#entire point of vanilla is its basic

[borzoilover69]

dirkjake is vanilla because it’s an INSANELY popular ship. it’s complex yes. but it’s vanilla.

Me when im in a misinterpretation of a word contest and my opponent is anon

#just say its popular #entire point of vanilla is its basic #do you have two cells to rub together in ur brain? #borzoi talks

[biibini]

nsfw modern!mizu headcannons pt3

tags: nsfw, smut, wlw, strap on referred to as cock, cunnillingus, praise, missionary, doggy, if u squint its rough, degrading, teasing, edging, ass squeezes, orgasm

a/n: happy 100??? followers?? i love u all???? i finished some hw and some photoshoot work so here's a treat for both of us :3

18+ content below!

modern!mizu loves to hold ur hand while she's deep inside u, strap on

that's if she's feeling sweet & loving

which is most nights

however, if u were acting like a brat it's totally different

she has the patience but if u rlly ticked her off

or left her during the summer for an internship

she'll still be loving but WAYYY more dirty talk

definitely degrade u

calling u her pretty slut

(yes i already talked ab this on the last part but lemme remind yall)

modern!mizu is big on praise

typically she's reserved when it comes to u in public

prefers to let her work talk for her such as a side hug or holding ur hand when u guys are out

through her actions, she’s loving without the need to say much

at times, she doesn’t mind calling u “love” or “baby” in a sweet endearing way when its just the two of u in public

but behind closed doors…

(im giggling and kicking my feet writing this sorry chat)

she loves constantly calling u her pretty girl or her love

those praises escalate into dirty territory especially when she knows ur close

(yes i also did write ab this but shhh)

and she gets all close to ur ear

while whispering sweet nothings, she continues to stimulate u with soft kisses and hickies on ur neck

she loves hearing how loud ur voice can rise under her touch

or how much ur wet cave squelches just with her two fingers

it's addicting to hear u unfold

modern!mizu prefers missionary

yeah sure its a basic vanilla position

but mizu can watch herself enter easily

ur practically dripping at this point

while having easy access to ur breasts

something soft and tender to hold

or easy access to ur sides and hold for stability

while having front row seats to ur entire reaction

a 3-in-1 combo

she just loves hearing her beautiful girlfriend’s voice slowly lose control of any noises coming out

any whimpers or moans will not be held back

modern!mizu would make it her mission to hear anything come out of u

similar to the praising point

but more on the border of teasing

it doesnt help that she lowers her voice the closer she gets to ur ears

if ur biting ur lip or biting the inside of ur cheek, she will spot u holding back

it’s a lil scary how easy she can read u

but u pay no attention once she’s close to ur neck, one of ur most vulnerable spots

Mizu nuzzles you, letting her head rest in the crook of your neck. You close your eyes and inhale, telling yourself to relax under Mizu. You feel a digit slowly pull out, continuing to thrust into you at a agonizingly slow pace. She pulls out again, a tear running down Mizu’s middle finger.

You take another deep breath, scrunching your eyebrows and attempting to control yourself. You feel Mizu kiss your neck, leaving behind bruises that are soon to bloom purple. She works her way to your ear, her breath practically melting you away.

“I know you want more, don’t you?”, Mizu whispered breathily. Her digit pushing deeper into you. You bite your lip, silencing your moan with a “mmph” instead.

She nibbles down the side of your neck, biting down a little more than usual. Her tongue glides over one of your growing hickies, now turning a deeper shade of maroon and purple. You moan in response, forgetting to hold it back.

"Let's use our words now.", Mizu coos, adding another digit deep inside of you.

modern!mizu would most prob be a dom/switch

a little more switch than dom

but mainly a service dom

as long as the both of u are feeling pleasure, she will always love it

if u request modern!mizu something, she will try her hardest to make u feel good

one time, u were curious ab edging

u have heard of the term but never experienced it

mizu had heard ab it through taigen and his stupid rants ab his situationships

u were in for quite a wild night

“Hey baby?”, you asked.

Mizu hummed next to you, scrolling through Tiktok.

The thought of edging was relatively new. You heard about the idea at one of your lecture classes, where a girl was talking with her friends about how her situationship did that to her. You heard many specific details, maybe too many, for a 9:00 lecture.

However, one thing stood out to you: she had the most deepest, amazing orgasm. According to her, at least.

“Do you know what edging is?”, you question, letting the curiosity get the best of you.

Mizu turned to face you. Shocked at your question, she closes and puts down her phone.

“Who told you what that was?”, she asked.

Your eyes widen.

Was it something mean?

“Why? Is it something bad?”, you say in a concerned tone.

Mizu breathily laughs. She wraps her arm around your side, pulling you closer under the sheets.

“No no, I just wasn’t expecting that kind of question.”

“So what is it?”, you persist, still curious about the idea. You watch her eyes quickly dart away from your gaze.

“Uhm…”, Mizu’s face slightly flushes, biting the outer corner of her lower lip. “It’s when you get really close, but then you never finish. At least that’s how Taigen explained it.”

Your mouth shapes into a little ‘o’.

“It’s supposed to make you finish on ‘a different level’. I didn’t really understand it but-“

“Should we try?”, you boldly ask.

The details of the girl’s experience from the lecture rung in your head: mind-blowing, amazing, earth-shattering. The list could go on. That girl could talk for hours.

Mizu cocked her eyebrow, immediately surprised by the invitation. She didn’t deny it though. As disgusting as Taigen described his experience, it intrigued Mizu. Her mind started to dwell on the thought: your legs trembling and shaking under her, your moans and squirming, the volume of your cries...

The idea of you screaming her name lit a bulb in her head.

Out of nowhere, she pulls you underneath her. Mizu rests her hand by your face to cup your cheek. Her thumb caresses your right cheek, lightly grazing your lips. You look up to meet her eyes: a deep ocean blue darkened with lust. They glance down and quickly look back up to meet your gaze.

Mizu gets closer to you, slightly tilting your head to whisper close to your ear.

"Let's try.", she whispers. You feel her lips plant kisses along your neck, feeling it tickle and tease you.

"Now?", you stammer as Mizu continues down your neck, gently lifting under your pajamas. You feel her hand lift the fabric and palm one of your breasts. You groan as Mizu's thumb grazes over your nipple, hardening under your touch.

Mizu scoffs. "Do you not see yourself right now?", she states as she inches closer to your heat, now aching for her touch.

Blush starts to form on your face. Mizu knew how to turn you on, but you've never seen her so quick with it.

With one hand busy toying with your breasts, Mizu inches her other hand down towards your soft cotton panties. Her fingers slide down from the edge, feeling your curves and valleys. She stops at your entrance and feels the change of the fabric, drenched with your juices.

You hear her chuckle into the crook of your neck. "Do you not feel yourself right now?", she teases, her voice almost deepening as she continues to palm your wet spot.

"Not until now- Mizu!", you yelp. You feel her finger tuck under the fabric, now directly touching your pouring wet mess. She lowers her hand and enters, enveloping her fingers with your fluids.

Your head knocks back as you take a deep breath in. Half of your mind was already in another dimension, getting lost in the pleasure. The other half was still present in bed but slowly losing itself with every thrust Mizu made. You aren't even close to finishing and you're already losing your mind.

You feel her finger pull out, making you feel empty inside. She tugs your panties off and shifts closer to your lower half. You feel your lower half face her mouth. It doesn't take long for you to feel full once again as she plunges two digits into you.

You moan in response. You feel them gain speed, tickling the tip of your cervix. She puts those long, slender fingers to good use. Busy with feeling of your insides getting fucked out, you fail to forget about the feeling of Mizu's tongue lapping up any liquids coming out of you.

She continues to do so, her tongue gliding along the sides of your entrance. Mizu licks up, lightly licking the tip of your clit. A jolt of pleasure shoots up in your head.

"Ah, fuck me Mizu!", you yell into the pillow. Her pace continues to inch deeper into your gushing wet caves. To Mizu's surprise, they easily pull in and out of you, making a squelching noise every time she pushes a little bit deeper.

"I am, don't worry.", Mizu coos. She continues to lap at your clit, circling it every so often. With one hand inside of you, she wraps her other arm around your leg. She feels the warmth of your inner thigh touching her cheek, heating her up as she continues to work on you.

You feel her fingers slightly curl, brushing the rough ceiling of your insides. Instinctively, your hips buck against her mouth & fingers. She groans and gets back to it, tightening her grip on your leg.

The feeling of her fingers continuously touching your sensitive spot sent you to madness. Your hips continue to buck only to be constricted by Mizu's arm. At this point, you are attempting to find any way to move your hips, practically grinding on her face. Gaining speed towards your climax, you try to ride her fingers with her thrusts. In an attempt to chase your nearing orgasm, your moans grow louder. But it is to no avail.

Mizu notices the way your walls start to rhythmically tighten around her fingers. She pulls back her tongue and slowly pulls out her fingers. She feels your liquids drip down her digits, slowly pooling by her palm.

"Is my pretty girl close?", she teases.

Fuck, she brought out that pet name.

You feel her breath an inch away from your throbbing wet entrance, almost teasing your release.

"Y-Yes. Please let me finish. I'm so close.", you beg. Your hips try to grind on something, anything. Without thinking, you aim to feel her lips with yours to feel some kind of pleasure. Instead, you pathetically grind on the bottom half of Mizu's face, covering it with your juices.

Mizu shakes her head, smiling deviously at your attempt.

"Not yet baby. Wait a bit."

Her hands don't shift back to their original position. Instead, you feel them wrap around your thighs and squeeze against Mizu's face. You look down to view Mizu smiling angelically. Yet her actions proved others: downright devious.

modern!mizu doesn't enjoy doggy as much as she enjoys missionary

but it allows her to grab onto your ass and waist and squeeze u closer to u

it lowk highkey makes her go crazy when yall r doing doggy and she sees ur reflection in the mirror

yeah she can hear ur moans and see ur beauty from the back

but to be able to get a view of ur reaction thru the mirror too omg…

You hear the bathroom door open only to find Mizu, strapped on. Beforehand, you had just been making out post-shower and getting ready to go to bed. That was until someone (cough cough Mizu) started caressing your side and touching under your pajama top.

She gets close to you, her hands caressing your hips. Mizu faces you and places soft kisses on your lips, trailing down to your neck. Her lips make work towards the back of your neck as she flips you behind. You look into the mirror as you feel her hands tighten their grip on your hips.

Mizu meets your gaze, grinning at your stare.

“Don’t worry baby, I’ma be nice.”, she reassures, entering a finger into your dripping entrance.

“Fuck-“, you curse. You feel her middle finger gain pace, only to pull out mid-pleasure.

Before you can even complain, you feel her cock poke at your entrance. Its length now covered with your silky fluids. She slowly pushes into your cavern, gripping your hips tighter.

You moan into the mirror. You watch as your knuckles turn white, gripping tightly from the light pain. You check in the mirror to watch Mizu’s reaction. You feel her slowly inch closer inside you, stretching your insides.

A cry escapes your mouth. Her rhythm slowly starts, back and forth. Every inch deeper inside you was a signal of pleasure going straight to your pain.

As for Mizu, she was watching how good you were taking her cock. She sees it slowly enveloping it inside of you, getting coated with all your fluids. She fully thrusts all the way in to the hilt to hear another cry.

And you do cry in response. Right into the mirror. Your reaction perfectly laid out in front of the mirror for Mizu to witness.

“God, you’re taking it so well tonight.”, Mizu complimented, her pace quickening. She glances at the mirror again to see your reaction in the reflection: Your eyes glimmering, filled with pleasure. Your mouth is still swollen, cherry red, from making out earlier. Your cheeks also match the same shade, flushed from the stimulation. God, you looked beautiful.

You feel her enter you again, her hips meeting yours. Mizu’s hands tighten their grip, prepping herself.

You moan loudly as she continues to pound into you. You feel her length roughly enter you, filling you whole. Instinctively, you yelp into the mirror. You try to say something to Mizu. But with every thrust, you fail to form a complete sentence. Your attempt at communication left you mumbling.

Embarrassed, you put your head down against the bathroom countertop. The cold surface felt refreshing against your heated cheeks. However, that only lasted for a moment.

Mizu, still mesmerized by your lower half, checked on the reflection to find your face missing. Instead, it was hiding against the countertops. She slow down her thrusts to an agonizing pace.

“Y/N,”, she called. You respond to her call and looked up into the mirror. “Lemme see that pretty face of yours again.”

You bring your face up to the mirror and look at her through the reflection. She smiles contently and gives your back a kiss.

“Good girl.”

She returns to her original rhythm, fast and deep inside you. You could only moan and cry in front of the mirror, letting your reaction be shown by Mizu. Her cock began to graze the ceiling. Your moans grow louder in response.

As Mizu watches you crumble under her through the mirror, she shifts her hands to your cheeks. Her hands massage them softly and watch them ripple with every thrust inside of you. Mizu grabs both cheeks to spread them apart, gaining a better view of your dripping wet entrance.

“Ah, Mizu!”, you respond. She thrusts in again, hitting a deeper, sensitive angle.

Mizu heard you yell in response and coordinates with the angle. A part of her wishes she could truly feel you inside: to feel your insides squeeze her and envelop her with your juices, to fully feel you orgasm as she’s still inside you fucking you out.

She continues to pound into the same sensitive angle, grabbing onto the sides of your cheeks for some stability. You, on the other hand, feel a twist in your lower stomach start to form. The stimulation, the angle, the way she was grabbing you: it was all coming together.

Your back shoots up, arching up with every thrust. You could no longer hold back any noises and let yourself go. The bathroom walls echoed with your moans, along with the rhythmic slapping from Mizu’s thrusts.

“I’m- ah!”, you feel Mizu get closer to your back as her right hand starts to gently palm your clit, circling the outside perimeter.

“M’so close, Mizu- fuck!”, you say as you look into her gaze through the reflection: her breath heavy, her eyes so dark that the blue reflect like diamonds. Holy fuck.

Her fingers continue to circle your clit, rubbing st s faster pace. The knot tightens and tightens, until you feel her hit the deepest spot, barely touching your cervix. At that point, you let everything go: the knot, the counter, your tight grip on her cock.

You cry as your legs try to spread apart. Your hips attempt to ride out the orgasm, only to be helped by Mizu as her cock goes in and out. You moan out her name as she lets go of your lower half and starts peppering kisses up your spine. She gentle caresses your hips and slowly pulls out.

Liquid gold starts to seep out. Mizu watches as the strap on glimmer under the bathroom lights. You turn the face her, also mesmerized by its shimmer.

