#some misconceptions about DID r embarrassing

[magicalbats]

Kinktober Day 20: Foodplay

Rating: R-18+

Word Count: 3404

Warnings: Afab!reader, gendered language, my very poor attempt at poetry nvdneonfe, foodplay, cunnilingus

⭐

As far as the bards in Mondstadt go, this one was easily your favorite. 

You couldn’t quite put your finger on what it was about the young man that made him so different from all the rest but it did not seem a stretch to say his lyre had been blessed by Barbatos himself. The notes he would pluck in the city square or inside taverns across the city never appeared to lose their illustrious shine no matter how imbibed on sweet wine he was, and even when he would slur out a raunchy tune at the request of bawdy sailors from distant lands the chords would always stay sure and true. He was no amateur, that much was obvious. That he had neither a dedicated patron nor even a permanent stage at one of the inns that always made considerable profits whenever he would perform was rather curious indeed. Certainly you were not the only one who saw the magic that strummed from his delicate fingertips.

So you ask him, one day when the square is not so crowded and the transfixed audience has started to disperse after his closing song. The bard looks at you a little strangely at first but then he graces you with a smile that is almost devastating in its charm. Big and boyish, and wholly unrestrained by any worldly concerns beyond that one singular moment in time. He tells you he has no need for patrons or standing engagements at the bars when he can just as easily let the wind set his course every day. It’s freedom he speaks of, and you find yourself more certain than ever that Barbatos must have touched him with a fond hand. 

He tells you his name is Venti. 

You tell him yours in return, and invite him back to your place. 

It comes as more of a surprise to you than it does him, your face growing hot in embarrassment, but he only smiles at you some more. Says he’d love to, even while you wonder why you’d said that. It wasn’t usually in your nature to be so impulsive and rash, and yet it doesn’t really seem to matter all that much when a soft breeze teases across your cheek like a spectral lover's caress. 

This must be the liberty only Mondstadters can truly lay claim to, you think to yourself as you make your way down the street with Venti at your side. He’s amicable and flirty, but so unassuming at the same time that you don’t even stop long enough to second guess it. Especially not when he compliments your eyes, your hair, the lovely complexion of your skin, and says he’d like to write a song for you later, if you were willing to be his muse. 

And you were, of course. Not because of any inflated sense of self importance or even simple vanity, but because as far as the bards of Mondstadt were concerned he was your favorite. It would have been an honor to have him compose something just for you, wouldn’t it? 

You’re undeniably flattered, and charmed, and unusually giggly like a schoolgirl talking with her first amor, and he humors it all with cheeky little grins and playful commentary. Perhaps you would have found it a little strange, a bit out of place in your typical day to day, but Venti’s casual impishness is resoundingly welcome. He was handsome in his youth and glittering green eyes. You’d never seen any quite like them before. 

At your home, you stop long enough to grab a basket that you fill with fruit and a bottle of wine from the kitchen before retreating into the bedroom together. You’re under no misconceptions about what this is. You look forward to it, in fact. Curious to find out if his glamor would remain or if it would fade in the face of baser urges and leave him looking a bit more human. A pinch less divinely anointed in the secluded privacy, far away from any prying eyes. 

It doesn’t, you’re surprised to find. Even when he sets his lyre aside, discards his short cape and then kicks off his shoes so he can crawl up on the bed to join you there’s still something about him that strikes you as magically imbued. Like he couldn’t quite turn it off despite the healthy swig he takes directly from the bottle. You accept it from him when he passes it over, and you do the same. The taste lingers on your tongue with a cloying sweetness that makes you start to feel soft around the edges. It’s almost like a dream, sitting there with him like that, but it was a decidedly good one and you were happy to share the space with him for as long as you were permitted to. 

Venti is clearly content and comfortable as well, lounging on your bed with you while you trade snippets of conversation back and forth about this or that. His talents for song and poetry, his favorite places to perform at in the city. He even tells you, hushed and secretive, that he’s noticed you watching him play before. You’re marginally abashed to hear that, but he merely laughs at the fluster that creeps across your face. 

“Fret not, fair maiden of Mondstadt grand,” He croons at you with an affected lilt. “This bard has no reproach to command, for it is but gratitude and thanks with which you find me in your bed.” 

You laugh even when you try very hard not to. It seemed you were struggling a great deal with that today, but you readily excuse it as a fault of the wine. Getting caught up in its warm, muted lull was easy when his presence was so unobtrusive and simple, and he encourages it by fairly sharing the bottle rather than hogging it all to himself. You’d seen him drink before, in this or that tavern, so you had somewhat expected to get only a sip or two. And although you would have been perfectly fine with that as you were not usually in the habit of such day drinking, it was still a pleasant surprise. Venti was odd and interesting, talented beyond measure and handsome to boot so for him, for today, you were willing to live a little. 

That’s what you tell yourself when he reaches over to press a soft skinned grape to your mouth. His peculiar eyes dance at you and your cheeks grow warm as you accept the offering onto your tongue. It’s easy to imagine other things touching your lips like that, your gaze lingering on his mouth when he pulls back to select his next conquest from the basket situated between the two of you. His delicate looking hand lingers over a crisp apple before plucking out another grape which he once again holds out towards you. There’s no hesitation this time, and you deliberately swipe your tongue over his fingers when you take it from him. 

He looks pleased when he retreats again, and you start to feel ten times hotter than before. It’s hard to shake the feeling of being just another one of his spoils as much as the fruit and the wine are, but you think you’re fine with that. Even putting aside his musical talents there was still something magnetic about the graceful rogue that you couldn’t exactly pinpoint the cause of but you also weren’t trying very hard to locate it. 

All you really knew or cared about in that moment was the buzzing presence next to you, the melodic way he giggles as he takes up another grape between thumb and forefinger before leaning across the space to get closer to you. 

Your mouth obediently parts as if he’d commanded it. Venti hums a soft sound of approval as he presses the waxy skin to your bottom lip and traces over it in a slow drag. Back and forth to tease the soft plush, then up to nudge the top lip as well. The sensation makes you think of other things touching your mouth, and you sigh very quietly when he finally inches it forward to rest on your tongue. 

“Such a lovely thing you are and all mine for the taking, or so it would seem.” Chuckling, he pulls back again to allow you a chance to chew and swallow the offering, though it doesn’t escape your notice that he doesn’t go all the way back to his side of the bed. He lingers close enough you can just make out the distinct scent of sweet apples and dandelions on him, and it seems to mingle with the taste of wine to create a truly intoxicating cocktail. “A fine muse you will be, fit for any bard's ideal dream. Will you allow this humble supplicant to taste you, dear maiden seraphim? Oh, but I fear what I will do if you deny me a pleasure so simple and true ...” 

You hesitate only long enough to decipher what he’s saying, your cheeks promptly flushing hot at the suggestion. At your stilted nod, he eagerly swoops in to place a soft, altogether chaste kiss on your mouth. The lingering flavor of wine and grapes, and the unique taste of him swarms your senses in a dizzying rush as you kiss him back. His hand finds your cheek, cupping it tenderly for a brief moment before he lightly runs it down the side of your neck to caress the thrumming pulse point there. You’re acutely aware of your own arousal spiking at the delicate touch, loins curling in eager, molten excitement, but it doesn’t last near as long as you would’ve liked. 

Breathing a satisfied sigh of his own, Venti pulls back to once again turn his attention to the basket. He seemed to be enjoying this game a great deal, and you were too. It was soft and playful, and unexpectedly intimate considering the circumstances, and yet … 

“I would like to return the favor too.” You tell him gently, earning another soft laugh from the handsome bard. 

“And you have my thanks for that, my most lovely of flowers, my ardent follower, but allow me to indulge you first. It’s not every day such an opportunity arises so is it not best to savor it for even a little while beforehand?” 

You can’t exactly argue with that, especially not when he pops the next grape between the tender press of his pink lips and leans back in. The green in his eyes almost seems to glow as you open your mouth to seal it over his, kissing between passing the fruit back and forth. At length, Venti uses his tongue to nudge it all the way into your mouth and you moan at the heated swipe of it across yours. He echoes the sound a second later when you carefully bite down and sweet juice floods both of your mouths. 

He kisses you a little deeper then, foregoing the fruit for a moment while he voraciously tastes you with a stilted hunger that makes your head spin. It’s as if you’re drowning in it, this hubristic gratification that only seems to further highlight how very cheeky he is. You’d seen glimpses of it before, in the bars and the taverns, and in the city square, so it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, this seeking of simple pleasures. But it still catches you off guard how readily your body relents to him, your chest already aching when he eventually sets his sights on undressing you. 

Those long, elegant fingers make quick work of the buttons on your shirt and, with that soon shrugged off and discarded, he reaches around to pop the clasps of your brassiere loose. It surprises you a little bit, how easily he gets the garment off you, but you’re exceedingly glad for it as he tugs it down off your shoulders to hit the floor somewhere unseen when he tosses it aside. Venti takes his time feeling over your chest with fervent hands while he kisses his way down your neck. The first brush of his palms against stiff nipples makes you shudder terribly for him, but he doesn’t immediately focus the whole of his attention on them like you might otherwise expect another man to. Rather, he’s intent on savoring the moment — each little bit of skin, your warmth, even the smell of you, as evidenced by the way he draws a deep inhale against your shoulder as if to commit the taste of you to memory. 

It was like he was worshiping you, in a way. 

Of all possible outcomes to this impulsive encounter that was perhaps the one you’d least expected, even from the noble bard with his music so blessed and his voice so beautiful. You’d half expected him to drop the act at some point. To become no more polite than anyone else with a working cock was when presented with a willing partner to rut into, or at the very least to become eager with the anticipation of sinking himself inside you. 

But he remains as unhurried as ever, leaning back just enough to glance down into the basket again. You almost protest when he plucks out yet another grape, their numbers starting to dwindle when you’d only thrown in enough to snack on and you were much more hungry for other things now. Yet, instead of lifting it to your mouth, Venti brings it to your breast and you suck in a quiet breath when he rubs that waxy skin over a pert nipple. The sensation inspires a tremor that races down your spine, cool to the touch and soft in a way that was not dissimilar to that of a tongue nudging in on your teat but without any of the warm saliva to leave the skin slippery in its wake. 

Letting out a slow, shaky breath, you arch your back to better present your tits to him. 

“Oooh, does that feel good, fair maiden?” He giggles as he draws the dainty fruit around your tightly coiled nipple in a sedate circle. “And what a breathtaking sight you are to behold. I can already hear the sonnet I’ll compose of this most unexpected blessing you’ve bestowed.” 

You noise a soft sound of question as you tip your chin down, watching him reach over to the other breast where he repeats the process until both teats are straining hard. Humming in satisfaction, Venti pops the grape into his mouth and — swoops down to latch onto your breast, making you jolt at the sudden feeling of hot, wet warmth closing around the sensitive bud. Before you can even fully process it though his tongue flicks to the side and his teeth carefully bite down on the grape. Cool liquid abruptly floods around your nipple, and you sharply gasp at the sudden temperature change. You’re dizzy with it, swaying slightly there on the bed while he suckles at the tip before at last swallowing and then pulling back. 

