#full article here for the tumblr crowd!

[ohgaylor]

In 2006, the year Taylor Swift released her first single, a closeted country singer named Chely Wright, then 35, held a 9-millimeter pistol to her mouth. Queer identity was still taboo enough in mainstream America that speaking about her love for another woman would have spelled the end of a country music career. But in suppressing her identity, Ms. Wright had risked her life.

In 2010, she came out to the public, releasing a confessional memoir, “Like Me,” in which she wrote that country music was characterized by culturally enforced closeting, where queer stars would be seen as unworthy of investment unless they lied about their lives. “Country music,” she wrote, “is like the military — don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The culture in which Ms. Wright picked up that gun — the same one in which Ms. Swift first became a star — was stunningly different from today’s. It’s dizzying to think about the strides that have been made in Americans’ acceptance of the L.G.B.T.Q. community over the past decade: marriage equality, queer themes dominating teen entertainment, anti-discrimination laws in housing and, for now, in the workplace. But in recent years, a steady drip of now-out stars — Cara Delevingne, Colton Haynes, Elliot Page, Kristen Stewart, Raven-Symoné and Sam Smith among them — have disclosed that they had been encouraged to suppress their queerness in order to market projects or remain bankable.

The culture of country music hasn’t changed so much that homophobia is gone. Just this past summer, Adam Mac, an openly gay country artist, was shamed out of playing at a festival in his hometown because of his sexual orientation. In September, the singer Maren Morris stepped away from country music; she said she did so in part because of the industry’s lingering anti-queerness. If country music hasn’t changed enough, what’s to say that the larger entertainment industry — and, by extension, our broader culture — has?

Periodically, I return to a video, recorded by a shaky hand more than a decade ago, of Ms. Wright answering questions at a Borders bookstore about her coming out. She likens closeted stardom to a blender, an “insane” and “inhumane” heteronormative machine in which queer artists are chewed to bits.

“It’s going to keep going,” Ms. Wright says, “until someone who has something to lose stands up and just says ‘I’m gay.’ Somebody big.” She continues: “We need our heroes.”

What if someone had already tried, at least once, to change the culture by becoming such a hero? What if, because our culture had yet to come to terms with homophobia, it wasn’t ready for her?

What if that hero’s name was Taylor Alison Swift?

In the world of Taylor Swift, the start of a new “era” means the release of new art (an album and the paratexts — music videos, promotional ephemera, narratives — that supplement it) and a wholesale remaking of the aesthetics that will accompany its promotion, release and memorializing. In recent years, Ms. Swift has dominated pop culture to such a degree that these transformations often end up altering American culture in the process.

In 2019, she was set to release a new album, “Lover,” the first since she left Big Machine Records, her old Nashville-based label, which she has since said limited her creative freedom. The aesthetic of what would be known as the “Lover Era” emerged as rainbows, butterflies and pastel shades of blue, purple and pink, colors that subtly evoke the bisexual pride flag.

On April 26, Lesbian Visibility Day, Ms. Swift released the album’s lead single, “ME!,” in which she sings about self-love and self-acceptance. She co-directed a campy music video to accompany it, which she would later describe as depicting “everything that makes me, me.” It features Ms. Swift dancing at a pride parade, dripping in rainbow paint and turning down a man’s marriage proposal in exchange for a … pussy cat.

At the end of June, the L.G.B.T.Q. community would celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. On June 14, Ms. Swift released the video for her attempt at a pride anthem, “You Need to Calm Down,” in which she and an army of queer celebrities from across generations — the “Queer Eye” hosts, Ellen DeGeneres, Billy Porter, Hayley Kiyoko, to name a few — resist homophobia by living openly. Ms. Swift sings that outrage against queer visibility is a waste of time and energy: “Why are you mad, when you could be GLAAD?”

The video ends with a plea: “Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally.” Many, in the press and otherwise, saw the video as, at best, a misguided attempt at allyship and, at worst, a straight woman co-opting queer aesthetics and narratives to promote a commercial product.

Then, Ms. Swift performed “Shake It Off” as a surprise for patrons at the Stonewall Inn. Rumors — that were, perhaps, little more than fantasies — swirled in the queerer corners of her fandom, stoked by a suggestive post by the fashion designer Christian Siriano. Would Ms. Swift attend New York City’s WorldPride march on June 30? Would she wear a dress spun from a rainbow? Would she give a speech? If she did, what would she declare about herself?

The Sunday of the march, those fantasies stopped. She announced that the music executive Scooter Braun, who she described as an “incessant, manipulative” bully, had purchased her masters, the lucrative original recordings of her work.

Ms. Swift’s “Lover” was the first record that she created with nearly unchecked creative freedom. Lacking her old label’s constraints, she specifically chose to feature activism for and the aesthetics of the L.G.B.T.Q. community in her confessional, self-expressive art. Even before the sale of her masters, she appeared to be stepping into a new identity — not just an aesthetic — that was distinct from that associated with her past six albums.

When looking back on the artifacts of the months before that album’s release, any close reader of Ms. Swift has a choice. We can consider the album’s aesthetics and activism as performative allyship, as they were largely considered to be at the time. Or we can ask a question, knowing full well that we may never learn the answer: What if the “Lover Era” was merely Ms. Swift’s attempt to douse her work — and herself — in rainbows, as so many baby queers feel compelled to do as they come out to the world?

There’s no way of knowing what could have happened if Ms. Swift’s masters hadn’t been sold. All we know is what happened next. In early August, Ms. Swift posted a rainbow-glazed photo of a series of friendship bracelets, one of which says “PROUD” with beads in the color of the bisexual pride flag. Queer people recognize that this word, deployed this way, typically means that someone is proud of their own identity. But the public did not widely view this as Ms. Swift’s coming out.

Then, Vogue released an interview with Ms. Swift that had been conducted in early June. When discussing her motivations for releasing “You Need to Calm Down,” Ms. Swift said, “Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male.” She continued: “I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of.” That statement suggests that Ms. Swift did not, in early June, consider herself part of the L.G.B.T.Q. community; it does not illuminate whether that is because she was a straight, cis ally or because she was stuck in the shadowy, solitary recesses of the closet.

On Aug. 22, Ms. Swift publicly committed herself to the as-of-then-unproven project of rerecording and rereleasing her first six albums. The next day, she finally released “Lover,” which raises more questions than it answers. Why does she have to keep secrets just to keep her muse, as all her fans still sing-scream on “Cruel Summer”? About what are the “hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you,” in her chronicle of self-doubt, “The Archer,” if not her identity? And what could the album’s closing words, which come at the conclusion of “Daylight,” a song about stepping out of a 20-year darkness and choosing to “let it go,” possibly signal?

I want to be defined by the things that I love,

Not the things I hate,

Not the things that I’m afraid of, I’m afraid of,

Not the things that haunt me in the middle of the night,

I just think that,

You are what you love.

The first time I viewed “Lover” through the prism of queerness, I felt delirious, almost insane. I kept wondering whether what I was perceiving in her work was truly there or if it was merely a mirage, born of earnest projection.

My longtime reading of Ms. Swift’s celebrity — like that of a majority of her fan base — had been stuck in the lingering assumptions left by a period that began more than a decade and a half ago, when a girl with an overexaggerated twang, Shirley Temple curls and Georgia stars in her eyes became famous. Then, she presented as all that was to be expected of a young starlet: attractive yet virginal, knowing yet naïve, not talented enough to be formidable, not commanding enough to be threatening, confessional, eager to please. Her songs earnestly depicted the fantasies of a girl raised in a traditional culture: high school crushes and backwoods drives, princelings and wedding rings, declarations of love that climax only in a kiss — ideally in the pouring rain.

When Ms. Swift was trying to sell albums in that late-2000s media environment, her songwriting didn’t match the image of a sex object, the usual role reserved for female celebrities in our culture. Instead, the story the public told about her was that she laundered her affection to a litter of promising grown men, in exchange for songwriting inspiration. A young Ms. Swift contributed to this narrative by hiding easy-to-decode clues in liner notes that suggested a certain someone was her songs’ inspiration (“SAM SAM SAM SAM SAM SAM,” “ADAM,” “TAY”) or calling out an ex-boyfriend on the “Ellen” show and “Saturday Night Live.” Despite the expansive storytelling in Ms. Swift’s early records, her public image often cast a man’s interest as her greatest ambition.

As Ms. Swift’s career progressed, she began to remake that image: changing her style and presentation, leaving country music for pop and moving from Nashville to New York. By 2019, her celebrity no longer reflected traditional culture; it had instead become a girlboss-y mirror for another dominant culture — that of white, cosmopolitan, neoliberal America.

But in every incarnation, the public has largely seen those songs — especially those for which she doesn’t directly state her inspiration — as cantos about her most recent heterosexual love, whether that idea is substantiated by evidence or not. A large portion of her base still relishes debating what might have happened with the gentleman caller who supposedly inspired her latest album. Feverish discussions of her escapades with the latest yassified London Boy or mustachioed Mr. Americana fuel the tabloid press — and, embarrassingly, much of traditional media — that courts fan engagement by relentlessly, unquestioningly chronicling Ms. Swift’s love life.

Even in 2023, public discussion about the romantic entanglements of Ms. Swift, 34, presumes that the right man will “finally” mean the end of her persistent husbandlessness and childlessness. Whatever you make of Ms. Swift’s extracurricular activities involving a certain football star (romance for the ages? strategic brand partnership? performance art for entertainment’s sake?), the public’s obsession with the relationship has been attention-grabbing, if not lucrative, for all parties, while reinforcing a story that America has long loved to tell about Ms. Swift, and by extension, itself.

Because Ms. Swift hasn’t undeniably subverted our culture’s traditional expectations, she has managed, in an increasingly fractured cultural environment, to simultaneously capture two dominant cultures — traditional and cosmopolitan. To maintain the stranglehold she has on pop culture, Ms. Swift must continue to tell a story that those audiences expect to consume; she falls in love with a man or she gets revenge. As a result, her confessional songs languish in a place of presumed stasis; even as their meaning has grown deeper and their craft more intricate, a substantial portion of her audience’s understanding of them remains wedded to the same old narratives.

But if interpretations of Ms. Swift’s art often languish in stasis, so do the millions upon millions of people who love to play with the dollhouse she has constructed for them. Her dominance in pop culture and the success of her business have given her the rare ability to influence not only her industry but also the worldview of a substantial portion of America. How might her industry, our culture and we, ourselves, change if we made space for Ms. Swift to burn that dollhouse to the ground?

Anyone considering the whole of Ms. Swift’s artistry — the way that her brilliantly calculated celebrity mixes with her soul-baring art — can find discrepancies between the story that underpins her celebrity and the one captured by her songs. One such gap can be found in her “Lover” era. Others appear alongside “dropped hairpins,” or the covert ways someone can signal queer identity to those in the know while leaving others comfortable in their ignorance. Ms. Swift dropped hairpins before “Lover” and has continued to do so since.

Sometimes, Ms. Swift communicates through explicit sartorial choices — hair the colors of the bisexual pride flag or a recurring motif of rainbow dresses. She frequently depicts herself as trapped in glass closets or, well, in regular closets. She drops hairpins on tour as well, paying tribute to the Serpentine Dance of the lesbian artist Loie Fuller during the Reputation Tour or referencing “The Ladder,” one of the earliest lesbian publications in the United States, in her Eras Tour visuals.

