#the scales of seduction

[wiltking]

reading the scales of seduction by rien gray (f/f trans erotica) and i want to howl at how good every paragraph is. delicious writing. absolutely and firmly in my alley

[hpowellsmith]

Reading: The Scales of Seduction (Rien Gray)

I read The Scales of Seduction by Rien Gray! It's a 33,000 word F/F erotic romance novella between a butch trans woman and a feral cis femme, focused on lesbian desire and reclaiming one's body from those who would destroy it.

Here's what I thought! (spoiler, I loved it)

[thefigureresource]

Erza Scarlet : Seduction Armor (Special Finish) ver [Fairy Tail] non scale from Union Creative coming July 2024.

[skitskatdacat63]

Prince Jenson of Somerset

+ process & lore

Yayyyyy omg finally have drawn portraits of the four main characters!!!! I'll show the process of Jenson's first and then them all four together. Though it's a shame the Seb/Fernando ones are older, I think it's hopefully obvious how much I've improved since November?

Look at him in all his handsome, princely glory 🥹 It's funny, I'm always happy with the second sketch and initial lineart, and then I start coloring it and I absolutely hate it, and it takes a significant amount of time into the painting for me to like it again. And then I reach a certain point and I'm in love with it again. Ugh though I gotta say, I love drawing the curls, it's just so 18th century, but at the same point, man I always will love my original lineart for the hair the best ah. Also yes I absolutely had to give him a big ass hat with feathers, he really is that kinda guy to me. I originally drew a bicorne and then realized that those don't really exist until basically almost a century later oops, so tricorne it is!!

Okay now omg look at them all together 🥹

Haha wow I have improved a lot! Just like the Seb/Fernando ones, Mark and Jense's were meant to be put together. I think there's a lot of inherent characterization in their poses that highlight the difference between them. Mark is looking up, very wistful, looking up to greater people, greater things. Jenson's head is tilted down, almost looking at the viewer, he is very satisfied with his role and revels in it, he's here to slay!

Okay, yes, lore, characterization, sorry that it is so far down on the post!!

Jense would probably be the fan favorite if this AU was an actual book or show or something. He's the guy you randomly find while browsing Wikipedia and you're like, woah this guy is so cool??? Unlike Sebmarknando, he doesn't really have the same level of angst, he's kinda just chilling. He's a bit harder to write a lore post about, because he's basically that character who is always magically around the corner, ready to witness some crazy thing and just breeze past it.

He is less linked to Seb than people like Mark and Fernando, because he's basically just his personal minister of transportation(read: horse fucker), so he avoids a lot of the relationship complications and drama, but that isn't to say he's completely uninvolved. He really likes Seb, and loves to hang around with him and serve him, but he's not as beholden to him. He's who everyone goes to air their grievances or to get away from the others, and he's very happy with this role. He's generally willing to play any side in an argument, but does tend to have a pretty big soft spot for Seb overall(Seb also gives him cuteness aggression, and he wants to bite him. Especially when Seb puffs himself up and acts super bratty when he gets offended at not being seen as a proper ruler.)

He's royalty from other kingdom, but pledged his loyalty to Seb's kingdom when he was quite young and has served him(his father first) ever since. He started off somewhat low in the military, rose to a pretty high rank, was a renowed war hero, and then ended up retiring pretty early to tend to Seb's horses. That's an oversimplification, but yeah. He liked the military life, was very good at it, but decided he had done enough, and wanted to be involved in more direct service, albeit more laid back. As I mentioned in Mark's post, Mark *really* doesn't understand his choice to do this, because if Mark had been in Jense's position, he can't ever imagine being able to let all that go and living the quiet life.

He is the palace whore, everyone has been with him honestly. It'll be like, some man walks into his bedroom, only to see Jenson in bed with his wife, but instead of being angry, he's like "wow you couldn't even wait for me??" He's just very carefree, and happy to just slut around and tend to Seb's horses.

I think he definitely still advises Seb, and would go to battle if truly need be, but generally seems to be living in a different world than the weird psychosexual homoerotic political drama that the others seem to be living in. But as I said, it's not like he doesn't contribute to it! He loves to goad Fernando, and constantly plays devil's advocate in "debates" between Fernando and Seb. He's also obviously the one that keep "accidentally" locking them in rooms and forgetting where the key is.

Sorry if this isn't very explanatory, I hope it gives a general idea to the type of character he is???? As always, let me know if you have any questions! I kinda struggled on what to write here because I'm finishing this at almost 8 am 😭 so I'm not sure if it's great or not. But basically you need to know: horse fucker who is generally breezy and carefree but also can be a bit of a menace to society every once in a while.

[sp1derc1der]

If Dragon!Giovanni had a DnD class, he’d be a bard since this dude rolled a natural 20 to seduce this big ol’ hydra

Dragon!Ghetsis is NOT impressed

(This is just a sketch that I’ll clean up later on)

[kradogsrats]

sometimes I think about how because of the real-world time lag it feels like Viren and Aaravos have been dancing dangerously and broodingly around their simmering sexual tension forever but in reality Viren has literally only been aware of Aaravos for like a couple months, max, not counting the time he's dead??? though Aaravos may have been watching Viren through the mirror like "sooner or later I am going to wreck that ass" for much longer, I mean who knows

anyway my brain somehow always kind of wants to register anything where they get together after s3 as "slow burn" but that means the non-"slow burn" version of the relationship has to be basically "Viren drops his pants pretty much the INSTANT he sees Aaravos in the mirror like 'well I can't NOT fuck him'"

... which tbf is a not-insignificant number of viravos fics lmao

[gofigureee]

2.5 Dimensional Seduction | Mikari Tachibana | TENITOL TALL (FURYU)

[astaldis]

Shimmering Scales and Stormy Seas

Prompts: Shimmering scales, mermaid, seduction

Rarepair Bingo Challenge: Type in a new pairing

Fandom: The Witcher (all media types)

Rating: Explicit, No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: F/M

Relationship: Jaskier/Mermaid

Additional Tags: First Time, Oral Sex, Sex with a mermaid, POV Jaskier | Dandelion, Smut

Words: 800

Summary: This is the story of Jaskier's first time. Decide yourself if it is true or just a tall tale.

