#I've always loved the art displayed around my city

[lets-dance-to-joy-division]

Grand Rapids Mi Murals:

Seward Avenue NW

"Charging Forward" by Brad Goff

[withonly-sweetheart]

di leon kennedy doing pushups ;) inspired by this (suggestive) art by @bunnivievve because i think artists have too much power. lowkey im typing this out so fast rn im tweaking i have exams tomorrow NOOOOOOOO-

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your husband joined the police force. great. awesome. what a wonderful sight, at least it is for all the people watching on the outside. the picture perfect couple; a loving wife and a valiant husband to match.

what they never saw were the late nights up, studying the same textbook about a trillion times over, pretty much memorizing the goddamn contents of it before stumbling into your bed.

his body might be warm but that warmth always abandons you in what seems like a second, the snap of his fingers, because it's become a recurring instance that he's left early to train.

always making good impressions, that man. and you're proud of him, you have to be and you're not ashamed to show it. you've seen his growth, his courage that he displays, the hurt he has to suffer through all to keep the city safe. his city, where you are. his heart.

which is why it comes as a surprised when your husband, a man you've been married to for seven years, comes up to you with a bashful expression, eyes darting left and right, grazing all the corners of the world.

"do you... uhm... think... i'm strong?" you blink, dazed.

"why? what's wrong?"

"well, some of my higher ups had some concerns about... strength. they wanted me to 'strengthen my core'." he chuckles. "whatever that means."

"and you came to me for that," you drone.

"i've seen you do all those exercises around the house!" he protests. "can't you just teach me a few?"

"first of all, those are to help with cramps, and second, no." it seems like he's given up, but you know him well enough to know that that will never be the case.

"aw, c'mon, please?" he murmurs, taking your hand into his, caressing the bottom of your knuckles, rubbing soothing circles into your fingers. "just once?"

so you find yourself relenting to the man who always knows what to say to get you to crack. maybe next time you should be more demanding, hm?

needless to say, it's all made up for when you stretch out into the first pose, a simple sitting position with your legs extended fully, fingertips reaching the tips of your toes.

leon nods, and he gets the sitting part right. but when he tries to copy your movements, he hisses and leans back, groaning with the effort.

"what's wrong, officer kennedy?" you tease. "scared you'll break a hip bone?"

"quiet," he grumbles. "i'm just a little sore from yesterday."

"of course, of course, a very busy day running errands, such as picking up doughnuts, might i add?"

he scowls at you and tries again, and again, but every time he can't seem to cope with the fact your flexibility, even at your maturing age, is better than his, even with all his rigorous training.

"looks like you couldn't do it," you say smugly, smirking directly at him, angling your body to face him. "told you so."

"i think it's my turn now," he says, creeping towards you. and this time he seems to have the prowess of a panther, easily slotting himself into place above you.

"your turn for what?" you ask, somewhat suggestively. he grins.

"how 'bout i show you what i've learned?"

fuck, you'll never doubt him again, will you? his sweet, submissive girl, arching beneath him, one hand pressed on the floor near your head, keeping him supported. the other is clasped behind his back, in an ethereal tilt that has his chest hair hitting all the right angles of the dying sun.

your knee is thrown over his shoulder, and the position should be awkward, you think, yet it feels as natural as anything. he pistons his hips further into you, and he's been mumbling something in your ear since he started.

now that you can hear him better through his rough, sloppy pants, you hear a steady rhythm. "twenty-five... twenty-six..."

he's counting, you realize after your mind-shattering orgasm, whimpering underneath him as he finishes, muscles flexing in a manner you'd never thought to admire until you realize why.

he's counting the pushups, god, that's all he's been doing this whole time. and you'd be damned if you didn't send a silent prayer of thanks back to the academy, where they trained him to do this.

but you're sure this isn't how they expected him to apply it in real life. hey, what can you say? seems like you're finally enjoying your husband's career and all the perks it comes with.

"my pretty wife, going around doing all those stretches, driving me fucking crazy bending over like that," he rambles, lowering himself to shower your face in messy kisses before tilting his head back to the side with a hiss, lifting himself back up.

back up and back down, a slower pace with his upper body while his lower half rails into you, and all you can do is lie there, helpless to what he gives you, craving more yet somehow satiated at the same time.

"yeah, mmm, fuck, just like that-" he breaks off his counting to whisper sweet nothings in your ear for the second time that evening, pushing his spend back in while you grasp for purchase on his biceps, feeling the hardened muscle lurch back towards you as you dig your nails deep into his skin.

"needed that, didn't you?" you whisper breathlessly after he collapses onto the hard wooden floor next to you. his eyes shine with effort and pride, and after a low exhale, he immediately scoops you up.

he carries you back to the bedroom, where he lies you down onto the comforters, making sure you're comfortable before trailing up and down your neck with soft, carefully measured kisses once again.

"w-what're you doing?" you murmur, twitching under the overstimulation. leon's eyes have shifted to a deeper color, a darker lilt to his eyes when he reaches your gaze.

"i can do better than that, sweetheart."

"better?" you ask jokingly, because what could make him better? anything better than that is a menace to society, you decide.

he sighs, shaking his head before cupping your body with his hand again, rubbing your skin in such a doting gesture that you don't expect his next words.

"i said a hundred, sweetheart. i didn't even make it to fifty."

series masterlist

[sataara]

Window Shopping

Small holiday fic of Ingo and reader walking around the city together, it's short and just plain fluff! I wrote it on request of my good friend Snowy and inspired by this art from twitter!

You can read it on Ao3 too, hope you enjoy and happy holidays!

The warm cup of coffee you held, helped keeping the chill away. Not that you minded much, the cold being much more welcome than the searing heat of summer. As you sat on a bench, just outside the station, you hoped he didn't take too long to finish up for the day, while you held your own drink, his was resting next to you, on a cup holder, the rising steam gave you hope that the warmth would hold until he showed up.

With so many people transiting to and from the station, you didn't notice him until a shadow stopped in front of you.

“I hope you didn't have to wait here for too long, my dear.” You looked up at his warm expression, your own following along with the contagious mood.

“Not at all, love, I've only been here for twenty minutes or something. You're right on schedule as always.” Your smile grew just that bit more at using his own turn of phrase on him, Ingo rolled his eyes fondly.

“A train should always arrive at the station on time to not inconvenience any passengers. Or maybe I just missed you after these busy few days.” He picked up his drink, sitting down where it had been and letting you lean your head on his shoulder. His free arm snaked behind you to pull you closer, hand resting on your waist.

“I missed you too. How did work go?”

After Ingo finished telling you of his and Emmet’s latest battle against Nate and Rosa, you decided to walk, restless after sitting for such a long time in the cold, despite how comfortable you were against your partner.

As you walked, you decided to link an arm with Ingo, wanting to stay close even while moving.

“Do not try and lie to me, I know you're just trying to steal all my warmth.” Ingo said with a playful tone.

“Well, that's just a bonus.”

“I think it's the main goal.”

“How dare you insinuate I'm nothing more than an opportunist.” Your tone exaggerated, a hand falling to your chest dramatically.

“I would do no such thing. It's not an insinuation, it's a statement.”

You gasped with fake offense, making you both unable to contain the giggles bubbling up in your chests.

“Oh, look, Ingo! Isn't that model from the Orient Express?”

Your attention was taken by a store front, the lights shining just right on a few products for people to react just as you did. The decoration around the display also reminding you that Delibird Day was getting close, you already had an idea for Ingo’s present, but you wanted something nice for his brother too. After all, you became good friends since you started seeing Ingo frequently. Not that everyone would know that, since you showed your love by calling each other names.

“Yes, that is, but we have a better model at home, more faithful to the original and with better quality.” You loved hearing the pride in Ingo's voice.

You leaned closer to the glass using his arm as support, so you could get a better look, seeing the almost janky way the locomotive moved on the tracks and many other little flaws, that you only recognized thanks to the many times you were shown the twins’ beloved collection.

“I wanted to give Emmet something nice for Delibird day, I have no idea what, though.” You said with sincerity, eyes still on the objects in display, seeing a chess set with knight like pokemon inspired pieces, the pawniard pawns not very well made, much like the model train.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“I feel like everyone that doesn't know you two well just go for train themed presents, easier to get right. I wanted something different, I guess.” You right your posture and go back to walking, Ingo seamlessly moving with you.

The next store is a clothing one but nothing close to your or Ingo’s style, so you glance at it but keep walking.

“Hm, I think it's a nice gesture already, to not go for the obvious, but you need a starting point.”

“I know, I know. Emmet likes gaming too, so I gave his wishlist a look, but after nothing seemed to pop out I thought that maybe a physical present would be nicer.”

You went to take a sip of your drink but when nothing came out you noticed you'd finished while you were talking, your mind so focused on your conundrum that you didn't even realize you were taking sips every pause or so. Ingo brought you back to Earth by taking the empty cup from your hand and throwing it on the nearest trash can, seemingly having done so with his own just before.

“You're thinking plushie? That's always a nice gift.”

“For me, maybe, but all your plushies end up with either Galvantula or Haxorus, I want to give him a gift, not his pokemon.”

“Well, that may be true but at least it means I don't have to share my bed with ten million squishy creatures.”

“I don't understand the issue, they are cuddly and soft!”

“I know that perfectly well when I wake up holding a huge fake dratini, instead of my beloved partner.”

“Don't be a baby, anyone would be lucky to wake up with Catarina in their arms.”

Ingo huffs in amusement, the smile on your face betraying your own statements of annoyance.

“But back to the topic, maybe something pratical then?” Ingo said as you stopped again, this time in front of a bakery, eyes skimming the baked goods with interest.

“What, you want me to give him socks? Extra ten identical dress shirts like the ones you guys use to work?”

“Sure, give him those fuzzy joltik socks we saw the other day.”

“I can give the socks plus something else. Would be a shame compared to yours.”

“Oh?” Interest clear in Ingo's tone. “And what would that be?”

“It's a surprise, I'm not telling you.” You gave him a conspiring smile.

“Hmph, now you just made me more curious.”

You laughed and said nothing as you gave up on the bakery, not feeling particularly hungry. The next store had tacky shirts and mugs on display, one of them making you snort as you read “Of course I love double battles, I'm bisexual”. You pointed it out to Ingo who took a second looking it over before barking out a laugh, getting some eyes on you for a few seconds before people quickly moved on with their business.

Something else caught your attention, a t-shirt with Pier’s logo hung next to others of similarly known artists.

“Hey Ingo, does Emmet have any Piers merch?” You squeezed his arm to make sure he was listening, a plan already forming in your mind.

“He has a simple t-shirt and an autographed poster, but I think that's it.” It sounded like Ingo was following your train of thought.

“What if I called Piers to meet up here after Delibird day? And maybe sending a signed official tour shirt too, if he still has one somewhere?”

“Sometimes I forget that you have some weird connections.” Your eyes met, you recognized the bewilderment in his face.

“Crazy shit always happens to me. And we send each other cute pokemon videos every now and then, his zigzagoons are adorable.”

Ingo shook his head, amused. He looked back at the bakery and pulled you along, but instead of walking inside, he stopped by the wall just at the end of the shop’s window, resting his back against it and pulling you in an embrace, arms around your neck. You snuggled closer as if it was second nature, your own arms around his waist, letting your head fall on his chest.

“I thought you wanted to get a few pastries.”

“I do… But it can wait a few moments, can't it? I… Missed you more than I can put into words, I missed your arms around me, your touch, your voice close instead of over a speaker.” He let out a sigh, resting his cheek on the top of your head. “You were not here, we could talk but not actually see each other, something was missing in the apartment, your music while you moved around the kitchen, your excited talks about the things you love…” He took another deep breath and brought you just a little bit closer. “I don't mean to be sappy, I'm sorry.”

“Never apologize for this.” Your voice was muffled by his shirt, you had to hide your face while he talked, embarrassed by how much those sweet words affected you. “You are extremely sweet and that's one of the many reasons why I love you so much. Don't apologize.”

Ingo's grumbling stomach interrupted the sweet moment, making you both chuckle.

“You did just come back from work, we should go inside and get something to eat.”

“I know but this is so nice, can't we stay here just a little bit longer?.”

“I do not want you passing out on me.” You pulled a bit back just to stare him down and poke at his chest in accusation.

“Dragons, why can't you just let me starve so I can hug you for a little bit longer?” He said dramatically, moving one of his arms to rest a hand on your chin, thumb caressing you softly.

You leaned into it with a laugh, meeting his eyes and resting your own hand over his.

“You're lucky that I love you.”

“I am.”

Your comment was meant to be playful but Ingo's reply made you soft. You moved closer and he did the same, lips meeting sweetly in the middle. For a few more moments you lost yourselves to the kiss, to the feeling of being close, to the warmth shared. Although it didn't last long, his stomach once again reminding you that he had not eaten in a while. You separated, smiling and giggling at each other. Your arm found his and once again you walked close, this time entering the shop while joking and poking fun at each other, your smile was a constant for the rest of the night.

[beatmyfeet]

From Threesome Dreams to Complete Submission

Read This Gynarchic Tale

(Part 1 of 2)

The soft candlelight flickered, casting dancing shadows on the dining room walls. Dinner was over, and the empty plates had been pushed aside, leaving space for a half-empty bottle of wine and two crystal glasses. Emma had gotten up to light another candle, the golden glow capturing her delicate features and her wavy hair cascading over her shoulders.

She wore a midnight blue silk dress, form-fitting and elegant, hugging her curves with grace. The fabric glided over her skin with each movement, adding a sensual touch to the already electrically charged atmosphere. Alex, seated at the table, watched his wife with admiration. His own attire, black pants and a slightly unbuttoned white shirt, was simple yet elegant.

A light breeze entered through the open window, bringing with it the scent of roses from the garden. The distant murmurs of the city mingled with the soft notes of jazz playing in the background, creating an intimate and relaxed ambiance. Alex felt his heart beat faster, knowing he was about to reveal his deepest fantasy to Emma.

"Emma," he began, his voice betraying a slight nervousness. "There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

She turned around, her eyes shining with curiosity. "Yes, my love?"

He took a deep breath, searching for the right words. "You know I've always been open with you about my desires and fantasies. Well, there's one I've never dared to speak about... until now."

Emma sat down across from him, taking his hand in hers. "You know you can tell me anything. What's on your mind?"

Alex felt the warmth of her hand and found the courage to continue. "I've always fantasized about spending an evening with two women. To see the woman I love and another, together with me..."

A silence followed his confession, only interrupted by the crackling of the candles. Emma remained silent for a moment, letting her husband's words sink in. Alex feared seeing judgment or disappointment in her eyes, but to his great surprise, she smiled.

"So, that's your fantasy?" she asked softly, her fingers gently caressing his palm. "I must admit, it's intriguing."

Alex sighed with relief. "Yes, it is. And I don't want to do anything that might hurt you or make you uncomfortable. It's just an idea that excites me deeply."

Emma leaned forward, her lips brushing his in a light kiss. "I understand, Alex. And I'm ready to explore that with you."

He felt a wave of relief and excitement wash over him. "Really?"

"Really," she confirmed, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "But let me organize it. I want it to be an unforgettable surprise for you."

In the following days, Emma immersed herself in research. Every night, after Alex had fallen asleep, she would open her laptop and explore various sites and forums. One evening, she stumbled upon an intriguing site: http://Slave-Selection.com. The homepage displayed images of dominant women and their submissives, along with testimonials and articles about gynarchy and BDSM.

Emma felt a wave of curiosity overwhelm her. She had never explored this aspect of sexuality, but something in those images and stories awakened a part of herself she didn't know existed. She browsed through profiles and eventually came across Lena's, an experienced dominatrix with years of practice in the art of submission and domination.

Emma hesitated for a moment, then sent Lena a message explaining her situation and her husband's fantasy. Lena's response was quick and warm. She suggested meeting Emma to discuss their options and how she could help realize Alex's fantasy while exploring the dynamics of domination and submission.

The café where Emma had arranged to meet Lena was located in a discreet part of the city, far from the hustle and bustle of downtown. As soon as she walked through the door, she was enveloped by a cozy and intimate ambiance. The walls were paneled with dark wood, the dim lighting cast a golden glow, and a soft piano melody floated in the air. The smell of freshly brewed coffee mingled with subtle hints of vanilla and leather.

Emma, dressed in a white silk blouse and a black pencil skirt, felt nervous but excited. She spotted Lena sitting at a table in the back of the room. Lena was dressed sophisticatedly, in a black leather jacket and matching pencil skirt, her jet-black hair cascading over her shoulders. Her piercing gaze and confident posture exuded natural authority.

"Hello, Emma," Lena said with a welcoming smile. "I'm glad you came."

Emma took a seat across from Lena, feeling a wave of apprehension mixed with excitement. "Hello, Lena. Thank you for meeting me."

"So, you want to explore a new world," Lena said, crossing her legs and fixing her intense gaze on Emma. "Tell me more about yourself and what you're looking to accomplish."

Emma took a deep breath. "My husband, Alex, confessed that he fantasizes about spending an evening with two women. I want to fulfill this fantasy for him, but I'm also curious to explore this world of domination and submission that I found on your site."

Lena nodded, her scrutinizing gaze never leaving Emma's eyes. "That's a good starting point. But I must warn you, this journey will not just be about fulfilling a fantasy. It will transform you and your husband in ways you might not yet imagine."

Emma felt a thrill of anticipation. "I'm ready to explore that."