During the Eras Tour, Ms. Swift traps her past selves — including those from her “Lover” era — in glass closets.

Dropped hairpins also appear in Ms. Swift’s songwriting. Sometimes, the description of a muse — the subject of her song, or to whom she sings — seems to fit only a woman, as it does in “It’s Nice to Have a Friend,” “Maroon” or “Hits Different.” Sometimes she suggests a female muse through unfulfilled rhyme schemes, as she does in “The Very First Night,” when she sings “didn’t read the note on the Polaroid picture / they don’t know how much I miss you” (“her,” instead of that pesky little “you,” would rhyme). Her songwriting also noticeably alludes to poets whose muses the historical record incorrectly cast as men — Emily Dickinson chief among them — as if to suggest the same fate awaits her art. Stunningly, she even explicitly refers to dropping hairpins, not once, but twice, on two separate albums.

In isolation, a single dropped hairpin is perhaps meaningless or accidental, but considered together, they’re the unfurling of a ballerina bun after a long performance. Those dropped hairpins began to appear in Ms. Swift’s artistry long before queer identity was undeniably marketable to mainstream America. They suggest to queer people that she is one of us. They also suggest that her art may be far more complex than the eclipsing nature of her celebrity may allow, even now.

Since at least her “Lover” era, Ms. Swift has explicitly encouraged her fans to read into the coded messages (which she calls “Easter eggs”) she leaves in music videos, social media posts and interviews with traditional media outlets, but a majority of those fans largely ignore or discount the dropped hairpins that might hint at queer identity. For them, acknowledging even the possibility that Ms. Swift could be queer would irrevocably alter the way they connect with her celebrity, the true product they’re consuming.

There is such public devotion to the traditional narrative Ms. Swift embodies because American culture enshrines male power. In her sweeping essay, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” the lesbian feminist poet Adrienne Rich identified the way that male power cramps, hinders or devalues women’s creativity. All of the sexist undertones with which Ms. Swift’s work can be discussed (often, even, by fans) flow from compulsory heterosexuality, or the way patriarchy draws power from the presumption that women naturally desire men. She must write about men she surely loves or be unbankable; she must marry and bear children or remain a child herself; she must look like, in her words, a “sexy baby” or be undesirable, “a monster on the hill.”

A woman who loves women is most certainly a monster to a society that prizes male power. She can fulfill none of the functions that a traditional culture imagines — wife, mother, maid, mistress, whore — so she has few places in the historical record. The Sapphic possibility of her work is ignored, censored or lost to time. If there is queerness earnestly implied in Ms. Swift’s work, then it’s no wonder that it, like that of so many other artists before her, is so often rendered invisible in the public imagination.

While Ms. Swift’s songs, largely written from her own perspective, cannot always conform to the idea of a woman our culture expects, her celebrity can. That separation, between Swift the songwriter and Swift the star, allows Ms. Swift to press against the golden birdcage in which she has found herself. She can write about women’s complexity in her confessional songs, but if ever she chooses not to publicly comply with the dominant culture’s fantasy, she will remain uncategorizable, and therefore, unsellable.

Her star — as bright as it is now — would surely dim.

Whether she is conscious of it or not, Ms. Swift signals to queer people — in the language we use to communicate with one another — that she has some affinity for queer identity. There are some queer people who would say that through this sort of signaling, she has already come out, at least to us. But what about coming out in a language the rest of the public will understand?

The difference between any person coming out and a celebrity doing so is the difference between a toy mallet and a sledgehammer. It’s reasonable for celebrities to be reticent; by coming out, they potentially invite death threats, a dogged tabloid press that will track their lovers instead of their beards, the excavation of their past lives, a torrent of public criticism and the implosion of their careers. In a culture of compulsory heterosexuality, to stop lying — by omission or otherwise — is to risk everything.

American culture still expects that stars are cis and straight until they confess themselves guilty. So, when our culture imagines a celebrity’s coming out, it expects an Ellen-style announcement that will submerge the past life in phoenix fire and rebirth the celebrity in a new image. In an ideal culture, wearing a bracelet that says “PROUD,” waving a pride flag onstage, placing a rainbow in album artwork or suggestively answering fan questions on Instagram would be enough. But our current reality expects a supernova.

Because of that expectation, stars end up trapped behind glass, which is reinforced by the tabloid press’s subtle social control. That press shapes the public’s expectations of others’ identities, even when those identities are chasms away from reality. Celebrities who master this press environment — Ms. Swift included — can bolster their business, but in doing so, they reinforce a heteronormative culture that obsesses over pregnancy, women’s bodies and their relationships with men.

That environment is at odds with the American movement for L.G.B.T.Q. equality, which still has fights to win — most pressingly, enshrining trans rights and squashing nonsensical culture wars. But lately I’ve heard many of my young queer contemporaries — and the occasional star — wonder whether the movement has come far enough to dispense with the often messy, often uncomfortable process of coming out, over and over again.

That questioning speaks to an earnest conundrum that queer people confront regularly: Do we live in this world, or the world to which we ought to aspire?

Living in aspiration means ignoring the convention of coming out in favor of just … existing. This is easier for those who can pass as cis and straight if need be, those who are so wealthy or white that the burden of hiding falls to others and those who live in accepting urban enclaves. This is a queer life without friction; coming out in a way straight people can see is no longer a prerequisite for acceptance, fulfillment and equality.

This aspiration is tremendous, but in our current culture, it is available only to a privileged few. Should such an inequality of access to aspiration become the accepted state of affairs, it would leave those who can’t hide to face society’s cruelest actors without the backing of a vocal, activated community. So every queer person who takes issue with the idea that we must come out ought to ask a simple question — what do we owe one another?

If coming out is primarily supposed to be an act of self-actualization, to form our own identities, then we owe one another nothing. This posture recognizes that the act of coming out implicitly reinforces straight and cis identities as default, which is not worth the rewards of outness.

But if coming out is supposed to be a radical act of resistance that seeks to change the way our society imagines people to be, then undeniable visibility is essential to make space for those without power. In this posture, queer people who can live in aspiration owe those who cannot a real world in which our expansive views of love and gender aren’t merely tolerated but celebrated. We have no choice but to actively, vocally press against the world we’re in, until no one is stuck in it.

And so just for a little while longer, we need our heroes.

But if queer people spend all of our time holding out for a guiding light, we might forgo a more pressing question that if answered, just might inch all of us a bit closer to aspiration. The next time heroes appear, are we ready to receive them?

It takes neither a genius nor a radical to see queerness implied by Ms. Swift’s work. But figuring out how to talk about it before the star labels herself is another matter. Right now, those who do so must inject our perceptions with caveats and doubt or pretend we cannot see it (a lie!) — implicitly acquiescing to convention’s constraints in the name of solidarity.

Lying is familiar to queer people; we teach ourselves to do it from an early age, shrouding our identities from others, and ourselves. It’s not without good reason. To maintain the safety (and sometimes the comfort) of the closet, we lie to others, and, most crucially, we allow others to believe lies about us, seeing us as something other than ourselves. Lying is doubly familiar to those of us who are women. To reduce friction, so many of us still shrink life to its barest version in the name of honor or safety, rendering our lives incomplete, our minds lobotomized and our identities unexplored.

By maintaining a culture of lying about what we, uniquely, have the knowledge and experience to see, we commit ourselves to a vow of silence. That vow may protect someone’s safety, but when it is applied to works of culture, it stymies our ability to receive art that has the potential to change or disrupt us. As those with queer identity amass the power of commonplaceness, it’s worth questioning whether the purpose of one of the last great taboos that constrains us befits its cost.

In every case, is the best form of solidarity still silence?

I know that discussing the potential of a star’s queerness before a formal declaration of identity feels, to some, too salacious and gossip-fueled to be worthy of discussion. They might point to the viciousness of the discourse around “queerbaiting” (in which I have participated); to the harm caused by the tabloid press’s dalliances with outing; and, most crucially, to the real material sacrifices that queer stars make to come out, again and again, as reasons to stay silent.

I share many of these reservations. But the stories that dominate our collective imagination shape what our culture permits artists and their audiences to say and be. Every time an artist signals queerness and that transmission falls on deaf ears, that signal dies. Recognizing the possibility of queerness — while being conscious of the difference between possibility and certainty — keeps that signal alive.

So, whatever you make of Ms. Swift’s sexual orientation or gender identity (something that is knowable, perhaps, only to her) or the exact identity of her muses (something better left a mystery), choosing to acknowledge the Sapphic possibility of her work has the potential to cut an audience that is too often constrained by history, expectation and capital loose from the burdens of our culture.

To start, consider what Ms. Swift wrote in the liner notes of her 2017 album, “reputation”: “When this album comes out, gossip blogs will scour the lyrics for the men they can attribute to each song, as if the inspiration for music is as simple and basic as a paternity test.”

Listen to her. At the very least, resist the urge to assume that when Ms. Swift calls the object of her affection “you” in a song, she’s talking about a man with whom she’s been photographed. Just that simple choice opens up a world of Swiftian wordplay. She often plays with pronouns, trading “you” and “him” so that only someone looking for a distinction between two characters might find one. Turns of phrase often contain double or even triple meanings. Her work is a feast laid specifically for the close listener.

Choosing to read closely can also train the mind to resist the image of an unmarried woman that compulsory heterosexuality expects. And even if it is only her audience who points at rainbows, reading Ms. Swift’s work as queer is still worthwhile, for it undermines the assumption that queer identity impedes pop superstardom, paving the way for an out artist to have the success Ms. Swift has.

After all, would it truly be better to wait to talk about any of this for 50, 60, 70 years, until Ms. Swift whispers her life story to a biographer? Or for a century or more, when Ms. Swift’s grandniece donates her diaries to some academic library, for scholars to pore over? To ensure that mea culpas come only when Ms. Swift’s bones have turned to dust and fragments of her songs float away on memory’s summer breeze?

I think not. And so, I must say, as loudly as I can, “I can see you,” even if I risk foolishness for doing so.

I remember the first time I knew I had seen Taylor Alison Swift break free from the trap of stardom. I wasn’t sitting in a crowded stadium in the pouring rain or cuddled up in a movie theater with a bag of popcorn. I was watching a grainy, crackling livestream of the Eras Tour, captured on a fan’s phone.

It’s late at night, the beginning of her acoustic set of surprise songs, this time performed in a yellow dress. She begins playing “Hits Different.” It’s a new song, full of puns, double entendres and wordplay, that toys with the glittering identities in which Ms. Swift indulges.

She’s rushing, as if stopping, even for a second, will cause her to lose her nerve. She stumbles at the bridge, pauses and starts again; the queen of bridges will not mess this up, not tonight.

There it is, at the bridge’s end: “Bet I could still melt your world; argumentative, antithetical dream girl.” An undeniable declaration of love to a woman. As soon as those words leave her lips, she lets out a whoop, pacing around the stage with a grin that cannot be contained.

For a moment, Ms. Swift was out of the woods she had created for herself as a teenager, floating above the trees. The future was within reach; she would, and will, soon take back the rest of her words, her reputation, her name. Maybe the world would see her, maybe it wouldn’t.

But on that stage, she found herself. I was there. Through a fuzzy fancam, I saw it.

And somehow, that was everything.

