#historical friction

[subestu]

Round 2: Easy

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: July 16…

Steven is asked by Jamie to be in a play funded by Mayor Dewey about the founding of Beach City, and when Steven shows Pearl the script of the play, she intervenes and provides a more historically accurate script about the town’s founding. “Historical Friction” premiered on this day, 9 Years Ago.

[bloodsbane]

i looooove how you can always tell when rebecca sugar does boards in an SU ep, her style is so distinct and evocative. and i love how it's not JUST for the biggest scenes, sometimes they'll board for small but meaningful little moments...

[kashishwrites]

🌟 Discover the mesmerizing tale of "Amrapali: The Beauty of Heaven" on Wattpad! Immerse yourself in a world where beauty meets destiny, as Amrapali's journey unfolds in the celestial realms. Embark on an enchanting adventure filled with love, intrigue, and divine revelations. Join the readers who are captivated by this spellbinding novel. Dive into "Amrapali: The Beauty of Heaven" today and let your imagination soar! ✨

[harleychick91]

Another great women loving women historical fiction novel is Islands of Mercy by Rose Tremain. The audiobook is narrated by the amazing Katie McGrath. The ebook can be found everywhere but the audiobook isn’t available in the United States. It has been put in a playlist on Spotify.

She was ‘The Angel of the Baths’, the one woman whose touch everybody yearned for. Yet she would do more. She was certain of that.

In the city of Bath, in the year 1865, an extraordinary young woman renowned for her nursing skills is convinced that some other destiny will one day show itself to her. But when she finds herself torn between a dangerous affair with a female lover and the promise of a conventional marriage to an apparently respectable doctor, her desires begin to lead her towards a future she had never imagined.

Meanwhile, on the wild island of Borneo, an eccentric British ‘rajah’, Sir Ralph Savage, overflowing with philanthropy but compromised by his passions, sees his schemes relentlessly undermined by his own fragility, by man’s innate greed and by the invasive power of the forest itself.

Jane’s quest for an altered life and Sir Ralph’s endeavours become locked together as the story journeys across the globe – from the confines of an English tearoom to the rainforests of a tropical island via the slums of Dublin and the transgressive fancy-dress boutiques of Paris.

Islands of Mercy is a novel that ignites the senses, and is a bold exploration of the human urge to seek places of sanctuary in a pitiless world.

[neproxrezi]

tried the amnesia: the bunker demo and it was very fun! i'm really not good at timed games though so i hope there's an option / mod to make it less harsh

i LOVE the gun animations, checking the revolver barrel and slowly loading your paltry collection of bullets then looking at the empty chambers when you aim it to check how many are left

[staff]

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[shy-writer-999]

Summary: Zoro loves to tease you until you cry. Seeing your face glistening from tears really gets him going. What happens when he finally gives you what you want? Afab reader, ~2k words.

CW: Pure smut. Gendered language, e.g. "pretty girl", edging, toys, crying, overstimulation, P in V. Note that this is consensual & no safeword used :3

MINORS DNI. NSFW CONTENT.

Zoro held a vibrator to your clit at the lowest setting and slowly fucked you with three fingers. His brows were bent, and he was laser focused on the slick dribbling out of you.

For the past two hours, every time you were about to cum he’d turn the vibrator off and pull his fingers out. He was being cruel. You’d gotten to the brink of orgasm no less than 10 times. By the 5th you were begging him to let you cum, and, historically, he’d give in. But today, no matter how much you begged, he just wasn’t listening.

He knew what he wanted, and he was going to get it.

Hot tears made trails down your cheeks, hooking under your jaw and pooling on your collar bone. Zoro’s cock twitched at the sight. He loved to see you like this, drooling, begging for his cock, so worked up from his fingers that you started to cry in frustration. Every sob made him feel like he was on fire, every tear coaxed more precum out of his tip.

This was like a sport to him. He got off on seeing you unravel from his fingertips, fully broken down in pleasure. When your eyes got glossy, teary, and you could barely talk, he knew he was doing it right.

Zoro took the vibrator off your clit and left his fingers in you, unmoving. His hand was a mess—your arousal coated every finger and his whole palm, glistening around his wrist and dripping onto the covers.

“Zoro, please,” you pleaded for the millionth time, voice cracking. “Wanna cum, please.”

