#hippo needs to post this now

[crossbackpoke-check]

blessed be (lorscher bienensegen) | telling the bees (wiþ ymbe)

"Bees" [remixed, abridged], Claudia Emerson // "Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now" [remixed. abridged], Matthew Olzmann // "Letter to my Great, Great Grandchild" [remixed, abridged], J.P. Grasser | Len Redkole, Nina Weiss, Brian Babineau, Christian Peterson, Mitchell Leff, Dave Isaac, Megan DeRuchie

[acearohippo]

Holy CRAP an inferno!! 😭😭😭 I haven't spun one of them in MONTHS.

Anyone else have an element that just hates them?? Inferno legendaries might as well be shimmers to me cause they are so hard to come by ☹️☹️ got embla from the inferno gacha rather than the regular.

[holylulusworld]

The Captain and his bombshell (1)

Summary: Golden Boy in the streets – the devil in the sheets.

Pairing: Steve Rogers (Post Endgame) x Plussized!Reader

Warnings: angst, fat shaming, bullying, cocky reader, self-confident reader, reader has powers, implied kinky/rough Steve

A/N: A drabble collection of cocky reader & kinky Steve.

The Captain and his bombshell masterlist

A thick skin. That’s your superpower.

That’s your way to ricochet bitchy comments and nasty looks.

You’re a master at ignoring the kind of people wanting to make themselves feel better by treating others like trash.

Not only that. It gave you the power to be a cocky bitch.

Just like now. Some of the women at a bar believe that only because one of them fucked Steve Rogers, one of your team members some weeks ago, they can get bitchy.

“She was staring at him when he walked around shirtless,” the woman spats, looking in your direction. “As if Captain America would ever be interested in that hippo. I don’t even know why she’s one of the Avengers. What’s her superpower? Being fat.”

She’s not wrong, though. After Steve was done with his disappointing encounter with her, he was walking into the kitchen in only his boxer briefs.

You were about to feed the stray Bucky brought home some weeks back when Steve caught your attention.

Your eyes roamed his body, and you decided to save the memory for lonely nights.

Steve never tried to make a move on you. He’s usually shy around you. Maybe the woman is right. Steve would never try to put his hands on you. You’re just not his type.

“It was a case of second-hand embarrassment,” she continues. “I was looking for Stevie and saw her stare at him as if he’s the next cake she wants to wolf down.”

You have heard enough. Usually, your skin is thick enough to ignore nasty comments or stupid babbling coming from women like her. Tonight is different. You’re in the mood to be a bitch.

Slowly stalking toward their table, your head held high and a dark smirk on your crimson lips, you prepare yourself to wipe that grin off her face.

“Well, sweetie,” you coo, and put on your best fake smile, “at least I wouldn’t whine and cry the whole time he’s fucking me because I can’t take it. You see,” you slap your butt with your right hand. “This booty is made for rough treatment.”

“I—what?” She stammers, eyes wide, and her cheeks are on fire. “What are you talking about?”

The other women stare at her, mouth agape. They wait for her reply, but it never comes. Typically. They can only throw punches, but not take a single blow.

“I don’t need super-hearing to know that you didn’t enjoy yourself. I know, I know.” You laugh in her face. “Everyone believes Stevie is all sweet and cuddly. But a super-soldier needs to release some steam sometimes. He likes it rough, just like me. You shouldn't play with fire if you can’t take the heat.”

You turn on your heels and walk off, smiling to yourself as you can hear the women soothe their friend.

Steve is following you around town. After you knocked the woman he slept with some weeks ago down a peg or two, he couldn’t think straight.

You heard him have sex with that squeaky mouse and wished it was you. Why, he has no clue. All the time he knew you, Steve believed you, the bombshell straight out of his wet dreams, could never be into him.

Now he’s confused and horny—unsure about his next step.

Steve only knows one thing. He cannot stay away from you for much longer…

Part 2

Tags in reblog.

[moonlightcycle571]

Lantern Corps and a 10 year old Child

In a last post, I said the Lantern Corps would love Captain Marvel because he’s omni-lingual (and there’s so many different species so it makes sense that they would feel comfertable around a guy who can speak their mother tongue, no matter how obscure it is).

And then it came to me in a glorious vision, the Cores would LOVE or absolute HATE Billy Batson, be it as a kid it as Captain Marvel.

First on the Love Captain spectrum:

Red Lantern: that’s the corps that’s the most insistent. Man’s fights littéral Wrath and demons alike on a weekly basis. Man’s go to weekly poker night with Satan and other Wardens of Hell. Why? Because he has his own prison dimension in th Rock of Eternity, who also holds the strongest demons.

Yellow Lanterns: as champion of magic, he holds a lot of weight. Especially for magic users. One flick of a wrist and boom, your magic is gone. The whole concept of ‘The Champion’ is enough for most to fear him. That and one does not play poker with The Devil from The Bible and other figures from various religions, and just have a normal presence. He’s terrifying when he wants to be. In his Cap form, he needs to actively tamp down to appear more family friendly, and not the eldricht horror he knows he could easily look like.

Green Lanterns: Homeless Child Superhero dealing with horrors must adults can’t handle. That takes willpower. Even before Captain, I’m pretty sure off willpower alone he could qualify. But what’s the real ringer is his imagination. The Rock of Eternity has access to magical dimensions that no amount of crack could dream up. Man’s had to learn how to use Looney Toones Logic irl and it works. Man’s got a while Disney Dimension with Ballerina Hippos with their Croc partners. Mans has debates about files with littéral walking talking dinosaurs. Billy is hella creative, and who knows what would be made with a ring.

Blue Lanterns: do I … do I need to explain? There are the lantern corps of Hope, I think the rest is pretty self explanatory. I will say though, he was close to accepting when he found out they got a Corgi. Even closer when Dex Starr, the red lanterns cat got a

Orange Lantern: bro fights the physical manifestations of the Seven Deadly Sins , including Greed on a regular basis. By right of conquest, he really should be wearing the ring rn. They be trying to put a ring on it for ages.

Black Lanterns: he once revived Freddy and or Mary by reconnecting them to the rock, and since then is considered a ‘nécromancer’. Also (similar to the Avatar State) he has memories of past champions, including death, so one can argue he’s in a life and death loop.

White lanterns: same reasons as the Black Lanterns. They’ve been trying to get Billy to also out-do said Black Lanterns (who in turn try to recruit him some more). It’s just one vicious snowball effect now.

Now for the Hate Captain spectrum:

Star Sapphire Corps: The thing about Billy is that he’s AroAce. Very Aro and Very Ace. So those who draw power from love and try to flirt are met with the disgusted face of someone who’s famously nice. It was a devastating blow to the whole corps. At some point Hal decided to hide behind Cap to escape another Star Sapphire who fell inlove with him, and they just, lost their power. No longer had the ability to fly and everything. He’s Ace-ness is crippling. And it did bring memes. The Ace community was winning.

Indigo Tribe: he’s too autistic for them. And while being the warden of multiple dangerous beings fits their MO and all, they ain’t touching the bullshit magical logic with a ten foot pole. That, and the first time a ring was sent to him to recruit him to keep the evil ones in line, he roasted their whole system, their ugly ass uniforms (that particular shade of indigo clashed with his Hero Outfit way to much) and ended with a comparison to them with a guy called ‘King Kid’ and the fucking ‘Easter Bunny King’ that somehow did a much better job at Machiavellic while also being uhly. They never sent a second one. The red lanterns sent more.

Ultraviolet lanterns: again, man’s fights the Seven Sins on the regular, is their warden along with other sick evils, lies to the Justice League on the regular and plays poker with Demons (and wins) despite being one of the most honest people there is. That and he’s so dad shaped, it counters their power of daddy issues.

Bonuse:

It’s not uncommon for various JL members to receive lantern rings. They just don’t want to. So the standard procedure is to find your local lantern, and give them rings. At some point all the Corps made a lantern offers chart (and maybe the JL got a bit competitive).

Problem, that screen was using old alien tech that didn’t have colour. So they knew Cap had the most lantern offers, but they didn’t know which colours. Until it got fixed.

J��le looking at the rainbow that’s Captain Marvels Ring List: …

Batman: Captain, why is there so many red ones?

Billy, sweating: …

Hal, not comfy with the amount of yellow: I… I need to make a few phone calls.

John, the one who’s been receiving all of his rings: Uh, don’t remind me. I’ve been getting cramps with the amount of times I had to input the different colours.

Dinah: I don’t think even I’m qualified for the amount of therapy everyone is going to need.

WonderWoman: How to you have Negative Pink Rings??? You can’t get a negative number in a list

Billy, inputing the Zeta Tube: haha, it’s so weird

John: … do I need to add AroAce as a weakness for the Sapphires???

Bonus points if the results are open to the galactic public, and just wonder who tf are and ‘Billy Batson’ and Captain Marvel and why they are dominating the top ranks. What is in the Terra city Fawcette.

Extra Bonus Point if the JL go: Who tf is Billy Batson, and why is he ranked above Captain Marvel.

I’ve been waiting to do this one for a while. But never got the motivation. Let me know if I missed any, and feel free to write fanfic (please tag me if you do, I wanna reeeeead).

Final note, I want to give a certain someone a comment of appreciation.

@wonderjanga you are my favourite person on this app. You are the reason I decided to get out of my procrastination slump. Thank you for you content, it’s always so creative and I deeply enjoy it.

For those who don’t know them, I recommend checking out their content. It’s genuinely inspiration for me to start writing again. I don’t think I’ll be writing on ao3 soon, but maybe one day.

[urgardenandmine]

crushes and beats ☊ - m. lee

summary: you have a small adventure in SM's building and meet a cutie genre: fluff pairing: m!reader x mark lee word count: 2.1K

the weather was NOT in your favor on this summer day. well, not just the weather but the whole week itself.

this week was your first week within the SM building after winning what seemed to be a total scam considering you saw the ad to attend a once a year producer group session with a bunch of others from other countries. 

you received the news in your college dorm, while you were aimlessly scrolling on your x feed, just reposting a bunch of mindless posts on what a hippo would look like crossed with a watermelon. as you were scrolling on your phone, you saw the ad plastered in the usual pastel pink they would always use to market their stuff.

