#there's a joke to be made about the election

[searchingforserendipity25]

i know it's too early in the fandom for a secretly a royal au but. secretly a royal au. the reason everyone is shocked by cardinal lawrence's homily is that no one thinks cardinal lawrence is even remotely interested in the papacy.

it's not the done thing to have a royal in the papacy and hasn't been for centuries, for several excellent historical reasons; and moreover, he's made a name for himself as an administrator, a canonical expert who works in the background, cleaves to the liberal faction, remains in the shadows of more outspoken diplomats, and most importantly: does not rule.

being dean of the college of cardinals is as much of a relevant public-facing job as he's ever had, and he would really rather go without. if he had wanted power he'd have stuck it out as a duke's son and married one of his hanover cousins or some such, back when it seemed shockingly likely that he might end up sitting on the big chair himself.

instead he rather famously ran away to france to be a seminarian out of genuine spite and also a genuine spiritual calling, which would have gone over much better if he'd stuck with the anglican turn of things.

managed to get by with shocking discretion for most of his ecclesiastic career by virtue of being deeply private and going by one of his mother's dozen of names. though the fact that he's a cardinal at all and was secretary of state was quite debated when it made the news.

everyone in the conclave knows, and also everyone in the world, except perhaps for vincent benítez, who was in the middle of being more-or-less kidnapped by a cartel in veracruz when that exposé on the vatican's brand new cardinal made its way into the international papers back in '11. i

it's fine, he talked them into letting him go and also into the path of atonement; he just doesn't have the context for why dean lawrence keeps having a small internal death of the soul whenever he tells him he's voting for him. please do not vote for him.

he went and joined a religious cult where he's explicitly forbidden from inheriting anything and marrying and producing children to avoid a crown, he really does not want to be elected into any position of power. it's unethical, it's gauche, his sense of self would crumble, and also the international fallout would be 1) terrible 2) force him to speak with his family.

cardinal bellini also found out in '11. he is very supportive as a friend, and barely makes any boston tea party or redcoats jokes at all.

the fact that for the third act of the conclave an actual prince thomas seems like the best best for a liberal win inside the vatican paints a very very sad picture of the curia.

this does not work very well as a concept i recognize. but the idea of thomas lawrence trying to skive off the institutional horror of british imperialism to end up second-in-place at the vatican and narrowly avoiding the papacy is very funny to me.

man who adamantly vows not to be attracted to power tragically stuck in power-corrupts machine and keeps being shocked when colleagues and peers are revealed to be corrupt, nonetheless keeps on revealing corruption with compulsive detective work. as a form of atonement??

possibly a running thread might be the concept of service to god and the church as an imperfect means of finding meaning and erasing the self, and how giving up one one's agency/believing in one's own powerlessness/self-hatred and shame is of no practical good use to anyone or anything, and only adds to the entropy that wears on every good intention.

and most importantly. can you imagine how intolerable tedesco would be about it.

[sassysnakedemon]

Sorry - it's been a while

So, I've been missing for a while. I had to take a break from socials of all kinds (although, tbh, I really only have tumblr and Ao3). There's been a lot of stuff happening. Trump getting re-elected was just the first brick in the wall (enjoy the Pink Floyd reference, if you like). I've been going through deep clinical depression, which is not unusual for me, but a real stop sign for social activity. I can cope, but only with a very basic amount of social activity, which includes 'real' relationships only, as those make my paycheck come through, where social media relationships do not put ramen on my table.

This sounds bleak, but on the plus side, prioritizing my real world activities has netted me a side gig that pays a hundo an hour for teaching the elderly to play the ukulele. That sounds like a joke, but it really isn't! And it's uniquely fun!!

