#beyond (a system for passing)

[zeravmeta]

we give garp a lot of (rightly deserved) shit but unironically like 90% of the criticisms towards him i see not only ignore the wider worldbuilding context of one piece but also don't acknowledge how sengoku is like the worst friend ever

[eternal--returned]

Cy Twombly ֍ Beyond (A System for Passing) (1971)

[15lehna]

Covid is homophobic because me getting it the week we got What doesn't break, WBN, Zerxus and the Mighty nein is absolute hell. Did I still read/listen/watch most of them yes was I dying while doing it also yes

[arolesbianism]

I’ve been having a rough few days, but I’ve been feeling a bit better so I decided to make some lil thingies for some spiraling upwards kitties :3

[alienglowgarden]

Amidst all the ZA\UM news, I am once more reminded how terribly I wish IWATEX was a disco elysium styled cerebral weirdo alien communist game full of zany characters and like, x3 times the writing. THERES SO MUCH SPACE THAT COULD STILL BE FILLED.....

[sforzesco]

I'm so sorry if you get tired of answering asks about Pompey and Crassus BUT your response to the anon asking if Crassus let Pompey get away with things really got me thinking! Specifically about the way that Plutarch (I think?) says that Crassus didn't hold ill-will against Pompey for "stealing" his triumph. And how it feels like Crassus just kind of decided to shrug it off and instead asked Pompey for help for the consulship elections. Crassus seems so ruthless and direct while on the field, and I have so many questions about how he and Pompey worked together in Spoletium which will never be answered 😭 But then when it comes to politics I really can't see the pattern!

oh, I love talking about Crassus (and Pompey too, by extension), literally I can't stop. you can ask several people. I'll be talking about one thing, and all of a sudden: Crassus has entered the conversation. it's terrible, I can't stop. mostly, it takes me a thousand years to articulate my thoughts in any kind of way that makes sense.

I actually think that there are two times that Crassus subtextually calls Pompey a bitch, and the triumph incident is one of them!

specifically in that Crassus's comment about it:

Crassus, for all his self-approval, did not venture to ask for the major triumph, and it was thought ignoble and mean in him to celebrate even the minor triumph on foot, called the ovation, for a servile war.

Crassus is also not the first person to hold this sentiment.

Crassus' Ovation in 71 B.C., B.A. Marshall

I think it's important to remember that for Rome as a whole, the Third Servile War was terrifying because of the scale of the threat it posed to how an imperial wheelhouse running on a slave economy functions, but also because it's really fucking embarrassing for Rome's identity.

Crassus is also not the first person who commands the leading role against Spartacus. Spartacus goes through two other commanders before Rome asks Crassus to enter the scene. Crassus specifically is a private citizen when he is asked to step into this role: up until now, Rome's own praetors and consuls have failed to rise to the occasion.

Crassus' Ovation in 71 B.C., B.A. Marshall

Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic, Allen Mason Ward

this is a deeply humiliating moment for the Roman reputation and identity. Pompey taking credit for Crassus' victory is an expected power grab, but it's also kind of cringe that he did it. Crassus was doing Roman's Duty To The State (or, if you like a spicier take on it, may have pulled strings for it. after all, you can't consider a man rich unless he can fund his own army. and the army Crassus brought with him for this was is own)

and so taking credit for that is like. man. this was NOT a "glorious war" that was fought. (Lucullus cites this as a blemish on Pompey's character during his vulture speech, it's very fun!)

so while Crassus may have realized that writing back to Rome and requesting back up was a mistake because whoever showed up would have the world's easiest time taking credit and accepted that it would happen, I do think that he took alternative measures to even the playing field in a 'okay sure, have your triumph, but don't think you're going to have it all,' kind of way because he also does this

Marcus Crassus and the Late Roman Republic, Allen Mason Ward

Pliny, Natural History 15.125

Gell. NA 5.6.23

Cic. Pis. 58

which does not strike me as the behavior of someone who is letting Pompey just run away with it without any kind of pushback.

and now to throw out literally everything I just said about the Triumph Incident, B.A. Marshall (whose article I've cited several times already in this) has an incredibly compelling case to make that there wasn't really as much conflict between the two over this as ancient narratives might indicate (which. seems to be a recurring theme with them)

Crassus' Ovation in 71 B.C., B.A. Marshall

I will stick to my narrative speculation that some of their respective peers probably thought it was at least embarrassing behavior on Pompey's part, because Lucullus has a lot of vitriol to direct at Pompey, and he does cite this incident as something negative to Pompey's overall character) someone who steals credit and glory from other people). so. hm. I think the assumed personal and periodically biting rivalry (in addition to the usual political rivalry) between the two is extremely fun, but so is. this. thoughts! much to think about.