[yamball]

Oh hell yeah. (Hope it’s okay I’m posting this as a text post rather than an answer love u)

Kaapo Kakko & Mikko Rantanen

Disclaimer here: this is going to be as quick as possible. It’s not a full primer; please don’t expect one. If I was doing a full primer I would need to learn Finnish because there’s actually so many more articles in Finnish that tie them together. I am also not what you would call a fan of the Rangers or Avs, so I am going to breeze past the nhl seasons to get to the joint stuff. So here are the sources I’ve been rotating around in my brain:

Okay, so Mikko Rantanen. He had been playing in Liga since he was 16 and was the highest rated European skater by the time his draft rolls around. He is drafted in 2015 (like freakin everyone else we end up talking about on tumblr) and he goes 10th overall to the Colorado Avalanche. He makes his debut that year though he is sent down to the AHL and ends up winning rookie of the year there. He will rejoin the Avs and eventually claw their way to the Stanley Cup in 2022.

And Kaapo Kakko. Kaapo Kakko who will be watching Mikko’s career, attending Liga games to watch Mikko play in person before he went to North America. Who plays for the same team (TPS in Turku) that he watched Mikko play for. Who continues to try and copy him as Kaapo himself becomes one of the highest rated Finnish players in some time. He helps to win Finland gold in WJC.

No, wait, that’s actually an understatement: he scores the game-winning goal in the gold medal game against the U.S. in early 2019.

2019 is his draft year, and it should be noted that he plays against the projected first overall pick in that tournament, Jack Hughes. He would’ve already gotten attention for his skill, but this raises everything to a fever pitch.

So of course, before the draft, they ask Kaapo what style of play they can expect from him in the NHL. And here’s where it starts.

In the leadup to his draft, Kaapo says in no uncertain terms: “Mikko Rantanen is someone that I look up to and try to copy some of his moves.”

And he doesn’t stop there, going on: Some people liken Kakko to Patrik Laine, […] Kakko doesn’t see the parallel. “Nobody can shoot like Patrik,” Kakko said. […] “I play more like Mikko.”

Reporter: so—

Kaapo: I PLAY LIKE MIKKO

Mikko knows this, is the thing. He’s asked about Kaapo along the way, and says clearly that he’s rooting for the kid as he roots for all Finns.

The Finnish media knows all of this, too. During the WJC madness, a podcast posts a video of a Kaapo Kakko highlight and — god, forgive my interpretation here — asks if Kaapo is even old enough to watch this content (aka: this is hockey p*rn). The caption imagines Mikko shedding a fatherly tear in pride. Kaapo’s open excitement about Mikko works: they’re talked about in the same breath.

Kaapo goes second overall to the New York Rangers (following Jack Hughes to the New Jersey Devils). And he struggles. There are bright spots, but he does not take the sort of strides many who are managing and coaching him want him to take. It should be noted, maybe, that the fanbase does not give up on him.

And neither does Mikko. Kaapo starts training with him every off-season and probably has been at least since he was drafted.

The COVID time sees them back in Finland, where they are again tied together. If anyone wants to translate this, be my guest, but I am assuming it’s just bland hockey player shit. (ETA: I was right; they say it’s nice to train with others rather than alone, that they’re trying hard so they don’t get chirped in the locker room, typical stuff, thank you tumblr user glimmermann!) THEY LOOK SO CUTE THOUGH.

But yes the NHL gets back to itself with a full season with increased crowds back in 22-23.

In the 2022-2023 season, both their teams make the playoffs. And in April 2023, both lose in the first round. It was a painful loss for both teams— the Avs were defending cup champions and favored by literally everyone to win against the Seattle Kraken. But the Kraken hold on and hand the Avs a defeat on their home ice.

A few days later, the Rangers lose to their closest rivals the New Jersey Devils. A bright spot in these years is the Kids Line, in which Kaapo is a significant player. It’s fun! It’s exciting! But they still lose to Jack Hughes and his Devils.

And the very next day: Kaapo gets a phone call.

Mikko convinces him to play in worlds. He shares that he had been watching Kaapo’s series and wanted him to win, and when he didn’t—he gets him to worlds so they can finally play together.

Mikko shares they’re good friends by now and "He's been growing a lot. I think off the ice he might be the same guy still, funny guy, but on the ice you can tell he's more mature. Still a really good player. His best years are ahead. He's only what, 22 years old, this year? He's very young. His best years are ahead."

Unfortunately they lose lol they get paired up with Canada in the first round of those playoffs and Canada ended up winning the whole thing. WHATEVER! Let’s speed up because the 2023-2024 season is quite rough and there’s not a ton of content for our interests here.

The 2024-2025 season proves to be a pivotal one. Kaapo is off to a more inspiring start than he’s had in previous seasons, but the Rangers are a hot mess. So he gets healthy scratched.

He’s mad as hell about it, publicly questioning the move.

And then he’s traded, all the way across the States, to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2025 sixth-round pick.

Kaapo joins a struggling team on a road trip and is immediately added to the top line of fellow 2nd overall pick Matty Beniers and the beautiful gorgeous sweet Jaden Schwartz. It takes Kaapo a couple games and then—

Well. Let’s add Mikko Rantanen back in here.

Because Kaapo’s first goal as a Kraken came in front of Rantanen’s Avs (even though he was overshadowed by another Finn 😔)

While they lose this game (look, the Kraken haven’t been good against the Avs since late April 2023), it becomes clear after this: Kaapo Kakko is thriving. He racks up points and helps Matty look like the Calder Winner he is once more. He reports he’s living with old friend Eeli Tolvanen and that Jaden Schwartz asks him all the time if he needs anything. He says it’s easy to find Matty on ice. The fanbase has been begging to keep him immediately and perhaps most importantly:

He reports he feels confident.

In addition to regularly smiling through intermission interviews (or eating special soup!) and gushing about his linemates, Kaapo quickly becomes a darling of social media content and radio interviews in Seattle. And somehow finds a way to talk about Mikko. On January 8th, Kraken Audio Network asked Kaapo about the guys he looked up to. He agreed with the host that all the kids from his town looked up to Sami Koivu and then IMMEDIATELY mentions Mikko lmao he happily notes that he’s good friends with the guy he looked up to all those years now!

And meanwhile: The Colorado Avalanche trade Mikko Rantanen.

And if that feels out of nowhere in this info dump…yeah. I think that’s how everyone feels. He goes to the Carolina Hurricanes.

And he…doesn’t thrive. He doesn’t do poorly, to be sure, but it seems like as soon as Mikko gets to Carolina, there are reports that the Hurricanes want to trade him again because he wasn’t instantly effective.

Anyway — time for a refreshing break 😌 as we all know, the 4 Nations Faceoff was a peaceful time!!

Kraken Audio Network in the leadup to the 4 Nations Faceoff asked about Mikko in the four nations faceoff specifically. Kaapo was pretty chill about it but it’s part of a steady pattern with Kaapo openly admiring Mikko and wanting to play with him.

The first game of the tournament is on Kaapo Kakko’s birthday and they have all the guys describe Kaapo. They call him a leader, a funny guy, and playfully poke fun at his Turku dialect.

But Mikko? Mikko says “Kaapo…” and then says “turkulainen ja niin nuori söpö poika” or “from turku and such a young cute boy.” (Thank you again glimmermann!)

So it’s his birthday. The guy he’s been obsessed with since he was a teenager is calling him cute. And he…wait. He’s healthy scratched?

Yeah. Kaapo is scratched. Kaapo is scratched during a 7-1 loss to the United States.

HE’S IN FOR THE NEXT ONE THOUGH LMAO. Finland plays Sweden the next game and Kaapo is slotted as a depth player.

Not for long lmao. Because as the game goes on? Kaapo starts playing on the top line.

On the top fucking line with Sasha Barkov and — of course, Mikko Rantanen. Mikko Rantanen who cellies with him as he scores a goal (IM SORRY BUT IT WAS KK’s GOAL DONT PLAY WITH ME).

Finland loses and can effectively wash its hands of being an unwilling participant in what became the closest thing to the Super Series ‘76 we might get until…idk probably until next year lmao. I love living in unprecedented times.

Jfc this was longer than I wanted it to be but :) lore

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Hiw kinnara could realistically work?what could be their internal anatomy, where should be wings ,legs,arms, nsfw parts, ? Typical kinnaris have the head, torso, and arms of a woman and the wings, tail and feet of a swan. Did I can use your kinnara drawings in my work?

kinnara: a hindu and buddhist mythical being with the upper half of a human and the lower half of a bird, wings included. the art I've found through internet search seems to vary on what type of bird is typically used. They look fun! actually reminds me of this other human-bird design I reblogged a while back (though this one makes the bird part much, much bigger than the human part)

(image description: two statues of humanoid figures with a bird body at their hips. end description)

I think if you did it similar to the post I linked, most of the internal and reproductive anatomy would match that of a bird, with the human torso part having things like the lungs, stomach, heart, and the bird part having more of the digestive system. that's just how they line up

the traditional of a kinnara basically just puts the legs int he normal human place and then attached bird parts around the hips, which works fine for their presentation as mythical figures having some manner of spiritual and symbolic importance. I don't expect them to look anatomically correct in this context. but if they're going to be used as a fantasy people, I think this arrangement of body parts is a little crowded and awkward, and the post I linked above has a more reasonable arrangement. however, I also think the bird and human sections can be drawn in different proportions depending on personal preference. here's my sketches:

(image description: simplified sketches of humanoid figures that have a bird body below the hips, not unlike a centaur. on the top half of the image are sketches of a bird-taur with a more natural bird body, having the legs further back while the wings are closer to the humanoid hip region. the lower half of the image shows a bird-taur with the legs in front of the wings. there are sketches of the full body, simple skeletal forms, and the bird-taurs in flight. end description.)

you can use these sketches as a reference if you want, but if you'd like to have nicer art for actual presentation in your project, please commission me! my commission info can be found here on ko-fi. I'll be able to prioritize detail and quality through a commission in a way I don't do with the quick art I make for tumblr asks.

reproductively speaking, most birds only have a cloaca, but some male birds do have a penis. it just stays internal until it's erect. finding an actual specific list of bird species with a penis was a little annoying because for some reason all these articles were quite vague like "oh, ducks, ostriches, and some other birds" like no, I need to know all of the specific species please! Figuring out non-human reproductive systems can be stunningly tricky sometimes.

anyway here's one article on the matter

and here is another article

from my research, here's just a list of bird species that have a penis:

ducks, geese, swans, ostriches, emus, tinamous. and there are also some birds that have a pseudo penis, such as cassowaries and red-billed buffalo weavers.

apparently all birds do have the genetic potential to have a penis, but they just don't grow one. so it might be an ancestral trait! that's kinda neat. personally, I have given my bird folk, the quetzalin, a penis that remains in the cloacal wall and emerges when erect. and yes, it's curly, though nowhere near as nightmarish as the penis on a duck lol. so you go ahead and have whatever fun you want with bird folk genitals.

[were-all-just-w31rd-k1ds]

The Beat BOTB Music Spotlight : Take Cover by Tornado Warning! Despite their humble origins and "hometown heroes" aesthetic, its safe to say that Tornado Warning! have taken BOTB by storm, though whether this is to their advantage or detriment is an ongoing debate amongst fans of the show. Though cheating rumours, celebrity candids, and relationship dramas have followed the band from day one, its difficult to deny that the group are incredibly talented performers. We all know this band have been playing together since they were teenagers in Devyn Powell's garage, but seeing them perform on stage truly hammers that home. Their familiarity and musical chemistry with each other are some of the band's biggest advantages, and their energetic presence on stage is a huge draw for fans, both in the crowd and those watching at home; no doubt all of these were contributing factors to their remarkable first week win.

