#also most of them travel A LOT and the society is based around that

[yael-art-den]

I also finished Doran's (Sundown) designs a while back but never posted them either because they're not very clean; but now I've been thinking a lot about his lore and wanted to ramble a bit more!!! Info under the cut

Doran "Sundown" (or just Sundown as he is usually known) is an Ifrit, a race originally from the desert of Zer'Ja, in the New World. Born from a family of a wealthy merchant family, his life was pretty much already done for him. Even though he was never very social, he did have a good discipline for manual crafts and other forms of art, so as long as he was working on his family's business, he was guaranteed to be able to make a living out of it. His two older brothers were the ones who would inherit most of the business afterall, and they, along with their parents, were the face of the business, and most of his formative years were spent learning how to make money, learn the inner workings of how to take care of a business, and dealing with art pieces that fell into their possesion.

Still, he was never truly satisfied with that kind of life, which was never fully understood by his family, something that made him keep those feelings for himself even more. In his early-to-mid 20's he began to struggle with all of this, not being able to be fulfilled with his current life when he had all the reasons to be. He had a job, a good family, and enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life if he wanted to, but he felt.. off with that. He longed for something else: making things with his own hands, living on his own, being left alone to do his own thing. Alone. On the wilds.

He buried that feeling (along with other.. gender-related ones) for years, until it reached a breaking point for him. He took everything he could carry that he considered to be useful, changed clothes, told NO ONE about it, and just...left. He didn't have a plan, just walk. He Will figure it out on the way where he was going.

Sundown spent almost five years traveling on his own. Had to learn how to hunt, how to make traps and fire, and how to survive on his own but it felt so??? Right??? Carving wood, hunting animals, making a shelter, it wasn't a "job" but It was definitely what he felt his life should be about.

He would end up setting on the most exterior part of Rey's kingdom (another OC Guy I'll talk about in the future), a frozen tundra mostly inhabited by Deathwalkers and Primordials, but a place he fit right in. Built a cabin, got a dog, and started trading with a nearby village.

Now, he just mostly lives on his own (with his dog), working on his land as a shepherd in the most literal cowboy sense, and carving wood in his free time. Good shit

[dykepuffs]

How Do I Make My Fictional Gypsies Not Racist?

(Or, "You can't, sorry, but…")

You want to include some Gypsies in your fantasy setting. Or, you need someone for your main characters to meet, who is an outsider in the eyes of the locals, but who already lives here. Or you need a culture in conflict with your settled people, or who have just arrived out of nowhere. Or, you just like the idea of campfires in the forest and voices raised in song. And you’re about to step straight into a muckpile of cliches and, accidentally, write something racist.

(In this, I am mostly using Gypsy as an endonym of Romany people, who are a subset of the Romani people, alongside Roma, Sinti, Gitano, Romanisael, Kale, etc, but also in the theory of "Gypsying" as proposed by Lex and Percy H, where Romani people are treated with a particular mix of orientalism, criminalisation, racialisation, and othering, that creates "The Gypsy" out of both nomadic peoples as a whole and people with Romani heritage and racialised physical features, languages, and cultural markers)

Enough of my friends play TTRPGs or write fantasy stories that this question comes up a lot - They mention Dungeons and Dragons’ Curse Of Strahd, World Of Darkness’s Gypsies, World Of Darkness’s Ravnos, World of Darkness’s Silent Striders… And they roll their eyes and say “These are all terrible! But how can I do it, you know, without it being racist?”

And their eyes are big and sad and ever so hopeful that I will tell them the secret of how to take the Roma of the real world and place them in a fictional one, whilst both appealing to gorjer stereotypes of Gypsies and not adding to the weight of stereotyping that already crushes us. So, disappointingly, there is no secret.

Gypsies, like every other real-world culture, exist as we do today because of interactions with cultures and geography around us: The living waggon, probably the archetypal thing which gorjer writers want to include in their portrayals of nomads, is a relatively modern invention - Most likely French, and adopted from French Showmen by Romanies, who brought it to Britain. So already, that’s a tradition that only spans a small amount of the time that Gypsies have existed, and only a small number of the full breadth of Romani ways of living. But the reasons that the waggon is what it is are based on the real world - The wheels are tall and iron-rimmed, because although you expect to travel on cobbled, tarmac, or packed-earth roads and for comparatively short distances, it wasn’t rare to have to ford a river in Britain in the late nineteenth century, on country roads. They were drawn by a single horse, and the shape of that horse was determined by a mixture of local breeds - Welsh cobs, fell ponies, various draft breeds - as well as by the aesthetic tastes of the breeders. The stove inside is on the left, so that as you move down a British road, the chimney sticks up into the part where there will be the least overhanging branches, to reduce the chance of hitting it.

So taking a fictional setting that looks like (for example) thirteenth century China (with dragons), and placing a nineteenth century Romanichal family in it will inevitably result in some racist assumptions being made, as the answer to “Why does this culture do this?” becomes “They just do it because I want them to” rather than having a consistent internal logic.

Some stereotypes will always follow nomads - They appear in different forms in different cultures, but they always arise from the settled people's same fears: That the nomads don't share their values, and are fundamentally strangers. Common ones are that we have a secret language to fool outsiders with, that we steal children and disguise them as our own, that our sexual morals are shocking (This one has flipped in the last half century - From the Gypsy Lore Society's talk of the lascivious Romni seductress who will lie with a strange man for a night after a 'gypsy wedding', to today's frenzied talk of 'grabbing' and sexually-conservative early marriages to ensure virginity), that we are supernatural in some way, and that we are more like animals than humans. These are tropes where if you want to address them, you will have to address them as libels - there is no way to casually write a baby-stealing, magical succubus nomad without it backfiring onto real life Roma. (The kind of person who has the skills to write these tropes well, is not the kind of person who is reading this guide.)

It’s too easy to say a list of prescriptive “Do nots”, which might stop you from making the most common pitfalls, but which can end up with your nomads being slightly flat as you dance around the topics that you’re trying to avoid, rather than being a rich culture that feels real in your world.

So, here are some questions to ask, to create your nomadic people, so that they will have a distinctive culture of their own that may (or may not) look anything like real-world Romani people: These aren't the only questions, but they're good starting points to think about before you make anything concrete, and they will hopefully inspire you to ask MORE questions.

First - Why are they nomadic? Nobody moves just to feel the wind in their hair and see a new horizon every morning, no matter what the inspirational poster says. Are they transhumant herders who pay a small rent to graze their flock on the local lord’s land? Are they following migratory herds across common land, being moved on by the cycle of the seasons and the movement of their animals? Are they seasonal workers who follow man-made cycles of labour: Harvests, fairs, religious festivals? Are they refugees fleeing a recent conflict, who will pass through this area and never return? Are they on a regular pilgrimage? Do they travel within the same area predictably, or is their movement governed by something that is hard to predict? How do they see their own movements - Do they think of themselves as being pushed along by some external force, or as choosing to travel? Will they work for and with outsiders, either as employees or as partners, or do they aim to be fully self-sufficient? What other jobs do they do - Their whole society won’t all be involved in one industry, what do their children, elderly, disabled people do with their time, and is it “work”?

If they are totally isolationist - How do they produce the things which need a complex supply chain or large facilities to make? How do they view artefacts from outsiders which come into their possession - Things which have been made with technology that they can’t produce for themselves? (This doesn’t need to be anything about quality of goods, only about complexity - A violin can be made by one artisan working with hand tools, wood, gut and shellac, but an accordion needs presses to make reeds, metal lathes to make screws, complex organic chemistry to make celluloid lacquer, vulcanised rubber, and a thousand other components)

How do they feel about outsiders? How do they buy and sell to outsiders? If it’s seen as taboo, do they do it anyway? Do they speak the same language as the nearby settled people (With what kind of fluency, or bilingualism, or dialect)? Do they intermarry, and how is that viewed when it happens? What stories does this culture tell about why they are a separate people to the nearby settled people? Are those stories true? Do they have a notional “homeland” and do they intend to go there? If so, is it a real place?

What gorjers think of as classic "Gipsy music" is a product of our real-world situation. Guitar from Spain, accordions from the Soviet Union (Which needed modern machining and factories to produce and make accessible to people who weren't rich- and which were in turn encouraged by Soviet authorities preferring the standardised and modern accordion to the folk traditions of the indigenous peoples within the bloc), brass from Western classical traditions, via Balkan folk music, influences from klezmer and jazz and bhangra and polka and our own music traditions (And we influence them too). What are your people's musical influences? Do they make their own instruments or buy them from settled people? How many musical traditions do they have, and what are they all for (Weddings, funerals, storytelling, campfire songs, entertainment...)? Do they have professional musicians, and if so, how do those musicians earn money? Are instrument makers professionals, or do they use improvised and easy-to-make instruments like willow whistles, spoons, washtubs, etc? (Of course the answer can be "A bit of both")

If you're thinking about jobs - How do they work? Are they employed by settled people (How do they feel about them?) Are they self employed but providing services/goods to the settled people? Are they mostly avoidant of settled people other than to buy things that they can't produce themselves? Are they totally isolationist? Is their work mostly subsistence, or do they create a surplus to sell to outsiders? How do they interact with other workers nearby? Who works, and how- Are there 'family businesses', apprentices, children with part time work? Is it considered 'a job' or just part of their way of life? How do they educate their children, and is that considered 'work'? How old are children when they are considered adult, and what markers confer adulthood? What is considered a rite of passage?

When they travel, how do they do it? Do they share ownership of beasts of burden, or each individually have "their horse"? Do families stick together or try to spread out? How does a child begin to live apart from their family, or start their own family? Are their dwellings something that they take with them, or do they find places to stay or build temporary shelter with disposable material? Who shares a dwelling and why? What do they do for privacy, and what do they think privacy is for?

If you're thinking about food - Do they hunt? Herd? Forage? Buy or trade from settled people? Do they travel between places where they've sown crops or managed wildstock in previous years, so that when they arrive there is food already seeded in the landscape? How do they feel about buying food from settled people, and is that common? If it's frowned upon - How much do people do it anyway? How do they preserve food for winter? How much food do they carry with them, compared to how much they plan to buy or forage at their destinations? How is food shared- Communal stores, personal ownership?

Why are they a "separate people" to the settled people? What is their creation myth? Why do they believe that they are nomadic and the other people are settled, and is it correct? Do they look different? Are there legal restrictions on them settling? Are there legal restrictions on them intermixing? Are there cultural reasons why they are a separate people? Where did those reasons come from? How long have they been travelling? How long do they think they've been travelling? Where did they come from? Do they travel mostly within one area and return to the same sites predictably, or are they going to move on again soon and never come back?

And then within that - What about the members of their society who are "unusual" in some way: How does their society treat disabled people? (are they considered disabled, do they have that distinction and how is it applied?) How does their society treat LGBT+ people? What happens to someone who doesn't get married and has no children? What happens to someone who 'leaves'? What happens to young widows and widowers? What happens if someone just 'can't fit in'? What happens to someone who is adopted or married in? What happens to people who are mixed race, and in a fantasy setting to people who are mixed species? What is taboo to them and what will they find shocking if they leave? What is society's attitude to 'difference' of various kinds?

Basically, if you build your nomads from the ground-up, rather than starting from the idea of "I want Gypsies/Buryats/Berbers/Minceiri but with the numbers filed off and not offensive" you can end up with a rich, unique nomadic culture who make sense in your world and don't end up making a rod for the back of real-world cultures.

[johannestevans]

Where do I find the queer people?

Making friends and finding social & community spaces as an LGBTQ+ adult.

Originally published with Prism & Pen. Also on my Patreon.

Photo by Brett Sayles via Pexels.

A friend and I recently went to a Queer Open Mic night after I saw it advertised on the same afternoon. While we were on the way back, she asked about how I’d found it.

“I just feel like you always know loads of queer events that are on,” she said, “and I don’t know how to begin to find them.”

I sat down with her a few weeks later and showed her some of the ways I find events, regular or otherwise, and where I look for others — especially given that on social media in the past few days I’ve seen a few people talking about the difficulty of finding and meeting with new queer people when not online.

I thought it might be useful to put it together here.

