#and yet sexuality and the lack there of is still okay to discuss

[godsfavdarling]

Yellow

my masterlist

+18!!!

pairing: Spencer Reid x fem!reader

words: 1.7k

summary: Spencer just came back from a tough case and you and him indulge in some adult activities, but during it you find yourself feeling a little anxious.

warnings: bondage, edging, overstimulation, fingering, oral (female receiving), unprotected sex, use of safe word, aftercare, dom! Spence, (tell me if I forgot something)

You and Spencer have been dating for a few years now, and somewhere along your sexual journey, you both admitted that exploring rougher sex is something you'd like to try. Things started out easily with activities like blindfolds and tying you up, while still maintaining a sense of tenderness and love.

From there, you experimented with choking, which you enjoyed, and found even more pleasure in having your hands around Spencer's neck. Your boyfriend was also very eager to explore the world of edging and would often have you begging and crying for release before finally letting you cum. And he was also more than happy to let you have him wrapped around your finger.

You didn't understand how he was able to do it. How was he able to hold himself back from giving you what you wanted? He was patient yet greedy. If he wasn't edging you for what felt like an eternity, he was on a mission to overstimulate you. Using not only his mouth and fingers but also toys, he'd have you shaking and crying, begging for him to stop.

In order to ensure both of your safety, you always discussed everything in detail and established safewords or signals for when communication might be difficult. You settled on the simplest system of colors: green if you wanted to continue and everything was good, yellow if you wanted to pause or change what you were doing, and red if you wanted to stop completely.

None of you had ever used the safewords, except for green. Spencer often asked for you to check in and confirm that everything was okay.

One night, when Spencer returned from a very long and tough case, he wanted both of you to indulge in one of his favorite activities: tying you up. You were more than happy to participate and help him take his mind off work. You loved making him feel better and enjoyed seeing him lose himself while he had complete control over you.

As soon as he came back home you both discussed what he wanted and you said that you were okay with everything. He tied you up like that before and you enjoyed every moment. You couldn't wait to repeat that night. 

He asked you to get naked and sit on the bed, and you complied, awaiting his plan. He entered the bedroom with a couple of ropes in his hands and skillfully began to wrap them around your body. He positioned your hands behind your back, securing them with the ropes around your breasts to ensure you couldn’t move them.

“Is it too tight?” he asked.

“No, it's okay,” you confirmed, and he continued. He instructed you to kneel on the bed, and he proceeded to tie your legs together. You could feel yourself getting wet, with him still in his suit and you completely naked before him. His tender yet confident touch drove you insane, even though nothing had happened yet.

“Now, lay down on the bed, face down, ass up,” he said sternly, and you obeyed.

Your face pressed against the sheets while your center was up and waiting for him. You tried to shimmy your hips, seeking some friction, but he quickly intervened.

“Stop that,” he commanded.

“Sorry,” you replied.

“It's okay. Someone’s needy.”

For a few minutes, he simply stood there, his gaze fixed on you, taking in every inch of your body. Despite his lack of action, your inner walls were already clenching with anticipation, and your breathing grew heavier with each passing moment. You felt an overwhelming need for his touch like never before.

As he stood beside you, you noticed the tent forming in his pants. He was likely just as affected by the situation as you were, yet he showed no outward signs of it.

Suddenly, his hand was on your back, trailing lightly down to your ass and then your thighs. His caresses elicited a moan from you, causing you to instinctively squeeze your legs together. He undoubtedly noticed but chose to ignore it.

Next, he firmly grabbed your ass, squeezing each cheek a few times.

As he finally gave in and stroked your wet folds with only one finger, you couldn't help but whimper.

"So wet for me," he whispered, his gaze fixed on your pussy. He sat beside you, continuing to stroke your heat lightly and slowly, his touch moving from your entrance to your clit with barely any pressure.

"Please," you pleaded, your desire clouding your ability to articulate your wants.

"Please what?" he asked, his voice teasing.

You whimpered again, unable to express your desires clearly. All you knew was that you wanted to climax, and you wanted him to be the one to bring you there.

He began to play with your entrance, teasingly circling the tip of his finger before pushing it a little further inside and curling it. Adding another finger, he placed his thumb on your clit, still maintaining his gentle touch, yet you felt like you were on the brink of falling apart at any moment.

But just as you were on the edge, he stopped and pressed his face against your center, giving it one long lick with his tongue.

"F-fuck," you moaned, your voice trembling with need.

He placed both hands on your ass, squeezing more firmly now as his hot breath washed over your folds. Watching how wet and desperate you were for release, he took a few deep breaths, the contrast of hot and cold air only fueling your hunger as he teased you with his slow pace.

Finally, he put his mouth on your clit and sucked, causing you to moan in ecstasy as the vibrations ran through your body. His tongue danced skillfully over your nub, sending shivers down your spine as you felt yourself nearing the edge. The knot tightened in your stomach, your moans becoming shorter and more urgent, signaling to him just how close you were.

You prayed silently that he would let you cum in his mouth, allowing you to ride out your orgasm against his face, feeling his lips against you as you reached the peak of pleasure. You longed for him to lick up every drop of your release and then kiss you deeply, letting you taste yourself on his lips.

But just as you were on the brink of ecstasy, he stopped abruptly, leaving you groaning in frustration. How much longer was he going to keep you waiting?

Before you could gather your thoughts, he unzipped his pants, releasing his throbbing erection, desperate to finally feel you. He wasted no time, standing behind you and filling you completely. As he slid in effortlessly and your walls clenched around him, he moaned in pleasure, relishing the sensation of being completely engulfed by you.

Pulling out and thrusting back in with a quick pace, he leaned in to kiss your spine, his arms wrapping around your waist as he maintained a steady rhythm. "You feel… so… good…" he murmured against your skin between gentle kisses, his hands finding yours, still bound behind your back.

"Spencer," you moaned, sending a shiver of pleasure down his spine. He grunted and gasped, his hands tightening on your hips as he buried himself deeper in your core, grinding against you.

But suddenly, a surge of emotions overwhelmed you. It all felt like too much, and you struggled to catch your breath, not in a good way. Tears welled up in your eyes as you whispered his name, your voice trembling with unease. “Spencer…”

"Yellow" you whispered, and he immediately pulled out, concern etched on his face as he appeared before you.

"Is everything okay? What is it? Do you want to stop?" 

Tears streamed down your cheeks. 

"Hey, it’s okay," Spencer said, gently wiping your face. "I’ll untie you, okay?" You nodded and allowed him to guide you to a sitting position. As you sat on your heels, he skillfully worked the ropes around your body, your breathing evening out as you tried not to feel foolish for interrupting.

"I'm sorry," you whispered.

"About what? You have nothing to be sorry about. I’m glad you told me," Spencer reassured you.

"Yeah, but I was feeling good… before… earlier, and then just… I don't know what happened."

"It's okay. I just want you to feel good. I'm happy you told me that it didn’t feel right anymore."

With your hands now free, you hid your face in them while Spencer gently helped you to sit on the edge of the bed and untied your legs. Then, he inspected your skin for any signs of marks from the ropes.

Once he was satisfied, he cupped your face and whispered, "I’ll bring you some water." You nodded and curled up on the bed, glancing at your wrists and ankles - relieved to see barely any signs of the ropes. Thankfully, Spencer knew what he was doing, and you hadn't been tied up long enough to leave big marks.

When he returned with a glass of water, he handed it to you and draped a blanket around your shoulders. You took a few sips while Spencer undressed, discarding his clothes and throwing on a T-shirt.

Sitting beside you, he wrapped his arm around you, offering his comfort and the warmth of skin-to-skin contact. You sat together like that for a while, his hand resting on your knee, silently reassuring you that he was there for you and would do anything to make you feel better.

"I'm sorry," you whispered again.

Spencer looked at your face. "I'm not upset… or mad, okay?" 

You nodded. "I don’t know why I said yellow. I thought maybe… I don’t know."

"Did you maybe get overwhelmed?"

"Yeah… I think so…"

He kissed your temple and hugged you tighter. "I'm glad you told me to stop. I always want you to tell me if something is wrong. I'll never get upset. I promise you that."

"Okay… thank you."

"How about a bath? To clean you up and maybe help you feel a little better? And if you said yellow because you still want to finish tonight, we can continue later, only if you’ll want to, okay?"

"Okay. A bath does sound good," you smiled softly.

#dr spencer reid #spencer reid fandom #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds #spencer reid smut #mgg #criminal minds smut #dom spencer reid #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x fem!reader #matthew gray gubler

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for threatening to get my best friend sectioned?

This actually happened 2 years ago, but last night he made a joke about it that kind of seemed like he might still be mad at me about it. So. Anyway, ages and all are written as they were at the time.

For context, my (18m) mom took guardianship of my friend (17m), called “J”, after his grandfather passed, a few months before this happened.

Not going into specifics, but J has struggled with OCD and an ED for years, and I suspect when he’s an adult he’ll probably get diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder at some point.

(Update from the Present: no dice… yet.)

A close family friend of his passed away and it caused his mental issues (particularly the ED) to get a lot worse really quickly.

Even thought my mom was technically his guardian, she kind of relied on me to keep tabs on him because he’s usually pretty honest with me compared to other people. Like, if he’s not doing well, I have the best chance of finding that out.

So. His family friend dies, he gets worse, I report all of this back to my mom, who starts trying to get some sort of more intensive treatment lined up for him (difficult and time consuming because of where we lived at the time).

My mom tells me not to tell J, because he “talks a big game” about not wanting treatment or whatever and she firmly believes it’ll be easier if he doesn’t have time to stress himself out about it before it happens. Okay. So I don’t tell J.

Somehow, he finds out anyway, and also finds out that I knew and had chosen not to tell him, but doesn’t tell me that he knows. (Convoluted, I know, sorry.)

I pick J up from an after school thing one night, we end up talking about pretty heavy shit in the car for a /long/ time, and after the conversation died, he put a hand on my shoulder, leaned over, and kissed me. And like not a short kiss either. It was like a 3 to 4 second kiss.

Context again, I realized I was gay and that I liked J in a not particularly friend-like way when I was 13. I never told him and never planned on telling him. I told him a lot of things but I intended on growing old and dying with that one kept nice and secret. Even if he was some form of not-straight, which I was 99.99% sure he wasn’t, I didn’t think it was worth jeopardizing my closest friendship with romantic and/or sexual feelings that could at best confuse him or make him uncomfortable or at worst outright disgust him.

Anyway. We don’t talk about it, I end up going to stay for a few days with a guy (20m but not really relevant) I’d been sort of seeing/sleeping with for a couple months because I literally couldn’t be in the same house as J or I would probably implode.

Fast forward a week, I’m picking J up from a hospital 2 towns over because he ran away (? unclear really, haven’t discussed the particulars w him and I wasn’t staying at home at the time) and ended up having to go to the ER.

In the car (best time to talk to someone because they can’t run away), he apologizes for kissing me. I’m thrown off by that, because he hadn’t said anything up to this point and it honestly wasn’t even in the top 5 things I was thinking about.

I asked him why he did it and he just sighed and explained in this tone of voice that, I don’t know how to explain it, but had just the right lack of empathy or affect that I knew he was being 110% honest.

Condensed version: he found out I was reporting everything he told me to my mom (still don’t know how). He was pissed. He was aware he needed more intensive treatment, and he knew my mom was aware. He did not want treatment. He knew I had liked him for years. He knew that I was relatively fragile about it. He knew that if he did something (like kiss me for example) there was a good chance it would break my brain and I would freak out.

He essentially kissed me to decommission me for a few days so he could formulate a plan to run away.

FINALLY we have arrived at the AITA part.

After hearing all this, I tried very hard to come up with something rational to say, but ended up saying (essentially), “You’re fucking insane, and I’m telling my mother you need to be committed.”

I know I wasn’t wrong to be angry. But I also know from past knowledge and experiences that he had a deep fear of being deemed “insane” or unfixable or whatever, and also that he was really afraid of treatment in general.

Idk. I go back and forth on whether or not I was out of line, or needlessly escalating the situation, by threatening him. It was a much bigger threat in his mind than it was in mine, and so even though I know I said it as a reaction to a fucked up situation, there’s still the idea that I blew it completely out of proportion and weaponized his own mental issues against him.

So AITA for threatening my best friend by telling him I was going to get him committed to a long term psychiatric hospital?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[woklaza]

Alright, I was scrolling through TikTok mindlessly today when I came across this certain manga panel:

And well… the first thing we all thought was that Dazai fucked the nurse so well that she came back for a round two, and that’s what the manga wanted us to think.

I don’t know how I’ve been in the fandom for so long and yet still be oblivious of this panel. Anyway, to do more investigation on the context, I searched ‘nurse scene bsd’ online and I was genuinely disgusted by the way some people were expanding and misinterpreting this.

No.1) Here’s a reminder that Dazai is literally in physical pain when this took place since he just underwent a surgery, so no. He’s not doing that for sexual pleasure.

No.2) No. why the fuck are you people jealous of the damn nurse? I do not see the point in explaining this further.

No.3) Directly addressing to a certain people that he is not being a womaniser. In this case, at least.

For context, this is chapter 50, and it was basically after Dazai was shot by a sniper hired by Fyodor, and right now he was using his phone to call Junichiro to discuss tactics etc. on how to deal with the cannibalism. Before this panel, the nurse tried to stop Dazai from using his phone and snatched it away and Dazai did what he did in order to get his phone back and continue his convo with Junichiro.

This panel shows Dazai being literally unbothered and casual about using his body to get what he needs— I feel like this trick reeks of Mafia-style, I am almost certain Dazai learnt to use his body to get what he desires from the Mafia. Okay— that's just sad. Imagine lacking so much self-worth that you are willing to literally fuck a person you barely know and be unbothered by it. This panel really shows how Dazai thinks of himself- a tool. No longer human.

It's honestly just sad. Whatever hell he was taught in the mafia fucked him up more than he already was.

#bsd #bsd dazai #dazai osamu #bungo stray dogs #dazai bungou stray dogs #As always fuck the immature people on TikTok for their takes on this scene #bsd analysis #character analysis #dazai character analysis

[s7-evermore]

Ch. 2 - The Economics of Rumors

This is The Boyfriend Contract series, Chapter 2. Inspired by The Love Hypothesis and The Business Proposal. Azul Ashengrotto x fem! Yuu (reader). You can view this on ao3.

Ch. 1 | Next chapter

In most cases, the economic rumor makes consumers dubious of the product's type, quality, and effects on health, so it can be quite an issue... but rather than an issue, he saw it as an opportunity. To me though, it's a nuisance.

It was foolish of her to believe that everything would be A-Okay after Riddle's overblot. Aside from the usual NRC mishaps (that she somehow got used to), she thought she would be able to live through her first year without any more major issues, maybe live long enough for her to get back home.

But then the Spelldrive incident happened, then the Octavinelle incident, then the Winter break incident, and then more incidents, and then the dreadful, gut-wrenching, absolutely breathtaking (not in a good way) kiss incident. Of all the goddamn incidents-- she did not expect any of them to involve a kiss.

(No. Vil's kiss on her cheek during the Styx incident does not count.)

She knew Azul well enough that he didn't like to involve himself with irrelevant matters unless it benefited him in some way. So even if she had some sort of obsessive guy chasing after her, she'd have to offer him something worthy enough for him to help her.

She hadn't received any message from him so far, and the Leech twins hadn't arrived at her doorstep yet, so... she assumed she was safe. For now.

Unless, of course, he actually did file a complaint for sexual harassment, in that case, the Headmage would have been the one at her door by now.

Yesterday's events had taken up more energy from her than she realized, so she contacted her boss and called in sick. Thank heavens he was kind, almost fatherly, and told her to rest until she felt better. She should have felt guilty for lying, but she was too exhausted to feel anything. She didn't really want to deal with any people right now.

However, as much as she enjoyed days off, Yuu became extra restless when she had nothing to do. Because doing nothing meant her mind was free to go in different directions, and that direction most often went downhill. There had to be something she could do, even if it was small or insignificant, anything to make her think of anything else other than what she didn't want to think about.

She had done as much as she could. She washed the dishes, did the laundry, cooked increasingly unsettling eggs (most of them went to Grim's stomach), washed the dishes again, cleaned the lounge, rearranged her bookshelf, created a new playlist for next week, watched some videos on Magicam, read a book on meditation-- She was slowly running out of things to do when she suddenly remembered the homework they had for History of Magic, it was a paper on any chosen topic among the ones they previously discussed during the past semester. Although the deadline was still in a week, Yuu figured it would be better to start on it early.

After making herself comfortable on her couch, Yuu opened her laptop (a very generous gift from Ortho, who noticed her lack of electronics, bless that sweet humanoid boy) and began to do some light research, but got side-tracked by the string of notifications that streamed from her phone.

