#rhs wonder woman

[msfcatlover]

Excuse me while I use this panel to once again justify Jason hero worshiping Steph in my Reverse Robins verse. Here's a girl from his own home town, practically his own neighborhood, who became one of the most respected young heroes in the world. She's so open & proud about having no powers, about growing up in one of the worst parts of Gotham, and she's not just keeping up with the other Titans, she's their most visible leader. When they work with the Justice League, she gets to coordinate with people like Superman & Wonder Woman. Villains fear her and full-grown adult heroes listen to her.

Even after she died, she lingered. So many heroes had something to say, the ripples throughout the community were obvious. Steph shot for the moon and left her mark on the stars; proof people like them could matter, could make a difference & change the world.

And then he joins the family and gets to know Steph through her civilian history, all the similarities they have there, and all the stories the others tell about her. Steph's skill, her stubbornness, her positivity, her sense of humor, her intelligence, were all so much more than she let the cameras see. Her suit enshrined in the cave, a morbid tribute to how important she was. The other batkids telling Jason how much Steph would've loved him, how well they would have gotten along, how much they all wish the two could've met (even though they all know everyone else would rue the day Steph decided Jason was her new favorite brother; nothing would've stopped their combined chaos then.)

Don't tell me all of this wouldn't take Jason's initial admiration up several levels. Don't tell me she wouldn't be his favorite hero of all time.

Don't tell me RH!Steph's animosity wouldn't hurt like hell, when what Jason wanted more than anything was to be just like her.

[yellowocaballero]

⭐️ for either of the fe3h fics <3

ROSETTA HEADSTONE!!!! A fic that was very messy and all over the place but one that I am actually very fond of and that was slightly slept on.

“You’re the other half of me.” Byleth spoke slowly, but for the very first time there was a hint of emotion in her voice. It was wonder. What an amazing first emotion to feel. How lucky! How magnificent! “I’m the other half of you.” Claude smiled. She was so wondrous. So beautiful and special. She’d need a lot of help. Dimitri would provide what he could, but Claude would have to pick up the rest. “You’re the other half of me. And I’m the other half of you. I’m you, and you’re me. Wonderful, isn’t it?” [...] “Is that a friend?” Byleth asked seriously.  “If you want. It’s anything you want.” Her hand was still on his chest, and Claude reached up to softly grasp her hand, pressing it softly against his chest. “Tell you what, Byleth. I’ll trust you completely if you trust me completely. Give me anything you want, and I’ll give you all of my own. Is that fair?”

There's a few different relationships that were very influential for this scene. SSS Class Suicide Hunter's Gongja/Raviel was a big one, but Full Metal Alchemist's Ed/Winry were too: when Ed tells Winry that he'll give her half of his life if she give her half of hers, and she tells him that she'll give him all of her life. Khalid and Byleth are platonic, but there's still something so Relationship about it that makes me go crazy.

I got fond of the character I had created over the course of this story. He started out a lonely, isolated, self-centered person. He was a chronic liar who was fundamentally impossible to understand. He used his separation from others as a microscope, a way of studying and trying to dissect them down into pieces that he can understand. He's the kind of person to brag about this, and a significant percentage of it is self-inflicted, but I felt bad for him. He and Byleth's disconnect, their inability to work together, inadvertently resulted in her death. His first time investing whole-heartedly in somebody was in a dying woman, who had been dead to begin with.

It was what made this moment special to me. He's not psychoanalyzing or dissecting her in this scene - he's just caught in the beauty of this imperfect and banal moment. He sees how amazing it is to have somebody to truly understand. Giving away all of himself is an act of intense vulnerability, the kind he once never would have tolerated, but he does it willingly here - because you can't get if you don't give, and if you give somebody all of you then you can have all of them, and what is shared is doubled.

I wrote Byleth very 'Dead Anime Mom' - everything she said had to be incredibly significant and meaningful. She was perfect and untouchable. It's only in the epilogue that we see her humanity and vulnerability, that she feels remotely on the same level as Khalid. She doesn't understand him and he doesn't truly know her - how fantastic, that there's so much to discover about each other! How miraculous, that this person is about to take her first steps into becoming a human being, and that you're lucky enough to guide her on that path! That you get to become a human being with her!

It's a unique set of emotions that I hope the reader was able to feel alongside Khalid. Both Weekenders and RH were stories about the protagonist joining humanity, and both of them had to do it through confronting the twin calamities of death and love, but I'm a bit more fond of how it happened in RH. I think it may have been the strong The World Ends With You influence, which is a game that splits open the mind of the depressed misanthropic fifteen year old. I remember the first time I felt lucky to exist in the world. It felt like an important part of growing up - and maybe a pre-requisite of survival. It's hard to survive never feeling that sense of wonder. It was great to write somebody experiencing it for the first time.

[robin-the-robo]

Okay so @steriafluff asked me for Red Hood recommendations and I apparently have a lot of those, so...

Do keep in mind that these are very much My Opinions, but this is what I think is worth reading if you're getting into Jason Todd/Red Hood and don't wanna end up reading the... Really Weird Stuff.

So I think everyone should start by reading Batman 1940 from issue #408 to #429, which ends with Death in The Family, to see what Jason was like as a kid and as Robin (an absolute delight).

Then obviously you gotta read Batman: Under the Red Hood, (and deal with a 19 y/o being drawn like he's 40. Yeah.) but I would also recommend Red Hood: Lost Days, which basically covers what happens between the Lazarus Pit and Under the Red Hood.

Then we have... Red Hood and the Outlaws (2011). Look. I'll be honest. The """characterization""" for Starfire in that comic is painfully sexist. It has its moments and we somehow managed to pull a pretty cool friend group (and/or polycule if you wanna interpret it that way) out of it, but I would never blame you for skipping it. Red Hood/Arsenal, which covers the time after the original Outlaws broke up, is pretty decent tho.

Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth (2016), on the other hand, I think is cooler than people give it credit. I like that they're a play on the DC trinity (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) but as antiheroes. The plot goes in some weird directions from time to time, but the characters keep their personalities all the way through it and I think it's just really fun. Tbh the worst thing about it is that they ended it.

Now I'm gonna give you a few wildcard picks that you're either gonna love or hate, but I think there's something cool in each of them:

Batman: Urban Legends, from issue #1 to #6. Look, it's got Bruce and Jason struggling to cooperate, they're realistically tense but ultimately on the same side, I wrote a whole fanfic about how delightful Jason's interaction with a kid he saves in this comic is, so yeah.

Batman: Three Jokers. This one is quite dark and potentially triggering I think, so be careful. It also has a little bit of Barbara x Jason which No Thank You, but the art is GREAT and it has some banger moments in there. Read at your own peril.

Robins (2021). It's got ups and downs, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but if you want to see all five Robins interact it's a pretty interesting read.

Knight Terrors: Robin. Hey do you want Tim and Jason interacting and being brothers and actually talking through some of their personal issues while battling their own nightmares? If yes, then you'll enjoy this. A lil bit on the nose but good nonetheless.

And then finally we have Red Hood: The Hill, the new RH comic currently ongoing. We only have a couple of issues out yet so it's a bit early to judge its quality. Atm i agree with someone here on Tumblr who said that it feels like it's more about the new characters than about Jason himself, but maybe that'll change later on. We'll see.

So yeah these aren't all the comics I've read about him, but they are the ones that get his characterization right, or better than the rest at least. Hope this helps some new (or simply confused, which is very fair) fans out there.

[tessarionbestgirl]

Agree or disagree with this assessment: tumblr.com/notalicent/764136881425350656/imo-alicent-allowed-ottos-fear-mongering-to?source=share

I disagree.

I always feel like when people say Rhaenyra wouldn't kill Alicent kids, they actually mean she doesn't would want to kill them. What in fact is true. But that doesn't mean she would not do it if means whether her well-being is at stake or in her interests. The biggest proof of this is the end of the second season itself. Is not nonsense paranoia.

Now about 1x08, I know people love to bring this episode to prove Rh/enicest "subtext" what so ever. I know the people behind the scenes love to queerbait the fandom. To me is not what translates on the screen.

