#*SALOMÉ // about.

[rustyelias]

falls flat on floor he is so <3

[s1rencall]

*SIREN / CALL.

Look who just landed! SALOMÉ SHAW, I sure hope you packed all you need. Perhaps you’re not worried as DEALER of THE SKELETON CREW. The city has plenty of spots for a THIRTY-THREE year old HUMAN like you. You’ll be known in the city soon enough as THE FEMME FATALE, being THRILL-SEEKING and DECEITFUL.

»»» STATS // BIO TLDR // INSP // MORE under the cut.

Step 1: Basic OOC Information

Alias, TMZ, Pronouns: Daisy, EST, she/they

Muse’s Name: Salomé Shaw, working on a second <33

Tagging System Link: here!

First Part of Your App: written above!

Step 2: Muse’s Statistics

Full Name: Salomé Angeline Shaw

Nickname: Sal, though few are close enough to utilize it. Known under various aliases throughout New Jakarta: Red Siren to certain clients in Sora, Night Fox to others in the Mawar District. Accepts any pet name.

Date of Birth: 3.14.2372

Gender: Cis woman

Pronouns: She / Her

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual

Romantic Orientation: Panromantic

Current Age: 33 years old

Modification: Human / none, considering modifications

Affiliation: The Skeleton Crew ( dealer / thief )

Birthplace: Akumu Slums, New Jakarta

Current Neighbourhood: Sora

Occupation: Dealer, Thief, Escort

Known Languages: English, French, conversational Japanese

Step 3: Choose Your Creation Style

BIO.

proper bio to be added soon but here's a tldr in bullet points for ya!

the only child of a market entertainment couple specializing in 'magic' and sleight of hand tricks, born and raised between the Akumu Slums and the Mawar District.

by nine, she knows all the best tricks and takes to pickpocketing anyone she finds interesting, developing an education of her own in wringing herself out of capture.

at thirteen, she watches the underboss of a criminal organization make her family an offer they can't refuse, flooding their poor little stall with various drugs and other illicit substances to 'enhance' the viewers' entertainment experience and heighten the illusion of magic in exchange for a home in a safer part of New Jakarta and the promise of protection of their family's greatest hope for advancement, little Salomé.

by eighteen, she knows intimately the toll that the drugs and dealings take on her family — her mother, addicted to her own supply, and her father, struggling under the weight of a burden heavier than he could have ever known. and so, she willingly entangles herself with the underboss who made the offer that had caused such turmoil, and gets married at just twenty years old, legitimizing her family's standing with the organization while also undoing her family's knots with a gentle, but determined, hand.

after seven years of a gnarling long con, salomé brings down her megalomaniac husband at the cost of losing her family to their willing anonymity, sent off to a new city on Mars with a newly plentiful credit balance and — most importantly — a new identity salomé's eyes would never know.

at twenty-seven, having slain a false king and burdened by a heartache she'll never acknowledge, the criminal association is not one she's quick to shake off. with his organization toppled, the queen with one checkmate under her belt is a newly-minted free agent and begins the next chapter of her life: grifter, con artist, petty thief, and even escort.

perhaps it's a byproduct of thrill-seeking, or perhaps it's simply the nature of newfound purpose, but the criminal life truly proves a perfect fit. to scheme in the shadows and strike while neon light obscures just so is a high no drug can replace. there's a further euphoria, of course, found in the shine of her clandestinely-acquired treasures and the stories to accompany them — it's why she took to acting as escort, particularly for the upper classes in Sora. those with the money to afford everything are rarely ever going to miss just something.

INSPIRATIONS.

pinterest!

Quote: "She knew herself, how she had slowly, over years, become a cat, a wolf, a snake, anything but a girl. How she had wrung out her girlhood like death." — Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless

Label or Archetype: The Femme Fatale

Tropes: A Dame to Kill For; The Serpent Under't; The Honey Trap; Steal from the Rich to Give to the Poor (Me)

Media Parallels: Selina Kyle / Catwoman (DC), Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany's), Mirtha Jung (Blow), videos of cats delicately swiping at things until they fall over.

Theme Song: Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene by Hozier

PERSONALITY.