Warning: slight NSFW under the cut!

“Mm, you taste good, human," she says in this euphonious version of the Elder Speech he only understands half of, if he understands it at all. However, it is so melodious and pleasing to the ear that she could say something like ‘I’m going to eat you neck and crop’ and he would still find it sexy as hell. Anyway, even if she were going to eat him alive, there is nothing he could do about it, mesmerised as he is by not only her exceptional beauty and her sing-songy voice, but also by what she is doing. He cannot really see it at the moment for her flowing, celadon green hair is all over his lower body - his very naked lower body - but he can feel it. And how he can feel it! Her lips are of the same light green colour as her nipples, and they are moving up and down his cock in a way that gives him the holy shivers. Who would have thought he would end up lying on the beach at dawn having his first time with a fucking mermaid? He definitely did not imagine anything like it when he rowed over to the island to have a look at the famous mermaid rock. Just for curiosity’s sake, of course, and because of the heartbreaking poetry of the legend, not because he believed for one second that mermaids actually exist. Now he does. And how they exist!

Continue reading on Ao3: 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46510078

@smubbles-etc​

@witchermonstermayhem​

@cake-shop-rarepair-bingo​

[sbnkalny]

Wonderful! You have just won the prize for the most totally random response to a completely unrelated subject that has come across my Tumblr feed to date (because seriously, WTF does cheese have to do with social security numbers? Absolutely nothing. Unrelated subject. Next!)

. I'm still looking for candidates for 1) funniest wet-behind-the-ears-puppy proving their total ignorance of a subject trying to talk about it like they were totally cool with it and had any idea WTF they were talking about; 2) Most totally niche fandom talking like they were da bomb of the world and everyone else is an idiot for it not being totally obvious to the rest of the world just exactly who the hell these characters are again and WTF THEY're talking about; and 3) Most long-suffering. maybe even wryly humorous post from those on here who actually KNOW WTF we're talking about and prove it by NOT trying to tell anyone because the minute you're insecure enough to not KNOW you know what you're talking about and have no need to prove it to anybody, you've just raised questions in my mind whether you really DO know WTF you're talking about or if you're just kidding yourself

Edit: oh BTW, this doesn't even answer the question because it isn't the cheese that's purple, its the purple mold in it showing just like in bleu cheese (to go by the French spelling of the CHEESE name most commonly used in cookbooks) the blue color is from the MOLD.

Cheese is made from milk.

Milk, as far as I know, is only one color, or two if you count colostrum. And it ain't purple, and it ain't blue, it's absolute Milk White. And while TECHNICALLY according to the hex code that artists colorr belongs to the Pastel Purple color family, I consider whoever made that decision as crazy as anyone who, actually knowing how these cheeses are made, tries to argue at me that that means it ain't the mold rather than the cheese that makes this picture look purple

Wonderful! time for a celebration... Some good news from the other is unrelated. Das ist meine familie . Guess who has acquired an almost messianic reputation 🅸🅽 the minds of certain citizens. his figure is synonymous with the Darkest urges of instinct, ignorance And decay. some of the laziest, shortest comments seem to get em out of here alive.. Will you answer questions in the wrong way about it and played a cafe before. *bends over seductively to pick up a piece of furniture with a raised surface supported by legs, Commonly used to seat a single person whom i’ve ever liked. Rather uncomfortable about lions Specifically, but it’d make milk.. It is variable in color, from downy grayish white to golden brown to dark Charcoal gray. Roboclown clowning around on my broom, and you try to jump over a fence at an angle, the horse won't like it, but i know it ain't mine I'm kinda hurt but I don't think we can still win. Hex me.

[wiltking]

finished the scales of seduction. solid contender for my favorite book of the year. wow wow wow

[monstersholygrail]

The Venom’s Test

Naga bf x fem!reader— oral (f!receiving), aphrodisiac injection, multiple orgasms, anal, aftercare

Naga bf whose aphrodisiac venom acts differently on humans. He’s never used it before, not with you, his adorably short human. Short compared to him anyway. You were much shorter than most monsters and that’s who he’s only ever used it on before.

He has no idea how you’d react, how strong it would be, and how long it would inevitably end up lasting. He has no control over how much he injects into his victims either. It merely shoots out of him and pumps his pleasure mates full of his seductive venom.

Your bf had certainly never expected you to ask him to. Until one day when you do. Your weak trembling body lay limp within your shared den. Your drenched pulsing pussy weeping and begging for more. Hands reaching out and beckoning your mate to finally mount you after having pulled countless orgasms from your spoiled cunt with only his nimble fingers and forked tongue.

“Want more,” you whimper, your eyes clouded over in a haze of lust. Your pussy clenches around nothing, pushing more of your essence out as if imagining his entering you and wanting to make room for his hot seed.

“I don’t think you can handle anymore, my sweet nightingale,” Naga bf rasps, his eyes gleaming like a predator close to entrapping their prey.

Your neck automatically bares itself to him and your bf’s natural instincts spark to life. The desire to wrap his tail around your body and slowly fuck the life out of you till you’re nothing but a mindless drooling mess inflames within him. His claws dig into the mess of blankets and cushions that make up your bed together.