Very well," replied Lena with a smile. "I will initiate you into the basics of female domination. But first, you must understand that true domination comes from within. It is not just about role-playing or costumes. It is a state of mind, a total and benevolent takeover."

Lena took a small notebook from her bag and began jotting down some notes. "We will organize a special evening for Alex, but before that, I want you to come to my house for a training session. This will help you feel comfortable in your role as a dominatrix and understand what it truly involves."

A few days later, Emma arrived at Lena’s house for her first training session. Lena’s home was located in a peaceful residential neighborhood, surrounded by a well-kept garden. Stepping inside, Emma was struck by the elegance and refinement of the place. The living room was decorated with solid wood furniture, Persian rugs, and thick velvet curtains. A soft, dim light bathed the room, creating an intimate and warm ambiance.

Lena led her to a room at the back of the house, a space specially designed for BDSM sessions. The walls were covered in mirrors, and the floor was smooth, dark parquet. Various accessories, such as handcuffs, ropes, and whips, were neatly arranged on a shelf. A large canopy bed stood in the center of the room, covered in black satin sheets.

"Welcome to my sanctuary," said Lena with a smile. "Today, I will show you how to become a true dominatrix."

Emma felt a surge of excitement mixed with apprehension. Lena explained the basics of domination, the importance of communication and consent, and how to set clear boundaries with her partner. She showed Emma how to use the various accessories, how to secure handcuffs and ropes safely, and how to handle a whip with precision and control.

At each step, Lena encouraged Emma to focus on her sensations and emotions. "Feel the power in your hands," she murmured, placing a riding crop in Emma's hands. "You control the situation. You must feel confident and sure of yourself."

Emma followed Lena's instructions attentively, gradually feeling more at ease and confident. She began to understand the true power of domination, not as an act of coercion, but as a delicate dance between control and benevolence.

"Now, imagine this is Alex," said Lena, pointing to a mannequin attached to the bed. "Talk to him, give him orders. Show him that you are in control."

Emma took a deep breath and approached the mannequin. She leaned forward, placing a soft but firm hand on the inanimate object’s chest. "Alex, tonight, you are mine. You will obey me without question. Understood?"

She felt a wave of power surge through her as she spoke these words. Lena smiled, satisfied. "Very good, Emma. You are beginning to understand."

Emma stood before the large mirror in the bedroom, observing her reflection with new attention. Her eyes, shining with determination, were highlighted by dark makeup that accentuated their glow. She wore a black satin corset, fishnet stockings, and high heels that gave her an imposing allure. Every detail of her outfit had been carefully chosen to reflect her newfound confidence and power.

The bedroom had been transformed into a sanctuary of sensuality and domination. The purple velvet curtains were drawn, plunging the room into a soft penumbra, only illuminated by the flickering light of the scented candles placed on the dark wood furniture. A soft, deep, and captivating music played in the background, creating an intimate and mysterious atmosphere.

Emma took a deep breath, feeling the intoxicating scent of the candles and the excitement of what was about to come. Lena had helped her a lot in preparing for this evening, teaching her not only the techniques of domination but also the mindset necessary to be a true mistress.

Alex, still unaware of his wife's complete transformation, entered the bedroom, dressed in simple black pants and bare-chested. He stopped dead upon seeing her, his eyes widening in surprise and desire.

"Emma..." he murmured, his voice trembling with excitement.

"Tonight, you will call me Mistress," she replied in a firm yet gentle voice, approaching him with feline grace.

Alex felt a shiver of pleasure and submission run through his body. "Yes, Mistress," he replied, feeling strangely soothed by this new dynamic.

Emma placed a firm hand on his chest, her fingers sliding slowly over his warm skin. "Tonight, you will obey me without question. I will show you what it means to serve me."

She guided him to the large canopy bed, covered in black satin sheets that gleamed faintly in the candlelight. The bedposts were adorned with leather handcuffs and silk ropes, ready to be used. Emma gently but firmly secured Alex's wrists to the bedposts, ensuring he was comfortable but immobilized.

She took a finely braided riding crop and slid it along Alex’s chest, causing shivers to run over his skin. "Do you feel the power I hold over you?" she murmured, her voice a mix of softness and dominance.

"Yes, Mistress," replied Alex, his breath quickening.

Emma continued to caress his body with the riding crop, exploring every inch with meticulous attention. She now knew how to provoke the maximum pleasure without ever crossing the line into pain. Lena had taught her the delicate art of sensual domination, and Emma felt ready to apply it.

Each stroke was precise, every command was clear, and every movement was calculated to intensify Alex's pleasure. She loved seeing how his body reacted to each touch, each word. Her own body was on alert, every sensation amplified by the power she wielded.

After a moment, she leaned in to whisper in his ear. "This is only the beginning, my dear. Prepare yourself to explore new horizons."

She stood up and, with a fluid gesture, removed her corset, revealing black lace lingerie that accentuated her curves. She climbed onto the bed, her movements slow and deliberate, positioning herself above Alex. Her fingers glided over his skin, her nails tracing invisible lines on his chest and stomach.

Alex looked at her with adoration, his eyes shining with total submission. "Mistress, you are magnificent," he murmured, his words filled with desire and devotion.

Emma smiled, leaning in to kiss him with controlled passion. "Thank you, my dear. Remember, tonight, you are mine."

She continued to play with him, exploring his body with a precision and delicacy that made him shiver with pleasure. She loved seeing how each caress, each kiss, each stroke of the crop brought him closer to release. But she controlled everything, never allowing him to fully surrender to his desires without her permission.

Emma straightened up, looking at Alex with a new intensity. "Have you learned what it feels like to be entirely under my control?" she asked, her voice soft but firm.

"Yes, Mistress," he replied, his voice full of respect and desire.

"Very good," she said, smiling. "Now, I will show you what it truly means to serve."

She continued to play with his body, alternating between gentle caresses and strokes of the whip, clear commands and sensual encouragements. She guided him towards a new form of pleasure, an exploration of their sexuality that brought them closer in an indescribable way.

When the night finally came to an end, Emma released Alex, her movements always gentle and caring. She kissed him tenderly, feeling a deeper connection between them than ever before.

"Thank you, Mistress," Alex murmured, his eyes shining with gratitude and satisfaction.

"Thank you," she replied, holding him in her arms.

"This night was as much for me as it was for you."

They stayed entwined for a moment, savoring the new depth of their relationship. Emma knew that this was only the beginning of their exploration, and she felt ready to continue this journey with Alex by her side.

[bluerogueanna]

Another way I write my stories and ideas is by abusing my computer's basic notepad program. The poor thing has seen some nasty stuff, incomplete ideas and unoriginal ideas. My laptop died with a dozen or so unfinished stories. And while most of this I just write for fun, to read on my own when the WiFi is down or wathever, I have done some fairly interesting things on my computers.

Recently I also started doing some 3D models, inspired by great people here that do great low-poly stuff that resembles the 64 and 128 bit era of games I love so much. I'm still finding my own style but I love doing little 3D fellows, it's addicting. But that's a post for another day, today I just wanted to share some quick basic ideas I've been thinking about. I wanna post them here but like with the rest, I just wanna make sure they're readable. Like with my blog, I tend to ramble and go on tangents while writing my stories.

In a way, I do it for myself to give me a nice guide for when I eventually draw the characters and worlds. But wathever I end up writing or not, I always think of how it would look like for someone else if they were reading it online or on a magazine, stuff like that.

I'll share the stories in greater detail sometime next week, but here are the basic general ideas for these three stories. I'm quite proud of them and I even made tons of reference art for them. For one in particular I even made mock-ups for the protagonists as characters for a romhack/mod I'm constantly working on.

Enough rambling, I think.

The first story I wanted to share is about a "Witch" who recently moved out to a newly bought cabin by the mountains. Sorrounded by trees, wildlife and caves, the woman wanted to research nature by directly living around the beings she wanted to document and write extensive reports on. The world she lives in is full of interesting beings, magic and creatures of all sizes. She hopes to become an important figure in the world of scientific advancement and ecological preservation efforts. As soon as she has moved all her gear and notes, a corvid of some kind makes a nest within her home. She makes them her first subject and begins taking notes on the little bird's life, its diet and behaviour. She can't help but become friends with the bird as it builds a family right by her bedroom window. She expected the change in her life to lead to a peaceful and reclusive existence. But she would get more and more visits, some becoming permanent residents within her increasingly constricted home. Ever the optimist, the "Witch" takes every change as an opportunity to broaden the scope of her research. She would have the chance to closely examine life forms that not many have even seen up-close, while also dealing with sudden changes to what she imagined as a comfortable solitary life.

Next, a story about a strange cult of some sort. In an otherwise quiet and peaceful city, people have noticed strange pamphlets and signs posted all over the many public parks. Some officials call the displays vandalism, the local church calls it heresy and the public thinks it's just some sort of circus or similar performance. In truth, the papers were posted in hopes of recruiting members for a new religion, one where "the true sinners would finally face justice" and claiming to have a place where people would never feel rejected, neglected or abandoned. Where nobody would be taking advantage of their faith or their good will. A place for the people in need to enjoy a decent life. Many citizens dismiss it as some sort of mockery of their own beliefs. But nobody already religious takes it seriously enough to do anything about it. And the few who decide to find the new group to see if they were telling the truth would quickly see that not only was this new religion serious about their mission, but it already had dozens of followers from all over the country. Their devotion perplexed many who didn't understand their convictions or their methods. But anyone interested would witness true justice enacted by a deity who listened to their prayers.

Lastly, a story that touches on sensitive topics and tragedy. A mercenary who has worked her entire life to protect the hides of unsavory individuals gets tired of saving the lives of unworthy people and moves out of the city she grew up in, hoping to find different kinds of clients. On her way to a neighbouring Queendom, she bumps into a girl wearing barely anything other than a hood to cover her face and some sturdy-looking boots. The girl is on her way to a city close to the Queendom and after walking together for a while, she hires the mercenary to escort her safely to her destination. At first, the mercenary just can't understand why she asked for protection. The girl could use magic and was good with a sword. But soon it would become clear that she was being followed. Whoever she was, there were all kinds of creeps out to get her. And she notices none of them want to hurt the girl, they want to take her away alive. And because the mercenary couldn't have worse luck, whenever she did a good deed on her way to the Queendom and was about to be rewarded for her efforts, the girl's attackers would quickly scare away everyone with their violent and vulgar actions. Through her many attempted kidnappings, it was discovered she wasn't royalty, but that she had some kind of rare blood that they wanted to extract out of her. And the mercenary wanted two things out of the girl. She demanded to know what the girl really was and she wanted her to make up for all the rewards she missed out on because of the constant harrassment from her would-be abductors.

Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading!

[servin-up-surveys]

survey #222

Do you ever have days where you just don’t do anything? I mean... compared to the lives of ordinary adults my age, that would be most days for me. I have nothing but free time and I'm not exactly skilled at putting it to good use.

Have you ever experienced something paranormal? I firmly believe I have, at the bare minimum of twice. I think an old home of mine was haunted or some shit, weird things happened there.

What’s the longest amount of time you’ve been stuck in traffic? Hell if I know. I'm sure it was while traveling, though.

What museums have you visited, if any? I literally think I've only visited one, the local one in my city... which is abysmally depressing to say. I love the idea of museums, and the one we have here is immensely sub-par. I would love to visit a good one, especially one with fossil displays.

Have you ever dealt with noisy neighbors or roommates? How did that go? No, thankfully. I mean, our current neighbor's dog doesn't shut up half the time, but unless I'm not listening to something in the spare room (the room closest to where she is in the neighbor's [fenced] yard), I don't hear her in here.

Have you ever taken a woodshop class? No.

What area of math are you best at? Worst? I suck at all math. According to the autism eval I took, I apparently need an IEP in mathematics. During my last college attempt, I literally failed ALGEBRA ONE miserably, but I will say I really didn't like how my teacher taught, he was all about weird shortcuts. Even when I tried tutoring though, I was humiliated that just nothing made sense. It's a bit strange, though; up through high school, I could handle math, but it was always my weakest subject. I wasn't an A student in it. I just go so much worse when I left high school. I don't know if it could be the results of overmedication (which I hold responsible for my memory issues), trauma (trauma can have effects you wouldn't guess, and I firmly believe it altered how I process information), or what.

How do you feel when you meet someone with the same music taste as you? I get excited. I love music, so it's something to bond over.

Do you believe in luck? Why or why not? "In a sense. Sometimes you're just in the right place at the right time, or "the stars align." But as a force, not really." <<< Literally this.

Do you ever feel self-conscious when you eat around other people? Only if the food is messy, and I don't generally like eating messy food anyway because *I* don't like getting messy.

Have you ever considered going to art school? I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online and got scammedddddd <33333

Is there anyone in your life who consistently angers you? My sister's shitty husband.

Have you ever had problems falling asleep in class? No.

Are your parents supportive of you? Yes. Mom WAY more actively than Dad, but.

How often do you take the train to go places? Never.

Have you ever participated in a mock trial, or a real trial? No.

Do you have the right time set on your microwave? Yes.

Do you have any old newspaper articles? Why? No.

Do you have a flat screen tv or just a regular box? We have a decently large flat-screen. It's not something we could ever afford now; it's as old as when my parents were still together.

Do you have a radar detector for your car? No.

Have you ever been arrested? For what? No.

Do you know how to change the oil in your car? Nope.

Do you like Tootsie Rolls? I don't.

Are you seeing anybody currently? I've been dating the same someone for almost three years now.

Do you like it when it snows? I fucking love when it snows. It doesn't happen often here. It sticks even less often.

Where do you do most of your shopping? Walmart.

Do you have a big yard? Big no, the front and back are very small.

Do you live in the country or the city? A development just outside a city. Still basically city.

At what age did you obtain your driver license? I'm 28 and still don't have it; I probably never will. It is better for me and everyone else on the road. I WISH I could drive, but it's just not a safe option right now.

What are you favorite kind of chips? Hot crunchy Cheetos

Where did you go today? My primary doctor for a check-up. Our car is still toast so we were lucky enough that they offered transportation.

Are you sleepy right now? Extremely. I stayed up way too late last night to have to wake up early like I had to.

What color is your mousepad? Black.

Do you get your eyebrows waxed? No. I don't care enough.

Has anyone given you flowers recently? Not recently.

Has anyone you know been arrested recently? No.

Do you have more than 1 email address? Yes.

Do you have central heating and air? Yes. Especially this time of year, I'd fucking die without it.

Are there any plants in your house? There's a decent amount because of Mom. I think it's mostly pothos.

Do you prefer cold or warm weather? COLD

Do you prefer bar or liquid soap? Liquid, I hate bar soap.

Do you wear any perfumes/colognes on a regular basis? No.

Do you have high or low self-esteem levels? Abysmally low.

When was the last time you listened to a song on repeat? What was the song? Um... I feel like it was a good few days ago. "Zwitter" by Rammstein.

Do you like mint or orange-flavored chocolate? Mint, yes. I don't feel like I've tried orange-flavored chocolate. I can imagine myself not liking the combo, but I can't guarantee that.

When was the last time you burnt your mouth from eating something too hot? Around a week ago when Mom made chicken fried rice.

What is your favorite foreign language to listen to? (In music or speech) I like how German sounds, but I also think I have a bias because when I hear it, I like to see how much I can translate.

Do you prefer instrumental songs or ones with lyrics? Lyrics.

Name something simple that makes you happy. A cold drink when I'm really thirsty. Sunrises and sunsets. The sound of rain. I'm very pleased that I'm pretty good at identifying small happinesses.

What is your favorite instrument to listen to? Electric guitar, violin, harp, piano, lots others.

Pick one: Books, movies or music? Music.

What was the last book you read about? It was a book in the Warriors series, in the "A Vision of Shadows" arc. The books are pretty thick with various events, but the primary plot was the Clans coming together to oust an invasion of murderous rogues that nearly destroyed their way of life.

When was the last time you used a quote from a movie in real life? I don't really do this unless I'm joking and making an obvious reference. I don't remember what it was anyway, though.

Can you put your legs behind your head? Hell no.

Do you forget things easily? You would not BELIEVE how horrendous my memory is. Like it is unfuckingreal. I feel like being overmedicated for so, so long is the reason, it just ate away at my brain.

The last song you listened to: Did it have a male or female vocalist? Male.

Have you ever had braces? Do you need them? I did as a pre-teen/teenager.

What does your voice sound like? (Loud, quiet, high-pitched, etc) I think it's somewhat deep for a woman, but not to where it sounds traditionally masculine. I tend to stutter and I can either talk too quietly or, if I'm excited or in some way passionate or just confident in an explanation, I've had it pointed out I speak too loudly.

What was the last topic you read about on Wikipedia? So I opened the page to Kamala Harris's political policies, but I promptly left it and read on a platform that isn't edited by random-ass people and wouldn't be rife with biases. I feel like in light of... recent events, I need to be more aware than ever of the policies of people who have a chance of having a say in my country's politics. I don't like Biden (But DO NOT BE MISTAKEN, I hate Trump a HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL of a lot more), but I have this hope that maybe Kamala will replace him. How, figure it out yourself.

Have you ever donated money to Wikipedia? No, that would be so low on my priorities of things to donate to if I even had money.

What board games did you play when you were growing up? A lot of Cranium brand games, Candyland, Life (modified rules to be easier for kids), Monopoly (modified rules for same reason), Mouse Trap (ngl we mostly played with the parts than the actual game haha), Operation, Checkers, I had a Crocodile Hunter game I loved, Battleship, lots of others. We had a big stock of board games to choose from.