I've also had to divest all of my investments that were made in the US, and transfer the funds to my bank up here in Canada - that took several days, and I was making sure to make it happen before the Inauguration took place. Luckily, I was able to make that happen, but I have a bunch of work to do now to make sure I can make some good investments in Canada instead. I would surely love to invest so properly that I actually become wealthy, and then I can start giving back in a really big way to the various communities that I so desperately want to support. But that's kinda first world problems, so I understand if you don't care about that! (I mean, my real dream is to become like Michael Sheen and just give up everything to help the people around me, and only keep that which I really need to live - unfortunately, with inflation and everything, what I have now is barely what I need to live for the next couple of years - and again, first world problems, but I have some plans - that don't include crypto - that might actually make it possible for me to turn what little I have into something big that could actually be life changing for the world around me)

On a far more personal note, I've finally made the decision (at the ripe old age of almost 48) to finally transition to male. I wanted to, like 30 years ago, but the LGB community was really unfair to trans people back then, so I spent the last almost 30 years trying so hard to be femme, when that's not what I am. I'm going for top surgery, as soon as I can lose enough weight to make it look good (I'm not enough overweight to have a problem with surgery, but enough that I wouldn't be happy with the results), and then we're on the road. If anyone wonders, my name now is Ezra - partly a cultural thing, and partly a Good Omens fan thing (if you know, you know), and I've gotten approval from everyone - friends, mother (and that was the hardest one, friends were all like 'yeah, we knew', but mom is a bit difficult) and best of all, my husband, who said 'I'm not much of a boob man anyway' in answer to my revelation. He also said that he couldn't live without me, no matter who, or what I was. That's something special right there! The plus is that I would be a gay man after transition anyway - never been really attracted to women in the first place, just didn't want to be one. So, I'm still wildly attracted to my husband of 20 years (this year in November - on Guy Fawkes Day, no less), but now I'm coming at the attraction as the man I've always been, rather than the woman I've been cosplaying for way too long. That's something, and it's been a big thing eating at my mind and soul for a long time. It's been keeping me from being completely open with everyone, and I apologize for that. But I had to wrestle with this particular demon one last time before I could rejoin the world.

I've also had walking pneumonia for the last month and a half, which does NOT make it easy to do anything, so I've been avoiding anything which isn't strictly necessary to do. I'm starting to recover though, so I will try harder now to rejoin 'all y'all', to make an appropriate Texasism, as I lived there for enough time to pick up the local jargon.

Suffice it to say that I will try harder to be a better friend to the friends I've made here, but give me a minute - I'm still finding my feet. And I've had a bit of trouble with the GO fandom, as I am finding it hard right now to hyper-focus on it when I've got so much else going on.

Can I say that the world sucks right now? Can I say to all of my friends here, and all of the friends that I'm yet to make, that I feel you, and will protect you? I am really feeling a sort of way, and it's hard to deal with. I wish the troubles were over, and that we could all sing together in fields of green - that we could love each other, even when we don't always agree. I would give anything, including the blood in my veins, for that future.

Sorry for the ramble - meds are partly to blame, but so is my depression - and my planning for a future I cannot see. I want to be engaged, but I'm finding it difficult. I want to be present for you, but that may not always be possible. I'm trying though, and I haven't forgotten any of the friendships I've made here - I'm just trying to be a better version of me before I come back and interact with everyone again!

@missunderstoodlyrics, @naturallyteal, @isiaiowin, @ilikeblue, @inezrable, @copperplatebeech,@phoen1xr0se, @di-42

[whereserpentswalk]

A lonely planet drifts throughout the void, it is dry and small by human standards but it is filled with life. For the first time one of the nations on that planet has established democratic elections, and it is one of the larger and more powerful nations at that. The calander had to be changed as to not follow the line of queens, marking this year as zero, and the first election day as the new New Years. Because most members of the species still can't read it is decided that over the name of a candidate will be a statue of their head, and that votes will be cast by placing a small orb below their statue.

The year is marked as 55 though in earth years has been 113 years since the year zero. Statues with orbs placed below them are now a universal symbol of democracy on that small and dry planet. It's useally used to represent democracy just as the axe was used as a symbol of monarchy and the crossed bones was used as a symbol of theocracy. Occasionally the statues need to be redesigned as there are now places where the plurality of the species who have multiple heads are allowed to vote and/or run for office. For the first time a country has given the vote to males of the species, and though there hasn't been a male candidate yet, people joke about how a male head would look as an election bust. As printing is now more common a technology political cartoons are made and distributed of male heads as busts, some find it very fun, others really don't.