To understand the best this relationship and that line, I always like to bring up Otto quote + Aemond quote.

" You are no fool, but you choose not to see."

"The queen speaks with two tongues."

Because Alicent is a victim of grooming and a religious woman, so she does idealizes her childhood, the time when she was free and pure, and her relationship with Rhaenyra and Rhaenyra in it self.

Her mind knows Rhaenyra is a threat to her kids life, heck she saw this in their last confrontation before they met again in episode 8, she gave Corlys's brother on the show a platform to speak the true, ans the guy just lost his head for speaking the true.

Meanwhile her heart wants to believe Rhaenyra would be a good queen, he heart feels guilty over the scar she left on Rhaenyra arm ( insert the gift of her holding her arm they use to the supposed subtext).

Alicent's is so desperate to regain the childhood she lost, that she regressed in the finale to the idealized teenage version of her and calls Rhaenyra to run away with her and her daughter, a callback to the pilot, even though her young self already back them though this was bs.

Alicent can't accept the reality so she comes out as hypocrite that speaks with two tongues, and doesn't not want to accept what is front of her. Even the idea of her holding on to the image of her mother and faith is she ignoring the fact that she was always more like her father than her mother.

Deep down she knows, she just doesn't not want to accept. The true is to horrifying for her. No wonder she chooses to run away at end of s2.

That is why she holds herself on the green council on the supposed Viserys words and then when she finds the true she doesn't think it matters anyway. Because she uses that to justify herself in her own head. But she knows even back then it was a need for kids to live.

She doesn't want Rhaenyra to be kill but this is not the main reason she joins together to conspire and take the throne from Rhaenyra. Like why everything Alicent does in the eyes of this fandom is based on Rhaenyra? Human being don't work like that, not even Alicent's as character.

I know S2 that is a shame trip for Alicent, and they they threw away her nuance, but S1 still exist to prove this character was way more than just that.

[atonalginger]

Snippet Sunday

thanks for the tag and reminder @therealgchu! It's been quite the week as I recover from last week and....just everything...but I did get some writing done on Reclaiming Home and so I have a snippet to share. I'm in the home stretch with this fic, and then it's off to...whichever fic I have juice for...probably back to RatD but who knows? Only time will tell...

Anyway this is a chunk from the next chapter in RH

--

Sam’s comms buzzed in his pocket and his posture deflated like a disappointed balloon. He dragged it out and stared at the cover display, a sour expression on his face.

“It’s Gramps, isn’t it?” Cora asked, “Don’t deny it, I know that look.”

His expression softened slightly, “can’t get anything by you.” Sam flipped open the comms and answered the call, laying down the device on the table so everyone could hear, “I had heard you were in town.”

“Yes, it wasn’t a secret,” Jacob said. The sounds of songbirds and moving water indicated he was outside, likely near the lakeside in the Embassy district, “I was asked to help with some negotiations, nothing special.”

“Here I thought you were retired,” Sam glanced across the table at Jamie.

She could see him yearning for her to be closer. She reached her right leg out under the table and rubbed his leg with her foot. He smiled and reached down, touching her calf and rubbing up her leg before letting it drop.

“I am, but that doesn’t mean I can’t consult.” Jacob paused and the sounds of nature got quieter, “Look I know you’re wondering why I’m calling so I’ll cut to the chase: I heard about what happened out in Alpha Andraste with Lillian. Everything. Daniel is understandably trying to keep it under wraps but he looped me in because this will likely get uglier.”

Jamie saw Cora’s expression shift, a fire burning in those soft brown eyes. She was keeping quiet, clearly not wanting to cause more drama with the call, but the wheels were turning. She reached out to the young teen and offered her a hand to hold.

“Uglier how?” Sam asked.

“Lillian mentioned parental alienation to Daniel. Claims she’s at wits end because you won’t let her see Cora. I told him that was bullshit, I know about the past few missed meetings and let him in on them. But that’s the story she’s going with right now. She swore to him that she wasn’t going to plant the contraband, despite how Diego found her, and her digging through the cargo manifest was her searching for anything to pin on you two. And she seems to think she has something too: she says she found a concerning amount of hallucinogens onboard in cargo. Daniel thinks she’s going to try and take you to family court, Sam.”

Sam was quiet, just staring at the empty tray of cinnamon rolls. He rubbed his face with both hands and mumbled, “great.”

“Don’t stress too much, I have people preparing for it as we speak,” Jacob said calmly, “and I requested a copy of Jamie’s cargo manifest from the spaceport. The concerning amounts line up with standards set by MAST for survey collections, which makes sense considering my understanding is you three were doing a planetary survey?”

“Where did you hear that?” Sam asked.

“I spoke with Julien this morning,” Jacob replied, “I asked him to meet with Daniel, give him his account of what happened. So it’s in records if she actually follows through. He was receptive to the idea.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Sam said quietly.

“That woman picked the wrong family to fuck with,” Jacob said. “I will not sit idly by while her tantrums put you three at risk.”

“Us three?” Sam raised an eyebrow, “Cora told us about your message to her this morning and it only included her and Jamie.”

“I planned on calling you so I didn’t see the need to include you there,” Jacob explained. Everyone at the table could hear a touch of embarrassment in his tone as he spoke, “and maybe I didn’t want to worry her. I know you try to wear a brave face for her, I didn’t need her questioning whether you could handle it.”

Jamie and Cora shared a look as Jacob spoke, both surprised by his admission.

Jacob continued, “But since we’re talking about it, how are you holding up? And don’t feed me a ‘I’m managing’ or ‘I’m fine’, be honest with me, Sam.”

Cora started to scoot from her chair, trying not to disturb anything as she picked up the empty tray and plates, and moved for the door. Jamie tried not to laugh at the teen’s awkward retreat because the action was thoughtful and selfless. She knew Cora would love to know the answer but her dad would never open up with her sitting right there. So she gave him space to speak freely.

Once she was gone Sam sighed and replied, “I’ve had better days. I’ve had worse days too but…it’s been better. It wasn’t just the message she sent to the ship or the fact that she appeared to be trying to set us up, it was the petty jabs she tossed at Jamie, the way she made Cora fume and wail during the encounter. If she felt she was being alienated she could have just gone to the courts, she didn’t need to do all that.”

“You and I both know that’s a lie she’s selling to cover her absence, Sam.” Jacob said with a gentleness that further surprised Jamie. She’d never heard him speak so kindly toward his son.

“I know,” Sam sighed again, “Cora told me last night she thinks Lillian just wanted to disrupt us because if the three of us are seen happy and doing well it’ll make her look bad.”

“That’s our Cora, smart as a whip,” Jacob chuckled, “Do you need anything, Sam? Any of you? I’m done with business so I’m available to help in any way I can.”

[librarycomic]

Other Ever After: New Queer Fairy Tales by Melanie Gillman. RH Graphic, 2022. 9780593303184. https://www.powells.com/book/-9780593303184?partnerid=34778&p_bt

Many stories in this collection of short works by Gillman started out as 24-hour comics, though they say they broke many of the rules McCloud set out for those. In the first, a young forest ranger confronts a girl eating the King's magic flowers and then confronts the real beast from the forest. In "The Goose Girl," a poor young woman refuses the Princess' proposal because their marriage wouldn't bring her happiness. (It all works out in the end in a way that's unexpected and wonderful.) In fact all of these stories are great. The less I tell you about them the better.

Gillman's beautiful colored pencils add to the sense of innocence and wonder in all of these tales, and make them feel timeless and true.

If you're looking for something else to give a kid who loved Chad Sell's Cardboard Kingdom series, this is it. It's also perfect if you're just looking for a good book of stories to read together, no matter how old you are.

[angelasreblogs]

Master List Organization Poll

I would love to have everyone's input on master list organization. I have a lot of content and my ideas of how to most efficiently present it keep changing.

I used to have a short paragraph/blurb for each story out to the side of the title. Now I just have bullet pointed lists of titles under categories (ie, “collabs”, “Poly stories”, etc).

I used to have things sorted into multiple master lists, then put them all in one place for simplicity then moved them again, sorting into several blogs each with its own master list: TRR Scribbles, TRR Poly, TRR One Shots, TRR Bad Romance. On these blogs, you will find them further divided by category, but all shown on the same page/list.

