#new England is actually a region

[ivory--raven]

[bread--quest]

i'm definitely doxxing myself with this (/j) but i don't care

if you've never heard of moxie here's its wikipedia page. also if you've had moxie please put in the tags whether you think its good or not. i think its like. not good but not terrible. i will drink it for the bit

[ariaste]

So excited to announce my next book!!! If you've never read any of my books before, no worries--this is a standalone, so you can jump right in without any extra context. (And for fans of my previous books, great news! This book is set in the same world, and it's even in the same region as the two novellas SOME BY VIRTUE FALL and THE LIGHTS OF YSTRAC'S WOOD, so you'll recognize some familiar worldbuilding :D) SUMMARY: Tam Becket has hated Lord Lyford since they were boys. The fact that he’s also been sleeping with the man for the last ten years is irrelevant. When they were both nine years old, Lyford smashed Tam’s entry into the village’s vegetable competition. Nearly twenty years later, Tam still hasn’t forgiven the bastard. No one understands how deeply he was hurt that day, how it set a pattern of small disappointments and misfortunes that would run through the rest of his life. Now Tam has reconciled himself to the fact that love and affection are for other people, that the gods don’t care and won’t answer any of his prayers (not even the one about afflicting Lyford with a case of flesh-eating spiders to chew off his privates), and that life is inherently mundane, joyless, and drab. But then, the very last straw: Tam discovers that Lyford (of all people!) bears the divine favor of Angarat, the goddess Tam feels most betrayed and abandoned by. In his hurt and anger, Tam packs up and prepares to leave the village for good. But the journey doesn’t take him far, and Tam soon finds himself set on a quest for the most difficult of all possible prizes: Self care, forgiveness, a second chance... and somehow the unbelievably precious knowledge that there is at least one person who loves Tam for exactly who he is—and always has.

This book might be for you if:

You like enemies-to-lovers but you think it would be improved by being one-sided and meanwhile the other person is living through a "hopelessly yearning for childhood crush" trope

you like it when two people are so, so, so stupid that they've been fucking for 10 years and Person A hasn't figured out that Person B is in love with him, and Person B hasn't realized that Person A doesn't even know about his feelings

You know how fucking hard it is to Do The Work In Therapy and you want some catharsis about it

you want to read about an imperfect, truly difficult person who still gets loved, because being perfect is not a requirement to deserve affection and care

you know that apologizing for wronging someone doesn't just magically take away the bad feelings and automatically repair the relationship, and you want to read about someone having to do the extra steps that come after the apology

this one's for the wlw: fat harvest goddess milf. my gift to u

you like gods who don't have anything better to do than stick their noses into human business

when you see a gorgeous man holding an infant, it takes you out at the knees

you like queernorm fantasy AND small-town gossip, and you find the intersection of the two delicious and intriguing

a religion based on pre-Christian Brythonic England. That is, they've got henges and standing stones instead of churches and altars. it's cool

plant magic!!!!!

"god of temptation and evil" actually "god of self-care and personal boundaries and taking responsibility for the consequences you consented to".

Stay tuned for the cover reveal next month, when general preorders will go live! If you're already excited and you want to make sure you don't miss that announcement, you can sign up for my newsletter or join my Discord server: https://linktr.ee/alexandrarowland.

And if you'd like to preorder an autographed copy from me directly, just fill out this form! :) (Signal boosts are very much appreciated!)

[mortalfaerie]

hi here's a little series on what i think the gravity falls kids grew up to do since they're 25 now

Pacifica "Paz" Northwest

after weirdmagedden, she became increasingly disenchanted with her parent's and their worldview, which led her to start questioning the structures around her

though they sold the mansion, her parents had a lot of money in real estate and they live in a condo building they own in town

she took a job at greasy's diner initially as an act of rebellion but stuck around throughout high school because it gave her a refreshing taste of the real world

she got really into politics, also initially as an act of rebellion, but did eventually become a really staunch take-no-shit feminist and went to protests in portland

she reconnected with the twins one summer during their teen years once she had "been cured of her rich girl mentality" (-mabel) and she and mabel became pretty close. things remained a little awkward with dipper when they were teens, but they relaxed once he realized she did actually care about mabel and wasn't going to hurt her

she's actually very analytical and level headed, which makes her a good foil to dipper - who continues seeking out mysteries to solve in gravity falls

she continued competitive golf and even won some local and regional titles in the women's junior division, which gets her an offer to go play golf at UCLA (conveniently, also where dipper goes)

she got access to her trust fund when she turned eighteen, and relies a lot less on her parents after that. she continues to try to have a relationship with them but it very aware of the toll they take on her, leading her to go low-contact with them in university.

