#past!earl

[earlgraytay]

I really wish that people had a better grasp on what The Average Person's Life was like pre-industrialization. If you're living in the global North the odds are good that your life is, in fact, better than a medieval king- yes, even with the political stuff- and would make your ancestors cry wild tears of envy.

The things that suck about your life are things that suck about the baseline human condition (at least since the invention of agriculture, but that's 10,000 years of humanity). Yes, including all the political stuff.

The baseline human condition is "being terrified of losing the harvest and starving", compared to that, losing a job is no big deal. (It's bad, it can be life-upendingly bad, but it's still not "you are guaranteed to die if you screw this up" bad for most people.)

The baseline human condition is "getting kicked around by a tin pot dictator", whether that be a king, a baron, a warlord, or a chief; it's taken centuries of social technology to get the world to a point where that's Not Normal.

The baseline human condition is "losing multiple siblings and/or children at a young age to diseases that are entirely preventable". That's a shocking tragedy now. The baseline human condition is "being in the pathway of said tinpot dictator's wars of conquest" and having to deal with soldiers' pillage, looting, and worse (even if they're nominally on your side). That is, again, a shocking tragedy-- it still happens, and happens in way too much of the world, but no one is going to tell you that it's normal.

I'm not saying that we can sit back and rest on our laurels. We can't. I've been calling the pre-industrial world the "baseline human condition" for a reason- unless you're very, very careful, that's what your society eventually reverts to. It takes a lot of people working very hard to make sure you don't have to live at the baseline human condition, and if you start slacking on that, you start backsliding into it.

How we treat each other- and how we use the technology, material and social, that we've developed to make things easier- matters. We can make the world even better than it is now. We can also make it significantly worse. The choice is ours.

...But if you know that you can reliably have food regardless of the season, you don't live in fear of a random attack killing you tomorrow, and you can listen to music on command whenever you want? You do actually live a better life than a medieval king. Because even kings and emperors were much closer to the baseline human condition than a random farm worker in Bumfuck, Iowa is today.

[rolfe-dewolfe-fan-page]

Thought this fit

[kipper7]

I’ve felt like sketching recently

@pogostikk

@ceephorsshitshow / @pink-onyx-au

@ask-whitepearl-and-steven / @chekhovdraws

[sunshine-and-her-ikevil-stuff]

Toxic yaoi

Toxic. Yaoi

[aubadeatelier]

This year 2024, a bunch of people in the DGM fandom gathered for a secret santa event-- or a Secret Lero Gift event rather! I made one for cylinderhat/ms_anya. They're on Twitter! please show their amazing art some love!

I was given the prompt of Mana organizing a play and making everyone participate and this somehow turned into playing a little bit of dress up with the characters. (Yes, that is an interpretation of a 'younger' Cross in a dress. And yes, it was fun to design!)

Happy Holidays everyone and may the year ahead be promising and wonderful!

[chaoticace2005]

D Gray Man family trees are so fun to think about

So... with Allen there's Cross who was his master and Mana who adopted him, but then we have the additional complexity from the last chapter.

Allen is both Past!Allen but also a product of Past!Allen as well as possibly Past!Lavi (given the same hair color) due to Apocryphos’ fuckery.

In the case that this is true, and Allen is partly a product of Past!Lavi, then there would be the Bookman to consider. Bookman likely raised Past!Lavi, which would sort of make him Allen’s grandpa. And with current Lavi… Bookman also raised him which could arguably make him Past!Lavi’s younger brother and Allen’s uncle, or if he’s a product of Past!Lavi make him his pseudo-brother, or if he IS Past!Lavi make him his pseudo-father?

So basically Lavi could arguably be Allen’s pseudo-brother, uncle, or father. So, that’s fun.

Then we get to the Noah side, which is somehow more complicated.

Mana is the Earl, so the Earl is also Allen’s father. But Mana is also a product of the previous Earl (Adam), making the Earl Allen’s grandpa. Nea is Mana’s brother, so Allen’s uncle, and their sharing a body.

We have no idea what’s up with Tyki, if it’s a coincidence he looks like Nea or if he’s a clone or what. But he also was with the Earl for a while (in some translations 10+ years) so the Earl could have helped raise him, making Allen his adoptive brother. But if Tyki somehow a product of Nea that would make Allen his cousin.

And genetically if Tyki is a clone of Nea, the identical twin of Mana, that would also mean he’s genetically similar to Mana, Allen’s adoptive father. Who seems to be genetically similar to Adam, the first Earl.