[pencilium]

A good and relateable way to introduce the heart of the Y2K bug and the Year 2038 problem.

Congratulations to all AO3 users! Important Milestone reached!

Bookmark database overran!

[compulsiveobsessing]

jd vance at CPAC talking about "attacks on masculinity" and how current "culture" supposedly wants to turn "everybody, whether male or female, into adrogynous idiots who think the same, talk the same, and act the same" is the same evangelical rhetoric i grew up with.

ive struggled to remember exactly how it was taught to me that androgyny or being otherwise gender non-conforming was wrong, but it was through fleeting bits of rhetoric like this. there's nothing incredibly violent about that sentence, but there's an underlying disgust there. this is coming from the group who believes being gay is an abomination.

vance went on to say that "we actually think that god made male and female for a purpose," and he doesn't elaborate, but he is alluding to separate responsibilities and abilities according to biblical teachings (woman is subservient to man).

blurring the lines of gender is scary, gross, and wrong to them. youre not supposed to do that (that threatens their power structure). i was enthralled by androgynous people when i was a kid. i thought androgynous/gnc people were so cool and beautiful, and i kept these feelings a secret, because even as a child i knew i wasnt supposed to think that way. yes it's so silly to force a strict expression of gender upon your kid, yes it's silly that i was so afraid to voice admiration for androgyny, but this is part of the underlying reason for their transphobia. to them, it's a gross twisting of your god-ordained gender. you're sinning by not conforming to whatever expectations were set upon you at birth. it's stupid and such a minor thing to get upset over, but it takes years of work to break out of that belief.

[gimmeshelter]

beyond sadness at lynch's death i'm also pretty pissed because he had been trying to get another project done in the years before his passing and netflix and others didn't want to finance it. john waters is the same age as lynch and his latest project was also canned because he couldn't find the money for it. others like scorsese have been luckier but they're also struggling to get their work made. and meanwhile there's more slop coming out every year. it just feels bleak. there won't be another lynch in part because the current system isn't allowing artists like that to exist, now less than ever

[rum-inspector]

I fucking hate multiple choice question exams!!!

They don't test how well you understood and are able to put the info in practice but they test how well you can memorize mostly useless nitpicky details.

And then the way you study becomes studying to do well in the exam (eg you start memorizing nitpicky details names and numbers and gloss over the actual meat of the material when you know the more complicated parts can not be reduced i to simple multiple choice questions) instead of deeply understanding the subject.

[the-everqueen]

this AND Remmick is very much a metaphor for the white record producers who capitalized on Black roots music in the early 20th century.

i highkey recommend everyone read Matthew Morrison's Blacksound: Making Race and Popular Music in the United States, but tl;dr: many early successful music publication houses and later record labels in the U.S. were started by second or third generation Irish-Americans or Jewish Americans. the ethnic demographics are important because their claim to whiteness was incredibly tenuous: working-class, immigrant backgrounds and non-Anglo Saxon, Protestant heritages made them targets of discrimination. assimilation meant aligning oneself specifically with WASP culture, which included an entrepreneurial spirit.

of course, they weren't the originators of Black exploitation: Morrison discusses how some talented enslaved people were forced to become prodigious musicians, either to provide free entertainment for their masters or as a concession for the enslaved population to engage in limited leisure time (also a kind of power-fantasy for slave owners--what Saidiya Hartman calls the "terror and fascination" of slavery). these fiddlers, banjo and brass players, and percussionists would have learned Western classical tunes as well as some of the popular songs adapted from Irish, Scottish, and British cultures. some aspects of those musics might have felt familiar to traditional African folk musics, or else musicians just mixed tracks for fun, but those influences all ended up in the blues as we know it, and the blues hit its peak of popularity in the 1920s-30s *because* of the Great Migration.

