#as that last gifset did so well i though i would make more :)

[ariesrain]

the number 9 

#world cup #wc22 #south korea nt #cho gue sung #worldcupedit #football #footballedit #world cup 2022 #gue sung cho #wc #wc 22 #my gif #sportsedit #sports #as that last gifset did so well i though i would make more :) #the fact that he scored 2 headers!!

[allfoolsinluv]

Closer

Pairing: Joel Miller x f!Reader

Summary: You and Joel grow closer after you arrive in Boston.

Word Count: 5.4k

Rating: Explicit, 18+. Minors DNI.

Warnings: canon-typical violence/death, assault, lil bit of angst, lowkey pining, getting together, fwb-to-lovers, soft!Joel Miller, alcohol consumption and drug use, explicit sex (fingering, unprotected p-in-v, f receiving oral, lil bit of consenual somno, dom/sub vibes, dom!Joel, sub!reader, teasing, rough sex, spit play, come play, dirty talk like WHOA, soft aftercare, i thiiiiiiink that's it idk i might have missed something bc there is A LOT here ok)

A/N: ok so i saw this gifset and the last gif took me OUT then I heard Closer by Nine Inch Nails on tik tok and my inner whore took over and she wrote this. The chokehold this man has on me is REAL and MIGHTY. anywho my first pedro boy fic! huge huge HUGE shoutout & thank u to @pedrito-friskito for looking this over for me 🥺💗 luv u bby

masterlist

Things between you and Joel had started out simple enough.

You’d met him not long after you’d arrived in Boston, during your first shift disposing of infected bodies. He kept to himself, not interacting with you beyond a curt nod of acknowledgment when you introduced yourself at the beginning of the day. But you hadn’t missed the way his eyes stayed on you throughout your shared shift. His gaze was curious, almost, like he was studying you. You hadn’t blamed him for it, even though he did kind of make you feel like a bug under a microscope; you were a newcomer, and newcomers often meant trouble. He hadn’t seemed like the type of guy that took too kindly to trouble.

The next few shifts you’d spent beside him went much like the first. He’d barely speak to you—if he even spoke at all—and kept an eye on you as you worked. As your time in Boston went on and as you continued to work more shifts with him, the intensity he watched you with seemed to lessen. For whatever reason, Joel Miller decided you weren’t a threat.

He’d warmed up to you after that, as much as it was possible for him to warm up to anybody. He would no longer ignore your greetings, offering you gruff heys and hellos. He’d sit with you in silence whenever you were allowed to take a break from working. He'd even started to walk you home after your shifts. When you'd asked him why the first time it happened, he'd told you that your apartment was on his way home. You wouldn’t have called yourselves friends, per se, but you both were definitely more agreeable with each other than you were with anybody else in Boston.

He was with you the first time you saw a public execution take place in the city center. One of your neighbors had been caught outside past curfew one too many times, an offense she would pay for with her life. You hadn’t known her very well, but hearing her name be called out and watching her life end before your very eyes was enough to break something in you. You’d been delusional to think that things on the inside were going to be any better than they were on the outside. 

Joel watched you watching your neighbor hang, taking note of the way your eyes widened and your breath drew short at the sight. When her body stopped flailing and the life had finally been drained from her, he placed a rough hand on your shoulder. When you startled at the contact and turned to look at him, he nodded his head in the direction of your apartments.

“Come on,” he’d said. You’d simply nodded in response, following him out of the crowd and away from your dead neighbor.

The two of you walked side-by-side in silence, not much different than when he’d walk you home any other day. When you got to your apartment building, though, he didn’t stop like he normally did. He kept walking until he realized you were no longer next to him.

“You coming or what?” he asked, head cocked and a hand on his hip. You’d looked between him and your building in confusion.

“This is my apartment.”

“Yeah,” he said as he approached you once again. “But we’re making a stop at mine first. Got something for you.” 

The thought of Joel Miller having something for you sent a flurry of nerves and butterflies swirling in your stomach. It’d been so long since you had any kind of companionship, it was nice to be thought of by someone else. You tried not to let your emotions show as you nodded your head.

“Okay, then. Lead the way.”

You weren’t sure what to expect when Joel had told you he had something for you, but whiskey and some pills weren’t it. Not that you were going to complain about them, though—it’d been too long since you’d had or done anything to turn your brain off. He didn’t say anything as he poured each of you a glass and put a pill in your hand. You’d swallowed the pill and the whiskey in one go. Joel poured you another glass without question.

The two of you sat in silence for a long while, side-by-side on his couch as you drank. The whiskey had burned as it went down your throat and settled into your stomach. It felt good.

After you’d polished off your third glass, you put the cup on the table in front of you with a heavy sigh. You sunk back into the couch and closed your eyes, saying softly, “This place is a fucking nightmare.”

The feeling of Joel’s hand on your thigh made your eyes pop open. You’d looked down at his hand on your leg, your breath hitching at the sight. When you looked up, you found him already looking at you, the pain in his eyes evident. “It is.” 

You fucked for the first time on his couch that day. The whiskey and the pill and the vulnerability had loosened you both up enough to just let go. He’d pulled you into his lap, shoved his hand into your jeans, and made you come on his fingers before he pulled your pants down your legs and fucked every thought out of your head. 

When it was over, after he’d made you come again and pulled out to finish in his fist, you’d climbed off of him and sat back, catching your breath. He’d cleaned his hand off and silently reached over to help you pull your jeans back into place. He’d stood from the couch and held out a hand to pull you up. It went without saying that he’d walk you home.

It went on like that for a while. Whenever things became too much for either of you or the thoughts in your heads got too loud, you’d find each other and drown out the noise with whiskey, pills, and sex. It was far from romantic—you never stayed long after it was over, it was never soft or sweet, he’d never even kissed you —but it didn’t need to be. There was no place for romance in the world you lived in.

Things changed, though, the day you were jumped and nearly left for dead on the street.

It’d been one of the rare days in which you worked a shift without Joel, the availability of jobs just not lining up to pair the two of you together. You were cutting it close to curfew, the sun steadily setting as you made your way back to your apartment. You were only a couple of blocks away from home when it happened.

You hadn’t noticed you were being followed until it was too late. Large, rough hands grabbed your body and pulled you roughly into an alleyway. You tried to push the guy off, swinging your elbow back into his gut, kicking your feet out to throw him off balance. It was no use, though—he threw you to the ground, hard, as if you’d weighed nothing to him.

You hit the ground with a huff, the shock and pain of it dulling your reflexes enough to allow him to get on top of you before you could pull yourself up and scramble away. You finally saw his face, the light gone from his eyes as he gripped the lapels of your jacket and shook you.

“Give me your ration cards, bitch,” he seethed at you. You didn’t even know this guy and here he was, shaking you down as if you owed him something.

“Fuck you,” you spat in his face. 

He hadn’t taken too kindly to your disrespect, letting go of one side of your jacket to punch you in the face. The feeling of his knuckles connecting with the skin of your cheek and taste of blood on your tongue made you groan. He’d pulled his arm back to throw another punch, but before his fist even had the chance to come into contact with you again, the weight of his body was thrown off of you.

When you’d looked up at the scene unfolding in front of you, the last person you’d expected to see was Joel. There he was, on top of your attacker just like he’d been on top of you, delivering blow after blow to his face. You’d never seen him like that before, lost to the violence, although you’d known he was capable of it. It didn’t scare you like you might’ve thought it would. It was almost comforting, in a way, to know what he’d be willing to do to protect you.

Just when you’d begun to think that Joel wouldn’t stop until the man was dead, he’d grabbed him by the collar and brought him close to his face. “If I ever see you around her again, you’re a dead man. You understand me?”

Weakly, the man had nodded his head, a wet cough bubbling out of his throat. Joel released him roughly as the man spit up blood onto the asphalt below him. He turned to you, the fury leaving his eyes in an instant as he took in your disheveled state.

“Fuck,” he grumbled, rushing over to help you up. You stood with a wince, grateful he was letting you rest most of your weight against him as he held you and guided you out of the alleyway. “Need to get you off the streets before curfew.”

He guided you to your apartment, getting you both inside and locking the door behind you with just a few minutes to spare. You plopped down onto the couch with a groan while Joel grabbed your bottle of whiskey and the only rag you had to clean up your busted lip and the cut on your cheek. It was silent as he worked, save for the initial hiss of pain you’d let out when the alcohol first touched your open wounds. He was gentle with you, gentler than you thought him capable of.

When he finished, he dropped the rag onto the ground and cupped your face in both of his hands. The two of you had stared at each other for a long moment before he’d sighed, leaning forward to place his forehead on yours. Your eyes had fluttered shut as you felt his breath fan out against your face, your hands coming up to take ahold of his wrists.

“I should have been with you,” he whispered roughly. You shook your head at that, opening your eyes to find his screwed tightly shut. He kept talking, “I was outside your door, waitin’ for you to get back, but when you didn’t show up, I knew something was wrong. I should have just fucking been there to walk you home, to keep you safe.” Your hands moved up his arms to the back of his neck, your fingers tangling lightly in the curls of his hair.

“You were, Joel,” you whispered back, his eyes opening to meet yours, seeing the sincerity in them. “You saved me. Protected me. You were there when I needed you.”

He kissed you, then. He pulled you in close to him, softly pressing his lips to yours, mindful of the cut there. Your eyes had closed again, and you couldn’t have stopped the soft whimper you let out at the feeling of his lips against yours even if you had tried. 

Sex with him was different that night. He carried you to your bed and stripped you slowly, taking in the sight of your body underneath him. He hadn’t been rough or hard or fast. It was soft and almost syrupy sweet, the way he held you and made you come apart with his fingers and his cock. His lips never strayed too far from yours, as if the thought of not kissing you while he fucked you was too painful to bear. You hadn’t minded it, though—you’d felt the same way.

When it was over, he cleaned you up and helped you re-dress. After he put his own clothes back on, he crawled back into your bed and pulled you into his arms, pressing soft kisses to the crown of your head as you slowly drifted to sleep with your head against his chest. As you fell asleep, you knew in the back of your mind that things between the two of you would never be the same come morning time.

You became his and he became yours.

Nearly eight months had passed since that night. Now, you’ve abandoned your apartment for someone else to take over, having moved all of your meager belongings into Joel’s place. You spent most of your little free time there anyways, and he felt more at ease knowing that you were coming home to him, instead of by yourself.

It’s a rare day in which neither of you were able to pick up a shift, all of the work slots for the day having been filled before either of you had gotten a chance to sign up for something. Not that either of you mind it, though—sometimes it’s nice to have a day off to spend together.

Joel, apparently, has been planning on making the most of your day off. He wakes you up with his tongue between your thighs and his hands holding your hips down on the ratty mattress. You come quickly, nearly reaching your peak while still half asleep, and the force of your orgasm hitting you fully wakes you up. He places soft kisses to the insides of your trembling thighs, looking up at you with an almost boyish glint in his eyes as you huff out a soft laugh.

“Well, good morning to you, Mr. Miller,” you say with a smile, one of your hands drifting down to cup his cheek. 

He grins at you—a rare sight these days—as he turns his head to place a wet kiss to the inside of your palm. “Mornin’. Nice wake-up call?”

“The best,” you giggle, moving your hand up into his hair and giving it a tug. He groans at the feeling, his eyes going a little glassy. “Now come up here and kiss me.”

You don’t need to tell him twice. He moves up your body, placing soft nips and kisses to your skin over the thin t-shirt you’re wearing. When he reaches your mouth, you kisses you fully and deeply, wasting no time in letting his tongue trace your bottom lip. You open up to him eagerly, moaning into him at the feeling of his tongue against yours. 

He kisses you until you can’t breathe, only pulling away when you tug harshly on his hair. A thin string of saliva connects your lips to his, and he watches with rapt attention as your tongue pokes out to wipe it away. When his eyes finally flick back up to reach yours, you hit him with a playfully questioning glare.

“How’d you get my pants off without waking me up, anyways?”

He grins at you again as he grinds his own denim-clad hips down against yours, the rough material catching against your clit just right to pull a soft, needy moan from your lips. Joel bends down to kiss you again, laughing softly when you chase his lips as he pulls away.

“I have my ways, darlin’.” He plucks at your shirt and asks, “Can I take the rest of it off now?”

With a nod, you lift your arms above your head, allowing him to pull the fabric from your body. Once your shirt is off and on the floor, Joel moves to unclasp your bra, but you playfully swat at his hand and shake your head.

“Nuh-uh, you gotta take somethin’ off first. You’re wearing too many clothes.”

Joel rolls his eyes at you but complies with your request, deftly unbuttoning his shirt and pushing both his jeans and his underwear off. You can’t help but bite your lip at the sight of him, gloriously naked in front of you. His cock is hard and flushed red, a pearl of pre-come beading at the tip. You sit up on the bed, preparing to lean forward and take him into your mouth, the thought of tasting him practically making you drool. He stops you though, pushing lightly on your shoulder until you’re laying back down, allowing him to crawl over you once more.

“Nuh-uh,” he grumbles, mocking your earlier tone. “Now who’s wearing too many clothes?”

You huff and quickly remove your bra, throwing it to the ground with the rest of your discard clothes. Once you’re finally fully naked, you try to reach out and take him in your hand. He’s faster than you though, taking both of your wrists in one of his and pinning them above your head. 

He bends down to nudge your nose with his, angling your mouth just right for him to kiss you. It’s so sensual, the way he easily slips his tongue into your mouth and takes your breath for his own. You could kiss him for hours. He pulls away and starts to pepper soft kisses across your cheek and down your jaw, until his lips reach your ear.