So Tyki is either Allen’s brother or cousin. In the case that he’s Allen’s cousin, that would make Sheryl and his kids also cousins. But if he’s Allen’s brother… that means Sheryl is sort of also his brother, and Road and Wisely are his niece/nephews and…

Sorry Allen, family dinners are gonna be a shitshow.

In summary-

Past!Allen- Allen, Allen's "producer"

Past!Lavi- Aid in producing Allen (assumption 1)

Bookman- Allen's "grandpa" (1, assumes Past!Lavi was raised by Bookman)

Lavi- Allen's brother (1, assuming he is also a product of Past!Lavi), Allen's uncle (1, he is NOT a product of past!Lavi but was raised by Bookman), Allen's "father" (1, he is an alternate form of Past!Lavi, in which case he may also still be Allen's "brother")

Cross- Master

Apocryphos- Creepy fuck who did stuff

Mana/Earl- Allen's adoptive father

Adam/Earl- Allen's adoptive grandpa

Nea- Allen's uncle and also possessing him

Tyki- Allen's cousin (if he's a product of Nea), brother (assumption 2: if raised by the Earl/Mana), may be a clone of his uncle (who is identical to Allen's adoptive father and grandfather?)

Cheryl- Allen's quasi-brother (2, if Tyki was raised by the Earl), cousin (if Tyki a product of Nea), uncle?

Road and Wisely- Allen's quasi-niece/nephews (2), Allen's cousins

[mariocki]

Doctor X (1932)

"If you ask me, I think Dr. Xavier is using very unethical methods."

"Necessity has no ethics, sir."

[earl-grey-crow]

someone needs to take coyle to coyle's

[teehee-vibes]

Sometimes, I think I want Grizzly to put more gay men in Riptide.

Other times, I remember Dark Puckered Hole and reevaluate.

[millifaceagain]

I found the best NPC in all of Dragon Age the Veilguard. Juanita a fruit(?) merchant in Treviso. She has a best friend name Mariana. She has a very Antivan way of solving the problem of her husband the Earl.

I want to think that her best friend Mariana co-owns her road side stand where they sell Seleny ham and strawberry jam.

[thetonsource]

@thetonsource presents: a victorian holiday novella selection ❄️

“there’s this man. he’s had his eye on me for months, but i haven’t always treated him kindly.” her words faltered. “he gave me the truth for christmas. the first time—and the second time—and the third time he offered it, i couldn’t take it. how do i let him know…” her voice faltered. “how do i let him know that i want nobody but him?”

a kiss for midwinter by courtney milan

“i might not have the same body you became acquainted with, the same scars or history. i don’t have the hands that touched you. the mouth that tasted you, not exactly. but i have the soul that adored you from the first moment i laid eyes on you.”

the earl of christmas past by kerrigan byrne

“i’m not a man given to great expressions of emotion. it’s not how i was raised. it’s not how i’ve lived my life. but i do feel things deeply. i may not always show it, but i do.”

a holiday by gaslight by mimi matthews

[earlgraytay]

So, you've probably all seen this post going around, about how The Chuds Want Gentleman's Clubs (but can't afford to go to the things called "gentlemen's clubs" today, so wouldn't have been able to in the past either). And I hate to say it, but that post isn't accurate.

The things we call "gentlemen's clubs" today and the things that were called "gentleman's clubs" in the past are not the same thing; the one is descended from the other, but they used to be a lot more common and served a purpose that they don't really serve anymore.

The modern equivalent of the historical gentleman's club isn't the thing currently called a gentleman's club; it's the premium airport lounge. And by losing the concept for all but the turbo-rich, I think we genuinely have lost something! Let me explain.

(NOTA BENE: This is mostly about England and from about 1880-1930, and most of my experience with this is from fiction written in that era. I know enough to know what I don't know, but I also know menswear guy is wrong about this.)

So- gentlemen's clubs started in *wiggles hands* the late 1700s, and mostly served a particular purpose: they were places you could stay in a city if you mostly lived in the country, instead of staying in lodgings or owning your own place. Finding a place to stay in London was kind of a misery at the best of times, and owning your own house in Town wasn't practical for a lot of people, even rich people. If you were, say, a young man, just starting out in life, and you hadn't inherited your father's wealth but also weren't set up to live on your own? Having a place you were guaranteed to be able to stay was a fucking godsend. And as time went on, even people who lived in London most of the time started joining clubs, because they served another important purpose- they were a place you could go if you didn't particularly want to be at home, for whatever reason.

