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genericpuff · 9 months ago

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Lore Olympus just pulled off the biggest whiff in webtoon history.

I promised I would choose one of two headlines and of course, this is the one we wound up with. But should we really be surprised? Rachel herself seemed to be telling on herself down to the minutes leading up to the finale, fully confirming to us that yes, she's been writing this comic at the last minute, by the seat of her pants, for ages now.

(that second one was literally posted TWENTY FUCKING MINUTES BEFORE THE COMIC UPDATED.)

Welp, let's get into it. Possibly the last essay I'll ever write about this dumpster fire of a comic (but probably not, let's be real LOL)

CONTENT WARNING: DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND FASTPASS SPOILERS FOR THE SERIES FINALE AHEAD!

Holy crap, where to even start with this. I knew it was going to be bad. I knew it was going to be rushed. I knew it wasn't ever going to live up to what I had hoped it would be years ago when I was still a diehard fan.

But I didn't think it was going to fall quite this hard. Despite bracing myself for the worst, Rachel has once again let my expectations down through a final display of explosive mediocrity and disappointment.

Yes, the episode is called "You're Welcome", and yes, that instant "ick" you're feeling is the exact same as what we're all feeling. This title plays into the dialogue later, but what a shitty, lowkey mean-spirited title for the series finale.

Now, before we get into the actual episode, the WT ads for this are just... so desperate and misleading.

They are trying SO HARD to hype up something that isn't there, and at the last minute to boot, because Rachel definitely hadn't written any of this ahead of time.

First off, the bit about the gods being in "eternal chaos" of course isn't a stake worth worrying over because Gaia literally does away with Ouranos in the first 5 panels.

Did you really think I was joking about that 5 panels thing?

That's it. That's the death of Ouranos. As mysteriously and quickly as he arrived, he was gone, after Gaia ripped out of him what appeared to be some purple sunny side up - but it's actually, in fact, Apollo.

And that's when we start to get some of the worst dialogue I've ever seen throughout LO. Remember when I said LO's dialogue was like Shenmue 3? Welp, the finale decided to continue that tradition and further fuel the suspicion that this entire thing was written by ChatGPT.

Oh, by the way, that "thank you, ma'am" was Artemis' first and last line of the episode. So once again, just like in Episode 248, we're completely robbed of her reaction to Apollo being a rapist piece of shit and the character development she could have had as a supporting character. The women in this "feminist retelling" really couldn't be more half-baked.

Gaia stumbles upon Persephone, and I'm not even gonna fucking bother showing the panels where Gaia says it's time to "make things right" because they literally don't matter. Why don't they matter? Because Rachel just had to get in one more pointless time skip.

We're shown a sequence of pointless images that I'm not gonna show as I don't want to waste my image limit on them, depicting Hades having a sad day because his small wife isn't with him and oh nooo what could have happened?? Did Persephone finally divorce him ??

Nah, we couldn't possibly have an actually happy ending in this comic. Instead we get a completely pointless phone conversation between Hades and Hecate-

Not only is the grammar particularly bad in this episode, but the actual script-writing is atrocious. We literally did not need this phone conversation to happen because-

-we're cutting BACK TO THE PRESENT THAT WE JUST CUT AWAY FROM FOR A 3 MONTH TIME SKIP. FOR NO REASON BESIDES SHOWING HADES BE SAD OVER SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY ISN'T THAT BIG A DEAL, AS YOU'RE ABOUT TO SEE.

I- I LITERALLY HAVE NO WORDS. I HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS. ALL I CAN HEAR IN MY BRAIN IS THE LEGEND OF ZELDA ITEM GET MUSIC-

youtube

-BECAUSE THIS WHOLE THING SUDDENLY SOUNDS LIKE SOME CONTRIVED FETCH QUEST. WHAT DO YOU MEAN HADES AND PERSEPHONE HAVE PROVEN 'TRUE LOVE' IS REAL? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY HAVEN'T USED 'LOVE' AS A FORCE FOR DESTRUCTION?? ARE WE FORGETTING THAT HADES MUTILATED A GUY IN THE NAME OF 'LOVE'? THAT PERSEPHONE LITERALLY INVADED THE HOME OF HADES' CANONICAL FIRST WIFE BECAUSE SHE FELT MILDLY THREATENED BY HER?

This whole concept of "true love" that Rachel is trying to convey feels so juvenile especially for a series that has sold itself as being mature and thought-provoking and progressive.

HAHAHA SO FUNNYYYYYYY why does Rachel write like this. this is, at best, the writing of a 13 year old on fanfiction.net, which I SHOULD KNOW, because I WAS ONE OF THEM. BUT I'M 28 NOW AND RACHEL HAS ANOTHER 10 YEARS ON ME.

Okay, this is the part where I'm CONVINCED Rachel either just mashed this into the episode in the MINUTES leading up to its release, or she used ChatGPT or something. Because NONE of this dialogue makes any sense. Beyond how stilted and lifeless it is (seriously, this dialogue reads like something from Empress Theresa) Gaia is clearly meant to 'replace' Erebus here which I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO EVEN EXPLAIN IS SO FUCKING DUMB, but ALSO what is even Persephone trying to communicate here? "That is true, but it was a deal I was willing to make and ties me to the Underworld. Please don't change me." What? Gaia hasn't even insinuated that she's going to do anything to Persephone, why is Persephone immediately jumping to this conclusion? What does 'changing' her mean? Is she asking Gaia not to force her to sacrifice something (which she never did)? Or is she asking Gaia not to strip her of her Underworld status? Because again, why is that even something Gaia would do?

Maybe this is harsh but I'm pretty sure even Empress Theresa is more coherent than this, what in the flying fuck is Gaia talking about?

"I can just see the potential for conflict! To relieve you from the burden of the whats, the hows, and wheres." Like... okay, first of all, that second sentence isn't even a complete sentence, it's a dependent clause left hanging, but also what the fuck does this MEAN. Is she EXCITED for the conflict but then contradicting herself by saying she wants to relieve Persephone of that conflict? Or is she saying she can see the conflict it would cause for Persephone to have to perform duties in both realms and trying to insinuate that she's going to relieve her of those complications?

Here's what I think happened - I think that second 'sentence' wasn't supposed to be a sentence, but the start of the sentence to the next panel-

So with that theory in mind, the sentence becomes, "To relieve you from the burden of the whats, the hows, and wheres, you are to spend three months in the Mortal Realm to do spring and the rest of the year in the Underworld. That seems fair to me."

It's still a very poorly written line of dialogue, but at least with that fix in mind it makes sense. But man, you can really fucking tell this episode was submitted at the last minute because that's a serious syntax error that should NOT have happened in this two-time-Eisner-winning comic.

Errors aside, it's clear that Rachel is following through on having Persephone spend only three months in the Mortal Realm, rather than the traditional six. There ARE other translations that have that number closer to four, but those four are the time she spends in the UNDERWORLD, meaning she's always spending either equal or MORE time in the Mortal Realm. Of course, Rachel doesn't want her self-insert small wife power fantasy to actually have to be separated from Hades despite this being a retelling of The Abduction of Persephone, so instead of her spending three months in the Underworld, she's now spending them in the Mortal Realm, literally doubling the MINIMUM amount of time (four months) she was originally meant to reside in the Underworld.

But oh no, apparently those three months are STILL NOT SHORT ENOUGH FOR PERSEPHONE-

Of course, Rachel "Retcon" Smythe had to have her cake and eat it too. I always worried something like this was a possibility, but I never thought she would actually prove me right - not only is Persephone only separated from Hades for three months out of the year, but actually he can visit her any time he wants to, so really, they're not separating at all.

I think Rachel needs to look up "reunion" in the dictionary, because if you can visit each other any time, then that means the 'reunions' are no longer special occasions. This completely removes any semblance of depth or meaning from all of the storytelling leading up to this, all of it with the expectation that this was a retelling of the Abduction of Persephone, because that's what Rachel said it was going to be. At this point it's safe to say that Rachel has zero business attempting to "retell" mythological stories, because she doesn't even seem to grasp the concept of why they were written the way they were to begin with. Either that, or she really just doesn't care, and the only reason for making LO a Greek myth comic at all was to propel her career.

This also brings me back to those promotional ads, the other one that posed the question, "Will sacrifice be enough to bring these two back together?"

This is stating the obvious, but I need to make it perfectly clear - Hades and Persephone have never sacrificed a single thing. The only thing they could POSSIBLY quantify as a "sacrifice" is "not being tied at the hip for a few hours", because even Persephone going on the equivalent of a work trip next door is apparently enough to make Hades sad as we saw in the 3 month time skip panels. Why is Hades so sad and lonely if he can visit her any time? Why is he acting like he hasn't seen her in years when he's actually on his way to reunite with her? Why is Hecate calling to ask him if he's "okay" as if he JUST got separated from her, but actually he's about to literally go to the Mortal Realm to reunite with her?

Hades hasn't 'sacrificed' a damn thing, neither has Persephone. They've both always gotten exactly what they wanted, even at the cost of breaking the story's own established rules. Their 'sacrifice' is equivalent to what billionaires think are 'sacrifices' when they can't buy another yacht or go on that third overseas vacation for the month.

And even outside of this episode, when have these two ever sacrificed anything?

I've tried so hard to think of what sacrifices have been made by the characters within LO, and I genuinely can only think of one - and that was when Artemis chose to go to the Mortal Realm with Persephone instead of staying with her family in Olympus. That was a genuine, selfless sacrifice, made by a character who has been shelved in favor of focusing on the self-centered pink and blue airheads.

Being forced to be apart for a couple days to do the equivalent of a day job and whining about it the whole time is not a 'sacrifice'. Neither of these characters have ever sacrificed anything, they just feel like sacrifices because they have the integrity and empathy of soggy cardboard.

sigh Anyways, we're back in the present and Hades and Persephone immediately decide they're gonna have sex because ofc, and then we get this gem of a panel-

MMMMMM

FUNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY JOKE

For some reason it's just a common thing for people to just be in Hades' home, and they can't seem to get any privacy as a result of this, but I digress. Turns out they still need to have that coronation for Persephone.

There is... so much wrong in these three panels.

First, to state the immediate issues - why the fuck are they mentioning Apollo at Persephone's coronation? Like first of all, no shit Apollo isn't gonna be there, but also, if this is supposed to be an event for and about Persephone becoming Queen of the Underworld, then why in the WORLD is Apollo even being mentioned? This is supposed to be a "feminist retelling" where the victims are empowered and heal from their trauma, but LO once again can't try to show any sort of positive growth for the victims without bringing up the assaulters and giving them screen time. It just goes to show that Rachel's idea of "healing" is purely rooted in the revenge, and not the growth. It's a very high schooler approach to this subject, hellbent on showcasing how all the meanies from the past are losers now and life just sucked for them forever, but inadvertently proving its own point that the victims haven't and can't move on because the narrative is spending so much time on caring what's going on with the abusers. It's the "I don't care! Look at how little I care! I'll prove it to you by putting in the effort of showing you how little I care!" approach, it doesn't really feel like moving on.

It's not about how Persephone and his other victims could have grown and healed, no, Rachel always needs to highlight just how much worse the bullies and haters and abusers are doing to make the victims seem like they've healed by comparison. Don't get me wrong, I can understand wanting to showcase the downfall of a character like Apollo, but this just... isn't the right context for that? Because it's once again taking attention away from the victim to focus on the abuser. It's once again spending screentime on the voices of the oppressors rather than the oppressed.

And speaking of, what the fuck is this punishment even? I knew Rachel wasn't gonna be able to resolve this plotline properly, she never had the capability to, but ... community service? Are you fucking for real? What is this even a punishment for even? Was this EXCLUSIVELY the SA, or does this ALSO include his attempts to overthrow Zeus by poisoning him, nearly killing Daphne, Eris, Eros and Psyche, trapping Eros and Psyche in an enchanted basement, and framing his father's 'death' on his half-sister? Because if so, how in the world is anyone content with community service? He hasn't even been turned into a mortal, HE'S STILL A GOD, so what's to stop him from going "WE'LL MEET AGAIN, SPIDERMAN" and trying something else? How is this a reasonable resolution in ANY context?

This is why I talked at length about what an issue it was to hide what Apollo really admitted to. Because now we really don't know what exactly he confessed to, and thus we can never really see the point of views of the victims outside of just Persephone - and we still don't even get Persephone's, because she just walks away from him and then he gets eaten by Ouranos and next we see of him is him doing community service! Once again, any emotional development that could be given to Persephone and the other victims is stripped away to make room for the point of views of the oppressive men. In this, the two-time-Eisner-winning "feminist comic" that is LO.

And that brings us to the "where are they now" segment. Yes, as we all feared, there's a "where are they now" segment, and it's as rushed and underwhelming as we ought to have expected it to be.

There is just... so much to unpack here, and yes, all of it is delivered in the dumbest way possible that only raises more questions than answers.

So Rhea and Metis are just back and we're not gonna talk about the implications of them being alive again?

Dionysus is a 3 month year old in the body of a teenager / young adult, and his mom is just alive now because Hades conveniently got his hands on more ambrosia and brought her back to life offscreen? But somehow Triptomelus and Hedone are still child-sized relative to their ages?

How did they 'heal Zeus'? And why is he so content with losing his power as King and Apollo being sentenced to community service after making an attempt on his life? How does he feel about the letter that Hera gave him? Did he even read it?