For our spotlight this week, we're going approximately 10 years back in time to Tornado Warning's very first EP; Take Cover. Released when members of the band [pictured left to right, Iris De Luca, Devyn Powell, Jazzy Dawson, Rowan Hart, Seven Lawless & Beck Marlowe] were only 16, Take Cover is a record coveted by self-proclaimed "OG" Tornado Warning! fans, while many newer fans may have never heard it. All 6 tracks, including the titular "Take Cover" and fan-dubbed 'yearning anthem' "Marlboro", were written collaboratively by then co-lead singers Beck Marlowe and Seven Lawless. The EP shows the beginnings of two talented writers experimenting with their music and lyrics, and finding their feet creatively, which gives it a distinct sound and feeling from their later releases, irrespective of changes caused by Lawless' later departure from the band.

Take Cover, put simply, is a loveable mess of a record. Largely recorded in friends' basements and put together with a rudimentary understanding of GarageBand, Take Cover is an EP held together by duct tape, natural talent and youthful ambition. While the music isn't groundbreaking and the EP itself isn't poished by any meaning of the word, it takes the feeling of climbing out of your window at 3am and skating around your hometown with your dumb friends, and bottles it - and for that we can see why so many longtime fans hold this record close.

Going into next week's challenge we will see Seven Lawless, in an ironic turn of events, writing for Tornado Warning! once more. Will we see hints of a long gone era in this songwriting reunion? Or will Seven steer the band in a totally different direction, proving those days and that sound are truly in the past? Check out Take Cover by Tornado Warning!, and tune in to BOTB on MusicNow next week to find out!

This game has taken over too much brain space since the sneak peak dropped, so to channel the hyperfixation into something somewhat productive before ch4 comes out, I decided to draw the band's very first album cover. The photo was actually Seven's idea, and at 16 they all thought it was very cool and artsy and original - I hc that it was taken in a field behind the diner and Lucy would just look out the window every now and then to laugh fondly as they ran away from the camera over and over again to get the perfect shot. This is also from a time before Beck started dyeing their hair and drawing them with brown hair, even from the back, was very weird. (Ps open image for full quality bc tumblr wants to smite me)

I did not plan on writing a whole ass fake article at 1am to go with this one but lmao here we are i guess

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Sussex Exhaustion. by u/Winter-South-7448

Sussex Exhaustion. Someone has kindly posted the full text of the VF article, noting that the version published in the magazine is more comprehensive, with more revelations, than the online version.But something strange happened. When I clicked on the post to start reading the fuller version, an opportunity I would have relished a year ago, I suddenly realised it wasn't worth the effort. That I had minimal interest, I could not be bothered reading any of it, and there were more interesting things to look at elsewhere. I clicked away, and read something on another site completely unrelated. Which made me think, now that the world has recognised them for the mediocre couple they are, is my work, is OUR work, done here?The most frustrating part of the last few years, is the constant hagiography of them in the press; why could no one else see what I saw? Their behaviour has been totally unacceptable, indulgent, and immature, and has deeply and often deliberately in my view, hurt many of the people who had surrounded them with nothing but love; family, friends, and the general public that supported them, often standing in the cold just to catch a glimpe of them.Until I found SMM on reddit and joined a small coterie of sensible, worldly people who also saw through them. While the crowds were cheering the Emperor for his fine new clothing, we here at SMM could see that in fact, the Emperor had no clothes. The sub has been wonderful, the posters are polite and generous, and the mods do a first-rate job in keeping it on point and fair. And it made me understand that a small group of other people, the wonderful posters and commenters at SMM, saw what I saw, a selfish, self-centred, arrogant pair who had negatively impacted the lives of those they are supposed to love.With all the damning revelations and the bad publicity they have had since the beginning of the year, they may think things could not get much worse. However, I have just realised they may be about to suffer the final humiliation. That is, people now actually start finding them boring, inconsequential, and of no interest. And they find themselves ignored.Empty-headed celebrities, which is all they are now, are a dime a dozen and already fill social media to the brim. The Harkles will now find themselves fighting to share a very dim and fading spotlight, with thousand of other mediocre, boring, and forgettable non-entities.I now, suddenly, have no interest in them anymore.Does anyone else feel the same? post link: https://ift.tt/kxyPeDr author: Winter-South-7448 submitted: January 22, 2025 at 01:41PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[petermorwood]

An old article, but amusing regardless.

First it was James Lileks and the Gallery of Regrettable Food. What were the photo editors on these cookbooks thinking?

I'm well aware the colour quality of old pictures degrades and yellows, to their detriment, but IMO the images on that website can't have looked very appetising even when new.

There are ways to assemble variegated foodstuffs on a plate that looks attractive, and then there are these.

Dimly-lit meals for one and Sad desk lunches are yet more shuddersome antidotes to lovingly-photographed food porn erotica (porn would be messy close-ups of eating it).

However, despite what the article suggests, food photography doesn't need "the highest-spec kit while dangling from light-fittings for just the right angle" to look good.

*****

Using a phonecam while out with your friends in a crowded pizzeria isn't going to give the best results, but then neither is a joyless packed lunch on a rainy Monday in February, even if shot with a $33,000 camera like this Hasselblad, and full studio lighting.

@dduane's hobby site European Cuisines (down for maintenance) did just fine for years with a Sony W17, a compact digicam with a superb Zeiss lens.

Here are Sony shots of an apple upside-down cake made with Beauty of Bath apples from our own tree (they really are pink all the way through) and a quiche Lorraine just out of the oven.

After a while I got a second-hand Nikon D40 DSLR; the money saved on second-hand let me afford an excellent lens, a top-of-the-line flashgun and that neat little flash which is so much better than the camera's built-in one.

Here's the Nikon's take on last year's roast-goose-and-all-the-trimmings Christmas Dinner, as well as bacon (corned beef is the Americanised version) and cabbage for St Patrick's Day.

Now we're mostly using HTC U11+ smartphones whose cameras are not only top-notch but have excellent low-light capability.

This is good, because our lighting has always been mostly natural daylight with occasional flash and reflector-screen assistance.

Here are U11+ images of soda bread done in a cast-iron casserole or Dutch oven, and Geflügelragout (a stew of roast chicken with red wine and lemon) with saffron-pumpkin noodles.

This has become Brightwood Vintner's Chicken in the Food and Cooking of the Middle Kingdoms project, and why not? It's delicious! Here's DD and U11+ in action, and the noodle close-up she was shooting in that pic.

None of the food we shoot is "styled" for photography with varnish for glossiness, paint for cream, machine oil for honey, microwaved cotton-wool for steam and lots of other cunning but inedible trickery.

Our stuff is all for eating - so much so that getting "photograph the food" and "eat the food" in the proper order can sometimes be a struggle.

Like these crumpets, for instance.

You would, wouldn't you?

I nearly did, giving DD conniptions because she hadn't photographed them yet, and the Kerrygold butter was melting Just Right...

In a choice between shooting Have To Eat images and Want To Eat ones, we'll stay on the Want To side of the fence, and if people looking at those pix also Want To take a bite out of their screens, we're getting the job done.

And we're not hanging from the light-fittings to do it... :->

[racefortheironthrone]

Would you say that “A Christmas Carol” was the anti capitalist story many see it as today? Or is it better thought of as a lament for the decline of noblesse oblige in favour of early stage capitalism and a call for the capitalists to be more like the (imagined) nobles of old?

I'm not as much a Dickens-head as some other folks on Tumblr, but my interpretation is that "A Christmas Carol" is a critique of miserly capitalism. Rather than living a life of plutocratic excess, Scrooge just accumulates for the sake of accumulation rather than using his money to enjoy life and to help others enjoy their lives - which in turn would enrich his own.

So yes, I think "noblesse oblige" comes close to what Dickens was going for. Dickens was the furthest thing from a radical, and what he ultimately wanted was for rich people to be charitable and generous to the poor.

I think the term we're actually looking for here is a phrase that EP Thompson coined: "moral economy." As fully elaborated in a classic article, "The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century," moral economy is an ideology of the socially and culturally appropriate uses of money and economic power (and vice versa the inappropriate misues of the same) - one that doesn't quite rise to the level of full Marxist revolutionary socialism, but inspires mass action against members of the elite who violate custom and tradition.

[ttsnewsarchive]

good news and actions you can do

Monday 6/23/2025: happy pride, happy UN public service day, and happy national hydration day.

actions you can do from home this week for the indivisible crowd:

send an email to your senator to demand they oppose war

attend a rapid response call for “healthcare not warfare” tomorrow (6/24)

here’s a tailored call for people with republican senators!

ice resistance news and actions:

an interesting article on a protest in texas

donations for a trans southerner who was recently exiled

please share any more donation options for trans southerners impacted by ice escalation.

nourishing reads and helpful links:

A Look into Houston's "Safeguard the Flame" for Political Prisoners - scalawag 5/8

Invisible Histories is a project saving Deep South LGBTQ History

EarthtoKB’s most recent Trans News that Doesn’t Suck video on instagram

“Pam Bondi’s brother crushed in DC Bar Association election” - the hill 6/9

want to boycott big box stores but unsure what other stores take food stamps? let the SNAP retailer map be your guide. while looking for alternatives to corporations that were pissing me off, i was surprised by how many retailers in my area take snap these days. i hope this map empowers you to be more selective about who you buy from, too!

if you want to do more with your dollars, you can use this website to cut out brands that fund conservative candidates.

Campaign for Southern Equality has resources to help you make your local schools more supportive for LGBT+ students

news that i’m not gonna link to rn bc i need this shit PUBLISHED but i wanna bring up:

a glad reminder, Kilmar Abregio Garcia is back in the country, and Rümeysa Öztürk was released from detention. Both continue to face legal proceedings, but at least we know where and how they are at the moment.

i continue to celebrate that the prez’s birthday party was embarrassing for him, that the US had its largest protest turnout EVER on the same day, and a bit unrelatedly that boycotts on target have had a harsh impact on their business.

there’s a lot of mixed news these days— amidst bad news we find good news that is only good in the context of badness. but it is not just bad news, so i hope you have hope with me.

one last thing to do:

help me brainstorm. thanks to my godforsaken state of TN, a harsh blow has been dealt to trans medical rights, especially for trans youth. is there anything y’all can think for us to do together that can help bring hope to trans youngsters who are recieving this terrible news? i see a lot of ppl saying things like “it’s not just about the kids— they’re coming for us next!”, which is a valid concern, but even if it was just about the kids, that wouldn’t somehow make it acceptable. as a group of trans people who have made it to adulthood, is there anything we want to say to trans kids to help them make it through this difficult time?

why no newsletter for all of may and most of june:

tldr; shit website, shit tech, and me.

i am getting sick of tumblr deleting my post drafts in the middle of me trying to write up a new newsletter, so you got a quick and rough version of a newsletter comprised of links meant for may and june. it’s nearly july! this site tries my patience, but it’s the site i chose for this. :|

it doesn’t help that my devices all like to die abruptly because i keep the same shit for like 10 years. it also doesn’t help that i’m stupid and try to work on things with like 15% battery knowing full well my phone and laptop both sometimes die at like 12%

anyway, if you had sent me something to be in this newsletter and i forgot to add it, i am so sorry. trying to get this out has been a mess and it feels like the universe is conspiring against me but it’s just my own foolishness. if you want me to update this post with something, or if you want me to add something to my next post, please comment & lmk.

final unrelated note i hate that AI uses the emdash so much. i love the emdash and now it’s considered AI writing style. i wanna change how i write to avoid it, but it’s sad. imagine giving up the letter T because it’s associated with tesla. like good luck with that.

