sleep, chasing a feeling… a really good feeling between your legs. Stirring by letting out a soft moan, absentmindedly grinding your hips into the feeling wanting more of it. That’s when you hear a moan that’s not yours…. but one that sounds familiar. You start testing your eyes by lightly opening and closing them, trying to get your bearings of your surroundings. You look down your vision still a little fuzzy, but you can make out just enough to see Mike lapping at the bundle of nerves between your legs like his life depended on it. You let out a louder moan

“F-fuck oh shit mike” you groan turning your head into your pillow. You remember the conversation you had had earlier that week with Mike about this fantasy he wanted to try out, and truth be told it was something you wanted to try too.

“Ssshhh shh baby go back to bed, daddy just needed to taste you” he mutters into your apex making the most obscene slurping noises

You gasp as he dives into your now very wet cunt like a starved man who’s not eaten in years. Licking and sucking every single crevice of you just to get every single drop of your arousal into his mouth. You’d never seen Mike so needy before and it was turning you on more than usual, knowing how much he needed you in this moment made you feel sexier than you’d ever felt before.

“m sorry honey I couldn’t help myself… I was so bored at work… lookin… at those screens all night… kept dreaming of this sweet sweet pussy…” he gravels, emphasizing the last few words by pointing his tongue and expertly circling your entrance.

You let out an even louder moan, now fully awake chasing your release the more he devours you. Your hips start rolling harder into his face, closing your thighs around his head, just trying to chase that feeling even more. Usually you’d be too self conscious to do something like this, chasing your own pleasure without thinking about him. But you couldn’t help it, it just felt so fucking good. And your inhibitions are down because you had just woken up, needing to chase your release in almost a primal, needier way.

Mike lets out the loudest moan you think you’ve ever heard from him, echoing inside the confines of your room. It spooked you, if Abby wasn’t already fast asleep it definitely would have scared you.

Mike lifts his head slightly, his nose all the way to his chin covered in your arousal and spit, he’s pupils blown clearly very turned on.

“Baby… I-please fuck my face… If I could devour you whole I would… I just… I need you” he says while he hangs his tongue out flat, lightly incasing your folds and grinding softly against the bed.

You take in a deep breath at his dirty words… mulling it over in your head… it’s not something you’d ever done before. But with how his lips and tongue already feel, you could imagine that it would at least feel just as good.

“Fuck okay” you say with a jagged breath

“It’s okay Angel I got you” he says as he grabs your hips and starts to move them so your clit is rubbing on his tongue.

He’s eyes never leave yours, showing you in each and every way that he wants this, no… needs this. Moaning and groaning into your folds reverberating into your core only egging you on more. You start getting the hang of it, no longer being guided by his hands but instead you guiding his with your hips.

His fingers making a home at your hips, digging deeper and deeper into your skin. The slight pain it caused only increase the unimaginable euphoria Mikes tongue was already creating for you. Gasping and moaning at a slightly alarming volume. The sensations becoming too much to bare, you grab onto his curls hard for some security, forcing another moan from Mikes lips.

You are hurtling faster than you’d care to admit towards release, grinding harder against Mikes face, coating his face in your wetness. Both of your moans quietly filling up the room careful not to wake abby.

At this point Mikes tongue is out lapping up everything you give him and letting your hips do all the work. The squelching noises between your legs only pushing you on even further to the edge.

“Mike oh my god Mike I- s’fuck I think i’m gonna cum” you shriek

He doesn’t respond verbally only showing you he heard you by moaning louder into your core. And then an explosion of color happened behind your eyes, you felt as though your body was floating in the air as you came hard. Soaking Mikes face even further in your juices.

“s’fucking pretty” he said as he came up for air, and pushing your folds apart to have better access to your clit and all the cum still freely coming from your center. Not even caring that you’ve already come down from your orgasm.

You scream in response, immediately covering your mouth, praying to whatever god you believe in that abby didn’t hear that and wake up. Your legs beginning to shake as Mike continues his assault on you, and you bite your hand to force yourself to be quiet.

“Sorry baby not done yet, I need more, I wanna see you cum again, you just look too fucking perfect, be a good girl for me and take it okay?” he mutters, it’s not a question, he’s telling you he’s not going to stop until he feels like he’s had his fill. Of course unless you used your safe word that the two of you had previously discussed, but you weren’t thinking about that right now. You were already flying towards the finish line for a second time. His moving your hips for you until you regain enough control to do it yourself, forcing you further into pleasure.

You grab onto his hair with your hand again harder than before, entangling his curly locks into your fingers. Youre knuckles turning white and your hand is beginning to hurt by how hard you were trying to contain yourself.

“Harder baby… do it harder, feels so good” he says to you dreamily, clearly so lost inbetween your folds.

You obliged him and pull even harder, pulling a whimper from his lips, muffled from being in between your thighs. You can feel the skin surrounding your core becoming sore from Mikes scruff, only adding to the already intense sensations.

You look down between your thighs to see that Mike is no longer looking at you, but eyes closed entranced and now shamelessly grinding his clothed cock against the edge of the bed unable to help himself.

“Fuck Mike, feels s’good” circling your hips pointedly to make his nose hit your clit, making you gasp.

You do the motion again and again and again, rocking the bed back and forth with a combination of your thrusts and his.

Then it hits you even harder than before, stealing all the breath from your lungs, pushing every bone and muscle further into ecstasy. Your mouth contorts into a silent scream, legs clamped around Mikes head and toes curled in pleasure.

The waves or pleasure still hitting you over and over again until Mikes tongue slows and he stops your hips. He licks one long stripe up your core before leaving kisses on each thigh.

You look up at him panting, trying to catch your breath. While you watch him stand up off the bed, seeing a wet spot of precum in his jeans.

He quickly pulls his shirt and boxers off, so you can see his painfully hard erection slap against his soft tummy.

He climbs on top of you eagerly, kissing you hard against your mouth. You moan as you taste yourself on his lips and tongue, it was wet and messy and you loved every second of it. Your mouth welcomed his tongue into yours as your tongues danced. He grabs the back of your head deepening the kiss, the both of you lose yourself into this for while. Grinding against each other and grabbing every single inch of skin that the two of you could grapple at.

He then slowly leans back, a string of saliva still connecting the two of you. He grins at you lightly, clearly very happy with the outcome of your experiment.

He pushes himself off the bed and puts his hand in front of your face with an expectant look.

“Spit baby” he hints

You indulge him by gathering a bunch of saliva in your mouth and lightly spit it on to Mikes hand. He then takes that same hand and rubs your spit onto his cock. He pushes your knees together and lines himself up between your thighs.

He drives his cock inbetween your thighs and exhales a big breath. You moan at the visual he was creating above you by fucking your thighs. You were grateful for the downtime because your clit was aching from cumming twice in a row.

His thrusts are slow but hard, making the prettiest noises, his face scrunched up in pleasure.

“You’re so fucking perfect you know that?” he said breathlessly, picking up his pace slightly

You bite your lip, you love seeing how much you drove him crazy. His moans and groans are like music to your ears. You want to give him a show just as much as he was giving you one.

You grab the edges of your night shirt and slip your shirt over your head, leaving your tits now free to bounce in sync with his thrust. You grab them between your hands and push them together, pinching your nipples between your fingers. You let out a soft hiss, reawakening your abused clit.

“Fffuuuckkk me” he gasps at the sight of you.

“You like what you see?” you say as you lick your fingers to put right back on your nipples.

“Yeah f-fuck yes I do” he says shakily, you can feel his thrusts getting less controlled and his breathing becoming more shallow.

“You’re always so good for me baby, so fucking dirty too…my dirty girl” he coos

You smile shyly at his praise, and squeeze your thighs tighter together so Mike had more friction as he was reaching his climax.

Mike whimpers in response, his hips slapping erratically against your thighs, and with one final thrust he’s coming. He cries out as his cock spills his hot cum all over your thighs and stomach.

You moan in response, the bottom half of you now basically covered in his cum. You both look between your legs, iced like a cake, Mike entranced with this imagine runs his cum covered cock inbetween your folds one last time.

He takes one of his hands and runs it between your thighs and on your stomach collecting his cum on his fingers, bringing up to your mouth.

You open your mouth happily to suck and lick all the cum off his hand. You make eye contact with him and moan, making sure he knows that you’ve enjoyed it just as much as he did.

“Jesus.. christ baby… your gonna kill me one day I swear” he babbles

You chuckle with his fingers still in your mouth and then letting go with a pop. He inspects his hand for a second making sure every bit of his cum has been gathered up by your tongue

“Good girl baby, did such a good job f’me” he praises you

Your heart swoons and you pull him back down to you into an embrace. He chuckles and settles himself behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and his knees tucked behind yours.

You nuzzle backward into him, lazily rubbing circles against his arm that was wrapped around you.

He kisses your shoulders and neck, occasionally giving you little praises about how well you did or how beautiful you looked. You wished you could stay in this moment forever, feeling completely safe in his arms. You know tomorrow you’d have a longer discussion about the new activity you guys tried out tonight, but for now, you’d rest.

Your eyes were getting heavier and heavier, and Mikes breathing was leveling out behind you, knowing he’s close to sleep as well. You finally let your eyes drop as you both went into dreamland content and satisfied.

#mike schmidt smut #mike schmidt x reader #fnaf movie #fnaf smut #mike schmidt fnaf #mike schmidt fic #chaoticharrington fics

458 notes · View notes

evita-shelby · 6 months

Text

Cuddling

Tommy shelby x wife!reader.

A continuation to Happy wife, Happy life

For context, reader is Irish and pro-irish freedom, so her criticism of grace for being a pro-english irishwoman (born from british citizens sent to colonize ireland) is perfectly valid

Tommy gets comfortable with you, cuddling with you after a long day trying to outwit the pigs and Kimber.

Once he is satisfied with every little thing that makes for great sleep in your arms, you bring up that thing from days ago when he came so drunk he forgot you were his wife.

“So the new barmaid, huh?” you continue to hold him even as he stills in panic.

“Who told you?” He asks thinking Polly or Lizzie had run to your with the gossip of the blonde twat trying to seduce your husband.

“You did, sweetie.” You answer. “You thought I was her and like the good boy you are, you rejected her saying you had a wife.”

Grace Burgess wasn’t deterred by that, but then again her folks do that. Else her English family wouldn’t be in Ireland killing those who want their country back.

If she hadn’t been so stupid as to show up with her real name, you wouldn’t have discovered the truth so easily.

One letter home and now you knew what sort of snake had invaded your garden.

“Is that why you’ve been asking around about her to your family back home?” he connects the dots like the brilliant man he is and sound impressed by how good your instincts still are.

“Had a hunch, especially after the IRA man was found dead by her block and the coppers covered it up.” You answer and wait for him to come to the right conclusion.

The way men think with their cocks never stopped annoying her, especially with how idiotic all were in accepting the broad into their lives because she was pretty and boring. Had Tommy not married a woman with a good head on her shoulders he’d been taken for a ride.

