#Obviously I am aware of the like. Many issues with the mythology of the opening of the west

[bsaka7]

so who's going to write the fic where Charles and Carlos r on opposite sides of the sheep vs cattle fight on the open range in the 1870s and then they fuck. maybe there is some attempted murder. and then Charles has to go back to his crew's chuckwagon the next day for food OBV and then talk to idk fucking. Daniel. Like he doesn't know that one of Daniel's friends isn't going to go try and kill all the sheep cuz they ruin the land for the cattle. Charles' nose is sunburnt. hm????

[cienie-isengardu]

Not only do I not regret asking you to "RELEASE THE RAMBLES!", I'm sending you requests for more. Below is a list of questions that I asked @bihansthot , and enjoyed their answers, but because you are so thorough, and answer in such depth, I'm re-asking them to you.

Brace yourself, it's a list. I didnt have time to sort thru them, I just copied and pasted, so if any are questions you already answered before, please feel free to include the links.

"LET US BEGIN!"

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In the spirit of potential future writing,  I'm trying to find a building that  would make a good substitution for Lin Kuei temple.

I've tried looking up ancient Chinese military barracks/forts, and have found some stuff,  but is all exterior.  Anyone know of any locations (or several I can cobble together) that would make good inspiration fodder?

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So, uhm, religion? What's the Lin Kuei's take on that one? I know they are aware of Gods, they team up with/ encounter Raiden all the time,  and have literally worked for/against Shinook, so I know they recognize higher powers... but I  guess the question is,  do they care?

Do they have a religion,  or spiritual practice that resembles religion? Or do they have a more practical approach "gods exist,  but we just consider them very strong people"?

Which segues into... do they recognize and participate in holidays, or things like birthdays? Or are all their celebrations work related (I.E. successful missions or levels of combat mastery)?

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Food.  What foods do they normally eat? What foods do they like?  What foods don't they like? What foods do they absolutely love so much they'll stop what they're doing to get it?

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If you had to match the Lin Kuei with a dynasty,  what one would it be? (I know the 2021 movie has the opening in the Ming dynasty, so the Lin Kuei is at least that old,  but given that movie Bi Han hasn't aged in 400 years, and was taken is a child,  its probably much older) (and also know the game probably cherry picked random Chinese things it liked).

What do you think the Lin Kuei's view on artistic culture (probably not the right word) is? I know they are heavily militaristic,  but in the game,  Kuai Liang offers Hanzo tea and he properly prepares it the Japanese way, that says they have something of an education other than just related to fighting?

Lastly,  in the movie,  everything Bi Han does is "for the Lin Kuei", but the Lin Kuei is on Earth (assumedly),  and he is working for a guy who wants to enslave Earth, so what do you think the deal is?

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Question about the Cryomancers. I know the game lore says that they are supposed to be rare, but I also know that the Lin Kuei have had at least 5 (grandpa, papa, older, and younger Sub Zero,  and Frost). 4 of which are part of 3 generations that inherited it even with mixed blood (I'm assuming Mama Sub Zero wasn't Cryomancer since they left her alone).

That's a lot of generations in a row for a rare trait... So do you think the Cryomancers as a group have figured out they're being hunted and have chosen to live in hiding?

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Lin Kuei society question? I like writing so I also like world building and I think about these things.

Is Lin Kuei society ever covered? I know there is a Grandmaster, a handful master assassins (Sub Zero's, Sektor, Cyrax, etc) and the  movies always have a bunch canon fodder lesser assassins.

And they live in the very isolated Lin Kuei Palace/Temple in Arktika (or wherever it used to be)

But is Lin Kuei (we'll call it "village") ever covered?   Do they have willing servants, kidnapped slaves, or a mix of both? Are there women (non fighter women,  I know there's Frost) or do they employ strictly male help? If there are women, what's their role, and are there children born there? What about Elderly? What about resources,  is everything (from food, clothes, weapons, and the raw materials to create them) grown or manufactured on sight by skilled laborers or do they import/interact with the outside world? How vicious or civil is this society, could you be killed for looking at Sektor wrong or do they value your services to a degree? What's the degree? This is obviously a combat culture,  but is everyone expected to know martial arts of some variety, is it optional, or do they prohibit it among the servants/slaves? How strict are they on things like clothing, food, alcohol,  drugs, "luxuries", or pleasures? Money? If they interact with the world do they recognize and use $$ currency, commodity currency, or a mixture? Internally are the Lin Kuei payed or just provided for? What about illness or injury,  if you're not a master and it a serious injury/illness are you taken care of or do they just give you a quick death?

Etc. That's all the questions I can think of,  but please feel free to answer questions I didn't ask,  if you think of anything else.

Thank you for this wonderful list to talk about! I’m gonna split the answer into smaller parts, for better focusing on each aspect but also so I don’t feel bad for keeping you waiting for ages, lol. For now let’s focus on asks about the religion!

So good questions! I do think they have some spiritual practice(s) because in martial arts the state of a mind is as important as the physical body and religion is one of many ways to shape someone’s mindset from a young age. I do, however, think that Lin Kuei does not worship the gods. They are aware that the gods exist (with Raiden as the thorn in the side) and may even respect their supernatural powers and battle skills but it never has stopped Lin Kuei from desecrating holy places, murdering people and stealing stuff for the best price. So, it seems to me that whatever religion the members of the clan follow, by nature it is rooted in nontheism.

Of course, there is also a chance that Lin Kuei worships some forgotten deity or deities (as a remnant of their ancient connections with Outworld / realms conquered and destroyed by Shao Kahn?) or may even practice ancestor worship which seems like a good way to uphold a widely understood tradition that plays an important role in the discussed community.

The closest thing to religious practice was seen in Mortal Kombat X, when Sub-Zero and his warriors seemed to pray together before statue of god / deity / ancestor / legendary warrior / personalized thing they value the most (sadly, my knowledge about Asian religious practices or faiths is very limited so I don’t have idea if the statue is supposed to represent any real god/religious symbol).

At the same time, it could be just a bluff since Grandmaster was aware of Cage’s team infiltrating the Lin Kuei territory and used this moment to lure them into a trap. Additionally, Mortal Kombat X comics presented once Kuai Liang sitting before the same statue albeit in a completely different (devoid of reverence?) position.

Of course, if we take into account Mortal Kombat Armageddon, the game states that Lin Kuei Temple placed in Arctika was actually once the Temple of Delia (the great sorceress & wife of god Argus) that at some point get abandoned and re-used by Sub-Zero’s clan.

(In the background, we can see a statue of Delia that Lin Kuei does not worship but did not remove for whatever reason. Mixing both old and new games, we can only wonder if MKX!statue is also the remnant of someone else's faith/religion?)

Beside that, Kuai Liang was pretty vocal about Lin Kuei not worshipping the Elder Gods, what was seen in MK11’s intro dialogue with Cetrion

Sub-Zero: The Lin Kuei do not worship the Elder Gods.

Cetrion: We seek gratitude, not worship.

Sub-Zero: I see no distinction.

and personally did not have any reason to pray to the goddess:

Sub-Zero: Why should I pray to you?

Cetrion: Why does a bird flap its wings?

Sub-Zero: I asked a simple question.

In all fairness, in MK11 Kuai Liang seems the most passive-aggressive toward the Elder God while Frost is focused on her ambitions and Noob!Bi-Han just wants to be left alone when bothered by Cetrion. Similar thing happens toward Raiden. Despite gratitude for saving him, Kuai Liang does not spare the god criticism (can’t serve both Elder Gods and Earthrealm, isn’t fit for his role of protector) and in MKX outright says he does not fear divine beings:

Raiden: Sub-Zero...

Sub-Zero: I fear no gods, Raiden.

Raiden': That's why you shall lose.

Surprisingly, Kuai Liang’s interaction with MK11!Fujin sounds less accusing than with Raiden and Cetrion and it is connected closely to their ties with Bi-Han. And maybe Kuai Liang did seek in the past Fujin and other elements to make a peace with them, like he planned to do so in Mortal Kombat 4 Limited comics?

"I came here to make peace with the gods of the elements that you fought [...]"

Anyway, the accusingly behaviour toward Raiden and Cetrion could be just Kuai Liang’s personal dislike for gods and serious authority issues, which makes sense considering how much he suffered because of their meddling and conflicts.

But honestly?

The available examples of Lin Kuei attitude toward gods, demigods and supernatural beings suggest how little the warriors - especially cryomancers - care for them.

Like, we have Bi-Han in Mythologies, who asked Quan Chi about details of mission:

Sub-Zero: If it's so precious, why don't you get it yourself?

Quan Chi: I cannot enter the temple until the four elements within its walls have been defeated. And I am not on the best of terms with the gods of your realm... especially your god of thunder.

Sub-Zero: Tell me about these elements.

Quan Chi outright said he and earthrealm gods weren’t friends and Bi-Han, reading between the lines, could get the idea that he may end on bad terms with Thunder God. Yet he was interested only in elements (lesser gods than protector of realm?) guarding the temple.

Then Bi-Han beat down four demigods and met a displeased Raiden after Quan Chi got the Shinnok Amulet. His reaction? No fear, like meeting an angry god was a normal occurrence.

Rayden: Do you realize what you've done??

Sub-Zero: I was just earning my living.

Rayden: Your clan's ignorance and greed will cost this entire realm. You must now set things straight.

Sub-Zero: Quan Chi could simply be a lunatic sorcerer. I've never heard of an elder god named Shinnok or of a place called the Netherrealm.

Rayden: Well, you'd better start believing in both, because you're going to the Netherrealm and you're going to bring the amulet back. We must act quickly. I have no dominion in the Netherrealm... You are reality's only hope.

Sub-Zero: I'll do it, Thunder God... but only because I have no choice.

And once he came back from Netherrealm, where he was fixing what he messed up in the first place on Raiden’s order, his abrasive attitude did not change much:

Sub-Zero: Here... the amulet.

Rayden: Impressive, Sub-Zero. Perhaps you will reconcile your reckless past after all.

Sub-Zero: That's it? Not even a thank you?

Of course, to some degree Raiden’s words did have an impact on Bi-Han but even the god’s warning about his soul tainted with evil did not stop him from coming back to Lin Kuei. Bi-Han’s attitude and/or approach to gods seems to change somehow once he was reborn as Noob, but that is a different matter for different times.

Anyway, Mythologies!Bi-Han and MK11!Noob act less aggressive toward gods than Kuai Liang. But then we have Sub-Zero from from the MK novel by Jeff Rovin, who not only is not afraid of gods but outright insult them:

“Wait! Be warned, Shang Tsung. He is cursed!”

“Cursed? By whom?”

Ruthay wailed, “By the immortal Yu.”

Shang Tsung felt cold spiders crawl up his spine. “The demigod Yu?”

“Yes… he who is said to dwell in the underground caverns of Horse Ear Mountain… which is sacred to the goddess Kuan Lin. He who protects the canals… and the tunnels… and looks after all who use them, human and animal.”

“What did our brash friend do to Yu?”

“He… killed a man,” said Ruthay.

“What man?”

“A toll-taker… one who had given up a life of crime… one who had been a partner of the man… you… seek.”

“And how did that crime come to the attention of the spirit of Yu?” Shang Tsung asked.

“The man was killed… slowly disemboweled with a sword… while accomplices forced his wife and his son to look on! After his murder… the man’s remains… were dumped into a canal!”

Shang Tsung raised an eyebrow. “Is that all? I was expecting something truly terrible!”

“It was!” Ruthay shrieked. “When he disposed of the body… in that way … he profaned one of the sacred waterways… of Yu!”

Shang Tsung smiled now. “Then he is definitely the man I want,” he said. “Anyone who is impudent enough to insult a demigod won’t be afraid to attack a member of the White Lotus Society, or the gods who watch after them. I will send Hamachi, Ruthay. When he nears his goal, see through his eyes and guide him!”

Book!Sub-Zero was impudent enough to insult a demigod which is why he was one of Shang Tsung’s favorites. And to be clear - book!Sub-Zero did not regret insulting the demigod at all. Even more! He found humor in it!:

He dwelt in a cave two hundred feet up the face of a cliff by the sea. The mouth of his home was barely wide enough to accommodate a slender adult, and was accessible only by climbing the sheer wall of rock, a feat that was impossible for most adults and daunting even to the few arachnids and marsupials that tried it.

