#and an accurate representation of my life

[lovelydisc]

There is a really good kids book that includes ACCURATE (to my knowledge) depictions of Romani people with all the main characters being Romani. It's very good and the author actually interviewed a Romani man living in England at the time. It's a series that starts with "The Dream Snatcher". It was very good when I was like 12 years old.

I am also not Romani, so if there are any inaccuracies in traditions, mythologies, or ways of life depicted in the books, I do not know, but the language used does not incorporate "gypsy" as an identifying word for any of the Romani characters, and the language is respectful when depicting the Romani characters. Of course antagonists and general mean people in the book are a different story, but it is also for like 12 year old kids, so it's not going to use slurs or derogatory language.

All this is to say, I thought it was excellent, but I also haven't read it in years, and I am not Romani so I am not the most reliable source of what is accurate Romani representation. But all the main characters are Romani, and I think most of the side characters are too, at least in the first book. And bonus, the main character's animal companion is a Wildcat, which is VERY cool.

TLDR: there is a good tweenaged book that has Romani main characters and depicts them in accurate (too my knowledge) ways and with accurate culture, traditions, and physical descriptions. And it was very well written.

Anyway, daily reminder from a culturally isolated Romani person.

Gypsy does not mean wanderer.

It literally means ‘people from egypt’ or similar, as europeans believed Romani people were from Egypt. It has become known similar to nomad due to how our ancestors have been forced to be nomadic due to racism and ostracization, but it is a SLUR.

Romani people are STILL being forcibly sterilized.

Romani people are STILL being forced into ghettos.

Romani people are still facing violence and danger in countless European countries- and recently, I’ve seen the beginnings of the extremes in the United States.

Have a little fucking respect and DON’T USE A SLUR THAT’S BEEN USED FOR CENTURIES AGAINST US.

And for the love of whatever’s up there, ESPECIALLY do not use it to describe your witchcraft. It is playing on the ���magic gypsy’ trope, and is EXTREMELY insulting.

non romani people, please reblog this.

[sailorrhansol]

Vengeance | Teaser (c.hs)

Pairing: Vernon x f. reader

Summary: You always knew you were different from a young age. The only person who has ever been able to understand you is Vernon. When things take a turn for the Choi Syndicate, your long-term relationship is put to the test.

Word Count: TBD

Genre: Mafiaverse, Cyberpunk, Childhood Friends/Exes to Lovers

Type: Smut, Heavy Angst

Rating: 18+ Minors are strictly prohibited from engaging in and reading this content. It contains explicit content and any minors discovered reading or engaging with this work will be blocked immediately.

Teaser Warnings: Mentions of death, reference to grief/anger after the passing of a love one, mention of murder/retribution, intense feelings of anger and a pinch of angst.

❀ A/N: This fic is a part of my Syndicates Collection. This will the second installment under the Syndicate Universe, but you can always read this fic on its own. I hope everyone enjoys Vernon's story as much as they enjoyed Hoshi's!

Disclaimer: Disclaimer: All members of Seventeen are faces and name claims for stories. Any scenarios or representations of the people and places mentioned in works are not representative of real-life scenarios. Moreover, none of my works accurately reflect, represent or take a stance on the nuances of Korean culture, cities, people etc. Seventeen members are not Seventeen culturally, intellectually, physically, or representationally in my stories, and should be considered name and face stand-ins for made up characters.

COMING FRIDAY, JANUARY 24

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Hansol is warm and smells like the rain he’s watching - soothing, making you forget about everything for just a second. Underneath your cheek, you feel the steady rhythm of his heart, one of your favorite sounds. 

Instead of saying anything, you both just lie there, you on top of him while he holds you, content to run his hands absently up and down your back. It’s nice. Moments like this lately are few and far between, the world spinning so fast that it’s hard to stop and take a second to just hold him. 

As if it can sense your moment of peace, Hansol’s phone starts to ring. You hiss and he groans. You want him to ignore it. He wants to ignore it. But you know that ringtone anywhere, and despite wanting to keep this moment for longer than five minutes, Hansol reaches into his pocket to answer Seungcheol’s phone call.

“Yes, Tower?” 

You bury your face in Hansol’s chest, which vibrates when he speaks. “Got it. Yeah.” He sighs, running a hand down his face. “Alright.”

