#not in the way that people were people in the 1600s just like they're people now

[tache-noire]

the most striking moment of “we will never understand each other” i’ve ever had with my mom is when we were in the car and i pointed out a house that I liked the look of, with a black roof and dark brown, weathered-looking exterior. and i mentioned that I just like old, weathered, ruined houses in general, thinking about abandoned houses in neighborhoods like the one i was born in and the one my grandma used to live in.

and my mom said “you’d like venice, then.”

and i couldn’t really explain that that’s the wrong kind of old and ruined without sounding insane or suicidal.

[doberbutts]

Scrolling the fandom tag for BES and once again finding longwinded rants about how white trans mascs aren't allowed to find any similarities with themselves in Mizu's story because A: it's racist and B: her story is more for trans fems (and ofc it's not trans fems saying this) and I'm like

So trans mascs of color don't exist and mixed race trans mascs don't exist and there was never a single trans masc that felt caught between womanhood and manhood and felt joy at just being free to be themselves rather adhere tightly to society's gendered expectations? There was never a trans masc that saw themselves in cis women who lived as men or in masculinity even if it was just for safety? You sure about that?

Like I've said before I'm not really offended either way what pronouns someone uses for Mizu because I think any of them in English are varying degrees of incorrect because *Mizu is [half] Japanese living in 1600s Japan and Japanese pronouns are not one-to-one equivilants of English pronouns and 1600s Japanese gender roles are not one-to-one equivilants to modern American gender roles* and *Mizu herself reacts with violent rage when called a woman, while the creators explictly stated that she is a cis woman and exclusively use she/her to talk about her in interviews*

But it is really interesting that non-trans-mascs are so, *so* angry that trans mascs watching this show are seeing themselves in her journey. I think there is something to be stated for people who are not understanding the racial aspect of it- I'm mixed race myself though not with any Japanese blood, so maybe that lets me see a portion of this story more easily than someone who has never been so caught between worlds and identities, but also like. Japanese trans mascs and trans men exist. I just watched a documentary about being transgender in Japan, I know they're there. Being trans masc is not exclusively a white thing nor is it exclusive to Western gender roles. We've existed, everywhere, as long as gender has. Whether we were explictly called "transgender" or a different word.

I'm neither a woman nor a lesbian but that didn't stop me from seeing myself in almost every butch and stud I've ever met. And those I've talked to about it have said they've seen themselves, in me. We're allowed to have similarities and to share experiences.

[lostwords-found]

Oh god. Okay. SO. The Protocol red string board is going places and I am chewing drywall.

Note: I've been working on this post for a few days and nothing in here involves episode 27--I don't talk about episodes before they're out for everyone, so no worries about patreon spoilers.

Quick recap of some suspicions about Protocolverse I've written about previously:

1. I think this universe runs on a kind of balance of good & bad luck (or suffering and happiness), and that it's possible--under certain circumstances--to pawn the bad stuff off on other people and keep the good that arises to balance it out. I suspect a big piece of Protocol's overarching plot is going to be about the different ways people go about trying to come out ahead in that bargain.

2. I think some alchemists figured out how to attach bad luck and/or other similarly abstract ills into physical form.

3. I think they were trying to use this to cast out bad luck to other worlds (including that of Archives) and get good luck back. I think this is how the Fears got to Archives in the first place.

4. I think the books and coin in the tomb from MAG 23 got there this way, probably with the involvement of Protocolverse Albertus Magnus. The year on the coin -- 1279 -- is the year before Albertus Magnus died.

We'll come back to that stuff in a bit.

There's an apparently minor detail that was nagging at me recently: in TMAGP 22 Hans Berger specifically mentions having switched to silver wires in his experiments, and this change enabling his breakthroughs. It's through these silver wires, implanted directly into Herr Schmidt's brain, that he later receives the desperate telegraph signals that appear to be from a previously unheard part of Schmidt's brain.

By itself, that wouldn't ping any alarms. Silver wires are in fact what Berger used in real life; silver's highly conductive so if you're trying to read electrical impulses from the brain, probably a good choice of material. But the writing is very deliberate about mentioning them, and coming only three episodes after another historical letter about a scientist also working with silver -- Newton's tree in TMAGP 19 was a fantastical variant of a Tree of Diana, dendritic silver -- Berger's wires start feeling like maybe they're not just there for accuracy.

If, as it appears from Newton's work, consuming silver in certain forms can cause a new kind of consciousness to arise--and also, uh, turn you into a tree--what might implanting silver wires in a human brain do? Is the silver contacting or awakening something that was already there, or is it putting something there? Was that desperate OUT OUT OUT message really from half of Herr Schmidt's mind--or from something in the wire itself that was trying to get out?

That would be weird though. I mean--what, Protocolverse silver's inherently evil or something? But then I got back to thinking about alchemists trying to transmute things into precious metals. Gold's the one we mostly think of, but silver was also of interest. Which in real life is where you got stuff like the tree of Diana--alchemists thought that was a precursor to the philosopher's stone.

So... then I start thinking, if I was right in my other post that alchemists were figuring out how to put evil / misfortune / suffering into a physical form that could be used to transfer it somewhere else, what if silver was involved in that? What if they were either turning misfortune into silver, or trapping it in silver that already existed?

What if they did that, meaning to send it away, and some of that silver made its way into use?

Then I started looking some stuff up.

Did you know silver used to be mined in the Black Forest, in Germany? One mine there had a name meaning "Blessing of God." That mine dates back to the 1200s--Albertus Magnus's lifetime.

Did you know that starting in the 1600s, the G strings on high quality violins were typically wrapped in silver wire?

Do you know why movies are called the silver screen? In the 1920s, literal silver was used to make cinema screens. This fell out of favor as other cheaper designs were worked out, BUT in the 2000s silver has come back into use a bit because it works well for 3D movies. I would not be surprised at all if the screen that Tom went to see Voyeur on had silver in it.

Did you know that in the early 90s there was a specific plant in the UK that manufactured CDs covered with a layer of silver? This later turned out to cause some problems as the silver reacted with sulfur (oh hai, another alchemically significant substance!) and slowly degraded the discs. In real life these CDs were manufactured up through 1993. Per TMAGP 10, Mr Bonzo made his debut in '96 (the interview is from 2021 and is the 25th anniversary of Mr Bonzo's first appearance). The two times Mr Bonzo has appeared in person he's been summoned by playing a CD of his theme song. I wonder where and when those CDs were manufactured...

Did you notice the caterer Lady Mowbray hired in TMAGP 15 mentions that his company did silver service events? Betcha that particular feast was served on literal silver platters.

...I'm starting to think it's a really good thing ink5oul didn't end up tattooing Gwen with that silver spoon.

Okay. This all seems like there's maybe a theme here, but let's take a step back. Some materials have just been used for a lot of things throughout history; it could be coincidence. IF the above is actually on the mark--IF these were all intentional majorly-plot-relevant inclusions of Things Wot Involve Silver--where else would we expect to see this cropping up in the story? Because the topic of silver has barely been raised directly at all; I'm extrapolating wildly here, mostly on the basis of a couple episodes.

Well, here's a thought: silver was used in everyday currency for a long, long time. If there was a bunch of Evil Silver floating around surely someone would have stuck it into some money at some point. "Ill fortune" in the most literal possible sense, or whole new meaning to the phrase "bad penny" -- there are various bad jokes there that more or less write themselves. Though whoever was doing this would have had to to mark the bad money somehow so that they could avoid it...