“I’ll give you what you want later, baby, I promise. I’ll put my cock in your pretty little mouth and let you suck your fill,” he rasps into your ear, the roughness of his whisper and the promise of his words sending a shiver down your spine and whimper out of your mouth. “But that’s not what I want right now. D’ya wanna know what I want?”

He sits up to look at you, his pupils blown wide as he takes in your trembling figure. You let out a soft yes as you nod your head.

“Right now, I wanna feel your pussy come all over my fingers. Then, when you’re nice and wet and fuckin’ gagging for it, I’m gonna slide my cock inside of you, real slow, and fuck you until you cry. When you just can’t take anymore, I wanna pull out and come all over your pretty tits. Can I do that to you, darlin’? Will you let me?”

You’re uncomfortably wet, can feel your slick practically leaking out of you and sliding down to wet the sheet underneath you. The arousal his words have stirred up in your belly is nearly unbearable, and you almost headbutt him with the force in which you nod your head.

“Fuck, yes, Joel, you can. You can do it all, whatever you want.”

He chuckles at you and leans down to kiss you again, quick and dirty. “Barely even touched you, and you’ve already gone cockdumb. My needy girl.” His eyes flick up to where he’s still holding your hands above your head. “If I let you go, are you gonna behave?”

“I’ll be good, Joel, promise,” you say quickly. 

He nods once and lets go of your wrists, looking pointedly at you to make sure you keep them there. Once he’s sure you’re not going to try and get ahead of yourself, he lets himself touch you. His rough hands drag down your arms and to your ribcage, his thumbs lightly stroking your skin. He slides his palms up to cup both of your breasts, his thumbs now working over your nipples in light strokes. The moan that you let out would have embarassed you if you weren’t so turned on. You start to squirm as Joel gets a little bit rougher with you, but you obey his silent command to keep your hands where they are.

You almost grab at him when he leans down to take the hardened bud of one of your nipples into his mouth, his tongue swirling sloppily around it while he rolls and pinches the other between his fingers. You catch yourself at the last second, though, stopping yourself from winding your fingers into his hair.

Joel lets go of your nipple with a lewd pop and kisses his way back up to your mouth while his hands slides down your body. He takes your bottom lip in between his teeth at the same time he cups your pussy, sliding his middle finger through your wet folds. He chuckles darkly at the way your hips buck against him and how you struggle to keep your hands where he told you.

“Messy girl,” he murmurs against your cheek, pecking you there. “Let’s see if I can make an ever bigger mess a’ya.”

“Fuck,” you gasp as he easily slides two of his fingers inside of you. Your cunt clenches at the feeling of him working you open, his fingers move in slow, even strokes.

“Feels good, don’t it, honey?” Joel teases. “You like the way I fuck you with my fingers?”

You whimper in response, nodding your head weakly. He angles his hand to rub against the spot that nearly knocks the breath from you, his palm grinding against your clit. Your back arches off the bed with a hoarse shout of Joel’s name. He groans against your skin at the way you tighten around his fingers.

“Oh fuck, Joel, please,” you whimper, trying to move your hips in time with his fingers. He uses his free hand to push you back down against the bed, keeping you from moving further. Joel leans down to nuzzle your throat, nipping lightly at the delicate skin there. He looks up at you, a knowing smirk on his face.

“Please what? Use your words for me, honey.”

You can’t help the whine of frustration you let out as you squeeze your eyes shut. It’s hard for you to find words when he’s fucking you so well with his fingers.

Joel slows his fingers nearly to a stop and your eyes pop back open in a panic. His face is stern as you rush to say, “Wait, no, no, no, please, don’t stop, I—”

“Use. Your. Words. What do you need?”

You take a deep breath and nod your head. “Can I touch you? Please? I promise I’ll be good, I just… I wanna feel you.”

Joel smiles at you now, leaning down to place a quick kiss to your lips. “Hands in my hair, honey. Keep ‘em there, understand?”

He doesn’t need to tell you twice. As soon as the words have left his lips, you’re tangling your fingers in his hair, pulling him down to kiss you again. It’s filthy, all tongues and teeth. Joel starts to move his fingers inside of you again, gradually picking up the pace until he’s back to his original speed. You moan into his mouth, your brows furrowed in pleasure.

You can feel your orgasm building in your core, the coil winding tighter and tighter as Joel’s fingers work inside of you. Joel pulls away from your lips, letting you guide him to rest forehead against yours. It’s a struggle to keep your eyes open, but you force yourself to, wanting to watch the way he watches you. He looks almost as far gone as you feel.

“I can tell you’re close,” Joel rasps. “Your pussy’s squeezing my fingers. Can’t wait to feel you do that around my cock. You gonna come for me, sweet thing?”

He starts to move his fingers a little faster, rubbing against you a little bit harder. The extra friction tears a sob from your throat. You can’t help the way a few tears well up in your eyes, the pleasure Joel is giving you bordering on overwhelming. Your orgasm is so close, your body tightening against him while your thighs starts to shake from the sensation. You nod your head, a whispering chant of yeses falling from your lips.

“Go on then, baby. Come for me.”

Joel's words send you over the edge, coming hard around his fingers and pulling almost painfully at his hair. Your moans are obscenely loud, and if you had any wits left about you, you’d be embarrassed by your volume. But you don’t and you’re not. The only thing you care about in this moment is the feeling of Joel’s fingers working you through an earth-shattering orgasm, the pleasure flowing all throughout your body. You don’t even notice the tears that have fallen from your eyes until Joel’s kissed them away.

You whimper as Joel slowly pulls his fingers from you once your body has settled back down and your breathing has returned to normal. You release the grip you have on his hair, letting your hands drift down the sides of his neck to curl around his shoulders. He holds his hand up for you to see, his fingers wet with you. You watch, mesmerized, as he spreads his fingers, your slick webbing between them.

"Look at what a pretty mess you made of my hand," he murmurs as his eyes move from his fingers to you. "Better clean it up, yeah?"

Silently, you nod your head and Joel begins to lower his fingers to your mouth. He starts softly, running his fingers along your bottom lip, coating it with you. When your mouth falls open with a pant, he takes the opportunity to push his fingers inside, rubbing along your tongue. Your lips close around his fingers with a whimper, relishing in the groan he lets out as you suck them clean.

He’s panting almost as hard as you are by the time he pulls his fingers from your mouth. You can tell he’s reached the end of his rope, has worked himself up almost too much teasing and playing with you. He takes his cock in his hand, hissing as he strokes himself a few times.

“Gotta fuck you now, honey,” he says roughly as he lines himself up at your entrance. 

“Please, Joel,” you whimper, attempting to lift your hips to pull him into you. “I want it. Please.”

Joel practically growls as he pushes into you, not stopping until he’s buried to the hilt. Your nails dig sharply into the skin of his shoulders, your back arching off the bed and a broken moan falling from your lips. Joel is big, and no matter how much he preps you, how wet he makes you, the feeling of his cock pushing inside of you is always overwhelming.

“Fu-uck,” you gasp, your walls clenching around him. His breathing is ragged, and you know it’s only a matter of seconds before he loses control and fucks you within an inch of your life. He stays still for a moment, allowing you to adjust to the feeling of him inside you. He meets your eyes, takes in the way you can barely keep them open, how your mouth is open as you try to catch your breath, the way your lips are a little swollen from the kisses and bites he’s given you. When you sluggishly blink back him and give him a blissed-out smile, he’s done for.

He pulls out nearly all the way before snapping his hips forward, hard, the force of it making you yelp and cling to him even further. The pace he sets is brutal, and you feel your body moving up the mattress with every stroke. Joel grunts above you, reaching one hand down to grip your thigh and pull your leg up higher on his torso. It allows him to hit inside of you even deeper, almost impossibly so, the change in angle making you clench around him.

“Jesus, fuck, you’re—” Joel grits out from behind his teeth, cutting himself with a shout when you clench around him again. “Fucking hell, you’re squeezin’ me so damn tight.”

He trails his hand from your thigh and up the side of your body, the feeling of his hand moving against your skin making you break out in goosebumps. His hand grips either side of your jaw, and with what little brain power you have left, you’re captivating by how big hands are. 

Your train of thought is broken, though, by Joel’s face coming closer to yours. You think he’s holding you in place to kiss you, but instead his fingers squeeze, forcing your mouth open.

“Stick your tongue out,” he pants at you. When you don’t comply right away, his order taking a moment longer than it normally would to process in your brain, he squeezes you harder, nearly snarling, “Now.”

You stick your tongue out and when you do, Joel leans down and spits into your mouth. Your eyes go wide at the feeling of it on your tongue, a wrecked moan slipping out. He lets go of your jaw and instead shoves his fingers back into your mouth, his digits moving in time with his hips. You gag a little on his fingers, a few more tears building and falling from the corner of your eyes in quick succession. 

When Joel pulls them out, a trail of your spit connects his fingers to your lips. He grumbles a rough “fuck,” before moving his hand down to where your bodies are connected. His spit-slick fingers begin to rub fast circles against your aching clit, the shock of it making you shout and tighten around him.

“Jesus fucking christ, Joel,” you cry out. “Fuck, don’t stop, please, I’m so close.”

“Not gonna stop. Need to feel you come around my cock. Come on, baby. Let me have it.”

“Yes, fuck, I’m gonna come,” you moan with a nod. Your orgasm had been building steadily, each of Joel’s rough thrusts dragging perfectly against your walls to send you higher and higher. With his slick fingers now on your clit, you felt you could snap at any moment.

Joel must’ve felt it before you did, yours walls tightening like a vice around him, making his hips stutter and pulling a low groan from his chest. Your whole body tenses up beneath him, the air knocked from your lungs, before everything releases. The waves of pleasure rolling through your body are intense and overwhelming, a wailing moan falling from your lips. You’re practically sobbing beneath him, unable to hear him talk you through it over the pounding in your ears.

He works you through it as best as he can, only managing to stay inside of you for a few more thrusts before the feeling of your fluttering cunt becomes too much for him. He pulls out of you abruptly and takes himself in his hand, working his cock as he lets your legs fall back down to the bed and quickly shuffles up your body to straddle your torso.

“Look’it you, all pretty and fucked out for me,” Joel grunts, his fist working his cock faster and faster. “You always take me so well. Let me use you how I want. God, you’re fucking—” His hips stutter and he moves to grip the base of his cock as he lets go, coming over your tits. You moan as the feeling of his warm spend hits your chest. A flicker of arousal lights in your core at the sight of him marking you.

“Perfect,” he finishes with a groan, stroking himself a few final times. When he’s milked his cock dry, he turns and flops down next to you on the bed, gathering you into his arms and pulling you against him. He doesn’t care that his come hasn’t even finished drying against your skin, that it’s getting all over him. All he wants right now—knows all you need right now—is for him to hold you in his arms. He leans down to press a few soft kisses to the crown of your head.

The two of you are silent for a while, taking the time to bask in the after glow and let your hearts and breathing return to normal. You snuggle down further into Joel’s chest, feeling your eyes growing heavy with fatigue. You blink slowly a few times, letting them fall shut.

“You fallin’ asleep on me, honey?” Joel asks you, the soft rumble of his voice lulling you even further.

You hum wordlessly, too exhuasted to try and formulate a response. His soft chuckle jostles you a little, but he settles quickly, pecking your head once again.

“Get some rest while you can, baby. ‘Cause it’s still early, and I ain’t done with you yet.”

It’s going to be a long day off for you.

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller fanfiction #the last of us #the last of us fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfiction

[babycatlix]

hello friends! 🩵 happy new year! i hope 2024 is good to you!

another year gone! last year, when i made a post like this, it was all mushy and i was all sentimental, so i'll try to not be as mushy this time.

i started out pretty strong last year, i was determined to keep up with certain things, but as you might've seen... i did not do that well 😅 my mental health went kind of haywire after spring break, when i didn't have my laptop for a week and i didn't make as many sets as i had hoped. but i'm doing better now and i'm trying to get back into the swing of things. my laptop was also dying a lot more frequently. it would crash, not connect to the internet, and photoshop would sometimes randomly quit and i would lose all my work. so it was difficult for me to stay motivated when i was afraid one or all of those things would happen.

however, over my winter break from work (that was much needed), i got a new computer and i'm feeling super motivated to get shit done! and i am feeling better mentally. even though i was sick for 5 of the 15 days i was off... which pissed me off to no end! i did manage to make at least 20 gifsets during my break, which is 20 more sets than i had before break. i'm trying to be kinder to myself about "not keeping up" and with some silly motivational stickers, i think i'm getting better at being okay with what i can do 🩵

i wanna thank some ppl and some networks for keeping me sane throughout the year. no particular order, just alphabetical. i love and appreciate each and every one of you! even if we don't talk as often as we used to, i still love you a whole lot 🩵

mutuals & other lovely peoples

@agibbangs / @atinystraykid / @boba-skz / @chanrizard / @changbeens / @chanstopher / @cheekyquokka / @foxinys / @freckledbbokkie / @galacticlycoris / @geniaparadox / @ggthydrangea / @hanjesungs / @hanarchy / @hyunebear / @jerirose / @jinniebit / @jisungs / @juiceofmoons / @jisungsjaistandjeekies / @haenglixie / @lee--felix / @leefelex / @dinoboos / @missyedits / @nevoono / @quokki / @snug-gyu / @spuppym / @strayklds / @straykidsgallery / @sunnishine / @winterfloral / @yonglixx

networks

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here's hoping 2024 is better than 2023! if you're going out for new year's please be safe, make good choices, and definitely stay hydrated! 🩵 and if no one's told you recently, i'm proud of you and you're doing great! 🥰

#new years post #happy new year!

