#lavished on us

[soaringeaglesingingjoy]

‭1 John 3:1 NLT‬

[1] See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.

https://bible.com/bible/116/1jn.3.1.NLT

[shorthaltsjester]

the mighty nein - critical role

this is a place where i don't feel alone. this is a place where i feel at home.

[the-woman-upstairs]

The thing is, I believe Bill and Ford DID have a fairytale romance. It’s just that the fairytale in question was Bluebeard.

[cod-dump]

Graves does go home sometimes for holidays or whenever to see his mom. He doesn’t care for a good bit of his family and tolerates them for his mother’s sake. Well, he finally decided to come out to her and introduce Nik and Price.

It was the most stressful moment of his life, coming out to his safe person, the one person who protected the best she could whenever she could, at the age of forty. His father is long gone but the damage he had done left its mark.

He was scared what she would say, how him admitting this would break her. But it didn’t. He had took her aside as Nik and Price were absorbed in the trivia game the cousins Graves actually liked pulled out. He was shaking as he heard them laughing in the other room, stuttering when he finally told her. She was quiet, he couldn’t look at her.

Then she took his hands and made him look at her before she spoke softly to him.

“I know. I’ve always knew. And I love you as you are.”

It was like a dam broke loose, Graves crying like baby as his mother held him.

[serpentface]

HOSPITALITY AND GIFT ECONOMY IN THE HIGHLANDS: A POST.

Rites of hospitality are of key importance and taken very seriously in this cultural context, especially given the frequency at which individuals will be traveling (as herders, or along intra-Highlands trade routes). These rites exist as the concept of 'Shiab's peace', a divinely mandated contract of hospitality under the watch of Shiab, goddess of the hearth and of travelers. This is invoked with a standardized verbal exchange with a member of the household- the prospective guest will greet with “I would ask Shiab’s peace of you”, the host, if accepting, will respond with “You will have Shiab’s peace here.” While not explicitly an oath, it is understood as such and ascribed the same profound significance (both social and spiritual consequences for violation).

A potential host can refuse (though usually doesn't, hosting is an honor and can be a power play), but the mere request for Shiab's peace imbues temporary spiritual protection on the asker- one’s most loathed enemy must at least be allowed to leave unharmed, even if denied guest rite. (This isn’t a get out of jail free card, a request for Shiab’s peace is a request for hospitality, not mercy, the goddess will not be protecting you if you attempt to use it in the midst of combat or etc).

Once mutually invoked, the expectations of Shiab’s peace are as follows:

The host should provide for the guest’s basic needs generously within their means, and allow them to stay for a night and provide them a place to sleep.

The guest and host much each provide their names and titles, though the guest is under no obligation to explain the reasons for their presence and cannot be asked.

The guest must accept all food offered (and gifts, though this is not specific to Shiab's peace and rather part of a wider practice in the gift-economy).

The guest must ask for nothing, and take nothing that is not offered.

The guest is under full protection of the host, and vice versa. Theft, assault, or murder committed under Shiab's peace is a grave broken oath and one should expect very severe consequences (both supernatural and mundane, should others find out).

The guest (unless offered continued hospitality) must see themselves out after sunrise the following morning. They cannot be made to leave early.

If a guest is offered continued hospitality, they should offer to participate in any needed chores (the host can accept or decline at their discretion).

The protection of Shiab's peace continues until the following sunrise after the guest leaves (ie a host cannot pursue their leaving guest to steal from them)

Shiab's peace is universal and transcends conflicts, and once invoked cannot be violated under any circumstances. Members of a rival clan or of a tribe yours is at war with, a foreigner you're suspicious of, etc, are all fully under protection (and under their full expectations as a guest).