With an impish lick of his lips, Venti sits back so he can tug at the latch on your skirt and pull it down over your hips. You’re acutely aware of just how wet you are between the legs as you help him get the rest of your clothes kicked off, your bloomers and stockings soon joining everything else on the floor. Finding yourself completely naked while he remains dressed is a little embarrassing, but you don’t really have the presence of mind to do anything except lie back when he crawls close and guides you down to the mattress. Pausing, he reaches over onto the bedside table to grab the wine bottle around its narrow neck so he can take another swig. A surprised groan puffs out of you when he then bends to press his mouth to yours, and the two of you spend a moment just casually swapping the sweet taste back and forth on your tongues. 

Your hand at last comes up to card through his silken hair while you kiss, knocking his beret off in the process. It makes Venti smile against your mouth, and he soon pulls away again. With a pleased sigh, he sits up and carefully tips the bottle over your chest. The first cool splash on your skin makes your breath catch, lashes fluttering when he bends down to lick it up. You can’t be bothered enough to worry about staining the sheets as you watch him lap at the maroon rivulets, soon spilling more directly over your breast to coat your nipple in it. He sucks that clean too, much to your toe curling delight, and you feel borderline delirious when he finally shifts a little lower to pour the wine out on your stomach. 

It’s cold and sticky, and your tummy flutters under his mouth as he follows the trail of it straight down to your bellybutton where some of it had pooled. His tongue dips into the soft hole, shocking another sharp inhale out of you, and then he seals his mouth over it to suck the juice out. You’d never felt anything quite like it before, and you fist the sheets in a fitful daze. If he kept going like that … 

The lace on his sleeves tickles over your skin when he gently caresses along your inner thigh, prompting you to inch your legs apart for him. With a soft moan of appreciation, Venti smiles at the sight of your pussy spread out for him before bringing his attention up to your face once again. 

“A most lovely flower, indeed. Have I ever seen someone so soft and inviting betwixt the thighs, or am I merely caught up in a fantastic dream? If it is the latter I should never wish to awaken from it … but tell me, fairest rose, sweetest of all cecilia’s, are you really mine for the taking?”

“Yes.” You hiss it like a prayer, a solemn oath, and his narrow shoulders subtly rise and fall with the steady breath he pulls in. 

The bed creaks very softly when Venti shifts further down on the bed, still clutching the wine in one hand, so he can lay out between your legs. Your body buzzes in excitement and thrumming arousal as you watch him bring his face close to your cunt, so close you can feel the warmth of him teasing against slick folds. He doesn’t immediately dive in though, and instead brings the bottle close to your pudgy mound so he can carefully upend it over you. The cool splash of liquid that runs down your pussy makes you shiver but his mouth is quick to follow, licking up the sticky beads that cling to petal soft lips. He soon does it again, this time with his tongue pressed into you, so that the wine pours almost directly down his gullet but it still mixes with the flavor of you in the process. 

You give your hips a weak little jut against him, begging for more, and he obliges you with a purposeful swipe across your clit. Thighs trembling around his head, you eagerly spread your legs further open as you moan into the still room. Static white noise fills your head, either a result of the wine or his intoxicating presence, or maybe the tight clench of muscle that follows in the wake of his licking, but you don’t quite have the presence of mind to parse it any further than that. 

Venti’s mouth feels heavenly on you like this, your favorite bard as adept in this as he was with songs and poetry, and even the bawdy shanties he’d sometimes perform for the sailors from afar. It was so mind numbingly good that you don’t even question the featherlight breeze that just plays with your hair like a subtle suggestion as you turn your neck on the pillow, even though the window on the adjacent wall was closed. Locked and shuttered, to keep your hushed moans of growing ecstasy shut out from the rest of the world, and yet the winds of freedom could still reach you; even here, and even now. 

Barbatos blessed all the children of Mondstadt, and that very much included you as much as his anointed laureate, evidently.

⭐

Crossposted: here

[moonjvwon]

Dunno who in the Bad & Crazy fandom needs to hear this but relationships within a System very much exist.

It's weird and borderline ableist to fetishize Sooyeol & K or make them separate people (as in separate bodies) solely for the purpose of shipping.

But seeing them in a romantic light is not inherently wrong or problematic.

[dessarious]

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt92

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When Chloe pulled back Marinette kept a hold of her shoulders to force eye contact. She knew Chloe still got embarrassed showing any type of affection so if she let go Chloe would likely retreat back into herself. As it was she just looked confused.

“I’m sorry.” She watched as Chloe blinked at her, obviously not sure how to react to that.

“Sorry about what?” Where did she even start?

“I’m sorry I scared you last night.” Chloe opened her mouth to respond but Marinette just kept going. If she didn’t get this out now she wasn’t sure she’d be able to. “Sorry that I’m so used to pushing myself past my limits that I don’t even stop to think if I need to anymore. I’m sorry you feel like you need to keep up a front around me because you’re afraid I won’t be able to handle hearing your problems. And I’m so sorry you didn’t feel like this was something you could talk to me about.” She motioned to the papers still spread out on the table. “It’s obviously something that you’re passionate about and have put a lot of work into. I can’t believe I got so wrapped up in myself that I didn’t even notice you were working on something. You deserve better.” It hurt that Chloe was so afraid of adding stress to her that she didn’t even want to share the good things.

“I didn’t want to bother you with it, at least not until I had a better idea of if it will work or not.” The mumbled response just made Marinette feel more guilty.

“Chloe.” She waited for her girlfriend to make eye contact. “You are not a bother. Your ideas and thoughts are not a bother. We’re partners. Even if you don’t want my input on something, you can still talk to me about it so I can at least offer you support. If it’s important to you, it’s important to me.” Chloe just stared at her for a minute before Marinette saw tears in her eyes. The next thing she knew she was in another crushing hug.

“Thank you.” She sounded so grateful and Marinette was mental cursing at herself. She forgot to take into account how different their home lives were far too often. Marinette had parents who loved her. More than that they were present in her life. If she was excited about something she knew she could go to them and they would at least be interested in how she felt about it. Chloe had never had anything close to that. Her father gave her money and shooed her away. Her mother couldn’t be bothered to remember she had a child most of the time. Chloe had been alone for most of her life other than Sabrina.

“You don’t have to thank me. Given all the times I’ve bored you to tears with my nonsense, not to mention everything you do for me, I’m the one who should be grateful.” And she was. She honestly didn’t know what she would have done without her.

“You’re never boring and after everything I’ve done I still can’t believe you’re even willing to talk to me.” That was the problem. She felt like she deserved to be alone and ignored by everyone around her. Marinette was fairly certain Chloe expected her to just up and leave one day, or maybe even start being abusive towards her because that was really all she knew to expect.

“You made mistakes, yes. But you learned and grew from them. Judging someone on their past actions but completely ignoring their current ones is insane. We’ve both done things we regret, but letting those things define you just keeps you trapped in the past. I’d much rather concentrate on our future.” Marinette caught Selina give Chloe an ‘I told you so look’ that she was going to have to ask about later. “But to do that we’ve both got to get better at talking to each other. I need you to remind me every once in a while that I don’t have to do everything by myself anymore, and I’m going to get it through your head that just because your parents don’t think anything is more important than themselves doesn’t mean no one will ever put you first.”

“You two are so cute. I imagine this is how talks with Bruce would go if the man understood the concept of communication. Or admitting he’s wrong about something.” Chloe let out an amused snort before pulling back to look at the woman.

“So you’re saying Damian comes by it honestly then?” Marinette shot her a glare but the girl just stuck her tongue out at her.

“Between having a mother with no emotions, and a father with no idea how to show them you could certainly say so. He seems to have gotten much better at it since moving here though. We actually talked for once instead of just poking at each other.”

“Mari has that effect on people.” Marinette just rolled her eyes at the praise.

“I’m pretty sure I’m not the one calming him down.” Selina’s eyes lit up and Marinette regretted being so flippant.

“Ah yes, the mystery boyfriend that the boys think doesn’t exist. I’m looking forward to meeting him as well.” Marinette shared a look with Chloe.

“That will be on their terms if it happens at all. Given some of the things they’ve said and done, Damian’s not thrilled about having told them that much. And he doesn’t want to subject his significant other to their interrogations until they’ve had a chance to calm down either.” Selina rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated breath.

“I don’t blame him. Bruce was an only child and really has no concept of how siblings should interact versus how his kids actually do. Some of the things that come out of their mouths are ridiculous, especially Jason and Steph. Bruce always seems surprised when their teasing results in Damian pulling out weapons. It’s sad really.”

“So you’ll leave him alone to tell everyone in his own time?” Selina looked surprised by the question but Marinette had to make sure.

“Of course. When I figure out who it is I’ll keep it to myself. I promise I won’t even tell Bruce.” Chloe was eyeing the woman with a calculating expression.

“What makes you think you’ll figure it out before he tells you?” Selina chuckled.

“Because unlike the Bats I pay attention to the things that are right under my nose. Not to mention they all seem to be expecting some drastic transformation whenever he’s around this person and won’t be looking for subtle hints. I do know that Alfred and Cass have figured out who it is already and aren’t sharing, so I’m confident I’ll be able to figure it out, and keep the boys from looking too closely at the wrong things, just in case.”

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[my18thcenturysource]

How important was French in the English gentry and aristocracy classes?

Well, hello! (read please in the voice of Eva Green), the fast answer to this is: pretty much for appearances and practical reasons, but many did not managed to master the language.

(This was supposed to be a short response to this ask and well, it ended as a long LONG post. You all have been warned (ohohohohohoho).

Now, this is the LONG answer:

The French language have been an important part in the courts of England since the Norman Conquest in 1066 (Flashback to the Middle Ages!), when French was used at court and by the aristocracy, clergy, and law courts. I mean, the Normans were French, therefore they spoke French, BUT it was not the language of the common people, they spoke English (kind of, or more properly, the Middle Ages version of English, Old English and then Middle English). In the 13th century the French territories of the Norman king were lost, and the high class became more focused in their English lands. With the black plague in 1349-50, 1/3 of the English population died and the English language rose with the dead of Latin and French speaking clergy and the rise of the middle class. English finally became the official language in courts and Parliament in 1362.

Making a wild jump forward to the 18th century, French was taught to the aristocracy, and it was important in intellectual circles, and was a language largely taught in other European courts even before the 17th century (let’s remember that in the 18th century, France became the major European power replacing Spain), since the French cultural influence in the continent was (and still is, worldwide) very strong, being considered the cultural, learning, and fashion centre of Europe, and of course the French nobility was married with a lot of European nobility.