[virtie333]

Paint It Black

Yovanna is starting a new life in Australia, but she would be happier if the man who helped her get there could share that life with her.

My first Triple Frontier fic, written in honor of the Netflix movie's 5th anniversary. It's just a simple love story, what I would have wished to see happen for Santiago and Yovanna.

@triplefrontier-anniversary

Rated NC-17 for Explicit Sexual Content (18+ Only!): Includes protected P in V and mirror sex.

Cross-posted on AO3

5.6k words (sorry, not sorry!)

Inspired by this gifset!

“Katia?”

It took almost two full seconds for Yovanna to respond to the teenage girl behind the counter; she was still not used to that name. Katia Hernàndez was who she was now, but despite living with that name for the last six months, she still had a hard time remembering to respond to it. She wondered if she would ever find it easy.

She turned toward the front of the delicatessen, where sixteen-year-old Maggie was looking at her expectantly, a plastic bag on the counter in front of her. The girl smiled when Yovanna looked her way, and Yovanna smiled back.

“Sorry, I was distracted.”

Maggie giggled. “Yeah, my mind likes to wander a lot, too.”

Yovanna walked over to the counter to take the bag with her purchases. “Gracias,” she told the girl.

“De nada,” Maggie responded. “Is that right?”

Yovanna smiled. “Si, that’s one way to say ‘thank you’.”

A woman came up behind Maggie, grinning. “You know, she had no interest in learning a foreign language until you started shopping here,” Lauren said. Blonde like her daughter, Lauren Oggelby owned and operated Oggelby Deli, one of the few delicatessens in Kiama, New South Wales. Seeing as it was just down the street from the apartment Yovanna shared with her little brother Emiliano – Ezra now, she reminded herself – it was the only deli she had been to in this town. The straightforward friendliness of Lauren and Maggie made it feel comfortable and safe.

Safe was not something Yovanna was used to.

“I want to learn it so well I can have a full conversation with you in Spanish,” Maggie said, responding to her mother’s comment.

Yovanna nodded. “Well, from what I understand, it’s a lot easier to learn Spanish than English, so be glad you already know the hard one.”

Maggie laughed while Lauren nodded. “You speak it fluently,” she observed.

“My mother was raised in the United States,” Yovanna said, making sure she didn’t say where in the U.S. “I grew up speaking both Spanish and English.”

“I want to visit Guatemala someday,” Maggie said dreamily. “It sounds beautiful.”

Yovanna smiled again. “It is.” She shrugged. “I better get going. I’ll see you both later!” She didn’t dare speak any more about the country she was from, especially since it wasn’t Guatemala. The two women waved at her and said their goodbyes as Yovanna left the store. She slipped on her sunglasses and headed down the sidewalk, away from the beach which was only a quarter of a mile away to the east. She would probably end up there later today; she usually did. She loved the ocean, though she had rarely seen it before coming to Australia six months ago. She would be content to live next to the sea for the rest of her life.

She arrived at the gate to the small complex she lived in. At the moment, it was only temporary, as she hoped to find a nice house in the near future, but odds were good Emiliano would stay here. He had started on-line classes just a few weeks ago, and Yovanna knew he wanted to become more independent; they had been in each other’s pockets since they had arrived, and they were both ready to start living their own lives now that things seemed to be settled.

Kiama was a beautiful, quiet place, and Yovanna was ready to call it home.

Yovanna climbed to the second floor of the complex, then walked to the third door down. She unlocked it, then nearly ran into her brother as he was heading out. “Where are you off to?” she asked in Spanish.

“I’m going to Ted’s,” he told her in English. He was determined to fit in to his new home by rarely speaking his native language. He wanted to rid himself of any accent other than Australian. “Then I have a date with Margo tonight, so I don’t know when I’ll be home.”

Yovanna felt a tug of anxiety and tried to ignore it. Emiliano had been doing well since they had arrived to this new country with new names and forged documents. His short jaunt in jail in Colombia, and the terror of having been in the discotech in Tarapacà when it was raided and almost destroyed by police, had set him back on a safer course. Money was not an issue for them anymore, and drugs had fortunately not become an addiction before his arrest. Their arrest, actually. Only she had gotten away.

With the help of one of those ‘cops.’

“Well, have fun,” she responded, also in English. “But not too much fun. Make sure you use protection.”

She couldn’t help but smile as her little brother, who stood taller than her and was very much a mature young man, blushed. “I will,” he mumbled before heading past her out of the apartment.

Sighing, Yovanna took the bag into the kitchen and began to put away the meats and cheeses and spreads she had purchased, her mind drifting, as it often did, to the ‘cop’ who had helped her and her brother get here. She wondered where he was. What he was doing. Had he made it out of Colombia safely? Had he and his friends gotten all that money over the mountains? Was he now lazing on some beach somewhere, some beautiful blonde in a bikini feeding him cholados?

She shook her head, chastising herself. She needed to stop thinking about him. He most likely had forgotten about her. Hell, she didn’t even know his name!

She finished putting away her purchases and leaned back against the counter, remembering the last day she had seen him, when she and Emiliano had started their journey to Australia with three million dollars. She remembered the question his friend, another former soldier, had asked her. “After you had sex…” She scoffed. She wished that had been the case. For the almost thirteen months she had known ‘Consejero,’ he had never once done anything improper or propositioned her in any way. She had often wondered why, as other ‘officials’ she had known, American or otherwise, had never been shy about requesting sex in exchange for protection and secrecy.

And Lord knows if he had requested that of her, she would not have refused.

But he never did. Though there were times… no. She was fooling herself, thinking she had often read more in his gaze than was most likely there. That he cared about her. That he worried about her.

That he loved her.

She groaned out loud and pushed herself away from the counter, moving toward the refrigerator, intent on getting something cold to drink. Though the AC in the apartment worked wonderfully, thinking about Consejero always made her heat up. She needed to follow her brother’s example and find someone here. Goodness knows she had already been asked out by enough people since her arrival. It didn’t matter that she was always comparing them to him. And always found them lacking.

There was a sharp, sudden knock on the door and it made her jump. She shook her head at her own nervousness and moved toward the door, wondering if it was her brother. Maybe he had forgotten something. She unlocked the door and pulled it open, then stood in silent shock as she saw who was on the other side.

As if she had conjured him with her thoughts, Consejero himself was here.

XXXXX

Yovanna stared at the man standing outside her doorway, her eyes quickly assessing him, noticing the changes from the last time she had seen him. His hair was longer, the grey a little less pronounced in the thicker curls. He had the familiar 5-o’clock-shadow, but his face seemed narrower, his cheekbones more pronounced, as if he had lost weight. His broad shoulders also seemed sharper under his dark grey button down, and as her gaze trailed down his body to his khaki cargo pants, she realized he was indeed skinny. Too skinny.

She brought her eyes back up to meet his. Chocolate brown and as intense as always, this was something that hadn’t changed. She opened her mouth to speak, but the shock of his appearance kept her silent.

“Hello, Yovanna,” he said softly, his heavy brows low as he watched her carefully.

“Katia,” she said automatically in reply.

He huffed slightly and the corner of his mouth curled up. “Katia.” He took a deep breath, then shook his head. “If you want me to leave and pretend I never saw you-“

“No!” she interrupted him. She stepped back. “Come in, please?”

He did as she asked, walking past her toward her living room. His cologne, subtle and alluring, caught her attention. That also hadn’t changed, she thought as she closed her eyes and breathed deep. Delicious. She opened her eyes and closed the door, locking it immediately as she had become accustomed to. She turned and followed him into the living room.

He turned to face her, his expression uncertain. “Where’s Duke?”

She rolled her eyes at her brother’s nickname. “Ezra is with friends.”

“He’s doing well?”

She nodded. “Yes.” She paused, and when he didn’t continue, she rushed ahead. “What are you doing here?” She didn’t bother asking how he had found her; he had been the one to have the fake passports and documents made. He knew more about her new persona than she did. The question that she needed answered was why he was here.

He bit his lip, and she tried not to think about what that action did to her physically, then he met her eyes with his own. There was a strange desolation in them, a sadness she didn’t remember seeing in his eyes before. She had witnessed him angry and concerned, and she had seen those eyes light up with laughter, but never had she seen him like this.

“What happened?” she whispered, knowing it wasn’t good.

He gave a heavy sigh and moved to sit down on one of the stools that sat along the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room. “Everything wrong,” he told her.

“You didn’t get the money out, did you?” she asked softly.

He shook his head. “Not much.”

“Did everyone make it?” she whispered, instinctively knowing that while losing all that money would be devastating, losing one of his friends would be worse.

His lips tightened and his eyes narrowed as he looked away from her, then he gave a sharp shake of his head. “Redfly didn’t,” he mumbled.

“Redfly?” she said. She hadn’t known the men he had brought to take down Lorea, but he had told her that she could trust them. That he trusted them with his life. And she had overheard them talking with each other. “He was the one that didn’t trust me, wasn’t he?”

He gave another sharp nod, then looked at her. “And I’m not going to deny how pleased I was to prove him wrong about you,” he said softly. “But he was off his game. We all were.”

“I’m sorry,” Yovanna said softly, and she meant it. While she might not have had a good experience with the man, he was still this man’s friend. And she cared about this man. Too much.

He shrugged. “What money we got out, we gave to his family,” he continued. “I’ve just been… wandering since. Can’t go back to Colombia. Can’t go back to the States.”

She nodded. “Diego and his men know your real name,” she said. And they had plenty of contacts in the States. She huffed a laugh. “So, you came to the one person you know who actually benefitted from your heist.”

He furrowed his brows for a moment, then his eyes widened as he realized what she was saying. “Oh, no! That’s not why I’m here,” he argued. “I may not be a millionaire, but I’ve still got plenty of my own money from investments keeping me afloat. I…”

She laughed at his defensiveness and moved to the refrigerator in the kitchen. Opening it, she pulled out a couple bottles of Schweppes lemonade and handed one to him. “It doesn’t matter,” she told him, trying to believe it herself. The idea that he had come for her and just her was too much to hope for. “It’s not like Emiliano… I mean Ezra and I are going to need all that money. It started out as yours, and you are welcome to a share.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s yours. I don’t care if you keep the majority in hiding or invest it or give it all away to charity, it’s yours.” His dark eyes were focused on her intently once more. “I came here because I missed you.”

Yovanna sat on the stool next to him, but couldn’t look at him. Instead, she focused on opening the bottle in her hand.

He continued. “I missed talking to you. I missed complaining about all those little things that annoy me to you, and getting your sympathy. You were the only person I really trusted in Tarapacà, dare I say my only friend there?” He paused, waiting for her to look at him. “I missed your smile. Your laugh. The way you glared at me when I teased you.”

She finally looked at him, searching his face, but she saw no duplicity there. Despite their official relationship, she believed he had never lied to her. And she had never lied to him, which is why he had been so angry with her after the discotech raid. “I wasn’t like any of your other informants, was I?” she asked, and she couldn’t help the bit of sarcasm in her voice.

Either he didn’t pick up on it or he chose to ignore it. “No, you weren’t. And you were my only one in the end. The only one I trusted.”

Yovanna took a sip of her drink, then shook her head again. “I always wondered why you treated me different,” she told him. “Carmen and Lucia had much different relations with you.” Carmen was one of the secretaries in the office she had worked at, the one where most of Lorea’s money was funneled through. And Lucia was her friend who worked as a housekeeper for several of Lorea’s men in Tarapacà. It was through them that this man had found her, a lowly accountant, who knew far more about the coming and going of all that dirty money than most of her coworkers.

He seemed to pull back at her words, knowing now what she was getting at. Carmen and Lucia had both commented more than once that he ‘paid them well,’ both in and out of bed.

He watched her silently for a long moment. “You’re wondering why I didn’t fuck you, aren’t you?”

She felt her face heat, which was crazy. Yovanna wasn’t an innocent, though it had been a very long time since she had been in a relationship with a man. Since before she met this one, in fact. She tried to shake her head to deny his question, but she couldn’t.

“There’s two very good reasons why I never asked you for that kind of arrangement,” he told her, his voice hardening. “One was that I knew you weren’t that kind of woman. Lucia and Carmen both used sex to control the men in their lives on a regular basis. It was an exchange as easy as money to them. I knew you were different.” He took a deep breath. “And two… I knew I could love you.”

Yovanna’s eyes shot up to his face. Had she heard him right? Had he actually used the word love? She was literally speechless at his comment, but as she searched his face, she once more found no evidence of deceit. If anything, he looked nervous, as if he wasn’t sure he should have admitted something so dangerous.

When her silence continued, he grimaced and nodded. Setting the unopened bottle of lemonade on the counter, he stood. “I just wanted to be sure you and your brother were doing okay. It looks like you found a perfect home, and I hope you are happy here. I don’t want to upset that peace. Goodbye, Yovanna.” He paused and smiled slightly. “I mean Katia.” He nodded and turned toward her door.

“I don’t even know your name,” she said, hating how desperate her voice sounded.

He stopped and turned back as he reached the door. “Santiago,” he told her. “Santiago Garcia.”

She slid off the stool and walked quickly toward him. “Don’t go, Santiago. Please, don’t leave.”

“Give me a reason to stay,” he responded, his voice rough.

She reached for his hand, taking it in both of hers and rubbing his calloused palm gently. She brought it up to her mouth and kissed his rough knuckles, then looked him in the eye. Slowly, deliberately, she turned and tugged on his hand, coaxing him to follow her to her bedroom.

He didn’t resist.

XXXXX

Santiago.

