#also they still think we're living in about the 1800s

[tiger-moran]

This is the perfect example of 'how to say you're a super privileged group who's never experienced real oppression or abuse in your entire lives before without actually saying you're a super privileged group who's never experienced real oppression or abuse in your entire lives before' isn't it

[icewindandboringhorror]

I have a big google doc thing where I keep track of media and stuff (putting everything in loosely ranked categories), which is mostly just for my own reference so I know what tv shows I've already seen before, etc. and I never really look back through it, typically just a quick "okay, watched two movie in the past 8 months, need to quickly slap them somewhere in the lists. okay. done. save document. exit". But today I was actually reading through some of the old notes and there are like... MULTIPLE places where my comment is basically "It would have been good if it were about elves" or "I wish there was a fantasy show made in this same style" or "It's well made, but I just keep thinking about how I would like it more if everyone was an elf or was in old 1700s costumes" or etc like...... lol.... Most biased media ranking system on earth blatantly made by someone with an extremely hyperspecific range of narrow interests. It'd be like if a food reviewer only had 5 foods they actually liked, so they'd just go to a pizza place and be like "eh, the pizza was okay, but I just think it would be better if it was cereal instead. :/ ...2 out of 10"

[littlebatgames]

How to make a powerful, hot vampire you still want to hug

Hi tumblr! I'm Cyrus Nemati, creative director at Little Bat Games, and a voice actor you might know from games likes Hades (I did the really secure guy and the really insecure guy).

We're closing in on the release of our debut title, Vampire Therapist, and based on tumblr's response in the past, I think you might be interested in seeing our creative process.

Andromachos is our 3000-year-old vampire mentor you'll meet early in Vampire Therapist. He's a complicated character: he was an assassin and warrior for most of his 3000 years, but a personal crisis put him on a voyage of self-discovery in the 1800s. Therapy never existed in his time, but as it developed, so did he. We needed a character who expressed wisdom and strength, but also gentleness and compassion. And of course, he's a vampire in a sexy vampire game. He needed to look like a Mediterranean dream.

This was our initial sketch of Andromachos by art director Ruth Bosch (https://x.com/rthbosch). As you can see, he's already oozing confident vampire energy, and he clearly has the wisdom of 3000 years. This is someone you want as your therapist. Vampire Therapist is a game with specific needs, and a certain lightheartedness is one of them. This Andromachos is very much grounded in reality, and just might be *too* realistically sexy.

This was @nomnomroko's first test render for Andromachos before joining the team. Right away, she understood the *figure* of Andromachos and poise of a man who has lived for 3000 years, but this was a more villainous (albeit super hot character). We toned him down shortly after, and brought back in some of the more grounded humanity from Ruth's initial sketch. You can make fan art of this version, though, we won't mind. This version might come back if we ever do a prequel!

Here's his toned down version, already much closer to the Andromachos we see in the final game. He's lost none of his power, but is already the welcoming presence we needed to have in Vampire Therapist.

Body language is also a key aspect of our game. In a game about therapy, we are mostly sitting, so the ways we can express emotion and intention are more subtle. You can already see the strength of Andromachos's character here.

Which takes us to our final rendering!

I love Andromachos. Or Andy, as more familiar folk call him. And I think you will, too. To me, he's a perfect synthesis between Ruth's initial rendering and Sybille's test that fits the comedic, warm, and very human tone of our game.

You can check out our game on Steam and GOG, and your wishlists will make algorithms happy. As you know, everything is algorithms! Help us make Vampire Therapist 2?

Steam:

And GOG:

[turbulentscrawl]

Since the topic of body hcs and body hair hcs overall...may I ask what do you think survivors smell like? I've seen some people differ and I just wanna know your thoughts ;w;

Also, we've gotta be honest. They *will* stink at times, specially after matches. But hey that's only but natural so *shrugs*.

They definitely smell more distinct than I think we'd be used to in general, yeah. And I DON'T think most of them smell unique enough to say how they're different from others, specifically, but there are a few things to consider, if we're looking at it a little more realistically:

More regular cleanliness was becoming normal in the 1800s, when most of the survivors were from, but the actual frequency of bathing varied by class and career. Showering daily still was not common until the 1900s, though. Even without any concerns about water supply in the manor, I would imagine most of them average a full clean-up maybe twice a week? A little more for those who get into actual filth on their days off. (looking at Emma, since she digs in the dirt and spend a lot of time outside.)

Deodorent was not invented until 1888, and didn't become popular until the 1930s or so. And most early deodorents didn't come with much in the way of additional scents, rather they just killed bacteria that caused excess body odors. Most of the people in the manor would not have used this, except perhaps the latest arrivals like Frederick and Alice. Instead, before deodorant, people took steps like shaving their underarms to prevent more sweat and bad scents, and used products like perfume and talcum powder to freshen up and get rid of odors.

Fancier soaps were around in the 1800s, but were used sparingly and economically. The lower class especially would have made their own ashen lye soap to bathe and wash their clothes. (Which, if you've never smelled unscented lye soap, is not pleasant to the nose imo. It's a bit of a pungent chemical smell, mixed with the scent of whatever the soap base was, which was usually lard and olive oil.) More expensive soaps could have been made from things like almond oil, coconut oil, or goat's milk, plus herbs or extracts for something much better smelling.

There's not a ton of hard labor to do in the manor, which would keep some people from working up so much of a sweat, but there's not likely an AC there. On the plus side, I don't imagine there's too much weather fluctuation in the manor for the sake of keeping the passage of time as confusing as possible, which also means it's not getting too hot. Most of the temperature changes you experience would be on the maps. I also don't think a lot of the Hunters would sweat! Any of those who have been dead and were brought back probably don't perspire anymore, though they may have the slightest hint of something off about them.

In short...yeah there's definitely more BO than we're used to in most modern settings. Most of the people in the manor are going to smell pretty natural--which won't always be offensive to the nose, mind you, since they say the smell of someone who's right for you will smell GOOD--plus some talcum/baby power or perfume scents to 'soften the blow' a bit. (Though it wasn't really in fashion to DROWN yourself in perfume by most of these peoples' time, so I think only a few people might lay it on too thick. Mary or Vera, for instance.)

And some people probably maintain very small scent hints about their professions or lives before the manor, just to distinguish them up close. Luchino has a touch of carbolic acid on his clothes, from sterilizing tools in the lab. Norton still smells of coal and minerals, just a touch. Victor smells a bit like sun-heated dog due to walking around outside all day with Wick, and Ithaqua like snowy pine trees from his years wandering and guarding winter woods. You get the idea.

I won't say who I think smells the worst or the best because that;s just too subjective--especially since I've revealed I don't like the smell of lye which is probably what most of them would have used LOL. But I'm definitely not one to say 'let's fully suspend our disbelief and say Naib smells freshly showered and uses Old Spice 😜'.

[nerdygaymormon]

A Brief History of the LDS Church's Transgender Teachings and Policies

Gender identity and gender roles are important in LDS theology and practices. For most of the 1800s, church presidents Joseph Smith and Brigham Young had men, women, and children sit separately for all Sunday meetings. Nowadays, some of the Sundays church meetings are still divided by biological sex. Temple worship is also similarly divided.

For decades, the LDS Church believed that in the premortal life, when intelligences were organized into spirits that they may have chosen whether to live as male or female during mortality, and that poor choices during their time on earth could demote them back to a genderless condition. Joseph Fielding Smith, who was made an apostle in 1910 and became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1970, was well known for teaching that those who do not reach the Celestial Kingdom will be neither man nor woman, merely immortal beings.

As a teenager in the 1980's, I remember being in Sunday School class and the teacher saying that when we're resurrected we can look down, and if we don't see a penis or vagina then we know we're not making it to the Celestial Kingdom.

Along with this, for many years the LDS Church seems to have viewed all queerness as a form of gender confusion, whether it was a man thinking he's a woman or a man who is attracted to other men.

As the fight over gay marriage ramped up, the teaching about genderless spiritual beings was replaced with the idea that gender is forever and this was incorporated into the 1995 Family Proclamation which states that "gender is an essential characteristic of individual pre-mortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."

The idea is that each of us are a son or daughter of heterosexual & cisgender heavenly parents, and we are meant to become like them. There is a strict binary of spiritual gender identities and gender roles. Ideally, our bodies should be formed in a way that reflects our spiritual body, including our spiritual gender, but the reality of the physical world is that things often don't work as we'd expect them to, but that doesn't change our spiritual gender.

