#stigma of adopted sons

[infiniti-islam]

Lovestuck Narrative: The Controversy Of Rasulullah With His Adopted Son's Wife

Introduction Typical tactic for the missionaries, Christians in general, and all the critics is to use this argument to portray how Rasulullah SAW lusted over his adopted son Zayd bin Harithah’s wife. According to them, this is immoral and Rasulullah’s teaching are driven by sexual desire some sort. Other than the marriage of Rasulullah with Aisha, this is the most used argument to diminish…

[its-not-a-pen]

eunuch rating system: part 2 electric boogaloo! part 1 based on the original post by @welcometothejianghu wherein i continue to rate REAL historical chinese eunuchs! this is a non-exhaustive list and there's honestly no metric to it. i just pick the guys i like.

Han Dynasty (yes, again. the Han was like 400 years long lol) Cao Teng was a pretty normal guy whose biggest claim to fame is his extremely infamous grandson, Cao Cao. Because of this, Cao Teng is the only enunch in chinese history to get a royal title; Emperor Gao of Wei, which was granted posthumerously through Cao Cao’s grandson Cao Rui.

Cao Teng was a good judge of character who promoted a bunch of famous people, one of whom was a guy who had even tried to impeach him previously. After 30 years of service, he retired, got married, and adopted a son. 

i decided to put him on the list because the common perception of the eunuch is a "mutilated" man living a lonely, unfulfilled life. What is often left out is they are highly motivated people who excel at their jobs, exert a lot of influence, and are able to have families and leave a legacy.

the majority of eunuchs came from poor families, and serving at the palace gave them an opportunity to obtain wealth, status and an education they would otherwise never have access to. it does require an unimaginably painful sacrifice, but that shouldn't be the only thing that defines them.

Cao Teng's hard work benefited his entire clan and lifted them out of poverty. But there was a complex interplay between him being a venerable ancestor, and someone marked by the stigma of castration. I imagine there was something bittersweet here for Cao Teng, knowing that he had done so much for his family, but they would rather he didn't exist.

Cao Cao was able to become a prime minister because of the wealth, connections, and education earned by his grandfather. At the same time, he appeared to resent him. The source of his ancestory was a sore spot which was repeatedly brought up by his political enemies to discredit him, something he never commented directly on or attempted to defend.

ming dynasty

MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE FOR THE COOLEST PERSON IN THE MING DYNASTY!!!! actually scratch that, MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE FOR THE COOLEST PERSON IN CHINESE HISTORY, PERIOD.

Zheng He was born Ma He to muslims living in Yunan, which was ruled by Mongols at the time. He was captured by the Ming army between the age of 10-14, castrated, and given to the young Yongle Emperor as a servant. Incredibly enough, he was like "no hard feelings mate" and went on to work in EVERY SINGLE JOB. and kick absolute ass in ALL OF THEM. he started out as a soldier on the northern frontier (the toughest place to serve, that was where all the border conflicts were) and fought in several campaigns with the future emperor, distinguishing himself and earning the emperor's trust.

I originally had him drawn in a more stereotypically "heroic" pose, by all accounts he was a tough guy who "walked like a tiger", and while the main purpose of the Ming voyages were diplomatic, he didn't shy away from violence. (he fought PIRATES. like a fucking shonen protagonist). in the end i decided to go with a picture that showcases less celebrated but equally important leadership qualities like curiosity, patience and discipline. I also want to point out that he wasn't the only eunuch on the trip, around half of the commanding officers were also eunuchs. He wasn't an exception to the rule but rather the face of a largely ignored majority; complicated people who were making the most of a difficult job.

Notes: the giraffe he brought back didn't have a name (at least not on record), but the Ming thought it was a qilin (kinda like a chinese unicorn) and i thought that would be an adorable name for a giraffe.

Ming Dynasty

i feel like we've had too much nuance, so lets finish this list off with a properly corrupt and scheming enunch! Wei Zhongxian castrated himself at age 21 to escape his gambling debts, and it unleashed his potiential like Rock Lee removing his leg weights. once inside the palace, he started out as a minor kitchen hand but managed to hustle his way to being the right hand of the emperor, who was an indifferent ruler that prefered woodworking to running a country. for this reason, I decided to make him a ventriloquist dummy.

Wei Zhongxian then proceeded to go on an extravagant and over-compensating ego trip. actually, it was more like a 40-year-long, olympic worthy, ego-long jump. things came to a terrible end when he tried to stage a coup (it failed and he decided not to hang around the capital, and go hang on some rafters instead). by then, decades of corruption had weakened the Ming, the emperor's only son got exploded in horrible incident that also wiped out most of the Ming Dynasty munitions--and what's this? here comes the Qing Dynasty with a steel chair!!!! notes: I decided to make Wei Zhongxian's design a human version of my cat, because he is also an incredibly devious but rather low-wisdom individial.