"CALLING ALL PRODUCERS!

Want to be a part of SM’s producing session and possibly be chosen to compose a song for our artists? Here’s your chance!

Go to our website and click the form!"

it looked inviting but what if it wasn’t real? (even though you still did it so it was real considering you were now here in their branch in korea.)

while in your dorm, you were procrastinating on your homework. though you had asked for an extension, you were already approaching the extension deadline but i mean everyone deserves a fun small break now and then.

hopping out of bed, you slid into your soft and cozy koala slippers as you took five steps onto your classic off-white rolly chair. opening up your silvery blue laptop, you typed in the link below in the post you had seen earlier. clicking enter, you were taken to a google doc form that was headlined with the official SM logo. the title read “PRODUCER SUBMISSION.” it looked promising but you didn’t have high hopes of getting in. nonetheless, you clicked out the tab and opened up your drive of beats you had made. 

the requirement was the sample be at least a minute long, which was easy considering you had full song lengths of beats. looking at each one you had in your drives, you closed your eyes and clicked on one. opening one eye, you had saw that you clicked it yet the name wasn’t shown (which was somewhat concerning since most of your files were named with the most absurd names like “cocomelon’s rival.”). you shrugged it off, somewhat confident in your skills yet not so cocky you would just automatically book a flight to korea. 

fast forward to a day later, you had received an international call and was told by their marketing team that you won! except you were like literally in the middle of school and like you had to tell your friends, family, pets, the school itself and like whoever else was involved in your life that somewhat needed you nearby. you had received the call during a small passing period between your classes, choking on your apple while surrounded by your friends as you all ate under a tree. you immediately ran to your dorm, your friends close behind as you started to pack for the weekend to get onto the paid flight to another country. 

another fast forward, you were kinda not expecting this rocky ass start in korea where you had to keep up appearances. korea was apparently dealing with a small heatwave this summer, and by small, it was literally 38C (or 101F). you were dressed in long sleeves, not really thinking much on what you packed considering you were packing every ten minutes after every ten minutes of studying last weekend. it wasn’t a good system but you did ace your sociology quiz with a 45/50. 

you were racing through the concrete halls, seeing a bunch of staff walking in the other direction as you had your laptop nestled in one arm, also filled with a binder, papers and your lanyard dangling off your hooked index finger and a single iced sweetened americano in the other hand. in retrospect, you shoulda brought your bag but didn’t want to look like a newbie in front of people who were great composers. 

scanning the glass doors, you read the labels on them except one issue, you struggled to read korean. you squinted your [e/c] eyes, looking at each door as you slowly began to walk passed the doors. one door had said “recording room/(1)녹음실,” which looked familiar since you saw that in the syllabus you were given with your other companions. standing in front of the textured glass door, you took a sharp breath in and let out a relaxed breath out. this should be a piece of cake. you already braved a flight to another country, braved talking to the security guard since you were an hour late and spoke no korean, braved asking for a sweetened americano even though you forgot the word for sugar and ALSO braved wearing a big baggy long sleeve in this weather. 

looking down at your hands, you gently squatted down and placed your cup down at your feet. inching forward with your now one free hand, you turned the handle and turned a small 90 degrees, using your behind to keep the door open. you bent down, grabbing your cup as you then turned back around and pushed your way through the door. it was heavier than you expected but you came for a music workshop, not an actual wood workshop. 

the recording studio was huge, almost the same size as your dorm. to your right, there was an L-shaped black leather sofa. the walls were a soft beige, which differed from the color of the booth as the booth itself was an eggshell white. in front of you was the equipment you had researched beforehand. 

you stepped closer, amazed at all the technical buttons and other mechanics the sound technicians had to work with while the famed idols you have heard of. realizing you were too lost in thought, you shook your head and checked the time on your watch. 1:27 PM. the session should start soon, but it was weird considering you were the only one here but maybe even producers were sometimes a little late.

making your way to the couch, you sat down and placed your equipment in your lap. setting your drink on the carpeted floor, you smiled as you took the whole room as well as the experience. this was real and happening. you were here to show off your talents. 

the door soon slowly opened, causing you to shoot up and look at the one in charge of the session. as you slowly centered your focus, the person you expected wasn’t the one you were met with.

in front of you stood a somewhat lanky and built man, adorned in a grayish tame impala hoodie. he had baggy navy blue sweatpants as well, paired with zebra adidas. as well as that, he had black messy bed hair by the looks of it and rounded frame glasses. 

“(2)아, 안녕하세요.” the man spoke, extending his right arm as he bowed. you looked at him, bowing back and trying to reply with the same greeting he had said to you. standing up straight, the man eyed you as he raised his right eyebrow, smirking.

“you speak english?” he asked, his small laugh making you feel a bit more at ease.

“yes, thank god. i mean-!” you groaned, smacking your head gently as you placed your hand into your palms trying to hide your embarrassment as you spoke before you could even think. hearing a small hearty laugh, you looked up as you saw the man chuckle and hold his stomach.

“nah, no worries! that was me before coming here too.” he said, staring at you, shifting into a more comfortable stance.

“i’m mark, nice to meet ya.” he introduced himself, extending his hand as you reached for a firm shake. the name sounded familiar but it wasn’t so close to ringing a bell. 

“sounds kinda familiar.” you spoke, making him place a hand over his heart, feigning a hurt act.

“wow~, welp, hate to break it to you but i’m kinda known here. i’m in a group called NCT.” he explained, making you nod as you finally realized where he was from. NCT. they sounded familiar but your music taste was all over the place. you solely remembered NCT as the group who basically claimed the color green. you smiled at him, showing him your pearly whites as you chuckled.

“nice to meet you, mark. i’m [y/n].” you introduced yourself, giggling softly as you did a small wave at him. looking at him, a small blush creeped onto his ears as he cleared his threat and looked away. you tilted your head, seeing him blush. you blinked, feeling your own neck get warm as your cheeks were slowly getting more color. turning your head away, you coughed softly. 

mark looked back at you, then seeing beside you your equipment as he pointed. 

“what’s all that?” he asked, walking a bit closer as he stood a foot from you. you turned your head to your laptop and papers, smiling gently as you got closer to them.

“oh! i’m here from winning the SM producer/composer competition.” you explained, looking at him as he scratched the back of his neck. his smile had faded, causing you to look at him and be a bit confused.

“i kinda hate to break it to you but the producing session was at 11:30 AM.” he revealed, causing you to feel your heart break a smidge. looking down at your feet, you could feel your energy shift the mood in the room. you couldn’t believe that you misread the rubric time. how could you have misread “11:30” as “1:30?” granted, you were also trying to do an essay overseas from your college. letting out a somewhat exasperated sigh, you looked up at mark and smiled.

“well, thanks for letting me know! i’ll be on my way.” you forced a small smile onto your face, bending down to slowly grab your things. as you reached down, you felt his hand placed onto yours. looking to your right, your eyes met as he began to smile at you.

“well, i mean you’re already here so why not just show me what you got?” he suggested, causing you to blush harder than ever. mark smiled widely, grabbing you stuff as he placed it onto the table and opened your laptop for you. he sat down on the chair on the left, reaching down to grab a cord and plugged it into your laptop. as he turned his head, he had still saw you standing there, lost in thought. he had patted the chair across from him, signaling you to sit down. 

snapping yourself out of your trance, you shook your head and made you way to the chair. mark had scooted closer to you, causing you to relax from the nerves you felt as you stared into his eyes. you opened your files, searching for one to show him. as his brown eyes read every file, he chuckled and leaned into your personal bubble, pointing a finger at one file.

“can you play this for me?” he asked. your eyes trailed his finger, seeing the file he wanted to be played. you froze, the file being named the absolute most dumbest thing ever. 

“you want me to play this?” you reiterated. you didn’t even remember what this beat/sample sounded like. you were somewhat tipsy when making this (if drinking about almost ten moscow mule during a frat party was “tipsy”). 

“yes. i would like for you to play “daddy won’t lemme see the ice king.”’ he read, laughing between each word. you groaned, smiling as you shrugged it off and clicked on it. shutting your eyes tight, you prayed to god that this file was an actual work of art. to your surprise, it kind of was. the cord mark plugged into your laptop had played the file on the surround sound speakers above you. the sample was one that was more of an r&b vibe. the sample was similar to that of jazmine sullivan or lucky daye. 

looking to your left, mark was beaming. you chuckled, looking at him as he looked towards you. you immediately paused it, now remembering you weren’t sure if you were allowed to be in here. he slowly touched your hand, reassuring you. your eyes met, making you both feel comfortable enough with one another that you could drop each other’s guards. 

“i’ll make you a deal. you and i make a sick song out of this and i won’t tell if you won’t.” he proposed. furrowing your eyebrows, you looked at him a bit confused. he laughed sheepishly.

“i’m not really supposed to be here either.” he said, looking around as if he was a school boy that got caught pranking the teacher. you smirked, leaning forward. taken aback, mark looked at you as you bit your bottom lip.

“i won’t tell if you won’t.”

⋆｡°✩

(1) = 녹음실 = recording room/studio

(2) = 아, 안녕하세요 = ah, hello

i hope this story is good for y'all nctzens! i was a part of the group but not gonna lie, jeno's my favorite but no one heard that from me...

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Historic 1769 Colonial style home in Keymar, MD has been renovated and redecorated in a variety of styles. Firstly, they painted the distinctive brick exterior pale gray, with an orange door. It doesn't look bad, but it's not the traditional, iconic look. It has 4bds, 4ba, 5,227 sq ft, and they're asking $3m. If you are a purist when it comes to historic homes, you probably won't like it.

Now, remember- I said that it was done in a variety of styles. The entrance hall has Oriental themed wallpaper. They stripped the newel post and railing on the stairs and left it bare wood, (I like that look, but it needs a flat protective finish, b/c it's going to get very dirty), plus a new floor has an inlaid border.

The light fixture was removed from the ceiling medallion and they did a copper-look design on it.

The sitting room is very non-traditional with it's bright green walls but the ceiling mural has a colonial scene. Above the fireplace they have colored mirror squares.

The next room has a large jungle leaf print and a wooden hippo, elephant, plus a trunk.

