brussels-guy

[elizastormborn]

SMQ Update

Finally, much much much later than ever intended there is a chapter two for SMQ. I’m just going through the final edits for it now but it will be posted within a week. (Hand over heart, I swear this to be true). 

I’ll be dropping teasers this week in the lead up to its release so stay tuned. 

Thank you for sticking with me for so long. 

Click below for the first teaser: this chapter’s moodboard/graphic. 

[consultingsister]

The isolated ski resort, La Montagne Solitaire, caters to an elite clientele. Known for its pristine slopes, luxurious spa, and breathtaking views, the resort is nestled high in the Swiss Alps. Guests arrived just before the season’s first major snowfall, excited for days of skiing and nights of decadence. But after an avalanche hits the night of the murder, communication with the outside world is cut off—there's no signal, and the rescue team is delayed for three days. Panic slowly sets in as the guests realise they are trapped with a murderer among them. The resort's staff, led by the mysterious concierge, have locked down the hotel in hopes of protecting the guests. But with tensions rising and secrets starting to surface, it’s only a matter of time before someone else gets hurt.

This is a group murder mystery verse created for independent OCs and canon muses. Tumblr + discord based. More info under the cut.

Meet our murder victim, Étienne Lacroix. A fifty-four Art Dealer and Antiquities Collector.

Étienne Lacroix is known for his impeccable taste and shady business dealings. A well-established art dealer, he has amassed a fortune brokering high-stakes deals between powerful clients in Europe and beyond. He moves in elite circles, yet his reputation is tainted by whispers of illegal trades and stolen artefacts. Despite the luxury of his life, Étienne is a man with many enemies, and the world of art is more cutthroat than most realize.

Étienne presents himself as cultured and refined, the perfect dinner guest who can speak at length about art, history, and travel. But beneath the surface, he is ruthless in business and personal affairs alike. He has a long history of broken promises and ruined reputations, and few truly mourn his death—many at the resort even consider it overdue. He’s made plenty of enemies, from jealous competitors to clients he's double-crossed.

Unbeknownst to most of the guests, Étienne had a past that was darker than mere art fraud. His dealings in stolen antiquities had connected him to dangerous circles, including criminals who would stop at nothing to recover their stolen treasures. Recently, he’d been involved in a deal that went sour, where a priceless artefact vanished—leading some to speculate whether he was hiding it or, worse, had already sold it to another bidder.

Your Character

Please submit your character sheet.

Name:

Age:

Occupation:

Faceclaim:

Short Description: Provide a brief overview of your character’s personality, and any quirks that make them stand out. Think of this as their first impression on the other guests. Are they charming, eccentric, or perhaps a little too quiet?

Secret: Every character in this story has a secret. What are they hiding from the other guests? It could be something from their past, a shady business deal, or a personal vendetta. Be creative—this will add layers to their interactions and might tie into the larger mystery.

Motive for the Murder: Why might your character have a reason to want Étienne Lacroix dead? It could be personal, professional, or even incidental, but give your character a clear reason why they might be a suspect. This is where the fun starts!

Connections to Other Guests/People: Does your character know any of the other guests at the resort? Are they friends, rivals, or complete strangers? These relationships can create interesting dynamics and give your character more to play off of. If they don’t know anyone yet, that’s fine too—they’ll make connections as the mystery unfolds.

Once accepted you will be added to the discord server. The server will act primarily as a place for updates but there will be a chance to chat ooc and there will be ic chat rooms for one-liners/dialogue.

Role Assignment and Killer Selection Once 6-8 roles have been filled, each member (myself included) will be assigned a number. I will use a random number generator to determine The Killer, who will be notified privately by me. IMPORTANT: The Killer’s identity must remain a closely guarded secret. Under no circumstances should this role be revealed, either in or out of character. Doing so will spoil the entire game (and result in removal from the group—so let’s keep things fun, yeah?).

This roleplay is meant to unfold gradually and organically. You can join as long as you're committed to contributing regularly to the story. It’s open to all fandoms, canon characters, and OCs, but inactive players will be replaced to ensure the narrative keeps moving.

Group Etiquette

OOC drama will not be tolerated and will result in immediate removal from the group—no exceptions.

Duplicate face claims won’t be allowed to avoid confusion.

The group will be relaxed but do stay engaged. This is a collaborative mystery, and silence disrupts the fun for everyone.

Plot Progression Throughout the roleplay, I will introduce plot points to guide the narrative and provide opportunities for character interactions. These events will unravel over several days of in-story time, encouraging your characters to collaborate, investigate, or accuse one another. These will include key moments like:

The Discovery of the Murder

An Avalanche that Traps the Guests

Plot point 1

Plot point 2

The Final Showdown

Expect the unexpected, and use these plot points to deepen your character’s story while piecing together clues.

Keep an eye on the group’s tag: *s(no)w escape murder mystery for updates and threads.

Let’s unravel this mystery together!

[gay-jewish-bucky]

On The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023):

JPS is excited to announce the publication of THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. A ground-breaking partnership with Sefaria, the Gender-Sensitive Edition represents the first substantial revision of our landmark translation of the Tanakh.

What is THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition?

The first Jewish gender-sensitive translation of the full Hebrew Bible, THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition (RJPS or Revised JPS edition) renews and revises the iconic Jewish Publication Society Bible translation (NJPS or 1985 New JPS edition) to reflect advances in scholarship and changes in English while maintaining utmost fidelity to the original Hebrew. The Gender-Sensitive Edition offers gender-inclusive renderings where appropriate and gendered ones when called for historically and linguistically, incorporating the best of contemporary research into Israelite history and religion, literary studies, philology, linguistics, and the social sciences to offer a faithful and accurate translation. References to persons are gender-sensitive yet consistent with ancient gender norms, and the translation strives for inclusive language when referring broadly to people, ancestors, and humankind. References to God are typically gender neutral and generally avoid grammatically masculine pronouns and labels, with careful examination of each context yielding the most appropriate rendering. To enable the tetragrammaton (God’s four-letter name) to be encountered as a name and without masculine connotations, the edition typically translates it as “GOD” (in small capitals) rather than “the LORD”. Revising the venerable JPS translation, the Gender-Sensitive Edition empowers readers to experience Scripture with all the power of the original Hebrew. It is sure to become the new Bible translation of choice for readers who embrace biblical scholarship with reverence for tradition, and for communities and individuals who adopt an inclusive, egalitarian perspective in today’s world.

Why publish an updated Bible translation after four decades?

Since the iconic JPS Bible translation appeared in 1985, dramatic changes in the English language, biblical scholarship, and other areas have made a new English edition long overdue. Readers and communities across the globe have called for a translation that remains faithful to the original Hebrew and provides vital access to the Bible’s world and timeless lessons.

What does “gender-sensitive” mean?

Our translation is “gender-sensitive” in the sense of being attentive to how gender and language function in the Hebrew Bible. Going through the Bible word by word, line by line, verse by verse, the translators asked when gender-inclusive renderings are appropriate and when gendered language is called for historically and linguistically—for example, whether a term for a human being should be translated as “person” or as “man,” and whether a reference to God should be translated with gender-neutral language (for instance, simply as “GOD”) or with a male-sounding term (such as “King”).

What’s the result? How does the translation refer to humans and God?

As outlined above, references to persons are gender-sensitive yet consistent with ancient gender norms, and the translation strives for inclusive language when referring broadly to people, ancestors, and humankind. References to God are typically gender neutral and generally avoid masculine pronouns and labels. To enable the tetragrammaton (God’s four-letter name) to be encountered as a name and without masculine connotations, the edition typically translates it as “GOD” (in small capitals) rather than “the LORD.”

Is the translation faithful to the original Hebrew?

Yes! The translation empowers readers to experience Scripture with the power of the original Hebrew, providing access to what the Bible meant in its original historical context.

Does the translation make changes in areas other than gender?

Yes! The translation updates archaic or unclear English language and ritual terminology to provide a more accurate understanding of the Bible’s meaning.

[fairlyabookie]

Update

Hi everyone! This is Bean, writer of fairlyabookie! If most folks don’t know, I was formerly @/panacea-wishes in this platform, but since deactivated and moved to this blog. An update is long overdue at this point, especially since this blog has been going for a while with a few posts at a time. 