Blinking through the blurry drops of your tears and batting your eyelashes for visibility, you could see Zoro’s sickeningly sweet smile. “I know you do, sweetheart. But you gotta hang in there.”

“Zoro,” you tried to wiggle around on his fingers for friction. You needed him to move. You were going fucking crazy.

He tutted and pulled his fingers out of you, a sticky string connecting his fingertips to your puffy, red lips. You gasped at the emptiness, exasperated beyond words. You couldn’t think straight, and the tears wouldn’t stop.

“You’re doing such a good job for me, baby. Can’t you keep going?” He was frowning.

You didn’t want to disappoint him. But you were reaching your limit. More desperate tears seeped out of the corners of your eyes.

Sucking his fingers clean, Zoro then cupped your face with both hands and kissed you tenderly. The kisses were salty from your tears.

He wiped under your eyes with both thumbs, swiping away the frustration. “You poor thing. I’ll put my cock in you, ok? But you have to ask really nicely this time.”

You nodded vigorously. “Please Zoro, please fuck me. I need your cock so bad. Please.”

He sighed and frowned again. “Don’t you need it more than that?”

Tears welled in your eyes again. He was being downright ruthless. You had asked nicely. Really nicely. But it wasn’t enough.

“Zoro, fuck” you sobbed. “’M going crazy. I’ll do anything. P-please fuck me. Please.”

He brought a hand down to lazily stroke himself for a moment while he stared into your cock-crazed eyes. He loved it when you were pathetic like this, when you were shameless.

Tanned skin rippled as Zoro’s rough hand twisted over the head of his cock, grazing the sensitive spots on and under his head. Precum oozed out of his inflamed slit, every drop evidence of how badly he wanted you.

He leaned close to your face and practically growled. “When I fuck you, you have to promise not to cum unless I say so. Either that or I won’t fuck you at all.”

His threat made you feel fucking feral. You didn’t care at this point, and you would agree to anything. “Zoro, I promise. Just fuck me.”

Zoro raised an eyebrow and then positioned you exactly how he liked, in some sort of mating press. One hand held your thigh up, fingerpads digging into your plush flesh. The other was braced on the bed next to you. He lined his cock up with your entrance and took a deep breath. Your eyes were lust-filled, hungry, and almost rabid. His heart skipped a beat.

Pushing through your folds as slowly as he could, he could feel your walls starting to clamp down on his cock. You were so wet that it felt like heaven to him—slippery, velvety, and warm. When he bottomed out, he let out a lengthy groan. “Fuuucccck.”

Finally, Zoro’s hips rocked and grinded into you. Every shove of his cock felt electric. Each bundle of nerves that his tip and shaft dragged over sent waves and tingles of pleasure to your core, radiating outwards to every limb. Your toes were already curling with pleasure.

Zoro had been waiting for this moment. He made you ready enough for his cock, and now he was going to fuck you into oblivion.

His girthy, veiny cock pushed out and in, and each pass attacked your g-spot. Your back was arching, you keened his name continuously, and your eyes rolled back in your head. You had completely lost yourself, forgetting what was going on or who you were; you only knew one thing—Zoro’s cock.

Orgasm approached within minutes. He could tell from the way you started to shudder around him and the way your thighs started to tremble. He frowned again and held still.

“Baby, I said you can’t cum unless I say so.”

“Zoro, ‘m so close, please.”

“Don’t you want to be good for me?”

Once again, you started to cry. It was almost worse now that he was fully fucking you but dangling your orgasm in front of your face. Any time you tried to get it, he’d yank it out of reach. He was sadistic about it. But really, what could you expect? It was naive to think that he’d let you cum right off the bat.

“I wanna be good,” you sobbed quietly, and your fingers clawed half-moons into his biceps. Your tortured eyes met his. Zoro was looking at you like he was going to devour you. Like he’d rip out each morsel of pleasure and then leave you for good. It felt like he was using you, but you knew that he was doing it with your own interest in mind. Any time he got heartless like this, your orgasm almost made you faint.

“I-I’ll be so good, Zoro. Please. I’ll wait. I promise.”

“That’s my girl,” he groaned at your words and tears. He fucked you again, slower this time, pressing more of his weight on your thigh that he was holding up. His other hand passed up your body, travelling from your hips to your breasts.