I’m wondering what works best for the readers. When you go looking for content, which format do you prefer?

Examples

Ex 1 List of stories with blurbs:

Insurrection: Riley isn’t what anyone thought she was. Her actions set off a civil war in Cordonia. Eidolon: Construction in the four-hundred-year-old throne room awakens an ancient evil. Unexpected Max has an inappropriate fixation on Riley. Dark Elf: Liam Rys is unpleased that his human half has left him not quite immortal. He has a plan to correct that. American Girl: Riley, Drake, and Liam grew up in a small town in North Texas. High school graduation scatters the three lifelong friends and shakes up their respective relationships.

Ex 2, same as one but divided into categories

Paranormal: Eidolon: Construction in the four hundred year old throne room awakens an ancient evil. Dark Elf: Liam Rys is unpleased that his human half has left him not quite immortal. He has a plan to correct that. Non-Royal Au's: American Girl: Riley, Drake, and Liam grew up in a small town in North Texas. High school graduation scatters the three lifelong friends and shakes up their respective relationships. Drake x Riley Stories My Best Friends Girl: Drake Walker struggles to contain feelings he shouldn't be having as he finds himself falling for the same girl as his best friend. Star Crossed: Drake Walker meets the woman of his dreams the night before his best friend's wedding but there's a major obstacle.

EX 3 Title only, one long list

Three Weeks in Ramsford

Complicated

Hinge

The Proposal

The Agreement

Forbidden Passion

Savage Love

Royal Retribution

The De Facto Queen

Victim of Love

Ex 4 Title only, divided into subcategories but still all on ONE master list

Riley x Drake:

My Best Friend's Girl

Lavender and Crimson

Star Crossed

A Fervid Fixation

American Girl

Riley x Liam

Insurrection

Other Pairings:

In Your Room Drake x Leo

The Crown and the Shield Jackson x Constantine

Broken Jackson x Eleanor

Leo & Liv Leo x Olivia

Collaborations:

Mardi Gras Mayhem

One Step Ahead

One Night in Cordonia

Cordonian Royal Airlines

Ex 5: The way it is now, links to separate blogs/ML. Stories are divided into broad categories (each of the below links leads to a separate master list where stories are then sorted into further categories but all on the same page/list)

IE: You click on one of these and when you go to that page, you see ex 4 above. ex 4 is what you get when you click on TRR Scribbles here.

Why Choose? Poly/RH stories.

TRR Scribbles: Mono pairings

Law's End: A crime procedural

One-Shots: TRR one-shots

Visuals: Art, edits, etc.

Extras: other TRR stuff

Ex 6: The way it is now, links to separate blogs/ML but with paragraphs/blurbs giving a brief description of the story. So organized like ex 5 but when you get to the ML, instead of title only, there would be blurbs like in ex 1.

Ok, was that clear as mud? If you understand all that and have an opinion, I would love to have your feedback!!!

Tagging under the cut. Thank you all in advance for your help!

@karahalloway, @harleybeaumont @nestledonthaveone @alj4890 @aussiegurl1234

@walkerdrakewalker @kingliam2019 @twinkleallnight @lovingchoices14  @tinkie1973 @secretaryunpaid @irishgrl2022

@queen-arabella-of-cordonia @kristinamae093 @tessa-liam

@differenttyphoonwerewolf @queenmiarys @emersyn-in-cordonia

 @bascmve01 @twinkle-320 @mattiematt1234 @jared2612

@dcbbw  @amandablink @indiacater  @bebepac

@lunaseasblog @belencha77  @gabesmommie1130

@hollygirl1269 @mainstreetreader

@ladyangel70 @ohmyeightpastlives  @gardeningourmet

@sillydg @phoenixrising0308

@3pawandme @21-wishes @73geenalove @jennieausten

@princessleac1 @kachrisberry @tornbetween2loves

@fangirling12566  @pinklipsandmasonjars @savannahdix

[sinister-things]

A Girl Like Her

REBLOGS > LIKES

Inspired by this post by @stupidbitchwaifu

Mr. X × Femme Fatale!Reader

⚠️TW: Alcohol, gambling, one innuendo⚠️

A/N: Mr. X is 30, Y/N is 25

It was a beautiful night in Paris, France. Stars lit up the sky and the streets were bustling with civilians, basking in the activities of the night.

Just North of the Eiffel Tower, was an art gallery: Salle des Étoiles. Tonight, the rich and powerful gather for a night of auction, gambling, and extraordinary amounts of alcohol.

But, a woman with a wicked glint in her eye, and a man far too curious for his own good, have other plans...

"It's the quiet ones," Mr. X decided. It was always the quiet ones that drew him in.

He and his siblings had been speaking and Mr. X regularly found his gaze drifting away from the conversation at hand and towards a specific woman.

This mysterious woman had drunk her second flute of champagne and suffered through about three small talk conversations so far.

Mr. X experienced difficulty trying to decide who she was: He’d suggest a new-to-money winner of capitalism, but the woman carried herself with a grace that could only come from experience.

Definitely not an old money type either; she hadn’t once drifted over to the congregation of old money men who have been stalking the gallery discussing stocks and shareholders, as well as showing off their significantly younger trophy wives.

GM scoffed, seeing his brothers obvious disinterest. The elder brother turned around, seeking out what in the world could be stealing his brother's attention away from him. "What are you– oh."

"W-What?" Mr. X stuttered, holding his own glass in his hand, realizing that he wasn't as discreet as he thought he was, noticing his brother's snickering.

"You're interested in her, aren't you?" The GM crossed his arms. "You don't even know her name!"

Meanwhile, Kingpin was glaring daggers at this woman. "Who does she think she is?" She muttered under her breath.

This woman was a young, charming, and bold hacker that had everyone talking about her. What was so special about her that had everyone talking their ears off? She didn't look that special. Then again, she was still a rookie. "Give it a few weeks, Kingpin. People will be over her by then," The RHS leader told herself.

What a mystery, this woman was. Mr. X wondered if he had enough time to unravel her before he would have to get back to the main objective of the night.

"Don't even think about it," His brother cautioned. "Find someone else."

Mr. X very carefully took a sip from his champagne glass, tasting the excitement on his tongue more than the bubbles.

"Just because you're too curious for your own good and she's pretty and you haven’t gotten laid in five years doesn’t mean that you get to start ignoring us now!" Kingpin barged into the conversation.

Mr. X could only glare. They were right– he often did let his curiosity get the better of him, but he wasn't going to admit that.

There were, of course, much better things to do with his time which included tracking down where the beautiful muse had vanished in the moment that Mr. X’s eyes had wandered away. The gallery was only open for a few more polite hours and Mr. X intendes to enjoy at least five more minutes of witnessing something actually worthwhile before he has to get on with the night’s main event.

He sighed. "Fine," The Englishman said. "I'll be over at the roulette table if you need me."

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

Y/N stood on the side of the room, leaning against a wall with a flute of champagne in her hand.

You carefully observed your surroundings, and the people in the room. God, these people are clueless! They're so up and over their heads about power that they haven't even caught on to your plan yet!

"My," A voice spoke from your side. "What's a beautiful woman like yourself doing all alone?"

Damn it, Halloween Hacker. "Remember Y/N, appearance is key," you told yourself, mostly to stop yourself from punching that bastard to New Jersey.

"Well, what's a man like yourself doing alone?" You asked him, wearing your signature smile that could make anyone do your bidding.

The two of you continued to converse, Halloween Hacker seemingly trying desperately– and failing, to flirt with you. Thus, you quickly lost interest, just the occasional chuckle and a nod.

You continued to scan the room, seeing if there were any old money men you could scam for their fortune. But, something much different caught your eye.

The famed Mr. X. You had heard of him, and the things he's done. He had it all: a successful corporation, money, and women were practically tripping over themselves to become his wife.

You smirked, knowing damn well that he was staring at you, but you didn't say anything. You could use him to your advantage...