(idk if i covered this already but whatever)

modern!mizu’s ideal aftercare is washing up with hot cup of tea and in bed cuddling

rewinding and relaxing afterwards never felt so comforting until u came around

typically, she’ll let u choose the tea of the nicht

but if ur tired out, she can pick up and do the work for u

a few soft kisses here and there

as long as u feel comforted, shes at peace

#mizu bes #bes mizu #mizu blue eye samurai #mizu x reader #blue eye samurai #mizu headcanons #mizu x y/n #mizu x you #blue eye samurai mizu #blue eye samurai x reader #headcannons #modern mizu #mizu smut #mizu x reader smut #mizu x you smut #mizu come home the kids miss you #mizu pls ill take it so good #mmhmm pls mizu

[moronkombat]

Bi-Han nsfw alphabet? 🫣🧊

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Bi-Han is rather tender with his lover after having sex. He is quick to check on them, making sure they are comfortable and content. A large hand will encompass a cheek and his eyes will search his lover's before he pulls you close. His arms around you like a barrier to the entire world and its evils. He will protect you from them all

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Bi-Han is proud of his face. Not because it a handsome one but becomes it is identical to his mother's. Her visage is painted on him, it all he has left of her to look at besides aging photos. As he ages he likes to think his mother would look this way too

His partner's hands. So much smaller and lighter than his own, so easily to be broken. Bi-han would never. Not in any lifetime would he harm his lover. Those hands are to be held, kisses and caressed

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Definitely prefers to finish inside his partner. It is much more intimate and personal for him to release himself within a place most warm and hidden. Bi-Han truly feels deeply connected to his partner when their natural essence mingle and flow together

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Is often plagued by "inappropriate" thoughts of his lover. There is a hunger behind his eyes that fill his head with tantalizing fantasies of the carnal variety. He will tell absolutely no one that he often thinks of his lover quite lewdly. He vents these thoughts through rigorous exercise and sparring with other Lin Kuei

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

He's a virgin Very inexperienced. Bi-Han found little use or time for engaging in sexualized behaviors. He is not partial to seeking out a bedwarmer or a temptation of the night. When Bi-Han loves, it is completely and truly and with the one person he holds dearest

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Very much so ever changing. The position often changes based on the opportunity that is in front of him. Though he is rather traditional and prefers missionary with his lover. It feels right when he can look into his lovers eyes, bodies pressed closely together. Bi-Han likes to be on top because he wishes to hold you close and shield you from all the horrors of the world

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Bi-Han is exceptionally serious in the bedroom. He will not incorporate humor as he finds it disrespectful to you and this private moment shared between the two of you. Bi-Han would never disgrace his lover in such a way

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Bi-Han is neat and groomed but not hairless. He makes it a point to keep himself trimmed and even as to not pester his partner by accidentally irritating them with prickly hairs. While he can grow facial hair, he almost always shaves it but tends to rush through it causing his skin to feel roughened

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Despite his rather grim and intimidating demeanor, Bi-Han longs to show his partner a perfect romance. The only problem with that is he is incredibly awkward in that subject. That will not stop him from trying and, if he's known his lover for awhile, he eventually finds a good pattern of romance. He shows romance through gestures and not words. Do not expect to hear him say those three pretty words. They are not needed when he holds you so tenderly as your bodies entangle and he whispers to you "my heart"

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Seldomly indulges in such acts but probably should. He does have "impure" thoughts of his lover very frequently and intrusively and they weigh on him. He mostly releases himself through exercise or roughly sparring with someone

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Marking- Bi-Han is rather "vanilla" on the surface but peal the skin further back and corruption lingers. While he will never leave a cut on his partner or anything that will tear the skin he does enjoy leaving those reddened circles where he kissed and sucked. He is very meticulous when placing them, always somewhere no one else can see. They are for him and you to feast upon their memories in privacy. He does not leave exposed marks as to not bring attention to you or disrespect you. Bruising tends to occur during sex due to the sheer size of pace of him. While he feels guilty bringing them about, there is something about seeing your skin so painted quite thrilling

Breeding/Pregnancy- This is one he will never admit. He'd rather choke on these words than confess to such a perversion. Yet he is so enticed when he thinks about getting his partner pregnant with his child, with his heir. He groans and his spine curls just thinking about it. Each time he cums within his lover, there is a betraying prayer that wishes for his seed to take root so that you may grow round with child. If his partner were to become pregnant, he finds them incredibly attractive. Probably more than he should

Size difference- Bi-Han is large and his lover is...so fragile and delicate. Barely can he fit himself within warm walls. It takes oh so long for him to completely sheath himself inside. His hand will lay upon your naval and there he feels himself moving, the very outline of him traced into his palm

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Bi-Han will almost always prefer to take his lover in the bedroom. He does not allow anyone in his personal quarter. That is a place for him and now it is for you too. It means to be exposed and vulnerable to have another in his room with him. He finds this the perfect place to express his love to you

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Bi-Han gets in the mood by his partner's appearance. A pretty expression, a graceful step a lithe build that seems so different than his own. He longs to take away those layers of clothing and take your body into his arms

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Bi-Han will not harm his lover. He will not lay a hurtful hand on them, he just can't. Never will he bring them pain. Bi-Han will only protect you from it

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

He enjoys both but expects to give you oral more than receive it. Why? Because he sees how much you like it and how loud you get for him. Louder than sound your moans can be when he between your legs and that really riles him up. However, receiving is also very much so enjoyed and he tends to be rather noisy when you go down on him

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Bi-Han is a rather healthy mis between the two. He will be slow and sensual but also pick up the tempo when he starts to really get into the mood. Those are when he bruises to your hips are created as his own slam and collide into yours while teeth are bared or snagged against a lip and groans most guttural spawn in his throat

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Does not prefer them as he feels it does not allow enough time to truly experience each other fully. Will he outright refuse them? No but he does not seek them out at all

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Bi-Han is a cautious lover i will go down with this ship so taking risks are not exactly thought of. Will he experiment? Yes, as long as it brings no harm to his lover or makes him feel as though he is hurting them

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Seemingly unlimited stamina. This man is a bull made of steel and iron. He could continue all night and into the morning but he does not often do that as his lover tends to tire quicker than him

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He'd be open to the idea of them but ultimately unsure and a bit lost in terms of how to use them. He will need guidance and his partner to request their use. Otherwise, they do not even cross his mind

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

A fair lover most of the time but he does succumb to those impish temptations. This mostly manifests during oral sex with his partner. He longs to hear your whines more and more and so he tends to draw out his methods when using his tongue

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Bi-Han groans and grunts frequently during sex and is not silence nor quiet. He not loud either, however. He falls somewhere in middle and begins to reach his most audible during a faster pace

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Bi-Han is prone to jealousy even if he and his partner have been in a long standing committed relationship. He simply cannot help but feel a twitch of annoyance when your attention is on another. He often glares at the one you are speaking with which doesn't go unnoticed. When he is feeling particularly jealous he will become vocal about it in bed by saying "you are mine and i am yours. this will be forever"

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Bi-Han is muscular, toned and very fit. His body has been built up and carved by combat and training. His arms are large and powerful, legs muscular and refined. Every part of his body showcases his exquisite physique. He is large in every way with his length above average and with a hefty girth to match

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

His sex drive is moderate. Not too high but not low. He fits comfortably in the middle. He and his lover do not engage in primal desires daily but typically do not go longer than a couple of days without it

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

His eyes do not close nor does he leave his lover in the bed. His aim to stay with them after each time he and you have sex. Bi-Han holds you to him but often says very little or nothing at all. Yet he does not sleep, not until you do. He simply enjoys laying in your comfort and love until you are ready to sleep

#mortal kombat #mk1 2023 #mortal kombat fanworks #mortal kombat headcanons #mk1 #mortal kombat x reader #bi han #mk1 bi han #sub zero #mortal kombat smut #bi han x you #bi han headcanon #bi han x reader #sub zero x reader #sub zero smut

[theidiotwhowritesthings]

TAKE CARE OF YOU [2]

Sugar Daddy!Joel Miller x Female!Reader

Overall Warnings: slow burn, angst/comfort, power imbalance, age gap, possessive tendencies, eventual smut, #daddyissues, independent reader learns to let go and relax, emotionally constipated Joel Miller learns to be vulnerable; (more specific warnings to be added to individual chapters if necessary)

Chapter Word Count: 7,029

Summary: You spent your entire adult life supporting yourself and barely getting by. It’s why a life of ease offered to you by a mysterious stranger sounded so foreign and unbelievable. Joel Miller, dressed in flannels that had seen better days, didn’t look like the kind who could promise you the world on a plate, but he seemed desperate to help out. All he asks is that you let him take care of you. That wouldn’t be so hard. Would it?

[a/n: i am having too much fun with this, my mind is going wild]

02: HE'S LOADED, BABE

"take a chance. risk everything. be honest. jump. go for it. be all in. why not. or why do anything at all." -jacob holguin

For the first time, maybe ever, you were the one with the insane story to share with Nima. You were actually kind of excited. When you texted her, she said she was still in the office and she told you to swing by because she wasn’t too busy. This wasn’t the first time you had been to her office, but you found it amusing every single time. The rest of the floor had the button down kind of look one would expect of a workplace, but Nima’s little corner was decorated in bright colors. It was a testament to her skill really. If you were indispensable then you could push boundaries.

“Hey!” Nima bounced when she saw you walking toward her office. You stepped in and dropped onto the couch she had pushed up against the wall. “I’m so glad you’re here. I have the craziest story.” Nima was rushing around the room putting away papers and blueprints. Her space was always poorly organized in your opinion, but according to her everything had its place. “It involves a loose chicken, a gallon of paint, and that asshole from the third floor I was telling you about.”

Unable to hold it in, you blurted it out. “I got asked to be a sugar baby.”

Nima blinked for a moment, dazed, then screeched in shock as she threw herself down onto the couch beside you. “Holy shit, what?? And you let me waste time talking about the chicken?” You did want to eventually hear about that. “Tell me everything.”

“You remember that guy I bought a coffee for like two weeks back?”

“Yes!” Nima gasped and you nodded. “Oh my God! I told you I felt sparks.” She paused. “Wait, can he afford to be a sugar daddy? He looked like a homeless cowboy when we saw him.”

You pointed to her. “So, are you thinking ‘cowboy’ too? Because I have been going back and forth between that and lumberjack, but I haven’t⏤”

“If you don’t give me more details right now...”

“Sorry.” You chuckled. You gave her the shorthand version of how he had been visiting you at the bakery and how it ended with him offering to ‘take care of you’ this afternoon. Nima just stared, mouth agape, the entire time. You finished by telling her that he had asked you to meet him this weekend. “So… yeah. Yeah.” You shot her a sheepish smile and just repeated yourself. “Yeah.”

Nima clapped her hands, excited, but you watched as she steeled her features. She shifted so she faced you entirely on the couch. “Wait. You’re always the voice of logic when I get myself into something insane. My turn.” She cleared her throat. “Are you sure you’re willing to basically fuck a stranger for all this? That’s not you.”

You twisted your lips at her words. Was it so out of the question for you to go out on a limb and put yourself out there? Granted, jumping from the vanilla lifestyle you lived to having sex with someone so they’d pay your bills was like going from 0 to 120 in a racecar⏤ or rocket.

As if Nima could see your inner turmoil, she pointed at you. “No, no. Don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I think you aren’t capable of making that decision and going for it. However, up until now you’ve been the serious relationship kind, and your last relationship was almost six months ago.” True. “Plus, you like monogamy. There is no guarantee that would occur here. What if he has multiple sugar babies? And⏤”

“It doesn't matter.” You blurted. You realized then that maybe you weren’t prepared to consider all those angles. You still hadn’t even gone on another date since your last boyfriend. “He doesn’t want sex.” Nima tilted her head in confusion. “The deal is he ‘takes care of me’ and I offer him platonic companionship. Be his date at some of his work functions⏤ no strings attached.”

Nima scoffed. “Girl, then what the fuck are you waiting for?? Say yes right now!”

“Well,” You laughed, “There’s a lot to consider.”

“No. The only thing to consider was sex and if that is off the table? Done.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Somehow, I don’t think a sugar baby and sugar daddy contract is⏤ Jesus, I can’t believe I’m saying these words.” You blew out a breath. “Anyways, I don’t think it’s that simple.”

Nima paused in thought. Her fingers drummed against her thigh for a few seconds before her face lit up with a bright smile. “We’re going out to dinner.” Nima jumped up to grab her phone and dialed a number. “My cousin has a friend who has a sister who knows all about this stuff.”

You mentally tried to follow the line of relation that Nima drew out, but you didn’t have the time to question her before she started talking on the phone in Korean. There was no telling what your evening would have in store, Nima knew an odd collection of people, but you assume anything would be helpful right now.

The restaurant you and Nima traveled to in order to meet this mystery woman was the definition of upper class. It was the kind of place you wouldn’t even stop outside of in fear that they’d call the cops on you for loitering. You especially didn’t feel prepared to walk in right now in your work clothes⏤ simple jeans and a plain shirt. At least the apron was removable. When you walked in you were fairly certain the man working as the host was going to throw you out. However, all it took was name dropping the person you were supposed to meet and the host led you back. He gave both of you disgusted looks the entire time, but he still took you back.

As he turned to leave, Nima flipped him off from behind and you quickly grabbed her arm to bring it down. You hissed at her. “We’re already on thin ice.” The table was in a private room. “Who is this?”

“Rosalind Turby.”

“Yeah, you’ve already told me the name, but who is this Rosalind lady?”

Nima shrugged. “All I know is her sister owes my cousin a favor so we’re cashing that shit in.”

You shrugged and the two of you entered the private room. It was elegantly decorated with florals and crystals. An odd combination in your opinion. The table in the middle of the room was covered in a white tablecloth set for three. A beautiful woman sat there on her phone, but she peered up at your entrance and a brilliant smile filled her features.

She stood up, “Hello, girlies!” Rosalind motioned for the two of you to join her. She was probably in her mid to late thirties if you had to guess. Her blonde hair was nearly platinum and fell past her shoulders in beautiful, perfect curls. Right now she had on a tight light blue dress with jewelry dripping from her neck and wrists⏤ all diamonds. Were those real?? She didn’t seem to bat an eye at the clothes you and Nima were wearing. “It’s so lovely to meet you two. I’m Rosalind.”

You both introduced yourselves before sitting down. Nima was quick to grab the wine bottle sitting on the table and began to pour. You resisted the urge to nudge her with your elbow. Rosalind rang a little silver bell sitting on the table and you nearly laughed at the sight of it until a waiter swept in. She ordered something for the group. At least that’s what you assumed based on the way she motioned to the table. It was hard to say considering she was speaking French.

Rosalind finished and focused back on you and Nima who were just staring at her in shock. She laced her fingers together and leaned forward. “So, I hear one of you girls is thinking of becoming a sugar baby.” Nima immediately pointed at you and you sheepishly raised a hand. “That’s so cute. What makes you want to branch into my world?”

“Oh.” You blinked. “You were⏤ are a sugar baby?”

Rosalind nodded and flipped some hair over her shoulder. “Have been since I was 23.”

“Holy shit.” Nima hissed at you. “Is this gonna be your life?”

You lightly smacked her thigh with the back of your hand. No. Of course not. This wasn’t⏤ Nah. Well… Was this going to be your life if you said yes? You couldn’t picture yourself sitting where Rosalind was right now. She had an air of natural elegance. There was no way a restaurant host ever shot her bad looks. 

Rosalind chuckled. “Well?”

“Uh,” You had briefly forgotten her question, “I’m not sure. A man…propositioned me and I have a couple days before he expects an answer from me.”

“You must be thinking it over seriously to involve me.”

“I hope we’re not bothering you.” You blurted. “We’re strangers but⏤”

Rosalind waved her hand with a laugh that reminded you of tinkling bells. Where had this woman come from? Was she made in some ‘perfect woman’ factory? She shook her head. “Please. I’m always eager to help the new girls enter this world of ours. We’re a tight knit group.”

“Really? There’s a community of… sugar babies?”

“Why of course!” Rosalind scoffed playfully. “We have to look out for one another after all.” She reached across the table to squeeze your hand. “So ask me all the questions you might have, sweetie.”

You glanced at Nima who just shrugged before tossing back the rest of her wine. “Um,” You smiled at Rosalind, “Have you had the same…uh, the same⏤”

“Daddy?” Rosalind chuckled and your cheeks burned. “You’re going to need to be comfortable calling him ‘daddy’. There’s no shame in it.” She shook her head. “And no. I’ve had seven so far.” Seven? It sounded like this woman had made an actual career of this lifestyle. That was impressive. Maybe she was the perfect person to ask questions to. “That’s a conversation for another day though. Let’s just focus on your first daddy.”