“Want your venom then. Please, please give it to me,” you cry, already such a blubbering mess for him. Naga bf can’t help but imagine how much worse it’ll get once his venom is coursing through you and heating up your blood till you can do nothing but fuck him.

Naga bf’s already short leash of restraint instantly snaps at your begging. With a loud sharp hiss, your bf slithers his way up your body until his surrounding and covering every inch of you. His scales drag along your sensitive body and you whimper as the sensation mixes perfectly with the smooth skin of his chest. Arms wrapping around his neck you bring him impossibly closer to you, both of you soaking up each other’s body temperature as you grind against each other.

“Need your cocks, need your fangs. Don’t make me wait, I can’t wait,” you say through blurry eyes and more tears. Your bf lets out another hiss, softly shushing you in his own tongue. It sends shivers along your body as he comforts you. His lips brushing away your tears as he kisses down your cheeks and to your neck.

With your neck still bared for him, your Naga bf pushes his fangs down into your neck. His eyes rolling back at the ease in which his fangs sink into your flesh and the moan that leaves your lips. Venom shoots out from his fangs and into your form, causing his body to spasm, cocks slipping out from their sheath and slapping right against your dripping cunt.

A fierce burns runs hot within your body almost immediately. Starting at your neck and slowly pulsing down throughout your every limb. Another long moan leaves you, registering your bf’s cocks slipping between your folds. As if your body moves on its own you tilt your hips, rubbing your puffy clit against the bulging veins of his length.

“You’re alright. I got you, pretty bird,” your bf murmurs, his words coming out muffled as he keeps his fangs in your throat. But of you loving the connection it brings, even as you squirm from the heat and arousal that threatens to overwhelm you. But you trust him.

With your pussy more than prepped for his size, your bf drops a hand down and guides his huge girth right into your precious gummy walls. You both grunt as he pushes his tip inside you, taking his time and letting you feel as you slowly split a part on his length.

But the longer it takes the worse the heat gets. You pant heavily, nails digging into the snake body of your bf. Arousal pooling out of you and dribbling onto your bf’s hungry cock.

Not being able to take it, you quickly roll over your joined bodies until you’re straddling the large snake form of your bf. You grunt as the tumble causes your bf’s fangs to rip out of your throat and with a snap of your hips you take the entirety of one of your Naga bf’s cocks in one thrust. The combined sensation of pain and pleasure radiate through you, cooling down the heat for a moment.

Naga bf hisses, his gaze staring up at you with an intensity that brings back the heat tenfold. His tail quickly slides its way around your body and you moan at the tight squeeze that surrounds you, keeping you trapped right where you are on his dick.

Your hands rest on his chest as a few torturous moments later Naga bf starts bouncing you on his cock, forcing you to follow along with his pace. The heat and the need that claws its way down to your core continues to heighten as your bf sits up and licks the droplets of blood that fall down your neck. You groan, pussy clenching down on his girth.

“What do you need,” he hisses in your ear, knowing the pace he’s setting isn’t anywhere close to what the aphrodisiac venom demands.

“More, dammit!”

That’s the last thing you’re able to get out as Naga bf slides his cock almost all the way out of your pussy before slamming you back down his length. The heat within you roars to life as your bf moves your body around like a flesh light, stuffing himself inside you over and over again without a second to breathe.

Your first orgasm comes quickly and you aren’t surprised given your bf’s venom, having heard what it can do to someone. You cry out his name, clenching down hard on his cock as your body seizes and your orgasm wracks through you. Naga bf works you through it marvelously, not even close to coming.

Frustration mixes with the heat in your body as you realize the flames within you haven’t been clenched. Your bf’s eyes gleam darkly as if he already knew this. Proven further as he doesn’t stop fucking his cock inside your drooling cunt.

Though that gleam fades as he helps push you both through climax after climax. The heat seeming to never fade inside you. The venom testing just how far you can push each other. And you both keep going. Your bf alternating you between his cocks as you your body urges you to cum again and again, the overstimulation too much for him to handle and needing even a slight break. Meanwhile your own overstimulation only appears to fuel you into your next orgasm. Even as you alternate between your own fucked out holes.

Eventually your body is trembling too much for you to keep up on your own and you collapse onto your Naga bf. Like his tail wrapped firmly around you, his arms encircle your waist and hold you to him as you continue to thrust his length inside you, working you through your last orgasm. The heat having simmered down over time and with many of your releases.

“Is that what usually happens?” You breathe out in awe as euphoria washes over you as your last orgasm begins to ebb away.

Naga bf caresses your back, content to keep himself inside you even as the sparks and aftershocks continue to make his body twitch. At your question he laughs lightly in disbelief and shakes his head.

“No. No, this was so much better,” he says, the awe in your voice is mirrored in his.

The two of you lay boneless and cuddling in your den, the fact that both of you are thinking but neither are saying rings true through the air.

You’ll definitely be doing this again.

[doggirlnarcolepsy]

I'm playing the New Vegas modpack Tales of Two Wastelands called Capital Punishment that starts in Fallout 3 and I b-lined to Arefu to do the Blood Ties quest so I could mediate the situation and become a vampire because it's an amazing trait in basegame Fallout 3 and I like the questline.. what I didn't expect was that I was playing with a mod that made vampirism an actual mechanic that replaces your thirst meter. So now I'm playing as a chaotic good Jewish vampire named Liora, who feasts on the blood of her enemies, but also sometimes have to forgo her morals and sacrifice innocents to satiate her unquenchable thirst for blood.

[amateurvoltaire]

For the past six years or so, this graph has been making its rounds on social media, always reappearing at conveniently timed moments…

The insinuation is loud and clear: parallels abound between 18th-century France and 21st-century USA. Cue the alarm bells—revolution is imminent! The 10% should panic, and ordinary folk should stock up on non-perishables and, of course, toilet paper, because it wouldn’t be a proper crisis without that particular frenzy. You know the drill.