This room has a wall of shelving and opens to hall stairs.

The family room has a dark, rustic, nautical look with black and deep green walls. This room has wood paneling that was painted over, plus a brick trim around the top. I wonder if they darkened the brick.

I have seen faux aged walls, but this one looks like black mold. It's well done, but unusual. They left the pocket doors and beadboard, but painted them dark gray. Ironically, the sink cabinet looks very colonial.

The tub has a framed skull print above it and some stuffed animals on the ledge. The shower is modern.

The dining room is gray & black with a French cabinet. The table is a pine colonial.

The large kitchen has a rustic ceiling and 3 different cabinet colors- blue, gray, and colonial red. The ceiling looks like flooring to me. The glassware cabinet looks French.

The open concept space has a dining room with a big stone fireplace and stripped doors on the patio. The gold glassware shelf is a French pastry stand.

The primary bedroom has a traditional look. Nice big fireplace in here. The wood paneling was painted white and there's a mural on the coffered ceiling.

This smaller bedroom has nice wallpaper. It even has a colonial rocking horse in the fireplace.

This is a lovely bath. I like the cabinet and closets.

There's a 2 car garage with a space between that they've turned into a home gym/man cave. There's also a sleeping area.

They painted this beautiful barn-turned-home a dark gray, including this wonderful brick wall on the side.

It's lovely inside with slate flooring.

There's also storage for the big Home Depot skeleton.

This garage has a sitting room downstairs and more of a hangout space upstairs.

The main house has a patio.

Lots of space. There's even another small stone building.

There's also a pond on the 25.02 acres of property.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11210-Cash-Smith-Rd-Keymar-MD-21757/67480669_zpid/?

[queer-ragnelle]

hi! i apologize if this is outside your ballpark. i recently came across a post about how religion appears in bbc's merlin and it got me thinking about religion in arthurian legend in general. i was wondering if you have any thoughts on the topic? what religions do the characters follow and how does it impact their lives? i know most of the 'cast' is christian but even then medieval christianity is different enough from modern christianity that i constantly feel like i'm missing some nuance/context when i read arthuriana. do other religions feature (such as judaism, islam, pagan spirituality) and are there any essays on it or books where that's explored? thank you for all you do and have a great day!

Hello!

So I’m definitely no religious scholar of any kind. Yet I somehow managed to write an obscenely long post in reply. I've provided copious amounts of literature on everything I'm discussing here, so I encourage anyone who sees this to read what's provided and form their own opinion. Although my reply is based on the Medieval stories I've read and quoted as well as the essays and books of people far more qualified than I am, it's still my own interpretation, and shouldn't be taken as the final word on this highly complex subject. If anyone finds something here I've gotten wrong, please don't hesitate to educate me otherwise and point me in a direction to learn more!

Without further ado...

The first thing anyone looking into this needs to understand is [most of] the Arthurian stories we have were drafted or documented by Christians, oftentimes monks (ie, people very devoted to their religion). Even the texts like the Mabinogion or The Welsh Triads, which contains no Christianity, wasn’t written down until the 12th century after the oral tradition had passed through the Christianizing of Britain. Not to mention translation bias, an oft overlooked factor. For example, French characters Lancelot and Galahad were retroactively added to The Welsh Triads to bring the Triads more in line with the widely popular French narrative. Translator Rachael Bromwich has excellent footnotes regarding this in the file I shared above. So just keep that in mind while reading/researching this subject.

More generally speaking, while some characters themselves aren’t Christian, such as Muslim Palomides or the occasional Jewish character, the texts are [mostly] from an overtly Islamphobic and antisemitic viewpoint. The depictions of religion in Medieval Arthuriana should never be taken as an indication of how things “really were,” either in the time it’s meant to take place (ie, the 5th-6th centuries when the Saxons were colonizing Britain) or the time/place it was written in (ie Chrétien de Troyes wrote from his own 12th century Breton perspective). Point being, it’s all very biased. Perception heavily depends on the place and year things were written and translated. If you're ever unsure which translation of a text will best suit your needs, whether that means accuracy, readability, or containing more robust footnotes, don't hesitate to ask.

That being said, the differences you’re touching on regarding Medieval versus Modern Christianity sometimes stems from Christian Mysticism, which was a prevalent theology in the Middle Ages and still exists today (albeit to a lesser degree). Some contemporary sources on this would be:

The Confessions by Saint Augustine of Hippo

The City of God by Saint Augustine of Hippo

The Book of Divine Works by Saint Hildegard von Bingen

The Letters of Hildegard von Bingen Volume I by Saint Hildegard von Bingen

The Letters of Hildegard von Bingen Volume II by Saint Hildegard von Bingen

The Book of Margery Kempe by Margery Kempe.

Now the thing with Christianity in history and Arthuriana is that the lines between orthodox practice and the mystical was blurred. On an episode about charms, the Medieval Podcast (also available on any podcasting platform like Spotify) explains how people bought and used charms all the time, even within their Christian practice. To them, it was a part of their worship. They may have chanted some words over a sick friend while anointing certain parts of the body in the hopes it would aid in healing. Depending on the time and place, this may or may not have been openly discussed for fear of repercussions or accusations of blasphemy, but it was common enough for historians to have gathered a multitude of examples preserved in spell books. To a desperate Medieval Christian, one of these charms occupied a similar place to Pray the Rosary or Hail Marys in hopes of boosting the success of their endeavor.

So in a similar vein, that concept is sometimes stretched for the sake of an Arthurian story. What you end up with are characters like Merlin, supposedly half-demon, but baptized, therefore his purified magic and prophesizing is considered "Christian;" Morgan le Fay, raised in a nunnery, yet learned necromancy from the holy sisters; and Gawain, who obtained his sun powers, as well as his name, from the hermit that baptized him. At least, so it goes in the Vulgate.

In a way, these people are not magical through their own power, but channeling the divine with the help of their Christian education in order to bestow those benefits, often health, strength, or prosperity related, onto others. (You'll see a lot of real life examples in the contemporary sources I linked above.) Vulgate editor Norris J. Lacy and his translation team left a footnote on the Gawain passage explaining the history of the Gawain/Gwalchmai character that lead me to theorize that this passage might be an attempt by Anonymous to maintain those heightened magical powers while offering a palatable Christian explanation for it.

A similar phenomenon can be seen in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the characters are staunchly Christian, and yet the presence of a green-skinned knight astride a green horse who can survive a beheading is seen as marvelous, even miraculous, rather than monstrous. As Larissa Tracy explains in the essay Shifting Skin Passing as Human Passing as Fay, although the Green Knight is Othered by the court, he's not so Othered as to be held entirely apart. He's "tallest of men" and "half a giant." He is still one of the "in" crowd at least a little bit. So while his green coloring shocks the court, and calls to mind Otherworldly fay, in a way similar to the Lady of the Lake or other such beings, the Green Knight isn't viewed as an enemy of the crown so much as a chance for the court to prove its virtue. In the end, this Green Knight was indeed a man, Sir Bertilak, transformed by Morgan le Fay to take on the monstrous visage, and was indeed "one of them" all along. In this way, concepts which seem magical (read: Pagan) to the modern reader remain steeped in Christian ideals. This extends to Gawain's pentacle shield as well, sometimes misconstrued with a similar Pagan symbol, which the poem outright states represents the five virtues of knighthood or even the five wounds of Jesus Christ. Then again, Rhonda Knight's essay All Dressed Up With Someplace to Go: Regional Identity argues the opposite point, that there is indeed a divide. Knight asserts that the poet has intentionally heightened the dichotomy of insider/outsider, particularly as it relates to the Anglo-Welsh border between Sir Bertilak's Wirral and King Arthur's London Camelot. It's quite plain from the moment the Green Knight enters the scene there's a stark split between the two cultures, whether that be interpreted as the people of Wales and the people of England, or the Otherworld associated with Wales and the dominance of Christianity.

But anyway enough about Christians. Let's talk about my friend Sir Palomides and Islam.

A brief recap for anyone who's unfamiliar with Sir Palomides, he's a Muslim knight, referred to in the Medieval Christian tongue as a "Saracen," who vows to convert to Christianity for the sake of marrying Isolde, but curiously hasn't yet. His father, Esclabor, and both of his younger brothers, Segwarides and Safir, have already converted. Palomides is continuously ostracized for his religion/appearance throughout the narrative and considered lesser than Tristan. This is pretty much always the roles they play. Sometimes Palomides is treated with extreme cruelty, such as in the Post-Vulgate, where Galahad forces him to convert to Christianity at sword point, only for Palomides to be murdered shortly afterward by Gawain once his narrative purpose, ie successful conversion, has been fulfilled.

For this break down, I'm ignoring that portrayal of Palomides as well as the Prose Tristan because they suffer from the issues I already outlined regarding Medieval Christian's malicious depiction of non-Christians. And I hate them</3 We'll be turning our attention to Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory instead as Palomides is slightly more nuanced there. (Very slightly. "The Good Saracen Sir Palomides" is a loaded sentiment, but Malory was a Medieval Englishman imprisoned for his crimes and writing through his madness. We work with what we have.) The copy I linked is translated by Dr. Dorsey Armstrong, not only because it's very good, but because she authored one of the essays I'll be sharing on the subject. She also has a 24 part lecture series on Arthuriana that I highly recommend.

In Le Morte d'Arthur, and the earlier published La Tavola Ritonda as well as Byelorussian Tristan, Palomides is treated a teensy bit better. In most versions of the story, Palomides misses an appointment to duel with Tristan out of cowardice or dishonor. But Malory has written a scenario in which Palomides missed the appointment not out of subservience to Tristan, but because he was jailed elsewhere and couldn't physically make it. He still gets his ass kicked by Tristan, but Malory's change shifts implicational blame of Palomides to circumstantial blame of his situation which serves to create a more sympathetic character. So while Tristan's perception of events remains the same, Palomides is given a narrative excuse which maintains his honor and integrity in the mind of the reader. Yet as Dr. Dorsey Armstrong points out in her essay, Postcolonial Palomides, after Tristan discovers Palomides suffering a bout of grief-induced madness, Palomides's ability to communicate breaks down, and Tristan is unable to understand him. Palomides occupies a space that his fellow "Saracen" knights, such as Priamus of Tuscany, don't. He's Othered by everyone in the narrative yet gains renown among the Christian knights in part because of his extreme desire to join the Round Table, while resisting the necessity to conform to a religious order and community which does not otherwise accept him. Unlike his father and brothers, Palomides seems more aware of, and resistant to, the predatory systems which dictate their conditional acceptance.