You chuckled, “Yeah, right. Well, how does it…work? He just said he wants to take care of me and that seems…vague.”

“It’s subjective usually.” Rosalind began. Waiters came in with trays of food and Nima rubbed her hands together in excitement. “If your contract with him is the basic kind then he pays for you to live. Rent, bills, expenses. Not to mention toys and gifts and all the fun kind of goodies.” She scrunched her nose like she was sharing an exciting secret. “And in return, you give him your lovely company.”

You knew exactly what she meant by company.

“You said contract?”

Rosalind nodded. “If your daddy truly has the kind of funds to really take care of you then he’ll push for a contract. This is your opportunity to set firm boundaries. The last thing you’d want is for him to get a piece of you just to toss you aside. Or worse, you get used to this kind of lifestyle just for him to suddenly change his terms and hang it over your head.” She sighed. “I’ve truly heard all the horror stories.”

“Horror stories?”

“Yes. This kind of relationship is built on trust, but not all those who get involved are deserving. You need to make sure the daddy trying to buy you isn’t going to take advantage or hurt you.” You winced both at the idea of being abused and the wording of her statement. Is that what this was? You were being bought? If she noticed your discomfort she didn’t mention it. Rosalind took a sip of her own wine. “How long have you known your daddy⏤”

“He’s not my daddy.” You blurted. 

“Yet.” Rosalind winked. Your cheeks burned again and you tried to imagine what it’d feel like calling Joel that. Could he even take you seriously? Someone like Rosalind using that phrase sounded tempting and sweet. You, in comparison, were just awkward. “So? How long? And has he mentioned any contract details?”

Nima chimed in, “Like two weeks-ish?” You nodded. “Would he even want a contract? That’s for just the super rich guys, right?”

“Typically.” Rosalind nodded. “Here. What’s his name?” Your eyes widened at the question. “If he’s been a daddy before I’ll know him. As I said, we’re a close knit community. We even keep a track of the men who are black listed. I’ll be able to tell you if he's a danger as well.”

Oh, that was helpful.

“Joel Miller.” You smiled. Rosalind’s smile fell right off her face, jaw popping open, and Nima spat out a mouthful of red wine. It splattered and stained the white tablecloth. Your eyes darted between them as they just stared at you. “What?”

“You never told me Mr. Miller wants to be your sugar daddy!” Nima cried.

“You were there the day I met him! And how do you even know him?” You asked.

Nima gaped at you like a fish out of water. “He owns the construction company that hired my office! I’ve never seen him, except in like a few pictures, but Mr. Miller was never wearing flannel in any of those photos. I seriously thought he might be homeless the day we met him.”

“Construction company?” You breathed.

Rosalind cleared her throat before taking a long sip of her wine. Her smile returned, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Wow. I knew Joel Miller was on the market, but I wasn't aware he had chosen someone. And someone brand new for his first one.”

“I’d be his first too?” You asked. The knowledge that this was as new to him as it was to you actually made you feel much better. Maybe that was why he had been so nervous this afternoon. This was the first time he had ever offered that proposition. 

“Yes.”

Nima let out a laugh before shaking your shoulder, “He’s loaded, babe.”

“That’s a good description.” Rosalind chuckled. You were able to ask a few more questions, but about ten minutes later she glanced at her phone and then rose from the table. “I am so sorry, girlies. But I’m needed elsewhere.”

“Oh, well thank you for⏤”

She said your name in a sickly sweet tone while picking up her purse. You didn’t recognize the brand, but you knew it was probably just as expensive as everything else she wore. “I’m only saying this out of concern for you. Being a sugar baby can be very demanding and you seem to be jumping in the deep end.” Your eyes widened. “There’s a reason we all refer to Joel Miller as the ‘white whale’. He’s the dream daddy, but typically men with those kinds of means want the most. I’d hate to see you get hurt.”

“Thank…you?”

“Absolutely, sweetie.” She blew you and Nima a kiss before heading for the door. “So nice to meet you two!”

 Nima and you just watched her leave before turning to one another. You furrowed your brow. “That was kind of weird, wasn’t it? I thought it was going good, but…”

“I think she was jealous.” Nima replied. You rolled your eyes. “No, seriously.”

“Did you see her? The Rosalinds of the world do not get jealous over people like me.”

Nima scoffed. She motioned to you with her wine glass, “First of all, you’re a fucking catch. I’ve been telling you that for years and now you have proof beyond my genius because Joel Miller wants you to call him daddy.”

“That’s still weird to hear…”

“And secondly,” Nima continued on, “That warning she gave? That was a ‘I don’t want you to go through with this because I wish it were me instead’ kind of warning.” You leaned your head to rest it on the top of the chair’s back. As weird as this meeting had gone, it had been helpful. You learned a lot of things. “So? Are you gonna meet up with him?”

You blew out a sigh, “I’m still not sure.”

“Here.” Nima spun in her seat to face you. “Yes or no only. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Do you like Joel Miller?”

 He was fun to talk to. You enjoyed the moments you got with him in the bakery. So, technically, you did. “Yes.”

“Do you think Joel Miller would physically hurt you if you just met up with him on Saturday?”

You never got that vibe from him before and if you met him in a public setting he wouldn’t be much of a danger to you. “No.”

“Do you want to explore this possibility a little further?”

“Yes.”

The answer came out easily enough. You weren’t ready to give a firm ‘no’ quite yet which almost felt odd. You weren’t used to relying on others for your needs. The idea of taking your hands off the wheel and letting someone else take control was daunting. However, the idea of not having to stress over bills or rent or finding a second job you didn’t love just to get by was very, very tempting. God, you just wanted a break.

“I think that’s your answer.” Nima shrugged. “Meet up with him on Saturday. You don’t have to necessarily say yes to him just because you met with him. This will just be a mission for further information.”

“Alright. Yeah.” You grinned and picked up your wine glass. “What the hell, right?”

“Exactly!” Nima cheered and the two of you clinked your glasses together before taking long sips. 

You glanced around the room and at the table. “Do you think Rosalind paid for this before she left?”

Nima nodded her head in thought. Then she poured more into her glass and tossed back the large gulp of red wine before she jumped up. “Wanna make a run for it?”

“Absolutely.” You grabbed your stuff and the two of you hurried off.

It took you over an hour to get dressed, and it was embarrassing how many outfit changes you had gone through. You almost googled ‘What to wear when meeting your sugar daddy to discuss terms’, but decided that would just stress you out more. After your dinner with Rosalind you had called Joel, a feat that was painfully nerve wracking for no good reason, and you both planned to meet up at the coffee shop where you had bought him that coffee. A public setting seemed like the best bet for you, and Joel was more than happy to accommodate. You almost suggested the bakery, but considering how empty it was these days you didn’t know if it actually counted as public.

You had shown up early, still not entirely loving the clothes you chose for this event, and now you were nursing a cup of iced coffee⏤ chewing on the straw nervously. The notes app on your phone had a bullet list of points you wanted to bring up, ask about, and you scanned through them for the hundredth time. Every single bullet point was burned in your brain, but you had a feeling the moment you saw Joel it would all disappear. You jumped in surprise when your phone buzzed as a call from Joel came through.

“Shit.” You breathed and watched it ring twice more before answering it. “Hey!”

The greeting left your lips loud and excited and you mentally cursed yourself for blurting it out like that. Jesus Christ you were overthinking this.

“Hey, darlin’.” Joel replied. Somehow his voice sounded even more charming through a phone which you found entirely unfair. “I hate to do this so last minute, but I’m not gonna make it to the coffee shop. A work meeting got outta hand, but…” He grumbled. “That doesn’t matter. I’m sorry.”

You twisted your lips and found yourself actually disappointed. “Oh. No, that’s alright. It happens. Do you want to reschedule for a different day or⏤”

“What? No.” Joel replied quickly. “This is important. I wanna talk to you about this today. Plus, I’d hate for you to get cold feet.” You chuckled at the irony because you kind of thought he was the one getting cold feet. “Can you meet me at my office? We can stay down in the lobby or courtyard, or in the cafe, so it’s still public.”

“Sure!” You chirped. “Uh, what’s the address? I’ll uber⏤”

Joel actually laughed at the word ‘uber’ and you just smiled more confused than anything else. He spoke up before you could question the joke. “I’m not gonna make you order a ride to my office, darlin’. I’m sending a car.” Your eyes widened. That was a wild sentence to hear out of his mouth, but you supposed that was par for the course. “Are you at the coffee shop right now?”

“Yes.” You glanced around as if you needed to double check. “But are you sure, Joel? You really don’t have to⏤”

“I want to.” Joel said firmly. “I’m, uh, I’m excited to see you.” Your cheeks burned at the admission. “Even if you’re just comin’ to tell me off it’d be a nice break from my day today.” The sigh at the end of his sentence made it clear he was stressed or frustrated about something. “I’m sending my driver now. Should be ten minutes or so.”

“Got it.” You cleared your throat. “I’ll… see you soon then, Joel.”

“See you soon, darlin’.” He chuckled.

You hung up and just stood there for a second. He was sending a car. A car that would take you to his office of the very successful company he owns. One of the plus sides of meeting Joel in the coffee shop was that it’d feel like equal ground. However, you knew this was something you needed to get used to. You had already decided that you would be accepting his proposition as long as nothing crazy happened during this meeting.

You’d be stupid to turn it down, right?

Before you could turn and go wait outside, you paused in thought then made the decision to buy him a cup of coffee. You still remembered what he ordered the last time, and maybe it’d cheer him up a little. This meeting would go better if he was in a good mood rather than stressed about work, you figured. After buying the coffee, you only had to wait outside a minute or two before a very nice black sedan pulled up to the curb. Was that for you?

A man exited the car and came around to open the back door. He made eye contact with you and called out your name. “Oh.” You waved. “Hi, yeah. That’s me.” Obviously, he knew that. You hurried over and climbed into a car with a stranger. The thing every adult told you not to do while growing up. When the driver got back behind the wheel, you spoke up. “Thank you.”

The driver didn’t speak to you during the drive, but you weren’t sure of the etiquette of these things. There were some Uber drivers that hated it when you spoke up to them. Maybe this was the same. The car pulled up to the curb after fighting traffic and you peered out of your window to the large, very impressive building right outside your door. It was at least seven stories, but it was wider than it was tall and built with a steel and glass design. The campus surrounding it was also gorgeous with an expansive courtyard that seemed to roll right into a park next door.

“Holy shit.” You breathed.

You were so distracted by the landscape that you didn’t notice the man in an expensive looking suit approaching the car. It took even longer for you to realize that man was Joel Miller. He reached out to open the door and you sat stunned as he leaned against it

“Hey there, darlin’.” Joel greeted with a small smile. Up until now, you had only seen him in flannels and t-shirts, but by God did this man know how to wear a suit. The one he had on was a dark navy with a clean white button up. If he had on a tie before he had shed it because the top couple buttons were undone. His hair was combed back neatly and though it was still a good look for him, it made you miss his fluffed up, messy curls. His head tilted a bit, amusement filling his dark eyes, “Darlin’?”

It dawned on you that you had yet to speak. Panicked, you held up the drink you had bought for him. “Coffee.”

“Yes. That is.” Joel chuckled. He held a hand out for you to take.

When your hand settled in his, he carefully pulled you out of the car and shut the door behind you. Joel leaned over to nod his head to the driver in thanks before turning back to you. You cleared your throat and held the coffee up once more. “Yours. It’s⏤ I got it for you. It’s the same one as last time.” Joel’s eyes widened in surprise. “You just sounded stressed so I thought coffee might help.”

“Well, ain’t you a sweetheart?” Joel replied with a growing smile. He took the cup from you then shook his head. “You should know this is a one time thing though.” You raised an eyebrow in question. Joel chuckled. “The point of this is,” He motioned between the two of you with the hand holding the cup of coffee, “I’m supposed to be buyin’ you stuff.”

You chewed on your lower lip and tried to find your bearings. “It felt weird coming with nothing to offer you.”

“All I need is your company. Thought I made that clear?” He countered.

“Still.” You shrugged. “Old habits die hard, I guess.”

“Fine. That just means you can’t argue against the things I bought you for this meetin’.

You blinked. “The what?” 

Joel didn’t respond. Instead, he held out one elbow in your direction and after a beat you slipped your arm through his. He led you across the campus and you couldn’t keep yourself from glancing over at him. Joel looked like an entirely different person, but when he spoke he still felt like the man you spoke to over a bakery counter. 

“How’s your day been so far, darlin’?”

“Good! Just, you know, normal.” You were not going to mention that you spent your entire morning just mentally and physically preparing for this meeting. “What about you? You sounded kind of frustrated over the phone.” Joel glanced down at you and you shook your head. “Not that you need to tell me if it’s personal or about your company. Obviously.”

Joel let out a breathy laugh. “Am I makin’ you nervous?”

Not wanting to lie, you scrunched your nose and just blurted out the truth. “A little. I guess I’m not used to seeing you like this and your company building is so fancy and I also think I’m starting to overthink this again. Don’t get me wrong I’m excited to see you, but…” Joel’s small smile remained as he listened to you ramble. “I should shut up now.”

“I’d rather you not.” Joel shrugged. “You have a nice voice.” 

Your face felt warm, a habit around this man you were learning, and he led you into the lobby of the building. It was just as pretty inside as it was outside. Open, filled with natural light, and decorated with glass panels and shades of soft green and blue. Eyes drifted to Joel, but he didn’t seem to pay any attention to it. He walked you up to the second floor where a small cafe-like area sat in the corner by the window giving a view of the park. Even more people seemed to stare as he pulled a chair out for you to sit in before sitting across from you. The other surrounding tables had what looked like workers on their lunch break.

“Anythin’ I can do to make you less nervous?” Joel asked. He took a sip from the coffee you got him. It was funny he asked because this was somehow more intimidating than just walking arm in arm. Now, across from him, you needed to maintain eye contact. 

You hummed and crossed your arms to rest on the table. “Tell me something embarrassing that will humanize you to me.”

“Embarassin’...” Joel hummed in thought. He laced his fingers together and nodded. “In college, I tried to serenade a girl I wanted to date with my guitar but I was under the wrong window and an old woman opened the window to dump a bucket of water on me. Then she called the cops.”

You grinned. “Nice. Except all I heard from that is ‘you are a romantic who can play the guitar’ so that only makes you more attractive and intimidating to me.”

“I’m attractive to you?” Joel smirked.

“I also said ‘intimidating’.” You replied then motioned to yourself. “This exercise was to make you less so and somehow I embarrassed myself even more? That does not seem fair.”

Joel shrugged, “If it makes you feel better I think it’s cute.” A stupid smile slipped onto your features and you shook your head with a small laugh. He leaned forward a bit and furrowed his brow. “I will admit though I have been dyin’ to hear your answer from the other day.” You sucked in a sharp breath. Joel’s lips twitched up once more. “So? Am I a cowboy or a lumberjack?”

Not expecting the question broke out in a laugh of surprise. Admittedly, it put your nerves at ease. You relaxed in your seat with a grin. “I actually do have an answer for you. I think I’ve settled on cowboy.” Joel’s eyebrows raised. “My friend helped me decide. She called you a cowboy too. Although, she also called you homeless.”

Joel chuckled. “Homeless?”

“You looked worse for wear when we first saw you that one day.” You shook your head. “But look at you now! You clean up well, Joel Miller. Owner of Miller Construction Company. Actual multi-millionaire.”

He bobbed his head with a slight wince. Joel rubbed the side of his jaw sheepishly, “I see you did your research.”