Let me take this moment to point out that the notion of gender being eternal does not exist in scripture, this is a fairly recent evolution.

And while the idea is that gender is an innate and unchangeable part of our souls, the Church has also felt that gender needs to be nurtured, protected, and defended. There have been many rules about what women may wear to BYU and to Sunday services. For many years the advice to leaders on how to counsel with young men experiencing same sex attraction was to have them spend time around manly men and participate in masculine activities, and to not wear androgynous or feminine styles.

For a long time, LDS Church leaders were more aware of homosexuality and focused on this, and their mentions of trans people remained pretty infrequent.

In 1980, Spencer W. Kimball was president of the LDS Church and was outspoken opponent of homosexuality, however he authorized the sealing of a trans woman to her husband in the Washington, D.C. temple. Perhaps in response to this, later that year LDS authorities updated the official General Handbook of Instructions to officially prohibit “transsexual operations.” The handbook stated that “members who have undergone transsexual operations must be excommunicated” and that “after excommunication such a person is not eligible for baptism.”

I first got access to Handbook 1 in 2016, and excommunication was still the standard, although it said "elective transsexual operations" (not sure when the word "elective" was added). Surgery was the boundary line which if crossed would result in excommunication. However, the phrase "elective transsexual operations" recognized there are some circumstances where such operations are required or aren't the choice of the individual. For example, a man whose genitals were injured and couldn't be kept, or an intersex person who had surgery performed on them as an infant or child.

Any individual who was considering "elective transsexual surgery" was not allowed to be baptized, but for an individual who had undergone "transsexual surgery" and now wanted to be baptized, it had to be approved by the First Presidency. If they were allowed to be baptized, they would not be allowed to receive the priesthood or participate in gender-separated temple rites (which limited them to doing baptisms).

There was some wiggle room on whether top surgery is considered "transsexual surgery" and depended on the local leader's interpretation. There was no policy on transitioning in ways that didn't involve surgery, such as hormone therapies, “cross dressing,” or other means of living out one’s gender.

In January 2015, Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, "I think we need to acknowledge that while we have been acquainted with lesbians and homosexuals for some time, being acquainted with the unique problems of a transgender situation is something we have not had so much experience with, and we have some unfinished business in teaching on that." This reflects the growing awareness of trans individuals and showed some humility on his part. Elder Oaks had often spoken out on homosexuality and gay marriage, but this statement was thoughtful and many took it as cautiously optimistic.

Some transgender Mormons in explaining that their bodies do not reflect their gender identity would point to the Family Proclamation which says "gender" is eternal but not necessarily their sex. In response, in 2019 Elder Oaks said that “the intended meaning of gender in the family proclamation and as used in Church statements and publications since that time is biological sex at birth.”

In 2020, a major revision of the Church's general Handbooks were made. Handbook 1 (which was only available to bishoprics, stake presidencies, and General Authorities) was combined with Handbook 2 and put on the Church's website for all to see. This revision included major changes for transgender members.

The term "elective transsexual surgery" was gone, and now any social, medical or surgical transitioning would bring restrictions. Many saw this as more restrictive, it took away the space to transition in ways other than surgery while remaining in good standing as a member. Some saw it as a step at being more accommodating as excommunication was not the de facto punishment for transitioning. A church member could decide if transitioning was important enough to them that they'd be willing to be without a temple recommend.

The 2024 Handbook update seems like they felt some local church leaders had taken things further than had been anticipated, and so they had to plug in the gaps from the 2020 Handbook that leaders had used to be inclusive and accommodating of their trans members. Now members who transitioned in any were not allowed to be baptized, restricted from holding almost all callings, specified which meetings & activities they may attend, forbids trans youth and young single adults from overnight activities, and even has specific rules about under how a trans person may use the restroom.

[spaceorphan18]

The Lady Whistledown Papers : 1x01 - A Diamond of the First Water (Part 1)

An Introduction

Dearest Gentle Reader... ;)

Well, okay, looks like there a good handful of you for this idea! Yay!

I did want to preface this with a couple of notes first, though if you want to skip to the show meta, head straight for the 'read more' below...

My intention with this project is to explore the individual stories as well as the romantic relationship between Penelope Featherington (who is my favorite character on the show) and Colin Bridgerton. So, I'll be looking at every episode of the entire show and kind of go through their character arcs with a fine tooth comb. The first two seasons I plan on batching scenes together while Season 3 might end up almost scene by scene because it is so rich and dense with story.

The whole point is that I enjoy meta and media analysis and breaking down stories and looking at stories from every angle possible. I am usually pretty positive, but that doesn't mean even my favorites are not exempt from a critical eye from time to time. And I'm not hesitant to explore character, story, and production flaws when discussing things. I do, however, try to remain respectful.

While this is primarily Pen and Colin focused, I'll probably still end up opinioning on other things I like as well (and do have respect for other characters and ships on the show).

The only book I've read is The Duke and I. I don't plan on doing any book to tv analysis, but I do hope to get through Romancing Mister Bridgerton before I get to Season 3 so I can point out Easter Eggs.

I'm also no historical scholar. So, probably won't be doing any kind of historical analysis either. Sorry.

I'm a multi-fandom blog, and have lots of projects I'm working on, so I plan on rotating through them. Plus, I have a full time job and family and friends, which means please be patient as I work on the project. It's a labor of love! But maybe a slower one. <3

Not here to discuss the actors', creators', crew, etc's personal lives. While I may put in a tiny BTS tidbit I've picked up, I have no intention or desire to talk about anything but the story.

I always enjoy talking with you guys about things, my meta is only one interpretation of what's going on, and I'm always open to discussions! However, I block or ignore any kind of wank, so please be civil. :)

Tag : the lady whistledown papers (in case you want to follow along or black list it away)

Okay, let's dig into some meta!!

Episode 1 : A Diamond of the First Water (Part 1)

So, it may be something that's easily forgotten or overlooked, but the very first thing we hear when we open the show is Lady Whistledown's voice -- which of course, is really Penelope. Since it's the delightful Julie Andrews doing the voice, it doesn't really feel like it's an 18yo girl's commentary about life in the rich part of London society in the early 1800s, but here we are. It's all done to build a bit of mystery around Lady Whistledown.

But what I think is more fascinating is the fact that the show opens -- not with the Bridgertons but the Featheringtons. They are our starting point. They are our dysfunctional family unit that we may closer resemble in our own lives that we get to peek in on before heading over to the esteemed, charming, and seemingly perfect Bridgertons.

The Bridgertons might be the protagonists of the show -- but Lady Whistledown and (by extension) Penelope Featherington is our framing device. She sets up the world, gives us the expository layout of the land and gives us an insight into the world. So it makes sense that we're starting in Penelope's home -- the person, like the audience, who gets to look into the Bridgerton home, but not actually be a part of it (yet).

When we open, we get a great introduction to the Featheringtons, and in a quick few shots - learn a lot about of them.

First of all, the narration -- while I'm not going to take note of every single narration throughout the whole show, it is important to remember that it's Penelope who is ultimately speaking. And when we open the show -- the first thing she does is blast her own family.

Why? Because it's her only way to push back. Look at what's happening in this scene? Prudence is being forced into the tightest corset ever imaginable as Penelope (and Phillipa) look on in horror. Penelope is still young (she is 18yo) and is being thrust into the market earlier than she wants so that her mother can have all of her daughters out in society at the same time.

Unlike what we'll find over at the Bridgerton family household, the Featheringtons are ruled by a seemingly iron fisted mother who only wants her daughters to marry rich so she can retain her lifestyle and place in society while her father is uninterested in anything other than himself.

Later in season 3, she'll mention that this particular issue is her first issue. So, it's no surprise that she starts writing just as she's coming into society. It's her way of coping and her way of expressing herself. But, I'll also remind everyone, while she is incredibly savvy at her craft, she's also still so young, and not entirely aware of the power she's going to wield.

As for Pen herself -- she's genuinely concerned about her older sister. We don't get a sense of their dynamic yet, but at least we get to see Penelope's kind hearted nature. Prudence looks like she's being down right tortured by her 'tasteless, tactless' mama. And nothing about this is appealing to Penelope.

(As an aside -- this also sets up a couple of things for the show -- for one, throwing us into the historical nature of the show, as well as adding a slight bit of comedy to the over-the-topness of Portia's insistence. The show is telling us that, yeah, there are crude and unpleasant things going on, but we're not taking ourselves too seriously, so neither should you.)