A guest that violates their expectations can be made to leave, as they have broken the oath and are no longer protected. (in practice, many hosts will let MINOR violations slide unless the guest is like, really annoying or godawful)

The host, in practice, will usually be the wife of the household (if present), as the wife is considered the owner of a family’s home, land, and property, and has final say on how resources are used and given. The host is expected to provide the guest food and drink and a place to stay for one night, and supply any other obvious basic needs (ie: if the guest’s clothing is worn or wet, they should be given fresh clothes). These gifts should be generous within one’s means, and in practice will usually be a square meal, mead/wine/murre, multiple rounds of tea, and a breakfast the following morning. A host that does not provide expected basic needs within their means is in violation of Shiab’s peace and has broken their oath, and should expect consequences.

A guest is not literally oathbound to practice ideal social etiquette, but it's a cultural expectation (ie, the guest should finish all their food and save some bread for last to scoop up anything left in the bowl, not a hard requirement but good manners). They are fully expected to accept any and all gifts offered. A guest should neither take nor ask for anything not freely given (all basic needs should have been met by the host to begin with). It IS acceptable for a guest to imply further needs in conversation, so long as they do not directly request them: ie mentioning in conversation that their leg is hurt and they can only hope their travels do not make it worse, as it would take days of rest for it to heal (“I need to stay multiple nights, can we work that out?”), or mentioning that their pack khait has gone lame and cannot carry their supplies, they fear they will have to leave both animal and supplies behind (“Will you lend me a pack ox/khait?”). These roundabout requests are still at least expected to be Truthful in nature (and all of this is happening under the watch of a deity, there may be consequences for lying).

Hosts may give extra gifts at their discretion- these can either be charitable, or indebting. A charitable gift will be given with further verbal declaration of Shiab’s peace, which establishes it as an act of goodwill and that the guest is not in the host’s debt. An indebting gift will be given with no declaration of Shiab's peace. The guest is obligated to accept either.

Indebting gifts are a part of the wider political and economic structure of the Highlands, a separate (though linked) practice to guest hospitality. The vast majority of the economy relies on trade of goods, with an additional dimension of this gift economy. Being able to give gifts is a display of wealth and power, establishing one’s family or clan above another in a social hierarchy. The most powerful are able to give the most extravagant gifts, and will have many other clans/families considered perpetually in their debt if the gift cannot be met with one of equal or greater value. This debt is immaterial- it is not actually Expected to be paid (it’s better for the gift-giver if it ISN'T), rather it establishes/reinforces one's place in a power structure and regulates the conduct of the gift receiver (it can be evoked to call in favors or settle disputes). A debt held by a single person translates to their immediate family, while a debt held by a clan matriarch/patriarch translates to their entire clan.

Cattle raiding is both a practical means of resource acquisition and a part of this wider political schema, and often figures into the gift structure. Stealing cattle and then giving them back as a gift is a power play, it declares ‘our men are better than yours (they’ve stolen the cattle successfully) and we are wealthier than you (we don’t even need them)’, while also settling the score and dissuading retaliation. Stealing cattle and then giving MORE (or different, higher quality) cattle as a gift is a massive power play, declaring much the same things to a greater extent, dissuading retaliation, AND putting the theft victim/gift recipient into the debt of the thieves.

Power structures within tribes are passively enforced by this gift giving structure- the ruling clan of each (which in practice usually controls the best agricultural land and largest herds, and is most involved in trade) will provide gifts to all clans subservient to them (and particularly generous gifts to potential rivals), keeping them indebted and lower in the social structure. Ruling clans who lose the ability to afford to give gifts, or find themselves indebted, will often be usurped (not strictly as a result of their debt, rather that losing ability to stay on top of the gift system generally occurs in conjunction with a diminished material power/wealth).

These combined practices result in very complex, often aggravating political power structures, but reduce the frequency of open conflict between clans within a tribe (which are frequently at odds), providing other avenues for power/material acquisition and for the settling of scores. Most open conflicts occur between clans within separate tribes or entire tribes (less likely to have secure power structures enforced by gift/trade), though practices of raiding and combat-sport provide some levels of tension release via less-violent score settling.