“A bit.” You answered. “I actually, uh, met with a…sugar baby.” Joel’s eyes widened and you wondered if it was because it was the first time one of you finally used the term ‘sugar baby’ in conversation or because you had met with one to interview. Maybe both. “I needed to ask her a few questions. You were infamous, by the way.”

“Infamous?”

You let out a small laugh. “Oh, yeah. Apparently every single sugar baby in LA, of which there is a community if you didn't know, wants you as their ‘daddy’.” Joel cleared his throat, shifting in his seat, and you could see a tint of blush across his cheeks. It made your smile widen. “They call you the ‘white whale’.”

“Jesus Christ.” Joel ran a hand through his hair, making it a bit messier which you found you enjoyed seeing, and he blew out a breath. “I told ‘em not to make such a big deal of it.” Amused, you leaned forward and rested your head on a fist making it clear you were waiting for elaboration. Joel chuckled. “I mentioned my… idea to an old friend, and he got me in touch with this group.” He raised an exasperated eyebrow and waved his hand. “Apparently that group. They, uh, they made me go on… dates.”

“Made you?” You teased. “Like at gunpoint?”

Joel shrugged. “May as well have been.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That day I forgot my wallet? I had just met a bunch of different women who were…interested in being…”

“Your sugar baby?” You grinned.

“You’re enjoyin’ this a little too much.” Joel crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at you. “I think I liked it better when you were ramblin’ ‘bout how handsome I am.”

You held up a finger. “Hold up. I didn’t ramble about how handsome you are. I just said I found you attractive.” Joel smirked and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes. “And also, when my friend and I saw you that day you were wearing a dirty flannel and old jeans.”

“Yeah. So?”

“So you went on a bunch of dates with women wanting to be your sugar baby, looking like that?”

Joel shrugged. “I was just tryin’ to be real. Hate these damned things.” He readjusted his suit blazer. “I thought it’d be best to show up how I usually look. Find someone who had similar ideals. I also took them to a diner to eat.” You covered your mouth, trying to hide the wide grin you were wearing. Joel shook his head. “What?”

“It’s just… You’re telling me that on all those dates with women who wanted to specifically be your sugar baby,” You said slowly trying to bite back a laugh, “You wanted to find someone who wasn’t in it for the money.”

Joel paused in thought before his face cracked in amusement. His cheeks tinted pink again and he forced his gaze away from yours with an embarrassed wince. “When you say it like that…”

“That’s adorable.” You nodded.

“I think I preferred the word handsome.”

“Never used that one.”

“Attractive then.”

“Nah,” You leaned back in your seat with a shrug, “I think I’ve settled on adorable.”

Joel clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Alright. Guess I’ll take what I can get.” The sound of a phone buzzing cut through the air and you watched as Joel leaned back to pull his cellphone out of his pocket. “One second, darlin’.” He frowned at whatever message he was reading on his screen. It was interesting to watch the lighthearted smile he had been wearing switch to a grumpy frown. He grunted out a sound of irritation before shoving his phone back into his pocket with a shake of his head. When his eyes met yours once more, the frustration melted back into a small smile. “Sorry 'bout that.”

“Don’t worry. You’re a busy man. Running a company and all.” You held your arms up to motion to the building you now sat in. Joel chuckled, and you shifted in your seat. It was now or never. He really was a busy guy. Couldn’t beat around the bush forever. “So… should we talk about the proposition?”

Joel shrugged. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Well, we can’t sit here just joking around forever. You have work to do, right?”

“No.” Joel shook his head. “You’re in control of this conversation, and as far as I’m concerned if you wanna sit here and chat for the next few hours I’m more than happy to do just that.”

A warm sense of reassurance filled your chest and you nodded. “Thank you, but I think I’m ready to talk about it.” You held up your phone. “I even made bullet points.”

“Very organized. Better than half the people who work for me today.” Joel joked.

You took in a slow breath and then held a hand out to concede the next talking point to him. “Tell me your proposition.”

“Sure.” Joel laced his fingers together again and rested it on the table in front of him with a professional nod. “I wanna take care of you, darlin’. Every resource I have is at your disposal. I don’t want you worryin’ about bills or rent or any sort of money issue you might normally face.” You tried not to show any surprise. You obviously knew all of that, but hearing him say it again in this setting felt different. “All I ask in return is your platonic companionship, and you on my arm at a few company conferences and functions.” Joel offered you a reassuring smile. “I just like talkin’ to you is all, darlin’.”

You bobbed your head in understanding and searched for what you wanted to say. Unable to grasp a single word you held up a finger and opened your phone to find your bullet points. You heard Joel chuckle. “By platonic companionship, can you be more specific? Is there some kind of quota I have to meet weekly?”

“No, darlin’. It ain’t that formal.” Joel replied. “And as for specifics? Uh, I figure just phone calls. Texting, maybe? In the evenings we could meet up sometimes and have dinner?” As he answered your question you were reminded that you were his first sugar baby. It made you feel better that he was apparently as nervous and confused as you. “I figure we can puzzle it out as we go?”

“Got it.” You nodded. “My next question,” You glanced down at your phone then back up, “Just to absolutely clarify, there is no expectation for anything…” You leaned forward and lowered your voice, “Sexual?”

“Exactly. I never want you to feel uncomfortable around me, darlin’.” Joel said firmly. “All I’m askin’ for is,” He pointed down toward the table as if to make his point, “This right here. Just chattin’.”

“Really?” You asked in surprise. “That’s it?"

“Yeah.”

“You’re offering me a life of ease, the world on a platter, and all you want from me is to chat?”

Joel shook his head and leaned forward. “What I want is to take care of you. I wanna watch you enjoy life instead of constantly workin’ and stressin’. Along with your presence, that’s the reward I’m gettin’.” 

“Oh, okay.” You bit down on your lower lip in thought. It really did seem too good to be true. A different question came to mind, a kind of embarrassing one, but it was probably best to clarify it now at the start of this. You settled your face between your hands and nervously asked. “Am I still allowed to flirt with you?” Joel’s eyes widened in surprise, but they filled with interest. “It’s just, sometimes at the bakery…” Half the fun of talking to him was getting to flirt with him. “I mean, I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable either.”

Joel shook as he let out a quiet laugh. “You really don’t have to worry about that, darlin’.” His cheeks were flushed, but he kept his charming voice confident and firm as he winked. “If you wanna flirt with an old man like me, I won’t complain.”

“Alright, and you’ll match my energy?”

“Sure, darlin’.” He chuckled.

You wondered if he was fully aware of what he was signing up for. This meant you could say what you wanted without the stress of being pressured into something. Joel was a handsome man and the thrill of flirting with him was exciting. You lowered your hands from your face and rested them on the table.

“Hmm. Sounds like a plan then.” You nodded and decided to test the waters. You tried to force every awkward nerve out of your body and stayed confident. “Anything else we should clarify, daddy?”

It took all your strength not to laugh at the look of shock that flashed across his face or the color that filled his cheeks. Joel cleared his throat and straightened his posture before readjusting his suit’s blazer once more. A hoarse chuckle fell from his lips as delight filled his eyes, “You’re gonna be a bit of a brat, ain’t you sugar?”

“Me? Never.” You said with mocking emphasis. “Now, do we need a contract or something?”

“If it’d make you more comfortable we can make one.” Joel shook his head. “I have no preference.” You shrugged. Rosalind said he’d want one, but if he didn’t you saw no reason to press for one. Joel held a hand out across the table for you to shake. “So? This official then?”

You sucked in a breath then nodded and took his hand to shake. “Guess so.”

“Good.” Joel held your gaze and you felt hypnotized by him. He squeezed your hand once before pulling it back and reaching into his jacket. “I have some things for you then.” Your eyebrows raised surprised by how quick he had something prepared. “Here.”

Joel pulled a brand new iPhone from his inner coat pocket along with what looked like a credit card. A black American Express card to be more specific. He set both in your hands and your jaw fell open in shock. “This…What…I⏤”

“Your phone looks ancient.” Joel shrugged. You glanced down at your current phone. It was a few editions behind and the screen was cracked from where you had dropped it months ago, but it still worked. Usually. Joel tapped his finger against the card sitting on top of the phone that you had yet to pull back towards yourself. Your hand just sat open in the middle of the table. “I want you to use the card for anythin’ you might need during the week.”

“Like?” You pressed.

“I said anythin’, sugar.” Joel replied in a low voice and you sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s the point of this, remember?” You nodded dumbly and he slowly closed your fingers around the items then pushed your hand back towards your side of the table. “I also need you to send me the billing information for your rent, power, and water so I can get those covered. Can you do that for me?”

You gaped at him in shock and it widened Joel’s smirk. Seconds ago you had him in the palm of your hand with your ‘daddy’ comment, but now the tables were turned. It was occurring to you that having him pay for you to live your life meant actually accepting his money. 

“Sugar,” Joel leaned forward, still keeping his voice low in a hoarse whisper, “I asked if you could do that for me.”

“I, uh, yes, sir.” The honorific slipped your lips before you could catch it.

Joel raised an eyebrow at it before nodding once with a grin. “Good girl.”

Oh, boy, you were jumping headfirst into something here, and you had never been more eager for the leap.

taglist:

@weddingfairy @bfences @fairntonorth @jasminedragon @biwitchy @huffle-punk

[previous][next]

✨J.M. Masterlist✨

#the last of us #tlou fanfiction #tlou #joel miller #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #sugar daddy!joel miller #female reader #reader insert #pedro pascal characters

[bitbugbites-re]

𝚅𝚒𝚛𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 | 𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔫𝔰

headcanons on how different RE men would take your virginity !

tumblr exclusive!

characters: Albert Wesker, Carlos Oliveira, Chris Redfield, Ethan Winters, Leon S. Kennedy

gender: gn! reader

cw: NSFW, FLUFF // virginity // ktober

a/n: to everyone reading this, i hope you have/had a good day today! <3

𝕬𝖑𝖇𝖊𝖗𝖙 𝖂𝖊𝖘𝖐𝖊𝖗 (any rendition)

Do you need to be in a relationship first?

No, it wouldn't be important to Wesker if you were in a relationship or not first. He doesn't come off as the type of guy to believe the notion that first times are sacred

Who initiates?

Probably you. I can't see him being too pushy/eager to have sex, as he seems like he would have a fairly tame-to-low sex drive tbh

Although, that doesn't mean he's against it or other displays of affection. He's just not horny 24/7 (for some reason, despite all of the smut that i've written, i am utterly and completely intimidated by the word "horny." this word is my achilles heel. i fear that i will never escape it's incredible power to make me want to fall to the floor and sob at its horrific-ness. however, today, i have powered through it for you, with only a few tears and trembles involved).

What kind of foreplay?

I feel like his go-to foreplay in this situation would be kissing and fingering, honestly. Very basic foreplay, nothing too insane.

He'd probably make eye contact with you the entire time he fingered you, too.

How long does it last?

The entire ordeal, from foreplay to finishing, would probably last less than 30 mins. I feel like he'd be skilled at both foreplay and penetration itself, and would get straight to the point.

I also feel like he would be a little nicer and more sweet during your first as compared to any other time

I doubt he would drag things out/tease you too much for your first time, unless you wanted him to

Is it good?

Yeah, it'd be good sex. Although, if you're a romantic, it might be a little disappointing if you have an idealized "first time" in mind

Overall? Probably a 7/10. Somewhere between average to pretty decent sex

𝕮𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖔𝖘 𝕺𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖎𝖗𝖆 (re3r)

Do you need to be in a relationship first?

If he knows you're a virgin? Yeah. If he doesn't know? Nope!

Tbh I feel like he would forget to ask, and would just automatically assume you've done-the-deed before. Although, he'd probably figure out at some point building up to penetration, in which case, he'd most likely pull back and offer to get to know you better first

Who initiates?

Could go either way. I can see him respecting that first times are important, and thus not bringing it up until you mention it or get overly touchy. However, he likely would try to gently tip-toe around the topic -- he'd make a lot of jokes about it, get a little touchy, put himself out there more by dressing or smelling nice -- all to gauge where you're at or to put the idea in your head

What kind of foreplay?

Anything. Everything. Whatever you want -- getting oral, being fingered, sucking him off or fingering him (if you're into that) -- he'd do it.

HOWEVER. There would be some limits -- I don't think he'd do anything too crazy. He would try to keep it fairly vanilla for your first time. He'd tell you that he'd be willing to do whatever in the future (WITHIN BOUNDS...), but your first time should be like a 'trial period' or something like that

How long does it last?

I feel like out of every other character on this list, sex with Carlos would take the longest. And most of it would probably be foreplay

I'd also bet that he'd be able to last a good amount of time during penetration as well. He knows his limits, and if he starts getting close, he'll change positions or use some other method to prolong intercourse.

Is it good?

YES. I feel like if you like passionate, whirlwind-like displays of affection, then Carlos would be the best one for you out of all the other characters on this list. He knows what he's doing, and he knows where to touch in order to make you feel good

Overall? Around an 8 or 9/10. He would not fail to sweep you off your feet

𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖘 𝕽𝖊𝖉𝖋𝖎𝖊𝖑𝖉 (re8)

Do you need to be in a relationship first?

For RE8 Chris? No, probably not. If you want to go, he's ready -- relationship or not.

Who initiates?

In a lot of scenarios, most likely Chris. I see it being a very, "Are you ready yet? How about now?" kind of thing (dude's got a high sex drive lmao)

What kind of foreplay?

He'd probably prefer having you give him oral. If you wanted something too, though, he'd be willing to do it -- fingering, oral, etc.

Not too into kissing -- he'd rather make eye contact with you while playing with you or touching you in general

I don't think he'd make a big deal out of it if you wanted to do kinkier stuff for your first time. He'd likely go along with it, thinking that since it's your first time, and you asked, it'd be fine (he'd also probably be impressed that you wanted to ramp it up lol)

How long does it last?

An average amount of time. Not too long, not too short.

Same goes for how long he lasts during penetration. He doesn't seem like he would try to hold his orgasm back, so when it comes, it comes. Although, again, it wouldn't be quick, either

Is it good?

Yeah, it's not bad. If you're looking for someone to be a little more rough with you for your first time (not recommended LOL) then Chris is your guy

Overall, it's a solid 6 or 7/10. Very average sex -- and if you do it again in the future, it's going to be fairly the same. Little to no special treatment for your first time :p

𝕰𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖓 𝖂𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘 (re7, re8)

Do you need to be in a relationship first?

Yep -- partially because Ethan views first times as special, but also because he isn't the type to sleep around. He'd require a relationship first for both your and his sake

Who initiates?

Ethan, and it's planned. I doubt he'd spring it on you, either -- the two of you would talk it out first, plan a date beforehand, and then after the date...well, you know (yes, I would like to preorder one sex please!)

What kind of foreplay?

Very romantic, sensual foreplay. Kissing, soft touching, etc.

I feel like he'd be open to the basics -- oral for either person (although he'd ensure you it's about you and he doesn't need it), fingering, etc.

How long does it last?

Anywhere from a normal amount of time to slightly more than what's to be expected. I feel like he would really take his time with foreplay, as well as go slow during penetration

Is it good?

Yes! If you're a romantic at heart, Ethan's going to give you the best first time -- he's going to make sure he does everything right

Overall, probably an 8 or 9/10. This dude's got it DOWN for deflowering mfs

𝕷𝖊𝖔𝖓 𝕾. 𝕶𝖊𝖓𝖓𝖊𝖉𝖞 (re2r)

Do you need to be in a relationship first?