Race as a concept did not exist in the Medieval world, rather it was intrinsically tied to religion. That said, colorism was always present. "Saracen" is a term used to refer to Arab people, but according to Hamed Suliman Abuthawabeh, the etymology of the word itself stems from the color brown, ie referential of skin tone. As it relates to fiction... Ever wonder why the Holy Land of the Middle East in Arthurian Legend, where Galahad, Perceval, and Bors seek the grail, is called "Sarras?" Now you know. This concept is not limited to Middle Eastern characters either. Black people in Medieval stories are referred to as "Moorish," ie from the "Moorlands." To that end, ever wonder why Aglovale's half-Black son is named "Morien?" Or how about Parzival's half-Black brother Feirefiz, who's described as having a mixture of "white and black skin," half his father's "fair country Anjou," half his mother's "heathen land Zassamank" with a face two-toned "as a magpie." (Author Wolfram von Eschenbach and translator Jessie Weston's words, not mine).

The fact is non-white, non-Christian characters are often reduced to their skin color, not only in what labels are applied to them as people, but their religions and falsified homelands as well. The cost of a modicum of respect is total assimilation. It's all or nothing for these characters, and even then, it's not a guarantee. Aside from the especially harrowing treatment of Palomides in the Post-Vulgate, this concept appears yet again in the poem The Turk and Sir Gawain, in which Gawain continuously oscillates between foe and friend with an unnamed Turkish knight, only to conclude the story by violently converting this individual through beheading. The Turkish knight is reborn, now Christian, and at last gains a name and identity, Sir Gromer. The expectation put on Pagan knights is so great they must submit to their white comrades and allow them to, literally, kill their former selves to be worthy of personhood in Christendom.

The same can be said of Jewish characters in Arthurian Legend. They're not often the focal point, but they do pop up from time to time. In La Tavola Ritonda, there's Dialantes the Jewish giant, as well as the beautiful Hebrew damsel of Aigua della Spina, who's curiously married to a Christian knight. Then of course there's the rampant antisemitism in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval, as well as the continuations, which blame "the treacherous Jews" for killing Christ, while also casting Joseph of Arimathea as a Christian knight who brought the Holy Grail to Britain. Furthermore in The History of the Grail portion of the Vulgate, Joe is said to have "converted to the faith of Jesus Christ" while keeping it secret for fear that "the Jews would have killed him." Tons of revisionism happening. The bulk of the Vulgate makes little to no mention of Jewish people, good or bad, as it's mostly tied to the grail story. That said, when it does come up again in The Death of Arthur, it's a slippery slope into every other prejudice, as the term has become synonymous with evil, particularly as it relates to women.

I couldn't possibly outline the entirety of Medieval Christianity's relationship with other religions in a single tumblr post. Here's a link to my huge folder about Race & Religion in the Middle Ages. The essays and books there discuss this subject in a general sense but there's a sub-folder with Arthurian specific essays to learn more about Palomides, Priamus, Gromer, Morien, Feirefiz, and other characters or texts that touch on race/religion.

Despite all of the above, it's not all bad. Sometimes an author was anti-racist toward the non-Christian characters, yet limited by their time. (Think how Herman Melville portrayed Polynesian Queequeg in Moby Dick, positively, but used phrenology to compliment the shape of his skull by comparing him to that of white people. Not up to modern standards, but an attempt at progressive for its time nonetheless.) Looking at Dutch Arthuriana, while Morien's name is an insensitive indication of his unnamed "Moorish" mother, the only characters in the story who treat Morien poorly, such as the boatmen who refuse to ferry him, are openly condemned, even threatened, by the Knights of the Round Table, including Gareth.

I don't know what to call this writing technique, but it's used (and sometimes underutilized...) today. Essentially, as a means to indicate to the reader that the views of the antagonistic (in this case, xenophobic and anti-Black) character isn't shared by the author, they include another character who refutes and combats the negative behavior and who accepts the oppressed party as they are. However rare, it does happen in Medieval texts.

Last but not least, I'd be remiss to omit the Hebrew King Artus from this discussion. It's an incomplete story, but sets out to retell the Arthurian Legend from a Jewish standpoint. All the characters are Jewish and all religious allusions that were once Christian have been rewritten as Jewish. It has a thorough analysis by the translator and tons of footnotes to indicate the Jewish references throughout the text.

Regarding religion in modern Arthuriana like BBC Merlin, Druids aren't actually present in the Legends, with the one and only exception being The Adventure of Melóra and Orlando, which does refer to Merlin as a Druid! There's also the connection made between Merlin and Stonehenge in The History of the King's of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth; the word "Druid" is not used, but Merlin describes his own ability to manipulate the stones as "mystical." One has to remember that Druids didn't write down their own history, as it was their way to memorize religious practices and not document anything. All we know about them comes from outside sources, such as Greeks and Romans as well as Christian missionaries come to convert them. As Christianity took hold and figures like Saint Patrick "drove the snakes [Druids] out of Ireland," much of that history was either lost or purposefully maligned. Did the Druids actually participate in human sacrifice? Who knows! Bearing that in mind, we must acknowledge the influence of the several revivals of Druidism and recent boom in Neopaganism; a lot of popular interpretations of Arthurian Legend are just that, the creator's interpretation, and not necessarily indicative of what the historical people would have been doing. To learn more about that, there's Druids: A Very Short Introduction by Barry Cunliffe which I found helpful.

When it comes to Merlin, or Myrddin Wyllt, his character is potentially based on a few different people who really existed, but there isn't a name given to whatever religion they practiced in anything I've read. While the time period did have clearly delineated religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism (and then Islam), Mithraism, Druidism, etc, there were just as many people who prayed to Jesus Christ while simultaneously leaving out offerings for the local spirits. Most religions come with regional differences, various sects, or shift gradually over time. Saint Patrick himself is said to have had a "fluid identity," as his autobiographical work The Confessions paints him in a fairly positive light as a peaceful missionary, while Dr. Janina Ramirez indicates in her book The Private Life of Saints that other sources characterize Saint Patrick as an aggressor. Some scholars even believe Saint Patrick may have been two different people, combined over the centuries, similarly to Myrddin Wyllt. Modern Arthurian books and shows really lean into a dichotomy between Christianity and the "Old Religion" for the sake of entertainment. But bouts of unrest weren't as fantastical nor made up of two wholly separate, well-defined teams.

Wow this got long. I think we'll leave it at that. I hope that answers your questions! Take care!

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

It's not Jake.

I'm going to tackle this bit now. It will forever bother me. I think it will forever be a point of argument in the fandom until the word of god (Diab) comes down and explains it all. Even then, there will always be room for argument.

So let's argue.

Marc with Dr. Harrow. I missed it the first time I watched it. (It was on a small screen with poor sound. I should have turned on the subtitles.)

He doesn't know what's going on. He doesn't know where he is but he feels terrible and he's in a situation he's been in before.

Marc knows how to play the game. He might be bad at social situations, but Marc is stubborn and despite his self destructive tendencies, he's a survivor.

From knowing how to please his mother to keep her happy to knowing how to keep the school happy to keeping his father happy.

He also knows how to keep the doctors happy.

You can see the wheels turning as he figures out what Dr. Harrow is looking for and what the right thing to say is. You see him looking around and taking everything in the room in.

Something he learned in the military and then as a mercenary. What is around him? Know the land. Know the space. Know the tools. Know the exits. Know the enemy.

It's so subtle how his eyes move and stare. Every movement of his body is absolutely still and stiff except his eyes. Don't move. Don't draw attention. Don't give yourself away.

He talks about the talking hippo. Corrects him stubbornly. Like a child correcting a parent that gets their drawing or story wrong.

He talks briefly about Steven. He really doesn't want to discuss Steven with Dr. Harrow. Even now, he's trying to protect Steven.

Honestly, Marc is probably unsettled by how Quiet Steven is being. He can't hear him. He can't feel him. He was reaching for him before in his reflection.

Has this happened before? Are the drugs messing him up? Is this even real? You can see it in his eyes as he is trying to work out what has happened. What if it's real? What if Dr. Harrow is right and all of it was in his head?

But he knows things are off. You see him look at the cane and the sandles. He KNOWS something is wrong, but he can't place it.

And then Dr. Harrow asks about the boy.

Now Marc knows this is wrong. He would never have talked about Randall. This is the last thing he'd ever willingly bring up.

You see him instantly shut down and he's made his decision.

I've seen a LOT of arguments that this is Jake. But I don't think so. We, the audience, have not been properly introduced to Jake and his face has been purposfully hidden from us each time he does flicker in. This is not Jake. Jake is still hidden. And Jake would NOT have tolerated Dr. Harrow.

Even if Dr. Harrow was a new alter (persecutor?) created after being killed, Jake would have put him in his place. As protector and possible Gate Keeper, NONE of what's going on would have been tolerated at all. Jake is organized and patient. Jake takes charge when needed and gets the job done.

This is Marc. This is the Marc Spector that you don't see.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Marc cannot mask in the Duat. Every piece of Marc you see is pure and uncensored.

You see Marc play the game but the second Roro comes up, Marc is done.

This is the Marc that is dangerous (Mercinary, special forces, Marines, skilled beyond reason in combat) and also the Marc that is desperate. He's cornered and he will chew his own leg off to get out.

He doesn't know what's out there, but he knows that Steven is being kept away and he needs him.

So why does Marc grab the sharp pointy pyramid? Why does it look like he's trying to first stab them then stab himself?

Well, up to this point, Marc has figured out that he's been shot. He's found Steven outside of his body in a very unlikely situation, and nothing feels real.

He's also jumping scenes. From being with Dr. Harrow to being with Steven.

A part of him is scared it's real. A part of him is scared it isn't.