[heavenboundhotel]

✨THE RADIO DEMON✨

Name: Alistair Clémenceau

Species/Origin: Sinner, Deer Demon

Gender/Pronouns: Male, He/Him

Sexuality: Aromantic Asexual

Year of Birth: 1891

Year of Death: 1933

Appearance:

Personality:

Alistair is a charmer, he's extremely charismatic and extremely manipulative. He knows exactly how to get under people's skin - and how to get what he wants. He's grown quite cocky with all of the power he's obtained in Hell, but has no issues concealing it when necessary and adopting a more humble front. He often acts cheerfully while still never letting those around him forget what he's capable of, as one of the most powerful overlords in Hell. He doesn't make his intentions known, ever, he's a showman who uses theatricality to get his way. Literally unable to stop smiling, he hides his true emotions behind a mask of uncomfortable cheeriness and personability. He's very traditional, refusing to modernize throughout his 91 years in Hell and holding himself to standards of decency from the time and place in which he lived.

Backstory:

Alistair Clémenceau was born in 1891 into the world of New Orleans, Louisiana, with the oppressive structures of the Jim Crow South looming over it. His heritage was complicated: his mother was dark-skinned, descended from a free black family of pre-abolition times, and through happenstance found herself forced to raise her son alone. His white-passing Creole father washed his hands of the generations-internalized bias and did not want to risk his reputation in a relationship scorned by society. Alistair's mother was left to her own devices: fighting stigma as a single woman of color, she turned to sex work to support herself and her son. The quiet sacrifices of his mother hit Alistair deep, and he grew up with a lingering respect for her strength and kindness. Her struggles outlined his fierce independence, teaching him how to survive in a world that was almost consistently looking down on him and how to mask his anger and longing. 

Alistair's mother did everything in her power to make his life the best possible. His mama was a fierce protector, working very hard to shield her son from the harsh judgments of the world. She instilled an early appreciation for performance in Alistair; she snuck him into theater houses, music halls, and later, jazz clubs. 

Early on, he had discovered the magic of the radio—a medium that to him seemed to speak secrets into the air. He was transfixed by voices that traveled, invisible, across distance, binding people in one common experience. He loved the voice, dislocated from identity—some kind of anonymity, some sort of power he later would crave for himself. He had started playing with crude radios as a child, even putting on little "on-air" shows for the scant audience of his mother and neighborhood friends. His mother encouraged his talents, taking pride in his ambition, and while Alistair's dreams grew bigger than New Orleans, he treasured those early performances for the bond it created between them. 

But as Alistair grew older, darker aspects of his personality would emerge. Life in the harsh South had taught him early that mercy could be a fatal weakness, and he had learned that lesson well as means of survival. He felt invisible, oppressed, and alienated, and soon nurtured an intense sense of disdain for this society that had condemned him and his mother. Somewhere in this churning inner landscape, a deadly predilection began to stir. 


Alistair found his subcultural niche as a faceless radio voice under a pseudonym when he was a young adult. His voice then was his instrument to voice anything he would want to say, sans the constraint of his persona. Behind the melodious voice was a macabre secret: he began killing, channeling years of rage and pain into his twisted "hobby." Skilled in passing under the radar, those he killed were symbolic to him—representations of hypocrisy and cruelty, people he thought were more vile than himself—and never women. The longer this went on, the more he reveled in his crimes���both of flesh and of control. Thus, he became a cannibal, grotesque appetite not to be publicly displayed.


As Alistair descended into darkness, he found his companion in Madeline "Maisie" Auclair, a jazz singer and flapper. Maisie was one of the few individuals who actually saw both the charmer and the dangerous man beneath the mask; nights with her in smoky jazz clubs were an escape for Alistair. They bonded over their shared cynicism and humor, Maisie offering him an unusual kind of acceptance, even if she didn't fully understand the extent of his violent life. 

But finally, the bloody double life of Alistair unraveled. In 1933, he was caught hiding a body; his elusive anonymity shattered in that second. He fled, but the police tracked him down, shooting him in the leg before unleashing dogs on him.


In Hell, a speaker implanted in his chest carries his voice, and he can revel in the theatrics that he so enjoyed in life. Hellproved to be fertile ground for his ambitions, and he rose through the ranks until his charisma and manipulations brought him to the status of an overlord feared by many. Clinging to an outdated sense of honor, he refused to change and cloaked his words in an unsettlingly charismatic air. And yet, still buried beneath the cynicism and the cruelties was respect for his mother's ferocity.


Lately, Alistair has been fascinated by the Prince of Hell and her plans for some kind of redemption project. That fascination may well be pure entertainment value or may mask something rather darker, but his eyes are upon her, and Alistair does little without a purpose in mind.

[midnightstargazer]

Cursed Child is awful, but I really like Astoria and have enthusiastically adopted that version of her into my headcanons.

First of all, I like that she's a genuinely good person who was (most likely) a Slytherin. I'm totally here for interesting villains and morally gray characters, but there's something very irritating about the way Slytherin is consistently the "evil" house in canon, as if 25% of the student body can be reliably identified as bad people from the age of eleven. Astoria is one of the few exceptions and feels like a breath of fresh air. She can be kind-hearted, loving, and non-prejudiced and still be a Slytherin, and I love that about her.

