#etc. Candidates can choose either of these.

[webxeros]

Webxeros is the best PPC Company in Chandigarh. The employees are very talented and experienced in giving training to candidates. The company also provides a Full-fledged digital marketing course which includes SEO, SMO, SMM, etc. Candidates can choose either of these.

[writers-potion]

𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫

Like many other fields, magic comes from a combianation of natural talent, determination, study and practice. Here are some ways that your character can learn, either to develop throughout the story or as a part of their backstory.

School of Magic

It may ba a school of magic for children, a college of magic, a mage academy, or even a university offering postgraduate degrees in comparative magic and magical anthropology.

Students sign up for full-time study, often on tuition-bed-and-board basis.

Depending on the type of school and level of education, students will be taught subjects that address various aspects of their magic system, sometimes even non-magical subjects.

Apprenticeship

This is where a senior magician takes one or several trainees to lern under them. The terms of the contract would vary, but the basics of it would be that the student is indentured for certain years of service in return for an education.

There may or may not be payment involved, and the appentices may live with the master.

Self-Study

A magician can plausibly teach themselves through research, reading, trial and error.

This is reclusive, organized, studious characters who have self-discipline and intense curiosity.

Part-Time Study

It is also practical to study magic as a hobby, and to devote only a few hours every week to training.

Many organizations offer part-time courses: community colleges, pagan religious groups, New Age societies. There may or may not be an examination/certification requirement.

Informal Learning

Non-professional magicians can pick up some skills that are passed down from mother to daughter, or a few lines of magic that goes viral among teenagers.

Candidate Selection

A magical academy's entrance exam or a master choosing an apprentice may look at the following: ability to concentrate, memory, creativity and imagination, motivation moral integrity, ability to control thoughts, patience, health, sensory awareness, natural affinity for magic, existing skills in related fields, faith and piety, etc.

Initiation

When the student has passed the probationary period, he is initiated into the craft. This ritual often takes place during a solstice or equinox, or an annual event like a festival.

Some systems of magic may have several levels of initiations or degrees.

Some systems may have lethal consequences for candidates who fail to pass the test.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

[intimidating-fettuccine]

I know I don’t usually get political on here, but with recent events happening I wanted to make a post to reach as many people as I can, as a young woman in the US in this current political climate. Everyone needs to vote.

“But what if I don’t want to register because I don’t want jury duty?”

There is no guarantee you would ever be called for jury duty. I have met people in their 80s who have never been called. Even if you are called, if you tell the judges that you will be an awful juror, you won’t pay attention, you’re incredibly biased, etc. they will dismiss you. They do not want someone on the jury that would be an inconvenience to both sides. As someone who has been called but was not chosen, it is not as big of a deal as you might think it is in the grand scheme of things, and at least in my state you can only even be called once every two years. Plus, certain conditions can disqualify you from even having to show up as well.

“But what if I don’t like the democratic representative either?”

That literally does not matter in this actually life and death case, because the other choice is Donald Trump and Project 2025. If you do any research into project 2025, which no, is not just empty promises they’re trying to make, it is a plan built mostly around removing the rights of women, LGBT members, and deconstructing public education. It is a very scary document and it is one they will 100% go forward with if Trump is put into office. Whether Kamala ends up as the representative for the party or someone else does, you MUST vote blue.

“Well, why can’t we all just vote independent?”

Because they will not win. They won’t. Independents are not even always put on every bracket in every state, but even if they were there is no way that they would win the upcoming election because none of them have a big enough audience at present moment. They need time to build an audience, and they need a Blue country to be able to do so. Plus, we have the electoral college to worry about, and there’s no way in hell any of them are voting independent. In this election it is Blue or Red, and Blue is the much better choice.

“But I don’t think that Blue is going to win, so I don’t even want to bother with voting.”

That is the exact line of thinking Trump wants you to have. Trump is scared of losing! He wants you to think he’s the only winner possible, and that’s why we need to prove him wrong! Not voting at all is still a vote for Trump! We need to show up and vote, because otherwise you are just automatically saying you’re fine with letting Trump win, which is saying you’re fine with losing your own rights or your friends and your family losing their own rights. This election is not a joke this time, we cannot just let it slide this time and assume it’ll be different in four years.

“But politics stress me out and make me anxious so I don’t want to get involved in them.”/“I don’t live close enough to reach my polling station.”

That is the same as the previous one. I know this is an extremely stressful time for everyone, believe me, I’m extremely anxious about it too, but you just need to vote Blue, and show up on one specific day to vote. If you’re too anxious to physically go to polling station or you don’t live close enough, you can also do a mail in ballot, which I’ve done before! You can request one online, receive it in the mail, and send it out! No contact with any other people required. Mail in ballots are still an option and literally made for people who cannot physically show up to a polling station.

“I know all of that’s true, but again, I REALLY hate the Blue candidate.”

Well, consider this. We are not just voting for the president, we are voting for Supreme Court members. Presidents serve as of right now up to 8 years, but Supreme Court justices serve for life. Trump put on the last Supreme Court members, and I’m sure you’ve seen the horrible choices they’ve made in the sake of the Republican Party. The president is the one who chooses those members, so if you allow a Red President, you are allowing the possibility of an even more Red Supreme Court. Vote Blue not just because you are voting for the president, but because you are voting for the sake of your literal future with Supreme Court justices. Politicians have historically always sucked. When it comes to voting, it is the lesser of two evils, and when you’re picking between them, Blue is obviously the lesser of the two evils, especially when Red wants to remove as many rights as physically possible.

“What if Trump also gets removed from the running. Won’t we be okay then?”

No! Because it does not matter who the Red representative is, they are STILL going to move forward with Project 2025. Even if Trump somehow keels over and dies tomorrow or decides to drop out (which I doubt will happen), they would still make the next representative go through with Project 2025. They want this plan more than anything else in the world, and so long as there’s a possibility of a republican representative going into office there is a guarantee of them using that plan.

“But what if Project 2025 really IS just empty promises?”

It is not. I guarantee you it is not. Even if it was, do you REALLY want to take the risk? Do you REALLY want to try and play this game? When the rights of women, LGBT members, public education, and the environment are at risk, do you really want to just assume it’s not going to happen? Is it really worth it to you to play this game and assume so? I’m going to guess it is not, in fact, worth it to play this game. You NEED to fully believe that Project 2025 is actually going to happen, because it is going to happen if they win. This isn’t a fever dream we’re going to wake up from and laugh about if they win. It’s the reality of the current shithole country we live in, and this country could become far, far worse if they win.

Even if you do not live in the US, I am just asking of you to please consider reblogging this and spreading it, as there are probably Americans that will see if if you do so. If you’re even still too young to vote, people that are old enough are likely to see it. I know I’m not a huge blog, but reblogs are always important and I still want to try.

As a woman and LGBT member who does not want to lose her rights, I am asking for you to please read and spread this post. Even if I can just reach one person who will care, it can be a great help. They do not want us to unionize and vote against them, but that is exactly what we must do. Regardless of how you feel about the Blue party, you have to vote for them this year, it’s the only thing we can do.

[listofwhyyouloveher]

hiii, what and do you think the gangs phone wallpapers would be and would they possibly be reader?