Strength: 1, Dexterity: 6, Constitution: 4, Intelligence: 3, Wisdom: 5, Charisma: 8

Positive Traits: charismatic, witty, adaptable

Neutral Traits: coy, persuasive, competitive

Negative Traits: mercurial, delusive, dishonest

Peeves: feet dragging unnecessarily, inefficiency, hostile architecture

Fears: being unable to save herself from (likely self-caused) problems; loss of control; allowing others close enough to see her vulnerabilities; slowing down to the point of being forced to reckon with her life choices

Skills: gymnastic agility, balance, and flexibility; sleight of hand tricks; manipulation, deception, and persuasion;

Goals: to survive, primarily — to make it through life somewhat unscathed, with a few good stories to tell; to prove herself to the boss / underboss of The Skeleton Crew to garner more of their favor and protections; to either fully entrench herself in the criminal underworld or escape it altogether.

APPEARANCE.

Faceclaim: Olivia Cooke

Height: 5'6"

Eye Colour: Honey brown

Hair Colour: Auburn

Clothing Style: An abundance of black and other dark hues; manmade leather and crocodile-like embossed materials; an array of leather harnesses; dresses with elements of optical illusion (example); outfits with seemingly opposing styles, such as a metallic sculptural top and flowing skirt; sheer and mesh accents, especially in gloves and undergarments; typically a streamlined and sleek silhouette hidden underneath a more voluminous coat or coverup; stilettos or heeled boots — never flats.

Jewellery: simple silver or gold bangles bc she likes the noise they make; five piercings on each ear; never wears simple necklaces bc she likes to emphasize the length of her neck; occasionally a few rings that may contain frequency scramblers, etc., particularly when infiltrating a mark's home

Tattoos: surprisingly, no tattoos — but she often thinks of getting one

Marks/Scars: a small scar near her bottom lip, typically hidden by makeup;

Modifications: no body mods, but she's certainly considering it

Scent/Fragrance: Chandigarh Express by Ex Nihilo — notes of cardamom, jasmine, bergamot, patchouli, vetiver, and leather. It blossoms warmly from floral spice to smoky city, with just enough of a sweetness to mask the complexity within.

WC's to be added soon!

[zikadraws]

I couldn't exactly get what I wanted for Halloween done, sooo you're getting some OC stuff.

Her name is Salomé, and she's been 11 for twelve thousand years.

Happy Halloween.

[rwpohl]

theodor chindler - die geschichte einer deutschen familie, hans w. geißendörfer 1979

[countlessrealities]

Send me a ✧ and i’ll bold all that apply to your muse || Accepting !

@hvbris sent: ✧ Bill about his betrothed, Salomé ✨

I would kill you. ✧ I would physically hurt you. ✧ I would attack you unprovoked. ✧ I would manipulate you. ✧ I dislike you. ✧ You annoy me. ✧ You scare me. ✧ You intimidate me. ✧ I hope I intimidate you. ✧ I pity you. ✧ You disgust me. ✧ I hate you. ✧ I’m indifferent toward you. ✧ I’d like to get to know you better. ✧ I’d like to spend more time with you. ✧ I’d like to be friends with you. ✧ I’m unsure what to think of you. ✧ I’m unsure how I feel about you. ✧ You are my friend. ✧ You are my best friend. ✧ You are my mentor. ✧ I look up to you. ✧ I respect you. ✧ You are my hero. ✧ You inspire me. ✧ You are my enemy. ✧ You make me happy. ✧ I want to protect you. ✧ I would fight by your side. ✧ I consider you an equal. ✧ I think you are beneath me. ✧ I think you are above me. ✧ I would lie for you. ✧ I would lie to you. ✧ I would sleep with you. ✧ I would sleep by your side. ✧ I would hug you. ✧ I would kiss you. ✧ You are family to me. ✧ I would die for you. ✧ I would kill for you. ✧ I would trust you with my life. ✧ I would trust you with my most precious belonging. ✧ I would trust you with a secret. ✧ I would trust you with my biggest / darkest secret. ✧ I love you (platonically). ✧ I love you (romantically).

[gregdotorg]

Taming The Garden is Salomé Jashi's 2021 documentary about the Georgian oligarch-turned-politician who collected over 200 massive trees from around the country and transplanted them next to his Black Sea-front estate.

The Shekvetili Dendrological Park opened to the public in 2020, and looks quietly wild af.

It also links back to some iconic works of Land Art in the West, in that they all exist by the grace of some industrialist or heiress or whatever.

[masonshine]

Hi Kao!!! I see the Infamous brainrot has you too haha :) Can you tell us more about Salomé? She looks so very cool 🥰 Hope you're doing well!!!

Hello PD! I'm doing good, thank you 💕 Hope you're doing great as well!!

LOL yeah, there's no escaping the Infamous obsession. I played it sometime late April and i haven't been able to think of anything else since lol It's already shaping up to be one of my favourite IFs.