Life updates

I graduated uni back in may! / now working part time in the medical industry 

If you’re wondering what I graduated with, I majored in a medical related subject with three minors unrelated to it (history, asian studies, and leadership studies) In addition, I was also leading three other extracurriculars and volunteered here and there

Yea, I was a busy bean, but we are here!

Reasons why I deactivated my previous blog:

I was very dissatisfied with my writing and considered it ‘cringe’ - although many folks enjoyed my writings, I often wasn’t very satisfied and often contemplated deleting them. [in other words, should’ve heavily edited them when I had the chance lmao] 

Because of this mindset, I developed a toxic relationship with myself and my writing and during quarantine, this was a constant cycle of writing quick snippets that were just for a ‘vibe’ rather than something I found myself enjoying.. I burned out easily and often gave myself breaks in the meantime. 

I gave myself space; I read books (mostly danmei) to help shape my writing. To be honest, I always thought my writing was lacking compared to my fellow writers out there, so I read more books to help me be more inspired by my writing and develop it later on.

More fandoms! I think some of you have noticed some non-twst content here and there hehe. Other than twst, I’ve been playing/consuming a lot of medias: Honkai Star Rail, Tears of Themis, MXTX, Apothecary Diaries, etc, etc. You can say that I got ‘distracted’ but each of them brought a bit of inspiration into my writing as time went on.

Besides everything, I still play twst! I cannot believe that I’ve been playing this game, on top of being in the community, for four years! Time flies, and I’m very grateful I got to meet so many friends through this franchise from the most talented writers to cosplayers - I’m truly grateful to be with the friends I am with now. 

If anyone wants an update of my current faves: 

Epel: I still love him and well, since I’ve gotten older, I’ve distanced myself from him and have been using a ‘yume oc’ as a means to stay attached to him (aka my persona Sorceress Yuri/Lily) 

Lilia 

RIddle: these two are still on my list for sure; Lilia being a peepaw gremlin that he is, in addition with his trauma - please keep him close to your heart <3; as for riddle, I personally relate to him so much that he is very up there in the list. 

Trey: he is just a guy

(NEW) Sebek: don’t ask :> 

[dunkledog]

Introductory Post !

I fear something of this nature is long overdue. So here it is.

I go by Lucifer and my pronouns are he/him. I'm an artist, I enjoy writing, and most of all I enjoy frolicking in anything TF2-related. Most of my art is somehow TF2-related these days. I'm back in the trenches of my biggest obsession hehee... I do have non-tf2 content that I may upload more of.

Unfortunately I don't post often. I'm more active on my main blog, @lucifer-the-fetus-eater, but I don't really post art over there, just general hijinks, rambling, and reblogging. I do dabble in SFM... So I might start posting stuff like that sometime. Who knows

For general warnings, I'm liable to post artistic depictions of blood and gore, possibly body horror, suggestive content, drug use, crude humor, and foul language. I will do my best to tag posts with the appropriate trigger warnings. Discretion is advised.

Now is a better time to mention than never that due to the general nature of my content, this blog is NOT intended for users under the age of 18. I apologize for not clarifying this sooner.

REGARDING ASKS:

I definitely should've been clear about whether or not I'm accepting requests. As of currently, I am not, since I have a bunch that are still sitting in my ask inbox and have been for months that I wanna try and fulfil before accepting any more.

I will, however, answer questions! I will answer questions about... like... anything, I guess. I'm afraid I might open pandora's box with that one, but to hell with it. Why not?

I don't want to make this too long, but below the cut I have described some blog-specific tags you'll start seeing on some of my posts.

!this post might change and update as time goes on!

Blog-specific Tags

#the magic renaissance - This is my main OC world. It's full of random fantasy crap I've cobbled together over the past like... 7-ish years. It's technically an urban fantasy since it features an alternate history Earth with magic and non-human sapient species and other neat stuff. The (segmented across time periods) story takes place surrounding six main characters. Heinz and Franz (Infernal Emperors), Adrik (Harbringer of Winter) Ritter and Winnifred (Twin Seraphim), and Connor (Son of Creation). There's a lot more, but idk how to condense it more than that just for this post.

#coarse gravel - The basic idea behind this one is "what if The Gravel Wars actually happened, and Valve was hired by the US Government to create a silly 'documentary' video game so no one would take it seriously?" It's like a version of the TF2 universe, but significantly less cartoonish with alternate, more disturbing lore. (With respawn mechanics inspired by Emesis Blue.) It takes place deep in the Rocky Mountains and focuses on the conflict between D.A.C.S, (aka Defense Area Control Squadron, a division or RED), and S.H.A.U, (aka Specialized Heavy Assault Unit, a division of BLU.)

#salem: supernatural reckoning - I haven't posted or mentioned this one at all as of writing this. Mainly because it's very new. It's way more of an elaborate shitpost than anything else... It's a TF2-based universe where these angel and demon teams run around trying to foil each other. I really let myself go crazy with this one. The conflict is between two angels of death-- one fallen, and the other still in reputable standing. One is in part responsible for the respawn machine, the other is trying to find a way to free the souls in its belly. You know how it is.

[lightleckrereins]

Will this new update be the final update to the dress up game? Or you might update it some more in the future?

I will definitely do at least another big update. Between last update and this update most principal costumes minus cleves got a long overdue update. Between my art getting way better than it was in 2020 when I started the game and so many things getting changes, new styles or simply better photos the original art needed changes. I do plan to eventually (as in not before next year) make another big update with with updates to cleves teal and orange which are the costumes I havent touched in years. Plus any interesting hairstyles that appear between now and then. And who knows maybe sixsona variations will make an appearance, maybe miracles happen and we get new alt variations, maybe there is some sort of big update in the future.

In general I think this update is semi close to a definitive version, all the costumes in all their versions and more, a lot of customization, many fun details, art at a level I am proud of. It just feels right. And yes there are some things I still want to play with but not much.

And for the record if in 10 years six suddenly drops a new costume design history says I can and will suddenly jump fully back in to make it.

[eulaties]

ONMYOJI FIC RECS ★ #38

fics that have an asterisk (*) in front of them are my personal favorites!

this list was last updated on 1/3/23.

NOTE: most of these contain the ship taishakuten/asura!

*on the long path • one-shot • taishakuten/asura

SUMMARY: “war is long and arduous, but in the midst of their campaign, taishakuten and asura have a few moments to themselves in the afterglow of victory.”

TAGS: unresolved pining, non-sexual intimacy, domestic fluff, taisha doing asura’s hair, set before everything goes wrong

*thus, the guiltless • one-shot • taishakuten/asura

SUMMARY: “the heart he possesses does a certain peculiar thing. taishakuten merely deals with it.”

TAGS: canon-compliant, unreliable narrator, dreams, yearning, prose, angst, ambiguous ending

*love of you is my most cherished thing • one-shot • taishakuten/asura

SUMMARY: “the night before he is to meet asura again, taishakuten sits down to write a letter long overdue.”

TAGS: canon-compliant, formatted like a letter, the pining is strong here, pure angst, T_T

*crane in reed • multi-chapter (24/24) • susanoo/orochi

SUMMARY: “four seasons pass. two gods, and their love story.”

TAGS: slow burn, dream-like existence, mutual pining, angst, domestic fluff, living together, in which you don’t know how much someone means to you until you lose them, grief & mourning, the plot twist crushed me, takamagahara-typical politics, this is a sacred space where we only acknowledge the existence of the may 2022 scrolls, oct 2022 event? whats that?

NOTES: this is an excellent fic, but you will have to use google translate if you want to read it (unless you already know how to read traditional chinese). totally worth it though!!!

to have, and to hold • one-shot • taishakuten/asura

SUMMARY: “taishakuten had always known that asura wanted him.”

TAGS: mind reading, slow burn, angst, open-ended ending

towards the light • one-shot • taishakuten/asura

SUMMARY: “tonight was the festival of lights, and taishakuten was well aware of the collective regret in the camp that they weren’t at home celebrating in the capital. it was the most cherished of holidays among celestials, and tonight zenken would be awash in light, with crystal lanterns and fairy lights in every window and tree.”