“Campbell sent her then. Assumed he’d be sending a man to do it. Suppose Arthur will have to fire her tomorrow and we’ll have to make sure she never comes back.” Even like this his mind is racing to think up a good strategy.

“You can leave that to me, sweetheart.” You say with a wicked smile.

Grace will wish you’d killed her when you’re done with her.

#tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby x wife!reader #tommy shelby x you #thomas shelby fanfic #november writing prompts

695 notes · View notes

tepkunset · 8 months

Text

Representation vs. Appropriation

When I made a tumblr blog post pointing out that the character creator in Baldur’s Gate 3 included culturally appropriative face tattoos, lot of people decided to bend over backwards to defend this. Excuses I have found while giving my blocking finger a routine work-out thus far have ranged from “Larian Studios is European so they don’t know any better”, to a classic “it’s just a fantasy game, stop being so oversensitive”. But by far the most common poor reaction was, “what if it’s representation?”

Now, two Māori people were quick to jump into this post and say themselves, clear as day, that this is not representation, it is appropriation. That should be enough right there—settlers do not get to decide what is and isn’t representation for us Indigenous folks. But white people not listening to Indigenous voices is nothing new. I’ve been forced to learn that if you want to be taken seriously by settlers, your best chance is to coddle and appease their poor little delicate feelings. So, let’s pretend for a second that these “what if it’s representation?” questions are actually asked in good, albeit ignorant faith, and not just a pathetic gut-reaction to avoid having to critically think about a beloved game. (Which, by the way, I still overall adore myself, mind you.) Let’s pretend they actually want an answer, and give it to them.

It’s very easy to list the examples of positive Indigenous representation I’ve personally experienced in video games, not made by Indigenous folks ourselves, because there’s only one game that comes to mind: Assassin’s Creed 3. The protagonist of AC3 is Ratonhnhaké:ton of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka people. Ubisoft is a terrible company for other reasons, but they did one thing right in the development of this game: They hired a cultural consultant, Thomas Deer. Deer was able to guide them through avoiding offensiveness and stereotypes, and include proper cultural touchstones that Indigenous players, especially Mohawk players, would want to see. For example, Ubisoft originally wanted to include sacred ceremonial masks in the game, but Deer told them that depictions of these masks would be taboo. He also helped them choose what clothing and jewellery was authentic to the Nation. This, among much more, helped create a truly representative experience. What makes it representation is that it features an Indigenous character in a positive way, without crossing lines into what should not be touched by outsiders. But had Ubisoft decided to ignore Deer’s consultation and go ahead with using those sacred masks… that would have been cultural appropriation.

Cultural appropriation is taking a closed cultural practice and using it yourself, despite not belonging to the culture it comes from. The key word there is closed, as in, something not for outsiders to touch. Eating frybread is not cultural appropriation, because it’s something freely shared by Natives to others. But wearing a fake headdress to your local musical festival is cultural appropriation, because headdresses are sacred regalia not freely shared by Natives to others. It really is that simple: just listen to boundaries set by the People.

“But my fake headdress is just clothing.” “But a fake kakiniit is just ink.” “But my fake totem pole is just decoration.” Except not, and the very fact that you have no respect for the history and meaning behind these things is the perfect example as to why they are not for you. But being told something isn’t for them has always been a hard a pill for settlers to swallow.

The phrase “nothing about us without us” is often used when advocating for rights and respect of minorities. It was first brought into English vocabulary by South Africa’s disability activism in the 1990’s, and has since been adapted across the world as a slogan to mean uplifting voices of the people you claim to want to help, instead of speaking over them. I personally first heard it through EDIRA work (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Reconciliation and Accessibility) at my job, and I feel like it can be applied in many different ways, this being one of them. The best representation comes from listening to the people you want to represent. Had Larian done that, they would have known that imitating those tattoos was off limits. But since they didn’t, they took what wasn’t theirs to take. And that’s appropriation.

#cultural appropriation #appropriation #representation #racism

677 notes · View notes

txttletale · 4 months

Note

Your discussions on AI art have been really interesting and changed my mind on it quite a bit, so thank you for that! I don’t think I’m interested in using it, but I feel much less threatened by it in the same way. That being said, I was wondering, how you felt about AI generated creative writing: not, like AI writing in the context of garbage listicles or academic essays, but like, people who generate short stories and then submit them to contests. Do you think it’s the same sort of situation as AI art? Do you think there’s a difference in ChatGPT vs mid journey? Legitimate curiosity here! I don’t quite have an opinion on this in the same way, and I’ve seen v little from folks about creative writing in particular vs generated academic essays/articles

i think that ai generated writing is also indisputably writing but it is mostly really really fucking awful writing for the same reason that most ai art is not good art -- that the large training sets and low 'temperature' of commercially available/mass market models mean that anything produced will be the most generic version of itself. i also think that narrative writing is very very poorly suited to LLM generation because it generally requires very basic internal logic which LLMs are famously bad at (i imagine you'd have similar problems trying to create something visual like a comic that requires consistent character or location design rather than the singular images that AI art is mostly used for). i think it's going to be a very long time before we see anything good long-form from an LLM, especially because it's just not a priority for the people making them.

ultimately though i think you could absolutely do some really cool stuff with AI generated text if you had a tighter training set and let it get a bit wild with it. i've really enjoyed a lot of AI writing for being funny, especially when it was being done with tools like botnik that involve more human curation but still have the ability to completely blindside you with choices -- i unironically think the botnik collegehumour sketch is funnier than anything human-written on the channel. & i think that means it could reliably be used, with similar levels of curation, to make some stuff that feels alien, or unsettling, or etheral, or horrifying, because those are somewhat adjacent to the surreal humour i think it excels at. i could absolutely see it being used in workflows -- one of my friends told me recently, essentially, "if i'm stuck with writer's block, i ask chatgpt what should happen next, it gives me a horrible idea, and i immediately think 'that's shit, and i can do much better' and start writing again" -- which is both very funny but i think presents a great use case as a 'rubber duck'.

but yea i think that if there's anything good to be found in AI-written fiction or poetry it's not going to come from chatGPT specifically, it's going to come from some locally hosted GPT model trained on a curated set of influences -- and will have to either be kind of incoherent or heavily curated into coherence.

that said the submission of AI-written stories to short story mags & such fucking blows -- not because it's "not writing" but because it's just bad writing that's very very easy to produce (as in, 'just tell chatGPT 'write a short story'-easy) -- which ofc isn't bad in and of itself but means that the already existing phenomenon of people cynically submitting awful garbage to literary mags that doesn't even meet the submission guidelines has been magnified immensely and editors are finding it hard to keep up. i think part of believing that generative writing and art are legitimate mediums is also believing they are and should be treated as though they are separate mediums -- i don't think that there's no skill in these disciplines (like, if someone managed to make writing with chatGPT that wasnt unreadably bad, i would be very fucking impressed!) but they're deeply different skills to the traditional artforms and so imo should be in general judged, presented, published etc. separately.

#ask #ai art

212 notes · View notes

butterflydm · 29 days

Text

more WoT s3 spec - what we know vs what we're guessing at

I've been poking at what we know about s3 vs what we can reasonably guess, so I wanted to break that down a bit.

So there are a few things we know just about the structure of how the show has worked so far: we know they shoot in blocks of two episodes each and that each of those blocks is going to have the same director for both episodes. Because of this info, we can make some guesses at where specific episodes may land. We also have some casting info (wotseries.com being a great resource here).

They tend to have a major reveal in the fourth episode - Nynaeve being incredibly powerful in the One Power in 1x04; Selene being Lanfear in 2x04.

What we know for certain:

Rhuidean & the Waste will appear (Rand & Egwene's storyline).

Tanchico will appear (Nynaeve & Elayne's storyline).

The Two Rivers will appear (Perrin's storyline).

Rand and Perrin will each get focus episodes akin to Nynaeve having "What Might Be" and Egwene having "Eyes Without Pity" in s2.

We have four episode titles: "To Race The Shadow"; "A Glimpse of Crimson"; "Goldeneyes"; and "He Who Comes With The Dawn".

Sea Folk are confirmed for S3.

Potential leaks include:

Mat, Min, and Thom all being part of Nynaeve & Elayne's storyline in Tanchico. Big change for Mat & Min, but matches canon for Thom. And since show-onlys have only seen Thom with Mat and Rand, it would make sense to use Mat to re-introduce us to him.

Reports of the actresses reported to be playing Morgase and Elaida seen at a castle which is almost certainly in Caemlyn (Andoran banners spotted), most likely for the first or second episode due to the timing.

An actress playing Maigran (one of the Aiel from the Rhuidean glass columns sequence) is listed under the director who is being used for eps 3 and 4.

An actress has been cast to play an older version of Latra and I really like @wheeloftimeofficial's idea that we'll see her as the ancient Aes Sedai who establishes Rhuidean in the glass column memories, especially since the younger actress also has s3 listed on her CV.

We have (unofficially) confirmed castings for Faile & Galad.

Hints we've gotten from interviews & bts info:

In an interview filmed before the actors' strike, Daniel mentions Lan having some really good relationship scenes with Nynaeve, so we know that there's interaction between those characters before their plotlines separate, implying that we will not begin with everyone already all off on their separate journeys, like they were in 2x01.

Also from Daniel, it's implied that there are training scenes between Lan and Rand (could happen at any point, since Lan is likely to be in Rand's storyline the entire season).

From what Josha has said, the show will be pivoting to a more familial relationship between Egwene and Rand next season (which matches the book timing).

Rafe made a point of mentioning that Elayne healing Rand was to flag to the audience that this was a relationship to pay attention to (which implies we'll get at least some movement on that relationship in s3).

Josha also says that there is "way more togetherness" for Two Rivers' characters in s3 than in s2.

In an unrelated interview on screenrant, Rima Te Waita (Sheriam) mentioned that she will not be in s3 but, if s4 is greenlit, she will be in s4.

Josha and Ayoola posted some cute instas of each other after finishing up the South Africa shooting stint near Cape Town, which might be a hint towards our potential AviRand interactions (could also just be the actors being cute!).

Guesses based on book & show knowledge:

It seems likely to me that Gawyn & Galad will be introduced in the same episode as Morgase and Elaida, which I am tentatively going to guess will be episode 2.

I think that Verin, Alanna & their Warders are going to be getting out of Cairhien as quickly as possible. And that they are pretty conveniently set up to head to their TSR storyline.

I am pretty torn about when the coup will happen! I feel like it happening this season feels pretty much a lock because there really isn't any more "White Tower storyline" until the coup happens, and they do already have the set made. But it could either happen pretty early on or fairly late in the season. Maybe episode five? That lets us meet Elaida in episode 2, gives her and possibly Gawyn & Galad time to get to the White Tower, maybe we get some scenes of her politicking in the WT in episode 4, with the trigger being pulled in episode 5 or 6. But another possibility is that the coup happens right away, while all those Sisters are still in Cairhien and we see Liandrin take the lead on something like stilling Siuan and Leane, which would put the White Tower in chaos before Elaida even arrives. There are at least two Black Ajah Sisters in Cairhien, after all, and Liandrin likes to act extra-judicially, and she might want to try to make sure that Siuan is taken care of before anyone has a chance to out her (Liandrin) as Black Ajah. But there is also a chance that it might happen in the finale, so that we can parallel Moiraine & Siuan's 'downfalls'. So really this one is a wildcard for me. It isn't really directly tied to any other specific events in TSR, so it can happen whenever.

