#modern day society

[lunarharp]

uhh another modern au agott follow-up. They've gotten progressively sillier

[canisalbus]

Could you share a simple, boring fact about vasco and machete? Like what their favorite weather is or small and inconvenient things that happen sometimes and mildly irritate them?

Vasco loves that moment when a sudden heavy rainfall is followed by an equally abrupt bright and sunny weather. He gets antsy whenever the humid, windless and oppressive weather before a storm goes on for too long, but ensuing rain and thunder make him feel exhilirated. Machete likes cool, still and dewy mornings and quiet, warm evenings. Bright sun gives him migraines. He also gets hot and cold easily.

Vasco usually keeps adjusting his ears reflexively so they stay out of the way, but sometimes he ends up sleeping on one of them by accident and wakes up with a numb ear. If Machete happens to roll on top of one and Vasco tries to change position, he might get his ear yanked hard enough to startle him.

Neither of them shed very much but some level of seasonal coat change can be observed nonetheless. Machete brushes his mane diligently to avoid leaving white dog hair in his wake. He also finds it upsetting when other people's loose hair sticks on him and his things.

[love-too]

"Love is what makes us human" WRONG! What makes us human is being intrinsically mortal, but not being able to live in the present unless reminded of our non-permanent condition on this earth! Hope that helps

[thepoisonroom]

i spent months of my life selling books and all i got was this stupid encyclopedic knowledge of seemingly innocuous titles that cryptofascists cream themselves over

[rustchild]

not to do discourse or anything. but one of the things that is very funny to me about the whole "soft fantasy escapism world with no homophobia" trend is that they all wind up looking the same, while books that genuinely seriously engage with the ways in which queer people respond to repression are more likely to go in wildly divergent specific directions. The response to stories that uncritically replicated modern models of homophobia in settings where they made no sense was to uncritically replicate models of queer 'normalcy' in settings where they make no sense. whereas actually engaging with the nuances of living in those systems gives you access to the wide variety of specific experience that exists in real life. something here also about how writers in the imperial core attempt to imagine a world without the colonial spread of homophobia as a tool of empire but don't actually know anything about the diversity of sexual and gender structures that exists in pre-, post-, and noncolonial communities. and so have a thing that their settings Aren't, but not a thing that they Are

[wavesalwayscrash]

Correct me if I’m wrong (maybe I’m projecting from the human AU or something) but does Condor and Crane’s relationship teeter between familial and intimate? I tried to find where my brain held onto that concept but I couldn’t find it in the tags! (Apologies if it’s too spoilery)

Also what is it about Warbler that Condor and Crane found intriguing enough to make her a part of their weird family? I’m sure they’re were plenty of other orphans to choose from! She seems like a cutie, but I except she’s going to be someone who’s going to take a lot of convincing when she’s exposed to the entire deal that comes with being close to crane and condor. Did one of them know her old family?

For the Crane and Condor part: yes <3

As for Warbler: I'm sure there were tons of orphans in the war like you said, and no they didn't know her family, but Warbler was the lone survivor of her colony's massacre (They would not join the King's army. They fought and lost horribly). Crane saw the aftermath and took in Warbler, promising her safety and a family. Warbler was eager to take on any kind of mother figure/community after losing her own, to return to any semblance of normalcy. Little did she know Crane and Condor are a couple of freaks!!

[declanisms]

every single detail I learn abt acotar after I stopped reading is genuinely insane bc what do you mean you guys have the whole “recalcitrant is killing bella” storyline from twilight. except it’s even worse somehow bc apparently rhysand is a prolifer?????? and doesn’t tell feyre her baby is killing her??????? at least edward was like “nuke the baby”

[sophiejanefostersilver]

Neil died exactly 7 years before Walt Disney, and 14 years before homosexualty wasn't considered as mental illness

It is also international tea day

[bumblingbabooshka]

[TUVOKTOBER: Day 12] Casual telepathic conversation. There are some things you can't discuss with non-Vulcans.

No text!

The lady Tuvok's talking to is a canon, unnamed background character:

She's ex-Maquis and appears in like two scenes where she doesn't speak.

[calamari-minecraft-corner]

Okay but how funny would it be if ac!cala and dream’s boss is schlatt

It’s think it would be really fucking funny idk why

[surrah698]

Work = Modern Day Slavery...

Take a second to think about it. If you didn't have to work, you'd probably spend your time creating something. ♥️

[brandwhorestarscream]

Sooo mini-rant in the tags lmfao. Dont look if you dont wanna read about current events lol

[shredsandpatches]

Are you at all familiar with and/or do you have opinions on Faustus: that Damned Woman by Chris Bush? I feel like you would have interesting thoughts on it.

PS. I can send you a copy of it if you aren't!

