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toxicanonymity · 1 year

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The Contractor. Silence can never be bought, only rented (pt. 6 of 6)

4k / dbf!Joel x f!Reader / pt 1 / master list

STORY MASTER LIST

Warnings/Notes: I8+ some angst, dry (wet?) humping, unsafe PIV SEX (!), legal age gap. Acronyms - RICO is about organized crime. barely edited.

It’s so close. It’s finally here. His hand slides under your shirt, runs over your back then pulls you closer. He feels so good, it’s like a dream. But the more you wake up, the more your thoughts creep in. You want the truth. You pry your lips away from his, and right away, he latches onto your neck. “What did my Dad want?” you ask. Between kisses, he murmurs, “don’t worry about it.”

Joel shows you his phone and your dad is at the gate. He thinks in silence for a moment.

“Well, we’re not doing anything,” you offer, but your heart is pounding. “Don’t let him in.”

“I’ve gotta let him in. What’s he gonna think if I don’t?”

He rubs his beard and opens his home automation app. “You’re in the pool house,” he decides. He turns on a dim light in the pool house.

“What does he want?” you ask.

“Hell if I know. Go through the basement.”

“No way.”

“Come on, Trouble.”

“I’m not going through the tunnel alone.”

He seems endeared by your fear. “Do it for us,” he says with a wink that makes your heart jump. Then he gets up to take the drinks to the sink.

“Wait,” you say.

He freezes.

“What were you gonna say? Now that I know . . . ?”

“Now that you know, I don’t have to worry about you finding out later and being mad.”

You kind of doubt that’s what he was going to say. “I’m mad anyway,” you say.

“Figured. It’s okay.”

A car door opens and closes.

“Go,” he whispers. “I’ll come get you when he’s gone.”

You make it to the pantry stairs just in time.

When your dad comes in, Joel says, “Welcome back.”

Your dad asks, “Where’s my girl?”

“Sleepin’ it off in the pool house, I reckon. Didn’t want her to drive.”

There’s a long pause and your heart races.

Your dad says, “Good, good. . .thanks.”

Damn, Joel is smooth. He asks your dad, “Somethin’ you didn’t wanna call about?”

“Yeah. . .”

You’re tempted to stay and hear more, but you’re also afraid of what you might hear. You creep down the stairs quietly. You think about going to the theater instead and waiting in one of those recliners. It’s silly, but you really don’t want to go underground to the pool house. The tunnel is climate controlled and has automatic lights, but it’s still spooky without windows.

You’re standing near the tunnel entrance trying to work up your nerve when you hear raised voices, and now you can’t resist. You quietly make your way back toward the stairs to listen. If no one is going to tell you what’s going on, this is your chance to find out. It occurs to you there’s no reason for you to go all the way to the pool house except that Joel doesn't want you to hear this. Otherwise, you could have hidden anywhere and your dad would be none the wiser.

A cabinet slams shut and Joel demands, “How many aren’t you tellin’ me about?”

“Not tellin’ you? I just found out! I’m not in charge, you know that.” Glasses clink with ice.

“North of the fuckin’ border again. God damnit,” Joel says. He’s even more heated than he was in the car the other day.

Your dad asks, “What do I have to do to get you all in on this? Let’s get it done and be done with it.”

“You know what I want. I want out.”

“You’ll be out.”

“I want it in writing.”

Your dad scoffs. “You want a paper trail now? When the whole point was to keep your charges off paper?”

“Not the charges, damnit.”

“Then what do you want in writing? You made some bad guys go away in exchange for evidence going away, now we’re square?”

“It was supposed to be a six month contract. Here we are, how many renewals later? And I’m still consulting.” You can picture the air quotes with the way he says it.

“Still better than 20 years for RICO,” your dad says.

“Never woulda gotten the max. . . You know what? At least the wiseguys have a code.”

Your dad sharpens his tone. “Ever wonder what happened to that evidence?”

“FUCK” A glass shatters. “I’m never gettin’ out. Just say it.”

“This is the last-”

“Don’t string me along with this one last job bullshit, then the job’s a whole fuckin’ cartel. Call it what it is. I’m an asset. Not a contractor if I don’t got a fuckin’ choice.”

“You’re gonna be out.”

“You won’t even give me your word.”

“Joel, you have my word.”

“Alright,” Joel calms down a little. “And what about you? You ever think about your daughter in all this? You want her on tiktok seein’ your head roll off one day ‘cause you couldn’t take the loss and retire?”

“Don’t talk about my daughter.”

There’s a moment of silence, then your dad continues.

“We’re on the same team, buddy. I want this over as bad as you do. C’mon, let’s look at the intel.”

You’re sick to your stomach. Whatever this is sounds like it’s about your dad’s ego. What’s new. You shrink back to the tunnel and jog through it so it’s over fast.

You’re laying on the couch in the pool house, and you don’t even want to think about what you just heard. So you’re replaying the earlier conversation in your head. The one about your stepmother and . . . gross. Something doesn’t sit right about it. You’re trying to figure out why Joel would have felt guilty for you blackmailing him into sex.

It hits you that the only reason he’d feel guilty is if it were his doing. . . If he realized you thought you had leverage and saw an opportunity. Deprive you, make you want it that bad, see if you’d try to twist his arm into it. And once you got there, game over? Was he just getting off on having the power all along? Then you ask yourself the real question. If that’s the case . . . do you wish none of it ever happened? It’s an easy no.

So you put that to rest and can’t help but think about what you overheard between Joel and your dad. You want to know how this all happened, but from the way Joel was talking about heads rolling off, you’re most worried about what he and your dad are up to right now. You want to hear it from Joel. You want to know what his real job is. The truth might be the only thing you want more than to fuck him. And if he won’t tell you the truth, maybe he doesn’t deserve the latter.

You’re exhausted from being in the sun all day. There’s a big, heavy blanket – silky, not exactly cozy. It’s like a rich guy blanket, probably put there by an interior decorator. You curl up on the oversized couch and pull it over you. There’s a bedroom, but you don’t expect this to take as long as it does, so you don’t get in bed. You stay on the couch. It feels like Joel is taking forever, but you’re too tired to even look at the time. You take off your shorts and bra, swaddle yourself in the blanket, and drift off.

You don’t hear Joel come in or take off his pants or put his stuff on the table. You feel cold for a moment when he lifts the blanket, but then he gets under it with you and takes you into his arms, and he’s warm.

You stir, and Joel whispers, “You wanna get in bed?”

You shake your head no.

“It’s right there . . .”

“No,” you manage weakly. You’re not remembering any of the drama at the moment, just enjoying being in his arms and too sleepy to move.

“Ok,” he whispers, and kisses you on the head. You fall back asleep with your head in the crook of his neck.

. . .

In the middle of the night, you wake up in his arms with one of his legs hooked over both of yours and his boxers pressed against your panties, which are soaked with arousal, you can feel it. He’s only somewhat hard, but it’s enough to make you need it, bad. He smells freshly showered but you can still catch a hint of his sweat, which makes you need it worse. Your nose brushes his beard as you look up at his face.

He blinks awake with sleepy eyes. He presses his lips into yours for a long kiss that starts light, affectionate, closed-mouth, then becomes desperate, invasive. You accept his tongue greedily. He hardens right against your crotch. His hips roll into yours, and before long, he’s rock hard, and you softly moan “mmm” into his mouth.

He whispers, “Are you on-”

“Yeah,” you cut him off. Then he covers your mouth with his lips again. Yeah, you’re on birth control, and the question makes you throb as he kisses you. It’s so close. It’s finally here. It’s grinding into you right now. His hand slides under your shirt and runs over your bare back, pulling you closer against him, and he moans softly. He feels so good, it’s like a dream.

But the more you wake up, the more your thoughts creep in. You really, really want the truth. It dawns on you this might be your best shot at getting it.

You pry your lips away from his, and right away he latches onto your neck.

“What did my Dad want?” you ask him.

Between kisses on your neck, he murmurs, “don’t worry about it.”

“Tell me what’s going on,” you demand.

He rolls his arousal into your clit and you bite your lip to suppress a moan while you wait for his answer.

“Not now, sugar. . .”

He lifts your shirt swiftly but smoothly and palms a breast, then is hard-on drags down your thigh and you feel a damp spot on his boxers. He takes your nipple into his mouth while he pulls your shirt off, and you help him, despite your reservations. You need the truth, but you’re aching. Your body needs to be filled by his.

“Not now. . . so, when?” you ask.

“When I’m back,” he sighs.

“Back from what?”

He doesn’t answer. He lightly drags his lips over the top curve of your breast, over your shoulder, up your throat, your jaw, to your ear.

His boxers find your drenched panties again and press against you in just the right place. He’s so stiff, it takes your breath away, and a soft moan falls out of your mouth. He whispers, “This is all that matters,” and you want him to be right so bad. He nibbles then sucks your neck right under your ear. He grinds his rock-hard member into you in a slow rhythm at just the right angle.

“This,” he says, looking from your eyes to your mouth and back. He wraps his arms around you, grinding into you rhythmically. He kisses you again, and his tongue erases whatever words were on yours. Blood rushes to your lips with the gentle suction of his own. With his face still on yours, he slowly, carefully takes his boxers off under the blanket.

You slide your hand down his abdomen and your breath hitches as you graze the light padding of his lower stomach. You find that small, circular scar and gently caress it. He flinches, then moves your hand to his cock. It sends a bolt of need to your aching clit, but you still have to ask.

“What’s it from?”

“C’mere,” he says, and latches onto your mouth again as he thrusts into your hand.