Hey, um, remember how the OIAR's offices are in the building that housed the Royal Mint for like 150 years?

Actually, while we're on that subject, here's a funny little tidbit: Before it moved to Royal Mint Court, the Royal Mint was in the Tower of London for several centuries--its first home after being centralized. Wanna guess what year the Royal Mint was established in the Tower of London? Go on. Guess.

1279.

The same. Fucking. Year. As was on that coin waaaaaay back in MAG 23. Which was a thing I had noticed a while back when looking at the Germany eps, but I hadn't been considering a "what if some metals can be Bad" angle at that point and had just written it off as an odd coincidence.

Which I mean, it's probably still just a weird coincidence, I'm building this entire elaborate framework out of assumptions on top of assumptions on top of -- hang the fuck on, let me look something up real quick, I've gotta be misremembering--

I'm not misremembering! Isaac Newton was the Master of the Royal Mint for the last 30 years of his life.

Cool. Okay. So that's--hm. I think I'm genuinely starting to convince myself none of this is a coincidence.

Then I start poking through Wikipedia, and you wanna know some other interesting things? One, Newton himself apparently saw his work in economics as a continuation of his alchemical work. And two, during his tenure at the Royal Mint, he put limits on how much gold people were allowed to exchange for silver, and this led to a silver shortage. Because apparently, when other countries imported goods to them, the British paid for those goods in silver coins. When they exported goods to other countries, though?

They would only take payment in gold.

And there it is--there's the exact outsourcing scheme I was looking for. Stick all your suffering and pain and misfortune into your money, use that money to pay other countries, and get only the good stuff back. That... sounds really believable for the British Empire, honestly.

So I really think I might have some decent guesses on the historical stuff at play here. That only goes just so far though, because these days, silver doesn't really get used in coinage much.

Know where it does get used? Circuits. Electronics.

Computers.

If I'm right, whatever machinery the Mint used to store the intangible evils of the world in physical coinage for exportation, I would guess the OIAR is now using to instill all of those evils into FR3-D1 instead. One all-containing artifact of misfortune.

What the endgame is there, what the government gets out of it, I'm still not 100% sure--but I can't help thinking about Jonah's line in MAG 160 that Jon is not the Archivist but the Archive. That he is the record of fear, the physical embodiment of it.

There's people wanting to outsource absolutely fucking everything to AI these days, I guess.

SO THAT'S BEEN MY WEEK this is what my brain does when I have to drive all the way across the US alone, apparently. How are you all?

[vanilla-cigarillos]

Burying Spells - Some Important Thoughts (on what we can do better)

Burying spells (spell jars specifically) is a very common practice in witchcraft, but as someone really passionate about the environment there are aspects that a lot of people aren't aware of. I think it's important to discuss, so let's talk about it!

Disclaimer: This is not to bash anyone who buries their spell jars/remnants. I just want to give some education on the subject, especially to younger witches getting into the practice <3

What Are Spell Jars?

For those who aren't aware, a spell jar is (usually) a form of spellwork in which a jar is the vessel for your magic. Spell jars are generally used for protection, but many people also use them for hexing and baneful magic. They're very beginner friendly forms of witchcraft, and as such a lot of new witches tend to gravitate towards them.

History of Burying

The idea of burying spell jars, generally tends to come from the concept of a "witch's bottle". This was a form of protection magic made in older times, with its purpose being to protect against negative energy. Not all of these bottles were buried, but it was commonly done to conceal magic from others (typically under a doorstep or within a fireplace).

This became especially prevalent during the 1600s when practicing witchcraft was dangerous.

Why Shouldn't We Bury?

To get the most obvious point out of the way, burying spell jars is adding to pollution of the environment. It's litter, and shouldn't be seen as any other way. Spell jars don't grow in the environment, and it doesn't belong there. The witchcraft community is one that tends to honor nature, so this practice sticks out like a sore thumb.

Another common practice I've seen within the community is burying baneful spell jars in spaces such as graveyards. This is disrespectful to those who reside in them; the dead don't deserve to be surrounded by that sort of negative energy.

Rivers or bodies of water are also common places for people to put their spell jars and other remnants. This also shouldn't be taking place. Creatures living in these bodies of waters can be harmed by this littering.

Glass or paraffin wax are not biodegradable, flowers from the grocery store can be laced with pesticides, microplastics can be found in salt and synthetic vinegar can impact the ph of soil.

Alternatives

Use biodegradable vessels such as bell peppers

Use ingredients that are safe for the environment

Put remnants into compost bins

Display your spell jars on shelves, and hide baneful jars in dark places

There we go! Hopefully this post has been helpful for how we can be better witches for a better earth <3

[gabessquishytum]

So role reverse AU where Morpheus is the human and Hob is the Endless. Morpheus is a young scholar who wishes he had an eternity to study the arts and sciences. Hob is a hopeless romantic trying to find someone to love. They meet by happenstance while Morpheus is in the woods studying the foliage and Hob runs into him by happenstance. Hob shoots his shot and Morpheus turns him down sense he's pretty sure Hob is a fey trying to trick him. Hob doesn't press and just sits while Morpheus explains his studies. That's when the Idea hits Morpheus and he offers Hob a bet. Hob gets an eternity to seduce Morpheus. The rules being that Hob can not do anything without Morpheus' enthusiastic consent, and he only gets on shot every 100 years.

Hob Is pretty sure he can get Morpheus by the next century, so he agrees and gives Morpheus immortality.

the 1400 he shows up and offers Morpheus a book,a special one made with those new printing presses. If Dream ran away with him, there were plenty more where that came from. Dream is pretty sure the presses will go out of style soon enough, but it was a thoughtful gift.

the 1500s, Hob proves he's in it for the long game. He has no interest in that new play write, but Morpheus clearly has a fan girl crush on him, so Hob makes him a major play write for his lovely little Morpheus. And if Hob plays his cards right, Shakespeare's works will be imortilised for Morpheus to have for the rest of time. Morpheus would be lying if he said that didn't at least make him blush.

the 1600 prove to be rough as Morpheus turned to more "honest" ways of making a living. Hob doesn't like seeing someone he cares about like this, and for this century, he doesn't say anything to Morpheus about running away together to Hob's Realm. He just listens and lets Morpheus cry. Morpheus is grateful Hob didn't use the situation to his advantage, because Morpheus was so week he would have left his life as a human in a moment.

the 1700s prove to be better for Morpheus, but before Hob can go in for the kill, they're interrupted and have to fight to get out of the tavern alive. Hob attempts to get Morpheus elsewhere to finish the date, but Morpheus says it's getting late and he should get home. (Secretly, he's scared how well Hob's charm has worked on him)

in the 1800, Hob goes all out, he takes Morpheus to Paris and they have a wonderful night on top of the tower and even share a romantic Kiss. Hob asks the question, and Morpheus only smirks and says "I'll give you my answer next century."

in the 1900s, Morpheus is Ready. He has settled his affairs so He can Leave with Hob that night. He starts counting down the days in 1952. He excitedly waits for Hob to ask for his answer. And he waits. And he waits. He blames himself for making Hob wait so long, and figures Hob gave up on him. He asks about it to a few other people, but no one has seen a man matching that description.