TAGS: fluff, holidays, taishura are actually happy here i promise, mutual pining, but not quite lovers yet

hell take us (heaven can wait) • one-shot • taishakuten/asura

SUMMARY: “taishakuten flew. oh, how he had flown, soaring to a height most celestials could only ever dream of reaching — and it was all for this. to cast himself down, down, down — falling into the depths of history, so that his asura could bask in the light that was so rightfully his. asura falling with him, however, was not included in his plans.”

TAGS: takes place in the finale, canon-divergent fix-it, happy ending

en-goose-ubi getting taishura together • one-shot • taishakuten/asura

SUMMARY: “when a client tells enmusubi that taishakuten and asura have lost all memories of ever being married, she decides to try her hand at fixing things.” OR: the answer to all our problems is always enmusubi.

TAGS: post-canon, fluff, humor, enmusubi best matchmaker fr

[concerningwolves]

A Long-Overdue Writing Update

I know things have been quiet on the writing front lately. I crashed and burned in December (/had been crashing and burning in slow motion for several months beforehand), and I've decided to stop trying to scrape myself back together with the reasoning that my writing brain probably needs some time to simply be a splattered unproductive mess. I haven't even had the spoons to put my newsletter together.

Ultimately, all plans and tentative schedules here could be purely academic (hah), because I'm starting a Certificate of Higher Education on January 27th and that's probably going to gobble up most of the time I set aside for writing. Also, top surgery is now rather closer than on the horizon, and don't yet know what to expect in terms of recovery time. Regardless, here's how things are looking writing-wise as of today, 11th January 2024:

The Kindness of Ravens (Wyrdseren, book 2)

The Kindness of Ravens draft 3 is so so nearly finished. It's also probably what took me out in the first place, so it's currently sitting there, shelved mid-scene. The final climax is done, which leaves me with the aftercare resolution to write, and then I can say this draft is finished.

There is really very little left to do to the story itself. I've got all the events ordered as I want them, and I'm finally back to feeling enthusiastic about it. (Which is particularly nice considering that at one point I was seriously considering pulling the plug on the entire thing!). Yes, I did take on more of a challenge than necessary, but I do think it has paid off and I'm genuinely so excited to (eventually) bring the finished story to everyone. Still don't want to give anything concrete by way of a release date/schedule, though.

The Blood Enigma

TBE got beta-read back in June/July. It's in fairly solid shape, and I've got a firm plan of action in place for it. Granted, said plan is on hold right now and I didn't manage to get the book released in 2023 as I'd intended because Ravens takes priority, but I'm not beating myself up over that (<- said through gritted teeth). Once I finish the current draft of Ravens and give the beta reader feedback another look-over, I'll be able to come up with the time-frame for the rest of the work I need to do on it.

Falling Stars (series)

In more exciting news, once TBE is published, I'm going to start drafting the first book in my (*deep breath*) high fantasy zombie apocalypse environmental horror slow-burn polyamorous romance series (more streamlined pitch pending). I felt like I had more to learn about handling fantasy and series in general before I could tackle this one, and I think the story has really benefited from having time to gradually congeal while I worked on other things. I'm unbelievably hyped to start working on it properly.

Misc. Updates

I'm slowly chewing over two more potential WIPs: first, I've made a tentative plan for adapting my short story The Seal Daughter into a novella or novel set in the same world as The Blood Enigma, because there's definitely more I want to explore regarding transgender selkies and the idea of "seal children" as opposed to seal wives/seal husbands.

Secondly, I've recently been highly enamoured with trying my hand at a historical fantasy, (or at least pulling history into a fantasy setting), specifically one inspired by the Viking age and viking culture. Do I have a plot? Possibly. Or at least, I have a first chapter planned out and I know what the consequences of the events in said first chapter will be. Mostly though, I have vibes and sea monsters, which I think is a great pairing to bring with me into the new year.

[alders-simblr]

Introductions

Hello! Look, a long overdue introduction post finally! I'm Alder and this is my Simblr. I created this originally to document the save file that I'm building for my own use but after a few RL friends asked me to make it available, I figured I might as well toss the build lists up here.

You'll also see me documenting my foray's into CC creation, efforts to make all my mods work nicely together, and the documentation of the history and playthroughs of the save I'm making available as it comes together.

I also keep updated masterlists of the CC I use that are probably the most reblogged thing on this tumblr by far because I keep links in them to where to download and regularly edit them to keep them up to date. My lists are under the hashtag #alder's lists but I've also linked them below to make it easy to find as they were the first things I put on this blog.

Master Lists

Overrides and Mods

ReShade and Lighting

Sliders, Genetics, Overlays

Presets

Create a Sim

Build/Buy

Pose Packs and Photography

Alder's Save

The other project that people are usually interested in are my builds and the save file they're for. There's a master list post that includes links to each post about each build here:

Save File Masterlist

It has some of the details about the thoughts behind my save file organization and the key mods that the save is designed around as well as links to each individual build with more details.

The Alder's Save hashtag will take you to everything having to do with the save file and build diary is the tag for me rambling about various progress posts and thoughts about the sim builds I'm working on.

Patreon

I use my patreon to share tray files for my builds which are always free as well as smaller mod changes and the random little CC fixes I make along the way, also always free.

Early Access will only be ever used for actual significant CC or things like photoshop templates I make to use for the save file story documentation and even those will stick to the two to three week guideline of EA's access if and when I ever get to that point.

Welcome to my blog!

[qnewsau]

Equality Australia: Time to pass the NSW Equality Bill

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/equality-australia-time-to-pass-the-nsw-equality-bill/

Equality Australia: Time to pass the NSW Equality Bill

This year marked 40 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality in NSW. This bleak anniversary was finally met with an apology and a commitment to ‘do better’ from the Premier of NSW.

WORDS Anna Brown

It was a bittersweet moment for those who were unjustly criminalised by these laws.

An apology can never undo the damage done to them, but what we can hope for as we move forward is to ensure our laws never again cause such harm and distress to our communities. And yet NSW continues to have some of the worst laws in the country for our communities.

The member for Sydney Alex Greenwich’s Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023 – better known as the Equality Bill – is the change we need now to finally fix this and bring NSW closer into line with other states and territories.

Introduced to parliament by Independent MP Alex Greenwich, this bill was the result of extensive legal review and community consultation and an auditing of over 500 existing laws by Equality Australia. The bill would close gaps and modernise laws in NSW that have for too long failed to protect LGBTIQ+ people.

Trans and gender diverse people from NSW live with the nation’s most outdated and discriminatory laws. NSW is the only state that still requires someone to undergo surgery to update their birth certificate to reflect who they are.

In 2021, Equality Australia conducted a survey of 153 trans and gender diverse people born in NSW that found only 14.9 per cent of them had been able to update their gender under existing laws. More than 80 per cent of these people indicated that they would do so if reforms like those in this Bill were passed.

When they are forced to use documents that don’t reflect who they are, trans people may have no choice but to out themselves when applying for jobs, registering for school or university, or opening a bank account.

What most Australians take for granted as a simple piece of paper makes a profound difference in the lives of trans and gender diverse people. It is cruel and archaic to lock recognition behind any form of surgery.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Equality Australia (@equalityaustralia)

The bill will also give more rainbow families the dignity and security of legal recognition , providing pathways for the recognition of parentage of children born through commercial surrogacy arrangements. Regardless of the circumstances of their birth, every child in this state deserves equal protection and rights under the law, and loving families should not have to exist under a cloud of criminality.

Unfortunately, LGBTIQ+ people are no strangers to violence. The equality bill ensures that we are better protected from violence by ensuring that threats to ‘out’ a person’s sexual orientation, gender history, HIV+ status or sex work are a potential form of violence when it comes to making an apprehended violence order (AVO).

Meanwhile crimes motivated by hatred or prejudice towards transgender and intersex people will be treated in the same way as other hate crimes.

Up until recently, NSW had the worst laws in the country for LGBTIQ+ people.

This changed earlier this year when state parliament passed a long overdue ban on conversion practices with multipartisan support. It was a watershed moment for our laggard state and demonstrated that politicians on Macquarie Street carry genuine care for our community.

The NSW Government has also twice apologised to our communities this year – first to those convicted of homosexual acts and then later an apology for failing the victims of historic gay hate crimes.

The Government has acknowledged the historic harm done to our community. Now it’s time for our politicians to do the right thing so they don’t have to say sorry again in the future.

