#and yet we say it like society wasn't part of their downfall

[ministarfruit]

day 19: let’s mess this town up, babe! ♡

(prompt list for femslashfeb)

[comicaurora]

I'm sorry that the terfs made their way onto your blog but it does feel good to see you support trans people. Thank you for that

Always.

I think, charitably, that the discourse going down on that post is an extrapolation and over-focus on one element of the point I was making: that for me, determining with certainty that I was cis was a rather fraught process. I was presented with many alternatives, but underlying their imposition on me was the oddly regressive idea that the things I liked, the principles I valued, the parts of myself I was proud of were not permitted of women. My whole life I got smacked with the background radiation that I couldn't like being strong because women aren't allowed to be stronger than men. I couldn't like being loud and boistrous because women aren't allowed to take up space. I couldn't be a math geek because women aren't smart. It was all deeply regressive misogyny from day one, but I started getting hit with it slathered in a fresh coat of paint - all those assumptions still held to be true, but now there was the out that I could do all those things if I just wasn't a woman.

Concluding that the underlying bioessentialist premise was wrong was very important. Absolutely none of those statements were true, and were only ever maintained by cultural saturation, goalpost-readjustment when they were actively disproven, and the occasional bout of lying with statistics to pretend they weren't just Shit All The Way Down. The core premise that certain things were only permitted of or possible for men was bullshit, and I didn't need to surrender the gender I liked best in order to play in the spaces I wanted to. I could simply exist the way I was already existing. I didn't need anything else.

The misinterpretation is the assumption that this being true of me means this is everybody's relationship with gender. I turned out to be cis, so for me, feeling that holding onto my assigned gender wasn't allowed was distressing - just another invocation of the same bioessentialist bullshit I'd been dealing with since the preschool playground. This is because misgendering is fundamentally denying that a person has the right to express themself the way they want. When aimed at me, it says I'm not performing traditional femininity well enough to deserve my pronouns. The same disrespect is the root of misgendering when aimed at trans people. "Perform your gender to my satisfaction or I will confiscate it."

The problem is, bioessentialism is 100% ingrained into the terf playbook, which is why, for instance, all their shitty talking points about trans athletes eventually boil down to "no woman can ever defeat a man in any contest because we are simply naturally weak and stupid and there is nothing we can do about it" and quite frankly nothing disgusts me more than the defeatist acceptance of the very lie that feminism is dedicated to overcoming. Instead of accepting that the paradigm of bioessentialism is a false dichotomy right from the jump, they embrace and weaponize it against the people whose existence proves the dichotomy is a lie. If gender essentialism is fundamentally false, then it is nobody's fucking business what anybody does with their gender. If the lines don't exist, nobody needs to enforce them. And yet there the terfs go, hunting down people whose lives are none of their business and trying to argue that they represent some great and terrible evil, some downfall of society made flesh, something that makes it totally correct and normal for them to spend so much time thinking about strangers' genitalia. They want this to be a noble crusade so badly they won't even examine what flag they're flying.

I love and support the trans people in my life and will always, always stand on the side of your right to exist, but alongside that, terf rhetoric especially disgusts and infuriates me because it is, at its heart, utter cowardice. The world told them they were weak and stupid and inferior and they fucking believed it. And now they think Fighting The Good Fight For Women means turning around and using the same paradigmatic weapon that hurt them to hurt the people whose existence outside the binary proves the weapon is a lie. They're the same shithead schoolyard bullies who made me believe my entire existence was foundationally wrong for years of my life and I will never, ever side with them or the shitty, cowardly rhetoric that contributed to the loneliest years of my life.

Figure out who you are and do it on purpose. Find the real source of the misery in your life and try fighting that instead of the other crabs in the bucket. Trans rights.