If it isn't real, how can he get out of it? Perhaps if he takes more damage he'll go somewhere else. Perhaps he'll go back to Steven. Perhaps he thinks it's a dream and he'll wake up next to Layla.

Look at his face. Beaten up. Broken nose. Heavy bags under his eyes. One pupil even looks larger than the other. Severe bodily trauma. (From getting shot? From getting into fights? From some form of brain damage?)

Now, speaking of Jake... I wonder how much of Teenage Marc was really Teenage Jake trying to keep them safe. I can't imagine their teen years being good at all. There's a good chance that their teenage years were utter misery and things probably escalated to terrible depths.

(Anyone else notice that three times we see Baby Marc, it's his birthday? I'm willing to bet every birthday his mother came for him viciously.)

I'm willing to bet that any previous clash he had with a mental hospital deeply involved Jake. One of them started fights and one of them played the game. Marc would get into fights, but Marc also knows how to play the game thanks to his mother. Jake would have wanted them out of there. He may have fought or he may have tried to take control to keep them safe.

So in this situation, Marc has been separated away from Steven, his emotional support and protection. He has been separated away from his physical protection and stabilizer.

And Jake DOES stabilize Marc. When Marc flies off the handle in a rage. When he has flashbacks. When he gets drunk and trashes a hotel room... Who steps in to settle things down? (JAKE'S FUCKING GLOVES WERE IN THAT HOTEL ROOM ON THE NIGHT STAND AS IF THEY HAD BEEN WORN AND TOSSED ASIDE. JAKE WAS THERE.)

So without all of Marc's safe guards, Marc is sitting there in a terrifying situation and his biggest trauma is brought up by a man that he knows he can't trust.

Look at how the episode starts. The cave. The running water. The screaming boy for help. His mother blaming him. It's all right there. Right on the edge of his mind like a bad flashback.

The last thing he wants is to be back in that cave again. Is to see his brother drowning again.

He's going to fight. If he wasn't so disabled by the drugs and injuries he would have burned the whole building to the ground if he could have.

I do have to wonder, though... Marc keeps going back to Dr. Harrow when things get too stressful there. Like a sort of time out. A time for him to try to process and make sense of things. He breaks down when Steven demands to go back to the room. Total melt down. The time out forces him to deal with it. To see it.

Even Steven goes there when he becomes overwhelmed and needs a time out to see what's really going on.

Dr. Harrow was very interested in speaking to Steven. He even mentions that it had been a long time since he had seen Steven. That Steven was the one that brought them there.

It's doubtful that Jake ever made it there. Dr. Harrow (and the real Harrow) had no idea about Jake. And Marc doesn't know about Jake, as this is Marc's processing time.

But what if Jake had made it there? What if Jake had it all figured out? What if Jake had gotten locked up on purpose?

Steven and Jake, literally compartmentalized by Marc.

Perhaps a Meta for another day.

[semiweirdshipper]

Hey! I may be your resident Pinhead fangirl, I'm actually also an old school Wesker fangirl. I too have a complex relationship with this fool. Mainly how his characterization changed for the worse over time (canonically he was always a bastard, but prior to RE5 he didn't really...have an *ideology,*ahem. His motives and personal drives could have gone anywhere post Code Veronica and they...went with what they went with) I can offer a lot of meta thoughts on the complexities of the guy, if you want some reasons to like him more. He will always remain punchable but I could dig up the lore based tragedy in his shriveled heart if you need the meta inspiration. I actually really liked Lance Reddick's Wesker from the Netflix series despite the show's flaws, because he was actually somewhat true to how I saw Wesker as a character prior to the Mansion Incident.

In terms of suggestions for fic prompts, here's a few ideas:

What about a plus sized reader with body image issues? I've always loved the idea of giving Wesker a reason to find beauty in imperfection.

Wesker is fantastic at Machiavellian plots. He's also fantastic at obsessiveness. What if he's in love with a reader who's stuck in a bad relationship (an abusive survivor or killer? Or *Chris.*), and plots to get the girl?

Even though I've never played Resident Evil, I have read all of the Wikipedia on Wesker which was a lot. And I can understand why he does the things he does and why he thinks the way he thinks. But, like you said, it doesn't stop him from being extremely punchable, lol.

I actually do have an overweight reader in a fic with Wesker. It's called '3x Mass Overlap'. The reader does lose weight because of cancer, but Wesker and the other two love interests spoil them with food to get their weight back up and to make them happy.

For your suggestions, I will write them both. Thank you for the advice and your ideas @idreamtofmanderleyagain ❤️

...

Part one: Wesker with an insecure, plus-size reader.

Wesker doesn't get to see you very often- only during the chaotic blood bath of trials. He cherishes those trials. He cherishes any form of contact he's able to have with you. As far as fair survivors go, you were one of the best. You had good skills, reliable instincts, a feisty, can-do attitude, and remarkable intelligence.

Going against you during trials was often a challenge, one that Wesker greatly enjoyed.

But, some times, other survivors got in the way, ruining the mood and killing the vibe. Wesker despises the other survivors. The way they lollygagged, prolonged obstacles, and messed around was very annoying and troublesome, especially when they messed with you.

Today, for example, was one of those days.

Wesker had been in the middle of clearing an area of pallets when he heard another survivor making fun of how slow you ran.

"Hey ass-hole," The survivor waved at him, "You want an easy kill then why don't you go after this hippo, huh."

Wesker glared, watching as you struggled to run away from the other survivor. It was true that you were slower than most, but that didn't mean that you weren't talented in other ways. It was a frustrating situation he knew you suffered often. Your ability to ignore behavior like this was admirable. He had faith that you would move on from this trial just like every other trial.

However, instead of continuing his verbal insults, the survivor ran after you and ended up pushing you to the ground. "Heavy landing, watch out," He cackled.

You fell front-first to the ground, your clothes getting covered in mud and forest debris. The other survivor laughed above you, kicking muddy water into your face. You stayed there, slowly pushing yourself to your knees.

Wesker, furious by the pathetic, immature scene, swiftly chased after that insignificant piece of trash. Unsurprisingly, it took less than five minutes to down and hook him. Useless, untalented cretin...

Wesker imagined that you would have gotten yourself back to your feet by now, but by the time he returned to where he last spotted you, he noticed that you were still sitting on the ground. Your head was bowed, face buried in your hands. Debris stained your clothes.

Concern overtook Wesker as he slowly made way towards you. He couldn't recall a time when he had witnessed you quite this defeated. You were always so eager to fight back and move on. Just what exactly was going through your mind right now?

"Self-pity is not an expression you wear well, (y/n)," Wesker commented, stopping a couple meters away from you.

"Just kill me or leave me alone," You said, your voice a strained whisper as you kept your head averted.

Wesker couldn't believe how you were acting, and he couldn't help but to wonder why. "This isn't quite like you. What is the matter?"

"What's the matter?" You repeat, your hands lowering, "What's the matter?"

Shoving yourself to your feet, you practically fell apart, "What's the matter is that I can't go one trial without being fucked with, and all because I'm fat. I'm fat and everyone hates me. They hate me, they make fun of me, and they push me around, and I'm tired of it. I'm so sick and tired of all of this, I... I hate myself... I hate myself so much."

Wesker watched as you covered your face again. He knew that you suffered a great deal of abuse, but you had always seemed to overcome it so well. It's what he admired about you. But, he could understand how, after a certain period of time in this repetitive hell, everything builds up. You were bound to falter eventually, and that is what he was witnessing now.

Taking a few steps closer, Wesker looked at you and said, "I don't hate you."

You jerked at that, your hands hesitantly lowering from your messy face, "What?"

Wesker's eyes met yours, the only barrier being his sunglasses and the small space between you. "Of all survivors I've met here in this hell, you are the most talented. You've managed to out-maneuver me more times than I am willing to count, you always manage to overcome difficult obstacles, and, no matter how much they may not deserve it, you still rescue your team members."

You stare at him in a mixture of shock, disbelief and hurt, "But... I'm..."

"Weight has nothing to do with the overall intelligence or talent a person possesses," Wesker exclaimed, "I could care less what size you are. What I admire about you is your passion and your personality."

At those comments, your face went hot. You froze up, your heart wobbling furiously inside your chest. No one here had ever said anything so nice to you before, and it was coming from a killer- Wesker. You couldn't believe it. It was nice and it made you feel good, but...

He said he admired you...

Lost in your overwhelming thoughts, you gasp in startlement when Wesker lifted his hand out towards your face. Your first instinct was to jump away, but for some reason you stayed still, curious and brimming with anticipation. What was happening right now?

You twitched when a gloved hand cupped the side of your jaw, a thumb delicately stroking your cheek.

"Don't ever hate yourself, (y/n)," Wesker's voice was a passionate murmur, "Instead, hate the people who don't match up to your own expectations. I have a lot of faith in you, and it displeases me to see you like this."

Your eyes widened.

Wesker stroked your cheek a few more times, "Bring back that confidence I admire so much and that I find so... attractive."

Your heart jumped into your throat, "What?"

Wesker saw another survivor far off in the realm and pulled away from you. Using uroboros, he sped away from you, smirking when he heard you calling out for him.

Part two: Wesker in love with a reader who is in an abusive relationship.

Warnings: Mentions of non-graphic violence.

He knows that you're unhappy. He can see it everyday that he comes into contact with you. It's depressing and he hates it. He's helpless, and there's nothing Wesker despises more than being helpless. He knew that he couldn't just barge into your life and take command- no matter how easy it seemed. The fact that he had feelings for you didn't help his patience any better, either. He needed a plan.

Wesker decided to start by organizing all the problems he knew you faced in your relationship.

First, you weren't able to talk to any other survivors. You weren't allowed to have friends or go off on your own. If you were in a trial with your boyfriend then you weren't allowed to leave his side, even if he was downed or hooked. He blamed you for his own mistakes. Any mistakes you made, you were met with his unforgiving wrath. If you ever escaped a trial without him, physical abuse would happen.

Wesker knows this information because he had witnessed it within trials. Your boyfriend is one of his favorite survivors to torture and kill. It brought him a lot of shame to learn that you faced punishment whenever you survived without him. What a butt-hurt, obsessive, controlling loser your boyfriend was.

