#Career Junction

[secretarysong]

thinking about this right now

[creekfiend]

being completely insane is like. it aint much but its honest work

[vorthosjay]

Hi Jay. Not wanting to sound mean, but I really think it must be commented and that there's no softer way of doing that: the company's statement of Thunder Junction being an inhabitated plane prior to MoM is not a honest way of capitalizing on a sellable trope without touching its uncomfortable issues. It's even disrespectful. They have done it in a less flagrant way with Kaladesh and both Ixalan iterations, but now they've gotten too far with Thunder Junction. Colonialism is too big an issue to simply being put under the carpet as it never existed and we could just enjoy the sunny part of the history. I really hope Hasbro as a company acknowledges this and changes its way of dealing with the theme. Thanks for letting me pointing this.

Look, you caught me on a bad day, so I'm going to be as polite as possible but let's start with the foundation that this is not a complaint to direct at me. I have no control over any of this. Mark Rosewater exists and takes feedback on Tumblr.

But, let's talk about it, because I've seen some folks take this to extremes.

First off, I've seen a lot of well meaning folks speaking up on behalf of hypothetical indigenous americans, but I'd love to get takes from folks this actually impacts. I'd love for Wizards to post something about their work with cultural consultants, for sure. But the only actual thing I've seen so far is a great story from Magic's first indigenous american author. And when you're speaking on someone else's behalf, you tend to miss things. Like, Kaladesh is not the great representation of south asian culture that you might think when you jumped to it, and it's okay if you didn't know that, but it sort of proves the point that it's very difficult to actually protest on someone else's behalf. And I just haven't heard from anyone who has also mentioned they speak from authority or are impacted by this. That doesn't mean you're wrong, necessarily.

But here's the thing. Thunder Junction isn't history. It takes cues from the American West, sure, but it's a fake world. And sometimes it's okay for a fake world to ignore the bad things that happens in real life and create something more aspirational. Magic does this all the time. Magic doesn't have homophobia, but that isn't really realistic or representative of the real world, is it?

No one, and I mean literally no one, came to me and said that people of color needed to be ostracized and not allowed to work alongside the white people in the demon mob families of New Capenna. That racism was real, it was systemic, and it was violent. But did it need to be tackled in a fantasy crime drama based on america in the 20s? Should it have been? I don't think anyone would have enjoyed it as much. Sometimes it's just fun to play gangster.

Similarly, the colonization and manifest destiny that was the reality of the American West was tragic, but does that need to be our only depiction of indigenous peoples - being colonized? If they were erased completely from the narrative, that would be awful, but can't they just have fun being cool thunder slingers? The Atiin were developed with a consultant, and if you want answers ask Wizards to talk about it.

There's a reason the Oltec were depicted as being sealed off from the Immortal Sun drama that had happened on the surface. To have an aspirational mesoamerican culture that wasn't affected by the Dusk Legion and Azor and all that.

To put it in another perspective, does every period piece featuring black americans need to feature systemic racism to be respectful? Is Bridgerton disrespectful (I mean probably but not for that reason)?

The reason I've framed a lot of this as questions is because I don't necessarily think I know the right answer, especially not for a fantasy card game. I've worked with tribal governments in my emergency management career and spent a week on the Navajo Nation, and talked a lot about perspective on things, and I would not presume to know what the right answer to all of this is.

Edit: to be clear, Could it have been handled better? Probably. I will never deny that. But also it’s a complicated and fraught topic and I’d love to hear from the people wizards contracted who actually know what they’re talking about.

[beybaldes]

but I ignore things, and I move sideways

summer sleepover masterlist

roy kent x gn!reader

summary : “defending them against everyone, even when they’re not there to witness it” requested by anon

content warning : i make everyone out to be a dick for the sake of the plot

an : i <3 roy kent and I hope he is happy forever !! title comes from ‘growing sideways’ by Noah Kahan I really recommend great song and no skip album!!

“I’m just saying, since his injury, he has become a has been. There is no shame to it, it is just a fact.”

Usually, you’d let Jan Mass’s bluntness slide, given - as each member of the team had explained to you at some point - he wasn’t mean, just Dutch. Usually, his casual cruelness in the name of being honest didn’t concern Roy, however.

“Unfortunately, I have to agree.” Dani added, surprising you and the rest of the room. “If a baby was born today, they wouldn’t know ‘Roy Kent, football legend’ they know ‘Roy Kent, coach for Richmond.”

While Dani’s words greatly discredited and diminished Roy’s career to his post-injury life, his kinder explanation had the rest of the lads humming and nodding in agreement.

“Doesn’t make it any less mean.” You spoke up, everyone attention snapping to you, where you’d been sat in front of Roy’s old locker - you’d become somewhat attached to the seat in all your years with Roy spent in this changing room. “Yeah, sure, Dani’s right. A baby born today would probably hear about Roy Kent the coach before Roy Kent the footballer. But one search of his name would tell you otherwise.”

You couldn’t look at them as you spoke. Despite wanting to stand up for him, knowing you would regardless of who or what they were saying about him, it didn’t make you any less nervous. “He’s not a fucking has been though, is he? Each and every one of you take his criticisms as Gospel, work as hard as possible to meet his expectations and preach the Roy Kent effect like it’s the only thing keeping the team running. Is that a has been? Or is that a great fucking coach who works his ass off to keep you guys together?”

Sam placed a hand against your arm, your eyes snapping up to meet his. “Ignore Jan Mas, he is just-“

“Dutch. I know.” Turning to face the blonde that had started the outrage you were feeling. “But there’s a difference between being honest and blunt about it and just being fucking mean.”

You left the changing room after you’d spoke, fed up with the boys you had come to love like family. Unfortunately for them, you loved Roy more then you loved them.

“They were right.” Isaac growled, arms folded across his chest as he spent a moment staring down each and every person in the changing room. “We know that’s not true about Roy, and non of us stood up for him. We’re fucking cowards.”

The second the doors to the changing room had closed behind you, you bumped right into a firm chest, rough hands grabbing at your arms to keep you up. Upon recognising the heather-charcoal shirt, you melted into the touch, tucking your head into the junction of his neck and shoulder without a word. Before you could vent your frustrations to the coach, he pressed a kiss to your temple, leaving his lips ghosting against your ear and you in his arms.

“Heard you in there, sticking up for me.” Roy scoffed, though not offendedly. You could almost feel his heart beating out of his chest as he held you against him. “Nice of you.”

“Of course I’d stick up for you, Roy.” You pulled your head from the crook of his neck, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and staring up at the dark haired man you loved so much. “I’d stick up for you anytime, anywhere, to anyone.”

Roy had never been good with words; and he knew he’d never be able to truly tell you how much your actions meant to him. He often thought of himself as a has been, someone past their prime who was still hanging around cause he had nothing else going for him - but you clearly didn’t think that, and that was enough for Roy. However, he hoped that as he pulled you in for a delicate kiss, featherlight and gentle in a way you weren’t overly used to with Roy, that you understood.

You did. Completely.

[chouettecrivaine]

Odile's Soliloquy [Honkai: Star Rail]

Fandom: Honkai: Star Rail

Characters: Sparkle

Notes: 1.2k words, reader is referred to as prince but it's symbolic, sparkle has definitely disappeared an undescribed loved one of yours at BEST (and killed at worst)

Sparkle was a woman of many talents. An ardent method actor, she could become anything she wanted to be. Since the beginning, her name deserved to be up in lights, glittering over an entire city and catching the ardor of all. This talent of hers only grew until she could don any mask, becoming more mirage than person. Sparkle could be anything. She could be anybody your heart desired.

…except the one your heart desired.

Sparkle was used to flimsy desire. The things that sparked her attention lost it just as quickly. She wasn't used to being enthralled so thoroughly, much less by something she couldn't attain. Sparkle knew she was a woman of taste, though, and she trusted that her enrapture was well founded.

Unfortunately, such trustworthy taste didn't seem to have blessed you as it had her.

The one who had your heart was, quite frankly, a fool - and not even in the fun way. But the universe was made of contradictory sameness, and like always attracted like. They couldn’t see a trap whilst standing inside one, and Sparkle always knew that they’d need to be dealt with as soon as they started poking their nose in the Fools’ business. 