Summary: The Outsider's phone wallpaper Warnings: modernized outsiders Author's Note: i've been waiting to do this ask for so long LMAO PONYBOY CURTIS Ponyboy is definetly the Gen alpha of the group so he probably has something dumb like freakbob. either that or something completely unrelated to anything like a random house he likes. he would totally make you his wallpaper if you were together! It would just be an awkward photo of you, something like when you were looking behind the camera rather than at it or not even looking at all.

example vv

JOHNNY CADE I am a Johnny cade phone doubter, I do not think this man owns a phone, maybe a flip phone if he's lucky. However, if he does he'll probably make his phone wallpaper something like the gang all hanging out together, or those silly things where its a description of himself (blood type, weight, eye and hair color etc.) incase he loses his memory. He would make you his wallpaper but it would be something probably without your face, like maybe if you gave him matching bracelets it would be of that example vv

SODAPOP CURTIS Sodapop will either have something completely dumb or very smart for his wallpaper. It could be one of those high quality images of space or the nerd emoji just really bad quality.

bonus, he never clears his notifications and likes to look at them and pretend he's super popular even though half of them are of Darry asking him where he is. He would make you his wallpaper, it would totally be a candid of you two goofing off together. example vv

STEVE RANDLE I think Steve would never have a serious photo as his wallpaper, UNLESS it's of him at the gym. (im so sorry.) It one of those photos that he uses everytime he gets a 'wdyll' text, he's so proud of that photo. Or it's one of those lobotomy core slideshows that he crudely screenshotted and made his wallpaper LMAO if he puts you in his wallpaper, he makes sure he looks cool. If he likes how he looks in the photo, you're good. example vv

TWO BIT MATHEWS ok forgive me for this one guys but Two Bit's phone wallpaper is obviously those ai generated images of Mickey Mouse where they make him have face tattoos, grillz, cigars, hellcats etc. he loves it so much that he uses ai to make multiple ones every now and then to get new wallpapers LOLL if you're in his wallpaper it's going to be a funny pic, something goofy or when he catches you off guard. example vv

BONUS: it's one of those awkward jc penny photos LMAO he would LIVE for those example vv

DARRY CURTIS Darry is the grandma, and for that reason, he probably 1) has a phone but rarely uses it, 2) doesn't have a phone, or 3) has an ipad. His wallpaper is either the gang or it's of some motivational quote against a very pretty sunset. or it's just the basic wallpaper that came with the phone. he'll always want you on his wallpaper (once he learns its a thing that couples do), he'll choose the best photo of you he has. It is a good photo but its just you looking straight at the camera and although he can look at it all day, the rest of the guys pretend to have staring contests with you on the wallpaper. example vv

DALLAS WINSTON say it with me now, dallas winston can not afford a phone and the phone plan!!!!!! dallas winston is a BROKIE. he is a BROKIE!!! and even if he did have a phone the screen would be so cracked that you wouldn't even be able to make out what the wallpaper was supposed to be. But if you could, it would probably be a photo he thinks is 'tuff', him with Buck smoking a cig against buck's car, dallas showing off his heater, a bunch of his belonging that he thinks are cool (rings, cigarette boxes, the heater and the st.christopher necklace) he would not put you on his wallpaper. NEVER. and im sorry to the dally girlies, i know how you feel because i am a dally girlie too </3. the only way i see you being on his wallpaper, is if you are in one of his 'tuff' photos, or your hand accidentally brushed the counter he set his things to take a photo of them. example vv

i found all the photos on pinterest and although i sincerely hope this doesnt affect my pinterest fyp LMAO none of the photos were used to hate or bash on anyones looks, every one here is super pretty and i am going to marry them,

[sigynpenniman]

DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING TO FIND AO3 BLOCKED ON YOUR WORK OR SCHOOL WIFI?

So, something has happened overnight.

Many major companies and institutions use a tech called Cisco Umbrella to block “potentially objectionable” domains - porn, violent content, etc. Cisco Umbrella primarily works using categories, which, while changable by users, are pre-set by Cisco. So Cisco builds a list of websites which are, for example, "adult," and then makes that a category that a company can block all at once from its network. When you, as a network admin, choose to block "adult" websites in cisco umbrella, if you don't make changes to that list yourself, everything in that list is blocked on the domain.

There's another system called OpenDNS. OpenDNS allows you to block websites on your *home* network. If you have an OpenDNS account you can also participate in what's called "community tagging." community tagging allows people to tag certain websites, and I guess if you use OpenDNS you can block things with those tags...idk, I don't use it.

Here's the bit that matters: OpenDNS and Cisco Umbrella are owned by the same company. It appears that Cisco Umbrella, to some extent, uses OpenDNS community tags to sort websites.

Someone on OpenDNS has community tagged Ao3 as a "tasteless" website. Community tags can be proposed by anyone, but they have to be approved by a moderator. It seems a moderator has approved this tag. Because of the moderator approved tag, it looks like Ao3 has been bundled into *Cisco Umbrella's* blocked sites list for "adult" content. So now, any library, school, business, etc which is blocking Cisco Umbrella’s “adult” category is now blocking Ao3.

Here’s how you can help.

Go here (https://signup.opendns.com/homefree/) to create an OpenDNS account. This is free. Don’t do any of the steps to create or configure a network, JUST make an account. Be sure to uncheck any promotional checkboxes. Once your account is made, be sure to confirm your email, and the confirmation may go into spam - mind did, just be aware. Once you have an account made, go to https://login.opendns.com/ and log in with the account you've made.

It should take you here.

From here, click the small "community" button at the top.

It will bring you here. You will be likely prompted to create a display name. Pick something random, you won't need it again.

Click on “domain tagging." It will bring you here.

There's a small searchbox in the top right labeled "check a domain." enter archiveofourown.org in this field and hit go. You should be brought here.

What you want to do now is hit the "Flag for Review" button under "Tagged: Tasteless." Don't worry about the other tags. They are candidate tags, not approved/applied and aren't doing anything. The "tasteless" one that's been mod approved is the only one we're worried about. "Flag for review" will open a small text box.

Type in whatever you like here, but PLEASE be academic and respectful. Focus on how "tasteless" is an inaccurate and offensive description for the content. Hit submit.

That's it, you're done.

I do want to be clear about one thing - I am not 100% sure this is going to remove this domain from the cisco adult list, but I'm hoping. The “tasteless” tag that is present on OpenDNS was submitted in 2015. Now, it is not clear when the moderator approved this tag. They may have approved it last night, or in 2015. That date does not appear to be visible. I’m not sure what happened overnight that caused Ao3 to slip into the Cisco umbrella adult category. My best guess is that either the tag was approved last night, or Cisco suddenly started grouping the “tasteless” community tag under adult. It is interesting to me that previous tags such as pornography have been actively mod rejected, so it looks like this one being approved might have been one person with a vendetta. Either way, right now, this seems to be the root of the issue. Domains can be individually allowed on networks by network admins, so if you have to petition your school or place of work it's possible, but I think if we can fix the OpenDNS tag, we can fix it everywhere at once. Hopefully, if we can get enough flags for review in a short enough period of time, it will force them to review it.

Come, help me out here. Let's try and get Ao3 unblocked on the country's schools and libraries.

[greyborn2]

Elisif headcanons now! (friendly tone ofc <3) Why do you think she would be a good marriage candidate? I'm curious :)

Yesssss!!! Okay - so this boils down to two categories. Personal interest in it, and underrated narrative JUICE. Starting with the former because its easier to begin with. So Elisif is just... she's neat. She's simultaneously one of the most politically important people in skyrim while also being COMPLETELY overshadowed by the men around her (Nobody talks about her, really, they talk of Torygg. The civil war isnt her vs ulfric, its TULLIUS vs ulfric. Her own decisions in court the first time we even see her are seemingly overruled on a dime by her own court, by Falk.). Its like she's this big thing of incredible importance and is constantly hidden away both in narrative and in game. But despite that, if you actually sneak in a bit, ignore all the big figures standing in front of her and propping themselves up on top of her, she has a surprising amount of meat to her.

Most of the Jarls are like... a few word summary at best. Greedy idiot boy, honourable honorman, paranoid bigot, old seer, etc etc etc. You get an initial impression of them and thats kinda it. Ulfric has a lot more, obviously, because he's a major character but it would *SEEM* that Elisif should be on the lower end of content. It takes so much to seek her out in her overshadowed little corner after all, but she has so so so much surprising stuff around her. The necromancer potema plot revolves around her, a whole big dialogue tree that isnt super common to see for a jarl, some touching personal quests that go into detail about how she saw her late husband. Its just all super compelling to me to have a character that, despite being so important, is *soooo* hidden away actually have some meat to her. Plus she's just a nice person!!! ANYWAYS!! PART 2!! The JUICE!!

For starters, I think, there should just be more opportunities for the dragonborn to play the political game if they want. Beyond just choosing a side in a war or ticking off their 'thane of everywhere' list, actually getting in on climbing the ladder and enmeshing oneself with the politics of the land they're in. BUT BUT... same can be said for Ulfric. Absolutely true. I do think he should also be a marriage candidate. BUT...

I think Elisif PARTICULARLY makes sense as a marriage opportunity that isn't one you seek out, but one that is put forward to the player. Specifically with an Imperial victory in the civil war.

The war is won. Alduin MAY or MAY NOT be slain. But either way, no matter what, at this point the dragonborn is a war hero, a champion of the people, and decorated imperial legate. And this would be fucking FRIGHTNING, I think, to the politicians back in Cyrodiil. There's a *history* of war hero dragonborns, popular with the people, turning on their commanders and declaring themselves emperor afterall. Oh boy is there a precedent. Suddenly they're the big figure in a war that was supposed to be Tullius' duty and they might start sweating in their boots a little.