He hangs up the phone. “Tell him no.” 

“You tell him no. He’s actually afraid of you.”

“Seungcheol isn’t afraid of anyone.”

Well. That isn’t explicitly true. You wouldn’t say that Seungcheol is afraid of you, but he’s certainly wary. Wary in the way someone might be a bomb that is under their roof. Wary in the way someone’s exotic pet has started to corrode under animal instinct. Wary in the way one might be when one of their prime killers recently lost the only person she ever really considered a mother, setting her on a warpath.

Your jaw works. Yoon Minji had been the last connection you’d had to your father. Somehow, losing her has felt worse.

It wasn’t like your father, who had finally withered away from cancer. Minji had been picture-perfect health, if not a little old and weary from running the Syndicate while Choi Moojin withered away to sickness after his wife’s passing. Minji was built of different stuff. Strong in the face of death. A force to be reckoned with as her friends aged out of life without her, leaving her to be the steadfast Wisdom manning the helm.

Then the Kim and Yong Syndicates had struck like snakes in the night, a move only cowards were capable of. The only reason the Choi Syndicate hadn’t fallen to the treachery of the Kim’s entirely was because of the Tower’s daughter. Her forced marriage to Kim Yujin had ultimately been the Choice Syndicate's saving grace, her call coming only two hours prior to the coordinated attack, a warning that an overthrow was in process. 

It had been enough time for most people. 

It hadn’t been enough time for you or Jeonghan to get to Minji. Not enough time to figure out why they knew where she was or how to get her. Now, you were both trying to stay adrift in the aftermath of losing your shared anchor - Jeonghan worse than you but you… worse than you expected. 

“You okay?” Hansol’s voice brings you back to the present. Only Hansol is able to drag you out of those churning waters where your eldritch anger lurks, waiting. Watching. Hungry. “I gotta go soon but if you’re not good-”

“I’m good.” Lie. “I’m just sleepy.”

“Cheol is working us to death.”

Except it isn’t the Tower working you to death. The Tower isn’t putting you to work at all. He is actually staunchly avoiding you, letting the Wisdom of the Choi Syndicate wield you like a weapon of vengeance instead.

Yoon Jeonghan takes aim at his enemies often these days. 

Vengeance. That is what your stepbrother had called it when he started gathering his list of soon-to-be-dead in his office. Vengeance for his mother’s murder, vengeance for trying to take out the Choi Syndicate, vengeance for anyone who had anything to do with any of it. 

It isn’t traditionally the Wisdom’s job to dole out punishment and retribution, but Jeonghan is still actively looking for how the Kim family discovered the Yoon family safehouse, something that could have only come from inside. 

Which means the Kim family have a Watcher inside the Choi Syndicate, someone with access to the inner circle. Someone you trust someone you know, someone who-

Anger begins to twist your insides again. Hansol sees the change in you, his eyebrows creasing as he looks down at where you lay on his chest. Instead of looking at him directly, you press your cheek to his chest and close your eyes, listening to his heartbeat, trying to let it ground you. 

“You know you can talk to me, right?”

No. “Yes.” 

You don’t dare look at him because you think Hansol sees right through you. You’ve never hidden anything from him, and you don’t quite know why you do now. Why you pretend that you’re not eroding inside, why you hide the ancient anger that becomes so raw that you can’t stand it. 

Shame. 

Shame that you cannot get rid of this feeling inside of you. Shame that you’ve never felt like this. Shame that you don’t know how to tell him what you’re feeling how to articulate that you feel wrath so intense that it makes you suffocate, makes you see red, makes you-

“I gotta go,” Hansol says softly. You cling to him a little tighter reflexively. His laugh vibrates through you, followed by a heavy sigh. “We’ll be okay, right?” That makes you look up at him sharply. His face is serious, eyes dark. “We’ve been through shit before. This stuff with the Syndicate war - we’ll be fine?” 

“Of course we will.

It feels like a lie.

Main Masterlist | The Syndicates Collection | Tag List Request Form | Ask | Playlist

[squeeze-lemons-in-my-eyes]

I just dropped my last biscuit in my cup of coffee... why do I feel like this is going to set the tone for today?

[evilphrog]

Oh, so she’s terminally ill, and as a result acts like she’s decades older than everyone instead of just a year or two?