Though, in the end, their presence wasn’t quite as burdensome as Sparkle once thought. They had something that Sparkle had been vying for - someone who occupied her thoughts far more often than she’d care to admit. And yet, despite the fact that you had decided to cast a blundering fool in such a pivotal role, Sparkle couldn’t force herself to be mad at you. After all, what understudy doesn’t secretly wish for the trap door to open beneath the lead’s feet and render them useless for the performance?

So maybe she pulled the lever, cut the rope on the sandbag, loosened a few screws on the lights. Actress or magician? Only someone as gifted in the arts as Sparkle could pull off both in one act. Hidden up her sleeves were numerous cards and secret tricks, all of which gave her the leg up in the battle for your affections. More than simply act the part, Sparkle could become anyone she wanted to be, so of course she jumped right into the role she had been vying for and placed herself snugly at your side. Your partner’s actions were hardly difficult to replicate, and their words weren’t exactly taxing prose. The only admirable thing about them had been their devotion to you - but even then, their adoration was nothing compared to hers. A candle could never compete with dazzling fireworks, after all.

Sparkle knew long ago that she found her calling as a body double, fancying herself a black swan masquerading the lovely, cursed princess. She could pirouette around your questions with ease and take your hand in hers without suspicion. Sparkle was your trickster, and you, her idiot prince; truly a match made in whatever paradise the Aeons fashioned for the departed.

But then, as usual, she got bored. 

She wasn’t bred of you, but of something she thought would always be her weapon of choice; the monotony of a mask. She felt her face plastered into the same smile every day, a plastic facade she could never force to drop an inch. Sparkle wanted more from you: she wanted to feel the maniacal grin on her face once she revealed her plot; she wanted to feel the smug, victorious smirk on her face as she watched yours crumble; she wanted to grimace and scream as she tore into her own chest, trying to claw at the stabbing pain as you ran away. There was so much potential, and an artist such as herself couldn't be expected to hold back at such a critical junction in her career!

Shows that outran their welcome were rarely remembered fondly. Sparkle had prepared for her grand finale, ready to reveal her identity to you just before the curtain closed. When finally she allowed her mask to clatter to the ground, abandoned, she bent her knees and curtsied. Thank you, thank you, for attending the show! What thrilling twists! Way to end with a bang! Her hair fell over her shoulders and swayed by the sides of her face, hiding the uncertainty that turned her appreciative bow into one that hoped to beget your forgiveness.

She had expected a shriek, perhaps a gasp of utter shock - anything but the bemused laughter and sardonic slow clap that met her ears. Rising slowly, Sparkle matched your easy smirk with one of her own, as if she was in on the joke. 

Is the show really over? That’s what you seemed to ask. Sparkle had spent so much time watching you, both closely and from afar, that she could read the unspoken question in the tilt of your head, the slight shrug of your shoulder. Your gaze burned her like a spotlight shining down as she forgot all of her lines.

Well. If all it took for such an adoring audience was to don the mask once more, who was she to deny you an encore?

Sparkle didn’t need to hide herself in entirety after that. Her plan had been successful, after all. Your foolish oaths of true love had been broken by her facade, just as she wanted. But you didn’t run and try to assemble the pieces of what she forced you to break. Instead, you grabbed her hand and changed the steps, pulling her along the stage while she mimicked you as best she could. Sparkle remembered then why she never coveted the true romantic leads before - for any romance to be interesting, there needed to be a heartbreak in the central act.

No matter how precisely she danced, Sparkle realized that the romantic overture would never play while she was center stage.

Most Fools believed that love meant nothing. Everything meant nothing in the vast gaze of the Elation. She knew you would make a fine Fool when the discovery of her facade meant little to you. For whatever reason, something about this costume of hers brought you joy. Her actions brought you memories of true happiness, and when she donned that ugly simpleton’s mask, you could pretend everything was the same as it had been before. Yet, in the form of her that was as close as she could get to ‘true,’’ you never called her name or looked at her softly. You had seen through her disguise from the beginning. If she didn’t need to hide, then you didn’t need to pretend to care.

But now, her greatest tool had become her greatest weakness. Why should she have to hide her emotions when she wanted to let everything out? You had managed to tear her to shreds, and she was restless with the desire to rip off the costume and hear seams pop, show you her tear-stained cheeks and blood red hands so you could kiss it all away. Sparkle was no longer playing a part; she was feeling, which was the one thing a mask could never do.

Having the tables turned on her had been her greatest dream as a bored Fool. But now, she was something far worse than a Fool; a simple idiot who wasted her time wishing it was her name that spilled from your lips with such sincerity. She wanted it more than anything; the day when you pierced through the final mask, when you saw through the puppet named Sparkle and unlocked who she was in her core.

That would be the day when she could shed her swan feathers and finally be yours.

[cazzyf1]

My favourite/interesting quotes from: Jim Clark Portrait of a Great Driver

"One winter afternoon when I was down there Clark explained that we had to listen for an aircraft around 4.0 p.m. as Colin Chapman, his wife and Jimmy's girl friend Sally Stokes were due to arrive. Chapman had never flown to the farm before and I remember raising an eyebrow when Clark explained how he had told Colin to find the farm. "I told him to fly to Berwick-on- Tweed and then along the line of the River Tweed from the mouth at Berwick. When he saw the first red barns on the north side he was to circle the house until he saw signs of life." At 4.0 p.m. we went outside and scanned the skies but there was no sign of action. At 4.20 p.m. there was the distant sound of an aircraft and we gazed at the slowly darkening skies and finally saw it, a speck in the distance flying in the wrong direction. Immediately Clark scrambled into a Ford Galaxie-Chapman's car, actually and we shot down the narrow farm road, through the esses near the main road junction and turned for Berwick. We had just set off and had reached about 70 m.p.h. when the 'plane suddenly turned and flew towards us. Clark flashed the headlights and Chapman dipped the wings in acknowledgement. A hand brake turn and we were zooming back past the farm and up a side road to the edge of a field filled with sheep. Clark whistled on his dog, jumped the five bar gate and lit out after the sheep with the dog at his heels. Between them they rounded the sheep up and sent them off to the far side of the field whilst Chapman made a couple of passes. On the third he almost touched down then flew off. "He's gone to Winfield", said Clark. So it was back into the Galaxie for another dash across country to the disused airfield, sometime circuit where Clark had run in some sprints in the earliest days of his motor sports career. There we pocked up Chapman and his passengers" - p25-27 Graham Gauld

"In general layout the farm had changed little over the years and it had a family ghost. This was the Grey Lady who Jimmy claimed to have seen when he was very young and taken for his mother. But, on the following morning his mother said she hadn't been near his room. Since then a number of people have been visited by the ghost. Once, when Jimmy and I were preparing some notes for his autobiography, we had a wild session with Jackie Stewart and Paddy Hopkirk. As we talked into the small hours it was decided that Stewart and I would share one room, while Paddy slept in another. Jackie and I thought it was all very funny because we believed that Jimmy had put Paddy into the haunted room but in fact we were told in the morning that we had been sleeping in it..." p27 Graham Gauld

"Clark was the world's worst passenger in any car, in any circumstances with any driver! Indeed, I can only think of one occasion in which I drove him, and then he was kind enough not to comment but just smile wanly every so often" - p46 Graham Gauld

"He once remarked that Indy would be "...fine without the Americans" but in time he made a number of friends over there" - p52 Graham Gauld

"Though to the end he was still a kindly person to those whom he allowed into his confidence, he occasionally displayed a petulance and spite which was generally uncharacteristic. To some people he was cruel, but admist this cruelty one felt that Clark was trying to punish himself for being unable to explain himself. Indeed, if he had an unfulfilled wish, it was to be understood by everyone, but to ask that was to ask for the impossible" - p73 Graham Gauld

"During those times it was a very hard job getting him to believe in himself" - p82 Ian Scott Watson

"The little things you remember are his smile, the way his whole face lit up, and his springy walk and the way he bit his nails. He was an incessant nail biter, which completely baffled me; although he had a slightly nervous disposition this completely dropped when he stepped into a racing car" - p90 Graham Hill