Well, unfortunately, I have zero interest in commenting on the political implications or the parallels this graph is trying to make with today’s world. I have precisely zero interest in discussing modern-day politics here. And I also have zero interest in addressing the bottom graph.

This is not going to be one of those "the [insert random group of people] à la lanterne” (1) kind of posts.  If you’re here for that, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.

What I am interested in is something much less click-worthy but far more useful: how historical data gets used and abused and why the illusion of historical parallels can be so seductive—and so misleading. It’s not glamorous, I’ll admit, but digging into this stuff teaches us a lot more than mindless rage.

So, let’s get into it. Step by step, we’ll examine the top graph, unpick its assumptions, and see whether its alarmist undertones hold any historical weight.

Step 1: Actually Look at the Picture and Use Your Brain

When I saw this graph, my first thought was, “That’s odd.” Not because it’s hard to believe the top 10% in 18th-century France controlled 60% of the wealth—that could very well be true. But because, in 15 years of studying the French Revolution, I’ve never encountered reliable data on wealth distribution from that period.

Why? Because to the best of my knowledge, no one was systematically tracking income or wealth across the population in the 18th century. There were no comprehensive records, no centralised statistics, and certainly no detailed breakdowns of who owned what across different classes. Graphs like this imply data, and data means either someone tracked it or someone made assumptions to reconstruct it. That’s not inherently bad,  but it did get my spider senses tingling.

Then there’s the timeframe: 1760–1790. Thirty years is a long time— especially when discussing a period that included wars, failed financial policies, growing debt, and shifting social dynamics. Wealth distribution wouldn’t have stayed static during that time. Nobles who were at the top in 1760 could be destitute by 1790, while merchants starting out in 1760 could be climbing into the upper tiers by the end of the period. Economic mobility wasn’t common, but over three decades, it wasn’t unheard of either.

All of this raises questions about how this graph was created. Where’s the data coming from? How was it measured? And can we really trust it to represent such a complex period?

Step 2: Check the Fine Print

Since the graph seemed questionable, the obvious next step was to ask: Where does this thing come from? Luckily, the source is clearly cited at the bottom: “The Income Inequality of France in Historical Perspective” by Christian Morrisson and Wayne Snyder, published in the European Review of Economic History, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2000).

Great! A proper academic source. But, before diving into the article, there’s a crucial detail tucked into the fine print:

“Data for the bottom 40% in France is extrapolated given a single data point.”

What does that mean?

Extrapolation is a statistical method used to estimate unknown values by extending patterns or trends from a small sample of data. In this case, the graph’s creator used one single piece of data—one solitary data point—about the wealth of the bottom 40% of the French population. They then scaled or applied that one value to represent the entire group across the 30-year period (1760–1790).

Put simply, this means someone found one record—maybe a tax ledger, an income statement, or some financial data—pertaining to one specific year, region, or subset of the bottom 40%, and decided it was representative of the entire demographic for three decades.

Let’s be honest: you don’t need a degree in statistics to know that’s problematic. Using a single data point to make sweeping generalisations about a large, diverse population (let alone across an era of wars, famines, and economic shifts) is a massive leap. In fact, it’s about as reliable as guessing how the internet feels about a topic from a single tweet.

This immediately tells me that whatever numbers they claim for the bottom 40% of the population are, at best, speculative. At worst? Utterly meaningless.

It also raises another question: What kind of serious journal would let something like this slide? So, time to pull up the actual article and see what’s going on.

Step 3: Check the Sources

As I mentioned earlier, the source for this graph is conveniently listed at the bottom of the image. Three clicks later, I had downloaded the actual article: “The Income Inequality of France in Historical Perspective” by Morrisson and Snyder.

The first thing I noticed while skimming through the article? The graph itself is nowhere to be found in the publication.

This is important. It means the person who created the graph didn’t just lift it straight from the article—they derived it from the data in the publication. Now, that’s not necessarily a problem; secondary analysis of published data is common. But here’s the kicker: there’s no explanation in the screenshot of the graph about which dataset or calculations were used to make it. We’re left to guess.

So, to figure this out, I guess I’ll have to dive into the article itself, trying to identify where they might have pulled the numbers from. Translation: I signed myself up to read 20+ pages of economic history. Thrilling stuff.

But hey, someone has to do it. The things I endure to fight disinformation...

Step 4: Actually Assess the Sources Critically

It doesn’t take long, once you start reading the article, to realise that regardless of what the graph is based on, it’s bound to be somewhat unreliable. Right from the first paragraph, the authors of the paper point out the core issue with calculating income for 18th-century French households: THERE IS NO DATA.

The article is refreshingly honest about this. It states multiple times that there were no reliable income distribution estimates in France before World War II. To fill this gap, Morrisson and Snyder used a variety of proxy sources like the Capitation Tax Records (2), historical socio-professional tables, and Isnard’s income distribution estimates (3).

After reading the whole paper, I can say their methodology is intriguing and very reasonable. They’ve pieced together what they could by using available evidence, and their process is quite well thought-out. I won’t rehash their entire argument here, but if you’re curious, I’d genuinely recommend giving it a read.

Most importantly, the authors are painfully aware of the limitations of their approach. They make it very clear that their estimates are a form of educated guesswork—evidence-based, yes, but still guesswork.   At no point do they overstate their findings or present their conclusions as definitive

As such,  instead of concluding with a single, definitive version of the income distribution, they offer multiple possible scenarios.

It’s not as flashy as a bold, tidy graph, is it? But it’s far more honest—and far more reflective of the complexities involved in reconstructing historical economic data.

