#nijah

[xoxo-ovola]

Super low key

[saintwrld]

i think Dre would k*ll me bc I listened to Ni’jah’s ep and I don’t like anything about it 🧍🏽‍♀️

[xothemedia]

Swarm 1x1 | “Stung”

[aoikizuz]

Not Ni'jah!

[wakandamama]

STREAM NI'JAH🔫

[melancholysunrise]

I just want someone who makes me feel like gambino sounds

[luckythings]

[samwellwinchesterthebrave]

Are you looking for a spooky read? Do you like urban fantasy or monster stories? Do you like stories about queer ladies dealing with monsters and getting into (and out of) shenanigans? Check out Shadows and a Touch of Magic.

From shadows that can be savior or destroyer to the creation of the first mermaids, Shadows and a Touch of Magic is a collection of monster stories and urban legends featuring women who love women full of fear, of love, of the strange, and of the whimsical.

Read on for a snippet from each short story 💜

"As she moved to the center of the room, trying to imagine her furniture here and herself living here, a cold breeze ghosted across the back of her neck. It raised the small hairs on the back of her neck and goosebumps down her arms." - Widow's Walk

"They were there again. The shadows that seemed to dip, sway and follow after her. Nijah Khoury glanced back as the edge of one shadow seemed to reach out towards her." - Shadowdancers

"“So, you want to be healed,” Amrita said after another sip of the wine. “What will you offer in return?”

“Anything,” Machi begged. “Anything I have. Please.”

“I heal you, you give me your first child. Fair’s fair, right?”" - Promises, Promises

"Thrilled that she was still alive, Cecily twisted in the water to study herself. Her tail was longer than her legs had been. She could feel power coiled in the muscles and ached to stretch her new body out." - To Become The Sea

"It called to her, stretched out lovely fingers and tempted her in. A small smile tugged at Haley’s lips as she listened. It sounded like the melody was coming from the opposite way of the lake again." - Feast of Sorrowed Breath

"She could clearly remember the last time she’d been swimming, the sun shining down on the blue water like it was today. That was years ago, however. No matter how many times she came to this pier, she never dared the water." - Trapped

"Have you ever heard of the smile maidens? I’d never heard of them before my travels and, at the beginning, I’d scoffed at the idea of them. It seemed such a silly name for a supernatural force that killed people or stole their souls." - The Smile Maidens

[beezyland]

Stewie shouting out b’s defense on clark during the post-game interview 🙌

Betnijah picking up Caitlin Clark on d is everything I could have ever asked for

[natstolemysocks]

10.What are their parallels, whether in their personalities or their histories?

The moment we got this ask, I panicked and thought 'oh frig, what do they have in common besides being ginger'. But there's a lot of things that Nijah and Lilly share. Being the youngest brother, for example. Both were born and raised in La Noscea too, both started their carreers in Limsa Lominsa, both love sticking their noses in people's business even when they probably really should not. All in all, it makes them work well together, I find. @natstolemysocks

All of this is spot on, really. A'nijah also used to be as hot tempered as Lea'li back in the day. Which subdued quite a lot, or maybe just took a different form later. They both are also passionate as well when it comes to temperament. @confusedtia

RELATIONSHIP ASKS

[nalyra-dreaming]

hi! It's been driving me crazy and I thought I'd ask an expert like you. I was curious to know what is Louis's,Armand's,Lestat's and Mauris's dark gifts? I thought maybe each vampire had a different one. Or maybe they get all the same ones as they get older. But it's been bugging me like crazy.

Hey nonny!

(thx for the compliment^^, but I think there’s lots of "experts“ here :) - but I hope I do make sense.)

Ok, a… not so much tough as a bit difficult to explain one! (Sorry it took a bit longer.) There’s also some meta woven into this, because the gifts do not really develop in a linear way.

BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD for those who want to skip this one.

So let’s break it down a bit.

Marius is a roughly 2000 year old vampire, sired by the God of the Grove. His sire exchanged blood with him several times to ensure his strength. He is also the keeper of Those Who Must Be Kept (or was) and has drunk from Akasha several times.

Armand is Marius’ fledgling, Marius hadn’t made fledglings for a while before his Amadeo, so he got quite powerful blood.

Lestat was made by a 300 year old vampire who had never made another one before. He was deemed too strong for a fledgling (ironically by Armand‘s coven). And he then went and drank from both Marius and Akasha, resulting in a severe power-up.

Louis is Lestat’s fledgling, the third one made (in the books in a relatively short time). Of those three, he is the weakest, at least at first (though he should be physically stronger than Claudia).

Now, for the details :)

Generally, all the vampires have the same capacity for their gifts. The dark gift itself (the vampiric life) comes with side effects: the mind gift, the spell gift, the cloud gift, the fire gift. There’s also an intensified version of the last one, the killing gift, which only a handful vampires hold/held. And of course "true“ immortality, no starvation or beheading etc killing you off anymore. @nijah-archive wrote a nice summary of them here.