This was a tricky situation. With you being so timid, closed off and afraid, talking to you was going to be a struggle. Wesker especially didn't want to end up getting caught and accidentally cause you to face more abuse. He had to think this through.

He started within the trials.

"I saw what he did to you," He said, starting blunt and dirty.

You had paused dead in your tracks after trying to run away from him, your eyes filled with horror and your body tense with anxiety. You looked back at the killer, unable to believe what he had just said.

"And all because you were overpowered and couldn't save him," Wesker spoke with sympathy in his usually strict voice.

He looked at you. He knew that starting this way was probably a stretch, but he figured that it was the best option he had. The two of you were alone so only you would be aware of the knowledge he had obtained. Hopefully, his words would stick with you and help you to realize that there was a safe way out of your abusive situation.

"It angers me," Wesker stated, "To see you treated with such cruelty and disrespect. You deserve better than that parasite."

You tensed, your eyes watering with tears. For a second, your body turned towards the killer, but your forced it back into it's protective, hunched position. You winced, your eyes squinting as if you expected the killer to punish you for the unpleasant experience he had witnessed.

"I'm sorry," You whispered and ran away.

Wesker took in a deep breath. The first part of his plan has been achieved. You now knew that he knew what was going on, and you knew how he felt about it. All that was left to do was to gently coax you out of your shell and get you to open up to him, carefully, one step at a time.

-

Ok, I'm gonna pause this second part because I really like it and I don't want to rush it. So much emotion can come from this concept. I want to write from both the reader and Wesker's perspectives, but a lot more thoroughly. It was fun to explore the concept, though! You really helped me to develop a good perspective on our grumpy sunglasses man. Thank you! If I ever discover the time to expand this idea, I'll tag you immediately and sing ya my praises <3 Thank you for sharing your ideas!

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - May 29, 2023

Rwanda’s life expectancy has increased by 20 years in the last 20 years

What did Rwanda change? Three developments stand out: low-cost community-based health insurance plans, national investments in rural health posts, and ramped-up foreign collaborations. In 2020, more than 90 percent of Rwanda’s people had some kind of health insurance. This stands out relative to other low-income countries, where on average 31 percent of people have health insurance.

2. Brandon School Division rejects call to remove library books on sexuality, gender identity

Loud cheers erupted inside a packed high school gymnasium after the Brandon School Division rejected a call to remove books dealing with sexuality and gender identity from libraries. Hundreds of people in Manitoba's second-largest city showed up for the marathon school division meeting, which ran into the early morning hours.

The trustees ultimately voted 6-1 to reject a proposal to create a committee of trustees and parents to review books available in division schools.

3. Lotto winner pledges to fund classrooms in his native Mali

Happiness for one lucky North Carolina resident comes not from newfound wealth from a lottery win, but using those winnings to help schoolchildren -- in this case, from Mali.

Souleymane Sana of North Carolina won $100,000 from a scratch-off ticket. Relocating to the United States from Mali -- a war-torn county in West Africa -- Sana is using his earnings to create a non-profit to help school kids from his hometown.

4. Mountain gorillas rebound thanks to Ugandan veterinarian

In 2018, as their population topped 1,000, they were removed from the critically endangered list and their status upgraded to just endangered. That positive step was due, in no small part, to Ugandan veterinarian Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka. 

Her working home is Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home to roughly half of the world's mountain gorillas. But early on she also realized that to help the animals and keep them free from disease and poaching, she needed to also help their human neighbours, launching successful initiatives to improve the health and well-being of the people living around the park. 

5. Imports of ivory from hippos, orcas and walruses to be banned in UK

Ivory imports from hippopotamuses, orcas and walruses will be banned under new legislation to protect the endangered species from poaching.

The Ivory Act, passed in 2018, targeted materials from elephants, but a loophole meant that animals other than elephants, including hippos, were being targeted for their ivory.

6. Solar power due to overtake oil production investment for first time in 2023

Investment in clean energy will extend its lead over spending on fossil fuels in 2023, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, with solar projects expected to outpace outlays on oil production for the first time.

Annual investment in renewable energy is up by nearly a quarter since 2021 compared to a 15% rise for fossil fuels, the Paris-based energy watchdog said in its World Energy Investment report.

7. Paralyzed man walks naturally, thanks to wireless ‘bridge’ between brain and spine

Gert-Jan Oskam lost the ability to walk in 2011 when he injured his spine in a cycling accident in China. Six years later, the Dutch man managed to take a few short steps thanks to a small array of electrodes implanted on top of his spinal cord that delivered nerve-stimulating pulses of electricity.

Today in Nature, an international team of researchers reports giving Oskam a better fix, a way to digitally bridge the communication gap between his brain and lower body. Brain waves signaling Oskam’s desire to walk travel from a device implanted in his skull to the spinal stimulator, rerouting the signal around the damaged tissue and delivering pulses of electricity to the spinal cord to facilitate the movement. Oskam can now walk more fluidly, navigate obstacles, and climb stairs.

----

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[thecheesemaster]

Finally posting my punch out oc! DRAMA KING! (Sorry about the length)

(His stats are in the alt since my handwriting is terrible)

He’s a retired actor/stunt double from the eighties to late 90’s. He starred in cheesy b-movies and had a mediocre career. At the age of 49 he went through a mid life crisis and joined the WVBA to have some sort of glory in his life. He turned out to be really good at it, earning himself the Major circuit champ belt and the fame he craved.

His main gimmick is his mask. When he’s been knocked down once and had half his stamina drained he’ll put it on to reveal a whole new move set (although the new move set is just his old moves either delayed or in the opposite direction). He’s tough in the beginning of the fight, but as it goes on his age begins to show. His attacks get slower and he tires out faster. Little Mac basically just has to wait him out to win

In title defense he sports a tragedy mask and inverted colors for his clothes and gloves. In order to get the upper hand he decides to integrate some old moves from his stuntman career. He can now grab an unsuccessful punch from little Mac and hit a multitude amount of time depending on how fast or slow little Mac breaks free of his grip

Relationships:

Glass Joe: They’re close enough to consider themselves friends. Joe finds Drama’s dramatic personality endearing and Drama finds Joe’s soft spoken nature as a reprieve from the energy of the Major Circuit

Von Kaiser: They’re conversations are held together by the fact they’re some of the oldest in the league and they ramble about “kids these days” but outside of that they don’t interact much

Disco Kid: He knows Drama since his dad used to watch a movie he stared in over and over again and Drama fought him once, rendering them acquaintances

King Hippo: Drama doesn’t know Hippo outside of the fact he’s apparently royalty. Hippo doesn’t care for Drama at all

Piston Hondo: (I forgot to add a line but they’re aquatinted) They never really talk outside of fights and the occasional Major Circuit get together, they just don’t have much in common

Bear Hugger: Bear had a lot of Drama’s movies on tape in his cabin. He finds Drama to be a great actor despite the cheesiness of the movies, causing them to bond quite well together

Great Tiger: They pretend to like one another but talk shit behind the others back. Tiger thinks Drama is undeserving of the belt and Drama thinks Tiger would be nothing in the WVBA without his magic

Don Flamenco: They HATE one another. Don’s furious Drama took his belt and Drama overheard Don calling him a “talentless old prude” in the locker room. They often fight one another both in and out of the ring, leading to the other boxers needing to break them up on several occasions.

Aran Ryan: They don’t like each other. Drama thinks Aran tries too hard with the cheating, and Aran just hates anybody who’s older than him

Soda Popinski: Drama has met Soda thanks to Bull, although they’ve never really held a conversation for more than two minutes

Bald Bull: Bald Bull loves Drama’s movies unironically, which lead him to develop a crush on the man. When Drama joined the WVBA Bull was the first to befriend him, which came as a surprise to everyone in the league. Drama finds Bull mild personality and hobbies outside of the ring charming and began to crush on the man too. However, they both are scared to admit their love so they’re stuck being friends for the time being

Super Macho Man: Drama is an old close friend of Macho’s dad, leading him to see Macho as a nephew of sorts. He’s always trying to spend time with him and nag him about the health problems that come with him tanning so often which annoys Macho, but he can’t come to dislike the man that had been in his life so long

Mr. Sandman: He doesn’t know the man well and doesn’t even know why he dislikes him. He just sees everyone in the WVBA as below his skill, which includes Drama

Doc Louis: He’s talked to him once before the little Mac fight and never again

Carmen: A girlfriend of Don is an enemy to him

Referee: Drama tries to be friendly with him in order to win his favor incase of a decision win, the ref humors him but he doesn’t let it effect his judgement

Little Mac: He’s friendly with the boy but is resentful of him taking his belt, he’ll stop at nothing to get it back

Edit: Forgot to add little Mac 😅

[strangerchurby]

Last two days were sorta crazy. But hey, I'm back and let's get our golden werewolf boy on the move.

Original Idea/Steve Post by @shieldofiron

[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ Here ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]

Or Read on Ao3

The most logical way to stay safe and avoid getting captured again is, of course, to avoid the roads. So obviously Billy is doing his best to find one. Way he figures it, maybe he isn't as familiar with the greater Indiana area (and fuck does he hope he's still in Indiana), but he's got a plan. See roads, even through random areas, will eventually have signs. Signs that eventually lead to freeways. And once you hit the US highway system things are laid out in a slightly logical way.

All he needs to know is what major road he's on and from there he'll find his way to Max.

Of course finding any road is the first step.

At least he isn't alone in the quest. Even now, hours after his meal, he trots along what looks like beaten paths in the forest and doesn't have to worry about being alone. He twists his head just enough to catch sight of his passenger. The crow, apparently intrigued by him, had eventually given up on trying to fly after him or along beside him through the trees and had chosen to land on his back. The weight of the bird was negligible and it didn't seem to have any problem with keeping its balance on his broad back.

If he wasn't a wolf he might worry he looks ridiculous like this, like those stupid pictures of hippos in textbooks with birds hanging out on their backs and heads. But hippos look pretty dumb and Billy, he best he looks cool. Black looks good against the almost golden fur of his coat. It even looks good with the silvery-white parts that he'd found under the blood once he'd cleaned it off.

For a wolf he supposes he's a fine specimen. Not that Billy thinks it matters.