Kinda sorta? I always get kinda picky about Faustus gender swaps that focus it entirely on Being a Woman in a Man's World even though it's a completely sensible approach and one that you kind of have to take if you set it in the historical period, since a woman wouldn't typically have access to the kind of institutional learning that a man would. But also the author of this one tends to see the original play as a story about (male) privilege and hubris and I look at it as being at least as much about isolation and spiritual trauma (the real eternal damnation is the friends we made along the way!) and I think genderswapping that approach would probably be more interesting to me, if done well. (It could also be pretty problematic since my take on Marlowe's Faustus is that he's less ambitious than he thinks he is, because he's really just lonely and wants to do humanities outreach and dick around with his boyfriend. That's more expected from women, so "companionship is ultimately more important than ambition" isn't as interesting a take in that regard, although I think it would work better with a female-presenting Mephistopheles. But the spiritual side of it--the idea that Faustus feels he's damned anyway so why not live while he can--can cross genders quite easily.)

I dunno, possibly I'm bad at solidarity: the implicit argument that being a woman is already hell doesn't actually interest me that much, I guess? It isn't something that resonates with the way I personally experience the world, even as a cisgender woman, certainly not as much as the original play does. But that gets into my complicated relationship with my own gender so I'll just say that Bush's kind of treatment is no doubt really important/resonant for a lot of people but doesn't do it for me.

[jamerasjournal]

Black people speak two languages. Job interview and AAVE. Question: When I fill out a job application can I still check the box that says bilingual. Does my ability to code switch depending on the setting that I’m in count as a job skill? I am always subconsciously turning down my blackness in an effort to make other people more comfortable. Beyoncé once said, “Got all this money but you’ll never take the country out me.” I felt that. I started kindergarten already knowing how to read and write. And no matter how many times my mama made me practice Hooked on Phonics, my first language will always be Ebonics. Spell Mississippi. M-I crooked letter, crooked letter- I- crooked letter, crooked letter- I- humpback, humpback- I. Okay, but spell it for real this time. M-I crooked letter, crooked letter- I- crooked letter, crooked letter- I- humpback, humpback- I. Did I stutter? I bet my great-great-great-granddaddy had an accent so thick that one sentence sounded like one word. And what’s in that word? Levels upon levels of trauma that you couldn’t even begin to fathom. It’s a slave spiritual sung over plantation fields, the last two letters spun into the cotton in your t-shirt. An apostrophe added cuz If you say one more syllable, you just might get whipped, boy. It’s living in a world where you can’t read the words. Mispronouncing words you don’t even know how to spell. While the rest of the world looks at you like you ain’t got no sense. But tonight, I’m gon’ talk how I wanna talk, cuz that slang is in my bones. And if you don’t like it you can get up out my face. Period. And I don’t wanna hear a nan ‘notha word about me talking “ghetto” when I stand before you with a last name my ancestors wouldn’t even begin to know how to say. And every time I sign my name I’m paying homage to the white family that used to own mine. Our language is one of the only things that can never be taken from me. It’s embedded into generations from long before my time. It’s okay that you don’t understand it, I’m not allowed to speak it to you anyway. Lest you call me uneducated, illiterate, or unprofessional. I must censor myself, brush it under the tongue. That is until you make me angry. Then everybody and they momma gon’ know you got the wrong one. Try me if you want to. I was raised on, “Do I look like Boo Boo the fool?” and “Stop crying ‘fore I give you something to cry about.” And that’s word to my momma. What’s in a word? I see your eyes widen when the African American Vernacular comes bursting out. So foreign to you it sound like a Voodoo spell. Yeah, this how I really be wanting to talk. Fix ya face. I cannot be Afrocentric and Eurocentric at the same time. I do not have the Freedom of Speech if the way I speak determines my intellectual capabilities. I must always accommodate a society that refuses to accommodate me. But you knows what? I’ve gotten real good at talking “white.” But every once in a while, if you listen- I mean real, real good. You can still hear that one crooked letter. The black cracking through like a toothless grin. Yeah. That’s my great granddaddy saying, “Say it with your chest girl.” So if you hear me talking loud it’s cuz I’m finna say something real important. And when I speak, you better listen.

-jamera naquai, CROOKED LETTER

[qismet]

THE ABOMINATION ⁽ ⋆ ⁾ HŌRŌSHA KISEN ⁽ 放浪者 輝千 ⁾. FOREBEAR OF THE CURSE MANIPULATION TECHNIQUE DURING THE HEIAN PERIOD, DIRECT ANCESTOR OF GETŌ SUGURU. THE VAGRANT. CUTTHROAT, CURSE EATER, MASTER OF PUPPETS.

HŌRŌSHA ⁽ 放浪者 ⁾ WANDERER. KISEN ⁽ 輝 ⁾ SHINING, GLITTERING ⁽ 千 ⁾ THOUSAND.

holder of the curse manipulation technique during the heian period, direct ancestor of getō suguru. he/him. erased from jujutsu society’s history after his death.

