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stayinlimbo · 28 days

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We Become We

pairing: husband!lee minho x reader genre/warnings: friends to lovers, marriage of convenience, fluff, poor attempts at me trying to be funny, mc's gender is not specified word count: 1.02k note: i am not dead yay. i tried my best since i haven't had time to write for almost a month so please take this as a peace offering ♡

Marriage. It’s an interesting concept, isn’t it?

You’ve always thought so, at least. Two people agreeing to sign a legal document and tethering their lives to each other for whatever reason, be it love, societal expectations, familial pressure, financial security, etc.

Yours happens to be a man named Lee Minho. The same man you’ve been friends with for as long as you can remember. The same man who asked you to marry him for a reason you didn’t get to learn until he was already down on one knee.

(“I’m sorry, you want me to WHAT?” “Marry me. Please, I need health insurance.”

“Okay, yes, sure, whatever; now please get off the floor. People are staring.”)

Lee Minho, who, after dragging you to the courthouse and legally becoming your husband, finally elaborated on how his job would pay him more and cover both of your health insurances if he was married. So really, in his words, he was “doing you a huge favor” by marrying you.

And, in all honesty, he really was. No, you didn’t have a ring to show off your new husband’s weird skill at finding loopholes in company policy, and you’re like thirty-five percent sure the two of you are committing some kind of marriage fraud, but does it really matter when you can finally start using the hot water in your dingy apartment without worrying if you’ll have enough money to fund your crippling caffeine addiction? The government will have to drag you kicking and screaming before you resort back to mankind’s cruelest form of torture: cold showers.

Not to mention that marriage didn’t even change your relationship with Minho. And why would it? You’re still you, and he’s still him. He gets on your nerves just the same, maybe even a little bit more after he decided to frame your marriage certificate in his living room and send a photo to all your mutual friends. You’ll never forgive Minho for laughing at your helplessly panicked state when the group chat wouldn’t stop exploding with messages and incessant calls.

You’re still his best friend that resides in his apartment four out of seven days of the week while he inhabits yours for the other three. Maybe that’s why, two weeks after your “wedding,” when it was time to renew your lease, Minho suggested with a simple shrug of his shoulders that you move in with him since “you’re here all the time anyway.”

You’ve really got to learn how to say no to him because now you wake up next to your best friend/roommate/husband in his one bedroom, one bathroom apartment at the crack of dawn with a light pressure on your chest and fur in your face when his cats decide you need to wake up right now to feed them.

Not to say you don’t like the new arrangement! No, that would be the furthest from the truth.

Sure, you didn’t appreciate your skin care routine being interrupted by the unexpectedly high-pitched scream Minho let out when he saw you in a face mask for the first time, and what kind of person still has their phone’s brightness turned up all the way before bed? But who else would willingly tolerate your deliriousness before your morning coffee or indulge in your pleas to cook your favorite food three days in a row?

Living with Minho has only made the purely platonic feelings you harbor for him grow stronger.

That’s what the fluttering in your chest means every time you see him, right? The reason for the smile that grows on your face when you hear the distinct jingling of keys at the front door?

Yeah, that must be why heat spread across your cheeks when he handed you his phone to text one of his friends back, because since when did the heart emoji make an appearance next to your pinned contact name?

You just care about each other, that’s all. It’s normal to want to make sure he arrived at work safely and ask how his day is going during your lunch breaks. It’s normal to start receiving back hugs before bed—a comforting weight as Minho’s chin rests on your shoulder while you apply the rest of the products to your face.

It’s natural to have doubts about the nature of your relationship during an evening walk, acutely aware of his fingers lightly brushing against yours as you silently study his features illuminated by the soft glow of the scattered streetlights. What if he meets someone else and falls in love with them and wants a divorce and– oh.

Has he always looked at you like that? With his gaze softening as it locks with yours? With the corners of lips lifting into the gentlest smile you’ve ever seen? With all the stars shining above you finding a second home in his eyes? A look so loving that it takes your breath away and you can’t tell if you’re about to laugh or cry in relief.

And when you return home to get ready for bed, the familiar feeling of hands wrapping around your waist and a careful pressure resting by the crook of your neck quells the remnants of your worries.

It’s you and Minho. Minho and you, just as it always has been. Just as it’s always meant to be.

The distance between your bodies on the bed becomes nonexistent when you curl yourself into his side, laying your head on his shoulder and intertwining your legs with his as he immediately, unhesitantly, adjusts his arm, his fingertips finding purchase on exposed skin and roaming across the span of your back. A kiss to the top of your head is the last thing you feel before the gentle lull of breathing and the rise and fall of his chest begin to soothe you to sleep.

…

Ah, marriage—what an interesting concept. Two people agreeing to sign a legal document and tethering their lives to each other for whatever reason, be it love, societal expectations, familial pressure, financial security, etc.

You love your husband, and you’re beginning to think he loves you too.

liked this work? want to let me know how i did? please like, comment, and/or reblog; they are greatly appreciated my asks are always open ♡

taglist: @linospuddin @linocz @spicyhyunn

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jupiters-galaxy · 7 months

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I've seen some people criticize how quickly Peter and Steph fell for each other (to the point of being the thing they treasure most), and while I do understand some of the criticism, I think there are a few key things that some people aren't picking up on.

-Treasuring each other IS NOT strictly romantic. While it's true that Peter is in love with Steph, and Steph with Peter, it goes deeper than their repressed love story. They ARE friends. They do genuinely like spending time together, although their connection is relatively new. They care about each other as people first; neither of them seem like they NEED to be in a relationship with the other. They seek each other out even when they're just friends.

-It's also important to remember that the lords in black only want treasured things in the metaphorical sense: they can't give up OBJECTS. It presumably has to be a person or a concept.

-It's important to remember that both of them have been through an unbelieveable ordeal. Peter's closest friends were murdered. Stephanie lost her DAD, and although they weren't close, that can't have been easy to stomach. I cannot stress this enough; Peter and Steph quite literally have no one else left. Peter has no other friends. It logically tracks for him to be attached to Stephanie, as she is someone who experienced the same traumas as him. From Stephanie's angle, she doesn't really like her friends, and since objects are out of the question, Peter is the only person who she feels truly knows her. He's really the only option for her, even if her feelings are confusing.

-I also want to point out that you can really kind of feel them falling for each other, although it is admittedly subtext. Peter is weak to Steph as early as the opening number. He does out of character things to make her happy; a compliment from her makes his day amazing; he faces his biggest fear in hopes of seeing her at Pasqualli's. Stephanie cares for him from the first day they meet, although her care is a lot more ambiguous. She teases him about how he's into her, but at the same time, she's protective of him, feeling horrible that he got beat up and wanting to stop it. Even beyond that, she's inclusive towards him, inviting him to hang out with her simply because she likes his company. Her attraction to him makes sense: we know that Steph has a thing for funny and smart guys, and Peter's geeky snarkiness ABSOLUTELY fits. Their relationship is one that just makes a lot of sense!

-Their relationship is actually portrayed really realistically near the end. They're not intense about their love, nor are they overtly sexual. In NPMD, they don't even kiss! The furthest they go is dancing close together and having conversations, cautiously stepping into a new relationship that they mutually want. Despite the heavy nature of their confessions in As Cool As I Think I Am (Reprise), the payoff is not drastic. The confessions were likely only so heavy because they both thought Peter was about to die. Of course he would go out detailing how he loves her, and of course she would say it back; their last memories together should be good ones. When faced with normalcy, they progress as most teens would.

-At the end of the day, they're two traumatized teenagers who already liked each other before the trauma. It makes sense that they feel like the other is the most important to them; after all, Grace is the only other survivor from their group, and they're thinking about her in a less than favorable way past Richie's death, if not sooner than that.

This is not to say they're perfect, but I think their portrayal was really sweet and a joy to watch. I think the implications are extremely interesting idk!! I love Peter and Steph, I think they're more nuanced than they're getting credit for. I love to see cringefail nerds getting badass and amazing girlfriends, let me have this!!!!!

Anyways yeah that's my hot take. One of many. NPMD is consuming me someone help

#nerdy prudes must die #team starkid #starkid #starkid npmd #npmd #peter spankoffski #stephanie lauter #lautski #npmd spoilers

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marrycv · 1 month

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You dont gotta love me, we dont have to speak…

paring : mean!ellie x dumb!reader

warnings : language, smut, mention of alcohol, weed. Ellie choking reader. fingering (r!receiving) thigh riding (r!receiving). Ellie’s a meany and Reader is dumb asf.

summary :

You didn’t know how it happened. How you and Ellie Williams ended up by being alone in the bathroom. How her hands were everywhere on you while your lips were glued to hers. How you moaned in her mouth when her tongue danced with yours. How you were rocking your hips to catch some friction to her knee that was between your thighs.

It was supposed to be a stupid game.

You were drinking your favourite drink. Something you preferred in all the alcohol on the drink table. You came with your best friend Dina, but she kinda disappeared in her current situationship with Jesse.

These two were glued on eachothers, drunk and completely unaware of the others that was around them. You were also invisible to everyone now. All alone and you were observing everyone dancing, making out, smoking and doing some crazy shit.

You tried to walk towards the bathroom when someone bumped in your shoulder.

“hey! look where your going, cunt” Ellie shout at you, completely high, red eyes and flushed cheeks. She probably just had sex with someone- it was the kind of person she was. Having one night stand with her little fan girls and forgetting their names the day after. But in some way they didn’t care less, they won in some kind of way, and honestly acted like they did. But in a way, they did won, it was Ellie, Ellie fucking Williams.

“I beg your pardon?” you shout back. Ellie was always mean with you. You never understood why, she was flirting or kind and funny with everyone else, but you. so you hated her too.

“you heard me” and she rolled her eyes at you.

you hated when people would disrespect you, and it made you always angrier with ellie.

you walked closer to ellie, wanting to look intimidating, but somehow she was a little bit taller than you- just like an inch, but you couldn’t overpower her, not when her eyes were piercing into your soul with a venom that would make you incapable to look away even if you wanted to. You just stared at her, like she wasn’t insulting you in the first place.

“take a picture, itll take longer” Ellie said as she stepped closer to you, like she waited something from you. You scoffed and walked off, not wanting to start a fight again with her.

An hour later, Someone screamed ‘7 IN HEAVEN’ and now around of 15 people were in a circle in a random piece with a bottle in the middle of it. many rounds went on as people were going 7 minutes in a bathroom with the person the bottle pointed at. You obviously didn’t want to play but Dina’s drunk ass made you sat in it. After the duo came out of the bathroom, another round started and it was Ellie’s turn. She looked annoyed and probably Dina made her play that game too. You hated that your best friend was also best friend with someone you hated more than everything.

Ellie grabbed the bottle and turned it. Her veiny hands made it impossible to not look at her and her hands and her lips and- ‘what the fuck’ you thought, wanting to get rid of your drunk state.