Where the fuck is Hebe in all of this? Is she okay? Do people still think it was her who put Zeus in a coma? Or did Apollo confess to that, too?

You're telling me Hera and Echo are just in a relationship now despite the fact that Hera is literally racist towards nymphs and there is ZERO reason for them to have a relationship in the comic beyond the fans making gratuitous headcanons out of it? How is Rachel, a bisexual woman, so bad at writing actual lesbian relationships and giving them the same amount of attention as the heterocis ones without shoving them into the background as props for insincere queer rep? And what about Hera herself? How did she overcome her role as the Goddess of Marriage to finally divorce Zeus?

"Ares is still a dog!" Haha! Ares is still a Persephone simp! Happy end!

Why is Eros just standing there smiling at the camera struggling to be seen past Hedone who's just floating right in front of him? You're telling me there wasn't a better place to put her out of that entire panel?

"Hades and Thanatos have been making more time for each other. Sometimes they even have a conversation." I'm sorry, is this supposed to be funny? The man abused Thanatos for years, treated him as just a lowly employee when he was literally his adopted son, and now you're trying to play it off as a joke that they're "making more time for each other"? What the fuck is this?

TGOEM disbanded? Why? What about the women who were genuinely a part of it?

Also, Artemis and Selene are just good friends now because reasons? Because they're both affiliated with the moon, I guess? Why is Selene even in this comic-

"They are still looking for Kassandra". Who? And why? This feels like such a last minute addition to acknowledge a character that the comic spent WEEKS foreshadowing only to have her finally appear as a pointless McGuffin, but it's so last minute that it does nothing. I'm assuming it's Eros and Psyche looking for her, but like... why can't they find her? They're gods, tracking down one mortal shouldn't be that difficult LOL ???

And also, where the fuck is Leto?? You're telling me she was an accessory - maybe manipulating Apollo, maybe not - but we don't see what happened to her? Is she just back to being a social outcast then? jesus christ this comic isn't finished-

Kassandra is where the "where are they now" sequence ends, and we're treated to one final horribly written dialogue scene between Hades and Persephone, where they tell each other how much they love each other in a desperate attempt to convince the audience that this is, in fact, a romance.

There's this thing in romances called chemistry, and if you're good at writing it, you shouldn't have to write dialogue like this. You should be able to see how much the characters love each other through their actions, through their small behaviors around each other. It's not always about what they say out loud, it's about what they don't have to say, because when two people really share that close of a bond based on love and trust and chemistry, words often aren't necessary.

Hades and Persephone do not have that chemistry. It has been apparent for years now, but this final exchange really is the nail in the coffin. There are no microexpressions or subtle emotions, no subtlety in their word choice, and nothing unique setting their voices apart. It's all just "wow thank you for being such a wonderful amazing partner, you are amazing and I love you" word salad that has to do all the heavy lifting for the completely non-existent chemistry that's been at its absolute worst throughout this entire season.

And worst of all, despite this story trying so hard to be focused around Persephone, around her story, her trauma and her healing, her voice... it's still all just about Hades. In the end, she's thanking Hades, and forcing him to say "you're welcome". All of it is trying so hard to convince us that Hades has been a positive addition to her life, that she 'owes' so much to him, but we've obviously seen plenty throughout the comic that begs to differ. And even if he were a better person than he is, it still doesn't change the fact that once again, the men are being held up above the women, with the women being grateful to the men who choose them. LO can try its hardest to convince people that it's feminist, but it is, at best, reinforcing the very same structures of the patriarchal system that it claims to despise and rebel against.

We do get one line from Hades acknowledging Persephone's part in the relationship-

-and it falls so fucking flat because it's still about him and what she does for him, and because nothing about their relationship was built on any sort of organic chemistry. There was a lot more chemistry back in S1, but it was still predicated on Hades lusting after a vulnerable 19 year old girl.

Yep, and that's it. That's the end.

Except it isn't because Rachel wanted to try and be smart by including an 'epilogue' that's really just stretching the episode out pointlessly for another few panels. And of course, we had to get another time skip, just a final dose of salt in the wound, this time to years ahead when we inevitably had to reconnect with Persephone and Hades in the future after Melinoe was born.

To recap, Melinoe doesn't remember... because Hades had Morpheus erase her memories.

This plotline has really started to give me the ick because it actually feels very familiar. Bear with me here, because I'm gonna go on a bit of a tangent about my own original work, but it's because I wrote a plotline exactly like this years ago.

There's this... turning point, in Time Gate: Reaper, when the main character Uzuki is kidnapped by a Reaper (see: undead) who wants to experiment on her in the hopes that he can somehow gain her abilities to bond her soul with others (which later allows her to literally possess people after she becomes a Reaper herself). Mitsuhiro, the male deuteragonist who kickstarts the plot by telling Uzuki she's got a limited amount of time left to live (which he knows thanks to his magical death timers that mark themselves on his skin), feels an immense amount of guilt after finding out she was kidnapped by the Reapers (at this point she's been gone for three months), as they were originally after him; he worries that she was made a target simply due to him associating himself with her, and vows to rescue her.

With the help of some other spunky teenagers and anime trope characters, Mitsuhiro does eventually rescue Uzuki - but for the three months she had been gone, she had been tortured, abused, and experimented on, causing her mind to split and for her to lose any sense of awareness of who Mitsuhiro or her other friends were. She was no longer herself after the hell she had been through.

Mitsuhiro's solution to this is to have Springlock - another Reaper with motivations that are not yet clear to the cast - erase her memory. This is not a light decision that comes without consequences - for the remaining duration of the story, Uzuki is plagued by night terrors and panic attacks, unable to really remember what happened to her aside from whatever brief flashbacks her brain recalls in its haze of memory loss. She is traumatized, both physically and mentally. She has lost three months of her life and memories, and doesn't know how to explain why she's covered in scars that are still healing, why she's missing organs, why she's now blind in one eye, and why the sound of scraping metal and ticking clocks gives her panic attacks. Mitsuhiro has convinced her friends that she's suffering from memory loss due to trauma, but only he knows the truth that he forcefully took her memories away from her, without her consent. This was not the right choice to make. It was not noble of him, it was not a grand gesture of love, he made a decision on her behalf without her consent that has now resulted in her becoming a nervous wreck. Sure, she still would have had PTSD if she remembered what happened, but at least she would know why and could then seek adequate help. Without those memories, she has nowhere to begin to heal. And so we see the consequences of this throughout [AFTERBIRTH] and even the upcoming Thread of Fate. It is a long-term problem that is not going to be solved overnight, especially not with Mitsuhiro withholding information from her.

Reading about Melinoe having dreams about her experiences trapped in Tartarus with Kronos ... it felt familiar enough that I had to talk about why the insinuations of this are so fucked up. I know there are people who are gonna handwave it away as "she's just a kid", "these are gods so what does it matter", etc. but ... it just feels like such an oversight to have Hades effectively erase her memory of her trauma and then hint at them still being present in her mind through her dreams. She did not ask for that. And the fact that she's now dreaming about it all does not bode well. But we're supposed to think Hades made the correct choice, regardless.

But none of this is effectively expanded on or explained, because we get one final scene of Melinoe and Demeter visiting Persephone, who has just given birth to... Makaria?

So it turns out Persephone and Hades are just able to have biological children now. Don't know why, but of course they both look exactly like Hades.

What I was really confused by though is the fact that it's Makaria and not Brimos. Do you remember Brimos? The child that was foreshadowed in Hades' original fantasy dream sequence about his future children about Persephone?

Either Rachel completely forgot about him, or she saw all the criticism over the fact that Brimos isn't a confirmed child of Hades and Persephone (rather, an epithet that can apply to basically any Underworld god including Persephone and Hades) and that her "research" was dependent on a book she read when she was 13 and decided to axe that. But she went to the effort of establishing that all the dreams Hades had were , in fact, canon visions of the future, so good job Rachel, you created yet another plothole on top of the hundreds of others.

And that's where the series ends, on a final nuclear-family-photo of Persephone, Hades, Melinoe, and Makaria. Of course, Dionysus and Thanatos aren't present in this shot because this is Lore Olympus and only biological children count /hj

Why Rachel couldn't move the "the end" portion to THIS part, I don't know, but I'm also expecting way too much of the person who finished this 20 minutes before it was due.

So that's it. Six years and that's what we get. I didn't expect much, but I was still incredibly disappointed, as were many others who walked away from this dazed and confused. Maybe it's all the "haters" deserve at this point. But what of the fans? While many of them are celebrating this ending at best and tolerating it at worst, I can't help but think of the fans of this comic who hung on for so long in the hopes it would "pay off", just for it to go out as gloriously as a wet fart.

As for me, I have such mixed feelings about Lore Olympus ending, but none of them pertain to the comic itself. Most of what I'll miss from this comic isn't the comic itself, but the people who have made reading it every week so fun, the artists and writers who have enriched the content with their own interpretations of what could have been, and the experiences of being part of such an amazing community made up of people who are as long-term-obsessed about this piece of media as I am.

I get people who ask me a lot if it's "worth it" to be so engrossed in the LO slander, who assume that I'm going to "regret" ever being a part of it all... but from where I'm standing right now, I couldn't ask for a better view.

Even if I didn't love every minute of it, everything I have here I owe to this comic. This stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing, pile of shit comic.

#lore olympus critical #anti lore olympus #lo critical

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sgiandubh · 3 months ago

Note

He was at Three Sheets yesterday night with Ashley. Check their respective stories

Dear Three Sheets Anon,

Your information is correct. What I meant by 'nothing to do with Ashley Hearn' in my post is a bit different, though. Ashley has been in London for a while already, obviously for sales & marketing purposes. She clearly posted about it and even suggested she will be in Scotland soon. But she is not the reason he is in London these days. She already successfully toured several bar outlets by herself, using her own business contacts, in New York and elsewhere: meeting her boss while in London is absolutely normal and nothing to write home about. But not the main reason he is in London right now, I think.

So it would seem they met at the Three Sheets Bar, yesterday.

S's IG story:

[Later edit]: Ashley's IG story - too bad I interrupted myself to get a delivery and then lost this thread:

S tagged both the bar and SS's IG accounts. This is a routine business meeting, especially considering the Three Sheets also deals in business consulting:

They have two outlets in London, one in Dalston and the other in Soho. Both have excellent reviews and well, the expected price range for cocktails in London (10-20 £ ):

Your ask also gives me the opportunity to come forward with several things I have been keeping in my drawers for a while, so thank you for that. Kind of.

Remember (LOOOL and then some more for that, always) my through the grapevine info that C joined S and the team at Milady's bar in New York, on October 17 2024, after the Versace Armani event she attended with Maria McManus? I also remember the Without Pix Anon:

Well, I don't have 'pix' , but I do have the next best thing (gracias a ti, siempre ❤️):

Ashley liked what C posted on October 25, 2024. One full week after the Milady's get together - why would she, if C wasn't there at all, like all the Righteous Pundits lie to you?

She also briefly followed her on IG, but not anymore (why? I will let you draw your own conclusions), along with several OL cast members (followed all of them at the same moment, after the event): Rankin, John Bell and Skeleton. Bell and Skeleton were at that get together, too (unsure about Rankin? it's Saturday, after all and I am not the Metropolitan Police, either - please correct me if I am wrong). She still follows them on IG. Clearly they met there?

The second thing I wanted to bring along is Maximum Wobbler Bullshit's recent nonsense:

This impostor and mythomaniac I have repeatedly debunked in the past still has very scant English, negligent writing skills at best and no damn idea about what marketing means. She was completely triggered by this particular post, on November 5, 2024 (while almost everyone was looking elsewhere, for obvious reasons):

Featured in the pic is Mia Kumari, a good friend of Ashley Hearn. Maximum Wobbler Bullshit conveniently forgets to explain who Mia Kumari is:

Based in London, UK and currently mixing at the Satan's Whiskers bar in Bethnal Green (after a short spell at The Savoy, hello?), she is a well-known, up-and-coming bartender with a consistent record of awards:

The press is raving about her:

[Full article, here: https://foodism.co.uk/features/long-reads/women-london-bar-scene/]

She is also a feminist bartender, with an internationally praised agenda:

[Mia was last week in Greece, as guest speaker at the very prestigious Athens' Bar Week. Too bad I left: I would have certainly bought a ticket and gladly listened to what she had to say - https://www.athensbarshow.gr/guest-speakers/mia-kumari]

Surely a trailblazer 'in London’s dynamic and globally revered bar industry', who also is 'an advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion' does not need Sassenach Spirits to promote herself. She is doing a smashing job at it, like the pro she clearly is: on trend, progressive, sought after and more than noticed. I fail to see where the fuck the alleged cronyism is, because that would simply mean Mia Kumari is a social zero, a nobody in the UK's spirits industry, taking advantage of her friendship with Ashley Hearn in order to get more attention for her sole benefit. That is a lie and that is simply wrong: if anything, it is Sassenach Spirits that needed to prominently feature someone like Mia Kumari, in order to align itself to the values she is so actively promoting (all values C is sensitive to, hmmm). We are miles away, here, from the Cutty Sark wannabe (in)famous Labour Day boat party in Marina del Rey, featuring the BBC/Blue Bikini Chick, back in September 2023 (https://www.tumblr.com/sgiandubh/727347023165145088/its-all-fake-anyway), when all the fandom trolls were on fire. So, Sassenach Spirits needed to do exactly something along these lines, in order to promote and boost the seasonal Xmas sales of their tartan scarves, SS's most expensive merch, targeting a younger, more sophisticated urban crowd.