Next, we shift over to the Bridgerton household, but I want to point out something first... Notice how the Featherington door knocker from earlier was much more adorned and intricate? The Featheringtons are more concerned with status and money and appearing as if they're better off than they really are, while the Bridgertons don't need nor want to show off in the same way. It's a neat little detail.

Also, the bee imagery for the Bridgertons always is amusing. Symbol of death there ;) In case you were wondering - the Featherington symbol is the butterfly.

So, it's important to note that the Featheringtons are the next door neighbors of the Bridgertons, and it's of no surprise that Penelope would, after disparaging her own family, turn her attention to the family that has captivated her most of her life.

Okay, I kind of love these paintings as an introduction to the Bridgertons. (Are there ones for Gregory and Hyacinth?) I think it's a fun touch to the whole historical setting of the show. And it makes them look as if they're these frozen, idyllic pictures and who are not exactly real. Which is great when combined with the Lady Whistledown dialogue going on how wonderfully attractive they are - because it sets us just slightly apart from them.

Like I said above - Penelope is on the outside, and as we move in, so are we, but we get to finally move in to see real people behind the paintings. (Also - omg, the look on Eloise's face is priceless and I love it)

Also. A+ casting, guys. I really believe they're all related. ;)

I also love the juxtaposition that when we first hear the Bridgertons talking, unlike their perfect, picture-esque counterparts in the paintings, we get Eloise complaining. (Look, I love Eloise a lot -- and she's the third in this crazy triangle, so we'll be talking a bit about her, too.) We also get a bit of chaos as the camera descends the stairs, with Gregory running around them and the banter between the sisters.

It's all great, quick character set up as each of the Bridgerton siblings gets a little beat in this sequence.

And... we get our first glimpse at Colin!

And here's the thing about Colin. He's the third son. Anthony may not be around at the very moment, but he's very much a father figure to a lot of them and is in a different place being the oldest and actual Lord of the Estate. His role is much different. And then there's Benedict - who is that second in command while Anthony is away. Benedict, though is the artsy one and the experimental one and is a bit more aloof in nature. Which brings us to Colin... Who doesn't have the same set in stone sense of purpose Anthony does nor the happiness of just floating through life the way Benedict does.

And so, this scene has a couple of tidbits to kind of illustrate his place in this huge household. He's says he'll go get Daphne (who is currently hiding out in her room, and whom everyone has been arguing about). Colin does like having purpose, and does like to help whenever he can.

And then there's his banter with Benedict about how he's better liked by Daphne than him. It's a great little moment, not only the show again allowing to us to know that we should not be taking this historical show too seriously, not only showing us the beloved sibling antics (which -- i really love all the sibling dynamics in this show), but also showing that Colin has a bit of a cheeky side, and isn't afraid to bring a bit a levity to the situation when he can.

Also, a tiny tidbit in relation to the book, Colin and Daphne (being close in age) are rather close in the book. We don't necessarily see it in the show due to the nature of wanting to highlight Anthony more, but I feel like these lines are a little nod to that, too.

Of course, then, Eloise screams at the top of her lungs, which is a moment I still laugh at. I love that while Benedict's jaw is dropped, Colin is entirely amused by her, as I'm sure she livens the entire household up.

We get both households coming out of their houses, and we get this sweet little moment where we see that, not only are they neighbors, but Penelope and Eloise know each other and are friends.

I love that Penelope is so overjoyed to be looking over to the Bridgertons that she kind of freezes in excitement and has to be ushered along.

Also as the camera pulls back, we see Eloise reading a Lady Whistledown pamphlet! The first time we see someone do so!

You guys remember Disney's Sleeping Beauty? There's a moment when they enter the castle the three good fairies are announced. The dude who announces the Featherington sisters reminds me of that -- introducing Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather! (Don't even come at me, it's my favorite Disney movie)

Anyway... we get LW's narration that this is a pivotal moment for London society at the time -- when the girls are presented to the Queen and enter the marriage mart. Basically, it's a coming of age for young women. And while Prudence might have the most embarrassing moment by fainting (I mean - who's to blame her, really) Penelope looks so awkward going out there -- before her time, really not emotionally ready, and just not graceful in the way that the other girls, including even her sisters, just are.

Okay, so it's not really our first Polin moment, but there is a pseudo moment buried in here.

But first - I want to acknowledge that Penelope, feeling out of place, and at ill-ease with her surroundings, throws a glance over to Eloise. I love Eloise's truly perplexed look as she watches her friend go through something that neither of them really want -- as if trying to grapple how any of this is real. Penelope and Eloise's bond is incredibly important to both their characters and the show (and is something I enjoy as much as I love all the Polin).

As for Colin standing over there in the corner... No, there's not really anything to pull out here. But! There is going to be a moment in season 3, when Colin is writing in his journal, where it's clear that he's thinking about this moment, and describing watching her as she heads towards the queen. It's a cute callback to this moment, and even if we don't really see it -- it's still there. He's still noticing her, even if it's very, very subtly.

LW continues her narration about how important the Queen's opinion is of the ladies of society, and how important it is to make a good impression. But fascinatingly, Penelope is too busy looking at the ceilings and being in awe of her surroundings to really take notice of what the Queen is doing. She's a bit, understandably, shocked. (and another great comedic moment as Portia kind of knocks her back into focusing.)

It's great for setting the atmosphere of the show, but also allowing us, through Penelope, to take in our surroundings and be in awe of what we're witnessing.

It's also, I'll add, to be an awkward contrast to when Daphne comes in and is completely flawless in her entrance. Penelope is our side character. She's not our main character. And main characters are supposed to have a level of perfection to them. (Or so we're been accustomed to believe.) I think one thing I'm happy to see on the show is that, while we're still going to get a lot of romance story tropes, the show does try to dismantle a few of the stereotypes as we go along.

Also, two quick smaller notes... we don't really get to see Colin's reaction to Daphne -- Anthony and the sister are too in the way, and he doesn't have much of a discernable reaction when we do see him. And, the narration makes note that Daphne is going to burn quickly, which honestly made me laugh a little.

And.... that takes us up to the credits! Which is where I'll be stopping for now. Since this is the first episode and an introduction to the world, there's actually lot of both Penelope and Colin in it, so there's a lot to go through... stay tuned ;)

[genderlessghoul]

HI. IT'S ME AGAIN. YA BITCH. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. OH YEAH WE'RE TALKING ABOUT GHOST COSTUMES.

Well... One Ghost costume in particular. Because I've talked at great lengths about how the costumes are made and what they're made out of but I haven't talked much, if at all, about the inspiration behind them. So today we're gonna take a look at Papa's Kaiserion costume.

Impera, Ghost's fifth studio album, builds itself on the themes of the rise and fall of empires. Kaiserion, the first song of the album with lyrics, leans heavily and explicitly on those themes. It makes sense, as being also the first song played live during this era, that Papa's outfit would reflect that empirical meaning.

Copia has always been so interesting to me in terms of stage costumes as he never really tried to fit into the role carved by his predecessors. The band's image, before Terzo was relieved of his Papal duties (and his head), relied on Satanism and depicting themselves as an opposite for Christianity. Taking inspiration into religious costumes and giving them a stylish twist à la Satan. Terzo started this trend of diverging from this image but he only had one stage outfit that wasn't his robes. Copia has had several from the very start.

This one costume is no exception. You will find Satanic and occultist symbols in the embroidery on his vest but it's not trying to be a religious garment in any way, shape or form. It rather reminds me of French military uniforms from the late 1700s to the late 1800s.

Obviously it's not a perfect replica of any historical uniform but I still find the comparison fascinating and I have a deep appreciation for the imagery it creates. It leads us straight into the atmosphere created by the song and it infers on Copia a sense of authority fitted for the meaning of the album. For the span of those 5 minutes of the concert, he's not just a spiritual leader, he's a ruler commanding an army.

That sentiment is aided by one of my favourite details. Epaulettes were often used to mark stature on uniforms. Not only if you had them but what they looked like. You didn't think I was gonna make a whole post about Papa and not mention the ghouls once, were you?

Not only is the overall construction of Papa's jacket made to be more imposing than the ghouls, his golden epaulettes imply a greater status, a higher rank.