With a sigh, she set her laptop on the nearby coffee table and grabbed her phone. A message from...Ace? And Deuce. Ace and Deuce. And Epel. And Jack. And...holy shit.

Was everyone out to get her or something? Why is she suddenly getting messages from Cater and Riddle? Even Sebek?! Of all people???

Before she could open any of the messages, several loud knocks pounded on her door. She knew well enough who it was that she didn't bother getting up to open it, they knew to knock first before entering after all.

The door to the lounge slammed open, startling the poor girl.

"Jesus Christ!" She clutched her phone to her chest, "Ace. You scared the shit out of me! Calm down will you?"

"Calm down?" Uh oh. She did not like that voice. Ace only ever used that voice a few times on other people, but never on her. She was usually the one using that voice on him. You know, to keep him in line.

Oh, how the turns have tabled.

"You want me to calm down?" His voice was like venom. He stalked over to her, almost stomping, as Deuce-- and... is that Epel, Jack, and Ortho?!

"Uh...what's going on?" She looked at their expressions. Ace looked displeased by something, Deuce looked uncomfortable, Jack and Epel both looked unsure, while Ortho simply looked curious. "Why is everyone here?"

"Yesterday."

She raised a brow, "Yesterday?"

"Yesterday!"

She rolled her eyes, "What about yesterday?"

"Yesterday! With Azul!"

She froze. Oh no. "What about him?"

"Don't play dumb with us, Yuu," Ace gave her one of his no-bullshit looks, "What's with you and Azul? Did you make a contract with him or something? Is he holding you hostage?"

"W-What?! No! What are you even getting at?" She didn't like where this was going. 

PLEASE don't say what I think you're gonna say.

"Um, Yuu, yesterday..." Deuce started rather bashfully, "Cater and Trey saw you and Azul together, uh..."

"Kissing." Ace finished, "They saw you kissing."

Is it still possible to play dumb? "Me? Kiss who?"

"AZUL!" The ginger yelled as he hurriedly pulled out his phone and showed her what was on the screen.

It was... It was her. And Azul. Kissing.

The cafe she worked at had been gaining popularity for some time now so encountering students from both Night Raven College and Royal Sword Academy was hardly a surprise.

"Cater took that," He explained, "He and Trey were supposed to visit you, but then he saw you go up to Azul and then that happened."

Oh my fucking god.

A memory resurfaced from when Cater and the others heard that the cafe she was working in was gaining a lot of attention. He promised he would drop by sometime with Trey or Riddle, and as luck would have it, it just HAD to be at the time when she...

Oh god. This is bad. This is really fucking bad. If Cater knew, then EVERYONE knew.

"Yuu..." Jack started slowly, "You're not dating Azul, are you?" He grimaced at his own question. Everyone else looked at her waiting for an answer.

She sighed. Even though the reason was going to sound stupid (which it was), she couldn't lie to them when they were looking at her like that. There was no reason to hide it anyway, after everything she had gone through with them.

It's quite a depressing story, but even in her own world, Yuu was an outcast. Since middle school, she had trained herself not to make a fuss over things she couldn't control. If no one wanted to accept her, then so be it, all she had to do was accept herself. She never let other people's opinions deter her, instead, she worked her hardest not to let it bother her. She buried herself in her work, focusing only on her academics and her part-time jobs as a way to cope with the loneliness. It all paid off since she got accepted into her dream college.

She was supposed to start university in a month, but her sudden arrival in Twisted Wonderland changed all her plans. Despite all her hard work, she had to start over again in this new world where she had nothing, knew nothing, knew no one, and as far as the law was concerned, she didn't exist here at all.

Yuu, once again, had to navigate her way through NRC alone-- until... Grim, Ace, and Deuce. Then Jack, then Epel, then Ortho...

In a way, it was like falling in love. She entered Twisted Wonderland a feral stranger, but these people accepted her, as strange and quirky as they were in their own right, she felt right at home in their little group. Even though some of them would deny it, she knew that they always got her back.

"It's a bit of a long story."

And like clockwork, Ace and Deuce sat on the same couch she was sitting on, Jack took the armchair on her left while Epel proceeded to sit on the floor in front of her, propping his elbow on the coffee table next to him, while Ortho simply sat on said coffee table. They did this in sync, with all their eyes trained on her the whole time.

She let out a deep sigh, preparing herself for a lengthy explanation. She had a lot to say to them, and one of them was the fact that she didn't tell any of them about Kelvin Watson and his persistent advances.

"Listen, I promise you guys it's not—"

"Prefect."

Fuck.

She didn't need to look at the door to know who that smooth, melodic deep voice belonged to. But just like dominos, she followed the befuddled gazes of her friends as they turned to the doorway where Azul happened to be standing.

When the fuck did he get here and why do people keep barging into my house???

"Azul," she stammered, standing up to greet him.

"I didn't know you had company," he strode over to her smoothly. Was it that natural for him to be graceful?!

"Oh, uh.."

"Did you already tell them?" He asked when she was busy mulling over what to say. What was he going on?

"T...Tell us what?" Ace was the first one to ask. Well, the bravest one to speak up first, to be painfully accurate.

"I'm sure you already suspect it," Azul said with a modest smile that almost looked...kind. If the whole contract incident hadn't happened months back she would have believed him to be innocent, and she was sure her friends would have believed the same thing too. "We didn't mean to hide it at first, but with everything Yuu and I were going through... well, I hope you understand."

No way. There's no goddamn way.

"S-So it's true?!" Deuce asked this time, "That you two..."

"Well, we have been going on dates..." She felt a subtle but large and firm pressure on her lower back— no, not her back, but the spot between her back and her waist— steadying her, and she didn't need to turn around to know that it was Azul's hand that was precisely 3.5 inches above her ass.

Holy shit.

It was an intimate gesture that sent tingles throughout her body, nearly overriding her senses. Her friends were staring, and she was sure that they could see the heat rushing to her face in the form of the color rose pink.

How was he this good at being charming?! No, maybe it was the kiss that desensitized her— she shouldn't have to think or FEEL this way about Azul Ashengrotto of all people.

"Is everything alright?" Azul asked in a gentle voice. Azul was never gentle. He was calm, calculating, and cold, but Yuu found it so hard to think when she felt his hand rubbing her softly as if to comfort her, and when he stopped, his hand was now 2 inches above her ass. And it made her so, so, dizzy.

"Just tired, and overwhelmed," she managed to say without stuttering or fainting.

"That won't do," his brows furrowed, he was really good at looking concerned. "Come, let's have some tea at my office."

No. Nonononono— tea at his office means being alone with him, and she does NOT want to be alone with anyone right now. Especially him.

"You don't have to," she said politely, trying to hear her own voice over the sound of her beating heart, "you must be busy."

"No, please. With the disaster of a date we had yesterday, I wish to make it up to you," he continued the act (why was he even doing it in the first place?!?), "Still... I had no idea one of your admirers would be persistent enough to ruin it. I should have seen it coming." He added context. Great. Context means more questions from her friends.

"It's...it's really alright..." and please stop, my brain can't take much of this anymore.

He moved his hand straight behind her back before gently nudging her, "Shall we? I've acquired some rare sweets for you, as well." 

Oh God. She loves sweets and he knows it.

"Um, I guess we'll see you then," Ace scratched the back of his neck, looking rather awkward, "Yuu, I'll text you later when, uh...yeah."

She nodded as Azul took her hand (and heavens his hands were so soft) and led her out of the dorm.

"Is this some kind of joke? Are you trying to prank me or something? Do you have brain cancer? Do I have brain cancer? Is this a new business scheme where you scam a person into dating you so that you can get what you want from them?"

She ignored Jade's look of amusement as he poured tea into her cup, and Floyd's snort as he leaned against the bookshelf right behind Azul. The aforementioned boy was sitting on another couch across from her, leaning back with a deep sigh.

Why is HE looking exasperated?! Wasn't he the one who kept up the whole "dating" spiel?! Why did he do that?! I was about to tell my friends the truth!!

The walk to Mostro Lounge felt longer than it should have. Though it normally took several minutes (even shorter if you ran for your life, ideally away from it though), getting there felt like hours when you're being exposed to gawking students who happened to be passing by, and for some fucking reason there was a bunch of them on the street when they were walking. They surely noticed the hand that smoothly moved to her shoulder as well as their close proximity. She might have even seen a shocked Riddle and Trey.

"I'm not that enthusiastic about it either, okay?" He said, like, y'know, a liar.

"Then why?"

"Because I would like to make a deal with you."

"Of course you do," she rolled her eyes, picking up her teacup, "I've seen this coming. For the record, I'm not setting up Ramshackle for collateral again. I don't think I have anything significant to give you," aside from my newly acquired book collection of The Devilish Duke. A really hot and funny romcom set in the 18th century. Good shit.

"It's not Ramshackle Dorm that I want."

"Then what do you want?"

"You."

At that moment, Yuu experienced a feeling that was dangerously similar to what you call a "hypnagogic jerk", also known as that feeling where you think you're falling in your sleep, only to jerk awake, sweating like crazy on your bed and not falling off a cliff.

Yes, there's a term for that.

That sudden jerk in her body nearly caused her to choke on her tea. She quickly placed the teacup down and coughed into her sleeve several times before staring wide-eyed at Azul.

She expected to see him with his usual infuriatingly attractive smirk but...

Why is he looking away?!

"Ugh, whatever," she composed herself, taking a cookie from one of the plates. As it turns out, Azul did have some sweets in his office. Rare ones too... "The answer is no. Did you know that you're the very definition of a 'red flag'?"

"How flattering," he deadpanned. "Listen, this is important."

She sighed heavily, crossing her arms as she chewed the cookie. She stayed silent afterward, a gesture to let him continue. Azul told the twins to leave the room before speaking.

"I had a meeting with a potential business partner a couple of days ago. It was one that I was particularly looking forward to," he began, "the negotiation was doing well, but there was one setback."

She furrowed her brows, "Which is...?"

"He thought I was too young, therefore, not quite... experienced, or mature."

Her eyes widened. She wouldn't say it to his face, but despite his young age (they were both 17), Azul was already skilled in both academics and business, he gave off an air of professionalism and maturity, the very picture of a sophisticated businessman.

"That's...disappointing," she muttered.

"Very much so," he breathed out, almost exhausted. No wonder he was exasperated, that meeting must have been plaguing his thoughts the whole time...

She encouraged him to continue.

"Well, anyway, I tried to appeal to him to get an agreement, but he insisted that he just couldn't get into a business contract with someone who was 'too young'," he nearly rolled his eyes. Nearly. He didn't, but she had the feeling he wanted to. "Anyway, I looked into his background after that—"

"Of course you did."

"And I found out that before he was a successful businessman, he was the only son of the previous company chairman. When he was our age, he was the very definition of 'immature'. He was a spoiled, trust-fund, party-loving playboy who relied too much on his father's influence and money... well, you understand, don't you?"

She nodded. The guy sounded like every male lead of a typical contemporary romance. You know, the good girl x playboy trope where the playboy's whole world changes after meeting the "good girl" and he starts to change himself. She's read a good amount of those types of books.

"Due to his behavior, his father had him transferred from his elite high school to a public high school to teach him a lesson. He also had his allowance considerably lowered, so he couldn't throw any of his elaborate parties, and he was also given a bodyguard to watch his behavior."

She sucked some air through her teeth. For a trust fund boy, it must have been a hard-knock life. Not that she could really relate, she had to work for almost everything she had, so it was routine for her.

"Apparently, his behavior changed when he met his high school sweetheart and his current wife. He retired from his spoiled ways and turned into a responsible and loyal man. They've been married for twelve years now. They just celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary last month."

"Huh... that's actually quite cute," she smiled a little, thinking of how the man's life must have changed when he met his wife. Given that he met her in a public school, she must have come from humbler origins. "But wait, what does this have to do with me?"

"He's quite a family man, and he has a firm belief that a person becomes properly mature when they meet their soulmate," he shifted in his seat, leaning closer as he looked into her eyes. "He will be hosting a fundraising event next month."

"That is to say...?"

"I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend and go with me to the event. If he realizes I have a partner, he will surely consider me mature enough to pass as a potential business partner."

Wow, Azul must really want this guy's support.

"Is it really that worth it?"

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't be asking you to do this. Having a contract with him would increase the chance of opening a second establishment outside of school, not to mention Mostro Lounge greatly benefit from them due to their influence in the industry."

Leave it to Azul to think ahead. He's always been thinking of how to improve Mostro Lounge, whether it's the quality of their menu or their services.

"Have you considered getting a real date?"

"Have you considered getting a real boyfriend?"

"Touché."

She narrowed her eyes at him. Truth be told, as helpful as it was having Azul's aid with getting rid of Kelvin for a day, she didn't think there would be anything else in it for her to keep up this whole dating charade. It wouldn't have even happened if only Cater hadn't taken that picture.

She groaned, "It's gonna be difficult."

"What would be?"

"To pretend that we're dating."

"How?"

"Well... for one, isn't it suspicious that you and I weren't even that close to begin with? And suddenly we're dating?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Not too difficult. We could simply tell them that we were trying to keep it a secret."

"Do you really think anyone would believe that?"

"Your friends certainly did."

"I'm pretty sure this agreement benefits you more than it benefits me."

"I beg to differ," he said, "I've prepared a list of benefits for you. I'm a rather generous man after all."

"Your tone is starting to piss me off."

"What?"

"You're starting to sound like Crowley."

He snorts, "Very well then. I'll try to avoid that in the future. Wouldn't want to upset my future girlfriend after all."

"I haven't agreed to your contract yet."

"Yet," he emphasized, she followed with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, I obviously wouldn't leave any job uncompensated. As long as our contract is on, I will be at your service. I can help you with studying and homework. If you need study guides, I'll provide them for you. Given that you're already taking care of your financial needs, I'll take the initiative to pay for our dates. If you need protection from bullies and persistent admirers, I'll be one call away. If you get into trouble and you need a cover-up, I'll be there to help you."

He doesn't finish there, "Jade and Floyd will be at your aid as well. If there's anything that you need from them, you simply have to ask. If you follow my terms, I will follow yours."

She bit her lip, for a fake dating job, all those benefits sound... really nice. Considering Azul's standing and influence in Night Raven, all those would be possible.

"Still... It's not going to be easy keeping up this charade you know? No offense but considering your reputation, people are mostly gonna think that you're holding me hostage through a contract."

"We'll be fine as long as we greet each other in the hallways and walk to each other's classes. Your constant presence in Mostro Lounge will help as well."

She rolled her eyes, "Dude, people who are dating don't just walk to each other's classes together or say hi in the hallways, you know? Do you even know the first thing about dating?"

Azul clears his throat as he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "I...admit I'm not an expert in this kind of field. But it's not like you can say you're any better."

She rolled her eyes. Again. "FYI, I've dated twice before, so I'd say I'm more of an expert on this than you are." No, she isn't.

Her first boyfriend was in middle school, and the only reason why she dated him was because he confessed to her in front of their whole damn class and all their classmates cooing and cheering pressured her into saying yes to him. They lasted a solid two and a half months.

The second one... was a bit more complicated. They lasted quite long, but that was because Yuu thought that they were going to last the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, that was too good to be true. Everything that seems perfect at first glance never turns out that way in the end.

"Ah... I see. Well then, what do people who are dating do?" For some reason, he sounded a little defeated.

"Well, uh, they...talk."

"About?"

"A lot of things. Their hobbies, their favorite food, the coffee they drank this morning, the shitty customer that keeps asking for the manager just because they thought the croissant they ordered tasted off and therefore demanded a refund even though they already finished it all-"

He snorted. She glared at him, "Hey, that's some serious stuff, okay? People like that are like, the worst."

He raised his hands in mock surrender, "I didn't say anything, but I do agree. Unreasonable customers are the worst. Anyway, what else do people dating do?"

"Uh...They pick apples together, frolic in fields, go on picnic dates." Sounds idiotic but—

"Sounds idiotic," Azul sighed as he crossed his arms, echoing the words in her mind, "Perhaps you should just go tell your friends that we went out and frolicked in the fields."

It was her turn to snort, "Like they would believe that."

"Like I said: idiotic."

"But hey, picnics are fun."

"Sure."

"Ahem. Anyway, aside from that..." she tapped her chin carefully as she continued to wrack her mind. "Well, people who date do a lot of things together, honestly. Hard to pinpoint but, they often eat breakfast together, get coffee together, they know each other's favorite pizza, they hug, hold hands...they...kiss."

"I can't imagine ever doing that." The twitch on his lips was enough to indicate that he was holding back a smile.

She giggled in response, "Like I would ever kiss you."

"Oh? I certainly wasn't the one who initiated it, unless I do have brain cancer and I'm misremembering things."

"I'm really sorry about that," she said, mortified at the resurfacing memory.

Surprisingly, Azul shrugs it off, "It already happened. There's no use crying over spilled milk."