"Whenever I was driving he was either biting his nails or fast asleep. When he was awake there was the occasional sharp intake of breath and the odd remark 'For God's sake, look out'. He was a very nervous passenger. It must have been particularly agonising for him to sit beside me doing 800 miles in thirteen hours or so. When he was driving and made the odd mistake he could never understand why I didn't say anything and he used to say 'For God's sake say something' We were just different that is all" - p91 Graham Hill

"In personal matters, he was not a great one for revealing too much, ans he was a bit clam-like which I think may have been a Scottish trait in him? He was canny, and didn't go around saying too much to people. Very often you found out he had been somewhere or done something, which you would have never known about just talking to him" - p92 Graham Hill

"They were called the Terrible Twins, the Poison Dwarfs and many other ames. But at the height of their friendship they were inseparable" - about Jim and Jackie

"It was also at this time that I started to live in John Whitmore's flat in London with Jimmy. From that day on we called it the Scottish Embassy" - p101 Jackie Stewart

"Though Jim led something of a monastic life, I must say that put there he was a real swinger, living a very busy life" - p101 Jackie Stewart

"In fact we spent so much time with one another that we became known at Batman and Robin - and I kept calling him Robin" - p102 Jackie Stewart

"Jimmy Clark was also very nationalistic, indeed we both had this trait and we were quite sincere about it. It really had to be Scottish. If anything came up wherein he was called English he was at pain to correct it" - p103 Jackie Stewart

"When reflecting on the future that Jimmy had in store I feel that he was not going to go back to full-time farming in Berwickshire. He was living the life of an international figure and no matter what might have happened in later years, I don't think he would have returned to Duns permanently. He had become a very sophisticated person. He played pretty hard and his tastes were very high and these he wasn't going to satisfy in Duns. I am sure he would have kept the house and that from time to time he would have loved to go back up there, but I don't think he would ever have gone back and settled down in the way a lot of people would have liked to imagine that he would. This just wasn't on and this is why, when people told me that Jimmy was thinking of retiring, I know that this was not the case. We talked about this a lot but he really didn't know what he wanted to do in the future. He didn't let anyone know what he was doing." - p105 - Jackie Stewart

"He was much more conscious of his personality than most people realised. It you went into a restaurant with Jimmy he did want to be recognised as Jim Clark. He didn't want it from the point of view of people asking for autographs but, like any human being, he did want the benefit of best table" - p107 Jackie Stewart

"His most difficult task in life, however, was making decisions.It was completely incomprehensible to find that someone who was so accurate and definite in his actions in a racing car was so completely inadequate when a decision had to be made outside a racing car. The number of times we have missed dinner because the restaurants have all been closed because Jimmy hadn't made up his mind which restaurant we should go to are legion, and the same is true of movies. One story is so typical of Jimmy. We were coming back from one of the American races and driving along a road where you cross a railway line with a ten mile straight one side and a ten mile straight on the other side. Jimmy is at the wheel of this Ford Galaxie and he gets to the crossing and stops. He looks one way then the other and there isn't a train in sight ten miles one way and ten miles the other then he turns to me and says 'well... what do you think?" He wouldn't dare make a decision without all sorts of drama. " - p107

"He was very keep to read everything said about him, and to make sure that there were no mistakes (this was a characteristic of Jimmy - he was most insistent that even the smallest of mistakes should not be made). He would spend half the afternoon reading sitting on a chair half in hand out of the little office. Sometimes if there were too many people talking in the office he would even shut himself in it" - p120 Gérard Crombac

"He met most of the French drivers in motorracing and the parties he went to were motor racing parties. He seldom went out on his own" - p122 Gérard Crombac

"He was no gourmet but he was becoming one, and he was very fond of French oysters we usually ended up in a sea food place " - p122 Gérard Crombac

"But although he was very generous, he remained the canny Scot of legend and he was not one to waste any money. I remember that he didn't want a house maid in the flat, so if one turned up in the middle of the morning, one might find James Clark Esq., O.B.E, pushing the vacuum cleaner through our living room" - p125 Gérard Crombac

"I thought his rather strong Scottish accent was fading with the time, until an incident when he was invited to patronise the opening of a French pub, which was to be done in style with the help of a pipe band. When Jimmy turned up and realised these people were fellow Scots he started chatting happily with them and I could hardly understand what he was saying as his accent had come back strongly and so suddenly." - p126 Gérard Crombac

"Jimmy's Scottish upbringing had instilled in him a rather restrained attitude towards girls, and I think he was very very shy with them in the early part of his career. But he was also tremendously attractive to them they would come up to him for autographs, and would leave no doubt as to their true intentions. In part he enjoyed this, but I also think he was put off in a way by this ruthless approach, so that he had absolutely no respect for most of them. So as a result, there were times when he wasn't the perfect gentleman." -p126 Gérard Crombac

"There was also a time he found a packet of cigarettes in a tent, gathered a bunch of boy scouts around him and gave them the cigarettes. He then had a picture taken of all these boy scouts lined up a cricket team smoking cigarettes with Jimmy in the middle holding a half gallon of beer." - p136 Bill Bryce

"I think Jimmy drove like a ballet dancer, he had the lightest feet and hands on earth. He had immensely strong shoulders and arms but this was the only part of him that was strong physically. He was a great dancer in motor cars, gentle with them, kind with them and I feel that the reason he was a great driver was that there was always the feeling of participation with the motor car, so the driving almost became sixth sense with him in many cases." - p145 Walter Hayes

"All this stuff about Jimmy the Shepherd with his little flat cap was nonsense. He wasn't a great Shepherd. He liked to go back to the family every so often to rediscover who he was" - p146 Walter Haynes

"When I first met Jimmy he found it extremely difficult to speak in public and he was exceptionally shy about it" - p148 Walter Haynes

"I remember just before his accident, he was talking about his future and what he was going to do when he stopped racing, and he said he finally made up his mind that he wouldn't in fact go back farming. He still loved it, but I think after the excitement and turmoil of racing, flying and the life he had been leading. I think he wanted to settle down in some branch of the aviation business" - p164 Colin Chapman

[silver-screen-divas]

Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her performance in Robert Siodmak's film noir The Killers. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in John Ford's Mogambo (1953), and for best actress for both a Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for her performance in John Huston's The Night of the Iguana (1964). She was a part of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

During the 1950s, Gardner established herself as a leading lady and one of the era's top stars with films like Show Boat, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (both 1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Bhowani Junction (1956) and On the Beach (1959). She continued her film career for three more decades, appearing in the films 55 Days at Peking (1963), Seven Days in May (1964), The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966), Mayerling (1968), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Earthquake (1974) and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). And in 1985, she had the major recurring role of Ruth Galveston on the primetime soap opera Knots Landing. She continued to act regularly until 1986, four years before her death in 1990, at the age of 67.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Gardner No. 25 on its greatest female screen legends list.

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Get to Know Me Tag :)

I was tagged by @telomeke and @hughungrybear. Thanks for tagging me!

do you make your bed?

It depends... I live in the part of the world where it's usual to have a duvet in a duvet cover and a sheet covering the mattress, and I have a duvet twice the width of my bed so it usually doesn't get rucked up during the night, so when I get up I fold over the top third of the duvet to air out the mattress/sheet. If it's a work day, it will stay like this until I get home, then I will usually pull the duvet back over the bed. If it's a weekend, I might make the bed again midday. I like it when my bed looks made.

what's your favourite number?

I'm not sure why but I like the number 7, and then also the numbers 4 and 3 because they make up 7. I've never really considered numbers beyond single digits to be 'favourites'. But if I did it would be my birthday day. Oh and I don't really use favourite numbers as important passwords or pins or the such...jsyk.

what is your job?

The work I do is quite niche, so I never really want to say too much because I'm pretty discoverable online with a few key words...but then sometimes I really want y'all to know what I do because it's unusual (and, I think, quite cool!)...but without revealing too much I work in the arts sector - specifically dance.

if you could go back to school, would you?