[ahopefulbromantic]

JONATHAN SIMS?

BRILLIANT GENIUS FREAKING JONATHAN SIMS GOD BLESSED INTELLECTUAL STORIES WRITING AWE INSPIRING WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING AWESOME WISE GUY AVATAR OF THE BEST WRITING SKILLS EVER SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED WELCOMED WHEREVER HE APPEARS COOL SPACE PIRATE FREAKING JONATHAN SIMS. STOP PINNING ME WHEN I TALK ABOUT JONATHAN SIMS I LOVE HIM SO MUCH WHY DOES HE HAVE SO MANY AWESOME IDEAS WHY DID HE DECIDE TO MESS AROUND AND CREATE A MASTERPIECE JUST SET IT LOOSE IS HE ALIVE IS HE THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME MAN HAS SUCH A PROFOUND EFFECT ON ME NOT EVEN IN THE ROOM NEVER SEEN THIS MANS FACE AND I KNOW HE HAS THE WORLDS CUTEST SMILE GET AWAY FROM ME.

if i wanted to get into heaven and God said jonathan sims not waiting inside i would fistfight every single demon for the sole purpose of getting him sent back up. if i have to deal with jonathan sims speaking one word in person on voice in podcast not only will i reopen the tab i will save all my bookmarks out of admiration and want to watch the entire series again for the experience of being able to relish in all the times he is mentioned or alive. i dont even know why i love him so much. he writes stories but i am just grateful because i am HAPPI. he better have some awesome backstory to explain this if hes just some underdog whos a fan of good storytelling and wanted the irl version ill be smitten. BETTER have had an idea make him bring a blorbo to life cuz if he didnt Im going to make him.

paypal.com/IFreakingLoveJonathanSims

episode's not even about him. vaguely mentioned what is supposed to maybe be his reading of a statement and I'm sold. where the heck is jonathan sims if hes still alive im going to so deeply wish he lived a thousand more years.

beautiful man. ill kiss jonathan sims and his beautiful strong hunky cheeks will simply blush under my humble loving meat lips and he will be appreciated until all thats left is one final award he kept on him at all times simply titled You Made It Yay! in ancient yiddish. im not breathing im hyperventilating at this point. i hope theres a date given to when jonathan sims has birthday or will have birthday so i can make it a reminder on my phone, and everyday once a year i will see it and do everything to pay respect to the man who created so many brilliant if true stories

[elliotts-personal-property]

Guess who passed their drivers test!!!🥰💗💗

[variousqueerthings]

I feel like I've gotta do a quick Thing on "invitation to romance" because it really is a fascinating episode that does something to my read that I don't think it intended (probably?) that goes something like "what happens when you put an aromantic (and asexual, considering some of the scenes) into a wacky romance screwball comedy crime plot?"

(the answer is: he turns down the invitation to romance. but he may dance!)

see the thing is. ok this episode I assume is kinda trying to do a lil winkwink nudgenudge, fraser could do romance in the future potentially, you never knowwwww, but it's the funniest possible episode they couldve done it with because:

this woman and fraser are absolutely terribly matched. it feels more like fraser is her long-suffering uncle than sparks flying in the air (romantic or sexual), in a way that kind of reminisces of him literally taking care of a 16yr old in that earlier episode? like he is just running after her and giving her life lessons and feeling a bit exasperated, but they're not giving cary grant/katharine hepburn (+ i assume she's a single-episode character, so whatever connection they have is confined to whatever happens within the episode itself)

the episode nigh on constantly goes on about how fraser isn't into those kinds of things: the fact that she keeps mistaking the situation and he gets uncomfortable about it, especially the waterbed scene, the whole "whats the least romantic scenario you could imagine, that's where fraser is" bit with vecchio, literally fraser's whole speech about thinking he was in love (once)

to then pin the little tease at the end on her earlier in the episode going "try pulling on the string on your jacket and see what happens" (the button popped off, just like he said it would, but the next time he pulled it... stayed on! i guess? is it supposed to indicate that one bad love experience doesn't mean they all will be? idk that's reaching, the rest of the episode ain't about that, it's directly linked to her/their connection) bolsters points 1+2, because it's such a non-thing/utterly unromantic/misrepresents the fraser shown in every other episode. she doesn't know (why would she) that he routinely gets in the middle of fights and corruption and injustice, so it's such an odd thing to have her say he's not reckless when ray would probably say he's stupidly reckless to the point of giving him anxiety heartburn!