What does this even mean? Well, if you wanted to learn anything in the illustration period, you had to know French and Latin. If you wanted to learn dance, all the books  were in French (until they started to be translated into English); if you wanted to know the latest fashions, you had to know French to read the magazines… and there’s a long etcetera. Even the treaties of Ultrecht, Rastatt, and Baden (which ended the War of Spanish Succession) were written in French, it was the language of global diplomacy and commerce. Think of it as we nowadays think of English: if you’re from Mexico, Congo, Poland, Japan, or wherever, you’re expected to know English and you know that a lot of academic and business doors are going to be closed if you do not speak the language.

Now, let’s move to Britain where  French was considered to be a light, clear Language, and in contrast, English was energetic and warm, therefore both were suited for the Enlightenment agenda. But, also thinking about the conflicts between both countries, many Britons (especially some Tories) dismissed the French language at all, to the point that fluency in any foreign language was reason for mistrust (yeii monolingual patriotism #not), and being bilingual could be a dangerous ability in the age of intrigue, espionage and war.

Philip Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, used French words constantly in his letters, not only was he bilingual but he also managed to be very critical of the French manners and attitudes, like seen here in a 1751 letter to his illegitimate son:

But as the 18th century advanced, the middle class was rising along with their desire to be perceived as refined, they also looked for the learning of French, not to be fluent in the French court, but to raise their social status within Britain itself. This way, French was often taught in schools and at home, along other prized artistic skills like drawing, singing and dancing, being especially important for girls’ education, because boys were supposed to be taught “manly” languages, like Latin and Greek (modern European languages like Italian and French were for women).

French was a way to show polished social graces for the élite and middle classes, but it was not the only reason for desiring to learn: for the ones directly involved with the Industrial Revolution, the French language was a pragmatic choice to have a bigger market in Europe and North America, making business-related French to be learnt by tradesmen, manufacturers, and entrepreneurs, often using self-learning textbooks (like an 18th century Duolingo), like “Grammar of the French Tongue”, by Louis Chambaud (1750), but this could result in a perfect mastering of the reading and writing, and have absolutely no idea about the pronunciation, like the Scottish encyclopaedist William Smellie. This became so important for the industrial cities, that sometimes they favoured the teaching of French over Latin and Greek in schools.

Even with the options of learning, it was widely recognised that to be flawlessly proficient in French, you should live in France for a while, or the services of a native speaker were required. The Grand Tour would be a solution for the first one, making a particular kind of literature to flourish with popular and influential works like Tobias Smollett’s “Travels Through France and Italy” (1766), or John Moore’s “A View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland and Germany” (1779). The ultimate purpose of the Grand Tour was for the aspiring gentlemen to acquire cultural refinement, that of course included perfecting their French. Now, being overseas was not always perfectly accepted, because, according to some Britons, some people returned to England as Catholics if they stayed in France for long enough, creating an aversion to their own country (me, laughing in Catholic).

So, to avoid the “dangers” of living abroad, a native speaking teachers were required. These men and women, French teachers at schools and governesses living in British homes, were often émigrés (especially after 1789, because you know, people liked their heads where they were supposed to be), with credentials hard to check, and of course Catholics (terrifying!). And if we add the fact that some of the most famous French people in the 18th century were atheists (Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire), that was even worse.

Anyway, even though the French language was surrounded of misconceptions, and class and education related status, even the most prominent writers, intellectuals, and politicians, could feel insecure and embarrassed by their lack of proficiency in the language. Like Horace Walpole, who despite being educated at Eton and King’s College Cambridge, confessed to Lady Hervey in 1765 that, when chatting in Parisian salons, he was “hampered in bad French”; or Edmund Burke, who in 1791 confided that he was ashamed “of the bad French which I speak”.

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In Resume:

So, as a resume of all this answer that ended up being a LONG post, here some key facts about the French Language in England during the 18th century:

It was the international language of the 18th century, spoke in European courts, in business meetings, and used for the writing of treaties.

It was considered appropriate for polite conversation.

A sign of refinement, education and sophistication.

Associated to gracefulness and good breeding.

People were supposed to imitate and know the French manners, and use them in few occasions, like while in France, but adapt to the locals in other places.

Since languages were gendered (like taken from r/pointlesslygendered), French was considered effeminate and foppish, being very refined, but lacking strength (of course the Brits did not know what to say after The Terror and Napoleon happened). Girls were supposed to learn modern European languages like French and Italian, and boys would learn “manly languages” like Latin and Greek.

It was a basic in the aristocratic education, and was expected to be learnt and mastered.

Aristocracy would learn French with native speakers at school, at home, or while traveling and living in Europe.

The middle class would learn though books, school, and if was possible, living abroad.

The use of the language chances with class: aristocrats would use French while traveling, in polite conversation at home, and at courts in Europe, especially France; the middle class would use it for business and learning of new technologies and science.

Sources to learn more:

TheHistoryOfEnglish.com

“The French Language and British Literature”, by Marcus Tomalin, Routledge, 2006.

“The long adieu: how Britain gave up learning French“, by Ed West, The Guardian 2016.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #267

“you can take my heart, you can take my breath - when you pry it from my cold, dead chest.”

When did you last talk to the last person you kissed? Last night. Do you think people have any misconceptions about you? Oh, I'm positively certain. What’s something you wish you could understand better? There are a great many things, but the first that came to mind are certain political/moral beliefs that I REALLY do want to understand, but I just don't. When was the last time you cried really, really hard? About a week back when I woke up shrieking and sobbing from a nightmare about Dad. Have you ever injected a drug? No. How many people have you liked in the past 5 months? I've been COnfuFSSeD!!!!!! Are you currently in a relationship? Nope. Probably for the better. Have you ever touched a dead body? Animals, yes. I may have at an open-casket wake, but idr. I was young. Ever played Grand Theft Auto? Nope, but oh man, good memories of those stupid games with my neighbor back when I was younger... He loved that game just to fuck around, and I liked watching. Then Jacob and Jason played it together at the apartment a lot, and those are warm memories, too. The last male you spoke to … is he attractive? That would be my 3-year-old nephew, so it'd be fucking weird to call him that. He's one handsome little boy, though. We all know he's gonna be a lady killer one day. If your ex called right now, would you answer? Yeah. Is there a dictionary on your bookshelf? I don't even have a bookshelf. Do you have any pet names for the person you love/like? Not anymore. Who was the last person you had a serious conversation with? What is your honest opinion of that person? Mom. I love her to death. Who was the first person you dated? What is your honest opinion of that person? Aaron was my puppy-dog love, and I have not the slightest clue what he's up to now, but I have faith he's kept that good head of his. Ever fallen in the shower? I've passed out while getting *out* of it. I've slipped a number of times too, but not truly fallen. Do you think that things will get better? For me, I genuinely don't know. Ever been to a bonfire party? Yes, by my cousins' friend's pool for a b-day party. It was cool. Their house was fuckin' wild. Movie theater inside and all. Is your dad bald? Just about. His head is just mostly shaved. Have you ever slept at a member of the opposite sex’s house? I mean yeah, all the time when we were together. Have you ever hooked up with someone to hurt someone else? Wow, no. I don't do "hook-ups" anyway. Do any of your relatives actually pinch your cheeks when they see you? No. Have you ever made a member of the opposite sex cry? Ugh, yeah. Do you know the last person you kissed's parents? Yes, I adore them. Do they like you? I think so. Name a couple things you can cook. ... Literally just scrambled eggs, if you mean something pretty much from scratch. Well, I could probably still do pasta if I read the box. Who was there to help you last time you were puking? My mom. I am absolutely terrified of vomiting, so she's kind enough to somehow manage to stand in there with me and talk to me. Are there any boxes of tissues in your room? What’s the design on it? No. Are you in high school? When are you done? No. I graduated in 2014. Are you embarrassed to say if you’re a virgin or not? More like confused and awkward, because I genuinely DON'T know for sure. Have you ever met someone you thought you’d be with forever? It was  "certainty" to me. That's partially why the breakup was so traumatizing. I MEAN IT when I say my brain couldn't even fathom the idea. It was "impossible." It simply couldn't happen. Then it did. ^Where are you two now? We haven't spoken in three years. Has your best friend ever been in love? Yes. What was the last magazine you bought? I've never been a magazine person. Will the last person you kissed get you anything for your next birthday? *shrugs* Do you think Family Guy is funny or just stupid? It can be both. Have you ever stayed with someone who treated you like shit just because you liked them so much? NO SIR-EE. You'd never see me stay with someone who treated me badly. Would you date someone all your friends and family hate? If I REALLY liked them, but if everyone hated that person, I would seriously consider why that is. Are you already looking forward to your wedding? Ha ha, not really, in most ways. Like, I hate getting all fancy and such. Have you ever spit on someone? No. Would you rather cuddle or make out? I MEAN, that depends on the mood??? Has your best friend ever been cheated on? No. Do you text with one hand or with both? Both. Are your parents left or right-handed? Right, to my knowledge? What was the last photo you took of? Something on FB I wanted to show to Sara. What topic always interests you and you will never tire of? C R Y P T I D Z Are you more or less tolerant than the average person? If you mean of varying beliefs, stuff like that, definitely more. If someone were to rate your life, what film certificate would it receive? PG-13 or R, idk. Actually, probably R for all they profanity lmaooo. Do you mind eating cold fries or are they disgusting? Ewww. What song makes you cry? What about it makes you cry? I physically cannot listen to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin because of Jason joking at prom that the music sucked and we could dance to something like that, then once he took me home, I played it from my iPod over his car speakers and we danced in the headlights of his truck and it all felt like a fairy-tale. I'm emotional just typing it and it makes my stomach hurt, so moving on. If you could remake a movie, which movie would it be? Silent Hill: Revelation. As a fanatic over the series, I enjoyed it decently, but, objectively, it sucked and was ALL over the place. How about if you could rewrite a book's ending, which one? Why? I don't think I'd change any. Maybe a clearer answer to The Handmaid's Tale, but it's still g. What colour hair does your sibling(s) have? Brown, except Misty and Katie. Theirs is black. What gemstone would you like on your wedding ring? A dragon's breath opal or rose gold would be gorgeous. What are you looking forward to in the near future? We're throwing my little sister a surprise graduation party at our older sis's house. Thanks to the quarantine, her senior graduation isn't *actually* happening, so. How is life going for you, anyway? Be honest. IT KINDA S U CKS!!!!!! What time did you get changed this morning? I haven't changed out of my pj's. I almost never do (besides obviously after a shower) because I have nowhere to go, like ever. Have you met somebody that you want to spend the rest of your life with? Yeah. Have you ever dressed up as a Disney character? Which one? Maybe as a kid? Have you ever played chess? If so, are you good at it? I’ve never played it. If I wanted to buy you a chocolate bar, what kind should I NOT get? Ew, Snickers. Of all your close friends, who have you known the longest? Sara. What was the last song you heard, that made you feel emotional? Hm. Maybe "Disguise" by Motionless In White. I wonder all the time if that's how Jason felt. Plus it's his favorite band, so that's a double whammy. When was the last time you took a selfie? Maybe about a month ago. As a child, did you ever have any scented gel pens or markers? Oh, I remember those! Yes. Name an alcoholic beverage that you dislike. Hell, most that I've tried. I hate strong stuff. Can you recall the last time you were on a dancefloor? When I was shooting someone's wedding last year. Do you own any color-changing mood jewellery? No, I have zero faith in those. What was the last thing you heated up in your microwave? Ummm pizza rolls, I think. What was the last flavor of ice cream you had? Moose tracks. Do you have an online game that you play often? I play World of Warcraft daily, and I enjoy the Dragons of Atlantis app a few times a day. I was into it when it was still a game on an actual website, and I more recently downloaded it on my phone. What’s your favorite cookie? Soft chocolate chip... yum. How long would you have to date someone for before moving in together? I think this depends very much on the relationship, BUT LIKE, definitely not TOO quickly because you need to test the endurance of the relationship. I'd at the very least give it a year and seriously consider how healthy the relationship is. Moving in with each other shouldn't be an impulsive "this is working great omg I love him/her let's do this!!!!". What's your favorite kind of sushi? N/A How much was the last bill that you paid? I've never paid a bill... wow, that's sad. What was the cause of the worst low point you've had in your life? A very abrupt, traumatic breakup. What are some of your favorite types of cheeses? Really just American. When did you last feel like your privacy was invaded? I'm not sure. Do your parents volunteer anywhere? No. Do you own more than 50 books? I have my Warriors books stocked somewhere. Probably in the attic. Do you have a bachelor's degree? Bitch I wish. How old were you when you became financially independent from your parents? I'm 24 and still aren't independent. Does your kitchen have an island? No. Have you ever bought or sold something on Facebook Marketplace? No. Do you know anyone famous enough to have their own Wikipedia page? No. What was the last appointment you had? With my psychiatrist over the phone because yeah quarantine. Why did you last feel like crying? I woke up from yet another nightmare. I'm so, so tired of them. They make me dread sleep. Do you keep your friends secrets/private information to yourself? If it truly is private, yes, and secrets, absolutely. What negative quality do your friends bring up the most? "I... don’t think I’d like to be friends with people who have a habit of bringing up 'negative' things about me." <<<< This. Do you often "jump" to conclusions? ONLY ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about the world do you wish you never found out? Christ, there's a lot. For some reason, the first thing that came to mind is the dogmeat trade in Korea. A girl in my first semester did a presentation on it, and just... wow. I never had the slightest clue it was a thing. Does the sight of blood make you feel sick? No. Does someone's background affect whether you'll be friends with them or not? Well, yeah. I'm not gonna be friends with a rapist or something. How about their religious background? Depends on if they push that shit on me or not, as well as things they believe. If someone admitted cheating in a past relationship of theirs, would you trust them? NNNNNNNNNOPE. Do you drink tea and/or coffee every day? There are so many tea/coffee questions in surveys... and no. I don't like either. Did you ever want to be a cook as a kid? No. Do you wish that magic was real? Well, it depends on what the magic is. Do you prefer fire or ice? Fire is cooler. Do you rap along with rap songs? No. When happy, do you become more talkative? WAY MORE. Bowling or sailing? Why? Never sailed before, but bowling is fun. Especially with the lights off but all the neon and signs lit up. Do you prefer sitting in the front or back of a car? THE FRONT!!!!!!!!! Sitting shotgun and being able to control the music is everyTHIIIIIIIIIIIING. How about in a train? On the bus? I don't really have a preference here. Do you care about politics? I should... Are you offended easily by non-politically correct language? No, honestly. Do you think the censors/fcc go a bit too far or are just right? Definitel too far. Have you ever taken a martial art? Which one(s)? No. Do you know anyone who is scared of you? No. I am so unintimidating. Do you like watermelon? Not really, no. Can you remember the month of your first kiss? April or May, p sure. What do you think is the most interesting thing about you? Uh. I dunno, man. Do you have a photo album? Mom has tons. What was your biggest fear as a child? Thunderstorms. I was fucking terrified. Can you remember all your past teachers' names? The majority. Do you find people taller than you intimidating? Generally tall men do, but not always. What's your favorite thing about your country? We have a lot of freedom. What's your least favourite thing about your country? We're greedy as fuck. What websites do you have bookmarked? I have a few on my personal laptop, which I don't have access to now so can't recall well. What TV show scared you as a kid? Courage the Cowardly Dog... though I watched it anyway lmao. What is one thing you regret having done or not done in your life? There's a lot. Let's not focus on it. Which parent do you identify with the most? I guess Mom. What embarrasses you the most in front of other people? laskdjflawe admitting I RP is almost ENTIRELY IMPOSSIBLE to others, especially in-person. If you had to choose one thing you were most passionate about, what would it be and why? Politics, 'cuz that's shit that seriously matters and affects the world. Who are you most envious of—real or fictional—and why? Probably an old friend who's an award-winning, quite successful photographer here in the state. She's shot fashion and model stuff professionally. She's absolutely gorgeous, does the coolest stuff... What’s the saddest song you’ve ever heard? Good Lord, I know so many. "UR A WOMAN NOW" by Otep is one, then there's "Terrible Things" by Mayday Parade, "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance... wow, I'm so surprised they're not just rushing to me. How about the sweetest song? Biiiiiih "Here For You" by Ozzy Osbourne laskdjfk;awe Do you know how to play dominoes? No. What food will you absolutely not, under any circumstances, eat? Exotic/endangered animal meat. What is one thing you’re embarrassed to admit you want to try? Uhhh I'm really not sure. Which famous person would you like to be BFFs with? Shane Dawson is MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Is there something you wish you had said sorry for but never did? Many things.