Do you know any sign language? No.

When was the last time you bought new clothes? What did you get? Holy hell I have no idea.

Do you ever watch streamers on Twitch? Hazelnuttygames, sometimes. She's a WoW streamer.

Has your house ever been broken into? How did you find out? There was an attempt at my childhood home, but they didn't get in.

What do you usually eat for breakfast? Generally cereal.

Are you overwhelmed right now? Ha! Not as bad as I was yesterday. I reached a capacity of stress yesterday that for the vast majority of the day, I completely shut down. I don't remember the last time I was that stressed because of just everything going on in my life and in my country.

Did you share a bedroom with someone when you were growing up? My younger sister Nicole, yes.

How many group chats are you in? Do you participate in them much? I'm in one with Mazzy and Tez, and that's the only group chat I truly contribute to. I'm in the Tumblr community's Rammstein Discord, and I talk only rarely because it's just so busy and overwhelming that I get stressed trying to keep up lol.

Are you still in touch with any of your exes? No.

What do you do for work? I am humiliated to be my age (and not considered properly disabled) and not work. I'm trying my best to build a freelance nature photography career, but... that's a monumental task, if I'm honest. But I'm still trying. Freelance art is FUCKING HARD to make a living with.

Were you upset when you found out certain things weren’t real? (Santa, Tooth Fairy…) No. I was old enough by then to have doubted, so I wasn't surprised.

Name something you’re proud of. Brag a little bit. One of my proudest achievements is getting a Daily Deviation on deviantART. It's the biggest honor you can get on the site and is (generally, especially without connections) very hard to obtain.

Which store would you like to win $1000 for? Rebel's Market.

Do you pay any attention to celebrity drama? No. The only celeb drama I've ever paid attention to was when Till from Rammstein was forced into it by a sexual misconduct accusation. He's fucking innocent btw, this is well-supported, but Germany tends to hate Rammstein for unsound reasons and will NEVER cover the positives of the band. Any time his accuser was revealed to be full of absolute bullshit, their popular media never covered it. I don't want ANY assumptions made about me and my stance on sexual assault involving celebrities, you take EVERY accusation seriously and I kept my mouth shut while the investigation went down, I wanted the facts, and the facts are fucking nothing was found that damned Till. I don't defend him because he's in a band that I love, I defend him because of the absolute fucking lack of evidence and the documented bullshittery of Shelby (accuser). If there was actual evidence that Till was a sexual predator, I would drop my support of him so fuckin' fast, I can stake my life on that. I don't fuck with sexual predators, whether I'd originally liked them or not. I don't play that "but that's my homie!!!" game. WOW this was a ramble but I feel very strongly on this, it was such an ordeal.

What popular food do you dislike? Fried chicken wings. A LOT of things if I think about it for a moment.

Do you have any cats? Yes, Roman.

How many slices of pizza can you eat in 1 sitting? Rarely two; I usually have three. If I'm incredibly hungry, four. Of course, this does depend on the size of the slices.

[cupidstwin333]

For genshin impact and mha, romantic matchup please! ❣️ (I put this picture to help with what I look like, idc if you show it if you need to.)

She/they, bisexual, 19

I have blueish-gray eyes with red hair that's in a side shave (like one side on my hair is shaved). I am chubby, I have tons of freckles except on my face. I like wearing emo style clothes or comfy clothes like hoodies and sweats. I hate dresses and shorts, I don't like showing off skin.

Likes: anything with drawing/painting, games including board games, reading and writing.

Dislikes: uhhh spiders, driving (I refuse to get a driver's license it's a huge fear of mine.) I'm not scared of being in a car just driving it.

Isfp-t or my kin itto and scaramouche, I am a cancer. People say I have rbf (resting bitch face). Though I am really nice to people, unless they mess with the people I care about then I couldn't care less about them. I try to be helpful when I can. When I am around people I know, I can be loud and talkative (the loud part isn't on purpose it's just when I'm happy or excited). I tend to put people a lot before myself. I don't really like talking about my personal issues to anyone and can be known as the therapy friend. It's the opposite though when I'm around people I don't know, I'll be quiet and not wanting to interact. I have adhd, depression and anxiety (wonderful I know). When I do get upset I don't talk and won't interact until I have calmed down. I do cuss a lot though I'm more careful when I'm around kids/people I don't know. If I have a fight with someone I prefer to sit and talk it out and hate it when they walk away from me when I'm just trying to talk to them.

My favorite nation is fontaine (mostly because you can go underwater and I love sea animals, my favorite element is electric (fire is a close second).

I like a lot of the charactersin genshin but imma put the ones I don't wanna be matched with: heizou, kazuha, female characters (I don't know I just don't like the female characters romantically).

I don't write for genshin impact but with some help from an expert (a friend who plays it... 🤡) I matched you. 💘💘

After a long time of thinking 💭 your match is...

Hawks How it started:

Hawks soared through the sky, the wind ruffling his feathers as he patrolled the city. He had always been carefree, enjoying the freedom that came with being a hero. As he flew, he spotted a commotion down below. Curiosity piqued, he descended to investigate.

There, amidst a group of people, was you, Hawks couldn't help but notice the genuine kindness that radiated from you. As Hawks approached, you were helping a child who had dropped their ice cream, offering them a comforting smile. The kid's tears turned into a grin, and their parents thanked you profusely. Hawks couldn't help but be captivated by your selflessness, and your willingness to help others.

He landed gracefully nearby, his easygoing and relaxed demeanor in full display. "You know," he began, his jovial attitude shining through, "you've got a way with people. I've seen you around, and it seems like you're everyone's go-to when they need a pick-me-up."

You glanced at him, the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of your lips. "Well, I guess I like making people happy."

Hawks chuckled. "You and me both. Say, how about we grab some coffee sometime? I'd love to get to know you better."

Your heart skipped a beat, and you couldn't help but nod, your RBF softening. "Sure, that sounds nice."

And just like that, amidst the chaos of the city, Hawks found himself falling for the kind-hearted, artistic, and unique person that was you.

General headcanons:

💘Like any couple, you have disagreements from time to time. However, you both prefer sitting down to talk things out rather than letting arguments fester, which only strengthens your bond.

💘You often sketch or paint during your coffee dates, and Hawks loves watching you work on your art

💘Hawks is always there to support you, whether it's attending your art exhibitions or offering a listening ear when you're dealing with personal issues. He values your friendship and partnership immensely.

💘There are moments when neither of you feels the need to fill the air with words.

💘Hawks occasionally surprises you with small gifts related to your interests.

Childe How it started:

On a crisp, sun-dappled morning, you were on your way to visit a friend, comfortably clad in your favorite hoodie and sweats. As you strolled along the scenic path, absorbed in thought about the day ahead, you suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of a Hydro arrow whizzing through the air. Turning quickly, you spotted Childe, in the midst of a daring battle against some pesky Hilichurls. His wild grin and the way he effortlessly moved through the fight were both captivating and bewildering. It was a spectacle of pure energy and recklessness.

Drawn to the chaos of the battle, you watched with fascination. As the last Hilichurl fell, Childe turned to face you, his clothes a little disheveled and his expression alight with mischief.

"Quite the show, don't you think?" he exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

You couldn't help but chuckle at his audacity. "Impressive," you admitted, giving him a playful smile. Childe's grin widened, and he extended a hand. "I'm Childe, by the way. I couldn't help but notice you on your way somewhere. Mind if I join you?"

Your heart fluttered as you took his hand, a sensation you hadn't expected. His impulsive nature was infectious, and before you knew it, you were walking together, discussing everything from art and games to your shared love of the electric element.

Over time, Childe's thrill-seeking spirit and your quiet, supportive nature seemed like a strange but perfect match. And it was during that first walk, amid laughter and the occasional drawn-out silences, that Childe realized he was falling in love with the enigmatic traveler with red hair. For someone who viewed himself as a miscreant, he had unexpectedly found someone who made his heart race with a different kind of excitement, the thrill of love.

General headcanons:

💘Your quiet and introverted nature contrasts sharply with Childe's impulsiveness and outgoing demeanor. At first, it seems like an odd pairing, but over time, you find that your differences complement each other perfectly.

💘Childe loves watching you paint and sketch, often silently admiring your artistic talents.

💘You introduce Childe to your love for board games, and it becomes a favorite pastime for both of you. The competitive spirit comes out, and these game nights often end in laughter and playful arguments over who cheated during the game.

💘Childe may be a bit of a miscreant, but when it comes to your well-being, he's incredibly protective and supportive.

💘Childe finds your emo style endearing and often playfully teases you about it.

I'd appreciate it if you'd reblog this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it <3

[readychilledwine]

Hi! You seem so nice and super sweet. I have some questions to know you! You remind me of a big sister, oh my god something about you is so comforting. :) Anyways, I live in California but I've only lived here for around 7 months. You mentioned before you love coming here, but can I have some places that would be nice to go on vacation? I feel super cooped up in my apartment and want to have a fun time outdoors or something. Thank you! <3

That's seriously so sweet and made me tear up a little bit! Thank you ❤️

We've spent a lot of time in a few different spots in CA, so hopefully, I mention one location near you! The obvious to all of this is beach and book. We are two beach bums when we can be, but I'll hit a few of the cities we've stayed at!

Oceanside is our go to. We like the location, due to military relations so its kind of the perfect spot for us because ✨️family✨️ If you are near that area, the beach at night is so quiet and perfect if you love seashell hunting. Oceanside also has street food/fair events, several cute metaphysical shops, and a few really good restaurants. One of them is a rooftop/desktop outdoor situation, it overlooks the docking area there, and at sunset is stunning.

In the San Diego area, I love going to Balboa Park. There's several gardens that are cheap or free to go to. During November to December, one of them is filled with gorgeous variations of poinsettias. There's also a ton of museums there, cultural houses to peep at, and gorgeous architecture. There's also a shopping area that's cute for giggles to just walk around. It's called Seaport Village. They used to have a shop just FILLED with coffee mugs. I loved it 😅

Heading north a little bit to LA where my partner is from. He grew up near skid row and has pretty vivid nightmares still about his kidhood there, so we tend to avoid the downtown area. When we do go, he always takes me to The Last Bookstore (some of you may recognize the name, it is the one you're thinking), it is just an experience. They sell antique books, collector's editions, and rare first editions along with new books. They have MAGICAL displays made from books. Griffith Park is also very beautiful with lots of things to go to. I'm a fan of anywhere with a botanic and butterfly garden 😅 and that brings me to our favorite spot in LA (minus the beach and hiking in Griffith Park) The Huntington Library. It's a library, botanic garden, and art museum all in one. It is 100% for me and not for him. He loves me dearly, and I am spoiled. There's obviously a lot of other things to do in LA (Disney, Orlando studios, ect), but we've been waiting to explore and experience those things until we had Littles to enjoy them with.

Popping between LA and San Fran is Sequoia National Park. If you are going to go and have never been, plan for a few days. It's... almost like breathtaking how small you realize you really are there.

San Francisco is kind of just... I wish I could describe it as something other than home feeling, considering I'm a midwest farm girl, but it has this magical home calling. We have a main thing we really like to do, and it's a little pricy (but not as pricy as the next location ive been treated to). He loves to see Alcatraz. 😅 he's obsessed. Otherwise it is a LOT of hiking and just trying new food places there. I just really love the vibes there for some reason.

Napa Valley I consider its own place, and it holds the most special place in my heart. He took me there for my 25th birthday. It is pricy, but wine country is so just relaxing. We stayed at this hotel, and we literally just walked out of our rooms patio door and into the vineyard. Im not 100% sure how much our week there was, but he told me not to expect anything for Christmas or valentines that year 😅

If you want really hot and in land Cali, my brothers and baby daddy went to Death Valley for a few days. They started the trip there, then went to Vegas (youngest brother's 21st birthday). My older brother said it was unbelievably hot (literally duh my sweet summer child), but he said the 4 days the 3 of them were there was a lot of fun. They did a lot of trail hiking and drank a lot of water. They all do not regret the choice to check it out. I was not invited on the boys' trip, so I didn't get to go 😑 I'm not salty AT ALL I didn't plan the trip for them or anything 🤣

If you're looking to get out of California, Colorado. Find your soul in Colorado. I highly recommend Georgetown. Not too far from Denver, not so high up in the mountains you have to anxious about snowfall and getting trapped, and I'll just attach the view from the hike into the mountains we went on.

I will push Colorado to anyone needing to get away and get into nature if it is in their budget ❤️ I've never found a town in Colorado I didn't think was stunning.

If you want to stay on the West Coast, Oregon. We went to Crater Lake National Park. One word, Ethereal. A little busy, but so so worth it.

No matter where you go, if you're getting into nature and needing to re-center your soul, find a creek with running water and just put your hands or feet in it, or get into the ocean (to where you're comfortable) and just let yourself have a moment of silence. Water is purifying and healing. It's one of the most powerful elements in our world, and it is where I find the strongest connection to Mother Nature ❤️

Let me know if you want more travel spots!

[scullz1013]

My first visit to Philadelphia

It has been such a long time since I've blogged I feel like I have forgotton how to use Tumblr.

Anyway, I am in Philadelphia for the first time for the Premier League Summer series and I am I have been very touristy so far. I arrived yesterday afternoon and knowing that Fridays after 5pm are "pay what you like" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I decided to use that as a way to try to stay awake as long as possible.

I really wanted to see their collection of armour, I know they have a lot of Milanese stuff which is always beautiful. Unfortunatly the gallery was closed for renovation but I was thankful that a few pieces of armour and some weapons were on display, including a Viking sword from 850!

I mostly looked at their European collection which seemed to have a heavy ecclesiastical focus, lots of stained glass and bits of old buildings that have been lugged across the atlantic. The lady at the front desk reccomended I see Rubens' painting of Prometheus getting his liver eaten by an eagle and, while certainly not a cheery painting, I did like it a lot.

When I left I went out via the Rocky steps and statue. I have never actually seen the movies, but it seemed rude not to and of course some bloke was actually running up the steps as well.

I also explored the immediate area where I am staying - there is a lot of cool street art and murals nearby and the building next door is a trade union headquarters which makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Today I went to the National Jewish Museum. I walked there via Chinatown (one of the biggest and busiest I have been to in the last few years). The museum is free and focuses specifically on the Jewish American experience and because of that focus I felt that I really learned a lot. I particularly enjoyed the section about Jewish pioneers going out west on their waggons in the 1800s and the section about the civil rights movements of the 20th century.

After a break for some lunch and a bit of planning for the next few days I took a walk up to the City Hall building which is one of the biggest I have ever seen. I really enjoyed it until I walked into the central courtyard which, though lovely, reminded me very strongly of the courtyard of the building I work in at home which slightly dampened my holiday mood. There were also loads of Chelsea fans milling around there ahead of their game against Brighton - all the more reason to move swiftly on. I went to Rittenhouse Square which is a park surrounded by cool old buildings and fancy shops and restaurants. My favourite thing was the frog sculpture, aptly named "Giant Frog".

I got sushi for dinner on the way home and now I am resting my aching feet ready for game day tomorrow. I am very much enjoying Philly so far.

EDIT: It looks like you can no longer caption pictures on Tumblr - I had added what I thought were captions to the image descriptions but you can't see them on the post, so:

Image 1: The trade union building next door to me is named after this guy

Image 3: The building opposite me has an entire mural wall

Image 4: The lifts at PMA were pretty impressive

Image 7: The view from the steps

Image 12: The Jewish Museum's street art contribution

Image 14: City Hall (stock photo) It was too big for me to get a photo without something obstructing the view and / or not getting it all in. Such an impressive building!

Image 15: Benjamin Franklin: Craftsman - huge sculpture near City Hall.

[pastedpast]

I've been in bed most of the day on account of having a cough and a cold, so I've been Internet-browsing more than ever. I stumbled across this photograph of a Chelsea Girl shop (a nationwide chain store from yesteryear that sold clothes for young women) and vaguely remember where it used to be in Huddersfield town centre. Fashion doesn't really interest me, but I loved Chelsea Girl when I was 16/17, as did my friends (I did actually have quite a few nice female friends in those days!!). I liked the clothes*, plus they were affordable. And it was a great logo.

The Huddersfield I'm recalling here was in the 1980s, and I spent a lot of time in the mid to latter part of that decade wandering around after 6th form college had finished, at say half past three, instead of going straight home. I spent a lot of time in the central library when I was a teenager, simply because it was a really good library. A good selection of books in Lending, a pin-drop-quiet Reference Library (apart from the sounds of rustling newspapers and old men coughing) with spacious, oak tables and comfy chairs, a diverse Music collection (30p per vinyl, 70p for a request), and an Art Gallery on the top floor, which had a weird (as in horrid) Francis Bacon painting on display (see link below). Meanwhile, my favourite shop in town was Wheatley Dyson, the stationers' shop. Both businesses closed down I don't know when, and the library building is currently earmarked to be converted into a museum, while library resources have been much downsized and temporarily crammed into half of a room in the civic centre customer services area. Hudds has lost loads of other shops since, especially in recent years, but I'd still rather go shopping there than Holmfirth.

My favourite nearby place to go shopping is currently Bradford. There's a place where you can have three free books a day. There is also an Oxfam which sells books on the top floor. When I lived at my auntie's house a couple of years ago, I came back with about five bagfuls of books, but I've calmed down with my book buying in the past 18 months (apart from occassional online purchases!) I own more books than I will ever read, but I won't get rid of them. They are my friends! I like the printers in the city library too, although it's not usually a very quiet space to study. A man and a woman had a scrap on the stairs one evening. Barnsley is OK if charity shops are what you're after, and the library is nice, but it's less accessible for me as I need to catch a train and for some nonsensical reason there doesn't appear to be a coordinated bus service. I'm not bothered about shopping these days, anyway. I've pretty much reached saturation point, psychologically, and just generally - the dacha is chocablock with STUFF!!!