Marius At the time of the show (book canon or Dubai do not make that much of a difference for him imho)… Marius has severe skills in mind gift, fire gift (discovered more or less by accident) and in cloud gift. He is closing in on being truly immortal. He obviously knows how to use the spell gift (he has lots of human servants and influences the habitants of an island etc) but does not use them to the extent that Armand does (for example). He is stronger than others his age because of his exposure to Akasha‘s blood.

Armand has severe powers focused on mind gift and spell gift. He is 500 years old in (book) IWTV - and spent most of that time in a cult, telling him he is a child of Satan. Others have noted it, and I do think it is likely, that he spent a lot of his time disassociating, and therefore developing these particular skills further. He can call those who wish to die, and he can trap others in illusions. He is also a master manipulator. When he encounters Lestat he immediately falls for him, and tries to win him over with a combination of threat, spell gift and mind gift, literally hurting Lestat’s lover Nicki, and trying to bind him in illusions, while force-feeding on him. (That didn’t go over well). The show gives us Armand with the cloud gift, and the ability to withstand the sun. Personally I take these simple facts (and Fareed being there, and the sheer fact that there is a MARIUS painting in the apartment) as certain hints, which would mean that Armand himself also got a certain power upgrade fairly recently. EDIT: A helpful anon pointed out that he had it after/since Memnoch, so this should be noted here. It does fit with the timeframe imho. The time itself is not "enough“ for this kind of power upgrade, supposedly it takes a few thousand years to withstand the sun. He can likely not use the killing gift, though it is highly likely that he got the access to the fire gift, too. He might also not be truly immortal yet, sun-resistance or not.

Lestat, as stated before, was turned with significant power (too). Off the bat he focuses on the physical skills though (although it might be reasoned that he just didn’t know better). When Gabrielle is turned, it is immediately apparent that she can hear the other vampires better. Lestat strains to improve his skill (and he does). He can call humans and animals to himself (mind/spell gift). He is also mentally strong enough to break out of Armand’s spell gift by sheer will. Later he regularly scans and listens in on others, and is exceptionally able to lock down his own mind completely (that has been noted several times in the books), and "rebuffs“ others mentally meaning he has significant access to the spell gift and mind gift, but/and uses it differently. The power upgrade through Marius and Akasha (IN The Vampire Lestat) did not immediately bring out the other skills for him (in the books he is simply too young), however it meant that he would survive Claudia’s attempted murder, and what happened after. Marius also showed him the telekinesis part of the mind gift. In the books, the events of Queen of the Damned leave Lestat truly immortal, and equipped with fire gift, full mind gift, and ability to withstand the sun (he tries that one out later, and then uses it for tanning ^^). Over the course of the books he drinks from other older vampires several times, as well as from… supposedly God. His strength is beyond scale, however it IS noted that he is no match in sheer physical strength for the truly ancient ones (several thousand years old). In the show… well Lestat is 130 years older (than in the books). He would have had more experience with the vampiric gifts in general, which explains (imho) why he can access the power upgrade ones. It is noted that Nicki happened over 100 years ago, which leaves a significant gap. We know he did indeed encounter Marius through the Those Who Must Be Kept mention. If Lestat went and slept (as in the books, just longer) then his blood would have distilled somewhat before Marius woke him. (Which would make Louis somewhat stronger than in the books, too (imho).) Show Lestat has the cloud gift and a very powerful mind gift/spell gift already, though it does seem as if it takes a significant amount of power still (bleeding ears and he seems weak after). Probably indicating fairly recent acquisition, which would fit with the show/book timeline and an encounter of Marius/Those Who Must be Kept just prior to coming to the US. His little trick to stop the time is actually "just“ a rather clever combination of mind gift (telekinesis) and spell gift. (As it is something that obviously can come in very handy it doesn’t really surprise me he would have developed it, bc. he is often very practical/matter-of-fact with his gifts.)

Now Louis. Supposedly Louis is one of the weakest vampires. The most human-like. And in the books he keeps the possibility of suicide-by-the-sun as a kind of trump card till Merrick, refusing several offers for ancient blood. In the show Louis says he could hear Claudia calling for help, and he does call out to her, mentally. However she is able to lock him out, instinctively, which indicates that his mind gift is not overly developed. And he apparently does not hear or notice any other vampires close by either (contrary to Lestat who can hear them on long distance). Louis also gets a severe power upgrade after/at the end of Merrick. Show/Dubai Louis quite apparently has drunk from powerful sources, Armand obviously, and maybe others. (He always had an affinity for setting things on fire, so when he demonstrated the fire gift there were lots of "uh ohs“ by book readers :))) However he obviously is not strong enough to withstand the sun and the cloud gift is also very unlikely (though not impossible as of now). As I said before it actually sets the show in a very specific time slot book-wise if we can take the shown skills as literal hints.