[mysound-music]

Emerging on the hip-hop scene with a fresh sound and undeniable energy, music artist Alps has just released his latest single, Keep Pouring, featuring the talented Wiz-Ard. Blending smooth flows with hard-hitting beats, the track perfectly captures the essence of modern rap while offering a unique twist that sets Alps apart from the crowd. Keep Pouring is a deep dive into the hustle and grind of everyday life, a theme that resonates with listeners who are all about pushing through adversity and keeping the momentum going. With the added touch of Wiz-Ard's dynamic feature, the song creates an undeniable synergy, drawing listeners into its catchy hooks and impactful verses. As a rising force in the hip-hop/rap genre, Alps is quickly making a name for himself with his raw talent and introspective lyricism. Whether he's reflecting on personal struggles or celebrating triumphs, Alps brings a realness to his music that connects with fans on a deeper level. Keep an eye on this artist—his journey is just beginning, and with tracks like Keep Pouring, it's clear that Alps is here to stay. featured song ... Alps - **/ placed on: - mysoundMusic hip hop | rap songs but explicit - a fusion ☑️ hip hop pop rnb soul … - it's a Hip Hop playlist - ♥️ Hip Hop ♥️ Rap - mymy that Music (E) **/pending: - Rap Game – Survive the beat - The Ultimate Rap & Hiphop  - Drip Mode  (Rap/Hip Hop/Trap) - RIMA RECORDS - hip hop explicit n that’s a rap - Hip Hop Momma -  Hip Hop n Rap …. - Rap Sushi 4 | By DJ 6rings Alps30 Followers806 Monthly Listeners - Twitter - Flipboard - Linkedin - Tumblr - Medium - ko-fi - Substack - Vocal.Media - Bluesky - iHeartRadio - Player FM - Podchaser - Podbean - Spotify - Amazon - Podcast Addict - Boomplay Read the full article

[tamofthedragons]

The Pit District

If Hypixel was a city, the Pit district was the shady neighborhood near the edge of town, the one parents told their children to avoid, the one where people who went outside alone at night went missing. But, it did have one thing that no other district did.

Mystics.

-

Words: 1645

AUTHOR'S NOTE Figured I'd start posting my writing by re-uploading my Hypixel stories over here so they no longer exist exclusively on the forums. If you know me from Tumblr and not the Hypixel Pit forums, this might be your first time seeing 'em!

-

At first glance, the district dedicated to the Pit seemed almost quaint. It was much smaller and less crowded than the Skyblock district, or even the Skywars district, but almost as lively. There were rolling hills and green grass and trees swaying in the wind and strings of lights stretching between buildings to illuminate the streets below at night. The markets were busy but not jam-packed, and the Trade Center was impressive enough to interest the occasional tourist.

Today of all days, the district seemed especially charming. The sky was blue and cloudless, and a faint breeze stirred the leaves of trees lining the streets. The dull roar of the marketplace, of people talking, haggling, and announcing their wares, was a pleasant one.

Of course, first glances could be deceiving. The Pit’s reputation was far darker than it’s physical appearance, and for good reason. If Hypixel was a city, the Pit district was the shady neighborhood near the edge of town, the one parents told their children to avoid, the one where people who went outside alone at night went missing. But, it did have one thing that no other district did.

Mystics.

The only items in the kingdom that could hold a candle to Skyblock’s, and they were usually cheaper and easier to hide, too. Sure, taking items exclusive to a certain district outside of that district was highly illegal, but that’d never stopped anyone. Everyone wanted a good sword on their person, to defend themselves from armed robbers or to use on a hacker if they encountered one. To continue the city metaphor, mystics were the restaurant that sold burgers so good it was worth risking the shady neighborhood for.

Of course, in addition to the mystic trade, the Pit also sported a booming black market. Hackers were so common they’d become a part of the economy, selling illicit devices and their services to those who could afford it. There were rumors that it was such a hub for illegal activity that hackers from other districts would visit it to take part in the economy’s dark underbelly. Though so far, no one had backed up those rumors with evidence.

But, you weren’t here for a history lesson. You were here to do business.

Your journey took you past the Trade Center, a large, impressive building that sat proudly in the middle of town. Its walls were mostly clean white quartz and glass, and inside it had high ceilings and tall windows that made it feel like there was plenty of room even when it was full of people. Huge floating holograms listed known scammers, advertisements, and graphs displaying current prices and what they were yesterday. It was probably the best place for trading if you wanted a safe deal with a low chance of something going wrong.

Today, it wasn’t the place for you. 

You snatched a newspaper from a stand outside on your way by and read it as you walked. It was today’s copy of The Hypixel Pit News, the first paper dedicated to the Pit, and one of the most respected. They released articles online too, but trying to read text on a translucent hologram while walking had always given you a headache, so you preferred the physical copies.

An illegal inter-district trading ring had been exposed, there was more drama between high-prestige players, a new hopper group was making threats, and the anti-Conclave protests were still going. Same old, same old.

The sound of shouting tore your attention away from the paper. Not your average shouting typical of the marketplace either, but something more synchronized. More organized.

Hey, speaking of anti-Conclave protests, you’d just happened upon one.

They were camped out on the sidewalk near the Trade Center, chanting in unison, waving handmade signs, the works. They argued that the organization was corrupt and holding them back rather than uplifting them as it was supposed to. It’d been going on for a few days now. Conclave had made a few official statements addressing it, but the protestors didn’t seem satisfied.

Frankly, you didn’t care either way. It didn’t really affect you. At least it made your walk entertaining.

You skirted around the protest, giving them a wide berth. Immediately, you noticed what appeared to be three locals cornering a pair of tourists. That usually meant bad news. You angled yourself to get within earshot while still appearing casual.

“I-I-I don’t know anything about that,” one tourist stammered. “We’re just visiting.”

“Visiting or not, you still have to pay your taxes. Let’s not make this any harder than it needs to be,” one of the locals replied.

“C’mon. Pay up,” another beckoned.

“Everyone has to do this,” the first reassured. “It’s completely normal.”

“Hey!” you called, abandoning any pretense of uninvolvement. “Quit scamming the tourists.”

The three locals turned around, all wearing near-identical sneers. From the colors of the eight-pointed stars pinned to the front of their jackets, you could make out their prestige and level. Yellow brackets, every single one of them.

“We’re not scamming!” one objected innocently. “We’re helping. If they pay us now, they won’t get hunted later.”

“Uh-huh,” you monotoned, unimpressed. “Get outta here.”

“We’re not doing anything wrong!” the other cried.

You shifted your weight slightly so the golden sword dangling from your hip was more prominent, and casually placed one hand on the pommel. It was quite a blade, with a serrated edge indicating Combo: Damage, and a dark red line running down the middle, indicating Lifesteal. Not a record-breaking sword, but certainly a good one. Plus, its presence meant you had the wealth or power to obtain it, which was almost more intimidating than the blade itself.

The yellow brackets backed off.

“Sorry about that,” you told the tourists. “You know how nons are. What did they tell you?”

“Um, something about taxes?” one offered.

“They said we had to pay them or we’d be hunted forever,” the other explained.

You sized them up with a critical eye. Neither wore any mystics, but both had the glowing cyan earring of MVP rank. They weren’t even wearing the eight-pointed star pin of the Pit, which meant they hadn’t actually stepped foot in the combat zones yet. They oozed “I’m a rich idiot, please exploit me” from every pore.

“Wipe that wide-eyed look off your face,” you ordered. “You look like tourists.”

“We are tourists.”

“Well, hide it better. You’re lucky most higher prestiges don’t think you’re even worth scamming, or strangers might have a harder time rescuing you. Keep a hand on your sword and squint at everyone like you expect them to jump you at any moment,” you instructed. “Don’t expect me to save you again.”

With that, you turned and continued walking. You had places to be.

As you advanced into the seedier parts of town, things started to look a little less charming. The buildings were shabbier, the pavement was cracked, and the streets were narrower. Glowing signs and hologram advertisements alike flickered like they could lose power at any moment. There were less people walking these streets, and the ones that did wore good mystics and wary expressions. Rather than shops and cafés, most of the buildings here were taverns.

You were near the district’s dark underbelly.

Then, you found your destination. A tavern dubbed The Mariana, short for the Mariana Trench, and vaguely themed around the map Corals. There was a café downtown called The Aquarium that had done the same thing, but it had gone for a cheerful, colorful aesthetic, with light blue walls, large windows, and huge murals depicting schools of fish. This one had done rather the opposite and mimicked something closer to the deep sea.

You entered cautiously. It was quite dim compared to the sunlight outside, and it took your eyes a moment to adjust. The walls were brick and the floorboards dark oak. Black curtains were drawn over the few windows, and the only light came from greenish bulbs dangling from the ceiling on long strings, likely meant to resemble an anglerfish’s lure.

You analyzed the establishment’s customers quickly before taking another step. A few high-prestige players sat at the bar, the Executioner scythes strapped to their backs glinting when they caught the light. Most of the tavern’s occupants sat at circular tables, sipping drinks and talking in low tones. Not a single person here was without a weapon.

In the far left corner, you spotted what you’d been looking for. Two people sitting next to each other at a table, both wearing darks, and, oddly enough, long sleeves despite the warm weather.

You approached their table cautiously. As you got closer, you could make out fangs sewn into the black leather of their pants. Not only darks, but venoms. Perfect.

They looked up when you neared them. They both had pretty good poker faces, but you could just barely make out distrust in their eyes and the faintest hint of smugness in the curve of their mouths. You noted that neither had the glowing earring indicating a rank. What a curious coincidence.

You planted both hands on the table and leaned closer.

“Weird question, do either of you happen to know someone with . . . a really comfortable gaming chair?” you asked.

To anyone else, the question would seem like gibberish. Perhaps a joke of some kind. But if your assumptions were correct, it’d mean something else entirely to these people.

A slow smile spread over one’s face. He reached down and tugged his sleeve back slightly to reveal a glimpse of shiny metal and tiny glowing lights. You’d been in the Pit long enough to recognize a killaura bracer on sight.

“Maybe. Why do you ask?” he replied.

You pulled back a chair and sat down. You had their attention. No turning back now. You took a deep breath.

“I need someone hunted.”

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN: August 7th, 2020

[im-a-king-baby]

hi! i love all the media things in ELYN so much that i'd gladly have a fic that contains just them: tumblr posts, twitter replies, some online articles, maybe even Prince/Simme fanfiction, i just adooooore what you're doing with it, so thank you so much 🧡

hiii! Thank you, they were so much fun to write (although some more than others were a headache to format XD)

Here is a bonus one that got cut from the main fic just for you:

[transcript of fan shot video of Simme in Los Angeles]

Hola mis amigos! Hope everyone is having an awesome night, I’ve been on tour for a few weeks now and it’s so exciting to be back home, doing And the Next shows here in L.A.! [crowd screams for a full thirty seconds before Simme waves them to be quiet.] Now I know you might be expecting certain things from my tour, but my mom is here tonight - hola mama! - and so we’re going to have a nice, clean show. No naughty language, no property damage and no taking off our clothes! Can you all do that for me? [Massive roar of agreement.] Thanks all, that means so much to me. Alright, our next song is called Fuck this Motherfucker, let’s fucking party!