The way that historical gentlemen's clubs worked is, you got recommended to the club by a friend who was a member, you paid dues to the club, and in exchange, you'd get to use the club's facilities. * Most gentlemen's clubs had, at minimum, a dining room (with waitstaff, natch), a library, a couple of nice places to sit and hang out, a game room, and a bar. Many of them also had rooms you could sleep in overnight, fitness equipment, or stuff related to the club members' interests. Most of them had a room or two where you could invite friends who weren't part of your club and spend time with them. In the era where phones were a thing, a lot of them had a phone. You could write letters there and get your mail sent there.

Here's the thing: in the period I know best, gentlemen's clubs weren't just for the turbo-rich. They were the province of rich guys, yes- you had to be a 'gentleman' and know the right people to get in. But men who were doctor/lawyer/software-developer rich were most likely members of a gentlemen's club. Anyone who was rich enough to travel regularly was part of at least one club, because having somewhere to crash when you were going between (say) London and Delhi and back again was worth the cost.

Most gentlemen's clubs were owned by their members- not an outside corporate body. The club leaders were elected, usually by a small committee.

And a lot of gentlemen's clubs founded around specific interests, as time went on. There were gentlemen's clubs specifically for Guys Who Were Really Into Radio. There were clubs specifically for men who spent a lot of time traveling. There were clubs specifically for dudes who wanted to talk your ear off and clubs for old dudes who mostly wanted to nod off in their chairs and talk about The War and clubs for dudes who did not want to be percieved at all.

There were clubs for men who were really into science, or the arts, or sports. And one perk of being in a club like this is that you had access to equipment that you might not have been able to buy on your own. You didn't have to shell out for an entire library of scientific and medical books; you could go to your club and read in the library there. If your club had, say, an art studio, you could go paint at your club and not have to keep a studio space of your own.

There were gentlemen's clubs specifically oriented around specific political or social views. There were socialist clubs. (And a lot of them admitted women, which was !!!SCANDALOUS!!!) Like, they were still the province of goddamn rich people, there were a lot of trust fund baby socialists and not many working people, but there were socialist social clubs.

...I don't want to pretend that gentlemen's clubs were some kind of idyllic haven. 99% of these clubs were For Men, and For The Right Sort Of Men at that; if you didn't have a friend who was a member, or you weren't "respectable" enough, you didn't get to join. There's a reason that most of these clubs are gone now. Part of the point was excluding the Wrong Sort of People, and that became gauche over time. After a certain point, being part of a club became a thing for stodgy, out-of-touch rich men- not just "men who happened to have enough money to be part of a club"- and so most of the men who could join one didn't, and people stopped forming new ones. Only Old Money assholes (who will continue to do what they've always done, current trends be damned) keep the concept alive.

But like... the thing that replaced gentlemen's clubs for 99% of the people who would have had one a hundred years ago... is the premium airport lounge, and the premium gym membership, and the ~coworking hub~.** Anyone can join, yeah, as long as they're able to pay. You pay a corporation a chunk of money for similar amenities, and the amenities are ... fine? But because the entity is driven by profit, most of the money you're paying them goes into running their other business concerns and paying their CEOs a fat paycheck.

I think... as exclusionary as gentlemen's clubs were back in the day, there's the seed of a good idea there. I think the guys who wish they were still an attainable thing for a middle-class person have a point, and I wish we could inject some fucking nuance into this conversation.

A community-owned space that gives you a place to crash when you need one, has community-owned resources for its members, and isn't beholden to a corporation is a good thing. Third spaces that don't have to turn a profit are a damn good thing.

At the end of the day, my politics are 'everyone should get to have the kind of luxuries that were historically reserved for the rich'. Everyone should get to have the best life has to offer- leisure, beauty, good craftsmanship, and community. And so, you know, if this kind of community space sounds like a thing you'd like to have, maybe it's something you could work towards creating, too.

*TBF, this is still how they work today! But the networks are much smaller.

**I do find it very funny that apparently one of the biggest problems facing the few remaining Actual Gentlemen's Clubs (TM) is that people are trying to use their space to telework-- a lot of them are trying to ban laptops and business talk to "keep the club's character" (read: "we're too rich to have to work here").

[poupeesdecirque]

This year I was somehow blessed with plenty of christmas themed ideas and they all wanted to be drawn, all at once.

First my idea was just one for Allen because of his birthday. Then i thought something to honor my little fic 'Silent night' from last year and then ... Noah shenanigans while making a gingerbread hous.... tent.

The last one was the most fun of them all.

[falloutglow]

I did it. I finally drew/painted Echo’s morally grey asshole of a father. Meet Edgar Earl Gray✨ a psyker with the ability to dream walk and hide his identity with his face hidden behind static.