School, as in aged 11-16? Absolutely the hell no. But school as in higher education, degrees, masters, or smaller qualifications for my general interests? Well, I sort of did a few years ago (*she looks at the calendar and realises it's more than 'a few'*). I did a Creative Writing Masters over 2019-2020, which was GREAT to do but sort of killed my spirit and drive to be a writer...but whatever, I can always pick it back up again in the future if it returns. I also went to classes to learn Swedish when I lived in Sweden and I'm going to a different language class now one evening a week. I enjoy studying...but I get too focused on getting good grades.

can you parallel park?

Yes but I only do it when the space is big enough for me to confidently do it (especially with all these sensors beeping nowadays) and usually only on the side of the road opposite to the steering wheel (I can drive on both sides of the road).

a job you had that would surprise people?

I think my whole career is probably surprising to people but in the sense that I think people are mostly confused because they don't really understand what I really do on a day to day basis.

do you think aliens are real?

I think it would be incredible if in this whole universe we are the only planet who has developed 'life'. Aliens don't necessarily have to be intelligent life like us (and that's debatable sometimes!), so yes, I think somewhere in this universe there is another planet which has the conditions for some form of life, whether we could survive there or not.

can you drive a manual car?

Yes, I learnt on one and have managed to adapt to both right-hand and left-hand gear sticks, although I'm still a little 'fumbly' with the right-hand gear stick. I prefer automatics when in a traffic jam but otherwise I'm happy to drive whichever. Sometimes it's good to have something to focus on when driving, so a manual is good. The problem happens if I've used different hire cars in a short period of time (which I need to do sometimes with work) and when I forget I'm in a manual and brake coming up to to a junction and just...stall because I forget to change down gears 😂

what's your guilty pleasure?

If a guilty pleasure is something I'd feel shy or embarrassed admitting or talking to others about...then it would probably be watching ql or reading fanfic 😂 Other than that I'm not sure I have anything...I enjoy what I enjoy and don't feel guilt over it.

tattoos?

No but I've always thought about getting one but I think the thought of the work I'd have to do to find someone I would really trust to permanently mark my skin means I've just never done it. But I would like some kind of minimalist abstract colour art that starts on my shoulder and trails down my arm. Maybe. I've never been able to find exactly what I'm imagining, which is also why I've never pursued it.

favorite color?

I think I'm in my blue stage in my life, looking at the majority of colours surrounding me, but I also like pops of red.

favorite type of music?

The music playlists I listen to most are 1) OSTs and similar style songs from all the qls I've watched over the past 3 years 2) the instrumental background music from all the qls I've watched and 3) Swedish pop (to keep the language fresh in my brain). I do like all kinds of music - just NOT drum and bass - anything can work for me in the right mood.

do you like puzzles?

Yes, although I don't often do them. I enjoy the 'escape room' type Exit games as well as sudoku, and for a few months several years ago I really got into hanjie puzzles.

any phobias?

I'm not sure if this is a phobia or not but I absolutely CANNOT deal with cotton wool. Just thinking about pulling it apart makes me want to crawl out of my skin and lay down in a bath of acid just to get away from it let alone actually TOUCHING it and pulling it apart 🤢🤮 The cotton wool pads are ok because they have smooth sides and I don't...pull 🤮 them 🤮 apart 🤮. Ok, I gotta stop talking about this now, I'm squirming in my seat.

favorite childhood sport?

I did gymnastics as a child, from about aged 8 to 13, but I don't know if that counts as a 'sport', although I did compete. I didn't really enjoy most ball sports as a kid.

do you talk to yourself?

ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME. I talk to myself in my head. I talk to myself out loud. Sometimes, if I'm talking to myself aloud about something important and then do something that means I can't continue (cleaning my teeth, drinking/eating etc) then for some reason I can't continue in my head. I have to wait until I'm finished to then talk out loud again. But I also talk to myself aloud when I'm out 😬 but I do it quietly and without moving my mouth too much so people don't notice. I was in a shop recently and a gentleman was talking to himself out loud (commenting on the offering of tea towels ikea had and wondering whether to buy any) - loud enough that I thought that he was actually talking to someone else but he wasn't - and I felt like I had a glimpse of my future if I wasn't careful 😂

what movies do you adore?

I don't watch a lot of movies nowadays - the last I saw was Barbie. But the one that has stayed with me as a favourite since I first saw it is Some Kind of Wonderful. And I love The Holiday as a Christmas movie (although I haven't watched it for ages). Oh and it's not a movie, so maybe doesn't count, but the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice has my whole heart.

coffee or tea?

I'm definitely a tea drinker (approx 3 cups of black Earl Grey plus one or two herbal teas every day) but sometimes I'll crave a coffee...but then I'll have decaf. I'll crave it because I think the milkiness of it (oat milk though) makes it feel like a comfort drink, and I like a small shot of gingerbread syrup in it too.

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

I remember things like 'lawyer', 'journalist', and 'doctor' were common aspirations when I was a kid which I also contemplated but when I decided I wanted to be a dancer at aged 13 that was it for me. My 'back-up' career plan was some kind of palaeontology or archaeology ("you get an -ology you're a scientist!" 😂) but I never needed to pursue that.

Onward tagging: I'm not sure by now who has done this or not, so I'll tag some people and if you have done it then tag me in your post so I can read it! @grapejuicegay @dimplesandfierceeyes @casualavocados @ranchthoughts @jourquet @lollygirlpops @airenyah @incandescentflower and @linosaur

Like @telomeke, I also get tagged now and then by others in various tag games but then get too busy with work to be able to do them. So if you've tagged me and I've not responded, please know that I really wanted to but I just didn't have the time and then probably forgot.

[mysticstarlightduck]

OC Reddit AITA Tag Game!

Thanks for the tags, @willtheweaver (here), @wyked-ao3 (here) and @the-golden-comet (here)!

So let's go with Deimos Soll from Supernova Initiative!

Deimos Soll

AITA for setting up my siblings and their crew for capture bu our worst enemy in exchange for safety against the warlord hunting me down?

Hi. So, I have been struggling with this for a while, and honestly wasn't sure if I should technically post this but since I've got few people I can vent this to, so I might as well give this a shot.

So, for context, I (26 M), did NOT want to betray my adoptive siblings. It was always us against the world growing up and we have always been all each other has had - well, at least until we had The Big Argument a few years ago and went our separate ways.

It all started to go downhill after that day, now that I'm thinking about it. After I left Jack and Cassie behind to pursue a solo career as a sniper, I ended up joining a Khosmonian war faction - I was very much an idealistic youth who knew little of the world of warfare at the time, but I believed that, by joining the Junction's greatest enemy in the civil war, I would have a chance to fight back against the government that destroyed my life in the past.

I was mistaken. Very much so.

It turns out that, for all the propaganda, the government in the Khosmonian galaxies - and especially the military branch I had joined - was just as corrupt as the Junction. I was quickly disillusioned and planned to desert that cause and go back to my siblings to make amends.

And I didn't even get that chance. I had packed my things and was ready to leave, but the warlord that commanded the faction I had misguidedly tied myself to - a monstrous woman named Eldora Thalax - wasn't about to let me go so easily. Apparently I was her finest sniper, and she didn't want to lose that asset.

Before I knew it, she had her soldiers capture me and bring me to her - she made me a final offer, saying she might forgive my 'treason' if I continued to work for her. I said no, and told her I was going to leave once and for all. She... didn't like that.

Eldora decided that, if I wasn't going to comply willingly, she'd make me do so by force - and so the nightmare began. I was locked in a freezing cell, and every day I was brutally tortured and experimented on - it didn't take long for me to realize what she was doing. Her plan was to break my mind and brainwash me into a living weapon.

I spent 3 years trapped in that living hell, barely holding onto my identity and sanity, until finally - on one extremely lucky day - I managed to escape and steal a spaceship to take me back to my galaxy. But Eldora wasn't going to stop hunting me down: 1. she didn't want to let others think she would simply let a prisoner get away from her, and wanted to make me an example, 2. she still planned to recapture me and brainwash me into her obedient soldier. Even as I went back to the galaxy I hailed from, I spent countless days trying desperately to avoid the assassins and agents she'd sent after me, barely getting a moment to even think.