she joins a sorority (i think kkg, she feels like a kappa) and probably ends up as treasurer or some other leadership position

she majors in political science, makes the dean's list, and gets an honors degree. she considers becoming a lawyer, but decides she's more interested in public policy & decides to go into policy analysis & international relations

she and dipper have a prolonged will-they-won't-they throughout college, finally getting together in the summer before their senior year. this borrowed from rockslide on ao3 but hilariously, she doesn't realize he's trans until she sees his too surgery scars for the first time because 1) she only ever knew him as a guy and 2) she only saw him in the summers growing up.

her parents disapprove of their relationship and generally the pines family, which is the straw that breaks the camel's back for her to go fully no contact. after that point, she's embraced by the pines family as one of their own.

she graduates magnum cum laude and dipper is her biggest supporter. he gets an offer to do his doctorate in archeology at king's college london, which ends up working perfectly because she gets a job at the us embassy in london.

they move to england together and rent a flat in a new building because even though the historic ones are beautiful, she can't deal with more ghosts.

i think by this point they've been there for two and a half years and they've gotten a cat (named tyrone, or ty for short) and dipper's just made the transition from phd student to phd candidate and started his dissertation.

[leroibobo]

another mena language post - i wanted to talk about judeo-arabic and clarify a little bit about what "judeo-arabic" means

the basics, for those of you who don't know: arabic, being a language that was spread over a large part of the world and has since evolved into many different forms, has many different things that differentiate certain dialects. languages/dialects can be influenced by languages speakers' ancestors spoke before, by the social structure of where speakers live, by languages they come into contact with, and by gradual evolution in pronunciation. (many letters like evolving into ones that are easier to pronounce - this is why arabic has no "p" sound, it eventually evolved into "f" or "b". the same thing happened in germanic languages to some extent, which is why we say "father" in english and "vader" in german while in romance languages it's some variation of "padre" or "père".) many arabic dialects in particular possess different substratum (obvious, traceable influence from languages people spoke in before shifting to the new one).

arabic, being a language that was spread over a large part of the world and has since evolved into many different forms, has many different regional dialects which are different for the reasons i described in the above paragraph. even though there's modern standard arabic (which is the subject of its own post), people speak regional dialects in real life. on top of that, there's a variety of social influences on different types of arabic, such as whether someone's living in the city or in the country, whether someone's sedentary or a bedouin, and in some cases religion.

in the middle east, religion was historically:

not seen as a personal choice, but as something you're born into and a group you're a part of, kind of like ethnicity;

not generally something governments actively wanted everyone to share one of at the penalty of ostracization due to sticking to your group being the more livable way of life in the area, or later, the benefits of things like imposing extra taxes on people who weren't the "correct" religion/branch (this is far from being a "muslim thing" btw, it's been in the area for a while now, i mean look at the assyrians);

an influential factor in where you lived and who you were more likely to interact with because of those two things. (for example, it wasn't uncommon for most of the people living in one village in the countryside to share one religion/branch of a religion. if your village converted, you converted, too. if they didn't, you didn't, either.)

this means that the influence of religion in different types of arabic is due to people of different religions living in or coming from different places, and who people talked to most often.

for example, in bahrain, most sedentary shia bahrainis' ancestors have lived on the island for a very long time, while most sedentary sunni bahrainis' ancestors immigrated from other places in the gulf and iran in the 18th century. therefore, while they've all interacted and shared different aspects of their dialects including loanwords, there are two "types" of bahraini arabic considered distinctive to sunni and shia bahrainis respectively, regardless of how long ago their ancestors got there. despite the differences being marked by the religion of the speakers, they have nothing to do with religion or contact/lack thereof between bahraini sunni and shia, but with the factors affecting the different dialects i mentioned in the first paragraph which influenced either group.

a similar phenomenon to this in english is class differences in accent in england. nothing in received pronunciation is actually something only rich people can say or unintelligible to poor people, it developed by the class differences influencing where rich and poor english people lived and the different pronunciation/linguistic histories in those places, as well with different classes keeping more to themselves.