The blood curse is a pretty blatant example of fridging: Astoria is not meant to be important in her own right and is killed off to create angst for her husband and son, as well as to get her out of the way before the main plot gets started. But ignoring how it's handled in the play, I think the idea of the blood curse has a lot of interesting potential. The Greengrasses must have been in a very odd position, being part of the upper crust of pure-blood society and yet having their family's greatest weakness be a curse passed down from one of their ancestors, whether that is openly known or kept secret.

Astoria was raised with the same ideology as many Slytherins, in a family that was surely not still pure-blood by accident, but rejected that ideology and never looked back. That might have had a little bit to do with the curse and the weird position it likely placed her in, but I think it probably had more to do with the war.

Her experience was described on Pottermore as "similar (though less violent and frightening)" in comparison to Draco's, which I take to mean that she wasn't personally affected by the war. She was pure-blood, her parents weren't Death Eaters, and she was only fifteen or sixteen when it ended. She most likely flew under the radar and was left alone. And yet, she still came out of it believing in equality, unwilling to pass down bigoted ideas to the next generation.

To me, this suggests that she was a compassionate and empathetic person who was moved by seeing how harmful the ideology was to other people. Reading about all the awful stuff that was happening, hearing about the ways in which the war was affecting her classmates, witnessing the Carrows' cruelty even if she herself wasn't their target - although she was a bit too young to be involved in it personally, the war must have played a huge role in shaping how she sees the world.

Astoria is, above all else, a good mother. She and Draco raised Scorpius differently than how they were raised, and it shows. She taught him that Muggles are people deserving of his respect, she sent him off to school with sweets to share hoping it would help him make friends, she encouraged him to be kind and generous rather than trying to mold him into a snob or a bully. And, it's strongly implied, she helped him make sense of his family's past, especially his father's ("Mum always told me that you were a better man than I could see" - CC Act 3 Scene 3).

What really breaks my heart, more than the blood curse, is what a lonely life Astoria seems to have led as an adult. She clearly had a loving relationship with Draco and Scorpius, but between her disapproving in-laws and the stigma of being connected to the Malfoys, her husband and son seem to have been all she had. Not only is she never mentioned having any friends as an adult (which could just be because she's out of focus), Scorpius obviously had a very isolated childhood, and the family is subjected to vicious rumors thanks to Rita Skeeter. Scorpius never even mentions his maternal grandparents or his aunt when he talks about his family. Did Astoria still have a relationship with them as an adult?

And yet, it was entirely her choice. She loved Draco, she saw (or perhaps brought out) the best in him, and so she married him. I love that their relationship isn't some sort of arranged marriage or strategic match based on blood status. That they do genuinely love each other and are willing to be together even though it's not the easy choice. Even though his parents disapprove, even though she will be judged and scrutinized in a way she has done nothing to deserve, even though there is no promise of a happy ending where they grow old together.

It's weird, because Astoria is only mentioned once in the books and gets absolutely zero characterization. She comes almost entirely from the play, most of which I reject; the trolley witch is an ordinary person, and Cedric Diggory would never join the Death Eaters 🤣. And I don't really love how she was dealt with in the play, never appearing onstage, killed off without ever being properly introduced. But from the little fragments of her story that we get and the implications of what we're told, I find her to be a really interesting character.

[acepalindrome]

The trouble with trying to write stuff about Emmrich’s early childhood is that canon didn’t give us much, so now I’m inventing background for Rupert and Elannora Volkarin, plus several characters from the village he grew up in and their personalities and conflicts. This is supposed to be about baby Emmrich’s trauma, and I’m getting carried away making up small town drama.

(Elannora was actually from a fairly wealthy merchant family, and caused a massive scandal by falling in love with a lowly butcher and running away with him. She was well educated and still retained some posh speaking habits and manners even though she was living a much more humble life. Emmrich learned a lot of etiquette from the Necropolis, but he already had very good manners and a better vocabulary than one would expect of the child of peasants. That was all his mom’s influence.)

(Rupert was from several generations of butchers, and despite the stigma in Nevarra, he was proud of his work. He was more specialized in producing leather and parchment than meat, although he did sell most of the meat to Orlais, as their village was near the border. The ring he gave to Emmrich was a family heirloom that had been passed from father to son for the past four generations.)

(Emmrich didn’t really have friends his age, as being the son of a butcher was a bullyable offense. If asked, as of age eight, he would have said his friends were Lucy (the neighbor’s pig,) the neighbor who owned Lucy and was something of a doting auntie to him, and the villager librarian, who appreciated a child who loved to learn despite the meager offerings of their little library. Either of those adults would have offered to adopt Emmrich after his parents died, but since his magic manifested during the accident and some fucking narc told the local Chantry about it, that was not an option.)

[forkingandcountry-if]

Hi, there are a couple of things I wanted clarification on, if that's ok?:

"Neifile is to be wed to Ser Peter Champion shortly," he continues, "and all her children will be of House Champion."