[Comments]

xXx8787xXx: Isn't this the show where they set the piano on fire?

[potato-with-hair]

Fake News

First tumblr Story Ever

As the newest Avenger it seemed that Tony Stark and Captain Rogers were more than comfortable sending you out on all of the shit missions, granted, you could use the time in with your new teammates to learn their little quirks and start working to meld your abilities with theirs so that you could start working together seamlessly, but it was getting ridiculous. You were half expecting to start getting told to go out and help the NYFD rescue kittens from trees and helping the NYPD direct traffic on Broadway in Manhattan during rush hour. Y/N was a technopath, which was a fancy name for someone who could control technology and anything mechanical with their mind, or if you wanted to be technical about it, according to the official S.H.I.E.L.D. dossier:

Y/L/N, Y/N: Main Ability: Technology Manipulation

User can manipulate technology, the sum of techniques, skills, methods, and

processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment

of objectives. However, most users only can exert control over technological

constructs, such as computers, robots, hardware, and other devices that can be

termed as "technology", in any way. Manifested as a special form of electrical/telekinetic manipulation, a special form of "morphing" which allows physical interaction with machines, or even a psychic ability that allows mental interface with computer data.

Also Called:

· Cyberkinesis

· Cyberpathy

· Mechanokinesis

· Technokinesis

· Technopathy

Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, spring was coming to a close and summer was just around the corner. Tony asked me and Sam Wilson, you may know him as Falcon, to head to midtown

Manhattan because there were some “unsavory” characters hanging around Grand Central Station.

Turns out it was some low-level HYDRA minions that were basically trying to see what kind of trouble they could cause, they had planted a pipe bomb in a waste bin in the middle of the station and it was a Friday when thousands of people would be traveling through the station heading to and from work and school. I think that HYDRA was more or less just testing us Avengers out to what abilities we had and see if there are any hidden capabilities we possessed before they come at us for a full-scale attack.

Sam and I arrived and were able to find the pipe bomb relatively quickly, part of my ability is being able to read the signatures of different technologies and mechanics, and if you don’t think that a bomb countdown timer throws out a red flag, you are mistaken. Anyway, we found it, and rather than call bomb and arson with New York’s Finest, I was able to manipulate the mechanics myself using my mind. I shut down the detonator without ever touching the bomb and made the whole thing inactive within a few minutes time.

Easy peasy, 10 minutes, another fast sweep which took an additional 30 minutes, and Sam and I were finished and ready for our close-ups from the media that always, inevitably followed. We had a small group of media that always showed up whenever a call went out that an Avenger was “working” and there was almost always a small fan base at Grand Central or where ever we were working who would come up to thank us, like we were some sort of rock stars, and as per usual some of the younger men and women took the opportunity to do some flirting with us. Tony told us, unattached Avengers, that any publicity and light flirting and playfulness with the fans was good publicity and would help for the public to relate to us and see us in a positive light. I am not going to lie, I may or may not have had a little thing for our resident speedy Sokovian, but our little flirting in the compound never seemed to go beyond that, flirting. I thought there was a possibility he liked me also, but, so far, nothing. Although I did catch him staring at me quite often and Wanda and some of the guys were always talking to him and then immediately looking in her direction like they were just discussing her. Pietro did seem to always try to be around me and sit near me as often as possible as well. Also when the “fans” would flirt with him, I noticed he never really showed much interest in them, always watching to see what I was doing.

Oh well, time to spend a little time with the crowd before Sam and I headed back to the compound. The New York Times was talking to some travelers about the pipe bomb that was found in the wastebasket and what their thoughts were and how they felt about us being there to “save the day, yet again” when an overzealous “fan” started to get a little handsy with me in the background. He had followed me around and asked me to dinner a few times, flashing cash and his business card a few times, trying to press it into my hand multiple times. I explained I was really bust and thanked him but said I was not interested or available, but he kept perusing me. He was leaning over my shoulder with his hand around my waist from behind, body pulled directly flush with my back and he was in an excited state if you know what I mean, and he was whispering in my ear about some of his fantasies and things that he has dreamt of doing to me. Of course, the camera flashed right as he started to kiss my neck and I had a smile on my face because I was focusing on a sweet 10 year old in front of me asking for my autograph and telling me I was her favorite avenger. If the camera had waited all of 5 seconds more, they would have caught me performing a minor assault on the prick and another 5 seconds would have caught Sam pulling me off of him and flying us out of the station and back to the compound with his hand over my mouth because I let lose a string of explicative’s that would put Wade Wilson to shame.

The next morning I woke up and took a shower, went down to the kitchen and made my normal toast and juice and bowl of fruit, and could not help notice that the Avengers that were there were looking at me strangely, I thought it was because I was still in a sour mood because of that jerk from yesterday and the icky feeling he gave me that I was assaulted by scum. I knew that Rogers, Wanda, Sam, and Nat were on their way to Lagos on a mission. Thor and Banner were MIA since Sokovia, which left Stark, Rhodey, Vision, Pietro and I still here.

“Y/N, so, how was the pipe bomb incident yesterday?” Tony asked seemingly hinting at something

“Uneventful aside from a slight annoyance in the crowd, is there coffee left?” Y/N responded looking at him while rising to get a mug and pour a hot mug to clear the remaining sleep from my head.

“Nothing happened? Nobody special you want to tell us about?” Rhodey chimes in.

“Not that I am aware of or worth mentioning now that it’s done and over with, is there something you would like to tell me about?” Y/N asks looking back and forth to them. “Hey, where’s Speedy, he’s usually down here eating everything that isn’t trying to eat him first.”

Tony looks at Y/N and smirks, “It is strange that you should mention that, he came in about 20 minutes ago, I assume you were in the shower or I am sure you would have heard him, saw the cover of the New York Times, flipped out and, well, here you are, please take a look, we are on pins and needles to know what you think. And I hope you know that all suitors must meet the full team before you becoming an “item” and pass Avenger inspection, and Rogers is particularly tough.” He slid the paper across the kitchen island to where you sat, both he and Rhodey watching your face for a reaction. You unfolded the paper confused and looked at the front cover.

There in black and white at you was a close up of the stranger with his arms around your waist from behind, you leaning slightly forward smiling and the stranger kissing your neck, the little girl you were smiling at was covered by the person being interviewed in the foreground. To someone who was not there and did not know the story, this definitely looked bad, like a very intimate moment caught on film, the headline read ‘Newest Avenger Moving Fast With New York Wall Street Trader’ the article went on to talk about how you just met the guy and did not bother to get his name, but just let him put the moves on you, yadda, yadda, yadda. Apparently, after Sam got you out of there, the “gentleman: in question decided to make a name for himself and gave a short interview making it sound like you approached him and started the whole flirt fest, lead him on, and then abandoned him, with the promise to return. You looked at Tony and Rhodey with wide eyes and a sick feeling in your stomach, “This is the biggest load of shit I have ever read in my life, this is not anything at all what happened. About 3 seconds after this picture was snapped, I basically slapped the taste out of his mouth and would have continued to do so had Sam not gotten me out of there. Flirting? More like this guy assaulted me. This was not consensual or wanted. I told him multiple times I was not interested and refused his advances and invitations to dinner and he kept bothering me. I was talking to a little kid and he pulled this crap when I had my back turned to him.”

Tony went from joking to serious almost instantly, “Okay, we were just going to bust your balls on this a little bit, but this has just become a non-joke. I’ll have Pepper contact someone in Stark Industries legal department to get in touch with the paper to track this guy down, he’ll have had to sign a waiver for publication and we’re going to go after him for liable and harassment. If he tries to come after you for battery for the assault, well, we’ll call that defense, Avenger or not, no one gets to touch you without permission. Y/n we really didn’t know, we were just going to play around with you about this a little, and we had no idea. He didn’t do any weird stuff, right?”

“NO, I mean, I slapped him and Sam pulled me off of him and flew me out of there, anything beyond what he did to me and you would have been getting a call from New York’s finest about bail or my court hearing for homicide. I was shocked, but if it had gone beyond what it was, I would have raged a lot harder than I did. The headline in the paper would have read a lot differently today.” Y/N responded.

“Alright, I know that yesterday was weird and I know that Nat and Wanda have had to deal with crap like this from time to time, unfortunately being an attractive woman on the team seems to let the guys out there think that it is open season to treat you ladies like meat. It is unfair and it sucks and if any of the men on the team are around just say the word and well step in and make sure the guys know it’s not okay, or step back and let you take care of it yourself, whatever you feel more comfortable with. In the meantime, take the weekend off and go to a spa or go shopping or to the movies or whatever you need to do to feel better, charge everything to Stark okay. Just let us know if you need anything alright.” Tony hugged you with one arm and kissed the top of your head. “One thing though, Lightning Legs. He flipped out when he saw this. He thought it was true and got hot and bothered. I would suggest finding him and letting him know what is really going on because the last thing you need right now is a crazy Sokovian kid acting like a jealous boyfriend right now.”

You look us at Tony and across the island to Rhodey, “What is that all about, what is he flipping out about, he brags about all the women he is into and dated back in Sokovia all the time, what does he care about what happens to me?”

“Y/N are you serious? That kid has been crazy in love with you since Sokovia. I swear I was coming close to sending you both on a mission that involved a tropical island and a case of rum soon. If he’s not staring at you, you are staring at him. It’s sickening.” Tony finished with a sarcastic eye roll. Go relax in your room, we'll take care of this. Just try to put it from your mind and well talk soon. With that, you left and headed to the elevator bank to the sleeping quarters level, feeling shitty, but better because you knew Tony would do what he could to help.

You were only in your Bedroom Suite for about half an hour when there was a somewhat frantic knocking at your door. You got up from your bed, put down the book you were currently reading, and made your way to the door, opening it, you found a seemingly tormented Pietro, he entered your quarters without an invitation and started to pace the length of your room, looking at you, Y/N could tell he needed to speak, but he was not sure where or how to start.

“Y/N, I ……. The newspaper, I saw the picture and…… Who is he? Do you like him? I mean does he make you happy? I want you to be happy……… I know that no one will ever be able to………. Not like I do………” Pietro kept starting and stopping sentences, never actually completing any, and getting agitated. You had never seen him this disconcerted before, he was always so unruffled when he would flirt with you before and this was a whole new side to him that you had never seen before. It was like he was unsure of himself and it was not something he was sure of how to process. You walked towards where Pietro was walking seemingly carrying on an argument with himself and reached out for his hands.

“Pietro, please stop, okay, please. It is not what you think, I don’t know that guy. It was fake, it was false, I don’t know him, I did not ask for that, I did not tell him it was okay to touch me or kiss me like that, I was not alright with that, He did that without my permission, and the photographer took a picture and they wrote some fake story to make it seem like I was into it. I did not want that. I don’t know him, I feel disgusted by that.” You start to rub your neck where the creep kissed you, sat down on the plush cushioned ottoman bench at the foot of your bed and start to curl into yourself to make yourself as small as possible as Pietro looks at you taking in your words.