Clever brands constantly redefine themselves, looking for the right trends and the right crowds to promote their products to. This is a clear sign that finally adults are in the room, now, at SS's Marketing and Sales respective departments. So damn glad to see this welcome shift!

#anon #fandom #shitshow #business #booze wars

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mxtantrights · 16 days ago

Text

mob!bucky has a bone to pick

a/n: something short and sweet (yes it's stemming from that album) for the bucky girlies of which I am one. Deep in the trenches of 2am-3am I scroll on this site and try to gather fics like I'm a hunter gatherer. anyways this is just an idea, if you wanna see more send in something to the inbox!

this story is gonna feature things like: the mob, antiquated ideas of marriage, mentions of 'ownership', anti-feminist treatment of women. if that isn't your fancy you don't have to force it!

bucky barnes x fem!reader (exes to lovers)

He wasn't supposed to see you. You had tried your best to make sure of that. You were in baggy clothes, you hair was tied back and a hood covered the top of your head. The crowds of people did help to blend you in. Somewhat.

So here you are, trying to see what this asshole is up to. Not Bucky, no he's not the one you'd refer to like that. Idiot maybe. Stalker, if you were feeling mean. But not asshole.

No, that right is reserved for Brock. The piece of shit that had offered to marry you first when you father put out the offer. Offer. You can't believe this is your life.

You know who you father is. You've known since you were a little girl. The guards. The meetings. The constant sweeps for surveillance.

But you had told him that you wanted no parts in it. As soon as you were eighteen you took all the money you made during summer jobs and moved out. You went to a local college, got your degree, and got your first job all on your own.

Life had other plans apparently.

Apparently your dad's business was in need of a merger. Something about acquiring more men, more property, etc. And that's where Brock came in. He was willing to give up some of his earnings in order to trade up in his positions. No he wouldn't be a boss or even an underboss. A move like that is more complicated than a business deal.

He would be a husband. A husband in waiting. He wasn't willing to go about things the right way, so he has to be a rat about it. Marry you and hope that something happens to your dad. Or make it happen himself.

You happen to be one of two first born daughters in this business. And you weren't even in this business. Brock must have struck out with Monica.

There he is. Brock. He's sitting across from one of his associates in a luncheonette. That smug asshole has some sort of marriage contract with your name on it and is acting none the wiser.

You get up from the public bench and head into the luncheonette. You take a booth on the other side. The way you sit, Brock has his back to you but you see him clearly.

The waiter gives you a water and a few minutes with the menu. It's not like it mattered, really. You'll just order whatever tea they have and a side of whatever pie they have. You weren't here for the food.

Time seems to move slow. Brock and whoever he's talking to seem chummy. Joking about this and that. Probably not even talking business at all.

A plate is placed down in front of you. Then a mug. You start to thank the waiter when you realize you hadn't ordered yet. You look down at the pie. Apple. And you look over at the mug, the string hung over the side with the flavor label.

You take the label into your hands and turn it over.

Peppermint. Your favorites.

He slides into the booth all stealth and cool like. It ticks you off just a little bit. You take him in. His hair is less neat looking that usual. A black zip up jacket is what he's wearing which isn't part of his day-to-day.

"What's the plan, huh?" he asks.

You roll your eyes, "I don't know what you're-"

"Why are you following Rumlow?" he cuts you off.

"Why are you following me?" you assert right back.

He tilts his head to the side. As if to tease you or test you. You're not sure. But something on his face is smug. Like he thinks you should know why he's been following you.

You give up first.

"I'm gonna slip into the kitchen and put arsenic in his food." you answer.

Bucky cracks a smile at that. A sight, you're told, is very rare. You're not sure you believe that when you can count on both hands how many times he's smiled in your presence.

"How will you know it's his food?" he asks.

"I'll pay off the staff. You ask a lot of questions., you know that?"

"I'll like to know the details when I'm an accomplice to a crime."

Your eyebrow raises, "You're helping?"

"Brock's had it coming. I figure this is like karma or something." he answers.

Then he pushes the plate of pie close to you. You grab the rolled up napkin and slide out the fork. With the fork in your hand you stab a piece and bring it to your mouth.

"Anything in particular he did?" he asks.

You chew and shake your head.

"He made a deal to take my hand in marriage without my knowledge."

At your answer, Bucky goes rigid. Like he's seen a ghost. You put your fork down. And you take him in now. Fully. Past the all black attire of the night. There's dark circles under his eyes. His lip healing from a cut.

"Bucky?"

"Let me do it." he speaks.

You sit back in the booth. You couldn't let him do this for you. If you did you would be starting something in this business. You'd owe him too. Not that you think Bucky would ever use this against you.

You can't let him help you. If he helps you, you're in this for good. No way out.

But you have a feeling that Bucky's not really asking. You know him. That's what you get for secretly dating him when the both of you were teenagers. He'd go to war for you.

You can't let him do that. Not for you.

#marvel x reader #marvel blurb #mob!bucky #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes blurb

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pillarsalt · 11 months ago

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hi! i was wondering your opinions on how hrt affects the body? i hold a lot of radfem beliefs but i am trans (taking testosterone). would being a woman to you have to be completely about chromosomes? for example, trans men years on T do not have the same genetic makeup as cis women. same with trans women on E, their genetic makeup would be very different to cis men, and would more correlate to cis women. does this factor in who you consider female/male or having experience as women?

Hi there, thanks for reaching out.

Firstly, I think you may be a bit confused. Taking exogenous hormones does not affect your genetic makeup. Your dna will stay the same unless you're exposed to something extreme like radiation - this is a good thing because dna mutation is bad for you and causes cancer! Your genetic sex is immutable, a person with XY chromosomes cannot have their dna altered to have XX chromosomes instead.

Hormones will affect the expression of your genes, for example turning on facial hair production in women who are taking testosterone. This is why those patterns of facial hair, even in women, differ from person to person. The genes for it were already there, but hormone replacement therapy uses the endocrine system to change what signals get sent to your genes to tell them what features to express.

Beyond chemically induced genetic expression, there are particular physical features in males that do not occur in males, and vice versa. This is a feature of the /ancient/ evolution of sexual reproduction. Despite the variety of metaphysical beliefs about identity and personhood, the truth is that humans evolved to reproduce between two sexes, and human beings cannot change sex. Every cell of your body has your sex encoded within it. This affects us physically in many ways. I and most feminists believe that this fact should be irrelevant to any person's ability to pursue their passion, be themselves, and love who they love. Even so, recognition of biological sex is something important. This is really critical in a medical context. For example: men who receive a blood transfusion from a pregnant or recently pregnant woman have an increased risk of death by transfusion-related lung injury. Another example: tracheostomy tubes differ in size depending on sex due to dimorphism in average tracheal diameter. A women who is reported as a male risks considerable injury by having a male sized tracheostomy tube forced into her windpipe. A considerable amount of medications differ in dose effectiveness and side effects based on biological sex. Something as straightforward as a heart attack has different symptoms depending on if the patient is female or male. Denial of biological sex is dangerous, and as it stands, medical science has not advanced enough to change the biological sex of an individual. If you are born male, you will stay male for your entire life. You say that a transwoman who has taken estrogen is more genetically similar to a woman, I'm sorry but that simply isn't true. A male person will always be more genetically similar to other males than to a female person.

Determination of sex is very simple, it's about the easiest genetic test to do. They have kits for high school classrooms to try out ffs. We need to leave the "meaningful sex change is possible through medical intervention" thing in the past, all we accomplish with that is giving people false hope and an unattainable goal to fixate on. Sex is real and immutable, I wish it didn't matter, but it does.

And why it matters is, maleness and femaleness have become inseparable from certain stereotypes and assigned qualities by societies in human history. Overwhelmingly, the male people subjugate the female people. Since men, male humans, discovered womens' ability to give birth could be taken advantage of, it was capitalized upon. And this is the foundation of patriarchal society. Religions were founded to justify this as the will of god. To deny that women have historically been persecuted due to their sex is, well, misogynistic. There is no "woman feeling" that makes us targets for child marriages, FGM, trafficking/prostitution, and other horrors from the minute we're born and even before. No, it's the sex we were born with that makes the world think it can decide our fate. In fact, the way that people treat male children differently from female children is so different so early, that we are genuinely unable to study human behaviour unaffected by gendered expectations. This is what feminists are talking about when they discuss "socialization". There is not a single man on the planet who knows exactly what it's like to see the world from a woman's eyes, no matter how feminine that man is. Womanhood isn't something you can achieve or acquire through effort: you were either born a woman or you weren't, just like you were either born with detached earlobes or not. It's so simple.

All that to get to my final point: Yes, I believe the definition of womanhood comes down to biology, because anything beyond that is a meaningless stereotype. Women can do anything, be anyone, look any way they want, go through any experience they do. The one thing they have in common is that they are female adult human beings. There is not way to fail at being a woman or do it wrong, you just are. Womanhood is the experience of having been a female person in this world, and nothing else. There are certain things only female human beings need, like abortion and female contraceptive rights, access to spaces where we can be safe from our subjugators (male human beings), and the ability to define ourselves and fight for our collective rights.

(At this point you may object and point out that male people who identify as trans women are also subject to violence and scorn from men: unfortunately that is often the case, but this does not make male people who identify as women, well, female. We need solutions for them that do not involve requiring women to sacrifice our comfort and safety for the sake of a particular subset of men, because of the inherent risks involved and the fact that women do not owe men anything even when those men have it bad.)

One last thing: my opinion is that prescribing exogenous cross-sex hormones is unethical (so are all elective cosmetic medical procedures but that's a post for a different day). I understand the distress that gender dysphoria inflicts on people, however the ill effects of hrt are too numerous to condone. The huge increase in risk of stroke with estrogen, heart disease and uterine atrophy with testosterone, and the way that trans medicine studies are notorious for losing followup with patients after a year or less... it's short sighted and frankly, financially motivated. The amount of trans patients who are prescribed hormones without access to an endocrinologist, it's honestly infuriating. People deserve the best care possible, not lab rat bullshit where they cut you loose when it's not working out. I won't judge anyone for what they do to themselves to cope with distress, but I want everyone, especially girls, to be aware of the lifetime effects medical decisions may have, and that you also can find happiness within yourself without hurting your body.

Thanks again for your question, be well ✌️

#ask

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takemeinyrarmy · 4 months ago

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BoyBoy book club⭑.ᐟ

These books have either been mentioned or recommended by the boys, list made to the best of my memory, some notes added for context + little abstract. [(A.) = Aleksa's rec; (L.) = Lucas' rec; (Al.) = Alex's rec] Reply or reblog to add more to update the list thanks!

⊹ Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation - Silvia Federici (A.) [Aleksa's commentary: Also 'Caliban and the Witch' by Silvia Federicci is brilliant. It's a great marxist-feminist retelling of the European witch-hunts, it's really really cool. It completely flipped my view of the birth of capitalism... She posits that capitalism is a reaction to a potential peasant revolution in Europe that never succeeded, and situates the witch-hunt as a tool of the capitalist class to break peasant social-ties and discipline women into their new role as reproducers of workers.] || Is a history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Moving from the peasant revolts of the late Middle Ages to the witch-hunts and the rise of mechanical philosophy, Federici investigates the capitalist rationalization of social reproduction. She shows how the battle against the rebel body and the conflict between body and mind are essential conditions for the development of labor power and self-ownership, two central principles of modern social organization.

⊹ The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - Shoshana Zuboff (A.) || This book looks at the development of digital companies like Google and Amazon, and suggests that their business models represent a new form of capitalist accumulation that she calls "surveillance capitalism". While industrial capitalism exploited and controlled nature with devastating consequences, surveillance capitalism exploits and controls human nature with a totalitarian order as the endpoint of the development.

⊹ Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia - Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (L.) || In this book , Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari set forth the following theory: Western society's innate herd instinct has allowed the government, the media, and even the principles of economics to take advantage of each person's unwillingness to be cut off from the group. What's more, those who suffer from mental disorders may not be insane, but could be individuals in the purest sense, because they are by nature isolated from society.

⊹ Open Veins of Latin America - Eduardo Galeano (A.) (Intro to LATAM history, infuriating but good.) (Personal recommendation if you know nothing about LATAM.) || An analysis of the impact that European settlement, imperialism, and slavery have had in Latin America. In the book, Galeano analyzes the history of the Americas as a whole, from the time period of the European settlement of the New World to contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of European and later United States economic exploitation and political dominance over the region. Throughout the book, Galeano analyses notions of colonialism, imperialism, and the dependency theory.

⊹ The Origin of Capitalism - Ellen Wood (A.) || Book on history and political economy, specifically the history of capitalism, written from the perspective of political Marxism.

⊹ If We Burn - Vincent Bevins (L.) || The book concerns the wave of mass protests during the 2010s and examines the question of how the organization and tactics of such protests resulted in a "missing revolution," given that most of these movements appear to have failed in their goals, and even led to a "record of failures, setbacks, and cataclysms".

⊹ The Jakarta Method - Vincent Bevins (A.) [Aleksa’s recommendation for leftists friends] || It concerns U.S. government support for and complicity in anti-communist mass killings around the world and their aggregate consequences from the Cold War until the present era. The title is a reference to Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, during which an estimated one million people were killed in an effort to destroy the political left and movements for government reform in the country.