the influence of religion on arabic dialects isn't universal and nowhere near as intense as it is with aramaic. some places, especially more cosmopolitan or densely populated places, are less likely to have very noticeable differences or any differences at all. in addition, certain variations of a dialects that may've been influenced by religion in some way (as well as urban dialects) may be standardized through tv/movies/social media or through generally being seen as more "prestigious", making more people who wouldn't have spoken them otherwise more likely to pick it up. (this is why so many arabic speakers can understand egyptian arabic - cairo is like the hollywood of the arabic-speaking world.) this is the case with many if not most countries' official and regional languages/dialects nowadays.

this phenomenon is what "judeo-arabic" refers to generally. like many other jewish diaspora languages, the "jewish" aspect is that it was a specific thing jewish people did to different types of arabic, not that it was isolated, possessed a large enough amount of certain loanwords (though some varieties did have them), or is unintelligible to non-jews. people were generally aware of differences where they existed and navigated between them. (for example, baghdadi jews may've switched to the more prestigious muslim baghdadi dialect when in public.) if you know arabic, listen to this guy speak, you should be able to understand him just fine.

judeo-arabic also often used the hebrew alphabet and some may have been influenced by hebrew syntax and grammar in their spelling. you can also see the use of script for religious identification in persian and urdu using the arabic script, and in english using the latin alphabet. in general, influences of hebrew/aramaic on different types of judeo-arabic aren't consistent. you can read more about that here.

"judeo-arabic" isn't a universal that definitely happened in every arabic-speaking part of the world that had jews in it to the same degrees, but it did definitely exist. some examples:

after the siege of baghdad in 1258, where mongols killed all muslim baghdadis and spared baghdadis of other religions, bedouins from the south gradually resettled the city. this means that the "standard" sedentary dialect in the south is notably bedouin influenced, while dialects in the north are more notably influenced by eastern aramaic. christians and (when they lived there) jews in baghdad have dialects closer to what’s up north. within those, there's specific loans and quirks marking the differences between "christian" and "jewish".

yemenite jews faced some of the most persistent antisemitic persecution in the middle east, so yemeni jewish arabic was more of a city thing and often in the form of passwords/codewords to keep jews safe. jews were usually a lot safer and better-regarded in the countryside, so jewish yemeni arabic was much less of a thing there, and when it was, it was less "serious".

due to the long history of maghrebi immigration to palestine, there's attestation of maghrebi influences in arabic spoken by some palestinian jews with that origin. this was also a thing in cairo to some extent.

(i'd link sources, but most of them are in hebrew, i guess you'll have to trust me on this one??)

still, the phrase "judeo-arabic" is often used with the implication that it was one all encompassing thing (which it wasn't, as you can see), or that jews everywhere had it in some way. many jews who spoke some version of arabic special to their mostly-jewish locale may not have registered it as a specifically "jewish" version of arabic (though they did more often than not). the truth is that research about anything related to middle eastern and north african jews is often sloppy, nonexistent, and often motivated by the desire of the researcher to prove something about israel's colonization of palestine (on either "side" of the issue). this is not me being a centrist about the colonization of palestine, this is me stating that academia is often (even usually) influenced by factors that aren't getting the best and most accurate information about something. i don't think we're going to get anything really "objective" on arabic spoken by jews in that regard for a long while.

for comparison's sake: yiddish is considered a separate language from german due to 19th century yiddishists' efforts to "evolve" yiddish from dialect to language (yiddish-speaking jews were said to speak "corrupted german" historically; on that note sephardim were also said to speak "corrupted spanish"). this was at a time when ethnic nationalism was en vogue in europe and declaring a national language meant declaring your status as a sovereign nation (both metaphorically and literally). for yiddishists to assert that they were speaking a language and not a dialect that intrinsically tied them to germans was to reject the discrimination that they were facing. (besides, german/austrian/swiss jews weren't speaking yiddish (leaving it with the connotation of being the language of those icky ostjuden), yiddish-speaking jews had practically zero other ties to germany/austria/switzerland, and yiddish-speaking jews (let alone the yiddishists) were almost entirely east of germany/austria/switzerland, so it's not like they were pulling this out of their ass.)

whether a jewish person of arabic-speaking descent calls it "arabic", "judeo-arabic", or something like "moroccan"/"syrian"/etc depends on who you're talking to, where they're from (both diaspora origins and today), how old they are, and what they think about zionism. despite "judeo-arabic" being what it's called in academia, on the ground, there's no real strong consensus either way because the social circumstances arabic-speaking jews lived in didn't drive them to form a movement similar to yiddishists. (not because there was no discrimination, but because the political/social/linguistic circumstances were different.) the occupation since made the subject of middle eastern jews’ relation to the middle east a contentious topic considering the political and personal weight behind certain cultural identifiers. the term "judeo-arabic" is modern in comparison - whether it's a distinction dredged up by zionist academics to create separations that didn't really exist or a generally accurate term for a specific linguistic phenomenon is a decision i'll leave you to make.