"Say, Ms. Y/N," Halloween Hacker was quick to bring your attention back to him. "Would you care to join me at the roulette table? I heard that the Red Hood might be there,"

Your eyes lit up at the mention of the Red Hood. This could be your first round of your little scheme.

There was a fairly familiar glint in your eye; one of sinister, dark intent. Your smile only grew in size as you accepted the offer. "I'd be honored," You said, keeping up your facade.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

Mr. X and several other hackers sat around a table, a staff member shuffling and dealing them each five cards. He wanted to groan when he saw Halloween Hacker approaching, but nothing came out of his mouth when he saw who was accompanying him.

"Guys, look who I found!" He said, linking his arm to the Aphrodite standing beside him.

Her eyes scanned the table, as if taking in all the people who were sat down. Her gaze locked with that of Mr. X's, and she smirked as she gave him a wink.

"Y/N," She introduced herself, removing her arm from that wretched Halloween Hackers. "Y/N L/N,"

"Has anyone ever told you it’s rude to stare?" Y/N asked, a wicked smile spread across her face. Mr. X blinked for a moment, surprised and embarrassed to see that Ms. L/N knew that he had been looking at her. Her voice was more intoxicating than the champagne that Mr. X had just consumed, and he desperately wanted to hear more of it.

She wore an all-black suit, with a turtleneck with a small slit near the upper chest, showing just a tease of pretty skin that felt almost impossible to look away from. The suit accentuated Ms. L/N's figure, making her a masterpiece in the art gallery, and Mr. X thought it was a shame that he wasn't an artist, because he was willing to examine every aspect of the Magnum opus in front of him.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have the most captivating eyes?" Mr. X said, hoping to change the subject. He smirked under his mask when he saw Halloween Hacker getting visibly jealous. His empty champagne glass is dropped on the tray of a passing caterer whose face has nothing memorable about them compared to the sharp smile of the woman in front of him that makes him nearly forget how to breathe.

"Really?" Y/N raised an eyebrow, an amused look on her face that has Mr. X’s stomach fluttering already. "I wasn’t sure you noticed based on how you have been staring at my chest all night."

"Enough," Halloween Hacker interrupted, pulling out a chair for Ms. Y/N, immediately sitting in the empty chair beside her.

The hackers proceeded with their game of poker, the bet going higher and higher, until a few had bet their entire life savings on this one game.

"So..." Mr. X trailed off, trying to figure out a way to start a conversation with the woman sitting across from him. "I assume that there's a Mr. L/N somewhere?" He asked, his eyes darting around the room.

Y/N chuckled softly, getting a real kick out of the man's assumption. "There is no Mr. L/N, I'm afraid," you shook your head with a smirk.

Mr. X was taken aback, but relieved, knowing that he still had a slim chance of getting a drink with you sometime.

"Well, unless I'm being too forward–"

"Ms. Y/N, I must ask," Halloween Hacker intruded, stealing your attention away from Mr. X. "What made you join us here tonight?"

"I was invited," You answered. "Just like everyone else."

The game proceeded for ten more minutes, before you slammed your deal of cards on the table, revealing your cards. Halloween Hacker looked at the cards in disbelief.

"A royal flush..."

You did it. You won the life savings of several people, and Mr. X had just lost fifteen thousand dollars to you, and Halloween Hacker lost fifty thousand!

The hackers who were far more experienced than you and had been in this business for years, watched as you celebrated your victory. They all got up, walking away in defeat.

The only people left at the table were you and Mr. X

You smiled smugly, proud of your winnings. "What were you going to say?" You asked the man standing in front of you.

Mr. X blushed, fiddling with his collar. He sighed, "Well, I was going to ask if you'd be interested in getting a drink sometime, but–"

Before he could finish, the lights went out. People were confused, startled, and frightened. However, within a few seconds, the lights came back on.

The host and his wife stood at the front of the room, announcing their apologies and that they were currently investigating the matter, until multiple guests interrupted.

"My wedding ring is missing!"

"Someone has stolen my wallet!"

"My pearls, they've been stolen!"

To say that Mr. X was confused would be a drastic understatement. He patted himself with his hands, ensuring that he still had all his valuables– which he did. Until he felt something strange in his inner coat pocket...

It was a business card. On it, written in black ink, was a phone number. He looked around, making sure that no one had seen it, and tucked it back into his jacket.

Meanwhile, you were speeding down the French highway, on your way to the airport with multiple stolen goods. Once on that plane, you would be on your way to Germany, where you would repeat this act a million times over...

[beautiful-basque-country]

Kaixo, girls. Have you ever heard of the movie Sami Blood? It's about an adult Sami woman remembering her childhood in a boarding school in Sweden and it's very heartbroking. (If you are curious about watching the movie I can link it, lmk). As Sami and Basques are both indigenous European peoples, I'm wondering if Basques were also subjected to so-called "racism science" where their skulls would be measured to prove how different they were from the "normal" Castillians? Eskerrik asko.

Kaixo anon!

We haven't watched it, but we got it noted down to Google it and try to find it online, or if you're that kind to send the link to us we'd appreciate it!

Oh, yes, Basques were measured. But not only to proof Castillians they themselves were better, but also because the newborn Basque nationalism wanted to proof the existance of a Basque race.

From Wiki:

The somatic features of the Basques, according to various studies, are: robust constitution, brachycephalic skull, triangular face and very pronounced temples, "hare's head with protruding temples"; occipital orifice very inclined with the most anterior point (basio) much closer to the vertex than the posterior one (opistio). Particular cause of the high orthognathism (angle of the profile of the face close to 90º). Eye color often brown or green, high, protruding nose and pointed chin.

Basque artists, such as José Arrúe, have repeated this same facial model of the Basque, male or female, in their paintings, making it canonical in the idealized iconographic representations of the "Basque": long nose, large ears, sunken mouth and prominent chin.

Basque morphology, however, has proved to be poorly generalizable, given the large number of differences between individuals participating in recent population studies. For example, the phenotype of hair color proved to be variable according to the region studied: there is a wide range of colors ranging from dark black to intense blond, although a predominance of dark color was determined.

The Basque skull is typically European in all aspects (…) its closest resemblance is the British skull, common from the Iron Age and not far from the Etruscan.

Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 3, p. 186

So whether Castillians or the parents of Basque nationalism were looking for physical differences between us Basques and any other white European, both were left disappointed.

That's why it rubs us the wrong way when in a famous best-seller trilogy (by a Spanish author, of course) you find quotes like: "That’s the thing about being from Bilbao. The brachycephalic skull, the negative Rh, the daggers in the eyes when they insult your partner." that maks all Bilbotarras an unexistant model of 19th century nationalist - Spanish or Basque, we don't care - racial bias.

[therubymuse]

Pride 2023: On Queer Cinema & Being a Bigger Dyke

This Pride, I don't have any more closets to come bursting out of. In the space of the last ten years, I was pansexual, then I was transgender and non-binary. 7 months into my transition I shifted my identity to "trans woman", and finally, shortly after that, I came out as a lesbian. I've had a rich journey of discovery and change, and I'm really glad these revelations about who I am have stabilized with time. There is no doubt in my mind that this is who I'm meant to be. 

As we know, the world is changing. We seemed to hit a high water mark around the year I came out, in 2018, and since, we've seen the re-emergence of violent bigotry, both in the physical realm, and in the legislative realm, with the goal being no less than to disappear queer people. Trans people who exist in public spaces have been the victims of increasing instances of verbal and physical abuse, assault, even murder. It can be easy to lose hope that the world we were on the brink of in 2018, has missed it’s chance to flourish, as we’re dragged back into the 20th century by hateful politicians and angry fascists. In the last year, I don’t know a single trans person who hasn’t been bedevilled by these fears, and these questions. 