What surprised her more, however, was how casual Azul seemed while they were talking. She failed to realize that at some point, he had dropped his businessman act and started talking to her like... a normal person. Like an actual Azul. It was strange, for some reason.

Silence stretched on for a few moments as she contemplated the offer once more. Dating Azul... even if it's pretend, wasn't an easy choice to make. The thought of fake dating wasn't a pleasant thought to begin with. It seemed more like a waste of time than an investment, but with all the benefits he's offering... maybe having him around would help...?

The biggest thing she was worrying about was keeping up the lie to her friends. They were her world, after all, and she wasn't ready to lose their trust just yet. But their reactions earlier were already enough to make her fall on her knees— Azul wasn't exactly the...best person to date. She was sure that Ace, Deuce, and Grim still have war flashbacks after what he made them go through during the incident with Octavinelle, and Jack trusts that she knows better than to suck up to Azul. Epel wasn't there during the incident, and so was Ortho, but she knew well enough that they were weary of him.

But...

"Well?" He suddenly spoke up, snapping her out of her thoughts. Her very... tired and messy thoughts. "I can write up the contract if you're willing to agree."

She bit her lip, "Can you...give me some more time to think about it?"

He stared at her for a moment before nodding, "Yes, of course. Take your time."

#twisted wonderland #twst x reader #twst #twisted wonderland x reader #disney twisted wonderland #twst yuu #azul ashengrotto x reader #azul x reader #twst azul #azul ashengrotto #The Boyfriend Contract - TWST fanfic

[youn9racha]

URMUSE.COM

pairing: sex worker!chan x afab client!reader

genre: smut

synopsis: your friends pity you for your lack of sex life and constant sexual frustration, so one of them offered a program where one could possibly make your fantasy a reality.

warning/disclaimer: chan is referred to as chris/christopher, mentions of sex work, "anonymous"/masked sex, piv, unprotected sex (wrap before you tap), whiny and shy sub!chan, insecure dom!reader, slight auralism/voice kink, oral sex, restraints, slight cum play, mentions of dacryphilia and cnc, edging, discussions of safe words (but not used), mentions of poly!minho and open relationships, labels (mistress/pup/good boy/etc.), praise, some cock slapping, felix being a flirt, reader goes by she/her, straight up porn with a little bit of a plot (but not really).

words: 5.5k

a/n: heavily inspired by that one thought i had and also @h0neydewmoon encouraged me with this filth so that’s that. i haven’t written straight up pwp in a bit, i didn’t really intend to make another chan smut (especially since most my work is chan related) but here we are once again. also, i'm sorry if there are some inaccuracies to anything when it comes to subjects of sex work. i tried my best to research, but if there's any inaccuracy, please respectfully call me out on it and i'll fix it up, but otherwise this is fictional so hope thats okay🙏🙏

taglist: @ethereallino, @h0neydewmoon, @lix-ables, @nightlychans

This is no way representative of the way Stray Kids act. They’re nothing but references of character, and in no shape or form is this how they act. And I am in no way romanticizing or glamorizing any toxic behavior exhibited, they’re just stories that is meant to be read. Readers discretion is advised.

The nightlife was soaring outside your apartment complex, you could almost hear the techno music blaring outside as the active night parties illuminates the futuristic city you live in. Skyscrapers project exciting ads and trailers mixing with the sounds of laughs and singing livened the city. It wasn’t like there was a holiday or anything of that sort, it was a regular weekend for everyone—it’s commonly known as the nights of the youngs as proclaimed by the party locals.

but you couldn’t be bothered to participate the night, unfortunately, as you sigh away your misery on Hyunjin’s thighs as you vent about your sex life, while your other friend, Minho, and Hyunjin just nod at your frustration as they listen attentively to you. You weren’t necessarily a prude or a virgin; you just happened to have bad luck when it comes to hooking up. It is ironic how you live in the city of parties yet have no game in the hooking up scene.

It wasn’t that you were against it, or afraid of people; you were merely scared of your fantasies and the judgments you would get. You never really had the safest concept in terms of what happens in the bedrooms, and you almost always happen to stay behind the rails to not scare away whoever your sex partner is. While you acknowledge that you don’t live in an era where expressing yourself was a sin, you still must be cautious about certain triggers one could have.

Minho and Hyunjin were very understanding and often try to let you know that there’s nothing with expressing yourself, but you were still very shy and maintained a shell tough to crack.

“How about we do it for you? I’m sure Hyunjin’s down for a threesome,” Minho once commented making you cringe at his statement and Hyunjin just widened his eyes at him shocked at the abrupt comment. You could never see yourself in that situation. Yes, the two men are good-looking and are—in your humble opinion—fuckable men for a lack of a better word, but you still can’t put yourself in friends with benefits situation with either.

And even if you didn’t care for that situation and the offer was up, it wasn’t like it’s going to do you any solid because Minho was in a committed relationship, and you weren’t about to be a homewrecker of a friend, meanwhile, Hyunjin was sort of “holding himself back” or whatever that meant. Either way, you wouldn’t take either in a heartbeat, no matter how desperate you may be; like how you are right now.

“(y/n), there is many fish in the sea who are willing to go through whatever kinks you’re into,” Minho said, speaking as if he was stating a common fact, while Hyunjin agrees as he twirls your hair, “yeah, you’re also really attractive, I feel like anyone would give you a pass,” Hyunjin adds.

You shook your head, “no, I can’t, I’m scared to make one freak out from my elaborate fantasies.”

“C’mon, I bet they’re not bad,” Hyunjin said, you got up and looked up at Hyunjin, “would you fuck someone to the point they’d start tearing up and telling you to stop but you still carry on either way because their helpless cries turn you on?”

Hyunjin just widened his eyes, attempting to process your questions as he stumbles and huffs out an answer.

“I would,” Minho affirms.

“You have a partner, Lino.” You grumbled, throwing your head back.

“So?” Minho crosses his arms, “we don’t mind having a plus one if you get my drift.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’ll find someone.” Hyunjin side-eyed Minho, before proceeding to comfort you. Minho could only knit his eyebrows at the two of you as he sits there uncertain before rolling his eyes, “alright fine, I actually have something that could help you two, but since you two—”

“Minho, no one’s interested in joining your open relationship,” Hyunjin argued back, while you face palmed yourself, knowing the headache that may come with the upcoming altercation that will ensue. Minho retorted back at Hyunjin and insisted that it wasn’t about his relationship, and this time he sounded more serious than previously.

“It’s this place called URMUSE. It’s where you basically fill out a form and you tell them what you like and then they book a room for you there to live out your fantasy with your desired ‘muse’. It’s like Disney world but for grown-ups.”

Hyunjin’s cringed-out expression deepened, thinking you’d react the same, but unbeknownst to him, you were slightly intrigued, hoping he’d carry further on with information. You never would have thought you’d resort to that level, but desperate calls call for desperate measures as one would say.

“Really, Minho? First off, never call a place like that ‘Disney world’ again. And second, you really think (y/n) would actually—”

“How do I get the reservation?” You interrupted Hyunjin, making the man astonished by your choice of interest.

Hyunjin knew you longer than Minho did, but to say you’d be down to go to a sex worker was a surprise to him, even Minho was slightly taken aback by your excitement—although he didn’t mind it. Hyunjin however was rather baffled by your abruption. It wasn’t that you were against the whole sex work thing, it was just not something you don’t about often, and you three knew this. But you were really desperate to let your demons, and what better way to take out your sexual frustration is on someone who’s an expert with these things?

“(y/n), are you serious?” Hyunjin asked, and you nodded at him, “yes, Hyunjin, I’m grown, I can make my decision.” With that, Hyunjin closed his open mouth, as if he wanted to say something but went against it before turning to his other friend.

“Now can you tell me more about the site?”

It had been a week since that encounter with Minho and Hyunjin and your mind is still at war on whether going to the site and getting a ‘muse’ was a good idea or not. While you were excited and up for it at first, you still drew yourself back as your self-doubts began acting up again. What if this place didn’t provide what you asked? What if it was a time and money waster and didn’t live up to your expectation? What if Minho is actually dragging you into a sex cult and you didn’t know?

The last question was farfetched, sure, but you wouldn’t know. You hate how you had to question everything and place yourself in a shell when it comes to sexual expression. You knew you weren’t going to get judged, but your mind constantly plays with your head with topics like this, by convincing you that you were a freak and a maniac for enjoying what you’re enjoying.

“Why would anyone like to get tied up or tying someone up? That’s some kidnapper shit,” your brain constantly teases you. But you knew you weren’t, you hear Minho’s experience with his partner—or partners—and Hyunjin’s past sexual experiences, and you couldn’t help but secretly get jealous of your friends for being carefree about their needs. Sure, they’re both men, and oftentimes nobody will bat an eyelash if a man expresses any sexual needs, but there is no time for commentary on this matter—you want to be railed or rail someone.

You sighed as you opened your computer and started to type away on your search engine, you muttered to yourself what you were typing and opened the first link that popped up.

“URMUSE—THE PLACE WHERE ALL YOUR FANTASIES COME TRUE!”

What an eerie welcome, you thought to yourself as you read the slogan. You scrolled away and inspected their whole site. You thought that the site was legit; it had easy-to-read sections, provides information about the muses and important guidelines, and the site seemed like it was like you were reserving for paradise rather than an organized brothel—it even carried reviews.

You seemed convinced enough to hover your mouse down to the “find your muse” option and clicked and the link opened to a form; just like how Minho described it. Minho knew about this site because he used to be an active member and was even offered to work there as their muse only for him to reject as he wasn’t interested, which adds to the authenticity of this place. Now you were staring at the form in front of you, waiting for it to be filled.

“This is more intimidating than college application… guess here goes nothing.” You sighed before typing away your information and your preferences.

After filling out the form, you received an email from the place in the most eerily warming with an exciting letter that was graphically designed from them which says;

Hey there, (y/n)

We’re so excited for your first time at URMUSE, we welcome you full of joy and excitement. Based on your application and the preference you have given to us, we have booked you a session with our popular muse, Christopher, to help you fulfill your fantasy. If you’re interested in changing your muse or would like to make a change, just contact us at xx-xxx-xxxx.

You practically stopped reading as you were not interested in any change, you have paid your price and the date was given from when you go and have your time there. You have told the news to both of your best friends, only for you to get mixed reactions.

Minho was ecstatic, he was glad that you took his advice, and followed through with what he said, hoping you have the time of your life, “yay! I can’t wait for the stories, oh and make sure you tip them well if they did a good job, they’ll highly appreciate it!”

Hyunjin, on the other hand, was apprehensive. It wasn’t that he was against you doing this, he was just unsure if this is the right way to do it. He is no angel; he himself did go to brothels similar to URMUSE but he just thought you’d be overwhelmed by the environment and was worried you were going to regret it, “I’m not telling you to not go, especially since you’ve paid, but I’m telling you to watch yourself…”

While responses were different, still you sensed their caring nature, especially since both were adamant about calling them if someone tried to hurt you or something, but either way, you reassured them and you appreciated their thoughtfulness.

Fast forward to the date, it was finally that time to meet up with your muse and hopefully not be disappointed or judged by him. From the time you got the email, you wanted to research this Christopher guy, you knew he was popular but you didn’t want to see his face as you didn’t want it to tamper with your fantasy that you may embark in. You asked Minho if he can do it for you without showing you what he looks like, and he gladly accepted to help.

While in a facetime call, you see Minho creating a bunch of facial expressions, mainly an impressed expression based on his smirk, his raised eyebrows, and the way he pushed out his bottom lips.

“What?” You asked, brows knitted as Minho chuckles at the screen he was seeing and shakes his head, “oh boy, (y/n), you’re one lucky bitch.”

“What?!” you dragged out as you repeated

“Well, you said you don’t want details, but from what I can see, your boy Christopher? He’s—he’s a good one,” Minho said, trying to make it as vague as he can, which made you regret asking him to do the research in front of you as now your curiosity was practically pushing you further on going against your plans.

However, thankfully you eased yourself with it and didn’t let temptation win you over, especially since the date wasn’t far from the email you have gotten. Now you were on your way to the place for your session. Minho and his partner suggested that you should wear lingerie, be minimal with the make-up, and most importantly have fun. They also mentioned that the place also offers safe names so make sure you mention it at some point. You just had to keep a lot of mental notes before going in there.

Your taxi was driving you there, but not exactly at the place, but rather somewhere close. Once again, you let your insecurity eat you up when it comes to sex, shaming yourself for going to such a place, and being scared to be judged. It was too late to back down anyway, so you just accepted it, but you still hoped the ride would be done and over with, so you wouldn’t have to look at the poor taxi man in the face.

Once arriving, you paid your driver, and you were out of the car. Once you were sure the driver was gone, you walked in the direction of the place until you found the sign that made you eye up at it. The red cursive logo sign made it seem like it was a nightclub rather than what you thought would be a kin to a love hotel, however you didn’t let it drive you away and walked in there. You walked in and you saw a beautiful, blonde boy standing behind the counter, he maintained the prettiest smile as well as had the most radiant aura you have ever seen on a boy, you weren’t sure whether to feel small and intimidated or thirst over him just right where you stand.

“Hi, welcome to URMUSE, this is Felix, how am I help you?” The pretty boy behind the counter, Felix, spoke. You thought his cute presence was very contradicting to the vulgar environment he is in, but you can’t really judge him as you don’t know him well enough to confirm.

“Uh, hi, um,” you stammered nervously, “I have an appoint—I mean a reservation with my muse—I mean Christopher! Under the name (y/n).” you mentally face palmed yourself for what you thought was being an idiot, but Felix seems to think otherwise as he chuckles lightly.

“This is your first time right?” He asked, with a smile, however, the warmth in his smile contradicts the eyes he had as he examined your nervous being before going back to the computer to check for your name.

“Uh, yeah, y’know, just trying out new things and expanding my horizons and stuff,” you nervously rambled, once again mentally slapping yourself for making a fool of yourself, which amuses Felix rather than turns him off. “You’re so cute, you know that?” he comments. Which made you blush at the sudden comment, unsure whether he was being genuine or not, but either way, it was a confidence booster, and you took it anyway.

“Ugh, what a shame,” Felix pouted, making you frown, “you do have an appointment with Chris, ugh, he’s so lucky, can’t help but be jealous.”

To say Felix’s comment made your heart drop would be an understatement, but you weren’t sure if it was him leaving you off guard by pretending that the reservation was not there, or him telling you that he wanted to be in Christopher’s place, either way, so far, you were glad you’ve spent your money on this.

“Oh well, how about you follow me right this way, yeah?” Felix raised his hand in the direction of the hallway. You only smiled back at him politely as you two walked into the bright red hallway that had wooden maroon doors on each side with numbers written on the side with red or green lights radiating out of the panel, presumably to indicate the availability of the rooms.

“Are the walls soundproof?” You randomly asked as you two continued to walk down the quiet hallway. Felix smirked as he turned his head to you, “would you like the walls to be soundproof?” his deep voice was sultry when the question escaped his lips, you couldn’t help but feel weak at the response. Christopher has some serious competition, and Felix hasn’t even done anything remotely sexual.

“Umm…”

“Here we are,” Felix announced as he stops his footsteps and you bump into him, making you apologize profusely to him. “Don’t worry, this is probably the only time I’ll be this close to you,” he softly spoke, as he held your face and dragged his finger across your jaw, making you gulp at the physical and eye contact.

Felix turned as he opens the door by pressing the keypad on the handle and takes your hand inside the room. The door opened to a room with an interesting yet organized interior design. The room was big for what it seemed; silk black bedsheets in a queen-sized bed, a dark auburn wall-to-ceiling closet, a soothing yet arousing shade of red painted on the wall along with simple yet aesthetically appealing accessories and paintings on the wall.

Felix held your shoulders to help you take off your coat and hung it up for you before he sat you down in the bed. He held up your face as a farewell before speaking, “it has been nice chatting with you, I wish I could have you for myself but I guess we can’t have what we want,” he smirks as he looks up and your face, “hopefully you’ll love it here, so I could see you again, but for now, I have to go. Have fun…”

“Chris, she’s all yours!” Felix looked up as he announces and he walks out of the room. You were now sitting at the bed, unsure of what to do right now, and just awaiting Christopher to come in.

“Hello?”

You jumped up as you looked around to find the source but you cannot find who it is, so you assumed it was just your voice playing around with you until you hear the voice again.

“Are you (y/n)? Can you hear me?”

The voice had a similar accent to that of Felix, while his voice wasn’t deep as his, it was still a pleasant voice. it had this gentle yet masculine voice that was soothing to listen to and you were in for it. But still, you couldn’t see the source of the voice, and confusion increased by the second.

“Y-yes, this is me, is this Christopher?” you called out still looking around the room.

You hear his soft laughter emanating in the room, making you knit your brows, “oh gosh, (y/n), you’re so cute, are you sure you want me to call you mistress?”