I would also like to point out the state of the jacket. Which of course, matches the decrepitude of the pants he wears for the entire concert. To me, it implies a meaning hidden in the concept of the album itself. The military inspired jacket paints him as a commander ready for conquest, ready to go to war for him Empire. To me, all that intentional distressing says "this is what it'll look like once we fall, this is what it'll look like when the Empire fails."

All of this really makes me question the fate awaiting Copia now that this era is over. "The empire has been built." it feels like half of the prophecy fulfilled. We're yet to see it fall, but the fall was promised.

Aight didn't mean to get all ominous on ya at the end but oh well 😅😅😅 that's all for me today! Thank you and good night!

[panlight]

Meyer: Here's a series of books about blurred pet/mount/sibling bonds between genetically-modified dragons and humans. Also, ducks. Neither example is romantic, and the duck bonds are explicitly familial in nature. Hmmm... Meyer:...Let's make everything romantic! :D (Thank you for pointing out how weird that is and also the likely unconscious bias towards Mormon dogma.)

That's it, though. With ducks it's literally babies imprinting on their mothers and following them around. With the dragons it's a partnership and it's mutual, where both parties are equally attached and invested. Neither is romantic, and each involves at least one animal, or at least non-human creature if we don't want to call dragons 'animals' because they're fantasy.

The wolf shifters are human. Yeah they can turn into wolves, but they were born human, grew up human, have human lives and human families. They aren't animals, they're people. And the imprinting thing isn't necessarily mutual, or at least, it doesn't seem to be as intense from the imprintee's side. Emily was drawn to Sam, I guess, but she also told him to go back to Leah and was initially horrified by his confession of love so she didn't feel the same instant certainty that Sam did.

I do think there's something to the whole "pre-mortal romance" theory. I think it's what she's going for with the child imprinting. And for the record, I still don't like that and find it gross! But I think she's operating from this idea that a person/soul is a fixed thing. That who you were in the pre-mortal realm before birth is the same person you are in life on earth and the same person you will be in the afterlife. Maybe not physically, but your essence, the 'youness' of you, is the same. Your soul. There's no 'nurture' here; we're not shaped in any meaningful way by our experiences and upbringing, we are who we are and we always will be. So when Jacob meets baby!Renesmee he's recognizing his connection with the soul he knew before, the person she will be, and him being involved in her life as a child won't change who she will grow up to be because he already knows her. I don't know if I'm articulating this correctly because, frankly, it doesn't make sense to me at all, but I think this is where SM is coming from. To her mind, he's not "in love with a baby" he's devoted to the soul/person she was before and will grow to be again. I think the movie tried to address this with the sort of flash-forward vision Jacob has when he imprints, seeing her as a grown woman. And this only works if you have a conception of the self/soul that is fixed and permanent, where there isn't really anything that can change who you 'are' because you were already who you were going to be before you were born.

Maybe another way to think of it is sort of like reincarnation, but instead of knowing one another in a past life, they knew each other in a before-life?

Again, I'm not defending the child imprinting, I don't like it, it's easily one of the top three things I would cut out if I could because it does raise all kinds of red flags, but my hunch is it's based on these ideas that had been around in Mormon literature since like the late 1800s.

[softpascalito]

Double Shift - 2003!Joel Miller x Reader

Summary: Joel is in over his head with the amount of shifts he's picking up at the construction site and Christmas coming right up. You help out.

Relationships: 2003!Joel Miller x Reader WC: 1800 Tags/Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Christmas, Crying, Parent Joel (The Last of Us), Pre-Cordyceps Outbreak Joel (The Last of Us), Pre-Cordyceps Outbreak (The Last of Us), Joel Needs a Hug (The Last of Us), Established Relationship, Financial Issues, This is pretty sad yall im sorry Read on AO3 full advent calendar (updated daily)

notes: hello loves! sorry this is kinda late, my week is so incredibly stressful and im super behind on writing but hey we're only 5 hours late! i hope you still enjoy this and please READ THE TAGS. this one is a lil sad!

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Joel doesn't even remember the last full day he has taken off. It seems to him that he knows the house they’re building better than the one waiting for him at the end of his shift. And he hates it.

He spends every possible second on the construction site, every other possible second with Sarah, helping her with math homework in the evenings, taking her out on the weekends when he can.

And every second at night, when it's too late to be out working and when Sarah is asleep, he spends worrying about money.

It's been a rough year, both financially and emotionally. But he doesn't have time to dwell on it, to complain about it, hell, he doesn't even have time to grieve. He has a daughter at home and that's the one thing he knows, the one thing that keeps him going. It's always her.

That's his thought anyway when you meet during the summer and it's his reasoning for keeping you away for a while. But as the leaves turn orange and the air crisp, he brings you home more. Sarah and you get along great, the girl instantly taking a liking to the way you do things differently than her father or her uncle.

Joel finds himself thankful to have someone to watch Sarah on weekends, someone to also spare him awkward conversations about tampons and boys (or girls) - though he always insists Sarah is still too young for the latter.

By the time Christmas rolls around, the three of you have settled into a routine, with you watching Sarah twice during afternoons, often staying for dinner on Joel's demand. It’s almost like a little family night.

Today, a text lets you know there'll be no such luck.

Have to finish the flooring tonight, will take a few more hours. Tell Sarah she can order some food. See you next week, baby.

It's past ten when the truck finally pulls up in the driveway, Joel letting out a heavy sigh as he sits in silence for a moment. It takes him every ounce of strength not to cry. He’s tired and it’s Christmas week and he still hasn’t ticked off more than one thing off Sarah's Christmas list. He knows this will be a sad one, the few presents he has waiting in the linen closet, wrapped in the daily paper. The thought has been looming over him for weeks. He sees lights on in the living room. It looks like something dim, definitely not the big light - maybe the TV.

When he opens the door to the kitchen and hears music drifting from the living room, he’s certain about what he’ll find. Sarah asleep, curled up on the couch with the TV on and some leftover food in front of her.

Last week, he found her having a can of ravioli for dinner- something they usually only keep stocked for their camping trips. It was the moment he realized he may not have been as sneaky about keeping their financial struggles to himself as he would have hoped.

It's the only time he curses when thinking about how smart his daughter is.

Joel damn near passes out when he does enter the living room. Because yes, Sarah is there, asleep on the couch. But she’s curled up against you, your hand gently stroking her back. And yes, the TV is on. But the source of light he’s seen from outside is a Christmas tree in the corner, decorated with colorful lights and bulbs and a golden star on top.

Your head turns as you feel his presence in the doorway and a small smile spreads over your face. Your voice is barely a whisper, trying not to wake the girl beside you, “Surprise.”

It’s the second time Joel wants to fucking cry tonight. He makes his way over to you, pressing a gentle kiss to your lips before turning towards Sarah, “I'll take her to bed.”

You give a small nod, shifting slightly to allow him to pick his daughter up. You watch him as he carries her up the stairs, moving carefully to make sure not to bump her head.

It barely takes a minute before you hear him closing Sarah's bedroom door and coming back downstairs. He stops in the middle of the room. And he looks so lost.

“You did- uhm- you did this?” He asks, a little choked up and you yawn a little as you let your eyes wander over to the tree, “I know I should've asked but Sarah told me last week that she really wanted a tree and I thought...” you drift off, carefully watching his reaction.

“What, so you made my daughter conspire against me?” It comes out a lot rougher than he intends, if your face is anything to go by.

“Are you mad?”

Something about the way you ask so quietly, so softly, draws a sigh from Joel's throat. God, he’s an asshole.

Whatever words he prepared a moment ago are washed away and he shakes his head, “No. No, I'm sorry, it's just been a long day.”

“It hasn't just been one long day,” you say gently as you climb off the couch to stand in front of him, wrapping your arms around his slightly stained shirt. He smells like wood and paint and sweat. The mix of those scents smells like home.

“Look, I’m not- I’m not trying to overstep my boundaries. I just want her to have a nice Christmas, that's all.”

“I do too,” Joel mutters, bowing his head a little, his eyes wandering over to the tree in the corner. He blinks a few times but it doesn’t help. The tears still come.

“I don't want to fail her.”

The lights blur in his vision, the colors dancing around in long stripes as the tears gather in his eyes. It looks so beautiful. It would look so beautiful. If his heart could only stop hurting, if his chest would stop being so tight.

And then you're there. Making yourself a little taller than you are, one hand pressed to his back, the other pulling his head into your shoulder.