SO... after the war is won... the legion starts... pushing. Just a little. A few letters, a few comments, that the dragonborn should maybe marry Elisif. Become High King by marriage. Lock them in and satisfy the war hero with a political title off in the ass end of the empire before they turn their gaze toward a ruby throne. Don't give them time to think on it. Ooooh look tasty treat right here shhhh dont think yes you did very good dragonborn yes yes be high king.

I think from there it could go one of three ways;

1) Last Dragonborn marries Elisif but with her actually agreeing to the union (after completing her personal quests) and she FINALLY steps out of the shadows. Rather than the expected you using her for power, she uses YOU for power. You allow yourself to be the thing she props herself up on and finally really starts coming into public view. Maybe to the nervousness of the Empire as she's a less eager puppet then they might have thought, now.

2) Last Dragonborn falls right into the trap the empire placed. You didnt do the quests for Elisif, she remains in the shadows, there's a loveless marriage and you get to be satisfied with a big title that hopefully keeps you occupied.

3) Last Dragonborn refuses all of this. Things seem to proceed as they do in canon but... well... maybe you notice a few more non-DB assassins using imperial weapons attacking you on the road then you did before. Curious.

[ho-for-joequinn-fics]

Display of Death

A/N: Just another Emperor Geta fic, this time inspired by a dream I had. The beginning part and smut wasn’t part of the dream, but I wanted to add some sort of backstory for the reader and extra context for this. Either way, enjoy my fellow Emperor Geta whores. This one is a dark one 😘

Emperor Geta x senator’s daughter!Reader (the reader’s age isn’t specified in this fic, but she can be in her 20s or 30s depending on your personal preference.)

warnings: 18+ only! This fic is not for minors, so DNI! mentions of a character being drugged into a state of incapacitation, psychotic!reader, possessive!reader, descriptions of murder, dismemberment and public display of a human corpse, horny!Geta (he’s into that savage murder shit 😏), unprotected p in v smut, profanity, etc

At first it wasn’t easy for Emperor Geta to choose the woman he wanted to make his future Empress. He had met several candidates over the course of a week and not a single one met the high standards he held, neither of them had the bravery, bold confidence, vulgar display of power, or even the beauty that he was looking for.

That was until you caught his attention.

You weren’t even one of the women that were chosen as a potential candidate, you were just the daughter of a senator who kept you out of the limelight of the Roman Empire your whole life. Of course that finally backfired on your father when you managed to drug him with the sedatives you asked your lifelong caretaker to smuggle in to you so you could sneak out for a night to finally have some sense of freedom.

You were wandering the grounds of Palatine Hill when you unfortunately ran into General Acacius, who also happened to be accompanied by Emperor Geta. You hadn’t met either of the Emperors prior to this, your father made sure to keep you as far away from them as possible, and with reason.

“Y/N? What are you doing out so late by yourself? Where is your father?” The General had a nervous frown on his face as he marched towards you, but you simply rolled your eyes in response. Your father had him wrapped around his finger when it came to making sure you were out of the public eye.

“Is it a crime to go for a late night walk?” You crossed your arms over your chest, ignoring his question regarding the whereabouts of your father, you didn’t need him getting in the way of your plans. “Last I checked, I’m a grown woman who has every right to do what I want without my father’s selfish ass controlling my every move.”

“You know how he feels about you going out--”

“And I don’t give a damn how that piece of shit feels!” You snapped, a fire in your eyes as you stepped towards General Acacius and jabbed your finger into his chest. “I don’t care who the fuck he or you are, if I want to choose my freedom over his ridiculous prison-like rules, then I’m going to! I’m done letting him keep me hidden away like I’m some sort of fucking embarrassment to him!”

“You know that’s not why he keeps you out of the public eye.”

“The other senators don’t keep their daughters hidden away like he does with me. Now why is that, huh? Tell me!” Your anger was rising and patience wearing thin, not paying any mind to the Emperor who was now completely enamored with you and the rage you exuded, you were the full center of his attention.

“I can’t say.”

You laid a harsh smack across the General’s face before forcefully grabbing him by the jaw so you could stare him in the eyes. “Tell me or I’ll fucking kill you, Marcus.” Your cold, dark eyes held truth to your words, which had him swallowing thickly. He knew you weren’t fibbing, he could feel the blade of the dagger you were now pressing against his jugular.

Where the hell was she hiding that dagger?

“He keeps you hidden from them.” His eyes flicked towards the right in the direction of where Emperor Geta was standing watching the whole ordeal play out, but his voice was barely above a whisper so Geta couldn’t hear his answer to your question.

You laughed bitterly at that, sheathing your dagger back into its place before stepping away from General Acacius. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. Keeping me prisoner all these years because he’s afraid they’d corrupt me? Well the joke’s on him because he’s the reason I turned into a full blown psychopath!”

You clenched your fists by your sides as you turned away from him, now staring back towards the direction of your luxurious home where your incapacitated father currently resided. “He’s lucky I only drugged him into a coma, I very well could have slit his throat like I wanted to. I have some restraint, you know.”

The General zoomed past you towards your house to make sure your dad was still alive and breathing and you only scoffed before turning to finally face Emperor Geta, taking in the sight of his extremely handsome features for the first time since he became Emperor. The way he was staring at you with a carnal desire made your heart pound away in your chest, but it’s what he said next that filled you with an excitement you’d never felt before.

“I’ve finally found my future Empress.”

~

Thanks to Emperor Geta, you finally earned the freedom you’d been craving for the majority of your teenaged and adult life. He ordered for your father to be arrested for wrongful imprisonment and had him stripped of his senatorial title. Your father begged for leniency, but Geta wasn’t having it. He told your father his punishment was lenient enough because he could have had him killed instead. You wouldn’t have minded that, if you were being honest.

Word spread quite quickly that Emperor Geta had chosen you to be his Empress-to-be and to say that most of the girls who were actual candidates were displeased about that decision is an understatement. They discussed amongst themselves how it was unfair that he chose you instead of one of them and came up with a plan to try and get Emperor Geta to change his mind and pick one of them instead. Little did they know, that plan was going to backfire.

Those girls had zero clue of how psychotic you were, how when something was rightfully yours, you would fight for it to the death, and of course that something in this case was Emperor Geta. The night you two first met, he took you back to his chambers at the palace where you spent the whole night into the morning talking and getting to know each other. By morning it was as though you’d known each other your whole lives, you were officially inseparable.

The girls enacted their plan as soon as possible, deciding they would one by one flirt and be extra friendly with Emperor Geta until he caved and chose one of them to be his Empress instead. Except only one of them was able to attempt their plan before you got your hands on her and showed the rest of them you were not to be trifled with. When you realized what they were up to, it had your blood boiling and thinking about how they had the audacity to try and steal him from you when it was you that he clearly wanted, not them.

After stealing borrowing some weaponry from The Colosseum armory, you stalked the first girl who attempted to flirt with Geta and steal his attention and heart from you, waiting until dusk and when she was completely vulnerable before striking her down. When your time to shine arrived, the first thing you did was repeatedly force your dagger into her spinal cord to render her paralyzed. The maniacal laugh you let out as she collapsed with pained gasps sent haunting shivers right through her.

Your pupils were blackened with a murderous rage as you stood above her, staring down at her with a twisted grin as you unsheathed the sword you had taken from the armory. “You see, this all could have been avoided had you not schemed behind my back to steal what’s rightfully mine. I don’t take lightly to jealous little girls thinking they can convince my husband-to-be into picking one of them over me. There’s a reason he didn’t choose any of you. If only you could have gotten that through your thick skulls so none of you had to die.”

“Please...” She gasped, trying to reach out to grab you but unable to do so due to the traumatic injury to her spinal cord. “You don’t have to do this.” She really thought begging and pleading was going to help her case. How cute.

“Too late. I’m already committed.” You gave her a wicked grin this time before severing one of her arms clean off with the newly sharpened sword, watching with a sadistic sense of pride as blood spewed out of her wound. Her anguished scream had you inhaling deeply through your nose with closed eyes as you relished in the delightful sound, your grin only growing more wicked. “Aaahh I love the sound of suffering in the evening.”