[agarthanguide]

A question but more of a holy cow! I just noticed that you live in Vermont! I’m a Vermonter myself and have lived here my entire life so when ever I see mention of this little bit of New England I automatically “ !!!” And always find it interesting cause as always support local artists and all that jazz and hope to one day see you at a local artist market!

But now that the bells hells have entered a colder region and us Vermonters being a winter state (if you wanna call it that lol) and have regional knowledge of winter, what are your thoughts on Dorian being the mantra a “ hoe never gets cold “ when it came to his design?

I live in Vermont! I fucking LOVE Vermont- there’s no billboards on the highways, people are kind but respectful of privacy, the dogs are all healthy, and most bathrooms are non-gendered. Hit me up if you are around Burlington and wanna get coffee!

I moved here after ten years in Arizona (I’m originally from Wisconsin) and I was so soft and miserable my first winter back north. But now I’m like “hoes DON’T get cold, actually.” As evidenced by the fact that the heat is off as soon as outside temps hit like 50.

But this is fun- NO ONE TOLD ME THEY WERE GOING TO AEOR. I had no reason to believe the outfits would be for cold weather! I see the new episodes at the same time as everyone else, so if they don’t mention something to me, I simply don’t hear it. That’s being said- I’m not sure I would want to arbitrarily warm up their outfits. Dorian has sheer everything, like I did when I came to Vermont from Arizona. So layer up those linens and borrow Ash’s old jacket, babe! I hope you learned something.

Enjoy some alternate universe Dorian hair. I’m looking at all my sketches for this round, and all of the, have slutty sheer shirts. It must have been in the brief!

[mammonscheeks]

demon brothers + dateables as destinations in the human world

✎ a/n: these are my opinions! i'm south and west asian, so i am most knowlegeable about those countries, please correct me if i've said anything incorrect!

LUCIFER

new york city, usa. he likes the cold, industrial corporate feel of nyc. it helps him avoid his feelings.

anywhere in germany. he likes their no-nonsense culture and unspoken social rules.

MAMMON

las vegas, nevada, usa. he always begs mc to take him there. the flashy lights and casinos are right up his alley.

dubai, uae. he loves the luxurious feel of it, and how its the center of celebrity gatherings, vacations, and parties.

LEVIATHAN

tokyo, japan (especially the akihabara/electronic district). he's always updated on pop culture and the newest technology/games.

seychelles island, africa. he likes swimming, but not socializing on the beach. that's why he likes isolated islands.

SATAN

london, england. he's interested in their medival history and seeing the places that inspired novels like harry potter and the sherlock holmes franchise.

cat island in japan, or any mediterranean country where cats freely roam.

ASMODEUS

paris, france. he'd love paris fashion week. he also just seems french to me, idk.

seoul, south korea. he'd adore seoul's culture, everything from the modern sappy kdramas to traditional dresses, like hanbok. he would bring an empty suitcase to stuff it with beauty products.

BEELZEBUB

mumbai, india. this metropolitan city in india offers so many different kinds of food. he would love to eat his way through the city, if not the entire country.

every city in mexico. he'd try the regional cuisine, but also hang out at the beach with his brothers and mc (so cute).

BELPHEGOR

cairo, egypt. he was once fascinated with humans, and often watched them build civilizations from heaven when he was an angel. he would enjoy the historical wonders of egypt.

reykjavic, iceland. idk why he just gives me iceland vibes. life there can be slow and cold, and it often gets less light than other countries.

DIAVOLO

transylvania, romania. he loves its breathtaking castles and culture, and is intrigued with all the pop culture references of vampires.

petra, jordan. this is a significant place in abrahamic religions, known for being haunted by demons, or jinn. diavolo would be fascinated by this history, whether its actually haunted or not. i know he'd eat up those scary ghost tours (insert fic about that here) and even probably try and scare a few tourist groups, despite barbatos advising him against it.