The name rolled around in her head like the lyrics to a favorite song. Santiago. It was perfect for him. It was strong and masculine, but caring and empathetic, like the stories of the saints she learned as a child. Santiago.

As soon as the door to her bedroom closed behind them, he had her pinned to the wall, her arms up with their fingers entwined, his mouth on hers. She reciprocated by writhing against him, meeting his tongue with her own in a sensuous dance. As his lips dropped to her neck, she pulled her hands free, reaching down to work on the buttons of his shirt. He responded by grabbing the hem of her t-shirt and pulling it up and over her head. She stepped away from him a bit so she could toe off her shoes and he moved to sit on the corner of her bed so he could remove his boots.

She followed him there, bending over to work on his shirt once more. He tried kissing her while they both worked, missing her mouth and connecting with her cheek or her ear over and over again until she was giggling. When she looked at him, the crow’s feet around his eyes grew as his smile widened. The darkness in his eyes had faded.

She straightened and reached behind her for the clasp of her bra, slowly letting it slide down her arms. His eyes became intense once more as he watched her, slowly taking off his now unbuttoned shirt. As he focused on her bare breasts, she ran her eyes over his chest. While he had indeed lost weight in the last few months, he was still beautiful. Muscled without looking like a body builder, his copper skin tantalizing. His chest was hairless, but the trail of hair that began under his navel and disappeared under his waistband was alluring.

“Wait!” he said suddenly, and she brought her eyes up to meet his. “I seriously wasn’t expecting this,” he told her with a slight shake of his head, his eyes huge. “I don’t have protection.”

Yovanna smiled slightly and walked over to the dresser next to the bed. She opened the top drawer and pulled out an unopened box of condoms, then brought them back to Santiago. “I bought them for my brother, but he assured me he had his own.” She tossed the box onto the bed next to him.

He looked at them, then looked at her, and the excitement she saw in his eyes sent a shot of electricity through her. He began to unbuckle his belt, and she started to work on the fly of her lightweight trousers, quickly sliding them off as he stood and removed his, boxers and all. He stepped into her before she could get a good look at his impressive erection, wrapping his arms tight around her and finding her mouth with his own once more. She let herself sink into his kiss, feeling her whole body shiver at the feel of his naked skin against hers.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting her hands sweep along his shoulders and the back of his neck. Her fingers found the scar there, and she gently massaged the area. She knew he had gotten surgery on his neck only a few months before the heist had taken place; he had returned home to the States for it, and she had missed him while he had been gone. His mouth once more dropped down to her neck, but then she felt him still. She pulled back slightly to look at him, and realized he was looking behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see what had caught his attention away from her.

It was their own reflection in the floor length mirror on her closet door. She felt her heart start to race as she watched his hands smooth down her naked back, cupping her almost-bare bottom; she was still wearing a pair of teal-colored panties.

Suddenly, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around with a growl deep in his throat. As she faced their reflection, she caught sight of his cock, which looked even more massive than before now that he was fully aroused, and then she felt it pressed against the upper curve of her buttocks. His arms came around her once more, one hand cupping her breast and squeezing it lightly, the other dropping down between her legs, his fingers delving into her panties to burrow into her wet heat. She cried out, both the feel of him and the sight of them in the mirror shooting her arousal into orbit.

“So fucking wet,” he murmured roughly against her neck, his fingers playing with her sensitive folds. “So fucking wet for me.”

His words made her whimper, and she rocked her hips against his touch.

“Look at me!” His words were harsh and made her jump. She hadn’t realized she had closed her eyes. She opened them to look at him in the mirror, making eye contact through their reflection. “Tell me you want this!” he demanded. “Tell me now or I walk out of here.”

And he would, she knew. He would stop if she didn’t give him the okay. This man, a trained killer, would leave her alone if she asked, even as fully aroused as he was right now. Holding his powerful gaze, she nodded. “I want this.”

He brought his hand out from between her legs and plucked at her panties. “Off!” he told her as he backed toward the bed, grabbing the box she had put there and ripping it open. She slid her panties off as he removed a condom, preparing it and sliding it on. She had turned to watch him and didn’t hide that fact. ¡Dios mío! He was thick! She felt her pussy weep even more fluid at the thought of him inside of her. He finished and stepped toward her again. Briefly he made eye contact once more before grasping her shoulders and turning her away from him again. He pushed her forward gently, toward the mirror.

She realized what he was doing and she began to pant in excitement. When she was close, she leaned forward, her hands on the mirror. She looked up to see him move behind her and grasp her hip with one hand. She felt his cock come up between her legs, but he didn’t push in. Instead, he used his other hand to run it all over her dripping pussy, covering the condom with her juices. She moaned at the sensation, her hips moving counter to his actions. “¡Dios!” she cried, feeling an orgasm already threatening.

“Hermosa?” His throaty gasp caught her attention, and she looked up again, meeting his questioning gaze in the mirror.

She nodded quickly. “¡Ahora!”

Without any resistance, he slid into her. She cried out, smiling at the absolute pleasure his invasion brought her. “Yes!” she cried out in English.

“Fuck!” he responded. “You’re so tight! Please, tell me I’m not hurting you!” His voice was desperate.

“Santiago,” she said, her voice breathy as she continued to pant. “Santiago, please, fuck me!”

And he did, his hips immediately thrusting into her at a steady and solid pace. She dropped her head, unable to keep on watching their reflection in front of her, her sole focus on the feelings his body was creating in hers. She was so full, but she wanted more. She pushed back into him, encouraging him without words to move faster. He responded by quickening his pace, but he grumbled at her as he did so. “I’m trying to take this slow, Querida.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at his words. “I don’t want slow. We can go slow next time!”

“Fuck, yeah!” he said, his grip on her hips tightening. “Next time!” He began to pound into her harshly, and she laughed again in pure joy. Yes!!!!

“Oh, Dios!” she cried. She was almost there!

Suddenly, he dropped one of his hands down, reaching around in front of her to tease her clit. “Come on my fucking cock!” he hissed in her ear.

His touch combined with his words sent her over the edge and she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her body convulse, her pussy squeezing him tight, her legs tremoring. She saw stars. Or maybe they were fireflies. She wasn’t sure and she really didn’t care. She was crying, tears of ecstasy rolling down her cheeks. Her legs began to give out and Santiago moved his arm up to wrap around her waist, holding her tight against him.

When she was able to focus again, she realized he wasn’t moving. His cock was still buried deep inside her, but he was simply holding her. She looked up at him in the mirror, afraid and embarrassed of her reaction. He was smiling softly at her, his eyes wide and almost black with passion and… dare she think it? Love?

“You are so fucking beautiful,” he whispered.

She gathered her strength and straightened her legs, standing on her own again. His grip loosened, then he let her go completely and backed away, sliding out of her.

“No!” she couldn’t help but gasp. He wasn’t done. Just because she had had the most amazing orgasm of her life didn’t mean they were done!

His smile got bigger as he took her hand and led her toward the bed.

He sat on it and pushed himself back, laying down with his head on her pillows. His smile had turned into a smirk. “Come on, Cariño. You know what I want you to do.”

Yovanna climbed onto the bed on her knees and shuffled over to him. She threw one leg over his hips and settled on his thighs, his still rock-hard cock in front of her, teasing her super sensitive clit. Taking a deep breath, she rose up on her knees and grabbed his cock, then carefully mounted him. She was still so wet, he slid in easily, and she closed her eyes as she absorbed the feeling of him filling her once again, this time touching places he hadn’t in their previous position.

“Oh, yeah,” he murmured. “Perfect.”

She opened her eyes to see him looking to where they were joined. She also looked down, rather amazed that she could take him all, then she looked back at him. He was watching her now, and as she made eye contact with him, he lifted his hands toward her, fingers outstretched, in invitation.

She accepted, meeting his hands with her own, palm to palm, fingers intertwined once more. She began to rock, back and forth, with her hips. She leaned down to kiss him, bringing their joined hands up to rest just above his head on the pillow. He moaned into her mouth, letting her take control this time around, and apparently loving it. Eventually, they let go of each other so they could take their time touching each other. Yovanna played with his hair, running her fingers through it as she had imagined doing so many times before. Santiago let his fingers toy with her breasts, thumbing her nipples, then massaging her curves. They never stopped kissing.

As her rocking became faster, his hands moved down her back to her buttocks, the tips of his finger straying down to where they were joined, then up to tease her asshole briefly, making her squeal in surprise. It hadn’t been uncomfortable, she realized, just nothing she had tried before. Interesting. She pushed herself up straight once more, using her strong thighs to push herself up and down on him now. He also sat up, diving in to lick and suck on first her breasts, then her neck. He found her pulse point and began to suck hard; she knew he was marking her and didn’t care. Her bouncing increased in speed and his grip on her ass tightened.

“Fuck, I can’t hold it anymore,” he groaned.

“Don’t!” she told him. “Let go! Come for me!”

She felt his hips raise up off the bed as he ejaculated, finally coming. Dios, his stamina was amazing! As he let himself fall back onto the bed, Yovanna felt her own body start to tremble once more. This orgasm wasn’t as strong as her first, but it was no less satisfying. Breathing hard, she let herself fall forward and a little to the side, letting him slide out of her. He winced, then sat up to take care of the condom, tossing it in the waste basket next to the dresser. Then he fell back onto the bed, looking at her, a soft smile on his face.

She scooted close to him, tentatively putting her head on his shoulder, not sure how he felt about post-coital cuddling, but his arm wrapped around her immediately and he began to kiss her hair. They lay like this for a long time, letting their breathing and their hearts come back to normal. Yovanna became sleepy, but her brain soon started working overtime, and she was wide awake once more.

“Where are you staying?” she asked him.

“A little bed and breakfast on the other side of town,” he told her.

“You’re welcome to stay here,” she said softly.

“For how long?”

She lifted her head to look at him. “For however long you want.”

“With you?”

She shrugged. “Well, for a while. I’m planning on buying a house of my own, soon, but Emi—I mean Ezra, will probably stay here. So,” she gave him a teasing smile. “You can be roommates with him, or you can come live with me.”

He snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure he’d love if I stayed with him,” he said sarcastically.

“Then stay with me,” she told him, her voice soft but firm. “As long as you want.”

He was silent for a moment. “I know where the money is.”

She frowned at him.

He licked his lips. “Ironhead gave me the coordinates where we dumped it. In the mountains.” He was looking at her expectantly.

“How dangerous would it be to go back for it?” she asked carefully.

“Very,” he told her. “Not just because there are still people looking for it, but because the location it’s in is… treacherous.”

She bolstered herself for her next question. “And how much do you want it?”

He took a deep breath and pulled away from her. He slid off the bed and looked around until he found where his trousers had ended up, then he went over to them and pulled his wallet out from the back pocket. He opened it and took out a slip of paper. He dropped the pants and walked back over to where she was still lying on the bed, leaning on her elbow, her head propped on her hand as she watched him. He showed her the paper and she could see the coordinates on it. Then he reached for the long-stemmed lighter that sat on the dresser next to one of her scented candles. He lit it, then touched it to the paper, setting it on fire. He held onto it while most of it burned, then placed it on the candle, the remaining flame lighting the candle as it burned the last of the paper. He looked at her.

She gave him a half smile. “That’s a beautiful gesture,” she told him. “But do you really expect me to believe you don’t already have those numbers saved in your phone? Or even memorized in your head?”

He laughed. “Oh, come on! Let me have this dramatic moment!”

She laughed along with him, but soon he became serious once more.

“Give me a reason to not go back for that money,” he told her, the darkness from earlier appearing in his eyes once more.

She looked at him for a long moment. Then, in a trembling voice, she said, “I love you.”

His expression softened and his mouth opened as if he was stunned. He blinked rapidly, and Yovanna felt tears forming in her own eyes in response to his obvious emotion. He cleared his throat and bit his lower lip, but didn’t seem to know what to say. So, she sat up and continued.

“Stay here with me,” she told him. “Start a new life with me, away from pain and fear and anxiety.” She paused. “You’ve done more than enough, dealing with demons both real and in your mind. Let your body and your soul rest the way you deserve.” As his expression turned hopeful, she added, “Let me love you while we take care of each other.”

Slowly, he moved to lie next to her on the bed once more. “Forever?” he asked, his expression still full of such hope.

“Forever,” she told him.

“I love you, Yov—Katia,” he smiled softly as he corrected himself.

“And I love you, Santiago.”

“Yes, I’ll stay.”

Forever.

THE END

#fanfiction #triple frontier #triple frontier anniversary #santiago garcia #yovanna #santiago x yovanna #smut #romance #fluff

[deepdeanvsweston]

Detective gang and their tumblr blogs

Daisy's blog: dykes4detecting

- has one blog for absolutely everything she posts, and it's all a pretty pink colour

- does also have a rarely used sideblog for fashion

- occasionally makes alarming but nonchalant posts like 'someone threw me into the Nile yesterday lmao'

- but in the tags of the same post it'll be the most devastatingly tragic admittance of feelings you've ever seen like #it was so scary though... #im scared of showers now because of it and it makes me feel so stupid #like getting my feet wet gives me heart palpitations wtf???