We will get the glass columns in episode 3 or 4. In the books, it happened as soon as Rand landed in the Waste, basically, but the show could potentially do Cold Rocks Hold first, depending on how Rand is getting to the Waste. I used to lean towards it happening in ep3, but after learning the leak about Mat being in Tanchico, it made me wonder about ep4, maybe, as that could potentially lead to Mat going through the doorways (just speculation with zero leaks or spoilers to back it up but I like it a lot lol) from Tanchico to Rhuidean either at the end of ep4 or the start of ep5, leaving Nynaeve & Elayne's storyline and going to Rand & Egwene's.

I do keep thinking about Josha saying that the Two Rivers' kids would have "way more togetherness" than in s3, which seems difficult if they all separate by or after ep2 and then don't reunite the entire season. I guess technically it would be true because they don't reunite in s2 until the final moments of 2x08 but feels somewhat underwhelming to mention, lol.

I do still suspect that we're getting Lanfear & Moiraine with the doorway at the end of the season.

So, a tentative outline. Now we leave behind the more solid leaks and knowledge and enter into the wild speculations. Please check out @markantonys' recent post too, she's got some fun speculations!

3x01: To Race the Shadow

"Way more togetherness" between the Two Rivers group than in s2, so says Josha. This is also where we have to be getting the Lan & Nynaeve romantic scenes that Daniel keeps hyping up, lol.

Moiraine and Rand are going to be arguing about his next plans.

Something will happen that makes them realize that Something Is Up in Tanchico -- this might be a first Dream from Egwene that leads them in the direction of the museum? Which also leads to her talking to Amys, which is why she decides to go with Rand instead of going with Nynaeve & Elayne. The big question for me is if they are going to Tanchico because of Liandrin or if they go for other reasons and then run into Liandrin also being there to get the same thing that they're getting.

Now Mat may go into a doorway here as speculated by @markantonys (the room of curiosities) but for this specific outline, I'm going to say that he doesn't, and instead he chooses to go with Elayne & Nynaeve because he's running away from Rand (after the Stabbening). This pulls in something that Mat tries to do a lot in the books but gives him a new motivation that fits his show character.

I think Lanfear is going to warn Rand about the rest of the Forsaken being free but potentially also send Liandrin to Tanchico to try to get the, uh, plot token for her potential use in the future (a girl needs a back-up plan).

Lanfear talking to Rand might be another thing that Rand and Moiraine argue about.

Rand and Egwene are going to have their official 'break-up' and then we'll see their more platonic relationship develop over the course of the season. I also feel like we have to have at least a scene or two with Rand and Elayne to establish them feeling Some Kind of Way about each other, to build on that moment from 2x08.

3x02: A Glimpse of Crimson

Good episode title for a Red Ajah & Andor episode!

I'm going to guess that Rand & co are going to be stopping in Caemlyn (my feelings are similar to @markantonys about us potentially getting a garden introduction between Egwene & Gawyn here, and then having Rand & Egwene meet Elaida & Morgase (and Galad?). Elaida will have her Foretelling about Rand and freak herself out.

Our group hears the rumors about the Two Rivers, and Perrin decides to go investigate. The question is how is Rand going to get to the Waste from Caemlyn? I don't feel like they would introduce Portal Stones as a one-off if they haven't done it before, so I think there's a chance that Loial might go with Rand instead of Perrin, as Perrin doesn't need to go through the Ways to get to the Two Rivers (of course, then they would need to change how the battle resolves in 3x07).

(alternatively: there's always the Lanfear express, I guess, lol)

This could also be when Elayne, Nynaeve, & Mat arrive in Tanchico, and their introduction to the city is our B plot. I don't think they would throw all the plots at them at once and I feel like just introducing Thom first would be a good start for the first episodes in Tanchico.

3x03: Unknown

Rand & co arrive in the Waste, but I'm going to send them to Cold Rocks Hold for now, instead of straight to Rhuidean. This gives Rand and Aviendha time to bond, Rand and Moiraine time to fight, Rand and Lan time to train together, and gives the audience a chance to get to know the Aiel culture in a bit more of a relaxed setting. Then we get an attack by Shadowspawn and Rand gets the reminder that the other Forsaken have been let free and don't share Ishamael and Lanfear's feelings about him.

Another plot will be in Tanchico, involving Nynaeve, Elayne, and Mat investigating, running into Min and/or Egeanin or Tuon taking Egeanin's role. This may be where we get our early encounters with Moghedien (she Compels one or more of our characters to spill the beans to her about their plans) and potentially where she reveals herself to Liandrin & co as one of the Chosen and takes control of their group after playing servant for part of the episode.

We also have Perrin & co arriving in the Two Rivers and getting the lay of the land. This could be a fairly emotional episode for Perrin, due to memories of Laila's death. Maybe when Perrin says goodbye to Laila (putting his ring on her grave/memorial?) and potentially our first sighting of Faile.

3x04: Unknown

Rand goes to Rhuidean and into the glass columns. This is the main plot of the episode and Rand's focus episode of the season.

We get the history of the Aiel here, and learn about Rand's ancestors.

Subplot: Aviendha is told that she is destined to be a Wise One (maybe she accidentally channeled during the fight at Cold Rocks Hold?) and deals with idea that she has to leave behind being a Maiden.

Our Tanchico B-plot leads to Mat entering through the twisted doorway in the museum, For Reasons, and getting his prophecies. Maybe this same plotline leads to Elayne and Nynaeve finding dream ter'angreal, and to Tuon/Egeanin realizing that Elayne and Nynaeve are channelers, and potentially learns that all sul'dam are, and then leaves our main plotline at this time.

3x05: Unknown

When Rand leaves the glass columns, he finds Mat hanging on the tree outside, and saves his life (we've gotten a few different pieces of foreshadowing about Mat being hanged, so I feel like it will happen at some point). Mat says he was just in Tanchico.

We catch up with Perrin in the Two Rivers, with him learning to move past his grief as he gets to know Faile.

Because we've already done Cold Rocks Hold, this means that Rand & co can go straight to Alcair Dal at this point.

Aviendha and Rand bond over their lives being dictated by being able to use the One Power and not having any choices about their future.

On the way to Alcair Dal, we meet the traders, who are hiding Lanfear and Asmodean in their ranks, and Lanfear sees that Rand is getting closer to Aviendha and Does Not Approve.

Nynaeve and Elayne worry about where Mat has disappeared to and experiment with the dream ter'angreal that they recently discovered in the museum (might only be one: the twisted stone ring, so that channeling isn't needed for it), and run into Birgitte in the dream. She gives them a warning but they realize that this is the same place that Egwene was talking about in 3x01 and are excited that they might be able to communicate with her.

3x06: Unknown

Another journey into TAR for Nynaeve (maybe a successful contact with Egwene?), and she encounters Birgitte again, but Moghedien too, and this leads to Birgitte getting ripped out of TAR and bonded by Elayne to save her life.

Moiraine tells Rand that he needs to go to Tear, to fulfill more of the prophecies, but Rand is resistant.

The Two Rivers ramps up for the battle.

This would also be a good spot for the coup, imo.

3x07: Goldeneyes

The Battle of the Two Rivers. Potentially Perrin's focus episode as well, as he comes into his own as a leader. I think that it would be good to push any confirmed Perrin/Faile romance forward into the future, so they will still just have some vibes for now.

We get some pieces moving into place for the other storylines: Rand arrives at Alcair Dal; Nynaeve and Elayne make plans to return to the museum.

3x08: He Who Comes With The Dawn

Desperate to get through to Rand and worrying that he is focusing on the Aiel instead of being the Dragon Reborn, Moiraine went back to Rhuidean to try to use the doorway, as when Mat talked about his experiences there, she recognized what he was talking about and wants answers of her own.

Rand announces himself at Alcair Dal, drawing the attention of Lanfear, who makes her pitch to him that We Could Rule Together, worrying that she's losing her hold over him after seeing him getting closer to Aviendha. She tells him about Asmodean and about him potentially teaching Rand so that he can reach his potential.

Inside the doorway, Moiraine gets answers that she doesn't like about Rand and Lanfear (sort of merging her going into the doorway in Tear with her going into the silver rings).

On the Tanchico side of things, we have our big Tanchico encounter between Nynaeve and Moghedien, which results in Nynaeve breaking her block. Nynaeve and Elayne escape Tanchico on a Sea Folk ship, heading towards Tear, potentially bringing Min & Thom along with them.

After talking with Lanfear, Rand is let out of his 'bubble' at Alcair Dal as Couladin declares that HE is the Car'a'carn and he will prove it by leading the Aiel to conquer the wetlands (setting up s4 to be a combo of TFoH/LoC, with a hint of TDR with the destination being Tear instead of Cairhien). Rand realizes that the fake dragons on Couladin's arms were put there by Asmodean and goes after him -- Asmodean Skims back to Rhuidean and he and Rand battle, and Lanfear arrives, puts the block on Asmodean and offers him up as a teacher to Rand. Moiraine takes advantage of Lanfear's focus on Rand to yeet both of them into the doorway while channeling, based on the knowledge that she learned inside, melting the doorway. We see in the Tanchico storyline that the other doorway melts at the same time, leaving them no exit.

And I agree with @markantonys that possibly the most effective stinger would be the reveal that Tuon is the DotNM, but if there is no Tuon in this season, we could have it be a Forsaken (Sammael) setting up shop in Tear, to set the scene for the upcoming season.

It is a lot more cliffhanger-y than our previous season finales and I'm sure that my thoughts on it will change as we get closer and learn more spoilers, but that is my wild speculation for this specific week!

#wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot book spoilers #the fires of heaven #wot speculation #wot s3 speculation

122 notes · View notes

whatbigotspost · 8 months

Text

FUCK YES!!!!

Still so far from over and only a temporary situation but thank god for ANY positive news out of the flaming dumpster fire that is this state’s* politics. Especially when it comes to trans folks.

We’ll see where this goes from here.

*people with no connection or first hand experience with Texas DO NOT ADD ANY ANTI TEXAS CHATTER to this post please. It’s not the place or time and you don’t kick friends when they’re down anyway. Talk about where you live/know please bc there’s a 100%, 50 out of 50 chance you’re being governed by terrible laws and governments

#living in Texas is an exercise in frustration #frustration being a massive understatement #transphobia #anti trans laws #us politics

303 notes · View notes

soaringthroughthegalaxy · 7 months

Text

A Quiet Place to Rest

It's hard to sleep during thunderstorms, especially with enhanced senses.