Not another word was spoken from her before you were quite literally hacking her into pieces, your final blow cutting her head clean off her torso. But you weren’t done with her yet, oh no, you had to show all of the other girls the consequence of trying to take what’s yours. The first thing you did was impale her head on a stake and publicly displayed it for all of Rome to see come tomorrow. Then you scattered the rest of her remains around the spot where you placed the stake and used her blood to write a warning on the adjacent wall.

After arriving at the palace not long after finishing your deadly duties, you quickly cleaned yourself up before slipping into bed in Geta’s chambers, finding comfort in his bed rather than your own. He wasn’t there at the moment, he was still unfortunately dealing with some important matters regarding the next gladiatorial contest at The Colosseum, but you were quite content either way. Your adrenaline was still rampant after what you’d just done out of full blown possessive love. You couldn’t wait to tell Geta all about it.

~

Screams of terror. That’s what woke you out of your peaceful slumber and it had you grinning deviously knowing exactly what the screams were about. Geta stirred beside you, opening his eyes with displeased grumbles about how it was too early to be woken by people screaming bloody murder.

You turned on your side to face him with a cheeky grin, reaching to gently brush your thumb against his cheekbone. “That would be my fault, my love. It seems someone’s discovered my lovely display of death that I put out last night.”

Geta gave his head a curious tilt to the side, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “What do you mean by "display of death"?” He knew you couldn’t have killed your father and put him on public display as a way of getting back at him after all those years being imprisoned in your own home since he was now locked up for life himself, so who exactly did you kill?

“Why those girls who were chosen as candidates to be your potential future Empress were conspiring against me to steal you away from me, so I taught them a lesson by brutally murdering and dismembering the first girl who even dared to try stealing your attention and heart from me. Now she’s on public display for everyone to see and know that their future Empress is just as sadistic and unhinged as the Emperor she’s set to marry.”

Geta’s heart fluttered wildly in his chest at your confession, falling even more in love with you over the fact that you were so willing to kill over him. Grinning widely at you, he reached out to cup your cheek in his hand. “Oh, my beloved, you are so beautiful, violent, and vulgar. I just knew I made the right choice in choosing you to be my Empress.” Immediately his lips were on yours, his other hand cupping your other cheek as he rolled over until he was positioned on top of you, rolling his hips forward to let you feel how hard he’d become.

You moaned wantonly at the feeling of his hard cock grinding against your clothed center, rocking your hips in tandem with his own movements as you reached to start stripping him of his sleep robe. “Please, my liege, I need you.” You murmured into the kiss, your fingers gliding down the center of his bare chest towards his erection where your fingers wrapped firmly around the base.

“Whatever my bride-to-be wants, my bride-to-be gets.” He mused as he brought his own hands down to start ridding you of your own garments, carelessly tossing them to the floor before bringing you into another kiss just as he glided his length through your arousal soaked folds. “Mmm... Already so wet for me?” He pushed into your sopping cunt then, earning a mewl mixed with pain and pleasure from you as your walls swallowed up each thick inch of him.

“Oh my gods, you’re so big.” You whimpered, your eyes rolling into the back of your head once he set a steady rhythm in thrusts, your legs wrapping firm around his waist while your hands gripped onto his broad shoulders. You could already feel the fire within your belly growing, knowing you probably weren’t going to last very long seeing how this was your first time and you had yet to build up your sexual stamina. Your eyes moved to look up at Geta as he fucked into you, your gazes meeting and further feeding the fires growing within both of you.

“You feel so divine, beloved. Buried inside you is my official favorite place to be. Not even the deadliest of gladiatorial contests beats being buried inside this perfect wet cunt of yours.” He moaned delightedly as he kept your gaze, resting each hand at either side of your head nestled against the pillows beneath it, grinning from ear to ear at your pleased moan in response to his words. He dipped his head down after a minute to start kissing and nipping along your throat, then up towards your jaw, working his way back towards your mouth where he kissed you with fervor.

Tongues collided as you returned his kiss with matching passion and energy, your fingers working their way into his hair where you gave harsh tugs as a way of showing how good he was fucking you, the nails of your other hand dragging down the length of his shoulder blade. “Just like that, my love. M’not gonna last very much longer.” You murmured with a particularly harsh squeeze around his length, earning a guttural moan from his throat that sent shivers of arousal right through you.

“I’m close too. You just feel so good, beloved.” He sighed contently, lowering one of his hands to find your clit so he could rub gentle but quick circles into it, pulling a pleased cry from your throat. “Let go for me. Want us to cum together, can you let go for me?” He hummed as he kept up his pace and force in thrusts, applying a little more pressure to his rubs on your clit until you were finally clenching tight around his cock and coming undone with a loud cry of his name, him right there with you as he filled you with a guttural moan of your name.

“Thank you.” You panted, finally breaking the silence after the two of you came down from your highs, Geta’s head lifting from where he had nuzzled it against your breasts with a satisfied smile. For your first time being intimate together, this was better than how either of you imagined it to be, but you knew the more sex you had, the more mindblowing it would become. Personally he couldn’t wait until you were ready for him to make you scream on his cock while he fucked his heir into you.

“Mmmm thank you.” He leaned in to press a softer kiss to your lips this time, pulling back after a few moments with a smile. “Shall we get dressed and check out that lovely display of death you created?”

“I would love nothing more.”

Thank you for reading! I know it’s kinda short and the smut isn’t the best I’ve written, but comments and reblogs are highly appreciated 🥺

Tagging: @userchai @myherometalhead

[quillkiller]

sirius and regulus as kids, naive and uncertain, experimenting with sex. clumsy handjobs and the likes. And as teenagers they blth remember it only sirius considers it a mistake of youth and half hopes regulus doesn’t remember it. while regulus spends his whole life waiting for sirius and wishing he’d change his mind, consciously or not choosing people who remind him of Sirius the most

!!!!!!

i think it’s soooo interesting to explore because like, neither of them are strangers to family members having to marry, their parents being second cousins and all. so i think familial love gets mixed up with all other types of love and feelings. wires crossed and misunderstandings of boundaries when it comes to brotherly affection / other types of affection because their only role models are already family members who are married. <- difference being that sirius and regulus are 1. siblings and 2. brothers (two boys) so it wouldn’t be encouraged, but it’s understandable that trying to understand how to be brothers in such a fucked up household would be. a Challenge

i think everything drastically changes because of the very fact that sirius gets sorted into gryffindor. suddenly his world opens up in a way it hasn’t for any other family black members in however long, and his little brother doesn’t follow because he’s sorted into slytherin. his world doesn’t open up, he’s stuck in the same cycle of abuse and has always been weaker to begin with it, so nothing changes for him. he follows his ancestors foot steps, sirius does not. <- that’s not to say slytherins are all bad / can’t break free from their roots, i mean look at andromeda etc etc. but! regulus never will ! and one reason, to me, is out of pure spite / wanting to prove himself / prove that he can be better than sirius

i don’t ever consider either of them being fully aware that they’re experimenting sexually together, but i do consider regulus being more aware of it and/or being more affected by it than sirius. sirius understands the basic concept of ’incest! bad!’ and he does think that his parents are incestuous freaks lmao, and most of this is because he got out. he gets sorted into gryffindor, gets to spend almost every day with people from families that are complete opposites to his own family, etc ! so like. he understands the concept of incest being bad, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he knows where the line gets crossed when it comes to his brother. he doesn’t fully understand what a big brother should and shouldn’t do for his kid brother, the lines have been smudged so long ago, have been crossed so many times. he’s fucked! up! they’re fucked! up!