Isn't Peter a 2nd son, can't he marry into the Merivale family instead? Especially since he has plenty of siblings, why is it necessary for Neifile to take the Champion name?

The onus of the burden is on having the having a child, the MC is rich, influential and, by the time they are considering children, married to another rich influential powerful person hence they have options that others wouldn't. Surrogacy and adoption are one of them although both are just inconvenient since you would have to pretend to be pregnant for about 9 months as a female MC.

I'm confused, if surrogacy and adoption are options for the heir, then why is it such a big deal that Garland is infertile? That scene comes across like an heir that is blood related is necessary.

Thank you for your questions! This is a great opportunity to clarify some of the customs and dynamics at play.

1. While Peter is indeed a second son, the tradition in this setting dictates that rank is determined by a combination of factors. Since neither Peter nor Neifile are the firstborn of their respective houses, the decision would default to comparing the status of their families as a whole. Both the Merivales and the Champions are Great Houses, meaning they hold comparable influence. From there, custom shifts to gender as the deciding factor—traditionally, a wife joins her husband’s house unless there is a compelling reason otherwise.

In this case, Peter being male gives House Champion the higher rank by custom, meaning Neifile would join his house.

However, a simpler and perhaps more decisive factor lies in their marriage contract. Peter’s grandfather, as the traditionalist and the current Lord Paramount of House Champion and the Borderlands, would likely insist that any grandchildren from the union belong firmly to his house. He wields significant influence, even over Peter’s father, and it’s easy to imagine this stipulation being non-negotiable during the marriage arrangements.

So while the custom provides a logical framework, the personal preferences of Lord Champion likely cemented the decision. I hope this clears up the reasoning.

2. Under the Inheritance Act of 329, Garland’s infertility disqualifies him from inheriting the Paramountcy of the Vale and Great Lakes. While surrogacy and adoption are options available to the MC (who operates in a different era with more resources and social capital) because they are technically fertile, they weren’t legally recognized when the Act was established.

Although the current timeline is in the year 439, the article of the Inheritance Act pertaining to impotence has neither been repealed nor amended, meaning its outdated stipulations still apply. Thus, Garland had to be disinherited.

Beyond the legal framework, Garland’s circumstances made his disinheritance almost inevitable. As a disabled man with mobility challenges, Garland already faced considerable stigma, which limited his marriage prospects and complicated his role as heir. His infertility compounded these issues, leading to overwhelming societal pressure on both Garland and his parents to name a more "suitable" heir.

In short, while modern options like surrogacy or adoption might have been a workaround for someone in the MC’s position, Garland’s disinheritance was driven by both legal constraints and entrenched social biases of the time.

I hope that clarifies things!

[crystalgastles]

Family tree

In my Jeff the killer rewrite I actually gave his parents names, and backstories. I changed Lius name because I like the name Louis more (also because of the song brother Louis) here’s more information on them

Miron Able. Comes from a long line of baptist preachers and expects his sons to continue the family tradition. He raises his sons the way his father raised his, and his father before him. He knows nothing else. Jeff gets his alcoholic tendencies from him as he was a raging drunk. He keeps his cool and acts like he’s the perfect husband and father around the public. Jeff learned violence from him. Miron learned violence from his father. The family trees sins continue on in different forms

Belle Able. Comes from the Seminole tribes in Florida, originally from Tampa, She met Miron when she was studying to become a nurse at the university of west Florida in Pensacola. She got pregnant with Jeff in 1982 and had to drop out and get married to Miron do to the stigma of having a child out of wedlock in the south. She would have been a good nurse. A great nurse. Jeff looks like his mother, his face and hair at least. He got his complexion from his father, he can’t look at his hands without thinking of him.

Louis Able. Soft spoken, academically gifted and his father’s favorite. He never gets into any sort of trouble and usually stays within the social circle of the church. Not because he wants to but because he has seen how he treats Jeff and doesn’t want that to happen to him. If his father found out he was gay he wouldn’t know what he’d do. After both his parents were killed and he was stabbed, he moved closer to the Florida Alabama state line with his maternal aunt and now works as a therapist. He got married in 2017 and has three adopted children. He doesn’t know where his brother is, he doesn’t care either.

[ask-modern-patrochilles]

About this blog

Hi everyone! 💜

This is an ask blog for my modern omegaverse Patrochilles AU, which I’m currently writing on AO3 (Link!). Questions will be answered with art and/or text! My name is Angie (25 || she/her), and you can find me over on my main blog @darlingfreddie or my art blog @darlingsart where I’ll be posting art for this AU and my other AU + other random drawings/doodles.

This AU follows Patroclus and Achilles’ lives after meeting at a party and getting together a few months later. In this AU, Achilles is a famous musician, the lead singer of a band named Arete where his bandmates are Odysseus, Diomedes, and his cousin Ajax (referred to as AJ!). Patroclus is on the road to becoming a trauma surgeon and currently working on his fellowship program. Together, they’re navigating their hectic careers, family life, paparazzi, and everything else while being madly in love.

The About Page will be updated accordingly!