Without even realizing, the bottle ended on you. Obviously it did, the future is so fucking predictable.

“Hell no.” Ellie said in a stern voice and everyone got mad at her which caused her to go in the bathroom waiting for you because she couldn’t stand others thinking she couldn’t go in. You followed her, stressing as your anxiety was making millions of scenarios in your mind.

You got in the bathroom and closed the door. Ellie was sitting on the floor, on her phone. You sat- the furthest you could in that tiny piece. You looked at her, trying to read her mind, but she was like a grave whose name got erased by the wind and rain. She was a mystery and you could never figure how she could feel or her mood. If she was happy and joking around, she still could be mean and could easily get mad. If she was mad, she still could do jokes and make others laugh or whatever the fuck, her emotions were always mixed.

You find yourself, again, staring at her. For the third time today, your eyes would always end up on her figure since you two got that close after ages. Last time it happened, ellie tried to kiss you, but you refused. Which now you always wonder what would’ve happened if you accepted it or if you told her you had a crush on her and didnt want to be a sex toy for her.

Which now you wonder every night what would’ve happened if you let her use you.

“Why do you hate me?” you asked her

Ellie lifted her eyes away from her phone to look at you. The tension was so high she looked like she wanted to kill you. She could, just by lifting her pinky finger. She could also manipulate you, manage to do something with your brain to torture you until the end of the time.

“You’re another specimen yn.” Ellie answered and got back to her phone. She irritated you so much.

“what?” you asked, confused. your drunken state made you so much dumb than you already were.

“you have no idea why? that’s literally fucking pathetic.”

“you’re pathetic to hate me for something so small i dont even know what i did to you.” you spat back, being furious at her mean comments.

Ellie let go of her phone as she stood up, you did the same, not wanting her to gain power over you- as you had any..

Ellie checked you out- her eyes looking up and down at you, as she was gonna eat your soul. Maybe she already was.

“Wait- is it because of that time where i rejected you?” You asked her, a smirk growing on your lips as you saw her jaw clenching and her usual ‘mad’ loud breathing. You finally could read her. You hurt her ego.

“Aww, Ellie, i didnt know a refuse of a simple little kiss could hurt that ego of yours so mu-” And before you could finish your sentence, ellie’s fingers were around your throat, tighten it as you felt that you didn’t have enough air to breathe

“you shut the fuck up or i swear to god you’ll regret it”

Even though she was hurting you- as fucked up you were, she looked so fine and it turned you on.

“Or what Ellie? You’re gonna kill me or finish what you didn’t start?” You told her as your fuzzy and drunken mind wasn’t even thinking and saying shit you absolutely would never say. Her grip around your throat loosened and she grabbed your shirt to pull you closer to her as she kissed you- not letting you time to reject her again- as if you wanted yo.

You quickly returned the kiss and held her closer by the neck. Her hands going on your back as they made their way on your hips, making you closer to her as if it was even possible. Your chest glued to eachothers and kissing noises with the far music of the party playing was so intoxicating and so intense.

Its when you didn’t know how it happened as her fingers got into your pants and your underwear searing for the place you needed her most. “Els..” You looked at her, whining at the need of her. “What? Use your words, slut, i cant read your stupid mind” She was making you going over the edge. “please… i-i need you” She smirked and entered a finger in you as her thumb played with your clit. Her lips everywhere on your neck, kissing the bruises she left after her hands were left as your new favourite necklace. At least you were oblivious enough for her to not realize how much you loved it when she did it. You were moaning against her, small whimpers leaving your opened lips. You wanted yet more.

“Ellie- fuck… Please!” She was torturing you at this point, going painfully slow as your clit was burning. She wasnt giving you enough, it was only painful because you almost couldnt feel anything- you needed more.

“Shh, i know, i know. Hold on yeah? can you do this for me- shit”

Her raspy voice could make you cum right there, right now.

You nodded as you literally became to ride her fingers, becoming louder and louder against her ear. your face hiding in the crock of her neck, as you were holding yourself on her shoulders, trying your best to ride yourself on her, trying to reach your peak with her finger inside of you.

“You shut up- or you want everyone to hear how much of a fucking slut you are, just for me”

“mhm..” Is all you could master. You bit your lips trying to hold in your moans, your moans of how good and how skilled her fingers felt against you.

“Fuck yn, Youre so wet, so fucking wet for me”

You could only nod in response, she was fucking you dumb like the dumbest person you were. drunken by not only alcohol, but how her words made your mind dizzy and how her fingers made you feel so lightheaded. She was just like a dream.

“say it, say its for me”

“it- its just for you els… ‘m wet just for you.. mh!”

And this is how you ended up in her room, her strap ponding fast and deep into you as she was making you cum for the 5th time tonight, the day afterwords you waking up alone, her ignoring you at school- more than she ever did.

not even mean comments about you, absolutely nothing.

You couldnt help but wanting for more. Couldn’t cum on your own as she completely destroyed you.

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luna-lovegreat · 7 days

Note

Hello!! What's your favorite Zelda game?

- hero-of-the-wolf

SkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardswordSkywardsword

Skyward sword :)

I uhh am kind of nervous to share but you asked so ima rant about my life and why I love skyward sword :))

I was the youngest child, which leads to some problems with being included- but with video games I was actually ok with that. I was always a coward- if a character so much as had red eyes I would have nightmares and not be able to sleep for uhhh a bit. So movies and video games gave me wayyyy too much anxiety. Jump scares and being surrounded were terrifying to me- I also felt I wasn't good at video games with the controls. But I did like spending time with my siblings!

Anyways my mom (love her) was one of the adults as a kid who thought video games were evil- she didn't necessarily buy the theory of it rotting our brains, but she did want us to get outside a lot. But one Christmas we did get a wii... and skyward sword :DDD

We played games together- I did the gaming sometimes, but it was mainly my siblings. I always had thoughts/suggestions on the dungeons lol. However we didn't really have enough attention spans as kids to finish it. It was funny because it became a kind of pattern- my siblings would decide to play skyward sword! :D and we would start the game and make it to like the first dungeon and stop XD. We still all remember and have the entirety of skyloft and the opening to first temple + ghirahim boss memorized, but us actually beating the game was a no. The furthest we got on a run was getting the water dragons scale, at which point we enjoyed swimming drowning link until we ran out of steam again.

But I was still so scared of playing video games myself- there was umm. A lot of screaming and panic whenever I was attacked, which was mildly annoying to my family. (Child me was chaotic but we love her <3)

Cut forward years and we ended up stuck in a house together during Covid... at which point my mom threw away all previous ideas of video games being bad and bought us a bunch XD. Then there came a point as (college) adults that we all wanted and bought Switches- my brother says he started the Nintendo "switch revolution" in our family since he was the first

My sister helped me a lot. She was the one who showed me animal crossing as a chill video game, and how I could calmly catch the scorpions and tarantulas in that game (eeeeeeeh). I watched her play botw on wii u and she helped me beat (eiffjjdfkjfkf scary) thunderblight ganon without panicking. After that I decided to have they were fun! Fights still give me anxiety sometimes, but overall I'm actually good at it- which I hadn't expected lol

And then I got skyward sword hd on switch. And this was like. The moment for me I started really loving video games. I played through like me and my siblings used to do (nostalgia man). And I fully finished a video game. And obviously sobbed over sksw Zelink. Then I helped my dad through it- we also played games with him (and he is not the best at it), so me and my dad played through sksw in a summer.

I love all Zelda games are so so good- I've played a lot like the og legend of Zelda, botw, totk, twilight princess- and I just got wind waker and am excited to play it :D

So I love skyward sword as my favourite video or Zelda game ever because of nostalgia- it was my first Zelda game and has a lot memories for me from when we were kids :)

I hope I made sense idk if all of my words were understandable. And also thank you so much for asking I love you forever and might melt whenever asked about myself fifdigjdockng sorry for ranting so long

#asks #personal #oot and minish cap I'm coming for you #not sure about having the guts to do majoras mask yet #Loz #sksw #you're playing through wind waker now yes?#a wolf friend

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empty-dream · 6 months

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Just watched Sousou no Frieren

An 1000+ years old elf outlives her party members and watches them die one by one.

I watched the show exactly because of that premise ngl. So naturally I imagined it'd be fullchoke of tearjerkers.

I don't read the manga and I intend to keep it that way (because I don't have time enjoy the anime so much). So everything I'm talking about is purely from an anime-only.

The first episode did make me cry, specifically that scene where Himmel dies and Frieren regrets how she didn't try to get to know him better. Based on personal experience, it hurts to realize things too late.

We get to see how, as a being with much, much longer lifespan, her sense of time is completely bonkers. And she never felt bothered by it until Himmel's death.

After that, what with Heiter and Fern, she begins to learn to adjust to human's time. Meeting with Eisen also provides a new step to move forward meaningfully.

Fern (and later Stark) being her new party proves to be a supoprt to her development, because Fern is much more vocal to stop her from going on her own pace as opposed to her old party which was more lenient about it.

Surprisingly, the story becomes a calming experience as she and her new party explores (and retraces) the world they live in, full of magic and fantasy wonders. Even Frieren's silly magic tricks are a marvel to look at.

Stark is so funny because he reminds of me BNHA's Todoroki (the scar and the red hair) yet he acts the furthest away from the latter lmao. And holy hell his strength.

This is basically a retrace to the hero's party steps, and it shows. For one, everyone knows Himmel, Frieren keeps thinking (and gets reminded) of him, he might as well be present even though he is DEAD.

I'm intrigued by the demons as the enemies. It reminds me of Goblin Slayer's goblins: an antagonistic species that doesn't worth pity or any kind of feeling. The demons are especially cunning since they have the appearance of humans and majority (if not all, idk the lore) can speak and specifically weaponize words. It's hard to find any simpathy towardss anyone who does that, imo.

Ep8's drops one of the coolest title drop ever. As soon as I watched it, I checked the dictionary and found that the kanji of the title has double meanings. And to be honest I'm glad I didnt feel like checking the kanji before this episode because I got to experience that scene raw lol.

Yoasobi and Milet again huh. This is truly their year.

Tl;dr Girl ghosted her love interest and their friends for 50 years, regrets it, and goes on nostalgia trip with said friends' family/apprentice.

#sousou no frieren #frieren beyond journey's end #random saying

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clefaiiiry · 3 months

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New Heights, New Depths

more bottom / sub sett agenda

the working title for this was 'wham bam thank you ma'am' just because i thought it was funny

Read on AO3

Read on Tumblr - Under Read More

-~*~-

How did he let K’Sante rope him into this?

“Nu-uh, this was your idea!” K’Sante says.

Sett digs in his heels. “Well, maybe for once in my life I had a shitty idea-”

“C’mon, you keep saying you wanna try it,” K’Sante says, all but dragging him down the street.