regulus also understands the concept of ’incest! bad!’ but mainly in regards to his feelings for his brother. he doesn’t find it strange that his parents are second cousins. it’s about keeping the bloodline pure and the house of black is special !! however, reg and sirius are not cousins and they’re brothers (two boys), so he understands that what he feels for sirius is wrong. he knows he’s not going to marry his big brother, knows they can’t have children, etc, knows even that other purebloods would frown at them, so he knows he’s gross and awful and despicable for needing and wanting his brother the way he does. hates his girl cousins for being more appropriate candidates than he’ll ever be but never ever wishing he was sirius’ girl-cousin because he wouldn’t trade being his little brother for anything <- i don’t think that regulus fully comprehends that he’s in love with his brother

i think you’re sooo right about sirius hoping and wishing that regulus wouldn’t remember. like it was such a fucked up part of their youth where neither of them really understood when or where they crossed the line, so obviously it was never something that they ever communicated. it was simply how they loved each other as the black brothers, the heir & the spare, from a fucked up home where familial love and romantic love/lust so easily got mixed up or blurred together. and like. sirius was his older brother, and he’s the one who got out, a chance at normal, and when he finally grasps what went down between him and regulus when they were younger he never ever forgives himself for it. he was supposed to know better, was supposed to protect regulus, take care of him. and now he has to live with understanding what he did to his baby brother ! and maybe it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t know better, but that also doesn’t always matter :/ sirius i Love you.. :( (<- to me, remus is the only marauder who knows about this and who sirius trusted with this. not that he wouldnt trust james, but i don’t think sirius would want james to know this about his childhood)

whereas regulus never gets a chance at normal. his world never opens up. things never change for him, and he will always love his brother just as much as he hates him, has always loved him as much as he hates him. he never tells anyone, never sits down and reconsider his childhood or his feelings for sirius because he simply doesn’t have those resources, his friend group comes from families similar to his own, his friends are people equally as fucked up as he is (<- two twins who entered an incestuous relationship when they were far too young and a kid with major daddy issues who simply grew up Wrong and thinks the rosier twins and their relationship is a perfect example of what family should be). so yeah, regulus never gets a clear view of his and sirius’ fucked up relationship. maybe doesn’t even comprehend that it was actually incestuous. and so he constantly tries ro recreate his fantasies with other people, but never tells anyone, and then one day barty offers his body and says ’you can pretend im him’ and regulus FREAKS out. because that doesn’t belong to barty. doesn’t belong to anyone but himself. it’s private. his disgusting perverse secret smothering his heart.

they make me! crazy !!!!!!! crazy !!!!!

[mariacallous]

Hi sorry if this is bothering you, I just thought you might had advice or something. This year will be my first year I can legally vote and I'm so scared and upset. I know voting isn't choosing who's your ideal candidate but who's the less worst candidate but I'm still always stressing about the fact it feels like no matter what I vote or if I don't vote, I do the morally wrong thing. There's no good option is there? I'm either supporting a slowed march to fascism and a guy aiding in crimes against humanity across the world or I'm effectively doing nothing and letting a blatant fascist take office, and that crime against humanity across the world will go on, and more violence will happen. I don't know what to do i'm genuinely in a crisis.

The morally wrong thing is not voting for the best possible option. In this case, it is Biden without any question or doubt.

Anything else, and even with, respectfully, your stark and skewed framing, is fundamentally endorsing further harms and worse crimes and atrocities.

Your framing ignores all of the good that comes with a Democratic president and a Democratic congress. And a Democratic governor, and Democratic state legislature, and Democratic attorneys general and mayors and city councils etc.

If you do not vote for Biden, you are saying that you are actually okay with a fascist take office and further loss of rights across the board.

That's the reality.

[asleepinawell]

lingering questions and thoughts on the dlc lore

first off, some of these may have been addressed in item descriptions and i either 1) missed an item or 2) read it but it was 3am and my brain didn't retain some detail

all opinions are just opinions etc, i have no interest in getting in lore fights and block people who try and start them. I'm too tired for that shit. this is just fun speculation

one question i had that i feel must have been answered was what was the scadutree actually for?

what was the timeline regarding messmer and melina's birth? they're referred to together as if they're twins or were born close together. my assumption was that messmer at least was radagon's kid with marika, but the dialogue of the story trailer implies his purge took place shortly after marika's ascension. marika could have split off radagon fairly early (even as part of the process of becoming a god like miquella and st trina) but there was no mention of them having kids until after the rennala thing much later on. my assumption about his parentage is based on 1) hair color and 2) he has a special curse which gives him something in common with malenia/miquella. he is not an empyrean though so maybe radagon isn't the dad (did you fuck the god devouring snake marika????)

i don't want to touch on the miquella and radahn stuff too much since I'm not interested in The Discourse. (i found the parts of the story about marika and the hornsent to be far more interesting). i will say that while the radahn thing felt like it came out of nowhere, the reason miquella didn't choose malenia is probably because 1) she's another empyrean and therfore a candidate for being a god, not a lord, and 2) she's already been claimed by a god. godwyn would have been the more lore logical choice but he didn't even get a mention, like "miquella wanted him but his soul was gone". so weird choice (and bad boss fight) but eh

i'm not sure if miquella's two fingers is ever commented on but he and ranni both followed a similar path in abandoning their flesh to remove themselves from the greater will's influence except ranni then went feral and stabbed hers to death and then got engaged while still covered in its blood. 10/10 no notes

one thing I'd wanted but hadn't expected to get was the reason marika smashed the ring. the whole "woman went crazy because her son died" thing is very grrm and 😬 about what i expect from how his writing handles women, BUT! i think the dlc gives a more complicated possibility for this. marika gets her tragic backstory (which i was also dreading because grrm) and it's one that actually made a lot of sense in terms of the lore and did a good job explaining her actions without justifying them (she slapped the cycle of violence on the roof and was like this bad boy can fit so much perpetuation). the fact she removed death from the elden ring after having witnessed the brutal extermination of her people makes complete sense. and then her son gets killed. she obtained godhood to punish the hornsent and to protect what was left of her people (which seems to mostly be the children she had later) and the elden ring failed her and her kid died. it wasn't grief over her son, so much as past trauma mixed with extreme anger. she took on godship to prevent this and the elden ring had failed her. it had one job basically. radagon, who lacked her memories, was immune to this. overall i think that's a decent plot compared to what it could have been

the whole story with the hornsent also makes the story of morgot and mohg much darker (and it was already dark). marika must have been really pissed and upset to have omen children (maybe part of why she ditched godfrey?). since they were her blood she wouldn't have killed them (since protecting the last of the shamans/numen was her thing), but man. fucked up if true etc

marika probably would have gone apeshit about jarburg if she hadn't been off being crucified

also since ranni was not marika's kid (or wasn't raised by her per se) she might not have known anything about marika's backstory and not expected marika's reaction to godwyn's death. edit: this is not me being like ranni did nothing wrong. i support women's wrongs. i think they should do more of them. more like, imagine ranni kills godwyn and then suddenly marika smashes the ring and all the other demigods go nuts and start waging war and she's just like huh. wild. and then fucks off to her tower until they all get it out of their systems

the lgbtq community has forgiven mohg is possibly the funniest narrative choice they could have made. poor man didn't even get to yell sex in his fight 😔. at least he had some of the sickest looking moves in the game

rellana was the best boss in the dlc and possibly the whole game imo. the fact she may have been into messmer is really funny though because 1) if you go age of stars that is now your aunt in law kicking your ass and 2) your aunt in law who is into the brother of your wife. what a family. no wonder ranni wants to go to space

[amelikos]

Gibeon seems to take betrayal very personally. He even took a dig at Amethio's father, presumably, when he told Amethio "so you were the same, you would stray from the path too...". He seems to hold a lot of bitterness over what happened. Given how he talks about him, it's no wonder that Amethio started seeing his father in a negative light and would say that he is not like him in an attempt to distance himself from him.

I wonder if Amethio's father will show up soon. I still think Crave (Friede's former superior at Exceed) is the only candidate for it from the characters we've seen so far. He showed up in the same episode Gibeon was revealed to be Amethio's grandfather, he seems kind and caring (and apparently, Gibeon doesn't like that), and they made sure to show that he is a married man. So it's either him or a character we haven't met yet. But I think Amethio's father is alive, not only because of the way they talk about him, but also because I think Amethio will mend his relationship with him and he'll have a home to come back to in the end. If Liko, Roy and Dot's families are there for the trio to come back home to, then I think Amethio's situation will be similar (or at least, I hope so).

Going back to Gibeon, I wonder if he perceives whatever happened with Lucius as betrayal, and now casts people away at the slightest hint of what he views as betraying him (Amethio's father, and now Amethio himself...). Gibeon seems affected by "betrayal" and maybe "choosing something/someone over him" from his reactions in the episode... From what has been implied so far, Amethio's father didn't take up Gibeon's will and chose his own path and wants (family, career..). And Amethio's actions in this episode made it look like he "chose" the enemy (Liko) over Gibeon, from his grandfather's perspective.

All of this makes me curious because all the framing around Lucius so far makes it look like Gibeon is the one who did something to betray him, hence why Terapagos seems to have a strong negative reaction to Gibeon's name being mentioned. But now, it also looks like Gibeon is affected by betrayal, potentially for a reason that has roots to the past (and which has been amplified by Amethio's father straying from the path, etc).