- also makes posts like "you'd think people would put a little more effort to kill me considering the effort I put into stopping exactly that" and nobody can tell if she's shitposting or not

- reblogs a lot of historical lesbian content and the occasional Killing Eve gifset

- also reblogs poetry, especially sapphic obviously

- posts her own blackout poetry which is quite popular

Hazel's blog: woctordatson

- back when she was 12/13 Hazel had an entirely BBC Sherlock themed blog which was in fact actually popular and well known, in tumblr anyway

- did not change her blog name from this phase

- used to write Sherlock/Watson fanfic and post it

- (Daisy brings it up every so often and when she does Hazel tells her she wished she'd drowned (jokingly ofc))

- now has several blogs for different things because she likes having everything organised

- one of the blogs is called a-stamp-a-day where she (you guessed it!) posts a stamp a day, and a little bit about it

- (I hc Hazel to collect them and have a focused interest in them)

- another blog is poetry themed, and she ofc reblogs all of Daisy's blackout poems

- reblogs a lot of those gif stimboards (visual stimmer fr fr)

- LOVES the haiku bot

George's blog: beetles-and-boatles

- posts a lot about the Mary Celeste which are half detailed research posts and the other half is just 'the mystery of the Mary Celeste lives in my head rent free'

- may also post about other unsolved mysteries too

- made one joke post about Daisy acting like he didn't know her and posting 'ok so in December the Guardian says this girl died after a cult member threw her overboard a boat in Egypt and yet the BBC had an article last week reporting how she was at her father's funeral??? I have Questions'

- however it blew up and now Daisy Wells is lowkey an unsolved mystery tumblr superstar. George finds this hilarious

- also posts pictures of his pet beetles and infodumps about them

- very very very occasionally makes an incredible vague post about his crush like 'he adjusted my school tie and I leant into his hand,,, having a crush is horrific'

Alex's blog: spaceistrans

- says he doesn't have a doctor who blog but so clearly has a doctor who blog

- has doctor who quote "In 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important" as his header

- draws a lot of cute little pride icons, especially aromantic ones that are fairly popular

- also posts a lot about space like "there's an eclipse today!!!" and then he makes a post of the times in different countries you can see it

- reblogs all of George's unsolved mystery researched posts with super supportive tags like #this is so well researched!!!

- has a scheduled post each month that just says 'fuck you mom' (Daisy spam reblogs this every time it shows up on her dash)

- reblogs a lot of dw fanart and gif stimboards

#murder most unladylike #mmu #daisy wells #hazel wong #george mukherjee #alexander arcady #mmu headcannons

[seamayweed]

omg jesus christ how the hell you can sharpen the gif that.. sharp 🥹🥹 im such a fannnn please let me know some tips thank you

Hello, sweet Anon! I’m beyond flattered and honored that you would ask me for giffing tips and tricks 💙 “is he/she mad” sdfghjkl sounds about right - thank you!! 😂

Okay, let’s delve into it without much further ado:

(more underneath the cut)

1. HQ Videos

The most important thing is to get high-quality video files. I usually work with 1080p and got mine from dr*maday.me - you can find other kdramas there as well. It’s the go-to source for most kdrama gifmakers.

2. Brightness/Contrast

Make sure to get some good contrast with a Brightness/Contrast layer. That’s how you get the vibrancy, brightness, and deep blacks to make everything look more dynamic and quite sharp already even before the actual sharpening, though usually the colors end up too saturated and vibrant, so you’ll have to tone those down.

For the first gif in this set I used these settings:

This is what the gif looks like without any Brightness/Contrast layers (but still with all the other adjustment + coloring layers) vs. what it looks like with them:

3. Basic Sharpening

I like to leave the sharpening for last since it fits better into my workflow. For the basic sharpening (two Smart Sharpens) I use these common settings:

This is what it looks like after the two Smart Sharpens:

4. Vivid Sharpen (VS)

a. Full VS

For big gifs that are 540x500px or larger, I do a Vivid Sharpen after the basic two Smart Sharpens, and that’s what I did for the gifs in this set as well since they are 540x600px. I follow this tutorial, keeping the same settings (3.0px for the Gaussian Blur, 30% opacity for the VS group): https://sidonidoneeey.tumblr.com/post/667301663059656704/a-really-nice-anon-requested-a-gif-sharpening

And voila, there you have your beautiful crisp gifs! You could let it stay at that, but personally I also like to add an extra step…

b. Masking (Partial VS)

Hope you are familiar with masking, Anon!

If you aren’t, that’s okay too. Basically, you click on the icon of a circle in a square and a masking layer will appear on your VS group layer (as indicated by the red circle and arrows in the screenshot below). You can use a soft brush on that masking layer to hide and show what you like. Black = hiding the layer effect; white = showing the layer effect. After making the whole masking layer black (by inverting the colors with Ctrl+I), I use a white brush on the spots where I want to apply the VS:

Narrowing down the area of the sharpening is quite useful since VS tends to make gifs REALLY big, and the Tumblr size limit for gifs is currently at 10 MB, so that's something to keep in mind.

I also do it for depth of field (i.e. when the object in the foreground is sharp and the background is soft/blurry). Masking is a good way to amplify that, play with the soft/sharp contrast, and direct the viewer’s gaze.

With Park Sung-woong I found that VS works well on the dips and grooves in his skin, so I just generously used it on his whole body and face; with Woo Do-hwan I feel like VS looks a bit too harsh on his face, so I tried to use it mostly on his body + his hair, eyes, and mouth, leaving out the rest of his face (as best as I could since there's some movement), the way I did in gif 4 with the masking layer looking like this:

Here you can compare the screenshots of a partial VS vs. a full VS:

IMO the second one with the full VS looks slightly too harsh on his skin and darkens his face a bit, which I don't want; the background ends up looking grainier as well.

To get back to the first gif, here are three versions with different levels of sharpening for better comparison:

No Sharpening:

Smart Sharpen x2:

Smart Sharpen x2 + Partial VS:

And here you have the original footage (after cropping and resizing) vs. the final colored and sharpened gif:

...and that's how I did the sharpening for this gifset. Hope you found this helpful, dear Anon!

#asks #ty bb! #gif tutorial #seamayweed gif tutorials #seamayweed stuff

[omaenanimonoda]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better:

Tagged by @theworldisabrokenbonebutitishome and @forerussake - thanks guys!

3 Ships You Like: my brain could go in 10 different directions here in addition to the most obvious course, but most recently, hmmm - Ye Liuxi/Chang Dong (West out of Yumen) they were awfully cute together. I'd rewatch if the Youtube version wasn't such a mess. And still somehow surprisingly to me, pingxie- every time a post pops up it reminds me that oh yeah I do really feel them. And recently, fanghua (really!) after reading a fic that tossed me unceremoniously over the line. I'm not done making noise about that either.

First Ship Ever: I guess the first one I was really conscious of (and read fic for) was Mulder/Scully. damn that feels like an aeon ago, another life

Last Song You Heard: Kendall Tavern/Dancing in Allihies by Jenna Moynihan (it's a tune technically but I think that counts). as someone who plays a lot of music (instruments) I tend to listen to things I play or want to play, which means I'm usually listening to some odd shit.

Favourite Childhood Book: it's difficult to remember I blew through so many, although a lot were my mother's books and not necessarily for kids ..maybe Island of the Blue Dolphins? I cannot remember whether it was assigned to us in school or if I read it on my own, or both. Probably both!

Currently Reading: rereading クスノキの番人 by Higashino Keigo, so I can absorb more vocabulary than I did the first time around. Last time I was in Japan I didn't have a list of books to find and was aimlessly looking around- this one was on display and just sounded interesting so I grabbed one. It was cute, just slightly supernatural and sentimental - wouldn't be surprised if it gets animated or made into a short tv series. That and at the same time also 二百二十日 by Natsume Soseki because I love being at least mildly confused and challenged at all times.

Currently watching: Rewatching MLC just for the feels and also trying to figure out how to watch Ying Yang Master without having to give Netflix my cc number. Also would like to know where people are accessing the unofficial copies of Spirealm since the recent barrage of gifsets of a frighteningly young-looking Huang Junjie suggests it's around somewhere - anyone know?

Currently consuming: blueberries and just a little cabot plain greek yogurt - expensive but so good. I figure if food is gonna cost over $10 every time then I'd might as well eat something healthy that i'll want every day.

Currently craving: at the moment I'd love these clouds to clear up. It's Saturday in late February and the sun would be nice on my day off. Would love to go on a hike to look for oyster mushrooms though I never have good luck finding those. Update: went for a short jog and it felt like I woke up with someone else's legs today, in a bad way. I want the energy I had on Monday. Probably the fault of the junk I ate yesterday - trying broccoli and brown rice tonight, will try again tomorrow and see if it helps (usually does).

Tagging: As usual I think my mutuals are in on this already - anyone interested in a new set of questions? Maybe I could come up with something

#personal #sort of

[wonderlandleighleigh]

OKAY! So @lovepollution made a whole bunch of really excellent Midge/Lenny gifsets not too long ago, and told me to go ham on some fic based on them.

But they really did look like Midge was having the saddest Hanukkah ever.

So if you’re not ready for some angsty stuff, I’m sorry. But here’s some angsty stuff.

She’s not certain how things got so turned around.

Well, she knows, really, she just wishes things were different. 

Her relationship with Gordon imploded a year in, not that she had any business dating him, but it ended badly.

So badly, that as of now, she can’t find stage or television work in New York.

If she thought Sophie’s reach had been broad, she wasn’t prepared for Gordon’s. 

Midge has been nuked.

And so, she’d had choices to make.

She could have let her mother find her a husband, gone back to that life. Taken Joel back, gone back to that lie of a life.

She picks a third option: She leaves the kids with Joel and disappears to LA. She still can’t really find gigs, but there’s plenty of writing work. She doctors scripts for TV and films. She’s even helped out on a book or two.

It’s not what she wants, but it’s something.

And in the meantime, she goes to shows. Mort Sahl. Even Lenny, a few times, though she sits at the bar in the back, out of sight.

He looks good. Stable. And he’s so funny.

He has no interest in seeing her, she knows. He has a shiny new life out here. His daughter. His mother. A younger girlfriend.

Lenny has no use for Midge.

So she lets it be. She keeps her head down. Maybe Gordon will get over himself and end the blackball, but it’s possible she’ll never do stand-up again, despite the five full notebooks of material she’s generated in the last six months.

Hanukkah roles around, and she’s not going home. There’s too much writing to do, and from the last few times she’s spoken to her parents and Joel,  it’s evident that no one wants to see her. 

No one misses her.

Susie is still pissed, too, about Gordon. About how dumb Midge was. They still aren’t really speaking. 

Sometimes she gets a postcard from Noah, but that’s rare. 

She has made a couple of friends out here in LA, but Midge mostly keeps to herself, wary of hurting more people; ruining more relationships. 

So on the first night of Hanukkah, she makes herself some latkes and she takes comfort in the candlelight of the Menorah, and decides on an early night.

Or she means to, before there’s a knock on her apartment door. 

She frowns, no idea who it could be, and when she opens it, there stands Lenny, looking sheepishly with his hands shoved into his pockets. 

Midge takes a breath, her whole body tensing up, ready for what will likely be some sort of argument. “Lenny.” 

“Midge,” he responds, looking…

Worried. Mostly. 

“Got a minute?” he asks. 

She sighs softly, tugging her robe closer in, nodding reluctantly, letting him in.

She watches him look around at her small one bedroom apartment. It’s not much. It’s certainly not the Riverside Drive apartment, but it’s what she can afford, with most of her funds going back to New York to help pay for her parents and children to stay on the Upper West Side.

“I have some leftover latkes,” she offers hesitantly. “If you’re interested.” 

Lenny shrugs in a “sure why not” kind of way, and soon, they’re sitting at her little table, and he’s eating. Midge isn’t. 

She doesn’t feel like she’s been hungry in months.

“Rose called me,” Lenny tells her. His voice is soft, but conversational. “She’s worried about you.” 

Midge doesn’t respond. Her mother is not worried about her. Her mother has no interest in her life, since she’s not actively searching for a husband. 

“She was hoping you’d go home for Hanukkah,” Lenny goes on. 

“Why would I?” Midge asks quietly. “No one wants me there.” 

Lenny puts his fork down, narrowing his eyes at her. “Midge, this isn’t the first time you’ve been blackballed.” 

She takes a breath. “What are you doing here, Lenny?” .

“I told you-” 

“Why do you care?” Midge cuts him off. “You told me you wanted to be friends, and then you completely disappeared, until you heard I was dating Gordon. And then you yelled at me, and then disappeared again.” 

“I was still right,” he snaps, pointing a finger at her. “Don’t fuck your boss. Don’t shit where you eat.” 

“Thanks for the nugget of wisdom,” she snaps back. “Anything else to make me feel like crap about, while making yourself feel superior, or are you ready to leave?” 

He deflates a little. “Midge…” 

“I can’t work,” she tells him. “I can’t work anywhere. Not on television. Not in clubs. He completely burned me, so congratulations on being right. Again. I’m sure it feels great.” 

“Actually, I feel like shit about it,” he admits. “I felt like shit about it after I yelled at you, I just- you had made up your mind, and I…didn’t want to watch.” 

She stares at him, confused. 

“I didn’t want to watch you with him,” he explains. 

“You wanted to be friends.” 

“I did.” 

“And now you have a pretty young girlfriend,” Midge shrugs. “So you’re over it.” 

He stares at her seriously, silently. 

She shakes her head. “No. You don’t get to come here and try to save me, when you closed the door on us in the first place!” 

Lenny blows out a breath and leans forward. “I’m not here to save you. I’m worried about you. No matter what we have or haven’t been to each other, you’re still my friend, Midge, even if you don’t believe that. I don’t want you to be so miserable.” 

She closes her eyes and sighs. “I’m really okay, Lenny. I just- things are tough right now, but I’m okay.” 

He lifts an eyebrow at her. “Then why are you here instead of back east with your family for the holidays.” 