-Anna Brown is the CEO of Equality Australia

[sakurarisen]

OKAY! So after a delay from a nasty as all getout sinus headache among other aches and pains, I've got the vast majority of my carrd updates DONE! <3 Of notable updates:

All FF7 verse info for Sera, as well as misc info for the experiment AU Frozen Flames, has moved to its own area! All info specific to FF7 verses can be found HERE from here on out!

There's been some edits to her 7 info and lore - Namely that the lore given by Chadley on the Phoenix summon in Junon is, ultimately, wrong. There were multiple phoenixes of varying elemental ties, not just fire, and Sera is the human form of one known as Aria, seeking to hide after aiding Shiva, her best friend and fellow goddess, while her brother Thoma is the actual fire phoenix, the summon that's collectable during Rebirth being only a fragment of his power left behind to guard that area. However, there is no way for anyone to prove Chadley's information wrong; Sera doesn't remember and neither does Thoma, and they will not ever remember. This is something that was added as a bit of background lore, and could be used with plotting - But Sera herself will not remember and be unable to say one way or another on any of it, especially with much history of the original phoenixes being lost by the time of Remake/Rebirth. Please note this is tied solely to my own version of Shiva written on @shinrarisen. Further notes regarding this lore edit are at the top of the FF7 misc section.

Sera also has a small sensitivity to mako and the lifesprings due to the previous point that's been added.

Her magic and spellcasting is stronger than most due to the fact her core is that of a phoenix, but it's only a small bit stronger - I.e. while someone else in SOLDIER might be able to create a 5 foot wide hunk of ice, Sera's might be 5 and a half and a fair bit denser; a small increase, but not one that's going to make that much of a difference.

The main carrd/info has gotten a HEAVY update that I feel like was long overdue, too, including the following:

The main info has been largely rewritten, and heavily tweaked where it's not been rewritten, mainly to bring Sera in line with her status as a fandomless/original OC. While she still has primary verses in Genshin, FF7, and Star Rail, Sera has always been fandomless and fully original at her core, and I wanted to return her to that. The reason she wasn't initially on this blog was because I had her verses split between two blogs and only meant for this one to serve as a hub for FF7 stuff rather than let it take over my other blog, but since she's been fully moved here and I'm not using my other blog right now, I wanted her to fall back in line with her roots as fandomless at her core. This is all overall primary info now that applies to all fandoms, while the other specific fandom based areas (FF7, Genshin) contain further verse specific additions on top of this.

A new mark has been added; regardless of verse, Sera now has multiple oddly-shaped blue marks across her upper back that resemble scars, and are called birthmarks for her entire life, but are in truth a physical tie to her core as a Fenix. More information on these marks and how they tie in can be found in this post.

So much more has been developed for Halcyon Era, and the carrd was horribly outdated in its info, so that, too, has been updated where nessecary, cementing her newer and expanded story as canon like it belongs. Just like above, though, please keep in mind that while there are subtle nods that Sera's not completely human, she doesn't know she's not. As far as she's concerned, she and Thoma are 100% human but have odd abilities they can't explain occasionally, like the ability to use magic they never speak of outside of incredibly trusted companions. Despite Aria sleeping inside Sera and Sera and Aria being the same person, Sera does not have, and will not gain, access to her full original power. More notes on this can be found in the carrd.

Sera having the ability to use a sword has been added, though this is a 'once in a blue moon' thing!

Updated her weaponry loadout to reflect her reliance on magic and archery.

Rewrote much of the 'Lifestyle' section and added to it, and completely rewrote the 'misc' section in full. Since these also better explain Sera as a Fenix, and the writeblr on it is coming up, also took the chance to remove the 'phoenix lore' section entirely.

Edited mentions of Thoma away from 'cousin' and in where he belongs as her older brother, because wow I should've done that ages ago!

There are mentions of the writeblr - The Halcyon Era sideblog that will have the full Halcyon project in far deeper detail - sprinkled throughout the main carrd, but I have yet to link it; @yoroiis and I are working around weather, health, and schedules to try and get it to a point where we can make it open for people to read as much as we possibly can, and it'll get its links just about everywhere as soon as we hit that point! It's gone through a ton of plotting and still has a lot more coming for it even after we open this sideblog of ours up, so that's next up on the list of tasks to do, for sure~!

Of course, these aren't the only edits I've been planning to do, I do still have tweaks to do to the Genshin side of things and small edits here and there to make, and it's not complete by a long shot, but these are the major ones I've been meaning to get to for a while. So much has evolved with Sera in recent months that I really wanted the updated, solid information down and public before I got back into the swing of things, and while it's not 100% complete, it's close enough for me to call done for now~! <3

~Pom

[wilheminalibrary]

1/30/2024

The Great Wave: Perspectives, Tits, and 2024

It's the end of the beginning. January's newborn blood runs off the year as we look at February. I'm long overdue to update this blog and here we are: an update.

Things are going pretty well, all things considered. I'm writing. My habit of writing in series and along thematic lines continues. When I visited my sister in Seattle I found myself in the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Amongst the traditional art from Korea, Japan, India, and elsewhere, there was a visiting exhibit about the influence of Japanese woodblock prints on French artist Henri Riviere. Posters for Chat Noir hung alongside the iconic work of the artist Hokusai. The pieces, in conversation with one another, swirled around like shadows on the wall until I was pulled forcefully toward the exhibit's focal point.

Hokusai's most iconic work is The Great Wave from his series 36 Views of Mount Fuji. This breathtaking image with its meticulous composition and simple shapes had such a profound impact on Henri Riviere that the French artist created his own tools to approximate their technique. In homage to Hokusai's Mt Fuji works, Riviere made his own 36 Views of the Eiffel Tower.

Staring at the work of both artists in the museum, I was swallowed up completely. Here was the singular and inimitable Eiffel Tower broken into a kaleidoscope of 36 images across time and perspective to reflect the myriad ways these fixtures of our world change us with their changes.

Riviere’s art shows the infancy of the tower, its wobbling coltish legs years before they stood in the center of Paris. It shows the construction workers resting in the crosshatched iron of its adolescent belly. The work makes me see what was a garish tourist trap as something deeper. As the end result of a collaborative and demanding journey of work. It shows the context. It shows the respect Riviere not only had for the Eiffel tower itself, but also the work of his art’s inspiration. To see all the pieces of the puzzle together resulted in pure awe as I stood in the room.

This is my favorite thing about art and my largest gripe with most art museums: the white walls. I hate the vacuum of museums. Stripping pieces of their context save for a plain text plaque. Personally, I love to be choked with context. I like to be surrounded and steeped in background. To see Riviere amongst his influences, to see a full picture distilled into something so small and simple as a paperback book of prints. Art lives in its moment, over and over again to inform how we see it now. I like eating the whole meal, to better burn what I can into something beautiful and transformative.

Inspired, I sat down in one of the museum's chairs and wrote a poem about my breasts. That one poem has since evolved into my latest exploration. Hokusai honored the landscape of Japan by treating it like a system of stars and planets swirling around the mist-capped mountain. Riviere honored France's history and breadth by showing an Eiffel Tower under construction and framed in the distance. I decided to honor my transitioning body by writing about my tits.

To me, tits are a fascinating concept. All my life I ran terrified from the concept of "man boobs"and the distinctly toxically masculine way fat is treated on the body of men. Tits are something the human body is set against in relief. Their absence, their presence, their connotations. Tits are for mothers. They’re for infants. They’re for feeding and eating. As I fitfully work to grow my own breasts into the shape of my dreams, I meet a woman who feels most at home without them.

Her megawatt confidence at her smooth, nipple-less chest fits perfectly with the bursting joy of my budding one. We fit, inspirations to each other. Again, even by their defining absence, tits have some strange and almost supernatural capacity to evoke strong emotion one way or the other.

To distill my personal journey, once again I turn to the writer Dodie Bellamy (who I should really send an edible arrangement or something at this point considering the impact she's had on me) and her book The Mina Harker Letters like I always do:

"my breasts are no longer breasts but titties just the thought of keyboarding the word titties excites me."

They do excite me. In selfies, in the mouths of lovers, in my hands, in their aching weight on my chest. I can’t seem to shut up about them. So, if I can produce 36 poems of a satisfactory quality about my tits, then I'll have, if you'll pardon the pun, a body of work. Maybe a chapbook. Maybe something longer. Who knows?