[dimensionwriter]

Tangled Within Her Vines

Tangled Within Her Vines

Gender Neutral Reader x F! Forest Spirit. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I'm not dead. School just got out and I'm ready to start writing more frequently. Anyway, here you go

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The sun was burning your back as you continued to push the clippers through the hedge. Little leaves fell to the ground, only increasing the pile of work that you will need to do later.

"Hey, sunflower," a women cooed from behind you. You looked across the large field to see a white gazebo sitting near the edge of the land. Inside was a tall asian woman wearing a blue sundress. She had long black hair that reached past her butt; she always braided it or put it in a bun over her head.

"Morning, Miss," you said politely waving your hat at her. A high pitch giggle came from her as she lean from her seat, placing a hand on the table, and waving back at you.

"You look parch. Come over and have some cold lemonade," she cooed using her hand to beckon you over.

Taking a glance at how much work that still needed to be done almost made you say no. But you haven't had a drink since you started working and you're sure it would be quite frightening to see a person laying in her yard due to dehydration.

"I would love to," you said smiling at her. She lowered into the seat and grabbed her fan. It was a pretty pink one that matched perfectly with the blue dress.

It was kind of awkward having to walk a long way to the gazebo, but you just looked down and moved as fast as could. You can still feel her eyes on you.

"I didn't know it was going to be this hot. I would have called you in on another day," she said giving an apologetic smile. You sat down in the white chair infront of her. It felt so delicate that you were scared of breaking it.

"It's fine. I didn't expect the garden to get this out of hand so quickly. The plants grow so fast," you snickered out. An awkward laugh slipped from her as she brought the fan higher across her face.

"Yeah, it's probably the fertilizer I'm using," she muttered quickly. You doubted it was the fertilizer. You have worked with plenty of gardens and they all have their own fertilizer preference. Not a single one of them have resulted in the plants growing this fast.

"I've heard that this land use to be look over by a Goddes of Nature. Maybe she still does," you joke laughing a little. Not hearing her laugh, you slowly stopped yours.

"That seems…odd," she muttered darkly before shaking her head and perking up. "Let me go grab that lemonade."

She quickly got up and ran towards the house behind the two of you. She gripped her blue dress to make sure it didn't slow her down. Her tiny bare feet slammed into the ground as she moved quite quickly.

Leaning back in the chair, you let out a sigh you've been holding. It always feel like you're walking on thin ice when she's around.

You know nothing on her, not even her name. All you know is that one day, a lady you were working for said that her neighbor needed help with her garden. You didn't realize that she had a neighbor, any less that they had a garden.

But walking out the door and looking to the right, you were met with a mansion far in the back being blocked by trees. But what made you do a double take was the giant garden at the front.

The hedges formed a giant mazed that held all sorts of flowers. Through the hedges held rows of plants that seem to splash every space with colour. Even the marble steps were reflecting the colour of the plants.

And that where you met her. She was sitting in that white gazebo with a book in her hand. A white lacy glove covered her had that delicately held a tea set. A small giggle came from her as she flipped the page.

It was at that moment that you realized two things: this place was going to be hard to keep up and this woman is so beautiful that it feels wrong to breath the same air as her.

She didn't even seem surprise to see you walking towards her. She was actually giddly the entire time the two of you talked about forming a contract and all the work that needed to be done.

You expected to have to come over every other month to trim up things or maybe to pick up any fallen leaves. But her plants seem to be determined to grow as fast as possible. So, you had to come in every week and sometimes twice a week. It was sometimes scary to see how fast the plants grew.

The only good thing was that you got to see her. She always sat in the white gazebo and watched you work. Her sweet soft voice always drifted through the air as she kept conversating with you as you worked. There was never a dull moment with her.

Something brushing your ankle caused you to look down. There sat an odd flower. It seem to be a red sunflower that turned more blue the closer it got the edges. Where the flowers cross breeding?

Bending down, you picked the flower to get a closer inspection at it. The colours were absolutely eye catching. It was actually quite beautiful.

If you had been paying a litte more attention, you would have noticed the thorns hidden along the stem. However, the punctures in your fingers alerted you of them.

"Crap," you hissed dropping the flower and grabbing your hand. Small trickles of blood went down your hand and dropped onto your working shorts.

"Bandage. I need a bandage," you slurred trying to think correctly. Everything felt stuffy. The room was spinning, but you couldn't comprehend what was happening.

"Shit," someone yelled in the blur causing you to look towards the sound. A lound crashing sound followed behind making you worried.

Looking at the blur, you saw something blue running towards you. The blue thing seem to be wrapped around something white. Wait, now it was green.

The last thought you had was, that's a nice shade of green.

"Shit. Shit. How am I going to explain this? Hey, I know you got poison by this new undiscovered flower, but everything's fine," someone rambled off in the distance. Your body felt heavy and odd.

"I knew I shouldn't have started messing with plant creation. Who leaves a posionous flower near a human?" the voice yelled followed by the sound of something thumping. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid."

"This was a dumb idea. Sees a cute human next door and instead of just going over and saying hi, I build an entire house with a garden. I'm so out of touch with flirting."

Who was this person talking? They seem to be in distraught. And why were they next to you?