“Because no one wants me there!” Midge cries. “God knows Joel would rather I stay away. Susie still hates me. My only use to my parents and children is sending home a paycheck.” She looks him in the eyes. “No one. Wants me.” 

He gazes at her sadly, reaching out to rest a hand on top of hers. “It’s not true.” 

She pulls her hand away quickly. “You should go home.” 

“Midge-” 

“Go home, Lenny. You have a whole life. You don’t need me around to fuck it up.” 

“Is that what this is?” he asks, getting to his feet as she gets to hers to start clearing the food away. 

“What?” she scoffs. 

“You’re convinced you’ll destroy everyone around you, so you’ve gone into self-imposed exile?” he asks. 

She gives an exaggerated shoulder shrug. “Joel, you, Susie, Gordon, my parents, my children - all seem just fine without me - have always been just fine without me! Better, even! So yes, I stay away!” 

“They all miss you, Midge,” Lenny says softly. “I miss you, too.” 

“Go tell your girlfriend that,” she says, stacking the plates and carrying them into the kitchen. 

“It’s over,” he calls after her. “It ended months ago, because she wasn’t you. And she knew it, and I knew it, and…anyway. It’s over.” He slowly follows her into the small kitchen. “And even if it wasn’t over, I’d still be here, because I still care.” 

Her hands tremble as she starts washing the dishes, but she doesn’t reply. 

Lenny stands behind her, resting his hands on her elbows gently. “I got us two plane tickets back to New York,” he tells her quietly. “Leaves in a few hours. I’ve got a bag packed in my car out front, and we can pack a couple for you. We’ll be in New York by sunrise.” 

Midge remains quietly frozen, her eyes closing, letting herself enjoy how close he is for a moment. 

“Please come with me, Midge,” he says quietly. “Please let me help you fix this shit.” 

She lets out a strangled combination laugh-cry, and finds herself nodding in agreement. 

#fic #au #tmmm #Midge Maisel #Fictional Lenny Bruce #nobody dies I promise #angst

[margridarnauds]

fanfic writer emoji ask: ✍ 🎢 👀

✍ Do you have a beta reader?

For a while, I did, and they were and are great (we have not had a falling out! We are still friends!), but real life kind of got in the way for both of us, and that's fine. Sometimes, I do miss having someone look over my stuff so that I know I don't sound insane, but it's fine.

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

I feel like "wildest ride" could mean so many different things. Like, content wise, just on the basis of it existing? ABSOLUTELY A Soft October Night, mainly because I don't think I'd ever gone as far as "Incest Murder Threesome" before. (I will make no promises that I won't do so AGAIN, but it definitely is a shocker from the usual.)

Though this is ALSO from the same creative team that brought you "Romeo has sex with the personification of Death on a crucifix" and "Ronan and Lazare have sex on a printing press" (which seems MUCH tamer compared to the other two), so, really, you can pick your poison.

As far as plot? Either The Midnight Mass or Pour la Peine, depending on if you think "Ronan discovers his old friends are zombies that want to kill him" or "The Thing that happens in Pour la Peine that changes the whole plot" is more shocking. (Personally, I am still REALLY proud of that twist in PLP, since I'd sat on that for years.)

If you're talking about in a crackficky sense? ...I mean. Goosefic. Goosefic. The fic that solidified my reputation in the 1789 fandom. If I say so myself, every single fic I've listed before that has some larger motivation for why it's Like That. Goosefic was just me reading a writing prompt and thinking "I want Lazare to get chased by a pissed off goose." And it is beautiful.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

I don't think it's a SECRET I'm working on writing out my playthrough of BG3, or at least. Key parts of it. (I am NOT. Novelizing. An 125 hour playthrough. Yet.) I have about 11k words into it at the moment, but I'm not publishing a word of it until it's in a place where I know I can very likely finish it, or at least make a dent. We are NOT doing that thing where I just publish one chapter, hit a major bout of writer's block, and can't go through with it. (I can't make any promises for AFTER one chapter.)

It deals, primarily, with Kitrye's Happy Fun Times in the game, her ongoing verbal game of cat and mouse with Raphael, her relationship with her sister, and her relationship with her culture, as well as her overall development during the course of the game. (I don't really consider it a spoiler, given I put it in an actual gifset, that Kitrye breaks her oath as a paladin at one point -- there is a LOT dedicated to the circumstances around that and how it changes the game, even though that's a late development.) A spoiler that literally only you and a couple of people will understand and so I can give without any worry is:

"Ich will dich nicht, ich brauch' dich nicht. GEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

(Honestly, thus far, it's looking like how I'm writing out every act is taking inspiration from something else. Like, if Pour la Peine and its related stories drew a lot of inspiration from the Evilious Chronicles, I would say that the third act in particular is very, very Elisabeth tinted if you know where to look; second act is looking to have at least one scene inspired by a very memorable moment from one of the branches of the Mabinogi; and the first act, which is still the roughest, is a little bit more up in the air, with all of them borrowing at least a LITTLE bit from The Last Trial.)

Of course. It would be much easier to work on it. IF I HAD MY GAMING PC THAT COULD RUN THE GAME SO I COULD DOUBLE CHECK MY FILES. MY CUSTOM MADE GAMING PC THAT I CHOSE EVERY SINGLE PART FOR SO THAT IT COULD BE A MONSTER AT RUNNING GAMES.

(I'm cool, I'm chill, I'm fine.)

Anyway, have the Symryvvin girls, out of context. (Malla 🤝 Raphael: Being in an eternal state of Done.)

[staliaqueen]

I saw that you have a otp tag for Rory and Logan, but don’t have one for literati. Did you want them to end up together? I’m just asking because you’re always making literati edits and I’ve never seen a rogan one from you, so I was a little surprised when I noticed that haha

Oh, yeah, I've gone into this before! I don't really consider myself a literati "shipper", mainly cause I don't really engage in the romantic aspect of their relationship like that, if that makes sense? But I love both Rory and Jess as characters so much and their relationship with each other is really important in examining who they are and how they evolve. So, I consider myself more of a literati studier lol. And, yes, I also do not want them to end up together. Because I don't think it's a fitting ending for either of them (notice how all of my literati gifsets are angsty ones about why they didn't work out). At the end of the day, to me, the truth is that Jess was always going to leave and Rory was never going to be able to look past that. This doesn't make their relationship less meaningful, though. I actually think that Jess, out of all of her boyfriends, had the biggest impact on Rory as a person. Sometimes things are meant to be, but not meant to last.

As for rogan, I do consider myself a shipper, though I don't want them to be endgame, either. My ideal ending is the exact one we got — Rory ending the show single — so I'm pretty happy lol. But if I had to choose one of Rory's boyfriends for her to end up with, I would definitely choose Logan.

I'd actually really like to gif rogan someday, I'm just not as familiar with that part of the show cause I've seen it less. And I also relate to Jess so much that inspiration for edits for him and literati comes quite naturally to me. When I get to season five in my rewatch, though, I'll sure be giffing tons of their moments and might then get some ideas for edits to a song or a quote as well!

#as always i'm totally fine with people disagreeing with me #all opinions are welcome here as long as you're being nice about it! #gilmore girls #jess mariano #rory gilmore #rogan #mal answers

[happysmilebtr]

COLOURING BEFORE & AFTER TAG:

tagged by the lovely, kick butt and awesome sauce content maker @digitalgirls​ (thank you very much for the tag!) and another lovely mutual but for the life of me my peanut brain forgot who it was so thank you also to you too if you see this!

tagging (only if you want too!): @jinniebit​ @snug-gyu @soonhoonsol @woozification @seokmins @injunnies @chogiwapadada @jeonwonwoo

welp here you go guys! my poopy gif coloring lol. i haven’t giffed much as i just started 2ish years ago now(?) and i am now working a full time job so alas, i don’t have much to really show improvement but i do feel proud with some of my colorings and here are my top 5 (plus bonus two in the read more section hehe) i guess my coloring is more so with making things brighter if that makes sense? keeping things natural but bumping up the vibrance as you can see in certain gifs like the lights one for example. i do feel content with my giffing, granted the quality could be better but that is due to me using ezgif as a converter for making gifs on photopea (i know i can use vs but vs SCARES me like everyone that uses it? you guys are officially badass like gandalf in my books! i bow down to you all lol)

if anyone wants to hear more in depth thoughts of my coloring for each gif plus see the bonus ones that are too tiny to show in a normal gifset, readbelow but if not thank you for checking this out!

gif one: starting off with my proudest one of the bunch, this gif is from my baekhyun countdown series which you can view right here oh my when i say i am proud of this, i am SO proud of this. first of, this short video is pale, REALLY pale. more pale than casper the ghost lkdsalkjda so i struggled with making sure to not overdo the coloring where baekhyun is weirdly colored but making sure it’s no longer so bright ya know? with what i work with, i think i did a good job? it was during this series i started using a gradient map as well for my coloring and ya’ll....use gradient maps lol. i would have used them earlier but i had no clue how to well, use them as silly as that sounds! i found a tutorial on how someone used them and since then i use that. usually use brown to grey to make things neutral but also make sure skinetone is as natural as possible but of course that isn’t always the case, this is something i struggle with as you can probably tell so i am trying my best! overall, a very pretty gif coloring i think! simple but pretty!

gif two: ah yes....my og fav hehe. this was during the 17 days of 17 event that happened last year almost now and this was for of course, scoups day and i am proud of it still! granted, i would do things a tiny bit more differently even though this is just what, a 6ish months difference in giffing from the first gif? regardless, this one is my favorite and all because of one silly thing...the color changed background. as you can tell in the circle, the original was purple with the lightning background and i actually did save my coloring originally with this background still! however, i was playing around with coloring and by accident, just out of curiosity, i changed the color of the background and when i say i was super shocked...i was lol. in a good way of course! don’t ask me why but at the time, i just loved this small change. i thought it was so cool and it made me so excited so i kept it. could i have kept the purple? for sure, it bothered me to this day if i made the right call because a mutual of mine said the purple looked better against scoups skintone which i agree so it eats me to this day lol. (no ill feelings to my mutual! i liked having the feedback because sometimes that initial excitment sometimes isn’t the right call and i like being told the truth!)

gif three: another of my baekhyun gif series which again.....WHY DOES SM OR WHOEVER EDITS THESE VIDEOS, MAKE THINGS SO PALE!?!??! like bro....this one baekhyun IS truly casper the ghost dsaldasl. i managed to save him in this gif set but when i kept doing double takes myself when giffing, i always went “wait, is THIS how it originally looks!?” like i was so surprised with the coloring difference

gif four: featuring my queen, lights. the only non kpop gif lol. she is the reason i got into gif making actually! my first ever gifset is for her mv “prodigal daughter” (which yes you should all take a listen too just saying) so you can thank her for my gif making! this was from her i think 3rd mv, “in my head” which you can check out the gifset here! this is a perfect example of my coloring i think, the making things vibrant but keeping it somewhat natural and for me giffing this without gradient map i feel dang proud lol. it was either this gif or another one of lights but i went with this one instead to showcase i guess my usual coloring ya know?

gif five: and lastly a baekhyun gif once again. this one is originally meant to be with a pink coloring overlay and font as seen in the original gifset but i kept the original coloring because i liked how it turned out overall! i decided to switch things up with my editing by using unsharp mask and instead of using 30% i did 135% and kinda liked the result of it! i do admit, if you are someone like me and are stuck using ezgif, make SURE the file is super hq! while this does look nice, imo it looks better with good video quality when making the gifs as i did this setting for the last 4 gifsets of the baekhyun countdown and for ones like this one, it looks nice but some weren’t very high and you can tell it looks a bit meh. this is i think my current giffing editing and i feel proud of it! this one is very natural in coloring but everything is more “pop” if that makes sense, things are more defined than smooth, the neutral colors look lively, etc. 

BONUS:

you guys thought i would leave out these ones? oh no lol. so these two gfs are from my txt “good boy gone bad” mv and seventeen “hot” mv gifsets i made! i remember seeing this gifset style being HUGE back in late 2017ish up until 2019 if memory is correct by an old school content maker. i saw they had a tutorial on how they did their sets back then so i followed it and made my own for these mv’s and man i loved doing them. not only was the setting up the scenes to use was fun but finding the right font that fit the mv vibe was fun and of course, the coloring. for txt’s, there was alot of greens as you can see here and while i like me green, i wasn’t happy with just how dark and swampy it looked lol. i get it was the aesthetic in general but i wantted it to pop alot and thus the blue/purple tones in the overall gifset which i think looks really beautiful! then for hot, i didn’t plan on the pink coloring lol. i originally wanted to do the usuals, brighten and and make the colors pop out but by moving around to color the orange colors, it turned more pink so i went with it (you can see the difference towards the end of gif of how different the pink and orange are!) still my proudest coloring on both and still am proud for the “hot” as that was originally my top set with notes until somehow baekhyun and his doggo took over xD

#fun tag thingy #digitalgirls #jeonwonwoo #seokmins #injunnies #chogiwapadada #snug-gyu #soonhoonsol #woozification #jinniebit #if anyone of ya'll read that entire essay under the readmore...i am kissing your forehead

[gallavichthings]

I posted 1,225 times in 2022

77 posts created (6%)

1,148 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ianandmickeygallavich

@gallawitchxx

@gallavichthings

@doodlevich

@suzy-queued

I tagged 1,169 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#fanfiction - 525 posts

#fanart - 291 posts

#gifsets - 224 posts

#kinktober22 - 152 posts

#gw2022 - 86 posts

#gallavich - 46 posts

#gw2022fanfiction - 41 posts

#ian x mickey - 38 posts

#shameless us - 29 posts

#graphics - 29 posts

Longest Tag: 72 characters

#feel free to send ideas just know i'll also feel free to ignore them lol

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Gallavich Gift Exchange 2022

It’s a wonderful time of the year yet again! Time for another gift exchange! I’m keeping it pretty much the same as last year, since that seemed to go well. Hope to get many participants again!