It’s quite hard with the pressure on and elimination of many third spaces to go out and easily meet people, and given that most of us use a lot of online socials and dating apps, it can feel difficult to seek out and engage with in-person spaces without knowing exactly what the protocol or format of the event is going to be.

Especially given that many people are still more isolated than they were before the start of the Covid pandemic, and/or struggle with seeking out events for themselves having finished school or university or other more structured environments, there can be a lot of anxiety about attending events or meeting new people. But it’s worth it to remember that pretty much everyone else is in a similar spot, and there’s nothing weird or unusual about wanting to make friends or have social time with others.

I am based in the North of England and generally go between the UK and Ireland. So this guide might be less useful depending on where you are. Obviously, in countries with more repressive legislation on queer identity, community groups will by definition be far more underground. Even in areas where this isn’t the case, some of these suggestions might be more viable than others depending on how densely populated your area is, how accessible different venues and events are, and how active your local queer communities are. So, just take what’s good for you and leave the rest.

Finding Local Queer Community Groups

In your search engine, put in simple search terms — [queer] [group] in [my area].

If you can, narrow your search to websites updated in the last 6 months to 2 or 3 years — you’ll sometimes find a website from six or seven years ago where the events haven’t been running for half that when you were already excited about it.

Search your town, city, or county first, and then widen your search — I normally initially look for Bradford and Leeds respectively, but then might broaden my search to West Yorkshire or even North England depending on the time of year and if I’m more willing to travel for certain events, e.g. looking up summer events around Pride, or specific holiday events if you’re looking at Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s, etc.

Combine:

“Queer”, “LGBT” or “LGBTQ”, “Trans”, “Gay Men’s”, “Lesbian”, “Transgender”, “Transsexual”, “Gay Rights” or similar terms

With:

“Charity”, “Support Group”, “Social Space”, “Community Space”, “Meetup”, “Society”, and similar terms

Swap around the terms and find what language seems to be used in your area — remember that depending on the age group and demographic you’re looking at or for, there might be terms you prefer.

I personally search for a lot of gay men’s groups because the average age tends to be a lot older and focused more on the experiences and social spaces of men who love men rather than general queer spaces, which I find can be a bit too young and fast-paced for my speed.

In general, I find that there’s a loose separation between younger trans and queer social groups, which tend to be a mix of differing identities and ages but with a big emphasis on young adults in the 18–25 area, and then specific gay men’s or lesbians’ groups, which will have a wider swathe of ages and might be a little bit less online.

I understand the fear some people have of these spaces being more transphobic than younger spaces — that’s not personally been my experience, as transphobia and lateral bigotry might happen in any social space, but unfortunately, you just don’t know the specifics of an event or a group until you get there and actually meet and talk to the people.

Some charities or community groups that run a variety of spaces might have specific age or identity guidance on group titles — some might be particularly for younger or older people, be for trans people more than cis people, and some might focus on particular sub-communities, such as BIPOC queer groups or specific religious or ethnic meetups, disabled queer groups, etc.

You also might find meetups that are centred around certain hobbies, professions, or interests — boardgames or Magic the Gathering, Doctor Who or fantasy novels, medical professionals or blacksmiths, etc, depending on how big the area you’re in is and how populous it is.

If you are already a member of an institution or society, whether that’s your school or university, your union, some workplaces, your temple or other religious institution, etc, you might find that there are already events running for you!

Finding Queer Events Online

There are almost certainly queer events on, and they’re probably advertised, but where do you find them?

What’s annoying about the Internet as it exists, corporate online spaces and otherwise, is that most events will be posted in one or two spaces out of hundreds. The good ones will sometimes be hard to find because there’s a bunch of shitty advertising in the way, and because individuals and small charity or community advertisers don’t necessarily know about things like search engine optimisation or how to make a good, searchable post. There will be really cool events that are advertised online, but just aren’t tagged or easy to find.

This means that it’s worth looking often but keeping it casual — glancing through the top page for events that might be coming up or meet some keywords, but if most of what you see is ads, just leave it and move on. Digging through for the good events in busy areas that are also ad-heavy can take ages and might not even turn up much.

If you find socials for local community groups or charities, even if they don’t run events themselves, they might regularly share other local events or cool ones, so it can be worth following them!

Ditto for other queer people in your community — follow local artists, performers, academics, creators, public speakers, craftspeople, or any local community leaders or public figures, and see if they share and boost local events.

They might boost special interest events that are of interest to you if you follow people who share certain communities or interests. If, for example, you have an interest in lolita fashion and follow queer lolita dressers in your area or in areas you can travel to, they might post events that are of interest to them and maybe to you — whether that means specific lolita events, other clothing and fashion events like gothic or steampunk markets and shows, or even anime cons or renaissance faires or whatever.

Obviously searching on social media can help — looking for keywords like “queer event” or “LGBT social” on one site or other can be especially good if it’s a site where you can localise your search results, such as Facebook or Instagram.

With that said, Facebook and Instagram are increasingly difficult sites to use given how much they’re overwhelmed by sponsored and corporate posts as well as spam and bot posts. So, it’s generally worth it more when you focus on either events in smaller and limited areas, such as small towns, or when you’re looking for crossing over of different areas of interest, such as particular queer hobbyist or interest groups. When you start looking for broader spectrum events in a busier or more populous area, you can get inundated by spam and copy-and-paste duplicate ads that have all been promoted. But it’s still worth it to have a glance and see if anything is up at the top!

Sites and apps like Eventbrite or TicketSource, or equivalents in your area, will often let you search for specific events . As with social media, these sites can have the same problem of sponsored events coming up first, and annoyingly you can’t block particular event providers or organisers to make sure they don’t show in your search results if they’re not your thing.

Use every option that comes up and see if you can cross search where you can — pick a particular location or area, click on free or paid events, pick events at certain times, pick a certain kind of event, add in tags like LGBTQ or similar if it’s a site that allows it, etc.

If an event comes up that you like the idea of, note it down, then look the organizer up on social media and see if they run or share other events.

Looking for local tourism sites will let you search for other local events as well — especially if you live in a city or regularly visit one, they’ll often have a What’s On page or a Visit [Blank] website or equivalent, and you can search through that — most of them will have cultural events or a specific LGBTQ section you can glance through.

Here’s the Visit Bristol site, for example:

What’s On in Bristol — VisitBristol.co.uk Click here to find out What’s On in Bristol!…Get the latest information on the latest Events, Festivals, Carnivals…visitbristol.co.uk

For obvious reasons, sites like most of the above will focus on paid events, especially evening and party events. Pub quizzes, drag events, bingo nights, balls, drinks offers, parties, etc.

These events aren’t for everybody — and if they’re not for you, focus on events that take place, if not in cafés and restaurants, then in libraries, universities, museums, and other public buildings.

Queer Events Locally Advertised In-Person

Wait, do people still do that?

Look for poster and notice boards in:

Libraries, museums, community centres, university lobbies

Vintage and alternative clothes stores, music venues, etc

Your temple, church, or other religious institutions

Gay bars, queer cafés, LGBTQ centres, queer bookshops

Doctor’s offices, GUM clinics, and sexual health clinics

Anywhere else you see a noticeboard with events showing!

Also look on flag poles or in windows around your local gay bars or businesses if you have any, generally around the gay village if there’s one to go through.

How do you know the events are good? How do you know they’re legit?

How old does the poster look? Do you see many copies of it around?

Look for dates for the event(s) they’re advertising on the poster, and then look up the venue the events are meant to happen at. Do the dates match? Is it a regular event? Is the event showing on the venue’s website or social media?

Is the event run by a local group, collective, or charity? When you search them, do they have socials or a site of their own? Do they seem active?

If a local queer poster gives you socials, check those socials out — do they have any followers you’re familiar with? Do they post their venues publicly and have defined and public meeting times? Do they seem to have active and engaged commenters? Is there a face or faces behind the social media, or are they anonymous?

If an event is run by anonymous people, or if it seems like they don’t have many followers on social media or very active ones, that might be a bit more suspicious — ditto if an event just gives you a phone number but not any further identifying info.

It’s not inherently suspicious for a queer event to be at an undisclosed location, because of course people do want to ensure some safeguarding and vet people before they come, but if it’s an undisclosed location in combination with anonymous organising, that might be a bit suspicious, and should probably be avoided.

Finding Queer People in Specific Hobby or Other Community Spaces

You don’t have to go to queer-specific events to meet other queer people — any hobby or community you can think of, there’s probably queer people in attendance.

If you’re in a busier or more populous area, say there are 5 events that centre around the same hobby — of those 5, some of them will have more queer people than others, and it might be worth checking them out just to see if you click with anyone there.

My partner and I attend queer-specific board-game evenings that are run out of gay bars or by queer clubs, but pretty much any board-game night is likely to have one or two queer people knocking about, whether they know or would identify themselves as LGBTQ+ off the bat or not.

While there are obviously more open queer people at the queer events, I would say that when we went to a local board-game night run by older straight guys, about a quarter of the attendees were older queer people.

Of my queer friends, pretty much all of them have varied interests and attend different groups or clubs with a lot of other queers knocking about without them being labelled or explicitly queer events — knitting and crocheting, computer coding, electronic music and DJing, fandom, blacksmithing, glassblowing, stand-up comedy, improv, cooking, gardening, board games, cosplay and historical costuming, LEGO, live-action roleplay, tabletop roleplaying games, Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, and other trading card games, poker, burlesque, sports games and clubs, swimming, cycling, fishing, photography, book clubs, bug collecting, birdwatching, weaving, painting, sculpture, pottery, video games, singing, songwriting, poetry…

The list goes on.

Hell, half the people I know seem to go and meet new dates at the local climbing wall, where it seems like all the lesbians and gay guys are crawling all over one another. Another friend of mine attends their local WI, and have met other queer people there.

Other Tips

Remember you can meet people on dating and hook-up apps and that doesn’t necessarily have to be for sex and relationships, whether that’s Grindr, Her, Lex, etc — or you can ask hook-ups and casual dates where they go or if there are local events they think are good or fun. Poly people are particularly useful for this, because they’ll often have a whole network of regular events crossing over and diverging.

If you’re nervous about going to an event alone and you don’t have anybody to go with you, it can be worth checking it out on socials first and see if you have any mutual friends with people that are going — if not, it’s worth heading along anyway, because people might well speak to you before you have to open the conversation with them.

Community groups will often have icebreakers or sessions where people swap names, pronouns, and basic introductions, and that can ease the way into getting used to the space.

If you see somebody else on their own who seems nervous to talk to people, they can be good to approach and say, hey, I also don’t know anyone here, what brings you here? And so on. Remember, other people are pretty much always in the same boat as you.

For me, one of the biggest anxieties about going to new events alone is the fact that I’m disabled and dependent on public transport, and that combo can make it tough on me if I get to a place and it’s inaccessible or just not my speed, and then I have to sort of immediately turn heel and leave, but wait ages for a bus in the meantime. I’ve missed more than one event I was really excited about just because transport didn’t line up for me.

Some considerations to keep in mind when you look for events:

Is the event free or paid? Is this clearly marked? Do you need to buy tickets in advance?

How recent is the posting about the event? Is it posted on a web page or a social media page? Are there recent comments or engagement on the entry? If there is a contact for the event, is it active and responsive?

Is this event regular or recurrent? Is it for a special occasion, and does it have sister events or concurrent events?

Is the event exclusively online, exclusively in-person, or do they change between the two formats? Would you prefer to attend online before you attend in-person?

Do you want to go to a closed and more private group — for example, one that has you message them for the time and location, seems to have capped attendee limits, seems to have a regular community. Or do you want to attend a more casual event in a larger, open space where people might not notice as much as you come and go? Is it going to be very crowded or more spaced out?

Where is the event located, and will you be comfortable in that venue? Is it in a community building such as a charity space, community group, religious institute, school, or university? Is it in a café, restaurant, pub, bar, club, or late-night venue? Is it an explicitly or dedicated queer space? If you are not out to other members of your community, will going into this space reveal that you might be a member of a queer group?

Is the venue age-restricted, and will it require ID? If you must provide ID, will providing your ID in a dead name or in a different gender presentation to your current one be anxiety-inducing or a potential problem for you?