Morpheus doesn't give up though. Hob waited centuries for Morpheus, Morpheus can wait centuries too.

And he waits for 33 years. He knows he's being foolish. Would Hob even know he was waiting for him?

But he waits. Every day, same time, same town. Just in case he catch Hob and can tell him his answer. And one say, he is rewarded.

He's sitting in a cafe near the Creek where they met. He's reading Shakespeare and he hears someone come up, he expects it's the coffee he ordered, but before he can look up, he hears someone say "So, Love, What's your answer, I was promised one?" And Morpheus looks up and has the biggest grin on his face.

God this is beautiful.

I wonder what happened to Hob when he didn’t show up? Was he also captured and imprisoned? I’m imagining that if he was imprisoned, he must have spent the whole time trying to escape, knowing that it would be ok if he could only get back to Morpheus, because Morpheus would definitely say yes this time, if Hob can just get to him.

When he does escape, he goes to Morpheus first. Before his realm, before anything. Morpheus is the one thing that’s kept him going. He’s not expecting to find him, really but he hopes…

And everything that was broken in his years of imprisonment suddenly knits back together at the sight of his love, waiting for him after all those years.

[chicken-wayng]

“I need Alicent to regret all her life decisions”

Same, Alicent needs a reality check asap. Daemon kills your grandson, Rhaenyra doesn’t punish him and instead welcomes him back with open arms. You think you, Helaena and Jaehaera are safe around these people?

I know I've said it before, but Alicent reminds me of the basic religious southern woman.

Southern Christian women are raised from birth believing that a man is their savior. That a husband and children are going to be their greatest achievement. A man will provide for them. A man will tell them what's okay to say and think. If a man says gay people are nasty, gay people are nasty - if you have those thoughts you're nasty and need to ask for forgiveness to block them out. If a man says a person's skin color makes them a thief, rapist or criminal then it's best to stay away from that colored person; regardless of the fact that the man has stolen more from you and actually has raped you. Which is another thing, rape doesn't exist between a husband and wife in the southern Christian mindset, and if you're not married according to the bible all you have to do is pay off her dad and marry her but to the SC mindset you can slut shame her and make her think its her fault, and why should he be forced to marry a slut?

I'm going on a soap box so I'll back down but I know these things because I was raised this way. I was raised to believe I was nasty for liking girls, I was raised to believe brown people ("especially Puerto Ricans like your nana and dad!") were bad. I was raised in so many sickening ways I'm still having to unlearn a lot of it. However I have resources that just aren't available in Westeros.

When I wanted to know why brown people were bad, all I had to do was get online and read about real life testimonies from the civil war all the way up to present day. What I learned is that we can't even say America has been segregation free for 50 years! 50 fucking years ago they were lynching not only adults but babies!!! I used to use "gator bait" talking about little children, cuz that's what you do in Arkansas, only to learn the term comes from slave days when they'd throw the slave's BABIES to gators!!! How disgusting

When I wanted to know why gay people were bad, all I had to do was get online and learn about the queer people from the 1600s to now. We've existed forever, so what I feel wasn't a phase, or a sin, or anything bad, it was normal. I was raised with the Holy Bible and the biggest lesson we learn is Jesus' love for us. "Love is used over 500 times in the Bible," is what my nana said. Why would he put it in there over 500 times to turn around and tell you to hate? Well I didn't get an answer to that from church or the bible, I got it from Queer Christians (that I was taught weren't a thing.) who told me love is love.

When I want to know why something I was taught doesn't feel right I can look into it. Alicent and Rhaenyra can't. That's part of the tragedy and why they'll never be able to apologize and stop hurting each other. In this way the patriarchy has deepened the divide between them. However their own choices have also done so. Alicent doesn't need to understand bastardphobia to use it to hurt Nyra and Nyra doesn't need to understand the patriarchy to understand why Alicent has to make the choices she has to use the patriarchy to hurt her. They both know they're hurting the other and that's all they care about. The "if I can't love you, if I can't have you think of my name endearingly then I'll have you hate me. I'll have my name ring in your ears until the void takes you." Is toxic but they can't stop. They regret it, but they won't stop. The love is there, but they won't stop.

I need Alicent and Nyra to regret their choices like I regret being a horrible person for the first 15 years of my life.

[sirfrogsworth]

Review of Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix

There are some spoiler-ish things below, but I think most of it is in the trailer, so I don't think I will ruin anything. I'll warn you during the most spoilery section, though the show makes the "twist" pretty obvious from the beginning.

Premise

Blue Eye Samurai is a Kill Bill-style revenge tale that takes place in 17th century Japan. The samurai is half white/half Japanese. The show states that no white folks were allowed in the country back then, so the samurai tries to conceal blue eyes with some sweet BluBlocker™ orange glasses. The Samurai is displeased to have white heritage and decides to try and kill all the "white devils" hiding in Japan.

Will some reactionaries complain there is a show all about someone trying to murder white people? I have no idea. But they're all bad white people, so I'm hoping it won't become a thing.

My Hot Takes

A few episodes meandered a bit, but I enjoyed the series as a whole quite a bit. If nothing else, the sword fights were epic and bloody. I would have watched it for that alone. And there is some gorgeous art direction where they really take advantage of the 2D styled, 3D animation. Plus, Japan is just really pretty. There is also a puppet show that was brilliantly mixed in with the story and the way they animated it was next level awesome.

They fell into cliche a few times. I think they were trying to do homages and tributes but ended up in Derivative Land and some of them felt a bit cringe.

They used "Battle Without Honor Or Humanity" which is that rousing instrumental song from Kill Bill and it was way too on the nose. Like, yes, this show is obviously a 1600s version of Kill Bill, but you're not supposed to make it that obvious.

Also, there was a Metallica song that equally made me roll my eyes and think, "That is badass" so I give them a pass on that one.

And there were a few sections where it felt like you were watching someone else play a video game. I don't know how else to describe it. As if the narrative melted away and suddenly a bunch of Prince of Persia obstacles appeared.

That said, the story was enjoyable, the actors were great, the characters were interesting, the animation was solid, and the fight choreography was top notch.

The nice thing about animation is you don't have to do any jump cuts during the action, so you get to really *see* the fights develop. Thankfully they didn't make use of a lot of impossible-in-real-life camera moves, so it all felt very grounded. As if these fights could actually be filmed in live-action. I suspect they may have even used motion capture or closely adhered to reference footage. Most of the non-fantastical choreography felt like something a stunt performer could actually do. They even had some legit Japanese samurai-style sword fighting moves before it got to the "John Wick with a katana" part of the show.

Back in the day, samurai duels were more akin to jousting than fencing and usually only lasted one or two moves. It can be pretty exciting as long as you build tension and anticipation. But if every sword fight in the show was like that, it would probably get boring. But it was still nice to see it toward the beginning.

So the quality was a bit roller coaster-y at times, but I think it was a solid first season. And I am really hopeful they get a chance to smooth things out in a second. But it is Netflix, soooooo...

As far as content warnings, there is a lot of blood and sex and nudity. Women are very subjegated and some of those depictions are rough. There are some brutal torture scenes. And I think there is implied rape, but it isn't made super clear.

The nudity was surprisingly balanced which felt refreshing. So get ready for boobies and floppy cartoon peens. All the genitals get screen time.

Quick aside about erotic scenes...