“Sure, yeah, but there is a huge difference between talking about doing it and actually doing it, ya know?”

K’Sante waves to a guy as they reach the doors and he hauls Sett over the threshold. “Just trust me. Try it once and if you hate it then, hey, at least you gave it a shot.”

He’s right, and he hates when K’Sante is right. He’s always so smug about it. Sett can already hear him now, ‘see? You just gotta push out of your comfort zone!’

If his comfort zone is staying at home watching baking show reruns, then a BDSM club was probably the furthest away he could get.

Part of him regrets asking K’Sante what the deal was with that necklace he never took off. A day collar, he’d called it, from Yone. That opened a whole goddamn rabbit hole and left him feeling like he was fifteen again, trying to hide his search history from his momma.

He’s had sex, has even been told he’s pretty good at it, and obviously he’s watched plenty of porn, he was a guy-

But learning how vanilla all his experience was shattered any kind of self conceptualisation he’d managed since his teenage years.

“There’s nothing wrong with vanilla,” K’Sante had said, but that shit was like Pandora’s box; once it was open Sett couldn’t leave it alone.

So now he’s here, hanging outside Targon dressed like a damn nun compared to the outfits some folks were walking in wearing. No judgement, show it off if you’ve got it and all that, he just felt very overdressed. And like a total loser.

At least he wasn’t as much of a loser as Ezreal was for staying home. Loser.

Once they get inside, K’Sante stops to chat with another friend and retrieves a little yellow wristband from the basket on the door for himself. He whistles to catch Sett’s attention and his ears swivel first before he turns.

“Hey, you’re a sub, right?”

“What if I don’t know I’m a switch yet?”

K’Sante gives him a look. “Are you being serious?” He plucks a blue wristband from the basket and tosses it to Sett. “Yellow for doms, blue for subs, green for switches.”

Sett rolls his eyes, but accepts the stupid little wristband anyways.

Initially, it looks like any other club and a pretty tame one at that. Now, Sett was nearing his thirties and hadn’t been clubbing for years, but he was struggling to remember why he enjoyed it so much. His ears flatten against his head to attempt to block out the pretty horrendous electronic crap coming through the speakers. Someone’s being hauled off the dancefloor after nearly passing out, but they still seemed to be having a good time.

He stays close to K’Sante as they pass through, heading to a heavy curtain at the back. It’s sectioned off with velvet rope, bright purple LED trimmed above the entryway. A woman stands to one side, pretending to look busy on a tablet.

“No,” she says without looking up and before K’Sante even has a chance to open his mouth.

He laughs, casual and suave as usual, leaning forward in that way that made anyone swoon. “Awh, c’mon Leo, I’ll vouch for him.”

Unfortunately for K’Sante, this woman is immune to his charms. “You know the rules,” she says, ponytail swinging as she finally meets his eyes, “he needs an application before he can come in. Really, what did you think I was going to say?”

“Look, if he gets into any trouble it’ll be on me. Please?”

“No. Because it won’t fall back on you, it’ll fall back on me.”

K’Sante groans and rubs his face. “Can I go in and find the guy I’m looking for, at least?”

“Fine,” she says, unclipping the rope and holding it to one side.

K’Sante glances back to Sett. “Get a drink, chat someone up,” he waves a hand, “I dunno, unwind a little.”

K’Sante abandons him before he can object.

Sett hovers awkwardly for a few seconds longer before he drifts off toward the bar. He leans against the counter trying to appear comfortable, like he actually knew what he was doing, though he wonders how convincing he could really be when his ears are still flat against his head. It wasn’t his fault, the bass was particularly loud in this corner.

God, what was he, sixty? Complaining about noise? Kayn was right, he really is a momma’s boy.

This should not be so-

“Good evening.”

An older woman perches on the stool beside him, swirling her drink. He thinks she’s Ottrani vastaya but honestly can’t tell, her ears just barely poking out from her fluffy hair. He notes her wristband, yellow.

“I’m urh, waiting for someone.” Smooth Sett, real smooth.

“Don’t worry, I know you’re here with K’Sante,” she says, “you just looked utterly terrified all on your lonesome.”

“What, me? Nah, I’m fine. Totally fine.”

She smirks. “Then you won’t mind if I just chat with my new friend.”

“Typically you give your friends a name.”

She places her free hand over her chest. “I’m Soraka.”

“Sett. So, you come here often?”

Conversation flows so naturally it’s quite easy to forget where he is. If not for the occasional people covered in leather heading into the VIP area, he could forget why they were actually there. Soraka’s voice is steady, warm, eases his gnawing uncertainty. She offers to buy him a drink and when he declines she only smiles, tells him everything will be fine and he honestly believes her. Is she the kind of woman Ezreal would go nuts over? Is she a milf? He's not sure if she’s old enough but he’s sure as hell not gonna ask.

They’ve probably been chatting for about twenty minutes when he spots K’Sante again, returning from the VIP area with another man. He’s a pretty thing, slim and tall, geometric ink trailing up his arms, boots landing with a heavy thunk at every step.

Then he taps at K’Sante’s shoulder to get his attention and raises his arms, hands moving rapidly.

Oh, he signs.

“And he’s not going to cause trouble?”

“He's a good guy,” he hears K’Sante say over the music, “don’t worry about it.”

The man hums, glancing over. Even in the low light, those eyes are piercing, trying to pick him apart from across the room. Sett averts his own.

“Oh, he’s setting you up with Aphelios,” Soraka huffs over the rim of her glass, “you really are after a workout, aren’t you?”

“Should I be scared?”

Soraka laughs. “Only if that’s what you’re into. He can be just a little intense, is all.”

Sett scoffs, leaning back against the bar. “I can handle intense just fine.”

She only stares at him, then finishes her drink. “Have fun,” she says, melodic and sweet, then rises to her feet and twirls away back over to the dancefloor.

Since K’Sante’s been gone, he’s managed to get glitter in his beard. Sett decides he’s better off not asking. K’Sante gestures to the man at his side as they close in.

“Sett, this is Aphelios. Aphelios, this is Settrigh.”

Sett cringes, extending his hand. “Sett is fine.”

Aphelios gives him a once over from head to toe, expression impassive, arms crossed over his chest. The moment drags with all the grace of a limping hound.

Hey buddy, wanna shake my damn hand yet? You’re only making me look like a total asshole-

Finally, he takes it with a little nod. His hand is colder than Sett expects. “A pleasure. K’Sante says you’re new to all this.”

“Ha, he’s sharing all my secrets already?” He grits out, shooting K’Sante a glance, who only shrugs.

Aphelios taps K’Sante’s shoulder, then signs, “Maybe you should book him with Soraka instead? Or Alune even.”

“No way, they ain’t got a session for weeks. Besides, you were the one mad about a cancellation.”

“Usually that’s what waiting lists are for.”

“Consider it a favour owed.”

Aphelios lets out a deep, long sigh through his nose. He closes his eyes, running a hand through his hair. He’s got a cute little cowlick that flicks back up as soon as he moves his hand away.

Then he signs, “Fine, let’s talk.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” K’Sante says with a grin, “Yone’s waitin’ in the back.” And he’s gone again. For such a huge guy, man he can move.

Yone’s here too? No wonder he’s so desperate to ditch him-

“What is it you’re looking for?” Aphelios says, leaning against the bar in a manner much too casual for the environment.

It takes him a few seconds to register that Aphelios has asked him a question. Sett shrugs and rubs the back of his neck. “It’s embarrassing-”

Aphelios scoffs. “Look where you are. Whatever you want, I’ve probably heard it before. You can’t surprise me.”

It was Sett’s turn to size him up and yeah, he could believe that. Still, verbalising it seems impossible.

“I- I wanna- I’d like to- Urgh.” He takes a breath, then forces it out. “I’m the boss all the time. Everyday, every hour- Ya know, it’s exhausting.” His ears pin back against his head and he averts his eyes. “I guess I just wanna not be the boss for a while.”

Aphelios stares at him for a moment longer, then waves to catch Soraka’s attention. He makes a vague gesture, but she understands, slipping through the crowd toward them.

“Sure,” Aphelios says, “we can figure something out.”

When Soraka gets to them, she slips a little business card into Sett’s hands with a nudge and a wink.

“Go the the website and fill in the form before-” Aphelios furrows his brows in thought for a moment. “-Friday?”

Sett huffs through his nose. “I can do Saturday.”

Aphelios lips twitch into a smile. “That works. I’ll text you.”

-~*~-

‘This form is the beginning of negotiations. Please make sure to communicate!’

‘Remember the question, “What do you mean by _____?”’

The negotiation side made the whole process way less sexy than Sett would have liked. He was expecting maybe, two pages max, but after page five this was starting to feel like it would never end.

Kink etiquette, ID checks, STI checks, yadda yadda- if he knew it was gonna be this complicated to get smacked around he would have just gotten into a street fight.

“Hey, at least it’s thorough,” K’Sante had said.

Sett only groans and continues swiping through all the options, each to be marked Yes, No, Not Sure, or Discuss Further.

Does the submissive wish to receive pain? Does the submissive wish to resist? Does the submissive wish to be restrained?

Bondage, collaring, leather, latex, gags, blindfolds, rope, chains, tape, wax-

Sett ends up marking half his answers as ‘not sure’ or ‘discuss further.’

Once it’s complete, Aphelios sends him a text the following evening. He communicates mostly in emojis so it initially takes Sett a few reads to understand what he’s actually saying. He sends through an attachment of his own form and tells Sett to read it.

Sett skips most of the boring parts, swiping and skim reading through the pages until he finds,

What will the submissive call the dominant? BOSS

Oh, the motherfucker-

“Boss? Really?” Sett laughs. At least that meant he was attentive. That’s probably a good trait for a dom to have, right? He tries to remember his own answers to the equivalent question,

What will the dominant call the submissive? Mutt, Pet

Those weren’t too out there, besides they could always up the ante if they weren't doing it for him.

Aphelios’ form is much more certain than Sett’s. It’s an interesting read, and he actually manages it with a mostly straight face. Aphelios, as it turns out, is more than willing to throw his punches. Happy to inflict high levels of pain, to tease, to withhold or ruin orgasms. Choking, waxplay, sensory deprivation, it seems Aphelios is open to pretty much anything so long as he was the one calling the shots. The ‘no’s were minimal, mostly reserved for more specific kinks that even Sett had turned his nose up at, but one catches his interest,

Is the dominant open to switching? Yes | No | Not Sure | Discuss Further

Sett debates asking about that one, since he’s such a nosy fucker, but decides it’s probably best left unprodded.

His phone pings again and he’s been sent another cryptic string of emojis. Once he deciphers them, he figures out Aphelios is asking if there’s anything in particular that he’d want for his first scene.

‘Surprise me,’ Sett sends back, even though it felt like tempting fate.

He gets a little devil face in response.

