#(this is about me not shipping them - but is NOT anti-carmen i want to be clear)

[yourlocalbadgerscales]

~ Intro post, since I forgot to pin my first one ~

Hello pooks <3

I am yourlocalbadgerscales, but you can call me Ella, Jaimiee, Aspen, Alfie, Jules… literally anything you want to as long as it isn’t creepy! ^^ But I prefer Jaimiee!

This is my main blog, and here I will post pretty much whatever comes to mind, and I’ll reblog anything funny or important I come across. As I write this, I have been on this hellsite for about 5 months. I think I’m learning :)

About me:

I’m a minor (between 13-17 years old, I will keep my exact age a secret for safety reasons)

My pronouns are she/her

I am a polyam bi-lesbian

I am a demigirl!

I live in Europe

I’m a Slytherpuff! (Slytherin & Hufflepuff)

Die, cry, despise

Time stamp: 01:37

Main fandoms I’m in:

Harry Potter (fuck J.K R0wI!ng)

The Marauders

Taylor Swift

Conan Gray

Gaylor Swift

Not a fandom, but I’m a proud member of LGBTQIA+!

Favourite ships:

Drarry

Jegulus

Wolfstar

Deamus

Carulia (Carmen Sandiego x Julia)

Kaylor (Taylor Swift x Karlie Kloss)

Autumnflower/Summerfall (Florean Fortescue x oc!August Ollivander)

Rayamaari (Raya and the Last Dragon, Raya x Namaari)

Favourite artists:

Conan Gray • Taylor Swift • Eminem

Chappell Roan • Nessa Barrett

SOFIA ISELLA to name a few!

Current favourite artists, albums & songs:

“Midnights”, album by Taylor Swift!

A bunch of songs from “folklore”, album by Taylor Swift!

Nessa Barrett!!!

DNI:

Queerphobes (and if you exclude certain gender identities, sexualities etc., get out!)

MAPs (MAP stands for Minor Attracted Person, aka pedophile. This isn’t a real sexuality in LGBTQIA+!)

Zoophiles (This isn’t a valid sexuality, either!)

Zionists

TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist, aka transphobe)… or as I like to call them, FARTs (Feminist Appropriating Reactionary Transphobe)

People who cheat on their partners (What is wrong with you?)

Porn bots (As if you’d care about my DNI)

People who hate on certain religions

People looking for sex and stuff like that

Feel free to interact:

If you’re 18+ and you’re just here to enjoy my content without the intention of being creepy ^^

If you’re LGBTQIA+ and/or an ally!

If you need someone to vent to

If you have any questions about fandoms in I’m, I’m happy to help!

My tumblr family:

My parent @meatybunger

My child @homocidalpotat

My child in law @names-confuse-me

My other child @dragonfanplaugedr

My partners @junos-ocean-galaxy (husband 💅💍), @ravenwordss and @here-am-i-sitting-in-a-tin-can

Tags I use for my posts are #jamstag (earlier ellastag), #anti jkr (for all my Harry Potter and/or Marauders themed posts, #ella bleeds ink (for poetry), etc.

Here are a few of my sideblogs: @regregregulusblack (roleplay blog), @floreanfortescuetruther (blog where I brainrot about SUCH an underrated character and his OC boyfriend, August Ollivander!), @slitherpuffinstories (place for microfics), @urlocalbadgerscales (main blog #2) etc… I have about 10 sideblogs, many of them secret 🤫

Feel free to send asks and write to me privately, I love to make friends! Also, drink some water. Stay hydrated! 💧 I love you ❤️

Love Jaimiee xx

[goosemixtapes]

max's favorite short stories & articles!

to be updated as i read new things! "articles" could be anything from political points to philosophical musings to fascinating stories. obligatory statement that i don't necessarily agree with everything in every one of these stories/articles, but i think about them a lot and want to share :)

short stories

Avi Cantor Has Six Months To Live by Sacha Lamb (@kuttithevangu) (novella) (so says the writing on the bathroom mirror. of gender & judaism & magic and t4t trans guys. cw for suicidal ideation and bullying)

Epistolary by Sascha Lamb ("The [stuffed] frog you are selling on your blog is MINE and he is NOT HAUNTED and his name is MOSHE not BILLY HOPPER.")

Chokechain by Andrew Joseph White (a trans man discovers his parents have replaced him with a robot version of his pretransition self. cw for transphobia and violence)

Sandrine by Alexandra Munck (the tagline for this one is "I dated a sun god in college" but that doesn't do justice to the sheer concept here please read this)

You Wouldn't Have Known About Me by Calvin Gimpelevich (set in a hospital ward where patients are recovering from gender-confirming surgery)

No Flight Without the Shatter by Brooke Bolander (novella) ("After the world’s end, the last young human learns a final lesson from Earth’s remaining animals." cw for climate change/extinction)

And You Shall Know Her By The Trail Of Dead by Brooke Bolander (what if you had to death-match-fight a virtual version of yourself at your meanest made by your boyfriend whose life you're trying to save would that be fucked up or what. cws for guns and violence)

Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang (stories that clock you in the fucking teeth in the religious trauma.)