“Wait, moja bohyňa (my goddess,) some guy you do not know came up to you and started to touch you and kiss you without your permission? No, I will not allow this, who is this man; I will go fight him right now. Žiadny odpadok sa nemôže dotknúť mojej bohyne bez jej súhlasu. Nikomu by nemalo byť dovolené pozerať sa na ňu bez toho, aby sa poďakoval bohom, že bola stvorená. (No trash can touch my goddess without her consent. No man should ever be allowed to look on her, without thanking the gods that she was created.) Are you okay?” He sat on the bench next to you giving you plenty of space, not wanting to crowd you. “I will kill this man, why would he think he could touch you, Bohyňa (Goddess,) if I had been there, I would have stopped him immediately, I am so sorry I was not there with you. “ Pietro sat staring forward with a look of disappointment in himself. You leaned over towards him putting your head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around you pulling you into him. You snuggled your face into his chest drawing designs on his stomach and chest with your finger as he kissed your head and held you close.

“Tony is going to get the Legal department of Stark Industries to look into the paper and find out who the guy is and get him charged with harassment, and I may or may not have given him a good slap as soon as I got over my shock and realized what was happening, so I figure I should let the cops know everything in case he decided to try to press charges later for battery saying I attacked him. But I promise Pietro, there is absolutely nothing at all going on with that guy or any other guy in my life because I was sort of waiting for someone I had a sort of thing for to maybe make a move, but I didn’t think that he was interested, so I had basically given up hope and just accepted that we would only be friends, and that was okay, but I really was hoping he would let me know he felt the same.” You continued tracing symbols on Pietro's chest with her fingers nervously

Pietro put his hand gently under Y/Ns chin and raised her face so that his clear blue eyes were looking directly into Y/N/E/C, “Do I know this guy?” He asked finally deciding to go with the advice the rest of the team when they told him that Y/N was definitely into him, and Wanda assured him that yes, Y/N thought about him often and was only too nervous to make the first move, but if Pietro would, she would be receptive.

Y/N looks from Pietro's eyes to his lips and back to his eyes again and states “I am sure you have seen him around here, sometimes he’s hard to spot because he’s pretty fast, but when he stops or slows down and doesn’t try so hard to impress everyone he’s really an amazing guy. I have to say to, he is sexy as hell too, and he has this accent when he talks, uggghhh, it does things to me.” Y/N just smiles at him teasingly.

Pietro chuckles and smiling leans in but says softly before he kisses you, “Prednesiem vám básne a texty, ak ma chcete počuť hovoriť, poviem vám všetky veci, ktoré chcem s vami a s vami urobiť, ale nikdy vám nebudem môcť vyjadriť, ako veľmi vás milujem a uctievam. Teraz si môj, ako ja tvoj, navždy. (I will recite you poetry and lyrics if you want to hear me speak, I will tell you all the things I want to do to you and with you, but I will never be able to express to you, how much I love and worship you. You are mine now as I am your, forever.)” He then lays the softest and most soul-baring kiss on Y/N that she has ever felt. It was as if all the passions in the world could have been transferred to her through that kiss and as he softly caresses her face while peppering gentle kisses on her face, Y/N thinks that maybe this stupid picture is not the worst thing in the world to ever happen to her if it is what FINALLY brought her and Pietro together, she figures if nothing else, this will be a brilliant story to tell their kids someday.

Slovakian substituted for Sokovian

Y/N = Your Name

Y/L/N = Your Last Name

Y/N/E/C = Your Eye Color

[venhedish]

In light of a certain wincest-adjacent blocklist making the rounds and some friends of mine getting smacked with the purity hammer, I have things to say for anyone who would like to listen!

In my experience, antis are more concerned with the rush they get from being angry and feeling morally superior than they are with actually engaging critically with us, the text, or themselves to understand why they feel the way they feel.

This is not actually about the incest thing and it never has been. Incest in the SPN fandom is being used as a dog-whistle to draw a dividing line between us and them, and it’s that shitty black-and-white thinking that tons of young people are falling victim to because it’s wrapped up with a bow that presents a neat little package: incest bad. We can all agree on that, can’t we? But what’s so insidious is that this new-Victorian purity movement is only cloaked in a signifier of moral purity. What it actually is is a giant, authoritarian flag waving in the air, inviting the anti-intellectual to join together behind a concept that sounds righteous on the surface but is actually being used to bully, harass, and harm people who are often already marginalized out of their own communities.

One thing to look out for in particular that absolutely fascinates me is the way language is used as an exclusionary, self-selective force that reinforces these boundaries. Go to any one of the big heller/anti-wincest blogs and look at the way they talk to each other. To be clear, almost all groups will eventually start developing a shorthand that makes them easily identifiable to each other, but sometimes I’ll check out that side of tumblr and legitimately feel like we’re speaking two different languages.

This is a really common thing that happens with political and religious movements and it’s happening here for similar reasons! If you’re on the fringes of fandom and you like destiel and you join tumblr or twitter or wherever these communities are active and you do a search for your ship, you’ll find some blogs that seem really cool and have interesting stuff to say, but they’re full of in-jokes and weird terms and meme language. And because you want to fit in—to understand the community you’re joining—you dive deeper, you search back through history and pick up pieces here and there until you finally get it. And by that point, you’ve basically indoctrinated yourself. You’re doing their work for them, essentially.

This kind of thing is done on purpose for two reasons: it helps to signify that people using this language have passed a litmus test that proves this person is one of us, and it makes it harder for the outsider to engage with you on even footing. I mean, this sounds fucking ridiculous, but how the fuck is an intellectually honest person supposed to engage critically with someone who attacks them by calling them J*red-kin??? (I just made that up but I can 100% imagine a heller using it as an insult). I’m not saying this is done on purpose in the SPN fandom. I mean, maybe a little by people who are shit-stirring on purpose, but this kind of thing just happens and it’s very hard to catch on to. We’re all guilty of it. Language is crazy flexible and always shifting and we flex and shift with it as popular phrases come and go.

Look, all I’m saying is that if you actually think about the response to wincest from the heller community, you realize how flimsy their platform really is. Reading and writing about fictional brothers fictionally fucking each other harms no one, and anyone with a brain who actually cares knows this! That’s why the anti-wincest crowd isn’t citing articles or research about the dangers of portraying incest in fiction – because they don’t exist! We can, of course, talk about the impact that uneven power dynamics in real life incestuous relationships have on victims of such abuse, how most people who are sexually abused are abused by a family member, how to be aware of grooming techniques and watch out for red flags that point towards abusive behavior. But we don’t! Because that’s 👏 not 👏 what 👏 it’s 👏 about 👏

Instead, it’s just an overflowing bandwagon jammed full of empty ideas and a lot of people getting hurt because of it. Innocent – let me say it again: INNOCENT people who are exploring sexuality, trauma, relationship dynamics, and just plain old having a good time minding their own business in an ethically safe and victimless way are being threatened and harassed and told to die. Wonder which one is actually more damaging and morally bankrupt. 🤔

Anyway, imagine a world where the purity police got their way. There’d basically be no safe literature left. Nabokov? Cancelled. Rushdie? Salinger? Ginsberg? All cancelled. Imagine antis whole-cloth discarding hundreds of years of religious tradition because of all the shit the gods got up to! This is the same line of thinking that made a generation of moms believe that violent video games led to real-world violence. Fiction has never, ever, been meant to only tell pure stories. The whole world of literature would be narrowed down to, like, a couple cautionary tales and picture books if anti culture could somehow actually reach the inevitable praxis of its desire. 

Taboos have always been sexy. It’s okay to explore them through the medium of fiction. It’s literally the safest, most ethically responsible thing you can do. Please, please don’t let a functionally illiterate hive-mind convince you otherwise!

For an amazing resource to learn more about anti culture and how troubling it is, check out @freedom-of-fanfic. It’s an awesome blog to browse if you’re even a tiny bit interested in this kind of thing!

[moconut]

Whatever It Takes: A Degrassi Season 10 Retrospective (Breakaway, Pt. 1)

Here's where we left off last time: 

Holly J and Sav are locked in a bitter competition for school president, and the most interesting part is that Anya ISN'T pregnant

Bobby revealed himself to be even worse than previously thought, leaving Fiona feeling frightened and alone

Dave embarrassed and objectified Alli but still got a kiss from her

The first two plots carry through into Breakaway, but the third will be dropped for boobs. Am I allowed to say "boobs" on Tumblr anymore? Guess I'm about to find out.

CW: domestic violence

We open with Fiona teetering on the school's roof and calling Declan. Tinsley has told Declan that Fiona's roof-walking is the talk of the town; meanwhile, apparently no one noticed Bobby loudly hauling Fiona down a staircase yesterday. Fiona reveals Bobby's abusive nature, and Declan's supportive reaction is, "Are you sure?" She insists, and he asks if she wants him to intervene. "I'll deal with it," she replies. This will surely end well. Also, some NPC shouts "Jump, why don'tcha?" off-screen and WOW is this school full of terrible people.

We quickly find out what Fiona meant by "dealing" with Bobby: embellishing her faded bruise with make-up and posting it on Twitter. I'm sure this will never come up again. The next day, Bobby confronts a finally angry Declan and insists Fiona made it all up. He brings up the article of Fiona kissing Declan that he apparently has ready on his phone at all times, reminding Declan that his sister is well capable of making questionable decisions. An upbeat Fiona comes up to Declan, who then chews her out for "trashing" Bobby's reputation.

We switch back to Degrassi, where Clare has her first big plot this season. She's had quite the makeover from previous seasons--short hair, no glasses, and clothing that's not her old Catholic school uniform. Jenna, who stole Clare's boyfriend KC last season, overhears a cryptic conversation about a "surgery" between her and Alli and jumps to the obvious conclusion: Clare must be getting a boob job. 

Drew shows up to simp over Sav again for some reason. We find out that reason is that he's apparently into DILFs: he's heard (and believed) the Anya-is-pregnant rumor, thinking Sav is a stand-up guy for sticking around. Meanwhile, Holly J deviously brags to Declan that Sav would surely be out of the race now. But Declan is preoccupied; he tells Holly J Fiona lied about Bobby. But Holly J thinks there could be merit to Fiona's claims and that Declan should be kinder to her. Holly J is somehow more sympathetic towards Fiona, the person she should be least sympathetic towards, than anyone else in the show even though they've had maybe two positive interactions.

Meanwhile, Anya and Sav prepare to further ruin their lives for no good reason. They're going to tell her parents about the not-pregnancy, and Sav even reveals he's willing to marry Anya. She finally cracks under the weight of being a horrible person and admits the pregnancy was a ruse to lose him the election. He asks why she would do something like that, and she says she wanted to come clean but didn't want him to hate her again. "I guess that's kind of sweet," Sav replies, which is absolutely the sane and realistic reaction here. The two somehow stay together.

Back in New York, Declan apologizes to Fiona and says he'll believe whatever she says happened. She shows him her bruised leg, which is honestly what she should've taken a picture of in the first place. Fiona wishes she had someone to listen to her, and Declan notes that Holly J had been asking about her. Fiona is pleasantly surprised, and once Declan leaves, she picks up the phone...to book a flight!

At Degrassi, Jenna reveals the big news to troubled jock KC: Clare's bobs will become the large bobs. Jenna is concerned by KC's titillated (haha) reaction, somehow surprised that a teenage boy enjoys the concepts of boobs and their varying degrees of largeness. 

Holly J sees a crowd and grabs Connor to ask what's going on. "Assault?" Connor answers in what's one of the funniest lines of the show. He says Sav is a hero because he knocked up Anya, much to Holly J's disbelief. Anya shows up and moves her extremely Canadian textbook to reveal...