Greedy hands massaged and squeezed. Fingertips brushed over your sensitive buds gently. Pulling and pinching them, he rolled one nipple softly and then harder until you whined and your eyes fluttered.

“Doing such a good job for me, pretty girl. Keep takin’ my cock like that and I’ll let you cum.”

You whimpered as he fucked you so deeply that his cock hit your cervix. It hurt, but the pain was overrun by the gigantic waves of pleasure elicited from your cunt any time Zoro’s head snagged over your hot gooey spot.

“Just like that,” he murmured quietly, coming as close to your face as he could. Your walls throbbed and clenched around him, squeezing out his precum and swallowing his shaft. “So fuckin’ wet for me, baby.”

“Zoro, ’m getting close,” you mewled. Everything about you intoxicated him. Whenever your tits bounced from his thrusts, whenever you scrunched your nose up from him fucking you too deep, those damp cheeks from your tears moments ago… You had been good for him. You’d let out enough needy whimpers, too. You earned it.

“Let it out. Cream on my cock, sweetheart. Show me how much you love it.”

As soon as you registered his permission, you came. You screamed his name, convulsed and spasmed under him, throwing your head back with euphoria. It felt like you orgasmed for minutes. Your juices gushed out around the base of his cock and he moaned at the sensation.

It was foolish of you to assume he would be done after that.

Of course, his hips kept grinding into yours through your orgasm. You started to squirm.

“Zoro, fuck,” you whimpered. “’s too much.”

“No, it’s not.” He cooed and purred in your ear. “I know you’ve got another for me. No matter how much you writhe, I’m still going to fuck you through it.”

More tears. It felt like he was pressing a button in you that made you wince from overstimulation and pleasure. “Z-zoro, fuck, it’s—it’s too much, Zoro.” You struggled and contorted around his cock. It felt too good, the sensation was too overwhelming, you wanted it to stop but at the same time it was addictive.

“Stay still for me.” He put all his weight on you, and you continued to writhe for a second before you did what he said. Your eyes were fucked-out and hazy, barely sentient of what was happening other than pleasure. His hips rolled with each squelching sound that echoed in the room. Slowly, your cunt started to pulse again.

“Does it feel good now, princess? You like it when I stuff you full of my cock?” Zoro was starting to get riled up. Each hump and thrust goaded feverish desire.

“You’re milking my cock so well, baby. Pussy feels so good.” Every nasty word he rasped in your ear burned.

As Zoro’s peak built, yours did too. He wanted to time it so you came at the same time—though he could be a sadist, he was also a romantic. To climax together was something sweet that he put the utmost effort into.

He praised and encouraged you as much as he could muster. He choked out a word between each grunt. “Doing—so—good—for—me— fuck.”

Zoro reached a hand to rub his fingers in circles over your clit. The noises you produced were guttural and primal—it’s like pleasure was exploding in you. He pressed down with his thumb, hard, and you gasped his name.

“Let it out, sweetheart. Cum on my cock. Wanna feel it.”

Your second orgasm was pure ecstasy. Zoro wrenched it from your core, ripped it out of you like the animal he was. When you started to shake, his hips jerked into you, haphazard and frenzied.

“F-fuck, fuck, your pussy is—so good, fuck, ‘m cumming, fuuuccckkkk.” He came, cocked twitching, seeing stars. You could feel him filling you up, hot and sticky.

Completely losing touch with the world, your orgasm literally crushed your sense of reality. You blacked out for a couple seconds, and by the time you were cognizant again, Zoro’s cum was leaking out of your cunt. He was panting, trying to catch his breath. Sweat matted his hair down around his temples, his cheeks were ruddy, his hair was ruffled up and he was a mess. “Fucking hell, babe.”

Zoro may have been the one feigning control during your sessions of arduous orgasm denial, crying, and fucking, but in reality, you pulled the strings. He wouldn’t have the experience he wanted, and you wouldn’t have the experience he wanted for you, if you didn’t play along too. Zoro knew this, and he was grateful that you’d humor him, grateful that you cherished his intimacy enough to entertain hours of edging, crying, and nasty fucking. Sharing an experience like this and simultaneously respecting the other’s vulnerability was something precious to him.