very few Black blues artists were materially *successful,* even if they were incredibly influential, because most labels at the time contracted Black musicians while the (white) producers retained the rights to the recorded music, meaning that the Black musicians got a one-time payment and nothing else, even if the record sold thousands of copies. producers attained social and financial capital via the exploited labor of Black people.

when Remmick led his newly turned posse in an Irish song, i thought of the plantation masters who forced the enslaved to perform their music on the threat of violence. when he said that the goal is eternal "fellowship," i thought of the Christians who forcibly converted Natives and displaced Africans, outlawing the hoodoo and other ritual and spiritual practices that nonetheless sustained many nonwhite people through systemic dehumanization and genocide.

it really frustrates me to think about how people are inevitably going to take Remmick’s one (1) singular statement about how much he resents the way the Irish were colonized and forcibly converted to Christianity and use it as fuel for “actually he had a point” and “he was right actually” and “he’s not really the villain here” posts, when the whole point is that Remmick is, through the vampiric hive mind he’s creating, forcibly assimilating people into yet another manipulative and parasitical system. he doesn't value the cultures of the people he assimilates—notice how all the vampires he turns dance to his culture's music using his culture's dances, and how he only uses the languages or knowledge other vampires have to offer when he needs to manipulate someone. Remmick is extremely transparent about the way he sees the people he turns as resources to exploit.

he’s perpetuating a cycle that he claims to hate and resent, and I think the movie is pretty damn clear about the fact that he doesn’t see anybody as valuable or useful to him except as prey and as pawns—otherwise he would just, you know, focus solely on people who actually consent to being turned. but he looked sad in that one scene and he’s an apparently attractive white cis man so people are gonna bend over backwards justifying all the harm he did.

[curryshesus]

jeon jungkook fics that had me going feral

hi guys, here's a part 2 to my favorite jjk fics on tumblr! note that many of these fics contain 18+ content. you are responsible for the content you consume! as always, if you enjoyed any of these fics as much as i did, please take a moment to send some love to the authors! part 1 | other bts members

➺ cold nights & blurred lines - by @awrkive

summary: jungkook and you have been in a sexual relationship with each other for four months now, and it’s casual for the most part. but as time passes, you can’t help but feel that some of the lines suddenly got blurred in the process. is it a cliché to blur the lines with your fuck buddy? it definitely is. will you do something about it? both of your emotional constipation have a hard time saying yes.

➺ night crawlers - by @alphabetboyluvr

summary: jungkook’s always been good at running. track, field, red lights, shit outta luck. drugs, now, too. but he doesn’t expect to run into you. in your shared lecture halls, sure. maybe. but not down the back alleys of daerim at ass o’clock in the morning. there are only three types of women he ever sees in daerim: hookers, sugar-babies and addicts. you aren't any of those; you're a trust-fund baby who can get percocet on private repeat prescription, if you really want it. he's sure of it. so it then further begs the question: why the fuck are you here?

➺ this is how you fall in love - by @jeonqkooks

summary: after years of drinking and clubbing most days of the week and leaving every gig with a different girl on his arm, jungkook feels what it’s like to want someone with his entire being.

➺ the dilf installments - by @mercurygguk

summary: this series follows jungkook’s life as a divorced father. but wait, how exactly does one balance being a father, a boyfriend, a friend, and a respectable boss at the same time? read the installments below to find out!

➺ ultimatum - by @parkmuse

summary: your pervy, idiotic boyfriend just so happens to also be your friendly neighborhood Spider-man (in bed).

➺ a hero's journey - by @hansolmates

summary: jungkook and jisoo are the mightiest power couple. however, one drunken confession and that whole facade fades in an instant. you realize that maybe you need to break from your unvaried life for a bit and be the hero of your own love story

➺ tempest - by @kooktrash

summary: you’ve always considered your life to be more mundane than you would like to admit. it was a constant cycle of the same things over and over again that when you meet jeon jungkook at a bar, of all places, you didn’t expect to see just how much he would change your life and those around you. he’s got an air of mystery around him with his charming good looks and a violent past that you slowly begun to unravel when it feels like everything is going perfect.