⊹ The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company - William Dalrymple (L.) [Not read by the boys yet, but wanted to read.] || History book that recounts the rise of the East India Company in the second half of the 18th century, against the backdrop of a crumbling Mughal Empire and the rise of regional powers.

⊹ The Triumph of Evil: The Reality of the USA's Cold War Victory - Austin Murphy (A.) || Contrary to the USA false propaganda, this book documents the fact that the USA triumph in the Cold War has increased economic suffering and wars, which are shown to be endemic to the New World Order under USA capitalist domination.

⊹ Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism - Yanis Varoufakis (L.) || Big tech has replaced capitalism’s twin pillars—markets and profit—with its platforms and rents. With every click and scroll, we labor like serfs to increase its power. Welcome to technofeudalism . . .

⊹ The History of the Russian Revolution - Leon Trotsky (A.) [Aleksa's commentary: This might be misconstrued since I'm not a massive fan of Trotsky... but... his book "History of the russian revolution" is amazing. It's so unique to have such a detailed history book compiled by someone who was an active participant in the events, and he's surprisingly hilarious. Makes some great jokes in there and really captures the revolutionary spirit of the time.] || The History of the Russian Revolution offers an unparalleled account of one of the most pivotal and hotly debated events in world history. This book presents, from the perspective of one of its central actors, the profound liberating character of the early Russian Revolution.

⊹ Rise of The Red Engineers - Joel Andreas (A.) [Aleksa's commentary: It's a sick history book, focusing on a single university in China following it's history from imperial china, through the revolution and to the modern day. It documents sincere efforts to revolutionize the education system, but does it from a very detailed, on-the-ground view of how these cataclysmic changes effect individual students and teachers at this institution.] || In a fascinating account, author Joel Andreas chronicles how two mutually hostile groups—the poorly educated peasant revolutionaries who seized power in 1949 and China's old educated elite—coalesced to form a new dominant class.

⊹ Adults in the Room: My Battle with the European and American Deep Establishment - Yanis Varoufakis (A.) [Aleksa's commentary: The book I mentioned earlier - "adults in the room" - is amazing. There's a great description of Greece's role in the European economy [as an archetype for other, small European countries] and the Union's successful attempts to discipline smaller countries to keep their monetary policy in line with the interest of central European bankers. I'd definitely reccommend it!] || What happens when you take on the establishment? In Adults in the Room, the renowned economist and former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis gives the full, blistering account of his momentous clash with the mightiest economic and political forces on earth.

Edit: Links added when possible! If they stop working let me know or if you have a link for the ones missing.

#IDK if anyone else is interested in this but in case anyone finds it useful <3 #boy boy #aleksa vulović #alex apollonov #ididathing #ngl most of this r aleksa/lucas recs.... idk if any of them are alex sorry i forgot?

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melodymunson · 2 months ago

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Stranger Things- The To-Do list

Chapters 1 & 2

You are graduating from high school and planning to make your summer before college the best of your life. Along the way, you have sexual encounters with fellow friends and graduates. Lifeguard Billy is your biggest crush and Barb, Nancy are your best friends. You are adopted with one sister Heather who works as a lifeguard with Billy at the Hawkins community pool. Featuring appearances from Robin, Chrissy, Argyle, and Jeff, with mentions of Jonathan and Gareth from and in the ST series. Steve and Eddie are the main characters. Original character OC is Edwina who's Eddie's fraternal twin sister. The face claim for Edwina is Angelina Jolie in the movie Gia. No Upside Down this is a Stranger Things AU alternate universe.

(Based on Aubrey Plaza's movie The To-Do List.)

Chapters 1&2 6.3K words.

ao3 link

wattpad link

to do list masterlist

Chapter 1 plot info- You graduate from Hawkins High School in the summer of 86 with Robin, Nancy, Barb, Jonathan, Eddie, Chrissy. At a graduation party, you accept an offer from Argyle you can't possibly resist.

Chapter 1

I want you to move me.

The day you had been waiting four years for was finally here. Finally, you were walking the graduation stage as valedictorian at Hawkins High School. Class of ‘86 baby. You had just recently turned 18. Now you were delivering your speech and all 4 years of college you were an outcast, a straight-A student, and a girl who loved to read and research. While your friends and practically everyone else around you went out to parties and drank/got high you spent most of your nights at home.

You had never done more than kiss hell you had never even made out with anyone. Your first kiss with a guy was Jonathan who was now your best friend Nancy’s boyfriend. Your first kiss with a girl was with Nancy but you were better off as friends. The only other thing you had done was cuddle and hold hands with Gareth the drummer of Corroded Coffin.

Standing in front of your fellow graduates including Barb, Nancy, Jonathan, Robin, Vickie, and even Eddie the freak Munson. He was a total rockstar but so was his fraternal twin Edwina who had graduated a year prior. They were your good friends but you had fantasized about being more than that with them. Following your concession speech you would be going to a college party with hopefully your biggest crush Billy in attendance.

“Hello, class of 1986 I am happy and proud to be your college valedictorian. We have all come so far and I am so honored to be standing here in front of you all. There's a lot we have been through and with those struggles that we have overcome in the 4 years of high school together we are now able to move on to the next chapter in our lives. Whether it be to college, maybe even space, to working a job, college and a job simultaneously, or traveling around the world or just road tripping we are all united in the fact we are Hawkins High graduates. I wish everyone luck and before I end this speech I want to give some wisdom from two of my favorite women who are staunch feminists. Gloria Steinem once said”:

‘The art of life is not controlling what happens to us, but using what happens to us.’

“She is a wise woman and the other woman in question who is also one of my heroes said

‘You change the world by being yourself.’

“One of the greats and the widow of Beatles legend John Lennon said this before and I couldn't agree with her more. I hope everyone here will begin the next chapter in their lives with enthusiasm and even more enthusiasm. Thank you!”

Most people clapped and cheered and you bowed. Next Principal Higgins handed out everyone's diplomas with Eddie snatching up his and running away from the stage flipping Higgins the bird. You then noticed Steve in the audience he was there for his best friend Robin who he worked with at the local Family Video. Steve's gaze caught yours and you smiled as you waved. Robin and Steve began walking over to you as you held your diploma with big smiles on their faces.

Your sister and parents surely took lots of photos of you probably videos as well and they were also nearby. Nancy and Barb told you they would meet you at Nancy's Oldsmobile station wagon after the graduation ceremony commenced. Robin embraced you in a big hug.

“So glad we graduated! Stevie boy here just had to come today to bask in the glory with us didn't you dingus?” Robin teased him with a wink.

“Sure did. Nice tassels ladies. The graduation was great. So proud of you both! So Y/N what are your plans for the summer?” He asked as he flicked your tassel playfully.

Clearing your throat you responded “Not much getting a job hopefully at the pool but my sister has connections obviously. Going to some parties, road trips with the girls, and Robin you should come too,” you urged as you patted her shoulder.

Robin smiled brightly and nodded intrigued by this idea of yours.

“Of course, I would love to. Well, I’ll be working at the cafe a lot this summer, but sure, I think I could fit that into my plans.”

“Ahh, nice well I will be working part-time at the pool this summer. Hope to see you there,” Steve replied with a sly grin.

You embraced him and hugged him loving how well-defined his body was.

“Well, I need to catch up to Nance and Barb. See you both later?” You asked hoping for a raincheck.

They nodded in unison.

“Most definitely. See you later,” Robin answered.

“Later Y/N,” Steve added with a slight wave.

Soon you were at Nancy's car and driving back to your place so you could get ready for the college party that night. There would be a big keg of beer and beer pong, lots of party games, and loud music with dancing.

“So saw you talking to Steve what's up with that?” Nancy asked as she drove getting a few blocks from your house.

“Nothing he just wanted to say congratulations on graduating and so did Robin. I can't believe Eddie finally graduated. Third time the charm I guess,” you told her with a shrug.

Barb looked out the rolled-down window and smiled as the Smiths how soon is now quietly played in the background on Nancy's radio. Was Nancy jealous or something? She had only been on one date with Steve and had preferred women anyway. You also preferred women. Barb and you weren't experienced and Nancy was a little. Currently, her boyfriend was Jonathan.

“Oh nice well I guess I’ll pick you up at 8 or so tonight. Can't wait to get out of this itchy graduation gown.”

Nancy had already tossed her graduation cap and so did Barb. Pulling up to your driveway she idled her car and you unlocked the back door and got out.

“See you then.”

Waving goodbye to them Nancy soon pulled out of the driveway and was on her way again. Inside your room, you turned on some music picking a cassette of Corroded Coffins. Soon you were painting your nails black and were shortly after startled a bit by Heather coming into your room.

“Need to borrow your hair dryer mine broke.”

Going into your bathroom she got your dryer and left with it.

Hours later you were taking a bath and Heather came into your room and then your bathroom. Sitting down on the edge of the tub she smirked.

Looking up you gave her a ‘Can I help you?’ type of grin.

“So my little sis is going to a party tonight. Plan on getting drunk and finally getting laid?” She teased with a giggle.

Heather was dating Tommy but it was nothing serious and she was seeing some people on the side.

“No. For your information, I’ll be there with Nancy and Barb. Billy will probably be there too.”

“God girl you are such a prude. You have to do some exploration before college starts. No pressure or anything but you are my sister and even if you were adopted I care about you. You need to seriously consider it. Everyone goes into college with at least some experience,” she informs you with a flick of her hair.

Scoffing you rolled your eyes at her which she noticed of course and this had her flicking soap bubbles in your face.

“I'm serious though maybe make a to-do list. Of sexual firsts. Or don't. Whatever. Be a loser for all I care,” she scoffs right back at you before standing up and walking out your bathroom door.

“Okay, maybe I will.”

Taking what Heather said to heart you put on some Motley Crue in your cassette player and began your to-do list for that summer and what may even lead into early college. It was going to be a list you could hopefully accomplish at least realistically and if things needed to be added or removed later from the list then you would make the proper adjustments. It would need to be more than just experimentation and equally girls and guys. So you began making your list with a reasonable order and the definitions of sex acts you didn't know you would look up in the dictionary.

-Hickies -Making out -Handjob -Fingering -Renting and watching an adult film with someone else -Mutual masturbation -Use of toys -Phone sex -Motorboating & tit fucking -Blowjob -Eating pussy -Being eaten out -Dominating/being dominated -All-girl threesome -69 -Voyeurism -Rimming -Semi-public sex act -Losing virginity/vaginal sex (Hopefully with Billy). -Anal sex -Orgasm denial -Cream pie -Pegging -Foursome with another girl and 2 guys -Usage of strapon for lesbian sex -Filmed sex act -And most importantly an ORGASM! Hell, lots of orgasms.

Later you were dressed for the party and face full of makeup. Sneaking into Heather's room you borrowed her hot pink stiletto pumps to complete your outfit of red fishnets, a red leather skirt, a matching leather spiked jacket, and a black tube top. Getting your purse ready you dabbed on some white musk perfume and got your lotion, hot pink lipstick, compact mirror, and wallet before heading outside just as Nancy pulled into your driveway. As you got into her car you could hear the radio playing Culture Clubs do you really want to hurt me?

The ride to the party was mellow and mainly quiet. Barb was fairly silent in the backseat as Nancy drove and synth wave music played. The party was at Jason Carver's who you couldn't stand but you planned to make the most of it. The usual suspects would probably be there including Steve and of course the jocks. Nancy's boyfriend Jonathan would no doubt be there as well.

"So you excited for the grad party?" You asked Nancy.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess. Barb and I just want a chill night you know? Plus Barb will be the designated driver tonight."

"I understand. Jonathan is probably excited to see you again soon."

Nancy nodded and you looked out the window noticing Jason's house approaching in the near distance. After parking you got out first and walked with Nancy and Barb to the front door looking into the window from the distance and noticing lots of people gathered around a keg inside. Eddie was there selling his stash, his twin Edwina, and so were the typical jocks, Jason, Chrissy, Jonathan, and Keg King Billy who was playing Pour Some Sugar on Me on acoustic guitar you noticed as the door opened and you walked inside.

Some people were playing beer pong, others were watching and listening to Billy play guitar. In the back yard jocks were playing basketball. Hopefully, tonight will be one for the books to remember for a long time. Billy's eyes locked with yours as he got to the chorus of the Def Leppard song. He winked at you as he strummed the guitar and sang.

It felt like he was singing to you.

"Pour some sugar on me. Oohh. In the name of love."

His voice was beautiful. Pure and raw.

"C'mon, fire me up. Pour your sugar on me. I can't get enough I'm hot, sticky sweet. From my head to my feet, yeah!"

When the song was finished, the drunk and rowdy crowd applauded Billy. Just then Barb came up to you startling you out of your reverie with a wine cooler. Handing it to you, you removed the top and took a big gulp. Billy's eyes remained on you until some girl rubbed up on him, much to his and your dismay.

Walking away with Barb you found Nancy again and noticed them talking to Jonathan quickly taking notice he was with his friend from back west. Argyle you recalled. He seemed to be stoned a lot but nice.

"Hey Y/N. Are you having fun yet?" Jonathan asked before taking a big swig of his beer. Nancy was drinking red wine from a blue solo cup and Barb had opted for Hawaiian fruit punch.

"Yeah, sure. Just need to get into the party mood more."

Now that Billy was done singing and playing guitar at least for the moment the music was back on again, and Kiss's Made for Loving You was playing.

"Anyone want to get high?" Argyle offered as he pulled out a joint from behind his ear. He was wearing his Surfer Boy Pizza yellow hat and he already looked dazed judging from the glazed-out look in his eyes.