A Serpent for Each Year by Tamara Jerée (microfiction) ("Our relationship is almost a year old when I ask Nal why she is covered in snakes." cw for animal death)

The Front Line by W.C. Dunlap (microfiction) (cited as one of the world's finest attention-grabber openings. cws for police brutality, racism, and SA)

Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience by Rebecca Roanhorse (step into the simulation and gain an authentic experience! cws for anti-Native racism and alcohol)

The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado (one of the best stories ever written. once there was a girl with a green ribbon around her neck...)

City of Red Midnight by Usman T. Malik (a chronicle of nested stories-within-stories, set in old fantasy pakistan, inverting a myth from the one hundred and one nights)

We Work In Miraculous Cages by Brenda Peynado (following a college grad drowning in loans through the nightmare of neverending work)

Other Worlds and This One by Cadwell Turnbull (a brotherly relationship collides with a theory about atomic particles, space, and time)

And Then There Were (N-One) by Sarah Pinsker (a convention of alternate-universe selves--all Sarah Pinskers--becomes a murder mystery)

Fandom For Witches by Ruoxi Chen (fuck every other thing ever written about fandom)

Haunted Home by Conrad Loyer ("The ship features a recreation of a slave ship’s hold. The cruise prides itself on it. It is not a good recreation, if the metric is realism.")

articles & essays

Lockhart's Lament (on how math is taught in schools. that is, badly. one of the most cathartic essays i've ever read on education)

Against Cop Shit by Jeffrey Moro (on adversarial education)

Debunking "Trans Women Are Not Women" Arguments by Julia Serano (comprehensive, well-written, good to have as a reference point)

On Liking Women by Andrea Long Chu (and on the politics of desire)

Turning a Unicorn Into a Bat by Josh and Lolly Weed (on Mormonism, love, and whether a gay man and a straight woman can marry happily. cw for homophobia)

Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price (musings on motivation from a social psychologist and professor)

How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Peterson (how come everything happens so much?)

White Women Drive Me Crazy by Aisha Mirza (on the harm caused by white women. cw for racism)

Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong by Michael Hobbes (should be required reading for everyone at this point. cw for fatphobia and eating disorders)

Becoming Anne Frank by Dara Horn (on the cultural fascination with Anne Frank. cw for antisemitism)

The Ecstasy of Influence by Jonathan Lethem ([on/a] plagiarism)

On the Ethics of Boinking Animal People by Patricia Taxxon (video essay) (ostensibly what the title says, but actually a detailed musing on the essential properties of furry media and the freedom of dehumanization; changed my life a bit)

[poorlittlegreenie13]

you as a sydcarmy writer manifesting lesbian syd is so funny to me but also real af to be honest lmao

😭. Listen—

Spoilers for season 3 below the cut

Season three honestly killed something in me lol. I hated it so much. And I hated Carmy’s behavior toward Syd so much. Just my personal opinion. But the sydcarmy lover in me is taking a little break because I’m so angry at this new version of Carmy who apparently doesn’t respect Syd for shit… not *my* Carmen Berzatto, that’s for sure. I would never have shipped that version of Carmy with Syd honestly. I think a key aspect of Carmy’s personality is that he gets overloaded, lashes out, & then feels overwhelming shame & guilt afterward. Which is a classic trauma response. But this season it’s just all explosions, no shame/guilt. I don’t personally think it’s a realistic depiction of his trauma/character type thus far, as someone who grew up in a similar environment. I also just think he respects Syd enough not to treat her like he did this season, and I think she has enough self respect not to tolerate it! Season one Syd would’ve been out the door. She quit after much less from Carmy in season one!

I could go on and on. Essentially I think they ruined their own show bc they were so mad about people interpreting it differently than they wanted. I think Chris Storer threw a little bitch fit & was like ‘fuck you guys :( you want my complex characters to have sex, I hate you :(‘ & purposefully sidelined Syd & Carmy’s partnership/friendship/whatever it was intended to be to try to squash the shipping which is so bizarre to me. I don’t even really care if Syd/Carmy canonically happens, I grew up in the golden age of Superwholock, no amount of anti-sydcarmy quotes will sway me. But it’s sad bc with this season, part of my enthusiasm for them as a couple faded; I want Syd to be with somebody who respects her on a professional & personal level. It honestly just makes me a bit uncomfortable to think about her being with Carmy atm in the context of season three because I feel his verbal abuse of her & his total dismissal of her as a partner were way out of line.

So, as a lesbian who loves Ayo, I’m currently rooting for lesbian lmao.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Just my thoughts.

I still love Syd & Carmy in seasons 1 & 2 so I’ll finish my fic soon, just taking a little break atm.

[carchaseonacarchase]

𝙲𝙰𝚁𝙲𝙷𝙰𝚂𝙴 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽𝚂!