There has been recent discourse about nudity and sexy time in media. My biggest issue has always been that men's bodies are rarely shown aside from the patoot. It is never balanced and I always felt uncomfortable with that arrangement. I know movies are a bit stuck because the MPAA has decided dicks in a sexual context are an automatic NC-17. But even in newer HBO-type content where they do show penises, they are usually prosthetics. Hyper real fake dicks on top of real dicks that probably cost tens of thousands of dollars to develop and apply.

Like, the folks with boobs don't get expensive prosthetics. Only the most famous actresses can opt for a body double. For years, if an actress wasn't willing to get naked they would just say, "Well, I guess we'll just have to find another actress."

And now if a guy doesn't want to get naked, apparently the response is, "Don't worry, we'll raise Stan Winston from the dead so he can make you a perfect megadick."

Women are usually asked to do the brunt of the nudity and I have long felt that wasn't fair and it was exploitative whether intentional or not.

I just think if you are going to ask actors to be vulnerable, everyone should do it or no one should do it.

I also think we need to see more normal non-porn genitals. Like, you can't brag about your progressive all-inclusive nudity if you slap a giant fake wang on every time.

/end tangent

And now, the spoilery part...

The big twist, which is really only a big twist for a character in the show and not the audience, is that the Blue Eye Samurai was born a girl. To avoid capture and death they essentially hid in a different gender identity. And I'm trying to decide if this is a trans story or not.

Sometimes it felt like the show was bluntly saying, "She's a girl. See, she has boobs and no penis. And we make a big deal about her getting caught naked. It's like Mulan!"

But then the show kinda/sorta implies that while identifying as a man was a tactic at first, the Blue Eye Samurai came to feel much more comfortable as a man most of the time and only revealed their feminine attributes to a select few. They also had a binding scene which felt like intentional trans imagery.

Since there wasn't the same concept of trans-ness in 1600s Japan as we understand it in modern times, I'm having trouble determining if this is just an homage to Mulan that wasn't thought very deeply about, or if this is allegory exploring a trans identity.

It is unclear if the identity was chosen purely out of necessity or if there was more to it.

Was it like... they tried on a coat because it was cold, but then they really liked how it fit and made it an essential part of their wardrobe?

Or was it just pure pragmatism? If they don't wear the coat they will die from exposure.

I'm worried they wanted to stay close to that line where they could say it wasn't a trans story if that ended up being more convenient. I don't know. I'm fine with allegory and I really enjoyed how they did it with Nimona, but this felt more deliberately ambiguous and it frustrated me a bit. It would be nice if we could just have blatant trans stories that didn't need to hide in ambiguity to avoid controversy. But maybe there were more obvious things I missed and my confusion is unwarranted.

I also think an argument could be made for ol' Blue Eye being genderfluid. Actually genderfluid would make a lot of sense. Their masculine side is the stoic warrior and their feminine side is their vulnerability, love, and humanity—reserved only for those most trusted. And when the two blend and they are a warrior woman they get super horny. So the entire spectrum is there.

I'm sure there will be a long complicated video essay analyzing this gender dynamic.

/end of spoilery section

In any case, I think if you liked Kill Bill, this might be a show that interests you. It has much less cultural appropriation and blatant stereotyping. No Pussy Wagon, but there is a cool horse. And they did use an all East Asian voice cast, so that representation was cool. And the co-showrunner was Japanese, and I think that influence definitely made a difference.

I give Blue Eye Samurai 7.5 Froggies out of 10.

[the-npd-culture-is]

quick post on NPD (narcissistic personality disorder) :

"Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a complex personality disorder often detected with other affective and personality disorders. [...] NPD is under the umbrella of Cluster B personality disorders, which include antisocial personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder."

- National library of medicine (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556001/]

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"Genetic and non-genetic influences on the hierarchy of traits that delineate personality disorder as measured by the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Problems (DAPP-DQ) scale were examined using data from a sample of 483 volunteer twin pairs (236 monozygotic pairs and 247 dizygotic pairs). [...] Additive genetic effects and unique environmental effects emerged as the primary influences on these scales, with unique environmental influences accounting for the largest proportion of the variance for most traits at all levels of the hierarchy."

- Jang KL, Livesley WJ, Vernon PA, Jackson DN. Heritability of personality disorder traits: a twin study. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1996 Dec;94(6):438-44. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1996.tb09887.x. PMID: 9020996. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9020996/]

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i hate how people online tend to water down the initial definitions and jump into conclusions. no one said "it's caused by childhood trauma." stop putting things into a box when they're way more complex and diverse and nuanced.

npd is primarily caused by trauma but very often individuals have a genetic predisposition to npd.

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flags

since there are two flags for npd that ive seen floating around, and since I've had people asking me why i chose the first one for this npd blog over the other, and some have never seen the first one before, im gonna give a quick explanation for both :

the first flag is the npd flag. it represents the disorder itself.

created by @/beyond-mogai-pride-flags on august 1, 2017 : https://www.tumblr.com/beyond-mogai-pride-flags/163661799375/narcissistic-personality-disorder-flag

"Design choice: the artist chose pastel pinks and yellows as they are very eye-catching colors that feel like very "outgoing" colors. In line with the outgoing and self assured face that people with NPD project, the pink is associated with confidence and the yellow with insecurity and anxiety. The purple is for royal purple, in the center, to represent the focus on self."

♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔

the second flag is the npd awareness flag. it's a flag representing everyone fighting for npd awareness, that including non-npd allies.

created by @/npdsafe then rebloged with the stripe meanings by @/liom-archive : https://www.tumblr.com/liom-archive/725390566188285952/npdsafe-npd-awareness-flag-i-wanted-to-make-a

concerning the second flag, there is also an alternate npd awareness flag :

created by @/npd flag : https://www.tumblr.com/npdflag/694773969935630336/an-alternate-version-of-the-npd-awareness-flag-by

♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔-♚-♔

the reason i chose the first flag is, well, mostly because it's the first that appeared in the research bar lol, but also because i wanted to highlight and focus on the disorder itself instead of using the more generalised flag. to me it felt a bit like using the LGBTQ ally flag instead of the flag of a specific sexuality. on top of that, the majority if not all npd related accounts are using the second flag, so i wanted to make something a bit more unique with my blog presentation. and finally, i just like aesthetically the first one more hehe.

both flags are awesome and you are free to prefer one over the other, aesthetically or for any other reason. i simply chose to use one over the other for simplicity.

[zombubble]

📓

(and I'd love some YOI of course!)

(In response to this post. Send me a 📓 and I'll tell you about a fic I have in mind.)

Oh you get a juicy, juicy fic from way back when. Affectionately called "Can't Touch This."

CW for angst and near-death experiences and uhh. Mild body horror? Sort of? Some people die but none of them are characters with names, nor are they very nice people to begin with.

It ends happily though, don't worry!

This fic is set in a vague fantasy magical setting that's supposed to resemble anything from like the late 1600s to the early 1800s. Because y'know, who needs historical accuracy in a world like this?

Childhood friends of sorts. They were school friends, and Viktor was a star student, advanced magic user, on track for some prestigious position right out of school. Yuuri was brilliant but struggled with doing things in the exact ways prescribed. His understanding of his magic and how to use it just didn't fit into the technical education mold.

Viktor tutored him though, and helped him figure out how to make his magic at least work with what they wanted him to do (or look like it did).