Caw, the bird laments from his back. Maybe laments? Billy doesn't speak crow after all.

He does pause and that seems to be all that the crow needs. It immediately throws itself into the air, the wind from its wings ruffling Billy's fur. It makes another few angry noises at Billy before flying deliberately away from him. There goes having company. And so suddenly too.

Then it hits Billy. The faint scent in the air. Billy tilts his head up more, eyes closing, and sniffs. And oh does that scent ever make his heart leap. His tongue flashes out over his chops.

Car exhaust.

Billy throws himself into a run without hesitation, and he hears the bird caw angrily after him. Well fuck it too. He doesn't care. He runs and runs and oh fuck.

The trees thin and end before he's expecting it, and he's heading right for a spread of asphalt in front of him. Which, of course, not good. Could be cars on the road. Cars could appear any second, and he knows pretty well that people hit animals all the time.

Instinct says stop before his brain does apparently, because his front feet try to put on the brakes. Which they're not good at. The rest of his body hasn't gotten the memo and there's Billy, flipping ass over head and rolling a bit further until he came to a stop. Came to a stop with his muzzle on the edge of the road.

Well, at least no one saw that failure, he reminds himself as he starts to push back to his feet.

Which of course leads immediately to more cawing behind him. Cawing in a pattern that almost sounds like laughter. Billy twists toward it, catches sight of his bird associate, and snarls at it. What a jerk.

Probably the sort of individual he'd be friends with if they were both people right now. But that's not happening. So Billy huffs and backs up from the road to start to try and figure out just where he is. With a sigh he starts down the road. Well, beside it actually. To keep safe from cars.

Actually, the safest he could be would be to stay in the trees and not actually by the road, but he needs to see signs. So yeah, trotting out in broad daylight (okay, lower early evening light) along the road.

It's nearly an hour by his best reckoning when he sees it. Large. Metal. Ahead of him. Billy runs forward, hope beating in his heart. Be somewhere sensible. Be a road he's familiar with. Be-

Hawkins, 12 miles.

The words blaze white against the green of the sign, and they leave true hope in his heart. Home, only twelve miles away.

Wait. Home?

When had he started to think of Hawkins that way?

Well, at least he's got something to think about as he walks.

[ To Part Six ]

[gaytwirights]

what do you think of Eve Zvezda and Ma?

VERY late reply because some sentences were reused in an assignment and I needed to wait until I got my grades to post this because I don't want to get got for plagiarism

Anyway Eve and Ma omg

Starting with Eve,

Yes, she did terrible things and I would never dream of erasing that from her. But also at the end of the day she would never have done those things if she wasn't manipulated down that path to begin with

And then, she got manipulated into a romantic relationship with Adam. And yes, the Venom didn't work on her, but the fact still remains that Adam initially only began dating her because he planned to use her. Drugs or not, their relationship began as Adam manipulating Eve. It probably only got easier for him after the raid on Nemu, when Eve had NO ONE ELSE on her side

Look at her before she met Adam. She was Eve Zvezda, the Witch of Nemu, protecting her village from Apocalypse. Hell, even when she agreed to join Project MA and become Queen, it was shown that she wanted to use her power to enact positive change in sectors that she knew the government mostly turned a blind eye to. It was exactly what you'd expect of a humble village girl who's had to hear witness to government incompetency and thus decided to take matters into her own hands. She wanted to be good!!

And then, when Eve had no one, other than Adam and their children, she experienced a miscarriage

Now, to be fair, I do have my issues on the OSS novels (I think it was a waste for Gammon Octo to reincarnate into, essentially, another fucking Gammon Octo), I really like the idea of her own hypnosis powers working on herself

And that's a real defense mechanism, fitting for an Inheritor of Levia. It's denial, and in my notes, I literally put "Nemesis Sudou when she👍"

And then, she killed a human being, which is an incredibly distressing thing to do

Eve was put in a terrible position, and when she (understandably) broke down, the world called her a sinner

EXCEPT, here's the thing:

Original Sin is more than just disobeying God out of Pride

Original Sin is not an act. It's a state of weakness. Let us not forget that Eve was tempted by the Serpent. She fell for the trick, but she was manipulated

Original Sin comprises two parts: Originating Sin and Originated Sin

Originating Sin was the original act of disobedience, the weakness of Adam and Eve

Originated Sin is the one that the following humans were born with, a natural inclination to evil (aka concupiscence). As such, it is the duty of people to choose to be kind to each other

(Shout out to Saint Augustine of Hippo, and my shitass Augustinian school that made me insane)

Now, the whole concupiscence thing seems to parallel the idea of HERS, in that it is something that you are born with, a natural inclination to take and hurt and destroy, yet still something that does not inherently* make you a bad person

(*btw being unbaptized (aka uncleansed from Original Sin is grounds for you to go to Hell, and also iirc all HERs go to the Hellish Yard)

ANYWAY what I was getting to is this:

Eve Zvezda is not the only parallel to the Biblical Eve

Seth Twiright also parallels the Biblical Eve

Personally, I would compare it to how both Adam Moonlit and Michaela Arklow are parallels to the Serpent of Eden

(side note I am NEVER letting people forget about HERS = Concupiscence. Let it be my brand idc I'm the dragonmask and concupiscence guy and I'm proud of it)

Anyway, back to Evillious

Eve always had a choice. Mikulia chose to kill her son. Margarita chose to distill Gift. Neo Eve chose to follow through with the Re_Birthday that trapped her and her family (+ Gammon Octo) in a time loop

She made those choices, and I could never take that away from her. However, that doesn't erase the fact that she would never have made those choices if she wasn't first put into a fucked up situation

Mothy put it best when he wrote "I was already broken long ago, I wanted to destroy everything"

(side note: yes, I know that mothy is Buddhist and all matters of sin are written from that specific viewpoint. But as a guy who has been going through Catholic school since they were 5, I think my 13 years of ingrained Catholicism knowledge could provide a fun and interesting view)

As for Ma, gosh, where to even begin,,,

As for Ma, smash

Ma's actions are complex, and difficult to analyze. She is a very controversial character, and with good reason -- she has done many terrible things, but it was all with the intention of preserving her own life.

If an action was done out of desperation, then no matter how selfish and destructive the action may be, how accountable can she truly be held?

If Ma undertook those actions, not because she had a desire to harm people, but because they were necessary for her continued survival, then how responsible is she truly?

Ma is easily one of my favorites. I’m a massive Envy, Grath, and OSS girlie foreverrrr, and I really loved Ma. Easily one of the top villains ever

I love that she did terrible things, not only because of hashtag women’s wrongs, but also because I feel it was truly the best way to show the point of her character

The point being that Ma is someone so innately separate from the human experience, but also with one of the most human stories in the series--

Now, the definition of 'human' can get fuzzy. What qualifies an action as 'human'? What makes a character 'human'? What sets 'humans' apart? What makes humans so special?

One of the concepts we learn in Catholic school is Human Freedom

Human Freedom is more than simply acting in whatever way one pleases -- it is also about considering others "instead of yielding to caprice".

In a nutshell, humans are special because they are free to choose to do good.

In other words, one of the things that makes humans special is that they have a choice in their actions and their morality.

She wanted to prove her existence, to find her identity, to escape death

Did Ma have a choice when she had to go to desperate measures just to prove her own existence?

Was Ma ever given the opportunity to be a 'human'?

In a universe where you’re the only one without an immortal soul, where you’re the only one who can truly die, wouldn’t you be terrified?

That is the core of Ma, the only person who can never get a second chance, a woman who was only given one life and proceeded to spend it trying to avoid her own death

She’s one of the best examples of a villain that I have ever seen, committing unforgivable acts that make you hate her, while still being sympathetic enough that you understand why she did it

I would never dream of ignoring what she did to Gallerian. Obviously, that was insanely shitty of her, and no normal person would stand for that sort of thing in real life. In fact, I personally believe that those sort of people deserve to be taken out back and shot

But in fiction, and particularly, with a character like Ma, you can see why she had to do that. You can see how desperate she is to prove her own existence

Obviously, she did terrible things, but I still can’t help but feel sorry for her

She just wanted to prove her own existence

Teleologically - starting from the end and reasoning back, explaining things based on their end purpose

Ontologically - investigating the nature of existence, aiming to discover the foundational building blocks of the world and characterize reality as a whole in its most general aspects

Cosmologically - in a way that involves or relates to religious or spiritual theories about the nature and origin of the universe

Deontologically - judging the morality of an action based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a series of rules and principles, rather than based on the consequences of the action

In the end, Ma was nothing more than an abomination of an Irregular, a being that was too ‘pure’ to die, a ghost of Malice

She achieved the immortal soul that others were born with, but in doing so, she had to erase the person who used to be Ma

And I could bring up the Ship of Theseus as well -- when Ma first absorbed a Demon (Rahab Barisol), did she stop being the same person? She arguably functions under the same consciousness, but then again, Elluka Clockworker also shared a continuous stream of memory with Elluka Chirclatia, and they are most definitely separate characters. Was it because Ma’s replacement of herself was more gradual?

Did Ma stop being ‘Ma’ when she expelled the Souls of Levia and Irina? What about when she was a being of pure evil, latching on to Riliane’s Soul? What about after Seth let her fall to her death?

What even is Ma?

She doesn’t quite know either.

Isn’t that pitiful?

[tkdrawz]

Some of the TMNT fandom (and, frankly, society) really ain't shit.🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️

[From left to right: Princess Fiona (Ogress Form) (Shrek) Eep (The Croods) Gloria (Madagascar) Dijonay Jones (The Proud Family) Luisa Madrigal (Encanto) April O'Neil (TMNT Mutant Mayhem)]

These ladies are female protagonists in their respective franchises. All of them have different body types that contrast from the default thin, petite body type that we're used to seeing. And all of them are BEAUTIFUL! 💖

Three of these ladies became love interests that ended up in healthy relationships with partners who love them for who they are. Also, four of them are women of color. (idk if Fiona counts. While she is green, she started off white so... 50/50? 🤷🏾‍♀️) That part is especially relevant to this post because Twitter got me EFFED UP. I'M ON ONE, ON TWO, ON THREE TODAY!