k so i wanted to create some headcanons for our favourite unpopular ship lol, enjoy :3

carmen carries old pictures of them of their time together as detectives, well hided on the bottom of her luggage bag, but she'll never admit it

chase does the same

carmen has huge many skills, the languages, mathematics, analysis of art and science, she's good with technology, an almost photographic memory and also has the talent to frustrate chase with the low effort

chase considers himself a self-controlled man (at least when carmen sandiego is not around)

carmen absolutely loves competition and chase enjoys so much teasing her even with the littlest thing

phoenix (chase's falcon) actually dislikes carmen, way more when she's crossing the 4.99 meter chase's security perimeter, the bird is their anti shipper no. 1

always in the mood for a playful mockery, in the rooftop of a building, on the polar artic circle or in the middle of the desert

chaotic alliance

more chaotic enmity

chase prefers do the field work by himself, and as a special agent, he works alone, just to make sure that no one will interrupt if something else happens between them

every time they accidentally touch they try to stay close as long as possible, even if it's just seconds

chase likes to enclose carmen in every chance he has, for her side, sometimes carmen is slower on purpose just to have him over her and enjoy the view

they love whispering passive aggressive words to each other

carmen is great for stealing monuments but better stealing kisses ^^

chase would never admit, but he loves when carmen visits him at night at ACME just to "make fun of his incompetence to bring her to justice" he knows she's actually here because she misses him

during this night visits he offers her a drink then sit together and chat; forgetting about the law business and just sharing a nice moment as friends

carmen likes to steal things like his wallet, watch, or anything else, just as an excuse to see him again, chase secretly finds it adorable

she can ask chase to random reunions with her and he'll just go, no questions, same for her

if it doesn't break the law, chase hardly can say no to her

sometimes the tension is too much to hold and they just need it, so, when chase reports "she's out of reach" actually means that they had a quick encounter (the lipstick stains on his skin is something he has been learnt well to hide over the years)

he would give her some seconds ahead, he thinks he will reach her anyways (we all know he won't)

when she lows the guard, chase is faster than her and kisses her, after that he let her go with a smile in her blushed and confused face, as a little revenge to all the times she did the same to him

they have been good friends for a long time, even if they are not longer on the same side, the respect and love remains between them

"i'm marrying her to make sure she won't steal anything else for life duh"

so, what do you think? let me know ^^ if you want me to write more headcanons give me ideas to do and I will work on it :3

[grahamcarmen]

No i didn't send a ask yet i was just checking to see if you got the ask since a previous ask i send to another blogger was never answered.

anyway, deep thought but if you think about it when people ship carmen and grey back at vile academy and during each one's brainwashing you're essentially shipping different characters making redcrackle have plenty of subcategories, what would be your ship name for each categorie( I can't be bothered to list how many there are i'm sorry).

also also, have you seen kitsukits redcrackle "arcade" amv and AuroralovesMCSM's "Carmen and grey being in love for 5 minutes and 30 seconds" complication video.

Oh ok!

I can see that lol.

I don't romantically ship them at the VILE academy stage [even if I do believe its an important dynamic to their overall relationship] because thats where its strictly platonic. But since I have been around around long enough that I know that people sometimes people use ship as just a relation"ship" marker [hi ouat I know you guys weren't actually shipping certain peeps lol. Like they had platonic ship names regularly and most people understood that :p] that part would probably be cracklesheep or graysheep because thats when carmen was just Black sheep and gray didn't have any attachment to his name graham but also wasn't hard line about being crackle yet.

Carmen looking at Graham looking at her romantically and going 👉👈maybe maybe? And allowing carmen to take the initiative in prioritizing her protective feelings over him?and lowkey allowing graham to again gain affection for her in an entirely different light...Hmmm

Svdjdkdokd i guess grahamcarmen or carmgray because she is still insisting on calling him gray and ascribing his new flirtation and doing good as like a mishmash

Gray pretending that she would have made the choice to be carmen while being on the island with that sinking feeling that no. carmen exists because she was chose to leave and connect with the outside world? And more than just acknowledging it wanting to protect it at the cost of what he valued most? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Cracklecarmen?

Tbh I've really grown attached to red crackle not just because its the first way to make it clear that i want these 2 to kiss because its the clear romantic shipname lol but also because its kinda what they choose to portray themselves as. Carmen using her red coat and name from the outfit she got off the island to signal the need to stop VILE to anyone who can find her and Crackle as a codename of the path that gray is choosing to follow even as he finds something good inside him trying to make it to the surface

and their relationship allowing them to clash but also want to look past that to the people who made these choices because they care about them.

And what makes it fun is that those subcategories include past subcategories, build on them, and change aspects of their relationship ever so slightly until we end up with something that is not at all how they started [gray in love with carmen and carmen with her deeper feelings of being forced to go without him as fully expressed as the finale allowed] . And when their memories are in place they acknowledge that. Its all rc to me...but I get it ! Exploring each category is VERRRRY different and I even sometimes tag them dark! Redcrackle for the dark red caper version of them instead of redcrackle because that is just ...different.

and my username lol is because I LOVE her nickname for him but always champion that entirely ignoring " graham " isnt....like they do need to adress that...somehow...not even to always go by his name because he's not anti-his nickname [and as you can see i think that carmen conflating his flirtations as something gray now can do 🥰 is hmmmmmmmmmm] but its still...~~~~~~idk. I am very appreciative that he does have a full name.

I have actually a playlist trying to save as many rc vids as I can find so yes! I have seen the arcade fanvid but like I might have just saved the other vid and watched the episodes again 😭

Edit: IALMOST FORGOT HIMALAYA AND TRAIN RC they can be cracklecarmen uwu

[pride-posting]

Hello!

In June I will be taking any pride-themed requests for art/writing/poetry/etc! They will all be posted to this blog (and tagged as appropriately as I can for triggers in the event one comes up).