Maybe some of them were even sent by Yu, he thought with a smirk, little assassins who would chastise me for having spilled blood in his precious canal.

The less abrasive attitude toward gods was shown by Cyrax, who talked a bit with Raiden over Bi-Han’s remains. He wasn’t outright antagonistic but wasn’t overall respectful either. He talked with Thunder God like he would talk with any other human being that wasn’t actually Scorpion. Frankly, from the named Lin Kuei only MK9!Smoke actually addressed Raiden in respectful manner, with proper bow and the name of lord

albeit did he do so because he respects the divine beings or just out of gratitude for saving him, hard to tell for sure.

So yeah, it seems like no matter what kind of timeline or age or medium of the story, Lin Kuei does not fear gods nor pray to them. And the clan has a long history of dealing with Raiden, so the Lin Kuei had first-hand experiences with supernatural beings. Somehow, cryomancers are the most impudent warriors when it comes to dealing with or criticizing the gods.

Interestingly, as much as Lin Kuei warriors don’t care for gods, most of the known to us named characters believe to have - and to care - for their own souls. Sektor and MK11!Frost embraced the Cyber Lin Kuei idea but Kuai Liang, Cyrax and Smoke were opposed to C.I. project out for concern for their souls among other things. Even Bi-Han, to some degree became concerned about his soul after trip to Netherrealm.

Believing in souls is usually a sign of belief in the afterlife, albeit after all of them went through (the change into cyborgs, death and change into Revenants) this is less a matter of faith (religion) and more first-hand experiences. And let's not forget that regularly dealing over the centuries with Shang Tsung who steals people's souls on a daily basis makes it really hard to not believe spirits are real.

Also, an interesting matter of Lin Kuei practices that could have a religious/spiritual ground and/or be an example of ancestor worship is the clan’s funeral rites. I don’t think we actually saw any Lin Kuei to bury their own (especially after warrior’s failure?) and for sure MK9!Cyrax and Sektor did not bother to take care of Bi-Han’s remains. However the sources provide examples of Lin Kuei keeping corpses, most likely of their own leaders or warriors.

And so, we could see human remains:

put in two coffins on each side of statue

hidden / kept in a block of ice(?) in chamber of Fallen Lin Kuei in which Frost’s frozen body was also laid, but on the altar

Cyrax’s cyber body was kept and guarded by Sub-Zero (and this is like the only thing that Kuai Liang and Cyber Sektor so far agreed on)

and even Cyber Sektor’s remains, even if just for pragmatic reasons, are kept in what seems to be respectful manner:

It could be just Kuai Liang’s good nature to honor fallen of his clan (I’m still not sure if Lin Kuei Palace is the new place for Sub-Zero’s clan or the ancient hideout) but even in MK Conquest TV series, after Grandmaster was killed by then-currently-Sub-Zero, there was the farewell ceremony with clothes on display (cause there was not much left of body after freezing and shattering) while new leader gave the speech promising to punish the guilty.

Which makes me think that Lin Kuei did honor their fallen warriors (especially those exceptional, deserving). Such custom and apparently common belief in soul could also support the ancestor worship - both as some ancient, mythical ancestor(s) connecting warriors into one clan (family) and tradition to follow in the footsteps of forefathers (Bi-Han taking place of his father [old timeline] or grandfather [current timeline] or Kuai Liang taking Bi-Han’s place as Sub-Zero).

My general conclusion about Lin Kuei is that its members believe in souls, have respect and use of spiritual matters (meditation?) and maybe ancestor worship. Whatever the religious / spiritual practices they have over the centuries, it is not something they will share, as the Lin Kuei by nature are secretive people who keep personal things mostly for themselves. The people that joined the clan (Cyrax and Smoke) maybe kept their old, eventual religious beliefs but overall, Lin Kuei warriors did not fear, care for nor pray to gods. They may respect god (Raiden, Fujin) as a person but not because of their divine nature. And even that would not stop them from criticizing said god. Which is pretty much how Kuai Liang and Raiden’s relationship looks like. Grandmaster is grateful to Thunder God for saving him but he won’t blindly follow his authority.

(Kuai Liang has serious authority issues, hasn't he?)

As for holidays, I can’t really see Lin Kuei to follow any specific religious (theistic) special day cause they don’t care much for gods in the first place. Unless they worked undercover and needed to act as normal human beings, religious holidays would mean nothing to them. The warriors may however celebrate their mission success, combat mastery or promotion between themselves or in secret, I think. Like, Lin Kuei did forbid friendship because it was considered warrior’s flaw yet we know some members either were blood-related (Kuai Liang, Bi-Han, previous Sub-Zero - father or grandfather, depending on which timeline is correct) or considered each other a family (Kuai Liang and Tomas Vrbada) and most named characters worked in duos so they have both opportunity and knowledge about each other to celebrate important matters. If they managed to remember anything from previous life, that is. Because from ancient to at least Great Kung Lao’s times most(?) adepts were kidnapped from biological families at a really young age (something around 6 years old). And Mythologies: Sub-Zero takes that even further:

Its warriors are chosen at birth to be raised apart from the workings of day to day civilization and are stripped of their former lives. Only the clan knows their existence. Each of them posses certain skills and abilities that set them apart from normal men. These abilities are passed on from generation to generation and honed throughout the experiences of life.

So, celebrating birthdays doesn’t sound like happening much, unless those with family around could allow themselves such luxury. The clan may however celebrate the day of becoming a fully trained and sworn warrior? Or the fallen warriors? Who knows.

Also, something worth thinking about: in Mortal Kombat Conquest TV series, when the Grandmaster presented newly appointed Sub-Zero to the rest of the clan, he “celebrated” the cryomancer's first official performance as the execution of two men who failed their mission. So, yeah, celebration of something special in (old) Lin Kuei does not necessarily mean anything nice.

(The next part of answer most likely will be focused either on food or architecture / origin of Lin Kuei. Let's hope I will get it written sooner than later)

<><> EDIT <><>

RELIGION <> ORIGINS / ARCHITECTURE <> FOOD <> FOR THE LIN KUEI <> ART <> CRYOMANCERS <> LIN KUEI SOCIETY <> MONEY & MATERIAL GOODS

[jungwnn]

Hiiiii😚 i wanna request for a ship with txt, enhypen and bts, thank you soo much for taking the time to do this!☺ I hope you have a good day, stay healthy and take care for yourself🤗

INFP-T | enneagram type 4 | sun: Sagittarius, moon: Cancer | Hate studying anything except English | Competitive when it comes to things I love and am passionate about | Like creative writing and interior designing(basically architecture) | Novels over movies | Even if i watch movies its either action or angst-drama, and always like the evil characters more than the good ones because I'm able to sort of understand why they do what they do, I believe everything has a reason, and every action is a result of something | I also believe in soulmates, love at first sight and all sorts of tropes like these | Obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology and ancient Egypt and just in general medieval eras | Love taking polaroid pictures and traveling | Aesthetic all the way, love being in the nature | I love fairylights and abstract paintings and night walks and stargazing | Love sad things | I'm sensitive to smell and don't like artificial scents | I like going to libraries and museums and cathedrals and old medieval buildings, beaches also and other nature aesthetic places | Always observing little details about everything that other people fail to notice | Easily scared or startled | Have huge trust issues and very sensitive | Have very few friends and am loyal before anything | I'm moved by little things and don't really like much of fancy dates, I like it simple and my favorite would be walk along the beach at night | Am very open-minded and wise but no one's really aware of that | Like disturbing people and then giving puppy eyes | Shy at first but when you get close with me I'm very loud, talkative, playful and annoyingly funny and weird | Just realized it yesterday that i tend to 'huh' a Lot | Clingy with people I am very close to(might even jump and koala hug them tbh) | Everyone's comfort pillar | Very expressive with words and actions | CLUMSY(I hit or bump into something at least once a day) | Love eating (taking advantage of my never getting fat genes lol) but am sort of quite picky | 5'2 - 157cm and I like tall people but I have no problem connecting with people on the shorter side of the height spectrum | Baby voice and baby face | side bangs and dark brown short almost straight hair which reaches just 4cms above the shoulders | Big chocolate brown eyes | Have slightly honey tanned skin | I'm a crybaby too, like if someone I love or care a lot about is getting scolded for whatever reason or they are sad or something then I tend to cry immediately. And while watching or reading sad things too | I do random sounds or actions too and I noticed recently I go 'huh' and 'uh' all the time | sometimes I don't even understand myself like a few days back I was wearing a black sock on my left foot and a white one on my right and then i forgot that i wore mismatched socks so when I noticed it after a while I got fascinated for literally no reason then within seconds i forgot about it again and then when it came to my notice again i got fascinated again and this went on the whole day lmao | My fashion style leans towards boho chic/bohemian and casual | And prefer bare face over makeup and converse over other footwear and dusk(sunset) over dawn(sunrise) but in the album I like dawn ver more🤭 | I love spicy and sour food and have a high tolerance of spice | And my love languages are acts of service>physical touch>quality time>words of affirmation.

YOU SOUND SO INTERESTING AND COOL LETS BE FRIENDS 🙄✋

in txt i ship you with!! Beomgyu !!

pls I can already already see yall fighting over movie chararters😭 I just get the vibe y’all met in a really weird way like he was reaching over to grab a random ass toy and you were too and bam!!! Talking, numbers exchanged. He instantly fell in love with you dude. Like gyu isn’t one to simp but your the exception here. Like dude had a big smile when you responded to his text message. Will he ever tell you that he would bounce up like a puppy whenever he got even a notification hoping it was you?? No. Never. That never happened I swear. There was a time where kai texted and was like “hey soobin said practice in an hour” and gyu straight out texted back “idiot shush I’m waiting” and Kai was just like ??? “...ur weird” basically gyu is literally in love with you from the beginning like it’s insane. That doesn’t stop him from teasing you though. Dude you better stay on high alert this dude is constantly pranking you. They are all harmless but if he ever did hurt you or do something wrong. He will instantly hug you and literally apologize all day and shower you in love. Just finding comfort in each other!! Like he is always there to listen to you talk about anything and just comfort you, He also trust you enough to share his issues! He loves to call you idiot all the time but he says it in the sweetest way or just to tease. He also loves to carry you, it makes him feel super tall ( esp when moas be calling him tiny 😭) also sleepy gyu!! Clingy!!! Let’s say y’all went on a date just a quick ice cream and a walk around the park right, He would look at you and be like “your so pretty~” then you look up and be like “huh? What did you say?” And he would just pull you closer to his side and be like “nothing idiot~” in the same cheeky sweet tone. Then later on that day y’all would just to hang out on the couch cuddled up. He was obviously tired since he was yawning every five seconds. He pulled you against his chest and just started mumbling about how happy he was to have you!! But that’s for your ears only!!

Your overall relationship would consist of:

☼lots and lots screaming like dude is loud but he is expressing his love so it’s okay!

☼movie marathons!!

☼pls don’t use puppy eyes on him he’ll cry at how cute you are

☼let him kiss your forehead and your head he wants to be tall

☼he makes u meals but sometimes they burnt 😣

☼brags abt you all the time like I’m pretty sure taehyun knows your favorite food and your birthday by how much gyu talks

☼he loves listening to you talk abt your interest and fascinations !!

so for Enhypen I ship you with !! Mr.Jake sim!

I just know this boy loves you for your witts bro, like.. how can you be so smart, interesting and pretty at the same time?? Like you completely captured this boys heart!! He loves hearing you talk about Roman and Greek mythology and ancient Egypt!! He thinks it’s honestly so amazing to listen to you speak about your interest🥺 He has this thing, where like whenever you do something cute or he just looks at your face he just walks over and squishes your cheeks. He loves loves loves showing physical affection! He WANTS you to know that you are the light of his life and you make him so so happy!! He talks abt Layla to you all the time and even called you her mom like WOAH. Speaking of mom, Jake gives me the vibe he talks to his parents about you!! Like mans is so serious abt you he just adores you!! Dude is so worried about you when you bump into things, like let’s say you accidentally hit a wall. He will be by your side in a second telling you to be more careful them kissing your forehead. He calls you princess 🧍(HAVE U SEEN THAT ONE FAN CALL BYE) he also treats you like a princess as he should. I have a feeling when he can’t see you in person he calls you and y’all will fall asleep on call. like he would be all sleepy and be like “i miss you :(“ and just talk about your guys day and it would be so sweet!! I’m sure you get the idea !! He’s in L word with you hardcore!!