-~*~-

Saturday is upon him before he can even blink. Sett is totally prepared and absolutely not pacing a dent into the apartment floor.

“Quit freaking out. It’s just a scene. It’s not like you’re going on a date or whatever,” K’Sante had said.

“What if I’m so great it turns into a date?”

K’Sante had laughed. “Sure, keep dreaming, buddy.”

A few hours later, Sett finds himself standing outside Targon again. He stares up at the glowing neon sign for approximately ten minutes before he works up the nerve to finally walk inside. It’s very much the same as it had been last time, though he doesn’t stop to collect a wristband on the way in. The bouncer on the VIP section is the same redhead woman as last time, though if she recognises Sett she doesn't show it.

“I’m here for Aphelios?” he says.

“Sorry,” she says, though is anything but sincere, “he only does by appointment and he’s booked up for months.”

“No, I’m his date, or whatever.”

She blinks, then her lips twist into a smile. “Ah, you’re Sett! Yes, he said you’d probably be early. Can I just ask you to sign here-”

When he’s finally let in, she tells him to wait while she informs Aphelios, and Sett finds it difficult to look, well, anywhere. He doesn’t want to stare but since most people in here are half naked or covered in latex that’s a pretty tough task. Is that guy wearing a dog tail buttplug? Yep, he sure is. Good for him. That lady’s being used as a footstool? Hope her back is alright- Is that a pair of subs in a cage? How would he feel in a cage? It’s really too much for him to process at the moment.

He retreats to the wall and leans back against it, tapping an offbeat rhythm on his knees. It strikes him how much it feels like he’s waiting for the headmaster to show up and scold him.

He had marked all the role play options as ‘discuss further’-

A hand taps at his shoulder and he jerks from his thoughts. Though his expression is neutral, Aphelios offers a cute little wave.

“Oh, hey,” Sett says, really hoping he comes across as nonchalant and not like he’s currently shitting a brick, “You urh, you weren’t stood there long, were ya?”

Aphelios shakes his head and gestures for Sett to follow. No point standing on ceremony.

They head further into the VIP area and down a corridor at the back, Aphelios moving swiftly as Sett strides to keep up. It’s quieter back here, the thrum of music from the main room only a distant rumble. There’s signs along the walls, informing about club rules, consent, protection, all the formalities. Most of the rooms are free as they pass, but the night is still young.

The room they end up in is at the end of the corridor, one Aphelios unlocks with a keycard. It’s almost sterile, with dark walls and vinyl flooring. There’s a low bench along one wall, a table against the opposite. There is a bed, but the mattress is all leather so he can’t imagine it’s particularly comfortable. A kneeler is shoved off to one side, out of use for tonight it seems.

Aphelios dumps his phone and keys on the table where there’s already a bottle of water, condensation dripping down the outside. He waits until Sett closes the door behind them before he signs,

“You didn’t put anything for safewords so we’ll use traffic lights. If you’re happy to continue, you say green. If you want me to slow down, you say yellow. If you need to stop completely, you say red. Do not hesitate with your safewords, do you understand?”

“Sounds good.”

“Since you won’t always be able to see my hands, I’ll snap my fingers when I wish to speak with you.”

It all feels very professional, way too formal. Then again, Sett reminds himself of the sheer amount of paperwork it took to even get into this room so he really should have expected it. He peers at the table and feels the sting of disappointment when he realises there aren’t any toys or tools he can see.

Aphelios sees his expression and says, “I want to figure out your limits, especially since you’re new to all this.”

Sett scoffs. “I ain’t soft.”

“I never said that.” He’s frowning as he signs it, brows furrowed tightly. “Besides, I can ruin you just fine without striking you once.”

Oh, he likes the sound of that. “Then ruin me, pretty boy.”

Aphelios raises his chin, lips twitching. “As long as we’re in this room, you call me boss. Is that clear?”

He nods a little too eagerly, then realises his mistake. “As day, boss.”

Aphelios hums. “Undress, then kneel here.”

Fortunately, Sett had the forethought not to wear complicated layers, so his shirt is off before Aphelios even finishes his sentence. He’s probably a little too keen on this, but he’s been patient enough already. He just wants some damn action already. His belt clinks as he tosses his clothes over in the vague direction of the bed. Then a moment of hesitation as his fingers hover over the waistband of his underwear, and he glances back up. Aphelios nods, so he takes them off too.

Once he’s down on his knees, Aphelios takes a step toward him, expression impassive, almost bored. But behind that facade is a distinct, primal hunger that leaves Sett feeling smaller than he ever has.

He wants more.

“Don’t slouch, fix your posture.”

It doesn’t occur to Sett that he could disobey. There’s nothing forcing him, but still he finds himself following the order without hesitation. He’s already half hard and should probably feel a modicum of shame for that, but finds himself uncaring. He sits up straighter, chin raised.

Aphelios continues signing, “Keep your hands behind your back. Hold your wrist if you have to, but keep them there.”

Sett does as he’s told, resting his hands at the small of his back. The way his tail tickles his arms is oddly grounding.

“Good. Very good.”

Pride wells up in his chest and Sett can’t resist a grin. Aphelios’ expression darkens.

“Don’t look so pleased with yourself. I haven’t touched you yet.”

“Sorry, boss.”

Aphelios bares his teeth and, after one last disinterested glance up and down, circles around behind him out of sight.

His ears perk, following every movement intently. Fingers idly play with the tip of one, carefully rubbing the soft fur. Sett remains firm, determined not to sink so quickly.

Lithe hands trail down Sett’s throat, tilt his jaw up so he sits straight. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows involuntarily, clutching his wrist. Aphelios doesn’t squeeze, but his hand lingers, firm and unyielding. Sett’s a big guy, he could probably throw him off if he really wanted to, but there’s something about the illusion of helplessness that has him panting.

Then he’s forcing Sett’s chin upward, far enough to strain, back arching. Sett shudders as Aphelios’s trails his nails down, digging in minutely and his breath stutters in his throat.

“Fuck,” Sett grunts, but stays put, a dull ache building in his wrist from his nails. That earns him a little scratch at the base of his ear. He groans, ear flicking instinctively, ticklish.

Aphelios leans up, pulling Sett back just a little further to meet him halfway. Lips tease the soft, wispy fur at the tips of his ears and he can’t help but shudder against the sensation.

Then there’s teeth and Sett yelps, the sound melting into a needy whimper as Aphelios tugs at his ear. He’s not biting hard, but it’s enough to send sparks down his spine.

Aphelios’s free hand follows the curve of his back, appreciating the muscle beneath his fingers. Aphelios’ hands are cold, or maybe Sett is just burning hot, but it leaves him squirming against the sensation.

“Aphelios-”

He withdraws completely and Sett whines.

“Wait-”

Aphelios circles around to stand in front of him, painted lips twisting in contempt, in pure disgust. “If you can’t be a good mutt, then you don’t get touched.”

It takes a moment to realise he’s slouched again and Sett chokes around a whimper as he sits straight. “I’m sorry, boss. I’ll be good, I promise I’ll be good.”

There’s a hand on his jaw then, squeezing. Sett pants, lets his face be tilted upward to meet those piercing eyes.

Aphelios raises his free hand then, “Open your mouth.”

He does. Aphelios squeezes even tighter.

“Wider.”

Sett whines and opens as wide as he can.

Aphelios huffs through his nose. Then he spits in Sett’s waiting mouth, clamps it shut, and presses his free hand over his lips. He doesn’t need to sign for the next command.

Swallow.

Sett’s eyes roll back as he does so, holding his breath until Aphelios steps back and removes his hands. He opens his mouth again to show his obedience, tail wagging against his hands.

“So, you can follow an order.” Aphelios huffs through his nose and squats in front of him, head tilted. “And you’re already in such a state.”

Sett can’t help but squirm under such scrutiny. “Boss, please.”

“Please what?” He signs and the fucker tries to stifle the smirk on his face, tries to maintain the impassive, mildly annoyed expression. “Use your words, pet.”

“Please touch me.”

Aphelios reaches out and slides his fingers into Sett’s hair, rubbing at the base of his ear. A purr rumbles up from his chest before he can push it back down and Sett leans into the sensation, closing his eyes, letting himself drift.

There’s a snap of fingers and it takes a moment for his muddy mind to comprehend. Sett blinks a few times, then sits straight, wrists at the small of his back.

Aphelios watches him intently, lets him stew in it for a while longer before he slides a hand down Sett’s flushed, damp chest. Even such a slight touch has him arching forward, groaning.

It’s agonising watching those fingers dance their way down, slowly, so slowly. He tries to steady his breathing, spreads his knees a little wider as if it could tempt him.

But Aphelios does not budge, in fact his hand stops just inches from where Sett needs them and he realises he’s shaking.

Aphelios scoffs. “So desperate.”

Sett tries to roll his hips, only minutely, praying to whatever god would listen that Aphelios wouldn’t notice, but of course he does and removes his hand in punishment.

“Fuck. Boss, please- please touch me.”

“I already did,” he signs innocently, “wasn’t that enough? Such a demanding little mutt, aren’t you?”

Sett’s ears are flat against his head as he tries in vain to still his quivering hips. “Boss, please touch my cock, please-” He licks his lips, whines oh so sweetly. “I’ll do anything! Please!”

That earns him a hand on his face, thumb smoothing over his cheekbone. Sett shoves into it like a man starved, gazing at him with the prettiest flushed cheeks. Aphelios pats his cheek twice, a condescending slap with barely any force. Sett whines despite it.

“Open.”

Sett does as he’s told and Aphelios presses two fingers inside, pushing down on his tongue.

“Suck.”

And by God, Sett licks and sucks like he might die tomorrow, vulgar filthy noises tumbling from his throat. He takes them as deep as he can, gagging and choking around them in earnest. There’s drool spilling from his lips, down his chin. He must look like such a mess-

Then there’s a hand on his cock and it’s like his entire existence has led to this moment. Sett keens around the fingers, the sound cut off by another gag as he fights to take them deeper.

There’s red rising in Aphelios’ cheeks, a small victory compared to the absolute state Sett is in. His hand is slick, Sett has no fucking idea when he had time to lube it up but he’s not complaining as it slides in a slow, harsh rhythm. Up, down, up-

Heat keeps building in his gut, swirling and molten and Sett feels like he’s going to explode. He can’t stop the way his hips jut upward, but the pathetic little whimper he delivers afterward seems to be a good enough apology.

The fingers in his mouth are cruelly withdrawn and Sett is left freely to spew soaked, filthy noises from his worn throat. It’s all surging too quickly, he’s dizzy and his cock is soaked, he’s so fucking hard-

He doesn’t want this to be over so soon-

“Boss, wait- I can’t- I’m gonna-”

Aphelios hisses and it takes a long moment to realise that he’s trying to hush him. His free, spit covered hand rises into view. “It’s okay, pet, you can cum.”