Pairing: Hunter x f!reader

Word count: 1.1k

Warnings: fluff, cuteness, sweetness, idiots trying to hide their feelings from each other - this is SFW folks.

Thunder cracked across the sky, illuminating the barracks on Kamino. Storms were common on the water planet, and you’d long learnt to love them. Tonight, you’d opted to camp out on the large couch that Wrecker had procured from Maker knows where and watch the storm as it rolled past Tipoca City.

Around you, the boys snoozed. These days, two years deep into the war, they could sleep through almost anything.

Two years. It had gone past in the blink of an eye. You could still remember the day you’d been introduced to Clone Force 99 and assigned as their civilian handler. It was your job to keep in contact with Command, feed the boys their missions, and ensure they had everything they needed to complete their work and return safely.

While most handlers chose to remain on Kamino, away from the blaster fire and chaos, you’d elected to go with the Batch, to live on the Marauder with them and share their barracks on the rare occasion you could return to base. After all, you couldn’t keep them safe if you weren’t with them.

“Can’t sleep?” The quiet, smoky rasp of Hunter’s voice graced your ears as he circled the couch, sitting down at your side. He was as nimble on his feet as a lothcat – you'd lost count of how many times he’d made you jump by suddenly appearing next to you.

Head turning to look at the man by your side, you admired the sharp line of his jaw, the tattoo that shaded half of his face, and the bags that were a permanent feature under his dark eyes. A constant reminder of the pressure he was under as the squad’s leader. “Still winding down.” You answer just as quietly. The last few missions had been tough, back-to-back with barely a few hours downtime between them. Your mind was too noisy for rest. “Can’t sleep either?”

Hunter’s gaze flits to the large window at your question, a small noise of discomfort sliding past his lips. “Lightening.” His answer is only one word, but it explains everything. The storm was messing with his senses, producing a strong electric field that he couldn’t tune out. He’d tried all his usual techniques for blocking it to no avail. So, he’d resigned himself to a night awake, and a thumping migraine in the morning.

“Here…” You murmur, stretching out a little on the couch before patting your lap in invitation. Sometimes after tough missions, Hunter would seek you out, sitting for a while in your presence, bringing the focus of his senses onto you so he could then slowly draw them back under control.

Hunter didn’t need to be told twice. He shifts, laying down across the couch, head resting in your lap, cheek pressed to your bare leg. Your fingers find their way into his hair – bandana-less and ruffled from trying to sleep. As your nails drag across his scalp, he lets out a small sigh, warmth seeping through him at the gentle action. Slowly he starts to hone in on you, letting the soft scent of your shampoo fill his lungs as he takes a deep breath, the slow thud of your heartbeat ringing in his ears, the feel of your bare thighs beneath his cheek and the warmth coming from your body. The fact you slept in one of Wrecker’s old shirts – oversized on you and skimming mid-thigh – was both a blessing and a curse.

“Any better?” You ask softly, gazing down at him, watching as his eyes slide shut and he lets out a soft sigh, the tension in his body starting to melt away. You loved these moments, when he relinquished his fearless leader persona.

“Mhm.” Hunter murmurs, feeling the pounding in his skull starting to recede the longer he rests in your lap and soaks up your affection. But he’s greedy, and he wants more, even though he knows he shouldn’t. He shouldn’t be having anything other than professional thoughts about you. But that’s all they’ll stay for now, though – thoughts.

You fall into a comfortable silence as he rests in your lap. Slowly your hand moves from his hair to brush across his shoulder, and then down his arm, fingers dancing across tattooed skin. You’d been surprised to learn that the tattoo which shades half his face continues downwards to darken half his body too. Eventually, you find his hand, sliding your fingers against his to lace them together. It’s only a second before Hunter’s thumb moves to press against your wrist, right on your pulse point, giving him something else to focus on.

The storm continues to rage on outside, and together you sit through it quietly. It’s another hour or so before it passes, though the sky remains clouded and grey. You hadn’t spoken a word to each other during it – lost in your thoughts, coming down from the last few missions. “How’s your head?” You ask Hunter softly, breaking the silence as you give his hand a gentle squeeze.

“Easing.” He breathes a sigh of relief, his senses settling as the storm moves past Tipoca City. He’ll still feel it anywhere on the planet, but the further away it moves the less grief it gives him. Giving your hand a squeeze in return, Hunter’s greed flares again and this time he allows himself to give in to it. Pulling your hand closer, he cradles it to his chest as he remains resting in your lap, dropping a kiss on the smooth skin on the back of your hand. The action pulls a soft chuckle from you, the sound one of his absolute favourites, and he soaks it up like a man stuck in the sands of Tattooine. He notes how your heart pounds a little more fiercely too, but he opts not to say anything, privately relishing the effect such a simple act can have.

You know your heart is beating quickly, but you’d long given up trying to mask it. There was no fooling Hunter’s senses, and you were starting to suspect he was purposefully doing things to set your pulse racing anyway – he’d been a lot more open with his affection as of late.

“Try and get some sleep.” You murmur, gazing down at his profile, marvelling at this incredible man curled against you. His hair had been smoothed a little from your strokes, and the tension in his shoulders was gone now. He was even more gorgeous than usual, softer and quieter, without the weight of the squad's safety on his mind now they were safely in their bunks nearby.

Hunter stifles a yawn, burrowing closer towards you and your body heat. The tendrils of sleep are pulling at him, beckoning him into the abyss. And with your request, he’s even more powerless to fight it. He knows even an hour or two of rest will do him good, and with you keeping watch, he’s never felt safer. “Anything for you, cyar’ika.”

#the bad batch #the bad batch x reader #hunter x reader #tbb hunter x reader #kinktober #sergeant hunter x reader #hunter the bad batch #star wars #star wars clone wars #hand holding #cuties #fluff #mutual pining #star wars the bad batch

322 notes · View notes

invisibleanonymousmonsters · 7 months

Text

chapter xxii – gust & flame

Eris Vanserra x Reader

Eris Vanserra has been a prisoner in his own home since the day he was born. He has done what he had to in order to survive and protect the few he loves. And he is playing the long game. Waiting, waiting, and waiting for the right time to make his move, to usurp his wicked father and become High Lord of Autumn Court. But things become even more complicated when a human girl drops into his life. Perhaps Eris can wait no longer to take his throne.

Word Count: 5,000+

masterlist

Y/N spent the next three weeks hiding in her workroom, making various potions and charms and candles – and anything else that would help the human women and children who now had sanctuary in the Forest House. Many of them could not sleep due to nightmares or anxiety, feeling like they were still in danger. Others had other mental hurdles that prevented them from even finding the will to live.

So, Y/N had been working day and night, casting remedies for it all with her witchcraft.

She had barely been sleeping. Even worse, she was barely eating.

Servants would politely knock on her door and silently bring her giant plates of food for every meal – and even small plates of snacks. But as soon as they left, Y/N would forget the food was ever brought in the first place. She would just get sucked right back into working.

But the humans weren’t the only thing haunting her.

Y/N hadn’t seen Eris since her confession in the woods.

Surprisingly, it was because he had respected her request to give them space.

But she heard the people of the Forest House, and they gossiped in whispers.

Eris had apparently been working himself to exhaustion, visiting various villages across Autumn Court, speaking with the common folk, and delegating tasks to his advisors.

The wind constantly urged Y/N to go to him. But she managed to ignore their constant torment.

Y/N now worked on making a tea for the young humans who were anxious as ever, despite now being safe in Autumn Court. She understood that the fae realm was strange and scary – especially after their first exposure to the realm was nothing but torture.

Suddenly, the door to her workshop was thrown open.

The five bloodhounds napping near it jumped to attention and growled menacingly.

Lucien came strutting in, clearly on some sort of mission.

The dogs snarled at his interruption and lunged for him.

And if it weren’t for the invisible shield Lucien had clearly conjured with a lazy flick of his wrist, his ankles surely would’ve been torn apart by their jaws.

Y/N quickly looked back down at her work, not even acknowledging his entrance.

“I’m busy,” she muttered with obvious annoyance.

“Well, now…” Lucien announced as he got into her space, forcing her to address his presence. “You are taking a break.”

He stood against her worktable, blocking Y/N from continuing her brewing.

“Lucien, I do not have the mental energy to deal with your antics today. I have work to do.”

“And it will be here when we return. But for now, you are going on a walk in the woods with me.”

Y/N crossed her arms. “Can’t you find some pretty courtier to entertain you?”

Lucien smirked. “But spending time with a woman who finds me irritating is so much more exciting.” Then his face turned serious as he studied her face, noting the shadows under her bloodshot eyes. “Come, Y/N. You haven’t left this room in weeks. The servants say you ignore every meal they bring you. And Eris…”

He stopped when he noticed her reaction from someone merely mentioning his brothers name.

“Well, we don’t need to talk about him right now,” he finally finished.

Y/N sighed, and then glanced outside.

When was the last time she’d left the walls of the Forest House? Perhaps some fresh air would do her good. And then she could get back to her work.

“Fine,” she snapped. “But the hounds are coming with and I don’t care if they bite you.”

All she could hear was Lucien chuckling behind her as she walked out of the workroom.

———

Lucien had insisted on Y/N wearing a cloak, but couldn’t convince her to put on boots – or any shoes for that matter.

“What’s the point of a walk if you can’t feel the ground beneath your feet?” Y/N scoffed at him.

“If you get frostbite and lose a toe, Eris will kill me…” Lucien muttered, barely loud enough for her to hear him.

To Y/N’s surprise, Lucien allowed a peaceful silence to settle between the two of them as they walked through the forest surrounding the property.

No guards insisted on joining them, so they must be safe enough to be unchaperoned.

However, they still had five smoke hounds surrounding them. They now sniffed the ground with precision, never straying too far from Y/N. Every so often, they would trot up to her, asking for pets or licking her hand.

“You know, they eventually will learn how to live again and without fear.” Lucien told her gently after some time.

Y/N just sighed.

“Humans are stronger than most fae give them credit for. They’re resilient and overcome such terrible things. They have to. Their lives are fleeting, to do otherwise would be a waste of a short and fragile life.”

Y/N glared at him. “Our lives,” she corrected. “Our lives are fleeting.”

Lucien watched her carefully.

“I see Eris told you of our last conversation…” she mumbled with irritation.

“Well, I had to force it out of him after he started snapping at everyone who dared look at him for longer than a second.” He looked Y/N up and down. “Believe it or not, he looks worse than you do.”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Oh, you are always so kind, Lucien.”

“When did you start to think so little of yourself?” He countered.

“E-Excuse me?”

“Do you really think Eris cares about you being a mortal or without noble blood? I thought you of all people could see through his mask and see him for who is truly is. And does that really seem like a concern that would prevent him from loving you?”

“Do you hear how advisors and envoys from other Courts speak of Feyre? To them she is an ignorant child. Hardly unhuman. She still is learning so much about the ways of the fae.”

Lucien scoffed. “Only a fool would underestimate Feyre. She is the only reason we were freed from our curse. And she may also be the only reason we won the war against Hybern.”