"After this, I'm never calling them over. I'm too dangerous," the voice whimpered out. A long sigh came from the disembodied voice followed by a low whine.

You tried to get this numbing feeling out of your body. The closet thing you got was moving your middle finger and rolling your eyes under your eyelids.

"Some goddess I am."

Your eyes finally open revealing a stoned cieling being lit by some light. You moved your eyes to the left to see the owner of the voice. Thet were huddled up in the corner, but raised their head to the cieling to let out another long sigh.

They appeared to be human in your blurry vision, but a quick blink cleared up the misconception. They had a light green skin with white freckles on their shoulder and face. Two huge antlers sat ontop of their head that sprouted long black hair. Their face structure was quite similar to a human, except everything seem too sharp. Their cheek bone protruded out into a slight triangle shape.

Their eyes open up giving you a better image of them. Instead of two eyes, they had four golden eyes on their face. A slight glowing white crescent shape sat under her thin eyes.

"I should've-" they voice cutout as their eyes met you. The tender look in their eyes fade and was replaced by a widen look of panic.

Even though she looked different, you could still tell it was her. She looked completely different, but you could still feel it was her.

"I can explain," she yelled jumping up. Her arms draped a lot father down her body than they usually would. They seem to reach her calves. "I'm going to a costume party and this was my final product. It's all make up."

She gave an akward smile to you as she twirled the dressed between her long green fingers. You could tell that it was real by none of the suppose makeup wiping off on her dress, the same one from earlier.

"Well," you grumbled feeling an instense dry feeling spreading through your throat. A series of harsh sounding coughs came from you causing you to sit up.

She rushed to your side placing a hand on your back and lightly patting it. Slightly embarrassed and sore, your shook your head and lightly grabbed her hand off your back.

"As I was saying, before coughing up a lung, you look absolutely beautiful," you said giving her a smile. Her entire body seem to freeze as her golden eyes widening.

"R-Really? Um, you think so?" She stuttered out lifting a hand to her cheek. Her green skin slowly turned blue under her hand. Is she-is she blushing?

"Of course," you said. Feeling a little bravery, you quickly added," I always think you look beautiful."

You did it. You successful put out a compliment. But what if she think you are saying that only because you're scared. Even in this form, she looks breathtaking. Wait. What if she's disgusted that a human like you are trying to compliment you? There's too many possibilities.

"You do. Well, I-I think you're beautiful too. Like always, too. And, um," she begin to twirl her thumb while looking down,"I lied. This isn't makeup."

A small smile came to your face. You wanted to laugh at how adorable she was. "I assumed so. I don't think anyone would get dressed for a party while someone is unconscious. Unless they're heartless."

"I'm not heartless!" She yelled jumping towards you a little. She didn't realize you were joking. "I was just lying. I've been told I'm a bad lier."

"Well you fooled me into believing that I somehow missed my employer's neighbor having a giant mansion along with this garden out of a fairytale," you said slightly laughing as you thought about it. You thought you were going insane. No gardener could miss something as amazing as that.

"Yeah that was a dumb idea," she muttered twisting her bare feet in the ground. "I guess you may have a couple of questions. This is an odd situation."

"I've been meaning to ask this since I started working for you. What is your name?" You asked feeling embarrassed. "I understand that you may have given it to me, but I can not recall it."

Her face turned blank as she stood there. Is she mad? A name is something special and you forgot it. What if you are being culturally insensitive? Maybe she didn't give it to you because of some unknown reason.

"I knew I forgot something," she yelled covering her face with her hand. You sat there more confused now. She…forgot?

"I remeber to build an entire house with garden, but I forgot to give you my name," she whined sinking down into the floor. That same light blue colour slowly melted onto her skin. Why is she so cute?

"It's fine. You didn't mean-"

"Azalea. It's Azalea," she muttered interrupting you. She's named after a flower. It's fitting.

"Azalea. A beautiful name for a beautiful…person." Do you still identify her as a person? Well, is that the correct thing to say for her?

"Your name is beautiful too. It rolls of the tongue nicely. And I love saying it because then your face pops into my mind. And your face…is…nice," she slowed down as she seem to realize what she was saying.

"Anyway. My name is Azalea and I'm a forrest spirit," she said doing jazz hands on "forest spirit". Her smile was wonky showing off how awkward she felt.

"Forest spirit?" You asked confused. Well, I guess that should be obvious with the green skin and antlers.

"Well, sometimes I get called a goddess of nature. Even though I'm not a goddess, in the human sense. But I can creature nature at will, but most forest spirits can," she rambled looking anywhere but you. She can create nature. That's so cool, she could easily make the plants grow at any speed.

Wait.

"Where you the one growing those plants so fast?" You asked connecting the dots. She flinched as she dropepd her eyes.

"Well, I wanted to get to know you. And only seeing you monthly wasn't a good way. So I thought maybe if I saw you weekly, I could have a better chance." A long sigh came from her as she looked up at you with a slightly blue face.

"That's actually cute," you mumbled to yourself. You thought you were using these call-ins to get to know her, but she was doing the same thing.

"It's not cute," she squeaked out. Her long black hair draped over half of her face as she begin to pace.

"I'm suppose to use my powers to protect the forest. But here I am acting like some some love struck fool," she grumbled out. Dissapointment slowly rained over her face. Her plump green lips slided out into a pout.

"You're not the only one," you inquired hesistantly. "If it wasn't for this garden's owner being cute, I would have dropped the job. I missed a lot of other job offers just to be here So, I guess we both weren't doing I job right?"

Laughter slowly slipped from her lips. She covered her mouth with her hand, but laughter still came out of her.

That sound. It's so pure and filled with so much joy that it seem to warm your heart from inside out.

Her antlers moved along with her head as her body racked from the laughter.

"We suck at flirting," she laughed out. Hearing her say those words made a giddiness spread through your body. And before you knew it, you were joining her in laughing.

After a few minutes of laughing at the two of you inability to flirt, you both sat there in comfortable silence. Just enjoying the moment.

"I'm tired of pretending," she said happily leaning against a wall. "I like you, like a lot. I have since the moment I first talk to you. And I know it may be weird with me not being human, but I promise you won't notice. I could stay in my human form-"

"I could care less if you were a human or a forrest spirit. I like your for who you are. And I told you, I always think you look cute." You loved the way her cheeks turned blue again as she half distractedly twirled her hair between her fingers.

"So, you won't be weirded out if I stay in this form. It's kind of hard to hide the antlers in my human form," she muttered slightly joking.

"I think the antlers are cute. Stay the way you're naturally are, because it's you," you said truthfully while staring into those beautiful golden eyes. A small smile came to her face at that statement and at that moment you felt like you were on top of the world.

"Thank you," she whispered tucking a side of her hair behind her high pointed ears. "Well, I suppose this is the point where I say that tomorrow I will be baking and serving tea and would like for you to come."

"And this is where I say I would like nothing more," you said smoothly, but your giant smile revealed your true emotion. But you could care less. You have the most beautiful woman smiling at you as if you just given the world.

And you knew right them from this moment on, you will forever be tangled in her vines of love. She will have a hold over you that no other person or creature can obtain. And you're fine with that.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

Tadaaa. Another momster girl to add to the pile. I wamted to try to write more female monsters, so you may see more of a diverse set of monsters in my cast. Anyway, pelase COMMENT what you thought and if you want to ASK me anything, over a character or just personally, my ask are OPEN. Thank you so much for reading. I look forward to reading you guys comment. It really makes me so happy when I see that someone commented on my stories. It help me learm my audience a lot more. Any way, thank you guys. And hopefully see you with another story soon.

[cutegirlmayra]

Okay, another AU, cause this got on my mind and it won’t leave me and AUGGGHHHH feeelllss~

World: New Sonic 2017 Project (at least, how i envision it -shrug- Way AU though, this was a daydream idea xD)

Couple: sonamy

Summary: What if the new character was a girl, and she thought Sonic liked her and went for a kiss..? What if... it’s too painful to say... but Amy saw and took on a ton of dangerous missions because she couldn’t cope with that reality. Sonic and the team worry about her until Sonic realizes what she thought, and goes after her.

(#worriedboyfriendface lol)

Prompt:

“It’s been so kind of you to help me... I thought this world was lost... but now-” she spun around, turning to Sonic. “I have so much hope! And it’s all thanks to you... and your friends.” she put her hands together and up to her chest, nodding in gratitude.

***

Amy was asked to go into the forest near the decimated city, she turned on her communicator, “I don’t see him, Tails. He may be with-”

***

“Hey...” Sonic caught the girl’s attention, as she looked up. “Just... smile.” He beamed, flicking his finger up near his face and then giving her a charming grin. “It’s easy! Just have faith, and there’s nothing that can hold it back!” he then winked and gave her a thumbs up, trying to cheer her up.

She saw something a little differently, and lowered her head.

“Sonic...” she stepped slowly up towards him.

***

“I’m sure he’s fine, Amy. But we’re really getting some weird Chaos readings over here... it would be really helpful if he could investigate it.” Tails’s voice buzzed over the communicator.

“Em. I’m sure he’d love to get away for a little while.” Amy nodded, continuing to walk.

***

Sonic searched the girl’s face, not sure why she was closing the distance, but didn’t see any wrong with it; just off.

“You... you have always been so kind, Sonic... I... I feel I should repay those kindnesses.”

“Uhh...” Sonic leaned back, suddenly realizing this was getting too close. “T-that’s okay. I don’t really need-”

***

Amy moved through the bush, before some color caught her eye, and she moved passed a tree, before freezing in her step.

Her eyes shook.

“Amy? Amy, are you there? My readings suggest Sonic’s locator is stating he’s right in front of you.... Amy?”

Something stopped, a line was cut, a thread snapped.

She almost scraped her hand over her heart, breathing silently and hard as she watched her hero and that new girl...

Kiss.

“Amy? Amy! Is everything al-”

She backed away, tears filling her eyes before dashing away.

Her brain wouldn’t work, but her feet could.

She couldn’t see anything, her eyes were blurry, filled with anger and sorrow and betrayal...

Jealously.

She kept her head low, her voice could barely muster any noise to even cry, but her tears flooded her face.

“Amy? Amy!”

She fell to the ground, silent muffles of excruciating pain she couldn’t stop. Her fingers dug into the dirt, gripping whatever she could to feel something, anything but this awful squeezing inside of her, like a cave in on her lungs and a cloud of thick, suffocating fog covered over her mind.

She gasped for air, before hearing her communicator buzz back.

“Is it an ambush!?”

She clicked the response button... and there was pure silence in the forest for a moment.

Then she breathed.

“W-” she had to clear her throat. “Where was that signal again?”

***

Sonic quickly, but trying to not jerk the poor girl, moved her away from him, stunned. “A-I-Uh...” he was in a bit of shock, before he shook his head and arms out in front of him. “I-I-I think you misinterpreted me!” he quickly stated, “I don’t... I mean, I didn’t do any of those for...”

She suddenly blinked her eyes, and exclaimed.