Liko's line about hearing people out ("I can see that there is stuff you'll never know if you don't hear people out") might have been the most important line in this episode. She got to talk with Amethio and they both got to hear each other out and understand each other better. And she only had to ask to receive answers. Meanwhile, Gibeon refused to hear Amethio out and shut down the possibility for dialogue. Which means that there is stuff he will never know, because he wasn't willing to hear Amethio out. It makes me wonder if whatever happened between Lucius and Gibeon is a huge misunderstanding that could have been solved if Gibeon was willing to hear the other party out. Like, what if Gibeon is dragging everyone in his messy breakup with Lucius over something that could have been easily avoided and solved, and what if there are huge misconceptions and misunderstandings on his side.

[bestworstcase]

i do think it’s thematically important that the maidens are inherited in this specific way, it’s not an accident that when the narrative sets down the rules the potential violence is not just remarked upon but given emphasis and used explicitly as justification for the aura transfer machines. nearly everything ozpin does is rooted in keeping the maidens within his control—selecting candidates in anticipation of their deaths, giving the branwens bird forms to identify maidens when the line of inheritance jumps the tracks, chaining the maidens to these vaults, etc—and his greatest adversary in this endeavor is the maidens themselves, because the magic preferentially selecting maiden-killers is, in effect, the magic fighting against this control.

why does the magic transfer itself like this? it will not be controlled. throughout the years ozma and his allies have devoted enormous effort to dictating the Final Thoughts of anyone who receives this power in order to maintain control over it (& their abject failure in this regard leads to the invention of the aura transfer machines); meanwhile the magic binds itself to "random" heirs if the candidate its host has in mind is unsuitable, and prefers to go to ozma’s enemies when it can.

(and do mark that. the person in the maiden’s Final Thoughts is explicitly only a suggestion, one the magic can and will disregard if he or she is unsuitable. ozpin et al believe that these candidates are only rejected if they are 1. male or 2. too old, but none of them can read minds; and as ozpin says, maidens choose themselves. it’s just as likely that there are additional disqualifying criteria, such as the candidate being coerced or just not being spiritually compatible. there’s no reason to think that KILLING A MAIDEN couldn’t be a disqualifying act if the magic were unwilling.)

of note in this regard is that cinder breaks amber’s aura (orange) before using the beetle to draw out the magic (golden):

which matters because the magic is attached to aura and separates at the moment of death; as i said in the last post, the grimm beetle is successful because it respects the magic’s own rules. cinder breaks the outward projection of amber’s soul and then shoots her in the back (symbolically, killing her) and then claims the magic as she begins to die. had she walked up and slit amber’s throat here instead, she would have almost certainly inherited all of the magic too. the grimm beetle thumbs the scales a bit but in the context of the magic’s rules, it’s playing ball.

whereas:

when cinder uses her arm to drain raven’s/penny’s auras, she doesn’t gain any portion of the spring/winter maiden’s magic, nor do either of them suffer lasting harm in the vein of amber (coma) or pietro (holes burned through his aura).

so there’s nothing special about grimm that allows them to violate the magical rules. all evidence suggests that the ATMs don’t work for this purpose either: as soon as amber dies, the magic rips free, and cinder’s grimm arm can harvest aura but not magic. it follows that in the event of a complete aura transfer, the magic would detach from the donor aura as soon as the donor died, leaving the recipient with two souls and no magic. there is a degree of wiggle room (under particular circumstances you can convince the magic to begin separating before the previous maiden is fully dead) but you can’t outright cheat.

which is the whole point. you can’t take a maiden’s magic without killing her and you can’t circumvent the maiden’s agency by stealing the soul of its host. the maidens are unbound by death. and i think there’s a literal causal relationship between how ozma treats the maidens and how they choose their hosts—he can’t use them as weapons without losing them, or outright delivering this magic into salem’s hands. nor can he hoard them or hide them away forever because he can’t dictate their final thoughts.

[queersatanic]

Ok, regarding voting/not voting in the US presidential election because neither candidate is a good option: What other choice is there?

I want to understand because I've seen so many people say that voting for the lesser of two evils is pointless and that I must not actually care about marginalized/oppressed people if I choose to do so, but voting in the presidential election is one of the vanishingly few scraps of influence I feel we have in this country.

Does it amount to much? No. Am I happy about it? No. Are we actually living in a democracy? Not even a little bit. Am I under the impression that Kamala Harris would solve every problem ever had around the world? No, absolutely not. The way I see it, voting for Kamala definitely isn't solving problems. It's just preventing Trump from arriving on the scene to create more problems for us because the last thing any of us need on top of the colossal shit-storm we're all currently dealing with is more bullshit, and of the two viable options that we've been given, Kamala is the one that would give us less of that type of bullshit. Again, I'm not happy about it. I'm fully aware that this is a band-aid solution at best, but this is the most influential thing I can do as a US citizen. There is nothing else I could possibly do as a single individual to meaningfully sway who's in power here.

I'm lucky enough to live in a state that allows us to mail our ballots. Voting only takes me like, five minutes, and it seems worth doing if it prevents us from having Trump back in office, even if Kamala is only better by a miniscule fraction of an amount.

So, if voting is truly pointless, if there's truly zero difference between Kamala and Trump, what should we do instead? I really can't imagine an alternative that would result in swift, positive changes for anyone. (Again, not that voting would create swift, positive change either, but it at least seems like it would give us a better chance at positive change eventually.) Anarchy and protesting and raging against the machine are all well and good, but those are also things that will endanger and cause the deaths of vulnerable people, just as much as voting. Not that they aren't also worth doing, because they are, but it seems like it would be just as lengthy of a process and as impactful as it would be to vote in the election. And it's entirely possible to do those things on top of voting in an election. So I want to know what it is that I should be doing instead. Please help me understand. This is a genuine question, I'm not looking to argue, I want to know what other avenues there are and what I'm not seeing about the situation.

So, here is the simplest way to understand this: replace everything you are saying and thinking about "voting" with "signing a petition". It only takes a few minutes, it amounts to more than nothing, etc., etc.

Do you think that signing a petition — any petition — deserves to be given so much money, attention, conversation, and so on that it forms the boundary of political imagination and is used as a synecdoche for political action?

Sign a petition or don't; vote or don't vote. But it's not the most important thing you do, it shouldn't be the thing you devote hardly any of your life to, and it should not be how you neatly reduce other people around you.

This includes voting third party for president.

This includes writing in "Free Palestine" on your ballot.

This includes not voting at all.

The anarchist critique of electoralism is usually not even that you shouldn't do it but to recognize it for what it is: a mostly meaningless gesture over who you want to run the orphan-crushing machine. You can say that it's important to you to select someone who will read a land acknowledgment while operating the machine or that it's critical with global warming to have an orphan-crushing machine operator who will commit to installing solar panels by 2035 or that it's a moral imperative not to cooperate with the machine at all and express no opinion on who the operator ought to be. But none of that has anything to do with stopping the machine from crushing orphans, and the purpose of a system is what it does.

By the way, this is not new or something that privileged keyboard warriors invented in 2013. A hundred years before that, the Japanese anarchist Ōsugi Sakae wrote a short allegory called "The Chain Factory" about people wrapped in chains, making even more chains they add to it, and the only the factory boss has the key to free all of them.

The narrator wants to free himself, but he needs the help of others, and other people have different ideas about how to go about this.

There are so many who do not realize that they are bound by chains. There are many more still who, were they to realize it, would only be grateful for their chains. There are also many who, while not grateful, have resigned themselves to working industriously to forge their chains. And there are the many who, seeing the chain-making as ridiculous, frequently find openings in the watch of the guards to rest their bodies while harbouring selfish delusions in their heads and passionately spouting nonsense about actually being free and not bound by chains at all. It is more foolish than I can bear to watch. I then suddenly cast my gaze about. I found others around me that seemed to be aligned with me. They are few, and they are scattered all around. But they all desire the key to their bellies in the clutches of the master. And like me, they seem to be aware of being unable to take back their keys alone, so they whisper frequently to their neighbours to forge alliances. “They are few; we are many. They are outnumbered. If we act together, we can take back our keys in one fell swoop.” “However, since we make pronouncements about justice and peace, we must not permit violence. We must proceed through peaceful means. There is a simple way to do this.” “Once a year, we send a representative to the master to decide every aspect of our lives. All of those chaps in that meeting are representatives of the master, and if we muster up our own true representatives now, we can be the majority in the meeting, and that's how we can pass the resolutions that we want.” “All we need to do is shut up and forge the chains. Just continue to wrap the chains around ourselves. Then, when the day comes every few years that we choose our representative, we simply vote for our own representative.” Our representative will gradually loosen our chains, and will, ultimately, take back the key to our bellies from the master. We will then find ourselves in a factory under a new organization and a new system of our own ideals, with our chains in the hands of our representative.”