Link to info re. Bacon painting: here. I've only skim-read the article. I thought there was more than one of his paintings / or it was another, but they're all horrid**, anyway!

My old stomping ground for the essentials in life: stationery and books!

*The clothes in the photo are from the 1970s; the pinky-red skirt with tiers of white lacy trim were known as prairie skirts, the more sober forerunner to the racier ra-ra, and were very popular. I wore them myself at junior school, prairie skirts that is. And a wonderful pair of corduroy platform wedgies from Wagstaff's.

**'Horrid' is a funny word. It always reminds me of something a woman I used to work for once said to me. We'd been talking about the opposite sex, and she simply declared, as a matter of fact, "Men are either gay, married, or horrid." It was the way she said it with such conviction. It was funny.

[klaus-littlestwolf]

The Curator-Alpha!Bucky Barnes

Bucky Barnes Alpha/Omega Oneshot

As an Omega people always expected you to be something you weren't. They expected flirty and sweet, cheerful and bubbly as most Omegas are, but that just wasn't you. You knew it disappointed your mother, she had all Alpha boys until you, her only girl and only child not born an Alpha. She dressed you up all your life, never letting you express yourself in the least, pink dresses and heels, fruity perfumes that 'enhanced Omega scents' and 'pretty' jewelry, she made you everything you hated and it made you hate her. You fought against everything she wanted and it made her hate you. When you left high school and decided not to travel in search of your Alpha as so many did but instead get a job and an apartment in the city she was livid and she told you not to come back until you were ready to cooperate or you found your Alpha and he fixed your behavior.

You found a roommate who became your best friend, Natasha, and got a job as an art curator. Your boss was quite a dick, making you do all the work and taking all the credit but the pay was good, at least for your half of the job, and you were able to get your paintings on display every now and again.

It's not that you didn't want an Alpha, but you didn't want to be controlled anymore, you wanted someone to love you, not own you and you couldn't see any modern Alpha doing that. So when the day came that you smelled your Alpha for the first time you did what no Omega has ever done in the history of human kind, you ran.

You were at the opening of a new art gallery, having hired an assistant for the event to take care of sales of paintings so you could handle everything else, meeting clients and making sure artists were happy was your main goal until you smelled it. It was a rush of firewood, pine trees and gunpowder. It was delicious and you turned, running into the kitchen quickly.

You used the other exit, continuing to work while trying to avoid the smell and being so busy walking around that you didn't notice until the party was almost over as you passed it that someone had bought your painting.

"Kelly! Someone bought my painting?" The girl grinned.

"Yes, he was very taken with it, and so unbelievably hot! He asked if you were here actually, he wanted to meet you." You smelled it again when you got close to the painting and instantly knowing your Alpha had smelled you on it. "There he is. Mr. Barnes!" She waved someone over and you looked up to see a man with just shy of shoulder length brown hair, a dark beard and bright blue eyes, even if he wasn't your Alpha this man would have caught your attention. "This is Y/n, you bought her painting." He wasn't listening to a thing Kelly said as he stared at you, 2 men walking behind him as if body guards.

"Hello Y/n. I'm James, I've been looking for you all night." I shook myself out of my daze as he took my hand, kissing my knuckle and turned my hand, smelling the scent gland at my wrist. His eyes rolled back into his head as he did, his body relaxing visibly and a smile making its way to his face.

"Yes well, tons to do when it's your party, actually I should be going." I tried to walk away but he grabbed my upper arm, quite gently but enough to let me know he wanted me to stay.

"Please? Don't go? I've been looking all night-actually I've been searching for years. Let me get you a drink?" I found myself nodding before I could stop and he tucked my arm into his delicately. He led me over to the bar, gesturing for his men to stay behind.  "Tell me why you're running from me gorgeous."  I looked up from my drink, stunned and just as I was about to lie he held up his hand.  "Don't lie, please?  Our bond is still growing but I learned to spot a lie in anyone quite a long time ago, I just ask for the truth Y/n, please?"

I hesitated but took a deep breath, deciding to go with the truth.  "I spent my entire life being told what an Omega should be, how I should act and dress and talk and it wasn't me, I felt like I was being suffocated in so much shit that everyone else wanted me to be and I don't want an Alpha because I don't want it to happen all over again."  He didn't interrupt me, didn't laugh or even smile, he just listened which was strange for me from an Alpha.

"I'm sorry that's how you grew up, it does sound uncomfortable.  I don't want to control you however.  I want my Omega to be just who she is, because who she is should be perfect for me, right?"  I nodded, unsure of what else to do, completely shocked by this.  "The only time I need you to act a certain way is when I'm in a business meeting and that, for the most part, won't concern you one bit.  I never want you to be anything but happy with me, I also need to know that my Omega wants me to be myself as well-"

"Of course I do.  It's not exactly like an Alpha needs to hide though, shouldn't you be that way all the time?"  He shook his head.

"I run several companies, who I am to customers and employees and business partners, that's work me, I...I want to come home to someone I can just exist with and be happy."  In that moment I was hit with a rush of longing and loneliness that caused me to whine audibly, putting down my glass and moving to hug my Alpha. He wrapped his arms around me as I did, burying his nose into my neck and breathing me in deeply having not an ounce of shame in it, so I did the same.

"I'm sorry you feel like that." I mumbled before feeling him kiss the side of my head.

"I'm sorry you do too my sweet girl.  You're Alpha is going to take care of you, I promise.  Please let me?"  I whined again, nodding into his neck, content to stay in this position for the rest of my life.

"Y/n!"  I heard my boss' voice scream and I groaned, tightening my hold on James.  "Y/n!  There you are!  There are buyers upstairs-"

"Kelly is taking care of that tonight, remember?  I'm doing everything else."

"Well it certainly looks like you've found something to do but may I remind you that you're on the clock." I was about to snap back at the man, suddenly pissed off at being treated like this to a level I never had before. That was when I realized it wasn't my emotions.

"If I ever hear you talk to her like that again I will be sure that you lose much more than your job." James snarled at him, his scent shifting and showing how angry he is, a scent that made me weak at the knees.

"Mr.Barnes! I'm so terribly sorry, I didn't recognize you-"

"So you treat all Omegas like that?"

"N-No! I mean, I-"

"So just my Omega?" The Beta who likes to think himself an Alpha was cowering like an Omega, and I was loving it.

"No!  Of course not!  I didn't know she was your Omega, she's not mated-she wasn't!  I just need her to do her job-"

"She's been doing her job, so much so that she hasn't had 10 seconds to stop moving and take a breath to even meet me, do you think that's a good working environment?  'Cause I don't, you can go help that customer purchase something, can't you?  Or do you not know how to do that?"

"Of course I do!"  He snapped, not being able to resist being who he is, which is a bully.  James didn't say anything else, pulling me closer to his side and just staring at the man who seemed to realize what he had done.  "I apologize Mr. Barnes, I didn't mean-"

"My Omega is done for the night.  From what I understand from everyone else that works here she runs this entire place, doing your job and hers and gets paid half the money.  She is done here and I will be speaking to your bosses...and their bosses.  Come my love, let's get you something to eat, you're starving."  My mind questioned for a moment how he could tell before having a dumb moment and realizing he could feel it as he took my hand and pulled me away from my boss to the platters.

"Did you just quit my job for me?  That's exactly the kind of behavior I meant when I-"

"I’m sorry."  He cut me off, taking my face into his hands.  "I know that that wasn't a great start but I refuse to let my Omega be abused and belittled.  I have a new job for you, one that if everyone here is right about what you do, will be perfect for you and will pay you accordingly.  I need a new curator at my gallery in the city, you'll have your own office, what that asshole was supposed to do will be done by a coworker and you'll just be doing what you're supposed to do, plus, your boss is a great guy, doesn't yell at his staff, pays appropriately, offers sick leave when needed for all designations, and I'm told he's pretty easy on the eyes."  He blinked at me rapidly and I couldn't help my giggle, leaning my head onto his shoulder.

"You're sweet but I don't just want to be offered a job because I'm your Omega-"

"I understand, and you're not.  I'm here tonight to meet the curator of this gallery and offer her a job, I've heard wonderful things about her and not so wonderful things about how she's treated, figured I could poach her easily you see...even easier still, it turns out she's my Omega.  See how that works out?"  He pulled out his phone and showed me his schedule that said at the bottom- 6pm: Meet with curator of Avengers gallery.  "I've been looking for 2 people all night and only realized 5 minutes before I found you that they were the same person.  Funny how things work out."

"It really is.  What the hell, come here."  I grabbed his jacket, pulling him down to me and pressing my lips to his hard, hearing him groan contently.  "In that case, can we go get real food somewhere?"

"I would love to treat my Omega to dinner."

Bucky Barnes Masterlist

[reginarubie]

The mythology series [Jonsa] ~ Orpheus and Eurydice reversal ft. Drogo and Dany

Ciao my Jonsa folks, and lurkers and lovely anons and everyone around! As I've spoken numerous times (thank you to all the lovely anons that actually forwarded their opinions and considerations because you were fundamental for this meta!) I realized quite of sudden that another possible mythological parallel for our Jonsa had completely gone over my head without my noticing, and decided to try and contextualize it in our asoiaf mythology metas.

The myth is the one and only of Orpheus and Eurydice, the heartbreaking story of an unconventional hero (Orpheus) and his unconventional methods to try and save his beloved wife (Eurydice), and whilst Orpheus fails (wether by choice, or because overcome by feelings) these two tropes of the lost spouse and of failing to save a loved one are most prominent in Sansa's arc, and Sansa seems, to me, as if she fits the bill of the gender reversal Orpheus.

As always, the premise remains unchanged. Myth and legend as well as history are layered matters, with layers and concepts often beyond my comprehension as I am in no way an expert (I only collect evidence and research the matter and try to draw my own conclusions). So yes, we do it for fun, yes any input by anyone who knows better or simply has a different opinion or interpretation is welcome and appreciated.

Now, on the seatbelts, we're in for another ride!

Orpheus and Eurydice, the unconventional hero and his lost spouse, Ovid ~ the North remembers/if I look back I am lost, asoiaf, GRRM

As always, another premise, no these fantastic artworks are not mine, I merely collect them on internet to make the whole meta more aesthetically pleasing, so credit to the artists and if any would like their art removed because reasons just let me know!

But, this on the art I must say, I chose these four pieces for a very particular reason, also displayed by the quotes I've chosen to parallel and also the order in which they are put is significant and I will discourse on a bit as of why.

First raw, we have Orpheus and Eurydice by sir E.J. Poynter (some of you may have guessed it) which I chose for the colors, I know I said gender swapped, so Orpheus is supposed to be Sansa and Eurydice Jon, but it does hold interest that Orpheus here is shown with dark hair and the colors of House Targaryen, red and black, paralleling visually Jon whilst Eurydice has reddish hair and wears the colors of House Stark, white and green, doing the same for Sansa; also with the detail of them holding hands (which I will return to shortly) and besides it a lovely Jonsa piece in which Sansa looks back at Jon and holds his hand beneath a gentle snowfall.

Second raw we have Orpheus and Eurydice by Emil Neide in which Orpheus is shown facing the three headed dog of Hell (Cerberus) with his harp set aside, and a staff in his hand, he faces forward with intent and determination (doesn't look like a man about to be overcome by impatience and feelings) whilst Eurydice follows almost completely naked half in shade. This piece gave me a very strange vibe I would no expect of this myth because Orpheus looks determined and conquering (especially with the addition of that staff in his hand) and there is no physical touch whatsoever between him and Eurydice, almost like love is not foremost, not like the power of this man facing off the three-headed dog (again with the three headed imaginary — three headed dragon, the symbol of House Targaryen and the three cities Daenerys conquers on her campaign east after Drogo dies) which is why I have chosen the piece besides it for Daenerys in which she's shown conquering and determined whilst she thinks of her lost dream of sitting on the IT with Drogo and Rhaego. They gave me the very same vibe, so to speak (also it's important the lack of physical contact between Orpheus and Eurydice in Neide's painting with the quote I've chosen for Daenerys which is also the same one which makes the whole connection between Daenerys and Drogo and Orpheus and Eurydice believable.

First things first, let's speak about queen Proserpine and her look-alikes in these two different version of contextualization of the myth in asoiaf.

Proserpine, queen of the Underworld ~ Melisandre of Asshai and Mirri Maz Duur, priestesses

The art of Proserpine (first one to the left) is from the costume concept of queen Proserpine by Anna Biagiotti, from Monteverdi's “Favola d'Orfeo” .

But if the destinies refuse my vow,  And no remission of her doom allow;  Know, I’m determin’d to return no more;  So both retain, or both to life restore. — Ovid, Metamorphoses, the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

Mirri Maz Duur sat back on her heels and studied Daenerys through eyes as black as night. "There is a spell." Her voice was quiet, scarcely more than a whisper. "But it is hard, lady, and dark. Some would say that death is cleaner. I learned the way in Asshai, and paid dear for the lesson. My teacher was a bloodmage from the Shadow Lands." (...) “I had to save him” — GRRM, AGOT, Daenerys VIII

"I can show you." Melisandre draped one slender arm over Ghost, and the direwolf licked her face. "The Lord of Light in his wisdom made us male and female, two parts of a greater whole. In our joining there is power. Power to make life. Power to make light. Power to cast shadows." “Shadows” the world seemed darker when he said it. — GRRM, ADWD, Jon VI

It is very interesting that both in the contextualization for Drogo and Dany and Jon and Sansa we have a woman coming, or who has studied, in Asshai and that both use the shadow magic and blood magic taught there and there learned to resuscitate the gender swapped Eurydices.

I've already considered briefly the fact that every time a character is resurrected in asoiaf it seems there is a foreign who has learned the prayers and chants, and magics of Asshai and its magic involved:

Beric Dondarrion is resurrected by Thoros of Myr, a red priest

Lady Stoneheart is resurrected by Beric Dondarrion using the prayer and magic of the Last Kiss learned from Thoros

Drogo is kept alive by Mirri Maz Duur on insistence by Daenerys Targaryen, using magic she has learned from a shadow binder in Asshai

Daenerys Targaryen (yes this one is controversial but I have my theory about resurrection in asoiaf and Daenerys has been resuscited/born again in that fire and there is a reason for it) has learned from Mirri Maz Duur and is using the folklore talk she probably received from her brother to make the blood sacrifices required (I've spoken on it at length in this serie, so I won't digress on it beyond here)

Jon Snow, currently laying dead in a pool of his own blood and snow at Castle Black, where coincidentally is Melisandre of Asshai another red priestess (who is foreshadowed, by the show, to be the one performing the rite on Jon to resurrect him).

So, it comes to mind how there is always involved someone who knows blood magic, and dark sorcery from Asshai in whatever capacity (Thoros knows it as prayer, just as Mel does; Mirri Maz Duur calls it magic)

Now, in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice the queen of the Underworld, Proserpine, whose heart melted by the young's grief coupled with her husband's sadness at his story convinced both deities to grant Orpheus to take back his wife to the land of the living grieving on him the duty he would fail— not turning to look at Eurydice until they're out of the Underworld — a duty he was probably fated to fulfill from the very beginning.

Proserpine or Kore, or Persephone is a very layered figure and often the limits of each layer does not coincide perfectly with the one under it or above it, so to speak.

In various versions of the same myth the deities of the Underworld are either well disposed to Orpheus or mocking of him and ‘true’ love and Proserpine sees the throne at the centre of this matter, wether she and her husband offered genuinely Orpheus his wife back or presented to him only her shadow and deceived him and set him up to fail. It is said that Hades wept and she felt her heart melt for Orpheus grief, but in other version, both deities are mocking of Orpheus and his attempt to deceive them to get back his wife, promising his life when he would not give it.

Proserpine herself is the goddess of spring and queen of the underworld thus she reconcile in herself two worlds apparently inconciliabile. This dualistic nature is persevered in the asoiaf form she takes both as Melisandre that as Mirri.

As goddess of spring she is goddess of rebirth and all new lives, she is a creational power in a way as goddess of fertility as well; as queen of the underworld she is an unyielding force not be trifled with, often more ruthless than her own husband from whom she enjoyed intriguing autonomy.

[In some versions of this very myth she's the one who grants Orpheus the allowance to leave the Underworld with his wife and imposing of him the duty not to look back to her... her duality is even more starkly clear when we think of the way she disposed of Theseus' friend who tried to steal her from Hades, and ended up by her own idea, permanently fixed on a seat in the Underworld, forever unable to move even an inch.]

This duality she has, and in some ways the influence she enjoys on her king, is without doubt completely filled by Melisandre, to a lesser degree by Mirri Maz Duur.

Melisandre of Asshai is a foreign — in the same way as Proserpine is a foreign to the Underworld — woman (who has suffered terrible abuse and has been sold as a slave, who never once enjoyed enough freedom) who has enchanted Stannis Baratheon, her king, and on whom she exercises a great deal of influence. Melisandre is shown capable to dispose of enemies thanks to her dark sorceries and blood magic and create the shadow of a life to forward her goals but as she often repeats she has the power to both unmake life and make it. This duality is basically the same one recognized to Proserpine especially if we consider the degree of influence Mel enjoys on Stannis — as men around consider her, his red woman and true queen — with the degree of freedom and autonomy Proserpine had in her duty as Hades' queen.