She put her hands to her face. “You mean... you weren’t..?”

Sonic once again shook his head, leaning back. “No! Not at all!”

She blushed and turned away, “A-all... all this time I thought you were-!!! How embarrassing!” she covered her face, and quickly turned back to him. “F-forgive me for being blunt with you then! I.. I could have sworn you had different intentions!” She bowed then, “Forgive me!”

He scratched behind his head, chuckling awkwardly as he nodded.

***

Back at the hub, Sonic looked around, and noticed for a second that Amy hadn’t been around.

He didn’t ask for a few hours, not wanting to trouble anyone and just looked for her while he walked around, but no matter what he was doing, he couldn’t just... naturally find her like usual.

***

“Amy! Report, Amy!”

Amy staggered towards the bottom of a rocky ridge, and slowly sat down on a protruding rock, panting.

Behind her was a field of hammered robots, one’s head sparked and then creaked as it twitched left a few times, before it’s eyes died out of it’s energy.

“..A-Amy R-R-Rose here.” Amy hadn’t used her voice in a while.

“Amy! You’ve only sent letters for a while through email! I was worried about you... we all are... hey, no one’s going to judge you if you come home empty, so... So, how are you doing?”

“...” she felt the pain rush up again, and started to cry in silent screams she couldn’t help, but she muted the mic so none of the escaping air could be heard.

She composed herself long enough to turn the mic back on, “I’m... I just need a little more time... that’s all. I’ll be home real soon... promise.”

“...Amy?”

She turned her head from the mic, and then looked up to the stars. Every time... Every time she looked up at them, images of Sonic swarmed her mind.

“I’ll go home... I’ll go home when I get the Emerald.”

She cut off the communicator, and leaned against the unfeeling earth, sobbing.

She wondered... that if she got the last emerald,...

if that would be enough for him.

Would she ever be enough for him?

Was she even for him?

She cried out in silent pain again, only air rushing from her, as she gripped the earth.

“I.. I don’t want these thoughts... I don’t want this pa-ai-ain...” she felt all life draining from her, and slowly fell to the ground, as drops of rain started.

She looked up.

Storm clouds.

She gritted her teeth.

“If I get the Emerald...” her eyes narrowed, as her chest moved up and down in desperate attempts to breathe. “Then I know I’ll still be something to him.”

She turned her face from the rain, pulling her legs in and allowing herself to fall apart.

***

Finally, he got a little desperate, and went to the living room, looking around and folding his arms, clearly more obvious about searching for something.

“...Hmm?” Tails turned around, seeing his eyes wandering around and his head turning every which way. “Sonic? What’s wrong?” He walked over, “Did you spot a fly?” he suddenly pulled out a swatter, and scanned the ceiling, as if ready to do battle.

“Wha? Oh, no... no, that’s not it.” He continued to look around, dropping his hands. “Hey, Tails... have you seen Amy anywhere?”

“Huh? Why are you looking for her?” Tails blinked his eyes, relaxing to his normal position. “She’s been gone on the Emerald search for a couple days now.”

Sonic’s head suddenly whipped back around to him. “What?! By herself?” he stepped forward, worry clearly on his face.

“W-well, yeah. I asked her to go looking for you, but when she said you were busy, she asked to then take your mission for the Emerald Search up. I warned her it was a bit of an undertaking, but she insisted.”

Sonic’s head dipped down, scanning the floor, “Busy..?”

“I’m not sure myself. My readings said that she was right there with you. You and that girl from before.” Tails pointed, gesturing out as if referring to the girl.

Sonic’s eyes suddenly widened, his mind traced back to that day...

“Oh no...” he wobbled back, fear and concern swiped it’s face across him in waves, as he opened his mouth a moment, before locking his jaw in a sorrowful frown. “You said she was there?”

“R-right in front of you... Sonic? Are you alright?” Tails tried to reach a hand out for him.

“Tails! The readings! I want to know where that Emerald is, stat!”

“A-ah.. I-it’s out in the wastelands.”

“The wastelands!? With the rogue defects?! You sent her there?”

“S-she insisted! She’s reported in every day. She seems to be doing fine, though... I noticed her writing is just... stationary. As if she just doesn’t put herself into it or something...” Tails looked down. “She doesn’t mention anything about herself, she just... writes if she’s found the emerald or any clues to it. Last report, she was really close. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had found it by now.”

Sonic raced over and placed two hands on the sides of Tails’s shoulders. “Tails. Amy’s locator. You have to tell me where she is!”

“W-woah! W-why are you so worried all of a sudden?”

“Please Tails... I think... I think she may be under the wrong impression.”

“The wrong... impression? What are you...” he looked at his friend’s face, and his voice faded.

If Sonic was this desperate, then there must have been a good reason.

Tails nodded. “I can pull her up right away!” he stated, firmly, to reassure his friend it’d be quick.

Rushing to the tech-room, Tails started to type in coordinates and locating passwords.

“There! W-wait, that’s...” Tails watched the mark. “She’s outside!” he exclaimed.

“Well, no duh, Tails. But where outside?” Sonic’s snarky attitude was only coming out from his panic that started to rise within himself.

He knew she was sensitive... if she saw what he thought she saw... her mind would make up things that could really hurt her.

He didn’t want to think of the possibility of her suffering... from a misconception.

“N-no! I mean, she’s near the doors!”

Sonic’s eyes widened, and he bolted outside.

The door swung so hard and fast that a hinge broke off, tilting the door as Sonic scanned the grounds, panting and looking each and every way.

Finally, from over the hill, he saw her beaten and dirty body, arms hanging low, back hunched forward, making her way up the hill into sight, with the storm’s last winds beating upon her.

His heart filled with compassion, just looking at her lowly state, and he realized she had saw.

She had supposed and wrongly judged.

But even still... even still- That pain!!!

His blur moved so fast it was barely a hue of blue in the darkened light around him.

He stopped, just a little aways from her, his arms out and up as if he was looking down at her in complete shock, looking over her state.

She put an arm to her other, hurt arm, and then looked up.

One eye shut in her exhaustion, before she looked back down and straightened herself up, using the last of what muscle power she could.

Her back muscle twitched, and her hair blew wildly in the wind, even her body swayed from being unable to take the chilling whiplash of it anymore.

Sonic swaggered with her, ready to catch her before she regained herself.

She rose her head up, and her look was so strong... so firm.

She extended her arm, as thunder was heard, and there, in her hands, was the last Chaos Emerald the team needed to go Super, and end this war.

She breathed a moment, before closing her mouth and swallowing, attempting to breathe through her nose; the breaths of weariness more apparent now.

Sonic stared at the priceless jewel, the saving grace of their entire purpose...

He then looked up, and reached for it.

His hand wavered to her wrist, and immediately he pulled her to him.

The Emerald dropped, bouncing with a tingle, as it rolled down the hill.

Amy was in shock, as Sonic just pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her and then holding her head in place against his shoulder.

He gritted his teeth.

“...Sorry... I made you.. worry.”

Her eyelids lowered, the words sounded whispered with a raspy wind behind them, but they meant nothing.

“... I didn’t kiss her...”

Amy’s eyes widened.

“She kissed me.”

Amy’s knees began to wobble, and she moved slightly out of his grasp, stepping back. “W-wh...what?”

“Amy.” Sonic lifted both hands to her face, giving her a dead stare.

Amy’s eyes were empty, before hope and understanding started returning to them.

Sonic’s reflection showed in their glossy shine.

“I didn’t kiss her, Amy... Let this end all... and any other doubts... for good.”

He tightened his lips.

He gently leaned in.

And though she shivered, she took in a breath, as did he, but with more force, and...

“Sonic? Sonic! Have you found her yet? Your lights are blinking over each other, she has to be right there!”

Sonic groaned, leaning back and losing his confidence.

His shy nature making him look down, showing his true fear in the act almost done.

Amy moved her hand to his communicator, since his hands were still on the sides of her cheeks and face.

-Click- “....He’s busy.” Amy muted it then, as his head shot back up to her, looking like he didn’t know what to expect next.

She leaned forward, stepping more into his grasp. “That was a long kiss. I didn’t see you pull away.”

“...I swear, Amy..” his eyes suddenly dropped, such painful sincerity on his face. “I pulled her away.”

“...You still let it last a second.”

“Blame it on my obliviousness, Amy, I-” He stepped side to side, his face dropping as pure misery showed upon it. “I don’t love her.”

“...Then..” she started to choke on her words. “Who do you love?”

He stared at her a moment, before courage returned to his countenance, and he pulled her in.

This time, it connected, and the gentle force and press of that moment made the two of them almost circle their heads forward.

He had silenced all other fears.

They pulled back, mostly for shock of the experience, as rain started to follow the thunder cracks.

Amy kept breathing hard and staring at him, “...W-what’s wrong?”

He looked away, towards the ground, as his hands lowered just slightly.

“That’s just it..” he admitted, before looking straight back up at her. “Nothing’s wrong...”

She sucked in a breath. “I hope you know... I take that as an invitation.” she suddenly leaped back into another kiss, this time, wrapping her arms around him as his hands went right back to the sides of her face.

“Bzz...Bzz... Override, successful. Hello? Hello? You guys! Hey! Why did I hear Amy on Sonic’s communicator? Are you both alright? Hey!!!”

***

“What’s going on here?” Rouge strode up, before angling her body and lifting a leg up slightly, leaning on the edge of Tails’s machines, folding her arms. “...Why are their lights blinking over each other?”

“I.. I don’t know. I overrided the mic but they turned off all communication after that! I hope they’re talking it out... whatever it is. I just want them to be safe.” Tails lowered his head, “And happy.”

 Rouge’s face turned to one of realization, her mouth forming a cute ‘o’ as she rolled her eyes and then smirked.

“Oh... I see.” she started walking away, a sinister knowledge revealing her awareness of the situation on her face. “Yes... a very,... very needed talk.” she mused, before disappearing around the corner. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they took a few more minutes. Let alone an hour. I wouldn’t worry too much, Sweetie.”

“An hour?” Tails turned around, oblivious.

“It’s their first time ‘talking it out’ after all.” Rouge said that in just the right way, but poor Tails didn’t pick up on it. “Give them a minute to... catch their breath.” she grinned from ear to ear.

[specialchan]

Homosexuality & Homophobia under the caliphate. via /r/islam

Homosexuality & Homophobia under the caliphate.

I've recently read this paper about homosexuality in classical Islam, and I thought I should get your thoughts on it.

The paper explains in detail the role of homosexuality in medieval Muslim societies. I will try to summarize much of the paper here, or at the very least, I will try to highlight the points that I find interesting and may challenge some of the misconceptions some of you might have of Muslim societies that lived under the caliphate system.