“You're okay. Come on, you're okay.”

You whisper the words into his ear. It hurts to see him like this, it always does. He rarely shows emotion, no matter if it's about Sarah or you or the grief.

The only time you've seen him cry is the night the hospital called. He hadn't cried on the phone, had only nodded along, taken some notes, asked a few questions. Then, he had gone to Sarah's room. Her sobs alone had made you cry, despite the fact that you weren't even a part of this family. Not yet, at least.

Joel had held the small frame of his daughter, letting her tire herself out with crying, shushed her whenever the sobs got too loud, stroked her hair for what must've been hours.

He had insisted that you could go home for the night. You had insisted on staying.

His tears hadn’t come until you were both in bed, when his body began to shake and you felt him beginning to cry silently beside you, forcing himself to make no noise in case Sarah could hear.

You had let him sob into your chest, tucked him so close to you it almost felt impossible to have your bodies so flush together. It was the only time you saw him cry.

Until now.

You pull him onto the couch with you, still holding him close. When he has calmed down enough for you to lean over, you reach for a small package hidden behind the couch, “I was gonna make this a surprise for both of you. But maybe- we should make it a surprise for her rather than that.”

Joel frowns a tiny bit, reaching out to lift the lid of the small box- and being met with three tickets to a Halican Drops concert. He knows what they are worth. He’s been starting at the price on the ticket office poster every time he passes it.

“You shouldn't-”

“But I will. In fact, I already did,” you smile gently, putting the box back into its hiding place. “I got her some other stuff too. And I will get you some proper Christmas paper to wrap everything in, by the way. But this we could- it'll be from both of us.”

When he continues to stare at you, you go on, “I got a small Christmas bonus. You know I don't have anyone else to spend it on. And I want her to have this. And you. I want you to have this, Joel.”

“I want to have this,” he whispers back. You're both not really talking about the concert anymore. It doesn't matter. You’ve always been good at speaking this way, both reading between the lines, knowing what the other one means. Noone has understood you that way until him.

“I don't know how I got so lucky,” he mumbles, sighing a little as he looks around the living room once more. There’s the tree and some garlands, a few dried orange slices dangling in front of the window, “And the decorations are-?”

“Well, the bulbs are yours. I just got some new lights. Pretty sure the old ones were a bigger fire hazard than your cooking.” It draws a small chuckle from his throat. “Sarah had the idea with the oranges. I think they turned out real pretty,” you explain as you reach to touch one of them.

“Yeah, they did.”

You’re halfway through whatever Christmas movie is on during the night when Joel looks over at the tree again, pondering something for a split second before he speaks.

“I'll get you a key for Christmas.”

You frown a little, “I have a key. You know that. I wouldn't need it if Sarah didn't forget hers every day but-”

“No,” Joel interrupts, shaking his head a little.

“I meant, I'll get you one if you want. For you. To use it. So you can-” He swallows a bit, turning his head to find your face next to him. Soft, brown eyes, so close that you can see the patterns of his iris. There’s a speck of gray in the brown.

“So you can come here. After work.”

It takes you a second to follow his train of thought. And then you realize what he's saying.

“Are you asking me to move in with you? Because if so, you're doing an absolutely horrible job at it.”

“But will you?”

You smile a little at how nervous he suddenly seems, his hand sliding over your thigh and squeezing slightly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I will,” you mumble, leaning in to kiss him, sighing against his soft lips when they part for you.

“Merry Christmas, Joel.”

“Merry Christmas, darlin’.”

[crownedinmarigolds]

Question about khanni and the cool lore implications:

Would her creation make her something of a revnant or dhampir? Do yall have a name for it in your homebrew games?

Further cool question? If im following the timeline correctly, shes created between 1990s-2000s- do u think any work got out that thinbloods were a key to make hybrids?

As you know, fan of your blurbos and in the process of making my own wod timeline with friends!

Ahhh what interesting questions....! So while we're still fully werkin' it all out ourselves, here's what @thesixthplaneteer and I say about the situation: From what we've been reading up, Kahanni is probably very close to a dhampir but without restrictions, according to book. Though because of V5 no longer having dhampir (yet?) she's probably closest to a Thinblood? But also not. She essentially is a living vampire who can bond, Embrace, make new disciplines if she desires... From what sixthplaneteer has conceptualized: Kahn is a Ushebti (SETITE MAGICCC) construct made of flesh, given life through necromancy and Thinblood alchemy. She was grown in her mother's womb from start to finish and was born... obviously a TON of magic and blood had to happen. She was born in 2000! (In the older lore a Garou was also born in 2000 kind of like this as well, so we call them Apocalypse Twins haha!) And no - unless there was a SIGNIFICANT breach in trust - this news was kept extremely on the downlow within Harrakhty's inner circle. Many see Kahn as the second coming of Set and they would not allow any rumors to discredit her. Setites are incredibly secretive as is with their goings-ons, so this hopefully wouldn't be an issue they dealt with. Nyth and Noa when doing this for them are probably the only outsiders who know what went down. After Kahn was born, Harri and Pari went on a very long "away from the temple" sabbatical, not unlike them, and twenty years later returned with a full grown woman. So many followers would not have watched Kahanni grow up. Kahn DOES have a soul as well, so as a Ushebti construct, even if you were to fully explain how she was born, she more than likely would not crumble like a normal construct. She's a person, they just used similar magics in the process! Also: Kahn is basically Harri's twin, pre-Embrace. She grows tall like him, she's muscular and confident. She has some of her mother's striking features but she is all Harri. Setite Magic was used to change his appearance back in the late 1800s, so the two do not seem as similar as they would be if he looked as he was first Embraced. Thank you for asking!! :0 I'm so curious as to what you have in mind. :3c Bonus sketch of the family together!

[ailendolin]

What if in German ghosts Friedrich Dorn lived doing the French occupation (napoleonic wars)? I think nearly all of Germany came under French control during the Napoleonic wars. Since Friedrich Dorn is Thomas, it would still mean that he’s from the early 1800s. How would that affect his personality? 

Also I’m a bit disappointed that there’s no ghost from the time of Frederick the great.

Thank you for your ask!

The thing we have to remember is that Germany as it is known today did not exist back then. Assuming Friedrich comes from the late 18th / early 19th century, he lived in the Holy Roman Empire (of the German Nation) which lasted for roughly 800 years until it was dissolved in 1806 after which parts of it became the Confederation of the Rhine which was then replaced by the German Confederation in 1815. We're talking about a lot of history there, and about a huge number of small governmental units (nothing compared to the 16 states Germany has today).

I think, at most, we can assume that Friedrich lived through a time of political upheaval. To what extent he was affected by that is hard to tell since we don't even know where the German Button House is located and when he lived. For all we know he did live during the reign of Friedrich the Great that you mentioned. We just don't know enough about the German ghosts' time line at this point to make asssumptions. Take Claudius for example: if the show is set somewhere in North Rhine-Westphalia, that gives us a potential time frame from 55 BC (Caesar crossing the Rhine) to around 460 AD when Cologne was conquered by the Franks and Rome withdrew - so about 500 years. Again, a lot of time, a lot of history to speculate about.

That being said, if the German show is anything like the original, I don't think there will be a focus on how historical events / circumstances affected the characters. That doesn't mean it isn't there at all, but with Friedrich, the focus will probably be on his poetry, potential rivalry with the likes of Goethe and Schiller and, of course, love. Perhaps he will make a comment about the Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps he will reference the Battle of Leipzig if he was still alive when it happened. Perhaps he will mention a family member who was recruited and fought. But I'm not sure the political circumstances will play a major role in defining his character (especially considering that the history is quite complex and while I'd wager many Germans have heard of the Battle of Leipzig (Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig in German), most probably don't know its historical context or when it actually happened).

[helloofromthewired]

No Matter Where You Go, Everyone's Connected

At its very core, SEL is about connection, I think.

SEL was originally created by aBe to appeal to both Western and Eastern audiences, but for Western and Eastern fans to have very different views on it. It was kind of meant as an attempt to show how different West and East (specifically America and Japan) are, but I think it kind of backfired for the exact same reason it succeeded at the same time. Contradictory, I know, but stay with me here.

Lain has many connections across the series: some personal, but the vast, vast, vast, vast majority are impersonal. They're connections that exist, but that she doesn't necessarily feel connected to; they're the billions of people in and connecting with the Wired, which thanks to Protocol 7 has implanted itself in the subconscious mind of humanity as a whole. These connections aren't as important to Lain as her personal connections are; or, to expand on that a bit, the connections she wants to have.