➺ by its cover - by @gimmesumsuga

summary: the one where Jungkook makes a horrifically bad first impression.

➺ slow dancing - by @yoonia

summary: when your countdown appeared on your wrist right in the morning of your eighteenth birthday, you had thought that perhaps the universe was on your side, especially since the final seconds were already ticking so soon. You just never expected to have your first meeting with your soulmate to be the day when you had to let him go. But hope was not lost when you still found love without the bond, and Jungkook showed you that it was possible to find happiness beyond the system that was written for you. Except that the universe doesn’t seem to have enough of its game, when your past sacrifice comes back hitting you straight in the face, just when you had believed that you had written off the perfect ending to your bittersweet tale.

➺ e s p r e s s o - by @joonberriess

➺ hold me closer - by @ahundredtimesover

summary: when you're asked to look after your parents' house and meet them before they go on vacation, you, Jimin, and Jungkook take the trip to your hometown of Busan and relive memories of your youth. While your new relationship has you feeling like a lovesick teenager with all the affection that Jungkook shows you, you're still you - a professional trying to make it in the corporate world, and an eldest child trying not to disappoint her parents. And that turns out to be your undoing, as a little blunder causes a rift between you and Jungkook, resulting in a trip that you might as well have messed up… Not if your brother can help it, though.

[monstersholygrail]

It usually takes you, a cute Puppy Hybrid, a long time to finally get to sleep. You just have so much energy all the time. Your Wolf Hybrid bf does what he can to keep up with you. But sometimes it really seems like your energy is endless.

Eventually he just has to give up and gather you into his arms, his embrace a steel trap as he practically pins you down to the bed with his weight. The feel of you against him is enough to soothe you both and soon you melt into his hold. Always such a mess for him even when you act all hyper.

But sadly, it doesn’t last long. Just when your bf is so sure of his success that you’re finally falling asleep and he can get to bed early for once— that’s when they hit.

Zoomies.

You immediately begin to squirm in his hold. Wriggling around, bending unnaturally in order to get out of his embrace. Your tail thumps hard against the bed, hopeless whines leaving you as you get hit with a burst of energy and no way to release it. Wolf Hybrid bf curses under his breath, arms merely tightening around you.

“What do you think you’re doin’, ma? It’s almost one in the morning…” your bf groans, his old bones beyond tired.

All you can do is whine some more, your paws pushing at him, and silently begging he release you to run around and play. His long big huff blows your hair back and even as you shiver against him you continue trying to push back.

“C’mon, I wanna play. Play with me or somethin’, please,” you whine, buzzing so hard you fear you’re about to vibrate out of your own body.

Wolf Hybrid bf sighs heavily into your neck. A low rumble vibrates deep from his chest. Whether it’s from annoyance or fondness you aren’t sure but it doesn’t deter you. The need to mess around has you squirming and rubbing all up on your boyfriend.

“You wanna play, baby? Nah, you can just ride my cock till you keel over. That’ll tire you out,” he purrs, rolling onto his back and dragging your plump frame right on top of him. Looking even more content in this position.

Meanwhile, you’re yanking off his pants before he can even finish talking. Releasing a long whine as you sink down on his length, your core throbbing with pent up tension. Your bf lets you go at it, setting your own pace as you bounce on his dick. Using his chest to help ground you.

Hours and hours pass and you just can’t seem to stop. Your ass slapping loudly against his thighs as you ride him like a bull instead of the wolf he is. Bringing yourself to orgasm after orgasm, working yourself through your release. Unable to stop even as overstimulation begins to set in.

It sends your body to a whole other plane of existence, eyes permanently stuck back in your head, the pleasure that intense. Yet what was supposed to tire you out only seems to be riling you up further.

Your bf is an absolute drooling mess, his claws tearing at the sheets, and his snarls so loud they shake the floors. He lays there as still as he can, hoping you’ll get it all out of your system. But as he literally starts shooting blanks the next time you make him cum he starts to lose hope that’ll be the case.