Barb shook her head no as well as Nancy. Jonathan already looked pretty stoned.

"No thanks, man gotta try to sober up so I can drive your van later dude."

"Right yeah, I almost forgot."

"I'll get high if you are offering. Let's go someplace a bit more quiet though," you suggested to him with an eager smile.

Argyle looked a bit surprised but just nodded. Following you, first, you decided to get yourself another drink and made your way to a guest room. It was quiet and peaceful with no one around. Now sitting on the bed with him, he lit up the joint as you finished your wine cooler and tossed it into the wastebasket. You soon opened your malt beer and accidentally spilled some on Argyle.

"So sorry Argyle. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. Just wait for me before we light the joint I'll go wash my hands."

You finished what was left of your malted beer as he was away. Soon he came back, dried off, and sat down next to you. Lighting the joint he offered it to you first so you could get a nice buzz going. Eagerly obliging, you breathed in the smoke and exhaled slowly into the air. Passing the joint he took it and smoked a drag of it.

"Crazy night huh? Wild party man. Glad to be here for the summer though. Gonna get me a part-time pizza job here. Won't be like Surfer Boy Pizza but I will just have to manage I guess."

He sighed as he handed you the joint. You couldn't help but giggle as you took another drag and handed it back.

"Nah that's okay you finish it. I've already had two and a half joints tonight," he told you with a glazed-out look in his eyes.

His hair was just too damn beautiful. Bravely, you reached out and touched it before taking another drag of it and giggled.

"I love your hair, Argyle."

"Uh, thanks. You can touch it that's cool. So what's on your mind?"

"Just you. I want to get to know you better."

Argyle looked all mellowed out as he sat next to you with a look of contentment on his face as you ran your fingers through his silky black locks.

"Oh well, that's nice. I want to get to know you too."

Moving in closer to him, you went in for the kill and kissed him. Pulling away you took one final drag before putting the joint out. Argyle kissed back, deepening it as you got up slightly, straddled his lap, and kissed him again. As you began grinding on his lap he softly gasped. You just wanted to feel good and if he was getting turned on in the process, then even better, it was a win/win.

“I’m so wet finger me Argyle. Please. Just finger fuck me. That's all I want,” you pleaded against his lips before biting his lip.

“Fuck. I uh sure. These tights though you wanna take them off, maybe?”

“Just rip them. I'm not wearing any underwear so…” you bravely stated.

“Yeah uh fuck. Just didn't expect this to happen, dude. I um sure.”

Taking off your heels you threw them to the side and let Argyle eagerly rip your fishnets. You had already made his denim-clad thigh wet with your juices and hoped he didn't mind. Knowing it was Argyle he probably didn't. To just feel good and soak his fingers with your cum was all that was on your mind at the moment and your only desire.

“Mm fuck, you are so wet already Y/N,” he praised you as Argyle fingered your slick entrance now that your tights were out of the way.

Wasting no time, he went to work with two thick fingers moving them knuckle-deep inside your tight entrance, his fingers already getting drenched with your slickness. He worked with scissor-like movements inside you filling you to the hilt with his expertly skilled digits.

“Oh fuck ya fuck me harder, faster!” You demanded as your lips locked around his throat.

As he obeyed your commands, you rode his fingers fucking yourself silly on them, hoping he was enjoying this as much as you were. If his groans were any indicator of how he was feeling, then it was safe to say he was quite satisfied so far.

“That's so good for me. What a good girl,” he praised you as he added a third finger filling you up.

“Mm yes fuck me so good with your fingers. Fuck!” You cried out loudly and with extreme pleasure, not wanting him to stop or for this moment to end.

You just wanted to savor this and enjoy this moment. Argyle had the perfect touch and skilled fingers. It was the best feeling and the sensations he was making you feel were incredible.

“You close?” He whispered huskily into your ear as you cried against his shoulder and gyrated your hips even faster on his fingers as they worked in tandem on your special spot. “Yes. Fuck Argyle, you are so fucking good at that!” You practically screamed.

His lips met yours sealing them in a kiss as he fingered you deeper and faster than before, making squelching sounds as he pleasured you. Your tongue found him and tangled against his, as you had the sexiest kissing of your life.

“Oh fuck! Gonna shit! Fuck!” You loudly declared as you felt your orgasm nearing about to push you over the edge.

This was your first orgasm from contact with another human. There was no going back now, nor did you want to. It made you crave this connection and sense of companionship even more with someone else.

“Fuck, are you cumming? So fucking good for me,” Argyle commended you as he let you ride out your orgasm on his fingers.

“Mm oh fuck! So good!” You boasted before you kissed him again.

Sliding his fingers out of you he gave you a smirk. Before he could do or say anything else, you took his fingers sucking them clean. Moments later, he pulled you in for a kiss.

The day after, you just relaxed and spent time on the couch binge-watching the show Golden Girls and baking/eating snacks. It was a chill day, and you were still reeling from the prior night with Argyle. After your interaction with Argyle, you spoke to Jeff from Corroded Coffin and exchanged numbers. The next day you would be at the community pool, hopefully getting a job there. Heather, being your sister, would be a damn good guarantee you would land that lifeguard position.

Waking up bright and early the next day, you got up and stretched, then made breakfast of a latte, mixed berry waffles topped with whipped cream and chocolate chips. Heather was still sleeping but by the time you had showered and shaved, then dressed in a one-piece red bikini, she was up and grabbing some coffee and a quick waffle on the way out the door. You get your red heart-shaped sunglasses and towel and put an oversized white tee shirt over your bathing suit.

Soon you were on your way with Heather to the local pool and blasting some Def Leppard. It was a nice day out and sunny. Steve was sure to be there and he was pretty hot. Billy would be there too though and had the final say on who would get the summer lifeguard positions. With any luck, Billy would take to you like a fish to water.

“Look, don't get your hopes up. I am a total shoo-in for a lifeguard job this summer, but just be aware Billy isn't always in the best of moods. Just be careful around him,” she cautioned as her hair blew in the breeze as she drove.

“Yeah, sure. I can take care of myself but you know thanks for looking out and everything,” you cattily responded.

She scoffed at your reaction as she got on the street of Hawkins Pool. Arriving at the pool you walked in through the side gate with Heather in the lead making her way to the lifeguards and hopefuls standing by the pool. Billy awarded you with a big mega-watt smile as you made your way over to him in your red flip-flops. They squelched slightly on the wet ground. Even though he was drunk at the party, the night prior being Keg King and all you were certain he recognized you.

This was going to be a long summer indeed….

Chapter 2

I get off on you

A call with Jeff leads to some good times. Steve invites you to the movies and you give him the date of a lifetime.

Everyone exchanged numbers that day at the pool and your first day on the job was eventful and a bit exciting. Billy was the best at his job and your sister even got off your back, not embarrassing you for once. Most of the kids at the pool were easy going and no one almost drowned that day. Karen Wheeler and the rest of the older women ogled Billy but that was always typical of them and there was nothing new there.

Deciding to take a bath when you got home you called Jeff just to see how he was doing and what was up. After just two rings he answered happy to talk to you.

“Hey Y/N. How's your summer starting? I had practice today. Eddie runs a tight ship but it was fine. Hope you are relaxing,” he told you sounding earnest.

“I'm fine just taking a bath and enjoying a wine spritzer. I'm glad practice went well hope there's a new show soon at the Hideout right?”

“Yeah, we should have one soon will let you know if Eddie doesn't first. Well, that sounds good. I hope you are enjoying your bath.”

You played with the bubbles and relaxed trying to fully enjoy yourself as you leaned against your inflatable waterproof neck pillow.

“You must get tons of groupies. Although I'm sure you have a girlfriend, right?”

“I guess but not as much as the other guys, especially Eddie. Do you have someone special in your life? I've been single a while though actually.”

“No, I don’t have anyone at the moment. I've just been playing the field nothing serious. Going on vacation soon though.”

“Oh, that sounds good.”

Your fingers moved to your inner thighs rubbing and caressing them even making soft and lewd noises as you stayed on the phone with Jeff hoping he could hear you.

“Umm, everything okay over there?” He asked sounding a bit concerned.

“Yeah, I'm fine. I would like to unwind though I had a long day. Kinda stressful. You know what I mean.”

“Could I help you relax better?”

“Sure. Just talk dirty to me,” you responded boldly.

“Really? No girl has ever asked that of me before. I could oblige though…”

You moved your fingers to your slick entrance teasing yourself down there with your pointer and middle fingers tracing over your clit teasing it wanting to feel good. And if no one else at the moment could make you feel that way then this would have to do but would be even better with guided instruction. Your core tightened as you teased yourself.

“Yeah I want that,” you replied bluntly.

“Fuck. Are you touching yourself?” He huskily asked you.

“Yeah teasing my clit,” you mewled.

“Okay good. Mind if I take off an article of clothing?”

“I want you to.”

You could hear Jeff fiddling with what sounded like his belt buckle. Then you heard the unmistakable sound of his zipper being unzipped. Next, you heard a slight ruffling noise.

“Just relax for me too Jeff. Just make yourself feel good. Want to have you stroke your cock,” you requested knowing he probably wouldn't be able to deny your request. “Already on it.”

He freed his cock from his boxers and relaxed as he man spread. Meanwhile, you were fingering yourself with one slick finger rubbing circles on your clit in a clockwise motion. It felt incredible, especially knowing Jeff was pleasing himself and getting off as you touched yourself.

“Okay tell me what you are doing now. I’m using one finger on my clit and it feels perfect,” you told him in a whimpery tone.

“I’m stroking the base of my cock and getting hard for you. God feels amazing!” He boasted as he stroked.

You added another finger and made scissor-like motions as you teased your sensitive bud.

“Sounds good. I bet your cock is so big and hard,” you teased Jeff playfully as you moved your fingers inside in rapid thrusts arching your hips and even grabbing a pillow nearby to hump against.

“Oh yeah? What are you doing? Please tell me you are using your fingers.”

“Sure am. Feels so good. And I’m humping a pillow. I’ve got two fingers inside. Fuck!” You cried out.

“Fuck yeah. Keep working your fingers as I stroke my hard cock. Tell me what you want to do to me if you were here,” he begged. “Lubing up my cock now,” he softly told you as he got his bottle of lotion and rubbed some on his cock to use it to get better friction.

“I want to suck your big cock as I'm down on my knees and I’m rubbing one out or using a toy on myself with vibrations. Fuck I want to kiss and lick your pretty cock,” you whined as you thrust your fingers harder and humped the pillow even faster now.

Jeff’s groans were becoming more vocal now and you could hear them distinctly. His cock was probably so beautiful and so big. There was no way you could take all of him inside your mouth, but you would try your best to.

“Good. Sounds perfect. I want all that. Shove my cock down your throat and watch you blow me. We can even 69. I want to taste that delicious pussy. Eat you out and use my fingers to prove to you that guitarists have the best fingers,” he boasted.

“Mm yes, I want that. You as my rockstar. I need it so badly,” you whined now on your stomach and humping your pillow harshly as your fingers pressed against your clit in nice clockwise circles.

At the same time, Jeff was stroking himself even faster the sound of slick as he rubbed his cock and rubbed his shaft with pre cum coating it.

“Want to rock your world? Make you want my cock nonstop,” Jeff gruffly spoke as his pretty cries could be heard through the phone.

You moved your fingers so fast wanting to chase your high and wanting to fuck yourself through your orgasm. Jeff had the same idea as he got himself closer to his release by bucking faster into his palm.

“Getting so close. Feels amazing,” you whimpered very loudly not holding back now.

“I wanna hear the pretty noises you make as you come undone,” Jeff begged you.

Neither of you would last much longer as you fingered yourself with reckless abandon and Jeff fucked his cock with his hand senselessly.

“Mm yes want to have you cum all over my face and I want to squirt all over your fingers and mouth as you finger me and eat me out,” you moaned with extreme pleasure as you felt your high about to bring you over the edge.

“Mm yeah fuck yes need to taste your sweet pussy and all your juices as you take my cock as deep as you can and take all my cum,” he proclaimed grunting as he told you this his cum shooting out and his load spilling all over him.

“Yes gonna cum for you!” You whined as you moaned loudly through your orgasm letting it crash over you.

Days later you get a call from Steve out of the blue. You only had several work days at the pool training as a professionally licensed lifeguard. You had hung out before no big deal. He was calling for something though and you couldn’t wait to find out what it was.

“Hello Y/N?”

“Yes, Steve?”

“Wanted to know if you were free this weekend. How about Sunday we go to a movie together? I was thinking maybe that new movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?”

“Sure sounds fun. I would like that Steve.”

“Don’t worry I’ll buy all the snacks and your ticket. The showing I was looking into going to is at 330.”

“Thanks but I’ll pay my way. I’ll buy my ticket but you can buy the food and drinks.”

“Sounds great.”

You talked for a few more minutes about work, the summer, holiday plans, etc.

When Sunday came you dressed up nice and put on some makeup tans and browns mainly and white lipstick. For your outfit, you decided on a spiked choker, matching bracelet, white fishnets, platform wedge boots, a red micro skirt, a purple thong, a Dio cut tank top and no bra with black denim ripped battle jacket complete with heavy metal pins and patches including Dio, Motley Crue, Poison, Def Leppard, Joan Jett, The Plasmatics, Ramones, Metallica, Judas Priest, Black Flag, etc.

“Hi beautiful,” was the first thing you heard Steve say as you met up with him in your driveway and got into his maroon Volvo.