Please be respectful! I want no hate on this page! I am anti MAPs and probably radqueers (but I’m not quite sure what radqueers entails? So like for questions about that I’m super open to responding, this is just based on my super limited knowledge) but all identities are respected here! We all make mistakes but we have to learn from them. For example, if I ever fuck up, *please tell me!*

Anyway, guidelines for fics and art follow the same guidelines as my commissions (but free, obviously)! If you want anything not pride themed or anything not in June, please commission me!!! I am poor and Discord Nitro is kinda cool!!!!

Commissions info:

Commissions Are Open!

Writing

Poetry: 1 month Nitro Basic OneShot Fics/Stories: 1 month Normal Nitro

We will do: Fandoms in our fandom list Ship fics Angst Comfort OCs

We will not do: MAPs NSFW/Smut

Fandom List:

The Magnus Archives/The Magnus Protocol

Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Dead End Paranormal Park

Bluey

Ducktales

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

My Little Pony

The Murderbot Diaries

Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage/Project Sekai

The Percy Jackson Serieses/Rick Riordian’s books

Little Witch Academia

The Hollow

Glitch Techs

Skylanders

Hilda

Carmen Sandiego If there is a fandom you want that is not on this list, you are welcome to ask, I’ve probably forgotten some!

Art

Bust Sketch: 1 month Nitro Premium Full Body Sketch: 1 year Nitro Basic Bust fully colored/rendered: 1 year Nitro Basic Full body colored/rendered: 1 year Nitro Premium

What we will do: Any characters! Doesn’t have to be ones on our fandom list Majority of posing, expressions, etc What we will not do: NSFW MAPs Backgrounds that are more complicated than, like, a shape or a pride flag Don’t ask us to do nudity <3 artistic nudity isn’t inherently NSFW or sexual but we are minors <3

[variousqueerthings]

This is a consequence of Carmen not being a POV character + the general “women on the show are mainly seen through their relationship with men,” + I do imagine that your kid really liking someone/basically considering that person a father-figure, would be a big deal relationship-wise, but I just cannot unsee that Carmen’s interest in Johnny is so predicated on his relationship with Miguel. 

She’s at all times either drawn to him or repelled by him, depending on whether his influence on Miguel is good or bad:

Johnny brings a beaten Miguel home after Halloween: she tells him to stay away (and calls him a loser behind his back)

Johnny asks (and Miguel begs) to train together again: Carmen invites him over for dinner and expresses concern for Miguel fighting

Miguel wins at the All-Valley: she brings him a victory dessert and cautions him that she didn’t like everything she saw at the tournament 

Johnny is consistently a good teacher to Miguel: Carmen accepts his invitation to go out (this is the least related to Miguel, but it’s still relevant considering what comes next) -

Miguel breaks his back: Carmen says she never wants to see Johnny again

Johnny helps pay for Miguel’s surgery: actually it’s Rosa who asks him to stay, but this is what thaws the ice between Carmen and Johnny

Miguel decides he wants Johnny’s help to rehabilitate: Johnny sees Carmen crying over Miguel and comforts her - this is also what leads him to take Miguel to a Dee Snyder concert and-

Miguel starts to regain use of his legs: Carmen from here on out only gets warmer towards Johnny and the last thing they talk about before sleeping together is about how much he’s helped Miguel

(and the conversation the following morning also strongly centres on him being Miguel’s teacher and what that would mean for their relationship).

again, it’s not that I don’t believe that This Person Is Basically A Hero To My Son wouldn’t be ideal for a potential relationship, it’s more that (and again, this is because of her not having a POV) I want to know what else for Carmen that Johnny is bringing to the table.

Especially considering her influence on Johnny’s life has been huge: Through Miguel, obviously, but she’s consistently given him advice, given him hope, given him support, literally helped him out while he was drunk, brought him food, given him confidence, hell, teaching him to dance! 

What - other than being there for Miguel - is Johnny offering Carmen? And that’s not a loaded question, I just want her POV (alas to be the love interest and mother role all in one and also mothering the main guy character...)

I know that it’s tough being a mother - especially a single mother off the back of what is strongly hinted was an abusive relationship with your kid’s father - and there’s that thing about motherhood that society strips you of personhood and simply considers you “a mother,” so I don’t think it’s at all a stretch to imagine that Carmen feels the same way - her life needs to first and foremost bend towards Miguel.

Especially considering Miguel wasn’t popular and they don’t have a lot of money and she has to work long hours - of course she’d try to structure her life as much as possible around what’s best for her kid.

I just wonder if the show will give us that insight. And also give Carmen some friends. Anything to let her breathe/have something for herself that isn’t first filtered through her role as Mother, or at least some textual self-awareness on the show’s part that this is her role (and that it’s Hard). Even having a character say “this is my son and he’s the person I have to think about first, even before myself,” shows that this person is making a choice and that choice influences her decisions - including the decision to sleep with (and possibly go out with) Johnny.

And possibly... some hesitation? Every time Johnny has done something that has put Miguel in danger, it’s first and foremost been presented as “Miguel is in danger, therefore this man is not a viable option.” But I want to see “this man could potentially turn my son into a violent man (which was hinted at in the “I didn’t like everything I saw at the tournament” conversation. This man is himself a violent man, with a loooooot of his own issues he’s bringing to my door. What does that mean for me, who has run from a bad man”?