The paper is divided into sections, of which I'll cover some like the presence of homosexual practices in the royal courts, the presence of homosexual practices in common society, and the presence of homosexual practices in Sufi orders, and, lastly, the extent to which homosexuality was tolerated overall and especially in Al Andalus (medieval Spain)

​

The presence of homosexuality in the royal courts

1- Al Amin

According to the paper, homosexuality was observed throughout the Abbasid caliphate. It is documented that Al-Amin, the sixth Abbasid caliph and the son of Harun al-Rashid, was known for his attraction to male eunuchs.

Amin soon separated himself from the company and influence of his family, both men and women, and gave himself over wholly to dissipated pleasure in the company of his eunuchs. He dressed some of these latter as girls and organized them into a group of blacks whom he named "The Ravens," and another group of whites who were called "The Grasshoppers."

According to the paper, Al Amin was so obsessed with his eunuchs that his mother Zubayda tried to dress the slim girls of the harem in men's clothes, and cut their hair in order to make them appealing to Al Amin.

2- Murad IV

Murad IV is the 17th ottoman caliph. In Murad's case, homosexuality was somewhat forced onto him. According to the paper, Murad's mother Kiusem, tried to push the young son who was proclaimed sultan at the age of 10 to be a homosexual. She did so thinking that this move would allow her to get rid of her future rivals from the harem so she could have the ultimate influence on her son.

In this case, the political power of the harem is demonstrated as Kiusem was willing to encourage her son to engage in sodomy in order to circumvent the potential influences and rivalries of the harem

3- Al-Mutamid

Al-Mutamid is the eleventh-century Muslim king of Seville in Al-Andalus, and according to the paper he exhibited homosexual proclivities on more than one occasion. He also loved poetry and he wrote poems for men he was attracted to. The following is a poem he wrote for a cupbearer serving him:-

They named him Sword; two other swords: his eyes!

Both he and those two are ready to slay me!

Would not one slaying by sword have quite sufficed?

Yet by his eyebrows two further blows were dealt!

I made him captive~ his charming eyes in turn

Made me his captive: now we both are masters, both slaves!

Oh Sword, be kind toward a captive of love,

Who asks not, as a favor, to be freed by you!

Also, the paper follows this poem by this paragraph:-

This poetic profession of his infatuation with his page suggests that the king feared neither condemnation by the people for his statement of homosexual lust nor chastisement by the religious leaders.

Other than that, according to the paper, Al-mutamid was quite a naughty caliph. He fell in love with another man named Ibn Ammar who was an Andalusian poet.

Al-Mutamid also fell in love with poet Ibn Ammar, from whom he could not bear to be parted, even for an hour, day or night, and whom he made one of the most powerful men in Spain

And Ibn Ammar seemed to love him back. The following (part of a) poem is what Ibn Ammar wrote of Al-Mutamid. (Full poem is in the paper)

His glamour surpassed the beams of the full moon,

His face put the moon's firmament to shame!

During the night of union there was wafted

To me, in his caresses, the perfume of its dawns,

My tears streamed over the beautiful garden

Of his cheeks to moisten its myrtles and lilies,...

4- Al-Mutamin

Al-Mutamin was the king of Saragossa in Al-Andalus, and the man was deeply in love with one of his own pages (pages has a similar meaning to servants BTW. Google it.)

And not just that, this page was a christian page. According to the paper, it is more likely that when someone tried to shame him for this relationship, they shamed him for having a christian lover, not for having a male lover.

Like other Muslims of Spain who took Christian lovers, al-Mutamin is recorded as having been in love with his Christian page. It stands to reason that, given the atmosphere of medieval Spain, al-Mutamin was in greater danger of being scorned or persecuted for having taken a Christian lover than for having taken a homosexual lover at all

​

The presence of homosexuality in common society

The main evidence for the presence of homosexuality in common society comes from hammams AKA the public baths. The paper discusses the writings of an Austrian ambassador to the ottomans named Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq. Ogier writes of the ottomans the following:-

The great masses of women use the public baths for females, and assemble there in large numbers .... so cases occur of women falling in love with one another at these baths, in much the same fashion as young men fall in love with maidens in our own country. Thus you see a Turk's precautions are sometimes of no avail, and when he has succeeded in keeping his wives from a male lover, he is still in danger from a female rival! The women become deeply attached to each other, and the baths supply them with opportunities of meeting. Some therefore keep their wives away from them as much as possible, but they cannot do so altogether, as the laws allow them to go there.

Homosexuality was quite common in the hammams to the point that the ottomans put guards on the hammams

There was a general awareness of the stigma of the public baths, and in fact, some baths during the reign of the Ottomans were known specifically as homosexual baths and were guarded by Jannissaries.

And since we are discussing lesbianism, the paper also talked about some lesbian women. The paper uses the writings of a twelfth century Jewish convert to Islam. He writes the following:-

There are also women who are more intelligent than the others. They possess many of the ways of men so that they resemble them even in their movements, the manner in which they talk, and in their voice. Such women would like to be the active partner, and they would like to be superior to the man who makes this possible for them. Such a woman does not shame herself, either, if she seduces him whom she desires. If she has no inclination, he cannot force her to make love. This makes it difficult for her to submit to the wishes of men, and brings her to lesbian love. Most of the women with these characteristics are to be found among the educated and elegant women, the scribes, Koran readers, and the female scholars.

​

The presence of homosexuality in Sufi orders

The paper claimed that Sufis fully accepted homosexuality. According to the paper, they even incorporated it into the mystical practices of these orders as a form of divine love. It was so common that it was used as a payment sometimes, according to the paper.

Religious teachers also found forms of homosexuality to be acceptable within their field. Teachers of the Qur'an were often too poor or too nomadic to be able to marry or to afford prostitutes. In such cases, it was not uncommon for the teacher to select a few boys from his class with whom he would satisfy his desires. Autobiographical records of such practices reveal that the parents of the chosen boys, as well as the boys themselves, found the practice commonplace and tolerated it in order to avoid embarrassing the religious instructors

​

Homosexuality in Al-Andalus

As most of you know, Al-Andalus was known for its exceptional tolerance (for its time). People from different faiths, and different backgrounds, and even people with queer sexual orientation as you'll see; were accepted & respected in society.

The paper begins the section about Al-Andalus with this paragraph:-

The Muslim conquests of the Mediterranean region and Spain in the early eighth century and the subsequent city-based society that emerged produced many cases of homosexual activity along with a surprisingly high level of tolerance. Records of homosexual activity in Muslim-controlled medieval Spain range from details of slave relationships to encounters in the highest levels of royalty and nobility. Historian John Boswell, in researching homosexuals in western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to the fourteenth century, recorded that, "[In early medieval Spain] every variety of homosexual relationship was common, from prostitution to idealized love. Erotic verse about homosexual relationships constitutes the bulk of published Hispano-Arabic poetry."

The paper then goes on to give many examples of homosexuals in Al-Andalus. They give the example of Ar-Ramadi, an famous Andalusian poet who was also in love with a christian man, and wrote many poems about his love for men. The paper also gives the example of Ibn Sahl, a jewish convert to islam who was also a famous poet and a famous homosexual. The paper claims that he was in love with another man with him in battle that he even goes so far as to compare his heart to the one-fifth sum of all treasure claimed during battle that reverts back to the Muslim community. There also the famous lovers Mubarak and Mudhaffar.

The paper was a really good read. Somewhat shocking, but definitely an eye-opener.

​

My conclusion form this paper is that while obviously homosexuality was prohibited by the majority of scholars (There was, and there still is, debate about the (degree of) prohibition that applies to homosexuality), there was no homophobia in the Muslim world like we see today. It was treated like any other sin. No one was deeply repulsed or aggressive when they met a homosexual.

Also this is NOT Orientalism. This is modern western scholarship. I want people who dispute the validity of the source to give me clear reasons about why they don't believe they question the source, and I'd like it if they could offer other valid sources.

​

I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Submitted September 12, 2020 at 01:04PM by Depressed__panda via reddit https://ift.tt/3mdAw1n

[thedanny522]