We've seen her plan for blood-sacrifices (Edric Storm) thus we know she is less squeamish than we'd like to use human sacrifice to reach her goals, in the same way, if we go by show canon (and considering she is the only one who could call Jon back to his body from Ghost presently) she will be the one to bring Jon Snow back to his unliving body, but in the text is often foreshadowed that Jon already is half a wildling, half a wolf and it's possible that his time spent in Ghost might make him return more beast than man and that it will be the influence of another to bring him truly back to himself. Give him his identity back when he has been returned back from death only functionally.

On the other hand, Mirri Maz Duur does not fit the bill as completely as Mel does. Mirri is a follower of the Great Shepherd who has enjoyed a great degree of freedom and has studied in all lands, also Asshai, and has learned not only healing science but also magic and sorcery and right now — after having enjoyed a great degree of wealth during her free life, she has been captured by Drogo in his quest to bring slaves to the slave cities to fund a campaign west to put his son on the Iron throne — is in the service of Daenerys Targaryen.

The duality though, is respected as Mirri Maz Duur is a woman of healing, she's a healer and a priestess herself of the Great Shepherd. Also, as I have discussed plenty in the serie linked above about Daenerys resurrection, she does not pose immediately as a threat to Drogo, she treats his wound and dresses it and tells them how to care for it only to see her care disregarded and unlistened to, after believing she might get her freedom back or live as a treasured woman in the service of the khaleesi (as Daenerys asks her to help her with the birth) and has been claimed as hers, is instead abandoned by Daenerys, left to be mistreated and abused and her resentment grows, still it is not her fault the dothraki do not follow her instruction pertaining Drogo and he is near to death. As she is a healer she also knows the dark sorceries of Asshai and employs them when Daenerys promises to free her if she saves Drogo, using a blood sacrifice to do so. When her time comes to be sacrificed she tries to reason with Daenerys, promises her expertise to help her to reach her goals using also dark sorcery.

Yet, why does one fit the bill completely, whilst the other not so much?

For one, Drogo does not die. He isn't resurrected by Mirri's magic, he is kept alive by Mirri's magic and that too at a price, at Daenerys own insistence and freedom.

Though she does parallel the fact that Daenerys is presented with a shadow version of her husband so much she demands to know when he will be as he once was, and Mirri gives her the famous speech of up-bending of the world for him to return to her.

Yet, Mirri is not the one with the power here. Daenerys is. This much Mirri tells her, herself. See what life is worth when you have nothing else. Drogo is the external representation of what Daenerys and her ambition to the IT have done to Mirri's own identity. She's not the one granting Daenerys to return back to the land of the living with her husband back as he was, she tells her from the beginning Daenerys will pay a price and Daenerys often wonders if she knew and didn't acknowledge it which is what spurns her even further.

On the other hand, Melisandre is the one with power and influence, we don't know the extent as to why she will resurrect Jon but it's possible she will do it because she has seen him fighting in her fires, that she thinks he might be instrumental in the Lord's Plan.

Jon, also technically, is not dead. To be more precise his body is dead, but his spirit has latched onto Ghost due to their bond, as it happens between warg and animal, yet it is possible that whatever rite Melisandre will celebrate will help his spirit return to his body. She'd been the one paving the way for his return to his body and its revival, if we go by book precedent she possibly will bestow on him the Last Kiss to purify him and that instead of simply cleansing him will bring him back to his own body and possibly rebirth him in the flame she'll breath in his mouth.

In conclusion, Melisandre seems to fit much better the bill than Mirri does when we think of the character from the myth they are supposed to cover from.

Eurydice, the Lost Spouse ~ Drogo and Jon, the dead and the living

Again she dy’d, nor yet her lord reprov’d;  What could she say, but that too well he lov’d? — Ovid, Metamorphoses, the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold … — GRRM, ADWD, Jon XIII

The birth had left her too raw and torn to take him inside of her, as she would have wanted, but Doreah had taught her other ways. Dany used her hands, her mouth, her breasts. She raked him with her nails and covered him with kisses and whispered and prayed and told him stories, and by the end she had bathed him with her tears. Yet Drogo did not feel, or speak, or rise. And when the bleak dawn broken over an empty horizon, Dany knew that he was truly lost to her. (...) Never, the darkness cried, never never never. — GRRM, AGOT, Daenerys IX

Actually when one looks at it, it's the exact opposite as to Drogo. Meaning that, both Jon and Drogo would in this interpretation fulfill the role of Eurydice (the dead spouse) only point is, because of the intervention of two very different entities they find themselves specular to each other:

Drogo's body is alive, but his spirit is gone or at the very least unreachable due blood sacrifice and dark sorcery — he doesn't speak, nor move, nor eat, nor drink unless helped and he does not interact with people; those around him collect infos about some facts about him (he likes to feel the sun on his skin, barely by observation) he is vegetative. This state is caused by the dark sorcery and blood sacrifice Mirri does on insistence of Daenerys, appealing to dark magic and blood sorcery.

Jon's body is dead, but his spirit is alive or at the very least reachable due to the intervention of the gift received by the Old Gods — he has warged into Ghost whilst dying, latching onto the bond they share, which ensues that his soul has not left the human plane to the beyond life yet, and he is still alive but trapped into Ghost's mind and body. Who has given Jon his bond with Ghost? The Old Gods, they are the entity that intervened to avoid Jon's absolute death. Indirectly or directly that they may have acted, in the text it's pretty clear Jon received Ghost by the Old Gods because as a prize for his selflessness in defending the Starks and he created the bond with him through them and it, thus at the very least indirectly they are the one that intervened to make sure he would be reachable and survive even if only in the capacity of staying into Ghost's body.

This (☝️) is why Jon fits better the bill of Eurydice if confronted with Drogo, whose body and soul remain connected and “alive, whilst unreachable”, while instead Jon, exactly like Eurydice, has seen his body dying but his soul is actually reachable and in a physically (Ghost) the same way as Eurydice's body is dead, but her soul is reachable physically in the Underworld.

In the myth Eurydice is a nymph who falls in love with Orpheus and who is loved in return by him. Their love has brief life, sadly, as the very day of their wedding Eurydice dies.

There are many versions of this myth, in some Eurydice falls in a nest of vipers (or steps on one) during a run from a satyr who, obsessed with her, tried to steal her from Orpheus; in others, instead, she's killed by Dyonisous maenads as they dance at her wedding, possibly because Orpheus had insulted the God.

One thing is very sure, her story represents the most famous myth pertaining Orpheus, though it might be one the last to be added to his name (but we will speak more of it, when we see the parallel between Orpheus, Sansa and Daenerys).

Now, thinking back on the way Eurydice dies, it seems to me pretty clear that Drogo doesn't fulfill the role as well as Jon does. Drogo dies because of his own doing, yes, he gains the wound that will kill him in a duel, due to his policy pertaining what his wife is entitled to, but if he had just listened to the instruction Mirri had given him he would not have suffered death. It is his own doing that is his fall.

And whilst Jon pays for his own doing, too, the very idea of the nest of vipers and he having stepped on it, or on just one, fits best with the reason why Jon is killed. In the show they make it look like Jon is killed because he let the wildlings through the Wall, that is not the case in the books, whilst the NW might be less than impressed with that, it's not Jon's doing, though there is his influence on the matter, it is the doing of Stannis and Jon is not held accountable of that, or better, that's not the pretense for which he is killed.

The reason why he is killed in the books is because, received Ramsay's letter, he decides to move with the NW to capture Winterfell from the Boltons and save whom he believes to be Arya in their clutches, unaware she is in fact Jeyne Poole and not his sister, breaking thousand of years of tradition of the NW not getting involved in the political matters of the Realm.

He, metaphorically, stepped on a nest of vipers of which he was very aware of — he was aware his politic would not be appreciated and that he was not appreciated as Lord Commander by all — unaware that it would bite back, or unaware of the extent they would go to, to impede his actions. He steps on several traditions, plunging people who are sworn off the Realm's matter, to a war they possibly cannot win.

It also fits with the fact that by destroying thousand of years of tradition, he is also breaking his oath to the Old Gods, in the name of whom he had vowed to devote his life to the NW and the enemy North. Was his death the Gods' punishment? The same way as Eurydice got killed in some version of the myth because Orpheus had insulted Dyonisous?

Also, do you know what the name Eurydice means in greek? It means wide justice and I do feel like it's fitting of Jon and in a wide way of the form of justice inflicted upon him (and her in the myth if we take in consideration the version in which she's killed because Dyonisous has been insulted) because he broke his oaths to the Gods actively and without turning back this time.

It certainly fits more with Jon than Drogo, also because we've seen Drogo taking, and taking and never once think of what is just, something that is not even contemplated in the dothraki way, as the dothraki way is that of the strongest eat the weakest. Instead justice and wide justice is integral part of Jon's arc. As lord commander of the NW he is the one administering justice at Castle Black, not only that, he is forever running after the very idea of what honorable Ned Stark would've done or wanted him to do.

He could give her a quick clean death, at least. He was his father's son. Wasn't he? Wasn't he? — ACOK, Jon VI

The realization twisted in his belly like a knife. They had chosen him to rule. The Wall was his, and their lives were his as well. A lord may love the men that he commands, he could hear his lord father saying, but he cannot be a friend to them. One day he may need to sit in judgment on them, or send them forth to die — ADWD, Jon III

And, tbh, I had not know prior to do this meta, but damn if it doesn't fit Jon like a glove, much better than it does Drogo.

So, yeah, I do think that whilst superficially Drogo may seem like he fits the bill to be a male counterpart to Eurydice that is not the case for the reasons stated above; Jon, on the other hand, seems to fit every little detail about the character down to the very point of having been killed, and effectively die to be then returned to the land of the living.

Also... this is mostly show-canon but yes, anyway, forgiveness is something deeply rooted into Eurydice's story, for she does not resent her husband in any way, because, she saw the love before the failing to bring it to completion. She saw proof of his love in his attempt, more than in his success. Especially if we consider that one of these instances happens when Jon and Sansa have to go their separate ways:

Sansa: can you forgive me? (...) forgive me. Jon: alright, I forgive ye. — GoT, s6e4 Sansa: can you forgive me? Jon: the North is free thanks to you. Sansa: but they lost their king. Jon: Ned Stark's daughter will speak for them. She's the best they could ask for. — GoT, s8e6

Eurydice, dying now a second time, uttered no complaint against her husband. What was there to complain of, but that she had been loved? — Ovid, Metamorphoses And I’d be the immediate forgiveness, in Eurydice. — Talk, Hozier.

Yes, okay, heartbreaking, I am sorry....but it fits so well, it almost looks like it has been done on purpose (nothing to say in your defense, Martin?)

Orpheus the unconventional hero ~ Daenerys and Sansa, unconventional heroines of their story

(...)a single lyre raised more lament than lamenting women ever did; and that from the lament a world arose in which everything was there again. — Rainer Maria Rilke

“(...)A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands.” — Sansa VI, ASOS "What if Lord Nestor values honor more than profit?" Petyr put his arm around her. "What if it is truth he wants, and justice for his murdered lady?" He smiled. "I know Lord Nestor, sweetling. Do you imagine I'd ever let him harm my daughter?" I am not your daughter, she thought. I am Sansa Stark, Lord Eddard's daughter and Lady Catelyn's, the blood of Winterfell. — Sansa I, AFFC

“I forgot, you've been hiding under a rock. The northern girl. Winterfell's daughter. We heard she killed the king with a spell, and afterward changed into a wolf with big leather wings like a bat, and flew out a tower window. But she left the dwarf behind and Cersei means to have his head.” That's stupid, Arya thought. Sansa only knows songs, not spells, and she'd never marry the Imp. — Arya XIII, ASOS

"But?" said Dany sharply. "Tell me. I command it." "Prince Rhaegar's prowess was unquestioned, but he seldom entered the lists. He never loved the song of swords the way that Robert did, or Jaime Lannister. It was something he had to do, a task the world had set him. He did it well, for he did everything well. That was his nature. But he took no joy in it. Men said that he loved his harp much better than his lance." "He won some tourneys, surely," said Dany, disappointed. (...) Dany did not want to hear about Rhaegar being unhorsed. "But what tourneys did my brother win?" — Daenerys IV, ASOS And saw her brother, Rhaegar mounted on a stallion as black as his armor. Fire glimmered red through the narrow eye slit of his helm. The last dragon, Ser Jorah's voice Whisper faintly. The last. The last. Dany lifted his polished black visor. The face within was her own. — Daenerys IX, AGOT

And here comes the dissonant notes. Orpheus. The myth of Orpheus and his descent in the Underworld is one of the last added myths to his name, he is featured in the myth of the Argonauts as one of them and he was considered a deity (as he was the son of Apollo and a Muse) in Thrace.

Orpheus was also considered to be a prophet and his end was none to kind after he failed to save his own wife.

Now, both girls have the dragon-dream and the wolf-dream, Sansa keeps having wolf-dreams even after her direwolf, Lady, is killed. And both seems to be linked to magic whilst in different manner.

If ya don't believe in the power of manifestation, lemme just:

Sansa is THE queen of manifestation. Now, her wish and prayers may not always turn out the way she wants them (look at her wishing to become queen, and be loved by a golden prince *cough* Targaryen prince *cough* and ending up with Joff, to her praying for a true friend and knight and been subjected to Dontos and LF, but having Brienne coming her way, her wishing for a true friend to end up in LF's grasp but that also taking her to the Vale and to the Royces)

I'd not stand between Sansa Stark and something she prayed for, I tell ya.

Anyway digressing.

On the superficial level when one thinks of Orpheus they think of the sad, lost hero who descended in the Underworld, convinced Hades and Proserpine to let him recover his wife, but then, failed to get her to land of the living.

Yet, that is not all that Orpheus was. Whilst for Eurydice we know of her — as far as I have been able to find — only in relation to Orpheus, the same cannot be said for him.

To begin with in ancient Greece there was a whole cult called orphic based off prophets of which he was the legendary founder, a Thracian bard and poet he was also a potent prophet, an argonaut and the son of a God and a Muse.

As far as I have understood in ancient Greece, and possibly elsewhere as well, they had this idea that beauty of the exterior meant beauty of the interior, thus heroes were always beautiful and Orpheus is not an exception.

As for many of the myths we've spoken about, let's talk etymology first, just like Eurydice seems to mean ‘wide justice’, the meaning of Orpheus own very name is as layered and uncertain as the origin of his myth and legend.

In the end etymologists have concluded that his name's meaning spans over several planes:

hypothetically some them claims its etymology deriving from h₃órbʰos (meaning orphan, servant, slave) and ultimately the verb root *h₃erbʰ- (to change allegiance, status, ownership) which would configure him as someone who is under someone else's power and manages to change the boards in his favor and change status.

If we were to trust this etymology we'd conclude that both girls, Daenerys and Sansa, may parallel the meaning Orpheus' name seems to hold. Both of them, as I've previously stated, end up being powerless and at the mercy of others, but manage to change the odds in their favor thanks to their resilience, wit and unyielding strength of will. But, this is only one of the several etymologies for this name.

the most plausible etymology remains the greek one of ὄρφνη (órphnē; 'darkness') and and ὀρφανός (orphanós; 'fatherless, orphan').

Again, both girls do fulfill the bill completely or in part the bill of this etymology. Both are orphans and fatherless, and both feel very kneel the absence of the father — both of them style themselves after their fathers or what they know of them — until Daenerys learns the truth she thinks that she wants to make her kingdom beautiful and have her people smile at her as they did her father; whilst Sansa, as I've numerously affirmed is Ned moral heir and she parallels her own father so much. Both girls do, positively and negatively. Daenerys is impulsive and easily she goes for the neck instead of trying the diplomacy route, but I've said time and time again that that is not only due her own character but behavior she picked up by being around the people she ended up surrounded with (Viserys, the Dothrakis, Daario) to survive the trauma she endured.

Daenerys has certainly shown hints of her darker side already (the harrowing of Astapor, the torture of the wine seller daughters), whilst of Sansa's own dark side we've seen despairingly little (maybe because she is one of the purest characters of asoiaf world, which doesn't mean she's not stubborn, and naive or doesn't make mistakes based off impulsivity — just look at her and Joff and Cersei).

One of the few things which all storics seems to agree on is that Orpheus was a priest, in the polytheist sense of the term, he founded cults to Apollo and Dyonisus and he was the keeper of the orphic secrets as a seer. He was deeply involved into faith and religion, and on this matter I must say that only Sansa fits the bill.

Sansa knows the prayers to the Seven, as she has learned them from Cat and possibly her septa, but she also knows the Old Gods of her father and she's often shown praying, singing and chanting. It is an incredibly fundamental part of her own arc to the point that despite all she's suffered and suffering her belief remains steadfast:

There are gods, she told herself, and there are true knights too. All the stories can't be lies. — Sansa IV, ACOK

And when she reaches the Vale, she feels like she is alone because there is not a Godswood with a Heart Tree there, and it seems like the Gods aren't even there.