Your overall relationship would consist of!!

☼he always buys snacks for you because he wants his baby to eat well

☼he is a romantic he loves taking walks on the beach with u!! (And Layla)

☼always compliments your eyes !!

☼always gets you flowers or lil things that remind him of you !

☼he has you as his wallpaper!

☼if y’all go see scary movies together he will most definitely try to act tough and protect you but he fails and hides his face in your neck

☼CHEEK KISSES!!!

for bts I ship you with !! Kim taehyung himself !!

okay okay!! I feel like taehyung loves your mind, he loves hearing your side of things and just loves everything about the way you think! He truly thinks your a piece of art !! like homeboy just loves spending time with you and just talking. He is a hopeless romantic like he loves taking you out to dates that mean a lot to both of you! He takes you to art museums and beaches and takes so many pictures of you!! he has a whole folder dedicated to you!! He also loves hanging out with you and your guys friends!! He just wants everyone to know he’s with you forever and ever!! He is the kinda dude to rest his elbow on your head like deadass just to tease you. He takes you to his hometown often because like I said he wants a future with you!! Expect a lot of snacks from his mom because she adores how happy you make him and he is just!! ugh you lucky lucky girl!! He likes to travel with you, like he can be so unpredictable!! dude will sit there and go “for dinner can we get pizza? Also I got us a trip to Paris for my week off” LIKE OKAY WE GET IT YOUR RICH!! But good for you I guess🙄 also matching outfits. He’s buying you a matching beret and your gna wear for that boxy smile idc. He looked at your matching socks and instantly wanted to try and now he claims it’s the coolest shit ever like Yoongi is always like “why tf?? You bought these in pairs?” Like mind your business Yoongi. His baby does it so he wants to do it too !!🙄✋

overall relationship!!

☼kisses on the lips all the time

☼plane ride cuddles

☼ur boyfriend is your professional photographer

☼pls tell him he’s a good boyfriend he just wants to make you happy

☼always talks to you abt the future <3

☼no joke he has y’all’s kids names planned

☼fun fact.. he bought you a promise ring 😣

a/n aaa!! I hope you like it!! I’m so sorry for the wait!!

[loptrcoptr]

Storytime, kids!

So uh. I’ve become a caricature of myself. 

I’m not great at movie names. I have trouble remembering, for the most part, all the directors/producers/writers involved in a film, and usually I can only manage to remember one of the bunch. Only one. idk what it is about the major execs, I don’t have room for many in my brain or something.

I realized this when rewatching Return of The Jedi last year, one of my fave Wars with Stars, and noticing that Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote the film. I was shocked that I hadn’t noticed this before because Kasdan directed and wrote my all-time favorite Western, Silverado. And lo, he wrote for Raiders of the Lost Ark, and for The Empire Strikes Back, and my all time favorite Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Realizing this blew my mind, y’all. Now, I don’t like everything he’s done (and Idk if I can ever watch Raiders again after that Marian age issue reveal) but obviously... I have a certain type of taste and, apparently, it’s predictable to the -nth degree.

^^ (me @ myself)^^

Fast-forward to this week. On my birthday (Thursday) I wasn’t tired when I went to bed, so I watched this movie, Stage Beauty, which I had never seen before. It’s a romantic period drama with a screenplay by a man named Jeffrey Hatcher. And for some reason, mid-screening, the accurséd hyperfixation-fairy screamed THIS IS MY FUCKING JAM in my ear, and now I’m obsessed with it? Shit happens. I watched the movie two nights in a row, watched a shitty recording of a shitty community theater production of the original play, ordered the original play so I can read it (not that I don’t have the whole damn thing memorized at this point).... you get the picture. Jeffrey Hatcher adapted the screenplay from his own play, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, and neither movie nor play is without its flaws, so... I just can’t quite grasp what exactly the fuck I like so much about it. 

Well, tonight was my night to choose a movie for my family (my parents, we are still trapped in a house together, ain’t pandemic life fun) to watch, so I picked a few options and my dad grumpily said the only one that he’d watch was Casanova. Now, Casanova is one of my favorite movies. It hasn’t held up quite as well as I’d have thought it would, but it’s still a lot of fun and has a perfect soundtrack. Stage Beauty and Casnova have a lot in common, thematically, so I’ve been feeling some Casanova nostalgia over the last few days as a result of my shiny new Stage beauty hyperfixation. I know the names of every actor in Casanova, and I know Lasse Hallström directed it. You can see where this is going, right?

The opening credits are rolling, I’m thinking “ah, it’ll be nice to see Casanova since I’m on such a quirky-romantic-period-drama kick, apparently”. And here come the writing credits, and guess who wrote Casanova? Guess? Mr. Jeffrey Hatcher.

I think the sound that left me was kind of like a dying mouse, muffled by the stupid hand I clasped over my stupid mouth right after I muttered “oh no”. And my dad’s like “What? What is it?” and my dumbass just says “nothing, nothing. I know this writer. And... I am embarrassed.”

I’m trying to watch this movie while my whole brain is... crashing around in my skull having about seven tacky identity crises at once. I’m just?? A caricature of myself? goddamn, it used to be like yeah. Yeah, I joke that my personality is the color orange, some norse mythology, a few fuzzy animals and someone yelling “star wars” down a distant hallway, but APPARENTLY that was too kind. Apparently my personality is binary. Apparently, my tastes are so predictable that even when my brain is not consciously aware that something might be Right In My Stupid Wheelhouse, my heart can still pinpoint that it is... on a frighteningly consistent level.

So now I’m just a caricature of myself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[winryofresembool]

Caleo Uni AU: Things We Lost In the Fire ch 1

Summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out...

A/N: So, here it is! My second multichapter fic! I've been reading a lot of Caleo fics on ffn and it occurred to me that there are too few au:s of these two, and somehow this idea just started forming in my head. A huge shoutout to @criis55 for helping me brainstorm and beta this fic, you have definitely played a BIG role in that ♥

You should expect flatmates Caleo who first don't exactly like each other (much like in canon), but they learn to respect and love each other with time. The first chapters are gonna be rather light but things will get darker as the story progresses.

I currently have 7 chapters finished for this fic, with a lot more to come, so for a time being I can promise weekly updates. If I have to change that in the future, I will let you guys know! But now, enjoy, and please, please, let me know what you think because I feel it's especially important to keep me motivated with a multichapter fic!

Words: 1786

genre: this chapter is pretty ‘general’ (fluff and hurt/comfort in the future)

warnings: none (in this ch)

Next chapter

AO3

...

‘Finally. My own home.’

Calypso exhaled sharply as she put her suitcase down. She took in her surroundings; it was a small student flat for two with two bedrooms and a shared living room/kitchen and bathroom, but to her that small, simple place meant freedom. For too many years she had struggled to get freed from her parents’ strict supervision, and now she had finally done it. A brand new town, a new place to live, new university, new flatma…

“Don’t worry amigo, I’ll be right back!” she heard a voice say from the room that had already been claimed. Before she had time to react, a young man with curly black hair, elfish ears, and… no shirt came into view. Before she turned her eyes away, she couldn’t help but notice that even though the boy was short (not much taller than her despite her being only a bit over 160 cm) and kind of scrawny, his arms looked strong, like he had done a lot of heavy lifting. She didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on these facts, though, before he acknowledged her presence:

“Wh-whoa, hi! Sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here!”

He folded his arms over his chest, trying to cover his torso a bit with his arms, a dirty shirt bundled in one of his hands, but other than that he seemed fairly unbothered by his current outfit (or lack thereof).

“Uh, yeah, I just came in,” Calypso muttered, looking down. “I suppose you’re my new flatmate.”

“Oh, right! I am! I was wondering when someone would move in. I’m Leo. Leo Valdez.” The boy grinned widely as he extended his free hand for her to shake, which made her even more flustered, but she still took it.

“You can call me Calypso,” she said with as calm voice as she could manage, forcing her eyes to focus her on his face and pulling her hand back.

“That’s… an unusual name. It’s like the music style!” he answered, tapping his forehead with his fingers as he tried to remember something. “Or… that nymph or whatever she was in the Greek mythology…”

“Yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot.” Calypso rolled her eyes, calming down thanks to a familiar topic. “Ironically, I’m a history major and I’ve been studying the Greek mythology a lot, so I’m definitely aware of that myth. As a matter of fact, I’ve always found her a pretty relatable character. She was simply a victim of circumstances…”

Leo seemed a bit taken aback by her challenging tone, not daring to ask what she meant by her last comment.

“I haven’t really thought about it that much,” he shrugged. “Always been more interested in the mechanical side of things.”

“I figured as much,” she said, the annoyance winning in her and making her take a judging eye on his form, now noticing for example plenty of scars (almost like healed burn marks?) and oil smudges from something he had been fixing on his bare skin. “How do you know about that story anyway?” she asked out of curiosity. From her experience, not many boys of her age immediately drew the connection between her name and the Greek mythology.

“My old baby sitter was loca about that stuff. Instead of telling me about Goldilocks and three bears, she told me bedtime stories about Odysseus,” Leo answered. Calypso was slightly disappointed. Of course he had had someone else tell that story to him instead of him being genuinely interested…

“Right. Makes sense,” she said.

Ignoring Calypso’s tone, Leo decided to try another topic: “I think I hear a hint of accent in your voice. Not from here?”

“No. I’m originally from Greece, if you must know,” Calypso answered coolly.

“Hey, what’s with that tone?” Leo had finally had enough, and he narrowed his eyes. Calypso noticed “I only asked because I’m part Mexican so I’m bilingual too. Spanish is my first language.” “I see. And about my tone, you must be overthinking it,” Calypso claimed, but there was still an edge in her voice that Leo couldn’t ignore.

“What’s the matter with… ugh. Never mind.” He raised his arms in defeat. “I tell you what. I have things to do now, but when you’re ready to talk about the rules of this household or whatever, you can find me in my room.” He opened the bathroom door, dropped the dirty shirt into a laundry basket and grabbed a clean one before pulling it on. Then he disappeared into his room as fast as he had appeared from there.

When Calypso was alone, she sighed, overwhelmed by the meeting. She hadn’t meant to be so rude but something about that Leo guy irked her (maybe it was the way he talked, the kind of cocky attitude or the fire in his eyes that told her he was ready for a challenge) and… if she was honest, she had wished her new roommate was a girl instead. Back when she still had lived at home, she had been in a couple of relationships where things had gone very wrong, yet she also had an unfortunate habit of getting crushes rather easily… and then this guy had shown up that way, not even minding that he was shirtless in the company of a girl he didn’t know.

Trying to shake the image out of her head, she finally opened the door to her new room and moved her luggage there. There was already a bed there, along with an empty bookshelf and a closet for the clothes. However, the previous user of the room had informed the caretakers that the desk that belonged to the room was in a bad shape and they hadn’t brought a new one yet so Calypso had volunteered to bring her own. She would probably have to ask Leo to help her carry it, because it wasn’t like she knew a lot of other people here yet, and he had seemed pretty strong…

Groaning at herself (‘you will NOT get a crush on a new flatmate. Especially not someone so annoying’), Calypso put her clothes from the suitcase into the closet and then braced herself to meet Leo again. After taking a deep breath, she knocked on his door and waited for it to open. Again, the boy told someone ‘wait there’ before he opened the door, this time with a slight frown on his face.

“Yes?” he asked.

Twitching her hands, Calypso stammered: “Umm… Can we forget about the earlier for a bit? I… I should carry my desk from my car to my room but obviously I can’t do it on my own and I came here alone so… I kinda need help with that. Can you help me?”

Leo’s expression softened, a crooked smile spreading on his face instead.

“Oh! Sure, I’ll help.”

“Thanks. Do you have time now?”

“Yep, I was just hanging out with…” he hesitated, “um, with a certain mechanical project I’m building. Let’s go then.”

…

“You were talking to your project?” Calypso asked with disbelief as the new flatmates were walking towards her car.

“You heard that?” Leo asked, looking a bit embarrassed. “Well, some people talk to flowers, how is that any different?” he replied defensively.

“Well, for one, flowers are actually alive,” Calypso, who loved gardening and had brought several plants with her to the new apartment as well, stated.