I had the opportunity to watch a cult classic film I’d never heard of this weekend, called Better Than Chocolate. Yes, thats a reference to a Sarah McLaughlin lyric. The film follows a group of queer people whose lives revolve around an LGBTQ bookstore in Port Coquitlam called 10 Percent Books, which, if you’re a native of Vancouver, you’ll recognize as analogous to Little Sisters Book & Art Emporium, a fixture in the Davie St Village for decades now. The film follows Maggie, a young woman going through her lesbian awakening, her complicated relationship with her mother, and the experiences of the other queer cast members in a city that hadn’t yet openly embraced their queer identities. Anyone familiar with queer cinema from the 1990s will know how explosively traumatic representation can be, with tropes such as bury your gays, strict moral lessons levied for queer behaviour, and sexual assaults often vividly portrayed, but Chocolate manages to avoid so many of these. Harassment is depicted, including a scene where a trans woman is confronted in a washroom, and these can be hard to watch, but the scenarios are always defused/corrected by the arrival of other cast members who stand up for and protect each other, which is quite unlike queer cinema then or now. The trans woman character is played by a cis actor, but I'm willing to forgive this because the performance was empathetic and powerful and clearly informed by real trans experiences. And as a trans woman, I've seen a lot worse. You may be wondering what one has to do with the other, and I’m getting to that. 

Watching this film and its depiction of 1990s Vancouver, and the kind of harassment queer people faced, galvanized me, because in some ways, we’ve almost come full circle back to public harassment of visibly gay, queer, or transgender people. Because the film always comes back to the message that we will protect our own, and that we have a right to be here. The same right being challenged by modern-day revivalist moral panic right-wingers. Being called groomers and pedophiles now is no different than what was said to gay and queer people in the 1980s during the last hand-wringing reaction to the increased visibility of queer people. 

And the characters in the film experience this first hand, but it doesn’t stop them from existing. I would never consider de-transition as a response to the hatred we’re seeing in the world. Because who I am, who I really am now, brings me too much joy. And they can make trans people as illegal as they want to, it isn’t going to stop us existing. Our first duty is to ourselves, and our community. We keep us safe. And making space for trans and queer joy flies directly in the face of right-wing rhetoric. They want you to think of queer people as mentally unstable, miserable, disfigured and broken people. And that is not at all who we are. 

We have returned to existence itself as an expression of resistance. We are going to define the cultural zeitgeist of queer people in this decade, or we can let them do it for us. We have a long fight ahead, but it’s not a hopeless one, as I may have felt at various points in the last year. And so I will continue to exist, and continue to define myself, in ways that bring me joy, and which other queer people can feel safe around. And I’m grateful for my queer family who already see me this way. Something the queer community has been really good at, historically, is reclaiming language that was used to attack and silence us. I mean, the sheer number of times I’ve used the word “queer” in this piece, is an indicator of our progress in that regard. It was once a slur, and now, the majority of the people in the community that I engage with use it as a means of including everyone and in defining themselves. While it’s not coming out of the closet, shifting the words and definitions we use for ourselves gives our identities power, whether you prefer many labels, a few, or an absence of them. Which is why I’ve decided to start reclaiming a word for myself that some of you may hesitate before using. But I am encouraging you to use it in reference to me. That word is dyke. 

Lesbians have a long history with this word. I understand that it originated as a slur, and that at various times it’s meant masculine or androgynous, but it also means tough, strong, resilient. And these are absolutely things I am. I will never back down from a fight to love who I choose, to be who I am, and to support my community and my loved ones in the face of hate, and I am a militant feminist in the face of patriarchal oppression. I am someone my community views as safe and protective. I’m proud of that, and I’m proud of being a woman who loves women and femme leaning humans. I’d say that makes me a fucking dyke. 

You might say that flies in the face of the image you have of me, and on the outside at least, I am pretty soft. But softness is not akin to weakness, and hardness is not strength. One of the beautiful things about our evolving understanding of the gender-universe is that things that once needed to be pinned to a binary, can now be liberated, and used to stand alone. This is another reason why I want to use dyke as one of my labels. Those who have wronged me or those I care about in the past have come face to face with my feminine rage. And it is every bit as powerful and strong delivered by a cupcake in a sundress as it is by a butch in Carhartts. You’ll know this if you’ve ever seen me truly angry. This soft woman possesses a righteous fury and an incredible strength, and anyone who wants to argue that I have no right to the word, just as terfs have told me I have no right to the word lesbian, can kiss my entire ass. Happy Pride!

Unsure of the photographer, but a picture of Lisa Ben at the first national March on Washington for Gay Rights in 1979, with a quote perfectly encapsulating how I'm feeling right now.

[coffee-in-veins]

The Character Bingo for Damian👀? Also, thoughts on the redesign?

thank you for the ask!

i really should save drafts of those, when will i learn...

here's Damian's dd1 bingo:

frankly, i didn't think much about flagellants since i rarely used them in dd1 the game. i thought about Damian since my dear friend liked him, and he even got a supportive character role in RRR since i can easily see him hunting Bloodsuckers with single-minded religious zeal. he makes a nice foil for a decent amount of folk - Rey, Junia and Baldwin for their religiousness, Tardif for their inability to comprehend their own feeling, Sarmenti for singlemindedness. there's a lot one can play with, genuinely. i like the concept.

in-game, my biggest issue was that my flagellants always failed their very first death door checks despite their supposed high rez (hell, they had martyr's seal and it didn't flipping help in the slightest!), so i just sighed and resolved to a bunch of hwms and jesters for all my bleeding needs.

anyway, here's the same bingo for dd2:

hope it explains a lot, including my attitude towards the redesign. please bear in mind, i don't own the game (and now i doubt that i will unless it gets a nifty sale.. but i'm derailing here), so my attitude is based on text descriptions and three screenshots i've seen.

but if we want to be technical:

as i mentioned above, my flagellants died more than any other class (save for maybe vestals because i didn't play with occ as healers), so seeing literal Death chasing him is frankly hilarious;

i hate zombie characters when they are played as straightforward zombies. if they are more or less creative (fungal artillery my beloved - the yell i let out when i realized what exactly was going on with this thing was and still is priceless), then they get a pass, but you can't get any more zombie-y than a mummified guy who "refuses to die because of his will";

also the snobbery of that statement. i get that it was a magazine interview but just... others are pussies, i suppose, if they fail death check and die? wonder what does it make a non-candlefed flagellant when he inevitably bites an L and dies...

also WE ARE KILLING DEATH; no, for reals. it's Death. not a monster. not some eldritch being. not corporeal demon. DEATH. the literal aspect of it. how? why? since when it's a thing?? we are the motley crew of fuckups and social rejects; yes, they (supposedly) stopped The Heart of Darkness in DD1, but there it was more of the benefit of the estate and the looping nature of the land surrounding the titular Darkest Dungeon than anything, with a dash of Sleeper's time fuckupery and the Heir heavily implied to be cursed to keep the loop going and the Heart sleeping. and then again - you are supposed to lose a minimum of two heroes in that fight. are we supposed to perma-lose someone "Come Unto Thy Maker" style each time we fight Death? I highly doubt it, because Damian will become a liability quicker than he'd appear on a character select screen; here we are supplexing literal "i'm in my horsegirl phase" Thanatos AS A ROAD MINIBOSS; let's see what road minibosses are: a canon, a greedy woman with PTSD from her former expeditions, a pack of bandits and LITERAL DEATH; am I the only one who sees a "what the fuck are stakes" problem, here...?

also also seeing a fanatically zealous character having a move to desecrate corpses/graves is very odd, imo. yes, Baldwin/Leper has one too in dd2 - but in dd2 he is canonically no longer religious;

this is more of my quirk of trying to biologically explain eldritch fuckupery - but if Damian has coherent lines in DD2, this is a fuckup on RH part. he has no lips. he physically cannot speak as a human would, since lips and cheeks are a big part of how we form sounds to make words. if he groans, moans and wheezes only - my bad, you can ignore this point completely;

he no longer has his tooth gap. why? why, RH, why? his CC set trinket is literally Chipped Tooth. his background comic highlights him losing it. and yet his "rotting body" somehow got dental work and got it back...?

I dunno man. much like DD2 in general, i want to love it, i genuinely do, but it feels like... how do i put it. imagine amazon "hollywoodifying" DD1 with absurd stakes and literal "we're the only one who can stop the end of the world with our street magic" and making a sequel based on that and... i just dunno. i want to give it the benefit of the doubt, but the more i see, the less hope i have. huh. much like the game itself does, i suppose. it was a dd2 joke. an attempt to make one, at least.

sorry to end on such a downer note ^^' i hope you can enjoy dd2. i genuinely hope you can, i'll envy you in the best of ways. the game looks amazing and sounds decent, and i wish i didn't detest the rest of it. looking at you, gatcha.

and we end up on another rant of mine about dd2... sorry ^^' i'll try to control myself next time.