Alice is a key example of this, and I think that she's Lain's most important relationship: Lain loves Alice from the bottom of her heart. It's a very deep and very important love for Lain; it's the only thing that could've realistically broken her from Masami's control, and we see it happen. Likewise, Alice loves Lain; if not loves, then at least has incredibly deep, caring, and complex feelings for her. Throughout the entire series, Alice is the only person we see actually care for Lain Iwakura: not Lain of the Wired, or Lain-as-God, or "Lain". Even her own father kind of kind of haphazardly dismisses her, her mother downright hates her, and Mika couldn't care less about her. Taro is interested in Lain, primarily for the Lain of the Wired as well as his role as a servant of the Knights, but I can't say he actually cares about her. Alice's friends more or less hang out with Lain because Alice does. Masami doesn't care about Lain in the same way that Alice does; his "care" is incredibly selfish, incredibly toxic, and incredibly abusive.

(TL;DR: they're lesbians, your honor)

At the same time, though, is the connection that Lain has with the rest of the world not important? In that vein, not potentially more important? We can comprehend Dunbar's Number: we can maintain social relationships with about 150 people. We can't comprehend the millions of people we connect with every day; we watch the same videos, we look at the same images, read the same books, watch/read the same news, laugh at the same jokes, play the same games, and so on. Even since the beginning of widespread international... well, connection after the Agricultural Revolution, humanity has been interconnected in some way or form.

It's not a direct connection. I know jack shit about any random 30 year old living in Jakarta or a 13 year old living in Tehran, aside from the fact that they live in Indonesia and Iran. But it's still a connection: it's a connection across time, across borders, across nations. When I'm reading, say, Marx, I'm reading the same books that people in the 1800s read; that inspired Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Luxemburg, Foster, and others (some of whom weren't even socialists, like Ataturk or Mussolini); that changed western philosophy in the last two centuries. I'm connecting with the millions, if not billions of people who have also read Marx; be they from 1856, 1917, or 2024. When I watch a video with 30 million views, I'm connecting with 30 million people; it's an indirect and impersonal connection, but we're all connected through watching that video.

The internet connects billions of people simply by its very existence. When you log into an internet connection, you are connecting to 5.35 billion other people. SEL understands that. Everybody in SEL is connected to the Wired; not just through hooking into it, but through Protocol 7 connecting all of humanity subconsciously, as well. Lain herself is the amalgam of that; she is not just a product of the Wired, or the God of the Wired, or God at all: she is the output, the child of that connection. In a sense, the connection itself.

That's what "Let's all love Lain!" really means, I think. It's a meme; an idea spreading from person to person in a culture. Or, contrary to what aBe might've expected, multiple cultures. It took over MAL about a year back, and it's become popular in both Japan and the States. "Let's all love Lain!" is the ultimate meme in SEL; it is the connection point, ultimately what connects everybody together in the end; their connection to the Wired, their love for Lain, their link to all other 8 billion people in the world.

"Protocol 7 is expected to allow the seamless transfer of information between the Wired and the real world." The message immediately after that?

[mariana-oconnor]

The Cardboard Box pt 1

An uninspiring title, but apparently it's controversial? All my brain is thinking (I am still le tired) is 'Big fish, little fish, cardboard box' over and over again.

If you don't get that reference, that's probably for the best. the early noughties were weird.

Anyway. I hereby do swear that this time I shall read the text more carefully and all my claims, accusations and harebrained ideas will be based in textual evidence and not mere vibes alone. One cannot thrive on vibes alone!

I'm going to try anyway. I may still dislike characters on principle, though.

He did however take a particular fancy to some of the paragraphs at the beginning of the tale and urged me adapt them for later revisions of my story ‘The Resident Patient’, which I sent to you in January.

OK, so is this going to be an AU version of The Resident Patient? Because I feel like that gives me a head start on the guessing.

I did a side by side of the two and overall it seems pretty much the same, except we're now in August and it's blazing hot. I shudder to think how Watson would have described August in the UK last year. Then we have the discussion about Holmes reading Watson's mind body language. Until we get to the first significant difference:

"Have you observed in the paper a short paragraph referring to the remarkable contents of a packet sent through the post to Miss Cushing, of Cross Street, Croydon?” "No, I saw nothing."

Aha, the titular cardboard box, one wonders?

Watson is really falling behind in his paper reading duties. Holmes is doing all the legwork here. Honestly. You just can't get a good chronicler these days! But he's still making Watson read it aloud.

Holmes does like hearing things read aloud. He'd be all over audiobooks, but he's got Watson for that so it's all good.

I picked up the paper which he had thrown back to me and read the paragraph indicated. It was headed, “A Gruesome Packet.”

Ooooh, I think I might remember a bit of this one. I might remember what's in the box, anyway.

Sorry, that was my contractual obligation.

“Miss Susan Cushing, living at Cross Street, Croydon, has been made the victim of what must be regarded as a peculiarly revolting practical joke unless some more sinister meaning should prove to be attached to the incident."

If it's what I think it is then practical jokes were significantly more aggressive in the Victorian Era. I don't think even TikTok has graduated to this level. We're getting a pretty weird look at the 1800s English sense of humour: beating other children with sticks and... this.

"A cardboard box was inside, which was filled with coarse salt."

Everyone needs some seasoning on their... "two human ears [...] quite freshly severed".

Okay, poor taste, poor taste. I know it's there for preservation. Also weirdly I thought it was going to be fingers. Don't know why I thought that. But yes, this is quite the jape, my friend. I just cut off some human ears and sent them to you.

How is this a practical joke? These are genuine freshly cut ears. Even if they're from a cadaver, that's theft and criminal damage at the very least. Isn't it? And I thought they were particularly strict on stuff like that in the 1800s. We're a little late for the Resurrection Man and Burke and Hare, but they did not like people messing around with corpses.

Okay, research research: 'The Anatomy Act of 1832 made it legal for corpses from workhouses that remained unclaimed after forty-eight hours to be used to satisfy the demands of the anatomists.'

Welp, I guess it was okay to do anything to corpses if they were the corpses of poor people with no friends or family (or at least no friends/family who could afford to claim them).

I mean, on one hand it stopped people from being murdered and science needed bodies to learn how bodies work better (good lord did we need to learn how bodies work better) but on the other hand, this does make me uncomfortable. Workhouse in life, still put to work in death. Also, from a purely scientific viewpoint, your sample is biased. You need some rich people bodies in there, too.

"There is no indication as to the sender, and the matter is the more mysterious as Miss Cushing, who is a maiden lady of fifty, has led a most retired life, and has so few acquaintances or correspondents that it is a rare event for her to receive anything through the post."

So, either she's secretly running an underground crime ring. Or the ears were meant for someone else with the name S. Cushing.

"...she let apartments in her house to three young medical students..."

Oh, yeah, fine. All makes sense now. Medical students are fucking feral. I have met literally one in my life who I would have been comfortable to have as a doctor, and I think he was just really good at hiding it. Guy once got 'kidnapped' by an entire female hockey team and ended up in an entirely different city. Another one I know just kept a dead squirrel in the shared freezer so he could do dissection practice on it.

I'd put the Dead Dove, Do Not Eat gif, but he didn't even label the fucker.

"...their noisy and irregular habits..."

Medical students... yeah.

"In the meantime, the matter is being actively investigated, Mr. Lestrade, one of the very smartest of our detective officers, being in charge of the case.”

Oh hai, Lestrade!

At least the police are putting an actual detective on the case and not just saying 'oh it's a silly prank' and ignoring the transportation of human body parts. Was it illegal to send human remains by the royal mail at that time?

“I think that this case is very much in your line. We have every hope of clearing the matter up, but we find a little difficulty in getting anything to work upon."

'We're totally going to do this, we just don't have... any idea how. But we totally could!'

"The box is a half-pound box of honeydew tobacco and does not help us in any way."

Did somebody say... TOBACCO?

A specialist subject has entered the chat.

If Holmes doesn't use his extensive and very detailed knowledge of tobacco to help solve this case, I will be v. disappoint.

Lestrade, as wiry, as dapper, and as ferret-like as ever...

Watson is contractually obliged to remind you that Lestrade looks like a ferret every time he appears. His publisher insists on it.