BARBATOS

istanbul, turkiye. istanbul has well-maintained structures from the byzantine empire, the ottoman empire, and even "newer and hip" neighborhoods. barbatos, being able to see the past and future, would appreciate the blend of it all here, like he's walking through time.

kathmandu, nepal. he'd enjoy the peace of monasteries and mountains, which are as old as the earth itself.

SIMEON

tuscany, italy. he'd enjoy the vast fields, heavenly sunsets, small towns and historic churches. he would find tuscany a peaceful place to write, but appreciates the community feel of small italian towns. would definitely be so friendly he'd get invited to eat dinner at a random family's house.

thessaloniki, greece. he would absolutely love seeing all the greek orthodox churches there, with their blue and white colors and dome roofs. he is just amused to see the religious structures humans have created. he'd also probably be interested in greek mythology, even though he's an angel.

LUKE

cape town, south africa. he would be so excited to see penguins at the beach and would enjoy the burst of color south africa offers. he'd also enjoy the modern bakeries and desserts in south africa.

lyon, france. the country is known for desserts. luke would probably take a baking class there to learn how to bake more things.

SOLOMON

salem, or just any small town in massachusetts. as a sorcerer, he's intrigued with their history of "witch hunting" and the paranormal.

lalibela, ethiopia. being old, he's intrigued with how ancient cities like lalibela have changed since biblical times. he also probably enjoys learning about different cultural practices and what they have in common with his sorcery. he also wants to learn how to cook more dishes from different countries, but fails miserably

[wombywoo]

how did you come up with good names for your original characters? it's something I struggle with, especially the last names :'DD

I honestly love coming up with character names, it's one of my fave parts of character creation 🥰 As for my own boys, I think Vincent's name came to me immediately, while I struggled with Quinn a bit--I actually had his last name first so that helped; I kept the name Lacey in the back of my mind and wanted to pair it with something monosyllabic. And for Vince's last name, I think I considered Croft but went with Craft instead because it corresponds with aircraft and witchcraft, etc, and I liked the vibe~ For some of my other characters, I came up with given names first then did some research for last names...

Suggested research: everyone and their mother knows about fantasy name generator (which I do highly recommend) They have so many categories which can be great for just picking one at random if you're not too fussy, and it can be fun to browse all the options; great time-waster if you're bored 👍

My other option is a site I've become obsessed with called forebears, which is a database for real names across the globe. It's a really neat site that allows you to see how common names are and where they're most prevalent! (fun fact--only 42 people share my married surname!) I honestly spend way too much time on here looking up trivial info, it's addicting 🤫

They even have a feature where you can click specific areas on the map. Here's me googling my own fictional boy to see how common his name is in England:

Turns out there are only 4 Quinns born in South Yorkshire as of 2014....what will I do with this data??? (nothing)

Some more useless insight into which countries have the most Vincents

Tragic news...the french have claimed him 😔🥖

Anyway! if I'm looking for a good surname for an English character, I might peruse this list here and find a suitable choice~ And they have this for every country !!!!! Seriously, it's addicting!

I like to be somewhat ~authentic~ in naming characters from specific countries/cultures, so a bit of side research into naming practices in different regions doesn't hurt. You also don't want to go the jkrowling route and just pick stupidly stereotypical names for your characters either 😅

I would say your best bet is to peruse sites like this, or wait for a sudden moment of clarity where the perfect name is bequeathed to your subconscious (I also rely on this method sometimes)

Also just... let your character's vibe guide you~ Sometimes the best name is one that simply feels like them 👍

[fusionbolts]

"Oh, those, right... To be honest, I don't know what we used to call 'em. I think Galar took to calling them 'Navy Beans,' I guess because they're good for sailors. Easy to store a lot of for long travel and such. Guess the name just stuck..."

He ponders the question for a second, giving Isandro a once-over. "I mean, no, but you also don't look that healthy, either, you know? You're not going to drop dead or anything, but you do look a little anemic to me. Maybe some more grains would do you good."

——— "I do rather well with it, I'd like to think. Those... beans you have here, what do you call them? They've made me feel more energized lately." He says, not realizing that the food the Paldeans stole from their land might be a hot-button issue.

"I don't look that sickly, do I?"

[traaansfem]

motherfucker. Are you actually from New England?