FAQ:

What are their secondary genders?: Achilles is an omega and Patroclus is an alpha.

How does this omegaverse work?: So, I've made this AU by pulling a number of ideas from different fics and resources since this is my first time handling omegaverse! Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics in this AU are more non-traditional than in some other AUs, alphas are frequently in relationships with other alphas, omegas with other omegas, etc. I'd like to think that there aren't any rules or much stigma around that.

How old are they?: Currently, Achilles is 28 and Patroclus is 29.

How long have they been together?: About about five years. They are currently married.

Family members?: Achilles has a close relationship with his father, Peleus and is currently mending his relationship with his mother Thetis. Patroclus is very close with his adoptive father, Chiron. They also have one son, Max.

Friends?: They share a mutual group of friends including Odysseus, Diomedes, AJ, Penelope, Briseis, and Automedon (referred to as Auto!). Patroclus is closest to Briseis and Achilles is closest to Penelope. Achilles is also friends with Helen, a movie actress he met a few years ago.

Education?: Patroclus is currently completing his fellowship training and Achilles left high school before he could finish.

—This list will be updated as questions are answered/fics are written!—

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Hypothetically if Spider ever managed to get an avatar and maybe it even eventually becomes his actual permanent body, do you think it’d change his relationship with the Sully family? Or is he forever doomed to be seen as a stray cat they care about kind of (when it’s not inconvenient) from time to time?

Thoughts on Spider.

After Way of the Water? No.

(Also, anon, why would you come to this blog for validation of family feels and hurt comfort? May I suggest you go to any other blog on this site, you'll be much happier.)

Because it'll come out that he brought the enemy to their camp as well as saved the corporal's life. Now, the former can be excused in that he was coerced and tortured. However, there is the messy emotional business that Neteyan died solely because of Quaritch's blind obsession with Jake Sully that Spider went out of his way to aid by showing him things they would not have considered such as flying banshees.

(Note, Spider was in a bad position, and more is a boy who just wants to be loved by somebody. This was his father who was finally noticing him, praising him, and of course while conflicted he wanted to aid him and have him be proud of him. He's also young and didn't realize that no, he's not clever enough to trick Quaritch and pretend to go along with his schemes then betray him at the last minute. That plan didn't work out.

What I'm getting at is I don't blame Spider by Neyteri certainly will.)

With Quaritch alive still and out for blood, when it gets out that Spider's the one who saved him (and it will get out), it'll seem to the Sully's that he picked sides and he didn't pick the Sully's. While I'm sure we'll have a whole thing about the kids forgiving him (Kiri especially is very fond of Spider in movie 2) and Jake telling Neyteri it's cool because "Sully's stick together" there's still not going to be great feeling after this.

I imagine, after a lot of hardship, Spider would be... tolerated at best and if possible, persuaded to go to Earth when they kick the humans out for the second time.

If they give him a consolation Avatar it'll be just that, a consolation Avatar, and I imagine he'll never remove the stigma of "other" from himself or "that time he cooperated with the enemy" (when, again, he had little choice in the matter).

Before the events of the second film, though, if an Avatar crash landed on him (or the lab had somehow managed to retain the materials to make them), I imagine Neyteri would find it weird and uncomfortable. Spider is human, in her eyes Jake had to prove himself a member of the people and effectively give up his humanity. Her children are her children, born of the Nav'i. Even Kiri is very clearly Nav'i and was born of immaculate conception (or let's not think about it). Spider has no reason to be in an Avatar, he's not fighting the humans who aren't there, and would just be doing it to... pretend he's Nav'i even more than the human scientists are. I imagine she wouldn't be thrilled, especially given it's the son of her enemy.

(I'm not saying this is rational of her, Spider is a child who literally knew nothing of any of these people, but it seems to be how Neyteri generally views him, and I don't see her loving the idea of adopting the son of her warlord enemy.

Given that, from what we see, she didn't love the idea of adopting the son of her warlord enemy in canon and kind of just let the socially awkward scientists not raise him.)

[chaotic-writer-7]

Fanfiction Ideas for Adoption

I have two ideas for DabiHawks fanfiction, but I'm pretty busy with other projects and my own as well as my studies, but I would still like to publish them: Both are free to use and interpret, as long as I'm mentioned in the credit, of course.