Please read the rules before signing up.

General rules:

Click here to sign up. You’ll be asked for a prompt for the gift you want to receive. Please notice you will also be required to make a gift for someone else (hence the word exchange). Having a Tumblr account is not mandatory, though it does make things a bit easier.

Once sign-ups close, I’ll be making a list of all the wanted prompts for you to choose what you want. This will be done in a first-come, first-served basis (if by any chance the prompts left are somehow not possible to be completed by the authors/artists left, the people who’ve requested them might be asked to make some changes).

If by any reason you think you won’t be able to finish your gift, let me know as soon as possible so I can find someone else to finish in your place. Please know that in this case it’s possible that the gift being done for you isn’t concluded either.

One last thing: you’re allowed to send anonymous messages to the person whose prompt you’re fulfilling to ask for more information (or just to be cute :) ), as long as you don’t disclose your identity, of course. If the person doesn’t have anonymous messages enabled or isn’t on Tumblr, let me know and I’ll send them the messages on your behalf.

As always, send me any questions you might have via askbox or chat.

Minimum requirements are as follows:

Fanfiction - 1,000

Fanart - lineart

Gifset/photoset - 6 gifs/pictures

Edits/manips: 4 small images OR 2 large images OR 1 large + detailed image

Videos: 30 seconds

Fanmix: 8 songs + cover

Podfics: 1 fic

Dates:

Sign-ups close: December 3rd

Prompts will be announced: December 4th

Check-ups: December 13th and December 20th (these are just so I have an idea of how things are going, there are no minimum requirementes)

Posting: December 22nd to 28th

117 notes - Posted November 20, 2022

#4

Gallavich Gift Exchange 2021 Masterpost

I wasn’t sure if I should host a gift exchange this year, figured not enough people would be interested, that it would be too much of a hassle, but fortunately I changed my mind and I’m so, so thankful to everyone who participated and helped make this such a success! Truly, you’re all amazing.

So here’s the masterpost (I apologize for the long post, but for once I didn’t want to put anyone under a read more).

Happy holidays and a happy 2022!

From @captainjowl to @thehonorarybeaumont: Laundry Day

From @thehonorarybeaumont to @captainjowl: Blue & Red

From @ms-moonlight-inn to @arrowflier: Princess Toadstool Gets a Night Tree

From @arrowflier to @ianandmickeygallavich: Merry & Bright

From @ianandmickeygallavich to @ms-moonlight-inn​: 5 Times Ian and Mickey Never Kissed Under The Mistletoe And 1 Time They Did

From @flamingbluepanda to @milkovichian: Pink + White

From @milkovichian to @sweetbee78: falling for you

From @sweetbee78 to @annatrow: Reinforcing Trust

From @annatrow to @mishervellous: Candy Canes and Weed

From @mishervellous​ to @thewesternredcedar: The Road not Taken

From @thewesternredcedar to @ravenstakeflight​: The Outsiders

From @ravenstakeflight to @imikhailo: a royal life

From @notherenj-nowherenj to @sisitrip: Who Am I, When I’m Not With You

From @sisitrip to @mrsmonaghan-blog: ...Two Marble Tags, And A Lullaby In A Steel Box

From @mrsmonaghan-blog to @filorux: Here for You

From @filorux to @marzgaperez: Mistletoe kiss fanart

From @marzgaperez to @y0itsbri: Slowly but surely

From @y0itsbri​ to @abundanceofnots​: Milkovich & Cookies

From @abundanceofnots to @squidyyy23: Two boys, one (not so) festive evening

From @squidyyy23 to @look-i-love-u: Bazooka

From @look-i-love-u to @energievie: Wrapped around your... Finger

From @energievie to @sully-999: Empty crown (my body’s missing pieces)

From @sully-999 to @doodlevich: 12 Days of Christmas

From @ms-moonlight-inn to @xgoldendays: A Change Of Plans At Tornillo-Guadalupe

From @xgoldendays to @sunoficarus: Something to hold on to

From @sunoficarus to @notherenj-nowherenj: Mutually Beneficial

See the full post

119 notes - Posted December 31, 2021

#3

Gallavich Week 2022

Hello, everyone! It’s that time of the year again! Are you all ready for Gallavich Week 2022? I’m so excited for this one! We’re doing things a bit differently this year, as you might have noticed. More details about the prompts as well as full guidelines after the Read More. Quick reminder that all kinds of work are welcome, as long as they are original. Please read the guidelines before posting.

DAYS AND PROMPTS

Day 1 (June 12) - Theme based (choose 1): Celebration (birthdays, anniversaries, festivals, holidays, random celebrations, anything goes) Trials and Tribulations (problems, big or small, it doesn’t matter; may be between them or something they face together) Day 2 (June 13) - Quote based (choose 1 - anything loosely based in one of these quotes goes): “I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” - Rita Rudner Day 3 (June 14) - Painting based (choose 1 - again, anything loosely based in one of these paintings is enough; may be the general atmosphere of it, the situation in it or even them actually interacting with it somehow):

Stag at Sharkey’s (George Bellows)

See the full post

162 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

#2

Spring is here! (well, in the Northern Hemisphere it is) The boys are ready for some spring cleaning. Are you?

Welcome to the first ever Gallavich Spring Cleaning!

What is that, you ask? Easy! It’s a multiwork event hosted by @gallavichfanficlibrary and yours truly (with some help of @gallavichprompts​, thank you!) . That means any kind of work is accepted: fics, fanart, videos, gifs, you name it! Oh, and did I mention there are no requirements either? Drabbles and one-shots are more than welcome (my burn-out brain actually thanks you). 

The only rule for this event is: it’s got to be PG-13 - in other words, clean. (Get it? Cause of spring cleaning? *wink wink* I’m very smart). That means no mature teams, no smut, no M18, no ~lemon~. Of course swearing is allowed (I mean, it’s still Ian and Mickey we are talking about), just keep it sfw. Think of it as a reverse kinktober, if you will.

Prompts are under the Read More. You can use only one, several or all of them. Mix and match, if you want to! Repeat them, even!  They’re just your starting points! 

This event will run through the whole month of April, so you may post whenever you want. Tag me (@gallavichthings) so I can see and reblog it as soon as possible. Feel free to also tag the Library if you’re posting fics (oh, and if you can, please put your fics under read mores if they’re too long and you post them here in full, as a courtesy to those roaming the tags). 

For those using AO3, here’s the Collection for this event.

Let’s have some clean fun!

Situation prompts:

Spring cleaning.

It's the first sunny day in what feels like forever, after several weeks of bad weather and storms that have kept them spending most of the time in their apartment. 

Spring: sniffles, pollen, and tissues.

The Big Easter Egg Hunt.

The only thing Mickey knows about his soulmate is that he’s supposed to meet him in the spring.

Teenagers Ian and Mickey somehow end up spending St.Patrick’s Day together, and it’s not a date but it also kinda sorta feels like it might be? 

Spring on the Westside feels different than on the Southside.

Ian and Mickey are slowly turning their apartment into a ‘home’, bringing small touches of themselves into it.

Mickey’s always been a light sleeper who has suffered from nightmares. It’s only when they finally get their apartment sorted that he starts to sleep well and really understand what a good night's sleep can be.

The lease on the apartment is almost up. (Do they stay in the apartment? Move out? Go apartment hunting? Hire a realtor?)

One day Ian comes across an injured cat and nurses it back to health. After a few days he finds a stranger on his couch and the cat is nowhere to see. (Shapeshifting AU)

The last thing Ian expects to see in the mysterious box that Mickey brings to the dugouts is kittens. And he definitely didn’t expect that they would end up caring for them together.

5 times they visited family members + 1 time the family members visited them.

Debbie wants to make a good old Gallaghers’ style BBQ. (Everything goes wrong.)

The king sends his best knight to kill the monster that lives in the forest. Turns out, the monster is pretty charming and doesn’t actually harm anyone. 

Dialogue prompt

“Well, this is new.”

“This isn’t what it looks like, I swear! Okay … it’s kind of what it looks like, but just give me a chance to explain.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“So hang on, let me get this straight.”

“Oh, good, you’re here! Hold this.”

See the full post

162 notes - Posted March 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Gallavich Kinktober 2022

Hello, everyone! Are you ready for some (dirty) fun? Here are the prompts for this year’s kinktober. There are two for each day, one situational and one dialogue. You may choose only one or use both. You can also mix and match two or more days (in which case, please post on the day for the last prompt used and do mention all the days it fits so I can tag it accordingly). Reminder that all kinds of works are accepted and there’s no need to sign up. Simply post on the assigned day (or later, that’s fine, just make sure to mention what day(s) it is for) and remember to @ me so I can reblog it (just mentioning me in the tags won’t do, I can’t always see that). Let’s get this party started!

Day 1 - sex dream X “Touch yourself for me.”

Day 2 -  dirty talk X “Oh honey, you know, you really shouldn’t tease me.”

Day 3 -  uniform / costume X “You’d better be quiet if you don’t want to get caught.”

Day 4 - thigh riding X “If you’re going to act like a little brat then I’m going to treat you like a little brat.”

Day 5 -  jealous / possessive sex X “I don’t care how good it feels you’d better not cum until I tell you to.”

Day 6 - exhibitionism / voyeurism X “I can’t wait to be on my knees for you later.”

Day 7 -  food X “If you want to cum you’d better beg.”

Day 8 -  stripping / lap dance X “I wanna fuck you right against the glass so everyone can see how good you take it.”

Day 9 - 69 X “I guess I’ll just get off all by myself.”

Day 10 -  latex / leather X “Did I say you could stop?”

Day 11 - orgasm denial X “Open your mouth.”

Day 12 - against a wall X “Wanna see what I’m wearing underneath all this?”

Day 13 -  sex tape X “I bet all our neighbors can hear you, I bet they all know what a dirty little slut you are.”

Day 14 - piercings X “You know, you always look so much better when I mark you up.”

Day 15 -  unusual sex positions X “Did you dress up just for me?”

Day 16 - massages X “Come sit on my face, let me show you how much I missed you.”

Day 17 - hair pulling X “Take it off. Slowly.”

Day 18 - sleepy sex X “Pull my hair!”

Day 19 - face sitting X “I’m gonna fuck you in front of the mirror, I want you to see how pretty you look when you’re spreading your legs for me.”

Day 20 - wax X “Yeah, that’s it, baby, just like that.”

Day 21 - cum kink X “I think I like you better with a gag in your mouth.”

Day 22 - innocence X “You’d better be quiet or everyone’s going to know what a naughty little slut you are.”

Day 23 - handcuffs X “You deserve a reward for being so good today, what would you like it to be?”

Day 24 - scent X “You take my fingers so well don’t you?”

Day 25 - biting X “I love the sounds you make when you come undone.”

Day 26 - nipple play X “You look so good with my hand wrapped around your throat.”

Day 27- vanilla / slow & soft X “Is that a thong?”

Day 28 - tattoos X “You look good all soaking wet.”

See the full post

267 notes - Posted September 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

Congrats to the most reblogged ones, I guess. Myself included. 😂

Obviously the most popular posts were the event ones (especially this is mostly a reblogging blog), but the fact that the most popular by far was the Kinktober... Y'all nasty. 😝

Thanks for everything! And here's to 2023! (after the gift exchange, of course)

[kpopper]

hi!!! mouse anon here

sorry it's been so long :3

how are you? I hope you've been doing good!

I've been pretty busy with work and I didn't have a lot of energy to watch the kdramas I had on my list but I've been reading a lot on my commutes lol im past my goal of 50 books for this year!

I did watch good detective season 2 which was honestly pretty good!! I didn't remember too much of the 1st season but they gave enough flashbacks that it seemed familiar idk if you watched it but every character except for the dad character was good. I kept getting reality checks of this is just the problems of the top 1% in society so I couldn't relate or care at times -_-

I had save me on my list for so long but I'm so hesitant to start cause I heard it's kind of a lot 😭 I just know the religious schtick of the cult would make me pissed like you said. I've been wanting some lighter shows lately but I'm not taking it off my list!

I still haven't gotten past the 1st ep of 2521 because of the finale!! how can I sit through a cute relationship only to get that ending 😭😭😭 you're so right, we're over relationships in kdramas! I need a good plot and found family and I'll be satisfied (extraordinary attorney woo had such a good couple even if we'll never know taeoh's backstory 😌)

omg I'm glad you liked the killer's shopping list! it's such a weird mix of genres but I think they handled it very well! (cafe minamdang is also on my list! ooh I'm glad it's similar!)

I've had to skip through many scenes of itaewon class :| the writing was just so weird but ahn bo hyun was done dirty by that show! that dye job/color was just so bad 😭

I'll start big mouth ASAP then! I kept seeing super cute gifsets but then people would comment and say the show's actually dark and emotional lol but I like a good mix of happy and sad (just not too sad)

I still haven't resumed dark too 😭 I haven't been productive at all 😭

my mom watched little woman I think and she liked it and I love the cast! it's also really short for a kdrama so it could be another short and good show!

from the new releases, I've heard cheer up was not what people were expecting and i saw mixed reviews so idk if I want it on my list. I do want to watch rookie cops and I heard glitch on netflix is very lesbian coded so it'll be up my alley! I'm also planning on starting law school soon even though it's been so long since you recommended it! I also heard somebody on netflix was good but I didn't hear as any people talking about it so I'm just basing that off of the 2 reviews I've seen lol

sorry I couldn't give you as any recs as I wanted to but I hope all the good recs find you anyway!!! <333

Mouse anon my beloved!!!! Didn’t think I’d hear from you again after changing the url on this blog actually, hi I hope you’ve been well!!!!