Betrayal! Holly J threatens to tell the truth, and Anya counter-threatens to blame Holly J for the whole idea. 

In gym class, Clare lectures the boys about enjoying Photoshopped images of women's bodies. Jenna implies Clare's hypocrisy here, and the two exchange vague barbs about "surgery" while Connor mimes having huge bobbos in the background.

Fiona surprises Holly J at Degrassi with her traveling luggage, having apparently not even stopped at a hotel or anything first. The two go to the Dot to share some classic orange juice, which is for some reason the official drink of this show.

Now it’s time for the presidential debate, held in the cafeteria so only students in that lunch period can attend. Holly J says Sav isn’t ready for the responsibility and an NPC cheers her on with a spirited “Yeah Holly. Yeah.”

Sav retorts that he balances all kinds of things, including…impregnating Anya! This announcement is met with raucous applause, because the school knows it’s been too long since they’ve had a pregnancy plot.

Fiona’s mom marches into the school to confront her, saying they need to talk. Fiona blames Holly J for ratting her out, even though she’s the one who used her mom’s credit card to buy a plane ticket.

In the required subject of Media Immersion, students are enjoying their new balls when Mr. Simpson appears on screen with an announcement: the presidential votes are in. It’s…

Wow, a surprise! Also, Mr. Simpson literally said that when he announced it.

Fiona takes her mom to the Dot and has told her about the abuse off screen. She worries about being a disappointment and drama queen, but her mom undergoes character development by affirming her worth and swearing to (legally) fight back against Bobby. Fiona is clearly still reluctant to cause more of a scene by pressing charges—and even more reluctant to return to New York at all.

Where will this all go next? You’ve probably already seen this show and therefore know. But if you’ve read all this, you clearly don’t mind the recap. So thank you for continuing to indulge my nostalgic fixation, and see you next time!

[hwkhs]

Terms of Endearment

summary: what the bnha characters call their s/o with a little imagine to go with it

pairings: hawks/takami keigo, dabi/todoroki touya, amajiki tamaki, togata mirio x gn! reader

warnings: none

style & genre: headcannons; fluff (but for hawks it’s not because it just came to me, it’s still fluff though!)

notes: the imagines are longer in this one :) i need to catch up on the manga everyone’s freaking out rn and i want to know why and i need to finish prep work for school does anyone remember how to do calc

and reposted because tumblr algorithm ahehe

Part One | Part Two | cont. soon…

Hawks/Takami Keigo

what he would call his s/o: little bird, lovebird, lovely

he thinks it’s cute if he adds “bird” somewhere in there

he likes it when you call him “birdie” or something like that so he calls you one of the two above so you guys can match

i feel like he’d be the one to use nicknames the most out of all the characters just because

You are both patrolling on opposite sides of the city when a villain appears out of nowhere. There aren’t enough reinforcements near you and Hawks knew the alert was coming from your patrol area. You have a fairly strong quirk, enough to get you into the Top 10, however, he had a sense that there was something else amiss.

His fears are confirmed when he sees you laying on the ground in a pool of your own blood. His attention snaps to the villain hovering above and sends his feathers towards them before flying up himself, red overcoming his vision.

It may have only been minutes after but the villain is detained and he is by your side in seconds. Your quirk is barely keeping you alive and he scans the area to see other heroes who fought with you with the same injuries only less serious. Holding you in his arms, Hawks places his ear to your chest and releases his breath when he hears your heart beating.

Your eyes crack open but the pain is unbearable. He sees you looking at him and he brings your head to his chest. “It’s okay, little bird, you’ll be fine. Help is on the way.”

Dabi

what he would call his s/o: doll/dollface, sweet

a little shit

he says these nicknames with a teasing tone all the damn time and it doesn’t matter if you are male, female, nonbinary - he’ll call you DOLL because he thinks you’re cute

he’s never been in a serious relationship so calling someone these names is pretty important because he actually cares about you

“Hey, doll.” You jump at hearing the voice behind you until you realize who it is. He chuckles to himself as he sauntered over to where you were, just closing the door behind you to your room.

He is already used to being quiet, with your parents being home and all and them being pro-heroes no less. Your relationship with the blue fire user had sprung up almost spontaneously but you wouldn’t trade it for the world, and neither would he.

Much back and forth had gone on, mostly on your part, but you both had come out stronger from it. While you didn’t necessarily like his profession, you couldn’t say you were too keen of the heroes either. Whether that was influenced by him or not, you would never say.

In the midst of your thoughts he had already gathered you in his arms and thrown you both into the bed. Being a villain living a shabby building didn’t provide him with much luxury so he was happy to know that he had you to hold onto and a comfortable bed to lay in.

“I missed you so much, dollface.”

Amajiki Tamaki

what he would call his s/o: bunny, butterfly

another one who makes me soft

he’s so innocent so it takes a bit before he starts calling you these

the first time he called you bunny/butterfly he was so embarassed until you told him you liked it and even then he would still flush even though HE said it to YOU

You hold onto Tamaki’s hand tighter as you drag him to another booth. Being in a crowded area wasn’t his forte so he appreciated when you pulled him away from the other people to more secluded areas. It was his idea to bring you to the festival for your anniversary and you felt immensely happy to know he would go through with human interaction if it made your day. He even brought along his camera to take pictures.

“What do you want to eat?” You point at the menu that was full of delicious sounding crêpes. You both choose what you want and the dish is given to you in a pretty basket. The large smile on your face doesn’t go unnoticed as Tamaki holds the camera slung around his neck.

You look up at his red face when you hear the camera shutter go off. He has a soft smile to which you kiss his cheek. The picture of you is cute.

“You have a beautiful smile, bunny.”

Togata Mirio

what he would call his s/o: sunflower, pumpkin, honeybee

the perfect™ man pt. 2

he gives off just WHOLESOME WHOLESOME boyfriend material right here this man oh my god help

cheesy yet cute names for you though his favorite is calling you sunflower

“Sunflower, have you seen my–” Mirio’s words get caught in his mouth when he sees you napping on his bed. Not only that, but in his hoodie no less. He was bigger in size so the article of clothing engulfed you almost entirely.

You slept soundly, soft snores coming from your mouth as he made his way to lay beside you. As if on instinct, you snuggle closer to his warm body, face finding rest in the crook of his neck. He smiles when he hears you let out a sigh of content before returning to your previous state.

‘Good timing’, he thinks to himself, ‘I was actually looking for this hoodie.’

[solarscholarsofmagick]

4 Ways to Juggle Adult Life With Your Craft

As the years go by, teenagers who experiment with witchcraft grow into adults. Some of these adults keep with the craft and find a lifestyle that really speaks to them. But, as we grow into adulthood, life (and our responsibilities) change. All of a sudden, we have jobs, relationships, finances, and more. At the end of the day, this means that life becomes busy. So busy, in fact, that sometimes our craft becomes lost and it become hard to find time between it all.

Miss your craft? Here are some tips to help you find your magick again!

1. All the Small Things, True Care Truth Brings

Magick doesn’t always need to include elaborate, skyclad rituals. There are tons of small, magick-filled actions that you can easily incorporate into your life on the fly.

A simple cleansing. You can clean more than your physical body in the shower. Imagine the soap taking the dark sludge of negative energy with it down the drain.

Charm your perfume as a quick and easy glamour. You can also do this to your make-up as well! Glamours are essentially real-life shape-shifting and/or invisibility spells. Here’s a quick glamour, if you don’t know where to begin:

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Ingredients:

A rose quartz crystal

An amethyst crystal

10 (preferably small) regular quartz crystals

A black candle

Procedure:

Find a flat surface.

Place the candle down and place the rose quartz in front of the candle and the amethyst behind the candle.

Place 5 of the regular quartz crystals to the left of the candle and the other 5 to the right. The crystals should form a circle around the candle.

Light the candle and chant, “By my will, I shall control perception of me.”

Wait until the candle burns out.

Place the amethyst, rose quartz, and 1 of the quartz crystals either in your bottle/cap of perfume or in a baggy near where you get ready for the day. This will need to be charged once a week!

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Take 5 minutes each day to say your thanks/prayer to your gods. This doesn’t need to be spoken out loud. You could even think it while on the bus!

Coordinate the colors of your outfit with your intent for the day. For example, wear blue to help with a stressful event, yellow if you want it to be a happy day full of good communication, green if you are asking for a raise, et cetera. Colors hold power!

As an easy offering to your gods, make a playlist dedicated to them.

2. Going Incognito

Sometimes, we want to proudly display our witchiness. However, with the stigma behind witches, sometimes we want to be recognizable to other witches, but not to the mundane.*

Wear crystal necklaces. While the popularity of this is growing, every time I see someone wearing a crystal necklace, I wonder.

Wear clothing with your deity’s image or symbol(s) on it. Not only is this noticible to other witches, but this is also a wonderful and easy way to worship said deity.

Try out rune/sigil nail art. To others who are not familiar, they will appear as simply abstract art.

Magickal symbol tattoos. The same logic as the last point applies to this one.

Find a community of witches near you! Having a community means that there is a space where you don’t have to hide who you are. Back in the so-called olden days, we could use a website called Witch’s Vox, but at the time of writing this article, it is going away soon. Instead, it is easy to find a community by looking for your local pagan society, Facebook groups, or other social media. You can even find a community online! Websites good for that include Reddit, Tumblr, and the Amino app.

3. Baby Shield Me One More Time!

No matter how busy, actually, especially if you’re busy, shielding is a very important task. If you are an empath, one could argue that it’s absolutely necessary. By shielding, I do not mean walking around with an actual shield. It means using your magick to protect yourself from unwanted negative energy. Sometimes this energy comes in the form of the stress from those around you, too many emotions or energy from a crowd around you, and even a magickal (usually psychic) attack. This writer’s favorite way of shielding is to imagine a golden, shimmering, impenetrable bubble.

4. You’re Stressed? Have You Tried Yoga?

A little stress is good for you! It’s what kept our species alive by telling us, “Hey, you should worry about this for your survival,” such as for finding reliable food and water and guarding against predators. However, there is a line (that is different for every person, dog, cat, and hedgehog), where it becomes unhealthy. Too much stress can impact your sleep and eating habits, your mental health, your productiveness, and even your physical health. If your stress is so bad that it is severely impacting your quality of life, you should consider speaking to a medical professional. So, as you read the tips below, remember, magick should be a supplement to medical help, not a substitution!

Carry a rose quartz with you. This crystal is known for its strong properties of calming and confidence. Alternatively, selenite will continually cleanse and shield your aura from negativity and/or harm.

Burn a blue candle/wear blue clothing. Once again, we reach the idea that colors are powerful! Blue is the most common color used for calming. Try burning one while meditating!

Meditating is probably one of the most irritating thing that people suggest when you say you are stress, but it really has the potential to help alongside professional help. The point of meditation is to work on controlling your state of mind. It is also a wonderful way to reach a solution to a particular problem that has been stressing you out.

Cleanse your working and living area. Chances are, your stress has caused the area to be saturated with negative energy. The more you stress, the more negative energy seeps from you, which causes more stress, becoming a vicious cycle.

Ever heard of Fung Shui? It is defined as a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (qi), and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings. Basically, it means that the way you organize your furniture has an impact on how energy flows around you.

Have any personal favorites for how you incorporate your craft into your adult life? Share them in the comments below!

*The Solar Scholars of Magick are not comparing the attitudes of people towards witches to those attitudes towards religious and ethnic minorites.

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