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

I’m Valid As Ficto-Aroaceflux & Nonbinary-Woman/Girl Flag (2023)

--------------------

[Note: Don’t Reblog Without Permission.] 

I decided to post one more drawing up, but this will be the last one until a few days later or like if I decide to have it be a bit more days, then maybe until next month...?

I had to make the drawing I did that is suppose to be the same flag as this one, much smaller so I could use it as a Avatar on tumblr, plus there was editing I had to do so it would show the full image and not just half of the heart part as well as the spade part.

while the “Heart” can have to do with attraction or very little attraction or no attraction, the diamond is suppose to house one’s gender identity, like it either being Binary, Nonbinary, Transgender and you can add to it probably by splitting the image of the diamond.

like if someone is both Nonbinary & Transgender, they can maybe put one half on the top of the diamond with the Nonbinary Flag & the bottom half for the Transgender Flag, or instead of one being on the top and one being at the bottom, one will be on the left and the other will be on the right side of the diamond.

and even if I am really not sure if I am Intersex or not, and it would be nice if they had a home blood type test tell you if you are or not, and I can’t tell my family of my suspecting I might be because what I remembered from when I was little (and it also has to do with what I had read about the different type of Intersex and it is one that I read that I suspect I might be that type but I’m still not sure.....) , which I’m not gonna say, I mean if they can have a home blood test to show you what blood type you are, which again I am still procrastinating in checking to see if my blood type will come out “O RH D Negative” for a third time...

we will try to get around to it when we can and when we are able to....just wish we didn’t keep putting it off, and I know we will have to use my left hand for it, because it will get more out of it, and I will possibly have to have my eyes closed because half the other tries we had when trying to do that home blood type test, I would end up feeling not so great and would have to go sit down.

I mean I thought it might be because I needed food, plus it might not really be that I’m scared of blood, I mean I might of thought it might be that, but maybe it isn’t that reason I keep feeling not so great when my fingers get pricked.

anyway if someone is Intersex, they can place the Intersex Flag in the Diamond part of the Multi-Flag that is suppose to show the different parts of them that is valid, no matter if it’s gender identity or sexuality or asexuality or aromantic or romantic...

also I can be both Aroflux & Fictoromantic, I just don’t find real humans very attractive in a romantic level anymore, sure there is still a little bit of still being attracted, but with the whole different reasons NOT to be attracted to some humans in this world.....like how disgusting some of them can be with they take their Acephobia too far, and end up trying to “fix” someone who is Ace....

and let’s not forget that even though there are still good people in LGBT that accept people who are Ace, there are some who don’t and their unfair view on Aces and possibly Aceflux is not good....

“so you say, it’s not okay to be Ace.”

“well your point of view is medieval.”

and yeah I know the “Ace” part isn’t in that song, and yeah I’m listening to Lily Allen’s song “F*** You” right now.

but yeah if it’s some people who are Straight who seems to have a problem with Aces, it’s some jerks who are suppose to be supportive and are part of LGBT, but seem to have a problem if someone isn’t s*xually attracted to someone, even if they still might be like either Biromantic,Lesbian, Vincian, Queer or  Heteroromantic....at least there is LGBTQIA, and maybe the “A” could be a Multi-A, but making sure no one EVER excludes Aromantic or Ace from the Multi-A part.

I wonder if some Earth Angels would disapprove of me liking that song...?

well I am a Defective Earth Angel who is I guess technically a hybrid soul, and if it is true about my soul-parents who the fragments that came together to make well me is true, that would mean that one was a Angel of Earth and the Other Angel of Heaven, which I guess would explain the whole violet ethereal wings, even though I can’t see them, and I know from asking by using pendulum, and yeah I am making sure not to over do it and use it too much, even though I know half of some of the replies will be half-truths and some pranks, but some percent being fully truthful.

and then there is the whole Soul-Grandparents, that my Earth Angel’s Soul had fragmented from.....

well even though I know not everyone will believe that kind of stuff, and I still think it is possible my pendulum might be giving me a prank answer that has to do with Phenex from the Ars Goetia being my Soul-Dad....

well unlike them, even though there is a possibility I do go to Heaven, I do have thoughts of wanting to find the edge of the clouds and try to jump off of it.....but then there is the possibility I might freeze up like a deer in the headlights, and I have froze up before when I was really high up before, there were these stairs that didn’t have those sides to them, and I got really scared and couldn’t move......

I mean yeah I can still believe in God and even Jesus (but I still don’t want Jesus to cross a line for some form of twisted sense of justice, because it will just prove to me that it isn’t just some humans who can be bad....)

but I also started to believe in the Goddess now too, which like I had pointed out before, some Toxic-Religious jerk didn’t like and they kept throwing that whole “may the lord have mercy on you.” or “may god have mercy on you.” at me, I know it was one of the those two, and I know now that they have been misusing those words, and yeah I got upset and cried and my feelings were perhaps super hurt, and no matter how much I tried to get that insensitive jerk to stop it, and listen that what they were doing was doing more harm than good, they wouldn’t listen and kept throwing those words at me over at the place where it happen, so because they kept doing it, I had to stop them the only way I could, by blocking them....

I can’t remember the name they went by, but one of things I hope is that I don’t run into them again.....that experience would count as Toxic-Religious Trauma, right...?

what they did, wasn’t okay....and it hurt my feelings, they wouldn’t even try to listen or understand that they were doing more harm than good...

anyway I made sure to put [Heart], [Spade] and [Diamond]

under the respective words...

the Heart is for the Fictosexual/romantic Flag that is merged together,

the Spade is for the new Aroaceflux design, which also appears as the full flag that is the colors Violet/Lavender, Light Turquoise, White, Ice Blue and Blue-Gray....

I did do a post before this one, that shows the new Aroaceflux design....

not sure if many will even like the new design that I came up with, and it’s okay if not many end up using it.

plus this Multi-Flag, does show all the parts of me, and a Multi-Flag can be different for anyone, so you can make one that shows your true self.

so the Diamond part can even have the Flags for different gender identities, even genderflux....it might not make sense, but use a diamond just seems right.

there can be different types of Multi-Flag types, and this just shows one that is a Flag that shows Fictosexual/Fictoromantic, Aroaceflux & Nonbinary-Woman/Girl on it...

and yeah it might not make sense to some who might think someone can’t be both Fictoromantic & Aroflux.....well not every Aromantic will be the same ya know.....I still like reading some stories with some romance in it and I still like playing video games with some romance in it, and I don’t mind getting crushes, but I have no interest in trying to pursue someone in a romantic way in real life....and I know I may have not always been Aroaceflux, but I know that I had my heart broken by some guys before (even if it was online boyfriends, and unrequited feelings to some guys I knew in real life, and kind of was in the friend zone in real life.), and I did perhaps try to get romantically involved again, but it didn’t work out because they couldn’t give me my space and not to forget that when I did try to talk to them, it just seem like they would ignore some of my troubles that I tried to talk to them about, so why even bother with that real life romance....?

I can’t really remember much about that time, only very little....but I know that they wouldn’t let me have me time alone when I needed it, and it seems like they wanted to have me around them like 24/7, I mean at least friends and others can respect when I need to have me time to myself, and that can be important for others as well....

I mean I didn’t get much time to myself half the time when we had some rude house guests over a few years ago, which of course that was perhaps one of the reasons I ended up with that first depression in 2015....

and even when I was trying to work on some stuff that was important to me, like a fan fic and possibly some drawings, they would always come into the room and invade my personal space, and I learned that I really don’t like that....

I also don’t like when someone looks over my shoulder or like even next to me on what I’m doing on the computer, I can’t even keep the door locked in the place we live at now, because apparently that is a big fat “No-No” and my family had to break in just to get the door to my room open, just because I didn’t answer them....I mean, hello, personal space.....