This is such a long-winded way to repeat: I just want to see her POV. 

And until then I just can’t really be onboard with their relationship as presented, because I see all the tropes and think they’re more clichés, because they’re unexamined. 

If the love interest doesn’t seem to be acting on her (mainly her) own desires - desires that we understand, because they’re in the text - then I will invent my own reasons for her going for a lead guy character. And usually I’ll assume that those reasons aren’t sustainable. Especially if the love interest’s purpose is mostly acting as a sounding board for said lead character.

Show: What Does Carmen Diaz Want?

[year2000electronics]

welcome to my bloag!

mothra or milo | 22 | any pronouns | white | adhd & autism (prof dx)

about me | interests | faq 

commissions

if those links don’t work for you, i’ve pasted all of that under a readmore (it is three pages’ worth of text though so it may be long, you’ve been warned)

about me

- mothra or milo

- nonbinary and i use any pronouns! he/she/they/it but i also use vil/vils/vilself

- 21

- white

- adhd and autism (prof. diagnosed)

- i’m a gay-coded villain unfortunately which means i am drawn to villains…i cannot help this

- i love to draw and i love sharing what i make with people!

- bi

- i love getting asks, but since i get so many of them i might not be able to answer yours! i’m very sorry!

- you might know me as the person who made that one hlvrai au

- i know it may look like my blog and life is entirely themed around the current hyperfixation but i switch every so often… prepare for a stream of bullshit if you follow me for one thing only

- i talk on this blog a lot! like… a LOT a lot. my talk tag is “moth flies” and my asks tag is “mothra answers” if you dont want to see that

♥ byf ♥

- basic byf criteria (racism, homo/transphobia, antisemitism, pedophilia, etc)

- i dont care if you like it just dont talk to me about homestuck. i will block if you do

- if you ship incest/pedophilia or support those who do, get lost

- truscum do not follow i am transing my gender and you don’t get to stop me or any of my trans siblings

- anti-self dx do not follow

- if you believe there are “good cops” or that the system isnt inherently corrupt do not follow

interests

special interests

(things that are really super special to me and i go back to regularly, no matter what. feel free to tag me or talk to me about this stuff, night or day!!)

- theme parks (dont post about these often but when i suddenly have weirdly specific magic kingdom opinions now you know LOL)

- mario (especially the rpgs and ESPECIALLY super paper mario! its my favourite game of all time)

- pokemon

- my oc stories (especially the reckoning- yes i love them that much)

- i feel like hlvrai counts because it literally changed my life

- sonic but specifically dr eggman. 

smaller interests

(things i enjoy, but theyre not as important to me as the ones from above)

- splatoon

- gravity falls

- what we do in the shadows

- half life vr but the ai is self aware

- radio tv solutions

- skylanders

- no straight roads

- ace attorney

- ok ko

- undertale/deltarune

- kirby

- carmen sandiego

- wander over yonder

-  a series of unfortunate events

- invader zim

- punch-out!!

- sonic 

- cookie run

trolls (dreamworks)

spider-man

marvel

i think putting a little disclaimer here is pretty much useless since actions speak louder than words but im critical of my interests. nothing is truly perfect and calling out harmful writing will help writers of the future to avoid it

frequently asked questions

]animal picture]

please stop doing this im not really a ‘look at this cute animal’ person

do you have any tips for starting an ask blog/making an au?

honestly? i do what i do because i love it and other people just kinda tagged along out of sheer luck

but in case you ARE curious.

ask blogs

aus

did you make [x]? where are your ask blogs/fics?

i have five ask blog stories i made. y2kvr, hlvrv, the reckoning, origami postgame and beyond black mesa

i also have some fics on my ao3

can i make an ask blog based off of yours?

yeah! go ahead, i dont mind 

i have like, a few asks back in the day talkin about this but like. its funny askblog on tumblr. go nuts. let’s all have fun

just try not to like… totally copy my stuff

can i kin/draw/cosplay [x character]?

sure 

can you make [x]/can you make more [x]?

it depends! it never hurts to ask! sometimes i will sometimes i won’t

is there a way to support you monetarily?

commissions are open on my kofi if you like my stuff and wanna send some money my way!

calhoun is sexy

yeah <3

[lord-calamity-edalyn]

my second original post on here!!! looks like i only post when a beautiful cartoon announces that it’s releasing its final season, but anyway letsgeddit!

carmen sandiego crew just announced that the fourth and final season will be out jan 15, and like rest of the fandom, i’m panicking. especially when there is still so much to unpack with the show, like finding carmen’s mom, acme’s strange connection to carmen’s dad and their odd motives, destruction of vile, and carulia/julethief (me to sandiego crew: are they,,,are they you know,,,?) 

so here's an itemized (and kinda unorganised) list of what i want from the last season: 

more than 5 episodes!! i think this is confirmed? i saw a post somewhere so yay!

personally i’d like 13 to 15 episodes. i hope that's a decent amount, just double digits please :]

le chevre and el topo please!! i need this to be canon or at least let them runaway/escape vile together please

tigress – listen i don’t want some redemption arc or whatever from her, i just need some grey lining to her. ‘i’m leaving vile but i’m not working with sandiego,’ or begrudgingly help carmen before disappearing from the face of the earth. idk that vigilante, anti-hero type??