On the subject of my body, another development is that I've been exercising. The same visit I met Hokusai and Riviere, my brother-in-law gave me his old VR headset. Since then I've been doing rhythm and boxing workouts at least three times a week. I won't allow this to become a praise song for good ol' fashioned Sweat and #Grindset propaganda but the central truth is I'm happy. It's about discovering the body, the same work that I do with my writing. Being trans means acknowledging the will of the flesh, the pull towards change. The body I want has tits, works out, and loves women. That's all I've been able to work out lately but that's been enough for me.

It’s another country in this shifting continent of my flesh. I notice new changes every day, just like with my hormones. I suddenly crave movement. I suddenly experience joy with sweat and strength. I even drink fucking water. I had a smoothie for lunch. Just like with my tits, there’s a past version of myself who would bet a bullet on never turning into something that has a smoothie for lunch.

Another year of change seems to be rumbling in the clouds at the horizon.

Last year I rekindled my love of poetry, started writing and performing regularly again, and found success, but, more importantly, found happiness. This year promises to be no different and I feel nothing but excitement.

Here's to more writing. More working out. More discovery of what this body wants.

What it can let go of.

What it can hold.

Yours with an open mouth,

-B

[twinregister]

Should affiliation with a hate group disqualify police candidates?

If you thought "yes," you're in the company of a majority of Americans. But you would not be in the company of those in law enforcement or even the state administrative rules that govern police licensing and conduct.

We don't have to explain why this question is being asked. To many it seems ludicrous that this policy does not already exist. Given the long and short history of bigotry and policing, it should have been addressed a long time ago. Not in 2020.

Minnesota Justice Research Center sums up all of the times in the past that we should have done something about this.

A 1995 report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) explicitly warned police and government officials of the growing threat of violence from what they called “extremists and militant white supremacists.” In 2006, the FBI released an intelligence assessment called “White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement,” describing how the presence of white supremacists among law enforcement personnel is a significant concern. A 2015 FBI report not only found links between police and white supremacist groups but what Purdue (2020) calls “direct infiltration” of police departments. In her research examining what she also calls an “epidemic of white supremacists in police departments,” Vida Johnson (2019) examined incidents in which police officers were found expressing their overtly racist beliefs or their direct connections to hate groups spread across 40 states and 100 police departments. She highlights examples across the country, including a few here in Minnesota (in Rochester, Minneapolis, and Burnsville).

Sobering.

The Minnesota Revisor's Office maintains the rules governing police, while the Minnesota Legislature appoints a Board of Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) that works out the exact minutae that are ultimately enforced. POST began the process of revising existing rules about police officers in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by on-duty Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officers, most notably now-former officer Derek Chauvin. The protests that it sparked went international, and much change happened locally. But not enough.

POST's standard Statement of Need and Reasonableness (SONAR) regarding their review and proposed changes to police rules notes that in Minnesota, the corpus of rules was mostly imposed in the 1970's and has remained largely untouched since then. Do you think the world and civil rights has changed since the '70s? I think it's changed since 2020. The update is long overdue.

What is POST proposing?

In a few words, the advisory body is proposing changes to existing rules and expanding the rules overall. Adding more rules gives POST (and thus other government bodies) more authority over police. Current rules are so basic that they are unlikely to change much, except to add clarity.

The rules govern how:

police candidates are evaluated and approved (licensed)

police conduct themselves while on and off duty

POST and other government bodies regulate and discipline police

police are trained and told how to do their jobs

This will give POST more authority to define what police are allowed to do and how they can be held accountable when breaking those rules.

Shockingly (or not), police departments are currently their own little worlds, which have little oversight. As the word "department" implies: they are given a broad definition of their work by a higher authority, and then told to do it however they see fit. They tend to make up their own rules in all that vast wiggle room. If they break their own rules, it's simply an internal affair that doesn't involve the law.

This makes it difficult, and frequently impossible, to hold them accountable for bigotry and violence. There's no law against it. If there's a policy against it, that doesn't mean much, when even the head of the department breaks those. POST's proposal will change that.

Changes include reviewing social media

The Rule-by-Rule Analysis begins on page 13 of POST's SONAR lists the exact details of proposed changes. Some rules were reordered or condensed, and others were expanded or new rules added. Here are the significant proposed changes we should pay attention to.

Background investigation requirements (Rule 6700.0670)

Subpart 1 Item B requires candidates to release information on their social media accounts, which will be investigated (while logged out).

Subpart 2 Item A (5) requires the background check (which includes social media) to investigate for discriminatory content or behavior, which would disqualify them for licensure by POST (and thus ultimately being appointed as a police officer). The description of "discriminatory content" is vague. It does enumerate that discrimination is towards protected classes such as minority religions, races, genders, and sexual orientations.

Subpart 3 Item A requires a police department to report to POST when a background check is initiated and then another report if the candidate is found to be ineligible for any reason. The original rule only required reporting if there was a criminal conviction that made a candidate ineligible, which doesn't count interviews during the background check, social media posts, dismissed cases, and anything else. (Makes one wonder why they even bothered with those in the past, if they couldn't really impact the outcome.)

Psychological screening requirements (Rule 6700.0675)

Psychological screening is already required for police candidates. Item A (1) proposes that the psychologist's preferred tests address the standards set by these rules. Item A (3) clarifies that a psychological test must also assess the candidate's likelihood of being discriminatory on the job.

Minimum selection standards for police candidates (Rule 6700.0700)

This section outlines the minimum requirements to be a police officer. Subpart 1 Item A goes into a back-and-forth about citizenship. The board could not agree on whether an applicant should be a citizen, but wanted to consider changing federal immigration policy and the need for local departments to hire officers that connect with the communities they serve, which may include immigrants.

Part of this consideration was federal employment law: only citizens or legal residents can be employed regardless of occupation. It also considered whether a non-citizen could be licensed to carry a gun as an officer, and noted that any officer regardless of citizenship is fully eligible to carry and conceal a firearm under current rules and regulations.

Ultimately it was decided that a citizen or "legal resident under federal requirements" could be licensed as a police officer.

Item E (2) expands the list of legal convictions that would disqualify an applicant:

convictions that reflect poorly on the applicant’s character

tendency to abuse authority

anger management and respect issues

failure to follow the law including disobeying restraining orders

Individual agencies can decide to have even stricter requirements than this.

Item G reiterates that applicants are disqualified if discrimination is found during the background check.

Rule 6700.0700 Item H is where the title of this post comes from. It explicitly states that hate group membership is a disqualifying finding from the background check or any other part of the hiring process.

Here is the exact SONAR explanation for your consideration:

This new rule part would prohibit licensure of applicants involved with a hate or extremist group. Such individuals are generally sorted out by law enforcement agencies through the background investigation, but are specifically included here to establish a statewide standard. Participation in hate groups by law enforcement officers is discussed thoroughly in the rule-by-rule analysis of part 6700.1600 Standards of Conduct, subpart 1, Item H on page 36, and the discussion establishes the need and reasonableness of this standard. The Advisory Committee approved the rule part by consensus.

In light of the many and changing duties of police officers in the 21st century, the physical skills test requirement is removed from Item J and reduced to simply a standard physical by a licensed medical professional that would indicate if there was some condition that could prevent a candidate from doing their specific job.

Item L requires prospective police officers to complete emergency medical responder (EMR) training, which is a more advanced version of civilian first aid/CPR but slightly less than full paramedic standards. This is important because police are often first on scene where there may be injuries. Especially since they carry guns they must be responsible for the damage they may cause. This also will include basics on how the human body operates, which may help officers be conscious of how certain movements can result in injury and death. This is clearly influenced in part by Derek Chauvin choking Floyd to death.

Officer standards of conduct (Rule 6700.1600)

POST notes that Minnesota legislation already mandates that they evaluate officer conduct outside of criminal convictions, and so the updated rules simply clarify the details of how exactly POST will do so. The current rules are wanting for those details, which makes it hard for POST to justify their authority to discipline officers.

Item A adds more legal offenses that count as misconduct.

Item B proposes that officers must tell the truth to law enforcement agencies and the courts. This includes testifying during proceedings to the truth of administrative reports they wrote about an incident. If an officer will not testify, the written report is inadmissible as evidence and considered hearsay, and POST may investigate them. If an officer does testify and doesn't tell the truth about the report, lying under oath in a courtroom is another kind of offense entirely, so POST may investigate as well as other relevant agencies.

