#this is a lot narrower of a category though so i'm not sure people will go quite as hard for this

[iron-shears]

Send me asks w/ concepts for characters that would live in a small sarkic village setting(or preexisting characters that fit the theme) in the replies and i might put em in this game I'm making if they fit in well. just tell me what name to credit if you do it anonymously lol.

[happy74827]

I'm not sure if requests are open but I just wanted to ask if you could write Gideon graves with a bossy/dominant reader

Also I absolutely love all of your fics they are so good!! ☺

Powerless

[Gideon Graves x Female!Reader]

Synopsis: Gideon had always made people believe he was the man in charge with his brashness. But when he goes too far, you decide to put him in his place.

WC: 2255

Category: Spice/Lime

Hopefully by bossy/dominant reader you meant Gideon being a begging mess… because that’s what I wrote lmfaooo

『••✎••』

Gideon Graves sat across from you in the upscale restaurant, the clinking of cutlery and the soft murmur of conversation forming a soothing soundtrack to the night. He looked handsome in his tuxedo, the sharp lines and high-quality material only highlighting his strong shoulders and narrow waist and his long, lithe body that had so often pressed against yours. He watched you across the table, his dark eyes following your movements as you lifted your glass and took a small sip.

"The food is delicious," you said. "But then, I should've expected that. You always have to show off."

Gideon's lips quirked, his gaze lingering on your mouth.

"What?" you said.

"I'm enjoying myself," he murmured, reaching across the table for his own glass of wine. "We haven't done this in a while. I'd forgotten how much fun it is."

"That's because you're the most insufferable person I've ever met."

"Is that why you keep me around?"

Truth be told, there were a lot of reasons. He was attractive and charismatic, with a sharp mind and a quick wit, not to mention a tongue that was just as wicked as it was talented. But that was all surface, and what really kept you around were the things he kept hidden. The way he would smile and his eyes would soften, the way he'd sometimes rest his chin on your shoulder, his arms wrapped around you as you watched a movie, the way he would kiss you like he needed your breath to live.

"Something like that," you said.

You leaned across the table, and his eyes glittered, anticipating a kiss. But you stopped just short of his mouth.

This was Gideon’s reason for “keeping” you. The thrill of the chase, the game of dominance. You were both the hunter and the hunted, the cat and the mouse. Though, on paper, he was the one with all the power, all the money, and influence, but you knew who was really in control. And you made sure to remind him of it whenever the opportunity arose.

He watched you, his expression unreadable, his face impassive. You waited, not moving a muscle, watching him watch you. It was a battle of wills, a game of chicken. He broke first, leaning forward to close the gap between you, but you leaned back just enough so his mouth missed yours, catching your bottom lip between his teeth instead. You held his gaze, watching the dark fire in his eyes, the hunger in his face. You waited a few moments until his expression grew impatient, and then you pulled away, leaving him grasping at air.

He smiled, the edges of his expression turning dangerous.

"Dessert?" he said.

You grinned. “Yes, actually.”

Gideon chuckled, that pissed-off smile still in place. He snapped his fingers, and a waiter hurried over. You hated it when he did that, but you had to admit, it was effective.

"Hey, man," he said, looking down his nose at the waiter. "Say…what do you have for dessert here? You got anything chocolate?"

"Chocolate mousse, sir," the waiter said.

"Cool, yeah, I'll take one of those. What about you, Honey?” He knew how much you hated it when he called you by pet names. That’s why he did it. “I know you love your chocolate. Oh, but not too much, now. We have to watch our figures."

You were absolutely livid. You glared at him from across the table, but his smirk didn’t waver. He could read your emotions like an open book.

"I'm going to the bathroom," you said.

"I'll call if our food arrives," he said, giving you a wink. As you got up, secretly fuming, you saw the waiter glance over at him, a nervous look on his face. Gideon caught the look but simply told the waiter to add another chocolate mousse to his order.

At least he knew what you liked.

The bathroom was a welcome escape from the tension. You splashed water on your face, breathing deep. When you had calmed down enough, you exited the bathroom, only to find Gideon waiting for you by the door.

"I ordered some champagne for you," he said, and though his tone was innocent, his expression was not. “I thought it would help wash the chocolate down."

You exploded. All that was on your mind was the memory of the bathroom being completely empty. With the assurance that no one else was around, you grabbed his lapels and shoved him into the bathroom. He barely had time to gasp in surprise before you shoved him against the wall, pinning him there.

All the sarcasm and snark left him, replaced by a wide-eyed stare and flushed cheeks. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his breath coming in short pants.

"Are you out of your mind?" He managed to say, but his voice shook. You had him right where you wanted him.

"What, Gideon? Did I ruin your little game?" You pressed yourself closer, the heat of his body radiating through his clothes. His skin was so warm. You felt the outline of his body through the fabric, the hard line of his waist, his chest. You slid your hands along the edge of his coat, feeling his ribs, his heart.

"No," he said. His eyes were wide, and you could feel him trembling. He was always like this, at the mercy of his own desires, his own wanton lust. It was so easy to play him, to manipulate him. You didn't even need to use your powers; it was his own weakness. He was putty in your hands. "Not yet."

You moved your hand down, over his stomach, and lower, between his legs. He moaned, his head falling back against the wall. His skin was so hot, you could feel it through the fabric. He was hard, and his hips twitched, seeking more contact.

"Don't stop," he said, his voice strained.

"Why shouldn't I?"

He didn't answer. He was just a panting, desperate mess, a slave to his own urges.

You pulled away, and his face fell, the flush draining from his cheeks. This was his punishment, and you loved every second of it.

"I think we should go back," you said. "Before our dessert gets cold."

"I'll buy the whole restaurant," he said.

You raised your eyebrows, and his expression darkened.

"Anything," he said. "Anything, I'll buy it. You want the fucking moon? It's yours."

You laughed. "That's not how it works, Gideon."

"Please," he begged. "Let me..."

You leaned in close. His breath was hot against your cheek, his heartbeat racing. Gideon was the picture of desperation, and you were the only one who could bring him this far, the only one who could make him lose control. You kissed him, and he groaned, his hips bucking into your hand. He was so eager, so pliant. He was at your mercy.

"I want my mousse," you whispered. “And I want all the teasing to stop. I've been a good girl, haven't I?"

He whimpered. "Yes."

"So, I think you owe me a reward, don't you?"

"Yes, yes," he said, nodding quickly.

"Good.”

He shuddered, closing his eyes. You could see his chest rising and falling as he took a few deep breaths, calming himself. He swallowed and opened his eyes again; the fire returned to his gaze. He gave you a smile, a real one, the kind of smile that made your stomach flutter.

“Home, then? I imagine.” He ran his fingers through his hair, smoothing the disheveled strands. He took a step towards you, and you moved away. His smile widened.

"Nope. You’re not getting anything tonight. You'll have to prove to me that you can behave, or I'll leave you in the cold."

His expression fell.

"And, no, that's not a euphemism," you added.

"That's not fair."

"Well, life isn't fair, is it?"

"I'll take a cab home," he said, a slight growl to his voice.

"You won't. Because I know that the second I leave, you're going to get yourself off."

"You can't tell me what to do," he said, and a small smirk spread across his face. He was trying to get a rise out of you.

"You're right. I can't. But I know that if you don't listen to me, you'll never get what you want. And if you want me, then you better be a good boy."

He bit his lip, his eyes flicking over your body.

"Okay," he said, finally. "I'll be a good boy. Promise."

"Good. Now let's go have our mousse."

Gideon groaned, his expression pained.

You giggled. "I mean, unless you'd rather just go home..."

"No," he said quickly. "No, no. Mousse is good. Great."

You smirked. "That's what I thought."

The two of you headed back out, and Gideon took his seat, looking more composed than before, though he was still flushed.

"You okay, there?" You said innocently.

"Mhmm."

"I mean, if you'd like, I can ask the waiter for some water or-"

"I'm fine," he snapped.

"Good. I'd hate to see you suffer."

He looked at you, and his expression was pained. But you ignored it. The mousse was placed in front of you, and you dug in. It was rich and smooth and absolutely delicious.

“Thanks, honey," you said, flashing a smile at Gideon. You might’ve slammed him into the wall and practically choked him with lust, but the mousse was delicious, and you had to thank him for that. You’ve always been good with manners.

Gideon smiled back, though it was clearly forced.

"You're welcome," he said.

The rest of the night was pleasant despite his suffering. He kept quiet, his eyes lingering on you, watching your every move. You finished your mousse and asked for the bill, and Gideon paid for the entire meal. You felt slightly bad since the check was more than the down payment for your apartment, but Gideon assured you that it was fine and that money was no object.

He escorted you out, and the valet brought the car around. He opened the door for you, and you slipped inside. You watched him walk around to the other side and climb in. He was so graceful, like a dancer or a model.

"Where to?" He said.

"Yours," you said simply, with a soft smile.

He paused, his eyes widening with surprise. And then, his expression softened, his features becoming relaxed. His smile was warm, and he nodded.

"Of course."

Gideon might’ve kept his cool in front of the valet and the staff at the restaurant, but the second the two of you stepped inside his apartment, his composure began to crumble just as you knew it would. His eyes were glazed over with desire, his breathing was shallow, and his cheeks flushed.

This was the Gideon you wanted. This was the Gideon you craved.

He followed you inside, and as soon as the door closed and you allowed him to, he pushed you up against the wall. You let him kiss you, his mouth warm and soft, his tongue darting out to tease yours. He was eager, his hands gripping your hips. He was still holding back, trying not to let himself go, but you knew he couldn't resist.

"Touch me," you demanded, and he groaned, his lips sliding down to your neck. He kissed your throat, his teeth scraping lightly over your skin. He was gentle, but you could tell he wanted more. You tilted your head back, giving him access to the smooth expanse of your neck, and he obliged, his tongue and teeth working together to tease and torture.

You sighed, letting him pleasure you. He was so talented, so skilled. It was hard to believe that the man who could give you such blissful, agonizing ecstasy was the same man who could make your blood boil and your skin crawl.

"Fuck," you breathed as he nipped at your collarbone. He knew all the places to touch, to tease. He could play your body like a finely tuned instrument, drawing out every last note.

He lifted his head, his eyes dark and hooded. His lips were swollen, his breath coming in hot pants.

"I want you," he whispered.

"I know."

"Let me have you."

"Not yet."

"Please.” He was begging again. You loved it.

"Soon."

"Now."

"Be patient, Gideon."

He whimpered. You could feel his hands trembling, his hips twitching against yours. He was straining against his clothes, aching for release.

And unfortunately for him, the night was only just beginning, and you happened to love it when he was begging and pleading for release.

So, with a coy smile, you pulled away and started towards his bedroom. He was frozen in place, his expression dazed and his cheeks flushed. His gaze followed you as you moved, watching as you undressed.

You removed your blouse, letting the silky fabric slip off your shoulders and down your arms. You tossed it aside and unclasped your bra, letting it join the pile of discarded clothing. Your skirt followed suit, pooling at your feet. Gideon swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing.

You stepped out of your clothes and turned around, heading towards the bedroom, leaving him behind. He didn't follow. You heard a low moan and the soft shuffle of clothes. You couldn't help but smirk.

The bed was soft and warm. You stretched out on the covers, running your fingers through your hair.

And with one simple word, you made him forget everything.

"Come.”

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (December 3-9, 2023)

I made a frame from this shot Wikizilla's Image of the Week. No regrets. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, I love ya. When I was a teenager, explicit queerness was anathema to most big-name franchises. Those dominoes have been slowly falling, often in lower-profile tie-ins first, and to me this is a huge one: 69 years without a queer live-action Godzilla character are over. And Cate's the main protagonist of the show! I'm not under the delusion that media representation will cure all society's ills, but it sure doesn't hurt. Now, the non-Tumblr parts of the fandom are being completely normal about this, right? Right? Whatever, that's why you'll never get rid of me here. Cate had a couple more sweet moments with May in this episode, and Mariko Tamaki wrote episode 7, so don't expect her to stop kissing girls. Hopefully she's learned a valuable lesson about cheating though.