They parted ways when Yuuri graduated. Viktor was starting a teaching career at the university, while Yuuri went back to work with his parents in Yu-Topia.

They have a pair of boxes they can use to transport letters to each other, and while Yuuri keeps writing... Viktor does not. They fall out of touch, and Yuuri settles back into things.

Fast forward some years.

Yuuri's been working with his parents for a while now, and taking on other odd jobs in town that other magic users a) say are impossible, b) are unwilling to do, or c) will charge exorbitant amounts of money for.

One day, they get a guest from the north. He's called down to help prepare the room and it turns out to be Viktor. Yuuri's happy to see him, albeit confused. Viktor's very standoffish but also very nice.

Viktor says he's on break from teaching--a sabbatical of sorts--and that he just needs to look for some books? See if there are other people around for him to talk to about "uh... magic."

(Yuuri's like "Dude I'm right fucking here" but he doesn't say so.)

Still nice, like he had been, Viktor avoids Yuuri like the plague. Won't spend too much time with him, and leaps away when they're even close to physical contact which, you know, sucks because Yuuri'd gotten used to the little touches and hugs and the way Viktor expressed himself.

One day, he finds Viktor being attacked and realizes why.

(Cut here because a) it's getting long and b) this is where the horrifying stuff is.)

Viktor is trying to avoid conflict, avoid a fight, but the mugger comes at him, makes physical contact with him and starts screaming. Yuuri watches as the man just... melts, starting with where he'd touched Viktor. Ends up a pile of ooze.

Viktor's shellshocked, asks again and again why the person touched him when he said not to--he said not to, dammit--and Yuuri is. More understanding of why Viktor's so skittish.

He gets Viktor home (without touching him) and sits him down, forcing him to tell Yuuri about what's going on.

It's a curse. He'd been cursed by a colleague, and so far nothing he's tried has been able to break it. Makka's not with him because she loves cuddles and if he touches her, she'll die and he's horrified at himself, at his circumstances, at the possibility of killing another person.

Yuuri says they'll figure it out. Bullies Viktor (affectionately) into letting Yuuri go with him while they find magic, books, and/or magic users that can help them sort this out.

While they travel, Yuuri goes into town, handles dealing with people. He does the cooking (they don't know what Viktor's touch will do to food), and Viktor takes care of setting up camp and whatnot. Tries to stay away from everyone, to ignore the worsening nightmares.

Tries to ignore, too, the way the curse is getting worse and worse over time.

He and Yuuri dance around each other, pining. Viktor's not willing to let himself even think of trying to rebuild anything until he's not a walking death trap. Yuuri's trying to be understanding about the distance and such, but it keeps getting to him until they fight. They make up, though, and feel a little better about things.

After a few weeks of travel they end up at Minako's and everything she does a) hurts like a bitch and b) fails to work.

(Yuuri sits outside the door, unable to help, his head in his hands as he listens to what sounds like torture.)

They decide they need to go back to the university. Minako will try to meet them there.

Lots of touch starvation, lots of pining while they travel. Winter is settling in and it's cold and they can't even take shelter in each others' arms.

One night their camp is raided and Yuuri is injured badly. Viktor has no weapon to hand and if he tries to find one, Yuuri's going to die so he just leaps at their attackers and touches each and every one of them.

Yuuri is unconscious. Viktor begs him not to die, tells him he's in love with him and is sorry he didn't tell him before and to stick around, dammit.

Somehow, he gets Yuuri back to Minako.

Once Yuuri's safely with her for treatment, Viktor leaves on his own and heads back to the University.

On the way back, he finds a cave he remembers, from when he and a small group were snowed in years and years ago. It was bad. Some people didn't make it and Viktor and the few who lived were found unconscious, but despite the memories, it's a solid shelter.

He finds, there, his letterbox that he'd lost. It's full to bursting with Yuuri's letters and he realizes how it must have felt, all these years with no response. He'd had no idea where to even start looking for it and meant to try and/or write the inn, but hadn't known where to send a letter for Yuuri if not just... through the box.

He cries. He resolves again to get this curse broken so maybe he can actually hold his best friend/the man he's in love with.

Once he's at the University, Viktor sneaks in and runs almost directly into Yura. After explaining, begging, and promising a few rewards, Yura agrees to help him break into his colleague's office.

They look through stuff until Lilia and Yakov find him, and both are unimpressed.

At Minako's, Yuuri wakes. He doesn't remember the confession beyond words in a dream-like state, and doesn't believe it was real. He's injured, still, but when he finds out Viktor went to the University, he's livid.

But he's still healing, and he can't leave Minako's yet.

At the University, Lilia is working with Viktor and given she knew Viktor's colleague and how he worked, and given she has Minako's notes, she makes better headway with it.

Yuuri heals enough to be escorted home after a month, and goes back to working with his parents. He mostly helps in the kitchen, now, as it's most compatible with the effects of his injuries.

Viktor keeps trying. Lilia's last-ditch solution is an attempt to literally reform Viktor's magic, cutting out the parts corrupted by the spell and taking the spell out. He could lose his magic or his life for the procedure, but the spell will kill him soon if he doesn't.

In a letter to Yuuri, he explains everything and the last Yuuri hears from him is that he loves him (because Viktor had to make sure he knows.)

Fast forward a while, maybe a month or two.

Yuuri's working at the inn still, sure that if Viktor died they'd have told him and that's what he's clinging to. His parents don't know everything, nor does Mari, but they try to support him however they can. He's angry sometimes. Depressed others.

One day he's working and someone runs in, saying a man got hit by a wagon? He's unconscious in the street and can they possibly bring him in here while the doctor comes?

Yuuri's family runs out to help, of course. Yuuri follows.

He sees Viktor unconscious on the floor a moment before he sees his mother reaching out her hand to touch him and as he screams for her not to, he sees that... she's okay.

Groggy, Viktor sits up, holds her arm as he does and Yuuri realizes the curse is broken. Viktor's free of it.

It cost him his magic, but... he's okay with that if it means he can be with Yuuri.

There's a lot of soft love, confessions, Viktor staying and living there (can't teach magic without magic, after all) with Makka at his side.

And they live happily ever after!!!

I hope you enjoyed uwu............

[bookishfeylin]

Hi there! I read your post about Egypt and Cleopatra, and now I am really curious about the African Kingdoms you mentioned and was wondering if you could tell us more about them please, they sound really interesting.

Oh, there's SO much I could tell you, and there's so many African kingdoms that have been woefully understudied--and many more aside from the ones I mentioned. They all have their own rich histories, cultures, political intrigue, and it's an actual tragedy that they aren't discussed more. I'm still researching myself, so I'll just review some of my favorite things from each kingdom.

Aksumite/Axumite Empire: Located in modern-day Ethiopia, this empire existed from the 1st to 8th century CE, though its prime was from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE. The Axumites converted to Christianity of their own free will over 1,000 years before colonialism and as a result have ancient churches, some made of stone and carved from the earth itself. They also were the first African kingdom to mint their own coins, and their capital city of Axum had, at its peak, 20,000 people living in it. Also, I love the Dungur palace. Here's a reconstruction of what it looked like:

LOOK AT IT.

Source: x

Kongo: Located in central Africa around modern-day Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. This kingdom had a rich social hierarchy, apparently had ambassadors to Europe, and some people practiced Catholicism, which led to their own branch of Christianity led by a woman named Beatriz Kimpa Vita in the 1600s who believed she had visions that informed her Jesus actually came from Kongo. Yeah.