You want his lips on yours forever. You want nothing more than to just give in and fuck him. You push yourself up with your arm and he rolls onto his back. You shrug off the blanket. He watches you in a trance as you straddle him with his cock still in your hand. You thumb his scar again and he says, “you know I served.” Right. Of course.

His stomach rises and falls, and his head tilts slightly as he watches you nestle his naked cock at your drenched, silky underwear, right against your clit. You roll your hips into him and moan at the friction.

“Let’s lose these, sugar,” he pants. He hooks his fingers into your underwear and you lift each leg to slowly slip out of them.

You settle back in, then close your eyes, tilt your hips, and use him to pleasure yourself. You drag along his cock, from your clit to your dripping entrance and back, making his manhood shine with you, and he groans. Then you lay your hips onto his again and his hips rock against you, with his unfathomably hard cock gliding firmly against your slick.

He moans and breathes heavily. “I gotta be inside you, sugar,“ he says as he grinds into you rhythmically.

“I’ve gotta know the truth,” you reply, but it physically pains you.

He groans. “Fuck,” he pants. “What do you wanna know?”

“What you’re up to,” you say as you use your hips to massage yourself with his stiff manhood.

He takes a deep breath. “It’s complicated,” he says, and you inwardly acknowledge he’s probably right. You stop moving and start to back yourself down his thighs. You bend at the hip and hover over his cock.

“Are you still in construction?” You stroke him slowly.

“Still own the business.” He adjusts his hips under you.

“But that’s not all you do.” You bring it almost to your mouth and take a deep whiff of his musk which makes you twitch with need.

“No,” he quietly admits.

You think about how to simplify this and get it over with. You throw caution to the wind and ask, “Do you kill people?” You thumb the precum beading at his tip. No immediate answer. Then, you take his salty tip into your mouth for just a kiss and he groans. You take it out.

He sighs. “You really wanna know?” He thrusts into your hand.

You give it another kiss. “Yeah.”

You slowly crawl back up his body and lay half on him and he rolls toward you so you’re on your side like before. You hook your top leg over him. You search his eyes for an answer, but he looks down at your bodies instead. His large hand engulfs your ass cheek, caresses it with his palm, then gives it a firm squeeze and pulls you hard against him, and your wet pussy meets his stiff cock again.

“What do you think?” He asks quietly, then buries his nose in your neck and whispers, “Cause you’re prolly right.” Your heart skips a beat. You wanted more, but at the same time, it feels like he just told you everything he has to tell - or that’s what you’re trying to believe, for your body’s sake. You don’t feel anything about what he just said. All you feel is him, and that’s all you want.

He groans as he grinds into you, and his neck vein bulges. He rolls his arousal harder against your slick seam and kisses your neck. “Come on, sugar,” he says.

You open your mouth but don’t have any words, you can only breathe. He ruts against you again and you close your eyes with a moan. You’re throbbing, physically aching, swollen with need, dying to have him.

“Gotta be inside you now baby,” Joel repeats, smooth and low. He thrusts hard against your clit, slow, but so hard. His mouth devours yours, and your nipples harden against his broad chest. When his stiff member drags back down your clit, he hesitates at your entrance, then puts his hand on your ass, and the tip of his cock is caught by a tilt of your hips. Tension swells and tightens deep within you.

He begins to slowly push the firm head of his cock into your tight, wet hole and reads your face. You have to remind yourself to breathe. Your brow furrows. You bite your lip and inhale through your nose. You both adjust your hips so the angle is just right. He pushes a little more, and the stretch of his girth makes your whole body dizzy and desperate for more. He pauses and you just barely nod.

The arm under you pulls you closer with his hand flat on your back while his other hand braces on your leg that’s hooked over him. Then he pushes his stiff length into you with a grunt that becomes a loud sigh, and you gasp as his thick cock makes room for itself inside you. He pauses when he’s mostly in, and you look into each other’s eyes.

“Now fuck me,” you whisper.

“Yes ma’am,” he growls. He backs out all but the tip, then plunges into you completely. Your mouth falls open with a moan as your bodies are finally joined and he bottoms out with a shudder.

His lips latch onto yours as he retreats, then slams into you again with a grunt. He buries himself in you, slow and hard, each time somehow better than the last. Your hips roll into him, and together, you gradually up the tempo. You kiss sloppily, half your mouths breathing heavily and vocalizing against each other’s cheek. Each exhale is a moan.

His hips roll fluidly against yours and his whole body tells you how bad he’s been wanting this. Every time he fills you up, you could cry from how good it feels. He opens his mouth wide and puts it on your neck again, gently sucking your delicate skin into his mouth. He grabs hold of your ass and uses the arm under you to gently put you on your back without fully pulling out. Your legs wrap around him and he sheathes himself entirely once again.

You hook your fingers under the bottom hem of his t-shirt and pull it over his head. He takes in the view of your whole body again before he leans back down.

“You look so goddamn hot,” he says, looking down at you, thrusting into you. He looks hot, too.

The moonlight reveals a faint farmer’s tan from the barbecue. His pecs and triceps are pumped up and flexing as he moves in rhythm. His hair is messy and perfect. The silver bits of his beard glisten.

He leaves space between you and reaches down to thumb your clit, almost putting you over the edge, but you quickly take his hand and pull his body back into yours.

“About to come?” he asks. You nod and take a deep breath. He thrusts into you hard then slowly rocks his hips deep inside you with his neatly trimmed hair grinding into your clit. The tension bursts inside you and you groan his name as a massive wave of pleasure overwhelms you. Then another. You clench around him and your body jerks erratically. Your nipples go almost painfully hard and drag against him.

He pushes deeper than you thought possible, balls tightening against your ass, and you gasp and moan. Then he grunts, pulses inside you, and his whole body shudders as you milk his cock. You keep pulsing as he fills you up with his seed. Your whole body is drunk with him. When you’re both finished coming, he looks at you, and himself, then you again as he catches his breath. He strokes your face and says, “god damn.”

You almost forget you’re two different bodies until he slides out of you, leaving a void your insides try to fill. He lays on his side and takes you in his arms again.

He looks so peaceful. At the moment, you don’t care if you still don't know what’s going on. You don’t even care if he manipulated you into wanting this so desperately. All you care about is whether this is going to happen again, and you’re terrified of finding out it’s not. You start to worry about him going to do this job.

After a long silence, you say, “You don’t wanna do it, do you?”

“Do what?”

“Whatever you have to go and do.”

The peace evaporates from his face. He sighs. “No. . . No, I don’t, sugar.” He rubs his temples with the thumb and pinky of one massive hand.

“Then why do it?”

“No choice,” he says.

“That’s messed up,” you say. “I mean, not having a choice.”

“Yeah, well, it was my own dumb ass. Thought I was gettin’ outta somethin’ worse. Didn’t know what I was gettin’ into.”

“How do you get out of it now?”

“Finish the job, call it a day, see what happens.”

“Really?”

“It’s been a long time comin’.”

A couple seconds after he says it, a little smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. He doesn’t have to make the joke out loud. You playfully pinch his cheek.

“Worth the wait?” he asks with a smirk.

You shrug, and he says, “I’ll take it.” You can feel your whole face and body glowing. You don’t need to spell it out.

You get pensive thinking about why now, why tonight. “You weren’t just pissed at my dad, were you?”

He chuckles, then almost seems to panic when he sees you’re serious. “God, no, Trouble. . . “ His heart rate visibly quickens on his neck. He didn’t even have to ask you what you meant. He wraps his arms tight around you and kisses your head.

“So whatever happened to ‘not tonight’?” you ask.

“Couldn’t help it,” he says. “Neither could you.” Well, that’s true. “Plus, now I don't have to worry ‘bout you findin’ out you didn’t blackmail me. That woulda broken your sick little heart.”

“Maybe,” you say, still a little paranoid, but you push the thoughts away.

“I don’t think your dad needs to know about this,” he says. “That woulda been a sick serve though if I was mad at him,” he chuckles.

“Did you just say sick serve. . . “

“Sick serve,” he whispers in your ear.

“I don’t think that means what you– where do you pick this stuff up, anyway?”

“Prolly Jesse, he never shuts up.”

“So, Jesse’s-”

Joel puts his thumb on your lips. “Said too much already,” he says. “ You gotta keep it to yourself, okay?” You give his thumb a little bite before he takes it away.

It’s funny, you never had anything over him before, but now you kinda do. Not that you’ll do anything with it. Too dangerous.

“Yeah,” you say.

After a long silence, you ask, “What are you gonna do when it’s over?”

He sighs and adjusts his arms around you. “This right here,” he says. “If you want.”

You fall asleep in his arms again.

When you wake up, he’s gone. It’s light outside. Birds are chirping. You have a text from him that says “Stay here if you want. Back in a couple days.” You don’t stay there. It’s too creepy without him. You go back to your apartment, but you worry about him a lot and check your phone constantly. A few days later, you get off work, and when you walk out of the bookstore, he’s parked there, leaning against his truck, ankles crossed, wearing Ray Bans and a t-shirt, jeans as tight as ever, arms tucked under his massive biceps.

“Here comes trouble” he says as he pushes himself off his truck. He puts his hands on his hips and lets his pants adjust as he pops out one knee.

Your lips meet as he wraps his arms around you.

“All done?” you ask.

“Let’s celebrate,” he says. “Got that same suite on the river. Booked it for the rest of the month, so I reckon I’ll be around.”

Thank you for reading and engaging with this story for all six parts, y'all have been so awesome!

FWIW I see this as a happy ending with ominous undertones lol. I think I will come back to these two in the future (assuming there's still interest now that they've fucked). That's why I didn't blow my whole load in over explaining the subplot in this part. I initially included the sub plot so there would be an interesting basis to come back to them after the main story.