Step 5: Run the numbers

Now that we’ve established the authors of the paper don’t actually propose a definitive income distribution, the question remains: where did the creators of the graph get their data? More specifically, which of the proposed distributions did they use?

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to locate the original article or post containing the graph. Admittedly, I haven’t tried very hard, but the first few pages of Google results just link back to Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, and Tumblr posts. In short, all I have to go on is this screenshot.

I’ll give the graph creators the benefit of the doubt and assume that, in the full article, they explain where they sourced their data. I really hope they do—because they absolutely should.

That being said, based on the information in Morrisson and Snyder’s paper, I’d make an educated guess that the data came from Table 6 or Table 10, as these are the sections where the authors attempt to provide income distribution estimates.

Now, which dataset does the graph use? Spoiler: None of them.

How can we tell? Since I don’t have access to the raw data or the article where this graph might have been originally posted, I resorted to a rather unscientific method: I used a graphical design program to divide each bar of the chart into 2.5% increments and measure the approximate percentage for each income group.

Here’s what I found:

Now, take a moment to spot the issue. Do you see it?

The problem is glaring: NONE of the datasets from the paper fit the graph. Granted, my measurements are just estimates, so there might be some rounding errors. But the discrepancies are impossible to ignore, particularly for the bottom 40% and the top 10%.

In Morrisson and Snyder’s paper, the lowest estimate for the bottom 40% (1st and 2nd quintiles) is 10%. Even if we use the most conservative proxy, the Capitation Tax estimate, it’s 9%. But the graph claims the bottom 40% held only 6%.

For the top 10% (10th decile), the highest estimate in the paper is 53%. Yet the graph inflates this to 60%.

Step 6: For fun, I made my own bar charts

Because I enjoy this sort of thing (yes, this is what I consider fun—I’m a very fun person), I decided to use the data from the paper to create my own bar charts. Here’s what came out:

What do you notice?

While the results don’t exactly scream “healthy economy,” they look much less dramatic than the graph we started with. The creators of the graph have clearly exaggerated the disparities, making inequality seem worse.

Step 7: Understand the context before drawing conclusions

Numbers, by themselves, mean nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I could tell you right now that 47% of people admit to arguing with inanimate objects when they don’t work, with printers being the most common offender, and you’d probably believe it. Why? Because it sounds plausible—printers are frustrating, I’ve used a percentage, and I’ve phrased it in a way that sounds “academic.”

You likely wouldn’t even pause to consider that I’m claiming 3.8 billion people argue with inanimate objects. And let’s be real: 3.8 billion is such an incomprehensibly large number that our brains tend to gloss over it.

If, instead, I said, “Half of your friends probably argue with their printers,” you might stop and think, “Wait, that seems a bit unlikely.” (For the record, I completely made that up—I have no clue how many people yell at their stoves or complain to their toasters.)

The point? Numbers mean nothing unless we put them into context.

The original paper does this well by contextualising its estimates, primarily through the calculation of the Gini coefficient (4).

The authors estimate France’s Gini coefficient in the late 18th century to be 0.59, indicating significant income inequality. However, they compare this figure to other regions and periods to provide a clearer picture:

Amsterdam (1742): Much higher inequality, with a Gini of 0.69.

Britain (1759): Lower inequality, with a Gini of 0.52, which rose to 0.59 by 1801.

Prussia (mid-19th century): Far less inequality, with a Gini of 0.34–0.36.

This comparison shows that income inequality wasn’t unique to France. Other regions experienced similar or even higher levels of inequality without spontaneously erupting into revolution.

Accounting for Variations

The authors also recalculated the Gini coefficient to account for potential variations. They assumed that the income of the top quintile (the wealthiest 20%) could vary by ±10%. Here’s what they found:

If the top quintile earned 10% more, the Gini coefficient rose to 0.66, placing France significantly above other European countries of the time.

If the top quintile earned 10% less, the Gini dropped to 0.55, bringing France closer to Britain’s level.

Ultimately, the authors admit there’s uncertainty about the exact level of inequality in France. Their best guess is that it was comparable to other countries or somewhat worse.

Step 8: Drawing Some Conclusions

Saying that most people in the 18th century were poor and miserable—perhaps the French more so than others—isn’t exactly a compelling statement if your goal is to gather clicks or make a dramatic political point.

It’s incredibly tempting to look at the past and find exactly what we want to see in it. History often acts as a mirror, reflecting our own expectations unless we challenge ourselves to think critically. Whether you call it wishful thinking or confirmation bias, it’s easy to project the future onto the past.

Looking at the initial graph, I understand why someone might fall into this trap. Simple, tidy narratives are appealing to everyone. But if you’ve studied history, you’ll know that such narratives are a myth. Human nature may not have changed in thousands of years, but the contexts we inhabit are so vastly different that direct parallels are meaningless.

So, is revolution imminent? Well, that’s up to you—not some random graph on the internet.

Notes

(1) A la lanterne was a  revolutionary cry during the French Revolution, symbolising mob justice where individuals were sometimes hanged from lampposts as a form of public execution

(2) The capitation tax was a fixed head tax implemented in France during the Ancien Régime. It was levied on individuals, with the amount owed determined by their social and professional status. Unlike a proportional income tax, it was based on pre-assigned categories rather than actual earnings, meaning nobles, clergy, and commoners paid different rates regardless of their actual wealth or income.

(3) Jean-Baptiste Isnard was an 18th-century economist. These estimates attempted to describe the theoretical distribution of income among different social classes in pre-revolutionary France. Isnard’s work aimed to categorise income across groups like nobles, clergy, and commoners, providing a broad picture of economic disparity during the period.

(4) The Gini coefficient (or Gini index) is a widely used statistical measure of inequality within a population, specifically in terms of income or wealth distribution. It ranges from 0 to 1, where 0 indicates perfect equality (everyone has the same income or wealth), and 1 represents maximum inequality (one person or household holds all the wealth).