Ahh thank you so much, you're too kind 🥰 Kinda struggled to decide how i wanted Salomé to be and what i wanted for her but i'm satisfied so far with what i came up with. Tho some things are still subject to change and others are in progress.

So sorry in advance because this got long and also for my messy rambling!

Salomé Jackson is her real name, which she also uses as her stage name. I know i want a middle name for her but i still haven't found the perfect one. Her mother is latina with middle eastern roots and her father white american (french and irish origins).

Salomé is the frontwoman of Fatal Flaw. She is an avid reader and was always interested in Greek Mythology so that's the reason she (and Seven) chose that as a name. Plus it just sounded cool lol

Fatal Flaw's an alternative rock band, think The Neighborhood, Willow Smith, Arctic Monkeys, Beabadoobee, L'Arc-en-ciel (a japanese rock band) type of songs. I have not come up with their album or most popular song names yet, although i have some lyrics written down.

Even tho she's really into it because she loves music and singing, she also enjoys being loved and recognized (she's... love starved thanks to her parents, so the celebrity life kinda gives her the love she longs for) and she's working hard to make a name for her band.

Seven is her ex and she's absolutely not over him. The fight and the breakup impacted her BADLY. That was like such a turnpoint in her life. Seven really was her everything; she loved him so much and thought he was her forever, so him not being around anymore completely turned her life upside down. It also increased her abandonment issues which were already there thanks to her parents again, and as such she's become more wary of hurting ppl she loves and actually started trying harder to please everyone, specifically her band members which she considers family.

That's one of the reasons she's been trying her hardest not to make the band about herself, and actually let the others get their shine too. Also one of the reasons she chose to share the bus with Soft Violence, for Rowan's sake (the other reason being her somehow still wanting to be in Seven's vicinity even tho that would do nothing but hurt her). I don't wanna call her a ppl pleaser per se but...

Salomé also has a crush on her role model Griffin Reign. It's just an innocent (for now) crush one might get on their fav celebrity. Absolutely no worries of it becoming smth more, not at all. It would be wrong... and well, she just could never like him that way (lies).

Salomé smokes, drinks and does drugs. I wouldn't say she's addicted to any of the three but her using depends on her mood. It did increase after her breakup with Seven (tho she only got into drugs after it) but she's been trying to pace herself lately with her participation in BOTB. She needs to be responsible about it and doesn't wanna screw things up for her band.

So this is basically it? Maybe i forgot smth important? Anyway if you wanna know anything, don't hesitate to ask 😊

[breitzbachbea]

I love reappropriating other people's fan songs for another media to be about my blorbos. Yoink. My song now.

[hvbris]

@omniishambles sent: 😘Villanelle for Salome! from: Send 😘 to kiss my muse.

"Yes, I'm jealous," hissed Salomé, "I don't like sharing what is mine." Despite being shorter than Villanelle (even in her ridiculously high heels), she grabbed the other woman's chin, long-manicured nails scraping the skin. "And you're mine."

But instead of replying; Villanelle reached for Salomé's hair, pulling it just hard enough so that she would let go of her face in an irritated yelp. And then, she kissed her.

It was an angry kiss. Hungry kiss too. Lips taken without asking, something brutal and yet it was what Salomé wanted. What she needed. A violent reassurance that yes, Villanelle was hers, and she was Villanelle's.

[svndrenched]

Which muses say ‘ope’ and which muses are like ‘tf is ope’?

Oh, I love this.

I think I only have one muse who canonically opes. It is not a naturally occurring ope, as it was picked up while she was getting her bachelor's and doctorate at the University of Minnesota. To catch frogs and salamanders and look really cool in hip-waders.

Dr. Salomé Guevara says ope. She is unapologetic when she does it, too. What a bad bitch.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Alla Nazimova (A Doll's House, Camille, Salomé)—She was a proud lesbian, she was a director, she was artsy and experimental, she was instrumental in the rise to fame of Rudolph Valentino, she had the worlds biggest strap on energy