How accessible is the venue to you? Is it walkable, on a regular bus route, or does it have appropriate parking for you? Does it have ramps or elevators? Is it well-ventilated, and does it have a HVAC or other air filtration and purification protocol? Is masking enforced, and/or are masks provided? If you might be watching something together, is there a hearing loop, will there be subtitles on a screening? Is there a first aider at the event? Does the venue serve food or drink, or provide refreshments?

If you are attending alone and have specific needs or requirements, or might need to leave abruptly, is there someone you can let know at the event, such as a first aider or community leader? Are there regular buses, a taxi rank, or online taxi access if you need to quickly head home? Have you let someone else know where you are going, just as a safety concern?

Is the event activity-based, or is it a space where people just sit and talk? Would one or the other of these feel more natural or comfortable to you? Do you have to bring your own activity, such as with a craft or knitting circle, or are supplies provided, such as boardgames or a screening?

Does the group or host for the event(s) have social media? Do they advertise the regular events on socials, or have a newsletter, or some other helpful reminder system?

Most community events will be free, but if it’s an activity group or society, or if it’s a private event, especially one where they buy equipment or supplies, there might be an up-front ticket or access fee, a membership fee or a collection jar or similar — most events will tell you in advance if there is a fee or if they might request a donation.

Most importantly, like… Have fun.

If it sucks, hit the bricks — there’s no obligation to stay anywhere if it’s not fun or doesn’t satisfy you in the way you were hoping.

There’s always other events out there, and you’re very unlikely to truly be the only gay in the village, even if it sometimes feels that way. Good luck!

[pix-writes]

Continuing with my last question cause I just thought this; what does a friendship with Stan looks like? To be more specific, if the reader is a female-presenting person, would her friendship with Stan look different than if the reader were a man? Mostly I wondered because Stan is a ladies' man, and I was wondering if a friendship with a woman would make him wonder if he likes the person or if they are just friends, idk if I explain myself aaaa

Almost thought I'd lost this ask! 😅 It was just in my drafts I hadn't accidentally deleted it thank goodness!

Nah, I think I've got what you're saying!

(a little long, so I've put it under a read more to be mindful of ppl scrolling!)

With Stan I think a relationship with a man and a woman would be a bit different, whilst I perosnally HC that he's bisexual, I do think he is more drawn to women, either as just personal preference and/or because its more recognisable/acceptable societally for him to flirt with women easily.

Whilst Stan is a bit of a ladies man, he does admit to Dipper in Roadside Attraction, that he's not actually good at building relationships/dating women; more often than not his flirtations gets the door slammed in his face. I'm guessing this is because he just is naturally a flirt/pick up artist and is therefore not particularly selective when it comes to flirting with people in general. So with that in mind, he'd be likely to be quite flirtatious in the beginning of getting to know a female friend, but he's (mostly) kidding around, so its not serious if you don't see him that way, I mean you hardly know each other at this stage. It also depends on your interactions together and how you respond to his jokes over this initial stage too. If you flirt back, you guys are mostly going to skip over the friends stage to lovers!

I think Stanley has gone so long without having any friends/close friendships, though, that he's just happy to find a someone who will share the same hobbies or is a 'kindred spirit' of sorts. So, I think he would be likely to drop the flirting act with you once he realises you're not picking up what he's putting down, but you could be a friend. And geniunely, too, he's not just waiting around for you to change your mind, he simply forgets about it and hangs out with you as a friend. Once you become close friends though, I think it would be harder for him to shut off feelings for a female friend, you spend so much time together he can't help but fall for you. He'd try to draw back and rationalise to himself that he's just lonely, so of course he would think about being with you, even if you're not interested (cue the angst). But obviously, that won't work, and his feelings do slip out in the way he acts around you at times!

With a male friend, its much more hanging out together and becoming aquaintance to friends to lovers, I think Stan wouldn't be as likely to initiate things or flirt with a guy right of the bat in most cirucmstances; but he's been around and travelled the world, he's had the occaisonal thing with another fella before, and it's not all about smut either, but romance too. I think he'd be a little less flirtatious, but it once he'd realise he's starting to like them that's when the flirtation will start. I think he'll be a lot more cautious to start it seriously, though, because some of the time he has lost a male friend to flirtation in the past. He'll only do it if he thinks he might have a chance and will lay it on thick, because, what has he got to lose?!

For Stan, the dynamic is different based on his past and also the way he was socialised (living in a heteronormative society, eh?!), so I think a relationship with a guy compared to a girl he'd be slightly different in the way he interacts with them, but he's still a terrible flirt all the same! ^^

Friendship with Stan will look like:

Sitting on the porch, having a drink (of pitt ofc) and telling each other stories

Playing cards or other games you can bet on at the kitchen table, this can go on for hours after dinner

Watching any old thing on the TV (when the kids have gone to bed/are out, it's definitely period dramas - but only if you're into them and put them on, as Stan won't admit he likes them... but you know he does! ^-^)

Fishing on the lake in Gravity Falls and drinking something more alcoholic, will have to stop Stanley from getting into some kind of altercation if it's tourist season when you go out, and boat to the shore tipsy

Being goofy together - generally joking around with each other, making witty/snarky comments to the other nearly all the time, maybe the odd harmless prank here and there - or if one of you has been cheating at cards actual pranks OR some kind of competitive rematch as revenge!

Helping him and Ford on their adventures in some way, even if you don't go with them, you'll be involved somehow whether you like it or not. Will ring you every time they stop at a port to give you an update (it's mainly so you don't worry - you know he's got places safely and he knows you haven't fallen into the bottemless pit whilst he's been away)

Spending summerween/halloween together and competing to see who can be the most scary/has the best decorations/costume out of the two of you etc. One time you enlist Ford's help to give Stanley a scare and totally win. He says that you'll be the death of him one day in response. Once you both watched horror movies, there was a regional power cut and you both got spooked and ended up sleeping in the living room instead of going home/going to bed.

Enabling or discouraging (depending on the situation) each other's devious plans or crimes.

You have a running joke that Stan owes you money. Except it's not a joke. He does. (it just so happens that anytime you get it back is also in step with times you have to pay him back for something as well, so you end up exchanging the same $20 note or whatever)

[stari-hun]

More No Storm but Vertin has a Time Traveling Arcanum Content

Inaccurately Named Modern AU

* Apeiron

I think with like knowledge and math becoming more accessible sooo many people in Apeiron would go to the outside world to share their knowledge because 77 (37s mom) showed that even the people most faithful to their school of thought are interested in calculation machines. Give them Mathway.com and people would lose their minds.

6 would be a professional gamer. In fact he’d take so well to modern society that he’d be one of those people thriving in the 2020 lockdown and being away from Apeiron. Afterwards he’d also recover fast and put daily walks into his schedule or something cause he knows how badly his physical would’ve gotten. 6 would have an Instagram that’s the weirdest thing ever. People use it as inspiration for arg characters because he unintentionally posts with the vibe of someone extremely inhuman, and even though with the internet most humans would be aware of nonhuman arcanist they’d still be like what… There’s several video essays breaking down theories on who or what he might be. On the other side his posts are all pictures of objects he sees on daily walks that he sees have interesting dimensions to them or placement in a scene. The issue is that he doesn’t give any preamble or context to his math like 210 who wants to share math with the world would, or 37 who genuinely wants to teach, he just drops it in the caption and closes the app. He’d also have a YouTube explaining how he wins matches with others and insane speedrun content and how he beats games in under three minutes in extremely stupid calculations and exploits. His uploads are once in a blue moon but he’s a really popular faceless YouTuber (unlike 37 he reads comments and thinks about the questions he gets a lot, and even answers them in other videos). Also his like daily wanderings until he wants to go back home and risk interaction with others.

37 would get ahold of the internet like fish to water. She’d be an early YouTuber on 6’s recommendation and get super popular without realizing it. Her upload schedule is a “think of something start recording it and post with little to no editing” kinda style that for her ends up being 6-12 videos per week. 37 probably wouldn’t even realize there’s a comment section but Sophia knows it. Sometimes she’ll relay the comments to her from fans if they’re questions or constructive, but she mostly keeps them for herself because she’s happy 37 is branching out even if she isn’t entirely meaning too. I think 37’s content is a personality type. She’s giving constructive lessons that are informative but her personality and voice made her gain an audience mostly there to listen to her as background noise while she does homework. She does have a very loyal core audience of economists and radiologists since the topic she circles back around to the most is patterns in the weather and how they can be applied to daily life. Her most viewed video would be a super complicated explanation on how to predict when the next storm will happen in your area, and the top comment is a link to a website where someone made it into a calculator (it works with like a 5% chance of error). Also fun fact Vertin tried to use it once and the website was down for a week after she tried it. Sophia would have more kids centered content. Her follower base would mostly be parents who sit their kids in front of an iPad during work, but heavily monitoring their internet use and want them to watch content that’s good for them. She’d be faceless but unintentionally blow up super hard for story reading content, and her process for making up original stories. Afterwards she’d take a huge social media break entirely, only helping 37 with hers before slowly going back to her usual audiobook content with locked comments.

On that note, it’s slightlyyyy canon based, but I also think 210 would become good friends with Sweetheart after the island opened up and he reached out to her through Pandora to be their liaison. They’d do a ton of promotions and fashion statements. 210 already has an established interest in beauty, arts, and how they tie to math, and Sweetheart as a person who’s mathematically perfect would be his best excuse to study arts. Then Sweetheart would enjoy the company of any asexual, especially if they’re good for her image, and 210 is genuinely there to vibe and enjoy the beauty of the world. I also feel like he’d have one of those instagrams where he’s super popular for his looks but vast majority of his posts are sky pics and pictures of flora he sees.

I think in the story Sweetheart and Pandora are already on pretty good terms but I think in a Modern!Twist AU Pandora would be even more active in her writing. I think she’d have a small but famous journalism company where she employs only those she deems have a fresh perspective in a way she can’t supply. I talk about it in my other post, but Marcus interns there after getting an associates degree journalism during her dual enrollment and finishing Highschool. 210 and her run top series in UTTU for numbers and art analysis in a way people hadn’t thought of before, and Marcus runs a deep dive on historical spaces and the hidden stories within them.

UTTU would sometimes have interview segments where guest slots of an employee’s choosing (approved of by Pandora) will get a special feature. Windsong is the most reoccurring interviewee alongside Vila for research papers in ley lines and ecosystem observations respectively. Both are very popular features every time due to how they provide perspective on Marcus’ and 210’s segments.

[desiresiwant]

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐦-𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐝

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫

word count: 4k~

warnings: strong language, eventual violence, a pretty much tamed 1st chapter…for now

a/n: this is the 1st chapter of my au longfic based off the The Originals (what if the child was a teenager/YA throughout the show duration and not at season 5?). If there’s a warning I skipped let me know.

MASTERLIST | NEXT ->

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗻𝗲 | 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗢𝗿𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐒.

It wasn't how Deena imagined it to be the moment she stepped off the smelly bus onto the gravel sidewalk, with a packed bag hung across her shoulder and an old black suitcase covered in band stickers she used to listen to years ago.

She came a long way from Le Havre, France. Spent about seventeen hours on a plane and another two hours riding two buses to get here, stuck next to an annoying older woman spilling her lifelong secrets.

The sunny sky was touched with a gloom and many buildings looked as if they came out of the 1700s in American films with a modern touch to fit today's society. There were many interesting stores that had caught Deena's eye as she traveled down the sidewalk with no plan in mind. She enjoyed the urban touch of the city through the people and how together they were which was much different back home. Also, it was very much diverse compared to the small area she lived in.

She felt comfortable. At home.

Off the side of a group of friends passing through, Deena pulled out a picture of her beautiful mother in the arms of a man that's to be her father—Klaus Mikaelson.

Her mother was happy in this picture. They both were. In a black shirt hanging off her shoulders, ripped tights under a pair of shorts, smiling at the camera with a drink in her hand and her curly hair almost taking up half the photo. The man—her father, Klaus—sat leaned into her mother, kissing her ear with an arm thrown around her waist. He wore a basic leather jacket with dark blue jeans. Dirty blond hair, dark blue-greenish eyes, and a killer smile. The table in front of them covered in empty red cups and half-filled liquor bottles. They were both young, in college, and in love.