paper star is a great and i want to see a lot more of her – my terrifying little girl. honestly i want her to go down with vile, but in the sense i want some huge marvel act three type battle between her and carmen (and team red). just give me more paper star :]

complete abolishment of vile please and thank you

i mean with roundabout now out (oh boy was he a good villain) i think vile is in a pretty bad position as it is, so destroying them completely should be easy. however the main five is just the tree on the top, we don’t see the enormous root system underground with many many graduates of vile running things in crime all over the world so i really want to see how carmen brings them all to light, if that's even possible 

if that means outing herself? and what it means doing that while acme is after her as well? will acme work with her/put her aside for a while to defeat the greater villain, to them at least? carmen pardoned if she helps? even tho, acme is trash :/

her mom? their family reunion? work and fight together? 

player – his backstory?

if not that at least have him meet the team in person please. carmen and player’s friendship is superior and i’d like them to meet after relying on and trusting each other so heavily for many years

our favourite siblings, ivy and zack

more zack content please, my man is a vital member of team red and is more than just comedic relief. he is more than capable and i need him front and centre thank you

ivy already has a lot of scenes showing how capable she is, so i’m not really sure but carmivy is a thing?

graham/crackle/our aussie electrician boi – honestly my reaction after season three was that i want him AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE from anything to do with that world. vile don’t touch him, acne don’t you dare lay a finger on him, and carmen keeps their connection as discreet as possible. and the fact that acme is asking for him is scaring me. i hope he declines acme and joins team red, or better yet warns carmen and stays out of it all

chase devineaux – even more development, he went from some carmen obsessed clown to a genuine complex dude that i’ve grown to love. and i absolutely adore how his view changed of carmen, he’s definitely gonna do some soul-searching (as kipo and jamack would put it) honestly, i want him to team up with julia again, both of them being talented FREE agents and helping carmen on their own. which leads me to my next point:

JULIA

she needs a bigger part in the overall story and join carmen’s team or even help carmen as a free agent. bc i can totally see julia as some private investigator type (maybe duo with devineaux?)

i need julia and carmen working a caper together, like cut off from everyone else, only having each other type situation to showcase their great chemistry 

and so, carmen and julia ship. please make it canon

talking about ships,,,i’ve mentioned carulia, carmivy?? and let's add redcrackle in there as well. and obviously i want carulia very badly but as much as i’d love to see any one of these canon (personally i’d prefer carulia bc i see graham as an older brother type to carmen) BUT there really isn’t a lot of romantic buildup to any of these ships?? well not as much as i’d like?? (i alone can argue against that point with multiple points outlining the gay subtext in carulia lol i really am jobless) but idk how to express it overall but i think i’ll be happy even if carmen stays single?? but obviously a canon ship would be amazing!

yikes now that i look at this monster post, i’m getting scared for season four. of course some of this won’t be necessary and is CLEARLY for self-indulgent purposes but like even without my stupid fantasising there’s still so much to close in one season. i hope sandiego crew came to the decision of having this last season with a planned ending instead of being cut off by netflix, bc if that's the case, i will riot. 

tl;dr – season four please be well done, and close all the impending storylines while simultaneously PROVIDING ME WITH WHAT I WANT,,,,just kidding, i trust sandiego crew and i hope for the best with carmen sandiego’s final season. i will miss this show a lot :( 

if you made it this far, thank you for letting me waste your time. hope you have/had a good day! goodbye!

[letsreadwomen]

books for baby gays

gather round queer kiddos, for this book rec of stories featuring wlw of all designations, where happy things happen and bad things do not (nearly as much). I’ve aimed for happy endings and not too much tragedy or pain over the course of these stories, but (unfortunately) haven’t read all of them so do let me know if any mistakes slipped through.

This list is heavy on the fiction because I’m mainly aiming to provide some solace and warmth. Where there is some overlap between categories (e.g. coming out after uni and the what comes next section, or if you’re looking for escapism then the background-to-no romance section might also be useful) I have only included a book under one or the other, not duplicated.

All links direct through to the Storygraph, which includes reader-sourced content warnings on all titles so do make sure to check those out as well (and if you want you can follow me here). Now, have at it!

Coming out and of age

At middle school / primary school / roughly under age 12

Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter To The World by Ashley Herring Blake

The House You Pass On The Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill (graphic novel)

At high school

You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson

Keeping You A Secret by Julie Anne Peters

Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden

The Gallery Of Unfinished Girls by Lauren Karcz

Georgia Peaches And Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown

Leah On The Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Style by Chelsea M. Cameron

Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Amelia Westlake Was Never Here by Erin Gough

Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley

At uni

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi

Learning Curves by Ceillie Simkiss

Outside / after school

Like Water by Rebecca Podos

The Princess And The Fangirl by Ashey Poston

Ship It by Britta Lundin

Juliet Takes A Breath by Gabby Rivera

Coming out after uni

The London Of Us by Clare Lydon

Breaking Character by Lee Winter

Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman

Out And Proud by Lisa Young (directs to Bella Books)

What comes after the big come out

Everything Leads To You by Nina LeCour

Double Exposure by Chelsea Cameron

A Hidden Hope by Laura Ambrose

Seriously... I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres (non fiction)

Happy Accidents by Jane Lynch (non fiction)

Escapism (i.e. genre fiction where queerphobia isn’t a thing)