I am indeed. You keep your lily livered thin sauced chowders away from my quahogs and cherrystones or I'll tear you apart faster than I tear open a littleneck >:3

Remember, the only regional variant of chowder worth eating is the one you grew up eating, or the rhode island one, with pale imitations made by blounts available in more areas than you'd think.

Unless your regional variant is manhattan style, in which case you are not only wrong, but you are going to the circle of hell reserved for people with taste in food so bad it summons demons to drag you into the netherworld.

[samwisethewitch]

Friendly reminder to witches and pagans who want to incorporate ancestral beliefs into their practice: be mindful that a lot of modern nations and their current dominant culture are relatively new, and even the concept of a national identity is very, very modern. Modern borders may not necessarily reflect the world your ancestors lived in.

For example: immigration documents record my great-great-great grandparents immigrating from Germany in the 1870s. But my ancestors weren't German -- they were Bavarian. They were both born in the country of Bavaria and fled to the USA after the unification of the German Reich (no, not that one). They wouldn't have spoken German as a first language -- they would have spoken Bavarian. And if I wanted to incorporate their culture into my practice, I would need to narrow my search to Bavarian folk practices. Other regional practices from other parts of modern Germany wouldn't have been relevant to my ancestors.

There's a similar situation with another great-great-great grandfather, who immigrated in the 1850s iirc. He was from Lombardy, near Milan, and was fleeing the unification of the Kingdom of Italy. He probably very much did not identify as Italian.

And on the other side of my family we have a Northern English line we've been able to trace back to the 1100s, and those ancestors from the Middle Ages probably identified as Northumbrian rather than as English. My "Scottish" ancestry probably actually comes from that same line, because Northumbria was a border state between England and Scotland.

Modern resources like Ancestry.com and other genealogy sites will use modern country names and borders, which can sometimes give us false understandings of where our ancestors actually came from. This is why it's important to do your own research and fact-check outside the ancestry documents.

[mewtwoandme]

Where are your comics based? I think Kanto but like…the outskirts of Pallet Town or Viridian City?

Ryme City, though I don't think it was actually ever confirmed what location its based in, it's unknown. So, I guess it can be left to interpretation. Ryme City is like a combo between New York, London, and Tokyo it terms of its architecture and lights. But personally, I theorize it's somewhere in the Galar region. Only because it's based on the UK and the majority of film locations they went to for Detective Pikachu were in England and Scotland.

My characters live in the countryside near the city.

[britneyshakespeare]

like i am not a snob about fast food by any means. but i've never heard someone get giddy and excited about a new mcdonald's or kfc opening up near them or offering new menu items. so many ppl are like yeah whatever this company directly supports queerphobic causes but it tassstes good. i need to emphasize this so i don't seem to be apathetic while i order chicken prepared in a way that you can get at half a dozen other fast food places within a 10 mile radius.

do you ever feel like people only like chick-fil-a so much because they're not supposed to

[marzipanandminutiae]

What’s the New England vampire panic?

:D

:D :D :D

IT. IS. FUN.

(to research- it was probably horrifying to live through. just so we're clear)

basiclly, it was a series of incidents in response to tuberculosis outbreaks throughout New England (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont) during the late 18th and 19th centuries. it wasn't actually a single event, but rather isolated cases of TB being blamed on revenants rather than disease. where this belief prevailed, people frequently exhumed the alleged vampire, burned their heart or another organ on a blacksmith's anvil, and mixed the ashes into water for living consumptive people to drink

unsurprisingly, this never worked

though the earliest documented incident was in 1793, most people's awareness of this phenomenon coalesces around the 1892 death and exhumation of Mercy Lena Brown, of Exeter, Rhode Island. after dying of TB at age 19, Mercy was posthumously accused of afflicting her brother with the disease. despite drinking the ashes of her heart and liver in water, he- shocker! -died. the Brown case reached the popular press, who reacted to it with a sort of morbid fascination. "look what these crazy backwards Country People did" energy. Brown's grave has become a popular site for legend-tripping among Exeter teens since then- the game is to stand there and say, "Mercy Lena Brown, are you a vampire?" and see what happens

aforementioned classism and/or regional prejudice is a fascinating aspect of the Vampire Panic(s). like I said, a lot of the commentary- even going back to the 18th century -takes a tone of bemused horror that such superstitions could still exist, and of judgment on the intelligence of those involved

but honestly, before widespread understanding of TB bacteria...it COULD have been vampires, for all people knew. most of them were aware that it wasn't, but when your choices are "it's a disease; do nothing and watch your loved one die" vs. "it's vampires; do this thing and your loved one might not die, even though there's no proof it works," one might want to feel like one was at least trying

and unlike other mass hysteria cases a la Salem, nobody actually got killed because of a Vampire Panic. just saying