As soon as he mentioned mistress, everything started to connect the dot. You remembered when you filled out the form, you stated that you enjoyed the whole anonymity that comes with it along with wanting to try out to dominate someone who may seem physically virile and muscular, so you’d hope to see what they can offer, and so far you’re intrigued seeing how he has yet to reveal himself and is speaking into a microphone that blares beautifully in the room you’re staying in.

Your demeanor seemed to change, especially since Christopher didn’t seem bothered by your request, as you place your arms behind you and smirked, “Christopher, are you about to act up on me already?” You responded, now leveling yourself on his.

He laughs, gosh his laugh was too attractive you thought to yourself, “just wanted to make sure if I’m talking to the same mistress, and also…”

He paused his words and then you hear the door open from your right side and you looked at whoever walked in, and your jaw dropped, “You can call me, Chris or Chan… or baby, or pup, or whatever you want to call me,” he proceeded, you can make out that he was smiling as he was speaking.

Your eyes panned at the robbed yet evidently well-built masked man. The lower half of his face was covered by a balaclava, showcasing only his onyx brown eyes and his chestnut curly hair. Even though he hasn’t shown his full face, you can still clearly tell he was attractive just based on his eyes and his facial structure, which was simultaneously concealing and accentuating his cheekbones and jaw.

You admired him, as he walked up to you and got down on his knees, and got his large and veiny hands on your exposed legs, lightly gripping and massaging your thighs underneath your skirt, his fingers barely touching your core. Your breath hitched at the sensation, while Chris just eyes you up with glimmering puppy eyes.

“I’m all yours, mistress… please take me.”

It felt like it was more than an hour since you and Chris had interacted when in actuality it had been less than twenty minutes. You two briefly talked about rules and precautions, deciding to follow the traffic light system if anything were to happen to either of you, mainly you. After that discussion has ended your insecure, overthinking self has been completely replaced with a self-righteous, domme who has already in just panties and tied up a naked Chris, who was whimpering at the lack of touch from you after you stopped stroking his cock after he told you that he was close.

“Aw, what a good boy, being vocal to mistress,” you praised as you pushed his hair back, his whines were loud but slightly muffled by the mask on his lips. He nodded as he croaks, “anything for you,” his high-pitched whines were brought back up as you started to fist his cock but this time you got closer to his cock, the smirk on your face painted with villainy, “hey.”

Chris let out a closed whimper as he looks down on you, despite his hand being tied. You made eye contact with his eyes as you continued to move your hand, “you better keep your eyes on me, got it, pup?”

He nods through his sobs, and one thing led to another, your mouth was wrapped around his precum-slicked cock, making him let out a broken moan as the feeling of your mouth around him was so warm and so pleasant. His stomach sinks at the sensation as he cries about how good you feel, all the while he tries his best to keep eye contact with you.

“Oh my fucking go—mistress, your mouth feels so—ah, fuck,” his words were broken by his moans, to the point he accidentally broke eye contact when he threw back his head to moan out loud. He suddenly lost the warm feeling of your mouth and instead, he felt a sharp slap to his sensitive organ, making him yelp and wince, his hand gripped the rope, that was tied to his wrist, tightened.

“I told you to not lose contact,” you sternly spoke as you began pinching his thighs, making him jump and arch his back while crying out strings of apologies.

“I’m sorry, mistress, I’m sorry,” he sobs out, “please, just please, pup needs your mouth, please.”

You wanted to punish him but you found his pleadings so adorable, the way his eyes were getting glossy by your edging and the way you were pinching and slapping him. While you enjoyed the masked face and wanted him to keep it on, seeing how cute he sounds and how his eyes were mesmerizing to you, you can’t help but wanna pull down the balaclava and see his face fully.

“pup, is it okay if I took your mask down and ride your face?”

His skin reddened, and you could tell he was nervous and apprehensive, so you thought he didn’t want to and wanted to carry on with the mask. “It’s okay if you don’t—”

“No! No! it’s not that, I’m just… shy,” he revealed, and you couldn’t help but find him even more adorable than before. You’re unsure if he was acting or being genuine, but either way, his sex appeal grew to the sky in your opinion. You grabbed the lower part of his balaclava, him lifting his head to help you remove it from his head, and when his face was fully revealed, you couldn’t be even more enamored by his face even more. His lips were red and plump, his cheeks were speckled with freckles and red flushness, and his nose protruded out attractively.

“Wow,” you breathed out as you threw his mask away, making him sink down into the mattress of the bed and look away shyly. You pulled his face by his chin to make him look at you, “if I knew you had this face, I definitely would never have made the masked request… You are so pretty, Chris.”

Your compliment made Chris smile shyly and giggle, “thank you, mistress…”

You chuckled through your breath as you got off, making Chris wander your eyes silently pleading to get back on him only to see you remove your panties. You crawled back into Chris and placed your thighs between his head and looked back down at him, “Want to taste, mistress?”

He didn’t say anything aside from excitedly nodding at your question and licking his lips. You smirked at his excitement before slowly sliding yourself down until Chris began devouring you from below making you gasp at how active his tongue was. You were taken aback by the pleasant feeling of his tongue and the way it touched all the spots you wanted to touch, especially when your grinding away at his face. His nose would make contact with your clit, especially when he moves his head along with your hips, trying to catch every flavor of you.

You gripped his hair as you were moaning at the good feeling Chris was giving you, so much so, that you felt your lower belly heating up. “God, pup, you love making mistress feel good, right?” you sighed out your words before moaning.

Chris just moaned as a response along with tasting the nectar you’re giving him like he was thirsty for it. You threw your head back as your hip movements were becoming more sloppy and messy as you felt the heat bubbling up, and as much as you wanna come all over the pretty boy’s face, you decide against it, so you pulled his hair as you got off his face, making him chase for your juices before gasping for air and looking at you.

“You did so well for mistress… I think pup’s ready for me, is that right?” you asked as you were creating anticipation and Chris did a good job at pretending to be desperate, especially with the way he excitedly nodded and just chanted “yes, yes,” with a bunch of whines. You were so deep in, that you completely forgot that you were dealing with a professional, but you didn’t care, you want to relish in the whole experience no matter what way.

You gasped at the feeling of his cock stretching you, bringing you to utmost bliss. He whined at the feeling of your velvet and warming walls being filled and your hips moving around it. The movement was intense when it comes to the pace and depth of this session was getting, with you two praising each other based on your respective roles.

While this wasn’t the first Chris has ever been in the submissive role in his taboo career, he wasn’t really into most of the roleplays and positions he was given, but he had to do it as this was his job either way, but either way, he doesn’t seek submissive roles often. However, when your application came in and was offered to him, he was at first against it as he doesn’t want to do another submissive role, but for some reason, he had a change of heart and decided to do it—especially since you had paid extra more than asked for the hour, who would say no to that? Chris thought to himself.

He was glad that you failed his expectation, as the way of delivery, albeit a rocky start, was phenomenal in his opinion. You absolutely were one of the few doms and dommes he seemed to enjoy being with thus far, he was highly impressed by you if anything.

He looked up at you, heavy breathing as her movements began speeding up, his knuckles turning white with the way he’s pulling on the ropes, and her fingernails scratches on his defined pectorals. Your combined moans were echoing loudly in the room, had it not for Felix telling you that the walls were not soundproof, you would have brought your insecure self back. But even so, you wouldn’t have cared at the moment as you and Chris felt good about being around each other.

“oh, fuck! Chris—pup, I’m so fucking close,” you shuddered your words as the heat in your lower belly was getting overwhelming. You assume Chris was not far behind either due to the whine he just slipped out, so you encouraged him to come with her.

“You can come with, pup, it’s okay, you ready?”

Chris nodded before he mewled as you moved faster so you could reach high. And long after, you came around him, cursing out at how good you felt, but you sensed that Chris hasn’t orgasmed yet so you slipped yourself out and began stroking him instead. While your hands were incomparable, Chris couldn’t deny how good he felt, and with the pace you were going and the pressure you exerted, you wounded out milking him as he came all over his stomach and chest while sobbing and shaking at his orgasm, especially when you overstimulated him.

“Mmm—mistress,” his whines were so high-pitched as he teared up and hiccuped at how overpowering the extra strokes you gave him. His silent pleads to stop were answered as you saw how much he covered himself with his white cum and you couldn’t help just licking some of it off, while Chris was trying to catch his breath. He tasted salty but not too overpowering where it was gross, you couldn’t help but wonder if he has drunk enough pineapple or something, but either way, you couldn’t get enough.

However, you got to your senses and stopped licking him, as you looked at him wide-eyed. You couldn’t believe you just tired the poor tied-up man, you thought.  

“Oh my god, are you okay?” you asked, concern laced as you tapped his shoulders, making him laugh as a response.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” He responded back with a smile as he looked at the restraints, hoping you would untie him, which you instantly did. He groaned in glee once again as he freed his wrists out of the ropes, stretching them out.

You didn’t know why but you felt like apologizing only for him to shake his head, “there is nothing to be sorry for, after all my job was to help you fulfill your fantasy… which I hope I did.”

“Oh yeah you definitely did a good job, and I would definitely rate you a five star and tip you!”

Chris’s face lit up with a smile, “I’m so glad to hear that, I also had really fun, I don’t often do submissive roles, but I’m glad I got to do with it you.” His words seemed genuine and you didn’t know how to react so you ended up feeling flustered once again.

“Well, I tried…” You mumbled making both of you laugh.

After cleaning up and tipping, you two left outside the door, stating your farewells.

“Well, it’s been fun, I’m really glad you enjoyed your experience, you already know me, so don’t be shy to drop by to y’know… destress,” Chris cheerfully spoke with a smile. He was too charming and you couldn’t help but admire him once again, especially when he was back in his robe with his chest revealed. He extended his arms for an embrace, which took you by surprise, but you were far from uncomfortable. Despite the previous activities, he smelled oddly good, like musk for some reason, you couldn’t get away from it.

He pulled away from you, and he rubbed your arms with a smile before letting them go, “I’ll see you, yeah?”

You nodded back and there you two went your separate ways. You saw Felix still standing behind the counter, his eyes still on you, and he asked about your experience. You raved everything to him and told him that this won’t be the last time he’ll be seeing you for sure.

“Well, I’m glad you liked it here, and I wish to see you,” he says as he leans closer to your ears to whisper, “but ask for me next time, yeah?”

You couldn’t help but be stunned at his last phrase, while he leans back and smiles at you. “Hope we can see you again, (y/n).”

Yeah, definitely… You’ll see me here again… I have to call Minho and Hyunjin.

#stray kids smut #skz smut #stray kids fics #stray kids fanfic #stray kids oneshot #stray kids imagines #skz fanfic #skz fics #skz imagines #skz oneshots #bang chan smut #bang chan imagines #bang chan imagine #bang chan scenarios #bang chan fics #bang chan fanfic

[riddle-me-ri]

[literally tripping over myself as i frantically race in here] listen here me out— jervis with someone who’s down for consensual hypnosis nsfw wise (was thinking about btas jervis when this idea entered my brain but you’re free to write about whichever jervis tickles your fancy, miss ri!)

A/N: okay, okay anon are you or are you not part of me and finnie's discord? Or are you a mutual? Cause if we're not mutuals yet we need to be. I've had this exact discussion with at least two to three mutuals lmao this is an absolute fucking fantasy amongst so many you have no idea—so sorry if i slightly project myself as reader here..cause hnngggg hypnotism kink make brain go brrr also also I decided to include the request for btas Jervis with smut prompt #30 cause I wasn’t quite sure how to end it and this seemed like something he may say in this given situation lmao

Smut Prompt #30: "I hope you don't have anything important going on tomorrow because you won't be able to walk."

Trigger Warning: explicit sexual content, hypnotism kink (consensual), fingering, cunnilingus, orgasm control, piv intercourse

Word Count: 2.4 k

BTAS Mad Hatter x F!Reader - Hypnotizing

Jervis would never do anything that made you uncomfortable and always respected your wishes. Nothing meant more to Jervis in terms of your relationship than your trust and your comfort. 

He won’t deny he has thought in passing about having you under his mind control, but the thought was immediately tossed aside.

Jervis could never reduce you to a thoughtless puppet of sorts. He adores your thoughts, your feelings, he could never compromise them. 

All the more reason he’s incredibly shocked when you mention this…this idea. 

“P-Pardon me, darling…but did, did I hear you correctly?"

You giggled nervously. You had a feeling the request would seem off-putting but you thought about this a lot. You can't help but find the idea very, very, tantalizing. 

You nodded. “Yes, you did. If what you heard was me inquiring about you hypnotizing me next time we-”

“Yes! Yes, yes…I-I I did hear you correctly.” 

You smiled softly. “Jervy, if it makes you uncomfortable..”

Jervis shook his head. “It’s, it’s not that my dear..I’m just–It's a shock more than anything.” 

It was silent for a moment. You let his shock settle, which allowed him to stew in his decision to what to do with this suggestion you laid out. 

“You…you trust me? Truly?”

Your mouth opened and closed sporadically like a fish out of water. However, you knew where this stemmed from. His insecurities, you did the best you could to keep them at bay, but they’re always lurking waiting to make him self doubt.

“Yes.” You stated, genuinely. You clasped your hands over his and squeezed them. “I trust you, Jervis Tetch with everything. My mind, my heart, everything…” 

His eyes widened. He never was quite used to your truly unconditional love for him. It still surprised him, still shook him to his core, and made him smitten for you all over again. 

Jervis slowly gripped your hand back in return. He nodded. “I-I will ponder on it, if you’ll permit it?” 

You nodded. “Of course, Jervis.” You leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Take all the time you need.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To be quite honest, there isn’t a day that went by that Jervis wasn’t pondering on it. He never imagined you'd want to be under his influence. Now that he has your permission…what was he to do with it? How was he going to go about this new…scenario?

It didn’t take long for a certain outcome to begin brewing.

“Jervis, what’s this?” 

He handed you a tiny white box with a red ribbon around it after dinner. 

“Open it, darling.” Jervis’ voice trembled slightly. 

A soft light blue headband laid in your hand. There was a slight square surface beneath the fabric. 

You blinked, it was cute, but you never wore–oh…oh.

“If you still wanted…to…Once you put it on…you will be under…well, for a lack of better words. Under my control.” 

“Again, if you still want it.” He stressed. It was your idea, yet he somehow felt responsible for going through with the idea. 

You smiled, before you whispered. “I do, like I said, I trust you, Jervis.” 

Once the band was around your head. Everything went blank, you stood straighter, as if defaulting to a neutral state.

You stood there, expectantly. 

Jervis, even for all his nerves, couldn’t help the little ball of excitement that comes from success. He’s glad the device works, he knew it would, and now that it does it only makes sense to test it.

“Come here to me, darling.” 

You walked over and stood in front of him, expectantly, waiting for your next direction. 

Jervis brought one of his hands up to the side of your face and the other grasped your waist and pulled you closer. 

“Kiss me.” He demanded softly. 

You tilted your head to the side and leaned your face into his. Almost delicately, you pressed your lips to his and he returned the kiss eagerly. 

Everything seemed to be in working order. Even so, Jervis still was hesitant, unsure of how to proceed next. 

You often initiated these more intimate together, he was always too timid and inexperienced, but you’ve helped him come out of his shell…somewhat. 

“Darling, take a seat on the bed for me…” 

As you made your way around him and taking a seat on the foot of the bed he added another command, now that you weren’t staring directly at him. 

“And strip, please.” 

Even if you have no recollection of this moment or his words, he was always going to be polite to a fault. 

Jervis could almost swear, despite you being totally under his control, your own traits still shown through. 

You were still teasingly, as meticulously as possible pulling away at the layers of clothes you wore. He was so lost in watching you, he forgot it would be wise for him to do the same thing. 

You sat there, nude as the day you were born with your hands clasped on your bare lap. Patiently waiting for what’s to come. 

“Very good, my dear.” He commented when he looked up still in his boxers. “Now, just make yourself comfortable amongst the pillows, darling. The main event will commence shortly.” 

You scooted backwards up to the headboard of the bed, and nestled your head on the soft cool pillows. Your eyes stared up at the ceiling. Patiently, expectantly, waiting. 

Jervis sighed dreamily, as he walked over to one side of the bed and leaned over you. He’ll never know or understand how he got so lucky…to actually have someone that cherishes him, trusts him, loves him unconditionally. 

Your body instinctively began to shiver as his hands caressed the side of your face like before and he slowly began gently stroking your skin up and down. From your neck to just a little below your sternum and back up again. 

Your breath hitched again when he stopped his one way trail and his hands began gently kneading your breasts. 

Jervis was well aware every sound you produced during this moment was pure instinct and habitual, but it didn’t make them any less pretty to his ears. 

He leaned in closer and kissed your lips again. 