Of Fire And Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

The Seafarer’s Kiss by Julia Ember

Belle Revolte by Linsey Miller

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker with Wendy Xu (graphic novel)

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages

The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta

Ash by Malinda Lo

Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee

Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

Crier’s War by Nina Varela

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

An Accident Of Stars by Foz Meadows

The Art Of Saving The World by Corinne Duyvis

Water Witch: The Deceiver’s Grave by Nene Adams

Romance & identity take a back seat

The Black Veins by Ashia Monet

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy

Lumberjanes by Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Walters with Brooklyn A. Allen (graphic novel)

Princeless: Raven The Pirate Princess by Rosy Higgins (graphic novel)

Classics

Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan le Fanu, edited by Carmen Maria Machado

Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

The how tos and histories

How We Get Free: Black Feminism And The Combahee River Collective, edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Sapphistries: A Global History Of Love Between Women by Leila J. Rupp

Overshare: Love, Laughs, Sexuality And Secrets by Rosie Spaughton and Rose Wllen Dix

Rewriting The Rules: An Anti-Self Help Guide To Love, Sex And Relationships by Meg-John Barker

Coming Out Stories: Personal Experiences Of Coming Out From Across The LGBTQ+ Spectrum, edited by Emma Goswell and Sam Walker

Further reading

Definitely make sure to check out @bellabooks​, publisher of wlw stories!

@bookriot​‘s Queer Women’s History Reads and Books About LGBT History, but make sure to poke around the whole website

Gay’s The Word bookshop: based in London but ships worldwide, I’m mainly including it here because it has an excellent filter system with settings for category and identity to help you find the books you want to read

All of @biandlesbianliterature really, but especially the Coming Out Later In Life book list

The books section over at Autostraddle is really everything I ever wanted

All of the LAMBDA nominees ever, and you can filter them by various aspects!

[pikapeppa]

Pikapeppa wears a tinfoil hat: The Arishok in post-Trespasser times

[Warning: this contains spoilers for Trespasser and for Tevinter Nights. Proceed with caution.]

For anyone who doesn’t know me, I’m a HUGE FAN of Sten from DA:O. While doing research for my current fic, I was reviewing Tevinter Nights and the Dragon Age Wiki, and I pulled together some threads regarding the qunari and their activities during the time of Tevinter Nights. 

In a nutshell: I HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT ARISHOK-STEN’S SAFETY AND WELLBEING.

Read more below the cut!

A quick refresher of qunari rulership

Just as a reminder, the qunari are ruled by three leaders:

The Arishok: the military leader. Leads the antaam, i.e. the army.

The Ariqun: the leader of the priesthood, who are also the scholarly branch of the qunari. 

The Arigena: the leader of the craftsmen and support workers of the qunari people.

Together, these three leaders are called the salasari. The salasari are supposed to make decisions jointly about how the qunari people proceed at advancing their own culture and bringing the uneducated bas into the wisdom of the Qun.

A summary of what we know 

Sten becomes the Arishok around 9:34-9:35 after Hawke kills the current Arishok in Kirkwall. By the time the Inquisition rolls around in 9:41, he is still the Arishok as confirmed by dialogue between Bull and Varric. 

In Trespasser, in the Darvaraad, we find a letter from the qunari to Josephine stating that the Viddasala was acting without the qunari leaders’ official sanction — an indication that their citizens are not as well-controlled and orderly as they would have the rest of the world believe. Of particular note, this letter indicates clearly that “military action has not been approved against the Inquisition. No one in Par Vollen has authorized actions of any kind involving the Exalted Council. Nor will they.” To me, this speaks of an Arishok who is being quite conservative in his actions. Similarly, in world states where Bull becomes a Tal-Vashoth, the qunari did not send military action against the Inquisition even when the Inquisition reneged on their hoped-for alliance.

All but one of the stories in Tevinter Nights take place post-Trespasser, and the qunari feature heavily in these stories. The book opens with Three Trees to Midnight, which tells of the qunari making a bold and unprecedented attack on the Tevinter city of Ventus. Importantly, it is mentioned that the antaam (i.e. the qunari army) are acting without the support of the priesthood or the workers:

Usually the other Qunari were there to support the Antaam—the workers crafting the gear and managing supplies, the Tamassran priests making sure the Antaam were healthy in mind as in body, the Ben-Hassrath spies scouting behind enemy lines and removing any Antaam who might forsake their training and abandon the Qun. This time, the Antaam had attacked the bas of the south without the blessing of the other Qunari, and little things were not working as well as they should. Supplies were late. Ships were not in good repair. 

When I read this, alarm bells immediately went off in my mind. It seems odd to me that the antaam would suddenly attack Tevinter on what feels like an impulsive move, without the support of the two other branches of the Qun. Importantly, the antaam is under the Arishok’s (i.e. Sten’s) rule, and I thought it was VERY out of character that he would do something so anti-qunari as to basically go rogue without the support of the Arigena or the Ariqun. 

Another relevant story is Brother Genitivi Dies At The End. In this story, Brother Genitivi, Philliam, a Bard!, and another lesser-known but infamous writer named Formerly Sister Laudine form a reluctant team to recover books from an elvhen library that, for some reason, has “fallen” underground in the Silent Plains in Tevinter. The mission is cut short by a qunari named Rasaan, and the three writers manage to snatch a small number of elvhen tomes before narrowly escaping from Rasaan and her soldiers. It very important to note that in this story, Rasaan refers to the army as being “my antaam”, and it is emphasized and pointed out that she called the antaam “hers”. 