It’s only once the sky rises up from the horizon and peaks in through your window do you finally sag down on top of your bf in exhaustion. Despite his own exhaustion his arms curl around you, holding you close and breathing in your powerful scent.

“Tired, pup?” He mumbles in your neck, already half-asleep himself.

All you can manage is a weak little yip before your eyes start fluttering closed. The both of you falling into a blissful sleep with your bfs cock still nestled snuggly up inside you.

[ozzgin]

There are some events which happen with exceptional rarity within the passing time of the Universe: winning the lottery twice, large galaxies colliding, black holes revolving in a binary system...

...And his Unholy Majesty catching a cold.

The Demon King grunts under the blankets as you tuck him in. Oh, what a humiliating affair, the disgrace of a lifetime. He is beyond mortified.

"Enough of this," he demands with an unconvincing, clumsy growl. "What, are you expecting me to lay in bed all day? There's dimensions to be invaded, planets to eradicate!"

"Don't worry, Sir, we have found a solution," his beastly butler says with a reassuring grin. "You must - without any sort of doubt! - rest and regain your powers."

The gargantuan creature stares with skepticism at his servant, forehead flushed with feverish fires.

"Besides," the scaly lizard suggests sweetly, "your assistance here is absolutely vital."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, yes. You see, (Y/N) will be overlooking your duties until your health returns. Which then, of course, leaves our estate defenseless! It's essential that you replace (Y/N) in the homely tasks; as a matter of fact, there's a chocolate soufflé that needs to be taken out of the oven soon. We leave everything in your blasphemous hands."

Before his Evilness can respond, you rush outside and head for the office. Can't be that hard, you tell yourself, stuffing the guidebook in your pocket: How to destroy worlds and torture its inhabitants.

[Main Story]

[soapcloth]

Statue!Ghost x reader - pt 2

CW: 18+ MDNI, noncon/dubcon elements, size kink, horror aspects, scopophobia, temporary loss of movement, derealization(?), large insertion, reader gets fingered by a statue pt 1 - not edited - dividers -> @/cafekitsune

It’s been getting worse. 

Ever since you became fearful of a giant marble statue prowling around your place of work, the duration of your shifts would stretch out- mangled and twisted by his presence. No one would pass through the warehouse, causing the towering labyrinth of stock to feel more like an ancient crypt than a museum's storage. 

In light of the phrase 'Out of sight, out of mind.' you had employed the company of a radio that hadn't seen daylight since the nineties to chase away the dread laving across your spine. It helped at first, finally letting you plug away at work, but it was shortlived- only lasting a moment before all sounds started to slowly wither away, leaving only you, your thoughts, and the distant scraping echo.

You couldn't decide which you disliked more; when you’d look away only to find him contorted into a new position, or when you actually saw it happen. Things that big, things with no fibrous muscle or supporting bone to speak of should not be able to move.

The hulking figure was fond of defying nature. 

He had begun to do something much worse than the previous two options, though. The first time you experienced it, there was a quiet rolling noise, distant and unfamiliar. Your base instincts screamed at you not to look, and yet.

He was in a new pose this time, playfully holding his skull-shaped death mask against his face. That itself would not have been too bad if not for the two gaping black pits where his unblinking gaze had resided Two eyes, wet as your own and boasting irritated veins peered at you from the hollow holes through blown, pitch black irises. Following you. 

Slowly, accompanied by the low hum of moving stone, the mask lowered to reveal his usual carved visage. Nothing was stated out loud but you could tell that against your will, something had shifted. 

He approached, agonizingly slowly, but directly and with thundering footfall. He knelt down before you, head swiveling as he got closer inorganically. You could hear laboured breath whistling through the notch in his still lips, examining it at this angle revealed a small hole that hadn't been there before. This alerted you to a fact that gave you pause- below thick stone skin there was a cavity with room to accommodate something you couldn’t possibly begin to fathom rattling around inside him. The thought sat at your eyes, too difficult to be transmitted through their receptors into your brain beyond a surface level acknowledgment. 