I just started another (darker) dad's best friend story: Left in Lincoln. In addition to smut it's also slow burn horror but no gore. Heed warnings. . .

Tags - This story: @jbcalway @daddy-din @angelmenace @silkiers @axshadows @legs0pen4dilfs @fan-fiction-floozy @grnherbs @icuminurbutt @lokanda @not-a-unique-snowflakewflake89 @likeanimagepassingby2 @witchy-jadda @mxtokko @missannwinchester @cannolighost @anxiousankylosaurus @montenegroisr @97cityy @lillyrob @billyloomiswhore4 @cloudroomblog @boysddontcry @blackvelveteen1339 @twsssmlmaa @call-me-doll-facee @str84pedro @ausamocee @skythighs @jasminedragon @leeeesahhh @blushynini @momia2910

All joel: @ethanhoewke @silkiers @eiviea @evyiione @xdaddysprincessxx @queerly-anxiousus @chernayawidow @ambassadortotrilliusprime @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @jasminespringtime @romanarose

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valyrfia · 7 months

Note

I am VERY skeptical about the RBR Charles thing but they (see: Charles, RBR personell of all kinds) keep being SO WEIRD AND SUSPICIOUS about it

Yep yep yep. I go through cycles of being completely convinced and then calling myself delusional, but the fact remains that Max changed his tune on being teammates with Charles recently, Charles keeps talking about Max in interviews praising BOTH his performance and the car, Christian Horner is posting Max and Charles on Instagram as is the RBR account. I genuinely believe Red Bull are at LEAST trying to seriously poach him.

I'm still unsure as to whether they're working towards 2024 or 2025 (as Red Bull have proven with the recent talks with Lando, they're more than happy to buy out someone's contract), but I am leaning more towards 2025, and I believe that Charles at RBR is a real, serious possibility in 2025. Let me explain why.

First, Checo still has a contract through 2024 and while Red Bull aren't always great with honouring contracts, I think the recent popularity and love they've witnessed first-hand for Checo in Texas and Mexico might change their mind on letting him go early. Ultimately, Red Bull Racing is marketing for Red Bull, and Checo obviously brings in sales in North America, and them mistreating Checo might lead to a sales dip in that region. This is why I think, despite the media frenzy, RBR are highly unlikely to drop Checo for 2024. There is no way that RBR is renewing Checo's contract, but at least he can see it out and they can part ways without much damage to either of them at the end of the F1 2024 Season.

Charles's current contract with Ferrari is also up at the end of the 2024 season. Again, even though 2023 has been absolute dogshit for Charles and Ferrari, I don't see that contract ending early. For one, Charles has apparently been promised that the 2024 car will be developed according to his needs and preferences, and it is ridiculous to leave a team who has made you that promise, even if that team is as flakey as Ferrari. I think Charles is waiting to see if the team does change in 2024 before he pushes for contract renewal. It's important to note here that contrary to popular opinion, I believe the ball is completely in Charles's court here when it comes to renewal. He is the Ferrari golden prince, he is Ferrari in a way that no driver really ever has been before, I think it was evident in Monza this year most of all. Carlos drives for Ferrari, and Charles is Ferrari and you could see it in the way that the tifosi treated them. They love Carlos, they adore and worship Charles. This is how Charles managed to convince them to build a car for him in 2024, and it's how I believe Charles is putting off the contract negotiations. This is a key point. Carlos's extended media team and family have complained several times about Carlos not being able to begin contract negotiations because of Charles in some way and Ferrari unwilling to negotiate with Carlos until they've settled Charles (I think this is due to the fact that they only intend to keep one of them and they'd like it to be Charles, but that's an essay for another day). So Charles has himself in a position where he doesn't have to commit to the team unless he sees that it is going to grow in the way he wants it to.

To quote Charles, "I view it in a way that whenever I won’t believe in the project anymore, that probably will be the time when I’ll have to go away. Because it’s in these kinds of situations that you don’t get the best out of yourself, that you don’t help the team as much as it needs to be helped. But this is definitely not the case at the moment. I believe in the project as much as I’ve ever believed in the project before. Especially since Fred arrived. So for now it’s clear. Then it’s also clear that I want to win. But I believe in this project and I’m sure we are working in the right direction.”

So maybe 2024 happens and Ferrari brings a championship-contender car, in which case Charles signs with Ferrari, they get rid of Carlos and probably bring in Alex Albon as a n2.

But I'm not interested in that outcome, I'm interested in what is (in my mind anyway) the far more likely outcome, sheerly due to money and Ferrari internal politics (which again, whole other essay!) which is that nothing really changes for the better at Ferrari. Maybe Charles gets a win by sheer luck and a slightly better car, but overall the strategy continues to not favour him, and Charles in general loses faith in what he refers to as the project. And we know from Charles himself that when this happens, this is when he goes away.

So I've presented an argument for why Red Bull are going to let Checo see out his contract, I've presented a strong possibility for why Charles might be looking to leave Ferrari at the end of 2024. Now I'm going to try and convince you of why out of all the options it'll be Charles joining Red Bull.

First of all, from Charles's point of view regarding teams. I'm going to rule out Alpha Tauri, Haas, Williams, Alfa Romeo, and Alpine, either because they're junior teams or I don't see them willing to fork over huge amounts of money to get Charles onboard. This leaves Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Red Bull.

Out of all the non RBR options, I'd say that Mercedes is the most likely, but both their drivers are signed until 2025. There is always a possibility that Lewis Hamilton decides its time to leave the sport and buys himself out of his own contract, but I think that's not likely to happen next year.

Similar to Mercedes, both McLaren drivers are signed until at least 2025 and both look likely to honour that contract. Red Bull have tried to poach Lando multiple times, and Lando doesn't seem too keen on it yet, so we can assume that he intends to at least see his current contract out. Aston Martin is slightly trickier because I see them as being willing to fork over the millions needed to get Charles Leclerc to drive for them, but on the other hand they don't look close to producing a championship car, and Charles Leclerc is not switching away from Ferrari to not win a championship.

So, this leaves RBR as Charles's best destination for 2025 were he to leave Ferrari. Not only do they have a seat opening up, but they also have shown themselves capable of constructing recent championship-winning cars, and outclass every other team almost every weekend on strategy at the moment. Now that we've established that Charles's team of choice would be RBR, the final point of the argument has to be establishing why Charles would be RBR's driver of choice over let's say, Lando or Daniel.

To me the answer is simple, as so eloquently illustrated by my great friend and scholar Nat (@tsarinablogs) in her The PR of Lestappen in 2023 Essay (also known as Lestappen Gate 2023), Charles is not just good at PR, he's brilliant, and Red Bull isn't a racing company, it's a marketing venture. Having Charles on board would be their greatest asset and Charles has done much to make himself desirable, from being personable in almost all fan interactions to building a solid digital following, to being sometimes sneaky and subliminal with his sponsorship messaging (him always putting on APM Monaco immediately after a race, even before the podium and interviews, hell even Charles and Privateplanegate yesterday), to signing with a literal US entertainment agency. I cannot stress enough how the timing of the WME signing is not accidental, this is Charles making himself be seen as a highly desirable PR asset. Charles has the second highest following on social media out of any current driver, second to only 7 TIME WDC WINNER LEWIS HAMILTON. That sort of audience, and the kind of exposure it can bring to your team and your brand is insane.

Also, as an addendum to Nat's essay using something she herself brought up to me yesterday: any PR for RBR is good PR because it means that Red Bull as a concept is sticking around in people's heads, which means they're more likely to notice and buy the drinks off the shelves. Extrapolating from this we can see that Red Bull signing Charles would ultimately be better marketing than Red Bull signing Lando just because of the absolute uproar it would cause. Whether you think that Red Bull saved Charles from Ferrari, or Charles betrayed Ferrari for Red Bull, or Charles saved himself from Ferrari, or Red Bull as the Big Evil Team poached the Prince of Ferrari, there's a compelling narrative in there and people will talk about it for years to come.

Finally, not to talk about the driving aspect of motorsports, but Charles is the best fit for Red Bull driving-wise as well. Him and Max have spoken in the past about how they both prefer very similar types of car (ie. strong oversteer, borderline undriveable to anyone else) which would make car development much easier for the team. Christian Horner has also been pretty candid about wanting two n1 drivers à la Lewis and Nico (although without the toxicity), and whether you believe that Charles matches Max in equal machinery or not, Charles's racing record is a lot stronger than Lando's or Dan's (the two other possible competitors for the RBR seat). Charles fits the bill, driver-profile-wise, of the complement to Max that Christian Horner is looking for.

So, long story short, I am watching Ferrari VERY closely these next few months. If the SF-24 doesn't make Charles happy, I am going to make a bold claim that we will see Charles Leclerc driving for Red Bull in 2025.

#charles leclerc #lestappen rbr #red bull racing #Lestappen Gate 2023 #lestappen #screwderia ferrari #anon #f1 essays

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askmerriauthor · 10 months

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I said the game demands microtransactions, not that it requires them. That's not just me being pedantic about wording, but rather a big indication of how the developers designed the game to work. Pokemon Sleep doesn't want you to play for free and is designed to make playing-without-paying a worse experience.

Like many free-to-play games out there, they operate on the idea of monetizing convenience and "fear of missing out" (FOMO). Such games will either create a problem in order to sell you a solution, or rely on a rotating/limited availability of enviable items to encourage impulse buying to avoid losing the chance to have the item. Pokemon Sleep does both of these.