"The Way Out" is also another gift to those of us who have always wanted to see more of the ramifications of a world where Godzilla exists, from underground towns for the super-rich to ruined cities where federal troops shoot looters and harass people experiencing homelessness. And the show continues to find ways to use kaiju to talk about COVID, from Cate and Kentaro's exchange about San Francisco truthers ("It's easier than waking up every day and thinking, at any moment, the same could happen to you") to the blink-of-an-eye speed at which the threat went from on the news to her front door in the flashbacks.

As I foretold, we got a Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire trailer, an amusing contrast to the weighty Toho flick and Apple show already fore of mind. It's Adam Wingard unbound, that's for sure. The human cast seems pared back, a longstanding Monsterverse problem, and the kaiju fights were far and away the best part of Godzilla vs. Kong, so hopefully this approach will play to his strengths. But that movie also had excellent VFX, and some of the shots in here are rough. There's time to fix them, at least... which probably can't be said of Godzilla's design. I like that he's pink (did some Warner Bros. executive take the wrong message away from Barbie?) and sporting a thagomizer on his tail, but his proportions are uncanny. And I see Kong found the Infinity Gauntlet; good for him.

I am, of course, not done talking about Godzilla Minus One. It added over 200 screens and made $8.3 million in its second weekend in the U.S., a minuscule drop considering that its $11.4 million opening "weekend" spanned five days. Almost a third of all tickets sold this weekend were for Godzilla or Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron, remarkable in a market so allergic to foreign imports. That brings its total to $25.3 million (more by the time you read this). With an avalanche of Christmas blockbusters on the way, its grip on premium-format screens is about to slip. Still, I see it hanging around theaters for a while. I have never seen the fandom so united in praise for a film before, and it's making plenty of new fans.

Some of those fans are in high places. Variety leaked that it's on the 20-film shortlist for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars (to be narrowed to five nominees), something I, again, never expected to read about a Toho Godzilla film. Alas, it's locked out of this year's Best International Film category due to the quirky nomination period.

Much has been made of how great the film looks on a $15 million budget. I have two caveats, one in each direction. No one is quite sure where the $15 million figure came from; Yamazaki said at a recent con appearance that he only wished he had that much to play with. (He has yet to divulge the actual budget, just that it was above ¥1 billion.) Now, unions in the Japanese film industry are much weaker than in Hollywood, so a given production budget goes a lot further in Japan. All the same, I doubt that alone explains Minus One looking better than most superhero movies made for twenty times the cost. I'll offer a couple more reasons: Yamazaki has extensive visual effects experience (he's been the VFX supervisor of all but one of the live-action films he's directed), and the film's big effects scenes aren't as busy or lengthy as many of the Hollywood counterparts. I don't know if Disney will ask Yamazaki to direct the next Star Wars movie (that would require there to be a next Star Wars movie), but the studios here should be taking notes.

the sphinx, a blog with a ton of American Godzilla rarities to share, has outdone itself—behold a continuity and dialogue script for the U.S. version of King Kong vs. Godzilla! Included in the download is a detailed comparison with the film. No huge differences, apart from the script giving the secretary added to the U.S. version a name, but a fascinating piece of history all the same.

The Minus One incarnation of Godzilla (MaiGoji?) has joined Godzilla Battle Line, accompanied by [SPOILER]. To be honest, my enthusiasm for this game has been flagging, and I'm not caught up on the strategies developing around these two, so I'll just refer you to Sir Melee's channel as usual. This Godzilla's also doing a collaboration with the Japanese mobile game Fleet of Blue Flame.

Tiffany Grant, Asuka's original voice actress, will narrate the audiobooks for the Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA light novels which explore an Instrumentality-free path for the show. Seven Seas Entertainment published them in English from 2019 to 2021, which, to be honest, was also news to me.

This one's for my fellow library workers: the obscenely popular Who HQ nonfiction series for children is publishing a book about Godzilla next June. I don't know if this will have quite the same impact on today's young Godzilla fans as the Ian Thorne tome had on Gen Xers and Millennials, what with the Internet and all, but it's certain to be more factual. Expect illustrations instead of licensed photos, and not just because of Toho.

I can finally talk more about the Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers mobile game without fearing a DMCA. Not that there's much to talk about; it's freemium through and through and I'm not sure I know a single person who's excited for it. Interesting to see some critters from the comics break into another medium, at least. Here's the trailer.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Worldbuilding: !@#$ the terfs, be more creative with gender and bio sex than a binary system.

9.5 times out of ten the majority of gender systems I read in US books are really, really uncreative, and I do mean that because manga, has more creative gender systems than a lot of US books. I love you Melanie Rawn, but still, the inversion as good as it was in the uncompleted Ruins of Ambrai, still was largely a European system because it was largely a commentary on the European system. (Yes, I did understand that.)

And the US tends to, very much accuse other countries of having uncreative gender systems that are absolutely rigid, say the US to Japan. (Though the usually [white] understanding of Japanese gender is usually abysmal... but that's a whole paper and a half there.)

When building a gender system, be more creative! You have this other fake culture. You can do whatever the heck you feel like. Say, the Barbie Movie, which hilariously the alt-right USian detested, though it still was a commentary on mostly US gender norms.

Can't we loosen this up a little? You have literal aliens and you can't imagine a more creative sex and gender system than the binary? Oh really? Humans aren't even binary on either. I'm going to give cultural examples.

Introduction

Bugis have 5 genders.

BTW, someone got so mad when I pointed out the page they cited said that Bugis recognized 5 genders, they went on a youtube rant about it. lol Deal. BTW, people put a lot of emphasis on Bissu like how people hyperfocus on trans women in the US because masculinity is that fragile. Albanian is complicated.

Some countries/ethnicities have 3.

India has a 3 gender system in Northern India. Women, men, Hijra

I mean this list:

Some countries don’t even define the two gender system the same way (Europeans are sooo uptight. Loosen up.)

For example, a Korean man wearing pink--no problem. No one flips the hell out when a man in Korea wears a hanbok with a chima and a jeogori. They are like cool. He can do as he likes. Even baksu wear chima in religious ceremonies. They believe it gives them extra powers.

The whole pants. are. for. men. and. women. only. wear. skirts.

Oh c'mon...

Pants were invented for horseback riding--like the heel.

So let's get this mind-numbingly straight (pun somewhat intended here) Men, are men because of horses. (haha, yes, Barbie reference), thus have to wear pants. But are absolutely effing forbidden from wearing heels, which are also associated with what? Horseback riding. Hmmm...

And men still wear dresses and skirts, but they call it by other names.

Judicial robes for sale, and look, a man is wearing them.

But--But that's soo different from a dress...

https://www.net-a-porter.com/en-jp/shop/product/la-doublej/clothing/maxi-dresses/muumuu-printed-silk-twill-maxi-dress/38063312420399795

This is a dress because as Webster's Dictionary says:

: an outer garment (as for a woman or girl) usually consisting of a one-piece bodice and skirt

Yes, it's worn by a woman. I couldn't find another definition.

But men also wear sarongs. And bath towels, and kilts all of which look suspiciously like skirts. And togas. Which shows how fragile the definition is that you need to narrow the definition that much.

And freaking for those religious, God on the Sistine Chapel, by suspected maybe gay Michelangelo, has a vaccuum sealed butt on the Sistine chapel wearing a pink dress.

C'mon, we can be more creative than this, surely. I mean, if you look at this super rigid gender system, does it make any sense at all? OK, I'm NB and all, but seriously, I look at it and go, WTF happened to you?

You get so uptight about men wearing lace, stocking, high heels, dresses, pink but forget so quickly that less than 200 years ago, no one gave a damn, and if a man didn't wear those things, he couldn't make it in high society.

I mean...

Lafayette, wearing pink, heels, stockings, lace (his collar), and a wig. Give me a break here.

And gender definitions change over time...

Just about 100 years back, in order to be out and gay, it was thought your entire gender was different. There was nothing like a butch gay man. You were considered part female, in fact. And no one in the 19th century would have taken exception to that. It didn't change until much later in Europe.

But also Europe imperialized the world with gender expectations, leading to a rise of violence against third gender communities.

What was one of the first three rules of culture I posted? Culture changes. Koreans like to say, even in ten years the Mountains and rivers change. So gender can and will also change in definitions becoming more rigid, more fluid, recategorized, etc over time.

So given all of these things... let's rethink gender.

Gender doesn't have to be Defined by Sex Assigned at Birth

A lot of Human cultures assign gender this way. Born one way, raise them that way, hope it works out.

But you have a whole FANTASY WORLD and you can see, humans don't make a lot of logical sense when it comes to gender. I mean heels are for women, and men should never wear them, except when they are attached to boots, but the boots better not be too high , or you're *gasp* gay is the European "logic" system. And only what? 50 or so years ago, women were finally allowed to wear pants.

So you don't have to do it by genitals. You could do it by hair color. Gender affirming care would be changing your hair color, or horns, or whatever tickles your fancy. You could, say have a cephlapod species with smaller males that can present female part of the time, and based on their texture of their skin, that's their gender.

You could do it by color--the species has actually blue, dark blue, green, yellow, etc skin colors and they can change them at any moment and the one they tend towards, well, that's their gender.

You could also make it so you automatically need a polycule for the species to work out and reproduce. And thus there might be, say a 6 gender system. 2 possible genders for the three adults there.

C'mon. Nature is creative and sometimes has an all female species. Look at Mourning geckos. There are so few males, and they are sometimes called a lesbian species of gecko.

Even then, you have intersex, and not all intersex people are infertile.

Terfs only think it's wrong to "go against nature" when it has to do with gender presentation. Nothing else. But they have no, no problem with assigning a sex to an intersex child without their consent. That's culture taking over for nature. And how that is shaped, or not shaped, absolutely belongs in world building.

If your men aren't horseback riding, and your women aren't either, then dresses for all are fine. Deal with it.

I think it would be entertaining to see an alien species determine the gender of the child by holding up paint swatches to the child's say eyes and then saying, "Yep, a girl."

Or even well, the birther stayed in # temp rooms, for # amount of days, Oh, this is the expected sex of the child. But the gender, well, we will determine that by these [arbitrary] factors.

But seriously, you can define gender and sex however, you want. Is medical/magic intervention necessary or not? Who gets to determine it?

Next step is to find the rules for how gender is expressed in an idealized world.

Do you constantly call all of your girls and tell them they can grow up to be a princess? But tell all your boys they are going to grow up to be doctors and lawyers?

This is what Social Scientists would call socialization.

For this, I would suggest you make a spreadsheet and then put down arbitrary lists of things the "ideal" gender would wear. So for the US, Pink is for girls. Blue is for boys. How they should act. And finally, how they are taught.

It's so ubiquitous that even feminists often trip up and see a baby in a pink dress with lace and automatically pick up a doll. (I'm just saying, maybe think that one over a bit.)

Make a list for each column. And then for the individual characters figure out how they DON'T fit those norms and then terrorize them with it...

What do you threaten the privileged group with if they come out of line?

For men in the US, for example, you go with homophobia. "That's gay."

Because the threat of being gay is sooo outlandish. *eyeroll* It's an threat to everything masculine.

I'll go over this in more detail later in the series, but you need things to discipline the privileged group and the disadvantage group(s). What's the threat if you become this other group? Death? Social ridicule? Financial loss? Being outcast?

Or, do you get rewarded and become a shaman, a healer, or a celebrated hero for being able to not fit in? (This also is possible).