I mean I can still love my family, but I wish they didn’t do that....

I can’t even tell them that I’m Aroaceflux, even though I wanted to get their thoughts and feelings about Asexuality first before I came out as Aceflux, and maybe I could later fully come out as Aroaceflux....

but because of my family I asked about their thoughts on Asexuality,

and they end up thinking that only those who are Gay can be Asexual.....which by the way it isn’t just those who are Gay who can be Ace, there can be some who are Straight that can be Ace as well......

but anyway, I had to put on a act in front of them, to act like the talk wasn’t about me, and then once I got to my room I drop the act and the “mask” and let myself cry in heartbreak....

I can’t tell some stuff to my family, some stuff I can tell them and other stuff I can’t.

and excuse me but “being h*rny shouldn’t be mandatory, so stop shaming me for being Ace...” and if that was on a shirt, the word “Ace” would be replace by the “Spade” which is like the Ace of Spades....

I guess every since that pop into my head, that has been my favorite words to say....and it’s true, because of how some humans want to shame people for being Ace....

at least some Aces and others who have different romantic and sexuality,

didn’t find out that half of the time I felt....well “turned on”, half the time it wasn’t really mine....it was energies I was picking up, which is one of the reasons I have to keep wearing my gem bracelets, to stop me from picking up that type of energies....the other reason I use my gem bracelets are to act as sealing charms and limiters, because I don’t want to end up like Carrie White from the Carrie Movie Series or Alessa Gillespie from the Silent Hill Series from both the Games and Movies.

I like both the Carrie Movie and even the two Silent Hill Movies I have seen, and I am going to still keep a eye out for the third movie of Silent Hill’s trailer.

and well yeah I had to pray to both the Heavenly Father & Earthly Mother, to have my gem bracelets to act as to act as sealing charms and limiters, because of the freaky stuff that started to happen after I had started to use a pendulum, like figuring out I can move the pendulum with my mind and even program it on how to do “Yes” Or “No” or “Maybe”......

but when I started to hold something that wasn’t my pendulum, it would start to move like with my thoughts.....and lucky it is just when I touch something, so yeah I got he idea to have my gem bracelets act as sealing charms and limiters, so it doesn’t grow to the point where something moves if I don’t physically touch it like holding my pendulum........I ain’t taking the risk, plus the program for that only broke once, because one of the bracelets became too snug and I had to keep it off, and I had to re-do the prayer and program for the gem bracelets so whenever I do keep them off for a long period of time, they will still work.

that might seem weird to some, but it is working but I would still need to take them off sometimes, but I always keep them on to protect me when I sleep.

and the only reason I had started wearing a gem bracelet, is because being scared awake by what I think was a Incubus...and also had to put some of those Gem Angel Figure under my pillow to protect me, ya know for extra protection....and of course there is the whole needing to protect myself from humans who’s lustful energy might put my dream self in a trance and make me dream-walk....and yeah I did get a dream-catcher because of that, but because of certain reasons, I had to take it down but hopefully I can put it back up another time or maybe get a new one until we check that one...

but for now, I can try to have one of the gems that I keep under my pillow to act as a substitute.

anyway, not sure if many had that same experience, and to find out your dream self was placed into a trance and had dream-walk into someone else dream, can’t be fun.....at least nothing happen and I became self-aware and I was back in both my dream space and my normal weird random dreaming, but it did make me not want to go to sleep while the one who caused my dream-walking was still sleeping, so I had to keep myself awake and I ended up not doing that after getting the dream-catcher to help protect me.

that might seem weird, but I didn’t want to go to sleep while they are sleeping, because they might end up causing my dream self to go into another trance and cause my dream-self to dream-walk again....

I think part of the reason I was able to become self-aware and understand what was going on in the dream, was thanks to me wearing my gem bracelets.

anyway hopefully sometime I can put a dream-catcher up again...

so yeah, some people are lucky not to experience that....

also once again, this will be the last post for sure this time, until like a few days or so....I will post again in a few days or maybe next month.

but until then I can just enjoy checking out art and other stuff on here.       

[broodpeas]

random thoughts on RHOBH

I'm watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills again, in between watching other tv shows I didn't wanna watch until I knew I had the time to do so (watched Moon Knight, the best of two worlds: indiana jones and the mummy!). It has been, as usual, an experience to watch a pseudo-reality tv show about wealthy yt women who seem to enjoy tackling each other in the harshest way.

Because I jumped late on this ship, I'm sure later seasons the show tries to mend some of the things they have done so far that they consider to be bad (for example, highlighting in the worst possible way, how an addiction affects not only a personbut that person's family and make everyone a judge of the situation). With each season I wonder...well, basically, I wonder why. And, are people really like this in real life? Because, even if this is a heavily scripted tv show, we still are talking about people and I can't help but wonder if people are really doing things like doubting someone's disease (season 6), domestic abuse (season 1 and season 2), divorce (season 2 and season 3), and the privacy of minor and their right to exist without having a camera shoved in their faces. I wonder why presenting this on television? why making of this entertainment? and how this specific entertainment differentiates from the other ways we consume in pop culture? Ultimately, tv and movies -but especially tv- exploits this and we take it all, even when we think and believe it's done carefully, gracefully, or whatever (always good to ask ourselves what this implies). I think in the past I had writenn about this, but it's still nice to know that I enjoy watching it. I really do. I don't know what witchery this tv show has but it is good, it's so good. And with every season, aware of the "degradation", I still think they can't go far -and then, they do! So far, season 6 started with a man peeping a woman's underskirt and his wife saying it's her fault because she wasn't wearing any underwear! Ah, makes perfect sense!

At the same time, I think too this show is very telling of the upper class of entitled gringas that sometimes do come to this part of the continent and are amazed we have wifi. Which by the way, reminds me to tell to whomever reads this, please let's not find this shocking anymore. It's the year 2023 of our lord Beyoncé who's on tour currently -and giving you so many fashion references I don't think an academic paper will ever be enough-, and we know the condescending ways the gringos exist in the world. RHOBH simply let's you go a little deeper into this, to wonder how in hell did we let things go this far and how great it is because we find amusement. I have always wondered, when the cameras are gone, and they're just them, people living on earth, do they look at themselves and think "this is just a job"? Instead of a version of squid game that violently murders people, maybe this is the real squid game. A very nice one, because I will not stop watching it- must be said, it really doesn't make you a better person to put yourself in the position of judge here.

In any case, it will always be interesting to disssect the Real Housewives franchise from the ethics point of view, and especially from a feminist point of view. Because one could say that yes, tv shows like this makes us abandon all feminist flagpoles and shit, I honestly think this is a too hurried on position. There's a reason why this specific part of television and pop culture is viewed and appreciated by us. For so long gossip and cattiness has been understood as negative and even here, I understand them as negative values. RH has given permission to turn around this, to pose the question why are they bad? if you think carefully, ethics wasn't really built by so-called marginal groups, it was built by men. I mean, what's the first book of ethics I read on my philosophy BA? Aristotle! and Socrates was well, he was difficult, I don't think he'll ever admit how catty and dramatic he was (girl, you died drinking poison instead of escaping, do you think LVP would've done that hell no, she would've made dorit drink the poison!!!). And we all know this, and this isn't the exact place to discuss the implications or consequences this has, but it really does let you think with more attention and detail why these tv shows are considered "trash tv" instead of....culture. I don't think RH is bad tv, I think it's an specific form of entertainment that is so specific to our contemporary times we really have no way to compare it with anything else. This also lets us come close to what it means when a scripted television show starts to meddle with serious stuff, such as addiction, domestic abuse, harassment, and so on and on, and does so with not much care or tact. They just do it, they give it you raw.

But anyway, this was very random, like almost everything I write. Time to get back to work.

[spookycrazyhatboxghost]

This backstory literally only matters if your character sees my character shirtless or in any other context without clothes.

Xok hates the cold— it makes the phantom wing pain worse.

Xók curls tighter under the five layers of blanket that muffle the outside world.

He really hated the cold; it made the scaring over the phantom joints of his wings ache.

They’d been gone nearly as long as Ama had been buried.