Y/N stopped walking. “Why is Feyre a High Lady? She is the only female with such a title. Your mother is only the Lady of Autumn.”

“Because Rhysand wanted an equal. He values his mate's opinion and ethics – as he should. He is progressive in a way most fae will fail to ever understand. Could you imagine Beron Vanserra seeing my mother as anything more than his breeder?”

Y/N said nothing, but openly cringed at the word 'breeder.'

“And dare I say…if you truly believed yourself so undeserving of a similar title, then why do you hide away in the libraries of the Forest House, learning everything you can of Autumn Court and the politics of the fae realm?”

Y/N glared at him. “I do not wish to be ignorant.”

Lucien smirked knowingly. “Aye. That is precisely my point.”

She narrowed her gaze. “Why are you so invested in our relationship, Lucien? Recently, you have inserted yourself in a way that you have usually avoided in the past.”

Any mischievous expression that was left on his face had disappeared. He frowned and his eyes held sympathy.

“I believe my time here in the Autumn Court is coming to a close.”

Y/N’s eyes widened. “W-W-What? Why?”

“Yes, my banishment has been lifted. But this place holds far too many bad memories. My nightmares are filled with them. I don’t think I was ever meant to return. I feel as if I was never meant to be in this Court at all...”

“B-But where will you go? Back to Night Court?”

“Most likely. Being away from my mate – despite her ignoring my existence – starts to take a toll on me.”

“You ache for her?” Y/N asked him gently.

Lucien blushed and hesitated before he finally nodded.

“Well, who will I make fun of and torment?” Y/N teased.

But before she could answer, a noise caught her attention.

Y/N held up her hand, signaling for Lucien to also listen. Which was silly, his fae hearing had picked it up long before she had.

“It is just a fox cry,” Lucien pointed out.

Then a small wind passed through and he knew she wasn’t listening to him.

“Not just a fox cry,” Y/N answered and started to follow the sound.

Then she suddenly remembered the smoke hounds that were surrounding them.

Y/N whistled to get their attention. And they whipped around to face her, waiting for her next command.

“Stay with Lucien,” she ordered them gently. “And don’t bite him.”

They all started whining, not liking her to go anywhere without them being able to follow.

Y/N rushed forward following invisible directions.

She didn’t stop until she found the source of the noise. And just around a cluster of trees, she found it.

A red fox kit, shivering underneath the trunk of a giant oak tree.

Y/N rushed forward, but then slowed when she just a few feet away.

The kit eyed her, still shaking from the cold and probably fear.

“Y/N, don’t touch it.” Lucien called out, having followed her a few steps behind, with the smoke hounds at his heels.

Y/N ignored him and kneeled in front of the kit. “Hello there. No need to be afraid. I won't hurt you.”

“Its mother will come back for it,” Lucien tried to tell her.

Then a gust of wind passed through, shaking the dry leaves like a chorus.

“No, it’s all alone,” Y/N called over her shoulder to him. Clearly, the wind had told her. “His mother was killed by hunters. He’s been here for days, waiting for her.”

She turned back to the kit. “Come on, little one. I will look after you. I know those dogs over there seem big and scary, but I won’t let them harm you.”

The kit let out a little whimper.

“I know you want your mama. But she isn’t coming back. I’m so sorry. But I will keep you safe.”

Then the kit shakily walked toward Y/N.

As he did, she took off her cloak, preparing to wrap up the shivering fox in it.

“What shall we name you?” Y/N asked the kit gently, as she stood with it wrapped cozily in her arms.

The wind brushed through her hair, and Y/N giggled at what they said. “The wind thinks we should call you Ronan. How does that sound?”

The kit squeaked out a happy noise.

“Ronan it is then,” Y/N answered back with a smile.

But when she turned to walk back to the others, Lucien was staring at her strangely.

“What? What is it?”

Lucien blinked, snapping himself out of it. “Nothing. It is only…there was once a tradition in Autumn Court. High Lords would gift their Lady of Autumn a fox kit to raise. Obviously the tradition hasn’t been practiced since before Beron’s time.”

“O-Ohh,” Y/N managed to stutter out.

What was he trying to say?

“Foxes are sacred animals in this Court,” Lucien continued. “Though they are tricky to tame, once you do, they are fiercely loyal creatures.”

“So why are you looking at me like that?” She asked.

“The Cauldron works in mysterious ways,” was all he would give her. “Come. Let us get our new friend home.”

Ronan almost instantly fell asleep as Y/N carried him to the Forest House. The kit already trusted her to keep him safe.

Y/N started muttering to him as they entered the gates. “We will get you the softest bed. And I will feed you fresh fruit and I’ll sneak the best cuts of meats for you. You will be spoiled rotten, Ronan.”

“Motherly instinct has already kicked in, has it?” Lucien teased.

But he didn’t expect for her entire body to stiffen.

“I have no desire to be a mother,” she answered darkly before she could stop herself.

That was when Lucien put together a whole different argument for Y/N forcing distance between her and Eris.

His posture straightened and his mouth opened slightly. Without thinking, he blurted out. “You are worried about an heir.”

It didn’t come out as a question; it was a statement.

Lucien now looked at her as if he could read her very mind, like a daemati. He could see every one of her fears on display. And she just stood their, as vulnerable as ever.

Before Y/N could defend herself or come up with some blatant lie, the guards around them stood at attention and turned to face the direction of the Forest House’s main entrace. And they bowed slightly.

Eris stood at the open door, watching the two of them.

It was the first time he and Y/N had seen each other since the lake.

And the two of them couldn’t take their eyes off one another. Their gazes locked.

“Leave us,” Eris gently commanded without looking away.

All Y/N could do was hear the shuffling of armor as Lucien and his guards quickly made their escape from the front courtyard, leaving her with the male she had been trying to avoid for the past few weeks.

“And who is this?” Eris finally broke the silence, pointing to the fox.

Y/N clutched the kit tighter. “This is Ronan.”

Eris didn’t question her further. Instead he blindsided her with a subject change. “You haven’t been eating.”

She blinked in confusion, then recovered by glaring at him.

“I have respected your wishes to keep my distance these past few weeks,” Eris continued. “But when my guards and servants say you have not been eating nor sleeping, I will ignore such a request.”

“I am fine,” Y/N defied him.

Eris lifted a brow, challenging her.

But she was too tired to pick a fight.

“Come,” Eris gestured behind him toward the Forest House.

And she begrudgingly followed.

The two of them didn’t speak as they walked down the winding halls.

Eris didn’t stop until they were in the grand banquet hall.

There was a feast already prepared on the table. It could’ve fed a royal party. But there were only two dining chairs set at the long table.

“This is far too much food,” Y/N muttered.

“Yes, so you will not have the excuse of disliking the options,” he countered.

And before she could say anything else, he added, “None of it will go to waste. Whatever you don’t eat will be shared with others.”

For good measure, he sent her warning look and pointed at a chair. “Sit, Y/N. And eat.”

Y/N knew there was no use arguing about this. And the smell of the food alone made her realize how hungry she was. Her stomach ached from the emptiness.

She slowly sat with Ronan in her lap, who was fast asleep.

“And are you here to simply watch me?” Y/N asked Eris.

“No, I’m joining you.” He answered as he pulled out the other chair.

Y/N listened to her stomach and grabbed a few things that seemed appetizing, but also would give her fuel to continue working rigorously.

As if Eris knew she was already thinking about getting back to work, he commented. “The humans are in good health. I have my finest soldiers guarding them at all times. I even sent some of the hounds there to play with the children.”

“I know,” Y/N mumbled. Her eyes flickered up to his. “I know you will not let any harm come to them while they are here.”

He blinked. “Then why will you not rest?”

“If I can keep helping them, then I must.”

Eris sighed. “I am not telling you to stop. I am asking that you find balance. You will be helping no one if you are not taking care of yourself. Eating consistent meals and getting a full night’s rest is part of that.”

“I know,” Y/N repeated quietly.

Eris seemed taken aback by her submission. He was fully prepared for her to spend the whole meal arguing with him. But it only proved how exhausted she must be.

Without allowing himself to think of stopping, Eris’ hand reached toward Y/N’s face and cupped her cheek so gently.

“Please, talk to me.”

His words were pleading. His eyes desperate.

Her eyes teared up, but she blinked to control her emotions. “I-I-I’m just tired.”

“Yes, I know.” Eris agreed, but his look indicated that it was obvious there was something more than her general exhaustion.

“I do not like being away from you,” Y/N finally admitted quietly. “But I know it is what we must do.”

If she was less tired, she would never have allowed herself to speak such words.

Eris sighed and finally leaned back in his chair, dropping his hand from her cheek. “What I must do to convince you that it isn’t?”

But Y/N just shook her head, quietly begging him not to have this conversation right now.

As if sensing her turmoil, Ronan woke up startled. Then he took in Eris and growled as menacingly as a little, helpless kit could.

Y/N giggled as the ridiculousness of it brought her out of her gutter of emotions and cut the tension that had been building.

“Hush. None of that,” Y/N laughed before kissing the top of Ronan’s head.

Eris gave her a look, silently asking, ‘Are you going to explain this to me now?’

“I found him in the woods,” her voice sad as she explained. “His mother was killed by hunters. I’m going to look after him now.”

“You have a kind heart, Y/N.” Eris explain softly. “Any in need within your reach, you help. But when will you allow others to do the same for you?”

She couldn’t answer such a question. Instead, she stroked Ronan’s head and went back to eating.

The two ate in silence for the rest of the meal.

Eris didn’t stop eating until Y/N did, not wanting to give her a reason for finishing before she was actually full.

“I am sorry,” Y/N told him.

He gave her a questioning look.

“For worrying you.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I will always be worried about you, Y/N.”

And they both heard the unsaid possibilities with such words.

If she were to truly leave Autumn Court and Prythian altogether, how much sleep would Eris lose worrying about his mate being away from him, living a life without him? Could someone worry themselves so sick that they left the living completely?

“Come,” Eris stood and walked behind her chair to pull it out. “I will walk you to your bedroom.”

Silence once again settled between them.

But any time Eris got somewhat close to Y/N, Ronan would give him a warning growl. Clearly it hardly took any time for the little fox to grow attached to Y/N – and protective.

“Now I know how Lucien feels with my smoke hounds…” Eris muttered with a smirk.

“You don’t mind that I’ve taken him in?” Y/N finally asked.

“If it will make you happy, you could take on a dragon as a pet. However, it is not all that unusual for the ladies of this Court to take foxes as companions.”

“So I’ve heard…”

Eris nodded. “Did you learn that from your reading or from my loudmouthed brother?”

Y/N smiled. “The latter. He said the Cauldron worked in mysterious ways...but didn't elaborate."

His face turned serious. “Yes, it does.”

They were at he bedchambers just a moment later.

Eris stalled. “Goodnight, Y/N. Do try and get some rest tonight.”

—🍁—🍁—

Y/N shot up in bed, gasping for breath from a nightmare.

She was covered in sweat and had even soaked her nightgown, as well as the bedding.