“Hi, Steve. Can't wait to see this movie.”

“Nice. Well, I can’t wait either. Happy to take you.”

It was only 3 in the afternoon and the movie theater was nearby. As you drove for a bit you turned on the radio to Poisons talk dirty to me playing.

“Well, here we are.”

“Yep here we are,” you said.

Getting out of the car he went to the passenger side and opened your door for you. Soon you were in the theater and got snacks from the concession stands. You got a large pink lemonade with two bendy straws to share and sour gummy bears, red vines, red licorice, popcorn with extra butter and salt, with caramel corn too. In your seats, you sat back enjoying the previews taking notice of the upcoming movies like Aliens and Stephen King’s Stand By Me.

The candy was good and so was the popcorn. The drink was also refreshing. There were only about ten other people at the cinema showing and not many were near you and less than half of those people rows behind you. Nudging Steve soon after the movie began you got his attention and he smiled at you.

“Yeah? Everything ok?” He asked solemnly as Steve leaned in closer to you.

“Fine. The drinks and snacks are great. Thanks.”

He nodded and then focused again on the movie laughing a bit at a funny scene with Ferris Bueller and his sister.

About ten minutes later you nudged him again.

“Yes?” He asked softly as he looked at you with his beautiful eyes.

“I want to make you feel good Steve.”

He smiled wanly at you and swallowed hard.

“Okay, sure. How do you wanna do that?”

“A hand job maybe. Just get hard for me big boy.”

“Fuck. Right now? You are seriously coming onto me in a movie with people around? I’ve never done anything like this with people around except at a party…” He trailed off as he looked around making sure no one was looking on or listening nearby. No one appeared to be paying any attention though everyone was focused on the movie it seemed like.

Putting your hand on his denim-clad thigh you smiled and squeezed his upper right leg.

“Yes, I want to give you a handjob.”

He nodded his approval and licked his lips wetting them.

“Yeah of course. Fuck that would be amazing.”

He was so pent up and getting hard as he undid his black leather belt and unzipped his jeans.

“Mm you are so big Stevie,” you whispered into his ear as he freed his cock from its confines.

Sealing Steve’s lips in a kiss you moved your fingers up his leg and to his waist and his happy trail feeling a patch of hair he had there. His cock was gorgeous. Big and thick. It made your mouth practically water just at the sight of it. Even though you had never done something like this ever before you felt safe with him. Even safer with him than you ever did any other guy.

“Oh fuck. You sure about this?” He loudly whispered back as a funny part in the movie happened and the small crowd was laughing hysterically.

“Yes. I want to do this.”

Your response was bold and you were calculated in your movements as you moved your hand down lower. His boxer briefs were baby blue and he looked so sexy. Steve’s eyes locked with yours as you went right to work not wasting a second as you stroked him from the base to the tip and then repeated your actions. His couth was mouth-watering and you licked your lips as you stroked earning whimpers from Steve.

“Fuck yeah just like that. Fuck!” He seethed through clenched teeth as you stroked him at a steady pace.

Deciding to spice things up you took out a small bottle of unscented lotion from your purse and opened it. You squirted a generous amount onto your hand and stroked him again this time getting more friction with the lotion being used as a lubricant now. He seemed to love it and met your lips in a kiss with tongue and so much passion. His cock was one of the biggest and as you cupped his balls with your other hand his whimpers turned to groans for you.

Looking deeply into each other’s eyes you watched Steve as he bit and licked his lips. You pumped him faster and harder earning growls from him. Getting on your knees you looked up at him with wide eyes full of wonder as pre-cum began to form on the tip of his big cock. He was the most well-endowed man at least to you. Steve man spread even wider for you as you worked your magic with your fingers your eyes trained on his never leaving his gaze.

“Oh fuck!” He seethed through clenched teeth as he bucked his hips erratically needy and aching for more eager to chase his high.

You put your finger to your lips in a shushing motion as Steve scoffed at you teasing him before you mouthed

“Shh Steve. Cum for me,” you beckoned.

He ran his fingers through his locks of hair not even caring if anyone noticed or heard at this point. Steve just wanted to cum and empty his full balls now. Sure enough moments later his stomach muscles tightened as he began to cum for you. Panting as he came down from his high you got back into your seat and cleaned his cum using the Kleenex’s from your purse you had for emergencies. After you used hand sanitizer.

Steve leaned in close and whispered in your ear “Thank you so much.”

He then left a kiss on your cheek and you laid your head on his shoulder for the rest of the movie.

After the movies and being dropped off at home you called Nancy just to talk. She picked up on the second ring. You could hear her TV on in the background and Barb laughing.

“Hey!”

“Hi Nance. So I went on an awesome date with Steve yesterday. It won’t be weird right that I went out with him? Not sure if it will happen again you know but he’s really nice and I like him a lot so far..” you trailed off. Even though Nancy had only been on one date with Steve before you didn’t want this to come in between your friendship with her.

“No, it’s fine. I’m just here with Barb we were doing manicures and pedicures. You should come over.”

“Oh yeah, maybe we can have a sleepover sometime soon.”

“Definitely. And Barb says hi. Right Barb?” She called out.

“Hi Y/N!”

“So what happened on the date anything I should know about?”

“Well I had phone sex with Jeff nights ago but what happened with Steve was much more interesting.”

“Oh wow. Yes, tell me about Steve. I need the details.”

“We went to see Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. We were near the back sitting in the middle of the row. I bought my ticket but he bought all the snacks and the drinks too. During the movie, I jerked him off.”

“You mean a hand job? To King Steve? And phone sex with Jeff from Corroded Coffin. Wow. How was it?”

“Magnificent. He came for me. I mean both of them did.”

“That is huge news.”

Barb grabbed the phone from Nancy.

“So you rocked Steve’s world and Jeff’s too?”

“Sure did. And soon I’m going to go out shopping for sex toys. At that adult store, Edwina works out. But then there’s a Corroded Coffin show soon after that I really wanna see. You and Barb maybe wanna come?”

“Yes!” They both said in unison as they held the phone to their ears.

“For moral support of course.”

“Right,” they agreed together.

After talking a few more minutes you hung up and began making plans for what you would wear to go to the sex shop. After you went over to Nancy’s place to hang out with her and Barb. Sex toy shopping and getting your first toy. It would hopefully be magical.

to list soundtrack

Talk dirty to me by poison.

whore by in this moment and turn you

Rock you like a hurricane the scorpions.

sweet tooth and special pets by step

fever by bfmv

Crave by fate destroyed.

Summer Breeze medley reprise and Cinnamon Girl by type of negative

endless summer by the midnight

I get off and special by Halestorm.

closer violet Orlandi

Submit William Control

Worship me living dead girl.

Deftones sex tape

Come undone bad omens cover

crazy bitch buckcherry

beautiful by HIM

bitches brew by crosses

master and servant & dangerous by Depeche mode

I want your video by Djo

Feel like making love bad company.

Tainted Love by Manson

Adidas by Korn all day long I dream about sex

Pour some sugar on me by def leppard

Come by prince

2 become 1 Spice Girls

Break my body and scream by New Year's Day.

hatefuck and rats by now

hot love and hot rockin by judas priest

cherry bomb by the Runaways

Do you wanna touch and I wanna be your dog, Joan Jett.

Let's put the X in sex by kiss.

like a virgin Crue cover and sex

deep throat by cupcake

just tonight by the pretty reckless

wasps animal fuck like a beast

me so horny by 2 live crew

self-indulgence and petite morte by Razakel

Amber sexual li da dee and this is your night.

UMC what is love cover?

bad medicine Bon Jovi

porn star dancing my darkest days

So happy I could die by Lady Gaga

cola Lana del Rey

lips like morphine kill Hannah

warrant cherry pie

Willa Ford, I wanna be bad.

french kissing Sarah Connor

body 2 body by Samantha Mumba

hot and just a little by play

Beggin and I wanna be your slave and own my mind by Maneskin.

going to hell and going down by Pretty Reckless

conflicted and buzz by Halestorm

climax by DJO

Rock Star Beau and Summer Nights by Cassie Steele

taglist

@userchai @eddiemunsonfuxks @koskeepsake @keeryatmosphere @corneliuswatkins

@xxladymjxx @sidereustales @hippiegoth97 @eddiemunson-reader-shame

@seatnights @ali-r3n @kelseyaparker19 @mrprettywhenhecries @shichey97

@keikoraven @veemoon @micheledawn1975 @hellv1ra @stolen-in-moonlight

@haceleyes @edsbug @lovelythoughtfulcupcake @loritate7311 @skatazz

@loserboysandlithium @probablyin-bed @steveslittlesunflower @decodedlvr @quinnyficsy

@jadeylovesmarvelxo @lovemesomeeddiemunson @hcwthewestwaswcn @emmykaleidoscopeheart @stranger-things-mania

@londonfog-chan @mediocredreams @scarlet-bitch @langdonss @mysticpeachobject

@peculiarwren @sweatyfuntrash @universallyneckhoagieshark @nightmare-time1824 @hippiegothrecs

@corrodedcorpses @eddiemunsonslibrary @dananahenderson @somethingvicked

@yourfavoritewitchbitch @leelei1980 @ryuzakemo128 @mysticpeachobject

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girlkisser13 · 6 months ago

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artemis cabin headcanons

the hunters of artemis

• when a hunter join the hunt, they no longer get periods as a blessing from artemis. (another reason to become a hunter?? jk i love women WAY too much).

• obviously, they’re all feminists.

• most of them can't take sexist jokes, so be careful unless you want to get shot with an arrow.

• they keep in touch with the girls that have left the hunt.

• when two hunters fall in love, artemis usually shows mercy, knowing the vow spoke of leaving behind the company of men not women.

• they’ve definitely bumped into the valkyrie on more than one occasion. artemis doesn’t like them very much because she doesn’t want her hunters to become einherjar.

• she’d rather they have the peace and calmness that they deserve.

• much like the camp half-blood necklace beads, the hunters have charm bracelets. they get a charm in the shape of a moon once they arrive and then a star shaped one every ten years they serve artemis.

• trans girls are ALWAYS accepted into the hunt.

• but if a trans guy wants to join the hunt (pretransition), artemis will straight up refuse to take them, subsequently kicking of their gender crisis.

• she’ll also do this with pretransition trans women (to their great confusion).

• the minimum age to become a hunter is sixteen, unless there are special circumstances (it just doesn’t sit right with me that most of the hunters are in their preteens).

• this is a big decision and shouldn’t be made at such a young age. let these girls go through puberty and find out whether they really want to forsake men forever.

• plus, it’d actually benefit the hunters to be more physically mature; they’d be a lot stronger and therefore faster due to the muscle development.

• they have a hotline number that women can call if they feel extremely uncomfortable or fearful in a situation.

• they'll discretely escort her out and then beat the shit out of whoever is scaring her. <33

cabin exterior

• the cabin is primarily made of wood, with vines and ivy creeping up its sides, blending seamlessly with the surrounding forest.

• the cabin's roof is adorned with silver tiles that shimmer like moonlight, casting a gentle glow at night.

• carvings of various wild animals, such as deer, wolves, and bears, are intricately etched into the wooden walls, symbolizing artemis's connection with nature and wildlife.

• during the day, the cabin appears almost invisible from a distance, thanks to its natural camouflage of leaves and branches, making it a perfect sanctuary for the hunters.

• the entrance is flanked by banners with the symbol of the moon and arrows, representing artemis's hunting prowess and her role as the goddess of the moon.

• hidden paths and trails lead from the cabin into the deeper parts of the forest, allowing the hunters to come and go without being seen.

cabin interior

• the walls and floors are made of polished wood, giving the cabin a warm and rustic feel. the wood is adorned with carvings of forest scenes and animals.

• soft, silvery lanterns hang from the ceiling, casting a gentle glow reminiscent of moonlight. at night, these lights give the cabin a tranquil, otherworldly ambiance.

• the bunks are arranged in a circle around a central hearth. each bunk has a curtain made of light, airy fabric, providing privacy while allowing the occupants to feel connected to the room.

• the decor includes tapestries and rugs featuring scenes of forests, wildlife, and the moon. the cabin is filled with plants, flowers, and small potted trees, making it feel like an extension of the forest outside.

• each hunter has a personal space to store their gear. this includes a rack for bows and quivers, hooks for coats, and shelves for other hunting equipment.

• the central hearth is always burning with a controlled, magical flame that provides warmth and light. it's surrounded by comfortable seating made of logs and animal pelts, perfect for gathering and sharing stories.

• a section of the cabin is dedicated to practicing archery and other skills. it includes targets, dummies, and plenty of space for physical training.

• one corner of the cabin has shelves filled with books about nature, wildlife, and mythology, along with maps of various hunting grounds and sacred sites.

cabin traditions

• they have an annual remembrance day on the first full moon of june where they honor the fallen hunters of that year. artemis always ensures that there is a beautiful strawberry moon lighting up the sky.

• when they visit camp half-blood, they to have archery contests with the apollo kids (and other kids that have archery skills). they share their advanced skills and techniques, often leading to informal training sessions where the campers learn new tips and tricks from them.

• they hold special training sessions particularly focused on survival skills, hunting tactics, and self-defense. these sessions are a blend of physical training and imparting the wisdom of living harmoniously with nature.