Even the gods were silent. The Eyrie boasted a sept, but no septon; a godswood, but no heart tree. No prayers are answered here, she often thought, though some days she felt so lonely she had to try. Only the wind answered her, sighing endlessly around the seven slim white towers and rattling the Moon Door every time it gusted.  — Alayne II, AFFC

What is Daenerys stance of Gods? We never see her actively praying though I must say there are moments she must've done so, before it all begun or in the very beginning:

Yet when she slept that night, she dreamt the dragon dream again. Viserys was not in it this time. There was only her and the dragon. Its scales were black as night, wet and slick with blood. Her blood, Dany sensed. Its eyes were pools of molten magma, and when it opened its mouth, the flame came roaring out in a hot jet. She could hear it singing to her. She opened her arms to the fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole, let it cleanse her and temper her and scour her clean. She could feel her flesh sear and blacken and slough away, could feel her blood boil and turn to steam, and yet there was no pain. She felt strong and new and fierce. And the next day, strangely, she did not seem to hurt quite so much. It was as if the gods had heard her and taken pity. — Daenerys III, AGOT

Tbh this whole thing points more imo, to her starting to humor the dragon in her, that relentless, fierce and scouring fire that she'll claim as hers, that she'll use to drawn strength from in her lowest moments but also unleash with her wrath whenever she feels justified about it.

But I can imagine young Daenerys completely overcome by the physical pain, begging the Gods to make it stop, to make her stronger and the dragon dream being her own mind conjuring a metaphorical reason as to why she was becoming stronger, making her identify with something she believes untouchable and undefeatable. The dragon.

But after she comes to Vaes Dothrak she starts to think of all Gods exactly the way the valyrians did before. They are there, perhaps, but not caring enough to show any sing of worship or respect.

She wondered what the Lamb Men had thought, when they first saw the dust of their horses from atop those cracked-mud walls. Perhaps a few, the younger and more foolish who still believed that the gods heard the prayers of desperate men, took it for deliverance. — Daenerys VII, AGOT

"No," Dany whispered as tears ran down her cheeks. "No, please, gods hear me, no." — Daenerys VIII, AGOT

What had she ever done to make the gods so cruel?  — Daenerys VIII, AGOT

This particular last quote is specular to a quote from Sansa herself, that on her wedding night to Tyrion after all she has endured thinks along the same lines, but the difference in phrasing, I believe, might be of importance.

But before that, Sansa herself is told more than once that gods are cruel, she herself wonder of it privately but always resolves that they aren't.

Tyrion turned to Sansa. "My lady, I am sorry for your losses. Truly, the gods are cruel." Sansa could not think of a word to say to him. How could he be sorry for her losses? Was he mocking her? It wasn't the gods who'd been cruel, it was Joffrey. — Sansa I, ACOK

And, again, during their wedding night:

This is not right, this is not fair, how have I sinned that the gods would do this to me, how? — Sansa III, ASOS

See the difference between their mindsets resides in one simple word, Daenerys asks herself “what had she done” (as far as I know, but I am not a native speaker, so I may be mistaken, do is a neutrally connotated verb, it doesn't hold neither a positive nor a negative enforcement) whilst Sansa asks herself “how have I sinned” she uses the verb “sinning” which is negatively connotated.

She doesn't question that the Gods seems to be unfair, or not just, she questions in which way she might have sinned that she finds herself in this situation, whilst Daenerys plight is more outraged is more like “I've done nothing wrong in my life, why are you punishing me?” sort of thing. But again, I am not native speaker, so I may be mistaking the author intent here, still it strikes strange the one would sound so entitled and the other so modest whilst the sentiment behind the self-posed question is similar.

Let's turn back to Daenerys:

"My baby," she screamed, and perhaps the gods heard, for as quick as that Cohollo was dead. — Daenerys VIII, AGOT

"It was her fate, Khaleesi," said Aggo. If I look back I am lost. "It was a cruel fate," Dany said, "yet not so cruel as Mago's will be. I promise you that, by the old gods and the new, by the lamb god and the horse god and every god that lives. I swear it by the Mother of Mountains and the Womb of the World. Before I am done with them, Mago and Ko Jhaqo will plead for the mercy they showed Eroeh." — Daenerys IX, AGOT

And whilst she believes the gods have sent her the comet to show her the way, she seems to slowly rise herself to their own peak, to the point that, when in Meereen she actually thinks as if she's one of them.

From here she could see the whole city: the narrow twisty alleys and wide brick streets, the temples and granaries, hovels and palaces, brothels and baths, gardens and fountains, the great red circles of the fighting pits. And beyond the walls was the pewter sea, the winding Skahazadhan, the dry brown hills, burnt orchards, and blackened fields. Up here in her garden Dany sometimes felt like a god, living atop the highest mountain in the world. Do all gods feel so lonely? Some must, surely. — Daenerys VI, ASOS

So, it sounds to me like peak difference between Daenerys and Sansa in their view of the Gods, and only one of them aligns with Orpheus. You guessed it, Sansa.

Now, Dany is convinced her dreams come true, and she's the one having visions in the House of the Undying. Does she have prophetic dreams? Or is she shaping her experience through the eyes of the dreams she makes?

Daenys the dreamer seems to have foreseen the end of Valyria and it seems that Aegon the Conqueror saw the enemy to the North, and if Martin is truly trying to tell us something Viserys' dream in HotD is clearly intended to describe Jon. So perhaps Dany does see specks of the future in her dreams and shapes her actions based on it.

Sansa's dreams, on the other hand, seem more focused on what she prays for. She prays for a champion and a friend, she dreams she calls for the knights of her stories who did not come to save her. Dreams for her, barred for the wolf-dreams she keeps having, seem to be a way to cope with what is around her more than about something that is about to happen.

I think Sansa's foretelling abilities are more in her daydreams, though she often dreams of Winterfell, of home, usually in her wolf-dreams. She dreams of children who look like her siblings. Those are her wishes coming to life in her mind through her dreams and I've already said about Sansa and the power of manifestation haven't I?

So, imo, whilst Daenerys' dream might be prophetic she shapes her whole life and actions on them instead Sansa's dream (save for the wolf dreams) are Sansa unconscious mind manifesting what she can no longer manifest openly. So, maybe Daenerys will get what she saw in her dreams — her being the last dragon, her dying at the fauces of a dragon, burned alive... as she may think she's immune to fire, whilst Martin has repeated several times that, that was a una tantum happening because of all the magic involved more than a fire immunity she doesn't have. She might be resistant, but I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up in fire at the end — because both of them are manifesting different things and shaping their lives after them. Daenerys conquest and fire and blood; Sansa's own childhood home, safe and sound and children who look like her siblings to remember them by.

So far, so, both girls seem to be on par to hold their part with Orpheus, but when speaking of the traits that make him, Orpheus....Daenerys surprising falls short.

It seems that Orpheus was not your average greek hero, it seems instead that he had inherited from his mother (a Muse) and his father in some myths (Apollo) the gift of music and poetry and that whilst Hermes might have created the lyre it was him who perfected it, some scripts say that it was Apollo himself that taught Orpheus to sing.

Before we delve into what people thought he could do with his gift, I must say this — it is tightly interwoven both with his religious figure and role as figurehead, as in the past more than today, religion and chants and hymns and songs were intertwined and expression of each other — his gift, in particular seems to take another connotation I seldom see spoken of. He's a great communicator, capable to communicate even with inanimate objects and ill-disposed toward him creatures, gods or people. His gift thus, is that of communication. Which he perfected so well he made of it a superior art, in a way so distinguished and powerful than even gods were powerless against it.

It is found written in poets as Simonides of Ceos that Orpheus's music and singing could charm the birds, fish and wild beasts, coax the trees and rocks into dance, and divert the course of rivers. Basically his communication was so good he seemed to have a magic hand with people, gods, animals, plants and even inanimate objects.

Now, though some call Daenerys charming, they often do that after she has become a powerful queen and conqueror, to take a leaf from Bilbo Baggins' book when she's a loaf of bread to be buttered very well to not get on her bad side, and boy does she have a bad side.

And, what of Sansa?

I have read once, and I reiterate (though I don't know who was OP of this genial take of her character) that the only thing we really should say about Sansa, which would say it all, is that she had a men-eating beast and she taught it to eat daintily from her hand and put a ribbon on her because manners are important.

Sansa is shown as capable of navigating an hostile court and use her charm to remain alive and at times to help others as well.

She convinces Joffrey not to execute Dontos, making up on the spot some kind of bad-luck omen in killing a man the day of one's nameday;

She convinces Joffrey not to have the woman with the dead babe killed but to give her coin instead (during a riot, nonetheless)

She manages to calm down a flock of scared women during the siege of KL, even whilst scared for her own life and without someone to look up to and to imitate in her pursue of being in charge of the ladies of the court.

"I will remember, Your Grace," said Sansa, though she had always heard that love was a surer route to the people's loyalty than fear. If I am ever a queen, I'll make them love me. — Sansa VI, ACOK

With her singing, whilst scared for her life and with a knife pointed at her throat, she manages to calm the Hound enough that even if he entered Maegor's Holdfast to rape her, kill her or take her with him he leaves her without hurting her further.

Tyrion himself watches her move around the court at Joffrey and Margaery's wedding and think that she'd make a good wife and a good queen if Joffrey had, had the sense to love her. Because thanks to her communication skills and courtesy she manages to be beloved even in an hostile court; to the point that while fleeting from Joffrey's murder she's told she's a kind lady, because she's crying after she saw the way Joff died.

Whilst posing as the bastard of a very hated man, she manages to fulfill the role left open by her aunt's death, becomes her cousin's primary caretaker and acts de facto Lady of the Eyrie. Lords and ladies respect her despite her apparent bastardy and her apparent parentage.

Also, signing can have another meaning as well. How many times have we heard it used in the sense of “making someone sing/tell the truth”?

“A harp can be as dangerous as a sword, in the right hands” LF says to Sansa and it's true, and Sansa is the one playing the harp. And it is reinforced when LF brings her to testify against Marillion and about Lysa's death and Sansa thinking on how the Royces should want truth and justice, more than whatever LF would offer them. I've said it many times — this foreshadows Sansa's journey with justice and how she is supposed to sing the truth — sings her stories (just like one of Varys' little birds) to the right ears to get LF under trial for his own doing and bring forth his demise in the same way her singing the truth about Joff to Olenna and Margaery spurned them to assassinate him.

And again, music and chants not only have a great deal of importance with religion, but also magic. Why, Mirri chants as she makes her sorceries and prayers and magic.

“Sansa knows no spells, only songs” followed closely with “and she'd never marry the Imp” makes me go all like...but she did marry the Imp forced as she was, so maybe she knows no spells but her songs works their magic, just as her communication skills do.

Sansa tells tales of valor, the same ones she once believed in, to Sweetrobyn in an attempt to make him feel more valiant, to make him act more honorable and she decides to surround him with valiants knights so that he may learn from their example, be loved by them and thus be protected. Just like a bard. And it works.

Sansa's own brand of magic, her communication skills works like a swiss-clock.

Now, this foreshadows directly with other specular pieces in Jon's chapters, creating a connection that despite Drogo and Dany being together and “in love” lacked.

Jon uses her communication rules in his daily life — telling Gilly her name is pretty to please her, as he cannot help her.

Jon sees beyond the Wall and he thinks that Sansa would be awed by the beauty of it like in a song, call it an enchantment and had tears in her eyes (in a similar situation, seeing snow for the first time since leaving home, Sansa acts in that exact same way).

When Jon is thinking of Winterfell, he sees his last memory of his sister, singing softly to herself as she brushed Lady's coat.

Poetic and prophetic as Jon is now in Ghost, a direwolf, sharing in his conscience, and we all think that, that might mean that when he is returned to his body he will take part of that ferality of the direwolf back with him, to enhance his own ferality. And what is, his last memory of Sansa? Her brushing Lady's coat — remember how Nymeria rebelled when Arya did the same? — whilst singing. Effectively charming a men-eating beast to be pliant and obedient to her.

Aww.... Jonny boy will you get all pliant and obedient too when Sansa comes around? After all you've been defending strenuously her claim to Winterfell, as strenuously as Arya's life when you choose to leave Castle Black to fight.

And why did I say, up above, in the beginning that it was important that Orpheus and Eurydice are shown holding hands?, with Orpheus leading as Sansa does in the piece I've chosen to parallel?

If you are familiar with my Jonsa-foreshadowing metas you might already be acquainted with what I think of Sansa building WF back up from snow and dawn stealing in her garden like a thief (flower = maidenhead; her garden — a thief stealing in her garden...stealing her virginity?; here), of her thoughts as she descends to the Gates of the Moon with Sweetrobin (here) and an entire series entitled “it's poetry, it rhymes” (x and xx) about Jon/Ygritte being only a decoy for Jon/Sansa (I swear I had no idea when I chose that title for those metas, but right now I'm starting to think it was because subconsciously I might had already gotten the vibe of Orpheus and Eurydice). And thus, you might already know where I am heading with the digression of hand holding.

So the excerpt of the text we want to look at, for this, can be found in Alayne II, AFFC, for some insight, Sansa has been hiding in the Vale for a bit as Alayne and she and Sweetrobin are making the journey down the Eyrie to the Gates of the Moon before winter hits and they get snowed in. Sansa is as scared as Robert is, but she shoulders on and braves on and lends some of her bravery to Robert by telling him stories of the Winged Knight.

“Ser Sweetrobin,” Lord Robert said, and Alayne knew that she dare not wait for Mya to return. She helped the boy dismount, and hand in hand they walked out onto the bare stone saddle, their cloaks snapping and flapping behind them. All around was empty air and sky, the ground falling away sharply to either side. There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle, and the wind was howling fiercely. It sounds like a wolf, thought Sansa. A ghost wolf, big as mountains. And then they were on the other side, and Mya Stone was laughing and lifting Robert for a hug. “Be careful,” Alayne told her. “He can hurt you, flailing. You wouldn’t think so, but he can.” They found a place for him, a cleft in the rock to keep him out of the cold wind. Alayne tended him until the shaking passed, whilst Mya went back to help the others cross. — Alayne II, AFFC

Wolf's howling is often considered a bad omen, but not for Sansa. Why? Because Sansa is a direwolf, she's a Stark, she identifies with a wolf and a Stark and how do wolves communicate? Howling.

The wolves howl to communicate with each other, especially when they are at great distance from each other, they do to communicate where they are, if there is a danger or if there is a prey which is why to a wolf, howling is a good sign, it means the others of the pack are alive, they are safe and that they are communicating something. To another?, a prey or an enemy? It means they are coming, and it’s not just one, it’s more than one. They are organising, they’re coming for you.

This particular excerpt is a foreshadowing of Jonsa, or Jon and Sansa working as a team. The ghost wolf as big as mountains refers to Jon, as his own direwolf is named Ghost, he is a literal ghost and one of his childhood memories is posing as a ghost in the crypts to scare his siblings; what more, Jon was born in the mountains of Dorne, at the tower of joy — thus only he can be the ghost wolf as big as mountains.

And, what is Sansa doing whilst Jon's presence looms so closely to her?

She is helping her cousin she takes him by the hand (*cough cough* the bride is handed to the groom *cough cough*) then she tends to him until his shakes passes; it seems to me that it foreshadows Sansa finding Jon in a clear fit after he returns from his “death” and warging in Ghost and she will tend him back to normality/life (or as normal as he will be after being resurrected)… sing him back to life, telling him stories of their father's honor and Robb's valor as well to remind him of home, to bring him back to himself (you know since her other cousin is comforted and calmed by music and her tales when he has his fits?)

Together she and her cousin face the perilous journey ahead (empty air and sky, the ground falling away sharply to either side. There was ice underfoot, and broken stones just waiting to turn an ankle— sounds like winter to me; wait *le gasp!* it is actually winter) and hand-in-hand they cross to the other side, where they are safe (back home in Winterfell and the North). That’s to me what that passage is hinting at.

So you see, it fits perfectly, like a glove, with the idea of Orpheus leading Eurydice by the hand, after his singing literally moved mountains and rivers and beasts — the three headed dog — and melted the will of the queen of the Underworld and of her husband granting him the boon he so much wished for. And what is on the other side? On the other side of winter it's spring, and I've said more than once that Sansa is not only the first child born in Winterfell but the only Stark born during spring as summer has lasted for nine years when AGOT begins and Sansa is eleven so she either was born during the last of winter when life starts to rewaken or in early spring with rebirth, whilst on the other side of death is life. Will Sansa show Jon back to spring and life in the same way as Orpheus brought Eurydice back to the threshold of the land of the living? It certainly seems so.

And what is one of Sansa most heartfelt traits? She remembers. She refuses to forget her father and her mother, her siblings. She dreams of them, she remembers them, she tries to do right by them.

As the northerners says “The North remembers” and remembrance is, sometimes, the only way to keep someone dead alive.

Before I delve into the last part of this meta, and the trope of failing to save a loved one, let's see the quote that would make you think Daenerys is the perfect Orpheus lookalike (wrongly, imo).

In another one of her dreams the “stars” supposedly tell her a secret, which is more of a warning in my opinion: «To go north, you must journey south. To reach the west, you must go east. To go forward, you must go back. To touch the light you must pass beneath the shadow.» so this sounds like a warning for her: look back or you will be lost. But what does Daenerys think about looking back?

If I look back I’m lost.

Which is a mantra for her, a mantra she started when everything went south with Drogo. Orpheus is charged not to look back before Eurydice has stepped into the land of the living again. It is because he is fearful, not hearing her steps behind him, that he does turn around in some version of the myth, in others he looks behind because he already stands outside the threshold of the Underworld and wrongly assumes she does as well whilst shielding her from the light of the sun which would've brought her back to life.