I was at the end of my rope when I made the decision to seek the Junction's government for help - they'd always been my worst enemies, people I despised more than anything and who had destroyed my life and that of countless others over and over again. But I couldn't take it anymore, living on the run with the ever-looming danger of being caught again. Which I knew would happen sooner or later if I was on my own. I turned myself in and made a deal with one of the most influential Junction politicians, the Director, to get protection against Eldora.

They asked for something in return - and their price was that I helped them set up my siblings and their crew (since Jack, Cassie and the others had been the Junction's Public Enemy Number 1 for years now and Jack was the most wanted intergalactic thief of his generation) for capture. I didn't want to do it, but given that I had no choice, I accepted it.

Soon after, Jack, Cassie, and the crew were captured during one of their heists - something the Junction only managed to do due to the information I gave them.

They tasked the crew to do a dangerous heist on a hostile planetary system, making them work for our worst enemy in order to avoid the firing squad, and the Junction made me join them on the heist as well, probably out of sadism to see me struggle to keep the truth of what I had done hidden. At the time, no one in the crew knew I had been the one to blame for their capture.

The worst part is that, by saving myself from harm, I ended up subjecting my brother to the same - if not worse - struggles I had endured, as the Director made him his favorite test subject, torturing and experimenting on him for fun in the guise of seeking scientific progress.

I hate myself with every fiber of my being for what I did, and I would do anything to go back and change the decision I made in the past. If I had known what the price of my betrayal would be, I would never have done it. I would have preferred to spend the rest of my days working with Eldora than to let my brother go through what the Director did and does to him.

In fact, I never should've left them - abandoned them - in the past, after our argument in the first place.

I have kept my betrayal a secret from them ever since we had to start working together again, and it's eating me up inside. I know that if I tell them the truth, it would be the final crack to Jack's spirit - and Cassie... well Cassie would probably try and kill me for it.

And she'd be right.

Tagging (gently): @sleepy-night-child, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart, @ray-writes-n-shit

@writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @cakeinthevoid @thecomfywriter

@thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams

@differentnighttale, @leahnardo-da-veggie

[nkowashere]

a week for a witch 🩷

MONDAY

★associated with: the moon, clairvoyance, femininity, dreaming

★spellwork: healing emotionally, divination, home, travel, fertility

★crystals: moonstone, pearl, selenite

★deities: Selene, Diana, Thoth

★candles: white

★flowers: lotus, lily, jasmine

TUESDAY

★associated with: Mars

★spellwork: protection, banishing, passion, success, self-confidence, matrimony

★crystals: garnet, ruby, bloodstone

★deities: Tyr/Tiwaz, Kali, Aries

★candles: red

★flowers: holly, snapdragon

★actions: be brave, set goals, achieve/aim for victory, work on esteem

WEDNESDAY

★associated with: Mercury, reading/writing/studying, travel, the arts, divination

★spellwork: communication, business, travel, art/creativity, money, luck, wisdom, change

★crystals: lapis lazuli, agate, aventurine, citrine

★deities: Odin, Hermes, Athena

★candles: purple

★plants: fern, lavender, mandrake

THURSDAY

★associated with: Jupiter, storms, water, element, harvesting, leadership, honor

★spellwork: money, career, abundance, luck, healing, contracts/legal work

★crystals: turquoise, aventurine, lapis lazuli

★deities: Thor, Zeus, Juno

★candles: (royal) blue, green

★plants: bay leaf, honeysuckle, cinnamon, oak

FRIDAY

★associated with: Venus

★spellwork: romance, fertility, passion, family, reconciliation, beauty, nature

★crystals: rhodochrosite, garnet, rose quartz

★deities: Freya, Aphrodite, Eros, Lakshmi

★candles: aqua/(light) blue, pink

★flowers: hibiscus, apple blossom, pink rose

★actions: connect with the water element, self care/beauty rituals

SATURDAY

★associated with: Saturn

★spellwork: protection, banishing, cleansing, creativity, manifestation

★crystals: obsidian, hematite, jet, amethyst

★deities: Hecate, Saturn, Hades, Hestia, Bast

★candles: black

★flowers: pansy, thyme, cypress

★actions: drink black tea, cleanse house, personal transformation, self discipline

SUNDAY

★associated with: Sun

★spellwork: success, wealth, abundance, growth, healing/health, creativity

★crystals: carnelian, tigers eye, citrine

★deities: Apollo, Helios, Ra

★candles: yellow

★flowers: orange, sunflower, marigold

★actions: bake with cinnamon, get creative, watch the sunset

[probablyasocialecologist]

While home interiors depicted a blissful atomic future, their occupants lived in an age of revanchist conservatism. American society had become increasingly atomized and patriarchal during this time. Women were important contributors to wartime atomic science: Maria Goeppert-Mayer worked on the Manhattan project, and was awarded a Nobel Prize for her contributions to science by 1963; Leona Woods Marshall Libby worked in Enrico Fermi’s lab at the University of Chicago, where she demonstrated the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. When men returned from war, many women were discouraged from continuing their careers as scientists, technologists, and academics. As mainly white working women became wives in picket-fenced suburbia, they turned to the domestic affairs of the home to regain some control. As such, the demand for Atomic Age style was created by these women’s purchasing decisions. Atomic aesthetics in the home eventually served to “feminize” the atom, further domesticating its image.

[...]

Beauty queens and pin-up girls proliferated after World War II. The new vogue for radioactivity reached pageantry, with new beauty contests celebrating all things nuclear. From Miss Atomic Blast to Miss Atomic Bomb, this cheerful embodiment of lethal nukes has been described variously as commercializing, feminizing, and disarming the atom. By 1955, atomic pageantry had diversified to celebrate and normalize uranium mining and nuclear energy, as Colorado and Utah became home to expansive uranium mining programs. In a contest sponsored by the Uranium Ore Producers Association and the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce to celebrate Colorado’s uranium mining boom, the winning Miss Atomic Energy was rewarded with a truckload of uranium ore worth approximately $5000 in today’s money — and a trophy in the shape of Rutherford’s iconic atomic model. The bikini bathing suit debuted in 1946, taking its name from Bikini Atoll, where the U.S. undertook its first nuclear weapon detonations since Hiroshima. Louis Réard’sdesignwas itself derived from a less revealing French design created by Jacques Heim, known as “L’atome.” Both garments played with the semiotics of nuclear warfare. Models were initially scandalized by the bikini’s skimpiness and refused to wear it. By 1951, however, a bikini round had been integrated into the annual Miss World competition, further linking the atom with ideals of feminine beauty. 

[fandomfluffandfuck]

Hey! I was doing some research on omega verse for a fic I’m writing and I found this blog on tumblr called @ theomegaverse. The owners of the blog answer question about the omegaverse, but one of them always posts pictures of Sebastian Stan for some reason. I found this funny (?) and I wanted to let you know i guess. Also have you perhaps writing something about omegaverse biology (frequency of heats, length of orgasm, fertility…)?

Lmao, I love that for them (and thanks for the resource 😘). The love of Sebastian is universal and eternal. Naturally. Have you seen the man?

I just actually scrolled back through my masterlists and blog itself, trying to find something because I swear to fuck, I have been asked this before and I've answered before because I am nothing if not a rambling, overexplainer, but... if I have, I can't find it!

The closest post I found was this impressive, hilarious omegaverse, "the talk" long post that's worth a read.