Xia Meng, also known as Hsia Moog or Miranda Yang (Sunrise, Bride Hunter)—For those who are familiar with Hong Kong's early cinema, Xia Meng is THE leading woman of an era, the earliest "silver-screen goddess", "The Great Beauty" and "Audrey Hepburn of the East". Xia Meng starred in 38 films in her 17-year career, and famously had rarely any flops, from her first film at the age of 18 to her last at the age of 35. She was a rare all-round actress in Mandarin-language films, acting, singing, and dancing with an enchanting ease in films of diverse genres, from contemporary drama to period operas. She was regarded as the "crown princess" among the "Three Princesses of the Great Wall", the iconic leading stars of the Great Wall Movie Enterprises, which was Hong Kong's leading left-wing studio in the 1950s-60s. At the time, Hong Kong cinema had only just taken off, but Xia Meng's influence had already spread out to China, Singapore, etc. Overseas Chinese-language magazines and newspapers often featured her on their covers. The famous HK wuxia novelist Jin Yong had such a huge crush on her that he made up a whole fake identity as a nobody-screenwriter to join the Great Wall studio just so he can write scripts for her. He famously said, "No one has really seen how beautiful Xi Shi (one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China) is, I think she should be just like Xia Meng to live up to her name." In 1980, she returned to the HK film industry by forming the Bluebird Movie Enterprises. As a producer with a heart for the community, she wanted to make a film on the Vietnam War and the many Vietnam War refugees migrating to Hong Kong. She approached director Ann Hui and produced the debut film Boat People (1982), a globally successful movie and landmark feature for Hong Kong New Wave, which won several awards including the best picture and best director in the second Hong Kong Film Award. Years later, Ann Hui looked back on her collaboration with Xia Meng, "I'm very grateful to her for allowing me to make what is probably the best film I've ever made in my life."

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Alla Nazimova:

HOT as hell. GAY as hell. TALENTED as hell. Producer, director, writer, actress. A silent era superstar who is credited with having coined the term "sewing circle" as a code-word for gatherings of lesbian and bisexual women. Has been called "the founding mother of Sapphic Hollywood" and was the owner/operator of the Garden of Alla Hotel in West Hollywood, which she bought in 1919 and sold in 1928 after deciding she wanted to go back to Broadway. In addition to starring opposite Valentino in Camille, she also had an affair with BOTH of his wives (Jean Acker and Natacha Rambova). In her day, she was one of the most influential women in the business.

"Nazimova was primarily a star during the silent film era, and her career in film started when she was almost forty. She was openly bisexual, and was engaged in two lavender marriages during her life while she carried on relationships with women (including at least one, and possibly two, of Rudolph Valentino's wives). She was brilliant and an autodidact - when she first moved to the United States from Ukraine, she spoke no English, but taught herself "in about five months" and went on to work as a screenwriter (among other things). Her predilections lay in art film, and she's credited with starring in / producing / directing one of the first American art films, the adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play Salome (1923). She has an elegant and commanding presence in all of her films, and is an absolute sensation to watch in motion."

Gif link, another gif link

A great actress who also produced a great deal of her films, Nazimova is absolutely mesmerizing to watch. She was also bi and coined the phrase "sewing circle" for sapphic celebrities.

Xia Meng:

[dearorpheus]

Are there any non-fiction you can recommend for people who are fascinated by your blog (especially the elements of dark eroticism, morbidity and horror)?

🖤 love that you are loving!

i will try to stick to non-fic (also refraining as best i can from re-recommending texts from previous asks but there is of course bound to be some overlap): - The Severed Head: Capital Visions, Julia Kristeva -> read about Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for Salomé (x, x)

and supplement w Baudelaire's Une Martyre "in which the narrator lovingly contemplates the beauty of a woman's severed head at rest upon a nightstand"

- Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty & Venus in Furs, Deleuze - The Sadeian Woman: And the Ideology of Pornography, Angela Carter - Aesthetic Sexuality: A Literary History of Sadomasochism, Romana Byrne - Perverse Desire and the Ambiguous Icon, Allen S. Weiss - "Must We Burn Sade?", Simone de Beauvoir -> read also about Erzsébet Báthory, the Bloody Countess. supplement your readings with Borowcyzk's Immoral Tales (1973), Julie Delpy's The Countess (2009), Alejandra Pizarnik's La Condesa Sangrienta and/or, if you have the stomach for it:

Lorna's death in Hostel Pt II (2007), inspired by the Countess^

- Anaïs Nin's diaries + Henry and June - Abject Eroticism in Northern Renaissance Art, Yvonne Owens

Hans Baldung Grien "gave powerful visual expression to late medieval tropes and stereotypes, such as the poison maiden, venomous virgin, the Fall of Man, 'death and the maiden' and other motifs and eschatological themes, which mingled abject and erotic qualities in the female body"