“You wouldn’t believe how alive some machines can feel…” Leo muttered, more to himself than to her. But then they were already at Calypso’s car so they dropped the topic as they tried to decide how they were going to carry the desk inside.

The carrying part went fine, mostly in silence. The desk wasn’t too heavy or wide so they got it into their flat’s common area without issues. But as Leo waited while Calypso went back to get more of her things inside, the door to his room (that he had left unlocked for a moment) suddenly swung open and he had no time to react to what was about to happen.

“Festus! No!”

A huge German shepherd appeared, very excited to get out of his prison and running and jumping back and forth in the space that had just opened up for him. Not realizing his own weight, he jumped on Calypso’s desk to get Leo’s full attention. The flimsy desk couldn’t handle the impact, the top board splitting into two pieces, and in the process the dog’s tail also whipped the sole flower resting on the desk on the ground, so when Calypso returned back into the room she found quite a chaos in front of her.

“What… happened?” was all she could say, her hand resting on the left side of her chest near her heart. Then she spotted the dog, who looked kind of ashamed if that was possible, and quickly turned to his owner with fiery eyes.

“Explain.”

Usually Leo would have made a joke in a situation like this, but Calypso looked way too scary for him to attempt that. “I’m sorry… I… tried to keep him inside my room but somehow he escaped and…”

“You’re not even supposed to have pets here!” Calypso shouted.

“He’s just visiting for a couple of days! I didn’t know you were coming, I would have asked you if you’re allergic if I had…”

“I’m not! But that’s not the point! The point is that your dog broke the only piece of furniture that I brought here and also ruined my favorite flower that I’ve been growing for years!” She pointed at the shattered flowerpot on the ground.

“I can fix the top of the desk!” Leo offered quickly. “That’s an easy job, I just get a new board and…”

“Right now I just want you out of my sight so I can clean this,” Calypso growled, gesturing towards the mess on the floor. “And make sure that thing won’t go near my things again.”

“Are you telling me to leave my own place?” It was Leo’s turn to get mad. “I have the same right to be here as you do!”

“I just meant that stay out of my way while I take care of this. Just… go to your room or something,” she said defiantly.

“C’mon, Festus,” Leo told his dog, taking his harness from his room. “Let’s go for a walk. Miss Sunshine clearly doesn’t want our help so why bother.”

When the two were gone, Calypso sat down on the couch in the common room and buried her head into her hands. This was not how she had wanted her first day in her new place to go.

[skyfallensoldier]

Mobile Navigation || Rules & Mun ↓

DISCLAIMER: I just want to note here at the beginning that while I am considering this RP blog to be historically based, i.e. remaining true to the time period and overall details of John Laurens' biographical information and whatnot, I do not consider myself a historically accurate blog, not entirely. Historical fiction is a well known genre of literature and many, MANY creative liberties are taken within that genre. Think of this blog like you would if you saw an Anastasia Romanov blog. She's dead, we know she didn't survive, and she's been dead a long-ass time; so has Laurens. People still have included her in many works of fiction, even after her body was identified and it was proven she did not survive her family's massacre. I saw a romance book a couple of months ago where she survived that was recently published. Historical fiction, while a controversial thing at times, is a legitimate form of literature.

You don't have to tell me if you think John isn't acting exactly like the real man himself would have, I know that. I'm not going to call John my 'perfect sunshine boy cinnamon roll' or dismiss the privilege he was raised on due to his father, I'm aware he was a real person who had his own personality, virtues and prejudices. I won't deny that while he was certainly a progressive thinking man for the time he grew up in he definitely still had racist thoughts and actions that were indicative of his upbringing. But I'm not on here to debate modern, real life politics, or get into arguments about whether he was a good abolitionist or not. At the end of the day, this is still a hobby for me, and I'm writing for fun.

Basically, don't take it too seriously. I'm a 21st century bisexual woman writing from the POV of an 18th century (likely gay) male soldier, the way I write him is obviously not going to be a perfect representation of who he was. I know he wasn't an amazing, perfect person, but I've still chosen to write a fictionalized version of him for my own entertainment. Please try to respect that; thank you.

Mun Stuff

Name: Luna Gender: Female (She/Her or They/Them) D.o.B: July 23rd, 1996 Age: 24 Nationality: Canadian Sexuality: Bisexual Timezone: Eastern Time (US & Canada) Activity: Daily BIOGRAPHY (SORT OF)

Hello, there! You can call me Luna! I've been interested in writing ever since I first got the internet when I was 14 and discovered FanFiction.Net and now I'm an aspiring author and Roleplay enthusiast. If you include acting/talking out DnD like games with friends then I've been 'roleplaying' since the fifth grade, but I like to think there's always room for improvement. If you ever want to chat I'd love to make a new friend or plot out a roleplay, so don't be afraid to shoot me an ask or send me a private message. Just because my muse can be a jackass doesn't mean I am! I’m a huge advocate for mental health, and if you ever need someone to talk to, please don’t ever hesitate to reach out! Some of my hobbies including literature and writing (of course), digging into mythology from various cultures, practicing solitary eclectic paganism/new age spirituality, drinking tea, and collecting crystals/minerals.

Please note that for the sake of disclosure, I am considered ‘Neurodivergent’, in that I suffer from ADHD, diagnosed at about age six, and have Anxiety and Depression which are directly tied to it. This doesn’t often effect my life on here, but I sometimes have an unpredictable sleep schedule (stay up all night, sleep in late into the morning, etc). I’m usually quick to reply to threads for the most part! I work every Tuesday and Thursday from 5pm to 7pm in addition to odd jobs here and there, during which time I won’t have access to the Internet. The rest of the week I’m on and off all day basically, so you can feel free to contact me any time.

RP Style

⭐️ Please use basic spelling/grammar/punctuation when you RP with me. I'm not a drill sergeant about these kinds of things, I know that typos happen, and if you have a vision problem or such we can absolutely find a way to work around that, I also have no problem roleplaying with people whose first language is not English, so that's totally fine and I’m happy to accomodate in whatever way I can, but it does make it a little difficult to play with you if I don't know what you're trying to say. For this reason I prefer if you not use any text shorthand (lol, idk, brb, jk, etc) unless our muses are messaging each other. Using it in the tags is fine.

⭐️ I roleplay Laurens in a past-tense 3rd Person Point of View (think story-telling format), and generally I don't use icons or text formatting unless I notice my partner does, then I will try to match their style (for example if you use icons and small-text, I will try to do the same, though because formatting isn't possible on mobile, any mobile replies might take longer to be posted than if I were on my laptop). If you have any issues with how I'm writing or need me to adjust my style for any reason don't be afraid to ask.

Contact

⭐️ If you spam me with messages over and over again about something I haven't replied to, chances are I'll drop the thread. I don't mind being reminded because I know Tumblr's notifications are notoriously unreliable sometimes, and humans can forget/lose things, but if you keep poking at me after I've acknowledged you the first and second time, I won't be pleased. Things can get busy on here, or in real life, or sometimes you're just lacking muse for that particular thread, y'know? It doesn't mean I hate you and don't want to RP, I'm almost always up for plotting, but muse tends to fluctuate.

⭐️ My ‘Discord’ is available to mutuals upon request. I don't mind roleplaying on there if Tumblr is being glitchy or you're just not feeling up to formatted/heavily plotted threads, sometimes Discord is fun in that you can do immediate replies without needing the effort of putting icons and formatting into it. I also have a Kik but I never use it. I don't RP in Tumblr's IMs, that's purely for OOC interaction.

⭐️ I also occasionally stream movies/TV shows in group chats or play “in character” Cards Against Humanity game nights, Among Us, etc. If you’re interested, lemme know, I’m always looking for more people to hang out with!

Important

I have no actual triggers that I'm aware of, although snakes do creep me out (mostly shots of them coiled up or images of their pupils), but there are some things I will not roleplay personally for comfort reasons:

⭐️ Cannibalism. You can mention it, for example I won't freak out if someone tells my muse that somebody else ate a person (he might, assuming its not a Supernatural type verse), but I won't RP him engaging in cannibalism, not even in AUs (blood-drinking vampires are fine). I'm just not sure I could stomach writing about eating people. I managed to watch Hannibal, barely, but writing about it? Nah. I can handle lots of horror, gore and disturbing content but not this. Sorry.

⭐ Incest/Pedophilia. I do not SEXUALLY ship with characters under the age of 18. John is not attracted to children, and would never consider sleeping with someone much younger than him.

⭐ I will not write anything sexual with muns who are under 18 years old, even if your muse is an adult. I'll still ROLEPLAY with you if you are under 18 but probably no younger than 16 just because things tend to get explicit on my blogs and I don't want to be accused of corrupting the youth with my foul language and weird opinions, lol. Seriously though, this blog covers a lot of dark subjects and while I’m all for minors exploring that safely through writing rather than in real life, some people aren’t comfortable with interacting with under age people for legal or personal reasons, please respect that.

⭐ Necrophilia. Just... no. Vampire threads don't count, as they're undead and not 'dead dead'.

⭐ Rape. I won't write it with you. I'm okay with mentions of rape, with rape/sexual assault survivor/recovery plots, and even with one character intervening to rescue another from an attempted sexual assault (if an attempted assault does occur, it will be thoroughly tagged and under a cut). I'm fully open to discussing rape recovery/trauma plots as those are things that happen in real life, and it can be interesting to explore how a character reacts to trauma. But anything else is a no-go, sorry!

⭐ Please be aware that I write Laurens as a gay man. However! Because of the time period, violent homophobia and social stigma, he has slept with women before and may be seen flirting with or referencing relationships with women in the past. He is still gay, and still uninterested in being with women long term, he's simply closeted to all but a few individuals. So, unless your muse is Martha Manning (who Laurens DOES love in a manner, and he always will), shipping with female characters on here most likely isn't going to happen unless it's heavily plotted/developed and part of an overall plot, and you understand that it will not be a conventional sexual relationship. I'm sorry if that disappoints you but I've read Laurens as a gay male for so long I have trouble seeing him any other way.

⭐ I will not roleplay slavery plots. This is not up for debate. Roleplaying a highly fictionalized version of a long dead real person who existed during a troubling time is one thing, but I draw the line at that. For this reason, while I'll happily play with non-white muses, muses using non white faceclaims, and crossovers with characters of all sorts, I'll have to decline playing with any muse claiming to actually be writing slavery. There’s a difference between, say, roleplaying a character like Daenerys, a fictional character who was technically a slave-bride sold by her brother, and writing actual slavery from a very real, horrible time period. Slave ownership will of course be mentioned on this blog, that's unavoidable, but just like the mention of rape may happen on this blog from time to time, it will be in reference to a past event or speaking about the subject in general, not roleplaying a scene of it. Please respect this rule, I was hesitant to make this blog at first, because I know it makes some people uncomfortable, but I won't glorify such a horrible real thing that happened to so many people.

Exclusives/Mains

Just a head's up, unless I develop a bunch of chemistry with a particular portrayal of a muse I'm not likely to agree to being exclusives with anyone, unless perhaps it's a very niche or divergent character that has formed a good relationship of some sort with John and I'd have trouble interacting with other versions of that muse. For major characters I just feel it would be unfair to say no to someone who I click with in every other way, solely because I have already befriended someone else writing that character.

I will, however, discuss becoming mains with someone whom I've either developed or plotted out detailed storylines/interactions with regarding our specific portrayals of our characters. This means that I tend to reply to them quickly when I'm online, or may make little gifts (moodboards, aesthetic things, mini ficlets, whatever) for them unprompted, have a verse dedicated just to them, etc. Even if it seems like we haven't done much on Tumblr, there may be a lot of off-site development on Discord or whatnot that led to us plotting out intricate stories for our muses.

Current Mains:

Alexander Hamilton - @quillborn​

DO

⭐️ Send private messages.

⭐️ Send my character asks/starters/memes.

⭐️ Tag me in things.

⭐️ Ask to plot or ship.

⭐️ Ask for angst, fluff, etc.

⭐️ Submit things to me & my muse.

⭐️ Do crack and other ridiculous things with me!

⭐️ Like my RP threads.

⭐️ Like my personal posts.

⭐️ Comment on my personal/OOC posts (if you want to).

⭐️ Comment on my crack threads.

⭐️ Instant Message (IM) me if you'd like to talk, whether we're friends already or not!