Despite Pokemon Sleep being presented as a passive "something in the background while you sleep" kind of novelty, that's not the actual gameplay at all. The game actually wants you to be extremely active and paying a lot of attention to it non-stop, along with encouraging you to get others involved as well. Up to 500 potential invitations with a 50 individual approval list of contacts, specifically, and the system "helpfully" lets you link to your Google, Apple, or Facebook accounts in order to facilitate that and further scoop up lots of personal data for advertising.

The basic gameplay cycle of Pokemon Sleep is that you have a 7-day period in which you can power up your Snorlax as much as possible, with a higher power score equaling a greater variety of visiting Pokemon for you to catch. Visiting Pokemon will appear in a variety of sleeping types, of which there are at least 415 to collect (with individual Pokemon having multiple sleeping types). These Pokemon can also be "befriended" by giving them a sufficient number of items, which means they'll then join your team and help you boost Snorlax's power score over time. You can further boost Snorlax's score by feeding it, which the game encourages you to do three times per day within a given time window. Your Helper Pokemon will supply you with ingredients to make meals for Snorlax at different intervals, and the meals you make have different potencies based on the ingredients used.

So, to summarize, you have a limited period in which to get a number as big as it can be, with various randomized factors able to improve the rate of progression, before it all resets and you're back to square one.

Yes, you absolutely can play this game without spending any money. But the game itself is designed in a way that urges you to spend money at every turn. Every element of gameplay is improved if you spend money, and will actively degrade in effectiveness and quality if you don't. Remember how you can befriend Pokemon to help you out with getting Snorlax's score up? That's faster and easier if you spend money. Those same Helpers who gather ingredients for you? They lose Energy (an arbitrary limit put in place by the game system) the longer they're around, and become worse at gathering ingredients the less Energy they have. But, good for you! You can just buy more Energy for them! Rather, you have to make two purchases - the Energy-restoring item only gives back 50% of their Energy, so you need to buy two in order to max them out again. And you can just buy a box of random ingredients too! How convenient! And if you really want to get the most out of sleeping, you can buy the monthly auto-renewing (until you manually cancel it through Google or Apple, not the game app itself) Premium Membership! Which literally makes your sleep more valuable than the same - or even higher quality - sleep of people who aren't Premium members! But you better buy fast, because all of these items for sale are on a rotating schedule and will swap out of the shop at different 15 or 30-day intervals. You wouldn't want to miss your chance, would you?

A core facet of microtransaction pricing is that it's intentionally and carefully designed to never be enough. You'll always be in a position where you need to buy just a little more than the minimum, and it always comes out at odd numbers that never fit exactly where they need to in order to maximize your purchase, and are priced in unorthodox values specifically to trick the buyer's brain into thinking it's a better deal than it is. With that in mind, it pays to look at the minimum and maximum amounts the game wants to try and charge you since that gives a good idea of their intended range of interaction with your wallet, and how far a given amount of paid microtransactions will take you. Because, remember, such games are built around the idea of NEVER giving you enough. They ALWAYS want you to be in a state of wanting a little more and being tempted to dish over some more cash for it.

In Pokemon Sleep's case? The minimum buy-in for "Diamonds" - their premium microtransaction currency - is 60 Diamonds for $1.19. Their maximum? 7000 Diamonds for $97.99. So what this says outright is that the game is designed in such a way that it expects 7000 Diamonds to NOT BE ENOUGH to maintain a player's best experience. Because, again, such games will NEVER give you a value sufficient enough to deter the need for further purchases. This is a game that wants players to spend $100 multiple times over throughout the lifespan of their interest in the game. Will the majority of players do this? No. There's absolutely going to be a number of whales who will, especially among influencers and content creators on social media who make their own career off these sort of things. But what Pokemon Sleep is relying on is that there will be a far greater abundance of players who think "Oh, it's just a dollar..." or 'Oh, this item is going away... it's not even $5, so why not?" on a very regular basis.

And I haven't even touched on the overt security/privacy issues and the personal info scraping the app has potential for as well. So, yeah, I'm just going to go ahead and sleep on Pokemon Sleep.

#pokemon sleep #pokemon #game development #game design #microtransactions

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gentlebeardsbarngrill · 4 months

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01/24/24 OFMD Daily Recap

TLDR; Cast and Crew Sightings with clowning; UK News; Wee John Wednesday; RenewAsACrewUpdates; NewTwitter Resource: @AdoptOurCrew; Pirate Omens Watch Party; LubeAsACrew; The Queerties; Petition Status; Final Notes; Love Notes; Rhys & Rosie's Anniversary;

==Cast and Crew Sightings==

David Jenkins got the clowning going really early this morning with a picture of a red sunrise, playing the song "New York Groove" by Ace Frehley.

There's been a lot of speculation (obviously we don't know what it means for sure) but the current fan theories going around are:

1. "Red Skies In Morning, Sailor's Take Warning" which Djenkins previously posted prior to a new OFMD Trailer being released back in Sept. Thanks @saltpepperbeard!

2. Some folks think that the Red color is to help indicate Netflix as it is very similar to their signature red. @_Irene_Adler

3. Others are going towards the AppleTV route since out in sunnyside queens, there is an Apple building nearby. @skrifores

Do we actually know? Nope, just conjecture, but it left people wanting to target Netflix and AppleTV more today in terms of hashtags. Which is great cause the Pirate Omens Focused on PrimeVideo in the afternoon.

=Con O'Neil Updated his Instagram, and David Fane commented =

==Ruibo Qian also made a profound update on IG==

"Amplifying positive intent toward a paradigm is what solidifies it into live experience".

Take these updates as you will, but one nice thing about being broken apart from Max is we're starting to see the crew reach out again, and all of it seems to be in somewhat of a positive direction.

==More UK News!==

Today’s news from the UK 24 January 2024 - by @lamentus1

We have a date!! The most amazing news! Season 2 will be available to watch in the UK on BBCiPlayer from Monday 4 February!!! The arrival of season two in the UK will give us an opportunity to organise some attention grabbing events around the show. We’ll keep you posted!

=Convention news=

Starfury Conventions is considering holding an Our Flag Means Death convention here in the UK! We need to show how much interest there is in the idea, so make sure you vote in their poll.

Vote here: https://x.com/starfuryevents/status/1750149921880059968 Make sure they know just how interested we are!

**Note from @gentlebeardsbarngrill: If you are avoiding twitter and need someone to log in and for for you, I have lots of extra twitter handles, just shoot me a DM with what answer you wanna choose and I'll vote on your behalf.**

=Previous Access Poll=

After a week and 986 votes the poll is closed and we can confidently state that 36.5% of fans can’t even watch Our Flag Means Death season 2 in their country yet! This is more than a third of the dedicated fandom not even able to watch the second season, and yet look at how passionate we all are about renewal. Imagine how that will grow when the second season is shown in those countries that have missed out so far.

The poll is here: @lamentus1 Are you able to watch Season 2?

While this last piece isn't SPECIFICALLY for the UK, it is being run in UK time zone so may be a bit harder for some US folks to join in.

== Wee John Wednesday is back! ==

EDIT: hey all, my sick brain messed this one up, Kristian announced on twitter he was gonna reboot wee john weds and I went to IG cause I wanted to get the link and apparently linked an old IG post. Sorry about the confusion! It hasnt been announced when it will start yet. Thank you to @wastingyourgum for the correction!

== Renew As A Crew News ===

So I was a little hesitant to post this, but I'd like you to read it and then read my notes below. This was posted in the Renew As A Crew Public Discord (If someone actually has access to that can you please invite me? I can dm you my creds, I'd rather get it from the source then bugging people).

So, essentially, right now they are considering not keeping the Renew As A Crew "brand" if a team internally doesn't step up within the next two weeks. Several volunteers have expressed their concern with this (as Renew As A Crew is already popular and news sites know about it). I have it on good authority that even though this was posted, other volunteers are trying to change that so we can maintain that Renew As A Crew brand. So if you happen to see this floating around -- please understand this is still up in the air-- so please don't lose hope or worry too much about this just yet.

==New Resource Group on Twitter ==

@adoptourcrew on twitter is trying to keep threads available with compiled resources (similar to these recaps and daily task lists) if you are in fact on twitter, they're a good resource for up to date information. There's been some questions on "who are they!" well they're a fan led group (much like the rest of the campaign) and they will not be focusing on collecting money of any kind, they are an information group. They may suggest fundraisers, but as of right now, no money is exchanging hands with them. So please feel free to check them out here.

== Pirate Omens Watch Party ==

Another fun day of watching good omens with Pirates and Omens fans alike. On to Season 2 tomorrow.

== Lube As a Crew ==

Still making waves all. Thanks @_Irene_Adler for posting this

=== The Queerties! ===

If you have a moment, feel free to head over to the queerties page and do some voting for OFMD! It is.. a really long list, and OFMD only qualifies for two (Vico Oritiz and OFMD in general), but if you have a few minutes it'd help out. It'd be great to at least get those two voted for!

Vote

===Petition Status===

We're so very close to 80K all!

== Some Final Notes ==

So something I noticed today is that we're not trending as much across all the platforms. On twitter, AdoptOurCrew was sticking to 30-35K per 24 hr period for several days, but now it's down to about 24K. We're down to #2 on Max, and the engagement score has gone down quite a bit. Now that might seem like a bad thing. That might seem like we're losing momentum. But I'd like to offer a different perspective. People are taking breaks. People are still directing their efforts on making things more efficient, and compiling information. People are doing more with less -- higher quality tweets, instagram messages, etc. I know that tumblr isn't really being counted high in those stats that tv companies look at, but Im seeing more people interact and delve deep into analysis of things and hashtags are being used. But most of all I'm seeing people take breaks, whether it's in the global strike for Palestine, or just taking some time to recoup.