Then she looked around and immediately found another reason for it: the fire at the other end of the room was roaring and none of the windows were open.

Strange. She always opened all of them before going to sleep.

No wonder she had sweat through everything, her room was like an oven. And the wind that comforted her every night while she slept had been kept out.

But then images of her nightmare flashed in her mind.

Her sister, eyes staring lifelessly up at the full-moon sky. Her dead child in her arms along with her.

Y/N had repressed the memory for so long, hardly allowing herself to think of her sister.

But Lucien bringing up motherhood and heirs earlier that day must have unlocked it from deep within her subconscious.

She shook her head as if the movement would erase the memories.

Then she slowly got out of bed to open the windows.

But as soon as she would swing one open, the wind would slam it shut.

Y/N glared at the gesture. “What are you playing at?”

She tried another window, and the wind did the same.

“Do you wish for me to roast alive?”

But the wind was not taking her sass.

Suddenly, a tornado-like gust flew into the room, whipping all the windows open.

“Go…to…him.” The wind called. “Do…not…be…alone.”

Then the windows all slammed shut in unison.

It should’ve made Y/N jump, but she'd grown accustomed to their dramatics.

And they were right: she didn’t want to be alone. And she definitely didn’t want to try to go back to sleep, fearing that she’d see more of her sister’s cold, dead body.

Forgoing a shawl or robe, Y/N tiptoed down the halls.

When she reached her destination, her fist hovered over the door.

But before she could knock, the door flung open.

“Oh,” Y/N gasped. “I…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be bothering you.”

There stood Eris, looking somewhat alarmed. He was shirtless, only wearing sleep shorts that stopped midway down his thighs. His hair was slightly messy, proving that he had been sleeping at some point – or at least trying to.

“What’s wrong?” Eris asked.

“Did you know it was me at the door?”

“Of course. I can smell you,” he explained as if it were obvious.

Eris could also feel her in his heart and his soul. She was his mate, after all. But he kept that bit to himself.

“Right,” she answered, feeling stupid for even asking.

He took a step closer to her. “Y/N, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Her answer hurried out, not wanting to alarm him. “It was just…I had a nightmare. A-A-And the wind is being cruel, making my room far too hot.”

But she quickly shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said once again. “I shouldn’t have woken you.”

She tried to make her escape, turning to leave.

Then she was suddenly being scooped up into Eris’ arms.

She squeaked in surprise and her arms gripped his shoulders by instinct.

He carried her fully into his bedchambers and kicked the door closed behind him.

“Eris, put me down!” But her voice was anything but stern.

“No.”

Then they were in his bedroom. And though it was nighttime, the moon still clearly displayed the giant windows taking up an entire wall. And they were all open, letting in the brisk night air.

‘Traitors,’ Y/N thought to herself.

Then Y/N realized that she’d never been in Eris' room before. Well, she stayed in his old room. But this was clearly a chamber for a High Lord, and it showed.

“This is unnecessary…” she groaned when Eris walked toward the giant bed.

He ignored her, of course, and gently placed her on the side of his bed.

Y/N expected him to jump right in along with her. But instead he took a step back and kneeled in front of her, forearms balancing on his knees.

“You have two choices: you can either tell me about your nightmare or you can keep it to yourself. But either way, I am sleeping in this bed beside you. Is that understood?”

Y/N was taken aback by his calm, yet unmoving, authority.

Realizing that he was expecting some sort of response, all she could mange was a stiff nod.

He waited a few moments to see if she would speak.

Instead, Y/N laid down in his bed, turning so her back faced him and pulled the covers high over her shoulders.

Eris sighed and stood, walking over to the other side of the bed.

He slowly and carefully joined her under the covers, making sure to keep a respectable distance between them. Which was fairly easy with how large the bed was.

He settled on his side, watching Y/N as she got lost in her head.

When he stopped moving, the room was filled with the crackling of the fire in the room that was much lower and calmer than the one in Y/N’s room.

A rumbling of thunder started in the distance and rain began to fall outside.

“I dreamt of my sister,” Y/N whispered.

Eris just waited, silently hoping his mate would keep speaking.

“She died in childbirth.”

He shifted ever so closer. “I thought your entire coven was killed by a nearby village.”

“They were,” Y/N muttered. “This was only a year before that. She had fallen in love with man from the village before the one that slaughtered us. He was smitten…but he did not love her the same way she loved him. Men were not common companions of ours. They either feared us – or wished to tame us and rip us away from our coven to take us for themselves.”

Her eyes glazed over at the memory.

“She thought he would travel with us, that she could have a family and her coven. It only took a couple of months before she was with child. But just weeks before the baby was due, there were complications and she went into labor. And even with a whole coven of magic, we couldn’t save her. They said that the man had cursed her – whether he realized it or not – and the magic was too strong to save her. He wasn’t even there when it happened."

Her voice shook as she finished. "I held my sister’s hand as the life left her body. Her baby didn’t survive.”

Tears dripped down Y/N’s face.

“We had a ceremony for her... and he didn't come. It was like he had never met her at all. He took what he wanted, and didn’t mourn my sister. But he was the only reason she was dead.”

Y/N rubbed the tears from her face.

“What was her name?” Eris asked her gently.

A sad smile pulled at her lips. “Neve. Her name was Neve.”

Eris couldn’t help himself any longer. He pulled Y/N to him, cradling her into his warm chest.

He kissed the top of her head before he whispered in her ear. “I am sorry that you lost her – and in such a manner.”

“I thought I was so alone after she died. But nothing could’ve prepared me for the loneliness when all of them were taken from me.”

Eris’ pupils shrunk as he got a dazed look. “I grew up in a home filled with servants, advisors, courtiers, my brothers. But…” His words died out. Perhaps it was selfish to compare his life to hers.

But Y/N squeezed him.

“The worst loneliness is felt while surrounded by others,” Y/N offered sympathetically. “Yes, I lost my family, my coven…but to live as you did – and for centuries! I am sorry for you, too.”

Eris pulled away from her so he could look in her eyes.

“Y/N, we do not have to be alone anymore.”

She gave him a pained look. So, Eris wouldn’t push her.

“At least for tonight,” he corrected slowly. “We will not be.”

He pulled her into his chest again. “Sleep, Y/N. I will fight your nightmares.”

And it only took her minutes of listening to the sounds of the rain mix with Eris’ soft breathing and smelling his autumn scent for her to give in to sleep.

—🍁—🍁—

The next morning, banging at the bedroom door startled Y/N awake. Either Eris had heard the interrupter long before her or he had already been awake for awhile, because he barely reacted to the sound.

Though with Eris’ magic, no one was permitted to enter without his permission.

Y/N was sleeping on top of Eris’ chest as he sat with his back against the headboard and his arms wrapped around her.

“Eris!” Lucien yelled as he continued to bang. “Y/N has gone missing! She was not in her room and she slept through her lessons! No one has seen her in the house all morning!”

Eris and Y/N shared a mischievous look, but still didn’t move away from each other.

Suddenly, Y/N couldn’t stop herself from falling into a fit of giggles. When Eris smirked down at her, she stopped, moved away from him, and hid under the covers.

With a groan, Eris got up and moved to the door.

Even just the subtle action of opening the door was done with clear irritation. “She is fine,” he growled at his youngest brother.

Lucien looked over his shoulder just in time to see Y/N peak out from the covers, her face clearly hot with embarrassment.

“Oh, good.” Lucien’s tone was sarcastic, but it was clear he was honestly relieved to see her alright. “Mother wishes to prepare you for the coronation.”

“W-What?” Y/N stuttered out her confusion as she sat up in bed.

Lucien glared at his brother. “You didn’t tell her.”

Eris rolled his eyes. “We both know this is an unnecessary spectacle…”

Lucien glared harder, then turned his attention to Y/N. “An official celebration for Eris becoming High Lord. It will be a grand ordeal, I assure you. And my mother was looking for you to get your dress fittings started.”

––––––––

Thank you thank you thank you for being patient with me. Also, thank you to everyone you messaged kind and supportive words. hope this was worth the wait. 😅

Chapter XXIII

#gust & flame #eris vanserra #eris #eris acotar #eris x reader #eris vanserra x reader #autumn court #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #high lord of autumn #lucien vanserra

333 notes · View notes

blindbeta · 1 month

Note

hi there! i have an idea for a character with albinism who’s visually impaired as a result, and i’m writing in a medieval setting. i know photophobia is common with albinism - i have photophobia myself and am very mildly visually impaired, to give some form of context to who is asking this question. in this setting, tinted sunglasses very likely do not exist. i was wondering if them wearing something like a black veil over their eyes to shield themself from sunlight would be offensive as it could be seen as falling into the absolutely dreadful “blind person with a blindfold / with their eyes covered” trope. obviously, i would make it clear that the veil is to block sunlight, and they would not wear it at all during the night, which is when the majority of the story takes place anyhow. i’m wondering if i should still avoid this or find an alternative way for them to protect their eyes without breaking the setting’s time period?

Photophobia and Covering Eyes to Block Sun

The post that the asker references is this one I made about the trope of blind characters covering their eyes. Other blind people may think differently, but this sounds fine to me.

In real life, people with photophobia use things like sunglasses or hats. The veil is similar to those options. Perhaps a hat might be another option if you wanted to explore something that might work for the time period? The hat might also help in avoiding covering the character’s face entirely, which allows you to sidestep this problem.

My only concern with the veil in particular is that it may obscure residual vision, which can be irritating to some blind people. Conversely, I can see a veil being a good device for eye protection that may not be provided by a hat, such as avoiding wind-blown sand, dirt, or other debris.

Also, you mentioned the character would not wear it at night. It might also be possible to have the character remove the veil when indoors or in shaded areas, provided they come across any in your story.

I think it would help if other characters use veils for a similar purpose as well, much like with sunglasses. Sunglasses aren’t exclusive to blind people. Having your blind character refrain from wearing it all the time is also good, too, just as I suggested in the post linked above.

Importantly, your character isn’t wearing it just because. They’re wearing it because of photophobia. You can make this clear in the writing. Having sighted characters who wear veils and having blind characters who don’t wear them would be great, if you can do that. Showing variety is important with challenging widely accepted stereotypes.

I don’t like it when blind people are expected to cover our eyes because it makes abled people uncomfortable. I also feel frustrated when blind characters just happen to cover their eyes without any explanation as to why, as if it is required.

It sounds like you are doing what you can to avoid these issues so far.

A sensitivity reader would also be helpful, especially if you can find people with albinism, photophobia, and other similar experiences to your character. @sensitivityreaders may be a good start.

Other blind folks, what do you think?

#blind #blind characters #writing blind characters #blind characters covering their eyes

97 notes · View notes

alpaca-clouds · 7 months

Text

How to Blow Up a Pipeline (or: why the climate movement is failing)

Okay, talking about politics this week, let me talk about this amazing book that you all should read, because it is not that long and it really makes a lot of good points. I found this book through the Philosophy Tube video a couple of years ago.

So, what is this book about?