Sett can’t construct a response before he’s jerking his hips and crying out as that heat erupts. He cums harder than he has in months, dimly aware of the way it splatters across the floor. He rides out every second, until his stomach starts to hurt and his cock starts to burn from overstimulation. He tries to pull back but Aphelios forces his hips back down. He’s still going.

“Boss, I can’t- I can’t- it hurts-”

Aphelios coos and snaps his fingers so Sett looks up. His smile is wicked, his tongue peeking out between his lips. Oh, he’s evil.

His hand keeps moving until Sett is crying, until his throat is raw from his pathetic sobbing, wriggling beneath Aphelios’ iron hold.

But he doesn’t safeword, doesn’t let go of his wrist.

Finally, finally, Aphelios releases him and Sett can’t stop himself flopping to the ground with a heavy thud, panting and gasping for precious air. He’s quaking violently now, every muscle aching from strain.

His vision is blurred, everything hurts, he’s pretty sure he’s landed partially in his own spend. He’s so cold, reality feels so distant and alien.

He’s not even sure where Aphelios has gone, not even the vague notion of where he could be in the small room. Sett wracks his brain, pure mush, trying to recall what he’d put down for aftercare-

“I won’t need anythin’,” he’d said to K’Sante.

“You just want him to leave you there after? Not even a pat on the head?”

“Why not? I can take a beatin’, no problem.”

He hadn’t understood K’Sante’s insistence at the time but right now? Crumpled on the ground, shaking and nauseous?

This sucks, it sucks so hard. He feels like he’s about to puke-

There’s a quiet sound beside him and he looks up as Aphelios sits beside him, cross-legged, watching intently for a few long seconds.

Then he opens his arms. An invitation, one Sett takes with embarrassing haste. He can’t quite get upright, so shuffles across the floor until he can rest his head in Aphelios’ lap, a torn breath ripping from his chest and pittering into a sob. Aphelios only strokes his hair, his other hand reaching downward, curling around his shoulders. Sett’s arms snake around Aphelios’ waist, clinging to him like a lifeline.

If it bothers him, Aphelios doesn’t make it obvious.

He leans down, curling around him almost protectively, like nothing in the world could touch him as long as Aphelios was there. And in the back of his lucid mind, he honestly believes it.

Slowly, very slowly, Sett starts to ground himself, the little coil he’s wound himself up into finally starting to loosen. He blinks a few times, then reality crashes back into him.

“Fuck,” he says, shooting up to a sitting position. How he doesn’t headbutt Aphelios on the way up, he has no idea. “I’m sorry, I didn’t-”

Aphelios smiles. A little thing, a barely-there twitch of his lips, but it utterly bewitches Sett in an instant. His heart feels ready to burst from his chest.

“Do you feel any better?” he asks.

“Yeah! Yeah… Tired.”

Aphelios snorts. “That’s pretty standard.”

He moves closer, carefully guiding Sett to lean against him again. Sett’s head ends up on his shoulder, kneeling before him as Aphelios strokes through his hair. He drifts, sluggish and heavy, kinda like how he feels after too long a workout.

“Hey, wait- wait,” Sett blurts out, “I didn’t get you off.” He reaches out with his lead hands-

Aphelios catches them and jerks back, eyes wide, manic almost. Sett recoils.

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. You don’t have to.”

“You sure? I’m more than happy to!” I really want to, please let me-

Aphelios only smiles. “That’s very sweet of you, but it’s fine, really.” Then after a pause, he adds, “maybe next time?”

Sett’s ears perk and his tail wiggles. “Next time?”

“Sure, if you’re up for another round.”

“I can handle anything you throw at me, boss.”

A mischievous smirk spreads over his features. “Be careful what you wish for.”

Sett looks around for his clothes, tries to stand- and crumples. Aphelios is there to ensure he doesn’t smash his knees but Sett is more astonished that he can handle the weight without even a stagger.

It does feel a little embarrassing, being led over to the bench and having his clothes handed over like he’s totally shitfaced, but it’s kinda nice being taken care of.

Aphelios makes certain he isn’t going to slump over, then passes him the water bottle from the table. While Sett sips, he signs,

“Let me call you a cab.”

“Nah, it’s fine, I can-”

“I insist.”

Maybe he’s just too goddamn tired, but Sett feels he doesn’t have much room to argue back.

#league of legends #settphel #sett league of legends #aphelios league of legends #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #my writing

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polizwrites · 2 years

Text

Borrowing Trouble

Bucky’s roommate Tony chooses the worst time to borrow his stuff; but maybe a little blowup will only make their friendship stronger.

Fandom: MCU/Marvel Pairing: Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark Rating: General Word Count: 875 words.

This is a fill for my @starkbucksbingo O3 - "Shh... I'm sleeping." and @tonystarkbingo A4 - AU: College squares, along with today’s @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt [#FFF175 Gloomy Daze]

Still in a bit of a daze from the phone call he’d just gotten, Bucky stepped into his dorm room only to see a person-sized lump laying on the sofa: his roommate, Tony.

Bucky had never met anyone with such an irregular schedule. Tony would literally stay up all night working on a project, catch a quick cat nap, go to class, then snooze through the rest of the afternoon and evening -- usually missing dinner. He would wake up just as Bucky was getting ready for bed and more than likely start the whole cycle over.

Bucky felt a little bad for waking his roommate up, but he really needed someone to talk to at the moment. “Tony, I--”

“Shh - I’m sleeping,” Tony interrupted, pulling a blanket over his head. It was a quilt that belonged to Bucky and had been made by his grandmother. She was a kind, caring, funny woman who Bucky had many precious memories of... and had passed away just that morning.

“Give me that!” Bucky shouted, startling them both. But he couldn’t help it - his grief suddenly flaring into anger. He snatched the quilt away from Tony, only to see that his roommate was wearing one of his sweatshirts. “Goddamnit, Tony. Why are you such a mooch - I know you’ve got money, so go buy your own damn stuff for once!”

Tony’s eyes were wide with shock and fear. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!” He struggled out of the hoodie, leaving it on the floor as he fled their room.

Bucky instantly regretted his outburst. He honestly didn’t mind Tony borrowing his stuff; in fact, a small part of him enjoyed seeing Tony in his clothes more than maybe he should. And Tony was the furthest thing from a mooch -- he’d gone out and bought a bigger fridge for their room when he saw Bucky didn’t have one and was always willing to chip in if someone came up short when the group went in on a pizza order.

Bucky sat down heavily on the couch, clutched the quilt to his chest and let the waves of emotion finally roll over him. His grandmother had been the only one in his extended family to support him when he came out, and he loved her even more for that.

She’d also always been the one he’d go to for no-nonsense advice. He could almost hear her voice now: “Now what did you go and do that for? Scared the poor boy half out of his wits, I bet. Better fix the mess you made.”

Bucky pulled himself back together and went downstairs to the dorm lobby, where Clint was watching cartoons. “Hey, have you seen Tony?”

Clint frowned. “Yeah - he just ran out of here like a bat out of hell. Didn’t even have a jacket, and it’s kinda nasty out there.”

“Shit.” Bucky ran back up to their room, grabbed the discarded hoodie and headed out to try to find his roommate.

A heavy layer of fog had descended on campus, and a cold rain was pelting down. Bucky got out his phone to send a couple of quick voice-to-text messages as he made his way toward the Engineering building, which was more or less Tony’s second home.

I’m really sorry I yelled at you

I was upset

I just found out my grandmother passed away

She made that quilt for me - but I was wrong to get so angry.

You’re a great roommate

You can borrow my stuff any time

Bucky spotted Tony; he was standing in the doorway to the building, his wet t-shirt clinging to him, with his phone in hand. He looked up and flinched just a little when he saw Bucky.

“Tony?” Bucky called out, stopping a few feet away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up at you like that.”

“I didn’t know about your grandmother,” Tony replied, his voice small and quiet.

“I only found out about five minutes before I got back to our room, myself. I guess I was kind of in shock, and I overreacted. Here.” Bucky held out the hoodie, which was already half-soaked. “You’re not a mooch. I don’t know why I said that.”

“I guess I could be better about asking, first.” Tony took the hoodie and draped it over his shoulders. “I just ... well... friends share stuff, right? And -- we’re friends, aren’t we?” The cautious, hopeful look Tony gave him made Bucky’s heart skip a beat.

“Yeah - of course we are.”

Tony’s expression brightened. “And it’s not my fault my stuff is too small for you to wear.”

“No, I suppose it isn’t,” Bucky replied with a grin. “You know, you do let me store stuff in your fridge. And I watch your TV, like, all the time. Maybe I’m the mooch, after all.”

“No, you’re not,” Tony answered decisively. “Hey, um - I know I’m not good at personal friendship stuff, but would a hug maybe make you feel a little better?”

“Yeah, I think it would.” Bucky’s heart warmed at the offer, but he couldn’t help laughing at the squishy sound their soaked shoes made as they stepped toward one another. “How about we head back and change into dry clothes first?”

#writing stuff #fanficlet #Flash Fiction Friday #mcu/marvel #WinterIron #College AU #platonic #shameless self promo

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ewanmitchellcrumbs · 9 months

Note

How do you think they'll portray Alys in the show?

I keep changing my mind about her -

1. I think her relationship with Aemond shouldn't be seen as this epic love style romance because he literally took her as a spoil of war and that to me is questionable.

2. Then I wonder if she just kinda of used him in a way for his blood/wanting a child, kind of like Melisandre (There's power in Kings blood) she was allegedly a seer so did she know Aemond was going to die, if so why didn't she prevent it and it just seemed funny to me when I read F&B that she got pregnant then he died, kinda like she got what she wanted and basically "Bye Bitch" to Aemond.

3. Then I reconsider and wonder if it was some kind of love.

I apologise for my long message, but it would be nice for other opinions

I definitely don't think it's going to be portrayed as a traditional love story, because that's the furthest thing from what it actually is.

I think it's going to be presented in a similar to way to the relationship between Stannis and Melisandre in Game of Thrones.

Aemond rocks up to Harrenhal, wanting to slaughter everyone. Alys uses her abilities as a healer/seeress to get him on side, in order to spare her life, because she'll be advantageous to him in terms of one upping the Blacks.

The fastest way to ensure Aemond's absolute loyalty to her is to fuck him - he falls for it hook, line and sinker, because she's the first woman to ever express that sort of an interest in him.

For Aemond, it's about power. For Alys, it's about survival and allying herself with whoever can assure that. I think that's why she cosies up to Daemon at first, until he makes it explicitly clear he's not interested.