Sources: x, x

Loango: A neighbor of Kongo, but one we know much less about due to Kongo having a long, well-documented history of interacting with Europe (see: the ambassadors), and Loango... does not. But we do know they also had a rich social hierarchy, and we have this map of their capital city.

Sources: x, x

Great Zimbabwe: From 1100- 1500, located in modern-day Zimbabwe, this was a city of the Zimbabwe empire that was either used for storing grain or as a royal residence. Either way, the ruins of said city look like this:

Here's a reconstruction:

Sources: x, x, x, x

Ghana/Mali/Songhai: These were three successive empires from West Africa, with Ghana being the first from the 7th to 13th centuries, Mali being the second from the 13th to 16th centuries, and Songhai being the last one from the 15th to 16th centuries. If you learn about a non-Egyptian African civilization at all in school, chances are it's the Ghana empire and its successive empires, and they're most famous for gold, Timbuktu (with its ancient mosques, library, and university), and Mansa Musa.

Sources: x, x, x, x, x

Ashanti/Asante Empire: Located in modern day Ghana, this kingdom lasted from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century. This kingdom is most well-known for its role in the slave trade. The Ashanti had well-built roads and architecture, and a little fun tidbit about them is that, after the introduction of guns, they actually had a minor firearms industry.

Here's their capital, Kumasi:

Source: x, x

Swahili Coastline: The coastline was made up of MANY city-states that saw their prime in the 11th to 15th centuries--including Mombasa, Zanzibar, and Kilwa--that participated in the Indian Ocean trade route, and pottery from as far away as China has been found in these cities. Many of these cities also practiced Islam and had their own mosques. Kilwa is my personal favorite:

These cities were built of stone, but Kilwa's palace, in particular, was built of coral. Its architecture led to the city being described by Ibn Battuta as one of the most beautiful in the world, which is part of why it's so fascinating to me.

Source: x, x

Of course, this barely scratches the surface. There are many more kingdoms all over the continent and a variety from ancient and pre-medieval times that deserve much more love.

And this image doesn't even cover them all!

So yes, ancient and medieval Africa deserve much more love, more research and more hype, and hopefully one day soon they'll get just that.

[catebees]

@eurekq I'm answering in a post on its own cause this got a bit long. First of all, thank you so much! I try to take inspiration from medieval and early modern fashion but in no way am I an expert. That's why I mix in a bunch of fantasy/anachronistic stuff as well. Most of the references I used I found on Pinterest actually, but it took a lot to make the algorithm understand that I was not interested in the "Halloween costume" type‬ of medieval costuming. A good way to deal with that is to search for a specific year for clothing (1450s is always better than late medieval), or even the name of a specific garment worn at the time (houppelande, tabard, hennin...). Wikipedia has some pretty exhaustive explanations of what people used to wear, century by century (example). You can also check out museum collections, some let you browse by era and location (the MET and the Victoria and Albert Museum are two that come to mind rn). Other resources I used for this were: Priorattire's videos on YT (they often show all of the steps to getting dressed, so you can see all the layers） CrowsEyeProductions's Tudor royal household video (same thing, especially centered on royal servants and nobles in early/mid 1500s England） Robinswords's shorts (big fan of the guy, knows a lot about swords, sometimes makes special vids for artists posing with certain weapons.) (For armor I mostly just look for cosplayers/reenactors who seem to know what they're doing, and try to find something that may look like a realistic version of the in-game ones. I'm also really partial to the ones from the Witcher III).

I also think a big thing I do to stay somewhat consistent is to pick an era of fashion for each region of Thedas and stick to it. Ferelden is 1300/1400s Britain and France (ironcally), while the Free Marches are 1500s/early 1600s depending on the city. Kirkwall is also a pretty steampunk place, so if an Amell is wearing accurate Tudor era clothes‬, a pirate or a Crow may lean more towards a bodice-ripping, audience-pleasing tight leather fit.

I think this is all, I wish I had a more exhaustive reference list but it's mostly stuff I absorbed through the years and pure imagination. Hope this was helpful!

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

Hi

Why do people say cultural and contest wise the wen remands death wasn’t wrong cuz blood revenge how does that work? Tried asking someone who said and they called me white American even though I’m neither like they’re the once saying agent China didn’t have morals but I’m the uncultured one for some reason

Because they're pulling excuses out of their bum.

Now, there WAS a system called "Family Extermination" or the Execution Of the Nine Guanxi (The principles that dictated calling others as kin by confucian concept) Or 诛连九族 zhulian ju zu, guilt by association. This was done in mass as Lingchi 凌迟 (I doubt I need to remind this fandom what this is now do I?)

The punishment of death went as so:

The criminal's living parents

The criminal's living grandparents

Any children the criminal may have, over a certain age (varying over different eras, children below that age becoming slaves) and—if married—their spouses.

Any grandchildren the criminal may have, over a certain age (again with enslavement for the underaged) and—if married—their spouses.

Siblings and siblings-in-law (the siblings of the criminal and that of his or her spouse, in the case where he or she is married)

Uncles and aunts of the criminal, as well as their spouses

The criminal's cousins (in the case of Korea, this included up to second and third cousins)

The criminal's spouse

The criminal's spouse's parents

The criminal (The first offender)

But even historically, this was almost unheard of to implement and was all but nulled by the time of the Shang dynasty's (1600–1046 BC) rise in China and "post-modern" East Asian society.

With that out of the way, The text of the work condemns what was done to the remaining Wens as cruel and unusual punishment, and hypocritical for the cultivation world as a whole. There is no cultural excuse given in the work for the justification that killed the Wens, remaining cultivators or not. MXTX also did not condem Wei Wuxian for being radical for standing against the persecution of the remaining Wens. What was done to the Wens was anachronistically influenced by this historical process, but as with everything else in the book, is written as a heinous act.

There is no such thing as blood revenge within Family Extermination as it was only used in regards to treason, of the divinity of the Imperial Court, and Emperor. The Cultivation world is neither divine, or imperial within MDZS. It is a separate political entity in that universe. They have no reason to logically claim this punishment, and it was not used on the Wens. They were brutally beaten instead and left to rot in a pool. Lingchi, was a very public execution as a warning of what happens when you go against the divine right and rule. Those children left alive due to "statutes" lost any previous status their family name once held and were all but nameless slaves. The Wens, was just a senseless murder under the veneer of righteousness for a nameless concept that was different for all involved with the deaths. Family Extermination was for the Divine Family, and them alone to establish as a sentence.