The year is marked as 129. War has broken out. The largest armies that small, dry, planet has ever seen fight with ever advancing weapons. Flying machines are invented for the war effort. Then great Armored vehicles. Then chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction. As the death toll climbs more and more recourses are allocated, and rationing becomes quite common. However, the brass busts are never replaced with a cheaper alternative, even when they could aid the war effort. No nation would deface its symbol of democracy for such a small advantage, even when small advantages matter.

The year is 211. Only one nation retains modern technology and infrastructure, but it's technology has now far surpassed that of the days before the war. It is the last democracy on the planet, every New Years every single headed adult female of sound mind us required to go to their city or town center to vote. Though it's handled by computers on a technical level, the physical act is unchanged, as they are required to place and orb below to bust of their chosen candidate as it was before the war. There are only two parties now, and for most their vote is determined by their boss and landlord, but still, it is far more then most have in these days, if that means anything at all.

The year is 340. One nation, one nation that survived the war without regressing, has conquered a small and dry planet, and sent its first ships to the colonies. Parades are held for the empress in jade, the creature considered responsible for this new age, or at least the heir to the conquerors who did. Every new year each citizen prostrates themselves before a brass statue of her and places an orb below it to show their loyalty to their state and empress, very few still remember what such an act once meant, other then that it is a declaration of loyalty. Occasionally someone will refuse out of protest, but they are delt with swiftly, the empress does not have mercy for traitors, and that is what the ritual of the statue and the orb means.

The year is 419. A cult practices a ritual in secret, the day after new years, members ritually give an orb to a statue of their goddess as they would to a statue of the empress. The message is clear, that even if they openly belong to the state, in truth they belong to their goddess. They worship their goddess as the only one, calling the detites of the empire mere devils, breaking statues of the fertility god and the warroir queen goddess that mark the empire's rule. The cults goddess is a goddess of the void of space, and the cult claims she damns her enemies to a eternity within a stars fire after their deaths, while a loyal few live with her forever in a cool and calm paradise. The cult only tells these myths to senior members, and only exists openly at all outside of the homeworld. The cults members forgo intoxication, meat consumption, or premarital relationships, and their males are not allowed to leave their homes without being shaporoned. After they all give orbs to a statue of the void goddess their most senior member is sacrificed, and everyone cheers.

The year is 501. The newest jade empress gives an orb to a statue of the void goddess, as every adult female in the capital city will after her to mark the new year, and their loyalty to the cult of the void. Every other city in the empire will follow her, spanning an entire star system. Even the diaspora will follow suit, those living within the realms of alien races are still egar to partake in the festival. After every citizen has given an orb to the statue of a goddess, the eldest amoung them is sacrificed. For the diaspora living in places where the sacrifice of sentient species is outlawed, the eldest gives a speech and then an animal is sacrificed, a few progressive cities follow suit but that alternative practice is hated in most of the empire. The idea of giving orbs to a statue without sacrificing their eldest member seems so very strange, it just doesn't feel right to most people, it's how it's always been done, it's what giving orbs to a statue always meant.

The year is 643. The rebellion has now taken the entire star system, with the small dry homeworld that served as a capital finally falling. For the first new years anyone can remember, no orbs are given to statues, and no eldests are to give speeches before an animal is sacrificed. While the leaders of the rebellion assure everyone that citizens are free to worship the void goddess if they want to the rebellion wants to establish a secular government, and the practice of giving orbs has always been a symbol of the joint power of church and state under the empire. The statues will be taken down, or remain without orbs, whatever the individual cities choose. As a new democratic system is established, the leaders of the rebellion wonder what the voting system will be, as unlike more spread out races, nobody of their species has experienced democracy within living memory. They have only the ancients to turn to.