#asked and answered

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pinheadbella · 4 months

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My Thoughts on TDI Reboot Season 2 (now that I’ve watched the whole thing) (spoilers below)

Short answer: It got progressively worse once merge hit. It started off with some interesting plots and relationships. But then it chose to focus on one of those ships, have the show and the strategies revolve around it, and not end their story until the very last second. When I thought it couldn’t get worse, it did. The writers kept choosing to prioritize characters that had WAY TOO MUCH SCREENTIME ALREADY. And that caused me to root for their downfall not because they were running the game and needed to be defeated cause they’re evil or whatever. But because I was getting sick of seeing/hearing them and didn’t want them to win. The season did end on a good-ish note and I do like the winner. But the ending would’ve been better if the winner had more of an impact on the plot/strategy.

Long answer hooo boy uh

Let’s go from what I have the least thoughts on to what I have the most thoughts on

Chase I’m 100% okay with the placement of. I didn’t want him to stay for long. But I also didn’t want him to be the first boot in case he had any funny left in him. As horrible of a person as he is, I preferred his slapstick and douchbaggery over Scary Girl’s dark humor. Speaking of-

-Scary Girl I wished wasn’t bluffing when she said she would make everyone pay. I thought for sure she was going to come back. ESPECIALLY in the final four challenge. I thought she was gonna reappear as a helper hired by Chris to make things scarier. Or that she would hijack the challenge and make things more deadly than Chris planned. If there is a season three, I hope she gets some kinda revenge.

Millie served her purpose and I liked the story that was told with her. She didn’t commit to practicing/training and she paid for it. She lost the trust of her team and her friends. She was forgiven by Damien, the specific person she wronged, and got out before the story could devolve into something similar to Gwen and Courtney in All Stars. My one wish is that Priya would’ve thought about her bestie more once she was gone.

Nichelle I was surprisingly alright with. Compared to everyone else at least. Good for her for training and being good at stunts now. The “in your face Hollywood” bits did get annoying. I had a hunch she wouldn’t last long. She was all challenge beast no social gamer. And I was kinda right? Her quitting in the team phase meant that she wasn’t whining/being a hypocrite for long. She somehow became my love to hate character of this season. You go girl!

I’m still so confused how Zee got out over Caleb. Like, I can get why Damien would vote Zee. He exposed not just his underwear secret but his Wizard Squire secret. But what about everyone else? Zee’s as non-threatening as Wayne and as sweet as season 1 Priya. Why get the chill nice guy out before CALEB THE BUFF “ALEJANDRO” (in quotes because he was mistaken as being such)

Emma is the most underused character this season. Out of all the team phase boots, hers was the most upsetting. I wanted her to last long without Chase. I wanted her to make new friends. I wanted some kind of acknowledgment of her friendship with Bowie. But what we got was…her trying in a challenge and failing because apparently not knowing how people answer random questions proves she’s not a good person??? She had so much potential and she was booted in such a lame way…

Bowie’s arc I liked a lot even if it was a bit flawed. I knew he wasn’t gonna go too far. And I knew he’d be in hot water from the start since he was the villain that made it the furthest. I think the cheating arc was great development for him. He’s known for being competitive and doing what it takes to win. But then he finds out Raj doesn’t like cheating. And he feels guilty by the end because he made his bf upset. I’m glad Bowie is shown to have a heart while still wanting to play the game. The problem I have is how suddenly the cheating arc ended. And how Bowie of all the cheaters paid the most for it. That early merge screwed him over. And everyone believing Julia about Bowie being the cheating mastermind…little did I know that was a red flag for a finalist’s plot armor.

Ripper and Axel, I wished there was more substance with you two. How they got together was cute and silly. I like how they bond over artsy things and stopped being as mean to people. But holy shit. Why did they have to be the comic relief couple? You can’t do this to me. You can’t just casually hint that Ripper has a bad family life in season 1 and not bring that back up to make Axel fall for him harder. You can’t just take a kickass survival girl and turn her into a sappy, swooning mess. You had good characters and then you turned them into THAT. If we get a season 3 please put them on separate teams and have them develop AS PEOPLE NOT AS GAGS

Damien wins the award for the BIGGEST ROBBERY OF THE SHOW. Literally. Of his idol. And he couldn’t have even gotten out in a more dignified way. He was gone for half the challenge after we only get a speck of a rivalry between him and Julia. And then his idol is stolen OFFSCREEN. And then he’s flown off kicking and screaming. If that was supposed to be funny, it’s not. Every time this dude tries to be a hero, everything blows up in his face. Which sucks. Because that means this season he spent more time being afraid and less time being the cool dork I loved back in season one. Episode 6 was his best episode. He won because he tried and he showed off his love for LARPing. That’s the Damien I was waiting for. If anyone deserves a run back in another season, it’s Damien.

MK is the character this season that I can confidently say improved and ended on a high note. Last season I actually didn’t like her. She got away with badmouthing Nichelle in ep 3 and only got out in ep 6 because of toilet humor. As much as I like snarky characters like Noah, I also like when they get comeuppance for their snark. And MK didn’t get much of that. But in season 2? Oh this girl fucking SHINED WITH HER GLOWUP. She let bygones be bygones with Julia. They teamed up and became the best evil duo ever. The way they quip and scheme and enable each others’ horrible actions I ATE THAT UP. But let’s focus back on just MK. She was the one who took charge in the cheating schemes. And she finally got karma through the funniest beat down ever. A boxing bear that gave her drain bamage. And after that, she got more moments to shine on her own. She tried carrying her team in the baking challenge and failed. She struggled with the giant coin only to hit the ground running with her gamer moves. And her last hurrah was her hijacking a car and hugging her bestie (they’re more than besties your honor). As sad as I was that she didn’t get to the finale, I was happy with what I got. It’s not everyday a character I don’t like becomes one I adore.

Wayne and Raj I’m the most conflicted on. But I think the best way to describe them is with a comparison Bowie made: “like puppies: not the smartest, but adorable!” Negative out of the way first: they were not nearly as strategic as I hoped they’d be. First ep gave me hope when they were talking about their teammates’ stats/highlights from the challenge. And then you cut to their last elim together and they decided who to vote with a FUCKING COINFLIP. Boys. Please. You should know that keeping strong players in weakens your chance at the cup. Benching the MVPs of the opposition is the way to go. Not to mention the only time they won was because Julia had baking skills. I wanted Raj to win so bad. He was the smarter bro who had more of an impact on the cheating plot. But if he had to get booted for being the more threatening bro…somehow 5th is the worst placement. He could’ve lasted to the final four, make it seem like there’ll be a friendship finale, and then Julia ruins it with the immunity idol. He could’ve been 7th to give Wayne more time on his own. And Wayne on his own is…oh my god he’s so dumb. Raj needs to spell things out for him. He took so long to realize that Julia was using him. And he won with his dumb luck. I should be mad that he won when he didn’t do anything substantial for the plot, but…I can’t stay mad at these hockey puppies. They’re sweethearts. They believe in playing fair and friendship and gay love. They were the light at the end of the drama tunnel. And Raj’s elimination made me tear up. Both because I was sad his run was over and because I was happy he ended with the sweetest final words ever. And Wayne using the money to buy a bus for the Snow Owls? Hoot hoot!

And now for the big ones. The ones I had the most problems with. The ones I was the most disappointed in. Julia. Caleb. Priya. Oh my god what did they do to you three? The pieces were all there. You all were great at the start. Julia coming back and being the main villain all the way through? That could be neat. If anyone could do it I can see it being her. Probably gonna blow up in her face though. Wait she’s working with MK? Oh this’ll be fun. Caleb coming back and planning to get far by allying with season one’s winner? That’s gonna blow up in his face for sure isn’t it? Wait, he actually likes her? Aw that’s so sweet. Priya coming back to win because her parents still aren’t satisfied? She has to realize how horrible her parents are and have that be her main story right?? Holy shit they got worse with each episode. Their plot armor was more sturdy than the confessional. How the fuck did the other contestants let them GET SO FAR LIKE HELLO I thought for sure Julia was gonna take the fall and leave MK staggering. Julia lied several times and got away with it. And this was after she willingly told the opposing team that she got out their challenge beast with a fake contract. How did Axel and Damien and Zee trust her about the lie about Bowie masterminding the intern disguise cheating? How did Caleb and Priya just take her advice with love when she’s one of the most heartless contestants on the island? In fact, Julia getting MK out by making MK look worse for making up horrible things about her bestie? Honestly, you could’ve reversed the roles and it would’ve made sense. Julia lied so much that her finally losing to her lies about her closest ally would’ve been insanely bittersweet justice. I wanted to root for Julia. I love villains. I love manipulative villains who have little to no room in their heart for anything other than themselves. I love characters I love to hate. And yet somehow her immunity running last season seems less bullshit than all the lying and backstabbing she did this season. But this butchering is two-fold. I liked her when she was cheating and scheming with MK. I liked when she was doing good in challenges. What I didn’t like was when Caleb and Priya were there to let her get away with the shit she pulled in the second half of merge. Yknow. Caleb: the guy who wanted to redeem himself. And Priya: the girl who literally trained since she was born for this specific show. I swear, I want to like them as a couple. I genuinely think they were sweet and had chemistry at first. When they looked for the idol in ep 6, that opened my eyes. They had similar upbringings with demanding parents. They liked each other for each other. There was hope that they would end well. But AAAAGGH. THEY KEPT FUMBLING. AND ARGUING. AND BEING DOORMATS FOR JULIA TO STEP ON. AND COPING AND SEETHING. I couldn’t stand either of them anymore. They were the heroes and I was rooting for both their downfalls. Why did they have to be the puppets that Julia made dance ALL THE TIME as soon as they were the only couple left? Why did the show have to revolve around Prileb relationship drama? They could’ve swapped Priya and Damien’s placements. Have some Prileb drama and end it once they get better. Have Julia have an actual rival who can see through her. But noooooo. I’m supposed to be shocked or happy or feeling SOMETHING when Julia pulled out the idol and got out Priya and placed 4th. But I felt nothing. I saw it coming from a mile away ever since Damien didn’t get his marshmallow. I was too tired of Priya’s on again off again relationship with Caleb to even feel relief that she didn’t get to the finale again. Even in the finale as a helper, I couldn’t stand her. She wasn’t the spunky cheerleader she was for Millie. She was so pushy and driven by vengeance that she couldn’t even give Caleb any little victories in the race. How am I supposed to be happy that they stayed together in the end if it turned Priya into a worse version of herself?

So, what do I think of this season as a whole? I loved and hated it so much that it evens out to be a mid season. Which is a shame. The team phase gave me hope that this season would be the best. But with the constantly weird and bad directions the plot went, it’s hard for me to be satisfied with what we got as a whole…

…But to end on a good note, I think my dissatisfaction with this season stems from how amazing this reboot cast is. How much potential each of them have for funny jokes and serious character growth. How much I wanted each of them to develop and shine and mesh together. I guess that’s what making fan content is for, huh? If the show can’t give these characters the proper treatment they deserve, then we can draw and write and headcannon all we want. And that’s not to take away from the show. It’s to express how much we love it and want it to thrive.