Item D allows POST to investigate uses of deadly force as well as lethal force. Currently deadly force, force that doesn't result in death but grave injury, is not considered under POST's purview. This is a very important addition.

Item F proposes conduct that amounts to abuse of authority by police officers.

Item G reiterates that the discriminatory behavior of a licensed officer is a violation that POST may investigate. It states: "Conduct that would prevent a person from licensure is equally unacceptable after a person is licensed." This includes both on-duty and off-duty behavior.

SOAR then details that legally an officer with bias could not testify on a case involving a member of the group, which opens up the local law enforcement and judicial scene to a lot of risk. This is called a Brady-Giglio impairment: "Under Brady-Giglio, prosecutors must disclose evidence that could lead to the impeachment (inability to testify truthfully) of law enforcement officer. This includes any findings or allegations of untruthfulness, bias, or withholding evidence that may be favorable to the accused. Bias includes both personal bias towards an individual, and bias towards a group in which the individual in question is a member or perceived to be a member." Thus officers demonstrating bias should be removed from their posts or a large part of the legal system will suffer.

Rule 6700.1600 Subpart 1 Item H again enumerates the issue of hate group membership. It reiterates the standard laid out in the minimum hiring standards (Rule 6700.0700 Item H) for currently licensed officers. The "support, advocacy, or participation in white supremacist, hate or extremist groups or criminal gangs" is a violation that POST will investigate.

Item H (1) (2) and (3) define what a hate group is and specifically encodes white supremacist groups.

Item I proposes what the exact definition of "involvement in a hate group" will be.

Item J makes an exception for hate group membership if it is for the purpose of active law enforcement investigation. (Brings to mind BlackkKlansman.)

Obligations to report and cooperate with POST (Rule 6700.1610)

Subpart 1 already requires all licensed officers to report any violation they know of. The proposed amendment allows unlicensed officers (such as in training) to report as well, but does not require it.

Police pursuits (Rule 6700.2700) and pursuit procedures (Rule 6700.2701) are proposed for repeal, claiming that they are not rules but philosophy, and are outdated and no longer applicable.

[Will be updated further.]

Action

Submit public comment supporting the proposed changes by Dec 6th, 4:30 PM CST.

Submit on Office of Administrative Hearings website

[soul-heart-and-beyond]

When you been gone about a few days and then things either start clogging up or it just like some spoilers start coming out:

[carawenfiction]

Update 15/3 2021

Hello everyone! It’s been a long, long time since I’ve given any kind of update or answered any asks, and for that I’m very sorry. I didn’t want to write anything before I felt like I had something concrete from the rewrite to show/tell you about, so I’ve held off and tried to just focus the time I’ve got for writing on progressing with it. Thank you to everyone who have sent me asks or private messages showing support and/or concern. Though I haven’t been up for answering them individually, it always means a lot and I hope no one thinks I’m taking it for granted.

Chapter 1 has been more of a monster than I expected (I should have expected it to be honest, since there are already about five different ways to meet Michael/a ,_,). I’m going to list what changes I’ve made and the things I’ve added or have yet to add to it for those who are curious and don’t mind spoilers further down (: but it’s taken a lot of time to get through, and since I don’t want to rush anything and make sure that I’m keeping track of all the variables and different outcomes, it will still take some time to get done.

I’m counting on the other chapters to not take quite as long, since I’ve already updated them with things in the past, but I will still need to rearrange some of the things that happen in them or information that’s being given in order to avoid repitition and to try and make the pacing smoother. I’m going to update you all when I know more about how that’s going to look, myself.

If I feel up for it and like I’ve got enough time, I will make sure to answer some asks this week as well. It’s long overdue ;;

Information about current changes/changes-to-come to chapter one under the cut!

Thank you so much for the patience and support <3

1. I’ve developed the hometown of the MC a bit more, to make it feel like less of a vague place. I’ve given it a name (subject to change), described its surroundings and its size etc.

2. Just like the town, I’ve strived to make the MC’s life feel less “empty”, so to speak. You’ve now got two childhood friends who both live in the same town, but whether you truly see them as friends or only keep them around out of habit/fear of being alone is all up to you. 

3. Vince is not just your co-worker, but an old school friend of your late father. Since the town is pretty small, it made sense to me that at least some of the adults would also have history with each other. This way his presence feels less strange and out-of-the-blue, but like it actually has some sort of purpose, at least in my own opinion.

4. The MC and Michael/a are no longer strangers, but used to attend the same school. Again, small town where most people know each other; it wouldn’t make sense for them not to know of each other. Though circumstances has not allowed the two of you to befriend each other earlier, you can specify how you view Michael/a; as just another person in town, someone you’ve wanted to befriend but never really had a chance to, or if you’ve had a crush on them (and whether you ever confessed to them or not, which will change your dynamic with them a bit).

5. Since making Michael/a a football player for a team was a spontaneous decision on my part which I hadn’t really thought out at all and it doesn’t serve any real purpose to the story, I’ve made a change there too. Michael/a was a player on the school team and someone who most were convinced had a bright future in sports ahead of them, but for reasons unknown resigned from playing after graduation. Nowadays they work part-time at the local diner that the MC and their friends frequent. 

6. There is a bit more to the dream sequence in the beginning. The MC is left with a strange feeling throughout the day, and can choose to confide in their friends about it as well as the dream. I wanted the dream to leave a lasting impression that wouldn’t just disappear the moment you wake up, and for it to tie into the pull you feel towards your childhood home later on.

7. I want to try and include something about the MC’s mother or an interaction with her if that’s possible, but haven’t found an opportunity to do so yet.

[wrenhyperfixates]

Of All the Places

Chapter 11

Pairing: Loki x reader  Series Summary: Washing up in a small town in Oklahoma was definitely not part of Loki’s plan when he came to conquer Midgard. There is one good thing about it, though: No one recognizes him as the one who just wreaked havoc in New York. So, Loki plans to recover from the battle and move on with his life. The only problem? He’s not sure he can leave you. Chapter Summary: In which the truth is revealed. Chapter Warnings: starts out with fluff, some making out, things quickly dissolves into angst, a bit of violence, and there’s like one f-bomb A/N: I apologize in advance. You’ll see why. Updates every Friday.

Tag List: @lucywrites02 @frostedgiant @lunarmoon8​ @twhiddlestonsstuff​ @marvelousdaydreams​ @parkastoria​ @lokistan​ @thelokiimaginechroniclesficrecs​ @sourpatchspinster

✥ Start at Beginning ✥ | ← Previous Chapter | Next Chapter →

Disclaimer: Gif not mine 

A week after your first date, Loki was still dreaming about your kiss every night. He was elated, on cloud nine, and it seemed like things could only get better from here. Except for that one little bump in the road; he had yet to tell you his history.

Your entire family was currently in the living room watching episodes of I Love Lucy. Loki was next to you on the couch, and you were snuggling into his side, his arm draped around your shoulders. It was like some crazy dream that he was here on this idyllic farm with your family. In some ways, they were his family too, he thought. You laughed at something happening on the TV, and Loki delighted in the angelic sound of it. He smiled down at you, feeling indescribable happiness.

“What?” you asked, looking up at him.

“You just look so beautiful, my darling,” he replied and placed a small kiss to the tip of your nose.

You returned the action. “Thanks, Loki. You look pretty beautiful, too.”

As you went back to resting your head on his shoulder, he realized this would have been the perfect time to come clean. If only everyone else was not with you, too. It caused a small pang in his heart that he had to keep holding back.

At some point, Matt crawled into Loki’s lap, fighting off the sleep that was trying to claim him. He laughed at the small boy who obviously wanted to stay up like all the adults.

“Come on, small fry,” John said to his son. “Let’s get you to bed.”  

“No!” he protested. “I want to stay up with Loki.”

His sentence was punctuated with a yawn, and they let him remain where he was, knowing that soon he’d be asleep, anyway. They were right, of course, and Loki offered to tuck the boy in. Everyone agreed, so he carried the child up to his room and put him to bed. Loki wasn’t sure what came over him, but he hummed a little Asgardian lullaby, something Frigga had sung to him. Though, it was not the same one he’d hummed for you that morning in the barn. This one his mother sang to him on nights when he’d had nightmares. They were always about shadowy monsters chasing him, more abstract than how a child typically pictures their demons. Knowing everything he did now, Loki wondered if the monster was actually him all along.