DON'T

⭐️ Send hateful messages to me about other people and especially my mutuals; doesn't count if it's about the muse and not the person playing them, however. Also, if I’ve got beef with someone for whatever reason, don’t harass them/send hate to them on my behalf, please. I don’t condone anonymous abuse, attacking others, or harassment. I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself, I promise.

⭐️ Introduce yourself with ‘wanna ship?’ For one, I prefer if we’ve at least started a roleplay together, or have spoken OOC. Auto shipping doesn’t always work out and I hate promising people something only to realize there’s zero chemistry, because then I feel like I’m letting them down.

⭐️ Come into my inbox with just ‘wanna rp?’ and that’s it. Please at least have some idea of what you want to roleplay, it’s not very fun when someone approaches you to RP but then doesn’t offer up any suggestions at all. Remember, you are always free to send me memes, whether we’re mutuals or not, and hit me up for whatever plot you think might interest me! I want to hear about it!

⭐️ Spam me with "reminder" messages if I've already acknowledged you the first few times.

⭐️ Reblog my RP threads if you're not a participant in them.

⭐️ Send me anonymous OOC hate. Hate for Laurens is fine, it's just another form of roleplay.

⭐️ Kill off my character or severely injure/maim my character without permission or having plotted something involving that with me first.

⭐️ Follow me if you're a porn blog. I don't mind blogs that post NSFW content, or smut a lot, etc. I mean blogs that aren't for RP and are literally just a normal looking blog until you click on it and the header and first twenty posts are hardcore nudity and porn. I hate those things.

⭐️ Shame my ships.

⭐️ Complain about my tagging. I put my smut under a 'read more' without exception and tag them as "NSFW //" with two dashes. Things that are not necessarily graphic but still have sexual undertones go under "Suggestive //". I use these tags to avoid attracting attention from porn blogs and porn bots that track certain key words, as such I do not tag my content with "Smut" or trigger words such as "dick, oral, anal, nudity, etc", please block my NSFW and Suggestive tags if you're uncomfortable. Triggery subjects (mentions of rape, animal abuse, torture, mental illness) will be tagged under the name of said trigger with a space and two dashes, example: "Self Harm //", “Suicidal Ideation //” or "PTSD //".

⭐️ Godmod my character. If you’re not sure what is/isn’t okay, come talk to me! I don’t bite! If you’re looking for an example of god mod behavior, here: “X lunged at Laurens, taking him by surprise, and hit him square in the nose, causing blood to spurt.” It might not seem like a big deal but it means that you decided how your character’s actions affected my muse, and not only that, didn’t give him a chance to dodge or anything. Not cool.

⭐️ Ship with me without permission (sending in shippy asks is A-Ok if you're interested in exploring a ship between our muses, I'm talking about things like claiming that our muses are in a relationship without discussing it with me, referencing dates or sexual acts that never happened, etc. I ship mainly with chemistry otherwise things get boring fast.

⭐️ Assume/act like our characters know each other/are closely connected (friends/family/lovers) if we've never discussed it unless it is established in canon/history. This especially goes for original characters. I'm open to Laurens forming deep relationships with OCs obviously, but those have to be developed in character, not just assumed from the first interaction.

⭐️ Attempt to roleplay with me if you are not a roleplay blog/or if you're just trying to RP as "yourself." I don't do Character X Reader imagines stuff. I don't RP with 'fan' accounts, only RP blogs. You can still send asks so long as you're not trying to initiate an RP scenario. For example, asking Laurens what his hobbies are, asking for a blessing etc? That's fine. Spamming me with different actions "you" are talking to Laurens is weird. Stop that. I will also not RP with blogs that claim to roleplay as real life people, such as Markiplier, that's super creepy. This does NOT apply to "historical fiction" roleplay (obviously since that's what this blog is), which is considered its own genre of literature. I'm talking about the above where people will 'roleplay' as real life, currently alive people like YouTube celebrities and ship them with their friends, even if they've made it clear that they're uncomfortable with it. 

⭐️ Get angry at me for doing something you don't like if you don't even have a rules page for me to go by. It's not fair; you can't expect your partners to just read your mind and magically know how you feel. If something bothers you let me know, I’ll make a note about it so I avoid it during our interactions!

⭐️ Use me as a meme resource blog without ever interacting with me. I don't require "reblog karma" for you to follow me, partners are more than welcome to reblog from me, but if we never interact and I just occasionally see you reblog fifteen posts from my meme tag and then disappear again I'm not gonna be happy. Go to the source or to an archived blog no longer getting notifications, please!

⭐️ Reblog my Meta/Headcanons. If they're from a different blog it's fine but the ones I've personally written are for MY portrayal of Laurens. I work hard on most of my stuff and I'd prefer if you didn't reblog it, not because you aren't allowed to have the same headcanon ideas as me, but because then it ends up getting liked or reblogged by lots of other people, spamming my notifications, etc.

OCs & Multimuses

I love OCs and multi-muse blogs (I have my own multimuse sideblog over at @historyremembers, which has other 18th century characters including the Hamilton children and some OCs), so feel free to interact! That being said, please have an about page of some sort on your blog. I can't follow back blogs that have absolutely no information available regarding their character(s). I don't RP with OC children of Laurens. This is nothing personal, but I'm fairly certain he was gay in real life and prefer to play him that way, and he only had one child - who he never even got to meet - in real life, so it just wouldn't make sense to me for him to have other kids running around unless he'd adopted some. If you're a multimuse, I may not follow you back if I'm only familiar with two of your muses if you have a blog of fifteen characters, simply because I'd prefer to keep my dash clean and only have characters/fandoms I'm familiar with on it. I'll still RP with you if you have a character I'm interested in! I just might not follow back if the majority of your characters I do not know, I apologize for this.

If you’ve made it to the end of this, congrats! I know it couldn’t be easy (my ADHD brain was frustrated trying to just write all this up) but it’s necessary so there’s not misunderstandings on what I am/am not willing to RP. I won’t ask for a password since I trust most people to have the courtesy to at least skim the rules of those they want to RP with. 

Have a nice day!

[douxreviews]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - ‘Bar Association’ Review

Quark: "Don’t 'Brother' me. In this bar, you’re not my brother. You’re my employee. And employees have no right to question the management’s decisions." Rom: "If you don’t rescind the pay cuts, you’re – you’re going to regret it." Quark: "The only thing I regret is not being an only child."

The episode in which the writers take several huge steps for Rom.

Rom is sick, but he doesn’t dare take off any time to go seek help – at least not until he faints in his brother’s bar. This despite the fact that it’s very quiet at Quark’s, as the Bajoran time of cleansing (basically Lent) is going on. The Bajorans take their rituals very seriously, so few customers are coming to Quark’s for a good time.

Bashir treats Rom and scolds him for not having come in sooner. Rom says he couldn’t take time off; time off for illness is not permitted in a Ferengi contract. Bashir suggests that Rom needs a better contract, and that the way to get a better contract is to create a union. Bashir's comment may be casual, but Rom takes it to heart; he has long resented his brother’s treatment of him. Then Rom puts it into practice when Quark decides (his excuse being the loss of profits due to Bajoran Lent) to cut everyone’s pay. Rom calls together the workers, and they organize a union. It’s great to see how revolutionary this is for the Ferengi; even saying the word “union” makes them queasy. First, they have all been trained to believe that they will at some point be the exploiter; second, they know that unions are strictly verboten on Ferenginar. Of course, they’re not on Ferenginar.

By the way, Quark does sort of have a point. The bar is almost empty, and an empty bar can’t run indefinitely with a full staff. On the other hand, I assume that Quark must have been aware of Bajoran Lent. He should have given some people leave for the period or used the time for renovations, or rented out the space for some other purpose. He was being a bad businessman and that’s not like Quark. So the workers were probably right in suspecting that Quark was just using Bajoran Lent as an excuse to improve his bottom line.

So, Rom and the rest of Quark’s workers go on strike, supported by some people on the station, particularly O’Brien and Bashir. I thought it was an interesting twist, to have the strikers pay people for not patronizing Quark’s. I also very much enjoyed Odo’s attitude. As a creature who loves order, he doesn’t like strikes, as he understands they are messy and mobbish. But Sisko has given strict orders that Odo is not to interfere as long as the strikers allow the customers to enter when they try a second time.

Brunt from the FCA arrives, not to help Quark so much as to protect Ferenginar culture. Brunt tries talking to the workers, and his threats unnerve at least one of the Ferengis, Frool, who drops to his knees. Brunt has no power over the non Ferengis, and most of the Ferengis realize that they have nothing in their bank accounts so they have nothing to lose. Still, being threatened is scary, and not everyone can handle it.

Furthermore, the threat is real. It may seem ironic (Brunt calls it so) that Brunt has Quark harmed, but it makes sense. Not only is Quark close to Rom, but Quark is the only person on the station who won’t press charges. Quark is terribly injured; he might even have been killed, except for Odo’s intervention. And Quark admits to Rom he is terrified of the FCA. This allows them to finally come to an agreement, to settle the strike, and to dissolve the union, at least officially.

The episode ends with Rom showing up at Quark’s and ordering snail juice. He has decided to work as an engineer; he is choosing no longer to be his brother’s employee – so that they can be brothers. Quark thinks this is a bad decision, but Rom insists he’ll be fine – and then ends by calling Quark “Brother,” as they re-establish their fraternal relationship on a more equal footing.

Title musings: “Bar Association” is the title of the episode, and it has a satisfying double meaning. Its first meaning is with the word Bar as a noun, in other words, an association (union) with respect to a bar (Quark’s). The second meaning uses the word Bar as a verb, in which associations (unions) are barred in Ferengi society.

Bits and pieces

The idea that Rom couldn’t go to Bashir, or at least to someone at the sick bay, is hard to take seriously. Rom wasn’t employed 26 hours a day, and both Quark’s and the sick bay are located on the DS9 Promenade. The sick bay was always staffed, and Bashir and Rom both agree that Rom can show up for his next visit before the bar opens.

The word ferengi means foreigner in Persian.

Rom has been giving himself oo-mox, possibly the only reference to masturbation in all of Star Trek. Although I’m not caught up on the more recent series, so perhaps it is just the first.

We learn about two ancestors of Chief O’Brien in this episode: the Irish king, Brian Boru, and the union guy, Sean Aloysius O’Brien, who for some reason was in Pennsylvania instead of Ireland. A descendant must have returned to Ireland, as the chief’s accent is certainly not Pennsylvanian.

One of the more enjoyable scenes takes place between Worf and Odo. Worf, as the former security officer of the Enterprise, has an understandable tendency to criticize security on DS9. Odo is prepared to hit back, and reminds us of two lapses that took place in TNG, on the flagship of the Federation – and that the DS9 space station is an open port with thousands of people on it.

Worf is also frustrated by perpetual mechanical problems on the station, caused by the incompatibilities of Bajoran, Cardassian and Federation technologies, while O’Brien enjoys the challenge.

I liked how the Nausicaans threw knives at each other. More violent than Klingons!

The word Nausicaan is derived from Nausica’a, a character in Homer’s The Odyssey. Aside from the name there is no resemblance, as Nausica’a is a beautiful princess who helps Odysseus when he is washed ashore.

I’m reminded of the quote by Gandhi: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” Note how these steps are part of Rom’s rebellion against Quark’s working conditions.

Another thought on Brunt's attack on Quark: If Quark were dead, Rom would inherit the bar, and he would pay the workers more.

This episode provides huge moves in the series, most obviously for Rom, but also for Leeta, and we see a crack in Ferengi traditions.

I loved how Sisko put pressure on Quark to settle the strike, with all the reminders of how much the Federation does for Quark.

Quotes

Dr. Bashir: How come you get to be High King? Chief O’Brien: I am the direct descendant of King Brian Boru. Besides, it’s my program. OK, I’m wondering if that’s where the name ‘O’Brien’ comes from?

Dr. Bashir: What you people need is a union. … Rom: You don’t understand. Ferengi workers don’t want to stop the exploitation. We want find a way to become the exploiters. Dr. Bashir: Suit yourself. But I don’t see you exploiting anyone.

Quark: It’s either a pay cut or a layoff. You decide.

Grimp: The FCA has ears everywhere. As soon as their lobes get wind of this, we’re all doomed.

O’Brien: You’ll have to strike, mark my words, and when you do, you’ll have to be strong. Rom: Just like Sean O’Brien. O’Brien: exactly. You know he had the biggest funeral in all of Pennsylvania. Rom: Funeral? O’Brien: they fished his body out of the Allegheny River a week before the strike ended.