Well, it was a bumpy road to get here. But I’m here. I love Total Drama. Flaws and all. And I can’t wait for this love to manifest into more art. So whoever you are reading this, thank you for putting up with this novel of a review <3

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imagining-in-the-margins · 11 months

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Rejected Requests Pt. 16

Hello everyone! I am unfortunately back with another set of Rejected Requests (Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, Pt 5, Pt 6 , Pt 7 , Pt 8 , Pt 9 , Pt 10, Pt 11, Pt 12, Pt 13, Pt 14, Pt 15)

I understand this is very disappointing for many of you. I promise it has nothing to do with you, and mostly it’s just because my brain has decided it doesn’t want to cooperate.

I will post the rejected fics below the cut. I want to give you the opportunity to ask another Writer (check the list of Writers seeking requests here!) For some of you, I've already heard back from someone who agreed to take over your request!

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of experience with schizophrenia, so I wouldn't feel comfortable writing this fic. I wish you luck, though, and I hope you can find someone who can write it for you.

As much as I love Spencer teasing a blushy Reader, I don't have any particular ideas for this.

I'm the furthest thing from a pro athlete, so I'm afraid I wouldn't have much of a reference point for writing something like this!

I've never been great at writing shy Readers, and it's only gotten harder as I've gotten older 😅

I haven't been able to motivate to write a non-CM fic lately, so I'll have to pass for now! I still love me some Chip Taylor, though. I get it.

Absolutely adorable visual. I am, however, currently wedding planning myself (surprise!) and the idea of having to deal with that stuff in my escapist fantasies is a bit too much for me right now!

Ah, this is so fun, but it doesn't seem like something I could write very much about. I wish I could watch it as a video, though!

With all my medical trauma, which is currently a problem in my daily life, I'm not sure I can struggle through a request. I already have a couple requests I'm still considering that are similar, so keep an eye out!

This is such a lovely idea. I haven’t been feeling angst lately, but I know a ton of people always do. I’d love to see this classic one done!

I’ve thought about this idea a lot since I got this request. I might eventually write it, but I don’t have any inspiration to write it down right now. It's also super general, so I could see multiple great pieces coming from it!

This is such a cute request but I don’t have any concrete ideas for it. I hope someone has the inspiration to do it justice!

I’m afraid to get burnt out on Hotch’s daughter fics (only a few people know this, but… I do have a potential series for a Hotchner!Reader…). This is a wonderful idea, though. Definitely funny.

Ah, this would definitely spiral into a massive series for me, lmao. I unfortunately just don’t have that in me right now… but someone else should write it so I can read it 🤭

NSFW REQUESTS, MINORS DNI

I'm not too big on voyeuristic/getting caught situations, so I'll leave these wonderful ideas to someone else!

This is such a fun, niche little kink request, but I'm just not inspired enough to write something like this lately. I hope someone can do it for you, though!

This is simply not one of my interests. I think it's too similar to those "getting caught" kind of situations for me. I know it's pretty popular, though, particularly for submissive men!

I always struggle with as-smart-as-Spencer Readers. I wish you luck, though!

Ah, hybristophilia... I think I'm too far away from Protege to be able to go back to those kinds of kinks. I haven't been in a Dead Dove mood for a long time. Godspeed, though, friend. I feel you.

I got so many very specific female oral receiving requests in a row 😅 I burned myself out on the blurbs. This would have to be a much longer piece, which I'm just not sure I'm up for. Who doesn't love a flirty Reader, though?

I’m personally not a big fan of as-smart-as-Spencer Readers. I’m also not the biggest fan of lawyer Readers because I do enough of it at my day job 😭 it sounds like a lovely idea, though! And thank you for all the kind words ❤️

Songfics are super hard for me, unfortunately 😓 Especially if I don’t know the songs, which I don’t know either of these.

Sorry, friend! My request guidelines say I don’t accept requests involving cheating. I hope you can find someone who can write it for you 🫶

Thank you everyone! Again, I'm so sorry I had to reject these requests. I hope you can find someone else to write them for you!

#answer #answered #rejected requests #anon request #spencer reid requests #Spencer Reid prompts #cm writing challenge

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lampmanliveblogs · 8 months

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”I must go now. My planet needs me.” -King, probably

(what's that under the collector's bed? i freaked out a little bit when I first saw it, because I thought it was philip, but nah, it looks like another stuffed animal. but can you imagine the kind of damage philip could do if he managed to possess the collector??)

As the space cherub and his island-in-training best friend take a break from their game of pretend, we cut to Boscha, who’s right in the middle of her own game of pretend. She is playing at being emperor. The school is her castle, and the gym is her throne room, complete with masked soldiers standing guard. She’s even got a special guard standing by her side, one with a shoulder pad on only one shoulder.

You know, when Kikimora said she wanted to be the new Golden Guard, I don’t think this is what she had in mind.

Because that’s Kikimora, right? It’s got to be, and the big guy is her Abomatron.

Speaking of Kikimora, I was cleaning up my desk a little while back when I found a note I had written and then completely forgot about, I think it might’ve been in response to an ask I got but never answered. The note read as thus:

”It’s ironic that Kikimora wanted to be the Golden Guard, seeing as the only privilege afforded the Golden Guard is that Belos will kill you personally, a courtesy he did not extend to Kikimora… and it came back to haunt him.”

(except with more misspellings)

I gotta admit, as far as false names goes, Miki and Roka are kinda funny. We love a good word scramble. Actually, I don’t, I’m no good at those. This one wasn’t so hard because I knew the answer.

The thing I’m wondering though is how Kiki managed to fit that weird hand on her head under that wig.

The idea of Boscha taking them in after ”the incident” is reminiscent of the false backstory given the Golden Guard in season two.

I should probably also mention that Kiki-I’m sorry, I meant ”Miki.” When Jerbo was putting forth his plans to make things not suck for everyone, Miki interjected, saying that doing so would take up her time… and implying that without the constant protection of ”Miki” and ”Roka,” Boscha would be turned into a puppet and collected as well.

YO, is she gonna try to recreate the teleportation circle Philip used in Elsewhere and Elsewhen?!? See, I told you guys, I told you! I told you it’d be so cool if Luz or Lilith memorized it and used it, and no they’re doing it!

I mean, hopefully. Weeeeell… aside from the possibility that the teleportation circle will just outright fail (there was what, some twenty glyphs to it?), Kikimora might also have some objections. She might still have a grudge towards Hunter, for one thing. Or all the kids, for all the trouble they’ve caused her.

I dunno about you guys, but this is giving me Hollow Mind vibes. In the sense that I’m gonna spend way too long squinting at paintings in the background. I’ll be somewhat brief, because as per usual, I’ll probably get a better look at at least some of them in a sec.

Let’s see, what do we have here…

On the right side of the screen (King’s left) it appears to be mostly depictions of various space-related things. There is one with a shooting star or meteorite about to hit a planet’s surface, which might be the Collectors arriving at this world

The left side of the screen (King’s right) is where things get interesting. Going from closest to the screen to furthest away, we have…

A painting of three Collectors looking at what I assume is a depiction of the Demon Realm planet. There is a wee little collector coming up to them. This one is, aside from being smaller than the others, purple, where the others are blue. The little one is obviously supposed to be The Collector, our little Lord of the Fireflies.

The next painting shows two collectors holding and trying on Titan skulls. In the background is either a Titan, a Titan trapper, or the third collector disguised as a Titan.

The third painting looks an awful lot like the mural we saw way back in Echoes of the Past. If we go by the ”collector dressed as a Titan” theory in the previous paragraph, then this painting might be depicting that collector in combat against a Titan. At the feet of the Titan is an egg, and we can see the head of a smaller Titan. So far, this seems to fall in line with the theory I put forth a little while ago, about the Titan Trappers worshipping not THE Collector, our Prince of Plastic, but another collector. One who gave them the idea of dressing up like their prey.

The fourth painting shows the three big collectors throwing away the littlest collector.

The fifth painting shows the little collector surrounded by baby Titans. D’aw!

The sixth… I really can’t tell, but I think I can see the three faces of the three tall collectors. Maybe it’s them leaving this planet and choosing to abandon the little one.

#the owl house #liveblog #the owl house liveblog #for the future #toh s3e2

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thebigrewatch · 9 months

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TASKMASTER : SERIES 1 : EPISODE 3 : The Poet and The Egg

Hello all, same day, just had lunch and more choccy buttons so I'm ready to crack on with another episode. And that was a good pun from me because this episode is called The Poet and The Egg!

I can't really remember this episode at all so it'll be good to look back on it. I've got a meeting in an hour so let's get to it.

I don't understand why Greg stands up to introduce everyone, it's a bit odd.

Prize Task: Most Meaningful Item

Tim Key has brought in a piston. He explains it to say he won the Edinburgh Comedy Award and he kept this piston which was part of his show when he won it. We also get a good bit of chat here about Greg booping Romesh on the nose which continues throughout the episode as I recall.

Romesh has brought in his wedding ring. So it's high stakes! Something's telling me he's not getting that back.

Roisin has brought in a dictionary. This is the first instance of someone bringing something like this in.

Josh brings in a lovely item which is a self-published book from his father, a string of angry letters he wrote in the past. He describes it as a 'slice of life'.

Frank brings in his child's hobby horse which is very sweet. Roisin comes in last place, then Josh, Tim, Frank and Romesh. I think that's a fair assessment! Task 1: Throw a teabag into a mug from the furthest distance. Frank already confident, saying he played cricket in this youth. He points out straight away you need wet tea bags. Roisin only brings one bag out then realises it needs to be wet. Romesh on the other hands spends a long time with dry teabags. Frank gets a box out to try and make a sort of funnel for the teabag to go into which is a great system. This leads to a great discussion about whether a box was available for Romesh or not. In another task further down the line they see a box in the background while they're showing Josh's efforts and they say 'box!' so funny.

Josh goes down a strange route of using a wheelbarrow as a mug for tea. He drinks out of it, it looks pretty disgusting!

Tim has the same idea as Frank I guess but makes it far too complicated by involving one of those things people use to throw tennis balls for dogs, and putting the teabag inside a tennis ball. I don't think it's quite in the spirit of things but it does the job.

Task 2: Oh I like this task - they have to draw a picture by walking, kind of like a human etch a sketch. The weather for everyone is nice...except Tim who is doing it in absolute horrendous torrential rain. Josh does a lovely little flower. Roisin wants to draw a sausage for Greg! But it sort of ends up looking like a golf bag.

One thing I will say is I love the music over Tim's one. He tries to draw a key but then crosses it out and ends up with sort of nothing. Tim describes it as the worst hour of his life.

Romesh does a great one of his own head which looks amazing!

Frank does a hobby horse but it doesn't look very good.