Not every day is going to be record breaking, nor should it be, because if it was, it'd be people-breaking too. Take it from someone who's worked on 8 month long quality assurance projects, you're gonna have some down days, and that's a good thing.

We've done SO much in so little amount of time, and with David Jenkins and Ruibo Qian posting uplifting things...they see everything we've done, and while they can't tell us if S3 has been adopted, they are sending love. I don't wanna read too much into it conspiracy wise, but I've seen David multiple times over the past few days post RIGHT when things are getting chaotic across all the platforms. He's watching and he's rooting for us. Don't give up hope, but take this time to take a break. Relax, do something creative and fun that you love. Come back when you're feeling refreshed. We'll get there.

=== How To Help ===

If you are still out doing things for the campaign, here's a reminder on how to help (This is not a directive but a guide for when you come back) How To Help Save OFMD Task List - US How to Help Save OFMD Task List - Outside US

== LOVE NOTEEEES ==

Did you know that you're beautiful? When I say beautiful I mean the non-gendered version. You're like really beautiful, inside and out. Seriously look at you. I can feel your beauty miles and miles away through a computer screen, that's how friggn beautiful you are! You're just such a great fucking person and you should be proud of that. You're gorgeous, and beautiful in all ways, and you deserve to be happy lovelies. As always, love you crew, rest up tonight/today.

=================

Well apparently today is Rhys an Rosie's 20th Anniversary! So tonight's Rhys picture will feature Rosie and her lovely letter of love to our favorite dude.

#ofmd daily recap #ofmd daily recaps #ofmd #our flag means death #save ofmd #rhys darby #rosie carnahan darby #renew as a crew #save our flag means death #david jenkins #ruibo qian #con o’neill #ofmd uk #queerties #lube as a crew #pirate omens

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ladyluscinia · 7 months

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Ugh I'm still thinking about that damn tweet so...

2x08 Reaction #6

Ok, so this is not a screed against people posting about or hoping for Izzy's return - whether in joking denial or genuine belief. Like if that's what makes you feel better after the finale, you are entitled to all the posts, fix-it fics, etc.

But.

I really want to push back on this idea that it's this obvious thing canon is supporting.

This is not another Lucius situation. Like. It's just not.

Look, when Lucius was "killed" at the end of S1, it was a joke everyone was in on. He got tossed over the side of the ship with a little "fwoop" and a literal shoe spinning in the air. His "offscreen death" was confirmed by a guy who could not have known what happened after he fell. Of course he was alive.

Lucius's fake-out was so successful because it engaged with the genre of the show in a way that rewarded the audience for buying into the suspension of disbelief.

Izzy's death... doesn't.

Izzy dies from a stray bullet in a shot that you might miss on first watch. He's not doing anything important, or protecting anyone. It's random. They reveal he's injured and then make it back to the ship, only for him to give a dramatic deathbed speech. He dies on screen, and they immediately cut to his funeral.

This isn't the kind of death that fits with OFMD's universe. They tried to borrow a scene from Black Sails or something and just sanded down its edges. Killing a character in the main cast just because "it's a pirate show"? Really? The daring escape plan is real and dangerous and life-threatening in the same episode where Auntie survives an explosion, and we watched Zheng and Edward casually massacre their way through a dozen soldiers each?

I'm buying into the suspension of disbelief that our ragtag crew can escape scott-free because it's a silly romcom about a muppet guy where "things always have a way of working out in the end", and then the show looks me dead in the eye and says "Actually, no, this time the consequences are real. Sorry."

A bird landing on a grave doesn't change that?

Like... in Pirates of the Caribbean they can resurrect Barbossa from the dead like it's nothing because some of the first worldbuilding elements they introduce are a compass that points at what you most desire and gold that curses you into an undead existence. Of course necromancy exists.

OFMD had a guy turn into a seagull behind a tree for plausible deniability, a cursed coat rationalized as a peanut allergy, and the gravy basket which took place wholly in Edward's head. Resurrection would be a hell of a reach. Even if they did open S3 with it, it would be a retcon of Izzy's death, not a reveal that we all could have predicted.

Which does mean that pointing to vague tweets from the crew or likes of Witch!Buttons posts and pushing the idea "Look - they're telling us he'll be back!" leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Like... it's not set up as an inside joke this time. And especially if they don't get renewed - and they certainly seem worried - they should not get credited for leaving this particular beat "open" and just being thwarted by MAX or whatever.

Izzy dying right then, as shown on screen, was unambiguously their final beat.

#our flag means death #ofmd s2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd 2x08 #izzy hands ofmd #ladyluscinia

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fans4wga · 1 year

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The WGA is winning the PR battle.

"Overall, 71 percent of Americans with an opinion backed the writers in their dispute with AMPTP. The survey indicated that the dispute has high visibility with the public, with more than 80 percent of Americans polled saying they had an opinion on the ongoing strike."

That's an amazing number, significantly higher than the 60% of people who supported the last strike in mid-December 2007 (a little over a month from when the strike started on November 5.)

What's next? -> Public support DROPPED over the course of the strike in 2007. People got upset their shows weren't airing, and while we sympathize with fans, the writers' concerns have to come first. We should be getting the word out to our friends, families, and communities so that doesn't happen again. We should be scheduling reminders in a few weeks or a few months to post again on social media to boost morale even when time is passing.

Wouldn't it be great if 75 or 80% of Americans supported the strike in a month? We can do that if fans and audiences everywhere keep pushing for a better understanding of what the WGA's very reasonable demands are.

Now is the time to get mad that Willow is getting canned and deleted, that Lockwood & Co. was unceremoniously cancelled, that Netflix is dangling the Six of Crows spinoff over fans' heads and forcing Shadow and Bone fans to replay seasons again and again in the hopes of getting a renewal. Get angry and agitate for change. Tweet #IStandWithTheWGA and #DoTheWriteThing. Team up with your fandom to send food & snacks to the picket lines (see here for an example, and reach out to this account if you need help getting started with any fan initiative!)

Send a message of WGA support on Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max or any other streaming site you own. (Sample letter available here.)

It's an untenable, inhospitable landscape for fans, so support the writers for a healthier entertainment industry.

Studio greed can only be restrained by a strong union. Support the WGA to fix what the studios broke.

follow @fans4wga for reliable strike news, from an organization of fans working in solidarity with WGA members.

#fans4wga #writers guild strike #current events #wga strike #writers strike

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fuckyeahizzyhands · 6 months

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👀👀👀❤❤❤

And then there’s Izzy Hands, Blackbeard’s first mate. A nefarious scoundrel in Season 1, his second season arc takes him from nemesis to mentor. “We’re such fans of Con’s, and to be able to use everything that he does, and go to every one of his sweet spots, was a joy and kind of the mission of the season,” says Jenkins. “Izzy’s my favorite character. I love all my children equally, but Izzy’s my guy.”

Jenkins describes his favorite kind of baddie as someone whose back is up against the wall, forced into their actions. “There’s a put-upon quality to Con, where he plays Izzy as the ultimate frustrated middle manager.” He relates on a personal level; “Izzy’s how you feel most of the time when you’re running a show.”

O’Neill even shows off his singing voice this season, with a tender rendition of “La Vie en Rose.” “He has tremendous range as an actor, and showcasing that was a big subject of conversation in the writers room.”

But then, in the season finale, Izzy’s felled by a bullet, to the sorrow of his crew and the outrage of some fans. “On one level, it’s great that people care about that character so much, because it’s a testament to what Con built, and what we built in the writers room,” Jenkins says. On another level, “They’re pirates!” And, should the show be renewed, “this season was the second act. These things happen in the middle of the story.”

And if that isn’t enough to assuage fans, Jenkins makes one thing very clear: O’Neill is not off the show. He won’t say how he’s going to manage that, “but as long as this show is on, I want Con on it.”

👀👀👀❤❤❤

#our flag means death spoilers #our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd spoilers #interview #con o'neill #ïzzy #izzy hands #david jenkins #david jenkins interview

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piratecaptainscaptainpirates · 6 months

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To the person who sent me an ask worrying about this article from Consequence TV maybe being the start of OFMD being cancelled, I accidentally deleted it so I'm responding here!

Tl;dr: absent any other information, I'm not worried about it. When I first saw it, it was paired with a headline that said somehting along the the lines of "Taika Waititi hints he won't be returning for OFMD season 3," which seems to have changed and just isn't actually said anywhere in the article itself.

The first part of the article is immediately a bit scary:

When Consequence asks writer/director/actor Taika Waititi if he’s feeling optimistic about a third season of Our Flag Means Death, his initial response is this: “Have you seen the end?”

While this looks scary, I encourage you to stop, breathe for a moment, read that again: crucially, that's not really an answer to the fucking question, and it's presented without context or even any indication that was TW's full answer. It's such a vague opener and without any follow-up it's practically meaningless.

The next parts of the article that a lot of people are concerned about are these paragraphs:

Max has yet to announce plans for a third season but Our Flag Means Death has become a fan favorite for its loving portrayal of its core relationship between Ed and Stede. For Waititi, though, the Season 2 finale “feels like a natural end to their story. Just because I feel like, you know, they’ve been through so much and then wind up in that nice place at a happy ending.” Waititi calls Our Flag Means Death “a really special show,” adding that “I love the show so much and maybe it can survive without Rhys and I. Maybe, I don’t know. I do I think the character of Blackbeard is something I’m really proud of.” Waititi says, though, that “I don’t want it to feel like Rambo III suddenly, you know, when you’re like, ‘Oh man, they have to leave their idyllic life again.'”