ABOMINATION ⁽ ¹ ⁾ SOMETHING REGARDED WITH DIGUST OR LOATHING. SOMETHING ABOMINABLE.

originally born waseda kisen ⁽ 早稲田 輝千 ⁾, he is the only child of waseda sunao ⁽ 直生 ⁾ father, and chiemi ⁽ 千咲 ⁾ mother. chiemi passed moments after kisen's birth, leaving him in the care of his father. both were subsistence farmers (namely rice) and jujutsu sorcerers, and this continued in kisen's early life.

sunao held an obvious amount of resentment towards kisen in his grief within losing his wife to account for his existence. that being said, he doted on his son and made sure to teach him both values on jujutsu sorcery and swordsmanship. for the most part, kisen lived a moderately pleasant childhood, until age eight, when his technique awakened.

kisen shares the same cursed technique as his later descendant, getō suguru, curse manipulation through consumption of an exorcised cursed spirit.

the heian period in japan is notable in jujutsu society as having bred some of the most powerful curses and sorcerers of any age. in the modern day, uraume tells hakari that all should consider themselves lucky they weren't born one thousand years ago. it could be said, sorcerer's that existed within the heian period held more power in their little fingers than some modern day sorcerers do in their entire bodies.

as such, in this period it is entirely frowned upon and found near sacrilegious that kisen can not only consume curses, but can puppeteer them and weaponise them for his own gain. the fact that kisen exists alongside them, that they exist within him is something people find disgusting. because of this, once the technique has awakened, sorcerers and windows alike begin to turn their backs on a child that does not fully understand his own capabilities.

within their village, rumours spread. rumours that kisen must be half-curse and half-human, or perhaps a curse entirely, or that his mother lay with a curse, and bringing such a monster into the world inevitably cost her life as repentance. that he is a vengeful curse that intended to kill her. that he made a pact with a curse in order to gain such power. none of which are true, but that all hang a dark cloud over his head.

at age thirteen, one summer's night, sunao intends to kill his son, thinking that he will be sparing kisen a life of turned backs, harsh whispers, a life on the precarious edge of society, a life of being hunted for what he is. he gets as far as covering kisen's mouth and raising his blade, but he cannot go through with it and instead slashes his own throat, unable to live with himself for what he has tried to do.

out of his father's corpse rose a great and vengeful curse born from grief and resentment, both towards kisen and others who sought to make their lives a misery on account of kisen's technique. the mindless curse that it was, it would likely have killed kisen if not for the intervention of another sorcerer, ryū eijiro, who subdued sunao's curse. kisen asked for him not to exorcise it and instead completed the task himself, though still quite inexperienced. his father's curse was the fifteenth he consumed, and it remains one of his largest and most formidable.

eijiro was unable to ignore that kisen had ended up alone in the world, and found that he couldn't turn his back on him. he took kisen in and further trained him in the ways sunao should have done. he teaches him that should he want acceptance from the rest of their society, he would have to make himself smaller, present his manipulated curses as mere shikigami as opposed to what they truly are. despite this, he still bestows all wisdoms onto kisen and makes him strong, helps him to better his cursed technique and in kisen's younger years even helps him subdue curses to consume.

for a long time, kisen believes this is the only way in which he can exist peacefully within their society and he does so without much complaining, presents himself as a shikigami user, tries to slot himself into their society peacefully, wanting to be accepted. until eijiro is murdered when kisen is twenty. having already been outlawed, eijiro had been allowed to live on the assumption that he would try no further to harm jujutsu society. in training kisen, in making him stronger and in giving him the necessary tools and skills needed to cultivate his technique, this was seen as a direct attack. eijiro's death does not go unpunished, as kisen follows the assailants across four cities to enact his revenge, in the process shining a light on himself as he murders a lower-ranking noble sorcerer whose order it was to have eijiro killed.

it's here that he gives himself the surname hōrōsha, meaning wanderer. truly shedding the last of his ties to his old life, he intends to become someone new, and embraces the nature of society they present him with.

as an incredibly powerful sorcerer with an arsenal of highly overpowered curses, kisen is nearly untouchable. a skilled swordsman, light on his feet and highly intelligent and agile, he is a formidable opponent, as many later come to find out. jujutsu society still want him dead, still seek to erase his existence from their history and so he survives many attempts on his life. after enacting his revenge for eijiro's death, kisen turns his back on jujutsu society's lack of acceptance of him and instead turns to making a living doing what he does best, consuming curses and as a newly found skill, hunting.

as an outsider to jujutsu society, kisen uses bounty hunting as a way to get an inside look to how it all works and uses curse hunting to further expand his collection of manipulated curses. he takes jobs from those of high and low status (as long as he gets paid, he'll do almost anything) and it gives him a great insight of who he must look for to climb like a ladder until he gets to who he really wants to face, the ones who decided his life was forfeit, the ones who won't accept him, the ones that fear him.

much like getō suguru, kisen struggles with the taste of curses, thinks of it akin to eating a rotten corpse, he feels like a vulture feeding on the dead, despite the fact that curses were never truly alive. similar to getō's later character arc, kisen does find companionship in other sorcerers and is good-natured, he simply has been hardened by society and will not allow himself to be slighted, will raise his blade against the neck of any person who seeks to challenge him.

for kisen, his mind is never quiet, the curses never leave him as they exist within him, their mindless chatter gnaws at any silence he might be granted.

[dickgreyson]

one of my essays from back when i studied philosophy is being put into a good answers guide at my university<3 not one of my good ones but