I’ve talked about him before [here] if you’re curious.

[sunshine-and-her-ikevil-stuff]

This event is making me wonder who's more popular. Elbert or Alfons

Definitely not so I can get a higher ranking and maybe finally get a gacha ticket

[selfinflictedgunshotwound]

having twin peaks thoughts & theories bc i just started watching the return (i know spoilers ofc) and i have literally nowhere else to put my thoughts so i'm just gonna dump them here.

obviously i don't every single thing about twin peaks was meant to just be like... One Thing and that's it. i think there's room for interpretation for a reason butttt the one thing i just keep going back to about the show is just that. like. it's about the corruption of innocence and the perversion of family. of cycles of violence and abuse. children being sexually taken advantage of by "trusted" adults. teenage prostitution rings. barely a single relationship in the town wherein people aren't cheating on someone/cheated in the past. bob being "the evil that men do" (tbf this is technically just albert's theory but i choose to believe it) and now this weird thing with judy/the experiment (are they the same thing? idk yet) being the thing that CREATED bob? there's this weird thing i get with the black lodge/waiting room like... good people can't survive there without disappearing completely (nonexistence) or being permanently changed (in the case of annie, ig)

and then ofc you have the tormented souls being trapped there (laura, maddy, caroline(tbh idk what was going on w her doppelganger being there?), leland(he was originally a victim too, i'm getting there)) because of the things that were done TO them. i was thinking like. in regards to the frogmoth that crawled into sarah's mouth (when she was a child) and everything that's going on w/ her in the return (watching insanely violent things on tv, "eating" men, etc.) ... compounded with leland's story about bob "I was just a boy. I saw him in my dreams. He said he - he wanted to play. He opened me and I invited him and he came inside me." ... mr. c's introduction song being a twisted version of "american woman" (i've heard this is also related to diane's doppelganger, as well. makes sense) w/ the stand-out lyrics (aka the backwards ones) being "all my headstrong women... don't let em put you in a corner. make em salute you like a flag on the fourth of july." and sarah palmer having a shortened and remixed version of "good man" blaring in her house that just repeats the lyrics "i'm a good man. i'm having fun." like. there's smth to this i'm not insane...

anyways to go even FURTHER... there being specific emphasis on being in the right time and the right place. opposites (giant and dwarf, young and old, black and white, etc.) and the planets jupiter and saturn.

the experiment violently killing that couple that was watching the glass box bc they were having sex? or because they were(n't) watching? or both? the experiment very obviously being the thing inside of sarah but it pulling off it's own face within sarah and revealing a smile that looks eerily similar to laura's (even if not exact... ppl are such pedants about things being exact in this show where literally everything is drenched in like 8 metaphors at any given time) AND the laura in the black lodge/waiting room removing her own face in the exact same way. it's weird that in this instance, laura's dialectical opposite or opposing force is her own mother who she claims she has so much in common with. but this goes even a step further because when the experiment spawned in the glass box, it has a gold orb (or smth like it) like the one laura's like... spirit? was born from? AND APPARENTLY there's a little clip of what sounds like sheryl lee's voice saying "gone" or "the one" or something like that while the experiment is flying towards them (not unlike an owl) to kill them... hm. not to mention the experiment has a proboscis-like knife that comes out of its mouth that it uses to kill the guy sexually harrassing sarah at the bar... and carrie page has a dead guy in her motel room that has a hole in his head... could obviously def just be a bullet-wound LMAO but idk let's have fun w it!

i do think there's a crazy connection between sarah, laura, and the experiment/judy/whatever. "the room seems different... and men are coming. something happened to me. i don't feel good..." obviously, i will be able to make more connections and add to this theory as i watch more but from what i've seen i think there's a huge connection to children and how easily it is for them to be taken advantage of (literally every member of the palmer family was taken advantage of as a child when an evil entity entered them. i mean. how more on the nose can you be!!) or for their innocence to get stolen (prostitution, drugs, murder, becoming child brides to abusive older men... the list goes on). and there's obvious themes of intense sexual violence and dreams and blahhhh. it's like 5:30am and i'm theorizing about a show that will never have an actual answer LMAO... to be fair though it's not ABOUT actually "solving" it for me. i think most media works well when you get what you want or need from it and just kind of make that The Point and, for me, twin peaks will always be about the tragedy of laura palmer before it's about anything else!

i really do like that theory that dale cooper is just like. an entity that laura dreamed up to save her originally but in the end, after she had finally escaped being laura palmer and that life and that house and her trauma, he ended up bringing her right back to it. it's like. how does that not make people insane?