When I first read that headline, I was obviously like what the fuck, but when I clicked the link I immediately dismissed this whole article. I'm a person naturally given to anxiety and over-thinking - I'm not saying that to dismiss anyone who is worried about that, I'm saying that to emphasize just how contextless and clickbait-y this article is.

It's important to remember two things: OFMD is a mainstream property that is still generating a lot of traffic due to speculation on whether it's going to be renewed, and Taika Waititi, as a person, attracts a lot of divisive media attention that is often very clickbait-y in nature. He's also the biggest name attached to OFMD.

If we look at this article, all of TW's lines are presented to us out of context. We are not given the questions he was asked or told anything about when this interview took place (other than after the finale, obviously).

A breakdown of what TW says with possible, more likely context:

"The s2 finale felt like a natural, happy ending for Stede and Ed." This is true, and we also know this was intentional in case the show doesn't get renewed. This is not new information.

"Maybe the show can survive without Rhys and I." This is what people are (understandably) worried about, but this is both not a firm statement of "I don't want to come back for s3" and completely devoid of context. A possible explanation is that DJenks has mentioned possible spin-offs; TW could be here referring to spin-offs that don't involve him or Rhys Darby. As an executive producer, there is literally no way TW doesn't know at lesat the broad outline of DJenks' plan for s3.

"I don't want it to feel like they're leaving their idyllic life again." TW doesn't want Ed and Stede's story to be beaten to death, he wants it to have a satisfying, happy ending. Again, this should not be surprising information, it's just presented in a way that makes it seem like he definitely thinks s2 should be the end of Ed and Stede when that is not what he says.

This article is completely devoid of context, and because of that I consider all TW's statements in here to be essentially meaningless because we don't know any of the questions he was asked. I believe the most logical context for these quotations were him talking about the finale and how it was satisfying in case they didn't get s3, speculating about possible spin-offs, and then talking about how he doesn't want the story to be one of those TV shows that go on too long.

A bit of additional context: Consequence is, primarily, a music review and news site. They have a TV segment, where this article is housed, but music is their main focus and they are not a website where you expect to find actual breaking TV news, let alone from big names like TW. Larger film and TV publications we've seen covering the recent release of Next Goal Wins, in comparison, universely refer to the OFMD s2 as "successful" and refer to a "likely" third season - for publications actually focused on TV, the predominant view seems to be that OFMD is successful and a 3rd season seems very likely.

This article is very clickbait-y and tells us absolutely nothing. It absolutely does not say that TW is uninterested in returning for s3 (in fact, it says the opposite, he repeats again how much he loves the show) or that OFMD will be cancelled.

We're okay. Even if we do get news that OFMD hasn't been greenlit for s3, I promise it's not going to break on Consequence TV of all places.

#ofmd #our flag means death

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edsrosetattoo · 6 months

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Cheer up Izzy fans, if the show gets renewed Izzy is still going to be in the show, as confirmed today by Jenkins in the LA Times. Yes, he’s still dead, but our beloved Con will still be in the show.

#ofmd #our flag means death #ofmd s2 #edward teach #ofmd season 2 #stede bonnet #ed teach #izzy hands #taika waititi #con oneill

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thearchercore · 2 months

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the f1 fanbase on twitter is soooo much for me. if its not about how max is only winning cause he has the fastest car its about how charles <<< carlos (both talented but its so obvious charles is more consistent. i wont lie that carlos has been doing good this season). going back to max both new and old fans dont understand yes, you need a fast car to win but its not just the car but also the driver. like imagine driving an alpine and thinking you have a chance at winning a WDC. when lewis had a fast car he dominated but now when he doesn't have the dominating car people flip their switch and say oh its all in the driver not the car. people especially forget that max and lewis were neck and neck even after all the dnfs and lewis obviously had the faster car in 2021. saying f1 is boring because the same person wins obviously don't watch the races. who cares about the +20sec?? it just shows how flawless max is with a good car when his teammate has the same car (adding to this people need to stop the checo hate, man is doing amazing)

Im just so frustrated with the whole charles and whole rb domination thing. stop putting charles and carlos against each other, stop putting down rb team's talents and saying its just the car. they especially have good chemistry and strategies which i think played a lot more than just the car in the 2023 season. like imagine calling someone washed and proceeding to pray on a dnf and proceed to be happy with a race that resulted in the same thing but different winner.

i just want a Lesteppan podium is that hard to ask for. im so sorry for my long rant i just had to get it off LOL. forgive me for all my grammatical errors

one thing about f1 twitter - it's the best place to get news asap. it's objectively the best platform re: wheel knowledge HOWEVER, it does have individuals who are incredibly biased and are not afraid to fight over absolute nonsense just today we got:

carlos stans calling a ferrari update account "charles biased" because they posted a child saying his favourite f1 driver is charles and not carlos

the stans then managed to talk badly about the child who said he's a charles fan???

and then to top it off the sainz gang backed up the sky sports presenter who claimed charles is "depressed and emotional this week" because the presenter has a long career in motorsport so he HAS to know what he's talking about.

these discourses are just absolutely insane, and the ferrari renewal situation made it worse so if you don't feel like it, just don't go there lmao. but it does give you valuable info.

also the hate max gets is also insane, i'm proud of his domination but their absolute disgust in his every achievement is just questionable.

i recommend filtering your media consumption by just doing tumblr if it upsets you because here you can be more careful in who you follow.

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aydann-runs · 6 months

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“Can I ask you something hard?” Alex asks, lips brushing against the bare skin of Michael's shoulder in the dark.

Michael is still awake. Alex can feel it in the way Michael's body hasn't quite relaxed in his hold. It's a good time for hard conversations, they've learned, when they're close and connected, a little more unguarded than in the light of day.

“Yeah, ‘s long as I can change my mind if it's not somethin’ I wanna talk about.”

“Always,” Alex confirms.

That's the only ground rule they set for this, borrowed from sex, but useful here, too, that they both have to be okay with having the conversation. That there's no judgment if one of them changes their mind. It's happened a few times, where he or Michael has had to step away from a discussion.

Alex half expects his next question to be shut down from the start, but he asks it anyway. “Do you ever regret staying in Roswell after high school?”

He feels Michael tense, and Alex skims his palm across Michael’s belly, up his chest, and back down. Alex waits patiently, long enough he thinks Michael’s not going to answer. He’s just about to withdraw the question when Michael takes a deep breath and lets it out in a shaky exhale.

“There isn't a really great way to answer that,” Michael says, voice tinged with an old sadness. Alex squeezes him reassuringly but stays quiet. “I…everything was so fucked up then. I couldn’t get out, not after Rosa. Iz needed me, and Max sure as shit couldn't handle everything on his own.”

Alex hums in acknowledgement. It would be too easy to play Monday morning quarterback, but Michael doesn't deserve that. Besides, Alex doesn't know what he would have done at seventeen if he were in Michael's position, with the limited understanding he'd had at the time.

“After that summer, leaving wasn't an option anymore, even if I'd wanted to. I fucked up badly enough that UNM pulled my scholarships.”

Michael sighs and makes an aborted move to roll onto his stomach and bury his face in the pillow. Alex loosens his hold, but Michael shakes his head and presses back, renewing the close contact.

“I fucked up a lot of people's lives that summer. I hurt Liz and Arturo, Rosa. Isobel. I hurt you. There are a lot of things I regret, Alex, but staying was never one of them. I could never regret always being where you could find me.”

Alex tightens his grip on Michael as he falls silent, presses a kiss to the back of his shoulder. He waits until he's sure his voice will be steady to say, “When I first got back to town and told you I thought you'd be long gone, that was my biggest fear. It was so selfish of me. I wasn't in a good place, couldn't tell you how happy I was to see you. And god, I was sad that you'd been stuck here the whole time. I didn't understand then that this was where you'd needed to be.”

Alex buries his face in the curls at the nape of his husband's neck. He inhales the scent that's uniquely Michael, the first rainfall after a dry spell, a hint of motor oil that he can never fully wash away, a little bit of smoky bourbon.

Michael turns in his arms, brushes his nose against Alex's. “This is always where I've needed to be.”

#30 day writing challenge #day 14 #write about regret #roswell new mexico #malex fic #ficlet #my fic

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unhinged-jackles · 3 months

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Dearest mutual. I know nothing of formula 1. Why are the ferrari and red bull brands fighting???

oh frosty i am so so so glad you asked bc now i get to be insane.

(this got super long so I essentially have an essay below the cut. if you're curious about formula 1, give it a read!)

Ok so first let me get into a few key people in this. Lewis Hamilton is a 7 time F1 World Drivers Champion and he has the most race wins of anyone in F1 history. He is regarded as one the best if not THE best F1 driver of all time. He has been on the Mercedes team since 2013 and has won 6 of his WDCs with them.

However, in 2021, he lost the championship to Max Verstappen of team Red Bull in a controversial final race in Abu Dhabi. Max Verstappen has been the WDC since 2021, winning in both the the 2022 and 2023 season. His 2023 season broke records I believe, winning 19 out of 22 races. Not only is Verstappen an incredible driver, just a real force to be reckoned with on the race track, but Red Bull's F1 cars are just fucking insane, especially in 2022 and 2023 because of new regulations leading to a new designs. It literally sounds like a fucking rocket and he wins by large margins.