Other dimensions of the gift economy are not directly indebting (in not establishing a power structure), and considered paid via mutual partnership. Alliances between clans of different tribes are usually established in continued gift-giving (declared explicitly as gifts of allegiance), with the implied payment being mutual material support (supplying warriors, sharing grazing land, open trade, etc), which is usually reinforced with binding oaths. Marriages also involve gifts. A bride price is fairly standard (which is a straightforward payment for property and assets the wife's mother will be passing into her son-in-law's care), and a husband who cannot supply one is considered in his mother in law's debt (and may not gain full integration into the family until this is paid). But as supplement to the bride price, members of each family will freely give gifts with no expectation of the value of their gifts being matched (declared as such by being specifically described as a gift of marriage), as a means of further allying both families and a show of goodwill.

[pardonmydelays]

felizusnavidad -> pardonmydelays

[r-o-s-e-f-i-r-e]

it’s time…..time to reread the steve moves to a small town new england + the hoppers live on a farm with bees + eddie runs a coffee shop holiday au i wrote for myself

[boohoolou]

Lous' Lavish List: All The K-Dramas I have Watched In Order Of Sadness (Update #3)

Mr. Sunshine: Would Not Wish The Pain I Felt Watching This On Anyone But Would Absolutely Watch Again/10

Chicago Typewriter: Cry Myself To Sleep Thinking About It/10

Goblin: She's The Queen Of The K-Dramas (Traumas) For A Reason

Third Charm: Developed Trust Issues Because Of This/10

Uncontrollably Fond: Why Bother Loving, Living and Laughing If All I Feel Is Pain/10

Navillera: I Was Foolish To This It Would Be A Cute Ballet Drama/10

Hymn Of Death: Based On A True Story? More Like Rip My Heart Out And Stamp On It/10

Squid Game: The Unjustice Games Because They Deserved BETTER/10

D.P: Jung Hae-In Breaking Down Feels Like Rain Of Daggers/10

Snowdrop: Made Me Believe In Love Again And Then Killed My Heart/10

Twenty-Five, Twenty One: I Was There For The Vibes, Left With A Hollow Heart/10

It's Okay Not To Be Okay: Absolutely Extraordinary Characters/10

Tomorrow: Tasteful Heart Wrench/10

Extracurricular: Takes The Throne Of They Deserved Better Trope/10

The Sound Of Magic: Justice For My Babies/10

All Of Us Are Dead: I Want To Be Dead After Watching This/10

Sweet Home: I would Sacrifice Myself For Most Characters (Human Or Not)/10

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha: Beautiful And Intense At Times/10

Crash Landing On You: Why Do Borders Exist/10

Hellbound: Confusion Overload But Heartbreaking Nonetheless/10

My Name: The Perfect Man, Indeed, Does Not Exist (Anymore)/10

Youth Of May: Kind Of Expected More Damage/10

Itaewon Class: Screaming My Lungs Out With Saeroyi/10

Are You Human?: Never Imagined Falling In Love With A Robot/10

Reply 1988: Nostalgia For A Place & A Time I Was Never Part Of/10

Descendants Of The Sun: Not As Sad As I Expected/10

Memories Of The Alhambra: Set In My Home Countries WooHoo/10

Hospital Playlist: Not Quite Grey's Anatomy, More Wholesome, But A Tearjerker Sometimes/10

Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth: Funny Until It's Not (Painful)/10

My First First Love: Second Lead Syndrome Going Strong/10

Hotel Del Luna: Expecting The Ending Doesn't Help With The Grief/10

Hello My Twenties/Age Of Youth: Wholesome Friendship=Drama Of A Lifetime/10

Nevertheless: More Frisky Than Sad/10

Love Alarm: We Don't Talk About Season/10

Abyss: Cute, Intense, Unsad/10

Cheese In The Trap: Funny, But Second Lead Syndrome Hits Hard/10

Strong Girl Bong Soon: The Perfect Drama/10

Bad And Crazy: Insane Hottness And The Perfect BRomance

Our Beloved Summer: The Ultimate Vibes/10

Suits: Unserious, Quite Boring, Ninette Is The Star/10

One Spring Night: There For The Single Dad/10

Chocolate: Only Watched For The Cooking/10

[pushing500]

Hi Gracie, I'm hoping you might have some advice for me. My colonists are starving, because I have more people than I know how to feed. Is there any way I can tell them to stop feeding their meals to the animals?