To put it lightly: It is about how the climate movement is failing over their refusal to use any sort of violence or sabotage. And it is about the ethics of violence.

Which is not only important to the climate movement, but all sorts of progressive movements. Which again brings me back to what I talked about so many times before: Being against a revolution is being against change. And the left in general has a problem with idealizing parcifism to an unhealthy degree.

Let me explain: The left has in general very much drunken the cool-aid to accept that there is no violence happening right now, so using violence against the perceived non-violence is wrong. But that entire idea is bullshit.

Letting people starve, while there is enough food around for everyone, is a form of violence.

Letting people die of preventable deseases, because they cannot afford health care, is a form of violence.

Letting people die in extreme weather, just so that a few people can profit from fossil fuels... Well, that is a form of violence, too.

But left people - especially white, leftists - have very much accepted that non-action can never be violence. So, not giving someone the food they need, cannot be violence in their point of view. So, using violence to act against the system that lets this happen again and again... that is "out of proportion" in their point of view. Because they do not suffer themselves, they do not perceive the violence.

The book talks about how specifically the climate movement refuses to use any form of violence, even just in the form of sabotage, in which no human would ever come to harm. Which is why the title is "how to blow up a pipeline". Because blowing up a pipeline would harm those, who profit from climate change, from the fossil fuels. The book is also about how the climate movement then goes ahead to appropriate civil rights leaders, without really understanding the context they were in. Because they will name Martin Luther King, Ghandi or Nelson Mandela as examples of people who succeeded with non-violence, without acknowledging that all three of those leaders were leaders of a non-violent group that closely associated with a violent movement that aimed for the same changes. And through that contrast - of a violent group and a peaceful group with widespread support - the people in power were forced to make a move to work towards them to some degree.

Now, technically the book involved nothing new to me. Because I thought about this topic - about the ethics and visuals of violence - for a long while now. It also is fitting with the entire French Revolution thing I spoke about on Sunday. Because we see it in the judgement of the French Revolution as well. On how there a) was a peaceful group first, and b) the violence that happened, happened in response to other violence.

And as the book points out: The fossil fuel industry does not care. As a German I know this too well. And I think it is no accident that a lot of the examples of this in the book come from Germany. Our climate movement here is very tame. It is mostly just kids (like people between their teens and early twenties) doing protests in forms of blocking streets and the likes. Yet, the fossil lobby and those in power will call that "terrorism" and will call that one time when folks tore down a fence at the coal mine as "extreme violent behavior". They are doing massive and at times violent police action against those KIDS, who organize the street blockades. Having thrown literal teenagers into prison for at times weeks, before judges intervened clearly saying that "the kids have done nothing illegal".

They do not care that the movement is non-violent. And the movement will not get anywhere, without some group standing in and doing some damage to the most important thing those people can think of: Their base line.

#how to blow up a pipeline #climate movement #fridays for future #climate action now #anarchism #anti fossil fuels #protest #solarpunk

168 notes · View notes

alatismeni-theitsa · 2 months

Note

https://www.tumblr.com/cardassiangoodreads/722229585723424768/im-just-going-to-say-right-now-that-i-dont-think?source=share

Just curious about your thoughts

The post and the tags because this person has blocked me preemptively - and they're lucky cause I wouldn't shat all over them. This person is a USAmerican very removed from Italian culture.

My Answer:

Ooooo coloniser rhetoric in the 21st century! That's a sight for sore eyes! (Which became sore cause they see such takes all the time).

Funny how this person talks about how objects belonging to Greece right after saying that our heritage figures (like our gods and heroes) don't belong to us. If Greek culture is a global culture why can't foreigners keep the objects? Hmmm I wonder…. They still put the "Greek" or "Roman" to characterise the stories but the moment Greeks and Italians speak up, then all of a sudden "the stories akksuually have no culture, they belong to all of us!" 😂😂😂

I wonder if this person understands what the term "heritage" means, because gods and heroes are definitely part of one's heritage and we never stopped preserving the texts that spoke about them, and they are still part of our living culture.

I'm all for listening to the members of the diaspora but when we are at the point when one of them is regurgitating imperialist points, not only there's a big divide with current opinions in Italy, but I also cannot leave such points unanswered. Also, many Italians, like Greeks, are sick of how their myths are treated but this person didn't even check, they just spoke over them. Because they didn't bother to ask people, obviously.

Ancient Greek heroes and gods still mean a lot to us. They always meant. They were born from visions, dreams, and other sacred methods, or oral traditions from our ancestors, reflecting specifically the ancient Greek culture. It's good that foreigners can access them and relate to a degree but divorcing any folk story from its origin is always negative. Especially when this culture is still ongoing.

Our Christianity is revamped ancient Greek religion, I wonder, does this person know that? Our temples have the same parts. We still have home altars, and divinities presiding over domains. Our hagiography is how we used to paint our gods and creatures. We still have almost the same nature creatures. The customs have remained and have persisted, and I won't have someone who clearly ignores this say "They gave the religion up". Ftou.

Also when it comes to our gods and their symbols (and yes btw we call them "our" gods lots of times), we can deduce things from our local tradition and environment, whereas an Anglophone who worships the gods or is interested in them but doesn't know stuff about the country of origin of those gods has no idea about our history, methods and environment. Example: Foreigner refuses to accept that there's a pine cone on Dionysos' thyrsos (although it looks like a pinecone) because "it doesn't make sense" and very excitedly suggests another plant instead. Greek lets them know that it is actually a pine cone not only because it looks like a pinecone but because the pinecone has been used in our winemaking process forever, and Dionysos also presided over this process. Guess Greece and its environment and it's people are still relevant to the religion, and it also turns out that the symbols of the gods derived from the Greek reality. Who knew!

Now onto another point. Op says that the Greek stories became "global culture" because they got shared everywhere. Them being shared is not a bad thing! However just studying them and be taught about them is not culture. By this logic, and since Egyptians "gave their old religion up", ancient Egyptian gods are now MY ancient gods because I can find books about ancient Egypt at my local bookstore. woww 😂 What about this? Almost every Greek knows 100 and 1 nights. We have made it into a play also. SOO... these are our cultural stories now, right? West Asians and Arabs in general shouldn't speak if they ever see us and other nations being ridiculous about the stories, and stereotypes and changing the characters a lot but still claim we are doing great, right? Got it.

The way this post is written it's like Germans and Brits kept the ancient Greek myths alive since ancient years or something. Greeks themselves never stopped preserving their own ancient texts, and they escaped with them in Europe after the fall of Constantinople, so NW Europeans REDISCOVERED them 1500 years later. They had lost interest by then.

Funny they mention different nations that were Hellenized or became Roman territories because people living in these nations are exactly those who don't speak about Greek and Roman culture as "a global culture". It's always North Westerners who start these discussions, I wonder why…..

People from the aforementioned nations already interact healthily with their ancient heritage - which is not Greek or Roman culture but always a local version with Greek or Roman elements, and that's great too. I haven't heard a Pakistani say "Theseus is our hero too!" or a Tunisian say "Zeus is our local ancient father of the gods!" Because they know exactly how the mix happened and what their national identity is. And I'm getting more and more tired of seeing Westerners erase these experiences too, and just make assumptions for other nations.

I swear I mostly see USians getting butthurt about other people getting conquered 2.000 years ago. The nations themselves don't give a shiiit. Guys, I know our antiquities are the only interesting thing about us in your eyes but Please Make An Effort to understand people from ancient cultures and how we don't give a shit about these conquests cause they happened Two Thousand Years Ago, and we had other tragic stuff in the meantime. Thanks

Also, as I said, these conquests are not why Greek myths are popular today. The conquests were so incredibly old that the average person in these countries (Balkans, the Mediterranean, West Asia) - and Greece - had no idea who built the ancient ruins they saw around! Does this person think Greek myths were handed down from Moroccan grandma to Moroccan grandchild from 300 BCE to 2024 continuously or something?

Greek myths are very popular in most parts of the world today because the West (meaning not Greece, especially at the time when we were "cattle") popularized them non-stop the last few centuries. And they did a shitty job, at that. In fact, Greeks abroad have been cringing about this treatment of our myths since the 15th century but, as usual, we were not being heard.

And what does "global culture" even mean?? As if you see any culture to how the US (because OP focuses on the US and the retellings there, from the looks of it) interacts with our stories. As if they care about the meaning of the story. (There are a few notable exceptions ofc but they remain FEW) People with such arguments just want to feel guilt-free when using our myths out of context. That's why Western academic cycles often run in circles about "what the myths mean" while Greeks have told you exactly what they mean.

The US audience is still not free of the coloniser WASP approach. They see our myths STILL as a product of modern White Supremacy instead of an ancient Greek product, and they often condemn the myths and "better" them by completely pushing them into USian lens to the point they don't look or feel like the original myths anymore. (All the above you don't dare to do with cultural stories and figures from nations you want to respect, by the way.) Is this the cultural "exchange" they're talking about?

I'm done hearing in the international spaces that my culture is "boring" because USians have seen horrible adaptation after horrible adaptation. I'm tired of USians making wild assumptions about how "horrible" our gods are because whoever told them the myths didn't give a simple explanation about our ancient societies. (Don't start crap about accessibility, there are very accessible ways to talk to kids, teens, and adults about other cultures and teach them age-appropriate tales) I'm tired of my heritage being commercialized to that degree. All Greeks roll their eyes in USAmerican movies about our culture and we call them Amerikaniés. And don't worry, I'm getting to the real stuff.

How our ancient culture is treated and how we are sidelined has real consequences on our lives abroad AND inside our culture, on how we are perceived, on how our surnames are perceived, on how we "don't look like Greeks", on how our Greek myth retellings don't get published abroad! They speak in front of us about our own words as if they are magical and mythical and strange! The opinions and perspectives of Greeks are not sought abroad, and you are a masterclass on why this happens. We make y'all uncomfortable. You feel better if you forget about us.

Another exhibit: All the hurtful comments of foreigners who centered the HUGE milestone of same-sex marriage in Greece because all they could imagine - while queer Greeks suffered a lot these last few months - was their wedding in Gay Mykonos and Lesbian Lesbos. This was their first reaction. They didn't possibly think that Greeks were seeing that because we are far away and irrelevant, right?

Obviously culture-mixing is not bad but the West didn't mix our culture with theirs. They just took it for entertainment and their popular culture never saw the depth or the meaning of it. OP speaks about how our stories were spread while actively avoiding speaking in depth about the problematic elements of that spread. They recognize to a small degree how Greeks feel about the matter but they dismiss most of our concerns in such a nonchalant way that all that comes to my mind is "privilege".

And speaking of power… Greeks have less systemic power than the countries of the West. We are the US' puppet, are you kidding me?? Our armies get deployed wherever the US wants. Our politicians don't even fart without a telephone from the US. We are the whores of the German, Belgian and French governments. Greeks abroad still face discrimination for their customs and how they look, and how their food smells, and how our religion is and how our hymns sound, and other ridiculous stuff. Our infrastructure is slowly being bought out by Germans and USians to various degrees. There are different scales to exploitation and bigotry, I agree, but that doesn't mean that only the roughest bigotry cases are worth discussing.