Aftercare for him was a different sport entirely. And like everything he did, Zoro was determined to become the best. He sprinkled your face with ticklish kisses, replacing the tears that were there minutes ago with love.

that’s all for this one!! thank u sm for reading :D here’s my masterlist and my October posting schedule.

also for giggles - trick or treat? (both tumblr links heh)

[girderednerve]

this post is old but i saw it going around again & it's driving me nuts. this is an extremely bad historical summary? parts of it are outright wrong & the framing is nonsensical, multiple people have chimed in to add "more" information but no one seems to have taken issue with the content of the original post. anyway it's somewhat strange to say that the church 'began forbidding' christians from participating in moneylending (pawnshops are also moneylenders; banking didn't really exist in europe until the latter middle ages), because the text of the bible itself treats loans as a form of charity which should not bear interest between community members. there are a bunch of patristic commentaries to this effect, but there are also a bunch of rabbinic commentaries to this effect! because it was a moral rule for both groups of people, and indeed for muslims! however, to lend money at any sort of scale, you need to charge interest to cover for the risk that you won't be paid back, so there's friction between practical exigency & ethical doctrine. it turns out that there was a centuries-long moral crisis about the expansion of a market economy & the development of finance, which cannot be usefully boiled down to the idea that money was 'unclean' (extremely vague term; also, if the church simply thought that, why were there so many lavish churches & well-heeled priests?). it is broadly true that medieval european jews were excluded, often violently, from fully participating in christian society & that several engaged in moneylending, using the out-group loophole to lend at interest to gentiles. however, a bunch of christians just lent money anyway; actually, most moneylenders in medieval christendom were christians, and most jews did other work. the idea that jews were substantially engaged in early finance was first an antisemitic myth, propagated by christians who were trying to resolve the moral & practical conflict of moneylending by displacing it; then it was a philosemitic myth, recuperated by late nineteenth century scholars who saw in jewish moneylenders evidence of a unique jewish contribution to the development of europe. but it never reflected the daily lives of most medieval jews & we can do better than this, guys, come on

[chainymail]

in the majority of modern historical fencing, people will use dull and flexible blades that slide and bounce off each other in very satisfying ways while also being safe and sane. it’s fun and I love it you should try it.

however if your were to duel someone with two fully sharpened steel blades, the edges actually bite into each other when they meet. They stick, they snag. They grab and fold around each other. You can sometimes pull your opponent toward you using only the friction of your edges. This also only really works if both of you throw a committed cut. If you both attack each other with deadly weapons in a way that is meant to do the most damage possible. I guess what i’m saying is, the intimacy and tactile freakshow of sharp edges meeting at high speeds will someday be enough for me to risk my life over.

[subestu]

Round 1: Introduction

[yahoo201027]

Day in Fandom History: July 16…

Steven is asked by Jamie to be in a play funded by Mayor Dewey about the founding of Beach City, and when Steven shows Pearl the script of the play, she intervenes and provides a more historically accurate script about the town’s founding. “Historical Friction” premiered on this day, 8 Years Ago.

[asharaks]

so here's the vision for Treviso: instead of the nonsensical and racist Antaam invasion, the Qun are working with the Antivan government to push the Venatori out of the city. We get a Josie cameo here. In the meantime, the Chantry are taking advantage of the political situation to push for more power in the country; there are da2-Petrice style anti-qunari demonstrations in the streets, trade embargoes, gridlocks, religious fervour. We meet various Qunari ambassadors, workers, delegations, all of whom get names and faces and personalities and opinions.

The Crows are being pulled back and forth by whoever has the most money that week (this changes a Lot, depending on your actions) and multiple contrasting contracts. There's infighting going on, as well as hierarchical friction: since the loss of the symbolic favourite grandson of the first talon, the resentment of the other fledglings has been stirred up, and there's talk of potential coups being planned. The elves who were bought as children and abused into becoming dispensible killers resent the leading family of wealthy humans; the Dellamorte's position is weakened as Caterina grieves her favoured protégé, and expends resources on his return while the city breaks down around her. “The crows rule Antiva” is less a rallying cry than a threat.

This is also an opportunity for Teia to shine, and bring out the nuance of the worldbuilding: she's an elf that clawed her way to the top of the hierarchy, and as a result is resented by the ruling elite; having her in this rare position, where she is neither a Dellamorte nor a human, but holding onto her power in this historically incredibly unbalanced organisation, it would be good if you could ask her opinions on the Issues. what does she think of Lucanis, of the elf children, of the practice of buying slaves?