[twopoppies]

Look I know we try not to talk about Twitter here because it sucks but Elon Musk made the most vile, horrifying joke on Twitter about his Nazi salute and I am honestly shocked. And I cannot believe how many people I've seen trying to explain that he's ASD like that makes any of this ok. Before he bought Twitter I thought he was just a weird, annoying billionaire but I had no real thoughts on him other than I didn't plan to buy a Tesla. Now he's influencing elections and working with Trump who I still can't believe is President. I think I'm done with Twitter. Done done. I've had Bluesky for awhile and didn't use it much but Twitter is unusable now, it's full of right wing garbage and hate and it's disgusting. I used to get my news on there everyday from AP and the BBC and places like that and now everything is being sensored. I feel like I'm losing my mind what is HAPPENING to this country?

Yeah, he is absolutely vile, and he's completely ruined anything that made Twitter remotely bearable. Bluesky is a really nice platform. I'm sure not everyone is there yet, but I'd much rather use a platform that doesn't have any connection to any of those people.

If you can, you might consider getting rid of Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Threads, Instagram, and TikTok... they're all in cahoots with Musk and Trump. I really like RedNote/XioHongShu, and that's where I go now when I want to veg out/just scroll. I've also switched to DuckDuckGo as a search engine. Fuck Google too.

[fruitybeverage]

"If only we could see into sherlock holmes genius mind!!!!"

Inside Sherlock Holmes mind:

[moldyycheese]

Y'all need to be taking tips from Sephiroth

I just realized I posted this on the wrong account

[isa-ah]

what are the idiots going turbo racist going to do if it turns out this election was fucked on the back end and all of these numbers are bullshit?

[everythingsinred]

trying to make teachers' (global) complaints abt kids theyre supposed to be teaching about "generational politics" and saying stuff like "people always complain about the young generation" is so dismissive and ridiculous. atp yall are being purposefully obtuse. these kids cant read. they cant write. they cant think critically. teachers GLOBALLY are begging parents to care, to no avail. kids dont respect their teachers, they dont respect their schoolwork, they dont respect their education, theyre severely behind across the board. to try and write that entire problem off as "complaining about the young generation" is so dismissive i have no words. obviously its the fault of the kids' parents but we are looking at an entire generation of people who are graduating high school with no skills. these people are joining society and dont know how to think. yall should be furious and instead youre trying to write it off as "hating on gen alpha". please get over yourselves

[seaofreverie]

Who else is ready to die

[no-pasaran-99]

oop. crazy how many people i have unfollowed/blocked today for the cyclical and asinine sentiment along the lines of "well leftists are you HAPPY now????"

girl we've done this 3 elections in a row. definition of insanity to still be blaming this on us especially when the numbers do not support your accusations. like we voted for the fucking war criminals and you STILL lost.

[serpentae]

it's two years since I moved to ireland today. the weather is miserable but every day I'm glad I don't live in one of the 14 countries that keep voting no to ceasefire and sanctions anymore ✌️

[moonsidesong]

i like pokemon diamond and pearl's soundtrack but im also eternally mad at it because the super music collection is sorted in the most annoying manner physically possible and it makes you actively bored of music you otherwise liked

[fandomfairyuniverse]

Watching media from pre-trump presidency and they made a joke about trump running for president. Oh how little they knew then.

[bisexualdinahlance]

Just because an author was a fanfiction writer before publishing ... Doesn't mean that their published original work was based on a fanfiction they wrote. Y'all gotta have more faith in authors than that, we aren't all trying to get r*ylo rpf professionally published

[destiel-news-channel]

when i was born there was nothing and when there was something i was already old

i started putting the whole story in the tags then tumblr fucked me by not allowing me any more tags and i cant bring myself to type all this out again but the story isnt finished so im gonna continue in a whole other post and if anyone knows how to copy tumblr tags into a post that would be really appreciated

i feel a 100 years old

[exopelagic]

sooooososososo tored