Doesn't it feel like everyone is a personal brand these days? Whether you have one follower, one subscriber, or 100 million, if you have any sort of presence online, you have a personal brand. And whether you're trying to be an entrepreneur, or you're just in college or you're trying to get a job, you better believe people are searching for you online in some way, shape, or form. Going on a first date? Bet they Googled you. So, you want your personal brand to be rock solid. And in this day and age there are some new strategies that we can all implement to make sure that our personal brand stands out in a sea of other people, and millions of other people who are trying to build their name, build their brand online.So I'm going to share with you my best tips and the strategies that I'm now implementing to build my personal brand. If you're looking forward to this, give this video like, you know you want to. I don't know why I might make the sound effect but it just sort of happens. And be sure to hit the Subscribe button and hit the bell to be notified every single time that I post a new video. I love the topic of personal branding, because there's so many different things that go into it, but the biggest thing that I've learned in the last year particularly as my brand has skyrocketed across all platforms and continues to grow daily, is that there is no better key to building your personal brand than you.I know that sounds weird. Let me explain. So, when we used to talk about personal branding, and believe me I've been talking about this for a long time, we can cut to a really old video that I did on this topic and I look totally different. I think my hair is a lot darker. It's filmed... I don't know, it's not the best video lighting wise and aesthetically wise, but hey, did pretty well on YouTube. The idea of self promotion is a bit of a weird one, and actually that phrase kind of makes my stomach turn, because it gives you the misconception that it's all self serving.But the reality is you build your brand online, and you build a loyal following by adding value to people's lives. So I've been talking about this for a while, and when we used to talk about personal branding, it was really focused on things like: having consistent brand colors, having a logo, having the same sort of copy everywhere, and really having a consistent theme and aesthetic to what you do. Now what's really interesting and what's happening with personal branding that I found, is the more you you are, the more magnetic you are.And we've kind of started to veer away from perfect aesthetic, perfect brand colors, all of these other things, because this is the issue: there are so many people trying to build their personal brand, like babies are personal brands, dogs are personal brands now, that there is an influx of people competing for attention, competing for eyeballs, competing for authority. So the only real way that anyone can compete nowadays, or get seen or stand out, is being true to themselves. And this probably sounds really hippy-dippy to you, but it's actually so true.And you have to leverage your own unique factors and your own unique attributes. And they could even be things that you maybe don't even like, but that other people resonate with because they're real. Because the thing is, everyone can copy your brand colors, it happens all the time. People can copy your fonts, people can copy your copy. People can copy everything about you, but nobody can be you. So two big things, really interesting. I asked my community recently, I said, "What do you think stands out the most, and makes you think of me as a brand?" And they said, "Your hair, your laugh and your eyes." It had nothing to do with anything that I actually created, it was just innately who I am as a person, because that's the most personal part about you. And the funny part for me, and I've told this story before, is that I hid my hair for a years. I had flat ironed my hair, I didn't like my curls, I was embarrassed of them. And then I had a life changing moment and I was like, you know what? Screw this. I'm just going to leave my hair natural. And it's crazy how much people are reaching out to me and saying, "Oh my gosh, I love your hair," or, "How do you do your hair? I have similar hair," and it's just a bonding thing with people.So whatever is different, unique about you, you want to leverage those things. And it could be physical, it could be an aspect of your story, it could be a lot of things. Now that kind of brings me to my next point, which is your story makes you stand out. So important to understand this. Again, there is an influx of people building personal brands, so you have to really know your journey and you have to really lean on your experience. So a big part of this is figuring out how you got to the place that you're at, and making sure that you reaffirm and retell that story as much as possible.So, my story and how I help people, and how I actually built a business off of my story and my experience and my journey, is that I used to be an entrepreneur with this tiny little business and I wanted to grow it, but I didn't know how. And I kind of stumbled into creating a YouTube video for my clients at the time, and it blew up. And I realized that YouTube was a powerful platform to build your business on autopilot, and to bring in clients and leads and sales at all times. So I moved into that, I leaned into that, and that's how I ended up where I am today.And we built a multimillion dollar business based on my story. And here's the thing, if you're sitting there thinking, "Well, I'm not an expert in anything. I don't know what my unique gift is, or how I can really both build a personal brand around it," I want you to sit down and write your own hero's journey. Start from when you were a kid until now. What have you overcome? What hurdles have you faced that you've moved past? What's a problem that you've solved for yourself? What's a problem you've solved for somebody else? What's something that lights you up? All of those things are clues as to what your story and your experience is, and how you can become your own expert, because nobody has that experience like you do.And I've built courses all around my experience and my journey, using my own unique system because I knew it worked. And now I've worked with thousands of people to make it work for them as well, but it's all based on my story, nobody else's. And that's why nobody else can take what I do and do it, it's unique to me. And everybody has something that's unique to them. There's people who teach hula hooping and have big businesses. There's people who teach how to fly drones and have big businesses online.So think about your own unique story and tell it, and tell it often. Now, the next thing I wanted to say is play to your strengths. Because a lot of the times when you're entering the online space or trying to build a personal brand, you think you need to be everywhere, and you don't. The best thing you can do is pick a platform that plays to your strengths and creates the least friction for you to create content. So for me, being on video is very easy, because I've been doing it for a long time.I was in TV before I started on YouTube or any other platform. And I know that I can film a video a lot faster than I can write a blog post, or do anything else really. So I knew that for me video would be the medium that would play to my strengths. So think about yourself and what comes most naturally to you, and that's where you really want to work, i.e. that's why a lot of photographers end up on Instagram, because Instagram is a visual medium when it comes to photos specifically so it plays to their strengths.Now, the next thing I want to share about building your personal brand is know your audience, and know who isn't your audience. It is good to be disliked, it means you're doing something. So you want to be polarizing. You want to know exactly who you're trying to reach, and exactly who you're not trying to reach. Because the worst thing you can do is try to reach everybody. And prime example of that is if you look up some of the most generic terms online, things like motivation, inspiration, et cetera, look at how much competition there is.There's massive competition. You're trying to compete with millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of results. So you got to figure out, "Okay, where do I fit in in those results? What is my particular niche in those results?" And I know people get sick of hearing that, but if you look at a lot of the really successful examples in any business, they found a particular niche, they built their momentum there, once they had an audience they were able to branch out.But if you don't niche down, you get lost in a sea of people who have more experience than you. But you can be successful as a beginner, as long as you find your little pocket and sweet spot to start it. And I talk a lot about that in this video, on how to grow fast and gain subscribers on YouTube. So in order to know who you're attracting, you want to talk to as many people as possible. This is the really simple part about building a personal brand. You can get to know your audience really quickly by talking to a lot of people about what you do, and telling people a lot of your story.Because when you do, people are either going to relate to it or they're not going to relate to it. If they relate to it, dive deeper with them. Ask them what do they usually consume online? What are the videos they will watch? The channels that they watch, the blogs that they read, the podcasts that they listen to, the Instagram accounts they follow, because that's going to give you clues as to the kind of content that your ideal audience member and your raving fans are going to want from you, and then you can create more content like that on your platforms.The next thing, which I think is probably one of the most important things in today's day and age, and one of the newer strategies when it comes to personal branding, is receipts are your reputation. You want to be known for one thing, and you want everybody in the world to know that you're synonymous with that one thing, and that you're the best at it. So collecting receipts, meaning collecting social proof, like it's your job because it is, is so important. We have testimonials coming out the yin yang, because I know that it's really important for people to know that I'm actually good at what I do, and that they can trust me and that my system actually works.So we collect our testimonials in Google Drive. We also have a lot of video testimonials on our wall of fame, from our success stories and our clients. And that just builds more reassurance to say, "Yeah, she's the best when it comes to X, Y, and Z," and you can see when people ask about YouTube and YouTube growth, oftentimes I'll get recommended, and my reputation speaks for me. So receipts are your reputation, collect them like it's your job, keep a bank of them wherever you need to, and share them.I share my testimonials all the time on Instagram, on Instagram stories, on Facebook, on LinkedIn, everywhere I can. Because I know the more I do, the more people will respect me and understand that I have a good reputation, and that helps to build my personal brand as an authority in my space. And the next piece of your personal brand right now, is that we have moved from vanity metrics. A lot of this comes down to Instagram hiding likes, which you can watch this video all about that. But the thing that I want to focus on with that move was that we aren't so focused on vanity metrics anymore, we're focused more on true engagement and sharing content.So you want to create content that's shareable. And creating content that's shareable, which I talk about in this video, and I ran this video on my Instagram growth strategy for 2020, is creating content that anyone could share on their platforms without it being something that looks like you. Because I wouldn't share something that has somebody else's brand colors, because it doesn't really resonate with me, unless it's something simple, like there's BossBabe who uses pink, and it's a really nice shade and maybe I'll share some of their stuff, and I love their account but I'm not really a pink kind of girl.So I prefer graphics that are just black and white, and I think black and white shareable graphics on Instagram and everywhere else, are a really great way to create content that people will be really quick to share on their own platforms, which helps you build your audience. The more you can get little ambassadors in your own community to share your content for you, the faster you're going to grow your personal brand. So creating shareable content, versus just trying to get clicks and likes and getting that quick hit is so important, because shareable content grows your reach a lot faster.Next I want to talk about doubling down on what works. You probably have seen, and you should know your metrics across every single platform. And what I mean by that is you should know the analytics that actually matter on each platform, and you should be studying them. Because you'll start to see trends that when you share this kind of content about this topic, it gets way more reach and it gets way more engagement, so share more of that content. It literally is the same across every social media platform.Double down, share more of what works, because you'll grow faster and you'll reach more people. And if you want more info on that, you can also watch this video on how to grow from zero subscribers fast. And I really want to touch on something that I hear a lot. Often we'll ask people, "What's your goal? What do you want to do?" And people say, "I want to inspire people and I want to motivate people." And we're in this culture of just a cycle of constant motivation, and it's great that you want to motivate people and it's great you want to inspire people, I do too.But if you're just trying to compete in the motivation space, good luck. Because it is competitive AF. So you have to figure out how to find your little area of expertise and like I said, niche down to blow up. So one quick thing that you can do is complete this sentence: I help blank, to blank, by blank. So I help coaches and online entrepreneurs, to reach their audience and monetize their message, by using YouTube and online courses. That's what I do. And the motivation aspect of that and the inspiration aspect of that, is a byproduct.It just happens, because I'm helping people reach their goals, which is inspiring. And when I share that, people are like, "Oh my gosh, I want to do that." And when I share the stories of how people's lives have changed since they've started working with me and my team, that also is inspiring. So just being in the motivation space is rough. It's hard to grow real fast there, unless you already have a base. So instead, motivate people through your results, through the action, through the things that you're able to do and impact others with.Impact is everything, impact is inspiring. So that's where you want to start. Complete that sentence: I help blank, to blank, by blank. Just fill that sentence out and you'll start to understand where your niche or your particular category is. And if it doesn't come right away, that's okay. It takes some time, it takes some work, but keep asking questions, keep talking to people, keep telling your story, and you're going to get to know your ideal audience member, your ideal client really, really well in order to reach more of them.You need to know your ideal client and your audience members on a deep level in order to grow your audience. And I always come back to using your story because your story is motivational. Everybody has a hero's journey, everybody has an experience in their life where they went from not a good situation to a great situation. And if you watched this video, on how to create an online course, I talk a lot about that, and how to create a profitable course based around your own experience. Because nobody's a better expert than you on your own experience, and if you've solved a problem, hands down, there are other people out there who would pay for your expertise on how to solve that problem.So make sure you check out that video as well. Next thing I wanted to say is find your rhythm, and be consistent. Super, super important that you find your own unique rhythm. There are people on YouTube who post once a month, but their videos are bomb, and so they get this massive exposure from that one video and it's quality over quantity. I posted once a week until I got to 200,000 subscribers, now I post twice a week. I'm a big believer in quality over quantity, and making sure your content is going to perform well before you even record it, and that comes down to doing the research.But making sure that you have a rhythm and consistency that works for you, because consistency creates trust with your audience so that they continue to show up for you, and continue to support you so that you can continue to build your personal brand. So make sure you find a rhythm that works for you and stick to it, and remember to share your content across other platforms, and don't think you need to reinvent the wheel. A big part of personal branding is consistency in your messaging, and telling the same story over and over and over again until people fully grasp it, and they know exactly who you are and what you do and how you can help them.So you can take one piece of content, whether it's a YouTube video, a podcast, et cetera, you can split that content up and share it everywhere so that you're active on these other platforms, but you're not having to create content from scratch. So really great tool for this is something called repurpose.io. We use it in my business, it's awesome. I'm not currently an affiliate with them, but they're great. And it basically allows you to clip your videos or your content into small chunks with like the headlines, and make them really shareable across platforms.So that allows you to make more content in less time and not have to come up with brand new content for every platform every day, because it's just less exhausting. So those are my key strategies for building a personal brand today. And I know these are going to be really helpful for you, so please take action on them and start working on your own unique story. Because you being you is enough, I promise you that. And it's your biggest asset today, because everybody can build a business the same way, but not everybody is you.Everybody can copy a logo, copy a font, copy a brand color, but not everybody is you. There's nobody that can compete with you at being you. And we live in a day and age where you can get paid to be you. It's a wonderful time to be alive. So, hone in on what makes you you, and that's going to be the biggest advantage to your personal brand. And keep telling your story because there's someone out there who needs to hear it. If you want to build your audience, build your platform a heck of a lot faster, make sure you go to bossyoutubestrategy.com, and I will show you how to blow up your YouTube channel, and blow up your personal brand in the next 12 months. You can sign up for that at the link below in the description. Thank you so much for watching, check out these videos next to further build your personal brand, and own your niche and dominate, and become the authority on social media. If you liked it, hit the Like button. Subscribe, hit the bell to be notified, and be sure to share this with someone who needs to hear it. Thanks for watching. via /r/Affiliatemarketing