(there's a theory that Bram Stoker may have been partially inspired by the Brown case in writing Dracula, but I've seen no compelling evidence that it inspired him any more or less than any other vampire story)

[dimity-lawn]

I don't know how to best arrange this poll, because once you get past the 5 basic regions of the 48 contiguous states that everyone can agree on, it seems that everyone wants to draw different boundaries and set different criteria to classify the different regions.

For the sake of staying on the same page, please refer to the map below before answering.

As always, feel free to elaborate and/or answer at any time in the notes*, even if you’ve missed the poll.

If any of you feel like including your state or other area, you can include that in the notes*, but I don’t expect anyone to actually do so.

*Or, I suppose you could message me if you don’t want everyone to know , or send an anonymous ask if for some reason you want to do that but don’t want to say who you are, but I’m guessing that at that point you simply wouldn’t bother.

[ananiel]

Thank You for The request @kanroji-san , hope You like this

Witch! Lisa! Reader from genshin impact x yandere mtp

(if anyone has any more request, feel Free to send them)

TW : yandere themes, death, manipulation, fake situation, electricity usage as a weapon (Reader’s vision)

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It was common knowledge that, across the seas, there's a group of people living in a world named Teyvat. Many people tried to get there, and those that did wrote books about the magical place that was filled with different creatures, technology and most importantly, vision holders.

This Discovery of a new, much better in the eyes of some, world became to spread as wildfire, so much so that the people of many countries such as England decided that the best way to secure an alliance with this people would be to gathered some people to go to their region, and also have some come to theirs.

Reader, a very important librarian from Mondstadt, was one of them. Oh, and what a sight was she to be hold, with her soft eyes and pretty smirk, how can he not fall for someone like her?

How can he not want to own her? To have her as his, to keep her away from the danger of the world.

-—-----———------———-----——--—---—----

Mycroft Holmes

Very skeptical at first, not only of you, but of the whole situation in general. I mean, he's the governement, he needs to be on guard, always neat and at best version of himself.

But damn don't You hold him on his toes. You were hired as a secretary for him, to "help" with his workload, as You showed that You were in fact, very smart, but only think could equal your smartness, and that is lazyness.

He was getting frustrated with You, he could tell You were smart, he could tell that You knew what he meant when he asked You to do a certain thing, but You were lazy, and acted on it. He saw You napping on the desk, flutering the pages of that floating book of yours and what annoyed him the most : your flirting.

"can you-" "no dearie, i simply can not" he groaned, and You playfully zaped him with a little electicity

You. Drove. Him. Nuts.

IT was so annoying and so... And so... Why are You calling some lowly workers "dearie"? He thought he was Your dearie, no one else, him, You can't just replace him!

But it's okay, he can play the waiting game, he can, spread false rumours, watch them grow, isolate You from others.

But that cursed iteligence of yours, You caught up, too bad that before You could run back to Teyvat, he had already set up a trap

You were smart, he couldn't deny it, maybe as smart as him, but he had the whole country, You had nothing on your name side from what was given to You by him.

That secured his place as dearie, yours and yours alone, just like you were now his

Albert james moriarty

A new addition to the M16, You were clearly something else, and Albert saw that very quick. You were smart, You were difrent, You were a breath of fresh air... But You were lazy, and so flirty.

You reminded him of Moran so much...

He loved being called "cutie" it made him feel... Warm. And what i think is that you could see through his polițe smile that hides malice of the society pretty well, and You weren't trying to hide that fact, quite the contrar actually

You teased him, You teased his patience by being so careless, he was scared to leave You go one mission alone, afraid You would die and he would have your blood on his hands... Not that it was his deepest concern if You were hurt, but You were important to the country, your death could atract undesired attention to him and his brothers. He couldn't risk it.

So he stayed close, thinking that as a lady, you'd easily fall for his charm, and he could move You to the side, to make sure nothing wrong happens.

How wrong he was.

The more time he spent with You, the more did he start liking those nicknames, those stolem glances and the way You would lazily let the book float around You, that was his adiction. You

You were the air he needed, sweeter than any wine, difrent than any women he had seen faun over him.