...maybe. I'm gonna say yeah, just because I feel like he'd be a virgin at this point of time too, LOL. He seems like he'd value romantics and wouldn't really sleep around outside of a relationship unless he had very strong feelings for you

Who initiates?

If you're in a relationship and it's been a decent amount of time since you started dating, probably him. He'd ask you about it and then...yeah.

However, if you're not in a relationship (and he likes you a lot), or you just recently started dating, it'll have to be you who initiates. He's a little reserved, so in either of these scenarios, he won't be the one to ask first

What kind of foreplay?

Lots of kissing, gentle touching, neck kissing

Would be fine with oral and fingering on either sides. Out of all the options, though, his preferred pick would be going down on you. Not just for you, but also because he seems like the kind of guy who gets off by seeing his partner get off

How long does it last?

...oh brother. Anywhere from short to long

Long because it'd probably take the two of you a while to figure out wtf you were both doing...

...and short because that man probably is not going to last long penetration-wise (LMAO im so sorry)

He'd offer to go another round to make up for it though??? Dw, one way or another, he'd make sure you still got off

Is it good?

...it would GET good. But at the beginning? It's gonna be awkward and clumsy (don't worry, he's a fast learner -- in fact, it likely wouldn't take long in your relationship for him to get the hang of it)

Overall...I'm going to have to give the man a 6/10. I'M SO SORRY. He gets an A for effort, but buddy 'ol pal, that man is not gonna know how to wield the friend in his pants right off the bat !!!

For the official and original Kinktober 23 prompts, check here. Credits to @kinktober2023 for the ideas!

#leon #leon kennedy #leon s kennedy #leon resident evil #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy smut #leon kennedy fluff #leon kennedy x you #carlos oliveira smut #carlos oliveira #albert wesker #albert wesker x reader #albert wesker smut #carlos oliveira x reader #carlos resident evil #re3 carlos #chris redfield smut #chris redfield x reader #chris redfield #ethan winters #ethan winters smut #ethan winters x reader #leon smut #smut #fluff #resident evil #headcanons #resident evil headcanons #headcanon #fanfic

[amageish]

Thinking way too hard about the queer possibilities of X-Men ‘97

When X-Men ‘97 was first announced, I’ll admit I was kind of ambivelent to the entire project... It felt very nostalgia-focused and was just less interesting to me then an all-new X-Men cartoon that could do its own thing without being burdened with established canon...

...and then I listened to the X-Men 60 Uncanny Years event earlier this year and hearing the executive producer of the series discuss what the X-Men meant to him as a kid as a gay black man in Florida basically changed my mind about the entire project. Now I’m excited for it!

The X-Men are so fucking queer. Even ignoring the ways that the mutant metaphor have been used to discuss queer issues before queer issues could be discussed textually, Marvel’s merry mutants just have... so many queer members and even more when you expand the list to include sub-textual and intended queerness.

So, with all that in mind, I did a little thinking and decided to take some guesses about who could make for queer representation in '97... Let’s dive in!

Part One: The Comic Canon Gays

Let’s start with the characters who are explicitly no-subtext-required queer in the comic books themselves. These are a few of the characters Marvel uses in Pride events and generally parades around every June.

Northstar

Jean-Paul Beaubier may seem like the vanilla ice cream of this rainbow sundae, but there’s far more going on with this character then the “Marvel’s first explicitly gay superhero” title that he is so often boiled down to. A French-Canadian superstar athlete, he’s lived never being entirely sure if his skiing career success was a result of his talent or his mutant abilities.

While his depiction in X-Men The Animated Series just had him be painfully French-Canadian with an on-the-nose accent and French exclamations, there’s a mean catty gay under the surface that is just waiting to be unleashed. They could also adapt his famous wedding arc, wherein he married his husband Kyle Jinadu...

Also he hates cops, so y’know... Maybe Marvel did nail the queer experience on their first try?

Iceman

Bobby Drake is arguably the most famous queer character at Marvel. A member of the original five X-Men, he was famously confirmed as gay when his teenage self was transported to the present and, with some unsolicited help from a teenage Jean Grey, questioned why his older self remaining closeted, even in a world that was (comparatively at least) accepting of queer desire.

In the original show, he showed unrequited interest in Polaris, as he had in the comics before his coming-out. This reboot could potentially give a more grounded and less fantastical take on coming-out then what he had in the comics... or maybe time travel will be involved again - who knows really!

Prodigy

David Allyene, aka Prodigy, is one of the most notable bi men at Marvel with one of the most distinctive coming-out stories. His mutant powers cause him to instantly learn things that other people know, hence the name Prodigy, and, through his powers, he also learned his own sexuality. How’s that for a crazy journey of self-discovery.

Prodigy is a newer character who did not appear in the original animated series at all, so there’s no continuity concerns there...

Mystique and Destiny

Destiny, also known as Irene Adler, met her lover Mystique when he was presenting as male and operating as a consulting detective in Victorian London.

Yeah uh. This is implying what you think it is.

The two of them have been lovers for centuries now, though both took other partners at different points during their relationship. Their love is something special though and together they raised Rogue as a child - as well as maybe sired Nightcrawler together? That was once intended to be Nightcrawler’s origin, but it was famously scrapped due to Marvel editorial not wanting to depict a child that is a product of a queer relationship at the time... but now this November a new comic will explore the “true” origin of Nightcrawler, so maybe Mystique/Destiny having a biological child is back on the table!

Mystique was, of course, in the original series. I’m not sure the actual odds of her relationship with Irene being acknowledged in ‘97 - partially just because I imagine Marvel would be concerned about backlash to queer villains... but also they’re adorable and good to me so I’d like them!

Captain Britain and Askani

Betsy Braddock and Rachel Summers are two incredibly complicated characters to summarize. Rachel is the time-displaced daughter of Scott and Jean from a hypothetical alternate feature, while Betsy Braddock spent like 30 years of her publication history trapped in the body of Kwannon, a Japanese assassin. While these two characters are some of Marvel’s most actively in-your-face unquestionably queer characters - the last Betsy story had a surprising amount of implied sex for only five issues - they’ve never really had a chance to shine in a multimedia way (well, at least not with Betsy in her own body and not being merged with Kwannon).

In the original show, Rachel cameoed briefly as a prisoner of Apocalypse while Pyslocke appeared without being named - assumedly they didn’t want to bother explaining the body-swap storyline. Personally, if they were to be in the show, I’d suggest that Betsy should be introduced as having inherited her brother’s title of Captain Britain, with Pyslocke of the original show being revealed to have been Kwannon in her own body all along...

Part Two: The New Mutants

There’s so many queer New Mutants that I’m just giving them their own category here... plus, with Sunspot being in the main cast, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of the time got (Sun)spotlighted as well!

Note that the sapphics of the first generation of New Mutants can also be mixed and matched when it comes to shipping. I present them based on the pairings that are currently canon/teased in the present comics, but Dani/Xuan, Xuan/Kitty, Kitty/Rahcel, etc. are all valid too and could be within the cards for the show.

Karma & Galura

The first explicit lesbian of the X-Men line, Xuân Cao Mạnh is a refugee of the Vietnam Boat Crisis, a thing which makes no sense when you consider that she is still canonically like 20-something years old in 2023. Her coming-out was a much lower-key affair then Jean-Paul’s, with her friends just casually running into her at the Exploding Person festival (i.e., Burning Man) with a shaved pink haircut and already travelling with her two “girlfriends”.

After the musical festival, she proceeded to fall in love with her roommate Kitty Pryde and then her co-worker Dani Moonstar, both of which were never (textually) requited. Recently, she’s started dating the winged mutant Galura and finally gotten to do stuff like “kiss a woman on-panel regularly” after two decades of being a lesbian denied a girlfriend...

She has cameoed in X-Men ‘92-related media with a design that is truly terrible IMO, but I think she could be rebooted and appear in this series in her full glory... especially after the New Mutants movie left her out entirely!

Mirage and Wolfsbane

Introduced in the original New Mutants run, Dani Moonstar and Rahne Sinclair share a unique telepathic connection, helpfully described as them being “soul-mates.” The Comic Book Code prohibited depictions of queer people, but uh. This first run is incredibly not subtle, even as Rahne nominally has interest her male teammate Cannonball.

Unfortunately, post-Claremont, their relationship was more or less abandoned for a few decades (coinciding with a massive downward spiral in Rahne content in general) climaxing with Rahne being killed off entirely in an allegory for transphobic violence... Thankfully, she recovered from her death and has recently been written by a non-binary author and now a trans author, both of whom have leaned back into the idea that these “soul-mates” may, in fact, have romantic feelings for each other.

Oh, also they were explicitly gay in the movie. So. Good for them for that!

Magik and Shadowkat

Another classic pair of X-Men “roommates,” Illyana Rasputina and Kate Pryde are another Claremont-created “soul-mate” duo - albeit without the telepathic bond. After decades of queer-coding, both were able to do queer-adjacent things explicitly for the first time in the Krakoa era, with Illyana asking a group of people of various gender presentations to make out with her and Kate kissing a tattoo artist who looks suspiciously like her bestie on-panel.

Pryde famously lost the spot of “Teen X-Men PoV character” to Jubilee in the show, but maybe X-Men ‘97 could give her a second chance... plus Illyana is one of the most popular X-Men characters not given a full spotlight in the original show, in spite of her more or less being an A-list X-Men in 2023. I don’t know if Marvel is brave enough to make this one canon, but I do think these two are two of the most obviously missing characters from the ‘97 line-up.

Escapade

Shela Sexton, aka Escapade, is a transgender sapphic who debuted in Marvel Pride last year and has since then had a starring role in the most recent New Mutants series. She has the incredibly unique power of the ability to “steal” things from people - including everything from stealing physical objects like their wallet to stealing abstract concepts like their emotional or physical state. Her character also generally has embodied the intersectional approach to mutant identity which has become more and more prevalent in the modern era - her mutant identity and trans identity are both important to her character, but neither are allegories for the other.

I think she’s probably too new to be added to the X-Men ‘97 cast pragmatically, but maybe they could have snuck in a cameo at the last minute? Idk. I figured I’d include her on the list.

Part Three: Let’s Get Wild!

Okay. Fuck it. Let’s talk about some comic book justifications that could be used to queer up the actual main cast from the original classic X-Men The Animated Series.

Jubilee

Jubilation Lee, the teen PoV lead of the X-Men, has been written as queer a handful of times, but never explicitly in 616. Most notably, she was gay in an AU Runaways story (written by N.D. Stevenson), where she dated a bisexual version of Pixie as well as an ice-powered sapphic named Frostbite. Monet also had a crush on her in the X-Men ‘92 animation-inspired comic book series. In terms of 616 content, her relationship with Laura Kinney has often been read in a sapphic way, especially in Liu’s X-23 series where Laura notably breaks up with her boyfriend only for Jubilee to be waiting back at her apartment to go out with her.

Storm

Ororo Munroe, aka Storm, famously has had a subtextual Sapphic fling with the bundle of chaos that is Yukio. They two met for the first time when Ororo went to Japan and their time together was almost immediately followed by her famous punk Storm era, which is very queer when you consider that context. Yukio was also later made explicitly queer in Fox’s Deadpool 2 movie, though the movie character doesn’t share much of the personality and thrill-seeking antics of her comic book counterpart...

Storm is the central protagonist of the original Claremont Uncanny X-Men and will be central to the ‘97 series as well. It’d be really bold to confirm her as queer, but I’d say this is the kind of move that would be worth it if they want this to stand out among X-Men adaptations.

Wolverine, Phoenix, and Cyclops

Finally, Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and Logan were implied to have been in a poly relationship throughout most of the Krakoa era - though they have fallen on hard times recently in the run-up to Fall of X.

I’ll be blunt: I don’t think there’s a chance in hell that Marvel corporate would approve this being textual... but I’m willing to be proven wrong, I guess!

WHEW. Okay. That’s my list. This is nowhere near definitive of course - I didn’t discuss Shatterstar’s bisexuality, Deadpool’s pansexuality, Gwenpool’s aroace identity, et al - but also basically every X-Men character is either textually queer or could be justified as being queer based on comic book lore. This entire brand has a queer poly energy that even the straightest writers weren’t able to fully shake off of it... so, while this is my list, they could really do anything they wanted (and that Mickey Mouse lets them do, at least)... We’ll see what happens!

[PS: In light of the strike and the general shitty way that megacorporations in entertainment have been treating their workers for years now, I’d be remissed if I made this post and didn’t encourage people to consider donating to the Entertainment Community Fund as well!]

#x-men '97 #x-men 97 #jean-paul beaubier #bobby drake #mystique #destiny #rachel summers #betsy braddock #xuan cao manh #danielle moonstar #rahne sinclair #illyana rasputin #kitty pryde #kate pryde #shela sexton #ororo munroe #yukio #david alleyne #raven darkholme #irene adler marvel

[professional-sephiroth-scrungler]

Sephiroth, 1, 5, 8, 16, 23, 26 (Angeal) please

This is really long but I hope you enjoy! 26 got a bit out of hand lol. 16, 23, and 26 under the cut.

(1) Honestly, I don’t think there’s really any canon I know with Sephiroth i outright reject. I do wholeheartedly support and believe the “Vincent is Sephiroth’s dad” theory but I accept that as of now, Hojo is his father. Even though it’s just Hojo saying that but oh well. There is also the og game guide listing him as 6’1” and i would dispute that but i think it’s been changed now to like ~6’6”. If not, he is 6’6” in my heart.

(5)His best personality trait i would say is his loyalty. Maybe not best, but that is definitely his strongest personality trait. Not taking missions that would involve killing his friends that defected, desperately trying to reach out to Genesis when he left, and so on. It’s to his detriment he is so loyal to Angeal, Genesis, and Shinra. They all betray that loyalty in some way from his perspective. Genesis and Angeal left, Angeal died, Genesis said he was an alien monster, and Shinra was lying to him his entire life about basically everything. And we all know the results of all that.

(8) He is a bottom. I will live and die on this hill. Not sure if its an unpopular opinion necessarily, but i don’t really see him written or drawn as such that often sooo

(16) He has a lot of really dark secrets he won’t admit to others or himself. One of those is that after he was told his mother died in childbirth, the nagging thought and feeling that it was HIS fault began to creep up in the back of his mind. He would never tell someone this because it would be like speaking it into being. Into reality. So he pushes that thought deep down. But it’s still there slowly eating at him.

(23)Probably rose, vanilla, leather, and some other flowers and/or citrus smells. And campfire smoke or woody scent cause i think that fits. This would probably fit more as a perfume but meh :/

(26) If Sephiroth was stuck in an elevator with Angeal, I don’t see much happening since they’re friends and both relatively chill. It’s not like with Genesis where they are constantly poking and goading each other; Genesis trying to get a rise out of Sephiroth and break his cold, stoic demeanor. Being stuck in a closed space with Angeal for some odd amount of time would be fine! That is, until that time ticks on to 30 minutes to an hour to two hours. They have work they need to be doing. Sephiroth has briefings to get to and a mountain of paperwork to get done. Angeal has drills to run with Zack and briefings for both of them. They’re both silently getting more worried and more stressed as the elevator does not move or open. Conversation died a while ago at this point since the both of them aren’t the most talkative or extroverted. That’s Genesis’s specialty. Now Sephiroth is brooding in one part of the small space, trying to get what work he can get done finished or started on his PHS and Angeal is doing the same plus almost anxious check ins with Zack to give his student something to do thrown in. Sooner or later, no more emails related to work can be answered or sent. It’s just anxious, awkward silence again. Sephiroth’s silent, almost imperceptible anxiety that only someone who knew him well would notice spurs something in Angeal to try and get a different, non work related conversation going. It’s almost the same father-like care he shows Zack in his voice. He had been noticing that Sephiroth had been getting thin again, so he brings it up gently. All he gets is a deflective “Hmph.” But he keeps talking, not unlike his lectures about dreams and honor; but definitely more quiet and caring. Angeal knows it’s because Sephiroth is stressed or binging research, neglecting himself in the process. Just before the elevator starts moving again, Angeal invites Sephiroth to dinner that evening and thankfully, he agrees.