Rom: Workers of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains. (Quoting Karl Marx!)

Grimp: What about our accounts on Ferenginar? Rom: If your accounts on Ferenginar were worth anything, you wouldn’t be working as a waiter.

Rom: Remember, in unity there is strength.

Quark: If this strike doesn’t get resolved soon, both you and I are going to be tossed out the nearest airlock. You have to dissolve the union … at least officially.

Quark: But I gave you everything you wanted. Rom: I know. But if the strike taught me anything, it’s that I do a lot better when you’re not around. Don’t worry. I’ll keep your holosuites running and fix your replicators when they’re broken. I think this’ll be really good for our relationship. Quark: I don’t. Rom: Think about it from my point of view. If I keep working for you, all I have to look forward to is waiting for you do die, so I can inherit the bar. Well, I don’t want you to die.

Overall Rating

When this first aired, I was only moderately impressed. I usually prefer episodes with the main characters, and this focused on Rom, who wasn’t a main character, and I wasn’t that impressed with Ferengis. However, this was the big step for Rom, and with retrospect, the episode feels much more important. Also, as I have matured and become more politically aware, I have learned to appreciate deeply the issues addressed in this episode, the bravery shown by the characters – not over-the-top, fantasy bravery, but the sort of bravery people have to rustle up to fight injustice every day – and how well all the facets were portrayed. Four out of four snail juices, straight up.

---

Victoria Grossack loves math, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.

[fyrapartnersearch]

Devil May Care

Got lost? Or maybe just lucky?


(nah, who am I kidding?)

Please call me Gil :) I have posted here a while ago and was very happy with the responses I received from various individuals. I do share a good role-play with the said partners…. but it has been some time since I did anything fandom related. Especially since I am a total geek for video-games. Now I am craving for another kind of RP, a darker one… with less boundaries and more grit. Something from the supernatural side. It’ll be a hell of a good time! 

I am currently looking for someone who is willing to do a Devil May Cry inspired RP with me! (But if that doesn’t necessarily suit your fancy, I am also open to do a Harry Potter RP - either next generation or before the events of HP) My mind has become restless with the idea that has been haunting me recently - a Roleplay involving Devilish creatures, Demons, Demon Hunters as well as the concept of Heaven and Hell. And no I don’t mean in a biblical sense… more in a mythological kind of sense. After I’ve played the newest release of DMC 5, I am once again fully hyped for it and hope to find my soulmate. (well on rp’er terms that is) 
I am also willing to incorporate crossovers as well! I will make a short list down below what I am willing to do! Before we move on, I’ll give you the same ol’ description of what you should consider before messaging me :)   If you reach out to me, please be sure not to ghost me after the first few messages before we even get to the roleplay itself. Yes, I’ve had many instances where my partners had to go off the grid because life gets in the way, etc. I understand that - but just disappearing without getting to the juicy bits is just a waste. Don’t write to me without a proper thread or a simple one-liner. Short and lacklustre messages will also be ignored, sorry :( I am currently searching for a literate, mature (preferably 20+ partner) writer with a vast, creative mindset willing to push some boundaries. Someone who is not afraid delving into darker themes, or come up with new fresh ideas for a fantasy plot. Someone who is willing to commit to a long-term roleplay. Are you that someone to join the I’ll swing you a few facts about me. Who am I? I am a 20+ female, living in Europe and currently studying at a university which is fairly time consuming. With that being said, I am able to type out 3-4 messages per week, sometimes even more. I think tis a good solid rate that can get the plot going. Depending on my schedule, my frequency will increase or decrease. Not to worry, I will let you know as soon if there is something coming up that might influence the roleplay. I love detailed paragraphs that describe a story with nuance and vibrant emotion. If you are someone comfortable or only willing to type one-liners, you are not going to find your match here, sorry. I only role-play on either email or goggle docs. Summary:

        I’m above the age of 20, thus well aware, mature and open

        I’m a Paragraph writer

        I’m detailed

        I have experience with over 10 years under my belt

        I do prefer doubling but I am also open to make exceptions

Good brainstorming is key. Once we get to know each other, I would love to do a bit of strategizing, erecting a system for our world as well as gathering ideas we can utilize for the story. 
Here’s a detailed description of my style and boundaries that I have for a potential RP.

How I write:

I am a multi-paragraph sort of writer, which means that frequently, my writing will exceed at least 500 words, and upward of 1000+ words. I love detail in description, and I am actively seeking someone of the same infamy. Generally, I tend to write in the 3rd person. But it can change based on the situation. My partner should have a basic grasp on grammar, punctuation and somewhat of an interest in erudite writing.  

The genres I am into:

I am versatile when it comes to genres and settings that I like to focus on. Supernatural is my bread and butter, especially urban and gothic fantasy, but also very much like mythological stories and lore. I am not opposed to tapping into science fiction, action, romance, crime, action or thriller genres, though my most favourite is a combination of both fantasy, action, drama and a bit of sci-fi. For the roleplay I would like to take a lot of elements from Lovecraftian lore and even a little bit of Constantine. I love to mesh multiple genres together to create something completely new and fun. Yes, I know this is a fandom role-play, but that doesn’t mean we’re bound to this hard-set rules. Romance: I openly play and accept characters of both genders, preferable m x f pairings, but I am open to m x m and f x f relationships as well. I have more experience with m x f relationships, so I might excel in this category more than I would do with the others. I do not fade to black - instead I encourage erotism and tastefully written romance scenes. The passion must be felt, even if its just an intelligent description of someone’s stream of thought. I am double friendly and prefer it over a single pairing! OOC:


OOC-chat friendly! Trust me, I won’t hold it against you if you tend to ramble outside of the roleplay. I love meeting new people and making potential friends. Plus it strengthens the relationship as well as the roleplay. Communication is key! If there is something that bothers you, or if you think you are left out in some way (be it a mistake on my part or we’re both at fault here), don’t be scared to let me know. Really, it won’t be taken personally - since I know that we all tend to make mistakes every once in a while. It doesn’t bother me to re-write a scene to fit the narrative in a better way and so on. We can always exchange our opinions and see what would benefit the story most. I'll also inform you if there are things that irk me. Characters are the centre of attention: Faceclaims, GIFs, drawings, mood boards or just a plain physical description is absolutely welcome / sufficient. I am not someone who necessarily requires a face claim for a character in order ‘to get the picture’. There are many instances where I could not find a suiting match for my character’s definition, so I resorted to drawing them myself or leaving it with a simple description. Characters should have flaws - that is a no brainer obviously, because its what makes them most interesting and compelling to read. I think we’re also far past the Mary Sue and Gary Stu issue, so I am certain that anyone who messages me, is capable of forging great characters. World building & plotting: An active roleplayer is wanted in this category, without a doubt. I love to build but I tend to lose interest real quick when I get the feeling I’m the only one who puts effort into it. Too often I find people shying away from it in this regard. If I feel that I’m the only one carrying the weight of the world-building part, I will end the roleplay with immediate effect. Be bold with your ideas! A bird cannot fly with only one wing, no? Content: I find writing erotic, dramatic or action packed scenes very enjoyable. I don’t hinder myself when certain subjects are mentioned that may be uncomfortable for the general public. But then again, as a reminder, a roleplay is not reality but fiction. For example situations that heavily imply and involve brutality, mayhem, psychological and physical torture are things that don’t really bother me in a sense, because again, it is fiction. Characters should be fully fleshed out, even the not so pretty parts of one’s personality and actions. Limits: I don’t do necrophilia, pedophilia & and any sort of underage pairings as well as bestiality, vore, scat, toilet play, furries or other bizarre fetishes. What I’m also not particularly fond of are oneliners, text-talk ‘grammar’, or emails with the subject: ‘Hey wanna rp?’ or ‘RP?’. I also note that my partners must be around 20 years or older, I will accept no younger partners, sorry. The last thing I tend to avoid like the plague are slice of life roleplays, because lets face it, our own lives are already a slice of life. 
Crossovers that we could incorporate with DMC if you’re feeling particularly cheeky:

DC (Justice League Dark / Constantine mostly)

Marvel

Supernatural

Castlevania

Alright! If you are still reading, congratulations! xD 
The journey has come to an end! Usually I would list my Discord on this platform, but since Discord did an update recently where I can’t log into it anymore - I thought email would be a good alternative. In the past, people on Discord had only sent me friend without messaging whatsoever so I couldn’t quite figure out what they were looking for in the first place, or being completely uncommunicative. Email is much safer and more direct this way. Contact me here! EMAIL: gilgameshmercury@gmail.com 

I am looking forward to meeting you ～

[davidmann95]

This Superman guy's pretty great, huh?

Okay. Figured I’d write this at somepoint, seems like as good a place as any to do it.

Yes: Superman is pretty great. The character’s great,the costume’s great, the cast is great, the powers are great, the scope of thekind of adventures you can tell with him is great, the mythology’s great, thepower he has to inspire on the page and in the real world is great. I’ve known that since I was…I dunno,three? Two? I’m told he was my first three-syllable word. I’m not sure what myfirst exposure would have been; Supermanthe Animated Series was airing when I was a kid, my dad had the Fleischercartoons on tape, we’d watch reruns of TheAdventures of Superman whenever they aired, I had some odd issues of Superman Adventures, I had picture bookslike The True Story of Superman, Superman: Slippery When Bad and I Hate Superman!, I even had an abridgedversion of John Byrne’s Man of Steel manyyears before I would change my tune on it. It was well past the whole nineyards of lunchboxes and Superman-themed birthday parties - mom and dad wereLois-Mom and Jimmy-Dad for a bit, who got a call one time from a teacher inpreschool that I had dramatically taken off my shirt to show the temporaryS-Shield tattoo I’d gotten on my chest. My dad ended up having to drive toevery Burger King in the area asking for any spare Superman toys because Icouldn’t stand that they had been discontinued before I could get them all andI was making life hell for everyone in the process. I couldn’t play Supermanwith other kids on the playground, because I’d demand we recreate the scriptsof adventures verbatim.

Around seven or thereabouts though,while I never developed any of the disdain towards him that so many seem tohave, I drifted away for a while towards Batman and Spider-Man. Purely bycoincidence, this is also the age I was diagnosed with Asperger’s.

It’s not something I talk about agreat deal these days. Not because of some sense of shame, to be as clear aspossible about that right upfront. It isn’t even a matter of my especiallybeing able to pass as neurotypical - take me out of my comfort zone into anynumber of common social circumstances and that illusion falls by the wayside.But I’ve carved out I feel a pretty decent niche where I’m typically fairlysatisfied and able to function at a level that meets my own standards, and as aresult it’s usually background radiation of my life, not something that comesup unbidden until a situation demands I start thinking about it again. Even when I do, thinking about it much often leaves me feeling self-conscious and self-indulgent, and convinced I’m either being stupidly self-aggrandizing or stupidly self-pitying about it.

So naturally, even once I reallystarted to get back into Superman in earnest at 13 alongsidecomics in general and he became my favorite character in earnest, there are some associations it took me awhile to make.

I’m not quite certain when Istarted to think about it, but the structure of how I thought about it I know came about thanks to @postcardsfromspace‘s (excellent) article I See Your Value Now on learningabout their own Asperger’s. I doubt it’s an association any creators for thecharacter have given any thought (aside from maybe Mark Waid, given that in an interview on Birthright he specifically noted how his idea for Martha Kentbecoming a UFO buff in response to her son was meant as a parallel to parentsof kids with autism having to become self-taught experts on the subject), andall a Google search immediately turns up is comparing a young Clark’s troubleswith his X-Ray vision in Man of Steelto sensory overload in children with autism. It’s not something that would havelikely even occurred to me if it wasn’t for that…well, that I have Asperger’s,and Superman’s a special interest, and as a default I’m always ready on somelevel to connect any input I get back to him.

Obviously, there’s Clark himself.He screams it, right? Likely just because of a general conflation of ‘nerd’traits with ‘Aspie’ traits, but it’s all there right on the surface: shy,awkward, naïve, can’t read a room to save his life, unaware of some generalsocial conventions given his penchant for drab suits, horn-rimmed glasses andfedoras well into the 21st century, either without many friends orlocked into a rigid and small social circle, by all appearances more alivebehind a screen than he ever is to anyone’s face. Even the more confident takeson him, such as in the Reeves TV show or the New 52 Action Comics, seem to lack a social grace or two, seem to grate onthe people around him. Precision-constructed by the greatest man to ever liveto be beneath the notice of his peers in every way imaginable, of course you end up with that guy.