Fanfiction 1: "Falling for your secret identity" Set in an AU where Hawks and Dabi somehow swap roles and Hawks becomes the idealistic vigilante and Touya the burned out (pun intended) professional hero. Basically, the normal plot that all FFs give both of them with domestic fluff, magnetic attraction, etc. - but THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Keigo/Hawks Keigo is found and trained by the commission, but he runs away as a teenager (16? Younger? Shortly before his debut?) and has been active as a vigilante hero ever since (name can vary or remain "Hawks"): He is still an idealistic and optimistic sunny boy, but knows from his training as an assassin and spy that not everything that glitters is gold. He spends his everyday life as a simple internet journalist and conspiracy theorist blogger, where he passes on and collects his information (Shouto is his number 1 follower). When the well-known "League of Villains" and their dark-haired pyromaniac, who confuses Hawk's feelings, suddenly show interest in his work, Keigo is faced with the question of finally taking more drastic measures or continuing to pursue a dream. Touya/Dabi The storyline for Touya can vary (I'm not entirely sure myself and leave it up to the person writing to decide). Either Enji dies before Shouto is born, Rei gets an early divorce or Enji realizes his behavior, Touya is found by Shouto before Sekoto Peak burns or Touya burns but is still found by Endevour. In any case, the Todorokis are not so-so-broken (still a mess but more chilled). In any case, through hard work and effort (and lots of fire protection/cooling equipment), Touya has risen to become a professional hero, with the constant stigma of "Son of Endevour/Number Two" and even among the TOP 5 in Japan. However, he is always working and never gets a rest. For a few months now, he has been undercover in the league as the cremation villain "Dabi", but is starting to become more and more friendly with them. Now Tomura wants Dabi (Touya) to win the vigilante Hawks (Keigo) for the league.

Fanfiction 2: "Hawks Spite Playlist" Based on my personal and very dark headcanon that the commission "sells" the children who don't make it through the legacy program to the AFO orphanages. When Hawks finds this out (before he joins the league as a spy), he is finally done with the HPSC's shady dealings. He starts his own agenda against the commission and tries to get the league, the PLF and maybe even the UA on his side. And in doing so, he turns pretty much everyone's feelings upside down - especially Dabi's, who is more than impressed by the cynical and bloodthirsty ways of the golden boy Hawks.

[bylertruther]

Always been a girldad byler truther…but please broaden my mind tell me why I’m wrong

bsdkjfdbj feeling the #pressure rn, but it's just a Vibe that i feel in my heart and soul really.

boys are less likely than girls to get adopted and i think that's something that they (and the universe) would consider when expanding their family. having been lonely outcasts once, feeling unwanted and confused, and thus acting in ways that others couldn't always understand, i feel that their age-old refusal to stand by when recognizing that in others would jump out. they'd be able to relate in different ways and see themselves in a young boy that deserves everything they didn't get.

it's my hc that their first kid is one that's been through a few homes already, and that where others see a "flight risk," mike especially just sees his s2 self. this kid isn't standoffish—he's just afraid to let anyone in because he knows (read: fears) they'll leave again. he's not a problem child—he just craves attention of any kind, whether good or bad, because he never gets any. he's not a bad student—he's just never had anyone believe in him before and thus doesn't see the point. that kind of a thing.

people would write the kid off as a punk, but mike would recognize that that's just how he's learned to express and navigate his pain in a way that is considered acceptable for boys. no one ever heard his cry for help, but he hears this one and he's going to answer it.

hopefully that made sense. obviously this isn't a mike-only operation, nor is relatability or this trauma dependent on gender, but my point is they'd be in a unique position to break certain parenting cycles and do things for a young boy that people didn't do for them when they were his age.

i also enjoy the idea of them having a son as an incidental "fuck you" to the stigma of gay couples adopting same sex children. something about them being perfectly capable of raising a son, no matter what anyone has ever or would ever say, because there isn't a single thing about them that makes them unfit to do so. there will be no derision of whatever interests their son has or question of whether he's "man enough." it'd just be a man, his husband, and their son, all existing in harmony, trying every day to heal the wounds of the past together.

( until their daughter comes along eventually, bc i hc that, too, hehe. :3 )

[bonefall]

Question rapidfire!

1. Do the clans have specific cooking styles? Spices common in their territory that affect their cooking style, prey, etc?

2. What happens to Ravenpaw?

3. How are outsiders treated by the clans?

4. Youve mentioned kit stealing a few times, did cats know were and werent stolen? Was there any stigma around it? How did Thistle Law supporters treat them/view the practice?

5. With the outlawing of kit stealing, did inbreeding become a problem?

6. Does the reasoning for medicine cats not being allowed kits change?

Question rapid-answer!

1. Do the clans have specific cooking styles?

Yes they do! ShadowClan's marsh and rough leafbares causes them to be craftier than other Clans when it comes to food prep, WindClan's diet being more than 50% rabbits makes them seek novelty, ThunderClan's access to fruit causes Sweetness Tolerance to be a very common gene in their Clan, so on.

One of the reasons I closed the inbox for a bit (i miss it as much as you guys do aaaaaaaaaaa) is because I REALLY wanna push out some projects that have been waiting around-- one of them is a Prey Survey for each Clan. (you can see bits of it in that ThunderClan biology survey I made a few days ago but hopefully the prey survey will be less... scientific.)

2. What happens to Ravenpaw?

Like canon he runs to the barn to avoid Tigerclaw killing him! Unlike canon, Barley is now Barley Senior (who was part of BloodClan and the son of his mother Bone), and Barley Junior (his nephew).

Ravenpaw and Barley Junior are the ones who are gay and dating.

3. How are outsiders treated by the clans?

Depends on Clan, depends on historical era. Generally? Not well. Outsiders have entered the Clans on occasion but it's very rare, up until Firestar and his radical Fire Alone ideology. He decides that the Code protects ALL cats, even ones who live by other rules.