Anyway, as far as my version of the omegaverse, it's been a long while since I dove in and did my own research into common fanon to take what I liked and tweak what I wanted to. So, now, whenever I write it (nowhere near as often as I used to, unfortunately), I mostly just fuck around and find out. I make my own rules; I break my own rules. What I have from that fanon research time of my writing career is a Google doc, so get ready--

DISCLAIMERS: I am not a fucking biologist, I don't claim to know real biology and I especially don't know made up biology 💀💀 Also, I use male and female in this, but, of course, numbers and people shift flexibly from the census-esque information of assigned sex at birth I came up with however many years ago this is from. Gender is different from sex, and the presence of intersex people impacts the simple numbers and basic biology I have laid out. You understand, you're an intelligent person

Population:

Overall, 22% are either alpha or omegas

Overall, 78% are betas, with 39% being female and being 39% male (betas are the vast majority designation)

Specifically, 14% are alphas, with 3% of those being female and 11% being male

Specifically, 8% are omegas, with 7% being female and 1% being male (meaning male omegas are rarer than female alphas)

Presenting:

Generally, it happens between the ages of 14-18 for most people

Specifically, for alphas around 14-16

Specifically, for omegas around 16-18

Some General Lingo:

Someone's "first gender" refers to their sex (i.e. female or male (naturally, though, trans and intersex people still exist))

Someone's "second gender" refers their designation (as in, being an alpha, beta, omega)

Bodies:

As in with the categories of "the sexes," everyone has different attributes to differing degrees, matching, generally more to one or the other but not always

Scent glands are located at: the junction between the shoulder and neck (those are specifically the bonding glands, bitten to form a mating bond), the insides of the wrists, the crotch (above genitals but below the hips), and the armpits.

Most generally, omegas tend to smell sweet

Most generally, alphas tend to smell musky or spicy

Most generally, betas tend to smell muted, somewhere between sweet and musky. People, popularly in omegaverse, think betas are "scentless" but they do have a smell

Omega's Bodies:

All omegas have wombs and slick, though they may or may not be fertile/functional (as analogous with uteruses and vaginas)

Only male omegas have dicks (though they are smaller than alpha's, typically within the 2-4.5 in)

('dick' is slang for male omega's appendages while 'cock' is the alpha's equivalent appendage)

Male omegas have a two-way channel (annus and cervix) and appear like normal cis-males outwardly.

Female omegas have cis-female body parts as in the real world (vagina, cervix, etc.)

Omegas, generally, tend to retain more body fat

Alpha's Bodies:

All alpha's have cocks with knots. Knots are positioned roughly an inch above the base of the phallus, allowing for gentle thrusting movements even when tied to stimulate their partner and help with breeding. They are tied, though... once blown, the knot is too large until it goes does to be removed from a vagina, anus, or mouth

Female alphas have cocks not clits (though, the phallus is elongated/engorged clitoris-tissue) and vaginas. Although female alpha's are rarely able to be impregnated, typically they're infertile

Male alpha's cocks tend to fall within 6 in and above

Female alpha's cocks tend to fall within 5 in and above

Beta's Bodies:

Beta's will have the reproductive organs associated with their first gender (their assigned sex at birth) and are fertile so long as they do not have any underlying health conditions

Overall, betas tend to have mixed and matched traits of omegas and alphas.

Betas are often looked at, culturally, as being the 'default' gender, the middle of the spectrum that can be slid all the way toward omega or, on the other side, all the way toward alpha

Reproduction:

Omegas mating season is referred to as a 'heat.' Reproduction for omegas happens mainly in heat

Pre-heat lasts 1-2 days before heat

Heat lasts 3-7 days after pre-heat

During heats, omegas experience symptoms of increased: irritability, emotional-ness, protectiveness, jealousy, libido, slick production, fertility, senses (sight, touch, smell, etc.), and temperature (they only have a true 'fever' during heat, not in pre-heat, in pre-heat, they're just warm), etc.

During heats, omegas other typical characteristics include: nest making, more desire to scent/be scentmarked, higher want to be mounted, wanting to be bonded, increased desire to be bred, increased sensitivity, sweeter smell, easier to cry, begging, incoherence, etc.

During heat, omegas need to be fucked every 2-4 hours. It differs between omegas, though. Omegas with shorter heats (3 days as opposed to 7 days) will have more intensive heats during which they need to be fucked more often, perhaps every hour

Generally, all omegas, when pregnant, are pregnant with 'pups'

Specifically, male omegas produce either omega or beta pups (so, chances are highest of male omegas producing more male omega pups as opposed to any other designation)

Specifically, female omegas can produce alpha, beta, or omega pups

When concerned with betas, betas primarily produce beta pups. A beta reproducing with another beta will produce a beta pup. Betas producing omega pups is more common than betas producing alpha pups

Betas do not experience a specific mating season, though, if bonded to an alpha or an omega for long enough, they may experience a mild sympathy rut (if bonded to an omega) or heat (if bonded to an alpha)

Alphas mating season is referred to as a 'rut.' Reproduction for alphas happens mainly in rut

Generally, an alpha's pre-rut is about 1 day

Generally, an alpha's rut will last 2-4 days

When in rut, an alpha experiences increased: coddling of their partner, aggression toward others than their family/partner (those considered to be in their 'pack'), possiveness, jealousy, strength, territorial-ness, libido, semen production, fertility, senses (smell, sight, taste, etc.), etc.

The typical characteristics of an alpha's rut are: need to rut/hump, want to bite/claim, den making, providing instincts (family, friends, and mate), very mild fever, cocks swell as do balls, body sensitivity increasing, etc.

Omega's heats happen 4-6 times a year, starting around 16 (although heat frequency depends on age, health, and genetics. Some people are just irregular)

Alpha's ruts happen 2-4 times a year, starting around 16 (also, rut frequency depends on age, health, and genetics). However, if the alpha is mated to an omega, their ruts will begin to happen at the same time as their heats but not going over 4-6 times per year

Omega's heats can trigger alphas ruts if the two are compatible or if they're around each other enough. Also it's possible that if the persons rut or heat is close anyway, they will be triggered regardless of compatibility

Alpha's only knot when they're mating a compatible partner

Pups in General:

'Pups' mean children

Omegas are often called "mom" by the pup (regardless of their sex or gender)

Alphas are often called "dad" (regardless of sex or gender)

Betas use their genders to define the used word for parenthood

Pregnancy:

Most all omegas have the potential to get pregnant (considering other underlying health conditions)

Some female alphas can get pregnant, but they tend to have issues. Often, they give birth pre-term or have issues getting pregnant in the first place (it's common for IVF to be required for female alphas)

Pregnancy makes both female and male omegas lactate

Pregnancy makes omegas, betas, and alphas scent change (it mutes but also fills with fertility and sweetens)

During heat is the easiest time for omegas to be impregnated

Pregnancy still has the expected bodimy changes like weight gain (usually in the hips, ass, thighs, belly, breasts, etc.), increased blood supply, increased blood flow (both of which contribute to sensitivity), etc.

Conpatible Couples:

'Compatibility' can occur between two (or more, but that is less common) people regardless of designation, but the most common compatibility is between beta-and-beta and then between alphas-and-omegas

In any compatible couple that includes an alpha, the alpha will pop knots when mating/having sex

In any compatible couple, the couples' scents smell better together than they do separate (they compliment each other)

Generally, compatibility results in bonding (but not all compatibility results in people becoming life mates)

Some couples will form a 'pseudo bond' ever before teeth meet flesh. This version of a bond is basically a bond formed solely through such a strong level of compatibility that it acts as a weak bond (then, when or if they're bonded they'll have an extremely, extremely strong bond)

Couple Courting:

'Courting' traditionally happens before bonding as it is equivalent to the dating stage of getting into/solidifying a relationship

The traditional steps to courting are as follows:

The alpha (or pushing beta) buying gifts or wooing the omega (or the recipient beta) with actions and asking them out. This may continue for a long or short amount of time

Then, once the omega (beta, alpha, or whatever relationship is developing) accepts the courting offer, they begin going out on dates. In traditional dates, alphas take the role of planning and paying for dating activities

After a number of dates, the more intimate acts of scenting may begin. Scenting someone is more intense than kissing. Scenting is a gentle reminder that they're the other person or intends to be theirs

Perhaps after more dates and after getting comfortable smelling like each other, they meet each other's friends and family. (In extremely traditional practices of courting, the alpha would have to already know the omega's parent/guardian (the omega's family head is either an alpha or a beta), having to ask permission before even beginning to court the omega)

At this point, they may move in together or, if not moving in together, then at this point, they live with each other to help support their partner through their mating season

(Again, alphas typically court omegas or betas (beta/beta, omega/omega, or alpha/alpha relationships have the pursuer being the more dominant or forward/outgoing person, but not necessarily)

Bonding:

Bonding is the phenomenon caused by biting into the scent gland at the side and base of the neck on the right side. Bonding traditionally happens during sex within the synched rut and heat of an alpha-omega pair because it will 'settle in' the strongest if done during both partners' seasons, though it is unclear if this is true to biology or an old wives tale

Bonded couples are called 'mates'

Bonds are more serious than marriage and can't always be reversed. It depends on how strong the bond was--weak bonds with semi-compatible partners are easier to break than strong-compatible partners with intense bonds that are nearly telepathic, for example

Bonds are occasionally rejectable (bite scars may or may not fade) if it's based on or created through trauma and one party doesn't want it (the intense emotions will drive a wedge between the connection, severing it over time) or if one party dies

Omegas and betas don't have to return the bite to an alpha partner to make the bond work. If they do, though, it's said that it strengthens the bond

Different levels of bonding exist from weak bonds if people aren't that compabilible to very, very strong bonds if they are really compatible. The longer a couple is bonded, the stronger a bond

Bonds are characterized by: feeling each other's emotions (or even hearing each other's thoughts, depending on the strength), feeling and influencing each other's instincts, their natural smells become forever mixed, their bonding mark (as well as changed scent) will usually ward off others from being intimate with them instinctually (their biology knows the danger of coming between mates for hard-wired fear of violence from jealousy/territorial-ness)

Further, if it's an extremely strong bond that's rare in it's intensity and/or the length of time spent together, then the mates will also be able to feel each other's physical sensations (like people touching their bodies, touching each other, etc.)

Alpha-omega bonds tend to be the strongest, but this is not always true

Okay, I'm done, thank you for coming to my TEDtalk 💀

[mistytarot0919]

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･Major Arcana - 6. The Lovers

©mistytarot0919 - all rights reserved. do not copy, translate, alter, or repost my work.

Please REBLOG if you find this information useful! ༄˖°🪐.ೃ࿔*

Astrological sign or planet - Gemini the twins

Element - air

Key meaning - love and relationship, maturity, decisions

YES card

6 - number of harmony, love, and growth

male and female, light and shadow

love our whole selves in all our aspects

a moment when we need to make a choice

commitment to an idea or a path

🔮 Qualities of the card - choices, love, inspiration

🔮Associated object and location - a paired of lovers or birds, a rose key, a T-shaped junction in the road, paths splitting in a wood, a romantic card

💟Upright meaning

meeting a new partner

career opportunity

the person coming your way has a positive influence and offers true love

issue - the ability to make a decision based on your long-term future rather than short term gains

a young person leaving home and making an independent decision

home - time to work toward a property that will support your dream and desires

relationship - love decision; single - love yourself first to manifest the right relationship when the time came; a relationship will be starting with someone that you already know

career and money - career choices; look beyond money to your future development and ambitions

health - health problem with a body part that has two parts to it – kidneys, lungs, arms, eyes and there being an issue with both

💟Reversed meaning

relationship go out of balance

the shadow side of your personality enters the equation

inequality, betrayal, and dishonesty

materialism, addiction to negative patterns

you don’t know what you want

💟Reflections

+ Ace of Cups = love

+ 2 of Cups = new partnership

The above dividers don't belong to me, credits to their respective owners.

[capricorncorvette]

Things for my Cars next gen fanfic because i want to share it and i have to many notes in my notes app so might aswell yank it on my blog cuz ill put this online anyways

I suddenly thought of this for no reason. But i thought if that funny lmao.

This story that im FINALLY working on again after 2 years revolves around Lightning and Sally's daughter Mary, shes a racer, her best friend and later crush Secret, Finn's son, as they grow up, discover the world around them and have your average Cars shenanigans :p with these also come Fernando and Felicia, Francesco's twins, Dusty's daughter Piper and King and Lynda's daughter and son, Morgan and Caleb.

Headcanons:

1. Languages languages

Felicia and Fernando are fluent in English, but they still speak Italian among each other, with Francesco or with the three of them. Sometimes they even swear in Italian. Secret is a Brit, and he sometimes tries to speak formal English with Mary around, but it mostly makes her laugh. Morgan and Caleb have a very Western accent (Piper used to joke on it)

2. DIFFERENT WORLDS

I love love love this trope so much most of the time. Especially in this Cars fic since i have SO much to work with.

Maria Victory McQueen

Mary was born in and grew up in Radiator Springs, learned how to race on dirt, learned respect and hard work, she can sing, she likes to dance, she shows tourists around town and she helps in the businesses of the other cars.

Secret Leland McMissile

Secret grew up in a very organized, more strict environment, already being involved with C.H.R.O.M.E when he was very young. He became a C.H.R.O.M.E trainee when he was 12, guided and trained by his parents. Secret became an official spy when he was 18, but before that he was already very serious and quiet. Secret has a hard time getting out of his comfort zone, but he tries his best. He is very hard working and he likes structure.

Felicia Bernoulli & Fernando Bernoulli

Felicia and Fernando were born and raised in Porto Corsa in Italy. They got involved in the sport at approximately 7 years old. Fernando is the oldest (with just 4 minutes) and like almost any other sibling, when it suits him, he uses it as an excuse. Like their dad, the Bernoulli - twins love to show off. Mary has won a race against Fernando once and Felicia still talks about it, just to annoy him.

Piper Amelia Crophopper

Piper is born on the farm land in Propwash Junction, she isnt a racer, she took a stunting career (she can race however but doesnt like it that much) Piper really likes to salto and show off in the sky, she was born in a free town with a lot of space around her, just like Mary. They met at MotorFest, a yearly event in Carburator County. Dusty was exclusively invited and he brought Piper so he and Lightning could see if Mary and Piper would become friends, wich happened. Mary was at the time 10 and Piper 12.

Morgan Weathers & Caleb Weathers

Morgan and Caleb (especially Morgan) were basically born on the racetrack. Morgan and Caleb both want to race, even though Morgan likes to hang out with Mary and her other friends more sometimes. Strip and Lynda know she's still a kid and let her decide what she wants and they don't push their children into anything. Caleb is younger then Morgan, Morgan is 16 and Caleb is 13. They are both very good friends with Mary. The Weathers family loves to go to MotorFest, especially Morgan since she is friends with almost all the racers her age. Morgan and Caleb are both very ambitious and they take racing serious. Mary and Morgan are childhood friends, they have known each other since they were toddlers. Part of why MotorFest has so much contestants each year is because most of the younger racers are friends with each other and they help and encourage one another during the races. Their parents are mostly the more competitive ones, even though most of them are friends too.

facts about this fanfic

1. I don't have a name for it yet (please send suggestions if you have them)

2. Most of it will be written but i'll make drawings for it too

3. I made this 2 years ago, but dropped it due to losing interest in Cars. But i picked it up again and now my hyperfixation shall stay by my side, filling my autistic little brain with ideas for fanfictions and fanart, even though i'm a grown ass 16 year old that has a mount everest of homework on her desk but she shall write her stories and continue being very immature for her age.

And actively ignoring the fact she'll be an adult in 2 years (not stoked)

[skippygiraffee]

Now I wanna hear more of your thoughts about Raihan and Leon and their insecurities wrt each other, and how they might solve them please.

absolutely, thank you for asking <3!! as per usual with me, I'm unsure how long this will be, so I'll put my thoughts under a read more for the sake of people's dashes/the tag. BUT I do think about these two a lot, especially this side of them, so I have a lot of thoughts floating around in the mind palace that I will try and materialize >:3c

I have a hard time picking a place to start with these two because the aforementioned mind palace is more like brain soup, and I'm trying to pick out the tasty bits from the broth with this one (meaning I think about it a lot, a lot) and it's hard to put pen to paper so to speak. but essentially, I doubt either of them started their careers with high self esteem to start with, and then I have in my own personal headcanon that Rose specifically pitted them against each other for the sake of numbers and marketing. it would be good for his bottom line, and Leon's brand as a champion, if he had a really strong and flashy rival, and Raihan was right there begging for the spotlight for various reasons.

when it comes down to each other specifically, however, here's a breakdown of some of those insecurities:

Leon is infinitely jealous of Raihan's freedom and that he has control over anything in his life

Raihan resents the effortless way in which maintains his popularity

Leon's body issues manifest in being spiteful towards Raihan's assumed ease with posting on social media