…except even when Clark’s purely apost-Smallville construct on Superman’s part, he’s not made out of nothing, ishe? The Kansas boy who grew up reading ATale of Two Cities as a toddler and obsessively pouring over astronomytextbooks for clues can hazard a guess of what it feels like to be a nerd. Theguy who grew up on a farm who flies and can accidentally shatter steel in hisgrip is entirely familiar with how it feels to awkwardly maneuver around in acrowded city. The square who grew up in the middle of nowhere constantlygetting accused of not knowing how the world really works can probably express a little doubt over his ownself-awareness and naiveté if he absolutely has to. Clark Kent is historicallybuilt on Superman’s own worst image of himself.

(This incidentally, along withplenty of other storytelling-based reasons, is why I intensely dislikeit when Clark’s the ‘real guy’, and therefore confident and charming and on topof things; it’s Kryptonite to the ideas in play there.)

And the shyness? The sense of beingout of place? The - let’s get right to the heart of it - alien-ness?

Superman’s pretty cool. He’sfriendly; he’s understanding; he’s clever and kind and determined. He’s alsosomething of a loner who’s often surprisingly loathe to open up to people,and even once he’s married he still needs plenty of time to himself to thinkthings through. He’s someone who when he puts on the costume always engageswith the world in a very specific context: where his natural talents are mostobviously geared towards being helpful, where so long as he can pull off Sweetand Composed and make some speeches when he has to people will accept him withopen arms. Being Superman puts him in a situation where he can show his bestself, personally and socially and morally, and be accepted for his goodness ina way nerdy, quiet Clark Kent never can.

And god, does he need thatacceptance.

That’s often applied to painfullymaudlin stories of him hand-wringing over his social impact on humanity andwhether he can save all the little children of the world from cancer orwhatever, but it’s still something else that seems to be pretty consistentacross the various interpretations. Unless he’s barreling ahead with a degreeof self-confidence bordering on flat-out arrogance, he’s always worried abouthow he seems in the eyes of the world. Whether that means Red Kryptoniteexternalizing anxieties of old age or powerlessness or throwing him intodreamworlds of hate or irrelevance, or wondering whether he can justify one ofhis two identities, or pondering his alien nature, or questioning what Supermanmeans as a symbol to the world, or being flat-out replaced, or even protectinghis secret, it’s always the same question refracted through endless prisms: Can I belong here? Am I doing well enough,being useful enough, to deserve what I’ve been given? Will they find me out?Would they ever accept me if theyknew the truth?

For all the joy that comes with who he is, that’s his life too: it’s growing up inSmallville knowing there’s no one else who’ll ever know the distinct timbre ofair-pressure changes when a hummingbird slows down its wingbeat a fraction, noone he could talk about the sight of snowflakes assembling themselves out offreezing raindrops to without sounding as if he’s out of his mind, no one whocould fully empathize with having to practice normal human reactions to theworld. It’s spending half his life trying to be a normal guy among normalpeople and failing because of his own insecurities, the other half really beingable to do his best in his own element and being the person he wants to be, butnever being sure if it’s enough for those around him. It’s finally meeting other Kryptonians orsuperheroes but realizing even their own experiences diverge so sharply thatthe communication gap remains, that as a matter of circumstance he is and will alwaysremain fundamentally other in someways, no matter how deeply he connects with other people.

His relationships seem to fit the mold too - it works pretty dang well that histwo best friends are a coworker who’s simultaneously the cool dude who takeshim under his wing and the kid whouncritically looks up to him, and someone with the same ‘hobby’ who’s himselfpretty well-known for having issues opening up to people. Or that his wifefalling in love with him is framed in terms of her looking past him at his mostvulnerable and awkward and unable to fit in to see the person he actually iswhen no one else can, while a major part of his love for her is her being thekind of person who’s pushy enough to force him out of his shell and some of hismore self-defeating behaviors.

And that his worst enemy, in spite ofhis aura of smug self-regard, doesn’t seem able to relate to other people on afundamental level or manage to work with them very well when he’s not in fullcontrol of the situation, even as he needs them to accept and validate him. Lexfails because he’ll never work to bridge that gap in the same way as Superman,seeing that as a ridiculous and unrealistic imposition, and Superman as anintruder into his personal universe trying to force his unrealistic standardsof “acknowledge other people and whatthey think about things” on him while at the same time agonizingly,bafflingly succeeding where Lex fails. He’s the embodiment in that regard ofthe frustrated, shamed instinct of the isolated that you’re already great, sopeople should already love and understand you and it’s their fault for notgetting it (hence for instance how in All-Starhe overtly sees the world and the relationships that make it up in a coldly material manner where people naturally flock to only the most outwardly great aroundthem - colored by a sexist streak that’s taken on a whole new degree of toxic prominencewhen it comes to the socially awkward in the near-decade since the book’sconclusion).

(It also works that Superman’scharacter in All-Star is defined byhis disconnect from humanity, and that his big character arc is having tobecome emotionally honest enough to talk with the people who love him aboutwhat he’s going through.)

Again, clearly none of this is theintent on the part of those who’ve worked with him over the years. This is byno means the bedrock or secret key to what makes him tick; it’s at best a componentin a much larger machine. I’m sure if you dug into it enough you could find somethingproblematic in the proposition, and I won’t pretend there couldn’t becharacters closer in every sense to my own experiences.

But none of them would be Superman.

Sure, it helps that I grew up withhim, and that he’s a character with enough detail and weird ideas and characterwork that I can delve into the minutia of him in a way I can’t with anyone elseto the same extent other than Batman, but beyond all that, he’s Superman. He’s TheGuy, the best, and that I can see myself in him in *any* way means more than itever could with any other character, because that makes him being a role modelmean something else.

For all I talked about how lonelyhe is above he’s still an idealist, still has friends and a job and weirdpersonal hobbies at his personal ice-cave and a way to express his highest,best self in a way that’s loved by the people around him. The way he seesthings differently can be accepted and shared even as he understands and caresfor the people around him. He’s happy. And that he can start from a place of being the onlyone of his kind and end up a good person, the best person, in part because he knows better than anyone what it isto be alone and why others matter so much? That has more weight to people, andto me, than can be expressed.

I mentioned before I’m not wildabout Clark being the exclusive true identity in part because of how much itmesses with this. I’ve also said elsewhere that while both Clark and Supermanare inseparable and true parts of his identity that can’t be denied as importantaspects of who he is, if I absolutely had to choose one as being the ‘real’ one I’dgo with Superman. And I can pick apart any number of storytelling reasons forthat, but thinking about how I relate to Superman in the way I do made merealize something else. I have to see Superman as the truest self becauseSuperman’s who he is at his best, when he’s not afraid or ashamed and can showhimself in all his alienness to everyone and be accepted for it. That’s thedream, right? I’m no Superman, but I’ve gottabelieve in him, ‘cause I’ve gotta believe in me.

I’m pretty sure some of you canrelate.

[hennyjolzen]

Tony Vigorito:  I read in Billboard that you’ve written a play for musical theater. And you haven’t published a novel in several years. So tell me, how did this play come about, and have you given up the page for the stage?

Tom Robbins:  Here’s what happened. A few years ago, leafing through an issue of The New Yorker, I came upon a cartoon depicting two men in a bar. The elder of the two, nursing a martini, wore a suit, tie, and conservative spectacles: the image of a publisher. The other guy — disheveled, bearded, a bit wild of eye as he looked up from a pint — was obviously a writer. In the caption, the publisher was saying to the writer, “Sorry, I don’t think a children’s book about beer would sell.”

Other readers doubtlessly smiled, even chuckled, and turned the page. I, however, took it as a challenge. My B Is for Beer, published by HarperCollins Ecco, actually sold quite well, though I’d wager no child has ever read it. Eventually, to my surprise, the Australian singer/songwriter Ben Lee came to me with the crazy idea of turning the B Is for Beer novel into a musical for the stage.

I wrote the script and a few of the lyrics, Ben wrote the music and most of the lyrics. There was a great workshop production at the Largo in Los Angeles, much laughter and applause, but so far Broadway has not come calling. And neither have I “retired” as a novelist, although at age 86, I’m unsure how much literary mustard I’ll still be cutting.

Tony Vigorito: I’m certain I’m not the only reader relieved to hear that rumors of your retirement have been greatly exaggerated. So let me ask you this: As a world-class storyteller, I imagine you’ve grown sensitive to the manner in which story moves the human experience, the manner in which we are conscripted into largely unconscious narratives that more or less determine our decisions. A wide-open child is told who they are and what they believe, and they act according to the script into which they’ve been cast.

That said, it has become agonizingly clear that the story into which we were born harbors no reservations against undermining the planetary ecosystem that sustains us. So — if you’ll forgive the vastness of this question — how might we revise the story we’ve inherited? Or more to the point, what would a new story of the human experience look like?

Tom Robbins: We homo sapiens have likely always defined ourselves through narration. In the mouths of firelit caves, on the banks of starlit rivers, we self-consciously sought to understand the world and our place in it by means of stories. It would have been only a matter of time, however, before mere social comprehension was insufficient, we longed to excite and amuse one another by inventing scenarios that exceeded in novelty and scope any observable real-life events.

Once imagination entered the picture, there seemed no limits to prehistoric story time. We could tell tales that illuminated our hidden psyche, the universe, the cosmos, the secret lives of trees and animals. Eventually we learned how to make the tales more permanent by writing them down.

When television first became ubiquitous, many worried that it would destroy imagination. Today, there’s similar concern about the Internet — and that’s a legitimate issue, if only because social media is to the human ego what a pile of red meat is to a hungry wolf. Evidence of exploding narcissism is everywhere, from the pathological occupant of the White House to intrusive audiences at concerts and radio quiz shows. Online, with such easy access to a wide audience, everybody and his sister with a keyboard seems to want a piece of the spotlight, regardless if they have any talent or have paid any dues. It may be a case of democracy swallowing its own tail.

Let’s not fret. The fact is, creative imagination has always been a rare commodity: the province, the gift of singular individuals working on the fringes of a society with which it frequently is at odds. Somebody somewhere is probably already creating the stories that open wider our eyes to the natural world, to the planetary mother we are raping in her kitchen.

However — and this is essential — it won’t be by faithfully dramatizing the ins and outs of environmental politics, or recasting the ideas of God-given human superiority perpetuated by Old Testament mythology, but, rather, by creating prose so vivid it lights up a page like a Maui sunset, sentences so linguistically evocative they cause the reader to taste wild strawberries, to hear the confused grunting of large beasts at a dried-up waterhole. Our human world is made of language as surely as our planetary world is made of stone and water, and the writing that really matters is that whose imagery is capable of ripping through the beige curtain that too often separates the written word from reality, not to mention wonder. Style, baby, style! Our human world is made of language as surely as our planetary world is made of stone and water.

And in the new story, we will be favored by God no more, no less, than that strawberry plant, that thirsty rhinoceros. Which does not mean, however, that there won’t be plenty of laughs. And plenty of sex.

Tony Vigorito:  Your answer invites ever-vaster vistas: God, creativity, language, laughter, etc. Naturally, these are interrelated and we needn’t necessarily choose between them, but let’s start, shall we say, in the beginning: Why do you think there is something rather than nothing? Is the cosmos, as John Updike speculated shortly before his death, “a piece of light verse” tossed off by a bored and lonely God? And while we’re at it, what are we referring to with this syllable of God?

Tom Robbins: The most simple (and perhaps most accurate) answer is that “God” is the face we paint on the Mystery — as if giving the Mystery anthropomorphic (if super radiant) features will make it seem, well, less Mysterious.

Early in Levantine history, remember, the divine face was collectively, predominately feminine. That is to say, the gal-axy of super beings our pre-biblical ancestors believed orchestrated almost every aspect of existence were goddesses. It wasn’t until the patriarchal revolution in the southeastern Mediterranean region about 4,000 years ago that male leaders, fed up with feminine dominance both in the heavens and in the bed (“Hey you with your multiple orgasms! Am I really the father of that baby boy who is to inherit my flocks and my land?”) conspired to create a monotheistic deity — and give it a sex change. (“Goodbye Ishtar. So long Astarte. Hello Jehovah.”)