In a soft whisper, he laid out his next set of demands. “Okay, darling…listen carefully. You’re free to react in whatever way seems natural. Make all the noise you wish, as long as you moan and cry my name. Understood?” 

He knew you did but it didn’t hurt, after all he was nothing if not courteous especially to his lover. 

Jervis slowly retracted his hands from your skin, and as he instructed, you let out a natural whimper of disappointment of the absent connection. 

Jervis made his way to the foot of the bed and climbed up on the mattress. His hands softly gripped your waist as he situated himself hovering just above your lower body. He brought one hand to your mound, he dragged his middle finger down between your legs. 

You gasped as your legs reflexed from the sudden shock of nerves.

“Keep your legs down, dear.” 

In a repeated up and down motion, Jervis traced the opening between your lower lips, waiting until you were wet enough. As the tips of his fingers began to slicken, he gently pushed his middle finger into you. 

You moaned as you planted the bottom of your feet into the mattress to ensure they didn’t jerk again.

Jervis couldn’t fight the small proud smile that was forming. Here you were, the most gorgeous person he’s ever known. The one that trusted him with all your mental faculties and you were responding and obeying so well in kind to it. 

Jervis began pumping his fingers in a steady rhythm, eventually adding two more fingers. He slowed down his strokes to remove his fingers from your entrance. You whimpered once more, looking down to see what he was doing. 

Only to have your head slam back into the pillows as you felt a certain wet appendage drag between your cunt lips. As his head moved up and down in a lapping motion with his tongue, his nose would rub against your clit. 

You groaned, “J-Jervis…”

The constriction of his boxers against his member started feeling tighter and tighter as your delicious sounds fueled him to go faster and deeper. 

Your moans started getting more and more airy and less coherent. Jervis knew this could only mean one thing, but it was much too soon for you to be done just yet.

He quickly snapped his head up from your pussy with glistened lips. “Don’t…don’t cum.” He still wasn’t sure of the term, but it was the only way to ensure you didn’t come undone. 

If you were conscious of the situation, you wouldn’t believe the pathetic whine that ripped out of you was actually from you. 

Jervis chuckled under his breath, as he finally removed the suffocating boxers. "I apologize, darling. Call me selfish but I can’t have you finishing so soon.” 

You were panting, your nerves were tingling on the verge of pleasurable numbness that was cruelly snatched away at the last second. 

Both you and Jervis were sticking together due to your sweaty bodies. He makes his way further up your body to where your faces are centimeters away from each other.

You couldn’t register it, but he looked longingly in your eyes. For a brief second he thought about snatching the headgear off…but he made a promise to follow through on your request. 

“Wrap your legs around my waist, darling.” 

As you followed his instructions, he made sure that his cock was lined up to your opening. 

“Kiss me, once more, my love.” 

You wrapped your arms around his neck as he brought his lips down to collide passionately with yours. Both of your lips went numb from the tingling moans caused by him finally entering you. 

Even though this wasn't the first instance of the two of you being intimate, definitely not the last. Jervis is sure he'll never get over the sensation of being inside you. 

He slowly began thrusting in and out of you. He leaned his head back down and began peppering fevered sweet kisses along your cheeks and neck. 

You were moaning his name like a mantra at this point and it egged him on more to quicken his pace. Your arms still clung around his neck like a lifeline, keeping your bodies close and intimate. 

Just as you were starting to feel the tightening ball in your stomach again, just longing to come unwound…

"N-No…wait please.." He huffed. "Wait for me, darling." 

You groaned slightly as your gut practically curled in on itself restraining your sweet release. 

You didn't have to wait long though. 

This whole experience of you being under his control and just being with you in the most intimate way imaginable…has brought Jervis closer to his end faster than he initially imagined. 

His thrusts were quick, jerky, and sloppy as he got closer. He leaned his head down besides yours, his hot breath fanning your face. 

"O-okay, darling. Please, please c-cum with me." 

More sounds you wouldn't recognize as your own were ripped from your throat as the knot finally came undone after one more strong tug. Your skin breaking out in goose flesh as every nerve ending was lit and tingling. 

Jervis felt a similar tightening sensation just before joining you going over the edge of absolute euphoria. His own body went numb to where he could no longer support himself and rested on top of you. 

After he caught his breath, reluctantly, he got up from on top of you. He quickly slipped back his boxers on and began preparing to take the headgear off.

One last order, he had you put on his discarded dress shirt from earlier and told you to get under the covers. 

He chuckled nervously at how you struggled to walk for a moment before hastily getting back into bed. 

Jervis took off his tiny earpiece and set it on the nightstand as he gently slipped the headband of your head. 

You blinked a few times as you adjusted to having all your senses and thought processes back. You still felt the fast paced beating of your heart, the sweat that damped your skin, and no doubt the remnants of a blissful afterglow. 

"Darling, are you all right?"

You gasped as the tranquil quiet was cut by Jervis' voice. 

You quickly recovered however and smiled as he got up on the other side of the bed next to you. 

"I-I feel fantastic. I take it everything went okay?" 

He nodded softly. "Yes indeed, much more than okay."

You beamed. "I'm glad, thank you again, Jervis..I know you were hesitant but this does mean a lot." 

He shook his head, shyly. "It means the world to me that you trust me so, and besides you and I both know I'd do anything for you."

You giggled, not ashamed of the fact that he was practically wrapped around your finger. 

You leaned in and gave him a gratuitous kiss. 

He smiled. "I will say, I did miss you. As intriguing as it was…My mind could never come up with a more lovely and fascinating you." 

Your heart fluttered a couple beats just as it finally started to calm down. 

The only response you could come up with was to wrap your arms around him and give him another sweet kiss. 

As you two began settling down for bed, you nestled yourself in between his arm and chest as his arm wrapped around you pulling you closer.

"Oh, um, darling?" 

You hummed already feeling your eyes getting heavy from your tired body. 

"You..you don't have anything important tomorrow do you?"

You perked your head up to look at him.

"Umm no, I don't think so…it's the weekend, why?" 

He chuckled nervously as his face began reddening. "Well, um, let's just say, your legs may be inoperable for a time…" 

Sometimes Jervis' classical diction gets the better of you and it takes you a moment to decipher what he means-

Oh…oh

It was a stalemate as to whose face was redder at that moment. 

He pecked your forehead. "Good night, my love."

"G-Good night, Jervis." 

Although it was going to be a little harder for you to go back to sleep after that revelation.

#ri writes #btas mad hatter x reader #btas jervis tetch x reader #btas mad hatter x reader smut #btas jervis tetch x reader smut #i swear the gasp when I read this prompt #just the power of same brain same brain #listen i went a wee unhinged here #sue me

[inconsistentlywrittensoul]

Buffy Season One Review

I’m on my first Buffy rewatch in a long time - I think over a decade? I have watched the entire series enough times that the episodes are all still kind of burned into my brain, but I’m curious what my reaction will be now I’m a bit older.

Anyway, I’ve finished Season One, and I thought I might do a quick review of each season as I go. Can’t promise I’ll be able to keep it up, but I’ll give it a go. So…

Season One Review

S1 is… fine. It’s okay. It’s not as good as later seasons, but it’s not bad; it’s shallower than later seasons, but having expected that I found there’s a surprising amount of depth here. (Partly because I’m watching after reading @herinsectreflection’s excellent analyses, which inspired this most recent rewatch.)

I actually don’t think there are many bad episodes in S1 - the problem is, there’s hardly any good episodes either, and none that rise beyond just being ‘good’. They’re mostly just perfectly serviceable - the metaphors are a bit blunt, the humour’s a bit broad, the MIDI soundtrack kind of sucks, the vibes are kind of cheesy and immature, and overall, it’s just…

It’s Power Rangers. It’s a bit deeper and scarier, and the action scenes are worse, but basically, Season One is Power Rangers. And that’s not bad - I kind of like Power Rangers, and it’s not a bad season by those standards - but it’s not what Buffy is trying to be, or what it will become.

Season Score: 5/10 - It’s fine.

Big Bad - The Master:

In some ways, the Master is perfect. It makes sense that Buffy’s first villain is this kind of ancient and powerful vampire - he’s not as interesting as later villains, but it feels appropriate that Buffy has to beat this more generic Big Bad to move on to them. And he has a strong enough presence that he can actually bear the mythic weight that is placed upon him - it makes sense that he’s the one that killed Buffy, that he sired the Bisexual Vampire Squad; it never feels inappropriate that he has this important place in the mythology of the series, and he can carry that weight in his rare later appearances.

Unfortunately, in this season, he’s a Power Rangers villain. He sits in his lair, sending out minions and screaming in frustration when they fail. (Even finally facing the hero directly in the finale, beating them easily before they get a power up and return the favour - classic Power Rangers villain stuff.) He spends most of the season both trapped and sickly - while at full power he’s a compelling, intimidating presence, for most of the season he seems weak and kind of effete, like a homophobic Bond villain. At his best, he's montrous yet civilised, brutal but witty; in his weakened state, he lacks the contrasts that make him compelling.

Still, he is charming, he does work well in the finale, and he’s always a delight in his rare later appearances. So…

Big Bad Score: 5/10 - He’s fine. (... and not in that sense.)

Rewatch Reevaluations

The biggest change in my perspective since my last rewatch is around Angel. When I was younger, I didn’t really think much about the age difference between him and Buffy; now I’m older, I’m extremely aware of it, but also, it seems like the show is too. The episode where he shifts from ‘random mysterious stranger’ to ‘potential love interest’ is Teacher’s Pet - an episode about an older sexual predator preying on teenagers. Then in ‘Angel’, we don’t just see him creepily staring at Buffy, we see him lie to her about it afterwards, in an episode where the age difference is a major topic of discussion.

In general, his obsession with her comes across as way more creepy and pathetic than I remember, and while part of that is just my interpretation, I do think think the series is aware of it; I think him following her around and staring at her from afar is meant to be kind of offputting. I’m curious how I’ll feel about their romance going forward - I remember on previous watches I thought their breakup in Season 3 was unmotivated, and I suspect I’ll feel very differently about it this time around.

I’m also generally more aware of some things after reading @herinsectreflection’s essays. In particular, I’m noticing Buffy’s relationship to death - from her ‘seize the day, because tomorrow you might be dead’ philosophy in the first episode, to her rebelling against and accepting it in the last… and her Faith-like smile as she enjoys mortal combat with vampires at the beginning of ‘Prophecy Girl’. I’m also much more aware of Giles as a very flawed figure torn between paternal affection for Buffy and sending her to her death - which is explicit in a few episodes, but I’m more aware of it as an ongoing arc, rather than just some isolated emotional beats.

Other than that, one thing I’m noticing is how much weight the show gives to the death of minor characters. It’s easy for an action/horror show to start treating death casually or flippantly, but so far the show is careful to give each death an emotional impact, to make every death matter… at least ‘til the end of the episode, at which point they’ll be promptly forgotten about. Sorry Jesse.

And unsurprisingly for a 90s show, I am finding the sense of humour a little mean and kind of misogynistic, especially towards Cordelia. That said, though Xander is often the face of this meanness, I honestly don’t dislike him, even in S1. The thing is, either the show is aware that he’s being an asshole, in which case it’s an intentional character flaw, which is good; or it isn’t, in which case I tend to blame the show itself rather than the character. Maybe that’s a little generous, but it lets me enjoy the character, so I’m willing extend that generosity. I am curious how I’ll feel about him going forward. I'm glad at least Cordelia gets to be more of a character towards the end of the season - it does make the jokes around her feel a lot less mean.

Honourable Mention Award for Underrated or Forgotten Characters Who Deserve to be Mentioned Honourably

3. Zookeeper Furry from ‘The Pack’. Just a really solid one-off villain performance, in an era where performances tend towards the broad and cheesy side of the spectrum.

2. The Black Cat from ‘The Witch’. Looks like stock footage, never shares a shot or even a set with another character, and achieves nothing except slightly startling Giles, after which he just continues as if nothing happened. Yet despite doing basically nothing, it achieves greatness by earning a place in the opening credits. Truly an inspiration.

1. Principal Flutey. With how much he gets overshadowed by Principal Snyder, it’s easy to forget how great Flutey is as a character. From tearing up Buffy’s permanent record and taping it back together again in front of her, to being eaten by Hyena-possessed students, Flutey is a delight whenever he’s on screen - he’s genuinely a highlight of Season 1 for me. Principal Flutey, I salute you, and hearby mention you as honourably as I can.

Episode Rankings

Might not do this for every season, but hey, it’s a short season, so why not. Starting from the top:

'Prophecy Girl' - Obvious choice, needs no explanation.

'Angel' - Strong character work, introduces a bunch of ideas that’ll be important for the rest of the series, and solves the problem of making a single vampire a threat by giving her guns, which I respect.

'Welcome to the Hellmouth'/'The Harvest' - A solid introduction to the series; I wouldn’t call it great by most standards, but it competently introduces everything the setting, characters and the premise of the series, which is impressive in its own way. Luke is perfect in his role - he’s a compelling presence that feels like a genuine threat, but he’s not so interesting that he distracts from the important things.

'The Pack' - A solid guest performance from the zookeeper, Principal Flutey’s last stand, and some juicy thematic and character goodness makes leaves this Monster of the Week episode at the head of the pack. (… I am so terribly sorry.)

'Nightmares' - Character! Themes! Imagery! This episode has it all, at least by the standards of Season One.

'Out of Mind, Out of Sight' - The first episode that treats Cordelia like an actual character. Also, invisible assassin school! Everybody loves invisible assassin school.

'The Witch' - A perfectly competent MOTW episode, this gets a boost for featuring the cat that accomplishes nothing.

'I Robot, You Jane' - Yeah, the 90s hacker schtick is goofy, but this ep’s not bad - I like the goofy robot demon and the surprisingly good demon prosthetics for its non-robot body that barely appears in the episode. I like the idea that scanning a magic book can summon a demon into the internet itself. Also, Jenny’s here.

'Teacher’s Pet' - Another MOTW episode that does its job adequately. I’m inclined to think of this as the Most Typical Season 1 Episode - it perfectly represents the season at its baseline.

'Puppet Show' - I kind of like some of the ideas in this episode, but the puppet’s a creep and parts of the plot feel contrived. (Why are they sure the demon will leave as soon as it has the organs? Why would Giles get into a guillotine under any circumstances?) Overall… Eh, it’s fine.

'Never Kill A Boy on the First Date' - There’s some good stuff in here, especially around Buffy’s relationship to Giles and to her own Slayerhood. Unfortunately, the plot just doesn’t work - even this early on, one vampire just doesn’t feel like enough of a threat to build an episode around, and generic serial killer vamp is no exception - he's certainly no Luke. It’s a plot entirely concerned with setting up the larger arc around the Anointed One, and that would leave this episode feeling empty and boring even if it was for an arc that was actually, you know, good.

So that's Season One. I enjoyed it fine, but... I'm definitely looking forward to the series really getting good. If somehow you've actually read this far: Thank you for putting my words into your brain. I take it as a great compliment, and hope you liked them - or, failing that, that they invoked in you a great fury, such as only the worst opinions may conjure.

In any case - and regardless of whether I can be bothered to write any more of these - I will continue my rewatch into the Actually Good seasons of Buffy.

#i'm actually a couple of episodes into s2 #and honestly #even Some Assembly Required is a significant improvement #it's not great Buffy #but it IS Buffy #the show has arrived #it's become itself #btvs #btvs rewatch #review #meta #btvs S1 #long post #really long post #maybe went a little overboard on this one

[bengiyo]

Tokyo in April is... Ep 5 Stray Thoughts

Last week we saw the sordid details of what happened the morning after when they were kids, and the horrible fallout. However, Ren finally realized that Kazuma never saw him as a villain and has been desperately looking for him for ten years. The two of them spent a lovely back half of the episode together doing domestic things, but I was saddened by Ren's lack of cooking skills and other love languages besides sex and quality time. However, we have a sexual assault storyline on the horizon.

Ah, right, Kazuma's mom is in Japan.

Ugh, Sanada.

Well, there's the confirmation about that Sanada hotel scene from earlier. This man is disgusting.

I'm glad they played that reveal from Maeyami about what happened to her and another woman straight, and focused on the sense of helplessness around reporting.

Honestly Kazuma is so attractive. He can always sense when something is wrong with Ren and makes the offer to listen without pushing. Also he cooks, and looks so good putting on an apron.

I think I like that these two guys are discussing what they can do to remove Sanada from his position and this isn't framed as something the victims need to be brave about.

I also think I like people asking Ren about Takizawa after handling business. I think they can all feel the shift in Ren and know it's because of Kazuma.

Hey, so I didn't need to feel even sadder than Ren thought Kazuma had died. Thankfully that was only for a few minutes.

Oh, Ryunosuke, I think I like you, too.

Still thinking about internal monologues as a tool for all of the brooding in Japanese dramas. Poor Ren.