They keep cooking meals, feeding the meals to the animals, and then eating raw meat and being sad about it!

It's mostly the dogs they're feeding the meals to, too, because the haygrass finally grew enough for the pen animals. And dogs can eat raw meat just fine, so it would make way more sense to feed the dogs the meat instead.

(I am trying to solve the underlying problem by 1. assigning more people to plants so they will sow the fields my current farmers are apparently neglecting, and 2. increasing the population cap of my animals so that they produce more excess, but both these things take time and in the meantime they are constantly running out of food and I'm hunting pretty much every wild animal that wanders onto the map to keep my colonists alive.)

Hello! I have this issue a lot, too. Those silly colonists want to prioritise their beloved animals over their own comfort, which is sweet, but very airheaded of them.

I can usually stop animals from eating meals on their own by simply changing their allowed areas to prevent them from accessing the fancy "people food", but it gets trickier when tending to injured animals or training them.

I have found a mod called 'Animal Controls' on the Steam Workshop which says it adds animal food restrictions, however, I haven't had a chance to test it out myself yet so I'm afraid I can't vouch for its effectiveness. Perhaps I'll test it out in my next RimWorld game!

[spooksier]

Hello mx Tyler spooksier, what is your favourite song in Clancy so far ?

me when welcome to the new way of living it's just the beginning of lavish 👍 (it's lavish)

[sometimesanequine]

A black and white mini horse, in a very mini canvas

this is as small as my program will let me make the canvas :(

[softquietsteadylove]

They couldn’t interact with each other for 3 days. And finally president Thena is able to face time her secret boyfriend. Some sweet and soft moment between them!

"Goodnight, ma'am."

Thena waited until her temporary security exited the room. It was completely secured, no risk of a security breach. She had a whole team of secret service outside, since her usual security wasn't by her side.

Gil was, unfortunately, required to act as her second amidst all the business they were conducting on this particular political trip. He was already back at the office, as of right now. She would be home tomorrow, but her flights required a whole other league of security clearance to take off, let alone land.

She slid into bed, hoping the trip tomorrow would go ahead as planned. She couldn't wait to be home. Her phone lit up in the completely dark room provided for her. She accepted the call with a smile, "hey, you."

"Hey," Gil's smiling face greeted her. He was at home, in the apartment of his that she missed (which she wasn't allowed to visit anymore).

Just seeing him relaxed her. She moved somewhat to her side, using the many, many pillows on the bed to support her comfortably. "How was your day there?"

"Everything is all wrapped up, you should be able to come home without issue," he promised, also reclining on the bed of his she also remembered. "What about you?"

She sighed through her nose. There was no need for any facades with Gil. "Exhausted--I can't wait until this trip is over. I don't want to travel for at least another month."

"I'll see what I can do about that, sweetheart," he chuckled, sounding more like himself and less like the presidential aide. He reclined, stretching his arm back to rest behind his head. "They set you up nice there, at least?"

Thena glanced around the darkened room. "It's perfectly acceptable for my position. I told them I didn't care the state of the room so long as it was secure."

"And the wifi is safe?"

"Yes," she rolled her eyes, although her smile was affectionate. "The team did a full sweep and told me it was completely safe for 'classified' calls."

"Ooh, classified," he grinned at her, "warn me if you wanna talk dirty, hon."

Thena laughed as well. She loved Gil's sense of humour. And she had no idea how it had remained in tact through the past year of their lives. But she valued it even more so, given everything that had happened. "You are highly, highly classified."

He tilted his head at her, and she could almost imagine him doing that in person, tilting his head while she was resting on his shoulder with his heavy arm draped around her waist. "Hey."