Rook’s presence as the leader of the alliance built to combat the blighted gods (more on this later) catalyses the events that break the stalemate one way or another, by supporting certain crow subfactions, choosing to fight back the blight or not, taking quests for the chantry or the qun — and choosing to save Treviso or Minrathous, which can bring the conflict to breaking point — but ultimately, they’re one more representative of one more faction in the city, and while they can influence the balance of power by lending their aid to or with holding it from various factions within the city, they don’t dictate where the cards fall, and won’t find out for quite a while how things in Treviso shake out.

[next - minrathous]

[gee0man]

Rogue Albatross Mackenzie "Mack" Titania Vermilion is the 21st pilot of Garland Vermilion, ancestral frame of House Vermilion, known as the Divine Engine Ancestor.

House Vermilion has dedicated itself to a generation spanning goal; the absolute destruction of the Karrakin Baronies.

Fly True - Motto of House Vermilion

This has been a historical source of friction between the Albatross and House Vermilion, nominally allied against the Baronies. Vermilion has produced some of the greatest Albatross to ever live, as well as some of its most conflicted.

Every scion of Vermilion that becomes an Albatross bears the same burden. Balancing the imperfect reality of the Albatross' ideals, Vermilion's ancient grudge, and the expectations of stewarding the Divine Engine Ancestor. With Mackenzie, its latest champion, that delicate balance has finally broken.

[royal-wren]

In honor of Pride, I'm going to list a few Hellenic deities to think of more actively during this time

Aphrodite: Historically known to be intersex and trans, especially under the name Aphroditos. Not to mention as a goddess of love, that means all kinds of love and expressions of it. Everyone in the LGBT+ umbrella can turn to her without worry.

Apollon: He is known for epithets like the Unshorn, and for literally wearing feminine clothing for the time.

Artemis: Known for embracing masculinity and more masculine traits like her interests, mannerisms, and appearance (attire). Also known to be aro/ace spec.

Athene: Most know her to lean more toward masculinity, but she's more an equal mix of both masculine and feminine (nonbinary by human terms). Also known to be aro/ace spec and wlw as well.

Dionysos: Like Apollon, is known for wearing feminine clothing for the time and occasionally a feminine appearance to match. Embracing the unconventional and what lies outside of society's standards and mentalities is his thing, and it shows with epithets like Androgynos.

Hekate: A goddess of the liminal (everything in between), boundaries, and transitions, of paths and crossroads (which are more than physical ones).

Hera: As a goddess of women, that includes every kind of woman no matter what, there is no room to try and exclude anyone from that. She's also a goddess of marriage and one to lean on for rights on that matter.

Hermes: A god of the liminal, the god of transitions, boundaries, paths, and roads, and a god of romantic unions, the god of fire - the literal and figurative sparks that ensue as a god of friction, a weigher of love like Aphrodite. Before the late Classical and Hellenistic periods was also known to be aro/ace spec as outside of cultic unions, a majority of his immortal (and deity) children are goddesses as well, and he has two nonbinary (one intersex) children, Palaistra and Hermaphroditos, and occasionally the father of Eros either by Aphrodite or Artemis (and no this is real, you're just not ready for this conversation on this information).

Leto: In worship, she has the cult epithet Phystiê (the Grafter) that relates to a myth of her helping Leukippe transition at the wishes of his mother to avoid death. With the grafter epithet, she has a festival in her honor, Ekdysia (Stripping (Festival)). One of her sacred animals is the Ichneumon (Egyptian Mongoose), which was known to be both male and female in an individual member of the species.

Palaistra: The goddess of wrestling and daughter of Hermes is nonbinary, being both genders at once and neither at the same time

The Erotes: It kind of goes without saying that they should be here for a month of love, identity, and acceptance.

The Kharites: As goddesses of joy, merriment, and festivity/celebration, it feels as essential to have them here as the Erotes are. During Pride, they will lift your spirits and cause you to cheer.

[obessedwithfictionalmen]

I'll come pick it up after pt.8

John Egan X Female! Reader

Sumarry: Bucky is woken up by bombs, but not he one he's usually drooping...