#sephiroth #ffvii #final fantasy 7 #ff7 #final fantasy vii #ffvii crisis core #ff7 ever crisis #crisis core #ever crisis #ff7r #angeal hewley #asks #character ask meme #sephiroth asks #this was really fun to write #sorry it took so long lol

[moodcrab]

Fixing Skyrim's Civil War

The Holds need to feel like they're genuinely at war. In other words the difference between Stormcloak and Empire held territory should be acknowledged by the game. 

The game's opening makes a big deal about border jumping, then it's never mentioned again. The difficulty of border crossing should depend on several factors. Traveling by main road in Skyrim is generally easier, but the borders should be way harder. We're talking "Papers Please" levels of security, with New Vegas style speech checks. Sure you can run or fight your way through, enjoy the bounty in ALL the holds on this side of the war though. Country trails and dirt paths will be less organised, more frontier justice style, a mid level crossing difficulty. You'll have to deal with outposts akin to the camps you see in vanilla. Crossing through the wilderness will see the least resistance, unless you run into a scout or ranger, but even then it's just your word (or sword) against theirs, one on one. Racial differences should also play a factor. So You're and Imperial or Altmer crossing into Stormcloak lands, yeah we're going to give you some obstacles at the border, sorry not sorry this is war. They may assume a Khajiit is part of a caravan or a Dunmer is a refugee, for instance.

Wearing your side's uniform behind enemy lines should be an attack on sight offense, even in cities. On the other hand, a disguise could be implemented, but race and reputation should factor into its effectiveness. Going "plain clothed" being the safest option for general travel, but this would restrict you from enemy camps and buildings.

Victory

So you've won the war for the Stormcloaks. What now? Does the Penitus Oculatus still operate from Dragonsbridge? Does the East Empire Company still trade from both Solitude and Windhelm? Does the Dark Brotherhood story, which is almost entirely dependent on the civil war being unresolved, not change one iota? Do the Thalmor still have an Embassy and a Prison in Skyrim? What about all the Thalmor agents wondering around arresting people, or the one at the College, are they still welcome? Do ALL the exiled Jarls just sit in a basement in the Blue Palace forever? In vanilla Skyrim the answer is inexplicably "Yes."

And that's just the problems with a Stormcloak victory.

Skyrim has a real issue with not allowing the consequences of your actions affect the rest of the game, but it's most shocking with the civil war. By winning the war for either side, you should be eliminating a lot of potential content, which Bethesda doesn't want you to miss. 

To my mind their are several ways around this. Firstly, completely re-writing whole quest lines to accommodate either outcome, basically tripling the amount of scripted quests available, a neutral, Stormcloak and Imperial plotline. This is wholly impractical. Second, delay the players direct influence in the war until a certain point, be it a story point or a level cap, to limit potential conflicts with other plots. This would require restraint on Bethesda's part. Thirdly, interweave the civil war with every other faction and the main story, so instead of the player choosing a team and literally joining that army, they have many chances to influence the war's outcome one way or the other before they have to declare for one side or the other (again, like New Vegas). 

Ideally though, it would be a combination of all three options. For example: instead of having two sides to join (and inevitably win the war for), you will have many opportunities during gameplay to nudge the war in favour of the Stormcloaks, the Empire, both, neither or towards yourself (Implementing a reputation system would help greatly with this). You may come out of the gate as a Empire supporter and go all in, or make decisions based on the situation at hand. This will be presented naturally as you do side quests, the main story and faction stories. Making an all out decision on who to actively fight for will come later. This gives you a more natural feel to the civil war and give you so much roleplaying scope. Do you as Harbinger or Archmage get your faction involved in the war? Do you betray the side you're on and seize power for yourself (as a Dragonborn is want to do)? Or, and this is the interesting bit, do you make too many bad decisions and end up losing the war?

Imagine that. The game actually allowing you to fail at something. What is the world like for you now, champion of the vanquished side? Does Skyrim become a punishing land, where guards are biased against you and traders inflate their prices, if they allow you trade at all? Do you accept defeat or begin a resistance movement? Bethesda gets so carried away with it's power fantasy that it restricts itself from some really interesting role playing possibilities.

#elder scrolls memes #skyrim #elder scrolls #skyrim memes #elder scrolls morrowind #truestl #morrowind #elder scrolls oc #oblivion #tes6 #skyrim civil war #civil war

[oddogoblino]

what is the nature of the infection in your words hurt au?

Oh boy oh boy forgot to talk abt this in my old ramble posts didn't I? OH boy you've really done it now (positive tone)

I hope I understood the question right! Also note, while this is a horror, the au itself isn't entirely focused on the horror aspects of it. It's always present, but things are more focused on how characters live with how the world has changed and the adventures sonic still has. @au-sonic-smackdown (to give more info abt the au FHDJDN if this is alright to be shared i mean)

Warning, long post. Tw infection horror

The Basics

At first, the infection started out as the planet's attempts to call for aid from the being native to it. It doesn't infect earth-born beings the same way it infects mobian-borns. It started as the planet's attempts to force the ones born there to fight to defend it, like ants or bees would their queen. Despite the reasonable intentions, the infection is highly feared by mobians for a reason. It's also why Vanilla's organization is secretive about its whereabouts, members, and location.

There's a few different things you can be infected by. What the machines did was cause an almost explosion of spores and inky liquid that seeped into the soil and nearby water. The original infected that hadn't inhaled the millions of spores would've fallen into the ink and scraped themselves on the ground or fell with pre-existing wounds, allowing the bacteria to sneak in and take over. Spores only work if inhaled, the bacteria can only work through bites and ingesting them.

How It Effects Its Hosts

For animals, it was sudden, it was terrible, and it made them blindly violent. Animals don't get a chance to stay in only the first stage, they immediately transform into infectious, giant versions of their once tiny selves. They're violent and, whats much worse is, they'll target anything that isn't infect already. They're hungry for energy much like infected mobians, so they're especially considered a problem as they'll not only go after electricity but also anything alive.

Non-infected animals are terrified of them and you'll know they're near when the forest goes quiet, when the flickies are suddenly too scared to fly. They cannot resist transformations.

For mobians, it's a little slower and easier to control but it's still painful. At first it starts with joint pain- or well, more accurately, growing pain. It's not noticeable at first but the infection works fast from the infection-point to start mutating it's host. With this, the infected mobian will have an increased appetite, needing to eat more than the average mobian would, growing hungry after their last meal a little sooner.

The mix of these things can cause a neglected mobian to stress out and lose the ability to resist the second stage and eventual third stage. When infected, they need lots of energy, either from eating normals foods (meat is most effective), from socializing and feeding off the other's energy, or from anything that creates electricity.

Differences in Infection

How a mobian is infected matters. If the mobian is infected through inhaling spores or ingesting infectious bacteria, they're quickly kicked out to the once abandoned lands they've forced infected to turn into their new homes. There is no saving them from the infection as it'd already spread to their whole body. If the mobian is infected from an injury, there is much more care put into them. Cleaning the wounds immediately can prevent spores or bacteria from successfully infecting the body.

If the area is already infected, then the location matters. If it's a limb, cutting off circulation and removing it can save a mobian from infection. The limb may still mutate even if removed but it's harmless if disposed of properly. If it was an area that can't be removed or halted circulation-wise then they're given the same treatment as those who inhaled or ingested something. They can't be spared from the infection.

Different Forms of Infection

Stage One: only mobians can experience and stay in this stage. In the first stage, the mobian has low amounts of infectious bacteria in their bodies, making them unlikely though not fully impossible to be infected by. The host is still conscious, though they are noticeably mutated. Mutations mostly involve either duplicated limbs or horns, or just unnaturally larger ones. The mutations often cause supernatural abilities too. They're more hungry but can be satisfied for periods of time.

Stage Two: from here on, both mobians and animals experience this stage. The second stage, the consciousness of the host is either barely there or no longer existent. Anything in this stage is kill on sight. The entire body of the host is overtaken by mutation. The host is now full of infectious bacteria and has an instinct to spread it through biting and drooling. Their only goal is to spread the infection and satisfy their hunger for energy.

Stage Three: all mobians, animals, and plants may experience this stage. The host is gone. If a stage two infected managed to avoid being killed, they reach a sudden stopping point. All the host can do is latch onto the ground before they become an empty husk of whatever they were. At this stage, all the host does is release spores into the air and or drool if they were once an animal/mobian. They feed the planet all the energy they had gained to heal it. All you can do is dig them out of the ground, wrap up the host in something completely so it cant release spores anymore, kill the area's ability to support fungus life, and burn the host.

Mobians born infected have higher amounts of bacteria in their bodies and have a higher chance of infecting others. Majority cannot release spores but there are some that exhale spores constantly. They cannot go into the other stages. They're conscious and overall would behave like a normal mobian besides any mutations they'd been born with. They won't mutate any further than whatever they came into the world with. There's not a large abundance of those born like this thought due to how semi-recent the illness puffed into existence.

#oddito answerito #sonic au #Words Hurt AU #tw infection #tw horror #tw amputation #i was very excited to answer this as you can see 😭 sorry for typing so much

[ganymedesclock]

Because it's a novel way to explore characters: how would each of the sonic cast react to having a Pet Kitty fall asleep on them? (Not a motion cat, just for extra clarification)

Answering for personal AU takes. First foremost it IS worth remembering Sonic is only like 3ft tall so a standard non-anthro housecat is going to be pretty large on him and other characters are scaled accordingly.

Sonic: this is the worst thing you can inflict on him honestly he will probably end up shooing the cat off because he needs to pee or something but until he does he will be sitting there vibrating in subtextual agony because he doesn't want to be a jerk but he didn't expect to stay here at this angle and aaaugh

Tails: he CAN move the cat but imagine the emotional toll. Will probably ask someone else to move the cat if he really has to move. (this might be how Sonic got into the situation)

Amy: the only one out of Team Sonic who would have the emotional fortitude to move the cat herself and not take it personally. Relatedly, the only one of them that has regularly been around pets. It's basically just like Vanilla's chao Biscuit falling asleep on you, right? no big deal.

Knuckles: Angel Island has local terror birds that sometimes try to nest on you if you're warm and cozy or in their sunny spot, this is basically just like that, will not let it stop him but also probably will just hold/carry the cat until it feels like moving on its own. He has possibly never seen a non-mobian cat before in his life and is pleased when someone actually explains to him what that is but he won't ask otherwise.

Eggman: prefers his animals at a distance, no thank you, will move the cat immediately. Preferably all the way out of the premises. And then he has to review his security measures because how did the cat get in? Gets his entire train of thought derailed about the possibilities of cat-based security testing before reminding himself that would put him closer to the cat than he wants to be.

Shadow: must be naptime cheers he'll pass out to that

Rouge: would annoyedly move it to another spot but probably give in if it kept coming back to her for a snuggle. It's soft and cute, she's not completely heartless.

Omega: would not notice the cat is there, it is probably snuggled up by one of his heat vents. even if he notices its weight is negligible and it doesn't disrupt him. this would end up like that batman-baby comic panel where he threatens people into standing down by pointing out he can absolutely destroy them and they know it and he will be very displeased if they make him drop his precious cargo.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic the Remix #long post

[thefirstknife]

I have a friend who's super interested by the Nine but missed the seasons where they were more involved. I tried sifting through Ishtar for information but it was rough going. Would you be able to summarize their situation currently or point me to specific lore tabs about them so I can share with my friend? If not, no worries 😊

The Nine! We haven't had an update on them in a while, actually.

I'd definitely recommend checking out stuff from Season of the Drifter where most of the Nine stuff is from. This playlist is everything from that season, including Invitations of the Nine. Drifter and Gambit are tightly linked to the Nine and the Emissary of the Nine so basically almost everything is relevant. The gist of it is that the Nine are paying attention to everything that's happening in the system and some of them are trying to aid us, while others are not. They are highly invested in "the game" which is both the universe itself and also the 4th-wall-breaking actual game.

One of the more interesting tidbits is from the first Invitation of the Nine where the Emissary states:

Only two others have transcended their design. The first, an hourglass counting down with infinite patience. The second, a forgotten blade sharpened anew. And now, the Dredgen.

There was much speculation at the time who these other two are and it was made relevant with Beyond Light; the other two are Elsie and Eris. Elsie, Eris and Drifter were the first to delve into using the Darkness properly, transcending their design so to speak, and introducing it to everyone else which was a major turning point. The Nine clearly knew about this and were invested in how it would play out.

I definitely recommend checking this stuff out in full, especially Invitations of the Nine! Lore books Ecdysis (about Orin, the Emissary of the Nine) and Dust (about Lavinia, who searched for them) are also excellent and pretty much required reads that came out that season.

Another, and final, look into what the Nine are doing was back in Season of Arrivals with the dungeon Prophecy. Prophecy was about us taking questions directly to the Nine, asking them about the nature of Light and Darkness in the wake of the Black Fleet's invasion of our system. Their answers are really interesting now in context of Lightfall, as they insisted that there must be balance between the two and that neither of them is allowed to overtake the other. For one to win fully would lead to a creation of unbearable worlds full of either Light or Darkness where nothing can die or where nothing can grow. We cannot remove one or the other from the world. This notion of balance between them (as well as that they're not ultimately opposited of one another) is a huge point also reiterated in Lightfall.

Here's a playlist for all dialogues and voice lines in Prophecy. Their projections of how the world would look like filled with only Light or only Darkness (as well as the world in between) is explored in the lore on dungeon sets: Hunter (world of Light), Titan (world of Darkness), Warlock (world in between).

We haven't had much about them since. We don't know what are their current plans and goals and how they're coping with the Black Fleet in the system. It's one of the plots that I suspect will get its own season at some point, preferably this year.

Another, fairly less known, trip to the Nine stuff was from vanilla D2, in the form of Trials of the Nine. Naturally, since this was pvp only, it wasn't entirely accessible and it's not well documented. We have weapons with lore from that game mode. Destiny Lore Vault channel doesn't have any lines from that mode and they're hard to find, as videos from there are mostly focused on pvp. Here's Esoterickk's video that shows some of the gameplay and then him exploring the social space that was tied to the mode, with Orin's voice lines.

Some of this from the base game is relevant because one entry mentions the Red War. Later down the line, it's speculated that the Nine may have had their hands in the Red War, which is then later confirmed through Lavinia who sees that one of the Nine took part in conceiling Ghaul's fleet to ensure it would succeed. It's implied that this member of the Nine wanted to see what would happen if the Light was taken, but the rest of the Nine severely punished that member later.

Interesting detail that also tells us that the Nine are not entirely uniform in their plans and goals. Lavinia's lore book final entry also mentions that they currently operate under two factions; five are helping us and are the ones that sent Xur and Orin as well as done other stuff, while four are... not necessarily against us, but most likely do not have an interest in us and don't want to rely on us.

I don't usually recommend Destinypedia because it's filled with errors and often poorly sourced, but their article on the Nine is really well done and every claim is fully sourced to the relevant lore tabs so for a fully comprehensive summary + some extra bits, it's not a bad place to check out!