This is the same director as Our Dining Table, and she loves a shot of shoes to indicate closeness.

Why is this bed in the middle of the room? I am now terrified of Kazuma.

Okay, Kazuma, that was affecting. He put that shirt on Ren in the most erotic way possible while asking him what he wanted for dinner. This man has made mundane domesticity sexy. He's quickly rising in my rankings.

Didn't seem like Ren enjoyed France, and yet he's meeting up at a French café.

Of course Kazuma's mom runs into Ren while he's wearing the shirt she made. She better not slap him again!

DRAMA NEXT WEEK.

I really love this show a lot, and I really like how the focus has shifted to Ren lately. Kazuma is content because he and Ren are together, so it's okay to see Ren trying to be okay with that while dealing with a very serious problem that has nothing to do with their relationship.

#shigatsu no tokyo wa... #tokyo in april is... #japanese bl #bl series #Ben watches

[lesbianspeedy]

Connor has called Ollie solely "dad" since Quiver why is he calling him "Ollie" now 😭😭😭

This is mean but I laughed out loud when Connor said Tim was the first person he talked about when he was figuring out being ace years ago. Lol. Lmao even. Tumblr really gaslit that poor writer into thinking Connor and Tim had an actual friendship with all their clamoring about him being with the wrong Bat huh. "Where were you?" GEE I didn't know you had to give daily updates to that one kid you teamed up a few times and had some friendly banter with. I love queer solidarity and the whole thing about us finding each other before we even know we're queer but. NO Connor would not have talks about his sexuality with Tim. Cmooooon you're telling me the first person he'd talk to about being ace wouldn't be Kyle "you can tell me if you're gay, Connor" Rayner?

At least that "this is just another thing me and Ollie don't have in common" anxiety is something already established. Like, that's basically the same thing he says to Roy when Roy takes him to that strip club even if it's an issue by Winick (do you ever stop to think about how unintentionally well laid out Connor being ace is and lose your mind a little bit?)

I'm just. Really sad about how Ollie and Connor's relationship is being presented to this new generation of readers. It's like we regressed to the time Ollie was dead, ya know? And I don't like Connor solely for his relationship with his dad, I want him to be a character on his own. But I can't help but being saddened by how he is losing his relationship with everyone that matters. For better or for worse, at least the new GA series is gonna have him interacting with his family (but what about Kyle, Eddie, Jansen and Moonday, ya know?)

The thing is that the story is good and I like its message. It just... Could be with any other character

im tempted to post this without an "answer" because its really well laid out and deserves to be a post on it's own. but i just rlly like ur points and want to interact with them so.

i think there were a few times between quiver and now where he interchangebly used dad and ollie but i get what you're saying, referring to him like hes estranged still was odd.

i totally agree, the idea of queer solidarity is important and should be shown, but i think this was a weird choice to go with. i think the most intimate (from my memory, i havent reread connor's run in a while) question connor ever asked tim was whether batman was his dad (at that time the answer was still no, as jack hadn't been killed yet). and that was only asked because connor was still his charmingly-awful-at-secret-identities-self. the part of their limited friendship that was interesting was the dynamic of new-sidekick-legacy meets new-main-legacy (for lack of a better descriptor), both struggling to uphold what they thought was expected of them. they never got to really advance from that stage of knowing each other to being at a place where they are friends out of costume, let alone discuss their SEXUALITIES.

i agree that the not being in common thing was a nice nod to past character complexities, though it felt slightly like it was the writer genuinely believing that to be true, and not just a rehash of connor's complicated feelings.

i know, its a weird stage we're at now, the resistence to fully accepting the connor that came from the end of his green arrow run, not just the beginning of it. by the end he had come to peace with being green arrow, and not being his father but that being okay. and that's not to say this is all the current writers fault (though williamson has done absolutely no favours with his writing), as winick and krul absolutely demolished any character connor had for their angst and whatever. (remember when connor aggressively yelled at mia for complaining about being stalked by zatanna without being told? or when after being turned into plastic and losing his memories he then decided he hated buddhism and oliver?). (not to mention the seperation from eddie jansen moonday kyle and. despite all of this complaining. tim cass and steph. winick set this precident and i will never forgive him)

i agree, it had good framework, and it couldve been a much more cohesive story if they. had just not used this friendship.

#connor hawke #green arrow #dc comics

[profounddefendorcrusade-blog]

Debunking the “Lancer is a little kid” belief

After years and years of not shipping anything (not in video games, movies, or TV shows), I finally came across a particular pairing in Toby Fox's "Delatrune" that immediately caught my attention. In case you're still guessing even after reading the title, I'm talking about Susie and Lancer here. Specifically, how Lancer is portrayed in the Delatrune fandom.

Now, what you're about to read is me being as objective as possible, but if you still see Lancer as a literal kid (even after the very last point, taken straight from the game itself), go on and believe what you want to. I mean, isn't that what works of fiction or supposed to be about? Letting our creativity flow and taking whatever we want to take from the actual work, so that we can interpret it in any way we want to? I won't even stop you from posting hate comments (they're inevitable). Just prepare yourselves for a reality check, folks.

Enough rambling. Let's get straight to the point. And that point is that whenever I went on the internet to look for fanart/fanfiction of these two, I could barely find any for one reason: 99% of the fandom saw the pairing as pedophilic. I must stop you all right there. Let's take a not-so-well-deserved break from my little discussion and look up the term 'pedophilia.'

In short, a pairing can’t be pedophilic if neither one of the characters is an adult. Or, if they're in a romantic, but non-sexual relationship. Like, you can call a couple with an age gap weird/gross all you want, but if it's not sexual, the term 'pedophilia' doesn't apply. That's my whole point. Except... Susie and Lancer are *peers.*

About Lancer's height. Saying that he's a child just because he's short is like saying Papyrus is much older than Sans just because Sans is short (heck, if you compare the heights, you'll see he's even shorter than Lancer, and yet Sans is an adult, and no one has ever questioned it).

Let's look at an actual example: Monster Kid/Teen. I found a picture containing them as a child (right) and teenager (left). See the difference? Okay. 

Now, I did the same thing for Lancer, and... if he were a child, he'd look something like this:

If you look up an actual height comparison for every character in the game, you’ll see how Lancer and Monster Teen are the same height (Kris and Ralsei too as far as I can tell). Still not convinced? Let's look at Susie. Most people follow this logic: She is taller and, therefore, must be older than Lancer. To that, I say: she's a dinosaur-like monster; of course, she will be taller than the others. Who knows how tall she'll be as an adult? As for Lancer: his dad may be tall, but that doesn't automatically mean he will be as huge as him when he grows up. Nothing weird about that.

Now Let's look at Lancer's personality. He's an immature and spoiled prince, but for a good reason: he spent his entire life being treated as a baby/toddler/child before he met Susie. No wonder he lacks confidence, needs 'babysitters', and is terrible with directions. Lancer... doesn't know any better. He's never been told that he can be his own individual. He's never been told that he isn't useless. That he doesn't need protection. Remember when Lancer told Susie that he had never eaten the Dark Candy hanging way too high on the tree because he wasn't allowed to get it himself, and she decided to let him try it even though she was hungry? Or when he stated that he wasn't allowed to swear? Lancer was even surprised that the trio's "collective dad" "lets them" swear. I'm sure people growing up in a strict household would understand when I say how this doesn't explicitly have to do anything with Lancer's biological age, just his upbringing. And Susie trying to get (the word they used was not 'teach,'  just 'get') him to swear more is similar to what some of my friends do sometimes when I'm too shy - get me out of my shell. That doesn't make me younger than I am. She teaches Ralsei sarcasm too in CH2, and I don't see anyone treating him like a little kid.

There's an interesting post about this here on Tumblr (https://at.tumblr.com/rainy-poppy/lancer-is-literally-a-child-why-are-you-shipping/d3kpxj3hpn1j). Basically, the person is saying that Susie, being the tough badass she is, wouldn't be hanging out with an actual child (despite calling him 'kid,' which I'll be getting to after this). Let's look at Anne and Sprig's friendship in Amphibia for a second since both of their ages are confirmed. She's 13. He's 10. The difference between Susie and Anne here is that Susie was a bully. Someone who was actually threatening, and not just a typical, friendly teenage girl like Anne. A bully like Susie would NOT willingly team up with a child. Instead, she'd say something like: "Whatever, kid. Scram!". Not only that, but she would not threaten to bite a child's face off, or beat him up (Lancer was literally the first person she actually beat up, according to what Monster Teen and Snowy tell us about never having seen her do it to anyone before), try to kill him twice (and almost succeed the second time), or call him 'man,' 'dude,' 'idiot,' and a 'wannabe tough guy.' And Lancer's face? I don't know if it's a joke. If it is, I'll ignore it, but if that's his actual face, then no. Him being a child is impossible. And considering that he has already made this particular face three times (once in CH1 and twice in CH2), I'm pretty sure it's canon. I can't get behind how someone could look at this face and think "That's a baby/toddler/little boy!" I seriously can't.

And it's not just that. We see that he and Susie made a literal game in which we (Kris) and Ralsei are supposed to ‘thrash our own ass’. I don’t know about you, but I highly doubt a child would have the mental capacity to contribute to the project or keep up with Susie in general. Additionally, Lancer shows an uncharacteristic level of maturity, ordering his troops to imprison us. Heck, they put him as the king of the entire Card Kingdom! Would they have put a 10-year-old on the throne? If they were smart, then no, of course not! Rouxls Kaard would have been in charge instead until Lancer was old enough. The comment one of the Rudinns made about him being their new king went something like: "We didn't know who to make our new king. Lancer's always been annoying, but seeing how nice he treats you guys, I think he'll be fine". There isn't a single mention of him not being old enough. The only canon information we have about Lancer’s age is that he isn’t old enough to ride a motorcycle, so he’s 15 max. Not an adult, but not a child either. And considering how the rest of the gang are teens, he is at least 13 (although, this is still too young imo).

Lancer understands the concept of death damn well; he just doesn't let it bother him. A child would scream, beg, cry, or run away in terror if someone threatened or tried to kill them, or become paralyzed from fear. He was even willing, no, EXPECTING to die during the Susie fight and said "Susie, you... you missed." He was willing to make this sacrifice just to keep her safe from his dad. The same guy who only used to care about being useful to King and making him proud (despite clarly having a soft heart) finally found something more imporant than proving himself, and that's having, being, and remaning a true friend to the end. This is both heartbreaking and beautiful. And from this one scene on, Lancer's remained 100% loyal to his friends, especially Susie (but also never had a single thought about leaving Kris and Ralsei behind).

A child like Monster Kid was clearly naive in UT. They said how they want to be like Undyne when they grow up (all Lancer said was how he wanted to be like Susie, without the "when I grow up" part). Not only that, but Monster Kid isn't even old enough to fight and needs Undyne to protect them, while Lancer is a skilled fighter compared to the rest of the Card Kingdom inhabitants (minus his father). Lancer, as immature as he sometimes is (and for a good reason, if we consider his upbringing), isn’t naive and clueless about the world. Bonus points for his jokes being not only silly but clever and sarcastic. He's like the perfect combo of Papyrus' goofiness and Sans' sarcasm. A child wouldn't be able to ride their bike as well as he does, think of such witty comebacks, or make up creative new words on the spot. A child would babble some stupid stuff, unfunny to teenagers. But Lancer's actually the only person who can make Susie laugh (besides herself).

Now, about this whole 'kid' talk. Lancer, I believe, called himself like this because he sees himself as a child despite being chronologically older. Why? As I said, because of his upbringing and (I think) because his father always saw him as incapable. And Susie addressing him as ‘kid’? It could mean a few things:

1) it was said as a way to mock him for his height, immaturity, or both, and as an addition to the comedy; it's not that deep

2) She thought that he was a kid, but Lancer explained to her that he wasn't when they started hanging out, which would explain why she didn't call him a kid ever again (and called him 'dude' and 'man' instead);

3) It's meant to imply Lancer is 1 or 2 years younger than Susie, but 3 years younger? I don't think so. More than 3? Definitely not.

*I think the first one is the most likely scenario considering she had called him a 'wannabe tough guy’ during their next encounter, while they were still enemies

I respect if you don't like/hate the ship because you see them as siblings, if you headcanon Susie as a lesbian, or if you ship her with someone else. I'm just sick and tired of this reasoning and not being able to enjoy the ship in peace because of people attacking it and its fans.

Edit: There are a lot of things I either forgot to mention, or want to discuss in more detail, so here they are:

-The reason the word 'kid' is repeated so often during our first encounter with him is because someone from the staff accidentally thought Lancer was much older than he really is based on the headcanon voice he gave him, so Toby decided to highlight that Lancer is a kid just like the rest of them (this was spoken of during the 6th anniversary of UT, there's a video on YouTube). Not only that, but Berdly calls himself 'the smart kid', and Susie says something like 'whether you're the smart kid or not, we couldn't care less (referring to Berdly)'. Basically, they're all still "children" (as Queen calls them) even though they're technically teens, and it's not like Lancer is an exception. Heck, Berdly asked: "Who's this guy?" And not "Who's this kid?" because we're already familiar from CH1 that Lancer isn't an adult, so there's no need to highlight it anymore

-Toby wanted to make 4 slots instead of 3 originally so Lancer could be a part of the gang and appear in the status menu, but figured that it would take too much work (from the stream). This proves that all 4 of them are equals; a child wouldn't be able to or allowed to fight alongside teenagers

-Speaking of my previous point, Lancer is a pretty skilled fighter (can throw a ton of spades), he's stronger than a lot of his people (his attack is 7) and also surpingly difficult to kill (during the fight with Susie)

-He acts a lot less stupid than most people give him credit for and is way more emotionally mature. Sure, he's silly for the sake of the comedy, but also clever and sarcastic. You can't convince me, based on his dialogue and interactions, that he acts like a little kid. Once again, I don't understand how those who had played Undertale are now pretending that they don't know Toby's humor is often exaggerated (like in Papyrus' case). It's not their first time seeing someone incompetent and purposefully goofy in his game

‐ If we look inside Lancer's room, we can see that it not only looks similar to Kris and Susie's, (who are, you know, teenagers), but there are also no "childish" things in there, such as toys, posters and action figures (Papyrus has them, and he's an adult). Also, he has a totally normal, spade-themed bed, while Papyrus, again, has one shaped like a car, yet somehow, Lancer is the one seen as a little kid. Sans reads Papyrus *bedtime stories* I repeat: *Sans reads Papyrus, an adult man, or an older teenager, bedtime stories.* NO ONE does this to Lancer.

-Whenever he and Susie interact, I always get the feeling that they're both on the same wavelength. To give an example of what I mean, I'll compare their dynamic to the one between Applejack and Apple Bloom from MLP:FiM. Even though AJ cares about her little sister, they each have their own friend groups. Saying Lancer is a little kid wouldn't make sense, considering how Susie has always treated him as her equal (heck, they even high-fived each other twice in CH2. If that isn't a sign of equality, I don't know what is). I never got the feeling that she was taking care of her "little brother," like a lot of fans seem to think. Even when she tried to save him from the maze, she got lost herself. I mean, who wouldn't do something like this if it meant helping a friend out? Not to mention the many stupid things they did TOGETHER (in the 6th-anniversary stream of UT, Toby stated how neither of the two knows anything about villainy), so it's not Lancer dragging Susie down with him

-This might sound like a nitpick but I think it's important: how Lancer addressed King as 'Father,' and also how King referred to him as a 'traitor'. A little kid would excitedly run up to their dad and say either "Dad!" or "Daddy!" And I highly doubt a kid would be referred to as a traitor

-Susie actually planned to bite his face off, and Ralsei didn't stop her. I'm sure as hell he wouldn't have let a young child get eaten like that. Also, Lancer called him his 'main man,' once again showing that they are similar in age. And if he were really a little kid, Lancer would have annoyed the living daylights out of Susie once they teamed up (ask her to play with him, ask a lot of questions and be overall annoying. Trust me, I've got younger cousins). But instead of that scenario, Susie says "We got bored, so we're having a snack" What does this mean? That Lancer did not act like an annoying little kid, simply because he isn't one. Don't even get me started on how people draw him, because holy hell, it seems to me that 1) most of the fandom is actually blind and doesn't see that he, Ralsei and Kris are all roughly 4 feet tall in the actual game or 2) they try to capture Lancer's childishness by drawing him as a toddler (except, the personality they give him isn't his real one in the first place, considering how he's never acted like a toddler once, so I really don't know what the point of drawing the poor guy like this even is)

-An argument I saw against Susie x Lancer was how "they've never acted romantic with each other" All I have to say in regards to that is how they've literally known each other for roughly 2 DAYS (+ Toby seems to want to make Suselle canon). I can't get behind how people think that love can blossom over such a short period of time. Not everyone believes in 'love at first sight,' and I'm one of those who don't. Crushes, yeah, but they are usually short-lived and always shallow. What we learn about Lancer is that he values sincerity and is very sincere himself (as we can see when Kris tries to compliment him twice) Plus, Susie never had any friends prior to Lancer, so jumping from friendship to romance just like that would be not only bad writing, but also unrealistic. The very reason I love Lancer is how there's no sudden romantic subplot linked to him, like Noelle's obsession with Susie and Ralsei's crush on Kris (I find both of these ships toxic as hell, but I don't want to talk about them here). Just to add something here: despite not moving any romantic subplot forward or being associated with one, Lancer isn't unfamiliar with the concept (as seen in CH2 when he calls himself handsome and admits to 'having fallen in love'). I honestly think that, much like Papyrus, Lancer isn't linked to any kind of romantic subplot simply because he's the comic relief, so it would affect the comedic part of his character

-Why is everyone complaining about this ship, but not a literal child (Frisk, who most people see as 8-12 years old), going on a date with an adult skeleton, Papyrus? (at least, people usually percieve him as a young adult, but he could also be a teenager) Either way, it isn't a small age gap. Also, why is Frans such a popular ship even though one character is a child (Frisk) and the other clearly an adult (Sans)? You could argue that Frisk's age hasn't been confirmed, and skeletons don't age because they're undead, but still, Papyrus and Sans were not introduced as, you know, skeleton boys, and yet somehow both ships are acceptable, but Susie x Lancer isn't? Not just that, but people age Frisk up when it comes to the Frans ship and there's far less hate for it than the ship that isn't even pedophilic?