Task 3: Buy the best present for the Taskmaster, here is £20, you have 10 weeks.

This is another great moment. I mean the others aren't even worth talking about really but I'll go through them and get to Josh.

Tim - book tokens

Frank - see behind me glasses, these are quite cool actually, he puts them on and can see behind himself

Romesh has a brilliant picture made...I'll let it speak for itself! He says it's to show Greg is 'all terrain'

Josh goes next but I think it's too good to leave here so I'll skip to Roisin's and come back to Josh.

Roisin gets Greg a mouse!

Josh gets Greg a tattoo with his name on his foot! The reaction from Greg and the audience is priceless.

I don't really know why they left Roisin until last because it comes in a bit flat after this excitement but there we are. There is a fun bit though where Roisin says the mouse is called Greg and Josh quips back 'I've got a tattoo of his name!' Of course Josh had to win this one.

Task 3: Using only the items currently on this table, get this egg as high as possible. The egg must not break.

Tim says the phrase 'another day another egg' which I enjoyed. The thing about eggs is they are designed not to break on grass so that's a good call.

Romesh does a lot of titting about with the paper and measuring tape before piling it all up and putting the egg on top.

Roisin throws it up and tries to catch it but it of course goes badly wrong and falls to the floor and cracks.

Tim tries to make a sort of olympic torch out of the paper but it falls off and smashes on the floor.

Josh and Frank have a similar idea of wrapping the egg in paper and throwing it. Josh tries to cover the floor with scrunched paper to cushion the fall but it doesn't quite land in it, however it doesn't break because they are naturally robust against falling on grass.

Frank's egg comes down and nearly knocks him out! Sadly it does break :( So Josh is first and Romesh is second.

Live task: Stand up after 100 seconds. This is your typical not great live task, just waiting for 100 seconds to arrive is a bit dull. One thing I did enjoy was, after all the box chat with Romesh, Alex gives him a box while he's sitting there waiting for the 100 seconds.

Roisin goes, then Josh, then Tim and Romesh at the same time and then Frank goes. Closest to 100 seconds was Josh at 105 seconds. Well that's it then, and it's a tie break situation!

Josh and Romesh have to give Frank Skinner's age in minutes which ends up being about 30 million and something or other (numbers aren't my friend). Josh ends up being the closest to this so he wins and Romesh loses his wedding ring!

#taskmaster #taskmaster series 1 #frank skinner #tim key #romesh ranganathan #roisin conaty #josh widdicombe

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madamemaximoff06 · 10 months

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Rory Culkin’s “worst” Acting performance

(Let me state this before I got massive hate, I put worst in air quotes (massive air quotes) because I’m not at all calling Rory a bad actor, he’s the furthest thing from it, he’s really good and he’s one of my favorite actors, just this acting performance he did, didn’t really do it for me and I will explain why, I would just like to rant about this because I’ve been rewatching this movie and I’ve been thinking about it and I wanted to see if anyone else noticed it like I did.)

Yes we’re talking about Lords of Chaos.

(Let me also preface this, I’m the kind of person that is known to over analyze everything, Everything that I bring up will be mainly talking about the Movie, I will sometimes bring up moments in real life but I won’t be over analyzing the real life people because they were real life people and I didn’t know what they were thinking at the time, I’m not at all qualified to make assumptions on real life people however I can do that with “fictionalized” versions of those real life people, if I get really ranty I apologize, and if it seems like I’m just pulling stuff out of my ass, I probably am, I tend to do that and make everything over complicated, this is just how I analyze stuff) Now I like Lords of Chaos, it’s not my favorite Rory Culkin film, but it was the first that I watched that got me obsessed with him (shoutout to all the edits that I saved of him as Euronymous, what can I say, I’m sucker for metal heads)(Okay Technically Scream 4 was my first Rory Culkin Film but that didn’t lead me to my obsession)

So when i first watched Lords of Chaos I wasn’t at all prepared for what I was getting into, I had never heard of the band “Mayhem” and I knew nothing about the backstory on them so when I watched it I was shocked.

I didn’t know if I liked at first but rewatching it, it’s quite entertaining, if you ignore all the inaccuracies in this movie and you just watch like you would any movie, in my opinion, it’s a good movie, it’s not fantastic by any means, it has it’s moments of being shitty but it’s good, it’s a decent movie but probably my biggest gripe with this movie is the acting and the dialogue. (They’re are some great actors in this movie like the guys that played Pelle, Faust and HellHammer, they killed it and then there are some that there acting is really to much, like they’re trying to hard, the guy that plays Varg is probably my biggest example of this, I don’t know just something about his portrayal is just to much and also to little at the same time, like he does say some over the top stuff but the way he says it just doesn’t speak volumes as it should, you know? Also I saw a comment that said that when Varg laughs he sounds like Chris from Family Guy and i can’t unhear it)

Now this is movie about the birth of Norwegian Black Metal so of course there are going to be a lot of the best way I can put it is edgy dialogue, they truly wanted to be different, to have people fear them so they do need to be over the top but it could probably just be me growing up in the Creepypasta community in 2016/2017 but i just hear it as a bunch of kids trying to edgy so it doesn’t really do a job at making them fearful, it’s just them being over the top edge lords, in fact sometimes I find it funny but sometimes I find it cringey and just sometimes not necessarily but that could just be me.

All of the actors did what they could with the script which like I said, had some cringey over the top dialogue and I think that it really affected people’s performances especially Rory’s. Now I’m finally gonna get to talking about Rory.

Now I don’t hate Rory as Euronymous, I still do like his performance as Euronymous But it’s just some of his performances sticks out to me the most for a lot of the wrong reasons. Now what I absolutely love about Rory as an actor is just how natural of an actor he is, meaning that he actually sounds and acts like a real person having a conversation when he acts, it doesn’t feel like your watching a movie sometimes because of how natural it feels. But when it comes to “Lords of Chaos” that natural feeling isn’t there, a lot of his dialogue seems forced and like I said it’s over the top and it just feels odd, some of his dialogue seems clunky (if that makes sense) and even if he’s talking like a normal person, sometimes it still suffers from that same problem of the dialogue not really hitting right. I'd say that his performance as Euronymous is probably his "weakest" performance, he has his moments of being great but you really have to look for it.

I’ll find an example to show:

the dialogue just sounds I don’t know off, like it doesn’t sound natural or at least as natural as it could be.

And it sucks because if you’ve watched other movies that he’s been in like Jack Goes Home and Gabriel for example, I think those are probably his most emotional roles, he puts everything into those characters, there is so much depth to them and emotion and so much life to these characters, and when you watch Lords of Chaos, it just isn’t really there as much.

And I think the biggest problem is that it’s a BioPic, Because the actors are playing real people, real life people and it is such a hard task to do, why do you think a lot of BioPics are hit or miss, in my opinion being in a BioPic is probably the hardest thing you could do as an Actor because you’re not playing a character, your playing a real person and I think that the role of Euronymous is a really big role seeing as he was an awful person in real life and there are so many aspects to his time as the creator of Mayhem, it’s a difficult role and I truly Believe that Rory did the absolute best he could, but I think it could have maybe been directing issues or just that this role is really challenging that really ruined his performance at least for me. It's not not like he's bad at being in BioPics, i mean he was in two before and after Lords of Chaos, 1. was Waco: Madman or Messiah and he played David Thibodeau in 2018, before he did Lords of Choas and he rocked those roles along with in 2022 he played in another BioPic Under the Banner of Heaven where he played Samuel Lafferty so it's not like it's his first time being in a BioPic film, i believe that the role of Euronymous is a really challenging role and he did the best he could.

BUT he does have some great small moments in this movie where he does have that natural charm and he feels like an actual person instead of the Euronymous persona that he puts on.

For example, Basically almost every scene with Pelle (Dead) and Euronymous, I think that both of them have honestly great chemistry together and even if in real life Dead and Euronymous weren’t close, in the movie you can really feel that Euronymous did care about him, Euronymous wanted to make music and he even says that when he heard Dead sing for the first time that it was beautiful and that he had never heard anything sound like that, he was perfect for Mayhem and you can tell that he wanted what was best for the band or what he thought was best and it’s even shown how much Euronymous still thinks about Dead like when he gets the call from Kerrang (or however you spell it) Magazine after Varg was accused of setting fires to the Churches and he has a picture of Dead’s body, the one he used for the album cover, we get a flashback in time to after he took the picture and he’s crying at the sight of Dead which really humanizes him which I’m not sure a lot of people like but once again Rory is coming in with his Naturalistic acting and showing that even though Euronymous did take pictures of Dead and did steal parts of his skull. It shows that even though Euronymous was this awful person, he is still human and he is literally sitting in front of someone that was his friend who blew his brains out, that would bring anyone no matter who you are to tears and you see him crying after I think the realization hits him. Before he calls everyone saying that “Pelle has gone home” and steps back into the Euronymous persona, he has this quiet moment with Dead.

Along with him finding Dead, Him getting to the house, throwing rocks at the window, Telling Pelle to open the door and then having to get a ladder to get into the house and then walking into the room and finding him, then he heads downstairs and then goes to call the police before stopping and going to get a camera to take the pictures of Dead, but it’s all the quiet moment that he has that really shine through.

Also when Euronymous tells Dead that there’s a cat outside and they go outside to kill it, it just shows them as two guys dicking around before Dead tells Euronymous to shoot him which he is shocked by. I think that that truly shock Euronymous to his core, because in this moment Dead is telling him to shoot him and he almost does before backing out because even though he act’s tough and evil, he can’t physically pull the trigger, he can’t fathom taking someone else’s life.

Also an underrated scene is when When he dyes his hair black and he asks his sister what she thinks, they have this cute sibling bonding moment even though his sister isn’t really in the movie as much, it still shows that they have a bond. Still humanizing him, I like that scene, it’s just a nice scene before everything goes down hill.

Another great acted scene is After the fires, Euronymous becomes paranoid that the police will find out that he is connected to the fires through Varg, I think he plays the paranoia perfectly, him wanting them to lay low for awhile, to keep the police off their backs, also when he finds out that Varg went to the press about the fires, Euronymous is angry and threatens to kill him, he grabs the taser and says that he’ll tie Varg to a tree, torture him and make a snuff film out of it.

All the scenes that humanize Euronymous are really where Rory’s acting talent can really shine through. It’s the little scenes that really show how great of an actor Rory is in it just sucks that you really have to really pay attention to it.

Now this is of course all just my analysis from rewatching Lords of Chaos and how I view it. Once again this isn’t my hating on Rory as Euronymous or him as an actor, this is just something I noticed that I think ruins the movie for me a bit.

#rory culkin #lords of chaos #mayhem band #mayhem #euronymous #pelle ohlin #acting #analaysis #oystein aarseth #black metal #metal music #norwegian black metal #culkin cult #dead mayhem #true norwegian black metal #rant post #Madame's rambles

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