So, how does this relate your question of what you should be doing? Vote or don't vote in the five minutes it takes you. Find whatever slate recommendation you trust most and follow that, then turn it in or throw it away. But live your life.

Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your coworkers. Bring food to each other. Lend tools to one another. Be available to take people to the airport and pick them up from the hospital. Talk about rent. Talk about wages. Talk about working conditions. Exchange contact info so you don't have to call down the drone strike that is cops showing up in your neighborhood over people yelling. Take people into your home when you can so they can escape domestic violence. Shun rapists so they actually face consequences even if it comes at social cost you yourself. Yes, get trained on first aid and shooting, too.

If all that sounds small, you could argue that. It's certainly more personal. But it's the stuff you do every day to build relationships with another another outside of capitalism and hierarchy, or maybe it's just the cigarette burns you put into those things, hollowing them out.

You creating trust with your coworkers so that you can perform a work stoppage together on any day is much more significant that who you vote for on some day because no matter who you vote for president, they will side with "small business owners" and "main street" over your boss shorting you on your paycheck. You talking to fellow tenants about your living conditions matters much more than your vote for city council because even in the most overwhelming Democratic city, county, and state, your electeds will side with landlords over renters. When there is a hurricane or a heat wave or a pogrom, you will know each other and be there for each other.

Vote or don't vote. When you see a petition coming to put abortion rights on your state's ballot, feel free to sign it. But you'd better have other plans when the courts throw it out. You'd better have plans for when political coalitions who don't recognize you as legitimate regardless of what you and people like you do, because that antagonist coalition will ignore the courts and do what they want anyway.

Anti-electoralism is not about voting. It is about opposing the magical thinking that voting is efficacious or will save us from fascism. The special counsel Robert Muller will not save us from fascism, or the courts, or the media, or the Democrats, or the police. There is no "someone else will solve this for us" that you can rely on, so you should engage in a sort of realistic doomsday prepping that isn't just about bugging out and running off but about creating networks of mutual reliance that build up and exercise the muscles now you will need even more in the future.

[ganondoodle]

fuck it, elden ring DLC rant (spoilers) (long post ... oh dear)

so, to start this- this is a very emotional reaction, so take everything with a ton of salT (i need to get this out of my system bc i need to go and do stuff today, i literally couldnt get much more than 3 hours of sleep bc my mind was racing) i only know two screenshots and what others have told me (thank you) so i might be missing more context and havent seen or read it myself

(more details and spoilers for the DLC below the read more thingy)

also, just to explain a bit, i dont usually get this upset about things i like, i like alot of things, but its RARE as fuck that i care, like actually care care about something, and that just kinda happens, i dont choose it or can decide to not care, i just do, and when something like this happens its like ... a sort of grief? i cant help but care about it but it messes with me emotionally, i have no control over it and cant change anything about it when it gets bad or done dirty, leavign me to just have to watch it be real even when i dont want to accept it-- i wouldnt say so much that i 'expect' somethign specific and cant handle when its not like that (common accusation about disliking totk)- and no i dont have somethign specific in mind, i just dont want it to be bad OR things that seem done and closed off suddendly out of nowhere be revealed to 'actually' have been like this, new stuff that either makes no sense or invalidates alot about what i valued about it, what i thought was the point

(i remember two .. my only two other intersts before- see what i mean RARE- that also went down simiarly like this; transformers (bay movies and mainly prime series, listen i didnt choose it either) with each movie it got more messy and stupid, primes second(?) season had an end i hated and the following movie was the final nail in the coffin- and one piece after that, which i slowly fell out of love with bc every chapter seemed to go more into a direction i didnt like, then the reveal that luffy is a god actually was my final ok i hate that moment)

i knew demise for a long time but wasnt obsessed about him at all, it took me learning about how hylia was depicted in a non canon (?) manga (which made me annoyed me bc i didnt like it and made a design for her to counter demises instead) and then reading his few lines of dialog about her again that it suddendly HIT me, like cupids arrow into my head-- i liked but wasnt that super interested into elden ring until radahn showed up, instantly his design made me go owo and then learning his (base game) lore it HIT me (i love sort of tragic side characters that might have been powerful or heroic at some point but now arent anymore- not saying he is that elden rings lore i messy and no ones good tm- and especially so if that character is widely hated for no good reason, dismissed or forgotten, has little lore etc)

i have things i like but dont care this much about, like okami or bloodborne, i like it alot, theres characters i really like (oki) but im not like, fixated on them?- and to have two at the same time, while not equally strong, i dont think i had before, and then have both be damaged or potentially lose it in a similar way within barely a year hurts so damn much--- anyway, getting into the actual rant now lol

so, to sum things up (that i know), in the elden ring DLC later on

miquella is actually a master manipulator and brainwasher (even to his sister???? which means alot of impactful things about his relationship to people is kinda invalidated or made meaningless, shitty)

he wanted to become a god by marrying radahn (his half? brother, same father) of all people that has never been mentioned before until now somehow?? ) you can argue it was hinted to but i find it completely out of left field

miquella sent malenia after radahn to kill him so he could be put into the realm of shadow so miquella could marry him (there were better candidates for that??)- its unclear (to me) if radahn ever actually accepted when sound of mind or even knew about it at all, but failed and he was isntead inflicted with rot to slowly waste away but not die (like he is in base game)

which also means that, what i found really impactful in base game, the festival of radahn, that i thought was a tragic sort of last wish/effort for of radahn to grant him an honorable death as a respected general after being made into mindless people eating zombie, organized by his soldiers/friends- might have been just yet another attempt to kill him and get him over there to miquella (and even if not, it still makes it way less impactful and now i feel like letting him continue to roam as a zombie is more of a favor than killing him bc hes just gonna a puppet again! which turns the whole tradgedy of the stuff in base game on its head imo)

you need to kill him to get into the DLC (and i was even sus of that but shrugged it off when i heard it ..) bc that way miquella could take whatever was left of his soul and stitch it into mohgs corpse?? (which is why hes so small in that DLC fight) bc his body was rotten by that point, which also allowed miquella to control radahn and make him agree, force him to do whatever miq wanted (which ALSO might mean mohg 'kidnapping' miquella wasnt that actually but mohg too was manipulated so oud kill him and make his remains usable)

radahn in DLC is a voiceless meat puppet essentially ... like a mindless rotting zombie eating friends and fow alike wasnt enough- also means that we never ACTUALLY GET OT KNOW RADAHN HIMSELF bc hes eithe a zombie or a literal puppet (if you are gonna do him dirty at least let us meet actual real him *cries*)

his fight is super hard apparently (though i have been hearing people complain about the entire DLC being too hard, while the -casual player- streamer i watched is beating main bosses so fast they dont even get to start their second phase) when his fight in base game, and him by extentsion, was also hated bc of that ALREADY, which means more people are gonna hate his guts (he doesnt deserve that!!) AND most people probably wont get or care that its not actually HIM him so its like a repeat boss that everyone hates

it feels weirldy forced in for it to be radahn (like miquella was already said to be one of the strongest gods out there .. why hed want radahn so badly when his goal seemed to be rather .. combat less?? if you get what i mean, and radahn also rejected him??? and the tarnished is right there too????) bc theres plenty others it would have worked with that are barely used- it feels like someone jsut wanting him to be tha main guy not matter what (when he worked so much better as a side character!!!!)

a tragic but well rounded off side character (imo) was made into the main guy this is all about actually tm (i generally dont like main guys and this jsut feels so .... it just hurts, it didnt feel foreshadowed at all, and its not even truly HIM that is reveal to be a creepy asshat but hes just manipulated and controlled with the whole time, be it by rot or miquella)

and for miquella its like, no theres no even mildly good people there, hes brainwashed and manipulated everyone actually tm, a giant plan all to force his half brother into marrying him by making him into a corpse puppet bc he rejected miquella- inlcuding potentially manipulating his own twin sister, which goes agaisnt what you learn of what hes done for her in the base game i think?? (not that much into that part but yeah ... it feels unfair to her too)

it also kinda just leaves other lore from the base game in the dust? like the whole haligtree plan, how miquella cared for the rejected (i guess he didnt then??? and it was just more manipulation tm??) that castle with the eclipse stuff