She’d been born with them and used to tie them down under her Beskar’gam as best she could.

Until the day she left her clan— eventually met Buir; as they courted she’d felt safe enough to show her jet wings to the woman she loved.

Unashamed and vulnerable in equal measure…

After they married the Man’da blessed them with a girl child. Small with soft downy wings a dark umber; the same color as her hair.

—Buir likes to retell this story to Xók when it’s late and quiet—when she’s misty eyed and rum soaked.

“She was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen—I loved your mother Little Bird—I’m sorry—I’m so sorry—”

He’d whisper reassurances to her as he bundled her off to bed.

When the child grew a little and found being a he was an option; his mothers didn’t bat an eye.

They just loved their son

Xok knowing now what he didn’t know as a sheltered child of fourteen; the day they’d been attacked had been for one reason —well by the end three.

Revenge on Rh-Buir for a job she’d finished two weeks prior. Plans changed when during recon the rival mercenaries saw their wings— the credits alone for their feathers would feed them for cycles.

Then the idea came to sell the two harpies to the highest bidder.

Ama had fought and screeched —underprepared and panicked they silenced her.

Save for the feathers and parts from the corpse; that left the little one—better price; higher breeding potential.

Xok bared his teeth at that foul sentence —hating that he’d found the file in the aftermath of Buir’s grief fueled retaliation.

Someone had been there documenting everything; had seen him lose his humanity— saw his talons— saw his teeth as he tore out the throats of four adult men like crepe paper.

And when all that was left was bodies speckled in sand and blood —this person had fled.

Xók was left in that ally dazed and blood smeared. The yellow in his eyes bleeding back to brown; shivering and tear-streaked. Holding Ama with the child like hope that if he pressed the wound closed she would open her eyes—would start breathing again—she would stop growing cold.

That the wailing would cease— but the wailing was

/him/.

He was mute when Buir found them.

Together they’d mourned her and packed up their lives ; Xók had cropped his hair close to the scalp as per tradition — he’d also begged Buir to cut off his wings.

It might have been cruel of him to beg her to cut out one of the last things that still tied her to her bond mate; but through tears she agreed.

Without fail each time when the weather got colder ; the ghosts of joints and restless feathers ached and shifted.

With the miracle of medical intervention Xók wonders-sometimes if he could get them back with how well they sculpted his chest to look more masculine.

The Bacta had helped that scarring but when he was younger Bacta had been in short supply so —while Buir had done her best. The pink rootlike scarring branching from his spine out to end just under his shoulder blades remained.

A Harpy is not just her(his) wings but this way— Xók stands out a little less.

—He’d hoped at least.

FIN

[degeneration-design-doctor]

I've told the following story to so many people: friends, colleagues, other trans people, medical professionals, so I figured this would be a good thing to tell.

My parents are Welsh, but moved to a tiny countyside village in rural Oxfordshire with, like, legit thatched cottages and stuff, when I was 2.

Since we moved there, there has been this old guy whose family have lived there forever, who is honest to god called Jim Spinach.

He's a stereotypical grouchy old man, but has a good heart. His favourite hobbies include heckling the vicar during sermons in the Church of England church, and trolling the Methodists who go to the Chapel down the road. Jim has never left the country, and barely left Oxfordshire. He is not what you would call metropolitan or lgbtqia aware.

Fast forward 30 odd years, when I've grown up, left home, and live in London,, have realised I am in fact a woman, and have eventually come out to my family. By this stage, Jim is truly ancient.

I count myself as lucky, because despite initial confusion and some light teething troubles, my mid 60s parents have been very accepting and supportive through my transition, despite being active in the church (mum does layperson leading and dad is a church warden), and have been letting people in the village know as it comes up.

A woman who lived in the village had a daughter who is gay and has a wife but the mother is homophobic, so the wife never comes to the village. The homophobe dies, and the daughter comes to do the funeral stuff and brings her wife.

After the funeral service, my mum is driving Jim Spinach to the local town for a doctors appointment, when he says, (and to those of you who don't know what an traditional countryside Oxfordshire accent sounds like, try to image a broad farmer accent, a bit like Somerset)

"Aye luvvie, it's sad an' all Jeanne's dead, but ee, 'er daughter's wife's so lovely, its such a shame we didn't get to meet 'er sooner cos of Jeanne's nonsense. You only 'ave to look to see 'ow 'appy she makes her! "

My mum, sensing an opening here, says "You're so right Jim, it's daft isn't it when people are like that. By the way, I've got something to tell you about my oldest..."

Jim's reaction is "Aahh that's bloody wonderful, oh I'm so 'appy for 'er, good on 'er! What name's she goin' by now then? "

My mum explains that is a relatively normal name but spelt more Welsh, with Rh and an I instead of a Y, and Jim's response is "Well that's bloody daft, but still, I spose when you've lived so long with a name that doesn't fit, it's only right you get to do what you want with yer new one! Ah thank 'e for tellin' me duck (term of endearment in Oxfordshire), send 'er all my love, won't ye?"

💜🏳️‍⚧️✊🏻

So, I'm trans. And several years ago, I was at my great grandfather's funeral. 17, newly on T, barely out to anyone other than my close friends and family. And I'm standing there at the refreshment's table, surrounded by strangers and members of my family's church, when George walks up to me.

This man is ancient, bent like a finger and frail. Tufts of white hair surround his wrinkled face. Like always, he's wearing thick glasses, massive hearing aids, and his veteran's hat. George was my first introduction to the concept of war, when he told me as a child why he was missing two fingers on his hand. He's been a fixture at church since I can remember. I've only ever seen him at there or in uniform at parades, the rest of his time spent in a nursing home somewhere. He picks up a deviled egg and says, in his quiet voice,

"You know, before your grandfather died, he told me that now he had 3 grandsons."

I'm frozen in place. I don't know what to say to that, if I should say anything at all. This is not a conversation I expected to have, especially not with this man. But he continues.

"I didn't know what he meant! So he explained it to me."

And I can imagine it. My great grandfather, uninformed and opinionated but supportive, explaining to his friend the news he barely understood himself over after-service coffee and cookies. His eldest grandchild was now a boy.

"And, you know, I didn't know what to think."

Here, George looks me up and down. This 90-something year old war veteran, who knew me mostly as the little girl playing in the church kitchen with his wife, processing what my great grandfather had really meant. It feels like a long pause, even thought it probably passed in a second.

"But you look good. So, eh!"

And then he smiled, shrugged, and walked away without another word. If I was fine, if I was happier, then that's all that mattered.

George passed away this week, at the age of 99. This memory has been bouncing around in my head for a while, but I wasn't sure if or how I should share it. It was a conversation that meant very little, but also meant the world. It was scary, and funny, and the moment when I realized that sometimes the people you least expect will accept you. Sometimes, even if they don't fully understand, even if they barely know you, someone will choose to support you. And that will always matter.

[lesbianlagoona]

omg another monster high fan who is a radfem 🙏 I bow down to you bc I am far too scared to openly express my views o hope you are having a wonderful day 💞

hi!! i was scared too until a couple of months ago. i even made a sideblog to post only doll-related stuff but im being more open about it on main these days too! luckily, no one has been a hater about it. i think my mutuals are pretty chill ☺️

i try not to think much about dolls politically, to be honest. i know that fashion dolls and radical feminism don't precisely align but i also know that I'd probably agree with any criticisms/observations other radfems make about fashion dolls. i know what's wrong with them but that doesn't stop me from enjoying my own dolls, you know? i think it's a lot easier when you're an adult. i do remember feeling uncomfortable with barbie and bratz dolls as a kid because I looked nothing like them. that's why i gravitated more towards toy ponies and LPS.

nevertheless, now that I've grown to be comfortable in my own skin, as a GNC woman, i feel like i get to appreciate other details in fashion dolls. like how well constructed their clothes are, in RH/SH dolls for example. or in G3 MH dolls, i love that each character has a different body type! how cool is that? when i was a kid, MH dolls were freakishly thin!! it's so cool to see that that's finally changed!

anyway, if i ever had a child, i probably would keep them away from fashion dolls lmao

sorry about the long rant! i hope you're having a wonderful day too! 💜