So in summary:

The gifts and the powers of them depend a bit on their respective usage and affinity. And the personal approach. And circumstance :)

Obviously the access (time or powerful/old blood) has to be a given, i.e. Lestat in the books only tries out the cloud gift after knowing he has it.

It’s practice IF and WHEN you can.

And, it depends where you put the focus. Lestat also knows the killing gift because Akasha taught him in order for him to serve her. But it’s a skill based on the mind gift and fire gift.

Louis barely has any gifts for a long time because Lestat tries to keep him as human as possible, for a lot of reasons. It will be interesting to see if the show addresses that. Him developing (or adopting) the fire gift with the power through blood is not surprising, unfortunately (coughs).

If we (hopefully) get our seasons we will likely get more displays of these skills, too.

I, personally, like the way they approach them very, very much. And they also fit for me with the adapted timelines. Hope this made sense to you! Please don't hesitate to ask if you have further questions!

[zindagi-se-darte-ho]

अयं निजः परो वेति गणना लघुचेतसाम् उदार चरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्

ayam nijah paro veti gananā laghuchetasām, udāra charitānām tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam

this is for me and that is for other— such is the thinking of a narrow-minded person, whereas for the noble and broad minded persons, the entire world is one big family. — Maha Upanishad

given above is a subhashita from the Maha Upanishad, one of the Samanya (minor) Upanishads in Hinduism. a subhashita is a genre of Sanskrit epigrammatic poems which preach maxims, aphormisms, lessons and advices or carry a riddle. they are typically composed in four or two padas (lines).

the term 'subhashita' originates from two words: the prefix 'su' which means good, and the word 'bhashita' which roughly translates to 'that what is spoken' in english.

that, my dear reader, is the gyaan of the day

[pumpkin-bread]

Tipsy lair review for Nightfalljay

I'm sleeby.

Elayne is a lovely lil pastel goth and I'm always weak for baker dragons. The outfit you have planned really brings out the best of her colours, like th blues in her sec. V lovely.

Cerulean is easily one of the best colours in the game I mean. Look at Astrophel. Look AT HIM. perfection. I really like his outfit scry agia but what you have on now looks like he threw on a bathrobe after a dip in a galaxy.nice

OOOOOH. So blackberry matches arcane primal perfectly. Wild, utterly wild. There was a time when I wa trying to match filigree to faceted eyes but I never figured that out. Well done! Aodrable baby that sees everything ever

I love Nexis' snippet of lore. The fella is rather put open, it seems. His outfit is also amazing. Really nice job.

I also do love a den mothery sort of dragon. Nijah here fits that role to a t, as hse seems to care for everyone. That's lovely.

My eyes hurt

I love Solanine's gene combo. She looks as venomous as the things she studies. V nice.

Yaay a g1! Is she your progen? I really love how alloy looks on fae f specifically. The bottom half of the woings always look so amazing, it ties in with her orange so well. Would love to know more aobut her.

What a fascinating fellow! It's nice to see that lovely aether preview in his bio - and also that his mate has one, too. They're too cute!

My goodness I love love LOVE her look. Sea siren, merfolk, pretty ol aquatic danger sign. I'm still weak for designs/lore like this even though I axed my own. Idk why. I live on an island irl. Anyway, her mix of apparel is perfection.

Holy CRAP what a great g1. Specactular mix of dark colours with purples working flawlessly. She is too cool

[protoslacker]

Pan-African theory in general, and the work of Rodney in particular, should be reconsidered as central to the development and genealogical construction of theories and knowledge upon which we build in the current moment. We now have many ways to reach the important issue of the fraught relationship between knowledge and power, and we have great work left to do to create knowledge that is liberatory in relation to power. Rodney’s work is one of our greatest models in this urgent task.

Jesse Benjamin in Africa Is a Country. Groundings with Walter Rodney

AN INTERVIEW WITH Monique Bedasse Erin MacLeod Nijah Cunningham Matthew J. Smith Jesse Benjamin

On the 50th anniversary [2019] of Walter Rodney's Groundings with My Brothers, a small group of scholars on the impacts of Rodney on their intellectual development and political commitments.

The Groundings With My Brothers

Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You To KNow

[starforger-backup]

tragic horror trope: maha

it is the loneliest day of a vampire's life, the first time they look into a mirror and see their reflection missing. drinking blood sucks too, don't get me wrong, but as a vampire you had to learn to hide from the sunlight, from your family, all your friends, because you were unavoidably different now and you didn't know how to explain that to them in a way they would understand. you could get stranger's blood in bursts, but what is life when you can't know someone for longer than the night lasts? you left everything behind because it was easier than trying to tell them. i just hope you know you're not the only vampire out there, and that there exist people who will understand your situation without a word. they'll sit with you in the dark for as long as you'll need them to.

quiz

tagged by @under-the-blood-moonlight​

tagging @briar-ffxiv​ @kitsune-kirei​ @zhauric​ @gatheredfates​ @nijah-wolff-xiv​