Cultural justifications

Cultural justifications for this are different from the actual historical reasons or the facts.

The historical reason that pink and blue switched was because dyes became more readily available for both and they felt like it.

Blue used to be more rare, and thus considered "virginal" because blue is rare in nature, but under industrialization as people became more and more disconnected from nature, and blue dyes became available, the idea of this became more diluted, and the switch was from blue to pink.

That's not what the cultural justifications were for this thought originally. The thought was that blue was a more "delicate" color, clearly more suited to women.

Because, if you have forgotten (yes a joke coming), humans constantly get amnesia on where things come from. Constantly. We've lost information in your own lifetime. You were born 2 seconds ago? Well, I hate to tell you, we've lost information in that 2 seconds.

So, when they can't remember the reason, Humans make up a reason to go with it, that's often frivolous and silly. Something that feels, what? Natural to them. Though remember the rule, Nature gives no fucks. So find and make up a logical reason for the cultural item and then find a stupid reason that people are willing to double down on it and there you go, that's culture. So say your species of aliens, the ones that are temperature linked to sex, link Iunno, gender to horn size. Bigger horns mean a certain class of gender. The original reason might be that bigger horned females are better at digging nests back when they were a pastoral society, thus better able to have larger clutches of children. But they've now reached the stars, so they completely forgot why and now just say that bigger horns are simply sexier because reasons. Or it could have flipped that smaller horns are in more demand, because big horns get in the way of industrial tasks, but no one says that. And now the bigger horned females, are considered a lower gender than the smaller horned females, who then raise all of the eggs.

See, the justification doesn't even have to follow any sort of logic. It's what they tell everyone to make them feel better.

And truthfully, a lot of culture is built this way. The reason you tell everyone isn't really the actual truth. I mean I did a whole series on Story Structure, and the justifications versus the reasons why it was made that way don't even close to match. People blindly parrot what other people tell them if it will help them succeed. (BTW, not saying I'm not guilty of this, I absolutely am.)

So I think this gives you a good basis to free yourself up for a larger system and be more creative with your gender definitions. Because absolutely both gender and sex are defined by culture, but in different ways.

You have effing demons, and you can come up with a more creative gender categories? You have unicorns and you don't have more creative gender categories. And you have kracken climbing buildings, but you can't imagine a third sex category for them when it absolutely exists in nature. C'mon. Hit me with your most creative and free yourself of your own culture's definitions of gender.

What if you nuked the entire Male/female/NB system. What would that look like? How would you justify it on two fronts? Blow that system out of the water and rework it. What would the Sexual orientation work like with a 3 sexes, 2 gender for each each system?

What stupid prohibitions would you put in for such a system?

[olderthannetfic]

A hanfu isn't just a robe, though. It's a specific type of traditional outfit that has even more specific variations, and while you could describe it more specifically (e.g. she put on her red ruqun, with a pleated horse-face skirt), it isn't always relevant. I've never seen anyone bring this up for, say, kimonos, and I don't think the GOT comparison is fair, either. It'd be more like "he puts on his armour". What type of armour—lamellar, chainmail, heavy, leather? It doesn't always matter. 1/2

--

2/2. Putting down a category of traditional clothing as "meta terminology" also rather irritates me. Again, looking at kimonos. Perhaps it's unfamiliar because CN fashion isn't as widespread as JP, but it's literally just what the broad category of clothing is called, and within the context of danmei fandoms, it shouldn't be unfamiliar knowledge. Trying to Americanize everything by simply calling everything a 'robe' loses the point entirely and is the equivalent of really terrible translation. Sorry, one more thing. When I picture a "robe", I think of wizards. DND. Bathrobes. None of which bear any similarity to a hanfu, and unless you want to describe "a parted robe made of flowing Yun brocade with loose sleeves that wraps around the body, with a wide collar that has its right lapel crossed over its left, tied at the waist with a belt, with a jade pendant weighing down the long skirt" every single time it's brought up, I'm pretty sure "hanfu" is a more accurate descriptor by far.

Uh... anon...

1.

'Robe' is an extremely vague term that absolutely is used for all sorts of garments from all over the world.

The fact that you associate it with a tiny fraction of its conventional meanings isn't going to change how other people use it.

2.

I am indeed more familiar with kimono than hanfu, but I thought the other people did make explicit what their issue is, and it exists for Japan too.

Depending on when your canon is set (or its vague, handwave-y apparent time period for more fantasy canons), the word may not have been in use yet.

'Kimono' as a word is possibly as recent as the 19th Century, though I see one etymological dictionary saying 1630s. Prior to the 19thC, a lot of things we would now call 'kimono' were known as 'kosode'. The further back you go, the more other terms there are and the more the distinctions matter.

I'm personally a fan of fiction set in the Heian period, and they would absolutely not have been calling anything a "kimono" then, nor do the robes look like modern kimono.

Furthermore, a generic-ass word like 'wear on upper body'+'thing' doesn't get its modern interpretation until it has significant competition from Western clothing. Today, it has a relatively narrow range of interpretations based on the calcified form of traditional Japanese clothing that still hangs on.

It's an absurd affectation to insist on calling all ancient Japanese clothing 'kimono'.

That wouldn't be de-Americanizing your writing.

That would be "According to keikaku".

--

From what I've seen in other people's meta posts about Chinese fandoms, the reason people object to 'hanfu' in fic is that this word has gained a lot of popularity in very recent history as part of the hanfu revival movement.

While it existed before that, it wasn't used so consistently, and it mainly turned up in contexts talking about Chinese as opposed to foreign clothing. It doesn't seem to have been a general term used like "So-and-so put on his completely normal outfit to get ready for the day".

People are using it (outside of fic) to talk about a specific range of historically accurate Chinese clothing. It doesn't cover everything, and in the modern and highly gatekept usage, it specifically doesn't cover historically-inspired fantasy costumes like those on The Untamed.

If you're Chinese and you feel it should cover those, fair enough, but that isn't what a lot of the hanfu education blogs have been saying.

People aren't pulling this out of their asses out of a desire to be American. They're getting it from hanfu blogs asking them not to use the word like that.

If you think those blogs are wrong, please say that.

[animehouse-moe]

The Best of 2023 Anime

First of all, I have to say that this isn't my idea: it's @444lpblue's idea. I'm just stealing it getting to it it before they do.

Anyways, the idea was to pick the best for several categories in relation to anime from 2023, and share why they were chosen. This doesn't necessarily mean I'll be picking my favorites from the year, but what I think is the best of the best, so there'll be a few interesting choices made (but I think that makes it more fun). Enough preamble though, I should just get to sharing my list.

Best Show - Heavenly Delusion

I don't think this one is much of a surprise. Heavenly Delusion, by and large, is an outstanding show (and adaptation) in all meanings of the word.

I think the best way to explain what constitutes a "best show" is by asking the question: how much of the medium does this series make use of?

With Heavenly Delusion? The answer is effectively everything. Visual storytelling, auditory cues, leading the viewer visually, incredible foreshadowing, expressive and detailed character acting, apt humor, incredible visual effects. The list goes on and on. Frieren was a great show, Skip and Loaf was a great show, The Witch From Mercury was a great show. But the best can't fall short in nearly any category, and Heavenly Delusion successfully evades that pitfall at every twist and turn within its twelve episodes.

Personally speaking, it was a show for the ages. Sure, we have Frieren pushing the boundaries in terms of visual quality in a seasonal anime, but I think the difference in terms of experience between Frieren and Heavenly Delusion is night and day- an entirely incomparable experience.

Best Movie - The Boy and The Heron

I mean, is there really another choice? The Black Clover movie was good, the Kaguya movie was good. Suzume, The First Slam Dunk, Blue Giant. There are quite a few good movies out there, but let's be real- you just can't win if you're against Miyazaki.

Best Episode - Heavenly Delusion Episode 10

Yeah yeah, sue me, I picked something a lot of people have also picked. But just know in the deepest parts of my heart that this would always be my pick. Junichi's character arc and its expression through this episode is sublime. Ikarashi's insane Trigger style meshing with Hirotaka's more voyeuristic appeal is sublime. The panic of Kiruko as she runs with the baby, the goofy and excessive humor that opens the episode, all the various examples of symbolism. The art shifting art styles, the different approaches to animation. The list quite honestly does not end. While some might argue for Frieren's dragon episode as the entry for best of the year, I think the frame of reference for that argument is far too narrow. The perspective of animation and visuals above all else completely fails in the face of holy trinity of Masakazu Ishiguro, Mori Hirotaka, and Kai Ikarashi. You just cannot beat it, and you can't argue it in any way.

Best Opening - Magical Destroyers

It was a toss up between this and Heavenly Delusion, but I just can't get rid of this opening in my head. It's like a plague that's taken me over. Incredible visuals, incredible boards and animation work, and just an incredible testament to Jun Inagawa's art. Heavenly Delusion's OP is very good, but in a way can, oddly enough, feel too literal in comparison to the comparatively indecipherable story that the OP of Magical Destroyers tells. Really, just wonderful work all around that I desperately wish could have extended to the anime itself.

Best Ending - Magical Destroyers

This was always a one person race. Would it be Taiki Konno's Magical Destroyers ending, or would it be Taiki Konno's Undead Unluck ending?

Personally, I don't think there was much of a contest between the two purely because of the story told with the Magical Destroyers ending. I think that giving Konno a static ending also helped a great deal as they were able to explore their vision in much greater detail than having to animate directly.

But that's also the beauty of Inagawa's appeal, really. Konno and Inagawa got along like a house on fire with this ending, and adding The 13th Tailor's music overtop just brought it to a totally different level. Still a massive massive favorite of mine.

Best Animation Designs - Trigun Stampede

Now, just hear me out. 3D animation's sore spot has always been expressiveness, and bringing anime original designs to such an intensely beloved and cult classic series is an insane challenge.

Orange, of course, was totally up to the challenge and brought what I'd argue has become a modern icon of Vash the Stampede. The facial expressions, reactions, and interactions were impeccable. The larger movements were incredibly fluid and full of life and feeling. The cloth and other materials were amazing to experience.

The designs feel almost effortless in the context of 3D animation, and I really have to stress that that is a huge challenge. Look at how other characters look in 3D vs how these ones look. Really, really impressive work in my books.

Best Aesthetic - Bleach Thousand Year Blood War: The Separation

Bleach has, and always will be, a very aesthetically pleasing series. There's plenty of moments to pull from, but I think the second cour of TYBW presents the pinnacle of Bleach in anime form.

The lighting, the backgrounds and environments, the insane levels of composition: TYBW The Separation is the highest reaches of style Bleach has mustered to this date.

And really, there's not anything else to it. The iconic red and blue palette, the crazy details in highlights and shadows, the incredible color schemes and storyboards. It's simply Number 1.

And that's as far as the list goes. Pretty simple, but a pretty fun exercise in looking back on the year in terms of more specific aspects. Does highlight the gulf between good and great though, as there's many series that can qualify as "good", but very very few that can really be reasonably considered for accolades such as these.

2024 seems keen on changing that up though, so I'm really looking forward to what all we get for this year!

[rosieethor]

Hi there! I had a quick question for you. You used to have a free post on Patreon that had a bunch of tips for researching agents to query, and I've had it bookmarked for a while, but I can't access it anymore because your Patreon stuff is all down currently. I was wondering if you happen to have that article up anywhere else? I'm about to search for agents for querying round 2: electric boogaloo and I was hoping to refresh myself before diving in. If you don't have it up anywhere, no worries, and thanks for writing it in the first place!