I should say now that I haven’t read any of the DA comics. On a whim, I decided to look up Rasaan in the Dragon Age Wiki, and I discovered that Rasaan is a prominent character in the comic Dragon Age: Those Who Speak, and that she belonged not to the military branch of the Qun, but to the priesthood/scholarly branch, and that she was next in line to become the Ariqun. The wiki says the following: “Rasaan was stranded in the Qunari city of Qunandar, unable to perform her duties. Since a new Arishok was chosen in 9:34 Dragon, Rasaan has been at his side almost constantly.” It’s also interesting to note that Rasaan has a particular interest in people’s ‘true names’ and believes that a person’s many names or titles are indicative of their character, their triumphs, and their failings. 

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego Sten???? 

OKAY. To sum up, then, the qunari situation in the post-Trespasser Tevinter Nights era is as follows:

The antaam, usually governed by the Arishok, has gone rogue, and it would be very out of character for Sten-Arishok to sanction this without the okay of his co-leaders.

Rasaan, a higher-up of the priesthood, is in mainland Thedas chasing down information about Solas and referring to the antaam as hers. 

From this, I can only conclude that Arishok-Sten is not fully in charge of the antaam anymore, and that Rasaan plays a major role in this. Maybe Rasaan has pulled a coup and is trying to take over as the new Arishok, believing that ‘Arishok’ is supposed to be her true name. If this is the case, WHERE IS STEN? Is he a prisoner back in Par Vollen, perhaps? Stuck working in a labour camp? Or… Maker fucking forbid, is he dead?

Personally, I don’t think Arishok-Sten is dead, and this is not just my undying love for him that’s talking. There are indicators in Three Trees to Midnight that, even though the antaam has gone rogue and some of the qunari are acting extremely cruel, there other qunari who are still trying to maintain the integrity of the Qun. One example is the character named Saarbak, a Ben-Hassrath agent who has been tasked with removing threats to the Qun such as the overly cruel qunari. Characters like Saarbak make me think that the qunari are divided within themselves: there are those who have been impatient to move on Thedas, leading to the hasty attack on Ventus, and there are those who are trying to maintain the integrity and order of the Qun, such as Saarbak. And it’s my belief that Arishok-Sten is one of these honourable qunari, and that he is still alive and may play a significant role in DA4. 

Fen’Harel ma ghilana: Solas’s interference

There's one other piece of qunari involvement that should be mentioned. At the end of Trespasser, Solas says that “in stopping the Dragon’s Breath, you have prevented an invasion by qunari forces. With luck, they will return their focus to Tevinter. That should give you a few years of relative peace.” It does not seem coincidental to me that a year or so after Solas says this, this is exactly what happens — particularly in light of the story called Half Up Front. In this story, it is discovered that Fen’Harel’s agents are purposely trying to fan the flames of the war between the qunari and Tevinter. 

Why would Solas be trying to do this, though? Especially after telling the Inquisitor that he wants the people of the Inquisitor’s time to “die in comfort” free from the Qun? My conclusion is that Solas is trying to prevent the former Inquisitor from allying with Tevinter or the qunari. If they’re caught up in a war with each other, neither Tevinter nor the qunari will have the resources (or fucks to give) to invest in military efforts against an alleged elven god. I also think that Solas has no qualms about screwing Tevinter over by throwing them under the metaphorical bus of the qunari, given their longtime treatment of slaves and spirits. (Please note that I say all of this with great love, as I also have undying love for the Dread Egg.)

DA4 hopes: allying with the qunari 

Based on the above, it’s my hope that a big part of DA4 will involve stopping an all-out war between Tevinter and the qunari, and then gaining the cooperation of both groups to help The Group Formerly Known As The Inquisition™ to stop Solas’s plans. It’s my even greater hope that the qunari portion of this will involve finding Arishok-Sten, restoring him his place as the rightful Arishok, and thereby securing his alliance to stop Solas. It’s my even greater GREATER hope that the Hero of Ferelden will play a role in this and have some ACTUAL FACETIME in the game by helping us to broker an alliance with Sten. 

Of course, it’s a Bioware game so there has to be choice, so the choice here might be between helping Sten vs. helping Rasaan, but I’m sure you can all see where I would stand on this. (I just want Sten and his kadan to have a sweet sweet reunion, okay?? My tender heart is soft and weak for him.)

Okay, that’s it! Them’s my thoughts! Sorry if this has already been laid out before by somebody else – I just had to word-vomit my thoughts because of STEN FEELS. 

Feel free to comment or reblog, but please do not use this as a forum to discuss the pros or cons of the Qun. I am wholeheartedly middle-ground on the Qun and can see both sides, so please refrain from that rhetoric here.

Finally, a little self-promotion: I ship Sten with my Warden Yara Mahariel, and have written a relatively short fic about their romance, which takes place during the ship ride from Denerim to Par Vollen after the Fifth Blight is ended. It’s called Fall Into The Tide, and you can feel free to check it out on AO3!

- Love from your friendly neighbourhood Pikapeppa xoxo