what it does feel like instead is fraser not being afraid of being misunderstood: he can go dance with this woman, it would be fun (he's clearly not a bad dancer) and it doesn't have to be taken the wrong way. he can relax a bit and be himself without judgement, where, as much as i find the "every woman and man thinks fraser is ridiculously attractive" (i mean he is) funny, it's also a bit that relies on the his being uncomfortable by the attention + immediately creates a wall between him and the other person. if that person is (openly) only interested in sex and/or a romantic relationship, then he can't get close to them Off The Bat. but here, he lets go of those stressors. he just dances for a bit and it's chill (the main funny thing for me about the "fraser is so hot to everyone around him" is the comedy of errors type level of aroace disconnect between how we see things vs how they see things, similar to that episode of "bojack horseman" that shows an asexual's perspective on allosexuality by placing the canonically ace character in a house full of incredibly sexual people)

there's an ongoing joke of fraser not "seeing" the signs that someone is trying to ask him out/is into him, but i also like the read that yes, a lot of the time he really doesn't, but quite often he does and he chooses to gracefully deflect in a way that won't cause her any embarrassment (like the time that woman wanted to go horseback riding with him). he likes riding horses, but she clearly means it as a segue to Something More and that builds a wall

so yeah, the above scene is cute, but im presuming not for the reasons it was probably intended to be (listen, i say this, but for all i know paul gross and haggis and whoever confirmed that he's not into sex and romance idk). it's cute because fraser let his hair down (so to speak) for once and she let him without strings attached. too many fucking strings attached to this man's life. just let him dance

Addendum: this in connection with "heaven and earth" (which I watched first under recommendation and makes sense watching first, because it lightly follows on from the end-scene of "the deal") makes fraser come out of it even more aro-sounding, because of the way ray describes him in that episode: "meaning guys like him don't marry girls like you. that's fairytale. and girls like you get hurt and guys like him don't even know it, and that's life!"

truly do wonder what he means by "guys like him." guys who flit through life like some kind of fairytale Being? guys who come from the wild and dream of returning there some day? guys who are larger than life because they're dedicated to something other than "love"?

(sidenote, why does ray do the below after he's confronted and comforted frannie and most importantly warned her away from fraser? after she's left and he drops the smile for her, why does he do this? why do we have a whole Beat dedicated to this?)

(so many questions)

[butchnavi]

I miss one day at a time:(

[soundlessroom-archive]

Are you sure, Astarion?

[qualcosadelgenere]

Sometimes, when Jonas and Peter talk to each other and they intend for only each other to understand what's being said, they switch from German to an amalgam of Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian.

It's hard (primarily because they're trying to communicate fluently in three different languages with different vocabulary, grammar, etc.), and most of what they hear in their non-native language is low-key gibberish, BUT!! annoying Jan is priceless, so they do it anyway.

(Jan is 99% sure they're talking behind his back. They talk about mundane things, 99% of the time. And 70% of the time, they can't be sure if whatever they understand is what had been actually said by the other.)

Also, little hc time regarding Nimke:

After a lot of mulling, I decided to have him be Ukranian on his mother side and German and Russian on his father side, hence the surname.

Peter was born in Germany, but he grew up speaking both languages with his respective parents and families. His parents met when his mom was in the country due to an exchange year.

[rythmicjea]

NEW FIC DEBUT!

I promise you this story is NOT what you are expecting...

[devil-in-hiding]

[sobbingstars]

Story time! So I went through an era as a kid where I would rotate through the Madagascar movies 2 and 3 as well as The Penguins of Madagascar. Literally all I would watch. All day everyday. And it was chill. Fast forward a bit, I haven’t seen the movies in years. Currently, I am rewatching Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and I am SHAKING. But in a good way??? I’m slapping my knee and giggling. But in a happy excited way??? AGAUXYSH I LOVE THIS MOVIE

[autumnal-prince]

I am a man of...eclectic taste

[vadergf]

HES CHANGED SO MUCH WAAAA😭💗😭💗

[kabutone]

like not to sound like some edgy piece of shit but that is also why horror is like such a breath of fresh air to me lmao like in almost all the horror media i've seen