Warning: +18/ smut/ p and v/ unprotected sex (wrap it up)/ grinning/ talk about death/ use of Y/n/ historical inaccuracies/

Word count: 890 words

She was woken up by flash of lights. She didn’t know what it was, until her head turned to look at the window. Bombs, a town near London was getting bombed. The place next to her was cold, John Egan was not beside her. She sat on the bed and saw the men on a chair, in front of the window. ‘’Bucky, are you okay?’’ She asked, making his head turn. ‘’Did I wake you up?’’ he asked her. She shook her head, bringing the white blanket to cover her breast. ‘’The lights did’’ she answered. He deeply exhales and looked at the bombs. ‘’I’ve never been on this side of the bombing. I’ve always dropped them’’ he says. Y/n took at deep breath, she thought about what she was gonna say to him. ‘’Do you regret it?’’ she asked. He shook his head. ‘’It just feels weird, woke me up with the sound of the explosions’’ he explained. Y/n got up, left the blanket in the bed, took her panties off and walked towards her pilot. Bombs occasionally making enough light to see the hole room. When she reached the chair, she sat on the lap of her pilot, who had taken his boxers off when he saw her approaching. He instinctively put his hands on her hips, he started kissing her, hoping to get a distraction from the sounds of the multiple explosions. ‘’Do you think it’s weird?’’ she asked between kisses. ‘’What?’’ he said, with a raspy voice. She grinned against him, creating friction. She felt him getting hard underneath her, it made her wet, seeing the power she had over him. ‘’The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel’’ she stated, kissing Bucky, again. He putted one of his hands behind her neck, just like when they kissed for the first time. He stopped kissing her, took her chin with his fingers, while she tried to kiss him again. ‘’And I thought, I was dramatic when I drank’’ He chuckled. She smiles as she let out a breath. ‘’You are dramatic, Major.’’ She laughed as she placed herself on his hard cock. She sunk down on him, she was wet enough to make it easy and painless.

‘’What are you’’ he moaned. ‘’You need a, ah, a distraction from this.’’ She started moving her hips, to a slow, sensual pace. She wanted to help him to try and forget the bombing. Bucky’s heart was racing, they were kissing lazily. It wasn’t fast sex, or the type of sex they had earlier. It was gentle and familiar; it was sweet. ‘’How should I call you now? Sir, major or Bucky?’’ she teased, between kisses. He smiled against her lips, caressing her lower back, gently guiding her to a fastest pace. ‘’Hold your horses, Major, we have all the time in the w-world’’ she stuttered when she felt him hit her G-spot with his cock. She kissed his neck as she kept the sensual pace. The rhythm was killing him, but he was enjoying every second of it. ‘’Please, darling, go faster, you’re killing me here’’ he whimpered, sending butterflies to her stomach. Making her squeeze his length. He chuckled. ‘’You like when I make noises, darling?’’ he teased. She nodded and kissed him again. She started to roll her hips faster, letting his hands guide the rhythm. He left his head fall on the chair. ‘’Atta girl’’ he breathed out. She smirked and continued her fast pace. He started to kiss her tits, she arched her back, making it easier for him to kiss her breast.

She moaned his name as he kept kissing her chest. ‘’Forgive my lips, they find pleasure in the most unusual places.’’ He said, smirking. She kept rolling her hips until his breathing became faster. ‘’Darling, I’m gonna c- ‘’ he couldn’t even finish his sentence as his orgasm shook his hole body. Y/n came too, they kissed again. Not even bothering in taking their breath. But eventually, they had to breath, so they stopped kissing. They looked at each other before she brought her head closer to him. Their forehead was touching. They kept chasing after their breath, bombs brining enough light for the both of them to see the other’s face. ‘’Thank you, darling’’ he said, tugging a piece of her hair behind her ear. ‘’For the orgasm?’’ she joked, quoting him. ‘’That’s my line, sweetheart’’ he laughed.

She smiled as she got up from his lap, putting her panties back on. He did the same thing as he went back into the bed. ‘’If you wake up again, wake me up too. You won’t be alone’’ she smiled. He nodded kissing her forehead. ‘’Try to get some sleep, Bucky, after all, you deserve it’’ she said. He nodded; he kept her in his arms. He was a cuddler, he felt like he was protecting her from everything when she was in his arms, it helped him sleep, it calmed his mind from the things he was seeing, she was calming him down. She felt asleep hearing his heartbeat. It calmed her down, hearing he was okay. She was used to unregular or really fast heartbeat, but Bucky’s was just normal. It calmed her down, helping her to fall asleep.

Part 9⬇️