"I know," she cut off his admonishment before it could even happen. She rested her chin on her hand, tilting the phone, "I just miss you."

"I miss you too, Thena," he sighed heavily, and she could hear the tiredness there where it was missing in his face. "But tomorrow you'll be back in my arms, safe and sound."

If only she could be. If only she were allowed to run off the blasted Eagle and collapse right into his embrace. She couldn't be certain, but surely having him truly by her side could help her endure the next three years.

"Soon," he promised her. He shifted on the bed again, "hey, y'know, I drove by your old place?"

"Oh?" Thena smiled to herself as she gripped the pillow a little tighter (a poor substitute for Gil in bed with her).

"You remember?"

Thena bit back another laugh but didn't interrupt as he began narrating the beginnings of this affair-turned-serious-relationship they had. "So sentimental."

"I'll take that as a 'go on, honey', so I will," he chuckled, also switching positions so they could feel more like they were lying facing each other. "I drove you home after a pretty stressful day."

"You told me I didn't have to accompany you inside, to which I replied that was literally my job, ma'am. I had never been in your apartment before, and it smelled really nice. Of course, I didn't realise at the time that you were also battling your attraction to me, fighting your every instinct to remain professional instead of giving into the tension between-"

"Gil," she prompted, knowing that if she didn't interrupt him at this point he would start concocting a story that would put serial novelists to shame.

"Anyway, I took your coat off, I asked if you were okay," he continued, sighing as he reached his favourite part of the story. "You told me to stop asking you that, but when you turned around--god!"

Thena shook her head as he exclaimed unnecessarily loudly.

"You were so beautiful," he finished, looking at her so earnestly that if he weren't doing so through a screen she might blush. "You were way too beautiful, and I did the unthinkable, and I leaned in and kissed you."

How could she forget? How could she ever forget the night that had changed her life so completely? All this time reminding herself to never think of her very attractive secret service handler in such a way, and then he leaned in and kissed her.

Gil always said that they ended up doing what they did that night because he had made that first move, but Thena knew that it was she who had looped her hands behind his neck and slid her tongue between his lips.

It was she who had pulled him to the direction of her bedroom.

"You ever think about that?"

"On occasion," she fibbed with a smile, earning a smile from him in return as well. He knew very well that was her way of saying that she thought of it just as often as he did, and that she loved him too.

"Well, I think about it whenever I want a little pick me up," he concluded, finally laying his head on the pillow she also remembered.

"Hm," she mused, and she could tease him about how of course he would think of the lascivious tryst they had that first night. But she was just as guilty of thinking about it regularly. "I suppose I think more often of the night at the plaza."

The night when they went from handler and protectee crossing a professional line to a couple firmly in a secret relationship. They were staying at the plaza while on business. There was a suspected breach, so Gil went to Thena's room to make sure she was safe.

And once again, she had taken that one step further and asked if he was going to stay. He had declined, stating he was there on business--to protect her. And she had felt so put out by that rejection that it had amounted to her making some offhanded comment about having both a part time guard and a part time boyfriend.

It had mortified her in the moment, but it was Gil who had stated very clearly that he was full time in both of those positions.

"Ah, the second best night of my life," Gil sighed dramatically, really having fun with it now."

"Are you still continuing down memory lane?" she asked, reclining completely.

"Sure," he obliged, knowing what she was asking. "What next?"

"Hm," she sighed, her eyes sliding closed slowly as she stared at the substitute for the man she loved onscreen. "How about...the diplomatic dinner in Switzerland?"

"Oh, that was a great night," Gil began, watching as she let herself be lulled to sleep by his voice recounting the most romantic milestones of their relationship. "I remember being on the way, snow falling, landing in your hair-"

Thena dozed off slowly, listening to the lullaby of Gil's voice.

[sparklehoard]

Catholic guilt is when you feel bad for not giving away your food to a crow even after you fed it enough food that it was full enough to just carry what it couldn't eat back to its nest

[slaanxsh]

"𝘈𝘩, 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦. 𝘈 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘤!"