-People are also totally fine with ships like Dipper x Wendy (Gravity Falls), Aang x Katara (ATLA), Toph x Sokka (also ATLA), Spike x Rarity (MLP:FiM), and such. There is a clear age gap in all of these pairings, but they're not seen as problematic in any way

-I bet that, if Ralsei had a childish personality, or literally any other character, they'd also be seen as a kid/toddler. Even a baby for some reason? I don't understand this. The way people perceive Lancer, when it comes to both height and personality, is completely different from how he acts in the game. Sure, he's loud, flamboyant and obnoxious, but also chill and sarcastic. And sure, Lancer does have the tendency to act dumber than average, but THAT'S THE POINT of a character who's a COMIC RELIEF

-"But King doesn't allow Lancer to say tier-two swear words!" Neither does Greg from Steven Universe, and Steven was 14. You know, a teenager. In case people are curious about which episode I'm talking about, it's "Beach City Drift". Basically, Greg doesn't allow Steven to say words like 'hate' and 'creep'. That's even worse than not allowing your teenage son (who is still a minor and therefore you still have authority over him) to say tier-two swear words!

-"Why does King make his people take care of Lancer if he isn't a little kid or allow him to eat from the Dark Candy tree?" To make sure he's acting like a proper prince and not the goofball he is deep down, if you ask me. And because he doesn't take the poor guy seriously. As for the Dark Candy; once again, eating sweets isn't considered 'princely' and, as I mentioned above, Lancer is still a minor, so King still has the authority to tell him what to do and punish him in whatever way he wants (having to take a shower every time he reads a swear word, possibly being starved, according to a few lines, and even being emotionally and physically abused). Emotionally, in the sense that King belittled him, made him feel worthless, ignored whatever Lancer had to say and used him in a manipulative way to achive his goal of serving the Knight (the first two points are guesses, while we saw the other two on screen). Physically, based on the fact that he becomes worried when he realizes his friends and his dad are gonna fight. I have no doubt that King was phyiscally violent towards him at least once, considering how terrified Lancer is. He knows what King is capable of because he himself experienced his wrath. I see Lancer's upbringing as that of a lonely, overprotected person, who's also royalty. There are a lot of examples of this type of upbringing, whether we're talking about real people or fictional characters (like Rapunzel, for example)

-Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender took over the Fire Nation at 16. This makes sense. I don't imagine Lancer being much younger when he took over the Card Kingdom

-"The reason why the guards obeyed Lancer when he told them to imprison Kris, Susie, and Ralsei is that King made them obey his every order!" Then why can Lancer make his own laws (+ he knows what the word means, which wouldn't be the case if he were too young) without asking RK for permission, and why do Lancer's people listen to him without complaining when he orders them not to attack/kill us at the beginning of CH2 (if we attacked the Darkeners in CH1)? King isn't in charge anymore, so it's not out of fear. They all clearly grew to respect Lancer and his authority. They wouldn't respect a child like this

-"In the stream, Toby said Lancer is a boy!" So what? We've got Ralsei, who people call 'fluffy boy,' and Susie, who's known as 'purple girl'. I bet Berdly and Noelle would also be known as 'bird boy' and 'reindeer girl'. Even Lancer refers to Kris, Ralsei, and Susie as 'boys or girls' In the same stream, when they got to the part where we first meet Lancer, someone said something along the lines of "Now it's time to replace the fluffy boy (Ralsei) with another boy (Lancer)" In other words, they're both referred to as boys and therefore must have similar ages. Yet SOMEHOW it's acceptable to ship Susie x Ralsei but not Susie x Lancer

-The Fun Gang (Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Lancer, Noelle, and probably Berdly too) is their friend group, right? It wouldn’t make sense for the five of them to be teens, and for Lancer to be the only one who’s a child. Deltarune is clearly a story about teenagers finding their place in the world

-King wouldn't have trusted a child with something as important to him as destroying Lightners

-The Jack of Spades (the card which Lancer represents) is associated with a young man, not a child

-The thing I absolutely can't stand is how people who headcanon Lancer as a little kid act like their headcanon is canon and somehow think that 'they're right while others 'are wrong'

-Him not understanding what a 'mom' is, if we really want to look too deep into this (which I doubt we should since Toby's characters are often comically exaggerated and act sillier than 'normal'), could have something to do with how Darkeners are created in the first place. We don't know anything about them if you think about it. Whether they are 'born' or not, or if they even age. Maybe everyone in the Dark World will always remain the way they are physically. We don't know yet

-Queen adopting him in order to take care of him makes sense, considering he is, you know, a minor. Saying he doesn't need a mother figure is like saying Kris doesn't need Toriel

-In the live stream I mentioned earlier, the team talked about Lancer's original concept art, and announced how he was originally going to ride a motorcycle (making him 16). I don't imagine that they'd age him down from 16 to, let's say, 10 years old ↓

-Another thing that might contribute to people seeing him as a "little kid" is his design. What I mean by this is how Lancer's "eyes" (if that face he made was canon and not just a meme) are not in alignment with the eyes of, let's say, Kris and Ralsei. I'm certain this has to do with his species (the spade he has for a head isn't a hoodie but a part of his body; I came to this conclusion after I saw how he can move the top part of his head up and down when he's happy/sad, kind of like what a dog does with its ears). And, let's imagine for a moment that the rest of the gang were the same species as Lancer; they'd all be the same height then, if we apply logic here. They'd also all be the same height if everyone were a human/goat/dino. In other words, Lancer is of completely average height for a spade. There's this logic going on in the fandom that, since Lancer isn't that tall + is goofy + isn't skinny, he's a little kid. But if he weren't chubby or immature, even if he remained on the shorter side, I 95% believe he'd be drawn normally, just like Kris is drawn

-I'm no good at math and numbers, but let's try to think logically once again. In Berdly's flashback, he and Noelle are seen participating in the spelling bee, making them 8 years old (that's the youngest kids can be in order to participate). In the present moment, they're roughly twice the size they used to be back then, right? That would make them around 15 or 16 currently, because 8+8=16. The exact same comparison can be linked to Lancer. When he was 8, he was shorter than he is now, as a teen ↓

-Also, here's a comparison of Monster Kid, Frisk, Sans, Lancer and Kris. It's clear, looking at the image below, that the first two are children, that Sans is a simply short adult, while the last two are teens ↓

-In the stream, Toby showed us some more concept art for Lancer. In this particular picture, we can see that he used Kris' height to design Lancer. Since we know Kris is a teenager, that must mean that Lancer is one too ↓ 

-Why does everyone think Lancer is younger than Susie? He could be older than her, but we don't know it, and probably never will because ages in UT were never canonized either

-"But Lancer looks up to Susie so he must be a lot younger!" I once again have to draw parallels between two fandoms. In Kung Fu Panda, Po looks up to Tigress even though they're on the same team and have similar ages. There's nothing weird about looking up to someone, whether they're older, younger, or the same age as you. Lancer idolizes Susie because she's tough, tall and physically strong (I repeat, it's all because of her species and NOT because she's older). Her age has nothing to do with her physical appearance

-Also, why do people think that when someone says 'I ship these two characters,' that automatically means they want them to do something sexual? Ships can be just romantic and sweet, you know?

-During the sleepover after chapter 2's pacifist route, Susie mentions how cool it would be if Ralsei and Lancer could come to visit the Light World and explains how Ralsei could be mistaken for Kris' cousin, as well as how Lancer would live under Kris' bed. Right after this, she excitedly says how all of them could walk to school together and be an unstoppable team. This is proof that all four of them are not only high schoolers, but also that the age gap between them isn't larger than 1 year (sophomores are between ages 15-16, so that would mean that Lancer (and probably Ralsei) is 15, while the other two are either 15 or 16). They must be sophomores because Catti has a job (Berdly too); you have to be 16, at least. Maybe 15. But definitely not younger than that. Again, no pedophilia here

-A little theory I have is that, in the end credits of the final chapter, we'll finally get to see Lancer riding a real motorcycle, but that's just what I'm hoping to see, and it may or may not age well. This would mean that he would have turned 16 by the end of the game

-Typical teeage behavior ↓

-And, most imporantly, THE TIME THE GAME ACTUALLY DEBUNKED IT. Now, I don't know how many people actually payed attention to this little moment (I found it on accident) ↓

Let's break this down into a few segments to understand it better: Lancer challenges Kris, Susie, and Ralsei to a race to their new rooms. Instead of saying "the last one there is a rotten egg," he, for the sake of the comedy and his unique speech pattern, says "the last one there is a fresh and fragrant egg" We can say that there is no deeper meaning behind this particular choice of words, but to me, a "fresh and fragrant egg" represents youth (adolescence).

Ralsei asks him why he's standing if they're supposed to be racing, and Lancer replies with: "I wanna be the egg!" According to my interpretation, he's trying to say how he wants to be "the loser," "the failure," "the underdog," or something similar. In other words, he wants to be the last/the worst.

Finally, he adds: "You won't get through your teen years without at least one Egg." Whether this is referring to how he wants to experience failure/ being the loser and finds it to be an important/essential part of growing up, or maybe there's some other meaning behind being an "Egg," it's clear as day now that he's a teenager. Any of them (Kris, Susie Ralsei, or Lancer) could have been "the egg" in this race if they had ended up last. We know that the other three are teens, and if Lancer is saying how he wants to experience being "the egg," and associates it as an essential part of being a teen, that means he's in the same boat as the others and is also a teen. "One Egg" is probably linked to failure as well, so if we translated the dialogue into a non-metaphorical one, it would go something like this:

"The last one there is a loser!"

"I wanna be the loser! You won't get through your teen years without being the loser at least once!"

So yeah, that's all the reasons why Lancer is NOT a little kid. Thanks to anyone who read all this. And if you're still gonna be a hater, then ok. Waste your time insulting random people on the internet and make them feel terrible about themselves for having an opinion (though, it's not even an opinion after the final point) about a work of fiction, instead of enjoying the things you want to enjoy and minding your own business

P.S. I may have forgotten to mention a few more arguments: 1) Lancer is strong enough to carry Susie's entire weight on his back/head; what little kid could do that? 2) Lancer's attacks are numerous and strong enough to make SUSIE, THE PHYSICALLY STRONGEST member of the team, FLINCH. 3) At the hospital, Rudy mentions something about Noelle playing a "children's" game, I think it was in ch2, gotta go check, but the point is, Rudy (and Queen, by calling them children a few times) considers these teenagers to be "children" Which honestly makes a lot of sense since they're all still under 18. 4) There is not a SINGLE "little kid" in this entire game. Let's see here... we have Kris, Ralsei, Susie, Noelle, Berdly, Temmie, Monster Teen, Snowy, Catti and Jockington... who are ALL 'big kids' (teenagers). And you're trying to tell me the only person who's 10 years old is Lancer?? Get outta here. 5) It makes sense that Deltarune is about teens. Why? Because it is supposed to be a 'more mature' game than Undertale. Teenagers go through all the stuff DT characters go through (family problems, depression, loneliness, crushes, feeling clueless about who you truly are etc.) Lancer has family problems, he used to be lonely, and he was completely misguided because of his dad. Typical teenage problems he's experiencing here. 6) I don't expect a kid who's 10 years old or less to be into motorcycles. That's logically a teen thing. Otherwise we'd see him ride normally on a bicycle with a helmet on, just wanting to play, like, you know, a child. 7) Oh yeah, and Toriel mentioned something about Susie being a bad influence on Kris, so there's that. Lancer and Noelle ("I wish I could do crazy stuff like you...") willingly look up to Susie, while Kris and Ralsei are unwillingly influenced by her (at least, Ral was). This is called *peer pressure* Because they're all teens. But Susie's dominant. So... yeah.

Anyway, I don't care what people ship. I'm fine if you hate susancer. It's not for everyone. What DOES piss me off so much though is the lack of respect Lancer gets, how he's treated as this "bouncy little pumpkin uwu" despite being one of, if not, the most useful character in the game plot-wise so far + a great comedic relief. I'm sick of him being drawn and treated as a toddler. So sick of it.

I get that the kids in the fandom still lack critical thinking, but older teens and adults, too?

In any case, I'm signing off for real this time. Thanks for reading.

#lancer #susie #susie x lancer #lancer x susie #deltarune #lancer deltarune #susie deltarune #character analysis #debunking

[hikari-ni-naritai]

How do you manage to enjoy shows with a lot of like, unavoidable problems? I've seen your posts about the like, cool creativity and such in middling isekai, and I want to appreciate stuff like that too, but I usually can't get myself to ignore the worse parts. How do you do it?

i mean it depends on what you mean by 'problems'. if you mean like, bad writing, that i cant offer any advice on because i have never had a discerning eye. in fact, watching isekai is kinda what taught me to notice when something was bad. before id think things were either really good or just enjoyable and okay. im teaching myself the discernment i lack. but crucially, that is all in my head. in my heart i still very much enjoy things that arent very good because like. i can put good taste in my head but it doesnt mean i feel it in my heart.

but if you mean like 'the problematic elements'. that is an entirely different question. and im not sure im qualified to answer it, really, since i grew up with 'problematic elements' being that something was like. not christian. i dropped that obviously but i didnt exactly like, swap it out for anything. so my aversion to problematic elements is just kinda mostly gone.

but like. a lot of it is that like, i recognize that the media i consume is not a statement on my political beliefs, and i have a very firm foundation for my morality. yes its morally reprehensible for an isekai to portray slavery as like. A Good Thing For These Girls Actually, but Emily doesnt believe slavery is good. so if a girl in an anime is perfectly happy dressing like a maid and being some guys slave, that has no effect on what i believe in real life. if an isekai portrays the monarchist nobility as a good and necessary institution, that doesnt affect Emily's belief that monarchy is dogshit and nobility is double dogshit. if sousou no frieren's depiction of demons as mimicry predators of humans is fascist because it creates an ontologically evil Other that looks like humans yet is incapable of true emotion and needs to be wiped out, that doesnt affect Emily's belief in the intrinsic value of all human life and the fact that genocide is extremely fucking evil.

so like. figure out what you believe and why you believe it, recognize problematic elements in media, and dont let them affect your beliefs. if your problem is that people will think youre a bad person for watching something, understand that those people dont dictate your beliefs either.

but also yknow, a lot of it is the fact that nobody's complaining about these things bc theyre not popular. nobody's discoursing about black summoner, nobody's bitching about smartphone isekai, nobody's discussing karakara. its a lot harder to enjoy things when youre hearing discourse about them constantly. it feels safer to draw your own conclusions, even if those conclusions are 'this is a problematic representation of this thing'. theres no pressure to hate it for its faults bc nobody gives a shit except you. yknow?

anyway theres still lines i dont like to cross, like i hate watching shows with sexual assault or severe bullying, but thats only bc it makes me uncomfortable to watch, not bc i think theres anything wrong with depicting it in art.

if you choose to try and change this about yourself, i wish you the best of luck! it takes time and will probably be uncomfortable, but personally i think its worth it.

[declanowo]

31 Days of Horror - Day 12 - Martyrs

12/10/23 

I begin most mornings at the moment by spinning the wheel to see which film I will watch - I like to know when I should start the film, for example, if I land on a three hour long movie, I won’t start it at midnight. Today when I first landed on Martyrs, I respun the wheel. After everything I had heard about this film, I felt that it wasn’t the best day to watch it, as before I had a family dinner out which I knew would leave me exhausted, therefore, something easier and lighter would be far nicer. 