Hello! Happy to repost it here! I took down my Patreon, as it was causing me too much stress to create enough quality content to feel as though I could justify charging folks. Anyway, without further ado, my general overview of how to research and evaluate literary agents when you're in the query trenches: ~~

Lately I’ve been working with some of my mentees to build their query lists. It’s an exhausting process with a lot of research and guess work. In light of some recent discussions and advice floating around to “research” agents, I thought I’d throw together a sort of haphazard guide on how I do that and what I look for. “Research” is pretty nebulous advice and it’s just… not very helpful without any kind of caveat that no matter how much research you do, you’ll never be 100% sure about an agent until they reveal themselves to be a schmagent (shady agent). It’s sort of… Schrodinger’s schmagent, if you will.

This isn’t going to be an exhaustive how-to, but it’s a starting point. I hope it helps you as you figure out who you want to query and who you’re willing to trust with your career.

Depending on what type of book you’re writing, there are many tools the industry has to offer that you can use to figure out if agents are legit, what they are interested in signing, and what books they’ve sold.

MSWL 

Manuscript Wish List is an incredible resource. Agents can upload their wishlists to a profile on the website so you can see up to date information about not only what age categories and genres they’re accepting, but what other sorts of things they’re most interested in seeing like themes and writing styles and ship dynamics etc. This is a great place to start with building your query list and can help you narrow down who would be the best fit for you.

But… it doesn���t filter out schmagents. You don’t have to pass any sort of test in order to make a profile on MSWL except… be… an agent. Of any caliber. There are lots of agents on MSWL that I would never suggest someone query. On the flip side, there are lots of agents who are not on MSWL who I would suggest someone query.

Querytracker 

This is another great tool the industry has to offer. I didn’t use it for myself, but have used it to help others with building their query lists. The gist of it is that you can log all your queries and see when other people submitted and got their responses to see where you are in the queue. You can also see examples of form rejections from certain agents to see if yours was a form of personalized, and there’s a list of pretty much all the agents in existence.

However, this list of agents is not vetted in any way. There’s no quality control of the list, so again it’s just a starting point. There is a tool on the site called “Who reps Whom” where you can see an non-exhaustive list of authors and which agent reps them. This list is sometimes out of date though since authors leave agents sometimes and don’t announce their new representation until their book sells. It also sometimes lists multiple agents for an author when that author has sold different books repped by different agents. It can sometimes help you see which agents are losing clients, but it doesn’t really tell you why and that’s the important detail that will help you see if an agent is bad-bad or just bad for that author.

There is a paid version of QT, which I’ve never used, but I’ve heard it’s a great tool to have while you’re querying, but maybe not before you’re querying.

Children’s Bookshelf 

If you’re a kidlit writer of any age category, you should be subscribed to Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Bookshelf newsletter. It’s a biweekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays) newsletter that includes a deal report. This lists all the book deals from picture book up through YA that are being announced that week.

First of all, you should get on this whether or not you’re ready to start querying. It’s a great, free resource that will help you stay aware of what’s selling in the industry. Keep in mind, though, that books being announced now won’t come out for at least a year or two. They also probably sold months ago. What’s selling now won’t be what’s selling in a few months, necessarily, so be wary of chasing trends.

Mostly, though, this is a great way for you to see who is selling what to whom. See a book deal that sounds cool? Check who the agent was. Then check who it was sold to. Is that a publisher you’d like to publish with? Maybe check out that agent’s wishlist to see if you’re a match!

Old editions of Children’s Bookshelf and the deal reports are available online, too, so if you want to do a bunch of research right now, you can search for those on PW’s website.

Publisher’s Marketplace 

I hate this website very very much mostly because they charge so much money for you to get access to what should be free information HOWEVER it’s a very useful tool with lots of internal connectivity and links that are actually helpful. If you’re willing to shell out the money, you can check up on agents’ sales and see how their sales are.

A word of caution: PM has some “top dealmakers” lists you can peruse. These are misleading and simply list agents who are making the most deals. There’s no vetting of the quality of these deals. There is a well known schmagent who often tops these lists, so just because someone appears on a list, don’t take that as gospel that they are a quality agent.

Avoiding Schmagents

There are a lot of schmagents out there and really they fall into two categories: Bad agents who are out to screw you over and bad agents who don’t realize they are bad agents.

The former are usually a little easier to spot. I say usually because… not always. Sometimes very successful agents turn out to suck at their jobs. *stares at the current situation* But! You can sometimes spot these agents because there will be articles or blog posts about how much they suck. There will be podcasts where the hosts have to call the agent by a rhyming fake name to avoid a lawsuit. Etc.

The latter are a little harder to spot sometimes because they talk a good game. They sometimes talk about bad agent practices and share their own processes in the name of transparency (lots of good agents to this too!) These agents have the best of intentions and really want to be good agents, but they might have bad training or not enough strong connections in the industry to actually sell your book. They might not know enough about contracts to negotiate a good one, or they might not actually know what is and isn’t industry standard. They think because they are well-intentioned and not out to scam you that they’re not a schmagent.

Basically, the first case is like hiring a con artist to do your plumbing and they come over to fix your sink and break your toilet in the process. The second case is like hiring your really enthusiastic neighbor to fix your sink. They might be excited to do the job, but if they have the wrong tools and the wrong training, a lot can still go wrong.

So how do you know who to avoid?

Google

Okay I know this is going to sound extremely ridiculous but just. Just. Google. Google the agent’s name or the agency and scroll through the first couple of pages of results. If there are public facing horror stories to be had, you’ll probably find them here. Sometimes I see people sign with schmagents and I know if you google their name the second or third result is a detailed and horrifying blog post from an ex client all about her “year with a terrible agent.” A simple google search of the agency’s name would reveal this information, and it hurts my heart to see people signing when there are so many obvious red flags for them to find if they just search.

Writer Beware

This is a great website with detailed accounts of many known schmagents and Schmagencies. It’s not exhaustive by any means, but you’ll see some great info here about bad actors in the publishing industry, what they’ve done, and why it’s recommended that you stay away. 

Red Flags

There are also just a few red flags to look out for. Things like agents charging you up front—never ever pay an agent. Agents get paid a commission off of what they sell for you. They only get paid if you get paid. Money will flow from the publisher to the agent (who will take their 15%) and then to you.

Keep an eye out for agencies that charge a reading fee for queries. Again, don’t pay them money. Be wary of any agency that also provides paid editorial services. The same goes for if an agent tells you to work with a paid freelance editor in order to get signed. (This is different from feedback suggesting you work with critique partners or an editor. That’s a good suggestion. Prescribing that you work with a specific editor and pay them for their services as the conditions to get signed as a client is not okay.)

I am also very wary of any agent or agency that requires exclusivity on queries, partials, or full manuscripts. Exclusivity, to me, reads as though the agent doesn’t believe they stand a chance against other agents if they decide they want to sign you and… that’s a red flag to me. If they don’t think they can measure up, then they probably can’t and you shouldn’t be giving them a chance. (I’ll note that this is different from exclusivity on an R&R, which I think can sometimes be warranted in cases when an agent takes a lot of time to give you notes. Sometimes an agent will give revision notes and ask for exclusive right to consider the revised—be sure to nail down a timeframe for this so you don’t get stuck waiting for them to read for 6 months. Give them a head start of a few weeks or a month, but don’t give them forever to consider.)

Evaluating

When I evaluate an agent for a query list, I look at their sales.

If they have sales, I look to see if they are sales to publishers/editors you would be interested in working with? Likely, their sales are indicative of who they have relationships with. If you are submitting with the hopes of a traditional print deal to a large publisher, but the agent mostly does digital only deals to small presses, that’s probably not going to be the right fit for you. If you’re a middle grade writer but the agent has only ever sold adult historical romance, then… again, maybe not the right fit.

If they don’t have sales, I look at the other agents at the agency. Who has been agenting longer at the agency who might be mentoring them? Look at their sales and evaluate those. It’s possible the new agent you’re querying will make different contacts, but they’re likely being trained by the higher ups at the agency. Make sure you’re comfortable with that.

Check where the agent was trained too. Probably, you’ll see this in their agent bio. You’ll see some former workplaces—do they have prior experience in the industry? At a publisher maybe? A strong internship at another agency? This isn’t necessarily always going to be the sign of a good agent, but it can tell you what their history is and who might have had a hand in training them.

Other things I look at are their client list. Does the agent have a ton of clients already? Do they have a lot of high profile clients? These aren’t necessarily marks against them, but it might be an indicator that their plate is already pretty full. They might not be taking on a lot of new clients—or if they are, they might be overloading themselves and setting you up for very long wait times or even being neglected as a newer client. That’s definitely not always the case, and there are plenty of agents with huge lists full of very successful authors that juggle it all quite well.

This is where the last piece of the puzzle comes in and I realize I’m about to sound just extremely annoying but… do a vibe check. You don’t have to have a concrete reason not to query someone. If you feel at all uncomfortable or you get a weird vibe from someone, it’s okay to just say “Maybe I’ll skip that person.” I skipped an agent who was probably lovely, but gave of a kind of weird ra-ra feminist terf vibe to me that made me feel like maybe that wouldn’t be a safe relationship for me. I also skipped a male agent who I saw tweeting at women in a way that just felt a little uncomfy to me. That agent was later revealed to be a total creep, so… my vibe check war right on point there. Just… sometimes it’s worth taking a risk on a newer agent (it certainlywas for me) but it’s not always worth taking a risk on an agent who just feels off to you. Especially if you’re a marginalized person and you get a vibe from an agent that might indicate they’d try to exploit your identity or just be kind of shitty to you… you’re not obligated to query them! Even if they request in a pitch contest! Even if they slide right into your DMs to ask for your book (especially if they do this omfg this is so inappropriate). Basically��� listen to your gut.

Okay so… what am I actually looking for?

There’s not one perfect checklist to use for this that’s a surefire way to weed out the baddies and keep the goodies. Unfortunately, a huge part of this industry is figuring out what works for you and being willing to communicate that. You won’t know what you’re looking for until you find it sometimes. If you’d asked me who my dream agent was before I queried, I would have given you the name of an agent I would never ever ever query if I had to go into the trenches now. Sometimes what you think you want and what you actually need are two very different things, and I’m really lucky that I got what I needed without trying to.

It’s helpful if you keep in mind some stuff about what youwant like:

· Do you want an editorial agent, or do you want to manage the editorial side yourself with CPs etc. and just have your agent sell your work?

· Do you want an agent who specializes in your age category/genre or do you want an agent with broader contacts in case you decide to branch out?

· Do you want a large agency that manages a lot of clients and may have a really strong internal subrights department? Or do you want a more boutique agency where you might be in a smaller pool of authors?

· Do you want to publish traditionally with a large publisher, or are you interested in submitting to some digital imprints or independent publishers?

Keep all this in mind as you do your research on agents. I recommend that you reevaluate these wants as you go along to see if that’s still what you want or if your career plans have changed. But, use these as a way to steer you with your search. Don’t submit to an agent just because their wishlist matches up with your book. Make sure their agenting style matches up with your career plan too.

Dream Agents

Lastly, a plea from me to you: don’t have a dream agent. It’s okay to have like… an idea of what kind of agent you want and the relationship you hope you’ll have but… don’t pick a real agent to have as your dream agent. Nine times out of ten what you’re going to end up wanting in an agent isn’t what you think you want now while you’re in the query trenches, but also it’s weird and maybe a little bit unhealthy to idolize an industry professional who may or may not be doing their job well. Just because you like an agent’s twitter presence doesn’t mean they would be the right agent for you. There are a lot of agents out there who do a great job, so it’ll be better for you in the long run to have a dream type of agent rather than an actual specific dream agent. Keep your options open and dream broadly.