"I want to find him," Deena said to herself in a soft voice. "I need to find Klaus Mikaelson."

But the problem was if Deena ever found her father, she didn't know what she would tell him. She practiced what to say when meeting him, but it was all gibberish and uncompleted sentences that made no sense. She feared a lot of things about her father; him being married with kids and she would come into his perfect life and ruin the happiness he made for himself, no knowledge of his other child he had created across the globe. Or he was a dead-beat with nothing going for his life. Or he has long passed away.

But whatever truth lies in his life, she just wanted to see him. From afar, if needed. To see how he lived. And if he cared enough to know that the woman he met in this very city before she moved to France years ago, was now dead. But she selfishly wanted him to know that she existed.

...if she knew where he was. Or where to start.

The city was so big, nevertheless the state and because Deena wasn't from around—this was her second time ever in America—it was difficult for her to navigate or read the English signs she never learned. But she grew hungry and entered the nearest restaurant.

"Hey, welcome in! Take a seat anywhere," Greeted the waiter, passing by with both hands filled.

Most tables were filled as Deena searched for an empty spot.

Sensing the panicked teenager, the waiter stood before Deena after she finished serving a table. "Must be your first time here, so welcome. Just join a table with someone, anyone, but choose wisely; some people can talk more than they chew." She was picking at the older customer sitting at the counter who obviously heard what she said and sent her a squinted look with pursed lips. "That's the motto of the restaurant; To Meet A Stranger Along The Way. Eating alone doesn't mean you have to be alone. So sit anywhere and I or another waiter will be with you soon."

Deena sent the nice lady a smile. "I understand, thank you."

She pulled along her suitcase looking for a place to sit down. Most tables were occupied and many shared engaging conversations of their own that Deena didn't want to intrude, until she noticed a brunette sitting alone with a book in her hand reading quietly.

"Can I sit here?"

The girl looked up from her book and gestured towards the empty chair. "Go for it," she went back to reading.

She took off her backpack and placed it in the empty seat next to her before sitting down. The girl was young, or at least she appeared to be. Had to be around the same age, and she was very pretty.

That part Deena will keep to herself.

As if the girl felt Deena's complimenting stare, she tore away her gaze as the girl lifted her head from the book, but it was already too late since she was caught. "Have you read it?" She started. "Romeo and Juliet?"

"Who hasn't?"

"I know right? It's for some stupid class, so the teacher's forcing us to read up to five chapters and come back to a pop quiz. Which, I know I will fail."

Both girls shared a short laughter.

"I'm Deena.” She introduced. “I'm new around here."

The waiter then came to take Deena's order while also setting down a grilled turkey sandwich with extra avocado and a side of fries for the girl. She finally placed down her book, giving thanks to the waiter before digging into her food.

The mouth-watering scent made Deena's stomach grumble. I’m so damn hungry.

"Davina," while washing down her fries with lemonade. "Not new here. But I noticed the accent. Where are you from?"

"France. More specifically, Le Havre." Deena replied. "You?"

"Born and raised. Also, don't hate me but the only place I know of France is Paris, but I'm sure Le Havre is a fun place to visit and live at."

Deena shrugged showing no offense to Davina's knowledge of France. She didn’t blame the girl since she knew nothing of the US besides New York, California, Florida, and Texas. They were normally the most talked about and the most used location in films. Also, it seemed a lot always happened in those states.

"It's cool. I actually didn't know Louisiana existed until a few days ago." Deena admitted.

"But here you are!"

She gave a small smile, agreeing. "Here I am."

Some moments later, the waiter delivered Deena's food; half cut Cuban sandwich with extra pickles and a sweet tea. She dug in without question.

Davina was a cool person to chat with. Easy-going, funny, and there was something about her energy Deena felt oddly connected to. Davina also felt an odd connection to Deena but brushed it off as she stuffed her mouth full.

There was a long list prepared for the day, but realized it was quite small and she had no starting point. I came here on a whim. With little to no planning, and childish hope.

But remembered Davina was from New Orleans. There's a possibility she might've ran into her father or seen him around somewhere. Or visited a store he owned. Or attended school with one of his kids. Or visited his grave.

"So, I was wondering since you're from around if you knew this man?" Deena wiped the oils from her fingers before reaching into her front backpack's pocket. Pulling out the photo of her mother and Klaus, she held it in front of Davina to inspect.

Davina noticeably froze upon viewing the photo. She had blinked a few times to make sure the man she saw wasn't just some random person she's misjudging but a man who was famously known throughout the streets and the supernatural world.

She pulled back from the table and picked at the grilled bread. "What do you want with him?" suddenly, she got hostile with Deena despite her pure intentions.

She knew him.

Deena sighed with relief. Davina obviously knew her father, but the cold tone she used when responding made her nervous. He must be married. With kids. Or nothing but a dead-beat. Or worse. Dead.

Deena returned the photo back into her backpack pocket with a shrug. "So you know him?"

"Yea, Klaus Mikaelson. Anyone who's done him bad or crossed his path on accident knows of him and his notorious siblings—"

"He has siblings?" Deena interjected.

"—oh yeah. Elijah and Rebekah Mikaelson and whoever comes back to life occasionally." She continued, slightly confusing Deena but she was happy to hear there's more than her father alive. "Terrorizing the city and the people who live within. Any person with a sense of mind would tell you to stay the hell away. You don't want anything to do with that psychotic man and his troubling siblings. His family is a curse to this city, to the communities, and they care for no one else but themselves. I'm sure the woman in that photo was killed by the hands of Klaus Mikaelson himself." She sneered.

Deena, not knowing this man nor his siblings personally, felt offended by Davina's harsh words because they were her family. And even worse, she accused her father murdering her mother. A beautiful soul who raised Deena with everything she could give her, found locked in her car with a letter admitting how unhappy she was with her life.

The smile on Deena’s face faltered to a deadpan glare as Davina bad-mouthed the family she had ties to. She noticed the change of her expression, but she thought nothing of it since she assumed she was doing good by scaring the curious French girl away from Klaus and far away from this cursed city.

Deena abruptly stood from her seat already gathering her belongings.

"W-where are you going? You haven't finished your— "

"The woman standing next to Klaus is my mother. And the man next to her, Klaus Mikaelson, is my father. And she wasn't murdered by him, she hated her life and everyone within it so she did the job herself." Deena vividly watched Davina grow with shock upon hearing Klaus was her father and was filled with sudden guilt from all she had said about her parents before. "But you are right about one thing; we are troubling. At least it keeps people away. So thanks for nothing. I'll find him my own damn self."

She wasn't sure how much the meal cost altogether and because the currency was slightly different, she left a big amount on the table which included a tip. She was out the restaurant in no time. Her head felt dizzy and she was hot all over heaving out steam, suddenly impacted by the overwhelming emotions she thought she had pushed back.

A month ago, Deena's mother passed away.

Her death made no sense. She was a cheerful woman who often hid away in her art studio painting and sketching for hours until it was time to pick Deena up from school. Students were often jealous because while other parents nagged on their child's grades and permitted curfews, Deena's mother never hovered over her shoulder about her grades and trusted Deena enough to be home within a reasonable time. And while other parents came dressed in their finest most classiest clothing for teacher conference nights or the school performances Deena was a part of, her mother came dressed straight out of a Fruits Magazine.

She was stressless, free, a kindred spirit, and an amazing mother. Sometimes Deena would forget her mother wasn't a close friend or an older sister despite having her at a young age. She was vocal about her problems and told Deena since a young age that "anger should never be placed into a bottle. Let the world hear you even if they say you scream too loud. They don't like Black girls expressing themselves in any manner if not with their heads down, so you must do it for the next little Black girl who's taking notes.".

But still, it made no sense.

The morning before she died, Deena's mother showed no signs of distress. She made banana pancakes, sent Deena off to school, and when she came home, her mother was working on a late piece for an art exhibition a friend in town invited her work to. She then left after dinner and was never seen for two days until Deena received a call from the police station. But it was questionable and she didn't understand it.

Why was she unhappy with life when she expected so much out of it? Why would she leave when she promised me the world? Why wasn’t she vocal with her depression in the same way she taught me to be vocal?

"Deena, wait!" Davina called out after placing down her half of the pay and rushed out the doors. She knew she was wrong for what she said and she felt terrible. "Look, I'm sorry! I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or bring your mother into this; I was only speaking from a personal experience which is no excuse at all. Next time, I should watch what I say. But..."

Deena kept walking. She struggled to drag her suitcase with her speed. The old wheels looked as if they were about to break off at any second, but she somehow managed to keep going.

Davina huffed annoyingly. "But I know where he is, Klaus Mikaelson," Deena halted her steps, facing the girl. "And I know where you can find him."

As Deena studied her face to find any spec of bluff hidden in her tone or written amongst her face, she saw she was telling the truth. She knew where her father currently hung around or lived, and of course, she wasn't going to question why or how she knew that kind of information.

"Where is he?" Asked Deena.

"The Abattoir. I can take you there since you might get lost. Also, you might want a travel buddy traveling in that particular area."

Deena sized the girl down. "Why? Will Klaus murder me too?"

"Again, I'm sorry about that." With her eyes narrowed, Davina apologized again. Deena still felt offended by what she said but since she genuinely felt sorry for it, about her mother at least, she decided to cut her some slack. She doesn't need an enemy on her first day in New Orleans. "Look, you're not from around and I'm sure you don't know about..."

Taking in Deena's blank stare, Davina then shook off the conversation and reached down for her suitcase. "Never mind, let's go."

Deena's hand was still on the handle, able to hold her grip from slipping it out her fingers and asked, "I don’t need your help. I can carry it myself." She tried pulling back but Davina somehow had the suitcase fully in her hands.

"It's about to break, I'm practically doing you a favor." She noticed the band stickers on her suitcase and claimed to have listened to some of them when she was thirteen.

Deena allowed her guard down and quickly followed behind Davina across the street before the main light turned green. She continued on about the particular bands she knew and who she used to stan and asked Deena about the bands she was unfamiliar with.

Somewhere during the conversation, "Thanks," it was soft but Davina caught it

She offered a soft smile. "You shouldn't thank me. I might not particularly like Klaus, but if he truly is your father, I wouldn’t live with myself by keeping you away from knowing him. At least then, hopefully, you might run away once you do."

"Is he really that bad of a man?"

Davina was quiet at her question. To her, Klaus wasn't just a bad man, he was terrible, and he almost killed her multiple times if it wasn't for Marcel having to save her. She wished she could tell Deena these things in hopes she would stay away, but no one wants to hear the bad of a man you've never met. Especially when he was your father. Family. It also wasn't her place to kill the image she might have of him.

Then she shrugged. "I will let you be the judge of that."

━━━━━━ ━━━━━━

𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄 𝐎𝐋𝐃-𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄. It was well kept for the most part but it was obvious this house had been through hell, Deena definitely thought Klaus was a deadbeat. This wasn't a family home, but it was a pretty big property. Maybe a rich deadbeat?

Together they stood staring up at the white doors ready to be knocked upon. Davina stared at the door with fear. Every witch sense coursing through her blood told her to turn away and run.

She knew she wasn't allowed here—that witches weren't allowed here, but she came to protect Deena.

Deena wasn't aware of the supernatural world or the fact that her father was a ruthless millennium-old psychotic hybrid, and what lies within the compound was an 'army' of hungry blood-sucking vampires who were already aware of their presence. Vampires who were too scared to leave Klaus if not slaughtered after the gruesome war against Marcel's army and enemies, and whoever they could rally up if Marcel hadn't got to them first.

Nevertheless, Davina watched her new friend lift her hand to knock on the door. Sucking in a deep breath, her knuckles were seconds away from alerting the vampires before something churned in her stomach. She quickly lowered her hand and hurried away.

"I can't do this." Deena panicked.

Davina lingered a bit longer at the door before rushing after her. "Where are you going? He's right inside." She shouted, dragging along the suitcase.

"I can't do it." She breathed heavily. "I-I don't know why I came here in the first place. And I hate myself for being curious, but I don't think I can do it. I should go home with the money I have left."