(is the gloom eyes queen, marika, and or st trina even .. important at all to any of this??)

ok from reading tweets from people talkign about it, miquella says radahn agreed apparently but whether thats true remains uncertain and given the circumstances i do not think radahn did- others said that it kinda sounds he agreed to something that he didnt think would involve him marrying miquella

everything feels like its in shambles for every fan of every involved chaarcter

yes i know you can argue that it was all planned from the start and meant to be a twist and everything and that people having a different idea of characters isnt the fault of the creators .... only to some degree bc why then build up make so much lore and story about stuff that turns out to be like saying 'actually it was all a lie' like its not valid to feel betrayed then, you can plan things out all you want but that doesnt mean it cant be bad oder underwhelming

(i wished to be able to meet or know more about radahn but like in a non rot way or like past flashback whatever kind of way and then not like this anyway, like i was interested into his relationship with jerren and just .. more about him i suppose the monkey paw has curled hasnt it -or however you say that-)

and there i was like two days ago going "omg radahn mention!!!" when that one .. feyja? NPC says she fought alongside him at some point ............................................................

leonard isnt there in the DLC to my knowledge, you know it cant be truly radahn if his horse isnt there (the sole reason he learned gravitiy magic for and it stayed with him even after the rot!!! i know people have started to hate it bc people love that but i love that, it made him so endearing to me, like a character i already found cool omg has a confirmed softer spot??? in MY fromsoftware title??)

sorry for the long post of rambling, i am a mess, barely slept 3 hours, yes i am weird to care, autisms or whatever .. i need to go somewhere in an hour and havent prepared as all bc i needed my thoughts out of my head- might have forgotten stuff, idk if i will add it later or just kinda .. stew in it for a while

(and yes a big point why i feel so strongly is both bc its just gonna make more people hate him even more AND feels so invalidating of alot of other stuff- pulls other characters down with it- the entire time i was watching the streams i and trailers i thought i was like, its onw thing, with miquellas littel adventure and more background info on marika mostly on its own from the base game BUT NO I GUESS)

(read all this in the sense of an utteraly disoriented confused and drunken seagull yelling around pls i am not in serious mental distress ..)

[seafoamreadings]

week of november 12th, 2023

these are written predominantly for the *rising* signs but they are also intuitively "channeled" enough that they should work for any dominant energy you have! (try your sun if you don't know rising, or more advanced readers can try moon, anywhere you have a stellium, etc and see what works best for you!)

aries: strong mars and scorpio at present give you a power it is so easy to tap into that it's sometimes also easy to not even notice it's there, or that you have been using it. take it easy on people who are struggling a little more than you these days and if you feel like you're struggling too, put a little extra effort into thinking of all the things that are easy - even if you have to start with stuff like "breathing" or "heart beating"

taurus: the week begins with a new moon in your house of committed partnerships, which also rules over your open enemies. set intentions around where your energy is focused. do those enemies deserve your time and attention? or would you rather direct it at love or at responsibility? maybe you can find a good way to split it, but remember it's not an infinite resource.

gemini: expect (or be the cause of!) productive, candid discussions in relationships or with other types of partners. don't leave things unsaid. even painful outcomes will be for the best this way.

cancerians: your homework, your actual spiritual duty, this week, is to get out there and have fun, whatever that means for you. actually you can stay in and have fun too if you prefer that, but you'd better be enjoying the time. even if a background sadness or frustration tugs at you as you go, find pleasure in as many moments as you can.

leo: big stubborn vibes all week chafe at you. but you're stubborn too, you know? so lighten up and loosen up and let things move around a bit. you will probably like them better wherever they settle than in whatever position you're currently forcefully holding them.

virgo: yet again your commitments, especially in terms of relationships, are called into focus. the astrology is supportive, so if things are good they get better. if things are not good, they feel better for now, but problems are likely to fester, so find them and fix them, and dispose of what you know you can't keep.

libra: in general you're a very relationship-oriented sign but it pays this week, literally, to focus more on your money and resources. all kinds of resources, not just financial ones. likely all of it leads you to much greater prosperity.

scorpio: the new moon in your sign is a great time for self-improvement endeavors, glowups, and anything that puts you in the spotlight of some important attention. set your intentions accordingly.

sagittarius: this week's vibe is both stubborn and shifting. know which way to lean in each given situation rather than choosing a side and sticking to it. authenticity is the best policy, which involves most likely a straightforward yet compassionate honesty.

capricorn: by and large if you get the urge to socialize a bit this week, you should act on it! but be advised that the astrology all week is a bit volatile, so you should proceed with caution out there. still, caution doesn't mean stifling the divine spark of will within you.

aquarius: strong uranian activity does suit you and yet the chaos at play at this time can be unpleasantly shocking or even dangerous. this can range from surprises in the personal life to literally electrical dangers; take care to be safe.

pisces: benevolent neptune aspects abound but they occur alongside volatility to a high degree. focus on what you are making, not what you have. but don't necessarily make yourself too vulnerable to any pitfalls either.

[bird-inacage]

Only Friends: Episode 9 Preview (Sand Bares His Heart)

Next week could be a pivotal turning point for these two.

Firstly, we'll get the music room argument. This is a continuation of their altercation at the party - however, Ray is now sober. Emphasis on the sober, as all the things he said the previous night were whilst he was high.

Whilst Ray was acting a complete fool, he was also unabashedly candid and unfiltered towards Sand. The takeaways being: Ray is still hugely attracted to Sand (gets almighty jealous and has to mark his territory by kissing Sand to ward off competition). Deep down, he knows exactly how Sand feels about him ("Stop fooling yourself Sand. You like me. You love me.") He's incredibly possessive ("You're mine no matter what!")

What will be a crucial factor in the music room scene is whether Ray attempts to make peace with Sand by offering something heartfelt. So far his demands can be interpreted as a desire for ownership rather than romantic interest. Sand has been pushed beyond weary and resigned. He's annoyed. He's frustrated. He's exasperated. All Sand has asked of Ray is to be considerate about his feelings. Which he repeatedly hasn't done. So for Sand to bare all later in the episode, Ray must have shown some a sincere sign of remorse or (better yet) choosing to actively put Sand first for a change.

The next series of scenes almost look like Ray and Sand are on a camping-esque getaway. I wonder if this is Sand accompanying Ray on his community service to play music at the orphanage Ray referenced.

I was actually really surprised by Sand deciding to lay all his cards on the table, considering how he drew a clear boundary this episode. Up until now, Sand has intentionally tried to mask his feelings for Ray whenever he's been asked. Sand knows that Ray has enormous sway over him, and as long as he withheld his exact feelings, he at least could retain some semblance of control. By choosing to confess - he's laid himself completely open to how Ray wishes to respond.

Sand emphasises again that he wants to be someone's first choice. Someone's only choice. If they wish to progress seriously, Ray needs to set his feelings for Mew completely aside.

Sand goes on to tell Ray just how much he makes concessions for him. Unlike anyone else in his life. This is Sand stressing how his feelings for Ray are unprecedented. He's hasn't gone to these lengths before.

What really, really concerns me about Sand is he's truly defenceless when it comes to Ray. Due to how much he loves him, he can't hold back or restrain himself despite his better judgement, even knowing Ray comes with a huge amount of risk. But you can't really blame him either. When you're alone with that person you really care about and it feels like you're the only two people in the world, all rationale goes straight out the window. This is exactly why Sand is always going to be the one getting hurt.

Now my immediate questions would be: are Ray and Mew still dating? It seems very unlikely for Sand to make a move and confess etc. if they still are. Mew also looks like he's taking his own trip somewhere with his parents, so maybe they did decide to put things on pause (or call it quits) after the party.

Does Ray also confess? This is where my concern is amplified, because considering Ray has been so deflective about this own feelings, I'm not certain if by this episode he will have come to the same conclusions as Sand. If Ray doesn't outrightly confess, then essentially Sand is leaving the ball fully in his court. 'This is where I am, now you decide what to do with that'.