- Satanic Feminism: Lucifer as the Liberator of Woman in Nineteenth-Century Culture, Per Faxneld - The Library of Esoterica's Witchcraft - the biographical Taschen on H.R. Giger's oeuvre—biomechanical, Lovecraftian-tentacular fused limbs, bodies, systems, overtly phallic/yonic symbology, darkly psychedelic... very much fantastically erotic; I have my eye on the 40th Anniversary Edition

Giger, as we know, having designed the xenomorph from the Alien (1979) series to have an intensely sexual evolution:

- DEFINITELY read about+explore ero guro (see also: Bataille's L'histoire de l'œil / Story of the Eye! though it is fiction)

brief introductory articles here and here but it's truly so rich and decadent... delve into it!! film, lit, manga, history, so on... -> watch Nagisa Ōshima's In The Realm Of The Senses (1976) too

- if you can read French by any chance, Le Corps Souillé (The Soiled Body) by Eric Falardeau looks incredible; if not, this excerpt alone is delightfully provocative even in isolation - similarly, L'espirit de plaisir: Une histoire de la sexualité et de l’érotisme au Japon (The Spirit of Pleasure: A History of Sexuality and Eroticism in Japan) by Philippe Pons and Pierre-François Souyri is something I'm hoping might see an English translation

^an excerpt from an interview with the authors

- The Art of Cruelty + The Red Parts, Maggie Nelson - Crucial Interventions: An Illustrated Treatise on the Principles & Practice of Nineteenth-Century Surgery, Richard Barnett - The Butchering Art, Lindsey Fitzharris - Death, Disease and Dissection, Suzie Grogan - The Theatre and Its Double, Antonin Artaud - Men, Women, and Chainsaws, Carol J. Clover - House of Psychotic Women, Kier-La Janisse - The Monstrous-Feminine, Barbara Creed - Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers, Sady Doyle - The Lady From The Black Lagoon, Mallory O'Meara

[visenyaism]

the worst part of the bg3 evil run is lying to jaheira about not having any idea how isobel got brutally murdered in a room in which there were no others because now she is just hanging out at Salomé’s camp despondent like fuck I have lost everything all of my months of planning are gone all of my friends and comrades are dead. but still I retain hope for the future because I believe in your ability to kill ketheric thorm and then do the right thing by ending the threat of the absolute. like. well we are definitely going to kill that guy ma’am.

[miracles-and-butterflies]

(About four in the morning)

Mirabel, entering: I can’t sleep; PTSD.

Isabela: Well, I was just about to settle in for the night, but come on, *opens her arms* come here, little sis. Hang on a sec… why did you come to me? Not that you can’t but I know I’m not your first choice and especially in hayfever season, can you even breathe in this room?

Mirabel: I didn’t want Luisa to worry.

Isabela: And you think I wouldn’t!?

Mirabel: I don’t know, I’m very sleep-deprived and my body is panicking and near collapse, so my critical thinking isn’t working properly. But you’re right. I’ll go to someone else. *leaves*

Isabela: HEY! MIRABEL TERESA SALOMÉ ROJAS MADRIGAL, YOU GET YOUR TINY, SMARTASS SELF OUT OF CAMILO’S ROOM AND COME BACK HERE! DON’T MAKE ME GET OUR PARENTS!

Luisa: *kicks the door open wider, cradling Mirabel in one arm*

Luisa: So… I found this little one wandering over to our cousins’ rooms? And I have decided that, as punishment, we are going to shower her with love and affection and reassurance. We’ll hug the truth out of her.

Isabela: …Were you up drinking coffee again? You were having bad dreams too, weren’t you?

Luisa: Damn it! How did you know!?

Isabela: You’re still holding the fucking cup.

Luisa:

Luisa, lying: Nah, that’s just my pillow that’s shaped like a coffee cup and it’s full of piss—

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

why does liberal feminism have such a chokehold on germany? its fucking weird because germany overall is conservative and also shaped by christian beliefs, and unlike the usa for example we have a less liberal government, more regulations, a social market economy. yet radical (real) feminism is a fringe phenomenon at best. most people already react allergic if you bring up quotas and the gender pay gap, the most lukewarm „work within the system“ takes (which is not unique to germany but worth mentioning).

germany is in the european union and yet to my knowledge the only country besides the netherlands in the union that has completely liberalised prostitution, when france has adapted the nordic model and even the dutch are going back and getting more restrictive. if i remember correctly germany is also leading in porn production within the eu and the „world champion“ in watching porn (side fact: i am… beyond disturbed that 25 % of worldwide online search requests are for porn).