On the other hand, the Mercedes cars that dominate from 2013 to 2020 took a huge dip in 2022 due to the new designs because of new regulations, and Hamilton has been very vocal about these cars not being up to par. Hamilton has always been very loyal to Mercedes, so it came as an extreme shock when it was announced on Feb 1st that he would be moving to team Ferrari in the 2025 season. Like imagine if when Zayn left 1D he went to 5SOS. Or if a member of Stray Kids joined BTS. Idk what else to compare it to but it was fucking insane, which is why I got into F1 because I was like "ok idk what's going on but I do want to know." However, with Hamilton moving to Ferrari in 2025, this means that Carlos Sainz is essentially fired from Ferrari (also I should have mentioned this before, there are 10 F1 teams and each team has two drivers). Charles Leclerc is Ferrari's favorite, I've seen him being referenced as the 'Prince of Ferrari' by fans. So it came as no surprise that soon after Hamilton announced he's joined Ferrari in 2025, Sainz issued a statement that he and Ferrari would be parting ways at the end of 2024.

So now the definite line up for Ferrari in 2025 is Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen is also staying with Red Bull but the future of Sergio "Checo" Perez is uncertain. His contract is up at the end of 2024 and there have been rumors that he might be replaced.

Carlos Sainz has not signed with another team for 2025, at least not publicaly, so there is a lot of speculation on where he may go next. He is the only driver not from Red Bull who won a Grand Prix in 2023. Verstappen won 19, Perez won 2, and Sainz won 1. While everybody else I mentioned in this post did have a higher standing in the final rankings of the 2023 season, Sainz did get a trophy, and that's a result that matters.

2025 is going to be an incredible season to see the fight between Hamilton and Verstappen. Hamilton signing with Ferrari after finished 12 years with Mercedes shows he's really doing whatever is takes to get that 8th WDC, because that would make him the F1 driver with the most world championships of all time. Verstappen is a favorite to be the 2024 Champion, so he will probably be defending the title.

Now let's say that Perez doesn't renew his contract and Sainz has a good season this year. There is a non-zero chance that he could sign with Red Bull. Sainz was in their F1 academy, and he was beat out for the Red Bull F1 seat by Verstappen at the beginning of their F1 careers. I would literally do anything to see real hard racing between Carlos Sainz for Red Bull and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari, because frankly Ferrari keeps prioritizing Leclerc over Sainz, even if Sainz has a better pace. So to have the the 2025 lineup for Red Bull be Max Verstappen AND Carlos Sainz, while the fucking FERRARI team is Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc would be so insanely awesome.

If you read this far, thank you for coming to my ted talk 💋

#ask tanoo #the-frostiest-of-flakes #f1 #formula 1 #lewis hamilton #max verstappen #charles leclerc #carlos sainz #oracle red bull racing #scuderia ferrari

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tailoring-hearts · 4 months

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Hello my dear friends. I know this is a star trek blog, and I know you're probably following me for star trek content (don't think I've forgotten about my yearly tradition of making silly valentines just because I've been less active here) but i have a request.

As fandom people, you know that interests come in waves, but they never leave. They burrow into your heart and make a home there, where you cherish them and the interests come and go. My star trek interest has never left and still clings tightly.

That being said, I do currently have a show that has dug so deeply into my heart it's made me feel happy again. This show has made me feel, almost all my depression and burnout and the terrible things I've been through just in the past couple years, that I'm not alone, and that there's more in life. It doesn't always come immediately, and you don't have to be amazing young. Not to mention, this show has shown me that your found family, your crew, are some of the most important people in your life and you should care for them as well as you can.

If you caught on already, then you probably know what I'm going to ask. But if you haven't, the show I'm talking about is Our Flag Means Death. I know the Star Trek fandom understands found family and representation so much. Especially my ds9 fam out there (sending you all my love.)

So a few days ago, it was announced that Our Flag Means Death has been cancelled and it wouldn't be getting a third season (if you haven't seen the show I cannot recommend it enough.) As someone who watches season 2 and saw the signs of it getting cancelled, at first I was resigned and kind of hurt. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how hurt I was and how unfair it is for MAX to cancel one of the most meaningful things in my life and not allow them to finish out their stories.

For the first time in my life, I was no longer scared of what people thought of me and how I posted, and what I talked about. I'm no longer scared if my family finds out how much I love an undeniably and unforgivingly queer show full of love and representation. And I set to work.

For the past few days I have been working non-stop in my spare time, reblogging posts on the site, signing the petition, emailing HBO MAXand Zaslov, posting on Instagram, sharing as many things as I can, reviewing the show on sites, constantly nagging MAX on social media, and even telling people I know about it to rally them into the fight. I even made a Twitter account today in an attempt to try and make my voice heard more.

For the first time in my life I have found something to fight for. That's why I'm here today. To all my followers, and the people in the Star Trek fandom, who know what it's like to long for representation, who knows what it's like to have your favorite show cancelled. To anyone who sees this. I'm asking you to please sign the petition.

This show was already on the verge of renewal, they had started casting calls in New Zealand. And last minute MAX cut the chord. So for those of you out there who see this, I'm asking to please sign the petition and share this post. The Star Trek fandom has always meant so much to me, and that's why I'm reaching out to you all now.

Thank you for your time, live long and prosper.

#star trek #ds9 #next generation #strange new worlds #star trek discovery #star trek tos #star trek picard series #ofmd #our flag means death #renew as a crew

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ngardgni · 1 year

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...So, we've been reading a few posts about how "Warrior Nun" is the best because it isn't like all the other queer shows, where apparently the queer couples have sex right away or non-queer shows that queer bait viewers, etc.

Let's just get something straight:

The original L-Word came out in 2004. That show was criticized for being too white, too narrow, too limiting in its depiction of gay women. In fact, it was mostly lesbians, and one bi woman (Tina) and most were femmes. Over the years, the show tried to course correct with the addition of other characters, most notably Max (Daniela Sea) and even that was fraught with controversy. At the time, Daniela Sea was interviewed about this and she had said (and we're paraphrasing here, that was a long time ago), that L-Word doesn't claim to represent all gay women, and she had hoped that there would be more representation of gay women, more movies, more tv shows to show the diversity, the variety, the spectrum of the gay experience.

At the time, pre-L-Word, there were only a handful of les/bi movies, mostly indie, some of questionable quality (there were a lot, we're not going to name names), some good (our favorite being "When Night is Falling" and "Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love"). On TV, we had "Ellen" which was groundbreaking and promptly cancelled, and there was "Carol the Lesbian" on "Friends", who was treated more as a joke, along with Chandler's trans-mom.

Cut to now - where we have so much more to choose from: we have period dramas with A-List directors and actors ("Carol", "Tell it to the Bees", "Portrait of a Lady on Fire"), we have shows on TV networks and online streaming platforms (tho the line between those are blurring). So we can watch Cyrano de Bergerac style movies ("The Half of It") or Asian American ones ("Saving Face") or pretty straightforward ones, really ("Imagine Me and You"), and though some, if not half or most series/shows have been cancelled ("Teenage Bounty Hunters", "I Am Not Okay with This", etc.), we still have more shows/series now that tell our queer stories than ever before ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "The 100", "Glee", etc.) and we still think that's better than the time the only thing we had was stories with only subtext to keep us company ("Fried Green Tomatoes", "Thelma and Louise", "A League of their Own").

So, whenever we feel like it's getting bad, let's also remember the time when queer stories weren't even mainstream, when directors and actors wouldn't even touch or go near our stories, when we didn't have as many allies in the industry willing to put our stories out there. A lot of our queer stories from before, though far from perfect, paved the way for stories like "Warrior Nun"to see the light of day. And we love that yeah, "Warrior Nun" is about a friends-to-lovers queer story, but that isn't just the one queer story that can be told. The diversity and complexity of the queer experience can hardly be encompassed by just one series and it's not fair to ignore or put the others down just because they don't fit what you like. We like that we have the more adult, they-had-a-one-night-stand-right-away-and-fell-in-love story of Kacy on NCIS Hawai'i, the sex-positive one of Leighton on "The Sex Lives of College Girls", the stranded-on-an-island one of "The Wilds", the vampire-and-vampire-slayer-falling-in-love narrative of "First Kill", etc.

So, let's keep celebrating the diversity and complexity of the queer female experience onscreen but still honor the stories that came before them. They may not have been perfect, hell, they were even problematic, but, again, at least we got these stories and our lives are better for it.

And let's keep pushing for "Warrior Nun"and other stories to keep getting made and renewed.

Like and reblog if you agree.

Drop your favorite queer women story (movie, series, show) below.

#alba baptista #ava silva #avatrice #kristina tonteri young #warrior nun season 2 #warrior nun #buffy the vampire slayer #lword(original)#the half of it #imagine me and you #saving face #when night is falling #incredibly true adventure of 2 girls in love #portrait of a lady on fire

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vampyrsutton · 1 year

Text

On Your Knees

Summary:

Joe does his normal playboy song and dance to make Cherry jealous and things turn out even better than expected.

Ao3 Tags:

Public Sex, Possessive Behavior, Exhibitionism, Biting, Face-Fucking, Hair-pulling, Dirty Talk, Degradation, Masturbation, Jealousy, Blow Jobs, Public Blow Jobs

Notes:

Day 7 of MatchaBlossom Week 2023!

NSFW Prompt: Public Sex

"Why are you such a man whore?" Cherry sneers as he crowds Joe against a tree a little ways from the main track. "I thought we were past this, you thirsty gorilla."

Joe scoffs, fairly sure Kaoru letting his client openly flirt with him in the restaurant last week was far worse than what Joe was just doing. "She couldn't see, I was just giving her a hand."

"Yeah, I noticed. I was all over her waist." Cherry huffs, eyes narrowed above his mask.

"She was like 150 cm max. My whole hand fit around her waist." Joe fires back, glaring down at the shorter skater in front of him.