[butchhamlet]

Do you have any Othello thoughts? I liked it all but most especially when unprompted and for no particular reason Iago constructs a lie about making out with Cassio in his bed at night. Like. He very very easily could have just said a slightly different lie that didn't involve an unconscious Cassio pulling him in for a smooch and then he lets it happen for? Minuets? I guess? Never pulls away? Like I'm truly floored by the sheer level of how unnecessary it is for Iago to construct this particular story. Just fucking tell the guy you heard Cassio sleep talking. Huh. Also why were you sleeping in his bed already in the first place that is never brought up by anyone, ever. Truly an insane scene to me

LITERALLY WHY DID HE DO THAT. WHY DID HE DO THAT!!! in general i don't love the directions people take gay iago (often, like, "he's jealous of desdemona for getting to have othello and thus decides to ruin their relationship because he's gay and twisted" or whatever) because i think it kind of ignores the occam's razor fact that iago is racist. like. he is a complex character with a lot of motivations but the prime motivation for the specific shit he does to othello is racism. HOWEVER. the WAY he acts toward cassio. there is NO heterosexual explanation for that what the fuck is going ooooooooooooon. othello doesn't even call him on it he's just like yeah okay that sounds about right he threw his leg over you and you guys made out

anyway i don't have a ton of thoughts on othello but i do like it! it is the only shakespeare play that makes me actively tense even when i'm rereading it for the third or fourth time. i've seen it compared to merchant & taming of the shrew as the plays with the most potential to do harm and perpetuate/create stereotypes, and i think that's true, but i also think othello has over merchant and taming that it is actually well-constructed and interesting. and i do think it's fascinating that it does have real points to make about the psychological effects of being forced into a model minority role, but also, like, it's a white guy writing in the 1600s, so how good can it really be and is it still worth performing today? (recommended reading on this: this article, keith hamilton cobb's american moor. please read american moor it's so fucking good it's a stage play in monologue format about a modern black actor trying out for othello and musing on his complicated relationship with shakespeare and it's SO good)

scattered personal feelings: emilia is a lesbian. i know it's important that desdemona is not actually cheating on othello, but i feel like if she and emilia kissed it wouldn't count because they're girl best friends. iago has gotta be one of shakespeare's best roles, actingwise, but it always strikes me as somewhat discomfiting that he gets more lines than and as much exploration as othello, the titular hero, because imo it again emphasizes that this is a play written by a white man, however hard that white man is trying, from a white society and a white vantage point. desdemona and othello make me really fucking sad. and cassio's fun i like him that guy's bisexual as fuck

[not-poignant]

Is there something about video games as a medium that you enjoy for writing fic? Was just curious bcos I was going thru my bookmarks and the only video game fics were yours, books/tv shows seem to be more common? They're great and I love them btw <3 I just love ur explanations for things haha

Hi hi anon!

Yeah I've written rather a lot of video game fanfics now haven't I?

I didn't really set out to do that, but there is something I really like about video game characters:

They're just not characterised as well as most other characters, lmao, which gives a lot of empty spaces to kind of 'fill them up' with my own development, while they still get to be relatively canon compliant.

Like, I'd say the exception there is Dragon Age: Inquisition, where I played my first file for like 220 hours (without any DLC or killing the end boss) and mostly just was gathering information to build Cullen's and Bull's characters in ways that did keep them canon compliant, but there was still a fuckton of stuff that was missing, that could be completely invented and fabricated.

And I love doing that.

Stardew Valley are the 'thinnest' characters I've ever worked with. They can be summed up as 'he's a jock, but...' or 'he's a goth, but...' or 'he's an alcoholic, but...' and then you just add all 98% of the rest of the character in any direction that you want based off about 40 lines of dialogue.

Anon, I've never even played Detroit: Become Human, I just watched some Let's Plays.

And Hades has a lot of dialogue, but also a LOT of empty spaces in general character and world-building where you just get to make up whatever you like with or without a patchwork of whatever Greek mythology you want to draw from that day.

I have actually written quite a few book and movie fanfics, and a few television shows as well. My favourite fanfics are based off a book series and a movie respectively (that would be The Beast that Chose Its Own Bridle and The Golden Age that Never Was). The story Stuck on the Puzzle used to be my fave, but it's still top 3. :)

I think what I also enjoy is, more than anything, all my video game fanfics are the ones that people say 'you don't need to know anything about the game/story, you can just start reading' the most to. I find I generally don't have to do as much research to get started (I'm really lazy), but I guess you could count me having played Stardew Valley for 1600 hours as research, heh.

[triviareads]

I finished 'Mercy' after you recommended it and loved it! Do you have any more FemDom recs for me?

I'm glad you enjoyed it!! It's such a novel book to me in the way Sara redeems Beau and writes him as a brat, and I really loved the taboo "best friend's son" thing. Here are some more femdom recs

Contemporary

Beg For It by Megan Hart: A second chance femdom romance! They met when they were in their early 20s they just naturally figure out their dynamic and he's very service oriented (at one point she's crying while she remembers how he would meticulously paint her nails and tbh I felt that) and likes punishment. Fast forward and they're both middle aged and she's divorced, and he ends up buying(?) the company she works which is how they meet again and they resume their relationship. Also, the DEFIANCE in this middle aged man when he's like "I'm not your boy anymore!!" is very funny and patently untrue. Plus, there's pegging that isn't relegated to a bonus scene.

Preferential Treatment by Heather Guerre: One of my favorite Fated Mates recs; he's a billionaire and she's his employee he pays to domme him. There are a lot of sexually charged chess games (with sex toys...?) and there's a financial domination aspect, the most hysterical part being that she has him donating to PACs dedicated to overthrowing Citizens United

What Was Meant to By by Heather Guerre: Marriage of convenience set in a small town except this small town blue collar man likes to be called a good boy in bed and loves it when his wife takes charge.

Also sidenote, I've seen multiple reviews complaining about how they were "surprised" Rain was the dominant one and "it didn't make sense considering she'd been isolated a lot of her adult life" and "there was no backstory" to which I'd say, why does there need to be a backstory? Why does there need to be an explanation about why Rain likes what she likes when I doubt any of these people would require one if it turned out the hero was the more dominant one in the bedroom. Especially in a book that isn't mainly about exploring kink and the mcs just kind of have kinks that fit together, there's little need, and I'd love to see more of that in romance novels.

Rules We Break by Dana Isaly: This is a novella; She's older and his boss, and they rekindle their relationship for a night in Nashville. There's service stuff, there's punishment, there's a lot of toys.

Historical:

The Duke I Tempted by Scarlett Peckham: Marriage of convenience between a powerful duke and a gardener— the bargain is an heir for money for her gardening business except they fall in love ofc, all while he's hiding that he's a masochist and frequents whipping houses. The reveal (to Poppy) happens fairly late in the book from what I remember, but she does ask him to teach her how to please him.

Would I Lie to the Duke by Eva Leigh: She's in the soapmaking business and he's a duke but also v business oriented; I remember him being kind of an.... alpha sub? If that makes any sense whatsoever, but he's into submission/service-oriented but he's still kind of calling the shots with Jessica especially in the beginning.

Scandalous Passions by Nicola Davidson: an MFF romance set in the 1600s in Scotland between an ex-royal mistress, a naive ingenue type, and a strong but silent soldier; the ex-mistress, Janet, definitely takes charge of her earlier encounters with Marjorie and Lachlan and kind of controlled the proceedings from what I remember. Also, solid dirty talk as is standard for this author.