[pursuitseternal]

A “Decadent” treat for Valentine’s Day💝 Astarion x F!Reader with a sweet Sex Chocolate treat💝

Astarion x F!Reader | E | 3K aphrodisiac-infused smut

💝Gift for @bhaalbaaby 💝

Summary: You finally make it to Baldur’s Gate, coin burning holes in your pockets, a need to gift your companions to celebrate how much you appreciate them. You get a gift to, a box of chocolates from your Vampire lover, and some alone time in an alley

CW: semi-public sex, aphrodisiac sex, knife play, nipple play, blood kink, blood drinking in detail, panty snatching rogue, one feral vampire who wants your blood and more

Bites series | Ao3 link |Masterlist

“Decadent:”

🍫💝🍫💝🍫💝🍫💝🍫💝🍫💝🍫💝🍫💝🍫

At last… out of the crowds of Rivington, you made it. The bottleneck of Baldur’s Gate, the Southspan’s Main Street stretches out before you all. And that gold you have been hoarding like a dragon burns a hole deep in your pack. Everything smells… good and foul. Bakeries and perfumeries and smithy shops and fish mongers…. And you can’t wait to buy something from them all.

After all your party has done for you and with you, a few tokens of appreciation wouldn’t go amiss. Karlach takes you by the arm, and you’re glad she can’t burn you to cinders by now. Because in all her hysteria, she would have certainly forgotten. Gale makes a none-too-subtle move to pull Astarion from your side, begging him to show all the booksellers. “Don’t touch me, Wizard,” he grimaces, mostly for show and humor. But there is a little irritation in his silken voice. “I have my own plans,” he comments towards Gale, but his eyes dart in your direction. That little lowering of his head so he gazes at you like the predator he is… your stomach instantly drops to your knees.

For a man who is horrific at planning, he surely knows how to calculate a breathtaking seduction… and they always begin with him giving you that look.

“Cmon soldier, let’s go find something new and sharp and deadly shiny!” Karlach tugs you towards the closest smithy, and away from where Astarion is eyeing you like you’re his next snack.

Your Cleric loops her arm through yours and giggles. “Yeah and maybe we’ll find you a little something else to wear that isn’t scaled armor and chainmail.”

“Ooooh, yeah,” Karach peers over the top of your head to cackle back at Shadowheart, “find you something Fangs won’t be able to resist.”

You manage one last look over your shoulder before they turn you into a shop, one last glance at that devouring leer from your lover. But you watch that seductive grin instantly swallowed by a scowl as Gale grabs his elbow too. You barely hear the Wizard whining something about books and spell scrolls…

You shrug. Astarion would manage. Some time where he wasn’t trying to bury his cock balls deep in your thighs for once might be good for him.

The shops flash by you, a whirlwind of coin and scents and giggles, mirth and merriment. Something you and your friends haven’t had… ever. You hold too many parcels and pouches. Of course it would be easier to stash most of it into pockets or your pack if you still wore your nice, sensible armor. But no. Karlach wouldn’t let you out the door to the clothing shop without putting on that sweet little gown you bought. So now, you walk down the street, arms laden with parcels, your thighs rubbing together without the practicality of pants, the slits up the skirt over the fronts of your thighs almost too high as you shuffle your load. Not to mention how the sun is beating on your shoulders and the tops of your breasts that hadn’t seen light since you began this journey.

You had too many things: a book for Gale, some soaps for Halsin, a bottle of Baldur’s Grape for Wyll… but you needed to return now. Karlach and Shadowheart wanted to push on, so many more stores around this corner or that one.

But you needed a rest. And someone to carry your shit.

It’s only after you make a right, you realize it’s the wrong turn. Crates line the alley, and your arms are just too sore to keep going. Resolved to rest a moment, you set your gifts down, looking at the end of the narrow way to where it hangs over the Chionthar River.

“Lost, darling?” you feel his breath on your neck even as his words barely leave his lips. Astarion hovers right over your shoulder, how he snuck up on you so quickly, you can only shake your head.

“Typical rogue,” you huff an exhausted laugh. “Just couldn’t help being a prick and being stealthy at the same time?”

“I believe you mean, typical hero, coming to save his damsel in distress, lost in the sea of the City,” he flashes you that fanged smirk that makes your stomach flutter. “How fortunate I am here, with my skills and knowledge…”

Your turn in the little space he’s given you, between that crate behind you now and his looming body before.

“My hero, come to the rescue,” you simper, very much aware of the ways his eyes are dilating as they dart over your cleavage, down your lean but unsunned arms, even to where your new dress sinches at your waist.

“Heroes are usually rewarded handsomely for their efforts, darling….”

You feel him closing in on you, his thighs butting up into your skirts, but you giggle as you reach for one long, wrapped parcel from the stack beside you. “Here, hero,” you tease. “A different sort of weapon you enjoy sheathing than the one I think is on your mind.”

His brow arches, a pleasant smile on his thick lips. He leans back just a bit, reluctant but curious about what gift you’ve set in his hands. The paper and cloth tumbles at your feet, revealing a shining new dagger, a blade nice and light as he pulls it slightly from its scabbard. “My, my,” he tries to sound smooth, trying hard to hide the lump in his throat at the thoughtfulness of your gift. “You are full of surprises, aren’t you?”

He smiles, a true grin that deepens the wrinkles by his eyes, but it only happens once he turns away a bit, thinking himself mostly out of view. His hands slip the new blade into his belt, before pulling out something from behind his back. “But this time, you’re not the only one with a surprise, I am not woefully unprepared….”

A small square box in his cold, pale palm, he opens the paper lid.