[starlitheaven]

DO I WANNA KNOW? — SUGURU GETOU

tags. 1.8k, canon, oral (f.receiving), sex, sorcerer reader, mentions of birth control

notes. @joyfulenthusiastwitch asked : Hi! Congratulations on your follower milestone! I'll go with Geto + do i wanna know by arctic monkeys. Thank you 💕. thank you <3 hope you like! for the 1k follower event.

can i take you out? that nice grade 3 sorcerer had said over the rim of his beer glass during dinner after a successful mission. c'mon, l/n. let me show you a fun night out.

his words play over and over in your ears like a song that's stuck in your head. or wise words that you're ignoring. which they probably were, because that man is the type of person that someone like you should be giving attention to.

kato was the type of man that most women in jujutsu society would be striving for—competent, reliable, and a capable sorcerer. he was right in the middle in terms of ability, not embarrassingly weak yet not overtly strong. he didn't take too many missions but remained useful within his capacity.

the worst part about all of this is was that you knew better. you saw the more suitable choice, and he wanted you, but that wasn't where your desire led you to. they say ignorance is bliss and you’ve never known anything truer. if you could be completely unaware of the stupid decisions you make then maybe it wouldn't be so shameful. but you know. you know what you’re doing.

thank you so much, you had courteously said to the grade 3 sorcerer. i appreciate it, really, i do. but i don't think i'd be a very good partner for you, kato. please, there are other women better for you.

because while you had spent your day on a mission to eliminate a curse user, here you were entangled with the worst of the worst.

suguru getou. one of the four special grade sorcerers. the most dangerous curse user alive currently. a threat to the world as you know it.

there he was, in the outskirts of tokyo, walking into your hotel room as you waited on the bed in your towel fresh out the shower. his cursed energy overwhelmed you with its intensity even when he kept it at bay. anyone else in your position would use this opportunity to eliminate him. to be rid of this threat once and for all. to free gojo satoru from the burden of his precious classmate.

you were from the kyoto school so you never knew the full story of getou’s downfall as a jujutsu sorcerer. he never told you, either. all he's divulged to you was that the cycle as a sorcerer ate away at his soul and he knew that he'd be left with nothing if he continued on that way. that this society would allow him to rot just for their idea of a better good—of upholding their views as they did nothing for the non-sorcerers who continuously caused curses to manifest.

in the deepest and darkest parts of your mind, you agreed with getou. they called him deranged and unhinged as a way to other him and prevent sorcerers from really thinking of what he believes in and why. to write off his ideals as the makings of a lunatic who couldn't handle his duties and lost his mind. instead of facing the truth and seeing a young man that was pushed to this corner of defeat without a supportive hand.

getou was right. while you didn't believe that eliminating non-sorcerers was the answer, you agreed with his principles. not only that, but...

your hands roamed over his wide shoulders, feeling up the hard muscles beneath the soft fabric of his robes. the mere smell of sandalwood on his skin made you dizzy. you began to undo his robes and they fell apart on your palms like silk.

"it's been too long, hasn't it?" getou panted, unraveling your soft towel and kissing along your throat. "I can tell how much you need this. I do too.”

"getou...please..." you mewled. you had no idea what you wanted exactly, just that you wanted him.

he grabbed your jaw firmly, pressing his thick fingers into your delicate skin. "nuh uh. say my name, we aren't strangers."

"suguru," you gasped. "suguru— i want your mouth...”

he peppered hurried kisses along your neck before going down the center of your chest and navel. his kisses were wet and hot, desperate things full of desire. suguru nosed along the sensitive skin of your inner thighs, leaving mean little nips, before going in and running the flat of his tongue over your cunt.

“I’ve been thinking about you every single day,” he mutters, groaning when you squirm beneath him. always so sensitive. “fuck, you like that?.”

he’s already drunk on the divine taste of your pussy. he loops his arms under your thighs and keeps them spread open for him while he eats your pussy. he can imagine men burning cities down just for a taste of you, and the thought makes him suck on your clit with vigor. he laps up that leaking cunt, relishing in the way your back arches pretty for him. your hands rake through his dark hair and begin to push him down harshly against your core. the force of it turns him on so fucking much.

you begin to use him solely for your pleasure and suguru takes pleasure in that. he likes you a little selfish. a diligent sorceress like you deserves to think of herself like this for once. he always thinks you sacrifice too much for those who don’t deserve it. so, he continues at it until you’re pulsing around his tongue. he drinks up all your juices with a rough moan.

a messy kiss later that leaves your lips glossy with the wetness of your own cunt, suguru flips you over on your stomach. the curse user gives your bum a light slap to signal you to raise your hips so he can place a pillow underneath. you playfully shake your ass at him as you spread your thighs apart, chuckling when you hear him jerking his cock at the sight. he spreads one of your cheeks apart and gathers saliva on his tongue before spitting directly into your tight hole.