Up close, you could see that his motions were not as smooth as you had initially assumed; every inch moved labourous, awkward, and accompanied by the incremental jerk. 

He would get closer until his lips, though much larger, were level with your own. 

The contact came contradictorily, both expected- welcomed, and unheralded, an ice water shock to your system.

Something in your mind that had rationalized him as a thing had told you he was of flesh like you, but the kiss was chilled and unmoving. Stone fingers digging into the cement floor told you he was expecting reciprocity, leaving you with no other options but to accomodate embarassingly and press warm lips to stone. 

His marble head nudged to the side softly, leading you like a lamb to the notch. Your lips slowed as you were hit with the nausea that accompanied peering into a hollow otherside, too dark to see anything in there- and there was something in there.

All at once, you were accosted by visions of a man, a victor- every glimpse lasting only microseconds and each one incredibly overwhelming. 

Dizzy. 

You fell back with a crawling sense of paralysis taking over your body, and with a freezing touch, more gentle and reverent than you could have ever expected- he cradled you, dragging his big body back to his ornate podium to pet and nudge at you, head uncannily tilting with curiousity for each sound he managed to pull from you. 

Pulseless fingers prodded at you as you looked up at him and for a passing moment, he was man, both of the earth and grounded as a large finger slipped under your shirt, soft grit tracing at your belly. For a passing moment, expressionless monochromatic eyes were those of man too, incredibly melancholic and lonely before the emotion vanished, gone all to soon. 

Your monolith breathed as his finger curled downwards, dipping into your undergarments, playing with the hidden flesh, absorbing your warmth for himself. 

His touch heated, and you could hear distant cheers of a battle hard won and a band- no, a single instrument, perhaps a lyre? It sounded far off and intimate, but it was there; it's dulcet tones swimming around your head.

A big, warm hand fussed with your pussy, pumping in and out with an unspoken worship.

Too focused on the feeling, you could only barely make out his deep voice murmuring as he talked you through his touches, the blurred looming silhouette of your giant somehow bigger made mortal than he ever seemed in his effigy. 

With heavy lids you blinked, and then through your bleary gaze you caught sight of those crystal clear bloodshot eyes set over a black void on his undefined face. You gasped, pulling away as he examined you, invasive and unwelcome gaze the only thing you could make out of his vague form. Like you had been scorched by fire, suddenly all you could feel was the hot freeze of a stone finger dug inside your folds, pumping you full. he continued to nudge around inside you experimentally, stretching you out far beyond anything you were accustomed to. he kept the same deep and agonizingly deliberate pace as you writhed beneath his bulk, squinting as humid, laboured Shallow breath fanned your face, painting you in a wet sheen. You clenched around the solid intrusion; crying out as you came on the numbingly cold marble that met your skin.

You panted, sprawled across stone with swelling lungs as you gazed upwards at the silent image of a man. Coming to, you blinked as sunlight bled in through the raised skylights, soaking the back of his head in a white glow. He stared back through unmoving spheres as you gave a shaky, torturous heave, pulling yourself off him. Ache scorched your inner muscles as you staggered through the warehouse and to the stairwell doors. As with all things relating to him, the sting only got worse the more you acknowledged it. Pushing the pain to the back of your mind, you stumbled towards your waypoint, everything around you becoming more tangible as ambient sounds flooded and warmed your ears. You didn’t look back at the carved idol, but that was fine- watchful eyes would find you through troubled dreams.

[communist-ojou-sama]

if the usa suddenly became a thriving communist utopia overnight, would you support it being a country? and if not why does china get a pass despite its terrible historical colonialism?

I don't entertain conterfactual questions like yours because they are pointless. My positions are not arrived at from a system of top-down reasoning but rather from a bottom-up understanding of how the current situation is a product of the past that produced it; moreover my politics are not about whether I "approve" or "disapprove" of a state. My position on China is "they have had many enormous successes in the implementation of socialism and we must respect that and seek to learn from it." China will continue to be China because the party has the power to keep it a unified state, and no opinion of mine (or, indeed, yours) will have any bearing upon that. Stop worrying about things that are beyond your control and start focusing on what's within it.