She (Dany) feels like she cannot look back at first when she learns of Rhaego's fate, and wonders if she truly knew the price to pay. Then again it happens when she kills Drogo, which also contains a bit of a spoiler for her end:

Inside the tent Dany found a cushion, soft silk stuffed with feathers. She clutched it to her breasts as she walked back out to Drogo, to her sun-and-stars. If I look back I am lost. It hurt even to walk, and she wanted to sleep, to sleep and not to dream. She knelt, kissed Drogo on the lips, and pressed the cushion down across his face. — Daenerys IX, AGOT

This is the moment she's lost forever to her dream of the little girl returning to the big house with the red door and the lemon tree. This is the moment, possibly, that in her mind starts her plan to sacrifice Mirri, Drogo and herself to the flames, putting the dragon eggs on Drogo's body.

Because as I have discussed at length her choice to make the blood sacrifice and what it entails (to which degree she understand it, it's unclear) is predetermined, it's deliberate. And it gives her the dragons in return. And possibly it started here.

And what does Daenerys do? She goes in the tent, takes a cushion with the intent of killing Drogo with it and then walks back out, in doing so she does look back. And as she herself says “if I look back I am lost”, she was lost in this moment in which she finally embraced the dragon quietly before the storm hit with the blood sacrifice.

What is back of her, her responsibility scares her, so she looks only forward. And it is a pattern:

she thinks it when she creates her khalasar before entering the pyre (again mention of death, her death and the blood rite, and the smoke and the fire) in Daenerys X, AGOT;

she thinks of it when she enters Astapor to buy the Unsullied (also because if she looks back she sees her following — people who stood by her through thick and thin — and think it insignificant) in Daenerys III, ASOS;

she thinks it again and again, every time she is faced with a choice she refuses to look back, to acknowledge her errors and learn, she just looks forward.

As long as she survives she has won, no matter the ruin she has left behind. She justifies the blood on her hand and does not look back (ADWD, Daenerys VII);

every time events should spurn her to look back she refuses because if she does she’s lost. Because to survive she has to keep walking (Daenerys X, ADWD) and if she looks back she doesn’t walk and she is lost.

At last when she embraces the dragon (while on the run with Drogon) she sets on her decision to not look back (Daenerys X, ADWD).

To me this foreshadows that she will keep looking forward and the moment she looks back consciously (like they framed it in the show: when she is touching the Iron throne and looks back beyond her shoulder to Jon who will kill her) is the moment she’s lost, might be she will realise the destruction she has brought and what she has become, just before dying (a depth the show failed to deliver to us, probably also because of the shortness of the last season coupled with the lack of the inner dialogue from the characters).

Instead what is Sansa's mantra? To be brave, as brave as a Stark, as brave as her lady mother and her brother and as brave as a lady from a song.

And she is.

Orpheus failing ~ the trope of failing to save a loved one

Or bid the soul of Orpheus silfn notes as warbled to the string, Drew Iron tears down Pluto's cheek, And made Hell grant what Love did seek. — John Milton

Tyrion reclined on an elbow while Sansa sat staring at her hands. She is just as comely as the Tyrell girl. Her hair was a rich autumn auburn, her eyes a deep Tully blue. Grief had given her a haunted, vulnerable look; if anything, it had only made her more beautiful. He wanted to reach her, to break through the armor of her courtesy. — Tyrion VIII, ASOS

No," she wept, "no, please, stop it, it's too high, the price is too high." More stones came flying. She tried to crawl toward the tent, but Cohollo caught her. Fingers in her hair, he pulled her head back and she felt the cold touch of his knife at her throat. "My baby," she screamed, and perhaps the gods heard, for as quick as that, Cohollo was dead. Aggo's arrow took him under the arm, to pierce his lungs and heart. — Daenerys VIII, AGOT

The trope of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is that of failing to save a loved one. Orpheus manages when none other did, he enchanted Cerberus and made Hades cry with his grief, melting also Proserpine's heart with his mourning and love for his wife. His music was able to move rivers and mountains and enchant animals and beasts and yet, humanly he fails the only human task given to him. Have faith.

It is because he is afraid they have deceived him, paranoid even, that he turns around before the time, setting Eurydice to return to the land of the dead nothing more than a shade.

Sansa and Daenerys both share, in AGOT, the struggle with failing to save a loved one. Sansa tries her best to convince Joffrey to grant he father pardon and send him to the Wall, exiled but alive; whilst Daenerys is ready to sacrifice everything to keep Drogo alive and at her side.

Both fail.

Sansa loses Ned and her innocence.

Daenerys loses Rhaego and her innocence. She later kills Drogo herself.

Yet, after this moment their roads take completely different turns and whilst Daenerys often rethinks about Drogo and what happened to him and Rhaego she slowly is become paranoid, afraid of being deceived and uncertain of whom to trust.

Sansa, on the other hand, keeps finding herself in the same situation over and over. Despite her attempts at diplomacy Robb wages war, gets named KitN and Sansa pays the price for every victory he gains, despite her prayers both him and her mother are killed, as well — to her knowledge Rickon and Bran — Arya is nowhere to be found and Sansa is all alone.

She manages to save Donto's life from Joffrey, but ends up unable to save him from LF.

Now, she's struggling for power in the Vale against LF, unawarely or awarely that she is doing it, and the point of contention is lord Robert whom she is protecting where LF is using him.

Just as his grief makes Orpheus more convincing, it seems like grief makes Sansa more beautiful to someone's eyes, and whilst I disagree with Tyrion, I do think that all she's suffered because of her inability to save Ned emotionally has made her even more astounding as a character. Her unfailing kindness and gentleness, her softness despite all that hurt are enhanced by the fact that they remain intact despite it all, as poetically said in this passage:

A pure world, Sansa thought. I do not belong here. Yet she stepped out all the same. — Sansa VII, ASOS

Having failed once does not hinder her from trying again and again. And it's not even her loved ones, or people she knows personally.

During the bread riots Sansa manages to convince Joffrey to throw the woman with the dead babe coin instead of ordering her death.

Despite failing to save Ned, Sansa keeps pushing, she keeps trying to help others, to save others. As I've said more than once, Sansa will most possibly manage to save Jon, bring him back to himself, but in doing so she might as well loose him.

Just like in the show, Sansa telling the truth about him is done to save him, to protect him; Sansa re-organizes the whole army of northerners in disarray and threatens to wage war on KL if Jon is harmed, she manages to gets him to be pardoned by the king even though it means he's exiled at the Wall... yet in doing so, she also looses him however temporarily that might be.

[Ask me again in ten years]

So, seeing all of this, I believe Sansa might manage to save Jon, she might manage that against all odds staked, but in doing so she might have to sacrifice (temporarily I hope) her chance to be with him.

And it's bittersweet and heartbreaking, especially if Jon acts out of love for her and their siblings as suggested by the show, protecting her in return and damning himself in doing so.

And what of Daenerys? Daenerys has lost her sun-and-stars, she's lost her brothers and her father and mother, and her son. She's gained the dragons, her children. And, as Illyrio Mopatis said:

"The frightened child who sheltered in my manse died on the Dothraki sea, and was reborn in blood and fire. This dragon queen who wears her name is a true Targaryen. When I sent ships to bring her home, she turned toward Slaver's Bay. In a short span of days she conquered Astapor, made Yunkai bend the knee, and sacked Meereen.” — Tyrion II, ADWD

And, you know why I think Daenerys sort of died and got resuscitated during the events of Daenerys X, AGOT?

When the fire died at last and the ground became cool enough to walk upon, Ser Jorah Mormont found her amidst the ashes, surrounded by blackened logs and bits of glowing ember and the burnt bones of man and woman and stallion. She was naked, covered with soot, her clothes turned to ash, her beautiful hair all crisped away … yet she was unhurt. (...) Wordless, the knight fell to his knees. The men of her khas came up behind him. Jhogo was the first to lay his arakh at her feet. "Blood of my blood," he murmured, pushing his face to the smoking earth. "Blood of my blood," she heard Aggo echo. "Blood of my blood," Rakharo shouted. And after them came her handmaids, and then the others, all the Dothraki, men and women and children, and Dany had only to look at their eyes to know that they were hers now, today and tomorrow and forever, hers as they had never been Drogo's. As Daenerys Targaryen rose to her feet, her black hissed, pale smoke venting from its mouth and nostrils. The other two pulled away from her breasts and added their voices to the call, translucent wings unfolding and stirring the air, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons. — Daenerys X, AGOT

This is the moment, the moment Daenerys Targaryen, the dragon, the Mother of Dragons, the conqueror is born, and she is born after a blood sacrifice, after a dark sorcery rite. She is reborn in fire and blood.

And as the time goes on, we see less and less of the Dany we've barely known in the beginning of AGOT, the small girl for whom we feel sad. She becomes a conqueror, stepping on others freedom and lives in order to get to the Iron throne, to drink the wine of vengeance for the Usurper's skull (no matter that Bobby B is dead). Formally she frees only the slaves at the end of AGOT and Missandei, she buys the Unsullied, tells them they are hers and then overlaps the concept of freedom with that of dracarys, but she never formally frees them.

She can't look back, not because if she does she looses herself, but because she'd find that Dany, the small girl who loved her brother and her big house with the red door and the lemon tree and see she failed her. That small girl she could've made happy, had she taken her dragons, her khalasar and turned to Vaes Tolorro, made the earth beautiful and alive again.

Instead, the chants, the song she is associated with is neither of prayer, nor of kindness or gentleness. It's the song of dragons and dragons plants no trees. And the more we see of her journey during ADWD, the more we see how her communication skills grow lesser and lesser, how she starts to depend more on the dragon, embraces it, when she sees that diplomacy tastes like defeat on her tongue.

Daenerys Targaryen looses her communication skills in her journey, until all that will be left of her will be fire and blood, and then she will turn back and see she failed to give her inner child back her home.

Sansa Stark, opposite, gains and perfects her communication skills, she depends on them to stay alive, to get back home, to rebuild it from ashes and make it full of life again.

Yes, maybe both failed to save a loved (or several) ones, maybe both of them are fated to fail — Dany toward Drogo and Sansa toward Sansa — in the sense they will save them, but be separated from them. And it's bittersweet and heartbreaking, but, in conclusion I'd say Jon and Sansa fit the bill of parallels with Orpheus and Eurydice much more than Daenerys and Drogo do.

Daenerys to mourn her losses starts a conquest. Sansa to mourn her losses starts to rebuild her home and her family. Perhaps they are two faces of Orpheus... but tbh I feel like the purest form of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is better represented in asoiaf with Jon and Sansa, rather than Drogo and Dany because:

Daenerys does not fit the bill of parallel with Orpheus because his distinctive trait is communication and we see her loose it.

Drogo is not an Eurydice parallel, because he dies only after Daenerys has done her pact with Mirri, by her own hand.

Daenerys in her grief does not turn to creation — like Orpheus did, composing music and poetry even after he failed to save Eurydice — she turns to destruction, to conquest.

As opposed to Jon and Sansa, who, for now (I am sure proof will keep piling up, because these whole collection of foreshadowing and proofs comes before they even interact in the book!) are yet to share a single scene together in the books:

Jon's body is dead, his soul reachable (just as Eurydice) fitting the bill perfectly

the way Jon's killed is reminiscent of Eurydice stepping on a nest of vipers either to flee someone trying to steal her, or because the menaids were angered

Sansa fits perfectly the bill of Orpheus, her fundamental traits and we see her hone her communication skills and depend on them and use them for good.

Jon's presence looms in Sansa's periphery foreshadowing her nursing him back to himself after his ‘death’ and helping him, by leading him through winter and to spring (why, Sansa learns that Jon has made LC as she's in the Vale)

Jon's last memory of Sansa is of her managing her men-eating direwolf whilst singing to her and brushing her coat — foreshadowing of Sansa managing to tend him back from ferality after his prolonged stay in Ghost.

Sansa's arc and refusal to stop trying to saving the people around her.

Jonsa finishing arc in GoT with them protecting each other to the very end and it causing their separation (it is unclear if it is temporary or not, seems to be hinted at as temporary tho as Orpheus separation from Eurydice as he too will die one day and reunite with her in the Underworld)

So... yeah, it turned long — again — still, hope you enjoyed it! Thank you to all the lovely anons who forwarded their opinion, this meta would not have turn out this way without your input so thank you and I hope you enjoyed it! Do you agree? What do you all think of this?

Let's hear your opinions! As always sending all my love ~G.

You can find my other mythology essays here:

Cersei and Daenerys — Venus decoded

Sansa and the mythological figures she embodies (Persephone/Kore, Isis, Medusa, Gunnlöd, Psyche) — the Myth of Sansa Stark

Jonsa foreshadowing part VIII — Love and Psyche

Jonsa foreshadowing part IX — the story of Osiris and Isis

[holdoncallfailed]

I’m moving to nyc in september and I was wondering if you know any cool places I should check out!

well it depends on what you find cool and where you're going to be living :-) i'm just going to list a bunch of random stuff as it occurs to me under the cut. most of these are limited to the neighborhoods i've lived in or had friends in and also my own interests lol.

i like going to museums the most, if you are moving for school a lot of museums will offer a discount or free tickets for students or if you have proof of residency (rent email or whatever). some museums you can visit 1 million times and still find new things (the met) and some are worth just paying for once to see the space and the collection (the morgan)

met

moma

brooklyn museum (underrated and near prospect park which is great to walk around)

guggenheim (overrated, but it's cool to go at least once to see the building and worth it if you actually like the art that's on)

international center of photography

american folk art museum

museum of the moving image

lesbian herstory archives

frick

museum of the city of new york

met cloisters

new york transit museum!!!!!!!! such a good place to have a photoshoot with friends lol

the whitney. i guess

special collections exhibits at NYPL

^related to that: not really a ‘museum’ per se but places like printed matter and boo hooray are private dealers of art/ephemera which they will often have on display....and you can TOUCH them!!!!!!

barnard zine library

arthouse theatres like metrograph, ifc center, MoMI, anthology, lincoln center, and some other random spots downtown and in brooklyn still have film projectors and will do screenings of older movies on 35mm prints (or digital) which are always so exciting to see.

you can take the staten island ferry for free on a nice day and see a very classic view of the city skyline. there's not a lot to do on staten island but it's nice to visit the alice austen house.

thrifting but specifically in the bronx (best) and queens and some parts of brooklyn (don't bother in manhattan).

idk bars and restaurants?? bed-stuy, bushwick, greenpoint and williamsburg all have lots of cool bars and places to eat. obviously chinatown/flushing has great food and markets and so does jackson heights. i like the union square farmers market too.

bed-stuy is my favorite neighborhood to walk around because the architecture is beautiful. park slope and brooklyn heights/dumbo are also very picturesque.

in the winter i love to ice skate at wollman rink in central park. i also like going to coney island in the winter cos it’s mostly closed and usually quiet...it’s a very peaceful subway ride when it’s not busy.

idk i go to a lot of cemeteries and parks and hang around in there cos they’re free. those are probably more fun (social) if you have a dog or know how to skateboard tho.

tbh i don't really feel like i Do much besides hang out with my friends and going to whatever they're going to lmao. my advice: if there's a venue (theatre/bar/event space/club/concert hall/museum/local park/library/whatever) that you like follow them on instagram to see when shows and events are announced. re: broadway shows, make friends with somebody at columbia or NYU to get comped tickets or do day-of lotteries. DON'T go to times square unless you're seeing a show. also make friends with at least one rich person (or someone with a rich partner) and try to get invited to at least one of their parties or events cos it’s guaranteed to be cuckoo even if it’s just one time.

remember 2 open the emergency exit door for people in the subway and be genuinely nice to your bodega guy(s) and your neighbors. i hope u like living in nyc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cinnamonest]

Daily Life - Yandere Childe, Zhongli, Xiao

A continuation of the earlier post about Kaeya and Diluc

Content Warnings: n/s/f//w mentions/themes/stuff (but not like, explicit detail), fem reader, normal yandere stuff

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

Childe's a busy guy. He wakes you up every morning, usually pretty sweetly. He'll nuzzle up against your face, mumbling a "good morning" into your ear. He's sweet, but, you gotta get up when he tells you to. And you have to be the one to make food, he likes watching you walk around.

If he's gone, he is again one to give darling a surprising amount of freedom. He has the highest quality of security available and all, so he allows some roaming. That and, in a sorta terrifying thought, he's one hundred percent confident that even if you got away, he could find you, so he's not even too worried about escaping. He's so confident that you'll never truly escape him, which frankly is pretty intimidating for darling to realize. He'll get you things you like and stuff to do, stimulate your mind and all that, probably as time goes on will leave you chore lists and things you're required to do for him or else.

When he gets back, he's very tired usually, will expect you to make him food and be sweet and greet him at the door when he comes back, preferably on your knees. If you're not, he'll get irritated, especially if you're trying to hide. If you're just asleep or something, he might excuse it and find it cute. But he does a lot for you, you know, the least you can do is this one little thing. If he's had a particularly bad day, he'll be extra irritated, so it's wise to follow this command, and be ready to have all of his irritation taken out on you the moment he gets back. You're his favorite little stress ball to stuff and squeeze.