#destiny 2 #the nine #lore vibing #long post #ask #eagerly awaiting another nine focused season. definitely something that might be coming at some point #one of the speculations was actually that season of defiance would feature the nine but that ultimately didn't happen

[mrmallard]

I've made a post about this before, but Guilty Gear Xrd's reveal might genuinely be the hypest gaming moment in my entire life.

Though most of my fandom was predicated on the back of the GBA port of Guilty Gear X, the trash-ass Wii port of vanilla Accent Core (played great, but it had next to no singleplayer content) and listening to the music on YouTube, I was HEAVILY invested in Guilty Gear. I knew there was some weird legal snafu with Sega, there was a palpable vibe that Blazblue was basically Arc System Works doing a second original IP to keep making fighting games after losing the rights to most of the Guilty Gear IP, and I feel like people had either made their peace with Blazblue or were sticking it out for a new Guilty Gear - even as the years rolled on and the prospects of a new game were looking more and more bleak. Like, these were the years where alongside Blazblue titles, ArcSys was pumping out budget shovelware for the WiiWare service. It was a bleak fucking time to be a Guilty Gear fanboy.

Before the Xrd trailer dropped, the last game of note was a weird 3D action game with two returning characters. It had a killer version of Holy Orders on the soundtrack, but the vibe was definitely off - and it didn't help that it was described as a sequel to the original Guilty Gear, as opposed to the X games kind of being their own subseries, and therefore being perceived as a new way forward for the series. People loved Guilty Gear for the expressive art, the high-octane soundtrack and the hard as nails 2D combat - Guilty Gear Overture tried its best to offer a satisfying replacement, but it couldn't really match up. And in the fanbase's minds, it was either Overture or a new fighting game that'd be in-name-only with a brand new roster of characters, Sol and Ky aside.

Then, one day, this happened.

This trailer wasn't just a triumphant return to form for the Guilty Gear series. This trailer was genuinely groundbreaking for the fighting game genre - and you need to look at this trailer through the freshest eyes possible to know why.

First of all - after Overture was this hard pivot into 3D action combat gameplay, Guilty Gear is a 2D fighter again. The second you see Sol and Ky facing each other after forty seconds of build-up, you know they're announcing a return to form. So that's one item off the bucket list.

Secondly, as a diehard Guilty Gear/ArcSys fan of the era, you know that Arc System Works makes sprite-based 2D fighting games. From the first Guilty Gear through to the most recent Blazblue game, core ArcSys games were all about those sprites. And this trailer intentionally plays on that; Sol and Ky look like remarkably high-definition sprites, even to the point of being animated in a more rigid frame-by-frame manner when you see them move. And even when they start fighting, it's these two great-looking sprites animating frame-to-frame, right?

But that shot where their swords cross, and the camera ROTATES AROUND THEM? That was GAME-CHANGING.

2.5D fighters were already very popular at the time. Mortal Kombat 9 had helped to breathe new life into this style of fighting game, and while MvC3 had a rocky launch, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 went on to have a huge, ravenous fan following. 2.5D fighters were on the rise, but everything developed in 3D explicitly looked 3D, even with cel-shading like in UMvC3 - and every game stuck fairly rigidly to the 2D plane. NOTHING was doing what Guilty Gear Xrd was doing.

The team deliberately played up the old style, making the player models look as close to the style of the true-blue ArcSys 2D sprite-based fighter as they possibly could. They deliberately set up that fade-in with Sol and Ky, they even animated Sol hopping away seamlessly to look like Xrd was a new sprite-based 2D fighter.

And then that sword-clash kind of signalled the direction of fighting games for the next ten years.

There are shots in this trailer where the swords are animated with smear frames, like they're a 2D sprite. That's because the team animated the 3D models LIKE THEY WERE 2D SPRITES. The models squash and stretch frame by frame, with each frame being modelled by hand, rather than the models animating smoothly based on an animation rig or anything like that. And NOBODY had thought to do that before. Animations before and after each round are clearly animated in a more conventional way, but the presentation during the fights is achieved by approaching the 3D style with 2D production sensibilities. It was borderline unthinkable at the time.

Then there's the stage background.

When the trailer first fades in, can you tell that the background has 3D elements? The chain is a bit conspicuous, but the house on the right and the ruined Statue of Liberty - can you tell they're modelled in 3D right off the bat? The team did a great job translating the lush, busy backgrounds of the former games into this new composite artstyle, and you only realise the scope of what the team set out to accomplish when the camera angle changes and you see background elements shift as seamlessly as the character models.

Then there's the music.

Guilty Gear has fucking VOCAL TRACKS now.

Unless I'm mistaken, the closest that Guilty Gear had gotten to vocals in the music were in Overture's version of Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead). But even that was relegated to vaguely religious-sounding chanting throughout the track, not having someone screaming a lead vocal over the song.

Here's the new Guilty Gear trailer. It's a 2D sprite-based fighter. Sol and Ky are there on a beautifully painted background CG, just like the old days.

Sol and Ky clash swords, and the CAMERA ROTATES AROUND THEM. These dudes are rendered in fucking 3D. Then this huge wall of rock music kicks in at full volume, punctuated by this huge metal screech, and some dude starts fucking SINGING.

Then one of them gets knocked into the air, and the PERSPECTIVE CHANGES - and the perspective of the BACKGROUND changes too! All the while, the vocalist is all like BACK TO BACK, DEATH COMES A-RIDIN' ON A MIDNIGHT TRAIN

And it's EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED FROM A NEW GUILTY GEAR, AND MORE.

And for the fans who've been writing off the prospect of a new fighting game for years due to the legal snafu between ArcSys and Sega over who owns what? The trailer ends with a tease for both Millia Rage and Zero-1, officially ending the embargo.

This is probably the closest I'm going to get to having a moment where I go from Street Fighter II being the only fighting game I ever imagined existing, only to one day discover Tekken. This trailer delivered on so many things I didn't even know were possible at the time, and it blew the competition out of the water. Again, that was mostly Mortal Kombat and Marvel vs. Capcom - Skullgirls is its own special case, but those devs went all-in on sprites; I think that game has the most frame-by-frame animation in any fighting game ever produced. This game had all the charm and flair of old-school presentation, married with cutting-edge production via Unreal Engine 4.

It was a 2.5D game that was borderline indistinguishable from a 2D fighter until the game shifted perspective and made sure you knew that the characters and environments were 3D. And somehow, the stylised 2D aesthetic managed to carry over nigh-seamlessly.

People were huge on Dragon Ball FighterZ, and rightfully so - that's a gorgeous game that's a total blast to play. It preserves the aesthetic and feeling of being in a Dragon Ball Z episode in its sound design, its visuals and through its overt references to the show - kicking dudes into mountains that are miles in the background, as well as actually being able to enact instakill moves that replicate iconic moments from the franchise. That game might be one of the best licensed video games of all time.

Dragon Ball FighterZ would not exist - at least not in the iconic form it exists in today - without the ground that Guilty Gear Xrd covered first. When a great work is acknowledged to have taken prime inspiration from a foundational earlier work, it can be said that even with its success, that work is standing on the shoulders of giants. DBFZ is a giant unto itself, with its shoulders providing a solid bedrock for future fighting games to stand on - but it's a giant standing on the shoulders of TITANS.

I would argue that Guilty Gear Xrd was one of the first games to show that you could capture the spirit of a 2D property in a 3D art style without having to reinvent the wheel beforehand to shoot for realism. Maybe SF4 made that successful transition years earlier, but Xrd just went NUTS with it, with zero compromises. I also think that this game's success, and the success that later games had in faithfully recreating the appeal and aesthetic of a heavily stylised property like this, makes the janky 3D outliers like Jump Force and Marvel vs Capcom Infinite stand out even more.

It's unquestionable to me that Guilty Gear Xrd was the perfect game reveal at the perfect time. This trailer fucking slaps, especially given the context behind it. I was there the day it dropped, and ten years later it still rings as such a power move to marry modern game development via rendering the characters in 3D with the iconic, stylised 2D presentation that the fanbase loved to death after fifteen years of Guilty Gear. And just knowing that they went the extra mile and animated the characters by hand to look like they jumped straight out of a 2D game - smear frames and all - and were the first developers to even think to attempt that in Unreal Engine 4? Iconic. Unmatched.

This game trailer means everything to me. It'll only age as time goes on and the things that made it special become commonplace - again, Dragon Ball FighterZ is a far more popular refinement of what Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- started - but having been there at the time? Seeing the Guilty Gear drought getting broken in such a genuinely groundbreaking and innovative new way, stepping out of the Guilty Gear hiatus on the best foot possible? Nothing compares to how incredible that was.

They could announce a brand new Jak and Daxter game tomorrow, and I'd probably still be too burned after The Lost Frontier sucked and multiple attempts to get a new Jak game off the ground have fallen by the wayside and let me down. Guilty Gear Xrd upped the ante more than any other game reveal I've ever seen, and it did it perfectly.

Compared to what came before this trailer dropped, I honestly think Guilty Gear Xrd might be my pick for the perfect announcement trailer.

#long post #looooooong post #guilty gear #guilty gear xrd #arc system works #Youtube

[smokeybrandreviews]

Festival Season

I am a massive fan of MegaTen games. I love everything about them; the battle systems, characters, and overall world. I fell in love with the summoning and fusion systems of these games almost immediately and longed for other franchises to do something similar. It was basically Digimon Fusion before Digimon was a thing. Who wouldn’t want to Lego two Pokemon into a goddamn MewTwo? The missus introduced me to this brave new world with the purchase of Digital Devil Saga so long ago. It was one of the first gifts I ever got her. Watching her play that sh*t really awakened something within me. It was like watching my kid brother playing Final Fantasy IX for the first time but with, you know, violent monstrosities. Way back then, during the golden age of the JRPG, on the PS2, we made it a point to play all of the obscure titles. Nippon Ichi and Atlus were our bread and butter. We had copies of Stella Deus, every DIsgaea available, and even Soul Nomad. No one talks about Soul Nomad. One day, she came home with Persona 3. On that list was Persona 3 vanilla. Bro, after we booted it up and those first few notes of Burn My Dread popped, I was hooked. I must have put three hundred hours into that game. I conquered everything I could in that game, romanced every option, and completed one hundred percent of that sh*t. I unlocked every Persona on just two runs and readily did it again when FES released. The Answer was kind if disappointing but I didn’t mind running through the enhanced world of P3 once again. And then I did it one more time when P3P dropped, though, admittedly, Portable is my least favorite of the lot. Persona 3 opened my eyes to a world of RPGs beyond just your Final Fantasys and Dragon Warriors. Because I enjoyed this one game so much, I was open to trying out others. I wouldn’t have touched Magna Carta if not for Persona. I would have missed out on Rogue Galaxy. Wouldn’t have given Shining Force EXA a second thought. If I had never played Persona 3, I would have never played 4 or 5, and that sh*t seems so bewildering to me because those games are some of my all-time favorites. In fact, for a long while, Persona 5 was my favorite of these games. I wrote a whole thing about, about how, while I loved 3, 5 was a close second. It had legitimately closed that gap after Royal dropped but then Persona 3 Reload was announced. Guess who pulled ahead once again.

I got Reload day one and immediately dove into to. It felt familiar, yet, new. It definitely got all the bells and whistles that made Persona 5 so enjoyable but was still definitely Persona 3. I got my copy for the PS4 so, while the presentation is loads better than the original, and it shows, it’s comparable to Persona 5. Having that “side-by-side” experience just solidifies that P3 IS my favorite Persona title and one of my all-time favorite games, period. I was a little bummed Burn My Dread wasn’t the opening song but Full Moon Full ain’t too shabby on its own. More than that, the quality of life changes are amazing. It’s the little things like the Online Saves or the fact you don't get fatigued in Tartarus anymore. I love how the original character designs got a remix, bringing them closer in line with that Persona 5 aesthetic, and boy do they steal from that P5 aesthetic let me tell you! The thing is, though, it feels full circle to me. I remember, way back when I was playing P5 (shout out to Tae Takemi, best girl in the entire game), that P5 feels like the spiritual successor to P3 in every way P4 is not. Don’t get me wrong, P4 is a classic, but it feels out of place in the trio, almost disconnected. Also, I remember hating Teddy. It’s like, did P3 influence P5, only to have that sh*t bleed back into Reload? I don’t know, and I don’t really care. I get to play Persona 3, on my PS4, with the look of Persona 5. I cannot stress how dope that is. Also, Satanael is DLC. You KNOW I bought due and have been decimating the early game! Thanatos is my second favorite Persona, always, Alice is the first (especially after I customize her), but Ren’s ultimate Persona is a strong third. Like, laughably so. There’s just something about summoning a Demon God that feels so…powerful. Also, you shoot God in the face. How can you not love that?

I’m ten hours into Reload and it is everything I ever dreamed  a full-on Persona 3 remake should be. This isn’t that bait and switch FFVII pulled with Remake. No, for all intents and purposes, this IS Persona 3 but with modern game play and graphics. It’s like I’m popping ion the game for the very first time, damn near twenty years later. The Protagonist is as stoic as ever and the city of Tatsumi Port Island is alive with a vibrancy only the power of PS4 could bring. Building this game on the Unreal engine was a stroke of genius because the models are crisp, detailed, and fluid. There are so many little particle effects that make everything pop. The biggest upgrade is the UI. The thing is, I’m old as f*ck. I’ve been gaming since the old NES days. I’ve seen the evolution of video game and, for me, they peaked way back in the PS3 era. When P3 originally came out, I had no problem with how the title was presented. It got a little flashier with P3P and Persona 4 added their own flair, but Persona 5 really went in on the showmanship. P3R gets a bit of that and it goes a very long way to captivating the player. I thought modern hardware would affect the charm of these OG designs, but it doesn’t. It actually enhances them considerably. It’s subtle, but the bodies are longer, the eyes are smaller, and the overall proportions feel more realistic. I kind of love it. I also love the redesigns, so far. I mean, Mitsuru is gorgeous and I adore the new-ish Elizabeth model, but I’m holding judgment until the very end when I get to see Nyx again. And definitely get my ass throttled by her. Now, admittedly, not all that shimmers is gold. The fact that the Answer, the additional part of FES, isn’t included in what is a very obvious FES remake, kind of bones. I hear that it will be DLC down the line and that sucks. I like Metis. Her design was dope. I’m also not that huge a fan of Thanatos’ first reveal being made with in-game models. The visceral nature of that genesis feels lost when not in animation. It’s good in its own way but, goddamn, did that sh*t hit different way back when. These are, of course, superficial gripes because I am having the time of my life with this game! And it’s only the first play through. That New Game is about to slap crazy hard! I cannot wait to run it back with my heavy hitters on deck. Satanael be damned, getting Thanatos and my laughably OP Alice in the mix is going to be the best!