Whisper Networks

There’s a lot of talk about whisper networks in publishing and… basically yeah. These exist. They spread a lot of good information. They also spread a lot of bad information. Basically these are avenues for gossip, so take it all with a grain of salt. I’ve heard things before from the source and then heard a very twisted and garbled version of that story again a few days later from someone else. It’s like a big game of telephone and everyone’s tryingto pass along the right info, but stuff gets twisted along the way. Be cognizant of who your source is and who their source is etc.

Not everyone has access to whisper networks and… unfortunately that’s kind of just by design. The reason we have whisper networks instead of a detailed database is because these conversations can quickly turn into big spectacles that end with a cease-and-desist order and threats of lawsuits. Agents hold a lot of power in this industry—especially the ones with daddy’s money to throw around—and none of us wants to deal with that, especially since we don’t get paid nearly enough to actually fight it. We also don’t want to burn bridges. Maybe there’s a shitty agent out and about, but they rep some authors we really respect or they work at a great agency that we might someday want to query. Until the power imbalance in publishing is more even, it will continue to be dangerous for authors to talk publicly about bad agent behavior—even when it is very clearly unethical.

I don’t have the solution here. Maybe there just… isn’t one… Maybe someone a lot smarter than me will come up with one. Maybe we’ll all just keep circling on this issue for decades to come. At the end of the day, my best advice is to talk to other authors. If you’re having a weird experience, talk to someone else. The best thing we can do is compare notes to see if what we’re dealing with is normal.

In Closing

So… I hope this is useful in one way or another. It’s definitely not a catch all and it’s not a perfect system. These are just the tools I know of and the way I think about agents/agencies when putting together query lists with my mentees. A lot of it is guess work. I think the industry would hugely benefit from more regulation and standardization but… that is another conversation for another time because we’ve crossed over 3000 words on this post and it’s time for bed.

With that… good luck!

[bi-hop]

HEY. your essay on alien shapeshifters is FANTASTIC and reminded me of a question i've had for a bit. it's about human shapeshifters who aren't Black most of the time, but do shapeshift into being Black. or really any shapeshifter who shapeshifts into a minority that they weren't born as. a lot of debates about "transracial" people like oli london are founded on the belief that race is innate, or at least that the current concept of race is unchanging. i'm white and jewish and i really don't know enough about the structure of race to know how being a shapeshifter would change being "transracial", but it's a question i would be delighted if you could explore, or at least narrow down for me so i could find sources that aren't you.

Hi! Thanks for reading my essay!

My mind definitely went to the concept of 'transracial' when I was writing; while it's predominantly used nowadays to describe people like Rachel Dolezal and Oli London, it's also been used previously to describe adoptees who are raised by people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds than themselves. As what I linked says, how the term is used nowadays has been pretty controversial among this community. In connection to comics though, there are an oddly high number of transracial adoptees who are also aliens. The Clark and Lex graphic novel coming out in early July casts the Kents as a Black couple raising a white child, Naomi McDuffie's adopted parents are white (one being also an alien), and even Augustus Freeman in the absolute loosest sense of the word could be read as a character loosely based on this phenomenon.

But back to the question at hand, which is more focused on human shapeshifters. Honestly, part of why I focused so heavily on alien shapeshifters is because the nature of a human shapeshifter and how that relates to race is a hard thing to tackle. I'm not particularly sure if I could even find the amount of panels I did for Icon and Martian Manhunter if I went looking for 'DC or Marvel human shapeshifter who changes race regularly'. And I think that's because, in today's day and age, we'd conceptualize a white shapeshifter changing to look Black for extended periods of time more as Blackface (or equivalent terms) than the sort of identification I described in what I wrote.

This article about race not being genetic is long, but I think it helps to answer the primary concern that we see race as this constant, permanent thing. It absolutely isn't. But how we define it in specific cultures at certain points in time offers more concrete snapshots while also illuminating fringe cases, such as the one linked in the essay of Ernest Cole and Trevor Noah, who details how he was classified as Coloured despite it being illegal for him to have a white father during apartheid in his autobiography Born a Crime. I haven't read the full thing, full disclaimer, just parts assigned for a college class I was in last month, but his discussion of identity on paper versus identity in the mind stood out a lot to me.

And I suppose that's where I'm at? There are papers out there defending 'transracialism' (not sure if that caught on as a term) and drawing parallels between it and being transgender, and I've never quite enjoyed acting like they're one and the same as a Black trans person, but people wanting to present themselves as other races and genuinely identifying with these racial or ethnic categories isn't exactly new. So that's identity in the mind. But I don't know, it's not like some of the examples I'm giving are utilizing this identity in benign ways. Dolezal's pretty famous for leading a branch of the NAACP, claiming people fraudulently as family members to verify her identity, falsely filing hate crime reports, and also positioning herself as a Black professor of Africana studies, which is pretty unethical to say the least. Like, I can't really control how people identify or present themselves, but I can still be critical of their intentions and if they're actively harming the communities they want to be a part of. In a fictional sense, I would also be examining it that way.

But either way, I don't think there's a big list of writers who I think could handle the idea of a human shapeshifter changing their body to match an incongruent mental racial identity with effective nuance. Hell, I don't think I'd be able to write it too well either, mainly because of my own discomfort (that I happily admit to). I think probably the best example might be Kamala Khan's early comics having her shift to look like Carol Danvers, and how that reflected the sort of insecurity and internalized self-loathing a lot of Black and brown people feel about themselves. But it wouldn't be read the same if a white Inhuman shapeshifter decided to take on Kamala's visage permanently bc they felt Pakistani.

I don't know if any of this is helpful, but I hope the sources give a good jumping off point for discussions surrounding this, and again, thanks for taking the time to read everything!

[thatndginger]

Happy WBW, K! I'm wondering about the world of Shapeshifter. What sort of supernatural things exist in that world and how well do they all coexist? I feel like if I try to ask additional questions in too much detail I will reveal that I don't know much about that world, but I'd like to please go ahead and ramble about any aspect you like!

Hey Moshke! Sorry this took so long for me to get to ^.^|| Life has been a lot lately.

Don’t worry at all about not knowing much about Shapeshifter world. All my actually worldbuilding stuff is scattered to hell and breakfast, so if anyone besides myself *did* actually know about it at this point, I’d be amazed. Maybe when I finally finish a draft that will change…

There are three main types of supernatural creatures in the Shapeshifter world: human-like, animal-like, and ‘other’. These are very broad categories, to be sure, but it’s kind of like taxonomic classification, you know? Start with the broadest categories, and narrow it down from there. 

Human-like supernaturals are, by definition, primarily human or humanoid in appearance and behavior. Many scholars classify human-like supernaturals as “beings who were once human, but have since been altered via magic into something else”. Human-origin shapeshifters fit into this category, as well as vampires, various faeries, and some spirits. There is debate over whether witches classify as supernatural beings, but most scholars exclude witches on the grounds that they only manipulate magic and aren’t changed by exposure to it.

Animal-like supernaturals are primary animal in appearance and behavior. These supernaturals are perhaps the most varied category, since they can be anything from a spectral cat to a bird that can wield magical healing powers. Animal-origin shapeshifters such as selkies or kitsune fit into this category; as well as creatures such as the various Celtic water horses, magical birds like the Sri Lankan devil birds and Chinese shangyang, the Chilean carbuncle, and Argentenian peryton. 

‘Other’ supernaturals are those who do not easily fall into human- or animal-like categories, or have yet to be ‘proven’ scientifically. Things like ghosts, gods and deities, and a variety of mythical creatures that show up in ancient stories are in this category. Anything that can be believed in but never definitively proven tends to end up in this category.

For the most part, all supernatural creatures tend to coexist well enough, though there are definitely prejudices between most of the human-like supernatural creatures. Vampires and shapeshifters tend to dislike being around each other, but will work together and live in proximity if they need to. Faeries and spirits are usually isolated to ‘wild’ places and are distrusting of most humans and human-like creatures, to the point that there are many people who don’t believe that faeries and spirits still exist - if they ever did. Animal-like supernaturals tend to be rather rare and also prefer isolation over human interaction, but they’ll interact with other supernaturals when given reason. There’s only been a few points in history where supernatural creatures were actively hostile to each other. Their hostility is usually reserved for humans.

[marshmallowprotection]

Do you have a favorite art style in the game? As you know, Mystic Messenger doesn't maintain a consistent art style, so you can see variety in this one. Many of your artists draw beautifully, but if I have to say what my favorite art is, it's the art in Another Story, specifically in Ray's route. OMG, how I love that art, that drawing, the lighting, the proportions and the scenery.

It's extremely magical and beautiful ❤️

I would love to see that style again in possible future content. I miss it 💗

Hm. Yeah, they've had a lot of artists over the years and there's a lot of different aesthetics to each of those styles. They all have a charm to them that people embrace and it's always interesting to see what CGs people love the most. The most recent artist who worked on all the title screens this past year has definitely gotten a lot of love for a charming, stylish, and detailed approach.

Now, a lot of the earlier designs were simple in nature, but that's not a bad thing. It makes me nostalgic for my first days of playing Mystic Messenger in 2016. It captured what you were feeling back then, and that was the important part. When you get a new CG in the game, it's like Christmas. You're excited and jumping up and down because "oh, boy, I love this character. I need to know and see more!"

Another Story is in the middle in terms of the game trying to find a style that felt fresh and new but wasn't too far away from what the original artist(s) tried to create. I am a Saeran MC, so, of course, I'd probably lean toward the art there because it contains most of my boys. I am partial to that but we know why. The same reason why I'm partial to Saeran's After Ending. The art there is... chef's kiss. I have a lot of favorites in that category so it's hard to narrow it down.

The DLCs have a vast range of artistic talent, too. They make their best attempt to make sure it feels like Mystic Messenger, but people can note something being off since you can only emulate a style so much when it's not yours! Be it Christmas, Valentine's, Rika's Behind, and Jumin's DLC. I have favorites in there, though. There is a charm in these side stories that you can't miss.

If I had my pick... hm. It's s hard to say because I love all of the art we've gotten over the years. The artist who did the After Ending for Saeran has my soul, let's be real. I don't know how to be impartial outside of that because I just love looking at Saeran and having all that art of him makes me giddy. But, I can't take away from the other pieces of art that make my heart sing.

Here are some of my favorite CGs from each route and DLC. I obviously can’t put all of them in a single post but I feel like these lean toward my favorite style choices. I tried to limit it down to two from each route but that’s so hard! Spoilers for literally all the content in this game. All of it. If you want me to share the ones I love from title screens, I can do that, but this got too long to share all those! I’d say these are favorites because of the style, but also because of the emotion or scene they’re attached to.

[maddiemuu]

14, 20, 21 for the ask game :3

HAII sorry it took me longer than i thought it would to answer this. my week was inexplicably very long ':3

14. Any favorite motifs

i'm not rly sure!! most of my cartoon pieces r just for funsies, so i don't always feel pressured to push myself stylistically or thematically lol. a lot of the time it is just A Guy. i do really like eye imagery, fabric drapery, and foliage/flower imagery, though!! i also like obscuring/removing facial features.

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

HANDS!!! hands r my bestfriend. they definitely CAN be hard to draw but i don't find that offputting- it makes it like a fun puzzle!!! (my true anatomical enemy is the dastardly foot...) also, to a lesser extent- fat people. i don't think fat bodies are actually nearly as hard to draw as ppl make them out to be, though :]. but i feel like that is a different and very long conversation lol.