There was so much roaming through Deena's brain all at once. She thought she was ready to meet with him, but she wasn't, or at least she was convincing herself that she's not. But after losing the only family she had, Deena had grown lonely and desperate for someone to care about her and love her as much as her mother did. That's why she went through her mother's things. She trashed her mother's room, the kitchen, the attic, even her own room in the process. She didn't know what she was searching for until she discovered the letter.

It was meant to be given on her 18th birthday, a couple of months early.

But now that she was here, she didn't feel as pumped as before. Maybe she should've thought a bit longer on the idea before hopping on the next plane to New Orleans? Maybe she was getting too ahead of herself? Maybe this wasn't the right thing for her to do?

Davina grabbed Deena just as she was about to cross the street and tugged on her arm so that she was facing her. "Just breathe." She attempted to calm her down.

Deena rolled her eyes. "I am breathing."

"No, you're not. You look like you're about to pass out." Despite her annoyance, Deena forced herself to calm down. Once seeing she had, Davina narrowed her gaze before speaking. "I have no words to comfort you. Hell, I can't even comfort myself, but I can tell you, that you will regret not meeting him and him not knowing you. You have a chance that many kids don't have; I don't even know whether my dad is alive or not, but you do. And you should take it."

"I feel like I'm gonna ruin his life." Deena admitted.

Davina scoffed with a dragged 'please'.

"I'm serious. How would you feel living a life of your own for however many years and suddenly a seventeen-year-old kid comes knocking at your front door claiming to be your daughter? I would close the door in her face and continue my show!"

"If I was Klaus Mikaelson, I would be pretty damn blessed to have a kid with my blood in their veins at my doorstep. You never know."

"He must be a pretty famous man the way you speak of him."

She shrugged. "You can say that. But look," She took hold of Deena's hand. "Go meet him. Let him know who you are. And if you regret it, you can take the first plane back to Le..."

"Le Havre," she completed.

"Right. Le Havre. And I will be right here supporting you."

Davina was right. At least she had a chance to get to know her father while many don't and she shouldn't let the opportunity pass by. She sucked in a deep breath and began making her way to the white doors, but just as soon as she took her first step, she was stopped by Davina's stretched arm hitting her chest. She appeared focused, waiting for something to come.

She pushed away Davina's arm from deep within her chest, but she stopped her again.

Deena rolled her eyes with a huff. "You give me some go-for-it-speech and now you don't want me to seize the moment while I'm ready?"

"Something isn't right," Davina eased out with worry.

Deena would've guessed the brunette was another spiderman from an alternate universe the way she peered around her surroundings like a guard dog. Or spidey senses, she'd call it. She didn't see nor feel what Davina was and there was no one within their proximity when glancing around to catch what she caught, so she wasn't sure what had her on edge.

"You are right," Both girls jumped at the deep voice of a brown-skinned woman who spoke with a slight thick accent. She wore a green tank-top with dark blue jeans and she had to be around thirty years old, and she was looking at Deena as she came forward. "Something isn't right."

Despite the weird look, at least Deena knew she wasn't a stranger judging by Davina's calm expression and her tensed shoulders releasing.

She removed her arm from Deena's chest with a sigh. "Zoeè? What are you doing on this side of town?"

"I could ask you the same, harvest girl?"

Davina doesn't respond.

"I sensed someone—" Her brown eyes flickered to Deena. "—special entered the city and came runnin' soon as I could. And now that the cloaking spell has worn off and the prophecy is clear, all that I need to seal the deal is standing right in front of me."

Davina stepped in front of Deena in a protective manner once putting together two and two. "I don't know what this is about but let's not do it here. You and I both aren’t safe in this area—" merely glancing back. "—and she has nothing to do with this. This is between me and you."

Deena was clearly confused. "I'm sorry but who is this?"

"Don't matter who I am. What matters is what you gone do to our kind once the Mikaelsons find out you're alive."

Whatever happened, happen so fast that Deena was unable to process absolutely nothing. After Davina screamed out, she pushed her back and lifted her hands in a wizard-like manner before she was thrown against the building wall with no effort.

Deena followed the invisible force to the woman, Zoeè who's smiling back at her and scattered away. She would have ran after Davina, but her first instinct was to get herself to safety first and take a moment to digest what the hell just happened.

"Solem," With a flick of a wrist, Deena failed to cross the road before she found darkness and the cold ground.

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐘𝐎𝐔

𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆

If you like what you read and wish to read more of this fic, you can read here

[wrotelovelytears]

WE OUTSSIIDDDEE

*in my joker voice* we live in a society..

🌹I strongly believe the 12th house is linked to older age. Like I've seen so many older adults act like their 12th house sign (and/or Planets) by the time they hit 60. It's like they become more "religious AND spiritual", suffer from more memory based problems while being able to easily recall experiences had when younger, talk more about ancestry and life after, some even show some cognitive decline or increase.

🥴I'm surrounded by older adults and yeah, it's a pattern for sure and their twelfth house sign really starts showing.

🌹I'm pretty sure you live out most of your life in the 8th house regardless if it holds anything or not. Those themes never go away and after puberty starts you kinda live in it until your 60s. You see a lot of rapid changes just in teenhood and it doesn't really stop until you've reached an older age (aka just stop caring).

🌹Yes that means I believe you live in your fourth house until puberty. I know it's traditionally seen as a before birth/death house but listen, children most definitely do what makes them feel comfortable, express themselves more than adults and cling to caregivers like they are life itself. The sign (and planets) are at the forefront until.. well society happens

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

🫧Before the other signs start screaming at me bout the house that traditionally rule them let me keep going..

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

🌹The third house is related to how you communicate up until puberty (or until you pas that 4th house stage) of your life. You'll find yourself using the methods of the sign (and planets) that hold that house during that time. Generally puberty starts (for all sexes) around 10-14. That's why you will see 13 year olds stick more to the habits they've had until one day their seventh house comes in to play and you'll see a change.

🌹The seventh house communication skills are linked to that eighth house stage of life. You become more social/ aligned with societal socializing during puberty and see it continue up until the 60s. There's an increase need to connect with others and find those like you. We see more people working, marrying, dating then.

🌹Lastly the 11th is linked to the 12th house stage of life. The sign (and planets) that is in your 11th can become the way you communicate with the world. You move on from just close connections to more general ones. You'll have friends but you may not be as close anymore due to life. You'll see many changes that were once dreams of your occur in real time and not know how to verbalize how it makes you feel. There could be a haziness around your overall existence by this point, you'll be here but also super aware of everything making it hard for the present to make sense.

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

🫧For the fire houses that's obviously how you act out during the stages.

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

🌹The First house is linked to the thirds communication and fourths being. That's why I think it's easier to guess a young childs rising because whatever is in their first is how they'll generally act. Until society pressures them enough to be more "socially conscious" and that's when the fifth house hits.

🌹The fifth house is connected to the sevenths communication and eighths being. You start to be really aware of how your actions and behaviors look to others. Whatever sign is in your fifth is what determines how you go about trying to portray yourself. Are you the homebody who while loving relationships hates how they always end. Or are you the angsty teen who never really grew up but changed just enough that people can't guess it at first.

🌹The ninth house... Yeah...do I have to repeat it? Anywho it's no wonder many older adults start to broaden their lives out, I mean travelling and going with the flow is the whole motto of making it past your younger days. This is the time when you become aware of limitations, and I don't mean just actions I mean life itself. You've done so much and now it's time to make sure what you've done isn't in vain.

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

🫧The Earth house are not what you do now, but what you end up leaving behind after each stage. It's what others will most likely remember that era of your life as.

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

🌹The second house is the child you trying to just vibe. You could have memories of this stage but they are most likely linked to connections made to things in it/sign. The sign itself represents that new human learning to properly human while continuously having to push against placed norms. Caregivers will remember this stage the most while the individual will treat it as the past.

🌹The sixth house is highly related to most of your life. In fact it's more likely that friends and family (even long term co-workers) will remember you by your sixth house (and planets). That's because you spend more time here than anything and when you leave this stage it's due to wanting to broaden your life out of your known self.

🌹The tenth house is of course the legacy left by you. It's what people remember after death, yes we all know that but why it's after and not during life isn't expanded on. You became more connected to the collective because you've lived through so much. Yes your communication comes off more distant and it's because you've realized time is linear, and the things you do matter to more than just you. At the 12th house stage you've realized your words matter, your thoughts matter, and that essentially the world is much bigger than you and those you know. Loose connections, acquaintances and society will remember you by this sign (planets).

- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -- - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - -

Any who that's just been me blabbering.

(If you learned something new or would just like to support me you can leave a wittle tip via the tip button or one of the links in my masterlist. Kofi: nymphdreams🧸)

[humor6969]

Mom said it's my turn to talk about how Edgar and Mike’s interactions affects the relationships they build with people around them, how that in congruence with the plot, helps develop the themes of self-identity, tyranny, and how we perceive the world around us through the lens presented to us by the very society that limits us, as presented in WOE.BEGONE.

Mike and Edgar’s relationship exemplifies w.bg strongest narrative theme. Both of their characters are introduced with the uncomfortable sword of damocles that is power hanging over their heads.

When Mike was introduced he was powerless. It’s clear he was unhappy with his life and that playing  w.bg was the only thing he thought he could do to feel in control. Nothing could dramatically change your future like putting your life on the line for internet fame. Ironically w.bg only served to further demoralize him, taunting him with the promise of power while further taking his agency.

Edgar was introduced as someone who hadn’t realized the power they don’t have. There was a massive gap in knowledge between what Edgar knew and everyone around him knew. In that way he was isolated from most other tier two co-workers without realizing it. Even Mike was getting to know him on false pretenses. Mike had power over him, he also had knowledge similar to the rest of tier two employees and was manipulating Edgar into helping him learn more.

By dating Mike, Edgar gained new kinds of control/power. A growing desire for more is always one of his strongest motivations, as opposed to Mike’s motivations that vacillate from desperately wanting power to running away from it.

Mike is not only the person who first introduced Edgar to time travel, but also provides Edgar with people willing to follow his orders. He is someone who totally shares those desires. (power hungry assholes <3). We never hear Edgar speak much about people he knows outside of base even before it was created. Edgar might have felt lucky to have found someone like Mike, who (had already done the hard work being social with his co-workers) comes with a pre-established friend group.

His new boyfriend came with not only immense world shattering knowledge and power (as well as near total compliance concerning) but a loyal army for him to command.

These problems are typified by all the ethical/moral dilemmas they are forced to face with the idea of iterative personhood. 

I said "near total compliance" above as most disagreements he and Mike have are caused by how differently they both treat iterations even when they share the same definition of that concept. Mike (as he has made it very aware) sees iterations as a unique individual. His iterations are just some real fucken weird guys who happen to share a lot of his memories.

Edgar doesn’t. Even as the person who created and defined the term ‘iterative personhood’ he views them as disposable copies of the ‘real thing’ or as a back-up. When someone dies he can just load a new copy of them from his save data good as new. 

And as much as Edgar has said he would never hurt any Mike he does so repeatedly throughout the whole series. Edgar might think it's a pity to kill an iteration. Edgar clearly doesn’t like killing anyone (especially a Mike) but he never empathizes with them. He nods his head sympathetically and probably does truly believe it's a waste of a life, but he never has acted like he’s losing a person he cares about. Edgar has shown little to know remorse when it comes to lying or manipulating Mike. Only apologizing when his plans cause Mike permanent suffering or trauma. Although this does not come from a place of malice (*cough* read this post by orchidbreezefc *cough*)

Even iterations of Edgar don’t seem to care about any of the differences between the many Mikes.

When Mustardseed is captured by the Flinchites and interrogated by Michael. Mustardseed immediately speaks to him in the exact way base Edgar has been shown to speak to his Mikey. And not just the same tone of voice. He uses the same playful comments, affectionate teasing, and pet names without any of the hesitation Micheal was noticeably experiencing. To Edgar, he was picking up just where he left off with OverMike. 

(I wish we had more moments with Edgar. Most speaking lines he has are in scenes that have some kind of big Plot Event. I wanna listen to him and Mikey talk about movies. I wanna dissect them)

Edgar may be smart enough to work in a top secret government weapons compound but without Mike he's stuck working a 9-5 desk job with no real human connection. 