Raihan feels like Leon never has time for anything or anyone outside of Rose's elite circle of people

both think the other has social skills that they themselves seem to lack (for Leon it's interpersonal relationships and close friendships and for Raihan it's the way Leon is seemingly comfortable around and with powerful people), and they feel equally small when the other is in those settings

there's a lot of unresolved anger and tension from the years and years of being sold as rivals that has done immense damage to their relationship, and neither thinks they can overcome it

Raihan in convinced that Leon will always be, forever and always, out of reach in every possible way

Leon thinks he'll never be good enough for Raihan unless he remains at the top, the best, the undefeated Champion

to break some of them down a little more, Leon just doesn't have time for anything or anyone that isn't Rose or the League once he's Champion, and of course to anyone he's close with that's going to sting. and I think Raihan has a habit of questioning his place in people's lives, to the point that any shift in energy or attention can feel like the end of the world. so for Leon to just be busy with shit out of his control would definitely fester and build inside him, to the point where I think a lot of that boisterous energy on the field in battle is Raihan trying to let out that building anger towards Leon, when he logically knows it's not Leon's fault. however, logic and emotion don't always meet at the same junction, so Raihan and Leon have definitely had fights that spilled over into their shared friendgroup over how Leon will just ghost everyone for months on end.

I also think both want what the other has, in that childish way that kids always want what their friend is eating, but also in the very adult way of wishing their lives had turned out differently. Leon so desperately wishes that he wasn't caged up in Wyndon, forced to perform, forced to be Rose's left hand (because Oleana is his right, and Leon isn't even good enough to be there). he loves battling, loves his Pokemon, loves everything about what he does except being Champion. so he wants to be Raihan.

and Raihan is sick and tired of always being one step from the top, constantly reminded that he isn't good enough to be Champion. so painfully aware of the sacrifices that come with it, but he'd be fine with it for a taste of the adoration that Leon has. he wants to feel what it's like to wear the crown, be loved and cheered for, rather than hearing someone else's name being yelled from the stands the moment he enters the field anywhere but Hammerlocke. he wants to be Leon so bad it hurts, makes him privately bitter, and publicly aloof to avoid dealing with it.

Raihan has spent so long looking up, and Leon has spent so long feeling trapped I truly think it's a genuine shock to the system when the whole thing just stops. Leon wakes up in the morning Champion, and goes to bed dethroned. and it wasn't even Raihan who took his crown.

dealing with that is a whole other beast, you know? because they defined a good chunk of their relationship on the rivalry dynamic. do they scrap it, do they keep it, what do they do with that? how do they look at and deal with all the emotions being thrown right on the floor after Leon is defeated, because Leon is also dealing with the after effects of the whole Darkest Day event, which is at best just a natural disaster narrowly avoided, and at worst an extreme upheaval in the lives of so many people thanks to Rose being in prison and his company being left without leadership and Leon being left with lifelong ailments thanks to it.

honestly, once Leon is ready for the conversation, I think a lot of anger on both their parts comes out first. tears, yelling, the works. where they just start listing off all the built up anger and resentment from the years. it's not healthy, by any means, but they aren't sure how else to really lay it all out. and once it's out there they have to figure out how to deal with it, like unpacking an old closet and finding long forgetting items, and figuring out whether to toss or keep them. for Leon, he's just sorry, because he wishes he had been better for Raihan, for everyone, and he carries all the guilt in the world for the past decade or so of being Champion. he let everything fall to wayside, and now he has to figure both himself out and how he fits back into people's lives. for Raihan, he has to really really confront where his anger is coming from, and he hates that it's been staring at him in the mirror for a long time, being displaced onto Leon.

the legitimate things wrong with their relationship, like the foundation it was built on and how they talk to each other and treat each other, they work it out by slowly rebuilding everything. not from the ground up, because they can't erase what happened, and don't want to, but their rivalry is different. they battle together, but they'll be damned if the other outdoes them in making curry (Leon can't, but that's because both Hop and Raihan aren't sure what the fuck is up with his tastebuds). a lot of it is just them mellowing out, getting calmer about things, and doing their passions in different ways.

I dunno, I just like thinking of them as middle aged guys who still think their older mons can still duke it out like they're spry, and of course will for them, but Leon and Raihan laughing and having fun. and the local kids are wondering how these two were once these fierce rivals that their parents still talk about, when they're just sitting back and having a relaxed match. where the baggage of the past still comes up every now and then, but they get to sit down, have the time to talk about it, and come back better. I think more than anything they work it out with time and openness, honesty and compassion, more than anything. and it's what they deserve really.

[clatterbane]

I really wasn't kidding about the not-quite-side gig thing, though. That's also sort of tied up in my own ongoing special Disabled Foreign Devil version of a midlife crisis, though.

My life has ended up going off in some strange and highly inconvenient directions, due to the person I am. Things would probably be a lot easier in a number of ways if it had taken the actually easier road at several junctions. But, it is what it is. You deal and try to make the best of it, clichéd as that may be.

But yeah, I am now pushing 50 and sitting somewhere that I still kinda suck at the main language--with no completed degrees, no documentation of what foreign formal education I do have, extremely little adult employment history because I stayed too busy being variously disabled over the years, zero other qualifications, and still pretty limited spoons though I am physically doing much better these days. Oh yeah, and I am indeed visibly disabled now, autistic and noticeably weird as hell on top of it, and now pushing 50. Though I can probably skate farther on "eccentric foreigner" with the neurodivergence (and not being a native speaker) than in the UK, that is only one disadvantage mitigated.

(Also kinda hard to have much in the way of longer term "retirement" prospects when you have fuck all employment history or personal savings, and you relocate somewhere that you have absolutely no previous connection to systems when you're already middle-aged. I never really expected to find myself at this stage in life period, much less with very little in the way of prospects or financial independence. But, that's a bit of a side consideration at this point. I just don't want to end up shoved into the shithole tier of nursing homes one of these days, though. And with one leg and no career, that could conceivably happen anytime. Cyanide time, tbqh.)

Working in my favor, I am in one of the "better" tiers of immigrants, as an Anglophone who is pasty as fuck out of the sun and also married to a native. Only part of which is remotely under my control. And I usually come across as smart enough, however much of that may rely on bluffing. That was more of an asset when I was in my 20s than it even counts as at this stage of life, with no easily recognizable achievements to back it up.

Nobody is going to hire me for much of anything, and I'm truly not sure what formal work I could reasonably handle without running myself completely into the ground.

So yeah, that (easier, expected) route is pretty much out. Can't rely on working for anybody else, better figure out how to DIY some kind of financially gainful endeavor. Kinda just leaves us back at having the brain to rely on. Better figure out some way to monetize some of the skills and knowledge that I do have.

I probably am reasonably sharp in my own way, with too many interests, generally a pretty fast learner, and persistent as hell when things line up right. And I do have decent practical backup these days. Not gonna starve in the meantime, and can reasonably expect some support in whatever the hell I do settle on trying to make a buck at. That's what I can see as some things really working in my favor.

While indeed neurodivergent as fuck, in some ways that have ALWAYS made figuring what I might even be decent at, can maintain focus on, and keep up somewhat sustainably, very difficult. Oh yeah, and this should probably be something that somebody would be willing to pay me for. (Not even kidding, this has been a persistent problem since I was old enough to even start seriously considering the matter of what to do with my life.)

The general executive function bullshit, with getting and keeping shit together on your own, pretty much goes without saying. But, at least by now I am much more aware of what is even going on there, and that workarounds do mostly exist. That is one hell of an improvement for my 20s, to put it mildly. Same goes for a lot of the other brain/nervous system bullshit that's persistently gotten in my way.

I feel like I should try to come out with something more upbeat to say, because I know this whole screed is a fucking downer. But yeah, that's kinda where I've been a lot of the time lately. Hasn't been great for my mental health for a while now, and some of the brain loops have been wild. (I kinda keep coming back to that, but this is still significantly easier than around when I hit 25. Or pretty well all of my 20s. A lot better perspective and coping skills.)

But, I'll get over it and figure something out. I always eventually do.