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

OHG I HAVE A LOT... i will narrow it down to just a few. recently i've been rereading some lynda barry comics and MAN i love the energy of her art. such beautiful colors and bold lines!!! the looseness a lot of it has rly enhances the emotional gut punches i find a in a lot of her work lol. for another comics style, i wouldn't consider jaime hernandez's style to be too dissimilar from mine, at least in the grand scheme of things, but the sleekness in his lineart is something i can only aspire to. love and rockets is one of my favorite pieces of art ever <3. this is also a much broader category but i'm a big fan of a lot of soviet cartooning and animation styles, especially the more shape based ones!! tbh i think at least part of it is the novelty- i'm from the USA, and at least in my experience, we've never fully let go of the stigma around soviet (russian specifically) art lol... especially when it comes to the realm of cartoons/non fine art. it's very interesting to see how similar and dissimilar it can be to contemporary US art :]. i also really like a lot of color field painting, though it's not a style of art i personally feel creatively fulfilled by making. i especially love barnett newman's work. who's afraid of red, yellow, and blue iii is a personal favorite!!! i have a lot of thoughts on it and how it was vandalized.

[kinetic-elaboration]

March 31: College AU Excerpt

This weekend has really spit me up on the shore and next week is going to be a LOT. I left work on Friday with a whole-ass list of shit I need to get done, and I have 2 oral histories also, and almost most importantly... I gotta figure out when I can take time off ASAP. I probably should have done this two weeks ago but it's a huge priority now.

Anyway, I did do one actually nice thing for myself in the self-care-but-it's-hard category and that was write. Write on a passion project, no less. I think the actual text came out as well as could be hoped for but more importantly I felt good doing it, I feel good now.

I'm still way too excited to share the first chapter of this fic, given it has another scene left that is, like, entirely unwritten. So. It is nice to feel excitement though.

Here's an excerpt! This is the Daria College AU, btw:

*

"Do you come into the city a lot?" she asks, and Daria startles and lies:

"Sometimes." That seems close enough to the truth.

"But probably never this part, right?"

"Somehow I missed it on my walking tour."

Jane laughs. "Sure. Well once you've been to this place, you're basically a native." She tips her chin up toward a dimly lit window just ahead. The building is so narrow, the gray brick of it so dingy, and the hanging sign above the door little more than a shadow among shadows, that Daria would probably not even have noticed it, had she been walking past it by herself. Only the P and the N of the OPEN sign still glow, and only then in a fizzing sort of pale yellow that is more sound than light. A large crack runs ominously up from the sidewalk to the window. She perceives no hint that the place is even a restaurant, let alone what sort of food it sells.

"You'll love it, I promise," Jane adds, as she pulls open the gray metal door and gestures Daria inside.

"I bet that's what you say to all the people you bring here to murder."

"Only the ones I really like," Jane answers, and winks.

Inside the light is intermittent and sickly yellow, and something, perhaps the drinks cooler, or something in the kitchen, is buzzing very loudly, nearly overpowering the static-ridden radio on the counter, shoved against the wall. The tables—four: two by the window and two tucked into the corners—are brick-red plastic on top, faded with age, and the walls are intermittently decorated with photographs of famous patrons, absolutely none of whom Daria recognizes. But the air is warm and smells like baking dough and tomato sauce, and though Jane has dropped her arm, she's still standing very close.

[happy74827]

Work Jitters

[Gideon Graves x Female!Reader]

Synopsis: Getting the job at Graves Industries was hard enough, but keeping it? That was a whole new ballpark.

WC: 3752

Category: Slight Hurt, Slight Fluff (?), Gideon being… Gideon {TW—Vomiting}.

Jason Schwartzman, my beloved.

『••✎••』

Gideon Graves, that smug bastard.

You'd seen his picture in the paper once, or maybe more than once; you couldn't recall exactly. The article was about his company, about how he'd been awarded several "big brain" awards in the past three years, and about how his company was looking to hire the best and brightest. The article even said how much he valued diversity.

But then, why was he working so hard to keep you from the job?

It wasn't as though you were the most unqualified person in the world to be hired at G-Man Media. You'd worked in tech for a number of years. You'd worked hard. You were smart, and you had experience. But apparently, Gideon Graves had a way of making things difficult for you. He was looking for people who were more than qualified.

"But I'm plenty qualified," you'd told him, practically stomping your foot. "And you can't make me feel like I'm not qualified. You don't have that kind of power."

You'd watched in utter amazement as he'd waved his hand dismissively at you.

"Power?" He laughed, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "I have no power over you. I have influence. I can make life difficult for you, but it's not as though I'm doing that. You've simply failed to impress me."

Your cheeks burned as you tried to think of something clever to say to that, but there was no way to deny his words.

He didn't even sound angry. He sounded so sure of himself, so absolutely positive of his own superiority. And he'd been so smug about the whole thing, too. Like you were a piece of trash, he'd just found on the street.

And that had just pissed you off so badly. You were usually a fairly even-tempered person. But when you'd walked away from that meeting, you'd felt like you were about to burst out of your skin. You'd marched straight back to your car and driven to a nearby grocery store parking lot. You'd climbed out of the car and put your hands on the hood, pressing your forehead against the warm metal, letting yourself take a few deep breaths to try to calm yourself down.

And that was how you'd met Gideon Graves…

Your boss.

Yes, boss. Despite the fact that he openly admitted his dislike for you, you decided that he was wrong, so wrong, in fact, that you stormed up to him the next day and told him so.

"I'm not failing to impress you," you told him, "You’re failing to impress me.”

You'd watched him fold his arms over his chest and scowl at you. You'd wanted to bite your tongue. He'd had an intense scowl.

But you hadn't bitten your tongue. Instead, you'd done something even more stupid.

"I know how to work a computer," you snapped.

That wasn’t as hard-hitting as you'd intended; it was honestly the stupidest thing you have ever said, but it made that tiny corner of Gideon's lip turn up. Not his usual, knowing smirk, but an actual genuine smile.

"Oh?" he said, leaning back in his chair, tilting his head back and studying you, his eyes narrowed. "That’s one impressive skill set."

Sarcasm. You could deal with sarcasm. You'd dealt with sarcasm in college. Sarcasm was almost your best friend at this point.

"I'm a quick learner," you told him, "and I can work anything with a keyboard."

He laughed again, his smile growing. You were starting to think he just smiled when he was mocking people, but there had been times when his smiles had seemed more genuine, and this one had definitely felt genuine.

"I'm sure you are," he told you, and you felt yourself smile just a little bit when he didn't say it in a mocking tone. "But there's a little more to the job than that."

"I can do the job."

His eyes narrowed, and you were pretty sure he was trying to decide if he wanted to fight you. He leaned forward, placing his arms on the desk.

"What makes you think that you have any chance of winning this position? I told you once, and I’m telling you twice. You're not all that impressive."

"No," you agreed, "not compared to you. You're an idiot savant—a genius with a cocky attitude. But the company isn't looking for an idiot. They want someone with ambition. And I have it. I'm not giving up."

"No?"

"No."

He sat back in his seat, leaning back in his chair, a little smug smile curling his lips.

He was deep in contemplation. His eyes were on you. His face was an inscrutable mask, but his eyes. Those eyes of his. You felt as though he could see straight through you. He had seen you and known, without having to be told, that you weren't like the rest of his previous employees. That you were determined and that he wasn't going to be able to stop you.

He might not like you, but he recognized that you were going to keep trying to get the job and that you were probably the only person in the world who wasn't intimidated by his smug attitude.

"You have balls," he said.

"Thank you."

"No," he said with a frown, "that wasn't a compliment."

He shook his head and held out his hand. You glanced at it and then back at his face.

"A deal," he told you. "One week. You go to work, and you try your damnedest to impress me. Fail, and you’re gone. Pass, and you'll get the job. Deal?"

Your smile was wide, and you reached out and took his hand, giving it a shake.

"Deal," you said.

And here you were, nearly two weeks later, still with the job. You were honestly so impressed with yourself.

It wasn't always easy; Gideon Graves could be a real bastard. But he was an interesting person. He always looked so sure of himself, but there were moments where you could see his doubts. You could see them on the rare occasions when he was surprised or flustered. His confidence was sometimes only a mask for the uncertainty underneath.

He was an enigma to you.

You tried to learn as much about him as possible. You absolutely hated his attitude, but you were more than willing to admit to yourself that you were genuinely curious about the man. There was just something about him that made him fascinating to you. You wanted to know what was going on inside that complicated head of his.

So, you watched.

You watched as he ate lunch. You saw how he would never take more than two bites and would only take the smallest possible amount of time to eat. He never left a single crumb on the table, never let anything get near him that might leave even the tiniest bit of food on his clothes.

You saw how he would do his own filing and paperwork. He could type up a report in no time at all. And you could swear you'd seen him go through a pile of paperwork and not so much as lose his place once. You'd tried to copy his speed a few times, but your fingers were just too clumsy. You were nowhere near his skill level.

You watched how he handled people. He was arrogant, and he had his share of asshole moments, but he was always polite. Always professional. Even if the person he was speaking to was an idiot, he still managed to maintain his composure. Sure, he belittled them, but he did so in a way that was still professional. He never made any comment that would get him sued.

He never let his composure slip, except for one time, and It was all your fault.

You felt sick. You had woken up that morning with a headache and a body that felt like lead. It had taken you forever to get out of bed. By the time you had gotten yourself together and had managed to drag yourself to the shower, you'd felt even worse. But, with how Gideon acted, you were used to getting your work done regardless of how you were feeling, so you'd gotten dressed and headed to the office.

A total of four hours later, you were starting to regret not staying home.

You were doing your best to keep your eyes open, but you just couldn't stay awake. Your mind felt fuzzy. Your body was like a heavyweight. And all you could think about was going back to your apartment and crawling into bed. You could feel your body leaning forward.

The chair tipped, and your body rolled forward, nearly falling out of the chair, only stopping when you hit the edge of the desk.

And then there were hands on you.

Gideon's hands.

He had you, his arm under your shoulders, holding you against him as he straightened the chair.

"Office. Now. Before you hurt yourself," he said, his voice cold, his expression hard.

You stood up, but your head spun. You might have been able to fight it if he had actually helped you to your feet, but instead, he let go of you, watching with a frown as you wobbled back and forth before turning around and starting for the office.

Your feet felt heavy. Your body felt as though it was moving in slow motion. You stumbled a few times before making it into the room. He came in after you, closing the door behind him. You saw him scowl at you before walking to his desk. He leaned against it and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at you.

"So much for impressing me."

"Sorry," you said, slumping in the chair across from his desk. You could feel your eyes drifting closed. You couldn't help it, but you knew it was because you were so tired.

"I pay you to get your work done, not to go to sleep on the job. I don't care how sick you are. This is unacceptable."

You wanted to tell him you were sorry, but your mouth wouldn't move. You were just too tired.

"Do I have to drag you out of this chair myself?"

You managed to open your eyes and look up at him. You tried to say something, but all that came out was a mumble.

He frowned, his lips a tight line. He pushed off of the desk, and then he was moving towards you. Your stomach lurched as he reached down, grabbing hold of your arm and pulling you up. Your legs wobbled underneath you. His hand was at your elbow.

"Careful," he said, keeping his grip on you until you had straightened up. "You took this job knowing that it would require effort. I will not have you losing sight of what you're doing because you're too lazy to get out of bed in the morning."

"I-”

Then, the worst thing imaginable happened. Just as he was threatening to fire you, your stomach lurched again. But instead of it just being your stomach, this time, it was the entire digestive system as a whole.

It wasn’t until his release on your arm, the wave of nausea subsiding and your head spinning so hard that you could barely stand, that you realized what had happened.

You just puked all over your boss.

You looked at him in horror. His white suit and red shirt were completely covered in a disgusting mix of stomach fluids and coffee. This was where you saw him break. His normal, professional demeanor vanished, and his eyes grew wide, his jaw-dropping.

For a moment, you thought he might say something. But then his eyes narrowed, and his expression hardened, his lips pursing together. He was shaking from head to toe. You couldn't tell if he was angry or if he was disgusted.

"Out," he hissed, his voice quiet but venomous.

"I'm so sorry-"

"Get the hell out.”