• the hunters hold workshops on making traditional hunting gear, such as bows and arrows, and other crafts related to their way of life. these workshops are hands-on and give campers a tangible connection to the hunters' lifestyle.

divider by @strangergraphics

#percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #pjo #hoo #pjo hoo toa #pjo fandom #hoo fandom #pjo series #hoo series #pjo tv show #pjo disney+#pjo cabins #artemis #diana #artemis cabin #cabin eight #cabin 8 #the hunters of artemis #hunters of artemis

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tiathecreator · 9 months ago

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⋆⭒˚｡⋆ so american ( hobie brown ) !

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎.𖥔 ݁ ˖✎ᝰ synopsis — " he laughs at all my jokes and he says i'm so american. " blk reader.

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟcontains — ooc (?) hobie, fluff, swearing, atsv!hobie brown, hobie is taller than you no matter what, very very slight.

‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚ tia speaks — because nobody told olivia to write such a cute song like my goodness. i love this song so bad ( almost as bad as i love accented men ) so i had to write a piece inspired by it ! i am also using this to be a complete feminism nerd and i almost wrote something similar with another olivia song lol. i totally recommend reading this whilst listening to 'so american' by olivia rodrigo !! happy reading !

despite his punk exterior, hobie is the best boyfriend you've ever had.

you'd first met hobie when you were selected to speak at a diversity conference in london. you were studying abroad in the middle of your second year of university, using the excuse of 'furthering your education' to read authentic european literature and cross of some of your bucket list. he was doing his usual routine when he swung by a billboard advertising the conference. he decided to check it, never one to shy away from social politic discourse. he stopped by a few panels, taking a liking to the minority in leadership panel, before stopping by the gender and intersectionality panel.

hobie's eyebrows rose as he watched you prepare yourself for your own presentation. you were dressed in business professional with the best shaped afro hobie had ever seen. his pulse quickened as you sent the moderator a ready smile before you began speaking.

and you were so american.

your charisma was enchanting, gracefully demanding the attention of the room. you engaged with the audience as you presented, throwing in small jokes here and there to keep the crowded attentive. he even imagined your expression becoming the slightest bit bashful as he caught your eye. you ended your presentation with another dazzling smile and an adorable tilt of your head at the sound of the applause filling the room.

he was even more impressed with your ability to answers questions on the fly. it was as if you thought of every possible questions and came up with perfectly calculated answers for each of them.

"i have a question for y/n. you mentioned white feminism and black feminism as two separate movements due to the lack of inclusion of marginalized women and their concerns. does that mean that you believe that white women are inherently racist?" a commentator asked. a furrow found its way in between your brow before you answered.

"no, i called it uninclusive because i meant it did not include the needs of women who were not upper class, able, educated, white women. black feminism can include women who are not black as it's an umbrella term of sorts. it serves to uplift and represent the underrepresented and unite all feminists, not imply that all white women are racist because of one social group. there are some wonderful white women who can acknowledge their privilege and use it to uplift us all as a united front rather than living in their individual comfortability. thank you for your question."

after your panel concluded, hobie found himself searching for you in the crowd of spectators. he eventually found you holding a bouquet of flowers from the moderator as you put away your things. he casually made his way to you, slipping through the ocean of bodies before standing behind you.

"would've gotten flowers if i had known someone as smart as you would be presenting here. however, i doubt i'd be able to find anything as beautiful as you, ms. america," he charmed, immediately gaining your attention as you turned to him.

"i take it that you liked my presentation," you mused, smiling up at the man before you.

"liked it so much that i'd like to hear it again. maybe over a meal some time, yeah?"

your cheeks stung from how wide you smiled as you punched your number into his phone, telling him to text you the details.

you guys hit it off as your personalities, morals, and routines meshed almost perfectly. you finished your educational responsibilities around the same time he finished his internship, leaving the two of you with enough time to see each other at least three times a week, excluding your weekend.

he's so attentive as he remembers everything about you, including things that you mentioned offhandedly. you'll expect him to pay it no mind until he says or does something that showed you that he was in fact listening to your every word.

and he's so soft with you. underneath your boyfriend's unapproachable persona was a man who was putty in your hands. he melts into your embrace, hands gently cupping your face as he laid a breathless kiss on your lips. he was always touching you when he was in your presence. he usually opted for the casual arm hooked across your front as he rested his chin on your shoulder. it was the perfect height for you to whisper all of your jokes into his ear, ensuring that he didn't miss the chance to indulge in your humor.

you actually guessed that he was the esteemed spider-punk after having rescued you from a mid-evening robbery. you noticed the stature of the hero looked familiar as you watched him swing through the air.

"what happened here?" you asked him one lazy morning, pointing to the bruise forming on his shoulder.

"i slipped in the shower," he mumbled, pulling you closer to him as he tried to go back to sleep.

"are you sure it had nothing to do with that pole the news showed you being flung into?" you mused.

"how'd you figure?" he asked, eyes now open as he looked down at you with a tired grin.

"what kind of girlfriend would i be if i didn't know my boyfriend when i saw him?" you replied, planting a kiss on the corner of his mouth. "plus i’ve tripped over your beat up sneakers enough times to recognize them."

"sneakers," he said, copying your accent. he let out an amused gruff after you painlessly slapped his arm. "you're such an american."

he made the effort to join you for your public demonstrations, only stepping in when someone got mouthed off at you too much for his liking, knowing that you could hold your own but preferring if you didn't have to. he read all of your favorite books as well as any pieces that you mentioned to him. he participates in most of your hobbies, even picking up a few and calling them his own.

he even calls your mom, asking her how she had been since the last time he had the chance to ask. she was more excited to see him the first time you visited since meeting him. she tried to treat him as a guest, but he was set on helping her around the house, taking care of any odd problems she had.

you might just have to marry him if he keeps this shit up.

#☆ — tia the creator!#hobie brown x reader #hobie brown x black reader #hobie brown #hobie x reader #hobie x black!reader #spider punk x reader #spider punk x black reader #atsv x reader #atsv x black reader #spiderman atsv x black reader #spiderman atsv

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medusapelagia · 6 months ago

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06 The celebratory tour

written for @steddieangstyaugust (prompt: Who did this?" ) and @augustwritingchallenge (Prompt: reality show) Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve/Eddie TW: violence, hospital, blood and injuries, dark Eddie Munson, homophobia Words: 1605

When Eddie decided to agree to his manager's proposition and film a reality show about his life he was way too naive.

Steve tried to talk him out of that idea, but Corroded Coffin hadn't released a new album in five years and they were ready to publish a celebratory album with a couple of new songs and the reality show seemed like the perfect way of rekindle their fans' enthusiasm by giving them a glimpse of their lives.

What Eddie hadn't taken into account was that if Gareth and Jeff had lovely families, two children each and a wonderful wife, Eddie's and Freak's relationship status was… different.

Freak was always looking for the right woman, changing girlfriends like they were clothes, and that wasn't exactly a good look. Many feminist reporters criticized Freak's attitude toward women, but that wasn't the worst part.

The worst part was that Eddie was in a lovely and fulfilled relationship with another man. And if many of their longtime fans already suspected that the famous Steve, who was always helping backstage, was something more than a good friend, having their relationship filmed and broadcast at eight o'clock in the evening was a huge disaster.

Numerous homophobic parents sent complaining letters to the producer for showing in prime time something disgusting as a homoerotic relationship between two men, and Steve's job as a middle school teacher was deeply affected by the media frenzy.

His principal was very sorry when he told him that he must let him go because numerous parents were worried about having a homosexual teacher in their kids' classroom even if Steve was the most loved teacher in the entire school.

And to make things even worse, Steve never complained. Not to the principal, not to Eddie. He just shrugged and closed himself in his room for the night and came back with a fake bright smile the next day, ready to shoot the second season.

"I'm not ashamed of who I am, and I'm not ashamed of you," Steve told Eddie, while one of the numerous cameras hidden in their home recorded the exchange, "And I won't let anyone let me feel bad about loving someone so deeply as I love you."

That exchange became the most famous clip of their entire reality show series. It was posted on every social media, causing a huge fight between queer rights fighters and homophobes.

T-shirts with the sentence, 'I'm not ashamed of who I am, and I'm not ashamed of you' started to appear at every pride in the County, and some people even tattooed that phrase on their bodies.

Eddie and Steve did their best to avoid the mediatic circus around their relationship, and while Gareth tried his best to move the attention's spot toward himself and his newborn kid, the third and finally a girl for his wife's happiness, but somehow in every talk show sooner or later someone started to talk about them and their relationship, and the circus starts again, and again, in an infinite circle.

Thank god in a couple of days Eddie is going to start the celebratory tour with the Corroded Coffin, and Steve is going to take a deserved holiday with Robin to relax a bit.

Eddie is in the kitchen, stirring the secret sauce Steve's granny taught him, when he hears the door creaking open. Turning his head toward the clock he realized that’s pretty soon, Steve went on his daily run just fifteen minutes ago.

"Did it start to rain?" Eddie asks from the kitchen, stirring his sauce to make sure it won't explode, and stain the entire kitchen with tomato sauce, but Steve doesn't reply.

"Sweetheart?" He tries again, looking out of the window, but even if it's cloudy the streets are dry.

"Steve?" Eddie calls a third time, anxiety crawling up his skin.

Their room's door slams close and Eddie turns off the gas, not caring if it will compromise his sauce, and walks toward their room, knocking softly on the wood.

"Hey Steve, are you ok? I thought you were going for your run."

"Can you leave me the fuck alone for once?!"

Eddie freezes. Steve never yelled at him in a twenty-year-long relationship. Something is wrong. Something is deeply wrong.

"I’m coming in, ok?"

"Don't!"

"I just want to talk and I can't talk with you behind a door, can I?"

There's a long moment of silence before Steve moves toward the door, unlocking it, "Just... don't freak out, ok?"

That sounds even worse, now Eddie is definitely panicking, but he does his best not to slam the door open and rush inside. The room is dark and the only light comes from their ensuite bathroom, where some balls of cotton stained with blood are resting on the counter.

"What happened?" Eddie asks, stepping closer to Steve slowly, not to startle him.

"Nothing."

"Steve..." Eddie calls his name softly, making him turn towards him and he sees it: a big cut on Steve's eyebrow is gushing blood, his right eye is a dark purple and is getting swollen by the moment.

"Who did this?" Eddie asks, grabbing Steve's chin to turn his face and taking in all his injuries.

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine. Someone punched you in the face and we're going to the ER right now, but I want to know who did it!"

"I'm good. I don't need to go to the ER." Steve replies, tapping some cotton with antiseptic on the cut on his eyebrow.

"Sweetheart, that cut needs stitches, at least three, and you have a history of concussions so I'm not going to take any risk. Now, you can get into the car and let me drive you to the hospital, or you can put up a fight and make me call an ambulance. What's going to be?"

Steve glares at him with the only eye he can keep open and begrudgingly follows him toward the garage.

If there's something that having four, now five, nieces and nephews has taught Eddie is that the secret is to remain calm while comforting the injured part, so he gently pats Steve's knees, reassuring him that they will be out of the hospital in no time with some cool stitches.

"Do you want me to call Robin?"

"No. She'll panic."

"She'll panic anyway. Don't you think it would be better if we call her so she can see you and assess the damages?"

"I'm not an object." Steve snarls back, his face turned toward the window.

"Wanna tell me what happened?"

"Got into a fight."

"With who?"

"People."

"People? More than one person?" Eddie yelps.

"It's fine. I'm fine. I'll get my stitches and everything will be ok."

Eddie nods, parking the car as close to the hospital as he can, and getting to the ER. When the woman at the counter recognizes him he's not ashamed of using his fame to help Steve see a doctor faster without him knowing it.

When the nurse guides Steve on the other side of the sliding doors Eddie calls Robin, telling her what happened and asking her to join them as soon as she can.

He's still wondering what happened when Gareth sends him a WhatsApp, "Is Steve ok?"

Eddie frowns, wondering how he knows it, but his questions are quickly answered with his second message, a link to a blurry video of three men surrounding Steve and hitting him, screaming slurs against him.

One of the men yells that he's disgusted the school let a faggot like him teach to his kid, while he kicks him in the stomach.

Eddie immediately hides the phone when he sees that Steve is getting out. A mild concussion, three stitches, and two cracked ribs whose only cure is a lot of rest and some painkillers.

When Robin joins them, Eddie asks her to drive Steve home, while he goes to grab his medicines.

Steve stares at him as if he knew that Eddie is hiding something, but he's high on painkillers so he doesn't complain too much when Robin gently grabs his arm and drags him toward his car, while Eddie quickly grabs Steve's meds and calls Dustin.

"Can you find me an address?"

"Eddie, it's a crime and…"

"Someone assaulted Steve when he was on his run. I think one of them is the father of one of his kids."

"Oh my god, is he ok?"

"The address, Dustin."

"Fuck. Ok. Tell me what you know."

***

Before becoming famous Eddie had lived in the trailer park with his uncle for years, and even if he never really got into trouble, he definitely learned a thing or two about threatening people and handling weapons.

He makes sure the man is home alone before breaking in from the window and pushing him against the wall, a switchblade at his neck.

"Listen to me carefully. If you or any one of your friends put a hand on my husband again, I'll make sure that's the last thing you'll ever do."

"You can't do that. I'll report you and…"

"And what? Will you admit that you assaulted an unarmed man who was running down the street? And what would your friends think of you if they knew a fucking faggot got you against the wall and threaten you?" he hisses slowly, pressing his blade just enough to make him bleed a little.

The man stares at him with wide eyes, sweating profusely.