After landing on another film I wanted to watch, Blood Rage, which was exactly the type of movie I was hoping for, I thought about the free time I had today as a result of looking after my friend's cat, who is bound to my bedroom, and therefore, I am too. After sitting on it for a while, I decided to watch both! And I am glad I did :) 

Martyrs is a French film directed by Pascal Laugier. The plot is ever changing as it unfolds, and has been hailed as one of the scariest horror movies ever. I see that perspective, although it feels like a weird and impossible thing to award a film. I believe I have also seen Sinister called the scariest movie ever during a long survey, which I bring up because of how different these films are! I’m curious whether people find Sinister scary solely for the jumpscares, which are amazing, or also the plot too? I think it is primarily the jumpscares, which mirrors Martyrs, which I think people find so scary because of how visceral and gross the gore is. It paired nicely with Blood Rage, which has super fun and bloody kills, whereas this film has very bloody and disgusting kills. I find the way a film can frame kills super interesting, based on how the effects are done, how long it lingers etc… Usually, slashers have creative deaths where you don’t linger on the action, they aren’t drawn out or too gross to imagine, but they’re fun to watch, and can still make you wince. There is not a single death in Martyrs that is fun.

I want to start by discussing the way the films acts work - they are incredibly divisive amongst the reviews I have read, and weirdly enough that is the most common criticism, as opposed to the fiendish gore that Saw is often criticised for! Anyway, the film's acts feel unpredictable as far as where the story goes, but I would argue the film never loses its tone, nor its purpose! The first act is a home invasion style film, where we follow a family that appears sweet and innocent as their house is broken into, and they are subsequently killed. For starters, this is such a fun juxtaposition to the grim cold open, showing our protagonist as a child, escaping from the abusive group we learn more about later in the movie. We go from that gritty exposition, to a timeskip which shows us a happy family, to a sudden series of murders. Watching the parents die, you begin to understand their innocence may not be whole, yet as we watch Lucie kill the families two children, the sequence is long, uncomfortable and deeply dark, yet unlike a film such as Cannibal Holocaust, which I will say I haven’t seen, this doesn’t feel like gore for gores sake. It was born in the New Extremity era of filmmaking, which was especially popular in France, and that shines through. My bottom line is that the gore doesn’t feel unnecessary here, it’s uncomfortable, but it is purposeful. 

Quickly, I will mention that while many people liken this film to being a part of the New Extremity Wave of films, it lacks many key features of these films. The most glaring, is the absence of any sexual violence or messaging, the former I was relieved to find out, and only watched the film after researching if there was any. Ultimately, the film does retain some features from this wave, such as having a female lead, as well as centering around women as a whole, alongside the theme of spectatorship. Okay so after writing all this, I read an article that says the director in fact denounces the likening of the film to the wave of filmmaking, but I will leave it in as a result of the constant comparisons. He instead discussed this film being about a world that rotted a long time ago, which I think is a perfect explanation of the film. 

Returning to the first act, we also are introduced to our protagonist, Anna, played by Morjana Alaoui. Both our leads (for this act) are excellent, showing a contrasting conflict as they deal with revenge, and who they want to be. Their relationship is also deeply interesting to me, given how little we see of it. As of yet, I haven’t been able to decide whether they are friends or lovers, Lucie is dismissive of their kiss early on, while a later phone call from Anna’s mother indicates that they are together. Either Way, I think they work well off of eachother, and have very interesting differing views. 

My final thoughts on this act are left with the visions Lucie has, which are grotesque and excellent, some real fun imagery of the corpse that follows her around, attempting to kill her, and I didn’t find Anna’s dismissal of this lifelong plague Lucie has had to live with to be too bad, although thinking about it more kind of bugs me - like why not just believe she is seeing this?! 

In the second act, we follow the two as they inhabit the house over night, and as Lucie deals with the vision returning. I really enjoy this section of the film, just watching them live while disputing what is best to do. Sure, it feels somewhat strange as to how lax they are about not leaving the house, but I don’t mind too much! The attempted clean up and realisation that the matriarch of the family is still alive is terrifying, as she sees a glimmer of hope, before Lucie snuffs out her life. Truly, it is dark, and the film offers no more signs of hope for anyone, as Lucie wrestles with her demon, until eventually, we watch her slit her own throat.

Despite how dark this film is, I never felt bad while watching it, which a film like Human Centipede did make me feel. Once again, intent is the key point for me! Martyrs is exposing you to a dark and twisted world, and while we don’t yet understand quite what the meaning of all this is, it does have one. In contrast, The Human Centipede seeks only to shock you, it is designed to make you feel uncomfortable, and nothing more, which isn’t my kind of film at all!

The third act follows the reveal of the torturous group, but not before one of the most spine curdling sequences! Inside the house, we find a basement, where a person is being kept. Their body is withered, but the more frightening aspect is that she has a metal clasp nailed into her eyes. Gross. After this, the group’s goal is revealed, their scale is vast and all the more terrifying! Having the film open up more works nicely in its favour, the horror is amplified when we understand that they are attempting to create a Martyr, a person who can see beyond death through torture. Knowing that they started over fifteen years ago, makes this even more chilling as we are left imagining how many people have been placed into this system. 

For me, the three act structure works perfectly, each one offers us something new and different, yet they all flow together perfectly. I think of it similarly to 28 Days Later, where we switch locations and tones three distinct times, which aids in the character's development, and the scale of the scenario.

Before moving onto a more general overview, I want to mention the ending, which delivers on everything I had hoped it would. The montage of Anna growing stronger, repeating the words of Lucie in her head is deeply moving and powerful; the eventual conclusion to the film is hideously dark, and I love it.

Martyrs is a weird film, it’s one that isn’t created to make you happy or fulfil you - some of the time I was clueless as to what I was being told, yet it was sharing something, and I like it for that. 

After watching the film I went to my family dinner, the tables surrounding us were filled to the brim with old people! All I could think about while I was there was the ending to the movie, as all the elderly people await their martyr that will never deliver her vision. I already know this one will latch onto me, in the short time since watching it, I can already feel its effects shiver down my spine. 

7/10

#halloween #horror #horror movies #creative writing #literature #reviews #review #martyrs #2000s

[thewitchqueenofharrenhal]

Hi i observed you haven't replied to any anonymous asks for many days but I hope you will get back to doing it again cause I would really love to discuss Martells with you. They are my favourite house because they don't brag about legacy, ancestors or any crap. They don't discuss this stuff with anyone. They just love each other so much. It reminds me of Mister Knightley from Jane Austen's Emma words 'If I loved you less I would be able to talk about it more'. They don't talk about loving each other often, but they are there for each other, they really place family above everything. And most importantly, they respect each other. They don't bully each other, put each other down, insult each other or fight. They stick together and they express their love in many ways. Like, okay, Doran and Oberyn mentioned Elia, but besides it, they don't talk about loving each other as brothers (Doran only said Oberyn and him worked closely for many years) or loving their children unconditionally. But hell they show it through their actions. And what really melts my heart is how Doran (while Oberyn was still alive) most likely felt not as half of a man due to his illness but as if everything that mattered (his heart and mind) were alright. I mean, I am almost absolutely sure Oberyn never mocked Doran for being ill. Tyene once said to Doran that Oberyn thought he thinks too much. It refers to Doran personality, not his state of declining health. And then Doran said I know you all think me weak. Your father knew me better. How amazing this line is? Doran even ill felt Oberyn support or rather lack of any prejudices about him being ill, Doran knew to Oberyn him being ill didn't mean he was weak. I wouldn't be surprised if Oberyn saw how Doran was in pain and said 'your body may suffer, but you still have your brain and your heart'. Just as Jaime never treated Tyrion poorly due to dwarfism, same Oberyn never treated Doran as weak just because he was ill. And Doran saying Oberyn knew me better than that. Oberyn knew that despite being ill Doran is mastermind. Oberyn was all about action, physicality, battles and poisons. Yet he knew just because his brother has different weapons (schemes and his mind) it doesn't mean his weapons are less worthy. Hell, Martells raise their kids up in such amazing way. I mean, after Elia died they were working closely but there was surely lots of support and mutual respect there. Doran never discredited Oberyn and Oberyn never discredited Doran. Okay, when talking to Tyrion he said my gouty brother, but it was more stating a fact, showing contrast between them than laughing at Doran state of health. Remember, Sand Snakes are loyal to Doran as head of the house. They didn't rebel as in the show. It's so beautiful that family is sacred to Martells. Family and Dorne. Nothing comes closer to it. They love each other so much and also cherish each other. Look how Doran supported Arianne. He stood up from his chair even despite pain. And Oberyn taught his daughters that they are not some helpless damsels in distress. This family needs a whole essey and I just couldn't help myself ❤️ it just teaches us that within one family there are different personalities and so on, but Martells never want every family member to be the same. They accept all those differences, cherish them and that's why they are so great. They are really progressive in terms of sexuality, hobbies, basically everything. They accept each other for who they are and that's what makes them strong. Doran never tried to copy Oberyn and Oberyn never tried to copy Doran. They are almost total opposites. Yet they are such powerful duo cause instead of bullying each other for having different opinions and quarrelling, they accept they are different and decide to work together cause together they are stronger. How magnificent is that?

Hey!

I know I'm very sorry :( Ever since HOTD came out I won't lie I've had nothing but Targ adjacent brain rot and real life did get a little hectic the past couple of months.

This did however start as a Pro House Martell space and I definitely do want to get back to that asap. I am going to be doing a TWOIAF reread pretty soon here since I have a couple asks referencing Rhoynar water magic. I think House Martell is an extremely proud house but you are correct in the fact that they enjoy their independence and are dedicated to their people in a way that's very rare across the ASOIAF word. Ah, I love the Emma quote - I agree on that end too I think House Martell loves each other SO MUCH but at least the last couple of generations being Arianne's & Doran's there is so much grief and trauma there. We see it in Arianne assuring herself that of course she loves her brother (despite not knowing him very well). We see it in the bond that never broke between Doran, Elia & Oberyn (even past death). We see it in Quentyn wanting so desperately to meet Doran's standards. Mellario's absence is so heavy and subliminal. The loyalty and love the Sand Snakes & Arianne share. There is just so many good relationships to examine within House Martell. I've referenced this before but the conflicting feelings of love & trauma Obara has towards Oberyn. You're right at the end of the day House Martell is loyal to House Martell and there's something beautiful in that which can come with consequences I fear but they ultimately do want to succeed for each other and for Dorne. Love the parallel between Tyrion & Jaime and Doran & Oberyn. I think like all sibling relationships there had to have been some conflict but I do agree that I think Oberyn trusted heavily in Doran and Doran needed that. Especially since Doran does have a fatal problem with communicating with those around him (Arianne, Mellario, Quentyn). Let's not talk about the atrocity that GOT committed with House Martell it's so clear they misunderstood so many important themes to their trajectory and importance and it's so sad. House Martell isn't perfect but they have a sense of community with themselves and that's important. I really do enjoy that Doran & Arianne scene because it's so pivotal to improving their relationship. Doran needs to communicate with his loved ones and not try and maneuver everything himself and Arianne is more than ready for that challenge, she is so clever and capable. I love the Sand Snakes so much - again I don't think Oberyn was perfect by any means but I do think he handled his "bastard" daughters a little better than perhaps Eddard Stark and by that I mean he gave them so much KNOWLEDGE and that's power. (mind you Ned had his own set of challenges so this isn't really a criticism of him -they were different situations after all).

They definitely do need more attention! and I really enjoyed reading your ask - Really helped remind me why they're my favorite house.

#anon #pro house martell

[k-ru-h]

ok first of all. i am sius #1 defender and i wouldnt accuse him of shit without proper proof but. i actually think its important to talk abt this. and second of all this is the only time im ever posting fastpass screenshots but just because the appearance of a character is extremely relevant

listen i know we're all very excited at the idea of a canon gay character in tog, but i really dont think this was the best of moves. tog has so far been mostly pretty alright with handling gnc characters (think how well aka was treated by others, khun being very feminine, etc) and i dont think this one fuckup will change that just. siu is a grown ass adult from a very conservative country and his portrayal of intersex characters such as evankhell or aka isnt very, well, "woke" (evankhell being the only lead brown woman while being "half man" plays into a lot of racial stereotypes, as well as treating intersexuality as a literal curse). i kind of wanna like , talk about this new "queer" character kaya (i saw ppl call him that online, idfk) and like. ill just go thru my points in no particular order idfk ive written too many coherent essays for school this week abd it's 3am i think i deserve a fucked up little one

ok first of all. jesus fucking christ what is this character design

so uh. heres our gay male character! with massive fake tits, lipstick and long hair! this wouldn't be a problem in media already filled with other queer characters, but on its own, especially with the character being darker-skinned yet again, it plays into a lot of stereotypes abt trans women, as well as brown women being masculine. and listen, i know tog has a lot of very wacky character designs, but it also has a lot of gorgeous ones, and while i really dont think it was sius intention to make a transphobic, racist caricature (istg you can psychoanalyse this man just off of tog alone), i think it definitely has something to do either with his own internalised racism and transphobia, or with a lack of education to spot a (hopefully) mistake by assistant artists.

here are some random ass caricatures of trans women i found online and by god i am not crediting this shit, but. look at what i mean. the fake tits, the dress/skirt, the long hair and lipstick.... the resemblance is startling.

but okay. lets say this by itself isnt important. siu made an oopsie and we got a canonically queer character that defends his right to like men unapologetically, and bam didnt seem to mind, and was polite abt it! weeeeeellll... the thing is, this whole fucking thing is a ploy. and if it turns out siu negates my previous point by making it turn out that kaya IS just playing a caricature on purpose because he wants the political advantage and isnt actually gay but is, in fact, homophobic, i will eat that shit up. that would actually make a very good point and having a critique of homophobia is better than having a homophobic gay character. but lets say he is gay for now, lets assume. that still leaves a possibility that he is gay AND just using bam, but lets just assume thats not the case either. lets say he's actually gay and actually wants to marry bam, for whatever fucking reason. bam being polite doesnt mean shit!!! people on twitter are unironically saying this means he's okay with being in a romantic &/or sexual relationship with a man when it literally does not. bam isnt okay with any of this. from start to finish, be it a man or a woman, bam is in this nonconsensually. and one of bams core personality traits is his kindness and politness, and he's been in kayas shoes before, albeit not for queerness specifically. bam isnt a participant, bam is a fucking reward and object and just as that one guy calling khun a "cute little kitten" while literally discussing how much his worth as a slave would be isnt queer rep, neither is this! even if the two of them are actually gay and actually attracted to the two respectfully, they still treat them as objects to be sold or bought for political advantage. someone on tumblr once said that a drag queen will always be a better ally than a gay ceo, and! yeah!

anyways, in conclusion, this is at worst an accidental bigoted caricature, and at best a very good joke on all of us. source im gay intersex trans and i actually go outside and interact with real queer people instead of having pronoun discourse on tiktok. thanks

#tower of god #i am SOOOO fucking sleepy #also one day ill write a ramble on why i think bamdorsi arent a good couple. controversial ig #like its cute but... no... #anyways this thjng has had a grip on me for two and a half years now im not going anywhere ily siu💞

[magicwhiskers29]

Aurora!

Sexuality Headcanon: To be honest, I'm not sure I've really given Aurora and romance/sexuality much thought? Aroace Aurora is a good one though.

Gender Headcanon: Agender!!! I have been trying to get a mini discussion of it into a fic, but the fic has not been cooperating, and I have yet to find a good spot to get it in >:(

A ship I have with said character: uhhhhhhh, see, this is the reason I haven't put much thought into Aurora and romance... I don't particularly have a ship for her...

A BROTP I have with said character: Okay, two answers to make up for the lack of answer to the last one:

A canon-aligned one would be Aurora and Luke; they mean a lot to each other and Luke being the one desperate to stay with her as she dies makes me feel things

And as a "this has been on the brain recently", Aurora and Flora!!! Dare I say we were robbed in these two never even having an overlapping time window in which they can interact? I just. There's a lot of interesting parallels to be drawn, and discussions to be had, especially regarding CV Flora and Aurora, imo.

A NOTP I have with said character: Honestly, just her and anyone on the Bostonius Crew... I think Luke's the only character she's especially shipped with, and I'm not especially a fan of that, so...

A random headcanon: Aurora's favourite colour was pink, but that changed fairly promptly after the whole "Step into the beams of light" incident

General thoughts: Aurora! Aurora my good friend! Her arc about growing to understand and love humanity is really cute, and is honestly really well done considering the bulk of her screentime is spent in the AL egg hunt where most characters can't really develop in any meaningful ways due to the format of it. I am still forever annoyed that she basically only died because no one could think of a third excuse for why AL characters aren't in the original trilogy. Her death was handled... competently for what it was, and it does make me cry, but I still don't think it should have happened.

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