I'm informed that an antimacassar is an arm cover for an armchair or sofa. My Nana used to have them. They had tassels and I'd get told off for plaiting the threads in the tassels together. Good times.

“Why in my presence, sir?” “In case he wished to ask any questions.” “What is the use of asking me questions when I tell you I know nothing whatever about it?”

Miss Cushing has very strong Done With This energy and I am here for it. Those are not her ears. She has perfectly good ones thank you very much, and she does not need any more. Why are you still bothering her?

“Quite so, madam,” said Holmes in his soothing way. “I have no doubt that you have been annoyed more than enough already over this business.”

Holmes once again showing that he does have emotional intelligence no matter what people might think.

“The importance lies in the fact that the knot is left intact, and that this knot is of a peculiar character.”

Oh, not the tobacco knowledge, but the knot knowledge. I see 'peculiar' and 'knot' in the same sentence and I immediately think 'sailing'.

Address printed in rather straggling characters: ‘Miss S. Cushing, Cross Street, Croydon.’ Done with a broad-pointed pen, probably a J, and with very inferior ink. The word ‘Croydon’ has been originally spelled with an ‘i’, which has been changed to ‘y’.

Our sender has poor handwriting and poor spelling, then. The 'wrong person' theory is growing stronger. The likelihood that Miss Cushing is a criminal mastermind diminshes. Shame.

He took out the two ears as he spoke, and laying a board across his knee he examined them minutely.

Is he wearing gloves? Please tell me he's wearing gloves.

“Bodies in the dissecting-rooms are injected with preservative fluid. These ears bear no signs of this. They are fresh, too. They have been cut off with a blunt instrument, which would hardly happen if a student had done it."

This feels like something the police should already have noticed. If the questions are 'Where did these ears come from? Has a crime been committed?' you would think someone would have considered whether they were from a preserved corpse or someone fresh. I know that policing has changed a lot since then and forensic medicine wasn't really a thing, but clearly they suspected foul play was a possibility, because Lestrade called for Holmes.

"We know that this woman has led a most quiet and respectable life at Penge and here for the last twenty years. She has hardly been away from her home for a day during that time."

Oh, Lestrade. The things you can do without leaving your home. She might have anyone buried under the floorboards. She might have been sending blackmail letters to her neighbours. She might have been doing any number of things. I still think the wrong person got the parcel, but saying that she's just too respectable for this is very optimistic of you.

I do agree that if she knew what the ears were about, she probably wouldn't have told anyone about them. Unless she's in such a secure position that she doesn't think anyone would ever trace anything back to her. In most situations, it wouldn't be the best move.

"One of these ears is a woman's, small, finely formed, and pierced for an earring."

Did no men wear earrings in Victorian times? Admittedly, probably not 'respectable' men, but the knot's already pointing me at sailor (as is the tarring on the string, tbh) and it used to be a thing that tattoos were mostly a sailor thing over here, and piercing is a similar kind of body art. So a woman or a sailor with small ears.

omg. pirates.

"The other is a man's, sun-burned, discoloured, and also pierced for an earring."

Oh, okay, so the earring wasn't the thing. Doesn't prevent the first ear from belonging to a small pirate, though. Sunburned also makes me think sailors. They have to be outside a lot with no shade. Sunburn on your ears is the worst. They have my sincere sympathy.

Also, y'know, cause they got their ear cut off - with a blunt blade, which... eesh.

"These two people are presumably dead, or we should have heard their story before now."

I mean, they could have been kidnapped and this could be proof of life. These days if you get an unsolicited body part in the real life mail the mind does go to kidnapping. Maybe that originates here - but they have no way of knowing whether the ear was detached ante or post mortem at this point, do they? So it's more proof of having, rather than proof of life. And I don't think I'd recognise my friends or family by their ears, so it's not even really that. If the earrings had been attached then I might recognise them.

Yeah... s'weird. But it doesn't necessarily mean they're dead. Although... Victorian hygiene and understanding of germ theory.

...

Yeah, they've got sepsis. They're dead.

Question spiral! Holmes just asking himself question after question is very relatable. And bringing up all relevant points about how if Miss Cushing knows what's going on, taking the ears to the police but telling them nothing is the weirdest possible response.

I'm assuming that the subject of this email is wrong, because if this is part 1 of 1, there is no conclusion to this story and so without further evidence, I am forced to believe that one large pirate and one small pirate, genders unknown, are currently dead/dying of sepsis and the true recipient of these ears, M. S Cushing (any or all letters interchangeable) has heard nothing of their fate. Although, given it was in the newspaper, they probably have heard about it by now. So maybe they don't need the ears.

No idea why the ears were sent though. Proof of a hit? Proof of life? Just a creepy serial killer who likes to send the ears of their past victim to their next victim? Probably not that one, seems a bit Criminal Minds for a Sherlock Holmes story, but you never know.

[systemadministratorclu]

💗 To give Rourke and Milo cuddles because they both need them!

Today is one of those days where everything sucks. The weather sucks, the public sucks, the news sucks, pretty much everything just fucking SUCKS. You just want it all to go away as you slog through cold rain to get home. Which, for you, is an old (built in the 1800s) two-story house in DC.

You drag yourself inside and go through the routine of putting your stuff away, putting your wet stuff out to dry, and changing out of wet clothes. By now, most people's families would have been smothering them, before they were ready to deal with them. Thankfully, yours isn't like that, you think as you head for the joined living room and kitchen at the back of the house, where you can smell something Cajun cooking.

They aren't related to you by blood, but the four people in this house are your found family. Closer maybe, than some of your blood family. The first one you see is Milo, on the couch, in a gray tank top that is WAY too big for him, as it hangs off his left shoulder, where his star tattoo stands out even against his fair skin (but of course the look is just too preciouson him, like always). He turns around when he hears you enter, his soft chocolate brown eyes sparkling, his face splitting into a smile and despite the steaming Dumpster of shit that has been your day, you can't help but smile back. He's just so cute and sweet and looks so happy to see you.

"She's home!" He calls toward the kitchen, where another male voice answers.

"Perfect timing, I just finished dinner." Milo's husband Lyle Rourke steps into view, wearing comfortable pants, socks, and a similar shirt to Milo except his tank top fits him perfectly (you realize at this point Milo is wearing one of Rourke's shirts, and that's why it's so big on him.....but still so cute), with a tray of five steaming bowls of something that smells like culinary nirvana. He sets it down, gives Milo a little kiss (making Milo blush a little), and goes to yell up the stairs.

"She's home, and the food's done!" He then brings you over to the couch, where Milo (also wearing his own loose, comfortable pants and a pair of socks) moves out of your spot in the middle (he warmed it up for you, damn he's so thoughtful). As you sit down, the other two come in.

"We got plenty of extra blankets." Helga Sinclair says as she enters with said blankets, in her own loungewear, just like the person following her.

"And pillows!" adds Lilia, her daughter.

"Milo said he had a feeling today was a bad day," Helga explains, "and when we smelled Rourke's 'Today Fucking Sucks' soup cooking, we knew to grab blankets and pillows for Emergency Movie Night."

"Looks like I was right." Milo says as the blankets and pillows are spread among the five of you, Lilia on one side of you, Milo on the other, while Rourke grabs drinks for everyone and, after asking which one, Helga starts a movie on the huge TV you're watching. She then turns off the lights and shuts the curtains, turning the room into a mini movie theater. She and Rourke then join the three of you under the blankets, one of which is wrapped around you, and everyone takes a steaming bowl of Rourke's soup. Not surprisingly, it tastes amazing, and it sends a wave of warmth rushing through you as the movie starts.

At some point, you all finish and there are five empty bowls. Rourke pauses the movie so he can go wash off the dishes, and while he does, Milo looks at you again.

"Guess I was right about the bad day." He says softly. You nod slowly and start to tell him, but stop when he just hugs you.

"It's okay," he says, "You don't have to explain."

"Yeah, we're here. We gotcha." Lilia ads, before she too is hugging you from the other side.

"We've always got you. Whatever you need." Helga joins in, her arms around her actual daughter and you who are like a daughter to her.

"That's what we're here for," Rourke finishes as he returns, shifting Milo to sit in his lap as he wraps powerfully muscled arms around you all, "That's what we do. We love ya, Tiny." The others voice their agreement.