"And she was eating up every second of it." Cherry tsks, backing up now to pretend to turn away. "Ridiculous-"

"I don't see any ownership." Joe cuts in with a shit-eating smirk. He knew what he did, he'd been riling the calligrapher up all week in hopes of making him snap and the slight falter in his light steps told Joe he was about to get what he wanted. "Pretty sure that makes me free game to the hoards of adoring fans. They'd probably behave better too-shit!"

He hadn't expected Cherry finally snapping to include hopping on Carla to pull Joe down by his hair and yank his mask down to bite Joe's neck hard enough to leave a mark on its own, let alone sucking several more into the tan skin around it. He’s not even sure he can flip his chef collar up to hide these let alone his S outfit.

He feels like he should probably be embarrassed with how fast he starts getting hard as he wraps large hands around Cherry's tiny waist with a groan. "Shit, Kao. Warn a guy."

Cherry just smirks, pulling his mask back up with mischief in his eyes as he turns to leave. "Just marking what's mine."

He doesn't get very far as Joe's hands tighten around his slim waist to force him to keep looking at him. "Seriously? Gonna just leave me like this?"

"What are you-" Cherry starts with a glare before gold eyes widen when they trail down to the tent forming in Joe's pants and the renewed smirk becomes obvious. "I literally only bit you?"

"You're hot when you're jealous." Joe huffs with narrowed eyes. "So are you helping or not?"

"We're barely 50 meters from the course." Cherry hums, eyes not leaving Joe's crotch.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Joe smirks now, moving his hands up to Cherry's shoulders. "What do you say?"

Cherry rolls his eyes, pulling his mask back down as he sinks to his knees. "Thirsty gorilla."

"Very." Joe chuckles, carding a hand into long pink hair as his other hand fights with his pants.

"Stay quiet," Cherry mutters, helping get Joe's cock out of his boxers once the pants are out of the way before getting his mouth on it.

Joe curses, moving his now free hand up to his mouth as wet heat wraps around the head of his cock. "Shit. Yeah, I'll definitely try."

Cherry smirks, eyes shining with mischief before he suddenly takes half of Joe into his mouth until he gags and he has to pull back to readjust and try again.

Joe bites his hand with a groan, knowing Cherry plans to drive him insane as he tries not to jerk his hips and possibly hurt him. "Dammit, Kaoru."

Cherry gives him a look like he wants to call him out on the name slip, but instead, he just raises an amused eyebrow before hollowing his cheeks on the way up and falling back down so he can swallow around the head with a moan. It makes Joe's hand tighten in his hair and pulls another needy sound from the pinkette as he continues.

Joe has to fight not to close his eyes, knowing he needs to be the one to keep an eye on their surroundings, but struggling with how Cherry swallows around him and tongues under the head to make Joe curse again. He hears skaters racing past them on the other side of the tree line behind him and the adrenaline of one stopping and finding them makes his cock throb.

He needs to piss Cherry off more often.

Or stop being a hypocrite and just ask .

The mental image of Cherry's face turning pink and muttering obscenities at him for having the audacity pulls a chuckle out of him. The smaller man would be so embarrassed.

Cherry raises an eyebrow once more in question as to what could be so funny.

"Just thinking about how you would react to me outwardly asking you to suck me off in the woods," Joe smirks, snickering when it has the imagined effect of making color flush across Cherry's cheeks as gold eyes glare up at him. "Yeah, that's what I thoUGHT! Fuck!" He curses when Cherry swallows around the head and flicks the slit in retaliation.

Joe flinches when he hears someone skating by asking their buddy what that noise was before he glares down at smug gold. "You're a little shit."

Cherry just shrugs, the smirk obvious in his eyes as he continues bobbing his head, nose now pressed against strong pelvis as a small hand reaches into sagging pants to lightly squeeze Joe's balls and make him buck his hips with a strangled moan.

"Dammit. Kao-shit-" Joe smacks his hand over his mouth to silence his moan when Cherry increases the suction to punish him for trying to say his non-S name.

Looking down into gold eyes delivers one message.

Behave .

"Fucking fine." Joe curses, head thumping against the tree behind him as he tries to keep his hips still, groaning into his hand as Cherry tries to seemingly suck his soul out through his dick. "Fuck, baby…"

Cherry hums thoughtfully just to add vibrations before relaxing his throat and jaw and tapping Joe's legs to get his attention.

It takes Joe a second to figure out what Cherry wants before he feels a skilled tongue along the underside of his cock and finally notices the pleading in Cherry's eyes. "Want me to fuck your throat, baby?" He asks, groaning when Cherry moans around the head. "Fuck, yeah, okay. Relax a bit more-or swallow, shit." Joe hisses as he tightens his grip on pink bangs to start pulling out, starting a slow pace to let Cherry figure out his breathing before starting to speed up when he feels nails dig into his thighs. "You acted like it was such a pain like five minutes ago."

All he gets in response is an eye roll before he sees a challenge spark in gold eyes and feels hands on his ass, pulling him forward as though to tell him to get on with it.

"Dammit, I need to make you jealous more often." Joe chuckles breathlessly as he fucks the slim throat as hard and fast as he can without actually hurting him. "Fuck, your voice is going to be ruined after this." He grunts when this makes Cherry moan around his cock. "We've been gone long enough. Between the dirt on your pants and the crack of your voice, it doesn't matter how much you fix your hair, everyone here will know you were back here getting your throat fucked like a desperate little whore." He chuckles darkly. "You made enough of a scene dragging me away and left these dark ass marks where none of my shirts will hide them, no one will be able to question who we belong to, will they."

Joe feels Cherry's grip on his ass tighten as his throat spasms around his cock with a moan. "Shit, you like that idea, don't you? You don't care if everyone here knows you're a dirty slut, just as long as they know I belong to you, huh?" Another moan has Joe's cock twitching in Cherry's throat. "Next thing I know, you'll be trying to get a collar on me-Fuck!"

Joe isn't fast enough to get his hand over his mouth this time when Cherry properly moans and he feels his entire face flush red in embarrassment when the next group to skate by catcalls and laughs. At least they have the decency not to investigate.

"Shit, Kaoru." Joe hisses, surprised to feel how turned on the thought has him. "Necklace wasn't enough, huh? You want to put an actual collar on me? Maybe a little tag that says Property of Kaoru so no one can question who I belong to-fuck-yeah, we're coming back to that later." Joe groans breathlessly when Cherry looks up at him pleadingly. "I wouldn't mind one on you either. Some of your clients are way too comfortable for my liking."

Cherry makes a noise that might have been a whimper if he didn't have a throat full of dick before a whine manages to force its way through when Joe reaches down to wrap his large hand around the pinkette's slim throat where a collar would sit.

Joe curses when he realizes he can feel his cock stretching Cherry's throat. "Shit, you'd probably actually choke on it if I tried to collar you, wouldn't you? You'd love it though. Feeling the normally comfortable weight become suddenly constricting with each thrust of my cock. You already love it when my giant hands choke you, you'd probably go insane if I did that."

Cherry makes a garbled noise that was probably some type of moan as he trembles and Joe finally notices his hand moving in his loose hakama pants.

"Like the idea that much, huh?" Joe smirks, moving his hand up to the back of pink hair now to fuck his throat properly when Cherry can't even seem to manage a glare. "What was it, baby? The collar? Calling you a whore? Fucking your pretty little throat so you probably won't be able to talk when I'm done with you?" He hums when Cherry tries to moan. "Is it maybe the fact we're so close, anyone could get curious and see what a good little slut you are? Anyone here could hear you choking on my cock and come get a free show as you moan for it? Prideful eyes turned teary as you take me like the perfect little cock sleeve you were meant to be?" He sees Kaoru's hand start speeding up as he does choke now. "Well, Kaoru? Which is it, baby?"

Joe doesn't actually give Cherry a chance to try to answer, knowing that he's right and that Cherry probably can't, and gripping pink strands tighter to guarantee he can't as he nears the edge.

"Fuck, baby, I'm close. So close. You take me so well, how could I not be when you're desperately swallowing around my cock. Shit-" Joe groans as he fights to hold off just a little longer. "Gonna cum down your throat. That okay?"

Cherry just does his best to groan, relaxing his throat as much as possible and tapping a muscular thigh once for yes.

Joe curses, rambling a combination of praise and dirty talk as one more swallow around his sensitive head sends him careening over the edge with a groan, spilling down Cherry's throat as he bites his lip to try to be quiet.

He hears a quiet whimper beneath him and knows Cherry came, and pulling away confirms his suspicions as Cherry pulls pocket tissues from somewhere within the layers of his outfit to wipe his hand clean.

"Fuck." Joe chuckles breathlessly, accepting the offered tissue to wipe his cock off and tuck it away. "Possessive much?"

Cherry just raises a pink eyebrow, looking at Joe unimpressed as he makes a wheezing noise instead of actual words and moves the shirt of his hakama to show off his own dark marks.

Joe snorts. "Point taken. Wanna head back out there, or go another round at home?"

Cherry's face flushes a bright pink at the thought of going out there sounding like this and just points his thumb in the direction of the gates, not wanting to give Joe the satisfaction of hearing him try to talk.

"Fair enough," Joe smirks, pulling his jacket back on properly. "I'll say bye to the others. Meet you at the gate?"

Cherry nods, standing up to leave a final bite on Joe's collarbone before grabbing Carla and heading to the gate with a little smirk.

All Joe can do is shake his head with a laugh. "Possessive shit."

He knew he was no better.

#matcha blossom #nanjo kojiro #kaoru sakurayashiki #kojiro nanjo #sakurayashiki kaoru #sk8 the infinity #sk8 cherry #sk8 joe #sk8 smut #matchablossom #matchablossom week 2023 #matchablossom week

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