Regardless of gender (if any), the Mystery remains. Why is there something instead of nothing? Is there some conscious force, some higher power in the cosmos, directing everything — or are we imaginative human animals making it all up? Does time have a beginning and an end? Does our consciousness survive our death? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Maybe we don’t need to know the answers. Such knowledge would eliminate the Mystery — and weaken if not destroy the spirituality without which our lives are simply political/economical. God forbid!

Tony Vigorito:  Touché. We don’t need to know the answers and any pretense at possessing them is bound to be baloney. Perhaps instead of asking “why?,” a better question — and as it turned out, no less a persona than Timothy Leary’s last words — might be “why not?”

Looking forward rather than backward, creativity seems to inhere in human nature, and its expression may be all the meaning we need. Indeed, Charlotte Perkins Gilman once wrote that work should be the source of humanity’s greatest joy, though I reckon there are very few among us who feel anything resembling joy at the sound of an alarm clock. So why has work become the opposite of play? And on a personal note, how do you experience your work?

Tom Robbins: I’m not being cute when I contend that my work (the creation of fiction) is a form of play: a combination of chess, finger-painting, and Russian roulette. It can be mentally and physically tiring, but it is a sweet exhaustion, the fatigue one might feel on the last night of a two-week honeymoon.

Most humans are not so fortunate. They arise too early, return home too late: home from jobs they secretly or openly despise, subliminally aware that making a living is not to be confused with actually living — and that it may even be shortening their lives and/or that of their descendants.

Employment, with its bosses and schedules, paychecks and time clocks, is a quite recent development in human history, and with escalating advances in cybernetics and robotics, there are going to be fewer and fewer jobs, yet more and more people. Although overpopulation (perhaps the most threatening of the booby-trapped eggs laid by the noxious peacock of narcissism) will in a sense create more work, there will be a de-escalation of live workers assigned to perform it. Who knows, we may revert to being hunter-gatherers, if there is anything left to hunt and gather. On the other hand, why not expect — and insist on — a miracle?

Tony Vigorito:  Let’s hear more about this miracle, figuratively or literally. Given the manner in which the ecological noose is tightening apace with the death grip of obsolete economic structures, humanity does seem to be approaching something resembling the sound barrier, with the whole aircraft shuddering and threatening to blow apart. Tremendous forces of greed and egotism are determined to impose ignorance, and weapons of mass mendacity and distraction are more formidable than ever. What way lies hope, or is it just an anthropocentric vanity to believe that we must be something other than an evolutionary cul-de-sac?

Tom Robbins: Were I to claim advance knowledge of the nature of any impending miracle, I’d be justifiably accused of spreading fake news (or deemed worthy of my very own padded cell). What follows, however, is a crumb of conjecture.

In his recent book, How to Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan reports that a number of extremely reputable institutions (medical and academic, in the U.S. and abroad) are currently engaged in serious psychedelic research. What if there were eventually to be widespread, legal, judicious — even enlightened — use of these natural, mind-changing sacraments, might not that tip the balance in favor of Mother Nature?Why don’t those of us concerned just start behaving as if that aforementioned miracle were already here?

Of course, since winged rats will likely be circling Manhattan before that comes to pass, why don’t we conduct an experiment, consider an alternative? Rather than waiting and yearning for it, why don’t those of us concerned just start behaving as if that aforementioned miracle were already here?

Tony Vigorito:  It’s a comforting crumb of conjecture, and there may be more than a loaf of truth to it. After all, every other social movement from the era known as the Sixties has landed on the right side of history. So why pretend that there was nothing to be discovered on the neurological frontier, or that it was merely a foolhardy caprice? The question I’m driving at is this: Assuming that it’s even possible to describe, what is it that’s contained within these experiences that is so potentially transformative to our manner of being alive?

Tom Robbins: First, in regard to those “flying rats,” let me shoot down my fantasy that psychedelic usage might someday be “widespread.” As Hermann Hesse so accurately pointed out in Steppenwolf, “the magic theater is not for everyone.”

Apparently, chemicals in these substances activate receptors in our brains that otherwise lie dormant, doubtlessly for good reason as it would be virtually impossible to, say, operate machinery, write reports, wage wars, or bake cakes were they permanently operational.

For those who can accommodate it, the psychedelic experience is both prehistoric and futuristic, creating multiple insights that do not translate readily into language. They provide the imbiber a lens on his or her surroundings that is simultaneously microscopic, kaleidoscopic, and, well, let’s say “cosmo-scopic,” for want of a more scientific term. Certainly, it can (and frequently does) lend itself to spiritual interpretations. And though it dims in time, there remains enough of an imprint to alter (in a largely positive way) the manner in which one perceives so-called “reality.”

For example, when one’s consciousness travels inside the crown of a daisy, as did mine on my first LSD trip (it was like a cathedral made of mathematics and honey in there), one comes away sensing that every daisy in the field has an identity just as substantial as one’s own — and that cannot help but leave one more sensitive to the wonders and deeper meanings of the everyday natural world. That in turn sparks the nasty wish that those who trash our planet for profit might someday be toasting like marshmallows on the campfires of Hell. (Can’t you hear the little demons singing Kum Ba Yah?)

Tony Vigorito: Whether meditatively or pharmacologically inspired, the capacity to experience life outside of a cultural description of it (not mistaking the map for the road, as it were) does indeed sound like an evolutionary bonanza with the potential to accelerate humanity out of an obsolete past and into a relevant future.

So, for all its utility and poetry, why do you suppose we are so vehement in our attachment to language, particularly the ideologies, identities, etc. — the “veils,” to use your concept from Skinny Legs and All — that it describes? Or to put it another way, why can’t language be a useful tool rather than an iron rule?

Tom Robbins: We humans live in language the way a spider lives in its web. Both our mundane daily experiences and our most lofty abstract ideas (often borrowed from other “spiders”) become entangled in the multitudinous strands of that web, some to be slowly digested, others left to shrivel or bloat.

The longer we live, the more tangled the web becomes, although even in our youth we can allow ourselves to gorge on certain “flies” (political ideologies, religious dogmas, unattainable goals, or exaggerated notions of our abilities) that limit our evolution and distort the web.

Having said that, language remains our first invention (early tools and weapons were found, not made), our most ambitious, and at times our most grandiose. What is less appreciated is that the words themselves, transcending their utilitarian parameters, can be at least as important — and often more arresting — than the things or ideas they represent. Even professional writers frequently fail to recognize that language is not the frosting, it’s the cake.

So rather than there being too many perceptions that are beyond words, it may only be that after all this time there simply aren’t enough of us who, like Molly Bloom in Joyce’s Ulysses, can verbally turn something like a sordid seduction into a wild and winsome word-de-o. From my perspective, we, linguistically speaking, may have too many handy tools and not enough magic wands.

Sometimes, when a wand is sparking and our muse is smiling on us like a hot buttered croissant, we can use words to light up a page. Or a room. Even a mind — although admittedly not as brilliantly as those verbally transcendent entities that reside ever so humbly in certain mushrooms, cacti, or the scummy ergot that infects wheat and rye. But, we’ve already waddled through that minefield and it’s not even our home turf. Let’s count our toes and fingers and move on.

Tony Vigorito:  The best relief from the self-serious web we too-often weave, it seems to me, is the anarchic domain of laughter. The anthropologist Margaret Mead even observed that laughter is humankind’s most distinctive emotional expression (and never mind hyenas, by the way, that’s just the sound they make). What are your thoughts on this most riotous of emotions?

Tom Robbins: While much laughter is of no more consequence than the braying of a jackass, some is indicative of a special understanding, even a kind of wisdom. Often enough, such laughter may strike onlookers as inappropriate — but that reaction itself is worth a good laugh.

Humor can be both a form of wisdom and a means of survival. A comic sensibility is often a cosmic sensibility, for it can open doors in consciousness that are closed to the sober and prudent. Within the realm of laughter, light and darkness often merge, leaving the laugher free of life’s perplexing dualities.

When Rama Krishna, supposedly the last known human to actually reach Nirvana and return, was asked what it was like there in the zone of ultimate consciousness, that which-of-which-there-is-no-whicher, he answered, “Laughter.” It’s challenging to wrap one’s mind around that, but doesn’t it sound more appealing than “pearly gates and streets paved with gold?” I’m a wee bit concerned, however, that so few visions of the absolute Absolute fail to mention jelly donuts.

Tony Vigorito:  It occurs to me that language and laughter share a good deal in common. Like laughter, much language “is of no more consequence than the braying of a jackass” (contemporary American politics springs to mind), while some language may paradoxically reveal an ineffable wisdom seeking to express itself. In both cases, however — whether it’s motivated by the jackass of narcissism or the cosmic laughter of ultimate consciousness — language seeks to create reality.

That said, what is the world you’re seeking to create with your use of language? And what is the most common misconception you encounter around your work?

Tom Robbins: You are correct, of course. While in the circus of human expression, laughter is customarily the red-nosed clown, language the daring aerialist on the high wire or flying trapeze, the roles are often reversed or even performed by the same entity, especially when imagination gets in the act. In fact, in the very best “shows,” comic genius and poetic genius are usually directed by imagination, the ultimate ringmaster.

Many — if not most — authors employ language to describe experience. My own goal is to actually provide an experience. I’d like to think that I write to twine ideas and images into big subversive pretzels of life, death, and goofiness on the chance that like the Trickster figure in tribal myths, they might help keep the world lively and give it the flexibility to endure. And I suspect that you may have a somewhat similar approach.Most authors employ language to describe experience. My own goal is to actually provide an experience.

Among the ranks of the stuffy and clueless are a few wantwits who insist on tarring me with the old Day-Glo Sixties brush, never mind that only one of my nine novels (the first) is set in the 1960s. My second, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, does take place in the Seventies during fallout from the counterculture revolution, but its themes (including sexual preying on women) are as relevant today as then — and the rest of my oeuvre covers many eras (including ancient Greece) and many locales (including the Afterlife). Well, as another writer once responded to misplaced criticism, “Let the jackals howl, the caravan rolls on.”

Tony Vigorito:  Indeed, it’s a howling sort of ignorance that would reduce the complexity of an artwork to a simple-minded category. Rolling on, then, I’m wondering if you can articulate how the spiritual reality we’ve discussed (the cosmic laughter of ultimate consciousness) meshes with active participation in, say, political reality, if at all?

Tom Robbins: Politics, even much liberal politics, is all wrapped up in ego the way a pig is wrapped in a blanket. Should the pig poot so hard it billows the blanket, children and halfwits will snicker. Otherwise, the political impulse (the desire to preside over property and make other people’s decisions for them) is only occasionally a source of mirth, and never ever ever invokes the sort of “cosmic” amusement of which you speak: a response to existence that in Zen is sometimes called the “god laugh.”

Almost daily there is existential folly so absurd that it invites a dismissive guffaw. Then there is the abrupt laugh of appreciation when we suddenly are reminded of all the wonder there is in the world. Such recognition usually occurs when we’ve followed an impulse to temporarily remove the mask that most of us wear every day. Alas, rarely does a politician (or the politically inclined) dare to take off that mask.

The party that would surely get my vote (and maybe even a contribution) is the one whose slogan is, “We’re making it all up.” Which, of course, they are. And where politics and religion are concerned, so is everybody else.

Tony Vigorito:  Given the agonizing farce of American politics of late, I wonder if you have any words of wisdom to whisper? The herd is stirring, there’s a nervous shifting of hooves afoot. Is something happening here, or are we staring at our belly buttons instead of the sunrise?

Tom Robbins: Well, it’s a short trip from the belly button to the “clear light,” so one’s navel (as opposed to one’s lover’s navel) is a good place to start. Meditation, umbilical or mandala, can lead to elation, and elation can foster realization: specifically the realization that ultimately it’s all cosmic (there’s that word again) theater, all of it, and each of us should work on perfecting his or her role, on playing it with honesty, humor, and if possible, pizzaz.

Meanwhile, if one’s role includes “voter,” then one must vote for the candidate with the fewest ties to corporate fascism (the current direction of government in the U.S.), the one with the least dorky haircut.

Me, I’m keeping an eye on the latest discoveries in astro-physics (gravitational waves, for example), lending moral support to young protesters in the streets — and sending out for jelly donuts.