meanwhile abortion is still technically illegal (albeit decriminalised and accessible with some obstacles), mothers still take on the lion share of childcare (which often leads to poverty at old age) and single mothers are among the groups most at risk of poverty. tell me you hate women without saying it: advertising for brothels, fetish clubs etc is allowed, but it was illegal until only a year ago for gynaecologists to „advertise“ abortions (which just means informing about abortion on your website, not actual ads) while prostitution has been liberalised over 20 years ago and „luxus escort“ salomé balthus who shamelessly uses the attention to promote her book and own escort agency gets to write columns from welt (conservative newspaper) to süddeutsche (liberal newspaper). and so on.

sex sells but womens liberation does not.

[doctorofmagic]

No one asked but here's some thoughts about Stephen's current and future life.

First of all (and to be completely honest), before Blood Hunt, I do think Stephen was starting to find joy in being the Sorcerer Supreme now that things were seemingly going well in his life.

Just to name a few, he befriended his general self, his marriage was rekindled, Mordo was finally locked down, Clea and Umar were starting to find a common ground (at least, they were not enemies anymore) and Donna II happened, blessing their lives. Stephen was finally thriving. He was executing his duties just fine despite the challenges of being Earth's magical defender. Conflict was obviously expected but it was far from the struggles he faced in v4, for instance. There was optimism.

The fact that he seems sad in that Pasqual's post could be about anything but if I was to predict why, I'd say it's because 1) he didn't want to pass the mantle down at this point in his life and 2) he didn't want to pass the mantle down to Victor specifically because well, it's Doom. And let's be real, Jed's interpretation of their relationship is not similar to T&T or Infamous Iron Man or even Secret Wars. Even if Victor is rarely portrayed as a villain these days (more like an antagonist), there's still a certain dread whenever he shows up in stories. So it's only natural for Stephen to be worried about what's coming next.

Personally, I think Victor will not be a bad Sorcerer Supreme. He's competent and incredibly complex. There's altruism in him, especially when it comes to protect Latverians and people in general (Doom 2099 my beloved). And let's not forget about his dramatic ego and petty personality. If anything, I'd go for a gray representation. He will not be the king of altruism (aka Stephen), but he will not be a shallow villain by desecrating the mantle (something I'm pretty sure Mordo would do. Hate that guy). That said... Oh, he's also in for a big surprise, not expecting the burden that comes with such a huge responsibility. But that's just my two cents. Could always be wrong. However, I still remember when he tried to go after Jericho and gave up as soon as the light of the Eye of Agamotto hit him, so... This idea does have canon support.

(panel merely illustrative; from an alt future/reality)

As for Stephen and Clea, what comes next for them? I know the fandom is desperate for domestic vibes and a peaceful era for them. But let's be real, it's Marvel. Also it's Stephen and Clea. For starters, Clea is still the Warlord of Manhattan, which means that area will remain under her protection, tying her to our dimension. As for Stephen... We know him, right? We know he will never stop doing what he does, Sorcerer Supreme or not. We have tons of magic characters doing their jobs. Even when magic was practically dead, he found a way to keep doing good because it's intrinsic of his personality. And let's not forget Wong and W.A.N.D. They still need someone reliable, and I hardly think they'll go for Victor when consulting all things mystical. Oh, and Strange Academy, of course.

Last but not least, every change in status quo hardly lasts more than a year or two in comic books. It happened so many times before: Salomé, Jericho, Loki, even Clea. It was only natural for Victor's turn, given how T&T is such an important book to their mythos.

As for me? I think it's not really fair for me to share my feelings assuming how much I love both Victor and Stephen. I've seen some unhappy fans (and I can't relate, sorry 🥲) and some excited ones.

The reason I'm still kinda blue is merely due to the lack of new announcements, whether it's a new Doctor Strange book or a mini featuring Victor. Also it's almost certain that Jed is done with his work, which hit me like a train. I really don't want to say goodbye to Jed just yet, and seeing his work continue with Moon Knight while going for the X-books makes me a bit bitter. There's still the possibility that he's staying, but it's all conjecture at this point. I mean, I dread that some bad writer comes next, and boi do I have a no-no list. Hopefully, SDCC will shed some light on these dark times of uncertainty.

Well, that's it. Do I ramble a lot? Was not expecting to write such a long post, sorry about that (old testament me comeback?). Just wanted to write down my thoughts since they were making a mess in my head. If anything, I'll still be around for whatever comes next. After all, my love for Stephen knows no shame 🔥