You nodded and quickly did as you were told.

Great, not only did you ruin a suit that was probably worth more than your apartment, but you managed to piss off Gideon and get yourself fired. The job you fought so hard for was just thrown out the window in an instant. You didn't blame him. If you were him, you would have fired you too.

It was a long drive home. You were still feeling sick to your stomach, but now it became more like the feeling of a hangover than actual illness. Your headache had subsided a bit, but you felt achy all over.

You pulled up in front of your apartment complex and climbed out of the car, feeling like you were made of lead. You stood there for a moment, leaning against your car, waiting for the feeling of your body to return to normal. When it finally did, you headed inside and took a quick shower before crawling into bed, not even bothering with any dinner.

Your last thought was how Gideon Graves had looked when he realized you had puked on him. You wondered if he was okay. You tried not to think about it, but his expression kept coming back to mind, over and over. He'd looked like he'd been about to explode.

Again, understandably so. But even though you'd done your best to forget it, the memory just wouldn't leave your mind.

The incident became a week’s memory, but you still couldn't stop thinking about him, about his face. About the fact that you lost your job over something so stupid.

It was another week before you saw Gideon again. Honestly, you weren’t expecting it.

Your doorbell rang, and you figured it was the pizza guy since it was just after five o'clock, and you had ordered some dinner. But when you went to the door, there was no pizza guy. Instead, there was Gideon Graves leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at you.

You glanced at him for a moment, your heart pounding in your chest, your cheeks burning, and then looked back down at your feet.

"I'm sorry," you said.

"Don’t apologize. I don’t want your apologies.” He looked around, glancing at your apartment. "Are you going to let me in, or are you just going to keep standing there until you decide to ruin my suit again?"

You blinked, looking back at his face, but his expression hadn't changed.

You moved aside, letting him in. He walked past you and stood in your living room. His eyes darted around, and you could tell he was taking it all in. You had a tiny apartment, but it was nice; you'd worked hard to make it so. You had a nice couch, a few bookshelves, a TV, and a small table and chairs in the kitchen area.

"Well?" He said, turning back to look at you.

"I- What?” You asked, not knowing what to say.

"I’ve called you. No responses. I came to your apartment last week. No answer. And now that I'm here, you're standing there, looking like an idiot when I expected a fully functioning human being."

You blinked a few times, still not entirely sure what was going on. You cleared your throat.

"What do you want?"

“What do I want?” He scoffed. His face twisted into a look of disgust, his eyes narrowing at you, and his upper lip curling just the tiniest bit as though he smelled something rotten. "You ruined my suit, and then you left. You don't answer your phone when I call. Did your uncultured brain forget about the job you practically begged me for? I told you to impress me, but if you can't even be bothered to show up, I have no interest in continuing your employment."

You frowned, your jaw dropping open.

"Wait, I’m not already fired?”

His eyes snapped up to your face, his brow furrowing. His lip twitched as he fought to hold back whatever he wanted to say to you. The long pause had your mind shifting attention to him. The way he looked. The way he smelled. You took a small step forward.

"I... I thought-"

He was wearing a suit, like usual, but instead of the white suit with the red shirt, he wore a dark gray suit with a light blue shirt. The shirt wasn't buttoned all the way. He hadn't worn a tie, but he usually always had one, so you were a little shocked when you saw that he didn't have one.

And his hair. His hair wasn't slicked back the way it usually was. Instead, it was loose. It's not quite messy, but it's not perfect either.

"You thought you'd been fired?" he said, snapping you out of your thoughts.

You nodded.

He sighed and then shook his head. His hands made their way to his glasses, and you realized that his eyes had been fixed on the ground this whole time. He was staring at the floor like he couldn't even look at you.

"I would never fire someone for… puking on me. I’m not that cruel," he muttered. He turned his eyes on you, his fingers adjusting the frames of his glasses. "No. You're still employed here. I simply came to inform you that I'm willing to overlook this week, but the next one that you miss, you're fired."

"Oh," you said. “I- Thank you."

"Don't thank me."

He was turning to leave, and you had to wonder why he had come here in the first place.

"Gideon?"

He paused, his back still to you.

"What did you think I was doing?"

You could see him stiffen, and you had no doubt that he was clenching his jaw. But after a moment, he turned back to look at you, his eyes meeting yours, and you noticed that he had stopped chewing his gum.

"If I had to guess," he said, his tone sharp, "I would have assumed that you were either sleeping or still sick. I told you I would have you fired if you were too sick to work. The fact that you didn't even bother to respond to my calls and messages was more than enough for me to assume the latter."

“But you didn’t fire me."

He narrowed his eyes. "If you don't feel well enough, I suggest you stay home. I don't want to deal with your incompetence right now."

He started to leave again.

"Wait!" You called after him.

He stopped again and looked back over his shoulder at you. His expression was dark and foreboding.

"Do you... Do you need anything?"

"Need? What could you possibly-"

You interrupted him, cutting him off before he could say anything rude or condescending.

"I'm sorry I puked on you. I really am. If I had the money for another suit, I would replace it, but I… don't have that kind of money."

"It’s not ruined. I shipped it to be dry cleaned." He sighed, rolling his eyes. "I don’t want or need your apologies, nor do I need your money. It's not worth a thousand dollars."

"Well, what do you need?"

He was silent, turning his eyes on the floor again, his fingers fussing with his glasses again. His brow was furrowed, and you could see that he was struggling with something.

"Gideon?"

"Stop saying my name like that," he snapped.

He turned around and looked at you again. You blinked in confusion, and he sighed, walking back towards you until he was standing in front of you.

You've forgotten, honestly, how short he was. You were used to thinking of him as this giant of a man. When he walked into a room, his presence made him seem larger than life. But now, you were able to see that he was really a bit shorter than you were. He was a bit on the skinny side, too, not muscular or anything like that. But he still had presence, even when he was being quiet when he was simply standing there looking at you, his lips pressed into a tight line.

"Why?"

You blinked again.

"Why what?"

He rolled his eyes, and his expression softened for a moment, just for a moment, before he got angry again.

"You're not supposed to sound so concerned about me. It's insulting. I'm your boss. I shouldn't need anything from you. That's why."

"It’s just a favor… If it will keep you from firing me, I'll do it," you said.

“Just show me you're not incompetent," he snapped, "that you can do your job without having a meltdown over it."

"Okay."

"And quit making me repeat myself. Just show me. I want you to show me that you're going to be an asset to this company."

"I will."

His lips pressed into a thin line, and he was silent for a moment, his eyes searching your face. He sighed again, his shoulders relaxing as he did so.

"I need-"

"Yeah?"

His eyes narrowed.

"Are you going to interrupt me every time I tell you something?"

"Yes," you said.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but he didn't yell at you. Gideon just sighed, looking tired all of a sudden, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"I need you to come in tomorrow. I have some… matters I need to attend to, so you need to handle the rest of the work."

"Okay. Can I ask what’s going on?"

His eyes narrowed again, his lips pursing, and you felt like you might have pushed too far, but you were determined to be better.

"Just show up tomorrow," he said, his voice a bit softer. He sounded less angry.

He turned again and headed back for your front door.

"Gideon?"

"What?" He asked, not looking at you as he turned around, his hand reaching for the knob.

"Thanks… for not firing me."

He looked up at you, meeting your eyes, and you were surprised to see that he was smiling again, albeit a tiny little smile, but he was smiling.

"Don't thank me; just get it together," he said, and he pulled open your door and left, shutting it behind him.

And you were left there, staring at your front door, wondering how the hell you were going to be able to do the work that he was going to give you and where exactly that damn pizza was.

[bluemoonball]

Another November 2024 Post

I've little doubt that this will be remembered as one of the greatest self-humiliations that any country has ever engaged in. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of ruin in a nation, so we move on. We don't have a choice, you know.

There are at least three kinds of excusable motives for people. One is just being dumb as shit, and there's plenty of those. That's "he'll make the economy better" and so on. This is excusable inasmuch as it's driven by an entirely appropriate ignorance. Most people are dumb as shit, and that's not their fault; it's nothing immoral or sinful. In this system, people are supposed to be presented with two reasonable choices: go on as is, or do something else. This is precisely to account for people being morons; even morons are well equipped to decide if they like what's been happening or not. Morons who exert this basic form of democratic accountability are doing their job and can't be blamed. I think this is probably most voters on either side, and certainly most of those who swung. And really it's the party's fault for putting up an unacceptable, addled wannabe-dictator as the alternative.

The second kind of error is some kind of passionate principle or narrow interest. People who love money and hate regulation, or believe abortion is the greatest sin, or seek to punish the guy who tepidly supported Israel in its bombing. This is an error of principles. These principles are subjective, and while it's a poor idea to put them above the elementary social compact, most everyone has something they'd put above that compact--their family, their own skin, whatever. On some level, we ought to be humble enough to accept their choice of principle.

The third possibility is accelerationism. There are those who believe that the system is so broken that someone needs to smash it fully. They accept that this man is not only a piece of shit scumbag, but also incompetent and incontinent, but this is the tool they have. Arguably, some would say, only a person this warped and shriveled, this empty and cheap, this totally void, could do so. I think there's something to this view, and it is held by some intelligent people. This one is very excusable in some sense: I think the system we have is imperfect but very good and should be sustained (that is, I'm a conservative); they think it needs to be torn down in order to make progress (that is, they are progressive); and that's an instinct I can sympathize with.

By contrast, what I don't excuse is the plain old narrow sadism of trolls. One may feel resentment, one may genuinely be wronged, but to respond to it by giving in to your sadistic nature? That's the behavior of a villain, of Richard III. At its core is unformedness, immaturity, raw and tender self-obsession—"His Majesty, the baby." I also don't excuse delusion, which surely is a lot of it as well; Qanon or whatever. There's nothing to excuse when you're orthogonal to reality.

No doubt these factors are all mixed up in people, in reality, and so it would be more generous to excuse the majority in general. And so I will. But to understand and even excuse them means only not to blame them. It doesn't mean to shield them from the consequences of their actions, or to behave as though we're common citizens and need to row together now. We are not. They've made a category error. In each case, they have consciously or unconsciously, knowingly or unknowingly, made a value judgment that the fundament, the cornerstone, the centerpiece of our society���the principle imperfectly reflected in our Constitution, that power belongs to the people and so when the king loses, they leave—is less important to them than something else.

To my mind, this was clear enough the first time, but after January 6th, it's unconcealable. It shouts to the heavens. It's the Emperor's new clothes. To disregard what was done and what worse was attempted that day, well, that's their choice to make. But the response to that can no longer be persuasion, offers, and bargaining. The response to a fundamental irreconcilable difference is divorce, it's secession, it's annulment, it's contract-breaking, it's war.

At best, we are, unfortunately, cast in the role of a parent to a child. A wayward and obstreperous child who wants candy and wants his stomach to stop hurting and to stay up late playing video games all at once. We've tried to shield them from the consequences humanely, while being beset by a million other problems, as an adult is; of course it wasn't perfect, had many failings, but all in all it was a creditable adult effort, and it's been rewarded with another tantrum.

What is the response? It can only be to let the consequences hit. If amelioration doesn't work, the next move is our own accelerationism. The tat of the tit-for-tat has to come out of the sack, and this time we should do what we can to push it along. We don't need to take any joy in this, and probably shouldn't, but if they insist on eating candy despite being warned that they'll shit their guts out, then the thing to do is to hand over the candy and a bucket and leave the room.

Give it to them good. Let them have what they asked for, as hard as they asked for it, or harder. Innocent people will be caught up in the crossfire and that is unfortunate, but that is why war is bad.

With malice towards none is always a sound principle. With charity towards all is a good one that will have to wait. No charity, no succor, no aid, no sympathy other than in private; no bandages, no insurance, no safety, no sanctuary. No mercy. Let 'em all hang; I'll see them in four years, and we'll all see how they've reaped in that time.