Grappling with cultural xenophobia and showing how it's damaging is one of the themes of my rewrite!

4. Youve mentioned kit stealing a few times... how did Thistle Law supporters treat them/view the practice?

I made you a Kit Stealing guide to explain it better, just like I made one for the Queen's Rights of my rewrite. (I removed questions that are answered there)

But Thistle Law did not exist before the abolition of Kit Stealing! It's an ideology that was shaped by the Crusade Era and the Campaign Era that followed. Before Thistleclaw united several loose ideals and gave them a name, modern cats would describe his predecessors as "Hardened Traditionalists."

Adderfang and Finchflight would be good pre-Thistle Law examples of those. Their ideas were influential to its development! But they weren't quite there yet.

Kitten Stealing is SO taboo these days that even the most outspoken Thistle Law supporter will not openly admit to wanting to revive it after Brokenstar's rule. However; it is the logical conclusion of abolishing the Queen's Rights, which is almost universal in Thistle Law supporters. Supporting Thistle Law is a tacit commitment to resurrecting "Kitten Claiming."

5. With the outlawing of kit stealing, did inbreeding become a problem?

Queen's Rights Babey!

6. Does the reasoning for medicine cats not being allowed kits change?

Why yes!

It will come up when I dive into the... 20...-ish Bonefall DotC asks I have sitting here.

The Medicine Cat's Vow was initially a personal oath, not an official law. Moth Flight's kittens were the first medics of every Clan, violently stolen from WindClan. Before they were ripped away from her, Moth Flight made them promise that they would never have children of their own, and commit their lives to medicine instead of the Clans of their kidnappers.

When SkyClan was exiled, this vow was codified and weaponized to break a strike between the clerics. Ripplestar was ripped from his mother, Larkstripe of WindClan, and adopted by Birdflight.

I want there to be actual history to the Clans, I hope that's getting across! The society evolves! The culture of the modern Clans is very different from the one of the past! I like to imagine there could actually be an in-universe history lesson for kittens, lmao

[teacherintransition]

I’m Bird Watching…

No! No …it’s not an old man thing

I’m not old …

Ah, good old self discovery; no one can surprise you more than yourself. Since retiring, I’ve realized I have accumulated various new interests upon changing my world. Writing a great deal, frequenting museums, a decent workout regime are just a few new practices I’ve adopted since the transition. Most get an approving, “atta boy …that’s cool;” but one new pursuit garnered universal laughs from my sons with their determination that, “I’m finally a real, old man!��� And, what pray tell was my new interest that relegated me to the ranks of a senior citizen by my compassionate sons? Bird watching.

Hear me out, hear me out; it’s not an old man thing. I swear! Well, damn, it does come across as old doesn’t it. In my younger years, I was jokingly critical of the hobby. I imagined some old dude, with glasses and binoculars and a note pad wearing all khaki. It ain’t a good look. Ive done extremely well avoiding old man talk, but the bird watching thing just kinda came from left field. From where? What is the impetus for such a hobby? Yes, I am working hard to remove the old man stigma; and yes, I doth protest too much. It’s a very convincing concept that intrigues me and feels better than just being old. What if, hear me out, it is part of a greater awareness of the world going on around me. We have time to experience the fullness of all of the vibrancy of life going on around us.

Birds have always shared their song with us; squirrels have always hopped along and climbed trees, clouds have always gently floated in the blue sky and the wind has always rustled through the trees; but we were all so busy with work stuff that we didn’t slow down to appreciate all the magic constantly happening around us. The consequence being that much of our lives were just blurred, rushed images and actions that rarely enhanced the momentary experiences of our lives. If I had slowed down to just watch birds and squirrels, I think I would’ve been a better dad, a more attentive husband and a more patient teacher …a better, happier human. To take the time to look at the colors of birds, how they fly through the air, their small meaningful mannerisms help us realize that so many more enriching things happen daily around us than those stresses that invade our peace of mind. To stop every thing that torments and replace it with birdsong, that is a practice that we all could benefit from. Taking the time to watch a bird glide beautifully across a blue sky could all lift our spirits.

I hear the song now as I sit to do my writing on this spring day. They sang during my thirty year career, they floated across the sky from 1990-2020, but to my regret, I didn’t always take the time to see and to hear. I encourage you to stop, breathe, rest, listen and look at the things occurring all around you everyday. Take the time to see the immense joy of these occurrences a little more. Of course, you’ll have to slow down a little bit and you don’t have to wait until you retire.

[the-archlich]

Was bastardy a thing in ancient China? Do we know anyone who claimed to be the son of someone famous, but was never recognized?

In all of the Three Kingdoms period, I can't remember any recorded example. It wasn't a common occurrence, in part because Han's family structure largely precluded it. Generally speaking, if a man impregnated a woman who wasn't his wife, he was obligated to take her as a concubine.

The ideal Han family was led by its patriarch, with much of the household management done by his wife. Their children were considered the primary branch of the family and took precedence over others. The patriarch's eldest son would eventually inherit his estate; or if he made his own way before his father's death it might be passed to a younger son.