Eleven little chocolate hearts fill the lining, except for one vacant spot that stares back at you. You feel him pressing closer again, the box basically pushed against the curve of your breasts.

“You got me… chocolates?” you cock your head, picking one up and giving it a sniff.

“I’ve always wanted to have a reason to… indulge in such finery. You’ve given me more than enough reason,” he purrs. Eyes fixed as he watches you bring it closer to your mouth. “They are so… sensual and delicious, I couldn’t help but hurry to find you for a nibble.”

You squint at him, sensing there is some… game at work here. “Seems like you got peckish on your way here,” you smirk at the empty spot. “Thought you didn’t enjoy the taste of anything that wasn’t blood, my vampire.”

“For this… I made an exception,” he grins wider, and you stare into his eyes, eyes almost black as he begins to press you against the rough wood of the crate. “Taste it, my dear… it goes down so smooth, so deliciously, you’ll… burn for more.”

You lick it, feeling a foreign heat that runs right from your tongue to your belly, a sweetness to its cream that you are unfamiliar with….

“They are a specialty around these parts, darling, a little something to, well…” he catches your hand, guiding the small chocolate between your lips, “why don’t you stick it in your mouth and swallow and find out.”

Something about that tingle on your tongue already, you seem to hum with your need for more… more of the chocolate, more of him…. No.

All of him.

You smile softly, closing your eyes and opening your mouth. It’s sweet and warm and… decadent. The little treat that he places on your tongue brings you to life. And you moan with abandon, delicious little noises as you savor its taste, until you do swallow it down. Eyes still closed to the world, you feel nothing now but the way his hands have found the bare skin of your thigh. Ghosting up your flesh, his nails skate beneath the hem of your skirt, drawing it higher… higher.

His touch is warm, you notice, the only thing warmer is your own increasingly burning skin. You pant, looking into his face where he looms above you. “What’s in those… sweets?” you need to swallow midway, and somehow, being so close to him to feel his breath on your cheek only makes the burning worse.

“Aren’t they sinfully good?” his voice is deep, rumbling as his hands find purchase beneath your clothing. It takes him no effort to lift you and set your ass down on that poor, helpless crate behind you. “Lovers’ chocolates… a specialty, an indulgence from the pleasure houses on these streets. And, as I’ve never had a lover with which to share them in two-hundred years…”

You are shaking as he slots himself between your thighs, the skirt of your new dress lifted quickly around your waist. With that infamous dexterity, he slinks his fingers beneath your undergarments and inside your cunt, the chocolates already flushing your skin and soaking your folds. “Seems like the right time to indulge in the decadence?”you are slurring your words.

“Indeed.” His fingers slowly stroke you, slowly pierce deeper into your channel as his other hand pulls you right to the edge of the crate. You don’t care it’s some alleyway… that anyone could see you or hear you. Not now with the chocolate in your blood, not now with his touch crooking and thrusting into your folds.

“You’ve indulged in your own little treats, haven’t you?” he whispers right against your lips. “This dress for one, by the hells, so much easier for me to do… all manner of things now.” Just to prove his point, his free hand steals into the neckline of your bodice, pulling that breast free. Moaning, arching, you writhe as he plucks at the hardening nipple. He smirks at you, a brief little laugh on his lips before he wraps them around it and sucks.

Even his mouth is warmed, his own tasting of the chocolate raging through his body, he did have a head start after all. With how your every nerve burns and your own sex swells to be sated, you marvel at how he’s taking his own godsdamned time right now—teasing out your arousal. As if he ever needed to work hard for you to be ready for him and his cock.

Ugh… the thought of it makes you salivate. You reach for his leathers, fingers shaking and fumbling with the ties. You groan, giving up on the laces completely. Pulling the waistband down, you ease his erection free. Even that beneath your touch is hot. Swollen. Ridged with veins so risen, you can’t look away from its… beauty.

“Even more eager than usual, aren’t we darling?” he rasps against your breast. His teeth, his fangs score slightly on the pad of your nipple, making you bite your mouth shut as you scream.

“Please…” you whimper as you try to pull his hips closer by his cock. But he stands firm, fingers still sweeping inside you, mouth still teasing your flesh.

“Oh I don’t think so…” he lifts his head to place a peck on your pouting lips. “There’s so much more of you to taste first, my little treat.” He grabs into your dress once more, lifting free your other breast before he devours it with the same skill and tenacity as the other.

His tongue is wet as he swirls it, lips so skilled at sucking your flesh, by now he knows every inch of your body. But it’s the way his thumb draws over your clit, a bit harder and tougher and timed to perfection with the lap of his tongue, you burst in a searing wave of climax. Barely a warning, and you are reduced to a moaning, gushing, flailing thing. His fingers are gripped firmly inside you, hard and thrusting as you ride out the waves of your orgasm.

But it’s the little pain you barely register, his fangs cutting into the top of your breast as he now feeds, that makes you almost come again, an aftershock to the intensity of the first. You gasp for air in your burning lungs, somehow you’ve managed to hold his cock through all your throes and shocks of orgasm. And now, he bucks into your fist, growing harder and harder the more and more he feeds.

Astarion’s fingers slide out from in you with a squelch, hips rolling with increased force into your grip. “You just had to treat yourself to a dress but insist on keeping those undergarments? Tch,” he sucks his teeth as he shakes his head in mock disapproval. “You’ll know better for next time, won’t you.”

“Whatever you think best,” you grin, half-unknowing the words coming from your mouth. Your hips buck for more… that heat in your body growing more and more unbearable, despite the soothing warmth from your single climax.

Gracefully, he leans in all the closer, unsheathing that new little dagger you got him. You feel it’s cool, deadly edge press softly at the base of your neck. “Shh, shh, shh,” he smirks with lust-dark eyes. Down to his dangerous smile, he mimics how you first met. “Not a sound now…. But those undergarments of your will just have to go… have to be sacrificed for what I need to do to you….”