Eddie kicks him the balls for good measure, before leaving from the window to get back to his husband.

The celebration tour will have to wait.

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dreamtydraw · 6 months ago

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Rewatching snow white ( the 1937 Disney movie ) with my little sister and I think it’s a great example on how people view feminity as weakness.

There is this image in media that snow white message is outdated because she gets saved by a prince and she’s naive but that so reductive of the whole movie and snow white as a character. Sure the social message of this almost 100 years old movie is vastly différent because of the war context and the goal intended for snow white as a character but aside of that ( because that important but too long to develop) even if you apply today modern standards, the film isn’t less feminist ?

Snow white is a polite pretty and kind woman. She takes care of the animals and in return they help her. She survive an assassination attempt and willingly choose to stay kind to other. When she chose to clean the house it’s because she thinks orphans lives here and she wants to help them. She’s a princess but used to be her step mother’s slave / servant ( in french she’s said to be a slave ) so that means before event of the movie she spent her time working. And about the prince she loves him, sure it’s very superficial but nevertheless she show mutliple time that she has interest in him through the movie ( two songs about it ) yet it’s only when he saves her that she end up with him, her goal is not to end up with him from the start, it’s after that she find safety that she wish for more like her love being reciprocated.

She rules the house, she pray for the well being of the dwarfs and dosen’t let negative comments going against her principles ( she force the dwarfs to clean themselves even if they insist to not do so and she still try to befriend grumpy politely when he say he dosen’t like her. )

And about the apple, she let the woman enter the house because she thinks the old woman is sick and need water, again showing signs of her good heart. The old woman tell her she’s gifting her an apple that grant wishes as a thank you for helping her, she dosen’t eat it because she’s dumb, she eats it because she thinks it’s a gift with good intentions for her good acts. + the old woman INSIST that she eats it.

She’s not dumb or incapable but a lot of people think she is for some reason and I’m pretty sure that reason is her femininity. Snow white is a symbol of feminity she’s humble, a good housewife a pretty girl and is in love. Sadly a lot of people think that the only way to be a strong female character is by being a bad bitch, in the eyes of a lot of people women can only be strong if they actively shout that they are by showing off or exercising roles previously offered by men.

Similar thing happened with the Mario movie where they toned down Peach hyper feminine character to make her more badass and people were like « oh finaly they gave her a character »

Hyper feminine characters aren’t less strong because of their hyperfeminity…..

Anyway that my little rambling and I take this occasion to remind people TO NOT watch the live action remake because of Gal Gadot’s presence importantly. Gal gadot is a proud zionist, idf soldier and was introduced in hollywood with intention of propaganda. + they used cgi instead of hiring real actors for the dwarfs and Disney suck ass. Watch Mirror mirror instead:

#dreamty’s ramble #snow white #disney snow white

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gatheringbones · 20 days ago

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i related a lot to your post about generational trauma and "patriarchal training". though the older women in my family have a slightly different approach. i was wondering if you had any recommendations for accessible, entry level feminist theory i could share with one of them? especially involving beauty beauty standards, tying worth to male attention, etc. she hardly reads, but has enjoyed some fiction and poetry i've shared with her. i'm worried some nonfiction that's (continued)

(continued) that's been eye opening for me is too overtly radical for her. and though i've been reading more the last few years, i'm definitely not as well read as you- at least wrt feminist texts, judging from the sheer variety of quotes you've posted. i don't believe i can convert this family member or w/e, but i'd like to help her feel better about herself. thank you

two of the mildest sweetest most milqetoast feminist writers I can think of off the top of my head: Emily Nagoski and Glennon Doyle.

they also both have the benefit of tonnnns of podcast episodes if they’d rather listen than read.

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heavenlymorals · 8 months ago

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Why are you always trying to paint Arthur as a misogynist? When he clearly isn't??? I like your posts by why do you hyper fixate on stuff like that?

Hello anon and thanks for the ask.

Well, quite simply, I "paint" Arthur as someone who actively believes in and enforces gender roles because he does so in the game. It's a part of his writing and his character. The canon Arthur is NOTHING like how the fandom here on Tumblr portrays him as. That's also a reason why I started making these posts because I honestly hate when fanon becomes the accepted truth of characters and not the actual canon. It happens all the time.

I'm a very pragmatic person and this will show in my posts. I don't care about what characters COULD be and I focus more on what they ACTUALLY are. That's why my retrospective posts are usually looked at through a psychological, sociological, cultural, feminist, and/or literary point of view. I look at characters and learn things about them through their actions and words, as well as the time period that they are a part of. I do not care at all about making characters seem morally better, especially when it comes to historical attitudes because those historical attitudes aren't as historical as we make them out to be.

They still affect us every single day and only recently have we started pushing back- that's also not mentioning cultures where these attitudes are STILL encouraged, which then changes the way people think. Understanding historical attitudes allows us to understand not only our own cultures better, but people as well and why they do the things they do.

Now let's talk about Arthur. Arthur is a man born in 1863. Women couldn't even get a credit card by themselves without a man till 1974. To put it quite simply, he lived in a time era where women had almost 0 rights and those women who did succeed in life usually had some sort of male support. People supported this system, both male and female. Did you know that when the suffrage movement began, most American women didn't give a fuck because they believed that was men's duties, not their own? Point is is that even if Arthur is a lot more lenient regarding this stuff, he still actively believes in it because of how pungent it was in the society he lived in.

The first mission we have with the female gang members is heading to Valentine. The first thing he says to them is whether Miss Grimshaw could spare them from their domestic chores, already showing that in the gang, the girls' main duty is the domestic work and that Arthur supports this. Later in that mission, when he chases down Jimmy Brooks, he puts Uncle in charge of bringing them back home, even though he is an old ass man and they are three young, healthy, and capable women. In one mission, you got two examples of Arthur being an active encourager of gender roles.

And then there is Sadie- when she expresses her frustration over the work she has to do, he tries to shut her down. When she gets her pants, he mocks her: "You get a pair of pants and all of a sudden you think you're Landon Ricketts?" When she asks Dutch when she can go robbing with them, both him and Dutch laugh her off. When they bust John out of prison, he does it with her cuz literally no one else would help him and when they escape on the boat, he gets visibly annoyed that she doesn't take his hand. There are even more examples of things like this when he antagonizes her, but that's just the main game.

And there is the antagonizations of women performers. "Women shouldn't be doing this." "Go make someone some supper." "Go back to the kitchen." "This ain't ladylike." I'm sorry, but these need no explanations. His antagonize lines are just as canon as his greet lines and the fact that he says stuff like that shows that he believes in gender roles. It's an active part of his belief system.

There are so many more examples of this and the majority of them are subtle but I come from a culture that still treats its women like the 1800s treated theirs so when I ever pick up on these things, it's cuz I've lived it before.

And my final point- this is a historical game. Rockstar made sure to be as accurate as they can in regards to the time period- so characters not only react to historical attitudes but they are a part of it as well. Same goes for Arthur. He's a historical character with a historical background and historical attitudes- and that comes with the good, like chivalry, and the bad, sexism. You shouldn't play a game like RDR if you're expecting characters to feel modern in their thought processes.

Thank you and have a great day.

#rdr2 #arthur morgan #red dead redemption 2 #answered #historical attitudes

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regulusrules · 10 months ago

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Yo, I saw your post about orientalism in relation to the "hollywood middle-east" tiktok!

How can a rando and university dropout get into and learn more about? Any literature or other content to recommend?

Hi!! Wow, you have no idea how you just pressed a button. I'll unleash 5+ years on you. And I'll even add for you open-sourced works that you can access as much as I can!

1. Videos

I often find this is the best medium nowadays to learn anything! I'll share with you some of the best that deal with the topic in different frames

• This is a video of Edward Said talking about his book, Orientalism. Said is the Palestinian- American critic who first introduced the term Orientalism, and is the father of postcolonial studies as a critical literary theory. In this book, you’ll find an in-depth analysis of the concept and a deconstruction of western stereotypes. It’s very simple and he explains everything in a very easy manner.

• How Islam Saved Western Civilization. A more than brilliant lecture by Professor Roy Casagranda. This, in my opinion, is one of the best lectures that gives credit to this great civilization, and takes you on a journey to understand where did it all start from.

• What’s better than a well-researched, general overview Crash Course about Islam by John Green? This is not necessarily on orientalism but for people to know more about the fundamental basis of Islam and its pillars. I love the whole playlist that they have done about the religion, so definitely refer to it if you're looking to understand more about the historical background! Also, I can’t possibly mention this Crash Course series without mentioning ... ↓

• The Medieval Islamicate World. Arguably my favourite CC video of all times. Hank Green gives you a great thorough depiction of the Islamic civilization when it rose. He also discusses the scientific and literary advancements that happened in that age, which most people have no clue about! And honestly, just his excitement while explaining the astrolabe. These two truly enlightened so many people with the videos they've made. Thanks, @sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog

2. Documentaries

• This is an AMAZING documentary called Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Villifies A People by the genius American media critic Jack Shaheen. He literally analysed more than 1000 movies and handpicked some to showcase the terribly false stereotypes in western depiction of Arab/Muslim cultures. It's the best way to go into the subject, because you'll find him analysing works you're familiar with like Aladdin and all sorts.

• Spain’s Islamic Legacy. I cannot let this opportunity go to waste since one of my main scopes is studying feminist Andalusian history. There are literal gems to be known about this period of time, when religious coexistence is documented to have actually existed. This documentary offers a needed break from eurocentric perspectives, a great bird-view of the Islamic civilization in Europe and its remaining legacy (that western history tries so hard to erase).

• When the Moors Ruled in Europe. This is one of the richest documentaries that covers most of the veiled history of Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). Bettany Hughes discusses some of the prominent rulers, the brilliance of architecture in the Arab Muslim world, their originality and contributions to poetry and music, their innovative inventions and scientific development, and lastly, La Reconquista; the eventual fall and erasure of this grand civilization by western rulers.

3. Books

• Rethinking Orientalism by Reina Lewis. Lewis brilliantly breaks the prevailing stereotype of the “Harem”, yk, this stupid thought westerns projected about arab women being shut inside one room, not allowed to go anywhere from it, enslaved and without liberty, just left there for the sexual desires of the male figures, subjugated and silenced. It's a great read because it also takes the account of five different women living in the middle east.

• Nocturnal Poetics by Ferial Ghazoul. A great comparative text to understand the influence and outreach of The Thousand and One Nights. She applies a modern critical methodology to explore this classic literary masterpiece.

• The Question of Palestine by Edward Said. Since it's absolutely relevant, this is a great book if you're looking to understand more about the Palestinian situation and a great way to actually see the perspective of Palestinians themselves, not what we think they think.

• Arab-American Women's Writing and Performance by S.S. Sabry. One of my favourite feminist dealings with the idea of the orient and how western depictions demeaned arab women by objectifying them and degrading them to objects of sexual desire, like Scheherazade's characterization: how she was made into a sensual seducer, but not the literate, brilliantly smart woman of wisdom she was in the eastern retellings. The book also discusses the idea of identity and people who live on the hyphen (between two cultures), which is a very crucial aspect to understand arabs who are born/living in western countries.

• The Story of the Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole. This is a great book if you're trying to understand the influence of Islamic culture on Europe. It debunks this idea that Muslims are senseless, barbaric people who needed "civilizing" and instead showcases their brilliant civilization that was much advanced than any of Europe in the time Europe was labelled by the Dark Ages. (btw, did you know that arabic was the language of knowledge at that time? Because anyone who was looking to study advanced sciences, maths, philosophy, astronomy etc, had to know arabic because arabic-speaking countries were the center of knowledge and scientific advancements. Insane, right!)

• Convivencia and Medieval Spain. This is a collection of essays that delve further into the idea of “Convivencia”, which is what we call for religious coexistence. There's one essay in particular that's great called Were Women Part of Convivencia? which debunks all false western stereotypical images of women being less in Islamic belief. It also highlights how arab women have always been extremely cultured and literate. (They practiced medicine, studied their desired subjects, were writers of poetry and prose when women in Europe couldn't even keep their surnames when they married.)

4. Novels / Epistolaries

• Granada by Radwa Ashour. This is one of my favourite novels of all time, because Ashour brilliantly showcases Andalusian history and documents the injustices and massacres that happened to Muslims then. It covers the cultural erasure of Granada, and is also a story of human connection and beautiful family dynamics that utterly touches your soul.

• Dreams of Trespass by Fatma Mernissi. This is wonderful short read written in autobiographical form. It deconstructs the idea of the Harem in a postcolonial feminist lens of the French colonization of Morocco.

• Scheherazade Goes West by Fatma Mernissi. Mernissi brilliantly showcases the sexualisation of female figures by western depictions. It's very telling, really, and a very important reference to understand how the west often depicts middle-eastern women by boxing them into either the erotic, sensual beings or the oppressed, black-veiled beings. It helps you understand the actual real image of arab women out there (who are not just muslims btw; christian, jew, atheist, etc women do exist, and they do count).

• Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. This is a feminist travel epistolary of a British woman which covers the misconceptions that western people, specifically male travelers, had recorded and transmitted about the religion, traditions and treatment of women in Constantinople, Turkey. It is also a very insightful sapphic text that explores her own engagement with women there, which debunks the idea that there are no queer people in the middle east.

---------------------

With all of these, you'll get an insight about the real arab / islamic world. Not the one of fanaticism and barbarity that is often mediated, but the actual one that is based on the fundamental essences of peace, love, and acceptance.

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