[alexafaie-asd]

I finished university in the UK in 2008. I had studied archaeology.

Thing about archaeology in the UK is that the paid work only happens as a result of developments going on. Building projects no longer happening? Then you don't need to pay for an archaeological unit to survey your site to determine if there's anything of historical significance to avoid or investigate before work can start (or if it can ever start).

So its a bit of a canary in the coalmine of jobs because you get those jobs months/years before they'd actually be breaking ground on their building project anyway. It all happens in the planning stages. So like there were practically zero new jobs showing up for new archaeologists. Didn't have a 1st degree, just a 2:1 (second best)? You didn't get one of those very few jobs.

So ok, you go look for a regular mundane job. Just anything, doesn't need to relate to your expertise. Just anything. Except there was one point when I was at the job centre doing my mandatory search of their database for a suitable part time job (I was new to working & would've struggled to do full time) and there were 3 job listings for the whole city. Not sorted into categories, so maybe I was being too specific just 3 total. One of which required a HGV license and you can't get that until having had a regular license for years and I didn't even have a provisional licence. I had to show the person I was seeing that there weren't enough jobs to apply to because you were expected to apply to a certain number to keep getting jobseekers allowance. I tried applying elsewhere but nowhere was hiring.

We're talking a largish city too. One which is well known enough that if I mentioned it by name, Americans will likely have heard of it. Even saying that likely narrows it down lol. But like the job advisor was trying to get me to apply to the job that needed the HGV license (even though they knew I couldn't drive) saying desperately "well maybe they'll make an exception" and I'm like sure, maybe they will let me drive a heavy goods vehicle with zero driving experience of any kind.... are they hiring here? I'm sure I could give better advice than that.

And funnily enough a year later they *were* hiring for more jobseeker advisors because there were so many people out of work looking for jobs they were shortstaffed! So you could get a job just to tell lots of other people that there are no jobs other than trying to help people find jobs! It was quite frankly madness.

The "um but the economy actually *isn't* that good" argument is a prime example of what the fuck is wrong - people are deliberately ignoring the majority of the facts to focus on one element and act like that completely negates the rest.

[lathalea]

Hey, I'm the anon who was asking why people are writing Thorin with all these modern quips.

Thank you for your answer and your awesome pictures of Thorin!

I sadly think you may have misunderstood where I was coming from, though.

I never am against people being creative..I have no problem with people expanding their minds to come up with so many different ideas and scenarios. The people reblogging from you made me look like a complete heartless jerk saying that people should be free to write whatever they want and I'm just an oppressor, pretty well.

If anything, my point is, people are always writing fanfic with the same narrow minded ideas..they really aren't as creative as people think.

They are filled with utter political correctness and Marxism. This stuff is more narrow minded than being creative, as we see it in every tv show, movie and video games, even! It's everywhere! But, this is considered creative when this is all we ever see in storytelling? This is why I felt you misunderstood me, and so did everyone else.

If people are being truly creative, they wouldn't keep putting these same ideologies in stories. You know how many Thorin stories I couldn't finish cause the women are usually written as the same tropes over and over again? Always feminists, and just knows how to fight, somehow, or always has an attitude..this is how women are written in pretty well any type of entertainment, these days.

Hope this helps you understand more where I'm coming from.

(Mandatory Thorin swooning material here.)

Hi again, Anon! 

I’m glad you’ve read my reply. Rest assured, I understood everything very well – including the fact what kind of fanfiction tropes you like the most and the ones you don’t. As for the latter, I simply hope that doesn’t include the Thorin fans who have fun together with me whenever I open Thorin’s Ask Box and reply humbly ask our King Under the Mountain to kindly reply to everyone’s questions.

It’s good to know that you didn’t mean to come off like “a complete heartless jerk”. It happens sometimes that we write certain things under the influence of strong emotions and click “send” before taking a deep breath and re-reading what we wrote. I understand, no worries. But I’m sure you see how your words can be interpreted by others. And I’m certain you know — probably even better than me — that proper wording matters a lot, especially in English. Because it is not my first language, I’ve learned to be ultra careful when putting my thoughts into words here on Tumblr (or anywhere in the Internet) — otherwise I can come off as the aforementioned “complete heartless jerk” and no one wants to be that person, right? 

If anything like this ever happens again, I’d like you to know that you can always drop in to my ask box and clarify further what you had in mind. I will be happy to convey your reasoning to my followers as I’m doing it now.

Anyway, I’m glad that you decided to clarify your thought process and we went from the initial confusion of “strange gender ideologies” to the problem of the Original Female Characters and their portrayal in fanfiction — which is a very interesting issue worthy of a separate discussion (another one I’d love to have). But let’s dive into your ask.

(Just look at his majestic profile!)

“If anything, my point is, people are always writing fanfic with the same narrow minded ideas..they really aren't as creative as people think.”

(I have skipped the part about the main popculture categories because it’s a separate topic, but I’d love to discuss it with you on another occasion. I think it would be a very interesting exchange of opinions.)

Let’s focus on fanfiction for now, specifically, Thorin fanfiction because I see we both care for this character a lot.

I’m glad that in your ask you decided to challenge the fanfic writers and encourage them to broaden their horizons and try harder! It’s always good to improve. And speaking of improvement, remember when I said “proper wording matters”? I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to offer you a piece of advice I got from a good friend once: I’ve learned that it’s best to avoid categorical statements containing words like “always” or “never” when discussing things in public to avoid being misunderstood or coming off as confrontational. Some of the people who will read this may think that you are either offending fic writers on purpose (which I’m sure is not the case) or have a limited knowledge of fanfiction (and you seem like a well-read person). It is much better to say “It feels to me that many people write fanfic with the same narrow-minded ideas because…” (I’d like to hear your reasoning by the way!) 

Let’s leave dealing in absolutes to the philosophers and theologians, okay? :)

Now, let’s get back to Thorin fanfiction.

(Just look at that hair!)

"If people are being truly creative, they wouldn't keep putting these same ideologies in stories. You know how many Thorin stories I couldn't finish cause the women are usually written as the same tropes over and over again? Always feminists, and just knows how to fight, somehow, or always has an attitude..this is how women are written in pretty well any type of entertainment, these days."

I must admit I’m a bit sad that you happen to find only this type of Thorin x OFC fics. At the same time, I have to agree with you that there are certain repetitive tropes and traits that make many OCs boring, or worse, make them look like a Mary Sue. In mainstream media, it is very common to portray a female character as “strong” by putting a sword or gun into her hands, but for me, it is much more interesting to see either this type of physically strong character, but marked by flaws or torn by conflict, or a more feminine type of character whose strength that comes from within. At the same time, I realize that this type of character (“badass girl with a sword”) has become very popular and perhaps that is why I get easily bored by it nowadays, because the world of popculture is oversaturated with them, as you said it yourself. But I believe that a good writer can write a character like this and keep me engaged if there is interesting depth to that OC. 

Either way, I totally understand that you may feel tired when seeing this trope, but I also know there are tons and tons of various stories available online though browsing through them may feel like a chore sometimes. But don’t worry, I happen to have read quite a few Thorin fics (it should be clear to you by now that I have no life ;)), and some of them were really good. I have prepared a short list of Thorin fics with interesting protagonists from many different places (ff.net, AO3, Tumblr) — you’ll find it below. I hope that after checking out these stories and reading those stories, you can perhaps feel a bit of relief knowing that there are quite a few interesting female protagonists around.

Here we go (a general warning, many of the fics below contain NSFW scenes):

💕 @technoelfie - check out the Thorin masterlist - stories like The Long Dark and its sequel contain an OFC that is everything but badass, even though she comes from the modern times. And the story is very much canon in all the right places.

💕 Kkolmakov’s fic Me Without You - a perfect example of how you focus on canon, provide the readers with a feminine OC (and Wren, the protagonist, is very far from a classic Mary Sue), and weave an engaging story inspired by Thorin’s works. Check out her other Thorin stories on ff.net, they are full of great ideas! 

💕 @legolasbadass - check out the Heart of Gold fic on AO3! The OC is a very complex character and the story of the secret love between her and Thorin in a restrictive Dwarven society relies heavily on canon. Dania, the protagonist, shows us a quiet, resilient type of feminine strength.

💕 @fizzyxcustard - see Fizzy’s Thorin fics here on Tumblr and A Rose at Twilight on AO3. This is a story about a young woman capturing Thorin’s heart against all odds. Again, far from a typical swashbuckling Mary Sue, it focuses on a rather vulnerable character who gets a chance at a new life.

💕 @middleearthpixie - this very prolific writer has more than just a few longfics under her belt. See the whole list here. Stories like In Time or Where I Belong, among others, contain well-rounded OFCs free from the repetitive traits you mentioned.

💕 @thorinstorieswoman - this blog contains a 2-part longfic where the OC is an elf from Rivendell and the issue of elf-Dwarf animosities is addressed in an interesting way without straying outrageously from canon.

💕 @frosticenow wrote A Thread of Life, a companion piece to my art (yes, I may be biased here) that includes another really interesting OFC, a seamstress, and Thorin falling in love with her. You will find great worldbuilding ideas here too and strong focus on the Dwarven culture!

💕 The Queen by Heloise Durin - the story of how the love between Thorin and Queen Heloise blossomed. It is somewhat inspired by real-life events, as the author admits, and the readers can see that a queen can be a strong female character yet her strength does not come from wielding a sword nor from sassy remarks.

💕 Other writers who are known for Thorin fics are @legolaslovely, @deepestfirefun, @dumbassunderthemountain, @fromthedeskoftheraven, @averil-of-fairlea, @xxbyimm, @i-did-not-mean-to, @shiinata-library, @scariusaquarius, @guardianofrivendell @ruthoakenshield and more (if you’re a Thorin fic writer and you’d like to be added here, please let me know!).

💕 Oh, and if you’re tired of the issues you mentioned, like “feminist OCs” and “badass girl OCs”, feel free to check out @lordoftherazzles stories. The main focus is Bagginshield and this is a ship based solely on canon characters free of those characteristics so maybe it will interest you too? Here is Razzy’s AO3 page.

And if you're searching for a classically feminine OFC whose greatest trait is being passive and ogling Thorin, see my story Springtime at the Lonely Mountain.

I hope you'll like at least some of these stories. Feel free to share your thoughts with me! I’m always eager to discuss fanfiction :)

(Well hello there, handsome king!)

Before I click “send” on this post, I’d like you to ask you something, if you don’t mind. You wrote: “They [fics] are filled with utter political correctness and Marxism.”  

I must admit, I’m a bit confused here. Would you be so kind and please explain to me how Thorin fics you encounter (because I assume you were still talking about stories containing this character here) are filled with Marxism? And if you could provide me with some examples/fic links, that would be great! I must admit I have never encountered a truly Marxist Thorin fic (or Dwarf fic) yet. I’m always on the lookout for fresh worldbuilding ideas and uncommon takes on social and economic issues in fanfiction, especially in stories where Dwarves are the main focus. Revolutionary Dwarves? Labor issues, capitalism and communism as concepts developed by the children of Aule? That would be a very interesting read!

The same goes for “political correctness”, by the way. I remember you mentioned earlier that it bothered you when people inserted modern ideas into Middle Earth fics so I’m guessing this is another example of this issue - please please please feel free to give me some juicy examples! I’d really like to hear your take on things and see how you would rewrite such stories or their elements to fit your tastes better! And apart from removing anachronisms from stories, that’s a great exercise in creative writing. By the way, forgive my curiosity, are you a fanfic writer yourself? If so, I’d love to read your stories if you’re willing to share them with me :) 

All the best,

Lathalea 💙