[linisiane]

I’m kind of annoyed at the big posts about Zepotha rn. You guys are gatekeepers and don’t even understand what you’re gatekeeping! Cohesion this and lack of plot that. “Skill issue” “Copycat!—” NO. We must go deeper.

Goncharov was a love letter to tumblr fandom culture. An analysis of the way we collectively talk queer themes into existence.

Tumblr blogs dedicated to queer ships. Intricate metas on the queer themes of a work. Screenshot redraws of romantic moments. Comics that are incredibly horny but still somehow capture the original themes. Prompt fills of what we imagine the story could’ve been had there been another (gayer) way.

So many of these types of posts on tumblr are considered reaches or “making things up” by the greater world. But they are analyses made meaningful through this shared sense of community, this shared experience of queerness in a society that doesn’t think of us or our themes as real. Goncharov being “made up” is a celebration of the way we come together to make the queer themes we want to see in the world, especially the ones the world doesn’t think exists. A way to say, “Of course we’re ‘mAkiNg tHiNgS uP,’ Goncharov is made up,” like it’s some sort of metaphor made literal.

Yes, the Google docs and the Martin Scorsese movie framework are a huge part of what made Goncharov work, but what spread excitement are the Goncharov posts just like the ones I listed above. Goncharov isn’t just what we imagine this fake movie to be, but also the fandom/queer culture we imagined surrounded it, and I’d argue that this culture is just as much of a framework for Goncharov as the Martin Scorsese thing was. Why else have non-canonical gay ships in the movie we made up?

TikTok’s problem is that it doesn’t have the original passion and love for queer analysis to gel it the way Goncharov did. Or really anything to gel it beyond cheap clout chasing. No depth, only virality.

It’s like a cute in joke being turned into loveless corporate marketing. Taking something from its original context to prey upon it, ruining what was good about it in the first place. It feels like when corporations tried to recreate Barbenheimer, except it’s someone trying to create a trend on TikTok to market their song, only for the trend to burn out quickly because everybody’s treating it like a joke instead of committing. By its structure (the reblog system) Tumblr is a place of collaboration and building upon what’s come before. TikTok, on the other hand, favors a personalized algorithm pushing viral content over content creators. It’s about reaching the top of a trend or a sound before it dies off in two weeks.

It just rubs me the wrong way how some people act like Zepotha’s crime is being a shitty copy of Goncharov. This is the Fanfiction website. We love amateurism and “originality” means nothing to us. We should be happy to celebrate the people on there making genuine attempts at TikTok edits of the characters or those TikTok green screen filter reviews of the movie or ‘dressing like Zepotha characters’ vids instead of denigrating Zepotha for being too derivative. There are genuine tiktoks out there that do a great job of committing to the bit and crystallizing what fandom formats on TikTok look like, which is exactly what the Goncharov screenshot redraws, horny comics, and queer metas were on Tumblr.

Like, there’s so much to rag against Zepotha—the inauthenticity, the clout-chasing, the way TikTok’s virality algorithm makes art worse, the lack of in-universe TikToks calling out the Zepotha fans for being racist (I’d kill for that TikTok skit!)—that roasting the amateur execution of excited teens is missing the forest for the trees.

[shredsandpatches]

I have the feeling I'm gonna see this post all over the place in my immediate future and I think a lot of the comments that are already on it are going to be about The Rich but I think the most unsettling thing about it is that any of us can be the kind of person it describes, if only on a smaller scale--and on a societal scale those of us living in the developed world almost certainly are. In a lot of modern takes on the morality play the implicit original sin is being a citizen of the capitalist west with all the knock-on effects that entails. How can you ever even come close to unbalancing those scales? I am myself indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse myself of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me.

(I also don't think the answer is "overthrow society and burn it all down to fix the systemic evils at work in virtually everything we do" so idk, maybe that's part of my own particular evil?)