“what a beauty,” suguru says, shallowly inserting his thumb into your pussy over and over. he laughs lightly when you start to grind back on his finger. “I take it you’re ready then?”

“hurry up!”

“tsk. don’t get bratty with me or I’ll really make you cry.”

it’s not an empty threat and you’ve made the mistake of pushing his buttons. as desperate as he’s been tonight, you know he’ll gather all the patience in him just to edge you and leave you aching to come, only to deny it over and over. he’s licked the tears from your face with a menacing chuckle until you sobbed and apologized for acting out.

an esteemed sorceress like you crying for a despicable curse user. the joke that’s called your life really wrote itself. you relax as you hear him take the condom out of your discarded pants pocket.

you can’t help but think of the first time he realized you required him to wear protection. his nose had wrinkled the first time you handed him a condom from the inner pocket of your jacket. a monkey made this, he had said. I almost don’t even want to touch let, let alone roll it down my dick. you don’t take birth control?

no, I don’t. you shook your head, deciding to explain to him why. half naked and kneeling before each other in bed. that if anyone would understand it’d be him. it’s common for birth control to disrupt our cursed energy and even our techniques. some sorcerers even have intense side effects because of of this disruption.

suguru hummed, rubbing at his chin with curiosity. they don’t make birth control for us? after all these years?

oh, he’s gonna hate this. nope, jujutsu society actually looks down on birth control. I’ve realized that it’s not even about traditional views, I think they just want us to pop out more sorcerers for them.

as expected, suguru’s face has darkened at this. you remember thinking that now you lost your chance of getting laid. you smiled and gave him a lighthearted shove on the shoulder.

so unless you’re developing your own safe condoms, you’re wearing this. take it or leave it, getou.

and he did. he sighed dramatically and grumbled as he did so, but there was a teasing glint in his eyes and a smile breaking through his cloudy expression. now, you turn your head back at suguru as he rolls the large condom down his thick cock without fuss. it’s something he doesn’t think about after all of your trysts.

suguru drapes his larger body over yours, crooning in your ear as he teases the head over the drooling lips of your pussy. the stretch of his thick meat always takes some time getting used to but you wouldn’t have it any either way. in these rooms under various aliases with the enemy.

you whimper as he slowly slides his cock inside you. “open up for me,” suguru whispers, placing comforting kisses over your shoulder and neck. “like that. that’s it, baby. you feel—shit—amazing on my cock.”

“it hurts,” you whine into the bedsheets. “you’re too b—” you cut yourself off, not wanting to feed into this showoffs ego. he’s so annoying.

too late. suguru huffed and began nibbling on your ear as he shallowly thrusted the tip in and out of your needy hole. you could feel his smug smirk over your skin. “too what? aw, c’mon, say it.”

you remained stubbornly silent. instead, you chose to bite into the bedsheets and hoped he didn’t hear you whining at his teasing. but suguru was kinder than most thought. he stretched to place a quick kiss to your exposed cheek.

“alright alright, i’ll stop.” he gave in, continuing to feed you his cock. “i’ll give you what you want.”

with a kiss that’s softer than you expected, suguru continued to stretch you out on his cock until he bottomed out with a broken groan. he bit at your shoulder as you adjusted and once you gave the signal to continue, he went at it like a rabid animal.

the heavy weight of his body consumed you and his hair was tickling your arms while he jackhammered his dick into your greedy hole, but there was no one else you’d have this with. suguru knew your body like the back of his hand and he treated you like a treasure that was just for him and him alone.

in these hotel rooms you two allowed your emotions to reign free and acted as lovers who couldn’t get enough of each other.

unbeknownst to you, the fact that it was a week before christmas eve 2017 would one day be vital. one day you’d look back on suguru kissing you post-coital and revealing to you that he wanted to meet you in hokkaido for christmas was just a front. he said he had things to take care of and to go without him, but he’d meet you there.

maybe he had intended to meet you there, but you would never know. grieving the death of getou suguru would be something you suffered through alone.