Honestly we’re IN SYNC cause I haven’t had the energy to watch a lot of things lately. And I think it started cause I, too, went on a reading binge since September / October of last year that completely shut off my brain for television. What types of books do you read? Is it the same investigation detective streak as your personal taste in tv? I’d love to talk about it

I haven’t watched good detective 2 yet for the reasons mentioned above…… I’ll def have to read about the plot of season 1 first because even with flashbacks I need to know I’m keeping up with the story as it is. It’s on my list for a unforeseeable future.

Yes save me is a lot honestly. I have an overbearing catholic mother so it was. A difficult series to swallow but for some reason I couldn’t stop watching it. It def awakes some raging feelings in you though, I believe even if you don’t have a strong feeling regarding Christianity in the first place like I do.

Bahahahaahahahha about2521 I FEEL YOU. But it’s also so incredibly in touch with the human experience of love and loss and life. It’s more brilliant because it’s over honestly, it sets the show apart from usual romantic dramas. But it’s still a heavy weight in the chest and something lodged on your throat so I get it if you can’t finish it

I never finished big mouth actually T-T I dropped it off by the few last episodes I believe…. It did got a bit dark by the end but the medical improbabilities of it kind of threw me off. It coincided with me dropping television altogether basically so there’s that

(Honestly it’s been so hard for me to enjoy a tv show lately. I kind of fell down the Thai tv rabbit hole and have occupied my mind with that. Some of their shows are really good. From kdrama I think the last one I truly enjoyed was weak hero class 1. The characters are layered in a way that they feel like book characters, it’s something I don’t usually feel when I’m watching television. It was honestly very very good. I’m trying to distract myself with reborn rich now. It’s better than most things in the sense that I can watch perhaps two entire episodes without exhausting the reels feed on my instagram)

Little woman was good!!! I kept up with it as it came out so I think that’s why I managed to get thru the entire thing. That and my love for Kim goeun. Wi hajoon was his usual extremely charming self also.

I didn’t know glitch was lesbian coded but I can assure you from the 2 and a half episodes I watched of somebody, that one Is heavily lesbian. I’ve also started a few episodes of awaken (Netflix) and it sounds like the type of show you’d like. Not even midway thru tho so I can’t promise it’s gonna be good to the end.

I hope you had a good end of the year and that your job treats you kindly. I also hope that you see this <3 and that maybe I can hear from you again <3

#answered #anonymous #mouse anon #everyone else look away I was never here. this is for the eyes of mouse anon only

[dainesanddaffodils]

More Good Omens posting from me, still someone who has only consumed this season via spoiler posts, tumblr gifsets and youtube compilation videos -

anyway, I'm not letting my lack of actually watching s2 get in the way of today's post: "things I see people say they want in s3 that make me scratch my head"

namely, wanting Aziraphale and Crowely to fight. not necessarily in a physical, real war between heaven and hell (or humanity), but rather as like, bitter divorcees taking shots at each other. and i just... don't see that after how they left each other

(well, maybe for Crowley's side, but not at all from Aziraphale's)

I don't want things to be sunshine and rainbows and immediate reconciliation, mind you. I'm certainly not of the opinion that Aziraphale wasn't in his right mind when he made his choice in the last episode, or even that he or Crowley were being threatened (though the latter is more believable imo).

From what I've seen and read, my currently vibe is that Aziraphale did believe that he was making the best choice for heaven and for humanity (until the moment the words "second coming" are uttered - but I'll get back to that). And I think the tone of the two times he does waver sets the tone for what I think the next season is going to be - which is a lot of independent character growth before an emotional reunion.

Because Aziraphale's wavering comes after Crowley leaves. After Crowley says, don't bother forgiving me. which I think he hears as, don't bother trying to fix this. I'm done.

So when first he tries to think of sudden reasons to stay he inevitably doesn't try to push too hard and finally says he's ready to go. He doesn't want to do this without Crowley but he doesn't think Crowley is right, right then, so what would he be staying for? It hurts but he needs to show Crowley that he's serious about this.

And then when the second coming is brought up and he realizes (in my opinion) that he fucked up, Aziraphale looks at Crowley from across a crowded street with this clear conflict, and he still follows. Because his other option is asking Crowley for help.

And the thing is, I think if he had asked Crowley for help, in spite of everything, Crowley would have helped.

And Aziraphale knows this.

And I think Aziraphale knows two other things:

1) the danger that would put Crowley in, danger Crowley has always put himself into to help Aziraphale.

2) after the kiss, after the don't bother, Aziraphale is reevaluating point 1 and realizing how much he has taken Crowley's help for granted.

I think that Aziraphale looks at Crowley and wants so much to say, i was wrong, please fight heaven with me again, help me save this world and these people, but he how can he, after everything? How can he ask Crowley for anything anymore - even things he knows for a fact Crowley would give him - after what he's done?

He doesn't feel he deserves that anymore. He doesn't feel he deserves Crowley anymore.

(see the look on Aziraphale's face when he thinks he's fallen and the look on his face after Crowely kisses him and leaves. It's the same face of 'I have lost the thing most important to me; it is my fault and I cannot expect forgiveness.' He is resigned to this heartbreak.)

So I think next season we're going to see a lot of angst that comes after their tragic breakup, but also a lot of Aziraphale standing up to heaven on his own because he feels he has to. I think when he and Crowley do finally have a proper reunion, they'll still argue (especially if Crowley, in true Crowley fashion, has misread Aziraphale's silence as further confirmation of unrequited feelings), but I don't think it will really carry any real anger, you know, especially from Aziraphale's end.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #aziraphale #crowley #most of this post is me projecting my catholic guilt on aziraphale but the show did that first so #am i wrong?

[logicheartsoul]

Getting to know you Tumblr game

Copy prompts and tag nine people you’d like to get to know better

Wow, I got a lot of people tagging me! This is a first lol I was tagged by: @bisamwilson @sambambucky @writerkenna @samcky​ 

But now to the answers which I guess y'all are dying to read

favorite color: I had this convo the other day with Tiana (@redwingsupportgroup​) but basically asking me to choose a favorite color is too hard so I just go with rainbow (coz it has all colors at once lmao)

currently reading: Sadly, I have a huge backlog of books I need to read and the last few days I have either been too tired or too busy to read any fics. Might change tonight. (I don't think checking out this piracy guide would count as "currently reading" lol)

last song: Ride It by Jay Sean, which only is coz I was reminded of it earlier today and then I shared the song and the thought it inspired to @saryasy​ lol (It was a fic idea)

last series: Finished watching the last ep of season 3 of Never Have I Ever yesterday, though I did watch the latest Last Week Tonight with John Oliver a few hours ago (if that counts as part of a series)

last movie: If you don't include the Hallmark movie my mom had in the background earlier today, then Easter Sunday

sweet/savory/spicy: Depends on my mood, though usually I hover more between savory or sweet

currently working on: If you don't count my exceedingly large collection of written WIPs, nothing really though I also have a few gif sets as well -- the most current of that being cap sam from Avengers: Quantum Encounter. I did technically finish 1 tumblr header of cap sam but I want to make more variations but I can show y'all that too

screenshots of the gifset:

The header:

And a couple of random edits I made in the last week and a half but never really posted:

As for who I’m tagging, I suck at picking who to choose for these things, so whoever reads this and wants to do it, feel free

#personal #tag game #wip #my graphics #yeah it's a lot of sam I know but i really should just finish this gifset already LOL if I wasn't so tired it'd be done #though my laptop is probably happy I'm not hogging all the RAM while making it lmao

[calliopecalling]

QOTS Rewatch - 5x09 - A Prueba de Balas

I cannot believe this is my second-to-last episode debrief for this rewatch. This whole thing has taken way longer than I initially planned but also I'm not even ready for it to end! WHAT WILL I DO WITH MY LIFE NOW??? Who'm I kidding, I'll keep rewatching and keep writing fics and keep digging up QOTS gifsets to reblog that I haven't reblogged yet. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, I just have a few thoughts to share about this beautiful episode beyond what I wrote last year after it aired live. When I first watched this episode I had no idea what to make of it; I was so annoyed by all the Kote and trying not to be nervous about the finale and wanting more out of the Jeresa. In some ways, it hasn't improved on rewatch, but in many ways, it totally has. I love this episode on rewatch (it is WAY less stressful knowing it all works out in the end!).

My debrief last year said that some of the things I was annoyed by in this episode -- the prolonged Kote scenes and lack of actual Jeresa conversations -- might be redeemed by the finale. In essentials, that didn't end up happening in the way I imagined at the time. I essentially thought that if (1) Pote ended up dying (or Kote in some other way had a plot twist or didn't get a happy ending) and (2) James and Teresa were revealed to have been plotting a fake death escape all along (or at least for a while), that it would satisfyingly explain both the extended Kote and the lack of Jeresa in 5x09 (and to a certain extent earlier episodes as well).

This only sorta happened, and yet, in my opinion, 5x09 aged surprisingly well. Obviously Kote did get a happy ending and there's a part of me that is still 😒 about it because their story never resonated with me as you all well know. And yes, their scenes in 5x09 are too long. But from a writing perspective, I sorta get it in hindsight; for the fanbase (apparently sizable) that DID love Pote and Kote, planting them in the suburbs and showing Pote adjusting was part of what made their happily ever after feel believable I guess. So even though their relationship does absolutely nothing for me and even though I feel profoundly irritated at how stupid and sexist they ended up writing Pote to be, I on a rational level get that writing.

But other than Kote, I honestly love 5x09's Jeresa scenes. No, we did not get a plot-twist reveal in the finale that ended up showing us substantive flashbacks to Teresa and James working out their plan. That is a disappointment for sure (one that I'm sure I'll discuss in the finale's rewatch posts lol). But we do get a lot of Jeresa in this episode and LOOK AT THEMMM. They are tethered to each other by an invisible elastic thread and literally everything about them in every scene together screams how inseparable they are, how ridiculously in love with each other they are, both of them, and how deeply they rely on each other. Completely openly now. Even before the kiss and the I love yous.

It's so freaking soft and beautiful even though most of their scenes are them working together. The thing is that them working together in synchronicity is where they began and so it's a fitting way to show them together as they near the end, too. It's also important to see how their working relationship is changed now. It's not the hierarchy of seasons 1 and 2 in which Teresa essentially reported to James (well, at least until the end of season 2). It's not the hierarchy of seasons 3 and 5 either, in which James reported to Teresa. Nothing has explicitly changed, but it's abundantly obvious in this episode that they are working together now. Teresa's the leader of the cartel but James is her partner. He may not be co-owner of the business or anything like that but he's not working for her. They are very clearly deciding things together now. She consults with him; he refers to her. There is no longer any kind of hierarchy. Just a very clear mutual respect.

So I don't know. Sure, I would love dialogue between them like we had during the earlier seasons that lasts longer than 30 seconds but it feels like part of the point now is that there is almost too much to say, and yet none of it really needs saying. It'll be said eventually. But how could the show have possibly done justice to the years of feelings they're finally coming around to in a scene of dialogue? It's really hard to imagine. Trust me, I know, because I tried to write the extended scenes fan fic for this episode and the next, and it was HARD. I would've loved to have seen something like what I ended up writing on screen, to be sure, but would it have really felt like it belonged in the penultimate QOTS episode? I don't know. I really don't.

The one thing I do wish is that the balcony scene had had some more dialogue before Teresa kissed James. That scene did feel jarring in how fast it moved after a drawn-out Kote scene about putting together a crib in suburbia. But the juxtaposition to me also in some ways works because it really elevates Teresa and James. If I'm being honest, the episodes in which I really wanted to see more Jeresa conversations were 3 and 4, maybe even 5 or 6 -- but not these later ones. I think their scenes, unspoken feelings filling in all the empty space around them no matter where they are and what they're doing, are completely perfect. I really do. Which isn't to say I wouldn't have loved to see more of their emotional processing but that, I don't know, I'm not sure this is really the show that was ever going to do that. Most of their best conversations historically have been of the angsty processing variety.

So, well, I'll just fast-forward the Kote scenes when I watch this again and I'll be happy. Their love scene, MY GODS, it is incredible. Would I like a scene where James pushes Teresa against a wall and takes charge? Um, yes. Does that supercede the absolute joy I get from their blissful we-might-die-tomorrow-so-what-the-hell soft and sweet sex? No, it doesn't. Their softness with each other is absolutely to die for. I don't think I'll ever recover from it.

So, that concludes my thoughts on 5x09. On to the finale. I can't believe I made it. The end is near 🥺

#qots s5 #5x09 #2021 rewatch #txt post #qots reaction post #qots meta #I made the point in my original live debrief that Teresa not only didn't have substantive conversations with James #but she also didn't have substantive conversations with ANY other character #so with that in mind it seems clear to me the writers weren't trying to avoid Jeresa #they just decided that moving Teresa in the queenpin direction meant closing her off to other characters #and even though this episode is the final turnaround--she's arriving as queenpin in some ways (her killing Kostya is THE ultimate #queenpin moment) but is also abandoning queenpin once and for all-- #it's easy for me to understand how she is still at a loss for words now with her world falling down around her #but her body language and eyes tell us everything we want to know about where she's at and what she's feeling #so thank you Alice for that