Without Edgar, Mike is a dumbass cutting his body parts off for podcast views. 

Mike and Edgar’s relationship changes the whole structure of the show. I feel like the ‘Mike talks to the audience while openly referencing he’s making a podcast’ framing device ends in the middle of season three. Specifically, episode 31 where that pretense drops. I honestly don't know if it's just a coincidence or if Dylan Griggs has made a comment about it (if so whoopsies but I'm trying to make a poetic-y point here). But it's the first episode with only character dialogue and has no narration. It’s also the first episode where Mike shows more serious romantic interest in Edgar. Obviously the narration is still a major part of most episodes but Mike stops breaking the fourth-wall to quip about episode production.

Honestly Edgar’s whole character is my favorite part of w.bg. He makes such a great contrast to the Mikes’ personalities and beliefs while still being a strong guiding force for him to depend on. 

Hope this reads as more then sleep deprived rambling. Inspired by @orchidbreezefc's post (this might not have made sense without reading it)

[galvanizedfriend]

S5 rewriting which season five? what are you re-writing? I have questions many questions

Hi! Thanks for your ask! 😊 Also, apologies beforehand because this is me right now:

I have a toxic trait and that's wanting to rewrite the show. 🫠 I once had a convo with @definedareasofuncertainty about what TVD would've been like if The Originals had never happened, and we started imagining what season 5 of TVD would've been like in that scenario. We unearthed an interview where Julie Plec 🤢 said that the baby plot was always going to be a part of the story anyway, they just didn't know whether they'd actually get the green light from the network to move forward with the spin off. So then we started thinking what TVD would've been like with the magical mystery baby in it, and the S5 rewriting was born. 😂

So it's not what dream S5 would've like for me, but rather a more realistic take on what the show could've been like. Because hear me out.

When you think about it, there are certain aspects of TVD S5 that suggest that Klaus was always meant to be a part of it, which explains why S5 is so bad tbh. Everything feels so very pointless. It's the most forgettable season of TVD, and that's saying a lot, considering how bad some of the other seasons were, because the entire thing is just fillers. If you consider the idea that the Travelers abhored vampires, thought they were abominations and wanted to free the earth from them, then it would make sense for them to want to get rid of the Originals instead of just going for a bunch of teenagers who are at the very base of the supernatural food chain. And if you add in someone pregnant with a mystical anti-Christ, then it makes even more sense that the Travelers would want to obliterate Mystic Falls and everyone in it to make sure the baby wouldn't be born. The whole 'we know what's coming, this child will be the end of magic as we know it' makes much more sense with Travelers than regular witches because how would they know that? The whole concept of Travelers just makes more sense to me if we put them up against the Originals. Even the Augustine society plot makes more sense with Originals thrown in. I'm sure Wes knew exactly who Klaus was and would be dying to get an introduction, not to mention the idea that they would've probably had close relations to Mikael when trying to create the ripper virus.

And it also kinda justifies the choice of Hayley as the mother figure, something that never made any sense to me. It's because she was completely expendable. She was barely an extra on the show, so it would be very easy to get rid of her. And in my head, she would definitely be dead by the end of the season. Where the witches caused her death in TO, it would've been the Travelers, except in TVD she wouldn probably not come back as a hybrid, she would've just stayed dead. She wasn't that important to the plot throughout S1 of TO, just carrying the baby around, which to me means that she was never meant to be a central point, but suddenly she had way more screen time than they'd anticipated she would get (also because Claire Holt decided to leave the show), so then they had to figure out how to write her as a lead.

Anyway, the source of all of this are the voices in my head, so take it with a grain of salt. 😂 I just think there are CLUES about the fact they did mean to write those two storylines as one at some point.

And that leads me to the fact that everything pointed towards Klaus and Caroline being together in S5. That part wasn't even subtle, S4 was a huge build up to them becoming a thing. And I think it would start with them kissing in that last scene of S4, Klaus showing up to save the day and Caroline's ass and gifting her with allowing Tyler to come back to town (I'm sure that would've been a greater discussion between them if he had stayed on the show for the final episodes prior to that, plus it would be more meaningful if Klaus was actually in town 😂 What was he going to do to stop Tyler anyway if he wasn't even there anymore?).

So in my rewrite they'd start the season by showing the two of them had spent a hot secret summer together. Then school starts and Caroline sort of expects things to go back to normal because it's convenient to her and how she excused herself in her guilty head, by rationalizing it all as a summer fling. She's leaving for college, where she will be rooming with her two best friends, and Tyler is expected to join them at some point even though she hasn't had any responses from him all summer, and in her mind, Klaus doesn't fit into that. There's no way to reconcile a romance with the big baddie and still lead the normal-ish life she expects to have. Klaus is obviously pissed off because he knows Caroline is in denial, and there's also the fact he's way too proud to be someone's dirty secret. Meanwhile Caroline is miserable and faced with the harsh truth she'd been denying all summer which is that she likes Klaus a lot more than she expected to but she's terrified of what everyone would think of her (and I personally think the next step in Caroline's TVD development would really be to let go of how much other people's opinions mattered to her. She had been on this journey since S1, of 'trying to become a better person' by shaping herself to meet other people's expectations, and it was about time she realized that she shouldn't have to change who she is in order to be liked or accepted, she shouldn't have to beg to be anyone's priority, which then leads back to Klaus and the fact he always admired her big personality, flaws and all, and the fact she gets to be 100% herself around him is a huge part of why she feels so much more at ease with him than she did with Tyler, for instance, but I digress).

While they are caught in this crossfire of sorts, him sulking in MF and her pretending not to sulk in Whitmore and having to deal with the mysterious new roommate's death and all, Elijah shows up with someone he just rescued from the hands of an angry witch mob in New Orleans: pregnant Hayley. And that's where the two plots would come together.

Obviously the whole baby thing would've been a much smaller plot within the whole of S5 than it ever was in TO, for obvious reasons. But it would be a point of contention between Klaus and Caroline and it would tie in the several different running storylines of the season at the end. I'm thinking Caroline would probably be the one trying to save Hayley and the baby from the siege of Mystic Falls at the end. And obviously, by the time we get there, with Tyler having come back and tried to kill Hayley, and revealed the secret to the whole town, etc, etc, Caroline will have come to terms with how she feels for Klaus and the two of them will be unapologetically together.

In a broader sense I also think this would offer a good chance to explore Elijah's character and his relationship with Katherine and everything she meant to him. The fact he wasn't there when she dies (and Klaus was) was just baffling to me. We see him him giving up on her in a 1 minute scene and that's it. Bringing him back to MF under these circumstances would create a much broader opportunity to explore what is his character's eternal conflict of family duty x self satisfaction, where he would realize that in order to keep the whole home situation in control, and mantain Hayley hidden and as secret, he'd have to stay away from Katherine, and then eventually she would die, and he would realize he'd once again missed a chance of being happy for the sake of his family while Klaus gives fuck all to fatherhood and all that.

I ALSO think it would've been so much fun if Caroline would invite Klaus instead of Katherine to help cure Stefan's PTSD. Klaus would have the time of his life tbh. And this is 100% my wishful thinking, but Klefan is real in my heart and it was about time the show incorporated that into its canon (although I very much doubt they'd ever do it, the cowards).

I'm so sorry for how long and rambly this is. 🥲

[birf]

You got any tips for traveling to Japan?

Oh yes I for sure do now

1. Learn some basic phrases to get around, especially for when buying stuff or ordering food. A few areas, especially in really touristy places, people will speak English to you, but I feel like people mostly just greet you/ask you things in Japanese regardless. And also you just wanna be polite! It’s also nice if you wanna compliment the food or people’s clothes.

You’re gonna be saying “arigatou gozaimasu” (thank you), “onegaishimasu” (please) and “sumimasen” (excuse me) a LOT

The google translate app is free and also great to use when you need!

2. Bring a coin purse

It’s still for the most part a cash based society over there. And you will collect soooo many coins. Have a little coin purse makes it easier to pull out. Also nice if you’re going to arcades. Plus all the vending machines.

Also when you’re buying stuff there will be a tray to put you’re money in and then they’ll ask if you if that’s okay before they take it. And then you say yes.

3. Pack very light on toiletries.

Unless you got some very specific products you like, convenience stores literally have everything you’d need plus they’re very cheap. All hotels and most hostiles will provide you with toiletries as well. Save the space and don’t pack them.

4. I ended getting a pasmo card to use for the subway and do not worry about the subway system being confusing. It’s also very easy to put money on your cards at the station (there’s all different language options.)

Google maps will tell you every single detail on how to get places through the subway even telling you which cart has the least amount of people. It was very easy getting around.

Don’t forget rush hour is around 7:00-9:00 AM, you will get squished.

5. You can ship you luggage to places your staying for very cheap.

My brother had to do this cause he’s moving back there so he had a lot of luggage. And it’s reallllyyy tiring to bring up and down a million stairs on the subway and so you can go to any station or hotel and ship that luggage there and it was like $10. It’s really nice if you need to do something like that.

6. Don’t bring a water bottle, but bring the best walking shoes you got.

You don’t need a water bottle cause there’s vending machines for drinks everywhere. But we were walking around 10-15 miles every day. You’re feet are gonna hurt.

7. Don’t eat and walk

Some places out on the street will even ask you where you’re going to eat the food so don’t walk away with it before they give you the food. Most konbini’s have a seating area. But if you buy food or a snack from somewhere just sit and and eat before you keep walking.

8. Always walk on the left side (unless you’re in Osaka for some reason)

Especially if you at a subway station, people are rushing, so always keep to the left. And then in Osaka it was just all on the right.

9. No trash cans outside

I’d seen a lot of people talk about how you gotta carry your trash around because there’s no trash cans outside which is trUE but you don’t gotta carry it around. Just stop in a konbini to throw away trash. Also almost all vending machines have bottle recycling next to them.

10. Always wait in the queue.

To get the subway, lines will start to form. Instead of getting in the front and waiting just by the train door be sure to get in line. There will be lines everywhere for stuff. Just make sure you’re not cutting in wait in line.

Also wait to cross the street. Even when it’s red and there’s absolutely nO cars around anywhere. You still wait for it to turn green. Just another polite thing.

11. Some more subway etiquette that I think of:

Keep an eye for elderly and disabled people coming onto the train to give you seat to. You can say “dozo” (go ahead) and gesture to the seat. There will even be signs on the trains explaining to do this but it is something that did happen a lot, also just the right thing to do so.

Don’t talk on the phone or eat on the train. Also just don’t talk loudly in general on the train. It’s mostly very quiet.

Anddddd this is all I can think of for now lol. Hope this helps!

[wonderwomanpleasesteponme]

Ignoring the facts that I already have a tfa au in the works that I haven't updated in a while and have exams tomorrow I made an tfa au based on the fact that there was supposed to be a time travel episode where Bumblebee was a prime in the future. Oh and the madness with Galvatron happened. So here are some memes for this au because again I have exams tomorrow and the following days so I don't have time to sit down and write crap, at least until exams are over.

I added to Terrans because 1) I thought it would be funny and 2) all possible plot points that I could play around with. Also I call Future!Bumblebee Goldbug to differ him from regular Bumblebee, so he is Goldbug Prime.

I know almost nothing about Astrotrain's character other than he's a bastard and chaotic but by God that would not stop me from writing about him.

What can I say but I like the Starbee ship, that and I get to play around with the forbidden romance of an Autobot and a Decepticon.

There are so many fics about Megop and Blitzbee so I thought I would mix it up a bit with Starbee for a change.

Those two freak them out. Tarantulas freaks Optimus out the most for obvious reasons.

Before he would give anything to be a Prime/commander but now he is trying to dodge leadership responsibilities like their bullets but he still always ends up taking up the role of team leader.

That's right Cygatewhirl is canon in this au even though I don't think that Tailgate and Whirl exist in the tfa world.

They would be rethinking a lot of their life choices and a lot of things on how Autobot society works after this whole mess is over.

Like in gen 1 the reason why Bumblebee switched names to Goldbug is because he was almost fully destroyed but was rebuilt with a completely new look.

Ain't nobody like Galvatron in this au.