[slowlyreadinghouseofmirth]

Page 5

He answered her smile, which rested on him vividly -> The verb 'rested' personifies Lily's smile and gives it a physicality, and implies that it can exert a force as any object would on a surface. Hence it implies that Selden is physically affected by her happiness, and 'vivdly' describes the magnitude of that force as a great one. This is a beautiful description of the effects of being in love, and hints at such subtly for Selden.

Her discretions interested him almost as much as her imprudences: he was so sure that both were part of the same carefully-elaborated plan. -> Selden cares for every part of Lily, and does not frown upon her misdemeanours as others would. This is important in the rest of the novel as Selden is really the only person that wholly accepts Lily and given that it is people's rejection of Lily that causes her downfall, it is tragic to think of what could have been. There is also a theme that Lily doesn't exist, but is made for a purpose, and she continues to manufacture herself in her performances and behaviour, as was her upbringing, to wed. Everything about Lily is-- at least in Selden's eyes-- purposeful, which is a comment on the materialism of the upper classes in how it treats its people as commodities to fulfill marriages.

"... we'll invent something." -> This is just another way of saying we'll think of something, but using the verb 'invent' suggests creation and a partnered effort of doing something together, which is another expression of Selden's love for Lily, in that he genuinely values her and what she can do.

He led her through the throng of... shallow-faced girls... and flat-chested women... Was it possible she belonged to the same race? The dinginess, the crudity of this average section of womenhood made him feel how highly specialised she was -> Okay, so I'm going to have to go into rant mode to break this down. On first reading, it seemed that this is genuinely how Selden thinks about women, that they are the sum of their appearance and that appearance is generally 'dingy' and 'crude'. Listing noun phrases like 'the dinginess, the crudity' certainly seems to emphasise this. And to some extent I still agree with this. However, I think that there is a duality to this description of the women in their setting. Wharton is using Selden to demonstrate the male perspective and thus how hard it is for women to succeed when this is how they are generally viewed by the patriarchy. Secondly, I think there is a distinction to be made between every woman is ugly except for Lily, which is how I initially read it l, and every woman is ugly because of Lily, which is how I'm going to interpret it for my sanity. In saying that Selden sees other women as ugly as a direct consequence of Lily, it implies that he only has eyes for her because he is in love.

her long light step -> This is another example of demonstrating the delicacy of Lily.

the modelling of her little ear, the crisp upward wave of her hair -> This again portrays Lily as delicate, but the listing of her features emphasises Selden's obsession with noticing her every detail and through this obsession her delicacy becomes established as a feminine desirability.

Everything about her was at once vigorous and exquisite, at once strong and fine. -> The complicated, alluring dichotomy of Lily Bart. This applies to her character too: how morally steadfast and headstrong yet vulnerable and dependant she is.

He had a confused sense that she must have cost a great deal to make, that a great many dull and ugly people must... have been sacrificed to produce her -> This is a continuation on the theme that the upper classes are commodities produced to fulfill purposes. Here Wharton comments on the superfluous and glutinous obsession of the upper classes with beauty, especially as a currency to success, and the consequences that has on the people who don't conform. 'Dull and ugly people' are here implied that they have failed in the eyes of society, allowing more beautiful people to succeed. In this sense it also reads as a comment on the suffrage of the lower classes so that the upper classes can maintain these standards.

He was aware that the qualities that distinguished her from the herd of her sex were chiefly external; as though a fine glaze of beauty and fastidiousness had been applied to vulgar clay. -> (see above rant) Again, this I am going to interpret as Selden trying to take an objective standpoint, trying to rationalise his feelings by viewing Lily as society would. And in this objective perspective, Lily is still very beautiful. This interpretation has some merit to it as we see in the line about Lily's discretions, that he cares for her actions as much as her appearance.

New word: fastidiousness (I've heard this before but wasn't sure if the meaning)

[1337geek]

Besides art I make, I'll also on occasion post literary work/tribute/art stuff. Any art related to them is either stuff I did or is found as a reference. This is my perspective of modern hero/tragic hero's in literature; example Othello, Macbeth vs Captain America, Superman.