You shake in anticipation, eyes fixed on his sultry, arrogant, fang-toothed grin as he slinks lower. That blade leaves your neck, perfectly intact. But as he steals its point beneath your skirts, its sharpened edge cuts the thin material of your underwear. Material ripping meets your ears as he performs the same little flick of his wrist against your other hip. Standing and returning his blade, he pulls the silky band out from under you.

“Seems I’ve done you a favor.” He leers down at you, palming your undergarments, smelling them, and putting them in his pocket. “You’ve already simply ruined these already, at any rate.”

You reach for his waist, the air kissing your wet folds too much now. He could stand there and taunt for so much longer, but it’s too much to bear. You guide that thick, warm, blunted head of his cock between your thighs, wrapping your legs around him until he’s filled you.

He practically mewls your name at the force. “Gods, I should have known not to underestimate what those chocolates would do to you, darling.”

He grunts the last word as you buck against him, trying to make him start taking you. Coaxing him just a bit deeper in. He doesn’t need more encouragement than that. Not with the way your cheeks must be glowing red with how hot they feel… not with the way you feel your arousal soaking the top of the crate now, growing cold as it leaves your burning body.

Hands grip the flesh of your ass beneath your dress, holding you firmly in place as he takes control. Eyes almost black, skin un-undeadly hot where he touches you, he feels so good… better than ever… the pulsing of his thrusts consuming you and sating that fire the chocolate has put in your belly. All you can do is grab him by that sweet ruffled collar, inch your way around his neck, and hold on for dear life.

That tightly held veil of refinement begins to slip, you hear it in the snap of his hips into you and against the crate, in the feral growls he makes each time he pierces harder and harder into you….

You crane your head back, mouth panting and wide as you show him what else you want him to do… you bear your teeth at him with a playful snap.

It’s more invitation than he needs, fangs sinking into the crook of your neck, the top of your shoulder. Bite… suck… swallow. Then he lifts again, repeating the same into your pounding artery. Bite… you moan so loudly…. Suck… his lips pull so hard on your flesh you can feel it bruising… Swallow… he lifts his head to pant for air. The most self-satisfied smirk on his sharp, pale face before he yanks your neck to the other side, leaving you a match set of bites there.

Bite…

You flood with pleasure, cresting over the edge harder than you could imagine.

Suck…

Your walls suck him in too, trapping him as he begins to stilt and buck harder. Climax for him sweeping him away harder too.

Swallow…

You scream into the mass of his silver curls, trying to muffle your cries where he’s lowered to feed on the top of your breast.

But he arches back, letting out his own panting groan, coming and ramming hard into you at last. You pray the crate doesn’t give under you with a laugh. Your hands steal into his hair, caressing down his smirking cheeks.

“How… many more of those chocolates did you get…?” the question barely carries on your breathless voice.

“Not enough,” he groans, licking the last trickles of your blood as he tucks your breasts back into the neck of your dress. What was your new dress. He chuckles, deep in his chest, cock still buried inside you. Reading your thoughts. “Don’t you fret, darling. I’ll buy you another dress. One for each I ruin.”

“Oh because…” you laugh, waving your hand down your front. “This level of violence will happen to my dresses again?”

“Every time you wear one, my love,” he breathes his own laugh before he finally… at long last… catches your lips in a slow and lingering kiss. “Undoubtedly every time.”

You shake your head even as his lips continue to work yours, as his hand winds into the hair at the base of your neck.

“Karlach and Shadowheart are going to give me such grief…”

“Only because they were right… I just couldn’t keep hand or fang off you, my darling.”

[gofigureee]

2.5 Dimensional Seduction | Liliel | 1/7 Scale Figure (Lucrea / Megahouse)

[wiltkingart]

LOVED mtmtm and the way you write. are there any writers, artists, or anthologies you would recommend that exist in that same trans/horror/erotica/fantasy crossroads?

a few! not many that hit all points at once, but here's some reads you might enjoy:

Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror - exactly as it says, this is a collection of 13 stories by trans and nonbinary writers. i liked it a lot, thought it had a lot of great stories, and it made me feel really excited about the future (and present) of trans horror.

Body after Body by Briar Ripley Page - "Sex, drugs, violence, cannibalism, psychic powers, a catgirl (sort of)", body after body is a novella that describes itself as a "lurid, dreamlike, amoral queer/trans sci-fi trash literature at least four or five people have been waiting for". i can confirm everyone i know who has read it has loved it, myself included.

Eyetooth by Mars Adler - trans horror erotica novelette with medkink + wound fingering (one of my absolute favorite things!) between an art student and a mysterious androgynous doctor. LOVED the surgery scene.

The Scales of Seduction by Rien Gray - not horror. This one's an f/f trans erotic romance novella between the last living Basilisk and Medusa, but i have to mention it because its a strong contender for my book of the year. Loved loved loved the writing. Poetic prose that had me highlighting lines on every page. Just astoundingly wonderful.

Kissing Carrion by Gemma Files - a collection of short horror stories "where obsession is stronger than death... body, soul, time and space itself, are all fluid and treacherous... vampires ache for more than simply blood... where the only escape from the darkness within is to embrace it". none of these stories are trans, but it has some queer horror elements that have left a heavy mark on my brain. gemma files has been a big influence on my writing in so many ways and reading this collection last year was one of the big things that pushed me to take the leap to write something like MtMtM!

that's all for now. i have a ton of weird trans indie sex books on itch.io bookmarked i still need to check out, but people are free to leave their own recs in the replies. and i talk a lot more about books over on my personal blog (@wiltking).