I couldn't resist doing something awful to the twins traumatizing them even more and the fact that Jetfire in other media starts out as a Decepticon before switching sides to the Autobots.

[h0neybane]

ZVA worldbuilding

just some world building for my ghibli-inspired-twst school, zephyr valley academy! this'll all be in a similar order to the one of the wiki page for night raven college

enrollment:

you can definitely apply to get in but i do think some students are handpicked for different reasons!

i think one of the best parts of ghibli films are the walking shots. moments in which characters are just walking to their next destination and you get to see the environment and detailing in the background... i think hayao miyazaki called them something, but i cant remember what it is.

the reason i bring this up is because i think when students are enrolled in ZVA, since the academy is in such a remote and rural area, they're dropped off at a certain point and then have to travel on foot to the building for the entrance ceremony. i dont think it's a long walk by any means: maybe like 30 minutes max and that's pushing it.

but i do think there are a lot of sights the students get to see while walking there. mountainsides, fields, lakes, undisturbed by society.. it's a very peaceful place. i also think maybe the walk should be timed with the sunrise? just cus its cool

during the entrance ceremony each student will receive a broach with their magestone, in which the color matches their dorm (link in next point!)

i mentioned this in my original uniform post, but also during the entrance ceremony, incoming first years recieve an enchanted leaf laurel and boa (shown here) that doesn't have any flowers. throughout their time at the academy, flowers representing them will sprout from the leaves. here's a timeline of the progression of the flowers:

first year: pretty much empty at the start of the year. little sprouts may begin to grow throughout their first year, and most have 2-5 small flowers. especially exceptional students may already have one or two bigger flower buds

second year: more sprouts start to grow, lots of wild variants; i think the second year is where students begin to experiment a little. by the end of the year, most have bigger flowers waiting to bloom. some exceptional students will have fully bloomed flowers already

third year: big flower buds begin to bloom throughout the year. many have grown a lot as mages over their time. by the end of the year, third year students will have rows of flowers around their shoulders and head.

fourth year: fully bloomed. students enter internships and graduate :]

ALSO the boa and laurel change colors with the seasons until it goes into full bloom where its enchanted to always be healthy and bloomed

i think itd make sense for ZVA to have a large (at least larger than usual) fae population considering how nature-connected it is...

ZVA is a co-ed school!!! both girls and boys attend!!!

history:

i feel like ZVA is younger than NRC and RSA but not by very much! where NRC and RSA are 500 years old (i'm saying 500 for simplicity sake; according to the wiki, it's AT LEAST 500), ZVA would probably be 400-300 years old.

here are the figures each dorm is based on, in no particular order (some of these are undecided and will be added later!)

the wizard of ingary (howl from howl's moving castle)

totoro

i cant decided between kaonashi (no face) or haku for spirited away... maybe i'll do a special case where the dorm itself is split into two?

undecided (ponyo)

undecided but im considering doing an offshoot dorm/group based around that boar thing from the start of the movie.. (princess mononoke)

castle in the sky (undecided)

undecided (kiki's delivery service... it might just be kiki but i need to watch the movie before i decide)

i dont have any values for them for now (like how heartslabyul is based on queen of hearts and her severity, savanaclaw is based on king of beasts and tenacity, etc) but i think ill come up with them after some watching...

i also want to add traces of other movies that arent dorms! maybe in events or classes? speaking of events...

traditions and events:

VDC/SDC is definitely one of them! i think they get pretty far in the competition for the cute peaceful vibes but then i think they get beat out by nrc and rsa LOL

interdorm magift/spelldrive: i dont think theyre like SUPER GOOD but also i do think they've won a couple of times

i mentioned this as a serencor (howl dorm) tradition but wouldnt it be so cute if there was a hat-making event honoring sophie... LIKE IMAGINING HOWL MAKING IT A THING JUST FOR HER... AUGUHGJHGJ

halloween: i think itd be interesting if some of the creepier stuff from ghibli films popped up here (say, no face/kaonashi and the boar worm god thing from princess mononoke)

something spirited away related. i DONT KNOW WHAT but its spirited away related.

reputation:

ZVA is known for its nature and being super duper peaceful!! it has a really good reputation among the public and its up there with RSA and NRC!

but at the same time i think itd be so funny if some of the other magic schools made fun of them for being hippies or something LMFAO

uniforms: (i WILL draw all these ideas i PROMISE)

i already did the normal school uniform (here) but i do think there are variations to it for summer and winter! like NRC, ZVA provides a winter coat and has an alternate summer uniform (it's pretty much just the same but short silk socks instead of stockings or kneesocks and short sleeved shirts)

ceremonial robes: i have no idea yet but im so excited to design them... im thinking going in the direction of a kimono or yukata as a homage to ghibli being based in japan

pe uniform: im sorry but nrc's PE uniforms are so. ugly. i think maybe a t-shirt and some shorts + socks? classic

labwear: pretty much the same as nrc's tbh. lab safety is important chat (IM LOOKING AT YOU 90% OF TWST CAST. PUT YOUR FUCKIN HAIR UP)

that's all i have for now! but i will make another one continuing on this tomorrow probably! as always, feel free to give me input!

[local-limebug]

1, 5, 8, 12 for the dbd ask game :)

omg hi thank you so much for the asks !!!

1. Who is your favourite character?

i cannot choose between the core four i'm sorry 😭 they're all such interesting and well written characters, i feel like it's impossible to choose between them. they're all super fun to watch and analyze, especially in regards to my own personal experiences and how i relate to each of them on some level. but if i absolutely had to choose, it would most likely be edwin. i just love him so much as a character, and how well he's written. he's so kind and so bitchy at the same time. i absolutely love edwin. i've also never seen a queer character's arc of coming to terms with their sexuality written like edwin's, and i just absolutely adore him as a character.

5. Which character do you relate to the most?

edwin again. i relate to all of them on some level, from charles' anger to crystal's "mean girl who got nicer" arc to niko being a shut in (all things i've been through) but that experience of feeling immensely lonely despite being loved and having friends, of being through trauma that's made you guarded and quiet and kind of bitchy, of being surrounded by supportive people but still being affected by growing up in a homophobic society, all just hits really close to home. edwin's "you can't just do things based on how you feel at the moment" and his reliance on logic is also something i really relate to, as someone whose emotions lie to them quite a lot. i just really relate to edwin on so, so many levels.

8. A headcanon you have (that you havent seen talked about yet)!

i am a firm believer of the "niko has siblings" agenda. she gives me youngest sibling vibes, like the baby of the family, yk? in my head, she definitely has one older brother, and maybe an older sister too. i've been picturing her brother as ~20 years old, and her sister maybe 17 or 18? but yes, i very very firmly believe niko has older siblings, or at least an older brother. i recognize this holds no bearing on the story but it's important to me.

12. If you existed in the universe would you hang around as a ghost? (What would you do?)

i mean, if i had a choice, then yes. i wouldn't want to be a ghost forever, but definitely for some time. not sure how long before i decide to move on but probably at least a few years. so long as i had a friend with me, i think i'd really enjoy it. i would miss sleeping and eating, i think, but i definitely would not miss having to maintain my body or whatever. and i would do a lot of stuff but especially mirror travel around the world. idc if it takes me years to master, i would love to just walk around seeing new sights and people. i would go to so many concerts of my favourite bands and musicians, and since i would have an eternity, i'd probably pick up some new skills while i'm at it. learn a new language, maybe some magic. i also recently moved countries, so i'd definitely go and visit home. haunt the city i grew up in, yk?

again, thank you so so much for the asks, i loved doing this !! feel free to send me any more if you'd like <33

[coarsely]

(art; x x)

Anti-Chronicles; a WIP introduction

Set between the warring states of Bronze Eden and Nod, Anti-Chronicles is a non-linear, non-chronological anthology of stories taking place in these respective lands, aiming to explore the culture, history, politics and society and how they have changed over the years. Bronze Eden is a heavily controlled theocratic state filled with forced surveillance and religious fervour, led by the Potentate Dynasty who have been ruling Eden for millennia. Nod is the neighbouring anarchist state, post-apocalyptic and is completely free of any organised government or laws, dealing with the fallout of a nuclear weapon that distorted local time and space dropped on them by Bronze Eden.

STATUS; 1st draft, lore-building.

P.O.V.; 3rd person limited, with occasional chapter-specific exceptions.

GENRES;

Fantasy

Steampunk fiction

Post-apocalyptic science fiction

THEMES;

Religion as a tool of survellience and power

The politics of monarchies vs anarchism

War's impact on citizens

Nuclear post-apocalypse

Time-travel

Human connection in spite of hardship, violence, and colonialism

POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS;

Violence

Swearing and derogatory language

Sexuality

Religion and religious trauma, specifically Catholic based

Puritanism

Disordered eating

Child abuse

Cultural homophobia, misogyny, racism, etc

Death

Ableism

Potentially more which will be outlined when relevant.

INSPIRATIONS;

Love, Death + Robots

I, Robot by Issac Asimov

Æon Flux

Dishonored (video game series)

Bayonetta (video game series)

Akira

The Real and the Unreal by Ursula Le Guin

CHARACTERS;

by nature of being non-chronological and non-linear, we have a lot of characters! some are kept to their own corner of the world, others move around. here is a short list of the more familiar faces, but there are many more you'll meet as we develop. To meet the entire cast, please refer to this post!

The Potentate Dynasty, the rulers of Bronze Eden who are said to be descended from the Empyrean Itself. Currently ruled by the aged Potentate Magnus, who has fathered six children during his reign. Living in the floating palace in the center of Bronze Eden, they keep to themselves, but their power is absolute.

The Imperators are the divine soldiers of Bronze Eden, also with a link to the Empyrean who are trained from a young age to be the protectors of the Temple and of the Potenates and priests who live within.

Sal Soloman and Ed Edwards are two scientists in Bronze Eden, who's meeting and relationship is both legendary and tragic.

Nod's warriors are disorganised and many, but by far the most prolific is Ucalegon, a native of Old Rhapsody. She works with her own agenda in mind, but nontheless has Nod's best interests in mind... for the most part.

Lady Jezebel is a radio presenter, activist and DJ who's voice has become synonymous with the Land of Nod. She is a pillar of Nod culture and beliefs, hugely influential though nobody knows her face or who she is outside of her radio work. If you want to know of the latest news or listen to the blossoming music scene, her radio is who you tune in to.

Vítor Cadogan is a resident of Golden Glimpse, one of the cities in Nod. Known for running a youth center, he was once a vigilante detective who sought to fight the crime that grew in the golden city's underbelly. He's had a change of heart and has dedicated the remainder of his life to supporting the youths of Golden Glimpse, but many hold his crimefighting past against him.

Other names you'll want to remember are Saccade, Helene, Ive, Cerebellum, Hendrix, the Praeceptor family, and Niles Clarke.

Please feel free to ask in the replies, my inbox or my dm's if you would like to be added to the tag list. This means being tagged in snippets, character profiles, lore dumps and graphics, and anything else related in a major way! I will not tag you in ask games, picrew chains and the like, as I wouldn't consider these notable to the actual tangible lore. You can ask to be removed at any time.

[bopinion]

2024 / 33

Aperçu of the week

“All we have to do is call our opponent a communist or a socialist or someone who will destroy our country.”

(Donald Trump. We'll see about that...)

Bad News of the Week

Since the end of the coronavirus pandemic - although there hasn't actually been one - I've been waiting for its successor in a slightly anxious mood. Another rapidly infecting virus that spreads worldwide, is potentially deadly and, above all, restricts all our lives again. Now it's here: Mpox. For the first time since Corona, the WHO (World Health Organization of the United Nations) has declared the highest alert level, a “public health emergency of international concern”. Because of the virus that was previously called “Monkey Pox”. Discovered in Congo at the end of 2023, it has now also broken out in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya.

The initial figures spoke of 14,000 suspected cases. Based on the usual 50% rate and the reported 500 deaths, this means that one in twelve people who become infected will die. That's a lot. So it's certainly a virus that should be taken seriously. One day later, it was reported that the first case in Europe had emerged in Sweden. Then the first three in Asia in Pakistan. It's the usual pattern: on the one hand, every infectious disease spreads faster and more uncontrollably in times of international travel. On the other hand, specific cases are only discovered when they are specifically sought or tested for. So the numbers will now quickly go through the roof. Because the spread is already more advanced than we know.