Nicola Davidson has a handful of other femdom books from what I remember, but I've yet to read them. I'm also told The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian qualifies

[dominickeating-source]

TV ZONE ISSUE 132 - PAGE 48

Dominic Keating & Kira Clavell - Devilish Duo Evil has never looked so good or been this bad

Night has fallen on the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Its docklands, normally quiet at this time, are a-buzz with activity. The cast and crew of the new Action/Fantasy television series The Immortal are settling in for a long night shoot. The sound of a car engine gets closer and a sleek, deep purple Prowler stops in front of one of the trailers. The driver, actress Kira Clavell, and a crew member exit the vehicle. Dominic Keating sticks his head out of the open trailer and playfully shakes a finger at his co-star. "Ah, ha, where have you been? We've been waiting for you," he teases. Clavell smiles, "I'm so sorry. They asked me if I wanted to test-drive the car. I couldn't say no." He laughs and says, "She just loves playing with the props. "Keating lights a cigarette and joins Clavell on the sofa inside the trailer. Both actors are wearing suitably evil black garb in preparation for their scenes later that night. On The Immortal they play a pair of centuries-old demons named Mallos (Keating) and Vashista (Clavell). Their characters are being chased through Tim by The Immortal. Raphael Cain (series leading man Lorenzo Lamas), and his young sidekick Goodwin (Steve Braun). Long ago the two evil doers wronged Cain and he is out for revenge.

Wear Well

"Mallos and Vashista are very old but they look pretty food for their age," jokes Keating. "The two began their evil escapades in ancient Japan during the 1600s. They came from the Earth's core or the Devil's conveyor belt if you will. There's this amazing scene in the pilot where the two demons and their horses are spat forth from the ground and are covered in molten lava." His co-star interjects, "That particular scene was so cool. We got to ride these great big beautiful black horses. The costumes we wore were absolutely fantastic, too. It's such a treat to have a detailed wardrobe like that because it helps get you into the mood of the times." Keating chuckles, "Yes, the costume department did do a wonderful job. However, that day I was more concerned with the fact that it would be my first time riding a horse. I did OK and was quite pleased with my saddle ability. I didn't fall off, I hit my mark and I remembered my lines." "Anyway, getting back to doing evil. Mallos and Vashista first cross paths with Raphael Cain when they kill his wife and kidnap his child. I assume they still have her in some kind of demon nursery, although she'd be fairly old by now. It's through their acts of violence that Raphael becomes The Immortal. The show flits back and forth between modern and ancient times to allow the viewers to witness this transformation. So his quest is to find his daughter and, along the way, fight evil and slay demons." "Mallos and Vashista have been at this little cat and mouse game for 400 years," continues the actor. "When you next see the two demons it's in the present. They're dressed in modern day clothes, all black, of course, carrying their cell phones and cruising the streets in their Prowler. They look like a pair of so-called 'beautiful people' from Beverly Hills or Hollywood."

Passions

According to the actors, their characters share more than just a passion for evil. "Apparently, the writers modeled the relationship between Mallos and Vashista on a real-life celebrity pair." says Keating. "So they're lovers, I guess, but there's something about their attraction to each other that's just not right, so you know what I mean?" Clavell adds, "I think they have a very volatile and unpredictable relationship. Yes, they share a strong chemistry, but you're not sure if this will cause them to make love of try to kill each other. Let's just say that it certainly keeps work interesting for me and Dominic," she laughs. Both actors had a great deal of stage, film and tv experience prior to being cast on The Immortal. London-born Keating made his professional debut on stage in 1987 at Man in the Moon theater in Chealsea. This was followed by more stage appearances in London as well as Edinburgh and Dublin. He has guest-starred on British tv series Inspector Morse and The Bill and was a series regular on Teenage Health Freak and Desmond's. Since coming across the pond, Keating has worked on a number of movies including most recently The Hollywood Sign starring Tom Berenger, Burt Reynolds,, and Rod Steiger. On tv he has had roles on GysE, Poltergeist: The Legacy and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The actor was slated to play the part of Goodwin on The Immortal but things changed before his audition. "They decided to age it [the series] down to appeal to a younger, broader-based audience. So Steve was brought in for Goodwin and it became clear that I could play one of the two lead demons. Malice, who then became Mallie and now Mallos. I read once for Michael Grais [executive producer] and, luckily, I nailed it. I was asked back to meet Lorenzo and the rest of the production team, we talked about golf and they offered me the job."

Tough-Gal

The actor's beautiful co-star Clavell planned to major in political science and psychology at university before the acting bug bit her. "I knew if I didn't try it [acting] I would regret it, so I did," she says happily. Lately, the actress has been cast in "tough-gal" parts, which has been ideal training for her role of Vashista on The Immortal. "I played a terrorist on an episode of La Femme Nikita and got to fire an M25 and another really neat gun. I don't know, perhaps I was an assassin in a previous life." laughs Clavell. Keating nudges her playfully in the arm and smiles, "To look at her you'd think butter would melt in that mouth." Clavell elbows him back, "When it came to my first audition for Vashista, I did it on tape. The moment I read the character breakdown I knew I'd have fun playing her. I did two five-minute takes and sent the tape to the show's producers. Naturally, I was thrilled when I received a call-back. I was flown out to Vancouver to do a live audition for a roomful of people including Michael Grais and David Straiton, who directed The Immortal pilot." "I wore this Vashista-like cat suit and after my audition I went into the ladies' room to change," recalls the actress. "When I cane out everyone was gone. I thought, 'Oh, I guess they didn't like me'. I went to see my agent and, much to my surprise, was told that the producers had called and the role was mine! So here I am!"

Anti-Demon Ally

In the two-hour pilot episode 'Demons of the Night', Cain and Goodwin gain an ally, Dr. Sara Beckman (April Telek), when they save her from two demons. Cain is hurt and they go to Sara's apartment where he can rest and heal himself. The Immortal does not know that his arch-enemies, Mallos and Vashista, are close by and are planning to deal him and his friends a deadly blow - Keating and Clavell start laughing when they recall their first day working together. "Ah, yes, this is when we shot my two favorite scenes in the pilot," grins Keating. "I'd been late for the read-through on the previous Friday. Not the best way to begin but I eventually got there. Kira and I then met over the weekend for dinner and at least got to know each other a bit. On Monday morning we arrived downtown at the location shoot on Vancouver Street. It was 7:15 and freezing cold. In the first scene, our two characters blow up Sara's apartment. Mallos aims his demon finger at the apartment window and Vashista starts getting all hot and bothered. Before you know it, the have their arms and legs wrapped around each other," laughs the actor. "Boy, these two really get off doing evil stuff!" "The next scene we filmed was in a restaurant. Mallos and Vashista are feeding each other raw fish while discussing someone else's demise. Suddenly, she gets all excited and climbs up on the table. Before you know it, the sushi is on the floor along with the champagne and everything else on the table." Clavell looks at Keating and says, "She seems to be a very excitable character, don't you think?" The actor nods in agreement and continues, "The funny thing was the director said to us, 'That's great That was amazing! That was electric! It was terrific! Do you think you could tone it down a bit, though? We don't know yet what time of the day or night this show is going to air.' So we made things more G-rated." Originally, Mallos and Vashista were to appear in only the first couple of episodes. However, the writers decided to bring the evil twosome back periodically throughout the first season. This was good news for Clavell and Keating, who are looking forward to doing as much as possible with their characters. "When I first started acting I'd always be cast as the best friend or the girl next door. With Vashista and, as I said earlier, some of my other recent roles, I've gone from being really good to being really bad and I love it!" Keating is equally as pleased to be working on the series. "As an actor, sometimes it gets boring waiting around while the next shot is being set up. It's at times like that when I say to myself, 'Hey, I'm getting to create a dream world that doesn't exist and that entertains people. How lucky am I?' Trust me, that puts things right in perspective."