And you know it's true. You can feel it in each set of arms around you, each with their own special sort of strength and warmth. You can hear it in each voice, as they seem to already know exactly what you need to hear. You can see it in how they look at you and the things they do for you. You can taste it in the meal you just ate, which you know is a recipe they all came up with together but Rourke makes because he's the best cook. You can smell it in the mix of four familiar scents that combine into something you can only describe as Home. And you can Feel it inside, in your heart, filling up all of you and driving out the awfulness of the day. And at last, even as Rourke resumes the movie, even as a German shepherd and what looks like a giant mutant lizard slip in through the pet door and curl up at your feet, even as you settle in to lose yourself in the movie, you smile. A real big smile, and you utter the words "You guys are the best. I love you too."

And despite the day, being here in this moment with the people you love and who love you, you know that you are not weak, you are not a disappointment, and you are not alone. No matter what, you're gonna be okay.

//Lilia belongs to @thetinyadventurer i hope you don't mind me using her.//

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

One of the things that kinda annoys me about acotar is that its a series about monarchs in a vaguely medieval european/pseudo-victorian setting and theres like, not even a mention of incest. Dont get me wrong, Im not one of those people who needs "historical accuracy" in their fantasy stories to be immersed because what does that even mean when we're talking about fantasy which is completely made up but idk, i guess its because acomaf (and even the UTM section of acotar) seems to be going more for gritty "historical accuracy" with all the women being brutalized and objectified all the time, so its weird that sjm would write that and then not even mention the fact that incest would probably be very normal, especially considering the fact that Prythian is prezty small and your "dating pool" would be pretty limited, even more so when youre royalty only looking to be with other royalty. Then again, considering crescent city (which is very modern) also has a bunch of unpleasant in-universe misogyny, maybe its not actually there for "historical accuracy" and sjm just really likes to write about misogyny for some reason. Also, apeaking of crescent city, if i remember correctly there was a whole thing in cc2 where Bryce is engaged to her cousin by the autumn king for political reasons and because the fae are clearly kinda archaic in the sense that they still have this outdated monarchy system, but then its like, okay how come the fae living in the modern day have arranged marriages to their cousins but the fae actually living in the equivalent of the 1800s dont?

I was thinking about this because I was thinking about Mor and how when she introduced herself as Rhys' cousin he was like "oh, we're only cousins in the most distant sense" and that was really weird to me, because I feel like if you were close you would be fine with just identifying as cousins even if youre technically cousins sixth removed or whatever. Like, maybe Im the one whos being weird about this, but does that not seem like the kind of thing an author would write because two of her characters who are related were romantically involved at some point and shes trying to lessen the incest of it all?

And the more I think about it the more im like, yeah, why did Keir wanna marry his daughter off to an entirely different court in order to gain power when he was already connected to the highlords main family of his own court and couldve gained even more power within that court by marrying Mor off the heir to the throne

[effemar]

do you have any asoiaf or jaimebrienne fics you'd reccomend?

You're trying to make my day I see!!! You bet I do!!!

All the fics I'm recommending here are under either the 'ASOIAF' or 'ASOIAF and related fandoms' fandom tag, because I usually dodge show fic (with a few very special exceptions). I do, in fact, read a lot of jaimebrienne, but I have a few here that I really like that are focused on other things. I usually avoid modern AU, though I read it sometimes if the premise intrigues me.

From This Day Until the End of My Days -- JB fic of all time. Funny story: before I ever read or got into ASOIAF, I used to follow swordmaid (I think this is still their url?) here on tumblr because I liked their art, so I saw a lot of JB posting before I was even familiar with the characters. There's a specific line from this fic that they posted because it was so insanity inducing, and I was so shaken by it that I copy pasted it and kept it in my notes app to look at it when I wanted to drive myself crazy. I didn't even read the fic it was from because I knew nothing about the characters, but even then it had such an effect on me that I kept it on my phone at all times. I'm not going to tell you what the line is, because believe me, you will know it when you see it. Anyway. This should be required reading for everyone who enjoys JB even a little. "What does this fic feel like?" uhhhhh not everything feels like something else hope this helps <3

Deliverance -- Heed warnings on this. Melisandre my forever girl... I love when women are trapped in their bodies. I love when women give and give and give and it's not enough. I love when women are damned, condemned by their own minds, their own hearts. I love when women lie and kill and destroy themselves in the pursuit of something and never, ever get it. I love when women are scared. I love when women are scared and then angry and then scared again. I love when women bleed poison. I love when women no longer feel pain. I love when women kill other women. I love when women are red, and terrible, and red. I love when women are eaten alive by god. Melisandre needs to leave Stannis and get with a real man like me I'D burn as many children as she wanted...

The Rancher and the Mail Order Bride -- Modern AUs are over from now on we're putting ASOIAF characters in 1800's fantasy Australia. Jaime and Brienne should NOT have twitter accounts but you know what they should have? Cowboy hats. Jaime's here because he killed a king and then got caught fucking his sister in short order, and promptly got sent to fantasy Australia as a convict. Brienne's here because she responded to an ad seeking a wife and traveled to fantasy Australia in hopes of gaining a home and a living, but the guy didn't want to marry her and now she's stuck here. It's like Little House on the Prairie if Little House on the Prairie was about the importance of accepting help from others and becoming a participant in your own life. Also includes Classic Jaime One-Liner Moment 'didn't you commit incest with your own sister?' / 'okay well obviously it wouldn't be incest if it was someone ELSE'S sister' which I did think was funny I won't lie to you.

be yourself my ally -- I believe in the power of yuri to change the world and I think Sansa and Dany should be in love and play in the snow and hold hands and giggle together and I'm glad the person who wrote this understands my vision. They are so #feminism. I like this fic for a lot of reasons number one being that it's ASOIAF fic and not GOT fic (hard to find in the Daensa tag) and number two is that it gets the appeal of Daensa on a fundamental level... it's about the broken trust, the longing for home, the reclamation of girlhood.... it UNDERSTANDS.... Anyway. I love Sansa's characterization here and I think it's cute that her internal narration spends time lovingly describing all of Dany's outfits. There's a fun unintentional(?) Rhaenicent reference that I thought was sweet and weirdly fitting in context. It's not very clear on the actual events that transpire that make it so the setting can exist, but I like what they do clarify: Sansa killed Petyr confirmed!!!! WHOOPEE!!!!

witness to the arc towards the sun -- If I remember correctly this is technically 5+1 fic so it has separate little interactions. Some explicit some not? I think? Fav is the one where Jaime and Brienne are hanging out in the Eyrie and Jaime tells her about he and Cersei going down to see the lions under Casterly Rock. Scene for insane people. Should lions long for such things... when I tell you it lives in my head rent free... Both of the moments that affected me the most in this fic are Jaime childhood memories actually -- there's another bit later where he remembers going swimming with Cersei and Tyrion that makes me want to set myself on fire. Second fav interaction is probably the one where Brienne defends Jaime's character and he breaks out in sincerity hives. God i know that guy ugly sobs listening to ASMR affirmation videos... you tell Jaime Lannister he's a good person and he starts stress vomiting. Brienne also gets to have a matching honorable death crisis which I enjoyed. They have both a picnic and also an incident of traumatic wound care so it basically runs the full gamut 10/10 highly recommend.

Like Snufkin and Little My (we'll get around wherever) -- This one might be hit or miss -- its a bit niche but I love it so w/e it's going on here. I think part of why I like it so much is because there's a tendency to make modern AU characters have an almost crushing awareness of sociopolitical minutiae when I know in my heart that Ned Stark thinks gay people should keep it to themselves, Sansa posts awareness infographics on her instagram story without reading them, and Robb thought lesbian was a swear word until 15. This fic understands that. This fic knows that Arya deserves to be a nonbinary anarchist who sends people anon hate on tumblr, and Sansa deserves to follow influencer makeup tutorials and put "LGBTQIA+ ally :)" in her bio despite being a lesbian. And they deserve to be siblings who love each other and also kick each other in the shins. I believe this to the bottom of my soul.

And off they went, from here to there -- I don't have anything for this one I genuinely just love seeing people happy. I think Jaime and Brienne deserve to dance and be obnoxious and also not die.

Okay that's it. I have more that I like but they're embarrassing to recommend so I'll stop there. I also left off some HOTD fic I like, bc I was unsure whether you meant pure ASOIAF or if you'd allow derivatives, but know that there is a vast and beautiful wealth of Rhaenicant content in the world that you should read. Peace and love, may your ao3 scrolling be free of obscure kink fic ✌️