#Persona #Persona 3 #Persona 3 Reload #MegaTen #Shin Megami Tensei

[swampgallows]

as someone who loves maxing out professions in wow, timegated reagents make me fucking cuhraaayyzeeeeeee. like to skill up in bfa cooking you have to either wait for specific world quests to be up or you have to grind out reputation just to get "rank 2" of a recipe you already know but it uses fewer reagents or w/e and grants skill points again. or in legion even NOMI had a command table of sorts where he'd "research" and you'd HOPE youd get those recipe scraps til you could combine ten and get a new one. but as a tailor i know im gonna be haunted by all those appearances i can't unlock yet because they all require sparks, sometimes TWO!!, and i cant just churn em out. im still working on damn BFA!!! tailoring appearances because they require reagents from eternal palace and nyalotha—not even for the recipe itself but for a "loom" (abyssal focus) to craft it at.

like on one hand maybe they didn't want players to be able to craft themselves a "raid-grade " set—which like, why? BC and wrath you could easily craft yourself a raid-ready set; hell even in the vanilla felcloth and mooncloth sets were pretty useful. it was time-gated in its own way i guess (could only make cloth once a day at a specific location) but if someone REALLY wanted to they could get reagents on the AH. and at the same time i dont know why there aren't 'base' versions of the recipes, or why sparks themselves are tiered. it seems like with primal infusions and all the fixins they added you could just make the base item and then "socket" it when recrafting to be a higher ilevel. especially because it requires a matching spark to use it! like!!! why require a spark (cap 395) AND a matching infusion (cap 408) just for the smallest ilevel upgrade? this late in the xpac these items are useless. why wouldnt they just roll over/consolidate, or better yet be currency (e.g. crests)?

so not only am i just dumping them into something i'll vendor (since i just want the appearance), i cant even do the whole crafting order roulette through my alts and get them upgrades out of it. it's two entire sparks to craft one of the inscription staves just to be able to skill up my inscription, which means i'm wasting sparks (a time gated resource) and also NOT getting a worthwhile item out of it because my scribe's skill points arent high enough to craft a higher quality item because he needs sparks to skill up aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

basically all im saying is that dragonflight profession gear/appearances are not gonna be very retroactive-friendly. since i missed a chunk of this xpac im already way behind in terms of gathering sparks and have no way to catch up just to complete content that's already irrelevant (save for collection/maxing/transmog).

#blathering #world of warcraft

[rainchyna]

𓆩♡𓆪 episode seven: FIRST DEFENSE. (christmas special)

the vince part of the flyer has a messed up part but PRETEND ITS NOT THERE this is a hot mess and it’s short too lmaooo

12:00 pm, y/n’s locker room.

there is a sudden european tour, no one expected it because it literally came out of nowhere. the next european tour was supposed to be next March through to June, but here you were along with everyone else.

“why do you look so cross?” Davey asked, you huff. “seriously, you’ve been pissed this whole morning” Bret leans forward. almost all of your friends were crammed in your locker room.

The Hart Foundation, Steve, Randy, Chyna, Lita, Sherri, Hunter, and oddly Shawn was there too. he was the only one sitting in silence, Shawn hadn’t uttered a single word since he’s come here.

“dude, we’re gonna be there until January, we’re in mid July. there is so much shit I wanna to do here before going on a european tour” you complained, “nah, you’ll have fun” Steve reassured.

you groaned as you got up and stretched. you’ve all been crammed here for hours at this point just chatting and planning the things you’ll do on tour, you quickly left the room to walk around a bit.

as your hands massaged your neck you heard footsteps behind you, you look back then smile. “hey angel” Hunter said as he caught up to you, “heyyyy” you drag as you lean on his shoulder, Hunter reached his hand and patted on your hair and played with it. “you okay?” he asked, “I’m so annoyed” you whine, “I swear it’s like creative has been on drugs this whole week” and Hunter sighs.

“tell me about it” he mutters.

you squeeze him tighter and he kisses the top of your head. you and Hunter have been having a thing for while now, ever since the night after the club.

“I gotta go, Vince wants to see me” you slowly pull away from him, “but I want you to stay” Hunter pouts and you chuckle, “I do too” you smile.

the entire building smelled like peppermint and chocolate, there was christmas decorations all over the walls and for as long as the eye can see.

why?

Vince wanted to celebrate christmas early because he wanted the american crowd to experience the “wrestling spirit” before everyone leaves for europe. Vince even hired a person to dress up as Santa for tonight’s Raw.

you push the office’s door and enter, “hey” you greet and the amount of mint and vanilla scents that slaps you in the face was genuinely atrocious.

“come in y/n! does it smell like christmas here?” Vince enthusiastically asks. your eyes sting a bit as you sit on the chair opposite his, “it reeks of it” you answer rubbing your nose.

“do you want a-”

“if you offer me another peppermint mocha, we will fight” you point, Vince laughs.

“so tonight, you, Lita and Chyna will be having the triple threat match” Vince began.

…right.

you three still have not planned out your match, not one bit.

“we’re gonna put your title on the line, but there’s gonna be interference from Santa” he explained. “Santa??” you ask eyes narrowing, “yeah, yeah, but not the disqualification extent, just finish up the match and then let it snow on him” he said and you roll your eyes.

“you’re really feeling the non existent spirit, huh?” you laugh.

“fake it till you make it”

3:54 pm, catering.

it was about time your gear was ready.

not necessarily ready, but more put together. you had individual items but it took a while to coordinate them.

a basic white tank top and an army green pair of cargo shorts, you wore a chest harness and a thigh harness and topped off with fingerless leather gloves. you styled some combat boots that stopped a inch below your knees and the necklace that Hunter gave you.

definitely not ground breaking, but it differentiated you from the girls.

you were sat with Chyna, Hunter and Shawn, who was still eerily quite. way more quite than usual, it was creeping you out a bit. Hunter was playing with your hand and Chyna was having lunch. apart from the staff walking in and by, the place was mostly empty. you and Chyna were talking about some things you wanted to do for you match later and Hunter was pitching ideas, yet you could feel Shawn burning glare on the side of your face. he was actually freaking you out today.

“what do you think, Michaels?” Chyna asked, only then did his eyes shift away from you. “hm?” Shawn hummed, then Chyna repeated what Hunter said.

yeah, no. he’s genuinely scaring you.

“don’t worry about it” you get up, “just meet me and Lita at the rehearsals hall after you eat” you pat on Chyna’s shoulder.

“Shawn, come out I wanna talk to you” you said.

you lean against the wall with a frown, “what?” he asks standing besides you. “are you okay?” you ask and he shrugs. “what do you mean?” he asks, “seriously” you say, “it’s almost four pm and we haven’t argued at all today” you reason.

Shawn shrugs again.

“didn’t wanna” he mutters swinging his leg, “hey” you say holding his face forcing him to face you, “not that I care but like .. you’re kinda freaking me out, are you actually okay? like really?” you ask again.

Shawn opens his mouth to say something but immediately closes it and huffs, “I’m fine.”

you didn’t want to be that person so you let it go, your eyes follow him back to the cafeteria then stare at the ground.

something was definitely wrong.

<<5:32 pm>>

“are you sure he’s okay?” you ask.

you, Chyna and Lita were laid out on the mat. staff were making preparations for the show to begin and you three were just finished working out your match, not even working it out just verbally placing spots and moves that sounded cool together.

“yeah, as far as I’m concerned. he hasn’t really told me anything” Chyna said, you hum. you think about it again then realize, you don’t have time for a grown man who’s refusing to be a big boy and talk about his feelings, because if he wanted to, he would.

“lemme tell y’all” Lita starts and you and Chyna instantly sit up, “what did you hear this time?” Chyna laughs.

“apparently, allegedly, Shawn has been rejecting Sunny recently and rejecting her a lot, I saw her leaving his locker room crying yesterday, and guess what, Owen heard him telling her that “she’s only temporary” because he likes someone else” she said and you gasp, “ha!” Chyna half laughs, “I been telling her, Shawn doesn’t actually like her and is only using but she never listened” Chyna said.

“wait, is that why she’s been acting snobby to me?” you ask, “what do you mean?” Lita asked.

“oh my god, okay, remember the house show in Minnesota? she was walking around backstage and I passed by her and out of being nice I stopped and said hi to her and asked about her day, y’know?” both girls nod.

“I swear to you she ignored the fuck outta me, and at first I thought she didn’t hear me but she did! then me and Shawn had an argument in the dressing room, because when don’t we ever and she was there tryna be all sweet and there for me, talking about some “get away from her!” and “leave her alone, Shawn look at me”, ugh it was ghetto” you explain.

“and then-”

“there’s more!?” Chyna asks.

“you just wait” you say, “the Raw in Michigan, when me and Shawn were actually talking like normal beings, that one, after he left, she came up to me and was like “if I see you around him again, I’ll beat you up” you almost giggle at the last part.

“girl” Lita says with wide eyes as Chyna bursts into laughter, then Chyna literally falls onto her back as tears stream down her face.

“something- something about Sunny trying to beat you up is so funny t-to me” Chyna says between gasps.

“don’t even” your head falls to your palms.

10:38 pm, Raw <Live>

today went by so much faster than you thought it would, mostly because you were excited for tonight Raw. not because you’re working with your friends and certainly not because you have a Santa flavoured interference, but because you were in the main event.

you were making history.

first time ever for a woman, and three no less, to main event Raw, with a match that put a title on the line? on a July christmas too? insane. but Vince being Vince obviously wanted some bullshit to go down.

Lita was out in a thunderstorm of boos doing her “I don’t think y/n deserves the championship because i’m on the Untertaker’s team” shtick.

the crowd was heavily booing her and she called them “a field of cows” which made them boo even louder.

but the hate train stopped the moment your music began, their saviour is here.

chants of “SAVE US Y/N!” drowned everything including your theme. you stood right in front of Lita holding your title up high as your noses almost touched. you pushed her away from you before a referee quickly separated you two.

you’re handed a microphone, “I didn’t come by myself” you began, “I brought one of my favorite superstars” you smile.

as soon as Chyna’s theme played the crowd went ballistic.

everyone knew Lita was fucked. triple threat be damned, this was your first title defense, you were obviously going to retain it.

“that’s unfair! you’re two and I’m one!” Lita panicked, “and what about it?” Chyna ask making the crowd cheer. “sweetheart, don’t worry about this being and two on one, yeah you’re gonna get beat up, but it’s a triple threat, it is fair” you say.

you hand the referee your belt and the bell is quickly rung.

it was almost like you and Chyna were a tag team, taking turns at beating the hell out of Lita. the crowd knew it was unfair, but fuck it, if this isn’t the longest they’ve been invested in something. Chyna was powerbombing Lita back to back, several at a time, so many the crowd began counting.

this was an elongated squash match, not until the fat man with presents arrived and pulled on your leg trying to get you out of the ring and the boos began again. one punch and he was on the floor, you quickly slid back in the ring and went to continue battering Lita only for Santa to pull Lita out of the match.

you and Chyna looked at each other confused, Jim Ross and JR looked at each other confused, and the crowd looked at each other confused.

Santa is trying to sabotage the match.

you lock on the sharpshooter on Lita and she almost immediately taps out making the crowd cheer. then you and Chyna turned towards Santa and the crowd popped, they knew what was coming. you both quickly chased him backstage where you ended up in the cafeteria.

then the mess began from there.

Chyna picked up a chair and slammed it on his back, you grabbed a tray that had cookies on it and threw it on his head while Chyna dumped a jug of milk on him. “do you fucking like cookies and milk, you fat fuck?” you scream at him before throwing a pie in his face, “because I sure do!”, another pie to his face.

you pick him up and put him through a random table, Chyna grabs a huge gingerbread house and break it over his head. Santa began desperately trying to run away but Chyna held him still while you stuffed his mouth with marshmallows and pour a cup of hot chocolate over his face, “are you feeling the spirit?! can you feel the fucking spirit?!” you scream at him again.

there was a conveniently placed sack of coal, Chyna grabbed it and smacked him across the chest. you grabbed a bunch of his hair as she continued beating, “bad kids get coal, bad Santas get beat with it. what if we light you on fire, Mr. Claus? huh?” you ask and he cries and pleads “no.”

“Maybe next christmas” Chyna says with one last hit. Santa is barely on his feet when you hit him with a hurricanrana, which he hilariously, perfectly sells.

“merry christmas you bastard”

#rainchyna #sour grapes #rainchyna’s sour grapes #wwe headcanons #wwe x reader #wwe fics #wwe fanfic #wwe fanfiction #wwf headcanons #wwf x reader #wwf fanfic #wwf fanfiction #wwe shawn michaels x reader #shawn michaels x reader

[ceruleanwhore]

Last thing I want to talk about before the finale while I’m out here on my bullshit is vanilla vodka. I’m aware of how ridiculous that probably sounds but I couldn’t help but notice that, while alcohol comes up many times throughout the series, vanilla vodka specifically only is shown/mentioned twice, which makes me raise an eyebrow a bit. This is mainly because it’s also the only time they’ve specified a flavor of flavored alcohol, which does make it stand out a bit.

The first time vanilla vodka comes up is in s1 e3 in the middle of the reading of Trent’s article when that narration pauses for a moment to show Roy confronting Jamie about Nate as a way of demonstrating the effects of Ted’s coaching style that Trent was in the middle of talking about. [For the record, the line is: “His coaching style is subtle — it never hits you over the head — slowly growing until you can no longer ignore its presence.”] In the part with Roy going off on Jamie, he takes a sip of Jamie’s drink and makes the comment of “Vanilla vodka? Such a child,” before leaving. The second and only other time vanilla vodka is specifically featured like that is in the Amsterdam episode when Trent, after talking with Colin, goes out clubbing with him and Colin orders vanilla vodka from the bar, which Trent tries and doesn’t like.

Honestly, if it weren’t for the fact that the second time this comes up is with those two at that point in that episode, I would’ve just ignored this. However, something about having Trent come out to Colin and them bonding over being gay with Trent becoming like a mentor to him and then, coming off of that, having them go out and have a positive experience together with Colin comfortably being himself and all of that then has the aforementioned vanilla vodka thrown in, like an endcap to that whole thing, feels like a deliberate callback to s1 e3. This could serve to point out that Jamie and Roy are in fact super gay for each other but, like Colin, they aren’t comfortable acknowledging that yet and need a nudge like Colin got from Trent or perhaps it could be about Trent himself, the one common denominator between those two scenes.

If it is supposed to be indicating something about Trent, then I feel like whatever it’s pointing at would have to also feature Ted, since that’s who he was talking about in the first scene. So then, if these two scenes are linked and are meant to point to something involving both Ted and Trent, then I feel like the natural conclusion is that it’s meant to indicate that Trent isn’t just into men, he’s specifically interested in Ted. The other thing is that we are still talking about vanilla vodka as a symbol here, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that vanilla comes from a type of orchid, like saffron, and if you look up the meaning of orchids in flower language, they represent love, beauty, fertility, and virility. As far as a symbol in media to represent attraction, I’d say that’s pretty damn solid. Also, maybe this is a reach, but I do think it’s worth noting that it’s vanilla vodka, not any of the other million other vanilla flavored things out there, and that alcohol historically has been referred to as ‘spirits.’ If we go with this combination of symbolic meaning, then this vanilla vodka could actually be representative of a spirit filled with love and admiration of something beautiful.

The last thing I want to talk about with this ridiculous post is how Trent views Ted at both of those points in the season. In s1 e3, he went in skeptical and then spent a whole day with Ted, which changed his mind and gave him a far kinder view of the other man than anyone thought he would have. The article he writes is still kind of critical, but the entire second half is basically praising and expressing wonder at Ted. What we get in that episode is Trent Crimm being curious about and inspired by Ted and we see as some change is sparked, like this is the very beginning of the massive development we see from here out. In comparison, s3 e6 is basically showing sort of the end result of all that change Trent went through that was initially sparked by Ted. We see Trent being nothing but kind, helpful, and understanding, showing absolutely no interest in using anything at all from that episode in his writing even though that’s officially why he’s there, and it’s because of Ted. I think the vanilla vodka really serves most to mark the start and end of Trent’s individual character arc, which entirely centers around Ted, and perhaps also indicate that, while Trent himself has completed his own arc, there might be more to come regarding his relationship with Ted. And yeah, I know how wild that sounds lmao

#ted lasso #tedependent #tedtrent #ted x trent #ted lasso meta #tedtrent meta #tin foil hat #ted lasso theories