(Disclaimer: art done by @abigaillarson on @deviantart )

When it comes to meeting the conflict, the evil perceived as a villainous character or force, the one whom the story centers on that stands against it throughout the chain of events will end up either as the classic protagonist or tragic hero. Also in some stories, the saying by the character Harvey Dent from "The Dark Knight" ,"you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain" is what would come to mind as to the beginning and end of the main character. The classic protagonist or "modern hero" has one of several characteristics that allow the audience to relate to the hero, whether strengths or flaws, but the usually the story ends with some form of happy or good ending for this hero. Whereas tragic heroes have traits or circumstances that the audience will feel sorry for and character flaws that mistakes that lead to the tragic hero's demise or downfall. Othello has the traits of what would be a tragic hero. He is a man of noble stature and qualities belonging to a great leader, as to how he was a part of the Moor-Venetian versus the Turks. But Othello's biggest tragic flaw was in the sin of envy, specifically getting jealous over his wife "supposedly" being intimate with another man. He allowed Iago's subliminally implanted seeds of jealousy overcome his judgement, leading to his other tragic flaw of self control; furthermore, Othello becoming enraged and murdering his wife. The end result was Othello himself, due to his travesty, letting despair devour him and he takes his own life.

A unique example of what could be a modern-day tragic hero is the main antagonist Vlad "Dracula" Tepes from the Netflix adaptation of the "Castlevanie" video game series, inspired by Bram Strokers Dracula to a degree. During the medieval period of Europe in the land of Wallachia, there was a vampire, Dracula, with immense knowledge in philosophy, astronomy, and science but a degree of dislike towards humans, to the point that out disdain he would impale them on sticks very much like our real-life's Vladimir the Impaler and lived in solitude in a moving castle called Castlevania. It wasn't until 1455 when a human woman named Lisa unexpectedly visited him in search of knowledge for she wanted to become a doctor, unafraid of him and challenging him to see that the human world is ever changing. This surprised and interested the vampire eventually, Dracula and Lisa married, the vamp living as a man named "Vlad". They even have a son named Adrian "Alucard" Tepes. At some point Vlad, upon Lisa's behest, explores the world to see how humanity has changed and its worth. Unfortunately in 1475, Vlad was informed as he returned to their cottage home in Targoviste that the church, under false pretenses and charges, burned Lisa at the stake as a witch. Vlad then abandons his life as a man and back to Dracula, appears before masses at the fire, where the public claim him myth, and gives them one year and then he will enact his vengeance. Although the series literally has Dracula going on a very bloody, gory, and savagely violent revenge trip upon the human race, if one pays attention it really is something else. This particaluar aspect is almost hidden when in the beginning Alucard begs and fights his father not to kill innocent people when being told there is no more innocence among our race, to later on this villian faces his a famous vampire hunter of the Belmont lineage, a mage, and his son. The aspect being Dracula's tragic flaw of forgiveness and benevolence; specifically seeing the good in the majority of humans and not the bad in the minority. It especially is finally revealed when Dracula realizes the room he is about to kill Alucard in, his own son's room, that he was just about to kill his and Lisa's boy. The one other part of his world that reminds him that a part of Lisa still lives, their child. In the end it this is not a revenge story, it is a grieve story of a man who had the center of his world taken from him and his chaotic process of going through the stages of grieving.

The changes and similarities suggest a sad outlook in the majority of our nations society in regards to modern peoples views of those who make significant contributions or sacrifices that may help in the future, whether the masses know or not, and when these specific individuals encounter misfortune. Prime examples are male and female veterans of the police force, fire department, and the military specifically those who have been injured or experienced some form of loss. Regretfully we have people in our country who view them no different has cripples and bums since they no longer do or are able ensure their safety, when really its that their comfortable way of live isn't in danger. Yet when some of our precious veterans snap and either do something that is hazardous to others and or themselves, there are those who put their name down even more and those who could have helped but didn't. Lisa was possibly going to get Dracula to share his discoveries in technology, medicine, and research which would have revolutionized civilizations in the long run. As she was burned, there were some possibly knew that Lisa was not a witch but refused to do anything. In his rage and pain Dracula refused to differentiate the wrongful actions of some versus the many, which led to the unnecessary loss of untold lives and forcing Alucard, his own son, in having no choice but to lose both his parents. Overall, this shows that some in modern society values others that can protect, serve, show admirable qualities, and or greatly help us as long as they can keep doing so.