“That was beautiful,” you said as Loki whipped around at the sound of your voice. You were leaning on the doorframe, a small smile on your face. “Will you sing it for me one day?”

“Yes, my darling. One day.”

He walked over and placed a kiss to your forehead. Though those were far from infrequent, you’d yet to kiss on the lips again. He felt he should be the one to initiate it this time, but he felt bad, considering everything. He was already lying to you about so much that it would have just felt like another one to heap onto all of those. Though, he truly did love you, so perhaps it was something else holding him back. Maybe his insecurity was just getting the better of him.

“Will you take a walk with me, my darling?” he asked.

“Of course.”

You quickly told your family you were stepping out for a second and then set off. As you walked, the conversation flowed easily. You talked about everything you could think of, still getting to know each other. Eventually, Loki led you to the creek, and you smiled at him, taking his hand in yours.

“I still remember the last time we were here like it was yesterday. It was the first time we talked. I mean really talked, you know?”

“I do. I must admit, it was also when I began to fall for you.”

“I, well, oh!” you bumbled, looking away, feeling both flattered and flustered. “If we’re being honest, the same goes for me.”

“Darling.”

“Yes?” you replied, your eyes full of hope.

Loki tried to tell you the truth, but the words would not come. Instead, he rushed forward and kissed you. It was sloppy again, but both of you obviously could not have waited a second longer to do it. He pulled away a little, only to move back in and reposition his mouth against yours, deepening the kiss. His hand cupped your cheek, and yours found his hair, tangling themselves in his raven locks.

Before you knew it, you ended up on the ground, making out with Loki on top of you. It was like you were the air he needed to breathe; he needed you to live. He could never get enough. His lips moved from your mouth and kissed along your jaw, moving down your neck and sucking on your pulse point.

“Loki,” you said in a breathless moan.

He went back to kissing your lips, his tongue finding its way into your mouth, searching, though he didn’t know for what. He found it, regardless; it was love. He could feel it vibrating in every bone of his body.

“I am sorry,” he said, moving away. “I do not know what came over me.”

“Don’t apologize,” you replied, panting. “It was good. A little unexpected, but good. And long overdue, I might add.”

He caressed your cheek and placed another small kiss to your lips. “I am glad to hear it, my darling. It was overdue indeed. And now that it has happened, I do not want to stop.”

You pulled him back down then, connecting your lips together again. It was less frantic now, though. Slower, more careful. Deliberate. He hoped you were saying the same thing he was. I love you. I love you. I love you. He couldn’t stop thinking those words, but there was guilt gnawing at his heart. He wanted to tell you everything so badly, but how could he ruin this? This was the best thing to ever happen to him; if he lost it, lost you, he didn’t know what he would do.

“My darling,” he tried to begin, but you recaptured his lips before he could get any further. After who knows how long, you released him, pulling his bottom lip between your teeth before letting go completely. “I have something I must tell you.”

“What is it?” you asked, that damnable look of hope in your eyes again.

“It can wait until morning,” he sighed.

“Oh. Ok. If you’re sure.”

He moved off of you and helped you up into a sitting position beside him. Pressing you to his chest in a tight embrace and stroking your back, he kissed your head.

“Is everything ok, Loki?” you questioned, pulling back and putting your hands on his chest. “If we’re moving too fast or something, we can slow down.”

“No, it is not that. This is perfect. You are perfect.”

“Well, ok, I guess. If you say so,” you relented, kissing him on the cheek and hugging him around the shoulders. “I hope you know I think you’re perfect, too.”

You stayed there for a while longer, enjoying each other’s company. Eventually, you decided to head back. Thinking you seemed a little cold, Loki draped his jacket around your shoulders, yet another reminder of your first visit. About halfway back to the farm, Loki decided that you seemed too tired to keep walking and scooped you up bridal style, using his godly strength to carry you the rest of the way.

“Goodnight, my darling,” he whispered, laying you on your bed. “I will see you in the morning.”

“Night, Loki.”

He caressed your cheek and gave one final kiss before departing. By the time he reached his room, he felt numb, the joy and anxiety cancelling each other out.

In the morning, he thought, I will tell them in the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki woke up with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. Though he was no clairvoyant, he could tell something big was about to happen, and the outcome would not be good. The only logical thing he could think would happen is that you would deplore him after he reveals himself. That, or you were going to get hurt. Or even worse yet, die before he could confess. The very thought made him choke on tears.

Dragging himself out from under the covers, he got ready for the day, apprehension slowing his every move. This could be the end of everything, for surely if you grew to hate him, he could not stay here. Where he would go, Loki did not know, just that it would be off of Midgard. Away from his insolent brother, the irritating Avengers, this farm. His home. No, he shouldn’t think of it as that, not when this might all be over in the matter of an hour. He took a shaky breath and looked in the mirror. For the first time in many, many years, he didn’t see a monster. If you—kind, loving, perfect you—cared about him, he simply couldn’t be one. It was his sincere hope that he would still be able to say that at the end of the day.

He went to your door only to find a note stuck to it, the same bright pink color as the one you used that first day to tell him the clothes you laid out were for him. He couldn’t believe how long ago that was, how wary of everything he had been. His eyes skimmed the words and learned you were in town with Papa. You wrote that you were sorry to put it off more, but you would talk later. He was dismayed to hear he would have to hold it in for longer, afraid he would lose his nerve.

He went downstairs to find the house abandoned by all except Mama. He greeted her with a warm hello, to which she responded with a curt nod of her head. She had been acting rather suspicious of him again these past few days, now that he thought about it. In all honesty, he’d been too happy to be spending so much time with you to pay her any mind. Most likely the mood could be chalked up to the very same thing that had him ignoring it. He’d called a truce with her, but it wasn’t like this would be the first time she went back on that and became her old, nasty self. But, no, something about this was different than normal. She wasn’t just being cold, she was being... Jittery? It made no sense to Loki.

“Is something the matter?” he asked, for if there was anything to say about the woman, it was that she is brutally honest.

“Hm, what? Oh, nothing. I’m fine.”

“Ah. I see. If you say so.”

“Well, I do. Obviously.”

“Yes, obviously indeed.”

She made another little hum of agreement that sounded far more strangled than it should have. That dread twisted in his stomach again, practically a tangible monster, coming to take everything he held dear. Something terrible was coming, he just couldn’t put his finger on exactly what yet.

“Where is everyone else? Or rather, where are John, Ana, and Matt?” he adjusted his question since he already knew where you and Papa were.

“Oh, around. Out in the fields, probably. Why? Do you need something?” she coldly inquired, stroking Taffy’s head. More often than not, the cat wasn’t around, but Loki was glad she was there now to help soothe Mama’s nerves. “I’m sure it can wait if you do.”

“Just curious is all.”

Another strangled noise. Loki moved out of the room before his own anxiety could feed off of hers any more. Why was she being so flippant, yet at the same time so nervous? It was disconcerting, to say the least. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth as he pondered the situation, the premonition of an awful tragedy about to come. Perhaps, he thought in a moment of utter panic, there was another tornado approaching. Struggling with the remote for a second, he found the news channel, but there were no reports of any dangerous weather approaching. He turned it off and dramatically flopped on the couch, pinching the bridge of his nose. It wasn’t that, but there was something. Something was about to happen. Something...

A knock at the front door pulled him out of his thoughts. He moved to answer it, but Mama came rushing past him.

“Don’t bother. I’ve got it.”

“Really,” he said, tailing her, certain that the bad thing was directly connected to her. “It is no problem.”

Mama ignored him, except for a small, dismissive wave, and kept moving towards the door. Loki stayed right behind her, peering over her shoulder as she sucked in a sharp breath and turned the knob.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Mama scowled at Ana and her family. “I thought you were going to be out in the field for the morning.”

“We were,” she replied, coming in. “We’re just here for a quick snack break. Why? Is everything ok?”

“Yes, of course it is. Why does everyone keep asking that?”