So the concept art of Mutant Mayhem's April O'Neil was revealed by James A. Castillo, an artist who worked on the movie.

And people are DRAGGING HIM LEFT AND RIGHT! Being disrespectful to both him and April's design. I can tell you right now not even a third of those quotes aren't positive! There is a vast difference between criticism and insults:

💛"I do not like this design. Besides the color yellow and her red/ginger hair, she simply doesn't read as April O'Neil." That's criticism. This expresses disproval of the design without any vulgarities.

💔"Rethink your entire career. "Artist" my ass! This shit is garbage! She looks like she sleeps in a van and smokes so much weed she reeks of it. You failed." That's disrespect. And I don't think I need to tell you why.

Normally, I tend not to discuss such sensitive topics on my blog (religion, politics, discrimination of ANY kind, etc.) for my sanity and out of respect for others with opposing views. But today, I will make an exception.

I would love to include Luisa, who alongside April was mocked and disrespected heavily for her appearance, but I wanted to speak on this matter from the perspective of a plus-sized African American woman. Luisa comes from an completely different background whose culture and standards I am not entirely familiar with. I can't speak on what I don't know. Respectfully.💜

In the black community, women are faced with colorism, texturism, constant comparison, and body image negativity on a daily basis. And a good amount of it comes from our own community! Our shade, our 4C hair, our weight, our attractiveness, our lifestyle! It's brutal out here!😭😭😭

However, in terms of media a plus-sized black girl is seen as ghetto, loud, and undesirable with a side of attitude. The best example I can think of is Dijonay from The Proud Family.

This is the show I grew up on! The theme song, the characters, the Suga Mama, ICONIC! I love Dijonay to pieces, but as I grew up I realize that she was, in some aspects, a negative portrayal. She was always chasing instead of being "the chase". She was a horrible friend to Penny. And she sucumbed to a lot of negative stereotypes with barely any redeeming qualities. And this was very disheartening considering that she was the darkest one in the group. And the heaviest. And as a little chubby wubby in the 2000s with THIS as my representation? I have to give the writers a bit of the side eye. Was she any better in The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder? To that I would say.... meh. I love her in the reboot, but they could do so much more with her in my opinion. I still haven't seen them address the issue of colorism. 👀

While she is not a human, Gloria is voiced by a black woman (Jada Pinkett Smith) and imitates the sass of a black woman so... yeah. She's included. Gloria was persued by two men. One was the suave, flexing hippo Motto Motto. And the other was her friend/neighbor from her childhood Melman. She chose the latter for good reason of course. Now in Madagascar, Gloria wasn't mocked or criticized for her weight. In fact, hippos are known for their weight. However, she was seemingly fetishized for it. By Motto Motto to be exact. And being fetishized is NOT better than being ridiculed.

Unlike Dijonay, April was the chase, a love interest for Leonardo. I admit, I was SHOCKED that she was gonna be persued. Let alone that the writers wanted to try another Turtle/April pairing considering how April and Donnie went...😬. Now her backlash was on a completely different level. One that I wasn't even prepared for....

While Gloria and Dijonay are original characters, Mutant Mayhem's April O'Neil is a different interpretation of the character that has existed since the 80's. The same can be said for the Turtles, Splinter, literally everybody else! Every show and movie for that matter! And with every story, she changes. Design, motivation, relationships/dynamics, even race as of lately. All of it changes. And change isn't bad. In my opinion, it keeps things fresh and interesting instead of spoon feeding us the same story and concepts over and over again. Change challenges us. Change motivates us. However, some people don't like change nor want to accept it and adjust. And that's life. That's just the way it is. But change is necessary in order to progress.

She wasn't bad in the movie AT ALL. I absolutely adored her! And the dynamic between her and Leo wasn't akward or uncomfortable at all. It was handled really well. Ayo Ediberi did an incredible job bringing her to life! (GOD, I loved her in The Bear! Shameless plug lol)

That being said, I understand some of the sensitivity that fans have when a character changes so drastically you can barely recongnize them anymore beyond the bare minimun. (See also Sonic Boom's Knuckles) But the blatant discrimination, rude comments, and the boldness, THE AUDACITY, that some of these nasty Twitter fingers with their dirty fingernails have to type such disrespect to the artist that I can't repeat up here was wild af. Like, I can't believe we have to share a planet with some of them! Uggh!😷(But that's Twitter 24/7 so what's new?) Her and Rise April don't deserve the hate they get. You don't have to like them. Art is subjective. But to insult and harrass the artists and the people who look like the characters, then mask it under the umbrella of "tHaTs mY oPiNiOn" is 🐱. I said what I said. And I will say that shit again.

Also, just because she's black doesn't mean we can't have another white April O'Neil ever again. We know goodness well they could make another iteration of TMNT and make her white if they wanted to. Heck, I encourage them to explore other races and cultures too! New York is full of them! And it's not like all the other versions of April up and vanished. You can watch them anytime on Hulu, Netflix, Paramount Plus, etc.

One more point I'd like to make is that I am an African American woman who is currently on a weight loss journey. As a plus-sized girl, I had incredibly low self-esteem and picked up toxic, unhealthy eating habits from starving myself to overeating BECAUSE I starved myself. Also, I have experienced both sides from being disrespected and made fun of to being complimented and persued. I was at my biggest weight 2 years ago and I have made incredible progress to lose weight since then. People can lose weight. It is achievable! I went to school with some people who were way bigger than me that lost the weight by senior year! Just because she's big in this movie doesn't mean she can't lose weight by the sequel. Like I've said before, it's not wrong to encourage health and fitness!💪🏾 In life, they call this a glow up. A "remember how you treated them in high school" type of comeback. People can, and are allowed to, change. And it's not wrong to embrace your body and the skin you're in. It's all relative!💖

This post isn't to convince you to change your mind. And it won't make the bullies go away. I can't change the world overnight, nor am I trying to. At the end of the day, you're the consumer. It's your choice. Your prefrence. I can't tell you how to think.

I just wanted to spread a bit of awareness that plus sized people exist. And they will always exist. Everyone is deserving of representation in media in all facets. No matter their shape, size, shade, or sexuality. There are so many people from different walks of life who deserve to be seen and on screen. And the amount of visibility for black girls this year alone is amazing! And I want the same for other women of color, too!

Don't let this trash ass society and the people in it who prefer AI/robots over human beings, fake over real, and bad over good tell you otherwise. YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. YES I AM TALKING TO YOU. YOU ARE AMAZING! YOU DESERVE ALL THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE AND MORE. YOUR STORY CAN CHANGE LIVES. BEING A GOOD, HARD WORKING PERSON DOES PAY OFF IN THE LONG RUN! YOU ABSOLUTELY MATTER IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT. WE SEE YOU. I SEE YOU. AND I ADORE YOU. RAISE YOUR SELF ESTEEM, ADJUST YOUR CROWN, WEAR IT PROUD, AND DO YOUR BEST!

Be good to one another. Take care.

💙 -TK

[badlymadedndsideblog]

Happy (almost) World Hippo Day!

Hi People of Tumbler! World Hippopotamus Day, February 15th, is coming up soon, and I wanted to share this super dope holiday with you! I have been celebrating World Hippo Day since I was a kid, and it’s a day that’s a lot of things for a lot of people. Many who celebrate of use the day to learn about the majestic nature of nature’s best creature: the hippopotamus, and to others it's a day to advocate for hippos, or an anti-Valentine’s Day of sorts. To me, it is all of these things, and it is also a day to spread hippo joy. Every year I try to spend the day handing out tiny hippos to random people, and it seems to make them happy. I think that hippos would be happy to know that they make people happy.

This year, World Hippopotamus Day falls during a charity livestream fundraiser called the Project for Awesome (AKA the P4A) that is held by some really cool internet people like Hank and John Green. The P4A raises money for organizations like Save the Children and Partners in Health that work hard to decrease world suck, and just generally make the world a better place. Due to the US gov's pause in USAID, the global fight against preventable & treatable diseases like TB, HIV, & Malaria is suffering a huge setback and now more than ever Nonprofits dedicated to fighting these diseases need support. More info on the P4A and fighting global inequity can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBjQgizWRBA . If you are able to please look into donating to these wonderful causes or to the P4A, or spread awareness about them. It's what the hippos would want. Project for Awesome Website Link

In celebration of World Hippopotamus Day I am posting some world hippo day crafts that you and yours can enjoy and use to spread some World Hippo Day joy. Imma be tagging all of these posts #World Hippo Day . I hope all yall have a wonderful World Hippopotamus Day and a great P4A. DFTBA

*And just in case you were wondering, Hippos are susceptible to Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), because everything ties back to TB https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33423384/

[zenmasterlover]

Soooooo here’s a little Drabble of Jackie and Hyde post season 8. This is my first little fic, so please don’t be harsh. I also wrote it in like 10 minutes so:

“Steven, it’s freezing!” Jackie shivered while a down pour of rain fell

“Jackie, I literally told you to stay inside the restaurant and I’d get the Camino,” his chick drove him crazy. But all good things drove a man crazy.

“Well how would I know that you didn’t run off and get with another stripper?” Jackie shouted as they turned a corner.

Hyde was about to reply when he noticed Jackie stop all of a sudden.

“What’s up, Jacks? You okay?” He became worried and started looking into her eyes for clues. All he saw was her happy shocked look.

“No, Steven look! It’s a puppy!” Hyde jumped but tried to play it off. “Oh my god you’re scared! You’re scared of dogs! Steven J. Hyde is afraid of dogs!” Jackie shouted. “He’s just a little guy,” Jackie scooped up the tiny dog that was obviously malnourished and cold. “Let’s keep him! He’s kind of like us, you know? He probably got abandoned for being the runt. Now he’s all alone and cold and scared,”

“Dammit Jackie, no. We don’t need a damn dog,” he knew he wasn’t going to win this when Jackie pouted

“Please Puddin?” Her big doe eyes flashed up at him. “Pwease,”

“Fine. As long as he’s not pissing and shitting in the house,” he never won against her. “What are you going to name him,”

Jackie studied the grey pup for a moment, “Hippo!” She decided

“You sure do make me do crazy things, Doll.”