For days off, as I've said before he's one of the few that will willingly take you outside, and unlike Kaeya from the last routine post he's not in a bad mood about it either. He likes to show you off, likes walking in public holding hands or with his arm around you so that people can see, it gives him a sort of pride, and honestly he likes mimicking a "normal" relationship. But just know you're on a tight leash. Not literally of course... yet. He lays it out very clearly exactly how you are to behave when going outside, not speaking to others and not going out of his sight. Any attempts to make a scene, try to get a stranger to help etc will be dealt with fairly harshly. And don't think about pulling some covert, sneaky shit like trying to look at a stranger with the "help me" facial expression or trying to silently mouth something, slip a written message to a waitress etc -- he'll be watching you closely enough to pick up on any of that, and honestly that will set him off more than blatantly trying to make a scene. You will be immediately headed home to get an attitude adjustment since you can't behave.

Later on, he'll want you to accompany him to his work sometimes, on those days that whatever he has to do involved more sitting down than fighting - paperwork, important meetings, etc. He likes your presence, of course, you make the time pass more quickly. But really this is, more than anything, because he's an arrogant show-off. He'll give you something to fiddle with but will just sit you on his lap throughout the whole time, gently stroking your thigh or resting his head on your shoulder, making you wear embarrassingly revealing things and making sure everyone sees, be it the entire group in a wide meeting hall or some subordinate come to have a one-on-one talk, or even his superiors, thanking them for them letting him bring his pet to work. It even allows him to get in some good de-stressing during the middle of the day when no one else is around. Expect lots of bring-your-fucktoy-to-work days like that.

Of course, not every day is spent out, though. He also has days he'd rather just stay at home. These days are usually after a long period of difficult work and late nights, so he's exhausted. Expect lots of naps, just cuddles and an arm wrapped around your waist (with a solid iron grip, of course). May or may not progress to slow cuddlefucking, who knows (yes it always does). He gets all whiny and demanding because he's soooo tired, so he'll make you get on top after a few rounds.

-------

Honestly we all envy my Zhongli's darling already, but God he's the best to wake up to. He just softly kisses the side of your face, running his hands down your sides. He can't let you sleep in too much, it's bad for your health! You can probably beg for a few minutes extra. And God, is it the best to wake up to. He's already got someone (probably one of the other adepti, a person, who knows) to make you food, and it's never skimping out either, it's always tons of food and your favorite things, too. Within limits, of course, can't have you eating nothing but things that are bad for you. He's also one that will get you tons of things to do throughout the day, virtually anything you ask for, he'll pay for (well... someone will, but you'll think he did, at least). He actually might also give you a list of very simple tasks to do, just to give you some motivation, since even if you have a lot to do, having no tasks and only play can get depressing without the sense of accomplishment. But he's much more lenient on your completion of all of them.

He's always reluctant to leave and gives you a lot of headpats and kisses before finally heading out for  the day, always taking time to contemplate whether or not he can just take the day off. During the day you'll stay in the confinements of your cage, be that an abode or a building somewhere, making sure you stand zero chance of ever getting out. If you force his hand (read: multiple escape attempts), he'll reluctantly have to limit your roaming abilities, but once you're confined to a smaller cage and have some privileges taken away, he's certain you'll be on your best behavior to get out again, and maybe be a little more grateful and understanding in the future. Once he gets back, it's generally a very nice time, he likes to lead a quiet life and will want to hear all about your day, what you did, see the progress on all those little projects you've been working on for art or music or whatever hobby you've taken up to pass the time. If he's had a bad day, he'll probably tell you about it, but you know, put it in terms simple enough for you to understand, since you wouldn't normally get such complicated matters.

On very very rare occasions, not nearly as often as Childe, he might take you to on his day with him, probably not during normal workdays, but for some kind of special day -- a large meeting, or the opposite, a day where he has nothing to do but slow paperwork alone in an office. The sunlight is good for you, and he'll bring stuff for you to do too. To be honest, it's not as obvious nor as obnoxiously vocal about it as Childe, but he also does enjoy having your presence in front of others, letting them see you. The things you'll have to wear aren't nearly as obscenely lewd as Childe's either, but they're not entirely wholesome either.

He really likes having off days. On those days, he'll probably want to take you somewhere, generally will do whatever you want to do. He's incredibly knowledgeable on everything in the area, and would probably also really like going out somewhere secluded in nature, rather than in the city, like a nice view from the nearby mountains or the like, and just spend a day there. It's nice, and far away from prying eyes that can't recognize your face off the missing person posters or witness the obscene things that may or may not take place up there.

 Spending time home is always nice too, though, just quietly going about the day and doing whatever you want, although inevitably taking breaks for much-needed... displays of physical affection. And he tries so hard to be gentle, but he also has a lot of stress pent up that may just come out and result in being a bit rougher than usual, but he's always apologetic afterward, making sure you're alright. He's also pretty strict about the time you go to bed. Making sure you get enough sleep and all that.

-------

Xiao's poor, poor darling. You always wake up to him shaking you awake. He's impatient. Once he feels you've had enough sleep, he'll get you up like that. Don't try to get more sleep-in time, he's not very gracious on that, will simply huff and yank you up. Otherwise, the mornings can be... Sweet. It's not like he's trying to be so cold all the time; if you're well behaved he can be pretty loving, even if he doesn't quite know how to be gentle. He just has... Low tolerance.

Xiao is very quiet for the most part, and the mornings have a sort of silent peacefulness provided it's one of your days that you don't choose to be difficult. He likes to watch you go about the morning. It's a little creepy to be honest? He just sits there nearby and watches you move around, make food, brush your hair or teeth or whatever. He'll eat whatever you make him, even if it's not one of his extremely limited liked items. He might complain, though.

During the times he IS gone, well, it's extremely boring for poor darling. Early on, or if you've done something to warrant it (read: literally the slightest word of disagreement, a tone of voice he doesn't like, even a facial expression he deems defiant) you'll be bound to the bed, hand and foot. Nothing to do whatsoever but stare at the ceiling. It's your own fault, if you were good maybe it wouldn't be like this, he says. When you are good, and have a nice long-time record of being extremely pleasant and sweet to him - and I mean a LONG time - he might - might - finally let you be unbound aside from a long anklet chain connecting you to the bed. Not like you have much else to do, though. Maybe he'll get you books if you ask nicely and grovel at his feet. But that's it. He doesn't like the thought of giving you too much entertainment. If being alone is mind-numbingly boring, well, you'll enjoy time with him that much more. Eventually you'll reach a point where you're begging him not to leave, he hopes, even if he would never admit to that. So what he'll do is balance it, give you just enough to keep your whining down, but keep making sure you're miserable when alone. He only allows you "activities" (read: a book) on certain days of the week, or every other day, every third day, something like that. And you can only get a new book once a month or so. And it's whatever he finds, not just what you want, so he'll start dropping you with encyclopedias and textbooks and other dull things. You can't complain, after all he IS giving you something to do. If you're gonna complain, well, how would you like to have the reading privilege revoked entirely? And that shuts you up. So, really, poor darling's days are very very bleak, dull, and empty, when alone.

He doesn't really have a "end of the day." His "job" is more or less a 24/7 thing, he goes when he's needed and when he's not needed he'll be with you. Usually it's a semi normal schedule but it can lead to odd intervals - you may have times he's gone for a full day or so, and then times where he's there for a whole day, etc. Spending time together is quiet, but he's surprisingly fond of physical affection. He spends a lot of time just... alone with his thoughts. Spacing out and thinking, looking up at the sky, except, well, now it's him, his thoughts, and you. You'll spend it with him too, iron grip locked around your waist so you can't pull away from his lap. He's also one to need to get out the... frustrations of life through physical activity at night.

Days he's there, again, it's pretty quiet, he's not much one for extensive conversation, of course. If you talk, he'll listen, but don't expect him to say much back. He likes the sound of your voice, one of the only people he doesn't prefer silence to, so long as you're not whining about wanting to leave. He doesn't really have a lot of sitting-down type of work to do, so if he's spending a whole day time with you, it means he's specifically worked it out so that he's able to do so for that purpose. He'll probably prompt you to speak, it's super awkward really. An awkward comment about this or that that he clearly wants you to start talking about, and he'll talk back just a little bit, with his own brand of harsh pessimism -- but that's just the only way he really knows how to communicate, he's not actually trying to shut you down when he responds to everything negatively. It's the most bizarre bonding time, but bonding nonetheless. He also likes to watch you do tasks -- to make food, even if it's just for yourself, to clean and walk around doing your little tasks. He may or may not eventually discover a fondness for forcing you to walk around naked, poor darling.

I've mentioned before that his drive is reactive - it gets heavier when he's with you. So really, your day will be filled with little fun intervals of very spontaneous fucking. Like, he has no sense of mood or timing. It's completely random, very forceful, will just loop his hands under your arms and scoop you up and carry you over to bed at any random moment, interrupting your speech even. Or, sometimes the bed is too far, and just bending you over is easier. And then, he'll just carry on like nothing happened.

He's not one to rant and rave about his day by default, and especially not early on. In the later stages, though, once he's comfortable with you, you might find him slipping out a frustration here or there, a passing comment about something upsetting that happened, and if you pry at it, he'll end up talking, much more than usual. He kind of doesn't even realize he's starting to ramble a bit, and if he catches himself he'll stop and mutter something about it being unimportant anyway.

Bonus little hc: He asks you how your day was. Every day that he's not with you. It's a routine - he started doing it because from his limited knowledge of human relationships, it's the "normal," so he tries to emulate what he feels like is normal in a relationship. It's kind of funny, well, not for poor darling, it feels mocking. Like, how do you think my day was, Xiao? All tied up and left only to stare at the ceiling? If you get all sarcastic with him like that, though, he might see it as grounds for punishment, so, be snarky at your own risk.

[spishidden]

My ROTTMNT Ocs Part 1/?

Meet Capella. The cosmic horror space puppy

Note: This is part of a fic I am writing which will come out when I feel like it. Vague details are given as to not spoil anything

Design notes

I was inspired by Arcana Tahm Kench which is where the hollow head and no eyes come from. I then combined that piece with the fluffyness of Willump

The empty head also serves the purpose of allowing his companion and best friend, Constance (will do a full post about him when I feel like), to see the stars

Constance climbs onto Capella's back and dunks his head into the puppy's hollow void where it can display different stars across the universe

Yes it can zoom in. Constance is on track to becoming an Astronomy Prodigy thanks to his Space Puppy

Capella is giant. 8'4 or 256 Cm

Its tail trails into stardust. Just hard to recreate to effect with ballpoint pen -_-

Note all its fluff and softness. Has the cuddle potential of over 9000

Story

Capella fell from the sky onto the earth eons ago and laid in deep slumber for millions of years. His resting place then became part of the Hidden City. He was awoken when the Kraang invaded and was captured by a band of animal smugglers.

Why couldn't Capella just, universe its way out of that? It has no memory of how it got to Earth. It doesn't know how to access its inner power. So even though Capella can theoretically swallow a planet, it doesn't know how.

With the help of Constance and the Hamato Clan, it escapes and befriends the little boy. Together, they study the stars and explore Capella's hidden potential. And after a series of events, they become intertwined with the trouble hiding in the shadows of New York and the Hidden City.

Donnie quickly becomes friends with Constance and Capella over their shared love of science. After seeing Constance's star maps, notes, calculations, and theories that he made after meeting the space puppy, Donnie realized that he is a force to be reckoned with. It also feels nice knowing there's someone else who blends magic and science together

Capella hates Leo. In the same way Mayhem hates Raph. The first time Leo leaped onto its back to feel its fur, Capella growled and scared Leo off. Of course, Leo still tries to get on the space puppy's good side. With the only result being when he offers it its favorite food, chocolate rabbits.

Mikey and Capella are homies. Bros. Gal pals. Mikey has given Capella fancy nail art on its claws that always manages to come off a few hours later. One time when he was playing a game in the arcade Constance and Capella stood behind and watched. But when the soundtrack started going off they discovered something incredible. Capella can dance. Now they all meet up to have some awesome dance parties on empty roofs

Unlike Mayhem, Capella ADORES Raph. It will lunge at him at first sight and lick his face. He and Capella are the definition of the "I've only had ____ for one day. But if anything were to happen to them I would kill everyone in this room and then myself" meme. Constance introduced Raph to their version of fetch. Instead of using a ball, they use a bigass Dear skull Constance found during a summer camp. Raph will go on runs with Capella and will race him. He’s so happy there’s a pet that likes him.

April’s only rule is that Capella is banned from her apartment. Other than that she loves it to death. Mayhem however is super SCARED of Capella. It will run or teleport away whenever it sees the space puppy. Which is good because Capella always wants to chase Mayhem around.

Splinter is not a big fan of Capella, he thinks it causes too many problems in the lair. But Draxum loves it. He only shows it in small ways; lightly petting its soft fur, giving it bites of his food, and making chew toys with the help of Donnie. If someone were to ask Draxum if he has a favorite, he always says the dog.

Casey Jr was scared of it at first, but after some time he has grown to love it. If the Jones’ are in the lair with Constance and Capella, you will see Cassandra attached to one of the space puppy’s limbs. Will she let go? No one has ever seen her let go willingly.

THANK YOU FOR READING!!

Next post will be about Constance. Afterwards I’ll introduce “The Wisp” (oooooooo)

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update

what's up gang! I've accepted that I probably won't hit my stated goal of reading 69 books before the year is over, but I have been on a MAJOR reading kick lately and I have way more to report than last month.

what have I been reading?

Folklorn (Angela Mi Young Hur, 2021) - I stand by everything I said last month when I was just starting to get really absorbed in this novel - the prose is deliciously engrossing, rolling around in the expanse between scientific observation and poetic description, the two melding seamlessly to create a sharp-eyed and cynical perspective - and am so glad I happened upon it. a contemporary story filled with ghosts, a fascinating framing device for stories about immigration, identity, mental illness, and trauma.

Superman Smashes the Klan (Gene Luen Yang, 2020) - I don't read a lot of comics, and I read even fewer comics by the big two publishers, but every time I do I'm left with the unshakeable feeling that I should really read more comics. Yang pulls together a tight and charming story of 1940s Metropolis, weaving together the story of Lan-Shin "Roberta" Lee, a young Chinese-American girl who faces covert and overt racism upon moving to the city with her family, and Clark Kent, who is early in his career as Superman and struggling with the burgeoning realization of alien heritage. their stories converge as a hate group that's definitely not the KKK targets the Lees and forces Clark to decide whether or not he's willing to let the world know exactly how different he really is if it means saving the day. 10/10 feel-good superhero shenanigans, strongly recommend.

Empire of Gold (S.A. Chakraborty, 2020) - man, what's even left to say? Chakraborty sat me down for a fucking masterclass in how to end an epic fantasy series, with resolutions for each of her main three characters that took my breath away with just how satisfying they each managed to be. I spent the last 60 or so pages sobbing pretty much continuously and that's the highest recommendation I can give.

Bloodchild and Other Stories (Octavia E. Butler, 1996) - I really ought to savor each of Butler's books when I read them, because there are only so many and I'll be terribly sad when there's nothing new left for me to read, but I devoured this small collection in a day because I simply couldn't put it down. the inclusion of a short afterword for each story makes so clear the degree to which Butler wrote to engage her own curiosities, and as ever she brings an amazingly human touch to the strange and dangerous. as always, my utmost respect for the queen.

The Girl Who Kept Winter (Giao Chi, 2020) - my understanding is that this is an English translation of a Vietnamese novel published in 2007, and my GOD have English-speaking audiences been missing out. The Girl Who Kept Winter feels like a lot of things - Labyrinth, sort of (Leatherback, Anole, and Switch would be excellent Muppets), and Galavant, a little (if people burst into elaborate displays of magical kung fu instead of musical numbers), and maybe the Princess Bride (if I liked the Princess Bride). it's a romance, it's an adventure, it's a martial arts movie, it's a comedy, it's a whale of a good time that took me by surprise at every turn. I want to recommend it to everybody I know.

Once More Upon a Time (Roshani Chokshi, 2020) - a delicious little nugget of a story, an offbeat fairytale about a king and queen embarking on a quest to recover their lost love. at a petite 144 pages it goes down like literary cotton candy, sugary and sparkling and gone before you can think too hard about it at all, leaving nothing but a sweet aftertaste in its wake.

Outlawed (Anna North, 2021) - the entire time I was devouring this book I couldn't help but this that it was exactly what I had hoped Upright Women Wanted would be. a queer, crunchy western, taking place in an alternate American history in which the country has been left in fertility-obsessed shambles in the wake of a population-destroying flu, where barren women are liable to be hanged as witches at worst or cast out from their societies at best. our protagonist, an aspiring midwife named Ada, finds herself unable to conceive a child by her husband and does what any sensible young woman would do - starts serving at the doctor to a gang of outlaws led by a charismatic, enigmatic, and seemingly genderless leader known only as The Kid. a rip-roaring story full of gender fuckery and shootouts.

what do I have checked out now?

Velvet Was the Night (Silvia Moreno-Garcia, 2021) - this honestly feels like a huge get; Moreno-Garcia's new releases usually have a waitlist a mile long. I'm only three chapters deep so far, but I feel like this thriller set among the political unrest of 1970's Mexico might be my favorite of Moreno-Garcia's novels yet.

Fireheart Tiger (Aliette de Bodard, 2021) - I haven't started this yet, but if there are two things I love it's political fantasy intrigue and a good little novella.

Milk Fed (Melissa Broder, 2021) - also haven't started this, but I am EXCITED. this is probably the contemporary novel of the year that I've been most looking forward to getting my hands on.

what do I have on hold?

Iron Widow (Xiran Jay Zhao, 2021) - STILL!! reader, I'm losing my mind here.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Becky Chambers, 2021) - if I go too long without Becky Chambers' gentle reflections on what it means to be a person I start getting antsy :)