Speaking about wine... He's so so glad You accepted his invitation for a drink... After all, a drug taken in wine is much harder to notice, even with your inteligence

Sherlock Holmes

It was not often that he visited mycroft's place, but when he did, he certainly wasn't expecting You, lazily looking at him as You leaned on the railway of the stairs.

You were so breath taking, John noted, but sherlock didn't really pay to mind, he was more preocupied with the shiny purple thing that You had, the vision, as You said, when You followed his gaze.

At some Point, You weren't even sure if he was staring at the vision, or your chest.

You did... Help him in some way, well, You told him where that thing that he wanted was, but other than that, You simply watched.

He's a Detective, it's normal for him to be courious, he tells himself as he walks up to mycroft's house again, having "forggoten" a piece of paper there, and seeing You again

He is a Detective, is normal to start questioning things about You, and try deducting some.

Soon, he knew more about You than he knew about himself, and he still felt like it wasn't enough, he felt that... He felt like... He felt like those monsters from Mondstadt don't deserve You.

AND neither does his brother! Have You seen how much he insults You?! Everytime he does it, sherlock wants to slap him.

He's a Detective, he feels that You, his darling, as he is yours, are so so precious, when You see him bloody, bloody with Milvertron's blood, and his corpse at your feet.

Why are You acting like that darling? He was protecting You! That man was spreading false rumours about You! He HAD to do something!

William james moriarty

Oh, oh, look at you, his sweet, sweet salvation, making him forget about being the lord of crime!

He met You at Durham university, You were the New librarian after the first one retired.

He heard rumours going on around about You

"the New librarian is so beautifull!"

"She calls me her cutie! Oh, i wish father would accept me marrying a vision user!"

That was all he heard his students talking about, and as they say, curiosity killed the cat.

He told himself that he needed some books too, and that would be the best way he would meet you.

With You lazily snoring on the librarian table, he couldn't help but stare at You, taking in each and everyone of your features.

(He couldn't blame his students for talking so much about You, he would be joining them, if it weren't for them talking about his colague)

His hand moves a stray hair away from your face, and that's when You woke up, You chated, if the maybe 4 lines could be considered a chat, and that's when You dropped that sweet nickname "dear one"

He told himself that what made him seem You out so much was that You were from a whole difrent world, that he could learn some things, Yes, Yes, that's why he was following you, why he spent all of his breaks at the library, and why, when he heard that Milvertron was trying to take You out of the country... He couldn't ignore it, You were nice, You were sweet, You didn't deserve that.

You were so sweet, so cute, backing away from him when You witnessed him murdering the man, when You threathened to use the your electro vision on him, but no amunt of thunder would make him let go of your hand, as he pulled You softly, closely to him and kissing your forehead.

Why are You so scared? It's your dear one!

Louis james moriarty

Hm, this one shall happen in the three years where Louis is alone, i mean, without his brothers.

I mean, he saw You around before that, he even has a nickname "sweetie pie", but he couldn't aford getting to close to You, he would lose his focus and make faults, after all, his brother needed him and he couldn't aford to let him down

Yes... He won't lie and say that he didn't, push his knife one-two many times in the stomach of the man that had tried to hurt you, but that was nothing, that was nothing, he was still loyal to William

After William is gone tho... He knows that he needs someone smart to help him with strategies, sure, You were lazy, but You were smart, and he needed You.

Needed You for mission, certainly not for his own sick pleasure, certainly not to watch You sleep, and if You wake up to him he would brush it of as saying "i need help with the plan, now if possible"

He quickly grew protective of the fact that You were difrent, difrent was bad in those times, You could get hurt, burned to the stake, Louis couldn't have that.

Also... Acidents happend with your... Slightly revealing clothes, a thief strangly only stole yours, Louis Accidently spilled something that might not come off... Yeah, accidents, but oh don't worry... He can lend You those beautifull clothes... What? What do You mean they have some traits on them that make people think You are his wife?

Very weird, indeed.

Oh no, he came bloody from a mission, Yes, a mission. If he heard of the death of the one that wanted to go on a date with You? Oh no, no he didn't.

He smiles, petting your back as he walks back to the basement, the man sitting tied up on the floor, a bag full of weapons close to him, but before he could grab any-

"Sweetie pie, Louis! The door is locked and i can't find the key!"

He Will returned to the man, but right now, his darling needs him