John shot Loki a troubled look as he also tried to coerce the true answer from Mama. Loki would have chimed in, too, but he knew he was the last one she would tell. They needed Papa; he was the only one she ever listened to. But that was irrelevant, and Loki tried to figure out how he could help. He drew a blank.

“Loki! Uppy!” Matt cheered, toddling up to him. The trickster god obliged, earning him some happy squeals from the child.

“Don’t bother him, honey,” Mama said, taking Matt out of Loki’s arms and into hers instead.

This time it was Loki who gave John the concerned look. They all insisted it was no bother, but Mama wouldn’t release the child. Ana and John kept pestering her about what was wrong, but she didn’t budge on that front either. Some instinct was screaming for Loki to make a break for it out the back door, but he couldn’t leave you, especially if he didn’t know exactly what was going to happen yet. Before he could voice any concerns, another knock at the door interrupted the discourse.

“I’ll get that,” Mama declared, passing Matt to his mother.

“Did something happen?” John asked Loki.

“Not that I know of, but I have a very bad feeling about all this.”

“Don’t worry, man. We’ll sort this out.”

The room was suddenly filled with a great commotion, voices shouting for no one to move. Ana screamed and Matt started crying while John’s face went white as a ghost, staring at Loki as he figured out exactly what was happening. Loki’s own heart sank as men in heavy, black gear barged in, aiming their guns at him. There was only one thought racing through his mind: He never should have come here. Now you and your family were all in danger because of him.

“Alright, Reindeer Games. No sudden movements,” Stark said, coming into the house in full Ironman mode, the rest of the Avengers close behind. Though, noticeably, Hulk wasn’t there, and Loki could only assume he was waiting outside as back-up, lest he destroy the house by coming in. “Just stay where you are, and maybe we’ll go easy on you.”

“How funny that you think I would need you to. Ah, brother,” he said, now addressing Thor as his mouth involuntarily curled into a sneer. “How lovely to see you. I trust you and your friends here have been doing well. Tell me, are you here to apprehend me?”

“Yes, brother, and I suggest you make this easy and come now,” Thor responded, brandishing Mjolnir.

“Come now, can we not just talk things out,” Loki proposed, raising his hands in a way that one does when they are surrendering, though he had no intention of actually doing that. “After all, we are all mature adults here.”

“I think we’re a little past talking at this point,” Captain America shot back, nodding at the agents, giving the signal to capture the trickster god.

“I see. How disappointing.”

In a flash of green magic, Loki was wearing his armor and helmet, lunging for the nearest SHIELD agent. Knowing that even he could not win against so many foes by himself, he used the sudden movement as a distraction to create his clones. While the so-called heroes scrambled to find the real one, Loki kept fighting his way towards the door, using his royal training and trusty daggers to make quick work of everyone standing in his way. The only problem was your family was still inside, in peril due to the chaos of the battle. He was close enough now to hear the screaming match between them.

“What is happening?” Ana frantically questioned. “He didn’t do anything.”

“Ma’am I’m sorry. You need to stay back,” an agent told her, keeping her from advancing. “He’s dangerous.”

“No, he’s not,” John argued. Then he turned to Mama and shouted at her. “How could you do this? He doesn’t deserve this!”

“You don’t understand yet, but you will,” she said, sounding somewhat numb, but with a bubbling anger just below the surface. “This has to happen.”

“If you will all follow me, I’ll get you out safely,” the same agent said, but the family was too busy arguing to pay him any mind.

Loki, however, was hyper aware of them, and was doing his best to keep the battle away from them as much as possible. He even got rid of a few of his doubles when they got too close. In the midst of their argument, Mama, Ana, and John didn’t notice little Matt slip away. But Loki did. The brave little toddler wanted to help his friend, not truly comprehending the gravity of the situation.

“Stop!” he shouted, using his tiny fists to pound an agent’s leg. “Don’t be mean to Loki!”

Everyone else around him was too focused on capturing Loki to keep the child safe, and underfoot in the middle of this struggle was nowhere for the boy to be. Blasting his current opponent with a shockwave of magic, topped off with a thrust of his dagger, Loki moved towards where Matt was. He scooped him up and carefully brought him back to his mother, who had by now realized he was gone and worked herself into a panic.

“He is safe now,” Loki told her, handing her son over.

Unfortunately, the ordeal had caught the attention of the Avengers and distracted Loki enough for Clint to be able to get him with one of his infernal electric arrows. The shock hurt Loki, but he wasn’t ready to go down yet. With Hawkeye alerting everyone else where the real Loki was, the Avengers continued to barrage him with attack after attack. They were working on backing him into a corner, something Loki knew would bring the battle to a swift end if they succeeded. He put up a good fight, and even got a bunch of good blows in, but when Black Widow was able to get herself up onto his shoulders, he knew it was over. Loki tried to flip her off, but she held on too tight and brought him crashing to the ground where agents promptly grabbed and cuffed him.

“You are all truly more idiotic than I thought if you still think this is a good idea,” he laughed wryly as they yanked him up into a standing position, a familiar ache in his ribs.

“Are you all crazy?” John asked incredulously. “Did you not see what just happened?”

“He saved our son. Again,” Ana added, stressing the last word.

“Sir, my lady, I apologize if my brother has deluded you into thinking he is something he is not. I have fallen into the same trap myself, but he is the God of Lies, after all,” Thor earnestly said. “Your family is safe now, you have my word.”

“Are you not listening?” John said, trying to push past Thor and everyone else blocking the way to his friend. “We were safe anyway. Let him go.”

“John, please stop,” Mama pleaded. “I know you two were close, but it was all lies. You need to calm down and let me explain.”

“I don’t need you to. I know what’s happening, and I know you’re wrong.”

“Stop,” Loki said with a sharp shake of his head, warning his friend to stay out of trouble. “They are all mad, indeed, but you must stop. Just take care of-”

“Loki?” came your frightened voice from the door. Papa came rushing up behind you, placing a cautioning hand upon your shoulder. “What’s going on here?”

“Just stay where you are, honey. It’s going to be ok,” Mama soothed.

You shook off your father’s hand and ignored Mama’s words, darting through the crowd and marching up to Loki. Before your hand could actually touch his bruised and bleeding cheek, a few agents pulled you away. There was no way in hell you were going to make it easy for them, though, and you thrashed in their strong grips.

“Let’s all just calm down now,” Papa said, sounding a lot calmer than he looked. “Maybe someone can just tell us what’s going on.”

“He’s responsible for what happened in New York,” Mama triumphantly shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the battered god.

“That’s ridiculous,” you laughed in disbelief before turning a little bit hysterical. “It’s not true. Let me through. It’s not possible. Loki! Loki, tell them. Loki...”

You trailed off, realizing that he wasn’t doing anything to prevent this. It was as if he was a statue, just standing there with his head bowed and eyes staring down at the floor. Your body went slack, relying on the agents still keeping you back to hold you up. Now that you were done resisting, they passed you off to John and Papa.

“Loki?” you whispered one last time in a small, broken voice.

“I am sorry,” he whispered back. “My love.”

After a second of silence, the Avengers gave the word to usher Loki out. As he was walked out to the van waiting outside, Loki could hear you wail as if in pain. And you were, deep in your heart as if a sword had been buried there.

“What the fuck?” Denzel said, rushing up to the front porch, of course choosing now of all times to appear. He cast a sideways glance at Loki being pushed into the van and shouted your name, still running.

The door of the vehicle was slammed shut as you came bursting out the door of your house. Though Loki couldn’t hear a word you were saying, he could see you frantically shouting to your ex, gesturing wildly with your hands. Denzel was obviously trying to calm you, but had no success.

As the fleet of SHIELD owned transports started driving away, you sprinted after them, still screaming something Loki couldn’t hear. He turned his face away from the window, stoically looking ahead. He couldn’t resist one look back before leaving the property, though. You’d given up the fruitless chase and were now sobbing into Denzel’s shoulder. The man was comforting you, rubbing your back and whispering something in your ear. A white-hot, blinding feeling of jealousy flashed behind Loki’s eyes as he watched the scene. He looked forward once again, knowing he had no reason to have such emotions. After all, he’d broken his promise. It was his fault your family had been in danger. His fault you were crying. His fault you were hurt.

Not willing to look back again, Loki came to terms with the fact that was the last he’d ever see of you, your family, and the place he’d come to think of as home. He would never go back now. He would never hurt you again.