If this patriarch was wealthy, one or more women might enter into concubinage with him. Concubinage was a less formal system than marriage, but the children by a concubine and her partner were considered to be as legally valid as those of a wife and her husband. While the wife's children took precedence, there was no particular stigma that came from being the son of a concubine.

What we might call "true bastardry" only results, then, in a case where the parents cannot enter into marriage or concubinage. In that case, there were methods of hiding parentage that could prove quite effective. Sometimes all it took was a bit of paperwork.

Quirks in the historical records are potential clues of these improprieties. None of these things are necessarily indicative of deception, but attempts to conceal someone's true parentage could leave signs of this nature. The contradictory stories of Yuan Shao's origins. The vagueness around Cao Song's adoption. The strange silence on the identity of Sun Deng's mother. The secrecy surrounding Cao Fang's parentage. Any of these could be a clue that something is being hidden; or they could mean nothing at all.

[missingn000]

so i finally worked out the details of my jjk-sxf crossover au

-it's a no-curse modern au

-first fic in the series is a toji & yor oneshot where they meet in a dog park playing with bond and divine dogs. yor shows some feat of insane strength and toji realizes they're alike; they discuss the pros and cons of their similarities and it ends with them setting up a playdate for their kids. megumi has beef with anya already

-next story is loid & nanami bonding over their pink problem children. this one is a yuuji and sukuna are twins au. sukuna is still a little demon who shouts "unhand me, you mortal!!!" when nanami tries to get him to listen. nanami sighs & goes along with it like "not until his highness finishes his vegetables"

-i have this mental image of master henderson sighing at the itadori twins & anya being like "why is it whenever something happens, it's always you three?"

-can y'all even imagine the volleyball episode with itadori twins, megumi, and anya? rip bill watkins

LOTS more below cut

-all the jjk kids (itadori twins, megumi, etc) come to eden in anya's second year. can you even apply to eden after first grade? who knows, but in this au i'm deciding they can. they're all in the same hall

-don't ask me how yuuji got into eden, i don't know either. i like to think that despite being the most troublesome, sukuna is the first to become an imperial scholar. it does NOT help with his ego

-i got myself accidentally invested in partners in crime sukuna & anya??? after overhearing his classmates call anya creepy and violent for something she did a year ago on her first day of school, sukuna gets pissed they're being superficial and judgmental towards her, so he beats up some random kid to take the heat off her

-they become best friends after that. sukuna only gets one toni bolt too because henderson realizes he did it to protect anya

-sukuna doesn't approve of damian & scares the shit out of him. he gives damian the most terrifying shovel talk of all time when anya and damian finally get together

-wouldn't it be so cool if yor and toji went on a mission together? that could be an epic story in itself

-i think mamaguro still dies in this au (though she's still alive in the first story). toji doesn't go completely off the rails though since he has friends to support him. yor especially helps a lot since they're quite close by now

-that said, megumi still needs two parents to get into eden. yor does him a "favor" and gets loid to convince nightfall to pretend to be megumi's mother for the interview

-yeah, i accidentally made myself ship them. toji could fix her i think. imagine how awkward and adorable fiona bonding with megumi would be. also, trope of found family + melting the ice princess?? i am HERE for it. also fiona fushiguro just sounds really good

-gojo needs to be a dad in all stories of mine, so he'd be the adoptive papa of nanako and mimiko ofc, but also he needs zen'in kids so he takes in maki and mai. god what a household

-gojo and getou are married. gojo is a famous genius astrophysicist and getou is a (former?) concert violinist who cracked under the pressure and is mostly a stay at home dad now

-nanami is married to shoko. she's a surgeon and a total enabler of her sons' mischief

-still working on everyones' backstories, but i'm thinking the itadori twins' mom (kaori or kenjaku?? she couldn't have been possessed in a no curse au, but...i'll figure something out) was a serial killer who murdered jin, hence the boys needing to be adopted. still deciding whether or not kaori was caught or is on the loose

-the boys were first taken by a lab similar to anya's, which is how they got super-strength, but it was shut down

-took the boys a while to find a good home, since many potential adoptive parents had a stigma towards them because of who their mother was. nanami and shoko thought it absurd that children should be cast aside solely because of their parentage

-sukuna saw kaori kill jin and it scarred him pretty badly, hence why he's way more jaded and a problem child than yuuji. he kinda blames himself for not being able to save his father, despite being literally four at the time. his greatest fear is turning out like his mother

this is all still developing, but i'm really excited to work on it!! it def won't be a linear multichap like tpg, probably more like a series of oneshots as i get new ideas. hopefully i'll have the first part published soon!

[gopher-jade]

it's so funny being into honkai when the lore is absolutely hostile to human comprehension. discovered that my new son yanqing is in fact an old blond man in one of fu hua's stigma, and also he may or may not have had a hand in her death in shenzhou all those years ago. he killed my wife in another universe but also i already decided to adopt him so i'll just be chill with that i guess.