"We could also talk about the additional level of exploitation in how imperial powers used Greek mythology as an argument for the "superiority of the West," while at the same time plundering Greece's resources and treating it like it exists only as a tourist site" They are SO close to getting it, and yet their post says otherwise.

Fetishism of a culture makes the members of the actual culture feel alienated and hurt. As a person of Italian ancestry you should know how this specific "global culture" argument has been used to strip Greeks and Italians of any claims, so the "dirty Greeks" can be separated from the "pure WASP" USian upper class of the time who deemed themselves more suitable to engage with the material.

"Greeks spreading their culture through military force all over (eventually) most of Europe" what the hell?? Sorry, guys, (side-eyes the other Greeks) we conquered Romania??? wow!

Plus, this person doesn't know the difference between the Greek colonisation of Italy and Sicily and the recent European colonisation, and - to say it very politely - they should open a book.

By The Way

You can still interact with the Greek culture without having a colonial attitude! Nobody is barring you! I want to make this abundantly clear!

Most importantly, you don't have to make arguments for "global culture" when it's simple to place the myths inside their original context while interacting with them! You just have to read a bit more books that are on the internet and your library for free! Recognising that a foreign culture is not yours, and that you engage with it because it's just popular, doesn't stop anyone from interacting with it. You simply refuse to interact with them at the proper, deeper level, because you always want to center them around yourself. You want to interact with foreign stories just how the colonisers did it. Congrats.

I'm talking about the majority of cases. Of course people in the US can take all sorts of inspiration from foreign myths and adapt them to their reality. And it's a good result when they're being respectful and have studied the stories beforehand.

All we ask is to engage with the material in context so you can understand what our ancestors wanted to express. If your only view of Greek myths has come from other Americans and NW Europeans then you see them through coloniser lens. That's non-negotiable. I had people from other countries recite to me USAmerican viewpoints about the Greek gods, as if they were fact. Cause it's the only exposure that's happening worldwide right now.

You can interact with Greco-Roman myths whether Greece and Rome touched your country or not, we don't care. But please don't get your source from the pop US culture. These people think that it makes sense for nymphs to look like trees (that's an Anglo-Saxon and Celtic nature creature depiction. Ancient Greece was very anthropomorphic). It's not a crime if you change some stuff in a retelling but why willingly ignore the original depictions and what they have to show you for the ancient people who created them?

Pfff... Thank you anon for bringing this trash to me. I needed to - metaphorically - throw something in the trash. It took me a few hours to answer this but well... I do write a lot and this post was full of shit I had to shovel.

#answered #xenoi doing bs #uscentrism #representation #appropriation #greek myth #greek mythology

76 notes · View notes

scribbledghost · 10 days

Note

Hi! First of all I would like to thank you for your writing! I've only recently stumbled upon your headcanons, but I've already fallen in love with your writing style and neighbor Simon! Can I request Simon with a male or gn reader who works as a rescue or firefighter and has the energy of a golden retriever? Kind of really always eager to help people, even risking his life to do so. It could be a regular Ghost or an au neighbor. I think that would be an interesting dynamic, especially if Simon is already retired and his s/o is doing dangerous work, though not military.

Please take care of yourselves and good luck with your writing! 💜

ohhhh not me realizing you've been waiting on me for this request for... *checks notes*... two months 🫣 I am so sorry. Thank you for your patience :')

So, for this one, I'm gonna go with neighbor Simon! And honestly? You're gonna make him go gray even earlier than he was already on his way to.

He probably picks up one of those emergency scanners. The kind that people usually use to listen to police activity, but he exclusively uses it to listen for fire/rescue. Any time your vehicle isn't at your house, he's probably got the thing on and set to the proper frequency. And when you ARE out on a call, he's glued to it to make sure there aren't any calls for backup/medical at wherever the situation happens to be.

Honestly, you probably remind him a lot of Soap. Eager to help, most of the time at detriment to your own safety. Though at least with Soap, Simon could keep an eye on him while he was off setting charges or infiltrating somewhere. Here? At home? He feels helpless. He can't very well follow you to every housefire or EMS call you go out on (as much as he wants to), so he has to settle for sitting by his little radio.

A nagging feeling tells him this is how military spouses feel. Sitting by, waiting for news that their loved one is safe and coming home. He keeps that radio on his left side always, to ensure it's not affected by his unilateral hearing loss. He wants to make sure he doesn't miss anything.

And yeah, maybe sometimes if you squint, you can see his truck parked a couple blocks away from whatever housefire you're attending. He'll never admit to that though. He just wants you to be safe, that's all. And if that means making sure things don't go too sideways (and being prepared to rush in after you if they do), then it's something he'll gladly cause trouble for.

He appreciates your sunshine-y nature when you're around him. Though it took some adjusting to, he enjoys the optimism and eagerness. It's a fresh change from all the doom and gloom that usually comes with hanging around military folks for too long. Simon probably teases you a lot about the whole "firefighter" gig anyway, asking you how many ladies come up to the handsome fireman while he's in uniform. (And yeah, okay, if you happen to do one of those "fireman calendar" things like stations sometimes do here in the States, he wants a copy. Don't you dare say anything about it though).

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost x reader #simon ghost riley #simon riley x you #simon riley x reader #male reader #ghost scribbles #neighbor simon

57 notes · View notes

cy-cyborg · 2 months

Text

Baldur’s Gate 3’s (accidental) examples of accessibility in a fantasy world

[ID: a screenshot of Baldur's Gate 3's main menu screen, a scene showing the city of baldur's gate and a stone statue sitting under some trees. The title of this post is overlayed onto the image with a small picture of the wheelchair symbol sitting on top of the word "accessibility". /End ID]

When we think of the medieval-European inspired worlds typically associated with fantasy TTRPG’s like Dungeons and Dragons, “wheelchair accessible” is not usually the first thing you’d use to describe such a setting. In fact, it’s pretty widely agreed upon that real-life medieval Europe was a pretty unfriendly place for wheelchair users (and most other disabled folks), so it makes sense that most fantasy settings inspired by the time period would be too.

However, realism and historical accuracy is typically not why most people turn to D&D and other similar games. Last I checked, real life medieval Europe didn’t have flying lizards who could shoot magic from their faces and sentient robot men, so personally, I see no harm in adding a stone slab next to the stairs inside the dungeon hiding a lich who survived off a strict soul-only diet for 1,000 years.

However, if you’ve spent any time in TTRPG spaces online as a disabled person - or even someone who’s just playing a disabled character, you have very likely come across the argument that wheelchair using player characters shouldn’t be allowed, because making the setting accessible for them would be too distracting and immersion-breaking.

While this is not the only reason these people tend to argue against the use of wheelchairs by player characters in TTRPG’s, it is one I have found especially odd, especially since the release of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a video game based in D&D's Faerûn setting, to which it sticks to fairly loyally. It was a wildly successful game, and I personally have absolutely adored every moment of it.

But one thing I noticed is that the people who cried about the idea of settings in TTRPG’s being made wheelchair accessible because it would be too distracting, out of place and immersion-breaking have been suspiciously quiet about the examples of those same accessibility tools being present in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the whole game would be accessible to a wheelchair using player, far, far from it, but ramps and even elevators appear throughout the game in several locations, and despite the protests aimed at their inclusion in actual D&D, hardly anyone noticed. At least, no one that I’ve seen has mentioned it.

Ramps appear in several places around Baldur’s Gate - the city the game is named after and the final region of the game. Most notably around the docks.

[ID: A picture within the city of Baldur's Gate. Characters are standing around a dead tree looking towards a set of stairs, half of which have been covered by a sturdy looking wooden ramp. /End ID]

Another few can be found in Waning Moon inn, a tavern overrun with undead, not far from Moonrise Towers. The ramps, while honestly hilariously steep, connects the 1st and second floors.

[ID: Two screenshots displayed side-by-side showing steep ramps built within a run-down, abandoned inn. End ID]

There are also multiple elevators located throughout the game, most notably a wooden one that is being blocked by a sleeping bear in the druid’s grove, right at the start of the game.

[ID: A screenshot showing an elivator consisting of an old, wooden mechanism acending a wooden structure. /End ID]

Another can be found at the centre of the Arcane Tower in the Underdark...

ID: A character is standing on a circular, glowing platform located inside a tube-like structure with a door behind the character. /End ID]

and several more can be found in the Temple of Shar in The Shadow Cursed lands: one by the entrance to the temple itself, one that takes you from the end of The Gauntlet of Shar back to the start, and one that takes you down to the inner sanctum of the temple.

[ID: Two more screenshots side-by-side show characters standing on another pair of circular elevator platforms, these two are intricately decorated, and ascend and descend by floating. /End ID]

Now, I know that Larian Studios didn’t include these features for the sake of making their world accessible to wheelchair users. Many of the ramps are located in places that indicate they were to aid carts and carriages moving supplies. The one in The Waning Moon Inn even has some kind of track built into it. The elevators are all also placed in locations where players would likely be backtracking a lot, and seem to mostly be present for our convenience.

But whether this was Larian’s intention or not is irrelevant to the point in my opinion.

While these locations are not fully wheelchair accessible, Baldur’s Gate 3 showed, quite publicly, that it can be done and be lore-friendly, that it won’t break people’s immersion and be “obvious pandering”. the key thing is though, the locations have to be designed with those features in mind from the start. If you make a normal medieval tavern and just replace the stairs with a ramp, it will look out of place. If you try to make elevators that look like the modern day version, it’s going to look out of place, but it doesn’t take much of a change to make either work.

A druid’s grove most likely won’t make an elevator that looks like the modern version we have today, but a big moving, wooden platform operated by a hand crank? That seems much more in-line with their aesthetic. The Waning Moon’s layout wouldn’t look the same if you just plopped a set of stairs down instead of the ramp, because it was likely designed with the extra space something like that would need in mind.

Unfortunately, even in the modern day, the inclusion of things like ramps and lifts are often not really considered in the design of buildings. not fully. This is why a lot of real-world examples, admittedly can sometimes look kind of weird and out of place, especially on older buildings. However, well crafted accessibility options don’t have to stand out. When done well, they are as much a part of the architecture and building or location's design as other features like stairs can be and I think Baldur’s Gate 3 is a great - if accidental - example of how it can look in a fantasy setting and be seamlessly integrated into the world when done right.

When designing a fantasy setting, whether for D&D and other TTRPG’s, for a book, for a comic or whatever else you’re making, remember that just because that’s how it was in real life, doesn’t mean that’s what it has to be like in your setting. The real-life dungeons were just prisons, but TTRPG’s have taken the concept and turned them into these labyrinths filled with puzzles, traps, monsters and treasure. Real-life medieval Europe, for the most part, didn’t allow women to do a lot of things we see modern-day fantasy characters doing, regardless of gender. There are so many commonly accepted differences between the real-life medieval period and fantasy, why can’t an accessible world be one of them too?

54 notes · View notes