What will happen now? What will the states do? How will society react this time? And above all: what have we learned? There is a lot of talk in Germany about the need to come to terms with everything that has happened around COVID. Also to learn from the mistakes. There is a lot of need for clarification - for example with regard to the procurement of masks, the closure of schools, compulsory vaccination, curfews and unequal treatment in the retail sector. And what has happened since (drum roll please!): Nothing. What applies to politics also applies in private life. Some friends turned out to be conspiracy theorists, others were law and order hardliners, most were simply irritated and unsettled. There were even rifts right through families. Rifts that still exist.

And now we could all be facing the same situation, just as ill-prepared. And if Mpox doesn't develop into a pandemic, perhaps swine fever will spread to humans. Or bird flu. Or something else entirely, be it from the South American jungle or from the secret laboratory of some deep state. Or a revenant from the past spreads again - cholera still exists after all and first cases of polio are reported from Gaza. No, I'm not panicking. But I do have one or two worries. After all, humanity has shown itself more than once to be incapable of learning from the past. I would love to be wrong about that.

Good News of the Week

Venezuela is not giving up. It is wonderful to see how the people are fighting for democracy, no longer wanting to put up with the corruption of their “elites” and finally wanting to have a perspective worth living in. Just under a month ago, elections were held in the Latin American country, which could actually live in prosperity and peace but is suffering from dramatic economic decline, inflation and poverty since years. Or as investigative journalist Sebastiana Barráez says in the news magazine Der Spiegel: “Maduro has couped!”

Initially, the state electoral authority declared President Nicolás Maduro Moro, who has been clinging to power since 2013, the winner without providing any evidence - as is actually required by the constitution. The opposition has now had access to more than 80 percent of the printed protocols of the individual polling stations and has made them public. According to these, their candidate Edmundo González won with around 67 percent of the vote - compared to 30 percent for the incumbent head of government. So did Maduro commit electoral fraud? It looks like it.

The United Nations and the Carter Center had sent election observers to Venezuela. They have now criticized the election authority's actions and declared that the official result was not achieved democratically. The panel of experts speaks of an “unprecedented process in recent electoral history”. No wonder that most Latin American countries as well as the USA and Europe did not recognize the “official result”. And Maduro? He doesn't give a damn. The despot has further intensified the repression against the population with the help of the military, the National Guard and other state organs loyal to him. According to the independent rights organization Foro Penal, over 2,000 people have been arrested since the election. These include opposition politicians. And journalists. That speaks a clear language.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the US government has now offered Maduro and close associates of the regime an amnesty if they relinquish power. I wish the Venezuelans would keep up the pressure. And the international stage too. Until Madura and his clan really abdicate. Because then the country, which has already been abandoned by 20% of its population in recent years, could return to better times. In a survey conducted by the Gallup polling institute in December 2012, the country's inhabitants were among the happiest people on earth. It would be nice if this vague memory could become reality again.

Personal happy moment of the week

“Your application for an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) has been approved. You are now authorized to travel to Canada by air.” Nothing more to add here. Taking off this sunday. Boy am I excited...

I couldn't care less...

...about the discussion that Germany “only” came 10th in the medal table at the Summer Olympics in Paris - behind hosts France and Great Britain, even though their populations are smaller. “What does it take for more medals?” asks the Tagesschau news channel. That is of little interest to me. Much more important is the charisma of athletes as figures of identification for a nation, the role model function for children, the motivation to surpass oneself. After all, it's not for nothing that the Olympic motto is “Taking part is everything”. In that sense, Eddie the Eagle really did fly.

It's fine with me...

...that the Democrats' party conference is now turning into a coronation mass. Because the most important decisions have been made: Presidential candidate and his (better in this case “her”) running mate. Normally, I would now say that political program content should not be completely secondary. But I don't care about that at the moment. The main thing is momentum. The main thing is optimism. The main thing is not to go back. The main thing is that Donald Jessica Trump doesn't triumph in November. Harris Walz!

As I write this...

...we're trying to catch a mouse. Apparently it was raining too hard outside and it wanted to get out into the dry. Now she's hiding behind a bookshelf and is afraid of us - even though we want to rescue her and set her free. Update: we've got her and she's fine. Second update: there seems to be another one...

Post Scriptum

It's good when someone doesn't look away but points. Even if it's about Israel committing an injustice. After all, you are then almost reflexively vilified as an Anti-Semite. In this respect, I am pleased that the European Union is showing more and more backbone in this regard. In this case, I am not referring to the maltreated Gaza Strip, but to the West Bank, where the Palestinian population is suffering more and more from brutal attacks by militant Israeli settlers - who can be sure of the backing of Benjamin Netanyahu's increasingly right-wing extremist government.

Once again, there have been attacks by extremist Israeli settlers on the population of the West Bank. And now EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has had enough. He will “present a proposal for EU sanctions against the supporters of the violent settlers, including some members of the Israeli government”. Including the government! That's a bombshell. I very much hope that he finds the necessary support for this. Because this massive problem is currently all too easily overlooked in the great shadow of Gaza.

[cinnamoncountess]

Fellow Travelers Rewatch Party | episode 1

Content warning: NSFW, strong language (likely)

This will be mostly a reaction and based on observations, given the knowledge about how things will unfold in later episodes.

What a perfectly beautiful way to start a show! The song flows amazingly with the cinematography and it encloses around the viewer like a warm hug, simultaneously delivers an underlying sadness, the lyrics preparing us of what lies ahead, a tragic love story that yearns to end happily, but won’t. It sets the mood and gently announces with a toe-deep dive that we’re about to journey backwards into a different decade. I love it! <3 (song: Stevie Wonder - If It’s Magic)

Marcus drives down the sophisticated suburban lane to meet Hawk in his perfectly cultivated family nest to hand over the package, according to Tim’s wishes. It’s sweet to know that he supports and protects Tim, because - as we find out later - he knows Hawk and his shenanigans the best. 

Promotion party! Lucy and Hawk certainly know lots of people. Also, how many grandchildren do they have? I’d assume the other kids are probably the children their guests brought to the party, playmates of his granddaughter, right? No, wait, Lucy says „grandkids“ - so there are more than one? 

Lucy: The grandkids are going to miss Hawk so much when we got to Milan. I don’t know what Kimberly’s going to do. - Hawk’s a beloved granddad.

Hawk: Well, she’ll ship them over in the diplomatic pouch. - The sass and wit never ceases. 

Lucy: I almost gave up my dream of moving to Italy with the man I love.

Hawk: In the end, sh settled for going with me. - OH. The foreshadowing, the ambiguity. The HURT. For BOTH of them. My heart.

Did we ever find out how and when Lucy got to meet Marcus, though? 

Marcus is sooo distressed about the AIDS situation killing all his friends, his beloved ones around him. I want to hug him! 

Marcus: Tim doesn’t want to hear from you. He asked me to make that clear. - It’s another verbalisation of ‚Promise you won’t write’, Tim might have been hoping to hear from Hawk. Then again, of course Tim made sure Hawk will receive the paperweight. It’s the same ‚message‘ that Hawk delivered to him when he left it as a gift before betraying him - to let go. Tim wants to let go. 

Flashback to 1952!

Tim ordering a glass of milk, almost snapping at Hawk for questioning his beverage of choice.

The beginning of the milk odyssey…

What a beautifully shot scene, the lighting, the music / score, the switch between scenes, paralleling the scenes between society conform married life of a ‚straight’ man and cruising through park bathrooms - the double life of Hawkins Fuller and preparing us for what lies ahead, truly marvellous.

I think that’s the roughest and most mechanical, unemotional sex we’ll see in the show. Hawk literally punches Eddie like a donkey.

Hawk: Milton. But my friends call me ‚uncle Milty‘ - Cracking up. Hawk, be serious. 

Hawk doesn’t care about your little life, Eddie. He got what he wanted. He doesn’t give him his number. Important detail since that’s the first information he receives from Tim, already going one step further than he does with Eddie here. 

The small „:|“ glance Mary and Hawk share in reaction to Miss Addison’s disapproval of commies, only the eyeroll and irritated sigh missing. Love Hawk’s and Mary’s interactions and friendship overall, so entertaining how they’ll constantly talk ambiguously. 

Tim and Hawk first meeting at the park! 

Tim: I have a degree in political science and history. I think I should aim a little higher, don’t you? - Oh, baby, you should! Too bad he’s never got to indulge in a profession that fits his education. But then again, maybe it’s for the best that reoriented his career and found a better path for himself, for his eagerness to be politically vocal! He still became a spokesman. 

Tim flusters as Hawk inquires him about memorising his biographical entry! His reaction is sooo endearing. He’s already so smitten. 

The banter between them! 

Hawk: Down boy. - And so the dynamic starts.

Hawk: Perfect. I’ll spend the afternoon picturing you kneeling in prayer. - Pants flew to the moon, ovaries and peepees exploded!

Smith: Your plan, me in the White House in eight years. - Hawk intending to ‚manipulate‘ his mentor’s career, making him president.

Tim and his little cupboard where he hangs his very few white socks and pants. D: Also, he is a plant person! In this apartment as well as in his 80s one he own quite a bunch of greens. 

Jean: … could stand to improve his spelling. You’ll have to do this one again. - Is Tim dyslexic? 

The book Tim bestows Hawk with, as a present for getting the job is titled ‚Look Homeward, Angel.‘ Angel. Skippy, in the book apparently, is derived from an angel’s name. So maybe that’s Hawk’s inspiration in the show?

Hawk visits Tim for the first time and wants to take him out for dinner! So much to the ‚we NEVER eat in restaurants!‘-complaint in episode 3. Hawk wanted to take him out to a restaurant before. <3

Tim is very, VERY drastic in his political views, which is a bit concerning, but also understanding, given the historical context. 

Hawk asking for consent before lifting Tim to his feet and undressing him, love it. 

Tim showing Hawk the family photo album.

Tim: This is uncle Ronald, the drunken designated hopeless sinner of the family.

Hawk: I think you’re giving uncle Ron a run for that title.

Tim: Thanks to you… - and the little smirk, I can’t.

Mary: How are you enjoying ‚Look Homeward, Angel‘?

Hawk: Immensely. Although I have trouble finishing a book before I wanna start another. - he says while he eye-flirts with the next guy standing closeby, oh Hawkins. 

Eddie making a scene out in the open, in the hallway…That is very, very awkward and risky and Eddie should know that, not a clever move. I feel for him, for what happens to him later on, but he had it coming, unfortunately. He should’ve let it go when Hawk made clear he doesn’t want further contact during their encounter and then clearly signifies he doesn’t recognize him. It’s like having an ONS or anonymous sex, the rules about how this will go and what it entails are set. 

Tim toe-sucking bj-ing himself to the fancy party is still wonderful and he must’ve done a spectacular job to convince Hawk. Also, he’s wearing Hawk’s coat here. Wonder if they acted out the little monologue and Tim really went there with the taste of him in his mouth. 

Alsop: My wife says the aroma is somewhat reminiscent of feet. I can promise you it tastes perfectly marvellous. - This is a very feet-heavy episode.

Lucy and Hawk share such entertaining banter moments, I wish they could’ve stayed just really good friends, without all the heartbreak and pain.

Bringing up Lucy is a red rag to Hawk, but Tim just can’t help it. These two have severely different perspectives on life at this point and Hawk told Tim multiple times that he can’t give him what he wants, the life he dreams of, that they can just enjoy these occasional moments of fun together, which of course isn’t enough for Tim, who craves for everything straight couples have, to date his partner openly. It’s not possible in this environment and Tim acts very stubborn and naive here. He is also constituting a great risk for Hawk, who doesn’t shove him away just yet, which is surprising, giving what we’ve seen of him and how cautious he wants to be, leaving no traces endangering his career.

After hearing McCarthy’s speech it’s actually so disturbing and irritating to know that Tim holds onto this man’s ideals so firmly. 

Shout out to the beautifully nuanced OST created by Paul Leonard-Morgan.

And that’s it for this episode.